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Prompt: Forgotten love

Second. Not really? I mean, I definitely like Zutara more that Kataang, with their symbolism and just overall vibes, but I'm mostly neutral on them. I think they're a bit overrated, though not without merit, and they make for some fire (pun intended) AUs. But no, the main reason I dislike Kataang is because it just wasn't written in a way that is likeable.

Like, you're telling me I'm supposed to root for a ship that actively made both characters involved in it worse? The one that took a generally more gnc guy and made him into a jealous, possessive jerk with no respect for boundaries (Ember Island Players, I am looking at you disrespectfully)? The one that took a badass feminist with a winning streak against people trying to get her to conform and made her into a trad wife (LOK, I am looking at you disrespectfully)? The one that took a parentified child and made her into a parentified partner? The one that made both characters feel flawed in all the wrong ways?

Because both of them are, in fact, flawed. Not only are they children, but they're also characters. Making your character perfect makes them boring, which is a major reason why Kataang just falls flat. Aang's flaws, that often have a direct effect on his relationship with Katara, are excused. He's not given the opportunity to recognize his mistakes and grow from them, which is unfortunately a common issue with main characters in general. Katara isn't allowed to be flawed, period. She's only seen as desirable when she's perfect and mature, and as soon as she starts acting as the teenager that she is, she is criticized and put down. Neither of them get to grow as individuals or as a relationship when they're together, and it feels like such a waste.

Also, this is more of a personal opinion than anything, but "getting the girl" trope is both boring and kind of creepy, especially when it's mixed with love at first sight, which is superficial to begin with. How in love can you truly be with someone who you're seeing for the first time ever? Infatuated, maybe. Attracted to, sure. But in love? Hardly. It makes their whole relationship feel kind of shallow. And the way that Aang being pushy and disrespectful of Katara's boundaries still wins her over at the end really sends a wrong message into the masses.

Before I say anything else, I want to make it clear that I love Aang as a character and his dynamics with everyone are amazing, including Katara. But the execution of his romance with her is just… not good. You can disagree with me, but I’ve seen so much better. And I’m not talking about Zutara.

There’s something I’ve noticed about the Zutara fandom. While it’s a lot of fun and intriguing to read people’s analyses and anti anti arguments, I find myself disagreeing with the insinuation that Kataang is doomed from the start.

No, I don’t believe it was.

Kataang had it all. They had a really good premise: friends who travel the world torn by war, growing stronger together to fight the big bad, falling in love somewhere in the process, and living happily together when peace is finally achieved. Plus, the tropes are some of my favorites in romance: friends to lovers, battle couple, emotional support, trauma bonding, devoted & protective partner x touched-starved partner with abandonment issues (kind of), badass girl x goofy boy, etc.

And guess what? If you look at it from a certain angle, this is really similar to Percy and Annabeth from Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan, one of the best written romantic subplots I’ve ever seen and the perfect example of close friends falling in love and still having the same dynamic as when they’re friends after getting together, the only real difference is that they’re kissing.

Kataang could have been that, but as Katara and Aang. That would’ve been so amazing.

And I think that’s why I really dislike Kataang but cannot hate it. They had it all, and the writers didn’t give it to them. And they continued to do them dirty in the comics and Legend of Korra.

I can easily imagine that if they had done the following:

Put more effort into Aang helping Katara feel like a kid again

Give more explicit focus on Katara catching feelings and falling in love as they grow into young adults

Show their dynamic shifting into partners-in-crime where Aang is the one taking care of her

And properly give Aang the “letting go of attachment” arc where he lets go of his idealization of Katara and falls harder for her real flawed self

Then one of two things would have happened.

One, Kataang would have been another one of my top favorite ships of all time instead of Zutara.

Or two, and assuming that Katara’s interactions with Zuko doesn’t change, Kataang and Zutara would have been the first ships that I actively multiship. And I don’t usually multiship!

Ugh. What both Zutara and Kataang could have been.

As a descendant of genocide survivors myself, and while I still experience the remnants of that violence through racism and discrimination (and I live in a country that is and has been carrying out internal and external genocides, targeting marginalized groups that I also belong to), I did not grow up under the threat of genocide in the way that people do in other parts of the world today (many of whom look like me and practice the same religion as me). I am literally the type of person Aang is meant to represent.

And he makes me so angry in TSR because I’d never have to audacity to say to people who are experiencing genocide today and grew up under the threat of that violence while also witnessing it, that they should “let their anger go and forgive the people who committed and are committing those crimes”. If a kid who watched their mother die in front of them because a soldier raided their village looking for them and found her instead wants justice through whatever means they have available to them, then literally who the hell am I to be like “yeah, the last two generations of my family escaped genocide and persecution and my people were killed en masse so I understand what you’re going through and you should forgive that guy.” Man, WHAT?

Katara: Hey Zuko.

Zuko: Katara! It's so great to see you!

Katara: Likewise. It's been a year since we last saw each other.

Zuko: Yeah. Are the three water tribes thriving nicely?

Katara: Yes. Thanks to Aang leaving the three spirit portals open, traveling to each tribe is faster and easier. Speaking of Aang, he and Azula come by every now and then and help Sokka and me out with the rebuilding of the tribes and inspiring people with waterbending to master both the combat and healing aspects of waterbending, regardless of gender. Still hard to believe they're together now.

Zuko: Tell me about it. Love is unpredictable that way.

Katara: Is everything going okay with the Fire Nation?

Zuko: Surprisingly, yes. If anything, the Fire Lord before me revealing himself to be a Cataclysmic Dark Avatar who orchestrated the 100-year war, played my family and all remaining three nations for fools, and attempted to wipe out all life through darkness, chaos, and unbalanced elements, automatically erases what little respect anyone has ever had for him, and became grateful to me for helping the Avatar destroy him once and for all.

Katara: That's great to hear.

Zuko: Of course, Aang and Azula do come by here as well to make sure I don't "burn our home to the ground" as Azula has stated.

Katara: The Air Nation's recovering, too, thanks to Aang bestowing airbending to worthy candidates, starting with Ty Lee.

Zuko: I've heard about that.

Katara: Aside from the spirit portals opening and the avatar spirit representing light/peace and darkness/chaos this time, everything almost seems to be going back to how things used to be.

Zuko: To how things are supposed to be.

Katara: I just wish our parents lived to see it.

Zuko: (Sighs)

Katara: So, you gonna be busy today?

Zuko: Maybe. Maybe not.

Katara: Regardless, I'm gonna be hanging out with you for a while.

Zuko: Really?

Katara: Yeah. Sokka assured me that he's got everything under control, and I let him know when to message me if he ever needs me.

Zuko: You're always welcome here, and I already saw to it that you'd always be treated the way I'm treated whenever you arrive.

So like. Imagine how insane he must have looked to everyone else. He barges into a tea shop in the part of the city thats most inhabited by refugees and people trying to start over since the war began. Not only that, but one of these people has a huge scar on his face showing how he's been affected by the oppressors. And then Jet comes SWINGING and BEGGING Zuko and Iroh to light him on fire.