Something fun to think about in a ZukAang AU (Fem!Zuko x Aang), is about the counselors being surprised about Fem!Zuko choosing Aang as her partner.
When the likely future candidates for partners or concubines for Fem!Zuko were:
Men older than her
Descendants of influential families with ideologies of the colonizing Fire Nation.
And Fem!Zuko being the first woman in the position of Firelord, she has been banished and dishonored with a mark on her face, a mockery of Fire Nation high society and a girl who wouldn't rise to the rank of concubine, but now... prospective candidates don't know how to court a woman who has a higher status than them.
Then there are those candidates who are only out for themselves, giving empty compliments and stupidly expensive gifts...
And they lost to the foreigner who has tattoos on his body.
How do you think Zutara's dynamic would change if both Zuko and Katara were female, what about if their genders were reversed? (M katara, F zuko?)
Oh this is interesting, I think their characters would both be very different and therefore their dynamic would too. Especially Katara.
The thing about canon Katara is that being female and therefore subject to misogyny was a huge impact on the character she became. In her very introduction, she’s irritated at Sokka for being misogynistic to her (with implications that this is a pattern) and we see multiple instances of her being overlooked or outright discriminated against for being female. It feeds into her drive to prove herself, to be a great waterbender, and contributes to her feeling an obligation to look after those around her at the expense of her own feelings.
Male!Katara would share some issues but not all. He would suffer the pressure of being the last southern waterbender, and having to hide that ability. He’d probably have somewhat of a paternal role at a young age, but not to the extent of his female counterpart. I also think it’s likely he would know hand-to-hand combat as well since he’d likely hunt but not be allowed to openly waterbend. He’d also still carry the burden of grief over his mother.
As for female!Zuko, I think she would suffer an added layer of misogyny on top of her abuse. There is no precedent for a female Fire Lord, so as a firstborn daughter, she might have been intended for political marriage for a young age. Her attempts to surpass Azula at firebending would have been deemed all the more pathetic by Ozai—proof to him that she’s only good for marriage and not leadership. This would have an impact on her and give her a strong drive to prove herself. I also think appearance would be a much bigger factor. There are only implications that canon Zuko feels insecure over his face, but female!Zuko would probably be even more impacted due to the pressure on women to be physically attractive (especially if she was a princess intended to be a bride). I think she’d probably be a bit butch and embrace her warrior side, deeming herself ugly (this would be interesting to work through). She fights with swords still and relentlessly pushes herself to excel at any skill she can.
How would these characters work together?
I actually really like femslash Zutara. Picture this—female!Zuko, told she’s weak and ugly and good for nothing but political marriage, encountering a powerful female waterbender. At first they fight, but over time gain an appreciation for each other. Eventually, female!Zuko finds a partner in Katara who admires her for her abilities as a warrior and a firebender, and on top of that, thinks she’s beautiful as she is. Her rough edges, her tough demeanor, everything she was told made her a failed woman, are all beautiful to Katara. Not to mention how she’d have an intimate ability to understand Katara’s own experiences of misogyny and its impact on her. They would have a truly beautiful connection.
Now male!Katara and female!Zuko… hard to say. To be completely honest I don’t seeing it having the same depth as canon or femslash Zutara, mainly because taking away femaleness from Katara’s character takes away a lot of the complexity (at least in my opinion). I think there would still be some “you’re beautiful as you are” and bonding over mom trauma but other than that I’m not sure.
imagine if fem zuko was flirting with her in the way she braided katara's hair by the swt customs & neither of them knew except sokka, staring intently while hiding behind a snow dune with suki—
While I was thinking on the Princess Usha AU (Fem!Zuko) I thought of Jet accompanying the gaang on their travels through the fire nation.
Yes, this will contain jetko, thankyou very much
In my particular version (only what I think, please check the tag and other users fics, THEY ARE AWESOME!) Jet doesn’t die and has a kind of relationship with Usha. When they fight Azula in the crystal catacombs she doesn’t go with her or the gaang, being separated as she tries to save aang and help all of them to escape. Jet and the freedom fighters escape with the gaang wich would mean he gets on the stolen fire nation ship and later goes to the fire nation.
I think this could be a great situation to explore his character, to develop him even more.
1) his relationships with Sokka and Katara:
This teens are now stucked together on a ship, what could go wrong?
Tensions would be on an all high road, that plus the fact no one knows if aang is gonna survive and the sudden knowledge that Jet’s girlfriend was the firelord daughter and that she betray her whole ass nation.
Jet, who probably slowly had come to terms that not all firebenders are monsters (maybe Usha talked with him and made him realize that), would be so conflicted, maybe regressing into anger. This would be a great moment for him and Sokka to bond over beating the other. A good heart to heart fist fight. Maybe he ends up braking down and we get to see things from his perspective, the boy who’s family was murdered in fromt of his eyes and was fuled by hate, the boy that lost everything he had twice and when he makes a genuin conection, when he starts to see things over the haze of revenge and hate, she ends up being the daughter of the monster under the bed, the one who ordered her village to be destroyed.
Sokka hates this guy, he is an asshole who broke his sister’s heart, who wanted to destroy a village, who was totally daranged, but now he sees him, broke down, weak, compleatly defeated. This makes him reconsider, to see things differently, after all, they are all in the same boat right? Now they can’t fight eachother, they need whoever can fight against the firelord on their side. With that in mind they start to bond, to comprehend eachother, they are not friends by any means but they have eachothers backs. Maybe he helps him to work through his PTSD? Being him to help him stay calm when they travel through the fire nation? making him remember this are civilians, not the enemy?
Maybe becoming friends at the end of the journery????
On other hand we have Katara who HATES THIS DUDE GUTS and is on edge, like she never was.
So at first she is openly hostile towards him, being coldly civil when needed and compleatly detesting how “friendly” his brother is towards Jet. Maybe it comes to a point that even Toph calls her out, she loves chaos but this is too much. It gets worse when Jet becomes actually helpful, wooing people to get out of problems, get information and cheper things/free things, when he starts befriending aang who gave him a second chance, when he and Sokka understand eachother.
It all could explode with Hama, here is when shit hits the fan for both her and Jet.
For Jet, he realize he would have ended like Hama, they have more or less the same core story. Is this what he will become? This monster? Maybe he breaks down again having a fight with Katara has to confront the fact that Jet isn’t this two dimensional jerk that broke her heart and tried to flood a village, that he is a victim just like her and that if she continues her path she could end like him and Hama.
From here we could have them both start working things, both helping the other to heal while still being snarky and a bit hostile.
2) The fire nation
This guy, who’s village was wipe out, who saw his parents being murdered by fire benders, who spend big part of his life fighting against anyone of the fire nation, is now on enemy territory. Can you imagine how nerve wracking that must be? He would be on edge 24/7, waiting for the other shoe to drop, jumping everytime someone firebends. Now he has to confronts that these are real people, with emotions and lives, that they are not the enemy, maybe even getting angry and cofused with himself after some time not thinking about it, just interacting and living.
And then he starts to hear the stories about Usha. Here she isn’t the exiled princess who disrespected her father. Yes, she was exiled but no one knows why, her scarring is probably an open secret, everyone coming up with their own story. She is a hero, she stopped the slaughter of the 41st Division, she visited injured soldier, she was KIND.
He hears them and the pain of feeling betray, of knowing that she is the daughter of a monster, lessens, she is her own persona, she is different, she isn’t a monster.
And later let’s add all the rumors about the princess returns, about the
sightings and the call to join the avatar and stop the fire lord.
He sure is gonna kiss this woman when they meet again.
I just think this would be an excelent way to devolp him even more and make an interesting story.
