#katara defense

[starlight-bread-blog]

Katara is More Patient Then We Give Her Credit for

Katara has been getting a lot of flak for supposedly being hot headed and getting angry at very minor things. Even those who love Katara seem to accept this as the truth. But it's not. In reality, Katara is simply a female character who owns her rage. And I feel like there are two main components that debunk this notion.

Warning: Long, long post.

1. In the instances where Katara is angry it's either justified or makes sense in context.

The Waterbending Scroll

Katara stole, wouldn't you know it, a waterbending scroll. She practices before giving it to Aang, and fails hard. Then Aang who she's supposed to be teaching, gets it right and explains how to do it. Katara has an outburst.

Katara: Will you please shut your air-hole! Believe it or not your infunite wisdom gets a little old sometimes. Why don't we just throw the scroll away since you're so naturally gifted!

Why is Katara that mad here? Why did she have an outburst? Because she was carrying the burden of being the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe her whole life. Because her waterbending is the reason Kya died. Because she have been independently studying waterbending her whole life. And now her student is having it all easy and is trying to teach her.

And wouldn't you know it, she realized what she did immediatly. Literally, a second later.

Katara: Oh my gosh Aang. I am so sorry. I don't know what came over me. But you know what, it won't happen again. Here [the scroll] is yours. I don't wanna have anything to do with it anymore.

She even apologized to Momo. Katara had an isecurity rooted in trauma and pressure. When Aang try to teach her she hit a breaking point and lashed out. And not one second later she's already apologizing.

The Waterbending Master

Katara and Aang are going to see Pakku, the waterbending master. But when Pakku sees she's a girl, he says he won't teach her. This is why Katara gets angry. She flew across seas just to get rejected due Pakku is being a sexist freak. I think we can all agree that being denied something because of sexism is a good reason to get angry. And when Katara realized Pakku won't teach Aang if she'll keep insisting, she drops it abd tells Aang to drop it too.

However, that doesn't mean she won't study in secret. She deserved to learn waterbending and she knew it. She took the consequences into consideration and decided to not make a fuss.

But of course, they both get caught. Pakku says he will no longer teach Aang, the Avatar who absolutly needs to study and still refuses to teach Katara because he's still sexist. Only then Katara challenges him to a duel. Only when they have nothing to lose. She challenged a sexist prick to a duel, one who shamelessly denied her oppretunity because of her gender.

The Chase

At the start of the episode Katara gently hints Toph to help unpack a camp for the night. This is when she's not tired yet, and shows patience.

Katara: So Toph, usually when setting up camp, we try to divide up the work.

Toph: Hey, don't worry about me. I'm good to go.

Katara (still calmly): Well, actually, what I'm trying to say is, some of us might fetch water while someone else might set up the fire pit or put up the tent. *smiles* Even Momo does his fair share.

Toph (slightly irritated): Katara, I'm fine. I can carry my own weight. I don't need a fire. I've already collected my own food. And look. *earth bends a tent* My tent's all set up.

Katara: Well, that's great for you but we still need to finish-

Toph (loudly): I don't understand. What's the problem here??

Katara: Never mind.

Katara then goes to apologize. While also attempting to make sure her and Toph are on good terms by having her acknoledge that she wasn't 100 absolutly in the right.

Katara: Hey Toph, I wanted to apologize for earlier. I think we're all just a little tired and getting on each other's nerves.

Toph: Yeah, you do seem pretty tired.

Katara (slightly irrutated): I meant all of us.

Toph: Well, good night.

Katara: Good night.

By all means, Toph is in the wrong for the sheer refusal for communication. At first Katara calmly explained to her what was needed without even spelling it out. Toph was being passive, so she dropped it. And then she apologizes after doing nothing wrong just so they could be on good terms. Toph was the one being passive agressive. And Katara pretty much let it slide.

This is Katara. The patience she showed right here is her natural, normal self. The rest of the episode is under the context of sleep deprivation and how it's making them all hostile to each other. Including the pacifist Aang. Who's outburst leads Toph to leave. After she does, both Aang and Katara express remorse.

(Side note: I heard people take issue with the line "The stars sure are beautiful tonight, too bad you can't see them, Toph". It's been interpreted as Katara making fun of Toph for being blind, but it's just another instance in the recurring joke of the Gaang forgetting Toph is blind, and listed as such in the official A:TLA Youtube channel).

The Runaway

Update: This section, especially, is majorly outdated.

The episode has a silly opening where Aang is trained by Toph and Katara. Toph misses and accidently hits Katara with a big rock. After Toph doesn't apologize, it leads into a fight which is absolutly not to be taken seriously, that ends with Aang pointing out that it was supposed to be training.

It doesn't work as an exapmle for supposed hot-headedness because the reason this whole thing started because Toph hit Katara with a rock and refused to apologize.

But moving on to the real conflict of these episode, Toph scammed someone and Katara makes it clear that they shouldn't do it again, it'll draw attention to them. Aang promises her it won't happen again but.. um.. you know what happened.

Katara, being responsible, told them to quit because they'd potentially get exposed. Toph didn't reach well, telling her to lighten up. Katara rightfully gets angry, because they really might get exposed and Toph is dismissing her like her concerns are nothing. They have a short argument and Toph storms out.

This is why Katara was angry this episode. Her reasoning for being upset is the Gaang potentially exposing themselves for easy money. That's the conflict.

The Painted Lady

In this episode Katara sees a starving Fire Nation village but Sokka won't allow them to stay due to time limits. So she faked a disease for Appa so they could. Sokka confronts her. At first, she gives up and packs to leave. But since she destroyed the factory that's been polluting the villages water and taking their medicine, the people in charge assumed it was the civilians, and were coming to attack. Sokka and Katara get into a small but intense argument. Important to note, that she doesn't react intensively until Sokka does.

