Little meow meow

°She / her° Zuko's defender of honor #1

[oxyintelligent]

Since this meme’s trending on twitter 🙏🏻

[archives468833]

Katara: Brings up her mother's death in an attempt to emphasize with other victims of violence. She uses her grief to connect with others and to provide sanctuary.

The fandom: Ugh! Why won't Katara shut the fuck up about her mama? Doesn't she know others have been through worse? Katara is such a bitch for what she said to Sokka!

Zuko: Was burned alive by his father and had his honor dangled in front of his face since the age of thirteen. He holds onto his honor so hard that it leads him to act in ways that could possibly kill him.

The fandom: Haha! Zuko's honor! So funny.

Jet: Mentally unstable from the ethnic cleansing of his village that made him the pseudo father of his team. He tried to do better but was brainwashed and killed mercilessly.

The show and fandom: Haha! Jet's dead. Fuck him tho.

Korra: Was groomed by her uncle and isolated from her support system. Her spirit was ripped from her body and was spiritually tortured.

The fandom: Why did that dumbass trust her uncle?

Aang: Aang is an adult man who dragged his politically important friends on a wild goose chase. He drove them into a storm while on a boat and nearly killed them at sea. When his wife/gf tried to get him to turn the ship around, Aang refused to address any of her points and instead used his trauma as a get out of jail card. Aang's trust in a stranger ended up killing them all but his gf/wife revived everyone. They all forgive Aang and go on a journey at the end of the movie to go collect artifacts from Aang's culture. He even gets a group of Air acolytes who dedicate their lives to Aang's culture and its survival.

The fandom: Yes, I will throw a temper tantrum if my goat experiences a fraction of what Katara and Korra went through in this fandom. Who cares about them? Only Aang gets to kill his friends. That doesn't reflect anything about him at all. If anything, they weren't supportive enough.

[zukoakgae]

fake zuko enjoyer checklist

1. i love him but—

2. zuko is aang’s number one glazer

3. *abuse joke*

4. *victim blaming*

5. poor helpless azula—

6. *throw him under the bus for old chinstrap*

7. for the “doomed siblings””poor azula deserved—“ variety of fake zuko fan: *kiyi hate for no reason other than the fact that she feels like the child character is stealing a role from azula that azula herself never wanted or the fact that kiyi character isn’t fully centered around propping up azula like they think every character should*

8. no you guys just don’t get it, zuko was a fascist and therefore needs to be “humbled” by this other fascist who did fuck all the entire show to make up for it and had to be made into a completely different person in the comics to fix it

9. REAL zuko stans bully him💯

[sokkastyles]

Azula stans trying to argue that Ursa bears responsibility for Azula being a violent imperialist and then trying to argue that actually, Azula's conquest of Ba Sing Se wasn't that bad because it was "bloodless."

There is so much wrong here for multiple reasons, but especially the paper thin veneer of pretending to care about the harm that imperialism does.

Aside from the same old victim blaming, it's just really telling that they only see the harm in how it affected Azula, and how she has to face responsibility for her own actions, while constantly downplaying those actions and the harm inflicted on the victims of imperialism.

[sugarcookielatte22]

The constant back and forth between “what Azula did wasn’t actually that bad” and “it’s not Azula’s fault it’s Iroh’s/Ursa’s/Zuko’s fault! they pushed her down the path that led her to do these horrible things” and “Azula such a badass girl boss when she runs circles around Long Feng and takes over Ba Sing Se” coming from these people is truly maddening.

[sokkastyles]

Azula is an itty bitty baby and nothing is ever her fault and also you hate children if you criticize her but also she's a master military strategist and everyone should appreciate how great she is but also she's an itty bitty baby and isn't it the adults' responsibility to take care of her but also isn't she a better general than Iroh but also shouldn't Iroh have taken care of her, she's just an itty bitty baby...

