Spirit of Journeys and Highways

I really dislike the defense that some of us do of "not all Zutara shippers hate A.ang!!!" cause what about those of us that do criticize A.ang and find him annoying and poorly written? That's a perfectly valid opinion to hold, it doesn't make us toxic or problematic or bullies or whatever else people think, because he is a fictional character written by two middle aged white guys and not a real child nor is he a real survivor of genocide nor is he a real Buddhist monk. And contrary to popular belief, our dislike of him does not stem from him being a threat to our preferred ship. I'm perfectly happy with Katara, A.ang, and Zuko all remaining close friends in the Zutaraverse (but for some reason we can't have Zuko and Katara having any meaningful interactions whatsoever post-series cause it kinda seems like their close friendship is viewed as a threat to the canon ship by the definitely not insecure creators who are self-inserting onto A.ang but whatever) because I don't see Katara and A.ang being best friends being something that threatens the validity of Zutara. I actually love the idea of A.ang's arc culminating in letting go of his unhealthy attachment to Katara and the expectation that's she'll be with him and then remaining lifelong friends who love each other very deeply.

Hakoda's first introduction to Zuko was his son who he loves and respects vouching for him about how much he'd proven himself and how integral he was to breaking into the Boiling Rock for the sole purpose of breaking Hakoda out of prison, Hakoda then witnesses Zuko putting his life on the line numerous times for them all, saving Sokka's life, bringing him home to his kids, then throwing himself straight at danger again so the rest of them can escape, and then after getting separated from them he'd find out that not only did Zuko take Katara to face her mother's/his wife's murderer to mete out whatever justice she saw fit, but that he also sacrificed himself for her and chose her life over his own. He saved Hakoda's baby girl's life!!!! His little girl who he knows he gave abandonment issues to and feels terrible about it!!! He'd love the idea of them together because he'd have such faith in Zuko to take care of her and treat her heart tenderly and to never abandon her. He'd love having Zuko as a son-in-law, the faith he'd have for him to be an amazing husband and father would be astronomical. That is the man his little girl deserves!!!!

we talk a lot about what each half of Zutara would gain from a relationship with each other emotionally speaking, but in addition to all that, Zuko would get a new dad (I know he already has Iroh so Hakoda would be like a bonus dad) and Katara would get a mom.

and I'd do it again

love,love,love everything about it. Thank you for another glorious masterpiece.

the most infuriating thing about personal growth is that even if someone else did have the answer you needed and conveyed it to you in a precise and effective matter, it won't make sense until you're ready for it. you could hear it every day of your life and it wouldn't matter a fucking bit until it finally clicks. there's very little you can do to influence when that happens, either

my controversial opinion is I don’t think Zuko was confused by “my first girlfriend turned into the moon”

he was there during siege of the North. he infiltrated the spirit oasis. he has an uncle who studies spirits and the spirit world. he watched the sky go dark then the moon suddenly reappear like everyone else in the entire world did. and most importantly he watched zhao get eaten by a giant godzilla fish spirit.

his entire life since he saw that beam of blue-white light in the south pole has been ‘this day has already been so goddamn weird’

The only really new information was that that was Sokka’s girlfriend

Also, Iroh was there? He literally watched Sokka make out with the moon spirit. And you want to tell me that a romantic sap like him would not have immediately told Zuko about this romantic tragedy? Please, Zuko has known about this for ages, he just knows that this is not an acceptable situation in which to say “yeah, I know.”

[image: tags by samwisethebold: #it’s not that he doesn’t get what sokka means #it’s that how on earth do you respond to that]

When you put it like that, this is actually a legendary display of tact on Zuko’s part