Katara: Well, what was I supposed to do?

Sokka: Leave! Do nothing.

Katara: No! I will never, ever turn my back on people who need me.

Her anger here doesn't highlight hot-headedness, it highlights compassion. Compassion is one of Katara's core traits. She's angry because she's being angrily demanded to see people suffer and stand by. And she will not tolerate it. She will never, ever turn her back on people who need her.

2. In reality, Katara is defined by her patience and compassion.

What I did here was listing off times where Katara did get angry. But Katara is generally a caring, kind person. Rather if it's cheering up Sokka, going shopping with him after he admitted to feeling useless; if it's pulling Aang out of the Avatar state, putting herself at risk when he's out of control; if it's helping deliver a baby of a stranger; or if it's freeing prisoners of the Fire Nation. She demonstrates impressive patience throughout the show.

The Deserter

In this episode Aang was asked to just control fire. Aang gets irrutated himself at this, but Katara assured him that it's probably for a good reaso. But when his master left, he firebent. He was being extremely careless with his new found Fire Bending and burned Katara's hands.

Did she...

A. splashed some water at him.

B. Yelled at him.

C. Ran away crying.

Yeah, she didn't express anger at all. Sokka was who's angry at Aang.

The Desert

The sand benders stole Appa and the Gaang is suck in a desert. Katara demonstrates her patience a lot this episode.

Toph and Aang are arguing about Toph not stopping them.

Aang: You just didn't care! You never liked Appa! You wanted him gone.

Katara: Aang, stop it. You know Toph did all she could. She saved our lives.

Sokka: Who's gonna save our lives now? We'll never make itout of here.

Aang: That's all any of you guys care about, yourselves. You don't care whether Appa is okay or not.

Katara: We're all concerned, but we can't afford to be fighting now.

Aang accused the Gaang of something horrible. Katara told him to stop, but still understood his anger and calmly explained to him that it's important not to fight in a life threatening situation.

Aang then storms out to look for Appa. Katara's response?

Katara: We'd better start walking. We're the only people who know about the solar eclipse. We have to get that information to Ba Sing Se.

She didn't get angry, she was rational and thought about the greater good.

After Aang comes back, Katara suggest they should try sleeping, gives the Gaang all of her bending water without drinking herself. And then finds a way to get to Ba Sing Se using the locations of star systems.

The Gaang spots a cloud and mistakes it for Appa. But Katara realizes the potential in a cloud. She tells Aang to fly and bend the water from the cloud so they could drink.

Katara (disappoibted): Wow, there's hardly any in here.

Aang (intensively): I'm sorry, okay? It's a desert cloud, I did all I could. What's anyone else doing? *Points at Katara* What are you doing?

After dealing with everyone's tireness, Sokka's high nonsense and Aang's attitude, carrying everyone, thinking of possible solutions to ensure they'd all survive, how did she react to Aang accusing her of not doing enough?

Katara: Trying to keep everyone together. Let's just get moving. We need to head this direction.

And after everything she did for everyone, she pulls Aang out of the Avatar state when he's raging, out of control.

Katara is not so hot headed.

She's sweet, nurturing and caring. She demonstrated incredible patience and perhaps even saved the Gang's life in The Desert with her resilience. Katara's compassion is her defining trait.

But that doesn't mean she's not a human being – she's allowed to be flawed, and in the moments where she does, she's very remorseful. And in the moments where she doesn't, people will still hold her accoutable for simply feeling a justified emotion.

Does it make you oh-so-hot headed to stand up to a sexist denying her opportunity? To make sure your friends don't destroy your chances to win a war? To not tolerate being told to see people in need and do nothing in a middle if an argument she didn't start? Of course it doesn't.

And other characters are allowed to express anger, to be flawed, in ways that are way worse than Katara without being labelled annoying hot headed by the fandom.

Katara is widly known to be irrational, letting her anger get the better of her, but it's simply not true.

#katara of the southern water tribe #avatar katara #atla katara #katara defense #in defense of katara #meta #atla meta #katara meta #atla memes #atla #anti atla fandom #avatar the last airbender katara #avatar the last airbender #katara defense squad #katara deserved better #katara deserves better #the southern water tribe #southern water tribe #avatar the kast airbender meta #toph beifong #toph #long post #the painted lady #the chase #the runaway #the waterbending master #pakku #master pakku #katara and toph #katara my beloved

[i-d-e-g-a-f]

i cant believe some people don’t believe zuko wouldn’t do absolutely anything for katara. they way that man admires her and significantly values her life over his own i- how do people not understand that zuko is a katara stan first. katara could be going through her villain arc and he’d still be her number 1 supporter telling everyone she’s entirely justified (and he’d be CORRECT). how do people not see it. some of y’all just don’t know zuko like i know him smh.

#zuko #zuko defense #zutara #pro zutara #anti anti zutara #katara defense #katara deserved better #katara defense squad #atla #avatar the last airbender

[innocentimouto]

All right, because this needs to be repeated.

Katara’s lines on her mother being the only source we have of her trauma, with no exposition and no flashbacks until the end of the series, is

BAD

WRITING.

Yes, she suppressed it. Yes, that’s perfectly valid. So how about Sokka? Did he go around talking about his dad all the time? Did he go around repeating over and over that he missed Hakoda?

Or did he get an episode, with a flashback, and a quiet moment, and get to be the center of his own trauma?

What about Aang? Did he go around repeating he didn’t want to be the Avatar every time he met someone new? Did he repeat he missed his people over and over?

Or did he get an episode showing what the Fire Nation did to his home, along with a flashback and be the center of his trauma?

