Zutaramaxxing

M or Shelly. They/she. 22 Also elfritchhorror and lokittystuckinatree I’m keeping this blog a secret from my partner, like ZK do with their relationship

[thezutarchive]

My true love’s eyes, faint like the sunlight, under a hazy blood red sky...

...you and I together at the end of the line. But this is not the end...

[ranuncoolus]

Shall we dance?

[half-phantom-hiyori]

‎"Zuko would've chosen Aa.ng over Katara"? I raise to you "Zuko would've chosen even Momo over Katara", because why stop there?

‎ Now, if we are being serious, Zuko chose Katara over Suki when those rocks were falling. Zuko chose Katara over A.ang in TSR case. Zuko chose Katara to fight against Azula over Toph, Suki and Sokka. And Zuko chose Katara over his own life. All canon, btw.

[thezutarchive]

The main point antis love to ignore is that the main reason Zuko would even prioritize Aang over anyone else is that he’s the FUCKING AVATAR. He’s the hope of the world… Would they kill me if I said the same of Katara? That her devotion to him feels more like religious idolatry than healthy romantic love???

[korielle-writing-fanfics]

if katara and zuko in natla have teamed up and fought side by side it’s going to make that “i thought you changed/i have changed” to “everyone trusts you now i was the first to trust you back in ba sing se” way heavier and hit a lot harder and

[sneezypeasy]

I'm sure someone has already mentioned this, but the fact that waterbenders are more powerful on a full moon is so interesting, zutara wise

Because the difference between the moon phases (new -> waxing -> full -> waning) isn't related to its position above or below the horizon, but specifically how much sunlight is bouncing off of it 😂

(No sunlight = new moon, maximum sunlight = full moon)

Katara having peak power when Zuko's element is providing maximum "fuel" is some intriguing symbolism even if I'm sure it was never intended as such 😂

[thezutarchive]

How long y’all think Tumblr and or Ao3 will crash if/when Zutara becomes Canon after 20 fucking years

[konggodzuko]

Okay, some of my ZK friends (including @burst-of-iridescent) and I were discussing the new NATLA trailer, and I'm gassing myself up to believe that we're about to get some full-on PaintedSpirit AU shenanigans.

Aside from just the fact that Painted Lady is being brought into Book 2, what do we have?

User @notjustbtstras1 over on Twitter pointed out that it looks like the Blue Spirit and Painted Lady have set pieces in very similar environments, so Katara could very well be saving/helping Zuko after seeing him fighting people.

THEN, one of my friends pointed out that in the shot of Katara in what's clearly this show's version of the "Crossroads of Destiny" has what really looks like the remains her Painted Lady facepaint still on her.

So, so, SO: What if Zuko and Katara meet and team up as their alter-egos, form a bond, only to be caught and unmasked, and thrown into the crystal caves together. So we go from PaintedSpirit AU right into the cave scene, maybe even a Scar Touch?

Much to think about....

[thezutarchive]

If the Painted Lady meets the Blue Spirit and then they find out each other’s identity in the catacombs IN ADDITION TO ALL *wildly gestures* THAT FROM THE ORIGINAL STORY????

I’M GONNA HAVE A FUCKIN STROKE

AND FUCKING

Die

[thezutarchive]

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…

[pandaofsecrets]

"I love Zuko more than I fear you" also sounds way more natural and impactful coming out of Ty Lee than Mai, who was never really shown to be afraid of Azula. The opposite, in fact ("She can shoot all the lightning she wants at me. I'm not going into that wall sludge juice.", anyone?). Also, that bit in The Beach where she can immediately tell there's something off with Zuko when he burns the portrait of his family, and is like "I know you"? Adorbs.

[generalluxun]

I'd argue Mai showing her willingness to stand up to Azula earlier helps make the Boiling Rock scene work so well. It's *set up*. She's been shown to push back about minor things, yet not take the direct opposition. We also know for Mai that those she loves matter. Her intro episode has her squaring off against the avatar&co to get her little brother back, despite her Blasé attitude there are morals underneath. (This is also why she can Zuko resonate with each other. Much of his arc is him getting to where Mai already is, albeit from a much deeper hole)

Boiling Rock was the first time it was Zuko vs Azula in a live/die scenario. Mai choosing Zuko not only does love vs fear but also has 'She picked Zuko over me, just like mommy did!' Azula being aware of the dynamic and miscalculating was crucial to prompting her breakdown. Meanwhile Ty Lee works perfectly as the one-two punch(literally) because it was *unexpected*. She didn't have a dog in the fight. She responded on pure instinct to save a friend. Ty Lee isn't calculating like Mai, her sudden betrayal showed that Azula had failed to understand both the Mind(Mai) and heart(Ty Lee).

