lover when i sing my song, all the rivers are gonna sing along
kataang but make it hadestown
listen. Why would I choose cosmic energy over Katara is Aang's equivalent of Orpheus turning around AND I'M ILL ABOUT IT
i don't plan to draw them but just know that in this AU, Persephone & Hades are Roku & Sozin. so the gods aren't really gods but roku's generation (Hermes is Gyatso!)
the instrument is a tibetan dramyin. i was gonna put them in the hadestown outfits but,,, i love their color palette too much + using the canon designs or cultures they're based on 😔 also just. Aang With Jewelry
I've been working on these since easter istg i just haven't had the motivation to post lmao
also if i see movie spoilers under this post i'm launching the nukes.
What's in a (character) design? - Fire Nation Shaman
[From episodes 7 and 8 of TLOK Book 2: Spirits.]
Whenever I watched the "Beginnings" episodes I was always so charmed by this character's design (named only as "Shaman" on IMDB,) and also stumped on where the inspiration for her hairpiece was taken from. After some digging, I'm fairly certain I know the answer!
The Hlai or Li (黎) people of southeast China
The Li are an ethnic minority group in China from the island of Hainan off the southeast coast. They have their own language and culture and are further divided into five branches; the Qi, Ha, Run, Sai, and Meifu. They're part of the larger Kra-Dai language family in the Southeast Asian mainland.
The Shaman is wearing what appears to be bone or metal hairpins. Traditional Li hairpins and combs could be made out of wood, silver, bone, or copper. Modern hairpins have also been made out of aluminum. They are often decorated with carvings, or other metal charms and bells attached to the ends, which is a detail our Shaman is missing out of animation practicality. Li craftspeople are known for their work with silver, as well as traditional spinning, dyeing, weaving, and embroidery techniques.
[Note the different combinations and styles of the hairpins - the Shaman's seem pretty reminiscent of the simpler styles, but this is just my interpretation. Additionally, her necklace seems to be closer to traditional jewelry from Nagaland, if anything. She's probably your typical Avatar character design melting pot - to put it kindly.]
Interesting tidbits, the Li have a history of (failed) rebellion against the Tang Dynasty, as well as some examples of women becoming political leaders.
All in all, intentional or not, it seems to be a very good choice to draw inspiration from when designing a female Fire Nation character on an isolated island that diverged from the imperial core. The history of the human geography and ethnic migrations of Hainan and the Kra-Dai groups is also very interesting, gets you thinking about the hypothetical ethnic/human geography of the "Four" Nations!
Additional Readings
The Li ethnic minority
Goodman, David, ed. (2002). China's Provinces in Reform: Class, Community and Political Culture
Bangwei, Zhang (2016). "Women: Ethnic Women Living in the Territories of Liao, Western Xia, Jin and Dali, and Ethnic Settlements under the Jurisdiction of Song"
This is a great post! It makes perfect sense that the shaman who lived on an isolated island away from the rest of the Fire Nation would be visually inspired by an ethnic group from the island of Hainan, China's southernmost province.
Everyone, please check out @korraculture! Their posts are excellent.
Hello ATLA fans! With the recent changes to Fandom Metatags, a new change is coming to the way the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise fandom on AO3 is structured! Don’t worry, the existing fandom tags will remain as they are - this change will not impact your ability to search for works in specific fandoms (i.e. Legend of Korra, The Chronicles of the Avatar novels, etc.).
What is changing is that we are creating a new metatag for the fandom!
What is a metatag, you ask? Great question - think of metatags (and subtags) like file folders on your computer or in your Google Drive. In this analogy, the metatag is the top-level folder and the subtags are sub-folders that live inside that top-level folder.
New ATLA metatag: Avatar: The Last Airbender & Related Fandoms
All current and future ATLA-related fandoms will be sub-fandoms ("subtags") of the new Avatar: The Last Airbender & Related Fandoms fandom metatag. Currently, this includes:
Avatar: The Last Airbender (Cartoon 2005)
Avatar: Legend of Korra
Avatar: The Last Airbender: Chronicles of the Avatar Novels - Various
Avatar: The Last Airbender (Live Action TV 2024)
Avatar Legends (Roleplaying Game)
Avatar: The Last Airbender (Video Games 2006 2007)
Avatar: Realms Collide (Video Game)
There is no 2010 movie in Ba Sing Se The Last Airbender (2010)
As new ATLA franchise canon is released, those will be added as subfandoms as well. For more information on the hows and whys, keep reading below the cut!
Why are we making this change?
In short, to make it easier to filter and search for what you’re looking for!
Franchise-wide searching: Don’t care which part of canon is included in your search? No problem! Filter/search using the new metatag (Avatar: The Last Airbender & Related Fandoms) and all the fandoms listed above will be included in the results.
Specific sub-fandom searching: Only interested in works tagged as Legend of Korra or one of the other sub-fandoms? We’ve got you covered, too! Simply filter/search using the subfandom, and you’ll only see results that have the sub-fandom tagged. And if you want to exclude works where some or all of the other sub-fandoms are tagged, you can still do that as well! Just add those fandoms under the exclude filter.
Crossovers: Don’t like crossovers with external fandoms? Or maybe you LOVE crossovers? Either way, this change is good news for you! By organizing all the ATLA subfandoms under the overarching metatag, works that are tagged with multiple ATLA fandoms will no longer be treated as a crossover work by the filtering/search system! This means that:
When you exclude crossovers from your search, works tagged with multiple ATLA-related fandoms will now show up in the results (since the system no longer considers them to be crossovers since they are now all part of the same fandom tree).
When you include crossovers in your search, works tagged with ATLA fandoms and non-ATLA fandoms will still appear as usual.
Other ATLA Wrangling Tips
Beware the blue people Avatar! While you’re always welcome to tag your works however you like, we recommend selecting your preferred ATLA fandom directly from the dropdown or using phrasing specific to ATLA. If you tag your work’s fandom just using the word "Avatar" or something similar, you run the risk of your work being listed under the James Cameron Avatar franchise instead of ATLA. Tags are wrangled based on what they've most been used for, and many "Avatar" tags have already been made synonyms of James Cameron Avatar fandom tags.
Speaking of the dropdown - mind the dropdown! Because AO3’s dropdown prioritizes results that list a word multiple times, the first result may not always be the result you’re looking for. For example, the fandom for the ATLA novels is Avatar: The Last Airbender: Chronicles of the Avatar Novels - Various, which includes the word "Avatar" twice. We recommend double-checking what tag you select from the dropdown to make sure it's the fandom tag you intended!
Happy tagging! If you have questions or need help, please contact Support, who will be happy to offer any necessary guidance.
(From time to time, ao3org posts announcements of recent or upcoming wrangling changes on behalf of the Tag Wrangling Committee.)
Yesterday (5/8) my sweet kitty, Wiggles, had a sudden medical emergency, and I had to make the devastating decision to put her down. I am beyond heartbroken and shocked and now burdened with a large veterinary bill in the wake of this tragedy.
I know everyone is going through tough times right now, so I hate to do this, but I would find great relief in some of my financial stress being alleviated. For the sake of transparency, these funds would cover the expense of the check-up, blood panel, and cremation.
Thank you so much for your gift. If you cannot give financially at this time, I completely understand and would simply ask that you hug your own pets tighter tonight and think of Wiggles.
stormborns
areudirty
izzy806