And then did he get another dedicated episode to explain why he doesn’t want to be the Avatar? Did he get to be the center of his trauma, allowed to be angry, allowed to tell it himself, have someone comfort him and listen to him, in a flashback that’s shown to us?

And did he face danger and pressure and trauma for being the Avatar?

And what about Zuko? Did he spend episode after episode talking about capturing the Avatar? (sort of)

Did he get a dedicated episode where his past was told through flashback? Were there people around to sympathize?

Did he get another dedicated episode showing his past, with him the center of his trauma, needing no one else to carry it?

Therefore Katara “suppressing” trauma doesn’t absolve the writing around her. Sokka had toxic masculinity. That was kind of his thing for most of the show. I didn’t even touch Sokka’s arc in Ba Sing Se or the Invasion and how Katara knew how Sokka felt and supported him but never needed to be the center of it.

More importantly. 

Book 1 episode 1, 3, 12, 17 showed Aang’s trauma.

Book 1 episode 15 showed Sokka’s trauma. (you could argue episode 10, and book 2 episode 19 also.)

Book 1 episode 3 and 12; Book 2 episode 7; Book 3 episode 11 showed Zuko’s trauma.

Book 2 episode 6 showed Toph’s trauma.

Book 2 episode 9 and 15 showed Iroh’s trauma.

Book 2 episode 17 showed Jet’s trauma.

Book 3 episode 5 showed Mai, Ty Lee, and Azula’s trauma.

Book 3 episode 16 showed Katara’s trauma.

(This is only the trauma that the kids got before the start of the show. We had an episode over Aang being afraid of the avatar state, losing Appa, Katara and Sokka being separated from their dad, etc.

I did not include trauma that the show didn’t directly treat as trauma or just a few passing words. So Azula watching Zuko get burned, Azula losing her mother, Katara getting buried alive, Aang’s nightmares, Aang nearly dying, etc)

So let’s rewind. Katara, a main character, there long before Toph, Jet, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee, doesn’t get her trauma shown in a flashback until the end of the series.

Katara debuts in episode 1. Her dedicated episode for her trauma is episode 56.

Again, the trauma---

Aang: episode 1, 3, 12, 17

Sokka: episode 15

Zuko: episodes 3, 12, 27, and 51

Toph: episode 26

Iroh: episodes 29 and 35

Jet: episode 37

Mai, Ty Lee, and Azula: episode 45

Katara: episode 56

And then there’s Hakoda leaving:

Sokka is here. Sokka is shown being upset.

Where is Katara in this flashback? 

Her moment with Hakoda in the first episode of Book 3 is moving but it’s also out of nowhere. Don’t start with the suppressing thing or she was feeling it all along. She’s spoken about her dad without a hint of that in Book 1 and 2.

‘Maybe that’s why she let Sokka go instead of her’

You have to pull it out of thin air. When Katara is upset, it shows.

Want to know why I don’t include “The Runaway”? Well Sokka and Toph get center focus.

Remember how Zuko, Aang, and Sokka got flashbacks, and someone supporting them? Do we get any flashback at all here? When Toph and Katara are captured, Toph talks about her issues but not Katara. (But parentification isn’t something I could see addressed from kids that wouldn’t understand it, least of all Katara who’s always hoping to help others.)

Finally “The Southern Raiders”. 

So Katara isn’t shown in “Bato of the Water Tribe” flashback, but Sokka is here? Moreover, Sokka is the first one to speak about this. Not Katara. This is the second time he’s the spokesperson for her trauma to get someone else to understand her.

That just makes me believe the writers really weren’t confident in her character.

She’s always made to say her trauma at the worst times or at times where there’s something else happening.

Should I touch on the fact that every time she brought up her mother was to comfort another guy (except with Hama) except in “The Swamp” of all episodes? There was never a moment where she was allowed to grieve her mother.

No, BSS with Zuko doesn’t work. She apologizes immediately after. For yelling at him.

And he doesn’t apologize for chasing them, for nearly killing them, for hunting down the Avatar, etc.

It’s not a comforting moment. She had no reason to apologize while he had every reason to, but the scene makes him the center focus, not her.

It’s. Bad. Writing. We had multiple episodes where Katara didn’t have her dead mother’s necklace. That same mother that she always brings up.

And it gets used to get her captured, where everyone in the show and out, blame her. And it’s given back to her from the kid with a crush on her, so she can easily forgive him even though he stopped them from meeting their dad.

And in none of those episodes without the necklace does she bring up the necklace.

okay I’m done

#Katara #Atla #Atla critical #Katara defense

[demaparbat-hp]

WIP

#atla #zutara #zuko #avatar the last airbender #katara #atla fanart #atla netflix #zutara fanart #temporary post #I know I'm such a tease #But my people asked and I felt compelled to provide #Also is that Katara in Fire Nation armor??? #Hmm... I wonder why that is... #Wink wink #In my defense you'll hear more about that AU when I make the actual post (once I finish this one) #But that new Kiawentiio & Dallas Liu picture gave me huge OMG-that's-ZK-in-the-AU-I've-been-working-on vibes #So I took a few creative liberties with the pic #Fight me #When will I finish the artwork and post it? Only Agni knows #Funny story I was working on another piece (two page comic) for this very same AU when the promo pictures came out #So I was like... well now I have no other choice #Redrawing isn't really my thing but if their chemistry out of set is anything to go by then the actual series will (probably) be a treat #So I had to do something about it #My point? #I'm just begging for ZK crumbs at this point. And I'm not ashamed of it

