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soops | follows from sooperlative | a:tla sideblog | zutara

[sooperlative]

concept: some years after the end of the 100 year war the ember island players are invited by iroh and sokka to perform a play during like a,,, meeting of nations. and they come in and are instantly face to face with the avatar and their country’s literal leader, the latter of whom squints at them and goes “ah! butcherers of love amongst dragons! you got my scar on the wrong side by the way” like how do you deal with that. your fire lord admits to thinking you’re no good, but also admits to having watched the play you guys did and wrote about him and his besties in which he died horrifically at the hands of his currently imprisoned sister, because you obviously were wrong for predicting the avatar would lose. and the avatar’s like “i also didn’t die. surprise!” like you’re not 100% aware of that.

and sokka of the southern water tribe, war hero and brilliant strategist, is like “LOVE your stuff dudes” and tries not to get murdered by his sister (a master waterbender) (very deadly) (not whiny and lovelorn at all) who obviously does not agree with him. the blind (female) (small) earthbender is small and female and also highly deadly holy Shit you got that wrong. there was also a fucking kyoshi warrior you didn’t even know of. general iroh was quite on point but there’s a look in his eyes that reminds you far too much of the hardiest of soldiers returning shaken and volatile from the earth kingdom, but he serves you tea. you’re unsure whether you should drink it (and do it anyway, because the fire lord tells you to and one does not simply say No to the fire lord)

and you’re supposed to put on another play for team - fucking - avatar!! conquerors of ozai and harbingers of peace!! for their enjoyment!!! but the fire lord is glaring at you like he’s contemplating throwing you in prison for being kinda bad at acting and horrible at interpreting plays of literary significance, and it’s kinda scary, and what do you DO at that point????

[yayacyan]

Poor thing, she's dying from cringe 😔

I can't leave comments because of some network error

[kaylabeemarie]

Girl dad Zuko ❤️

[kaylabeemarie]

Zuko and baby Izumi ❤️

[lotustiled]

zuko and katara attempt to soft parent the gaang (and fail)

[1917120493-deactivated20201216]

[twinsarekeepers]

Discourse around TSR is always boring “Zuko was enabling Katara, Aang was right!” and never “there is importance to Zuko being Right There when Katara makes the decision to spare Yon Rah’s life. He’s acting not just as Katara’s foil in that episode but Yon Rah’s too. He was once someone who came to her village and took someone she cared about but now he’s standing next to her as the person who gave her the tools to seek justice in whatever way she needed/wanted. He’s the exact opposite of this pathetic empty shell of a man whimpering at her feet and begging for her to kill his mother instead. Zuko instead once reached out to empathize with her over the losses of their mothers and accepted her anger towards him as justified without any stipulations”. The parallels are literally begging to be dug into with how on the nose they are.

[five-flavor-soup]

the most popular hockey rpf ships in the GCU were 100% shayden and cliff/ilya (marlov? clilya?) and the hollanov reveal caused such a humongous crashout in the fandom that not even the rare hollanovs came out unscathed

[five-flavor-soup]

firelord zuko who loves going to the southern water tribe not just bc it makes katara happy but also bc he’s treated like a normal guy and is put to work and only needs to do breathing exercises to remain optimally warm. not only is he meditating as he goes, he can make himself SO useful outside of the politics of it all. kanna doesn’t feel like using the spark rocks for a fire? chop chop blowtorch boy, the fire won’t start itself. they need hot water? yeah katara’s boy can heat that up in a few seconds and he can also do the laundry. he’ll get to you in a minute he’s making me tea. hakoda is like mom you can’t just demand the firelord does chores and kanna goes well he’s not the firelord here is he. hashtag not my firelord. and don’t pretend you didn’t come in here to take him hunting. zuko is like oh i can tag along if you need me to and kanna goes no you need to do dishes after that tea is done. hakoda slinks back out and is like sorry boys the space heater can’t go, and sokka is like ah fuck. is gran-gran hogging him again. i was hoping he could warm my hands when they get cold. and katara goes well i wish you would all stop stealing my boyfriend but we can’t all get what we want can we sokka.

