#jet meta

[vistarya]

Could not stop laughing over the idea of Jet being there during this conversation like what a fucking unnecessary callout Aang

[mierstaer]

I have never publicly said this but : Jet drowning Gaipan and Zuko burning down Kyoshi Island are

1) narrative parallels

2) are widely exaggerated by the fandom as actions taking place in a 100 years war and performed by two teenagers

because yes context does matter. and you CANNOT possibly think that these actions come even close to the atrocities of what the rough rhinos did to Jet’s village or what Ozai intended to do to the Earth Kingdom.

NO THIS IS NOT ME EXCUSING WHAT THEY DID. DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THIS.

all I’m saying is that context, intentions and knowing what is going on in a character’s head are actually important in that case for a better understanding of their actions.

let’s take a look at Jet. he’s an orphan boy, who grew up with this very idea that every thing that went wrong in his life was caused by the FN (which is true) and that the only way for him to survive is to fight the FN (which is, again, true). therefore, the logical conclusion to years of trauma, and impregnated ideas of vengeance and wrath is to loose touch with your sense of morality and ending up doing heinous things because he’s convinced that it is the right thing to do. the ONLY thing to do. to survive and to escape the war. what people like to forget is that Jet didn’t grow up like Sokka and Katara, who even though faced a terrible tragedy after their mother’s death, and had to live in a tribe that had been weakened by the FN, also lived in a sheltered place for most of their lives, with their Gran Gran and father’s love, with a community, a family. Jet grew up in constant solitude, hunger, pain, fear, death and had to become a parent to those around him. and that’s not me trying to compare them. but you cannot seriously think that they grew up in the same conditions. growing up like that you just CANNOT turn out fine. the absence of love and protection coming from an adult actually does that to a kid. as time passes he realises that he, as an orphan boy, has to do what has to be done in order to survive. the question of morality doesn’t even crosses his mind. because fear and anger are the only thing left for him to survive. and all of this leads to him drowning Gaipan, and committing this heinous crime. which well doesn’t really happen because everyone is safe ! everyone survived ! yes the village is destroyed but that’s material loss. that doesn’t come near the loss of actual people.

now for Zuko, his core character trait in season 1 is that he’s very short sighted. he only sees his goal, and never what’s in between that. this shortsightedness comes from years of obsession fuelled by extreme (FN) propaganda, indoctrination, trauma and anxiety in regards of what awaits Zuko if he never gets to catch the Avatar. like Jet, Zuko’s anger and fear brings what’s most ugly in him : his lack of regards for any collateral damage he might provoke while trying to reach his goal. which ultimately leads to Kyoshi Island burning down. however, they are a few things that need to be said here. he never steps a foot on Kyoshi Island with the intention of burning it. that’s actually where it diverges from Jet. Zuko is extremely short sighted and his only goal is to find Aang. nothing. else. which differentiates him from his sister especially. who wanders through the earth kingdom while yes chasing Aang but also never stopping (or at least trying) to expend the FN’s power in the EK. Kyoshi island burning down comes actually from him being shitty at managing his firebending (and his crew) in season 1. it’s quite literally collateral damage and most of the damage on Kyoshi Island actually comes from Zuko’s soldiers (who we never actually see receiving orders that would indicate Zuko wanting to burn the island. he only says “I want the Avatar” before splitting up, and go rewatch the scene if you don’t believe me). we do actually see Zuko shooting a few fireballs at Aang but we see only one of them actually hitting the cabins. so it would be logical to assume that it was Zuko’s crew, while fighting the Kyoshi Warriors that did it. after the gaang left, Katara even says “he would have destroyed the whole place” meaning it wasn’t destroyed. and then Aang eventually saves the village and Zuko and his crew leave.

what I’m trying to say with this is that I cannot keep seeing people actually demonising and adultifying Jet and Zuko’s actions (especially at the very beginning where both of them are clearly villains with the narrative intent of doing heinous things) with using these two specific scenes, where, ultimately, no one got hurt (except Sokka & Aang while fighting Jet and the Kyoshi Warriors while fighting Zuko).

