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I totally understand your point of view because I'm an older sister too, and there would have been no way in hell I would have missed something like this about my younger sibling. Though I have to say, Percy at least understands there's something wrong and we also know Ginny at eleven is a very practised liar that doesn't like to ask for help and doesn't have much faith in her family being in her corner (the Quidditch training in secret is such a perfect back story for the diary).

I think when the Weasley brothers really fail is after Ginny's first year.

A lot of people seem to believe that the worst things Ron did were not believing Harry in GoF or the Horcrux thing but I completely disagree. Those things are frankly very minor all considered and influenced by a lot of circumstantial reasons. The one thing that really always kind of stuck with me that was really shitty of Ron was when he shoves away Ginny at the start of PoA. Your sister has been possessed for a whole year by a dark lord fundamentally because she grew up very sheltered and all her brothers decided to ignore her while an evil dark object amplified all her insecurities and the year after you decide to behave with her in the same exact way?

And I get that Ron is jealous of his friendships due to his insecurities but there's a limit to what is justifiable (he grows out of it at least so kudos for that).

And then after the dementor's attack, it's not even Ron who takes care of her while she trembles.

And of course, the fact that Ginny searches for Ron even after he sent her away tells you something about the other brothers (maybe Percy had prefect things to do so he might be excused, but why wasn't she with the twins?).

But after all, it's one of the big themes of Ginny's story: she doesn't have anyone in her corner but herself.

Ginny starts the story victim of unimaginable horrors because of her loneliness but she becomes someone whose greatest strength is her ability to stand on her own (the girl is a rock) and who takes care of the people forgotten by everybody else. She once was the injured girl on the floor of the Chamber and she becomes the one who takes care of the injured girl on the grounds (soon after her brother died I might add).

First, I think that the Weasley brothers did notice that there was something amiss with Ginny, though they didn't have the tools to deal with the situation. I wrote an analysis (or rather compiled excerpts from the books here : https://austenpoppy.tumblr.com/post/688403214565081088/embed).

But to sum up the point I made in that analysis, I'd say that the fact they were all mentioned trying to get Ginny to be less sad at one point or another shows that they were aware of what state she was in : for instance, Ron tried to reassure her after Mrs Norris's disappearance, the Twins disguised themselves and jumped at her to try to cheer her up after Colin was discovered, and Percy, who did the most because that year he was the oldest, kept telling her she was not herself.

Now regarding PoA, I'm unsure why you implied that Ron dismissed Ginny because he was supposedly protective of his friendships. I don't think Ron's shown much of that trait in the books : for example, he let Ginny hang out with the trio in the beginning of book 4, in book 5, or in book 6.

Actually, we know why Ron dismissed Ginny in that train : that's because Harry told Ron and Hermione he wanted to speak with them in private. So Ron had to tell Ginny to go elsewhere.

Now, you can argue he could've done it differently. But would telling her that Harry - of all people - needed to talk to Ron and Hermione in private have really been better ? Wouldn't that have made her feel more excluded ? Wouldn't that have risked making her feel slightly paranoid, wouldn't that have risked making her think that Harry believed her to be weird ?

And wouldn't that have risked making her feel like she was sick and/or patronised, either ? The Weasley siblings (the Weasleys in general) don't talk to each other in a polite, respectful and sensitive manner. They don't take kid gloves with one another. If Ron had been more polite, Ginny would have been reminded that now she was different because of what had happened.

I'd argue that Ron, in that train before his third year, treated Ginny like nothing was out of the ordinary, as if they were back to normal, and I'd say this can also be good for someone who's been through terrible things. Ginny ended up feeling annoyed, like any sibling would feel in that scenario, but no emphasis was made on her exclusion from the group of friends, and no emphasis was made on what had happened to her either (which a change of tone in Ron's usual manner would have highlighted).

Are we also going to berate Ron for not focusing on his sister when his best friend had just passed out ? Yes, sure, he could have made a signal to Hermione to stay with Harry while he took care of his sister, but I feel like that's asking a lot from a 13-year old. It's normal to be very worried about someone who fainted in front of you (and had a simili-seizure).

Ultimately I wouldn't say Ginny only had herself to rely on : she had an army of brothers who would kill for her if needed, and who were attentive to her. However, she experienced a very traumatic event that none of her brothers could relate to (a weird and toxic connection with Voldemort), which is a sort of isolation that's not easy to overcome - but that Harry also experienced, as you said yourself in one of your analysis.

