化け物 GoblinFae

DM: roll a perception check

*nat 20*

*rolls a 1*

DM: roll a perception check

*rolls a 9*

DM: Roll an intimidation check.

*nat 20*

DM: Poseidon quivers before him!

Fighter: rolls a nat 1

DM: Roll for Dodge.

Fighter: *rolls a 1*

“It was not his place to speak out and there were dire consequences.”

“I wanted to speak out…but I’m ashamed to say I didn’t.”

-

This parallel always breaks my heart. Three years after being shamed and burned by his father, Zuko finds himself in the same room, under extremely similar circumstances, and he freezes up. He remembers what happened the last time. He knows that, if he speaks, he’ll be injured. He could be killed, this time. His voice is literally stripped away from him. Even worse, he realizes that, despite the changes he went through in those three years, his father hasn’t changed at all. The Fire Nation is still planning on destroying innocent lives for the sake of their own imperialist vendetta. Nothing’s changed. That’s why Zuko realizes that he has to leave.

What gets me is when he says, “I’m ashamed.” He was ashamed that he didn’t speak out in that moment, even though doing so would have cost him everything. The very next day, he took advantage of the eclipse, packed his things, and confronted Ozai one last time.He was an abused child who saw the right opportunity to escape, lest he be injured again (or worse), he went on to help save the entire world, and he still remarks that he was ashamed because he didn’t speak/fight sooner.

This is what we mean when we all say that Zuko is one of the best fictional characters that’s ever been written. It isn’t just that he goes from being the villain to being the hero. It’s that every single second of his life is filled with complex moral choices, often at the risk of his own life, and that the consequences of these choices has left him with, let’s be honest, a form of posttraumatic stress disorder, which causes him to question, doubt, and despise everything about himself so that, even when he tries to do good, he still feels ashamed because, in his scarred eyes, it’s not good enough. On that note, Ozai didn’t just scar Zuko’s eye; Ozai scarred Zuko’s sight. He scarred Zuko’s ability to see himself in a wholly positive light.

But to the people like me, who really thought 2020 would be their year?

Love, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry you walked into this year with a smile and hope, and that smile immediately fell, and that hope was immediately crushed

I’m sorry that every day there’s something else, I’m sorry that you’re scared, I’m sorry that you’re angry, I’m sorry that you’re tired.

And I know, I know that you’re having a hard time hoping again. Trust me, I know.

But this year, Adam Castillejo became the second person to be cured of HIV

This year, James Patterson art up a fund to help Indie bookstores

This year, scientists finally managed to record the narwhal 

This year, White Storks have hatched the first wild chicks in 600 years

This year, the worlds largest open-air gallery was opened with paintings by individuals with learning disabilities

This year, an eleven year old skateboarder landed the worlds first 1080 degree turn

This year, scientists mapped the entire surface of the moon for the first time ever

This year, Sweden and Austria closed their last coal plants

This year, White Tailed Eagles are spotted flying over England for the first time in 240 years

This year, NASA launched astronauts to a US space station for the first time since 2011

To all the people like me, who thought 2020 was their year: We’re here. We’re alive. The world will grow. The world will heal. Maybe 2020 isn’t our year of stress free fun and memories, but it can be our year to learn and stand up and fight, so that next year? We get everything we hoped for.