this post isn’t me denying what they did. at the end of the day, Gaipan got destroyed and Kyoshi Island lost a lot of infrastructure and cabins. this post is me explaining why I’m tired of the over exaggerated claims in regards of these two characters.

the problem with this fandom is that people will talk about Jet and Zuko’s actions in episode 10 and episode 4 like they would talk about Long Feng’s actions or Ozai’s actions.

like, no, two indoctrinated traumatised teenage boys in a war cannot be held accountable in the same way that two adults (who funnily actually did kill people !) are held accountable. like, textually by LAW they cannot be held accountable in the same way. because of their age, because of the circumstances, the consequences, etc etc.

and what’s even more important is that both actually do their best to make amends. even though doing this after years of indoctrination is actually hard. jet dies while doing so and Zuko nearly dies at the hand of his father for doing so. (and that’s without even talking about his actions as a Firelord)

you can dislike Jet and Zuko as characters. but the hate these two get will always look ridiculous at the end of the day. because it’s either completely exaggerated or out of context or doesn’t apply to them because they actually did change. and did try to make amends.

again, this is not me saying that they weren’t villains at the beginning of the series. this is also not me saying that these actions are excusable or even remotely okay. no, it’s me begging the fandom to just use their brain for two fucking seconds. it’s me begging the fandom to just understand what the war and it’s consequences does to people, especially children. on all sides of the war. especially war children.

[averytauntingletter]

jet does not deserve the way this fandom treats him as irredeemable. like was he wrong? yes. was he also a sixteen year old boy whose parents were murdered and has no responsible adult figure to help him out or give him a sense of morality, coupled with having to take responsibility for a bunch of children? also yes. jet has never met a fire bender who didn't want to hurt him, so obviously he's suspicious when he sees a man heat up his tea(something only firebenders can do, as far as he knows) in the literal EARTH KINGDOM CAPITAL THAT WAS UNDER SIEGE 5 YEARS AGO. as for the village, again, he has no one to give him a sense of morality at all, since he was a very young child, and so of course he believes they need to get the fire nation out by any means necessary. again, he was wrong, but it's really telling when fans believe that he is irredeemable when he was literally redeemed for his actions in the forest and has been shown to regret them. especially when people forget that uncle iroh is a literal war criminal who joked about burning Ba Sing Se to the ground as an adult man. the reason that iroh is redeemable is because he has gone on a journey and has made multiple efforts to compensate for his actions. jet also went on this journey, albeit off-screen, and repented for his past actions presumably with his LIFE. he is a traumatized child who hates the fire nation so much and hates firebenders as a defense mechanism. he can't bear not to, not when his parents were killed by them and he has spent his life an orphan, caring for other orphans since then. he is so similar to zuko as well, but the difference is that zuko had his uncle. jet had no one.

tldr: jet does not deserve all that and half of why so many ppl hate him is bc they love the colonizer imperialist fire nation too much and are racist. anyways hakoda should adopt jet

[jahtrashh]

I saw your take on Zuko and like I agree so much. this fandom either idolises him or hates him and I always found that sooo weird. same goes with characters like Jet who are somehow treated like perfectly functioning adults by the fandom and held accountable of their actions as if they were grown men. and that’s so freaking weird. the point of Zuko’s redemption arc is that his arc isn’t linear, he makes mistakes, learns from it, makes up for it. as for Jet, although not a big fan of the way the writers handled his death, he’s literally being seen as an unredeemable monster, as if worse that characters like OZAI OR ZHAO by many fans and… just… how ?? why ?? they are both 16 ?? like yeah, they did so much bad stuff, they did really messed up stuff but they are also quite literally products of their environment and a freaking 100 years war. how is Zuko, fed with propaganda, on a ship since he’s 13, with a freaking general as his only paternal figure at that time, surrounded by men twice his age who are also either soldiers or at least army related, and still 16 at the time, suppose to be a “nice guy” archetype that does nothing wrong. like please be for real one second. and don’t get me started on Jet. whole village burned to the ground, orphan, had to raise so many kids, probably grew up in extreme poverty. ofc he’s messed up. ofc he’s violent, blinded by rage. but again, 16 !!! HE’S 16 !! it kills how people don’t realise that teenagers (especially teenage boys) are anything but mature, collected and emotionally rational. like bfr.