And as a side note, while I don't count Ron's Horcruxe episode as a mistake at all, and do not think "not believing Harry right away" in fourth year was in itself a mistake either (not sitting with Harry in Potions class or not rekindling the dialogue with him are behaviours that I'd rather begrudge Ron for regarding that particular incident), I'd say Ron imitating Hermione in sixth year would qualify as his biggest mistake.

His biggest mistake is probably dating Lavender, because it didn't just hurt Hermione, it hurt Lavender too, and it hurt Ron as well. Even if Ginny *did* push his buttons, Ron didn't have to go and involve Lavender in the whole mess.

But that's HBP: it's the Book Of Why Are You Making This A Stupid Teenage Romcom When The Last Book Told Us There'd Be A War. Or the Book Of Everyone Shits On Ron Because He Can't Be Better Than The Other Mary Sues.

I totally understand your point of view because I'm an older sister too, and there would have been no way in hell I would have missed something like this about my younger sibling. Though I have to say, Percy at least understands there's something wrong and we also know Ginny at eleven is a very practised liar that doesn't like to ask for help and doesn't have much faith in her family being in her corner (the Quidditch training in secret is such a perfect back story for the diary).

I think when the Weasley brothers really fail is after Ginny's first year.

A lot of people seem to believe that the worst things Ron did were not believing Harry in GoF or the Horcrux thing but I completely disagree. Those things are frankly very minor all considered and influenced by a lot of circumstantial reasons. The one thing that really always kind of stuck with me that was really shitty of Ron was when he shoves away Ginny at the start of PoA. Your sister has been possessed for a whole year by a dark lord fundamentally because she grew up very sheltered and all her brothers decided to ignore her while an evil dark object amplified all her insecurities and the year after you decide to behave with her in the same exact way?

And I get that Ron is jealous of his friendships due to his insecurities but there's a limit to what is justifiable (he grows out of it at least so kudos for that).

And then after the dementor's attack, it's not even Ron who takes care of her while she trembles.

And of course, the fact that Ginny searches for Ron even after he sent her away tells you something about the other brothers (maybe Percy had prefect things to do so he might be excused, but why wasn't she with the twins?).

But after all, it's one of the big themes of Ginny's story: she doesn't have anyone in her corner but herself.

Ginny starts the story victim of unimaginable horrors because of her loneliness but she becomes someone whose greatest strength is her ability to stand on her own (the girl is a rock) and who takes care of the people forgotten by everybody else. She once was the injured girl on the floor of the Chamber and she becomes the one who takes care of the injured girl on the grounds (soon after her brother died I might add).

First, I think that the Weasley brothers did notice that there was something amiss with Ginny, though they didn't have the tools to deal with the situation. I wrote an analysis (or rather compiled excerpts from the books here : https://austenpoppy.tumblr.com/post/688403214565081088/embed).

But to sum up the point I made in that analysis, I'd say that the fact they were all mentioned trying to get Ginny to be less sad at one point or another shows that they were aware of what state she was in : for instance, Ron tried to reassure her after Mrs Norris's disappearance, the Twins disguised themselves and jumped at her to try to cheer her up after Colin was discovered, and Percy, who did the most because that year he was the oldest, kept telling her she was not herself.

Now regarding PoA, I'm unsure why you implied that Ron dismissed Ginny because he was supposedly protective of his friendships. I don't think Ron's shown much of that trait in the books : for example, he let Ginny hang out with the trio in the beginning of book 4, in book 5, or in book 6.

Actually, we know why Ron dismissed Ginny in that train : that's because Harry told Ron and Hermione he wanted to speak with them in private. So Ron had to tell Ginny to go elsewhere.

Now, you can argue he could've done it differently. But would telling her that Harry - of all people - needed to talk to Ron and Hermione in private have really been better ? Wouldn't that have made her feel more excluded ? Wouldn't that have risked making her feel slightly paranoid, wouldn't that have risked making her think that Harry believed her to be weird ?

And wouldn't that have risked making her feel like she was sick and/or patronised, either ? The Weasley siblings (the Weasleys in general) don't talk to each other in a polite, respectful and sensitive manner. They don't take kid gloves with one another. If Ron had been more polite, Ginny would have been reminded that now she was different because of what had happened.

