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#lok critical
prying-pandora666 · 1 month
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I bet you that if we had gotten Book 4: Air, and there had been a time skip, we wouldn’t be seeing so much Aang hate today.
No really. If the show had been able to continue and gave us an older, edgier, more attractive Aang?
He would have fans falling all over themselves for him.
The thing is that ATLA ended when Aang was barely turning 13. A goofy, bald, pacifist, vegetarian 12 year old isn’t attractive and so too many fans discount him. How can he possibly compete with openly tormented and outwardly angry Zuko? Or quietly insecure and naturally hilarious Sokka?
Zuko and Sokka who are 16 and 15 respectively (nearing 17 and 16 by the end), and therefor at an age where romance is more relevant to most, and so are the focus of so much love and affection and especially shipping?
If Aang had been able to grow anywhere between 15 - 18, he’d be right up there with the other two. You’d see metas about his tragic backstory, suddenly more of the fandom would care about the loss of his entire people, about the survivor’s guilt, the intense loneliness, the diaspora, the yearning for common everyday things that now no one else in the world understands.
But we didn’t get that. Instead we got LOK, with an old, bearded, post-bucal fat removal Aang. An Aang who has already had children and has a controversial score on “dad ratings”.
The poor kid never stood a chance.
@book4air
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theotterpenguin · 3 months
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Katara's Legacy in LOK: "Healer Wife of the Avatar" (part I)
I only recently finished watching all of The Legend of Korra from start to finish. Based on the analyses I’ve read from the time the show was airing, there seemed to be a decent amount of backlash against how the adult gaang was portrayed - particularly Katara. LOK’s fanbase has grown since then, though, especially during the 2020 renaissance, and I was surprised by how many recent positive comments I’ve seen from fans on Katara’s role.
Because if you paid attention at all to Katara’s characterization compared to Aang, Sokka, Toph, and Zuko, it’s clear just how much Legend of Korra has tarnished her “legacy” or lack thereof.
I will be splitting this analysis of lok!Katara into two parts:
First, I will break down her portrayal in the show compared to the other members of the gaang to demonstrate how Katara received the worst treatment from the writers. Though I did have problems with the other characters’ portrayals as well, I don't have time to discuss them in-depth in this post. Then, I will counter common arguments used in defense of lok!Katara’s portrayal on the grounds that they do not provide an adequate in-universe explanation for her character’s drastic change from ATLA.
For part 1, I decided to examine everything we know about the gaang after the original series only based on the information provided via Legend of Korra (excluding poor Suki, who is never mentioned at all). For each character, I will answer the question “What do we know about [character] based solely on their role in Legend of Korra?”
Sokka
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Assuming we have never watched ATLA before, what do we know about Sokka based on LOK?
Well-respected for his wisdom and leadership, as he was Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, a councilman in Republic City (Representative of the Southern Water Tribe), and the chairman of the United Republic Council
Played a significant role in Yakone’s bloodbending trial - moderated the Council’s deliberations and announced their decision to find Yakone guilty
Worked together with other political/military leaders - Zuko, Tenzin, and Tonraq - to protect Avatar Korra by designing prisons for Red Lotus members that would be impervious to their bending
Toph mentioned they were friends in their youth, describing a time he was stuck in a hole when she was trying to teach Aang earthbending
Sokka, Toph, and Aang seemed to have remained friends into adulthood as they all worked together to defeat Yakone
Fond of his trusty boomerang, which he claimed to have used to win a fight against a man with combustion abilities
Due to his achievements, has a statue built in his honor in front of the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center in Republic City
Zuko
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Assuming we have never watched ATLA before, what do we know about Zuko based on LOK?