but in the atla fandom ig saying this would make me a zuko/jet apologist. whatever that means. as an adult i just see a bunch of messed up kids in the middle of the war, and that’s basically it. at best i feel bad for them, at worst i pity them.

Say it louder for the people in the back. I don’t know how to dumb it down enough for people to wrap their damn head around how these are in fact, also, teenagers involved in war. The world is in shambles during war, right and wrong are easily blurred during those times, and it takes a very special person to be able to differentiate between the sides without getting too caught up in what they believe is right or wrong.

Zuko could’ve stayed a racist, imperialist, dipshit. But by the end of the show, he turns into just a simple dipshit who accepted his life changing 180 with open arms. Yes he said some insensitive shit to aang about his beliefs and mocked his anti-violent views even when he joined them in season 3, but AGAIN, not only was he still learning how to be a decent human being, he was also blinded by his own hatred of his father, mixed with the very much pro-violent nature of the fire nation, PLUS the lack of education on Aang’s culture and philosophy which was AGAIN, taught around PRO-PA-GAN-DA the FN created. All of which, takes time to unlearn. On top of figuring himself and who he was, which is what most teenagers, more often than not will have a whole crisis about ALONE. I honestly don’t know how people expect a redemption arc to go, we’ve all had to learn how to be better about things, and the progress isn’t going to be liner nor will it always be easy. That is human nature. That is LIFE.

And on Jet’s case, why do people think it’s such a terrible thing to make some characters who were victims of war crimes, to be angry, to lust for revenge against the perpetrators, or be irrational and violent. THEY HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO. The FN took the last bit of Jet’s life that he barely even had and stripped all of that completely away from him like the savages that they are. Why is it a terrible thing to be angry at people who didn’t think twice about the families, the sense of community that his village had? I agree that Jet was going too far when he was trying to take it out on innocent people, but can you really blame him? He didn’t have an adult to help him out on the importance of emotional maturity and how to be angry at the ones who actually harmed you like Zuko did, and even if he did, teenagers won’t be emotionally matured TRULY until they develop into adults. He had to be the mock adult for the kids younger than him, he didn’t have time to decode himself and better his actions because he was too focused on protecting the freedom fighters and himself against the FN’s abuses.

People don’t realize that this is not babying them, or being so called “apologists” this is called understanding why these two are the way that they are. Why are they like this? And it’s so much to take in and talk about at once that you’d need an entire college level essay to completely break down and comprehend how deep war can affect not just adults, but teenagers and children. Those two groups don’t have true moral compasses, so the environment and circumstances can really impact and easily mold their minds to fit the standards in said situation in order to survive it. This is called self-preservation. A more than common trauma response.

I mean seriously, I heard someone say they can understand Zuko hate but not Iroh hate, when he has in fact, done much worse than Zuko has ever done in those 3 years at sea. I love Iroh, but he’s an adult, why are we choosing adults over traumatized and war-fed teenagers who mainly comply in that shit to seek approval from their actually psychotic, genocidal, narcissistic, and abusive father that would dispose of them if they didn’t fit his standards? Why are we quicker to blame the teenagedvictim of the FN’s attacks and cruelty, than the actual people, adults, who conducted the attacks?

Are we truly regressing as a fandom? The show wouldn’t give them their traumatic experiences and talk about their abusers if they wanted the viewer to antagonize the victims. Goes to show that the loudest voices screaming “irredeemable monster” and “they want people to feel sorry for him” never truly know who these characters are and how they operate, they need everything spoon fed to them which is very unfortunate. The real irredeemable monsters are right there in their face and they choose to look somewhere else.