Also no one ever helped her doesn't she deserve a chance to get help but also isn't Zuko a piece of shit for having her institutionalized but like doesn't she deserve help she's mentally ill but how dare she be institutionalized like if only someone helped her but wasn't it harmful for Zuko to take her out of the institution when she wasn't ready but also wasn't that institution abusive but if only Azula were given a chance to get real mental help but not like professional help she's much better just wandering around in the wilderness looking for more vulnerable women to exploit but couldn't she be redeemed if someone helped her but not like when her mom tried to teach her right from wrong that was neglect I mean no one ever told Azula that violence was wrong if only someone would...

Also Iroh clearly sees her as just a little girl because he's a misogynist but also he sees her as hardened and evil when he should have helped her, I mean, she's just a little girl...

And Zuko was jealous of her greatness but also he's her big brother he should love his little bitty sister who he needs to recognize is so much better than him but also just a little bitty baby why won't he love her 😭

[mycroftrh]

There’s a post floating around about how Zuko not telling the Gaang how he got his scar reflects him “taking accountability” for his actions, instead of manipulating them by guilt-tripping them and placing responsibility onto Ozai, his adult abuser.

There are some replies to it pointing out that in general Zuko tends to not be manipulative (or lie) even when it would serve him, and explanations offered for this ranging from the Watsonian (largely “he’s autistic” and variants thereupon) to the Doylist (“he’s being narratively contrasted with very manipulative Azula”). Some other comments about him not wanting to share private trauma with people he doesn’t know well.

But in this particular case I don’t actually think it’s any of that, really, from Zuko’s point of view, because the most fundamental thing of it is that he’s an abused kid.

People don’t tend to appreciate how much growing up surrounded by the language of abuse, and/or in a culture of abuse (as Zuko was - dozens of people saw Ozai burn him, and none objected), affects you. It’s not just about the trauma directly. It’s about being forcibly taught that this is normal and deserved to the degree that you genuinely don’t realize most of the world doesn’t.

It’s about casually mentioning things about your childhood and everyone responding with shock and horror, and you being confused, because you had no idea that was yet another thing about your life that wasn’t normal. It’s about how you eventually realize you just can’t talk about the first couple decades of your life at all without being accused of trauma-dumping and guilt-tripping and manipulation, being punished again for failing to protect others from the discomfort of hearing second-hand about something you had to live through with a child’s body.

And the thing is? Zuko isn’t at that last sentence’s point yet, when we see him with the Gaang. He’s before that, at the “does not yet realize this isn’t normal” point. We know this, because of how he responds to Iroh at the end: kneeling in front of him waiting for punishment. He doesn’t think abuse is abnormal; he thinks it’s a natural and deserved response to his poor behavior, so thoroughly that he believes even Iroh would do it. All the way to the end of the show! (After he’s had any opportunity to say anything to the Gaang!)

Whether he would choose to explain his scar to the Gaang if he knew it would make them like/forgive him is a moot point. He had no idea that it would. With his frame of reference, he assumed their reactions would be somewhere in the range of “yeah, why are you whining about something that normal and mundane, I don’t bore you with stories of how Gyatso used airbending to punish me” to “dang, how badly did you fuck up to deserve that? you must be even worse a person than we realized” to “he went easy on you and should’ve done worse”.

It would never occur to him to share the scar story to get the Gaang to like/forgive him, because he has no way to know that they would react with shock and horror instead of dismissal or putting even more blame on him.

[sokkastyles]