I'd argue that Ron, in that train before his third year, treated Ginny like nothing was out of the ordinary, as if they were back to normal, and I'd say this can also be good for someone who's been through terrible things. Ginny ended up feeling annoyed, like any sibling would feel in that scenario, but no emphasis was made on her exclusion from the group of friends, and no emphasis was made on what had happened to her either (which a change of tone in Ron's usual manner would have highlighted).

Are we also going to berate Ron for not focusing on his sister when his best friend had just passed out ? Yes, sure, he could have made a signal to Hermione to stay with Harry while he took care of his sister, but I feel like that's asking a lot from a 13-year old. It's normal to be very worried about someone who fainted in front of you (and had a simili-seizure).

Ultimately I wouldn't say Ginny only had herself to rely on : she had an army of brothers who would kill for her if needed, and who were attentive to her. However, she experienced a very traumatic event that none of her brothers could relate to (a weird and toxic connection with Voldemort), which is a sort of isolation that's not easy to overcome - but that Harry also experienced, as you said yourself in one of your analysis.

And as a side note, while I don't count Ron's Horcruxe episode as a mistake at all, and do not think "not believing Harry right away" in fourth year was in itself a mistake either (not sitting with Harry in Potions class or not rekindling the dialogue with him are behaviours that I'd rather begrudge Ron for regarding that particular incident), I'd say Ron imitating Hermione in sixth year would qualify as his biggest mistake.

Obviously, yes there are instances of kids having to grow up a lot sooner because they have to take care of their siblings and act as the parent, but those are super extreme situations, and Ginny had both parents. She had a whole course load of teachers. Her brothers are self-absorbed in their own issues.

Yes, siblings look out for each other, but please don't expect them to do the job of an adult.

Nah Sarada/BoruSara accounts on twitter have to be setups. There's no way they're trying to drag Himawari for "needing Kurama" when Sarada's only usefulness comes from her MS and she just messed things up trying to use it for the third time.

Well if you wanna make that argument its not like you cant, its fair to say that she ‘needs Kurama’ because without him Hima was fairly weak [Ikemoto’s fault not mine, hes the one who forgot her byakugan and gentle fist] so you COULD make that argument if thats what you wanna go with

Just like its fair to say Naruto needs Kurama, cuz alot of his feats came from his help, and since Kurama is a separate entity with his own power and abilities, you could say thats ‘cheating’ in a sense, whereas Sasuke and other Uchiha’s powers come from their genetics, so its their own power from their own bloodline rather than a separate entity.

So if you wanna make that argument you could, thats fair if you wanna go there, but theres a flip side to this.

Its also fair if you wanna drag the Uchiha for needing their kekkei genkai, cuz remove that and what do the Uchiha really have? Mainly fire jutsu right? You could make that argument too since a kekkei genkai is also a buff they didnt gain on their own, its not a power they had to cultivate on their own, it was just always in them and they always had the potential to awaken and use it.

So if you wanna make that argument too you could, you could easily say only characters like Sakura and Lee etc are the only ppl worth praise and truly strong because their power was entirely earned and built from scratch.

But then your just being stupid at that point, if you strip EVERYONE of what makes them powerful simply because they didnt build it from scratch then you’ll have to disregard half the main cast, two of which are the got danm MCs of the entire series [Naruto and Sasuke] so its a dumb argument.

Just cuz you CAN make that argument doesnt mean you SHOULD, so does Hima need Kurama? Yes she does, but Sarada also needs her MS, she wasnt doing a danm thing before gaining that power just like Hima wasnt doing a danm thing before Kurama, its a dumb point.

There's stuff to criticize about Himawari but it would most likely apply to Sarada too.

Exactly, neither side has a leg to stand on in this debate, Ikemoto forgot about BOTH of their full arsenals and made them over reliant on one thing [MS/Kurama] and nothing else, literally neglecting half their other arsenal, so neither side should point fingers when their both in the same boat, an incompetent writer who doesnt even know the full power of the characters he’s writing.

Her awakening wasn't about realizing feelings for a boy, she talks about using her power to help, she got right to training to learn about her new abilities, and she can fight without spamming her biju bombs.

Thats whats so disgusting about Sarada’s writing and why Himas is objectively better by comparison, the SECOND she got her new power she immediately started trying to learn how to use it, training with Kurama, asking questions, she didnt just get the power and think ‘Im invincible’ she got the power and worked to hone and control it, to learn what she could do and how to do it.

