Look for everyone who is jumping down my throat and telling me I am making stuff up to bash Aang, I want to make it very clear that it is not my intention to do that at all, but instead remind you that Aang is not some revered hero, but instead a KID. Not in the mature sense of 'oh he's just a kid', NO this boy is literally twelve years old and qualified to be as selfish and insecure as he wants because again he's a kid. However that is why it is his greatest down fall in the series.
To me Zuko is the true hero of the story for all the reasons Aang is not, starting with the fact that he earned everything he has, born into a palace that set him up for every opportunity in the world, UNTIL he was literally scarred and banished to never return until he found some fabled figure that hasn't been seen in a hundred years, if ever to exist to begin with rather than just being a story.
The reason he was gone in the first place is because Aang threw a temper tantrum because again, CHILD, and by doing so dammed the world. Not his fault, just a fact that caused repercussions that echoed through out the century until he returned and was prepared to play again, only to find out his people were slaughtered and he is the last. Terrible and no excuses can be made for his pain, but the way he went about the rest of his task is still reflective of a child desperate to play rather than perform.
When Zuko was banished by his own father for simply speaking out against the plan to sacrafice innocent soldiers, he was punished publicly and brutally by the one man who was supposed to protect him, raise him in a peaceful world rather than tear it apart with war. So instead of getting to play in his youth he is forced on an impossible journey to regain his figment of honor so that he can reclaim his rightful place by his fathers side.
Throughout the series we see Aang learn new techniques and question the order of the new world, but never within the episodes do we see someone question him to the point where he alters his understanding. Each time he is faced with a problem he triumphs by his own rules, 'reshaping the clouds' to suit his own gains while the village watched below, just as his destiny has promised, him the only one who can save the world.
Zuko on the other hand fails, and fails again at every opportunity, not only when he ACTUALLY FINDS THE AVATAR, who has been missing for a century, but faces an unknown force called air bending that naturally beats him with surprise alone, but does that stop him from trying and trying again, not at all skippy, instead he learns Aangs moves and studies them naturally growing better against them, even as he is plagued with self doubt.
Aang is the avatar and gifted with natural abilities that are praised not only for their skill, but because of the rarity, his riding the unagi becaue he has air bending is cool, but much cooler simply because he is the only one in the world with access to the power, and he is the avatar, so he is praised and revered for everything he does, further boosting his ego rather than disciplining him.
Zuko constantly gets rejected and begins to understand the other side of things, growing up learning the fire nation was the greatest, but slowly deciphering for himself that they plagued the lands from which he shunned, both in 'Alone' and the inner rings of the circle when he works in the tea shop, slowly starting to understand other people views and change his ways even when they show him hate and actively fighting and despising him.
The first time Aang is brought to a crossroads, where something may be torn from him, aka when katara and sokka get news of their father, he steals it becaue he has a selfish desire to keep them around, its terrible, but again he is 12! and that is a justified reaction of losing what he loves, so when hes caught he runs away, only to be saved and then reunited with katara and sokka who decide to go with him despite his mistakes.
Zuko comes to a cross roads and falls into an intimate situation with katara in the catacombs, only to betray them in the hopes of regaining the honor he has been brainwashed to beleive is his only redemption, helping his sister who knows the proper ways to manipulate him without a second thought, and when he finally realizes his mistakes and tries to do the right thing he is shunned by the entire group and forced to work for their forgiveness, thereby learning EVEN MORE about the others and their ideals.
When Aang finds out katara wishes to seek vengeance on her mothers killer he actively protest and berates her desicions, forcing his own in her place rather than letting her make her own choice. When he expresses his desire to be with her and she rejects him, he kisses her rather than respecting her space their again forcing his own opinion on her without a thought for her own.
When zuko learns of katara desicion to find her fathers killer, he respects it and offers to take her there, waiting silently by her side for what comes next and even watching her blood bend without a word. When he first joins the group and katara vocalized her opinion against him, instead of talking over her or forcing his own upon her he sought out sokka's help and then waited the entire night for her to allow him a conversation, ON HER TIME
Whe Aang eventually realizes he is the one who must face the fire lord, he enlists the help of others who all tell him he must kill Ozai, and instead of reevaluating his views or even considering the option he runs away again like a child, NOTHING WRONG WITH NOT WANTING TO KILL, JUST LISTEN. This is while he is blocked out of the avatar state and seeks to find a way to open the gates, told by the monk to do so that he must let go of his earthly bonds and desires, which he as a monk was raised to do from the beginning of his life and is an active argument on his behalf and yet he refuses! Even after katara has openly rejected him.