I agree with this post, although I do want to add that for the above-mentioned examples of Zuko still coming to terms that his childhood wasn't normal, there are also scenes where he clearly knows it was wrong. He tells Ozai that it was wrong. He also shoots it back at Ty Lee when she says that bad vibes will give him bad skin. But I agree that he wouldn't use it to guilt-trip the gaang into forgiving him. Not just because he's internalized that he deserves it, though. Like on some level he does know that he didn't deserve the way he was treated, and that shows when Sokka says that it must have been hard to leave his family and he bitterly says that it wasn't that hard. But he's also doing the same thing here of downplaying the abuse. He doesn't act like it's normal, but he does internalize it as something he had to deal with and downplays Sokka's empathy for him because of it. He does something similar when Katara offers to heal his scar and he deflects and says he knows he'll never be free of it. So even when Zuko realizes that what happened to him was wrong, he'd still probably have trouble coming to terms with how other people would react to it. Even other people's caring/horror feels like shame, but then getting other people to understand is frustrating, too. The times he actually does talk about what happened to him that I can think of, it's when he's being deliberately combative. To Ozai, to Ty Lee, and also to Aang when Aang talks about sparing Ozai's life and Zuko says he was "the worst father in the history of fathers." Zuko's expecting people to argue with him in these scenes, to blame him, so he goes into fight mode. And I think that for a long time, those are going to be the only ways he can talk about it, either to downplay it when someone is expressing caring for him, because that's too foreign, too close to his own pain, or in a way that implies he expects people to argue with him, because isn't he really to blame? Logically, he knows he's not, but that doesn't make the feelings go away, and actually knowing that this would actually make his friends really horrified and sad might be even scarier.

[sokkastyles]

Hi! i love your blog.

a thought hit me a few weeks ago about Azula's friendship with Ty Lee and Mai.

Azula obviously respects nonbenders, she valued and admired Ty Lee and Mai's abilities. thats why she went to them for help in Book 2. but it is interesting to me how two nonbenders are her best friends, but no fellow firebenders. made me speculate she probably didnt want a firebender as a friend because she'd see them as inherent competition, or somehow a bigger threat to her. like she couldnt control them as easily.

again this is speculation, and I know Azula fans wont like it. im not even saying its very accurate, with Zuko (hes a firebender, but she doesnt feel threatened by him, mainly because Ozai openly talks down on him), and when she clearly sees herself and is told by Ozai and everyone shes one of the best firebenders of her generation. but i dont think its TOO out there with what we've seen of her.

Hi, and thanks!

No, I think you are absolutely right. I've seen Azula glazers say that her relationship with Mai and Ty Lee is proof she respects nonbenders, but that implies that she respects Mai and Ty Lee. She respects them as fighters, sure, but she also considers them beneath her and treats them awfully. And I do agree that she chose them in part because they are nonbenders. I think there are also psychological reasons why she was drawn to both Mai and Ty Lee, as each are emotionally isolated and vulnerable in their own way. But yeah, she would absolutely feel threatened by another firebender.

I've said before (and gotten attacked by Azula stans for saying) that Azula is too afraid of not being the best to actually challenge herself, and that's why she's not as good as she thinks she is. I agree that she does not feel threatened by Zuko because she was raised to see him as beneath her, but that starts to change once Zuko stops buying into Ozai's rhetoric. Her line to Ozai, "you can't treat me like Zuko" shows how threatened she is by the idea of being "like Zuko," and when she challenges him to an agni kai in the finale, she calls it "the showdown that was always meant to be."

This is interesting because it reveals that a part of Azula always felt threatened by Zuko. Her cruelty towards him is born of feeling superior, yes, but it's also born out of a desperate need to prove that she's superior. Like most bullies and abusers, Azula actually has a deep inferiority complex. Her stans got mad at me for saying that, too, but I don't think this is anything that isn't fairly obvious to anyone who has watched the show.

[marauders4evr]

I can't remember if I've ever posted about this (so many years, so many ATLA posts) but Zuko's very first scene ends with him saying:

He then proceeds to go on a three-season journey that culminates in one of the best animated redemption arcs. He ended up on the good side. The 'light' side. He literally went on a course for the light.

[mewcedes]

Hello foreshadowing!

[littleweowmeow]

Sometimes it really makes me laugh to read all this nonsense in the Atla fandom. Well, like. To make Azula look like the best firebender, as well as the smartest/most calculating/charismatic, etc./ the best candidate for the Fire Lord / not as bad as she could be, they need to humiliate Zuko. To make Aang look like Katara's best love interest, they need to humiliate, demonize, and erase Zuko's entire redemption arc. When I first joined Atla fandom, I thought, "Damn, why are there so many Zuko slander here?? Why do other characters stans (mostly) talk about him more than about their favorites?" Right now, I just think that my king is goated. It's like you always have only one obstacle.