[comradekatara]

it’s actually really funny that despite being given ample evidence that sokka is a good hunter (he is described offscreen by the writers as being a good hunter; it is a role he clearly takes pride in and defines himself by, ie, “the meat guy”; no one ever starves when he’s around; there’s the way he can accurately describe the events of an entire battle through simply looking at some footprints and scorch marks on the trees; and most crucially, his impeccable accuracy with a boomerang that has been a mainstay across his entire arc clearly required practice at some point, and considering it is literally a hunting weapon, i’m not exactly sure what else he’d even be practicing on), we never actually see him hunt successfully. every time he does attempt to hunt onscreen, he is thwarted by the elements, and his attempt fails disastrously (and comedically). and yet, there is no doubt in my mind that he is, in fact, good at hunting.

some people, however, do take katara’s claim that sokka doesn’t do any work around camp at face value, which is understandable, not only because we never actually see him properly hunt, but because he’s also just an asshole, generally, who undermines the value of domestic (ie, feminine) labor to attempt to bolster his own precariously fragile ego. the thing about katara’s rage in those early episodes is that it is undeniably cathartic and powerful, but also quite misplaced. gran gran making her do chores isn’t the enemy, and neither is sokka. they’re both overprotective to the point of stifling her freedom and dismissing her desires, but it’s for good reason. she is in direct danger, and they feel an existential need to protect her. her enemy is imperialism, not her overbearing, cynical family members. she deserves to be angry, and she deserves to scream and yearn and rebel, but that doesn’t mean that everything she says is correct. for example, just because we first see sokka through her point of view, “playing soldier” and pretending to be a real man, doesn’t mean he isn’t pulling his weight in multiple ways at all times, even if his narrow worldview does need to be challenged (but then again, so does hers).

so why do we never actually see sokka hunt? well, atla is, fundamentally, a children’s show. there are some things that they just simply cannot depict. someone killing, skinning, and cooking an animal would probably disturb children, even though it is also an everyday, normal occurrence and how all the meat they constantly allude to is produced. it’s funny what lines they’ll draw in the sand. especially because we never actually see sokka kill any animals with his boomerang, and yet he does kill actual human beings with it. but i suppose nickelodeon said that was fine.

#sokka #katara #katara&sokka #analysis #basically just transcribing a convo I had w tumblr user bloodbenderz yesterday #but it’s a sentiment I’ve seen reflected before #and I KNOW im sokka’s defense attorney but like. he IS a good hunter. he is. he was just being CENSORED by Big Nicktoons

[definitelynotisabel]

wtf do people without fandoms do with their life? like actually what do you do when you don’t have something to dangerously obsess over. the last time i wasn’t a part of a fandom was in fourth grade.

#what do you do #fandom #fanart #fanfic #fantasy #pjo series #pjo #pjo tv show #percy series #percy jackon and the olympians #the lunar chronicles #the rampion crew #across the spiderverse #the hunger games #aaron warner #shatter me #hazbin hotel #avatar the last airbender #percy and annabeth #annabeth chase #books #peeta mellark #katara defense squad #katniss everdeen #prince kai #katara #kenji kishimoto #harry potter #mauraders #divergent

[ofswordsandpens]

wait one more thing about Ember Island Players that's so funny is like... imagine creating a show and then becoming either frustrated/annoyed/bemused that a sizable part of your fandom ships two characters that you don't want them to. And instead of ignoring it or letting it lie, they decide to use this episode as a moment to show these fans how silly that ship is. And sure, maybe its all supposed to be in good fun but like if the goal, in-part, was to discourage people shipping them, I cannot emphasize enough how acknowledging the pairing in-universe, having people consistently mistake them for a couple, and having said characters constantly over-react to the very notion and get belligerently defensive because they are very much not dating why would you say that is extremely antithetical to that goal.

#as if those aren't common tropes that shippers love. #lmao its comedy #atla #zutara #like having zuko and katara get SO defensive when June thinks that they're dating (again) ... its not doing what bryke thinks it is #especially when you contrast katara's reaction when Toph thought she had a fling with Haru which was like an apathetic/confused no

[vlackevil]

Reasons why Kataang is a terrible ship:

1- They support each other

2- Aang always bring the best of Katara and support her in their worst times.

3- Katara always stay Aang side to help him.

4- They understand each other.

5- They have a healthy relationship

6- They blush each other when they think about kiss each other

7- They are the best dancers

8- Katara trust in Aang

9- Aang trust and show respect for Katara call her “Sifu Katara”

10- And they love each others.

That is the reasons why Kataang is a terrible ship.

Thanks for your time.

#kataang #pro kataang #katara and aang #aang and katara #avatar the last airbender #atla #avatar #otp #aang x katara #april fool's day #kataang defense #kataang defense squad

[punkeropercyjackson]

This is mostly a Zutara shippers problem(ofc it is,they're the root of everything wrong with the fandom and it's been like this since the 2000s)but i've seen it happen often enough with other shippers and it is replacing Aang's place in Zuko's life with whoever they ship him with.I want you to read this and internalize it:I don't care who you think Zuko is in love with because it dosen't matter no matter what-AANG is his best friend.Not Katara,not Sokka,not Jet,AANG.He's the one who saved him from his own inner darkness and Ozai's clutches,he's the one he looks out for the most,he's the one he has the most positive opinion on,he's the one he has the most fun with,he's the one he trusts the most and he's the one he'd choose over anyone else if it came down to it.Not a single one of these things is romantic for them and that's the point.Zuko's number one is Aang and not because he's his s/o but his brother and you have no right to erase his healing journey that's one of the best in all of western media so you can make it about his dating life instead,as if abuse victims can only get better if they 'settle down'.Fuck outta here with your amatonormative and lowkey ableist too bullshit

#aang and zuko #zuko #aang #aanglove #aang defense squad #pro aang #pro zuko #anti zutara #zukka #jetko #katara #sokka #jet atla #autistic aang #transfem aang #trans zuko #autistic zuko #punk katara #dadko #atla geekery #the gaang #💌 #summerposting

[ecoterrorist-katara]

It annoys me that fans & even the ATLA narrative treat Katara’s crush on Jet as if she was simply being silly and shallow. Yes, he was tall and attractive…but he’s also responsible for an entire community of orphans? Maybe after years of parentification, she feels very connected to someone who also had to think about feeding and clothing people and generally keeping them alive? Maybe she admires a boy who seemed to have taken on both her and Sokka’s roles (caretaker and protector), and was really successful at them? Maybe Katara saw a competent boy and liked him just for that!

