Avatar Universe Meta Analysis

a deep dive into one of our favorite universes and the characters that are a part of it

[fournationsmeta]

Someone on Discord posts screenshots of your original Hama post (the one about how the Fire Nation weren't looking for Katara when her mother was unalived). I wanted you to know that your insights are Really Really Good, and you've acquired a new follower. (And I posted the link to your original article about it so that others could find you too.)

this is such a cool, special message to receive!! I know we all love tumblr but it’s cool to see posts being transferred to other platforms and shared! Idc where my posts go but damn do I love people discussing the same ideas. thanks for coming all the way here to show some love ❤️

life has been busy but I hope to get to answering some more asks soon

[fournationsmeta]

Are you okay ?

Hi friends new and old, I took a bit of a break from this blog but with LATLA out a lot of my old posts are getting renewed attention. Thank you for the new follows and love!! I’m going to try to go through some old asks/requests and post some more soon. Hope that’s cool with everybody :)

Inspo welcomed, missed you

[fournationsmeta]

So I had an epiphany about Gyatso tonight.

I was trying to wash my hair and my brain said:

Monk Gyatso was surrounded by the bodies of Fire Nation soldiers when they found his body. But how? Like how did that happen? Weren’t they all hyped up on the comet?

His clothes aren’t burned either!

If the firebenders killed Gyatso on sight...wouldn’t they be alive? If they just killed him...there wouldn’t have been any soldier casualties, right?

Well!

Y’all.

Gyatso said “I’m going out on my terms and I’m taking you with me” and sucked all the air out of the room, killing himself and a bunch of comet-overpowered firebenders in the process.

Fire can’t live without air; they’d be powerless.

That’s such a power move I cannot fathom it. I’m a Gyatso stan now.

[fournationsmeta]

By hasard, did you receive an ask about 'Lian The Maker', or did Tumblr eat it and you didn't received it ?

I did!! I’m sorry it’s still sitting in my inbox! I sent my brothers on a mission to locate our copy of the game after getting that ask because I wanted to get another look at it before answering. No news yet (because boys) but I DO want to give you a proper analysis of Lian 🥺

[fournationsmeta]

I know a lot of people HC Zuko to be blind/deaf on his scarred side. Do you think that would have added a larger dynamic to his character had canon specifically addressed that?

So I fully buy into this hc, but it actually does make sense to me that it wouldn’t be explored in canon.

Thinking about S1 Zuko, would that boy ever admit to the wounds he received in the Agni Kai permanently affecting his senses and, therefore, his ability to fight? Never. One of Zuko’s biggest fears is being seen as weak. It’s what ultimately got him banished.

So it makes perfect sense to me that any adverse impact (aside from the scar itself) wasn’t addressed. Because Zuko would be super protective over his weaknesses and certainly not be vocal about having a blindspot or being HOH on his left side. (please correct me if I’m being ableist at all in this post)

Do I think it could have added another layer to Zuko for this to be addressed? Yeah. But is it also super in character for Zuko to pretend that it’s only a scar and aside from that he is 100% ok? Also yeah.

[fournationsmeta]

Do you think blood bending could actually be used for medical purposes? As a sort of way to show that no form of bending is inherently evil or good, but can be used either way.

This is a 100% headcanon of mine for sure

I think it is so strongly within Katara’s character that she would take something as traumatizing as learning bloodbending by force from Hama and turn it into something that could be used for good.

Basically LoK is a lie and Katara didn’t outlaw bloodbending, she transformed it into a somewhat secretive healing discipline within waterbending

[fournationsmeta]

I’m answering asks tonight I SWEAR send em if you got em

[southslates]

They really had Zuko and Katara's arcs revolve around each other and then got so pissed about a non-canon ship becoming popular that they destroyed a character that was a role model for thousands of young girls by making her accomplishments void and refusing to acknowledge that the two even were friends, huh.

[fournationsmeta]

Aang was kinda onto something tho...

brb heading to the sea to sleep in ice for 100 years

see you in 2120 when all this crap is over

[fournationsmeta]

Y’all ever just like...scared of the internet

[fournationsmeta]

So I read some of your posts on Kya and the necklace and there's something I wanted to get your thoughts on. In a few episodes Katara says her mother gave her necklace to her (Imprisoned and The Waterbending Master I believe were the episodes). Yet in the Southern Raiders flashback we can see Kya is wearing the necklace. Do you think it's possible that when Hakoda and Katara reached her, Kya was alive long enough to give her the necklace?

Yeah, this is a plot hole that bugs me too. Because Katara does say her mother gave her the necklace, but she also says in TSR that when they got back to the hut Kya was gone. So, contradictory recollections. 