Former Fire Lord and co-founder of the United Republic, who worked with Avatar Aang after the 100 years war to transform the Fire Nation colonies into the United Republic of Nations
Zuko and Avatar Aang had a rocky start, as Zuko described a time when he once hired a man with combustion abilities to kill Aang in his youth, but they eventually became close friends
Acted as Aang’s counsel and was described as being the person who knew Aang better than everyone else, leading Korra to turn to him for advice
Good friends with the Southern Water Tribe - worked with Sokka, Tonraq, and Tenzin to imprison Red Lotus members that wanted to kidnap Korra, specifically working with Unalaq and Tonraq to build a prison to hold P’Li
Years later, continued to work against the Red Lotus when they broke out of prison
Investigated the prison break of Ming-Hua, sent word to Lin Beifong to protect Korra, then flew off on his dragon to stop the Red Lotus from breaking P’Li out of prison
Fought Ghazan using his firebending during the Red Lotus break-in
Discussed the Red Lotus situation with Lin, Korra, and the others, before leaving early on Druk (his dragon) to return to the Fire Nation and protect his family
Despite being in “retirement,” remains an active participant in international relations - makes appearances as Prince Wu’s coronation and Jinora’s airbending master ceremony, along with engaging in discussions with President Raiko, Tenzin, and Tonraq about the future of the Red Lotus after Zaheer was imprisoned again
Highly respected and honored for his achievements - Bolin and Mako were impressed to meet him, statue was built in his honor in Republic City
Had a close relationship with his Uncle and his surviving family include his daughter, Fire Lord Izumi, and his grandson, General Iroh II
Toph
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Assuming we have never watched ATLA before, what do we know about Toph based on LOK?
Previous Chief of Police in Republic City, founder of the first metalbending police force, founder of the first metalbending academy
Renowned for inventing metalbending, which is utilized for the development of modern technology and innovation in Republic City and the Earth Kingdom (particularly, Zaofu, is regarded as the safest city in the world due to it being made entirely out of metal)
To honor her metalbending achievements, there are several statues of her in Zaofu
Good friends with Avatar Aang, whom she affectionately named Twinkletoes, and was his earthbending teacher
Worked with Aang to arrest Yakone and was present at Yakone’s trial
Acted as a mentor to Korra, helping Korra face her fears and trained with her
Despite her old age and grumpy personality, Toph remained a strong fighter - easily able to beat Korra during training sessions, take down Kuvira’s sentries, and successfully break into Kuvira’s prison using her earthbending and metalbending abilities
States that her fighting days are over due to her old age, but has no problem fighting to save her family when they are captured by Kuvira (twice)
No interest in involving herself in current political problems in the Earth Kingdom, but will defend her family from political forces that threaten them
Strained relationship with her daughters (Suyin and Lin) because of how busy she was with her job, giving them too much freedom as she didn’t want to be as strict as her own parents
Covered up for Suyin’s crimes to save her reputation, leading her to retire early from guilt
Eventually repairs her relationship with her daughters - admitting she wasn’t a great mother but had great kids
Spent rest of her life living alone in a swamp, mentioning she has previous experiences with the visions it produces
High reputation in Republic City - has a statue of her built in front of police headquarters, Asami is impressed by her, Bolin calls her his hero
Aang
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Assuming we have never watched ATLA before, what do we know about Aang based on LOK?