It’s so obvious how people in this fandom pick and choose who to feel sympathy for, when they all needed it.

[zuko-always-lies]

Which ATLA character is the most similar to Jet and has the most in common with him?

Zuko

Haru

Katara

Azula

Aang

Toph

Mai

Ty Lee

Suki

Yue

Hahn

Sokka

Voting ended onApr 14, 2024

And please reblog for a larger sample size and put your reasons for voting the way you did in the tags.

[akiizayoi4869]

I don't feel like making this into a full blown meta post, so I'll keep this short.

Jet had every right to be suspicious of Zuko and Iroh in Ba Sing Se.

"Oh but they were trying to start over and lay low!" So? First of all, how would Jet even know that? To him, they were just two firebenders infiltrating the Earth Kingdom's last line of defense. And even if he did know that they were trying to start over, why should he care? Seriously, why? After this happened to him?

His entire family/village was killed by the Fire Nation. So why should he feel bad about being rightfully suspicious of those two? I've seen this take so many times in fanfics that's centered around Zuko and Iroh, and it makes no sense. Sometimes Jet actually apologizes to them about that if the author has him live. And it's disgusting. Think about it like this: Zuko proved Jet right in the end. You know why? Because Zuko turned around and did this:

Which then led to this:

Zuko helped kill the world's last hope for peace. When he was supposed to have been "starting over" with Iroh.

So in conclusion:

Leave Jet alone.

[innocentimouto]

Jet and Hama were done dirty by the show

There’s this emphasis on these two killing innocents as proof that they were portrayed fairly because they weren’t great people anyway.

What this basically means is that the oppressed victims of war who kill innocents and enemies are worse than the people 

who are killing innocents ONLY

who started the war

who erased an entire nation

who attack people not even involved in the war

who think they’re in the right

who don’t do anything to stop the war even if they realize it’s wrong

I’m talking about the Fire Nation. I see more people defending the writing of Jet and Hama than people criticizing how the entire Fire Nation was redeemed once the war ended.

It’s not just at the end of the show. Throughout the series, we see many Fire Nation characters have quirky/funny moments which is far more than any other nation. And they started the war. 

Sozin got half an episode of being human and he ordered the erasure of the Air Nomads. Genocide. And somehow Hama gets nearly the same treatment if not worse since we never even saw her speak in her flashback.

Yes Hama and Jet were done dirty. How does the man who started the war not get any hate/fear from Aang, the last airbender, but Jet and Hama get fear/derision?

Sozin’s story ends with Aang deciding every person deserves a chance and friendship can last lifetimes, but the moral of Jet and Hama’s story is to be careful of hating your oppressors or you’ll end up a monster.

Sozin compared to Hama and Jet aren’t even equal; they’re portrayed as worse.

Not everyone in the Fire Nation is evil. But the people who started the war should not be given more sympathy and forgiveness than the victims of war. 

There’s also the fact Hama and Jet were severely traumatized, and people either ignore this or argue it doesn’t change anything.

Zuko was also abused.

Zuko attached the Southern Water Tribe. He threatened the unarmed women and children. He ruined their homes. The Southern Water Tribe had been raided so many times before; it’s guaranteed everyone feared they would be killed.

 Zuko also set Suki’s village on fire, and it’s explicitly stated that they wanted to stay out of the war.

Zuko gets a pass for all of this in the name of trauma. I’m not only talking about characters giving him a pass because they kind of didn’t. I mean the narrative and fandom all forgave him long before he joined the Gaang.

Why? Zuko never even had a scene of thinking back to what he did and regretting it. Zuko didn’t even think to apologize until the last minute. Zuko couldn’t understand why Katara hated him, despite him attacking her home like Yon Rha did. It was never misplaced anger. He did exactly what the man who killed her mother did.

The point is, there was no scene of him caring about his mistakes until the Gaang forced him to, and the story was fine with that.