[sokkastyles]

Hi, I hope you're doing well. One of the funniest statements I've heard in Atla fandom was, "Zutara's fans transfer Aang's personality to Zuko so he can be as charming, charismatic as Aang, and so on down the list." And as if... no? I know that Aang is a child and all that. But damn, it's like the coolest and most popular guy in school is the one who's always running away from responsibility and his girlfriend has to calm his tantrums. It just makes me laugh. It's like people like Zutara because Zuko not like Aang. Just what do you think about it? Hi, I hope you're doing well. One of the funniest things I heard in the Atla fandom was, "Zutara's fans transferred Aang's personality to Zuko so that he could be as charming and charismatic as Aang, and so on down the list." And as if... no? I know that Aang is a child and all that. But damn it, it seems that the coolest and most popular guy in school is the one who always runs away from responsibility, and his girlfriend has to calm his tantrums. It just makes me laugh. People like Zutara because Zuko is not like Aang. What do you think about it?

You're right that it's funny that people do this, considering that a lot of zutara shippers ship zutara because they don't like Aang as a love interest for Katara.

There are a couple reasons these accusations exist, though. On one level, it's sour grapes. Zuko is an incredibly popular character and Aang stans want what he had. Zuko is also an incredibly well-written character which means that his characteristics come across more believably than Aang. Zuko definitely didn't start out as charming and charismatic, but he went through a redemption arc that helped him to grow and learn how to have relationships with others. And although I tend to see even redeemed Zuko as more introverted, I don't think it's out of character to headcanon him post series as someone who can be charming and charismatic, since he learned from Iroh, a guy who makes friends wherever he goes. And while we were watching Zuko grow, we were presented Aang as a character who was extroverted and who made friends easily, but then the show didn't make him work for those relationships and kept him stagnant as a character. The show kinda attempts to do some interesting things there. In particular I am thinking of us being shown in certain scenes how Aang's bending prowess alienates him from others. He does not understand why the other airbenders don't want to play with him and he doesn't understand why Katara gets mad at him for picking up waterbending so easily. These SHOULD be significant social obstacles, but the narrative instead treats it as if they were wrong to resent Aang's skills. Because he's just so perfect, or something. The narrative wants so badly for Aang to be the best that it can't treat his flaws as actual flaws.

Add to that that the narrative also makes attempts to parallel Aang with Zuko that they don't go through with because, as I said above, they are afraid of really challenging Aang as a character, and it highlights even more how Zuko's narrative shines in comparison. So Zuko comes across as much more likeable because the narrative has to show us why we should like him, instead of telling us and just assuming we will like him because he's the hero.

The other reason Aang stans say this is because they can't let any who is not Aang have positive traits. If you consider the nice guy narrative that his relationship with Katara follows, remember that one of the key facets of the Nice Guy is that he needs to be the ONLY nice guy. This is why men like this always insist that every other man in existence (especially the ones that they see as obstacles to them getting the girl) is an asshole and an abuser. Bryke themselves bought into this misogynistic narrative when they said that women who like zutara are doomed to abusive relationships. The irony is that men who feel this entitled to women are, in fact, the ones who usually turn out to be the abusers.

[sokkastyles]

I think that when certain people talk about the last agni kai and what Azula "deserved," they tend to miss that Azula's end isn't just supposed to be a tragedy. It is tragic for her, yes, but it's also a happy ending for the world.

What I want to talk about today, though, is how I see some fans complaining about the indignity of where Azula ends up, as if it's not fair or she "deserves better," and as always it's just such a shame that so much discourse around Azula largely misses the point.

The last agni kai is supposed to emphasize the tragedy of Azula as a character, but it's also supposed to be grotesque. The catharsis of that moment is that Azula had opportunities to back down, but she didn't. She goes into the fight with her brother saying that it's "the showdown that was always meant to be" and that she's "sorry it has to end this way," confident that she will win against a brother she's been taught to view as lesser than her. The fact that she ends up crying huge, wet tears and spitting fire while chained to a grate is an example of what happens to people who seek to make others small to make themselves seem big.