ATLA narratively chides Katara for liking Jet. He’s coded as this untrustworthy smarmy bad boy character in opposition to sweet friendly Aang. I mean, it’s not subtle: Katara makes a hat for Jet, and after she discovers he’s cool with killing civilians, Aang’s shown wearing the hat. But maybe Katara liked Jet because he had his shit together, while Aang was trying to ride giant fish despite being the saviour of the world! Maybe!

#let Katara have a competence kink #katara defense squad #jetara #anti kataang #pro Katara #my meta

[starlight-bread-blog]

In Defense of Katara

Update: The views expressed on Aang in this post are majorly dated.

Katara has been..

a controversial character. Particularly for the following reasons.

Supposedly talking about her mother "all the time", bringing it up out of context, making it all about herself and lashing out about it.

But before properly analyzing her character, let's first actually list off all the episodes where Katara has mentioned her mother (also in video form):

The Boy in the Iceberg:

Mentions her mother to confront Sokka about being lazy, establishing the family dynamic after her death and generally setting up her character arc.

The Southern Air Temple:

Firstly mentions her mother to prepare Aang to discovering a "potential" loss when getting back home. Then again to show empathy to Aang by showing that she somewhat understands what he's feeling.

Imprisoned:

Brings up Kya to connect with Haru about similar losses. It's also brought up again by Haru when her mother's necklace disappears.

The Waterbending Scroll:

Didn't mention her mother, just the necklace. Since Zuko showed her the necklace, which was lost.

Jet:

Mentions Kya to connect with Jet who also lost his parents to the Fire Nation.

The Waterbending Master:

Once again, she only mentions the necklace. And only because Pakku notices it himself.

The Swamp:

The swamp makes her hallucinate about her mother. It was fully outside of her control.

The Crossroads of the Destiny:

Brings up her mother's death once she got a chance to have a conversation with Zuko, who was her enemy and for all she knew, represented the nation who killed her mother.

The Headband:

It is brought up by Aang. He tells Katara that people could recognize her necklace for being Water Tribe while hiding in the Fire Nation.

The Puppetmaster:

Katara connects with Hamma over being from Southern Water Tribe and being hurt by the Fire Nation.

The Southern Raiders:

This entire episode focuses on Kya. She mentions her 5 times total. (Worth noting that Zuko brought it up in the first place).

It is also brought up in The Runaway by Sokka, and in Sozin’s Comet Part 4: Avatar Aang by Hakoda.

To sum up: Katara brings up her mother in a total of 11 episodes. 1 to establish the tragedy, 1 to comfrot Aang, 1 was outside of her control, 1 to confront the Fire Nation prince, 3 to connect with someone with similar experience of loss, and 4 times it's just about the necklace.

The claim that Katara brings up her mother "all the time" and out of context is entirely baseless. But I know what you're thinking:

Yeah it's bad. Really bad. But Katara is a 14 year old, dealing with grief. By no means this is an okay thing to say. But let's dive deeper – how her mother's death effected her, the dynamics it created and if there is any truth to what she's saying.

Katara has always been the care giver, the one who'll notice when you're in need, giving seemingly unconditional emotional support. Even prioritizing other's well being over her own. In The Deserter, Aang acted careless, using his firebendering to accidentally injure Katara. Unsuprisigly, Aang feels terrible about hurting her. He is confronted about it not by Katara, but by Sokka. Meanwhile Katara heals her own scar. And in the end, she's the one comforting guilty Aang.

Another instance is The Desert. The Gaang was stuck without Appa, with little to no supplies, in the middle of a desert. They're all hungry, exhausted and unsure of what's to come. Katara shows incredible resilience and empathy – she offers her bending water to everyone, but isn't show to drink any herself. And her response to Aang's outburst after semi failinh to get water from a cloud.

Katara: Wow, there's hardly any in here..

Aang: I'm sorry, okay?! It's a desert cloud! I did all I could! What's anyone else doing?! *Points at Katara* What are you doing?

Katara: Trying to keep everyone together. Let's just get moving. We need to head this direction.

In the end of the episode, Aang finds the sendbenders who stole Appa. He gets in the Avatar state, and while all the other characters run away, Katara stays, she hugs him in an uncontrollable rage. Want to hear something interesting? We don't see the characters express gratitude to her efforts. Even in the next episode she helps strangers give birth.

Instead of resolving her trauma, Katara internalized it. She became "the mother". She is the reason Sokka doesn't bring up his mother. I'd like to add a quote from Sokka in The Runaway:

"I'm gonna tell you something crazy. I never told anyone this before, but honestly, I'm not sure I can remember what my mother looked like. It really seems like my whole life, Katara has been the one looking out for me. She's always been the one that's there".

This is the closest we got to giving Katara the much needed support. Their grief is not the same.

Same goes for Aang's grief. Yes, he lost his entire nation. While Katara's grief molded her character, Aang's grief is only brought up when used in context. It's only brought up explicitly 3 times: In The Southern Air Temple, while finding out what happened for the first time; in The Storm for giving us his backstory and in The Guru when he has focus on his grief. It's also used to create another layer of tension 3 other times (The Northen Air Temple, The Desert and The Serpent's Pass). In every time it's brought up, it's linked to the overall plot/subplot in some way. It isn't something that is shown to change who he is as a person.