Having the heart betray her first would be more shocking, but it would have been impulse instead of failed calculus and we would have had little reason for Mai to follow up.

[leftguard66]

Both of these arguments are absolutely fascinating to me.

[leftguard66]

It took me a few minutes but I think I figured out why this hit me the way it did!

Ty fits better from the watsonian perspective, she is actively fearful and more willing to show emotion, her rebellion feels more natural because she is more active and acknowledges others emotions in a more open way.

But from the doylist, we have the whole heart vs mind symbolism, and how it reflects Zuko’s large character ark regarding using his head and moving away from heavily emotional reactions in favor of thinking before acting.

I currently have less sleep than I should so if this is nonsense just ignore it.

[thezutarchive]

Oooooooooo

[sweetpea67]

See I think everyone here is making great points, but I’d like to add that from a Doylist perspective Ty Lee probably wouldn’t have worked as a love interest for early S3 Zuko BECAUSE of their compatible outlooks. One of the narrative functions of the Maiko relationship was to keep Zuko conflicted, and Mai is positioned as an obstacle to his redemption because she seems so resistant to fighting back against the status quo. Ty Lee, in contrast, was basically drafted into Azula’s group against her will, and she seems way more primed to listen to Zuko’s internal conflict. A universe where Zuko starts dating Ty Lee is one where both almost certainly decide the Fire Nation is evil way earlier—which would completely alter Zuko’s redemption arc.

IMO the biggest issue with Maiko is that the narrative switches from positioning it as an unhealthy relationship that keeps Zuko from his redemption and suddenly makes it endgame with next to no change in their dynamic. As a dysfunctional teen romance it works very well; as an endgame pairing, it pales in comparison to Ty Luko.

[sweetpea67]

Bryke: The girl with the abandonment issues got together with the boy with the running away problem and stopped speaking to her best friend who stuck with her no matter what. Then her friend, who is driven entirely by passionate emotion, got together with the girl who epitomizes emotional repression. The girl who is bored to tears by Fire Nation court life became Firelady and was forced to repress her emotions for the rest of her life alongside the boy who left her behind instead of getting with the girl who chose to save her. The boy with the running away issue ended up with someone who enables his worst impulses and who idolizes him for something he never wanted to be, rather the girl who would be his equal and who never say him as anything more than another kid. This is such a happy ending.

Me, pulling up an empty Word document: …Fuck that.

[mavmalt]

After all this time, he'll still do his boy's hair

[draxofoy]

A Denied Eclipse

🎨 commissioned from aethyranovastra 🫶

[koralprimrosesketches]

If this doesn't reach 1,000,000 Zutara shippers then I will EXPLODE

[renjimimus]

Saw it and thought What would zuko look like in a dress.

(Atla

[thezutarchive]

Zutara birth chart headcanons:

Zuko: Aries Sun, Cancer moon, Aquarius rising

Katara: Cancer Sun, Aries Moon, Aquarius rising

[rubixx]

Fire nation royals and their water girls

[thesungod]

and one last thing about zutara! i’ve recently made a post where i jokingly commend zuko for supporting katara’s murderous intentions in the southern raiders. but i want to push back on something many antis say, which is that zutara functions as some kind of “dark romance” ship where the two “make each other worse” and the usual spiel. the claim that zuko is a traditional “bad boy” in opposition to “good girl” katara has already been disproven a million times, but to dig deeper:

the charm of most straight dark romances is the lack of morality displayed by the male half of the couple. this appeals to people because a protagonist with no moral limit is willing to commit any type of crimes to protect or avenge his love interest. “i’ll burn the world down for you” is the most common dark romance trope. in that type of stories, the woman often functions as a moral compass and she ends up either fixing the man or being corrupted herself. while she’s inherently good, she does not have strong convictions. when the man changes, it is because he loves her, not because she’s successfully redeemed him and changed his views.

zuko and katara can never fit that archetype because zuko and katara have strong, unmovable, righteous morals. even as a villain, there are lines zuko refuses to cross. times and times again, he’s moved to act out of compassion and empathy. not for a woman, not for the Uncle he’s devoted to, but for people and creatures he barely knows. kindness is inherent to him. he’s more than willing to leave mai, the girl he canonically loves, to become a part of the anti-imperialist resistance because his conscience allows him no other path. even in a world where zutara happens, zuko’s redemption would not be kickstarted by his romantic love for katara.

zuko would not “burn the world down” for katara because zuko would not love a woman that asks that of him, and katara would not love a man that would. their sense of justice, their kindness and their willingness to do what is right even when it’s impossibly hard is what would ultimately draw them together.