A context I don't see talked about often is that we're told that an agni kai, under Sozin's regime, is supposed to end in the loser being burned. Something that Zuko consistently refuses to do to his opponents, and this is what gets him burned and banished, causing his most important character wound, the inciting incident of his arc. The fact that he doesn't wound Azula is a victory for him, even though she does burn him through cheating and trying to aim at Katara. Azula ending up unburned and confined is another insult to her, another nail in the coffin of her destructive worldview being proven wrong. The scene of her uselessly still trying to fight even after it's clear she's lost is sad, but it's also meant to emphasize her reluctance to let go of that destructive worldview that caused her downfall. It's supposed to be grotesque, it's supposed to be humiliating, it's supposed to invoke the cathartic end of characters who are brought low by their own hubris.

A last note, then, on that final shot of Katara looking away, while Zuko looks straight ahead, unflinching: Azula and Zuko are meant to be foils and parallels, and one way is through the pride/shame aspect. Azula begins the series extremely prideful, but we learn as the series goes on that this is due to a deep insecurity. Zuko has to learn the lesson that "pride is not the opposite of shame, it is its source." By the end of the series, Zuko has gotten rid of selfish pride and therefore no longer feels debilitating shame. That's what Zuko not looking away from Azula being consumed by pride and shame means. Katara looks away because this isn't a lesson she needed to learn, but Zuko absolutely could have been the one chained to the grate in the end if he hadn't learned the lessons he had throughout the series.

[sokkastyles]

"Zuko didn't actually care about the fire nation!"

*goes to their blog*

*they're an Azula stan*

*nothing they say actually matters*

Every. Time.

[sokkastyles]

After I blocked that person a brand new blog reblogged one of my posts today talking about how Azula only cares about serving the fire nation, you see, and her conquering Ba Sing Se was actually good because it was "bloodless," and a boatload of vile fascist nonsense. These people are like cockroaches.

[damianwaynelives]

I've had her defend herself saying it was a bloodless coup in a fic, but only in the context of someone calling her "the Butcher of Ba Sing Se." Her main point being that it is an inaccurate name. They both care about the Fire Nation, it's just about which of them was more successfully indoctrinated by their father.

[sokkastyles]

Azula only cares about the fire nation as an extension of herself and her own power. She does not actually care about the people, nor does Ozai. Zuko does. That's the whole point.

And I agree that that kind of arguing over semantics is the kind of thing Azula would do, but that's exactly how fascists perpetuate lies to justify their violence. It was only a bloodless coup because we weren't shown want happened afterwards, but after Azula destabilized the city's government and left, the city would have become an abattoir so butcher actually is a pretty good name. There is no such thing as a bloodless colonial takeover. And, indeed, Azula did propose slaughtering the entire city afterwards in book three.

[sokkastyles]

Whomp whomp somebody got mad enough about this to send an ask to my personal because they've already been blocked from this blog. I'm kind of surprised they used an old sock puppet when they could have just made a new one again, though.

What I said was actually "that's how fascists perpetuate lies to justify their violence." I didn't say Azula was a fascist, but if it quacks like a duck...

Anyway, in what fucking universe does a fourteen year old shoot fireballs at people, is a martial arts master, leads armies and stages a coup?

There's actually no age limit on fascism, it's a political ideology. And while most fourteen year olds just ascribe to whatever political ideology their parents believe, or the opposite if they hate their parents, if you believe in fascist ideology, you are indeed a fascist. If you ACT on fascist ideology, and have the power and agency to enact real harm on people because of it, you don't get a free pass because of age.

Nope, I'm not using it to describe "anything I don't like," I mean it in the very specific definition of the word.

Dictatorial power?

Forcible suppression of opposition?

Strong regimentation of society?

Extreme nationalism?

Militarism?

Belief that the nation or race is supreme over the individual?

Azula believes - and acts on - all of these things. She is a fascist.