[nohardheroes]

Zuko and Katara

The Legend of Aang / Avatar: Aang, The Last Airbender

[demaparbat-hp]

👋🏻Hey Dema. Since canon never gave us an answer on whether Zuko can lightning bend or not, what are your thoughts?

Personallly I think he can but chooses not to with one exception when a bunch of yahoos tried to kidnap Izumi.

bonus angst points if he does it in the form ozai used to do.

Hi! I love that headcanon! Personally, I'd like to think he eventually figures out how to bend lightning, but uses it as a last resort. He leans more towards lightning redirection and dragon fire, becoming historically known and renowned for being the first firebender to have multicolored flames in centuries.

[pokidokieships]

Some sketches after all the leaks… I’m sorry I’m weak and I missed seeing these dorks so bad

[five-flavor-soup]

key detail to think of when interpreting the moment zuko says the guy is attractive as zukka potential is that sokka didn’t get it. he didn’t go yeah he’s attractive i agree he went 😬🤨. i fully understand the fujo impulse but this is sort of a maybe bi zuko only thing

[spacecasehobbit]

Azula felt unloved by her mother not because Ursa didn't love her, but because Ozai fed her a deeply unhealthy version of 'love' as a highly competetive, zero-sum game in which literally any degree of criticism or scolding must indicate general negative/unloving feelings towards the person being scolded.

Azula's feelings, particularly the ones she expresses in the beach episode, aren't an indication that Ursa didn't love Azula. They are an indication that Azula struggles to identify healthy expressions of parental love.

[themomentofdavyprentiss]

so you don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but i've seen ppl say the southern raiders is actually anti zutara bc they 'bring out the worst in eachother' and zuko would've let katara do something she regrets. i guess i was just wondering what your view on this is? cause i see where they're coming from but the fact that he let her make that choice on her own is...good, right? idk idk pls help lol

I would love to answer this!! 

The Southern Raiders is one of the most divisive episodes in the ATLA fandom, and the most divisive episode in the zutara fandom. You have some zutara shippers who would say that episode is the paragon of zutara and the reason they even ship it. Others would say it is the absolute worst example of zutara, and that they ship it despite that episode. 

I, personally, understand both sides of the argument and agree with both. 

But Susannah, you say. How can you possibly agree that The Southern Raiders is both the best and worst Zutara episode? 

Well, kids, there is this really cool thing called context, and it’s something I think is absolutely vital in understanding when it comes to this episode. 

I’ve said before that season three is like night and day in terms of quality. The season has some of the highest highs in the show, but also the lowest of lows. The clearest example would be The Awakening (episode 1) vs. The Headband (episode 2). The characters pull a huge 180 in just one episode, and it feels like you aren’t even watching the same show.  

The whole season is this constant tug of war, back and forth, between the show characters, and Bryke’s interpretation of them (or, if you will, the comic version of the characters). This is because, during the production of season three, Ehasz and Bryke suffered from huge creative differences. While the first two seasons pretty much let Ehasz do what he wanted with the narrative outline Bryke had created, season 3 saw a much harsher push for Bryke’s vision. 

The Southern Raiders is the episode where that is most clearly seen from scene to scene. Elizabeth Ehasz, writer of the episodes Zuko Alone and The Avatar and the Fire Lord, was the head writer for this episode, and in the process of writing said episode, was told to rewrite it by Bryke as it was considered ‘too shippy’. Because of this, the episode is basically fighting itself the entire time, caught in the cognitive dissonance of Elizabeth’s character interpretations and story writing and Bryke’s need for Zuko and Katara to be portrayed in the least romantic way possible in an episode where they spend the entire time together. 

For simplicity’s sake, let’s call this Elizabeth vs. Bryke, or, Zutara vs. Narrative.

Now with all of that said, I think the argument of anti-and-pro The Southern Raiders becomes a lot easier to break down.

Did the episode successfully portray Zutara in a way that would turn people against shipping it, or did the natural chemistry between the two characters still shine enough against the odds anyway? 

Well, like I said before, it did both. And I think in most cases, no matter which argument you look at, you’re going to find that to some degree, the person’s interpretation is accurate. Because one of them is going to be looking at what Bryke contributed and one is going to be looking at what Elizabeth contributed. 