Zuko had trauma, but he didn’t need to do the things he did. I’m not saying it would be easy, but really, Ozai didn’t order his death if he didn’t capture the avatar. Zuko never even mentioned capturing the avatar for the Fire Nation. He betrayed the Fire Nation by freeing Aang so he could capture him himself. So it wasn’t for the nation either.

Point is, Zuko wasn’t going to die if he left Aang alone. He would be severely unhappy and struggling through years of abuse and unlearning propaganda, which is basically what Book 2 was minus everything but unhappiness, but he would be fine.

Zuko was never forced to chase the avatar. And I look at Zuko very critically, but it does make sense why he chased Aang. He wouldn’t have died if he didn’t though.

Jet on the other hand.

Jet chose to live in a forest away from the Fire Nation. The Fire Nation took over Gaipan and then had soldiers regularly passing through the forest. Jet was forced to do something. The way he did it was wrong, but it’s not like he chose to do it for selfish or unnecessary reasons.

“Oh Jet could have just left.”

Yeah, and travel to any other part of his nation that was being colonized. Anyway, he literally did that by going to BSS and even if he didn’t bother Zuko and Iroh like everyone wanted him to, it would have been taken over  in a few weeks anyway.

Hama was taken from her home and imprisoned in horrible conditions with no way out for decades. I feel like we skip over the implications of what she and her people had to face if they tried to escape. Regardless you can’t come out of that situation and not develop an extreme hatred to the people who did it to you.

That’s years and years of trauma. Even if you argue  it’s different because she’s an adult while Zuko was a child, Hama became an adult in prison. 

I don’t agree with Hama’s actions; I just don’t think the show should have went in that direction without even having Indigenous people involved. The implications of what she did to Fire Nation civilians is horrifying. But the disgusting way she was written is what bothers me the most.

In comparison to the Fire Nation, Jet and Hama were not portrayed fairly. And if the next point is that the two were side characters, then I have to ask:

Why do the victims of war get less time than the perpetrators?

Jet and Hama are side characters. They’re not meant to get much time. That’s fine. It still doesn’t change how they’re the only two victims of war who hate the Fire Nation viciously and were in helpless situations most of their life and got very little parts but enough to demonize them.

Hama’s story ends with her imprisoned which is problematic, and Jet’s story ends by being gaslit, brainwashed, and killed by an earthbender.

Not a firebender. What’s the lesson there? He was too angry, too obsessed, too crazy. It wasn’t the Fire Nation. It was Jet not controlling himself. Take him away from the war and he’d still be a problem.

Hama and Jet’s entire lives were uprooted and destroyed by the Fire Nation and one ends back where her brothers and sisters rotted away while the other ends in a pointless, forgotten death, and the Fire Nation get no blame for causing all their pain and even their “evilness” if you want to go there.

[julietwiskey1]

what do you think about jet

Jet isn't one of my favorite characters but I don't hate him (even if I do joke about that because he was about to blow a dam, a thing a like).

In the show he was a character that showed just how much the war affected children. Left an orphan he found his purpose in fighting the war against the people that harmed him. Ultimately with his passion and drive leading him to want to destroy a dam that would have likely caused more harm to the friendly civilian population then the Fire Nation.

But more importantly was his desire to grow out of it with Smellerbee and longshot in Ba Sing Se. Unfortunately for some people leaving that life is harder and it draws them back. Leading Jet to look for Fire Nationals in Ba Sing Se. He was right and justified in his mistrust of Zuko. But it still goes to show how hard it can be for a child soldier to reintegrate into society. Looking for threats and dangers never stop, they never feel safe.

Jets end was very tragic. He was never able to find his peace. To move on or make a life for himself. Those who should have been focused on protecting him instead kidnapped and brainwashed him. And ultimately died fighting people who should have been on his side.

The fact that writers decided to make a joke about his death instead of focusing on the tragedy of it. Of the inability for people like him to reintegrate is maddening. Jet deserved better than that.