The funny thing is that this whole thing started because some dumbshit (let's be real, it's probably the same person) wanted to cry to me about how Azula "cares about the Fire Nation." Azula cares about the Fire Nation in the sense that fascists "care" about their nations, and this kind of rhetoric is literally a fascist dogwhistle, as I said above. Azula cares about military force and power and proving that she's superior. She cares about the Fire Nation as an abstract entity that reflects on her own might and control, as someone existing in the top 1% of that nation, and everything in her world needs to serve that end.

The things she believes and does are textbook fascist and that's why the creators use visual references to Nazi Germany, for example, to show us this.

It's not subtle.

[xxboygutzxx]

Another cat zuko

[twinsarekeepers-deactivated2026]

Azula stans talking about “she can read people” and “she knows what Zuko is going to do before he does” sound like Aang stans who say he knows Katara better than she knows herself which is why he told her not to go confront her mother’s killer and instead, she should forgive the man.

[sokkastyles]

Why do you think Azula stans are so weird about Zuko?

And I'm not talking in general. I'm talking about /that/ specific cult on Tumblr, the ones who demonize him worse than Ozai, write fics about him SA-ing her or being ultra possessive of her in a romantic way. Like they loathe whatever fucked up version of Zuko they have in their head. But why do so many of them ship Zucest?

Because they want Azula to be the ultimate victim and Zuko's canon narrative challenges that. At the same time, they also hugely resent that Zuko got out and is no longer dependent on her or Ozai. They need Zuko to be the bad guy but they also need him to worship Azula and for her to be the center of his world.

It's not just about making Zuko a worse person to make Azula look better, it's not just about making a victim of abuse seem like the "real" abuser, although that's certainly part of it. But deeper than that, is a desire for Zuko to go down with Azula, because Zuko's redemption challenges the idea that Azula was just unfairly doomed by outside forces.

It's the same reason that Azula needed to convince Zuko to join her in the Crossroads of Destiny, the same reason she lies to Ozai about him killing Aang so that she can have something to hold over his head, while telling him she's doing it for his benefit. Because before that, Zuko was happy in a life that was completely separate from her, her father, and all the things that she was convinced made her superior.

Zuko HAS to be just as doomed as Azula in order to validate Azula's worldview. This is why I sideye (and often block on sight) when people refer to them as "doomed siblings" or "tragic siblings," in a way that implies that they are equal in this regard. Don't get me wrong, it is tragic that Zuko had to defeat his sister, but it's tragic for him because she hurt him. Azula's narrative is a tragedy because she's the cause of her own downfall. It's tragic that Zuko had to fight her in order to be free of that dynamic, but it's still a triumph that he is free. He is not "doomed" because he became a better person and his sister did not. He is not "doomed" for getting out. He is not obligated to go down with her. It's not wrong that Zuko is able to make a life for himself outside of his abusive family when Azula isn't.

This is also why I don't really believe all the Azula redemption stuff. Most of it isn't really about wanting to see her redeemed. These people are addicted to their manufactured outrage and anger and sense of victimhood. If Azula actually were redeemed, they would absolutely not know what to do.

It's why they hate Ursa and Iroh and Mai and Kiyi for the crime of loving Zuko, why they hate Zuko's redemption and they hate zutara. Zuko can't have a good life when Azula doesn't, especially one that doesn't revolve around his sister.

Also, there's already some predatory stuff in the way Azula behaves towards Zuko that can be interpreted as psychosexual, particularly in her possessiveness of him, and these people pick up on that but are doing the typical reverse victim and offender thing. It's victim blaming and also such a boringly heteronormative way to interpret their relationship. Like, we all know Zuko isn't the dominant one there.

[sokkastyles]

ZKs: What have we done to be so hated? We've literally done nothing wrong. It's so not fair!!! Everybody just hates us for no reason. Also ZKs: I think propagandized teenage girls should get punched in the throat when I don't like them.

No, actually what you mean is this:

Me: I think people who commit genocide should get punched in the throat

You, harassing me in my inbox: HOW DARE YOU!!!!