That’s not to say I agree with everyone’s arguments against Zutara in this episode. I don’t agree that they bring out the worst in each other in this episode, I don’t believe Aang was right, and I definitely don’t agree that it portrays a toxic or unhealthy relationship. 

However, it definitely does some things… not right. My biggest issue personally is that Zuko takes on the role of ‘The Devil on Katara’s Shoulder’ during the whole fight between her and Aang. 

Aang was definitely in the wrong on this one. I’m not about to defend anything he said or tried to do to stop her. But, Zuko takes on this really one-dimensional bad boy personality of ‘Oh you’re just an immature kid who’s stupid and you don’t know what you’re talking about’ which is so unbelievably out of character for Zuko, especially in an episode written by the same woman who wrote an episode (Zuko Alone) that’s sole purpose was to humanize him. Elizabeth Ehasz’s biggest strength is character exposition and development, and I find it really hard to believe that she’d give Zuko a line such as ‘Alright Guru Goody-Goody, we’ll be sure to do that’. I mean, really? 

Nice try, Bryke, but I can see your influence there clear as day. 

I’m assuming you mentioned the whole ‘he let her make the choice’ thing so I could validate that you’re right. You want to know whether I’m going to say ‘Hey! He didn’t say anything which means the choice was hers! He let her do what she needed in terms of facing him! Couple goals!!!” or “He was an enabler and should have done something to stop her, or else the whole scene could’ve ended horribly.” 

I’m going to say neither. Personally, I don’t see it as either. I see the episode as two teenagers, both deeply hurt and unable to move past the loss of their mothers, going on a necessary journey to heal and move past what happened. There was no right choice, no ultimate outcome, no right or wrong way for the events to happen. They just were. They were two teenagers affected by war having to do things no teenager should ever have to be in the position of doing. 

This wasn’t a show of who they would be as a couple. Nothing about this episode, except for her forgiving him at the end, was a real indicator of who they would be together outside of those events. 

If you think that the final outcome was bad and toxic, that’s fine. I understand why. You think that Katara needed someone to pull her in and stop her from potentially doing something she would always regret. 

If you think that they showed a real and genuine understanding of each other and portrayed a balanced and healthy relationship, that’s fine too. By Zuko not saying anything and letting her go through the motions on her own, he gave her a way to heal and do what she needed to do, outside of what anyone else told her she needed to do. 

Just like there was no right way for the episode’s events to play out, there is no right or ultimate way to interpret Zutara in this episode. 

I wish we had Elizabeth’s original script and idea for the episode. I think then if there were no forces trying to stop zutara from ‘being a thing’ in this episode, it’d be a lot easier to say whether or not they were good for each other in the episode.

But, the episode we have is all we’ve got. All I can say is, find the interpretation of the events that resonates with you most, and that you think is the best example of who the characters were in that episode, whether or not it’s positive or negative. 

[demaparbat-hp]

The answer is always yes

[sokkastyles]

Saw a post from an Azula stan saying that the scene with the baby picture of Ozai is supposed to show that anyone is redeemable, which is funny because that scene actually shows the opposite, and directly addresses the problem many Azula stans have with believing that just because someone was once an innocent child automatically means they can or should be redeemed. When Aang proposes this idea of appealing to Ozai's childhood innocence, and asks Zuko if it will work, Zuko says no and everyone laughs. Then, later, when Aang does try to offer Ozai a chance at redemption, Ozai doubles down and Aang has to pull out the energy bending he learned from the lion turtle to stop him. The appeal to Ozai's "good side" never works.

And that's because what the show is saying about redemption is twofold. Anyone can be redeemed, but the other part of that is if they work for it. You cannot redeem someone who won't accept redemption or sees nothing wrong with their actions, and appealing to the innocent child isn't enough. It's not that people just need to see that Azula was once an innocent child, it's that having once been an innocent child is not a testament to whether or not redemption can be achieved. Otherwise everyone in the show would see the error of their ways and agree to never do anything bad again, and that's not what happens, nor should it be because that is not realistic and does nothing to address hate and bigotry and evil.

