Be the Leaf

lia 24 | an atla/lok sideblog for my overwhelming love for both.

[airikki]

I’m sorry. I just nag you because, well, since I lost my son...

Uncle you don’t have to say it.

I think of you as my own.

[airikki]

Someone looks very well rested, judging by your bedhead.

[soncee]

Mommy Katara

[caara-mia]

[devinellekurtz]

When we first met

[kubo]

aang is the greatest character ever did you know

[kubo]

do you love aang. have you loved aang. when will you love aang.

[yaolmao]

sleepy gaang >>>> everyone else

[thedarkangel74]

In retrospect, one thing I kinda like in ATLA is how Zuko never tells the gaang how he got his scar.

It would have been cool to see their reactions to Zuko's story and see how their perspective on Zuko changed. And I have no doubt that he tells them about it at some point. But this way, it doesn't come off as emotional blackmail, with him trying to paint his actions as 'Yes, I hunted you across the world, but I actually had a really good reason."

If he did, he might have had a better chance of joining the Gaang, but he doesn't. In traditional Zuko fashion, he takes the most challenging route possible.

Zuko takes full accountability for his actions, even though they came from a place where he felt he had no choice. Because at the end of the day, he realized that even though his father put him on his avatar's path, he was the one who zealously attacked them at every opportunity. He isn't letting himself off the hook for anything.

[jaggedcliffs]

#zuko is so funny to me because at multiple points throughout the show if he had any manipulative bone in his damn body #he wouldve gotten somewhere #blue spirit? why are you throwing fire. the avatar is talking with you. LIE. #its so fucking funny bc the gaang is like 'zukos EVIL he is PLAYING you' guys zuko doesnt know how to do that. #full honest truth confessing insane shit in front of them. he didnt even gaf about being friends or being FORGIVEN it was abt the goal #'i need the avatar to take me into their group so i may aid in however possible to stop my father' that was the goal. truly was like #'take me as a prisoner if this is the way i can help' HES CRAZY (@ponytailzuko)

[thricewiddershins]

I cant believe I get to see them again.

[goblinchief]

Sent a 12 year old on a fake Hero’s Journey last week and holy shit he actually did it

[hippy-craic]

[comradekatara]

atla just so happened to write one of the most insane and complex brother sister relationships in all of television, and yet for some reason everyone focused on zuko and azula instead, even though they are basically just normal siblings, and as such not even that interesting ..

[comradekatara]

their dynamic is more fraught and tragic than you could ever comprehend……

this☝️ is just a typical sibling interaction

[adrenaline-revolver]

katara and sokka are what happens when you are your brother’s mother and your brother also tries to be your father. you love them, you hate them, you’re half of them, you can’t stand them, you look after them, they keep you safe.

azula and zuko are both just gifted kid burnouts with a dad that only loves the winner.

[likealittleheartbeat]

I love that zero relationships are made stronger through conflict in avatar the last airbender. War and oppression only serve to tear relationships apart in the show. I’ve already read some great pieces on the show’s depiction of colonial family dynamics. But the friendships and romances reflect it, too. There are no brothers in arms, no romances ignited because someone is leaving tomorrow for the battlefront.

As far as romantic relationships: Sokka loses Yue and twice has to leave Suki for their duty to the greater good. Katara is too overwhelmed with the conflict to invest in a relationship with Aang, and her first romantic feelings towards a boy are transformed into betrayal when Jet lies to her in his pursuit of justice. And even Zuko twice leaves Mai to pursue his “destiny.” And that’s just the kids. The adults are similarly submerged in devastated romance. We see so many single parents throughout the series. Many have lost their partner to the fire nation army. Some have incarcerated partners like Haru’s mother. Enlistment separates partners, too. And even the most dominating force in the world, Firelord Ozai, loses his partner in his desire for power.

Friendships are similarly prevented from blossoming within a culture of domination. Azula is the most evident example, with her friendships founded on obedience rather than mutual affection blowing up in her face. Zuko, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have any friends. Those oppressed by the fire nation establish their friendships in moments of safety, when the threat of violence is temporarily absent. “Do you want to go penguin sledding with me?” That’s the beginning of a friendship. They do not become friends fighting together. That is allyship. Look at The Blue Spirit. Zuko and Aang can fight together for a common cause, but this is not the shape of friendship. Even relationships between different marginalized groups are fraught with tensions founded in the imperial violence they’ve confronted. When Aang visits the Northern Air Temple, he is distraught over the desecration of the temple by the earth kingdom refugees. The violence they’ve each faced puts them in conflict with one another rather than providing a possible sense of kinship. It’s even more complicated when it comes to befriending across the lines of the oppressor and oppressed. Despite their affinity for one another and aligned goals, Zuko and Aang cannot truly establish their friendship until the system of domination is eliminated. Friendship is a dynamic between equals, and ATLA asks whether you can actually be friends across these lines if society refuses to be equitable. Friendships and romance depend not on conflict to deepen them but an active peacefulness.

When people talk about Avatar writing relationships poorly, I think maybe consider that the relationships weren’t actually supposed to be building up in any kind of traditional way in the show. I think ATLA was precisely focused on relationships being broken and sometimes even empty because of conflict. It’s only the last episode that’s meant to show the beginnings of things, the consummation of hope. For the first time there’s the possibility for these relationships to mean something rather than almost inevitably ending in tragedy.

“Let no one mistake us for the fruit of violence—but that violence, having passed through us, failed to spoil us.” —Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

[avatarparallels]

Iroh: I’m sorry, I just nag you because, well, ever since I lost my son… Zuko: Uncle, you don’t have to say it. Iroh: I think of you as my own.

[url-is-url]

I’m having feelings about Katara v Pakku again, and the fact that at this point in the series, Katara has never been in a fight that wasn’t to the death. Every fight she’s ever been in has had world-ending stakes. She’s not shooting to kill Pakku because she’s weaker and less trained than him - though she is - she’s shooting to kill because she doesn’t know any other way to fight. Friendly sparring, or fighting as a spectator sport, has not been a part of this girl’s life. Pakku’s fighting Katara to put troublesome teenagers in their place; Katara’s fighting Pakku because they’ll all die if Pakku doesn’t pull his head out of his ass and train the Avatar.

Pakku is genuinely surprised to see his own reflection in that disc of ice Katara shoots right past his face. If he hadn’t dodged, it would have sliced his head right open. He starts putting actual effort in after that.

[circlique]

How dare you hide this in the tags.

[lourek]

[Image description: tags.

#how many old ladies were completely unsurprised when kanna’s granddaughter came rolling into the nwt and picked a fight with pakku #do you think anybody won a 50 year old bet that day #atla

/end of ID]

[devinellekurtz]

The Dragon Dance

[taliasburns]

#the most important relationship in this entire show

[twin-azure-dragon-wave]

Avatar: the Last Airbender + Twitter Posts Part 2

[Part 5][Part 4][Part 3][Part 1]