Also why are you making this about zutara shippers when your response about "propagandized teenage girls" makes it clear that this is about me calling out Azula apologism? Is it because the venn diagram of people who pretend to be progressive about hating zutara and people who are more than willing to excuse Azula for genocidal violence is a circle?

No, seriously, there have been like five different people deliberately posting zutara hate in the tags in the past week and wanking about how it was so bad of Zuko to encourage Katara to try to get justice and how she's much better off staying at home like a good little wife and ALLLL of them have been Azula stans, lmfao.

[ecoterrorist-katara]

on “Zutara is a colonizer x colonized ship”

“Colonizer” is not an ontological category. It’s a role within a specific geopolitical power dynamic, and therefore it can change — or even cease to exist — when these geopolitical power dynamics change (like when, idk, a Gaang of teenagers overthrow a genocidal imperialist colonial regime to install a new monarch who vows to stop the genocide and imperialism and colonization and bring about an era of love and peace)

I know it’s a bad faith anti argument, but it bothers me more than most anti Zutara arguments because I think it is indicative of a very pessimistic, defeatist attitude about power relations in general. Any type of oppressor is not a fixed role. It’s subject to change, and indeed ATLA’s message is that it’s your obligation — and your right, your power — to fight for that change, even if you’re just a ragtag group of kids against a whole empire. Calling Zuko a colonizer is not only a baffling misunderstanding of what colonization is, it also implies that even when you successfully challenge and restructure oppressive power dynamics, old sins cast long enough shadows that there is nothing you can do to be free of them. It’s one thing to acknowledge the complexities of a close relationship with someone who used to benefit from your oppression (indeed that’s kind of the whole arc of The Southern Raiders where Katara confronts the ways in which she has projected the trauma of her mother’s murder at the hands of the Fire Nation onto Zuko, who is now a valued ally). It’s quite another to claim that neither of you can ever escape the ontological categories of oppressor vs victim even if you’ve both changed the world.

[sokkastyles]

Those roles also shift more easily in a landscape like atla where benders exist, and people like the Avatar, and larger than life heroes.

The problem is that people treat "colonizer" like it's an identity, and tumblr is addicted to meaningless identity politics in place of real political action. Which is why they're so focused on a fantasy cartoon show to begin with.

[littleweowmeow]

In fact, I really like this bunch of dialogues and events. Like...

Zuko:

You're like my sister. Everything always came easy to her. She's a firebending prodigy and everyone adores her. My father says she was born lucky. He says I was lucky to be born. I don't need luck, though. I don't want it. I've always had to struggle and fight, and that's made me strong. It's made me who I am.

Then Azula to Long Feng :

I can see your whole history in your eyes. You were born with nothing. So you've had to struggle and connive and claw your way to power. But true power, the divine right to rule, is something you're born with. The truth is: they don't know which one of us is going to be sitting down on that throne, and which of us is going to be bowing down. But *I* know, and *you* know.

And then we get this:

Actually, I immediately think about it when I watch the arch with the earth king and it makes me giggle, but that's not really the point right now.

In fact, I have reasons to assert that the ideals of the Fire Nation of honor, glory and power are not their real worldview and values (this applies mainly to the ruling elite) and their way of manipulating others. For example, the ideal of a "strong man with honor and blah blah blah" (let's be honest, does anyone from the upper class in the Fire Nation have this honor?) He is only a cog in the huge propaganda machine that they spread to their people. The scene with Azula is quite revealing. Their whole worldview boils down to who you were born to be and your supposed superiority because of it, but it's fake and an illusion because this "superiority" is not their merit at all. But a man who wasn't born with power and somehow made his way there is being belittled because he wasn't born with a golden spoon in his mouth. Then what does a strong and ambitious person and everything like that have to do with it if it all comes down to something given from birth anyway? It's also a typical racist and nationalistic idea of someone being great simply because they were born as someone specific. In the scene at the North Pole, Zuko not only tries to resist his father's toxic image of himself, which he has been trying to hammer into him all his life, but also rejects one of the main ideas of his country. Because "luck" here is the meaning of something given to you from birth, which defines you in the future but Zuko doesn't agree with that.