Previous Avatar before Korra, negotiated relations between people of all nations to keep peace and balance and served as the bridge between the Spirit World and natural world
Worked with his closest friend Zuko to transform the Fire Nation Colonies into the United Republic of Nations after the war
Lost his entire culture of Air Nomads to genocide during the hundred year war and was devastated - his greatest dream was frequently described as rebuilding the Air Nation and reviving Air Nomad culture
He began to do this by founding the Air Acolytes, who preserved the culture, practices, and teachings of the Air Nomads passed on from Aang
Placed all of his hopes and dreams for the future on Tenzin's shoulders, his only airbender son
Deeply connected to the Spirit World and was an esteemed spiritual leader, hoping his son would one day experience the same
Traveled the world with Tenzin so he could learn as much as possible, but was so focused on doing his duty to the world that he never had time for his other kids, Kya and Bumi, whom he had with his wife, Katara
Kya and Bumi felt like a disappointment to their father for not being airbenders and Bumi never felt connected to his father’s culture until he became an airbender later in life
Aang’s acolytes did not even know Aang had other children besides Tenzin
All of this seems to indicate Aang valued the ability to airbend the most in his children, leading to his waterbending/nonbending kids being neglected
Greatest flaw mentioned as his tendency to cut and run when things get tough
Despite all this, he was highly respected and admired by most characters in the show for all his achievements as Avatar and his wisdom
Assisted in the arrest of Yakone with Toph, a friend of his, and used energybending to remove Yakone’s bending
Gave Korra advice along with restoring her bending and bestowed upon her the ability to energybend
His grandkids (Meelo, Jinora, and Ikki) enjoyed hearing stories about his youth, such as his visit to Wan Shi Tong’s spirit library and his time with Guru Pathik at the Eastern Air Temple
Described as natural leader by Tenzin, sweet-tempered by Lin, and was good friends with Iroh
He built the air temple on Air Temple Island and in his honor, Aang Memorial Island was named after him and a statue of him was built
He’s so well-known and respected that there are even Aang-themed carnival games at the South Pole
Katara
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Assuming we have never watched ATLA before, what do we know about Katara based on LOK?
Described as the best healer in the world, responsible for teaching Korra how to heal, and mentioned to be a waterbending master
Monitored Korra’s avatar training and spoke to the Order of the White Lotus when Korra was ready to begin airbending training
Declared bloodbending illegal, but was not present for Yakone’s capture or trial
Attempted to restore Korra’s bending after Amon took it, but failed
Failed to heal Jinora when she was trapped in the Spirit World
Tries to guide Korra’s healing process after she is poisoned, but is unable to heal her on her own
Worked to heal the injured after Unalaq’s attack
According to Toph, Katara didn’t get involved in the civil war taking place in her homeland because of her old age
Mentions to Korra she knows what it’s like to go through a traumatic experience but doesn’t elaborate, instead describing Aang’s trauma
Married to Avatar Aang and had three kids - Tenzin, Kya, and Bumi - and three grandchildren - Ikki, Jinora, and Meelo
After Aang and her brother died, she was incredibly lonely, prompting Kya to move to the south pole to be with her. Misses her family that has passed away.
Her kids don’t visit her much, Meelo doesn’t even recognize his grandmother. She cries when Tenzin and his family leave.
Never speaks about her own life, but Jinora asks her once about what happened to Zuko’s mom, indicating they may have known each other.
By reading those summaries, it should be obvious just how differently Katara’s character was treated by the writers compared to the others. Katara’s legacy is reduced to simply being the “healer wife of the Avatar.”
And before anyone tries to twist my words: The problem is not that she is a mother, a wife, and a healer. The problem that is all she is ever allowed to be. Her entire identity revolves around:
Trying to heal people
Being the Avatar’s wife and occasionally offering random pieces of advice about what Aang would do (instead of, you know, giving advice based on her own experiences)
Missing her family
Again, none of these characteristics are inherently negative - the problem is how poorly they are written for Katara’s character. We are told things about her that just don't match up with what is shown in LOK canon. We're told that she’s a world renowned healer, but every time we see her use these abilities, she fails. We’re told that she’s the Avatar’s wife, but he was closest to his friend, Zuko. We’re told that she’s a mother who cares about her family, but we don’t know anything about her relationship with her children (and in fact, we know far more about her children's relationship with Aang).
Katara has no characteristics, no personality outside of her relationship to others - whether she’s acting as a healer, a mother, or a wife (this is some textbook misogynistic writing). She never speaks about herself, never mentions having any friends - only ever speaking about her husband, never describes her life before being a mother or a wife, is never shown to be honored or respected in the way the rest of the gaang is, has no political titles, and has only one post-atla accomplishment to her name. This is in contrast to Aang, Zuko, and Toph - all of whom have children but are never reduced solely to being a parent, all of whom are implied to be close friends, and all of whom have made multiple important contributions to the world of LOK. Even Sokka - who is barely in the show - is shown as having more achievements than Katara. I’m not sure how anyone could see this as doing Katara’s character justice.