Katara on the other hand, took on the mother role in the age of eight, fundamentally changing who she is. She is used to swallowing her pain, to suck it up because others need help. Only showing weekness when alone, when no one from the Gaang is looking.

Almost everything about her is somehow linked to Kya. She cooks, she she sews, she gives orders – like a mother. A quote from The Runaway:

Katara: What do you think, Aang? Do I act like a mom?

Aang: Well, I-

Katara (intensively): Stop rudding your eye and speak clearly when you talk.

Aang: Yes ma'am!

That's her canonical love intereat what? So casually, it's about Kya. The trauma they all experienced is semi the same, but the impact was completely different. Katara's experience of grief is fundamentally different from Sokka's and Aang's and never had a proper closure.

Until The Southern Raiders. Katara has a chance to finally express all of this pent up trauma. You might not think it's healthy, or sympathetic, but now it's Katara's grief that is on full display. But Aang and Sokka weren't understanding. They suggest her to go right back to what she has been doing for years. Aang even compares her loss to losing Appa and tells her she sound like Jet. And in a moment of humanity, weekness and frustration, Katara lashes out.

#oh my god #I'm done #also don't get me started on the fact that katara also feels guilty of her mother's death #because she died instead of her #okay that's it #I swear #katara deserved better #katara deserves better #katara defense #in defense of katara #anti kataang #katara of the southern water tribe #the southern raiders #water tribe #atla katara #atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender #avatar katara #Avatar the last airbender katara #katara #avatar aang #katara meta #katara analysis #media analysis #analysis #atla meta #avatar the last airbender meta #atla analysis #katara my beloved

[i-d-e-g-a-f]

let me make something explicitly clear:

i hated kataang FAR before i started appreciating zutara.

my hate and distaste for kataang has nothing to do with zutara and all to do with the development and dynamic of the romance. i don’t hate it out of jealousy, i hate it because of what it is.

#my hatred for kataang and love for zutara ARE mutually exclusive fuck you #you’re all just too brain dead to understand that i genuinely dislike that problematic ass pairing so you shift blame and say it’s because #of the pairing i prefer #pro zutara #anti kataang #zutara #pro katara #pro zuko #zuko defense #katara defense #aang critical #anti aang #katara #zuko

[innocentimouto]

Katara gets a lot of hate for trusting Jet over Sokka

Quite a lot. I think there are a number of reasons for the hate, but I want to discuss why it’s understandable that she trusted Jet instead of Sokka.

Every new person Sokka has met until that point he viewed as an enemy and dangerous. And every time he was wrong. Aang was not only friendly, but a bender, an airbender, which were thought to be extinct. He brought joy to the Southern Water Tribe, something they lost in the war. And he’s the Avatar. The literal hope to end the war.

Haru. Another bender. Someone who also was separated from a parent and would be captured if discovered. The episode misses the mark, but there are crazy parallels between him and Katara. 

Both times Sokka was wrong and while it did endanger Katara and the others, both times they ended positively.

Everyone brings up this as Sokka’s episode. Except they forget it’s Sokka’s episode because this is the FIRST time his instincts were right.

Sokka has had a series of being wrong before this. From the beginning he viewed Katara’s bending as pointless and weird. He didn’t see the point of Aang bringing joy and fun to the village. He wanted Aang permanently banished, which didn’t happen or the village may have been burned down. He didn’t think Appa could fly, which if he was right, they wouldn’t have been able to save Aang.

He thought girls couldn’t also be warriors and spent the whole episode unlearning that. With Katara being the only one pointing out that it was too dangerous to stay in one place.

He wanted to go face a spirit to help Aang, something he has zero experience with and ended up getting captured for it.

He was right about the pirates in the previous episode, but I don’t like how he got the highground when he opened the series mocking her for her bending or that no one pointed out how important waterbending was to her.

And looking at it carefully, he was technically wrong in the long run since that greatly helped Katara to face Pakku, so it was important.

Even if you look at “Jet”, he still starts off wrong. Traveling on foot would take much longer and they still run the risk of running into soldiers, like what happened. He also wanted to be the leader despite, yet again, having had no good plans or opinions until that point.

His plan to escape the soldiers was to bluff.

He did come up with the plan to free Haru and the other earthbenders, but the plan to get captured was Katara’s, and the reason they even bothered helping the earthbenders was because of Katara. Not saying Sokka doesn’t deserve credit. He does. But that only happened because Katara pushed against his opinion.

And then he hated Jet before he knew Jet’s plans. And was very obvious about it. 

Mind you Katara was right about Sokka being angry that Suki was able to beat him. And she knew from experience that Sokka hated bending, particularly hers. And he wanted to be leader. Katara knew her brother.

Maybe she didn’t realize Sokka didn’t have that much confidence at that point and was insecure over his abilities.

And was very clearly jealous because of it. 

She had no reason to think anything was different this time.

It wasn’t that she trusted a random guy over her own brother. It was that Katara knew Sokka well and all past experience with him suggested he was suspicious because he’s always suspicious, he was insecure because he feels he needs to prove himself, and he was jumping to conclusions.