Which isn’t abnormal for trauma. 

I guess here’s my tentative theory on why the recollections don’t match up? Let’s assume that Kya was already dead when Hakoda and Katara got back to the hut, that would mean Katara (or Hakoda) had to remove the necklace from  Kya’s body. It would probably be less painful to just say “my mother gave it to me,” instead of, “my mother died wearing this necklace and now I wear it,” because she’d only just met Haru. 

Sharing the way her mother died is probably difficult enough without getting into the specifics. Also, since Yon Rha was already gone, I’m fairly certain that he had made certain that Kya was dead before walking away. He was on a mission sanctioned by the throne, no room for error. 

I think it’s probably a coping mechanism to think of the necklace as being indirectly handed down to Katara by her mother, as opposed to being taken off of Kya’s body after her murder. 

[fournationsmeta]

Katara sees Zuko waiting outside Iroh’s tent uncertainly and reassures him that if he’s really sorry for what he did, Iroh will forgive him. Does this give us an insight into what‘s happening in current Katara’s mind when she looks back on the Zuko-waiting-outside-her-tent-scene now that she forgave him? Is what she tells Zuko about Iroh what the current Katara would have told past waiting-outside-tent-Zuko about past angry-against-forgiving-him-Katara?

You guys read my mind sometimes! This is one of my #1 parallels in the entirety of AtLA.

I have so much to say about these two scenes. It does give us tons of insight into how far these two have come, to answer your first question. And when Katara reassures Zuko she’s speaking from experience. 

It’s so beautiful that this hothead has learned to have this much damn patience. I think this is the first time Katara cracked and saw the Zuko from the catacombs again and felt for him. 

(It’s also horrendously ugly that Zuko’s immediate action when seeking forgiveness is still to bow and wait) 

But anyway. 

Katara sees Zuko waiting once again outside of Iroh’s tent, seeking to atone for making the wrong choice. It’s deja vu for Katara, that’s why she goes to help Zuko. I really think Katara’s whole opinion of Zuko shifted the moment she saw him outside her tent the morning after she yelled at him. 

She’s used to being the one apologizing, not being apologized to. So when she sees Zuko preparing to wait it out for another entire night out of respect, their relationship has reached the point where she can tell him confidently that:

Because she was able to do it. (And she’s met Iroh, she’s watched him defend the moon spirit and stand agains Zhao.) I think, in a way, Katara is making it up to Zuko for not forgiving him sooner by encouraging him in this moment. Even after what they’d been through, Zuko is still unsure that he’s worthy of forgiveness. And that’s not gonna fly with Katara, because she cares for people so deeply and now that they’re friends Zuko is gonna know his worth. Because she certainly does. 

[fournationsmeta]

Seeing a screenshot of one of my tumblr posts on my insta explore page

[fournationsmeta]

A thought I had for a certain time : What if all the Avatars are Pansexuals ?

I mean

is this not canon?

I thought this was canon

[fournationsmeta]

Is there a reason ATLA never has a moment when water is used against lightning? Obviously, not a fire bender using water bending techniques to redirect lightning. But, specifically, water bending being used as a conductor of electricity to best an opponent or as a collaboration with a teammate in a fight. I kept waiting for it to happen. Does this happen anywhere else in later stories? Why might this neat strength of water bending be excluded?

I love that you asked this because this concept lives in my head rent free and I would also like to know WHY NOT as far as I know they never really explore this

Cool ass method of torture for sure

I don’t have a logical reason for why they never venture into this territory but I also might have written about this exact thing before because it’s cool as all hell

[fournationsmeta]

idk if anyone has pointed this out but Katara does this on Kyoshi Island shortly after meeting Zuko 

I am s c r e a m i n g 

[fournationsmeta]

How did I miss this so many times HOW

[stargirl-judooz]

What the hell!? I love this!!!

[fournationsmeta]

The most fun thing about analyzing animation is absolutely the fact that NOTHING IS UNINTENTIONAL. Even in scripted live action there’s room for actors to interpret the mood of a scene and a director can be like “loved that expression, we should keep that.”

But in animation, everything is done completely intentionally.

Do I think this scene necessarily means anything? Nope.

Do I think it’s absolutely hysterical that the animators chose to have Katara hold something aproximately the size, shape, and color of Zuko’s scar over her left eye a short time after meeting him? YES

[fournationsmeta]

idk if anyone has pointed this out but Katara does this on Kyoshi Island shortly after meeting Zuko 

I am s c r e a m i n g 

[fournationsmeta]

How did I miss this so many times HOW