The show having the others originally assume that the baby in the picture is Zuko also underscores this point. They want to believe that the sweet, innocent child is someone they know to be good, because that's comfortable. It also goes back to Katara saying in the Western Air Temple that Zuko was "pretending to be a real human being with feelings" because our instinct as humans is to believe that people are essentially good. Which is a great thing, but it's also what causes us to distance ourselves from people we see as bad, to say that they're "monsters" or "inhuman" because it's easier that way. Coming to accept that Zuko was genuinely remorseful for his actions was a moment of growth for both of them.

Interestingly, the only person who says that Azula is a monster is herself. She attributes the words to Ursa, but she's really talking about her own dissociation and inability to accept the guilt of her actions. Which says a lot more about her own mindset and inability to work towards redemption, much more than it does about how other people see her.

[sooperlative]

it’s pointless to say that someone being a human being (once a child) is why they can be redeemed, if the human being in question does not want to be seen as a human. I once wrote this, and I still agree with it:

He doesn’t know how to feel about it. Doesn’t, initially, want to think of father as human rather than a monster in a human suit. The handwritten missive-letter reminds him of the painting Katara managed to find on Ember Island, in another life—the happy toddler, grinning with two baby teeth peeking out of his gums, a small tuft of black hair on his head and chubby fists digging up sand.

“Baby Zuko,” she’d said, beaming and red-cheeked and unknowingly wrong. “Isn’t he cute?”

Zuko realises, with wisdom acquired through being too old for his body in both his lives, that father’s humanity perhaps never left him but his kindness did: squashed before it had the time to take root in his limbs and nerves by a mother who left this plane too early and a father who expressed his grief through fury and cruelty and a brother who mindlessly charged through enemy territory like a machine. Thinks that perhaps it could’ve been different, father could’ve been different, if he’d been properly taken care of like a child should.

It’s however pointless to mull on what ifs, and father is just a man. A human is a human is a human, good or evil, cruel or kind. Zuko has seen father as a towering, powerful shadow only capable of harming, as a weak man simmering with malice and unable to wield fire, and as a dad who rested his hand on his son’s shoulder and squeezed.

The moment mother disappeared, and perhaps before, perhaps mother’s disappearance had nothing to do with it—from that point on Zuko hadn’t been treated the way a child should, and neither had Azula. Too old and too young, half a nod for a job well done. Like father had been raised, probably; an adult not yet worthy of being respected like one, fostering festering envy and hunger for unmatched power.

But Zuko turned out fine, eventually. But Zuko had and has Uncle, had Katara and Aang and Sokka and Toph.

But father is human.

Ozai the Usurper, First of his Name. The failing Fire Lord, defeated by the Avatar after six years of rule—defeated by the one he hadn’t believed in, the son he’d marked a failure, the enemies he’d disregarded as weak. Ozai, the Fire Lord, the one frightened of flames near his face, sitting down and personally writing a letter to the son who could have taken his life but didn’t. Personally writing a weak attempt at intimidation to the thirteen-year-old child who cupped his cheek and smiled as he melted it. Personally writing ‘you won, this time’, and ‘don’t think there will be a next’ between the lines of stiff, informative formality, instead of ordering his army of scribes to brush on the ink whilst he dictated.

Ozai, his father, whose image has just been further solidified as that of a person rather than of a looming, untouchable threat.

and:

He thinks that perhaps, inhumanity is born from a willingness to believe others are inhuman.

and the point of that is, they need to want it. it’s good that Aang saw Ozai as a human being who could possibly see redemption—refusing to see him as human could set him on a wrong path, or threaten him with losing the upcoming battle, because you can’t fight a god—but it’s also good that Zuko reminded Aang that Ozai wouldn’t want to be redeemed. there’s no redemption for a villain who thinks they’re in the right. Ozai tried to shape himself into something inhuman, something beyond it, and his whole character’s point is that he’s wrong but refuses to acknowledge that.

and Azula, as far as we’ve seen, thinks she’s in the right too. she thinks she’s superior. thinks of the other peoples as subhuman, and of her own as lesser than her. if she doesn’t want to be redeemed, because she believes there’s nothing to redeem, she can’t be. Zuko had to want it and prove himself and he did.