#Sokka #Sokka meta #Katara #Atla #Katara meta #Jet #Katara defense

[forevermore05]

I know the EIPs nonconsensual kiss is the most talked about. However, DOBS bothers me just as much. But I never see a lot of people talk about it. And I wondered why. I was talking to someone that I brought this up because it was bothering me and they told me: well, that's because Aang could have potentially died and he wanted to do something about his feelings before anything bad had happened. I begrudgingly gave into the idea, however, that kiss still bothered me. I understand that there could have been a potential where he could have died. However, that is not an excuse for out of the blue kiss someone when there has been no mention of feelings before that. Even if there were mentions of feelings that's not consent (there wasn't). Their dance in that cave is not consent. Anything that gave Aang the idea that it is ok for him to kiss Katara is not consent. His entitlement and affection for her are not consent. Just because you are going to do something life-threatening and you could die does not mean you force yourself on a person and she does not have to like it (by the look of her expression she did not look happy). She does not have to like your dying fantasy or be an object of it without her consent. Imagine, if Katara did not end up with Aang this scene would have been torn apart. But everyone's lucky that she did so it's not problematic (Sarcasm). I just hate how the scene is so normalized. Because when I watched it to write this, it was insane, Katara's dialogue "I've seen/watched you grow up, You're not this little goofy kid anymore" (it's like the writers were implying the mental age difference) drove me insane. I don't care if you say she blushed when these kinds of things happen of course you're going to get embarrassed and flustered. I have an immense amount of hatred for this scene. It was just never discussed enough. The Zutara community is the only safe place to do it.

Head Canon time (to make us feel better after this post): If Zuko ever found out about Aangs non-consensual kisses. I think Zuko would tear Aang apart.

#avatar the last airbender #katara #zutara #zuko #zuko x katara #anti aang #anti kataang #I scared myself watching that scene #katara deserved better #katara defense squad #atla critical #bryke critical #The reception on this post better be worth it

[i-am-suffer]

Kataang memes part 2!!!! 🌊🌫

#atla #avatar the last airbender #atla meme #kataang #atla ships #kataang defense squad #atla katara #atla aang

[shrimz08]

AANG ＆ OZAI PARALLELS: DEBUNKED

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Because apparently the true villain is the sole survivor of a genocide of his entire nation, and not the imperialist colonizer.

Where do I even begin?? Because I’m genuinely holding in laughter writing this, it’s absolutely insane how certain people can make such egregious parallels that aren’t even found in the first place. 

AH, so a little backstory on how this fucking shit stained idea even came to existence, well our dear z^tara fans pissed their pants over Zuko and Katara not tying the knot, so, as a way of retribution for their supposed “honour” They take any chance to jump on the Aang hate train and make him into some irredeemable abusive demon, aaand they got that perfect opportunity because the LoK decided to take a lick out of the great “Main Characters Must Be Bad Parents In The Sequels” Trope. Which personally, does absolutely nothing to the protagonists resolution aside from cheap family drama but I digress. 

Now, I’m not behind the idea of the writers trying to make Aang a “flawed” Parent, I think it really makes no sense by how they went about it, (I might touch on this in another post) 

((And it’s so very clear that they’re trying to give it a soft “retcon” And even taking extra steps saying that Kya and Bumi just “remember wrong” Which I’ll actually take, because season two of LOK was hell on earth anyway so you might as well give it some saving grace.)) 

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There’s three main parallels that they got from Ozai and Aang: (god help me)

Favouring a child

isolating the rest

leaving pressure On the golden child

I’m going to debunk all three of them while trying not to fall into complete lunacy over how ridiculous they are. 

Favouring a child + Leaving pressure: 

OK, so people are clearly blind with context clues and media comprehension, got it. No surprise whatsoever. I can’t be disappointed if I didn’t even have any expectations to begin with. 

Let’s compare the treatment on how Ozai treats Azula, and how Aang treats Tenzin. (Holy Shit)

Beginning with Ozai, well.. It doesn’t take much of a rocket scientist to understand that Ozai essentially could not give two fucks about Azula, as she in essence, serves the role of an attack dog, as long as it does its job, it’s worthy. 

Ozai favoured Azula because she was molded to match his ferocity and hunger for power, she was a prodigy bender, and was cunning and calculated, all traits that Ozai found endearing and someone worthy to be crowned the next “fire lord.” His “favouring” Of her didn’t come out of genuine love or care, she is his tool who serves a purpose. In short, she showed more competency and more ruthlessness and callousness in comparison to Zuko. Which earned her, her place as the “Golden Child.”  

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None of this is even remotely similar to how Aang treated Tenzin and his kids, aside from the fact he supposedly “favoured” Tenzin more, but that is such a baseline statement and has absolutely no relation with Ozai's reasons.

You have to understand that an entire FUCKING NATION IS DEAD. History, Culture, Tradition, is at the BRINK of being wiped out, Tenzin is quite literally the only Airbender that will be left after Aangs passing. Why do people devalue this concept so much? 

“B-BUT THE AIR ACOLYTES1!!” Still have limited knowledge, airbending is so heavily tied to its spiritual roots, you LOSE your ability to AIRBEND, if you aren't inclined to your spiritual side. Which is a core part of the air nomad culture. Tenzin is... Literally the only god forsaken part left of that, so yeah. It’s a pretty big fucking deal. Aang values his culture and teachings to such a high degree, he is literally the survivor of a genocide. His favouring of Tenzin was done out of necessity and love, not out of a need for power and a new attack dog to send orders around. 

Tenzin will literally be the future “Director” Or guide for the next avatar to learn airbending, people still forget this, and it’s hilarious. He needs to know all the moves, all the teachings because he will be the next avatar's personal guide. 

Aang constantly reassures him, and apologizes for the pressure that may be put upon him but he always reaffirms that he’ll be there to guide him and they’ll “learn together”

---------

So yeah not the same thing at all. Fuck you for being so inept at understanding the different reasons and perspectives of those situations, just for some petty ship discourse, genuinely disgusting.

Isolating the children:

OK this part, I have to say that the writers definitely messed up with aangs characterization, but I think the execution came out way differently than the intention, so I will try to look more into the intention of each decision.

Ozai isolated Zuko, mistreated him, belittled him, PHYSICALLY ABUSED HIM, but yeah totally on par with Aang actually. 

