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In my opinion, Ty Lee would have been a more believable love interest for Zuko than Mai. He’s a theatre kid, she’s a circus freak. She’s playful and quirky and chaotic like Jin and Katara. Her character arc could just as easily be about standing up to Azula while having more to her personality than hating everything except Zuko. Shes more *dynamic* than Mai, in more ways than I can explain…
Why Ty Luko Should Have Been Canon Instead of Maiko If Zutara Really Couldn't Happen, Part 2
Okay so here is Part 1, which mostly talks about how Ty Luko could have benefited both Mai and Ty Lee's character arcs, but I said I would make a Pt2 talking about how it might also benefit Zuko so here it is.
I think my main problem with maiko besides how it removes any personal growth Mai might have had in realizing the wrongs of the FN is how genuinely mean and dismissive Mai often acts towards Zuko.
Every time he tries to do something nice for her, she immediately shoots it down. Every time he tries to share what he's feeling with her, she's uninterested in hearing it. And to be clear Zuko isn't faultless in this relationship either. He's extremely jealous and isn't the best boyfriend. But the most affectionate thing Mai ever tells him is probably "I don't hate you". They're extremely toxic towards each other, and nothing in canon ever resolves this toxicity. They don't resolve his jealousy. They don't talk about their feelings. They're not communicative.
And, to take a closer look at that second screencap above, the actual scene goes something like this: Zuko offers Mai the conch shell, she rejects it because she says it's something only "stupid girls" (pick me energy, ew) would like, and he tosses it away in anger, where one of Ty Lee's fanboys finds it and gives it to her, and she thanks him profusely. The whole scene is played off as a joke, implying that Ty Lee is one of those stupid, other girls that Mai was talking about, but I think it directly compares how Ty Lee would love to be showered with gifts in the way Zuko tries to do with Mai. She would better appreciate his love language.
Mai also actively holds Zuko back from realizing the evils of the FN. She often encourages him not to think too hard about what the FN is doing, specifically surrounding the war council, where she tells him to stop worrying instead of actually helping him work through his problems. She also never fully comes to terms with what the FN has done. She isn't redeemed, and she's never shown having empathy for anyone besides Zuko or Ty Lee, let alone anyone outside of the FN. She's sort of dragged along on his redemption arc, and we're supposed to believe she is redeemed just because she loves him enough to save him from Azula at the Boiling Rock.
Ty Lee, on the other hand, has already come to terms with what the FN has done or at the very least is trying to get away from all of their wrongs by leaving the FN for the circus. She doesn't have any disdain for people outside of the FN, as shown by her flirting with Sokka, and by the implication that she worked with people from other nations at the circus. (I'm not saying that Mai is racist or that she has disdain for people from other nations, I'm just saying it's never shown that she isn't disdainful towards them)
Obviously, she still has work to do in that area. She rejoins Azula out of fear for her life and does damage to the other nations by helping in the takeover of Ba Sing Se. But that's part of the reason why her saying "I love Zuko more than I fear you" to Azula would have been more powerful than Mai saying it. She is no longer allowing her fear to hinder her morality.
I think it would have been nice to see Zuko end up with someone who could help along his redemption arc instead of hinder it. Mai is widely considered in the fandom (I've literally seen maiko shippers openly talk about and admit this) as one of the things Zuko has to "give up" in order to complete his redemption arc and train the avatar. The storyline treats her in that way more like a thing than a person. Ty Lee, on the other hand, would have been more understanding, at least in my opinion, at the boiling rock. I can see her even plotting to stop Azula with him if she was in Mai's place during the maiko conversation with Zuko in the holding cell. Later on, it would be more satisfying to see her at Zuko's side, not as some sort of commodity he had to abstain from in order to be redeemed, but as a fellow FN person who realized the evils of the FN and put aside fear and comfort in order to stop them.
There's also this moment, which I would argue has a bit of romantic coding. The problem I personally have with a lot of Zuko ships that aren't zutara or jetko (such as zukaang) is that they don't have any obvious romantic coding. The "but I know you, and this isn't you" is used a lot in canon ships, especially when the person being told this is in an arc of finding themselves, like Zuko. It's also used in a lot of childhood friends to lovers ships, which is one of my personal favorite tropes. The screencap below comes from Gilmore Girls, where the boy (Jess) is trying to convince the girl (Rory), who has been directionless in life out of dropping out of university, to go back to school and continue the life path she once envisioned for herself of becoming a writer and journalist. They are an unambiguously romantic couple who many in the fandom still wanted to be endgame (not me but that's not the point).
That Ty Luko moment also implies what I was saying earlier, that Ty Lee cares about Zuko's pain enough to talk about it openly and prompt him to talk more about it. It also shows that she is a force that is helping him in his redemption arc, despite being on the other side of the war, by forcing him to explore how he cares about his family and is angry at the abuse he suffered, but also at himself, which he reveals later in the scene.
His response to Ty Lee telling him that she knows him earlier in the scene is also to start yelling at her, which isn't great, but it does prompt Ty Lee to reveal more about her backstory than we've ever seen from her before. This implies that a relationship between them would lead to personal growth and more openness than Zuko's relationship with Mai. Ty Lee reciprocates that growth more than Mai does.
Zuko also remarks in the same scene that he wants Mai to be more emotional.
And there's this comparison below, which makes it obvious to me at least that Ty Lee is an example of the more emotive partner that Zuko is looking for. And ultimately, she's Ty Lee, of course she's emotive.
My final point, and this is admittedly a reach, is that Mai doesn't show any interest in politics, which isn't conducive to her being a good partner to Zuko as Fire Lady later on. Ty Lee, on the other hand, is a Kyoshi Warrior and becomes one of Zuko's bodyguards, which at least shows some interest in the state of her nation/ politics.
That's all for now! Don't get me wrong, I'm still a die hard zutara shipper, and ultimately I think Katara did more canonically to aid in Zuko's redemption arc than Ty Lee would in this lovely fanon timeline I've set up, which is what I want for him and I think is most valuable in a potential romantic partner for him.
Orange said Ty Lee/Zuko figure skating duo so I obliged. Just a messy sketch while I pretend I understand anatomy and consistent lighting.
Your favourite ship in ATLA? And why?
Kataang (Katara×Aang)
Taang (Toph×Aang)
Azulaang (Azula×Aang)
Sukka (Suki×Sokka)
Yukka (Yue×Sokka)
Tokka (Toph×Sokka)
Ty lokka (Ty lee×Sokka)
Sokkla (Azula×Sokka)
Maiko (Mai×Zuko)
Ty luko (Ty lee×Zuko)
Zuki (Suki×Zuko)
Zutara (Katara×Zuko)
I couldn't add more due to the answers being limited to 12.
Please reblog this poll for more votes and add why that ship is your favourite. (You can talk about any ship even if it isn't here).
Every character who canonically had a crush on Zuko 🫶🏻
Bonus:
Ty Luko doodles
Not gonna lie, it took me an embarrassing amount of time to get the joke.
Thanks for the ask ^^
SRS? - A Ty Luko Piece
Spuds… I’m gonna be completely honest and transparent with you: I forgot to post this fic yesterday for the Atla Rarepair 2026 event over with @atlararepairmonth !
I had it finished and, well, I got busy with that quick comic I made.
Anyways! Here it is and I have another confession to make: TY LUKO IS SO UNDERRATED! Don’t worry, en_vente is here to champion their cause like Roland to the Franks!
Check out my oneshot SRS? In the link below!
SRS? by en_vente on ao3
Thanks again and I hope you enjoy!
Á plus!