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I want to end with this excerpt from the book Avatar: The Last Airbender: Legacy - while not from Legend of Korra, this letter written by Katara to her and Aang's son, Tenzin, is a perfect demonstration of Katara's poor characterization post-ATLA. Despite being written by Katara, this entire letter is about Aang. I'm honestly not sure why the writers didn't just have this letter written by Aang himself because there are no insights that Katara adds to it.
The letter starts with Katara saying that she hopes this letter will help Tenzin "feel the pride of [his] heritage and gain a deeper understanding of who [he is]." And yet this letter never discusses the fact that Tenzin is the son of a waterbender and an airbender, never discusses any of the lessons Katara has learned in her life or the hardships she's overcome, never mentions any part of water tribe culture, never even mentions her own brother or father or mother (family is important to Katara, but apparently the writers only think that her family with Aang matters). The letter is entirely about Aang's struggles and triumphs because post-ATLA Katara doesn't matter outside of her relationship to her husband and kids.
Part 2
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stardust948 · 3 months
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Sokka literally has the best canon ships. It's a shame the writers didn't let him marry at least one of them.
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flowersadida · 4 months
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The idea of statue of Katara in LoK is great, I think it's missing, but... What about the statue of Princess Yue? I mean, she literally DIED to save not only her people and culture, but also waterbending itself and the balance of the spirit world. If it weren't for her, the world would have died. Shouldn't every resident's yurt have an altar where they could worship Yue as a literal goddess?
Why is it that when it comes to the badge of honor for the Water Tribe girls, the franchise chooses to ignore them?
I also don't see Yue's face as the new Moon Spirit in this image. But whatever? Ok...
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oceanview15 · 2 years
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I’m still mad that we never got Zuko telling Katara that bloodbending is just an aspect of her bending and is not inherently evil. Or that he knows what it’s like to fear the destruction you can cause with your bending but what really matters is who you are as a person and not what you have the potential of doing with your bending. Or him telling her that his new perspective on firebending makes him believe that bloodbending could also be used for good just like how firebending can be used in non destructive ways. But Katara staying in a healing hut for the rest of her days and banning bloodbending while Zuko goes on to continue fighting makes sense too I guess. That’s fun.
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survivalove · 25 days
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one day we’ll talk about how extremely xenophobic the atla fandom is in how they justify the original cast’s horrible writing in the (more western 😃) sequel series by demeaning and degrading the cultures that they’re based on
starting with: aang being a bad dad makes sense because he grew up with monks and didn’t have a biological father
how utterly disgusting and weird. but honestly i just feel bad that so many of you have been brainwashed so effectively
meanwhile zuko is, according to the fandom, a good father and that makes sense despite his biological father being abusive for his entire childhood
but watch they will bring up iroh as if aang didn’t have gyatso
watch how they will complain about toph being a cop despite her last canon appearance being a 12 year old just like aang
watch how they will criticize katara and sokka’s (lack of) character development while claim that aang was written perfectly.
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fanfic-lover-girl · 6 months
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Make Rohan a Bender but NOT an AIRBENDER
I know Pema wants Rohan to be a non-bender like her. But what would be cool is if he turned out to be a WATERBENDER.
Imagine how happy Katara would be! Kya it seems will never settle down and give Katara a grandkid. And Bumi became an airbender due to that dumb harmonic convergence crap (screw Korra btw). Rohan being a waterbender would force Tenzin to acknowledge the water tribe part of his heritage for once! Also maybe Katara could teach Rohan too :). Katara deserves to have a waterbending grandkid damnit and to be more involved in her own freaking family! Give LOK Katara some love please!
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makoxxlip · 7 months
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Korra can cook
Literally It's shown in the very first episode 😭😭
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and before anyone tell me it's not cooking- just go cook a fish well with fire only and catch it by yourself too since you want to speak on the QUEEN ��🏽
Korra is self sufficient and that's so sexy from her
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misssakurapetal28 · 7 days
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perfectlypanda · 2 years
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“By giving Aang, Zuko, Sokka, and Toph statues, LoK signals that these characters did important things with their lives that had a big, positive impact on people. By omitting a Katara statue, LoK implies, intentionally or unintentionally, that unlike her friends, Katara didn’t do anything important enough in her life to merit a statue commemorating her or her accomplishments.”  (via “Katara and the “Trophy Wife” Trope as Depicted in Legend of Korra”)
Katara deserved better.