I don’t wanna touch on this part much mainly because his treatment was literally explained all throughout the show, and granted, while I understand most of these people haven’t touched the show aside from reading fanfic 300000 Where Aang is revealed to us as satan himself, but perhaps, even a small peak at Ozai's parenting would reveal the laughable contrast between the two.

Zuko was a slow learner, and much more of a softie, and a “mama's boy” To Ozai’s heavy dislike, he was thus treated as such, he was belittled, turned down, and literally burnt alive for showing “weakness” He is meant to serve as a direct contrast to Azula, ”The everything he isn't.” 

Kya and Bumi on the other hand, don’t show any actual signs of trauma aside from some petty jabs they threw at Tenzin, 

Bumis talk with Aang at the statue was *very very* Clearly, meant to highlight his own inferiority complex that he internalized growing up. His need for proving himself to be capable of doing just as much if not more than a “bender” Probably happened because his two parents were both prodigy benders and him being a first born son who was a non-bender must’ve hit pretty hard for him, and I’m so sure that katara and Aang reassured how special he is but that kind of thing doesn’t really go away.

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Kya: [while healing Bumi] I told you those rocks were slippery. You're lucky you didn't kill yourself.

Bumi: You done with the lecture, mom?

Kya: Oh, grow up. You haven't changed one bit since we were kids. You're still trying to prove you can do everything a bender can. Well, you can't. Deal with it.

----------------------

 That talk with Aangs statue was very much meant to unveil an internal struggle rather than a conflict he had with his father. Kya even doubles down on this, telling him “of course he’d be proud of you” Basically spoon feeding to us, the viewers, that this is much more of internal than an external conflict that he has to overcome along the show. 

“Why Didn’t he share his culture with them 1!!1!” 

He most definitely did, or tried to, but it’s clear they didn’t show much interest so he didn’t pester, this is shown many times throughout the show. 

“You know I could never keep all those gurus straight… There were like a million of them!

remember that long boring story about the guy who never ate?”

This is literally Kya’s remark to Tenzin just after he tried teaching the airbender students this story, basically telling us that Aang DID try to tell them about his stories and culture, but much to their disinterest, didn’t try any further. 

And Bumi, literally could not pay attention to the story to save his life, and instead decided to fool around in his literal 60’s!! I mean Imagine what he was like when he was a kid!! 

I could imagine their dynamic was very similar to Jinora with Meelo and Ikki, Tenzin being the only one with actual interest and care, whilst Bumi and Kya goofing off and not putting much focus onto it. WHICH IS FINE BTW!! 

It only goes to reiterate that Tenzin was the only one who was actually giving interest and attention to the air nomad culture, and it was of Kya and Bumi’s own personal choice to not partake in it. To each their own I see. 

“BUT WHAT ABOUT THE VACATIONS” 

This.. I agree, weird for the writers to decide this, but given how they low-key are retconning it in interviews, my best guess is that each of those trips were side-quests during their journey to teach an important lesson that might’ve just drowned out because Tenzin may not have remembered it as well. 

Also keep in mind that Tenzin was put into a lot of pressure, Aang probably saw this, and as a way to still keep it enjoyable, he took him to trips that would help ease the mind for a little kid whilst also learning something valuable. That seems pretty on brand for Aang actually

And given that Kya and Bumi are literally in their fucking 60’s it wouldn’t surprised me if they didn’t have the greatest memory. Hell, they didn’t even fault Aang as a parent until Tenzin started boasting about “trips” That Kya and Bumi gave petty jabs but weren’t actually showing genuine hurt, just annoyance.

Kya even comments how Aang was too busy “Trying to save the world, and doing his duty that he didn't have much time for them” 

Phrasing as if it wasn't anything "important" But it's clear that this was Kya's own personal irritation towards Tenzin rather than an actual evaluation on Aang's duties.

A continuation comic best explains it in a deeper way:

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Literally showing that “neglecting” His kids wasn't up to him, and was out of a sense of necessity, trying to cram as much knowledge onto Tenzin, the only one who was basically putting his lessons into practices. Kya and Bumi were left feeling neglected. But that wasn’t out of his decision; he still loved them dearly.

-------

This. Literally highlighting how much pressure was forced upon Aang, so yes, as any person would, he struggled with making time for everybody. Holy shit who knew?? 

GASP!! IS THAT… A REALISTIC BUT UNDERSTANDABLE FLAW!!?? HOW DARE YOU! ITS OZAI #2 

The fact that the smiley energetic person forgets to SMILE, is a big deal, man was put through hells amount of stress but he never cracked.

So tell me, how is a genocidal freak, who treats his golden child like a tool and abuses the other both physically and emotionally for showing “weakness’ 

Even remotely comparable to

 the sole survivor of a genocide, trying to withhold his teachings and culture onto literally his only child that showed actual effort in doing so, while also maintaining the balance of an entire fucking world and being literally the biggest “advisor” And “Mentor” For society, OH! And also building and managing a literal city, but along the way struggling to make time for his children. 

Guess what, they’re not. And if you think they are. You are an idiot, with bias and headcanons.

So the conclusion is, Aang is a flawed parent, but he isn't a "bad" Parent - confirmed by the literal writers.

Comparing him to Ozai a literal dictator, is absolutely sickening, just for your petty shipping discourse when this show's been over for a decade is insane. Indulge in what you enjoy, but stop projecting delusions like they're canon.

:D

#atla #avatar the last airbender #aang #pro aang #aang defense squad #the legend of korra #tenzin #kya ii #bumi ii #how could you hate this cutie #anti anti aang #anti zutara #pro kataang #kataang #you all suck #anti zutara fandom #katara x aang #aang meta