#serpent's pass

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Serpent's Pass

"The Serpent's Pass? Only the truly desperate take that deadly route!" —Ying, Earth Kingdom refugee

Artist: Matteo Bassini TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[fagonstar]

Serpent's Pass.

[the-power-of-stuff]

Writing a little Suki meta because I’m working on a Suki-centric fic for the ATLA Big Bang and it’s honestly been a struggle for me to figure out how exactly I want to handle her character arc. And I want to explore a scene that always bothers me a little bit when I watch it, but that I think is really good fodder for whatever I’m trying to do with Suki in my story: the almost-kiss on a moonlit bluff scene from The Serpent’s Pass.

Don’t get me wrong, this is one of my absolute favorite scenes in the show and it’s such a beautiful and poignant moment for Sokka and Suki. There’s a lot to work with in this scene from the perspective of analyzing character development, especially with regards to Sokka coming to terms with his own trauma. However! It’s exactly that part — the Sokka coming to terms with trauma part — that lays the groundwork for what bothers me about the scene, and it’s this:

[ID: Sokka and Suki are seated side-by-side, bathed in moonlight. Suki is looking at Sokka, but Sokka is looking away from her. Sokka says, “Something happened at the North Pole and I couldn’t protect someone…” end ID]

[ID: Close-up of Suki’s face. She’s looking to the side out of the corner of her eyes, away from Sokka, who is out of the frame. She says, “I lost someone I cared about. He didn’t die, he just went away.” end ID]

Girl straight-up acknowledges that someone died because of whatever this thing was that happened at the North Pole, which Sokka takes responsibility for, and she blows right past that to start talking about how she’s been missing this boy she met all of once as if that’s somehow comparable. 

(Suki, honey, later when you try to tease your boyfriend about how you “didn’t know” he “made out with the moon spirit” — well, now, whose fault is that?? Hm??)

Look, the thing is, we all know people like this. You’re telling your friend about something shitty that just happened to you and suddenly they’re all, “Oh, that reminds me of this one time that…” and you’re like, “Hello? We were talking about me?” Sometimes people do this because they’re clueless and just want to talk about themselves. Often people do this because they think that by sharing their own experiences, they’re commiserating and showing you that they understand how you feel. I think what Suki’s doing is somewhere in the middle.

Suki unapologetically goes after what she wants. 

We know Suki’s not callous. She rescues Appa and is exceedingly gentle with him when she does so. She stays behind at Boiling Rock after Sokka announces his intentions to wait and see if his father will show up. And after Sokka pulls away when they’re about to kiss on that moonlit bluff, she respects his boundaries and apologizes for crossing a line she wasn’t sure was there.

In fact, Suki breezing past Sokka’s confession about losing someone in the North Pole is what creates the tension that leads to Sokka’s denial and her subsequent apology in the first place. If she had asked Sokka about who he lost, they would have gotten everything out in the open. They may have even kissed for the first time that night after discussing Sokka’s fear and guilt and reaching some kind of healthy resolution from which they could move on together. 

Instead, in that moment, Suki demonstrates an inability to put someone else’s emotions before her own desires. Because Sokka’s feelings around his loss are never confronted, they collide with his feelings for Suki, leaving him conflicted and ultimately unable to resolve either. 

It would be easy to paint Suki as insensitive in this moment, if not for the fact that she apologizes and stays put while Sokka walks away — he clearly has some shit to deal with and wants to do it without her, so she doesn’t push it. Rather, I think Suki was just single-mindedly pursuing something she wanted. 

I mean, she really just runs into Sokka for the first time in probably months, unabashedly flirts with him, then, what, takes PTO from her security guard position? so she can accompany him on a treacherous days-long journey across a deadly pass. She likes this boy, but they’re in the middle of a war, and who knows when or if they’ll ever get to see each other again, so, screw it, she is going for it. Can you blame her? Like...get it, girl.

But she’s too far inside of her own head.

Have you ever thought about someone in a romantic fantasy kind of a way for weeks (at least) and then when you’re finally presented with an opportunity to act, all you can think about is, “How do I make this happen?” I like to think that’s where Suki’s head was that night. She sees Sokka, she wants Sokka, she spends the day wondering if he really learned his lesson about women being perfectly capable human beings, and when he finally admits that he’s been annoyingly overprotective all day not because he doesn’t think she’s a strong and talented lady but because he’s afraid of losing her, she’s like, “Oh, thank god, let’s make out.” The fact that he’s afraid of losing her because he’s already lost someone else is, like...not the thing that sticks, because she’s so preoccupied with her end goal of the two of them acting on their mutual feelings for each other. 

Does that make it less of a gaffe that she doesn’t more sensitively acknowledge Sokka’s loss? No. But it’s also not as if her lack of acknowledgement occurs without consequence — Sokka ultimately cannot kiss her, which really means he cannot open up to her, even though he clearly likes her. 

Would it have been nice for them to have had an honest conversation about what actually happened that night? Yes. But that’s what fanfiction is for. ;)

And this is something about Suki that I’m trying to explore in my Big Bang fic: her tendency to single-mindedly pursue a goal to a fault, to the extent that it can create conflict with people she loves, even if her intentions are good.

So, anyway, wish me luck, because as it turns out, character development is hard.  😖

[ferrouskyra]

Metal band tees for A:tLA

Fifth Nation

Fire Sages - Dragonbone Catacombs

Serpent’s Pass - Abandon Hope

Knowledge Seekers

Realm of Koh

The Flying Opera Company

Bonus Kyoshi!

[breakingthewordcages]

Suki has some incredibly waterproof makeup.

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Questions + Thoughts from the Serpent's Pass Episode

Why didn't Katara, Toph or Aang just make a bridge for people to pass? That makes more sense than walking on the ocean floor. How didn't oxygen run out down there?

Katara has to ask Aang to help her with waterbending. Compared to how Katara immediately went to Aang's side to help him with the serpent.

Toph and Aang have such easy chemistry in their interactions. I am not a huge Taang shipper but I see the appeal.

I am shocked at how everyone left Toph behind! I know Sokka forgetting her blindness is a gag but they literally endangered her life. Sokka never noticed until he reached land! There was no need for Toph to almost drown :(. But I understand that it is easy to forget about Toph's disability when she seems so competent all the time.

Toph is struggling in the water and my man Sokka is wasting time with his shoes while Queen Suki literally jumps straight in with her bulkier clothing and makeup. And looked good doing so! Ah Suki, always showing up Sokka like a champ.

Where is Aang supposed to find rags?

Katara being trained as a midwife further highlights the maturity level difference between her and Aang. Her older brother is even acting childish at the prospect of childbirth lol. Katara's adultification is so tragic.

Why can't we have a moment where Aang is Katara's emotional support? It's just so unfair.

So nice that there is at least one healthy ship in ATLA! Sukka for the win.

[dailynicknews]

Team Avatar Escapes the Serpent! 🐉 The Serpent's Pass Full Scene | Avatar

[leafwhirlwind]

Okay but it's canon that Sokka has seen a vagina