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teratocore · 1 year
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It would make so much sense for Katara to pioneer waterbending healing techniques as a result of her being a fighter actually. These two traits of being a caring healer and a determined fighter don’t have to, and never have contradicted each other. Especially with a character like Katara where they implicitly complement each other.
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prying-pandora666 · 1 month
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honestly i've always thought it would be fun if toph was an architect of sorts or smth alongside being a teacher. she and sokka would work together designing republic city. and she was already an executive partner for earthen fires industries, which deals in construction work and the like. but seems like they felt the need to give her a permanent job i guess?
That would’ve been great for her! Give her a chance to use her creativity and her strength.
In the comics she was helping build up the Southern Water Tribe, as well as heading a metalbending academy.
Both were working for her character and had plenty of potential for growth.
I’ll never understand why they ever thought a corrupt cop was the better path for her.
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theotterpenguin · 3 months
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How LOK Fails to Do Katara Justice (part II)
In part one of this meta, I explained how Katara's character received the worst treatment in Legend of Korra compared to the other members of the gaang, and the sexist writing of lok!Katara so that she is only defined by her relationships to her husband and children. In the second part of this analysis, I will explain how the common arguments that are used in defense of LOK's poor writing do not provide an adequate in-universe explanation for Katara's drastic change from ATLA.
Defense of lok!Katara seems to boil down to three main points: 
1) The “leave it to the kids” excuse: Katara is from the previous generation so she shouldn’t be expected to be involved in the plot - it’s time for Korra’s team to have a turn.
2) The “old lady” excuse: Katara is too old to be fighting wars or getting involved in international politics.
3) The “people change” excuse: Katara’s character, personality, and goals would change over time because she’s older now.
I would be willing to accept these excuses under the condition that they are also applied to the other members of the gaang. Ignoring the fact that the Order of the White Lotus is literally a bunch of old guys fighting in wars in ATLA, if Toph and Zuko are also portrayed as too old to be fighting and leaving all their problems to the next generation to fix, along with Katara, it wouldn’t be as much of a problem. If Sokka, Aang, Toph, and Zuko are all portrayed as having different goals and motivations and characteristics than when they were younger, along with Katara, then again, it wouldn’t be as much of a problem. (It might be bad writing, but hey, at least it’s bad writing applied equally to every character). 
The problem is that it’s only Katara’s character that takes a complete 180 from how it was set up in ATLA, it’s only Katara’s character that is too old to fight to defend her family, it’s only Katara’s character who leaves all her problems to the kids and stays completely uninvolved from the geopolitical conflicts brewing around her.
 Returning to our original three excuses, let’s see how well they match with rest of the gaang’s portrayal in LOK:
1) “Leave it to the kids” excuse: 
I will be leaving Sokka and Aang out of this since they are dead at the time of the show (though it should be noted that flashbacks show both of them being heavily involved in global leadership roles and managing political conflicts). 
This excuse is not even close to applicable to Zuko. As soon as he finds out Zaheer has escaped from prison, he flies off on a dragon to check the other prisons. He warns Lin to look after Korra, but this doesn’t stop him from investigating with Tonraq on his own, without Korra and co's involvement. As soon as he hears his family may be in danger, he flies off on a dragon to protect them.
This excuse doesn’t apply to Toph. She does state that she agrees with Katara that it’s time to leave things to the kids, but her actions say differently. As soon as she finds out Suyin has been captured, she immediately attempts to find her - on her own, without consulting with the younger generation. When she realizes Suyin has been moved somewhere else, she works together with Korra and co to save her family - twice actually. She also involves herself in Korra’s life by helping her train and recover from her PTSD.