When zuko understands his path is to teach Aang fire bending he abandons his crown and nation to face people he has openly fought and hunted in the hopes of finding redemption at any means, because the mission 'aka the world' is more important than the man. And when he comes to understand his entire way of life and fire bending are no longer relevant, considering he is a fugitive who can barely bend a spark, he seeks out a new form to entirely remake his soul, bending a sacred part of anyones life especially a prince, and in doing so gains the approval of dragons and accomplishes his goal of teaching the avatar.
When Aang faces ozai, without opening the avatar gate, he is willingly facing off against Hitler who is hell bent on whipping out the entire earth kingdom and their is absolutely no way for him to win without the avatar state and yet he chose to hold onto his childhood crush on katara WHO REJECTED HIM over the lives of an entire race of people and the end as he is losing, ITS A BEAUTIFUL SHOT, but he is saved by a single stone that unlocks the avatar state, which is a God tier power he just happened to be born with that requires no formal training.
When Zuko faces off against azula he does so with the skill and resolve of a true master, able to single handedly defeated the most terrifying bender in the series, not by some fabled gift, but his own mind and understanding, but again when faced with the predicament if the world, his throne and his life for katara's, he chooses her, literally diving in front of lighting and trusting that she could take care of it in his place and she does, and after they win they look on with sorrow at the pain Azula sustains, not triumph for their victory.
Then Aang beats ozai with his gift and takes away his bending, because it's against his own opinion therefore saving Hitler and causing zuko a world of mess in the comics after. 'But it's his way and he kept to his beliefs by not killing him' but that's just one man, and absolutely nothing to do with the army when the head of the snake is still alive and capable of leading
You know who else decided not to kill his father, Zuko! You know who actually stopped the war and reestablished balance within the world, Zuko! You know who treated all people and nations as equals who understood their own opinions by studying them within their ranks, Zuko.
You know who is praised for all the credit and therefore believing all his opinions were right from the beginning, Aang. Never once does he have to reevaluate his stance or understand a different perspective because everything always works out for the best. His possession of katara, his possession of his culture by which he wont compromise. In the comics he throws an entire tantrum when he first meets the air acalytes, claiming they are disrespecting the air nation and it's people. You know who tried to tear the fire nation out of the earth kingdom after the war, claiming it was wrong for families to be there who have been living for a century, Aang. You know what that little town turned into, republic city.
You know who actually fought for the citizens to stay in the city to help keep bonds, Zuko. You know who was so hell bent on doing the right thing that he made his bestfriend promise to kill him if he went of book, Zuko. You know who literally started a trend and protected the next avatar after Aangs death and continued to fight into his 70's Zuko.
You know who is remembered for stopping the war and bring balance to the world, Aang. You know who is praised as the creator of republic city with a gigantic statue in their harbor, Aang. You know who actually agreed to kill his bestfriend even though he refused to kill Hitler, Aang. You know who decided it would be best to keep katara at the south pole while he raised the single airbender as his heir apart from his other two kids, Aang. You know why he did that, its because since he was twelve years old he never once had to sacrafice his mindset or learn a new understanding and perception becaue all he ever did worked out and therefore he never needed to.
You know who completely altered his views of the world, Zuko. You know who actually stopped the war, rewrote the world starting with the most advanced civilization in the four nations, Zuko. You know who shows respect for his mother and new found sister by making them an intricate part of the nation, as well as raising a badass fire lady who is respected by the world, Zuko. You know who is the true hero of ATLA, Zuko, and it's because he found away to understand all four nations without their elements, incorporating their bending techniques into his own to better focus on their perception becaue he had to be broken down and remolded into something entirely new that the world had never seen. A villian turn hero, from banished prince to crowned lord who waded from darkness to light with an understanding of both side as well as four separate nations that became one, a new avatar without the elements if you will.
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