Sarada got her power and immediately turned into Code when he got his limiters off, she thought she was invincible, she didnt say it out loud like he did, but her actions said it for her.

She had DAYS to look into her MS, to ask questions, to find out more about it, how to use it, whats the drawbacks, and she did NOTHING but sat on her ass that whole time and thought she was just built like that.

EVEN when she SAW her limitations play out in real time, 16 Mamushi had her slumped over and nearly blind, that right there was a CLEAR indicator of her limits and what did she do? She tells Shikamaru she can do not only 30, but 50 got danm Mamushi

That was arrogant af, she made Code getting YEEHAWED by Daemon look like it wasnt that bad, because atleast Code didnt take himself out due to his own overestimation of his power, he just thought he was untouchable and Daemon put him in his place, Sarada put her own danm self in her place.

Daemon humbled Code, Sarada humbled herself, that is beyond embarrassing.

Its a shame that the 13 year old unofficial ninja in training has more self awareness than 15 yr old Sarada whos an official ninja with years of ninja training and experience

It's the bare minimum but we didn't even get that for Sarada.

Yep…shame

But this is why her writing is so trash. They praise the bare minimum when other people actually have expectations for their faves. If they raised the bar a tiny bit it might've actually pushed Ikemoto to put a little more effort in but they couldn't even do that.

Cuz they care more about a ship than Sarada’s character.

It should be an outrage that Sarada's arsenal is restricted to her MS and she's already fainting from using it. Not to mention that things are still going according to KK's plan which means the purpose of her awakening her MS was so she could knock herself out! It's ridiculous. I'm almost looking forward to her getting embarrassed again just to watch them cry about it.

Tell me about it…its so obvious that KK only needed her MS for the sole purpose of taking down Ryu, he hasnt planned or requested anything of her MS since then, and his lack of reaction to her takin herself out proves it, because when Boruto was about to die he freaked out and panicked because he needed him, when he saw Himawari die in his future vision he recruited Inojin to help prevent it, he sent Boruto to go have Sumire fix his sword instead of just a regular ol blacksmith, but Sarada? Radio silence, no plan for her, and no reaction when she took herself out and ruined the plan, not a single fk was given.

And that right there tells you all you need to know, he only needed her for Ryu and thats it, he already saw the multiple outcomes this Mamushi fight could go, theres no way he didnt see Sarada’s eye exploding being one of them, but he only made an effort to prevent Himawari’s death, and Ada is obviously a given cuz god only knows what’ll happen if she turned shinju but yeah.

Lets just call it how we see it, KK let Sarada take herself out because nothing of value would be lost if she did or he’d be panicking right now, the fact that he isnt means her taking herself out actually either works in his benefit, or its just irrelevant and something else thats about to happen is more important.

Either way its not a good look for Sarada, for KK to be that unconcerned and have absolutely nothing to say about Sarada in general, no plan for her, no warnings to prevent what just happened, not even Boruto or Shikamaru to inform her not to use her MS until they gather them all in one place later, he legit said absolutely nothing about her and left everything to happen exactly how it did with her, which means he felt no need to intervene.

So yea, next month is gonna be a FUN time, because everyone is going to benefit at Sarada’s expense, either Himawari will benefit or Boruto, or both, hell maybe even Kawaki, regardless whoever gets a boost after this its going to come at Sarada’s expense because she had to take herself out first for it to happen.

Commenters: omg that’s so fucked up. Maybe educate yourself on domestic abuse from experts before you go saying things like this??

They also love to hit and beat their victims until the victims finally retaliate with a small slap or push. Then, predictably, the abusers will tell anyone who'll listen that they are the abuse victim.

One of the presenters said he'd literally gotten camera footage of a male suspect acquainting his fist with his face while pretending to scream as his bruised and battered wife was on the phone with 911, and then, when the cops showed up, he came crying about how she'd beaten him. The idiot did it all in view of his ring camera.

They are very predictable. Unfortunately, there's a reason they're so confident in their tactics: those tactics work on law enforcement, which is permeated with misogyny.

And, doubly unfortunately, I could add all the disclaimers about how male victims truly do exist and deserve help, etc.,....and yet some people will still choose to read this as hatred towards them.

“I know, I know, don’t touch the beard”.

Harry having a quality time with his daughter

pretty sure this is what happened

There is no universe in which Azula was winning that fight with Zuko (or Katara, for that matter).