Meanwhile, Katara does nothing when her home is dragged into a civil war, does nothing when her family is kidnapped, and does nothing when a bloodbender is using his abilities to oppress others (despite being the one to outlaw bloodbending).
2) “Old lady” excuse:
Again, also not applicable to Aang and Sokka because they’re dead at the start of the show.
This excuse does not apply to Zuko whatsoever. He never mentions that being old prevents him from fighting or getting involved in the political conflicts that arise. He has no problem fighting Ghazan during the Red Lotus prison break-in and has no problem riding his dragon. He stays involved in international relations despite being “retired” from his position as Fire Lord - helping to track down the Red Lotus, attending important international events, and holding meetings with leaders of other nations (Tenzin, Raiko, Tonraq).
Toph tells Korra that her fighting days are over due to having back problems, but has no problem fighting Korra during training and easily takes out Kuvira’s army. 
Katara never fights during the entire show. And as far as I can remember, she never waterbends at all beyond healing on a few occasions.
I feel like it’s important to note that both excuses 1 and 2 are never even mentioned in regard to Zuko (or the Order of the White Lotus) - it’s only Toph and Katara that seem to be “too old” to fight and have to leave everything to the kids. Toph’s actions don’t align with her words, unlike Katara, but it doesn’t change the fact that these excuses are unequally applied to old women in Legend of Korra compared to the old men in Legend of Korra (and ATLA). Good old misogyny at work!
3) “People change” excuse:
Sokka: Begins his story in ATLA as son of the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, desperately trying to fill his father's shoes when Hakoda goes off to war. He becomes the defacto leader of the gaang over time due to his fondness for schedules, his leadership abilities, and analytical thinking skills. Despite being a nonbender, he held his own with his trusty boomerang and strategic thinking. Ends his story in LOK having taken over from his father as Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, putting those leadership skills to use. His intelligence and strategic thinking made him an ideal candidate to be a Representative for the Southern Water Tribe on the Republic City Council, as he could be trusted to make smart decisions that were the best for his tribe. He was even elected chairman of the council due to these skills. A statue was built in his honor, which included his favorite boomerang.
Zuko: Begins his story in ATLA learning to heal from his father’s abuse and, in the process, slowly comes to understand the evils of Fire Nation imperialism. He replaces his father as Fire Lord and vows to start a new era of peace and harmony, ending the war and the Fire Nation’s colonialism and imperialism. He also vowed to work together with the Avatar to maintain balance. Ends his story in LOK having achieved peace and prosperity in the Fire Nation again. Turned previous Fire Nation colonies into the United Republic of Nations - meant to be a safe haven for anyone, regardless of nationality or bender status - by working together with Aang. Fights against the Red Lotus to protect Avatar Korra and his family. His statue, in contrast to Ozai’s former statue, is one representing peace and hope.
Toph: Begins her story in ATLA rebelling against her strict parents, who are overprotective of her due to her blindness. She learns to rely on and trust others over the course of the series, realizing that accepting help from others doesn’t mean she’s weak. She enjoyed pulling scams on naive civilians in the show using her earthbending seismic abilities and participated in the Earth Rumble in her youth. She also invented metalbending and worked as Aang’s earthbending teacher. Ends her story in LOK having created a metalbending academy to teach others the bending speciality, along with establishing the first metalbending police force. Metalbending is shown as having made significant contributions to technological innovation and progress in the avatar world. Helped to train Korra while she’s recovering from the her capture by the Red Lotus. Though she liked breaking the rules when she was younger, she found it more fun to be the person in charge of the rules - leading her to become Captain of the Police Force. Still suffering the consequences of poor parenting as a child, she became an overly-lenient parent, leading to problems with her daughters. She states that her fighting days are over, but still seems to enjoy fighting Korra.
(As a side note: I do not agree with how the writers chose to take Toph’s story. Do I think they should have - and realistically, could have - gone in a different direction that did more justice to Toph’s character? Yes. However, I also see how it could potentially be possible that she became a cop and uninvolved parent based on her background. I don’t like it, but I can at least see some logic behind her storyline - unlike Katara’s. If anyone feels differently, I'd love to know your thoughts.)
Aang: Begins his story in ATLA learning to become the Avatar by mastering all four elements, mastering the Avatar State, and acting as a bridge between the human world and Spirit World. Struggles with being the sole survivor of the Air Nomads and attempting to keep his culture alive. Works to keep balance in the world among the four nations by defeating the imperial Fire Nation. Ends his story in LOK having achieved his goals as Avatar, successfully keeping peace amongst the four nations and establishing the United Republic of Nations as a sanctuary for all, no matter nationality or bender status. Considered a spiritual leader and successfully kept peace between the spirit world and human world. Had an airbender child and airbender grandkids, traveled the world to spread his culture, including building a temple on Air Temple Island in the United Republic, and other characters repeatedly state that for his entire life, his dream was to revive Air Nomad culture. 
Katara: Begins her story in ATLA trying to master her waterbending abilities, trying to teach herself on their journey. Views waterbending as a way to connect with her culture. She challenges the Northern Water Tribe’s sexism for the right to learn how to fight. Famously declares, “I don’t want to heal, I want to fight!” Passionate about standing up against injustice - causes a prison riot through an inspiring speech she gives, dresses up as a Fire Nation spirit to heal sick villagers, and goes after her mother’s killer. She is forced to bloodbend, a traumatic experience for her. Teaches Aang how to waterbend and is eventually bestowed the title of “master waterbender” by Pakku. Occasionally heals others when they get injured, but main focus is on development of her waterbending fighting abilities. Ends her story in LOK known as the best healer in the world, but fails to heal Korra and Jinora. Spends her time during the civil war on the sidelines, healing the injured. Marries and has kids with Aang. She’s lonely and her family doesn’t visit much. No known achievements beyond outlawing bloodbending (which she is somehow able to do without holding any political titles beyond that of the Avatar’s wife).
Hopefully it should be clear that Sokka, Aang, Toph, and Zuko's characteristics, goals, and motivations don't change as drastically as Katara's do. The writing of Katara in LOK did a disservice to her character. I've always deeply admired Katara for never failing to stand up against injustice, for her empathy and kindness even for those who are different from her, and for her determination not to let patriarchal norms define what she can and can't do. While LOK's portrayal of other characters provides a glimpse at how their character arcs in atla influenced the way they shaped the world, we never get a glimpse of the original Katara - only a lackluster imitation of someone with the same name.
If the Avatar franchise continues to expand with more post-ATLA content of the gaang as adults, I certainly hope Katara's characterization is improved.
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akiizayoi4869 · 2 days
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what are your thoughts on Republic city being a former Fire Nation colony ?
My thoughts on this is that it was a dumb decision/writing choice and Republic City should have never existed to begin with.
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appa-yeet-yeet · 21 days
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Aang in LOK
My issue isn’t that Aang is flawed, he already was in the OG by not wanting to accept responsibility among other things, my issue is that the neglectful father storyline was badly written. There’s no arc to it and it no characters other than his kids react to it. There’s no payoff or resolution.
To fix it, it could’ve been like Aang favors Tenzin, Katara, Sokka, Zuko, or Toph call him on it, he continues to do it by making excuses and then years later one or a couple of his kids call him out on it and he apologizes.
That would be so much more emotionally impactful. I’m good with flawed hero’s but I still need to see them grow.
That’s what I mean when I say that Aang deserved better. He deserved to face the consequences of his actions and learn but the writers didn’t allow him that. Justice for my guy Aang.
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Kuvira and Bryke's Problem with Moral Ambiguity
I will be honest with you...I really like Kuvira.
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She is probably one of my favorite characters from Legend of Korra. I like her design. I like a lot of the ideas behind her. And I think Zelda Williams did a great job with the character. So I can understand why Bryke wanted to do something different with her and try to redeem her.
Here's the problem. I love Kuvira...but she's also indicative of one of the show's biggest problems. Mainly the inability to commit to a morally ambiguous conflict.
Again, the whole point of Kuvira's character was that she wasn't a wholly irredeemable monster. That her methods, while heavy handed, weren't entirely in the wrong and her heart was in the right place. And we do see evidence of that early on with her forces giving relief to billages, stamping out bandits, and outing corrupt officials. Heavy handed and early warning signs sure, but nothing too over the top.
Then they made her into a power hungry dictator.
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Yeah. Kind of hard to sell her as sympathetic when she takes imagery from real life oppressive and fascist political parties and governments.
Sad thing is, Kuvira here is not the exception to this. Throughout The Legend of Korra, we are presented with many antagonistic groups that are responding to some injustice or moral qualm which doesn't paint the current status quo the heroes are defending in a good light. Non-bender discrimination led to Amon and the Equalists. Unalaq was a response to mankind losing touch with the Spirit World. The Red Lotus were spurned by corruption in high places. And Kuvira was restoring order to a broken Earth Kingdom full of anarchy. It's clear that Bryke intended for all of these groups and characters to have some kind of point to generate moral ambiguity. Asking whether or not Korra and Co were truly in the right.
Yet when it came time to deliver, the antagonists were almost always portrayed as being in the wrong and often were portrayed in a way that makes it difficult for the audience to truly sympathize with them. The Equalists and the Red Lotus become terrorists. Amon is a bender with flimsy reasonings. Unalaq literally fuses with the Avatar equivalent of Satan. And again, Kuvira becomes a dictator. While their points are given some credence, the characters themselves always become a final boss for the heroes to triumphantly defeat. Which...muddies the message since it becomes difficult to see the villains' argument when they're treated the way they are.
Now admittedly, it is difficult to write a character like this. Balancing out the character's reasonable and sympathetic traits with the need to be an opposing force to the protagonists who audiences are normally predisposed to root for. So the question remains: how do you go about finding this equilibrium?
While I'm not a professional writer, I can think of at least two good methods. The first is allowing the antagonist to do genuinely good things that seems at odds with their position. This could include a concern for civilians or their comrades, limiting their violence, or throwing themselves in the line of danger for the sake of others. Kuvira does demonstrate this a few times with sending relief to civilians who need it or choosing to face down the Avatar herself rather than ordering her men to do it.
The second is actually giving a concrete reason for why the antagonist is escalating things. Maybe the situation is just that bad where the antagonist feels the need to escalate or is a response to something that the heroes did. Perhaps the antagonist's grievances are legitimate and they have a solid reason to fight. Again, this is explored with Prince Wu's incompetence and the attempted assassination on Kuvira's life by Suyin. While her methods are heavy handed, you could see why she may need to employ them.
The foundations for a solid character are there. If they expanded on that, we could've had a fairly compelling conflict where neither side is entirely in the right nor are they in the wrong.
And then they introduced re-education camps and had Kuvira invent the Avatar equivalent of an atomic bomb.
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Uh...hate to be that guy, but why the hell is Kuvira sympathetic again? Especially when other villains who did far less evil get crapped on while she gets a redemption arc in the comics?
glares at what they did with Azula
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...I'm sorry but no. Korra wouldn't have ever turned out to be a fascist And trying to say the villain can be redeemed because they're like the hero raises so many flags for the franchise as a whole that I'm surprised they didn't do the same with Ozai. What? He's who Zuko would've ended up as if he went too far.
I get what they were getting at with Kuvira. I really do. And with better writing, maybe she could've been that character I mentioned. The groundworks are all there. But the problem they ran in was consistency and commitment. They failed to keep her sympathy and anti-villain status consistent by making her too horrible to properly feel for. And they never actually committed to fostering this morally ambiguous conflict.
Trust me, I'm not knocking against Kuvira and her fans. I'm really not. I understand the appeal. I even think a lot of her fans have better interpretations and ideas than Bryke (trust me, Kuvira has some pretty good fanfics out there). But if they wanted to redeem who we saw in the series, we needed more than a single comic trilogy. Especially when other characters don't even get a chance at that.
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