Azula spent so much of Book 2 being built up as this deadly terrifying force against whom the heroes are badly outmatched that it can be difficult to catch exactly how quickly Zuko is advancing.

Back up a bit to Book One. For the fearsome exiled crown prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko's not that impressive a firebender. He's not bad by any stretch, and he's able to lay the untrained Sokka and Katara flat pretty easily. Then he gets in the ring with Aang, who is an airbending master, and the difference between a regular bender and a master becomes apparent when Aang literally puts his ass to bed:

People have attributed this to the fact that no one's fought an airbender in 100 years, but I think it's also worth noting that Aang (a 12 year old from a pacifist nation) has probably never fought anyone before. Like, ever. And yet the second Aang thinks "okay, I'll attack back", the fight's over.

Zuko's got the same genetic predisposition for firebending talent that Azula does, yet it never seems to manifest because of his mental blocks. At the beginning of the series, he's already so beat down that all he really has is conviction, pride, and anger, so even with training from Iroh (the firebending master, thank you very much), he struggles. Yet throughout Book 2, when he has no time to train because he's on the run, he actually seems to advance faster. The fact that his bending is literally tied to his character arc (as his morals become tangled and he has to fight off aforementioned mental blocks) is pretty brilliant. Like, by the time of the Crossroads of Destiny, Zuko getting his ass handed to him by Aang is a pretty consistent feature of the show--he just can't match wits with him.

Hell, at the beginning of the series, he and Iroh (again: the actual firebending master) launch a combined power surface-to-air attack...which Aang casually swats away into a nearby ice wall. Come the Crossroads of Destiny, however, and Zuko by himself launches this bigass fireball that blows through Aang's defenses.

Zuko advances so quickly that it's scary. That prodigious talent is in him even if it doesn't come through as cleanly as with Azula. Who, by the way, was busy about to get flattened by Katara some few dozen feet away, until Zuko took over and then effectively stalemated her himself.

All of this in retrospect makes it abundantly clear why Zuko's firebending seemed to skyrocket so much when he learned true firebending from the Sun Warriors: it was really the only thing left. He's hard a hard road learning how to fight waterbenders, earthbenders, and airbenders, and even if unconsciously, he's applying the philosophy Iroh taught him about augmenting his bending style with aspects of other styles (see also, the waterbending-like fire whips he uses in the above gif). Once he actually understands fire and how it works, he's got it mastered. Hence why any gap between him and Azula effectively disappears as soon as their next fight--before her friends have betrayed her and her stability goes out the window. There's no real sense of urgency to their fight at the Boiling Rock prison. True, Sokka's presence with the sword helps, but Zuko doesn't look remotely worried and he counters Azula's every attack perfectly.

All her life, Azula only ever learned fire. She was taught by the best people the fire nation can employ, so she knows all the cool tricks, but she's still poisoned by the corrupted firebending practiced in the modern ATLA timeline. Unlike Zuko, who managed to get the basics if nothing else from Iroh (fire comes from the breath, and can be used to survive as much as to kill), Azula has always used fire as a weapon and a means to hurt others. She has no true knowledge of the craft, meaning she's got the same weaknesses as Zhao, she's just better disciplined to the point she can make up for it.

Zuko's victory was a given considering Azula's complete loss of control by the time of Sozin's comet, but even had she been in a perfect mental state, she'd have lost, because in many ways Zuko is simply the better firebender.

Almost as soon as the scene begins, Zuko decides to make fun of his sister by mimicking her failure to feed turtle-ducks correctly. As part of the "joke" Zuko decides to physically throw food at a baby animal. Ursa is, unsurprisingly, disturbed by this. However, I think her response is outstanding.

You are misrepresenting the first situation.

> Zuko decides to make fun of his sister by mimicking her failure to feed turtle-ducks correctly. As part of the "joke" Zuko decides to physically throw food at a baby animal.

No, this is not what happened. Zuko is saying that Azula hits the turtle-ducks and, when he imitated her, he was immediately taken aback by the pain he had caused. That’s why Ursa didn’t have to scold him—Zuko’s visible shock conveys that he understood what he had done was wrong. This scene is meant to portray Zuko and Azula as foils.

I fail to see the difference between “Zuko, why would you do that?” and “Azula, we do not speak that way.” [The script doesn’t include an exclamation point there—simply a comma.] If I wanted to argue like you do, I’d say that the first line is accusatory, while the second one is a simple lesson—meaning that Ursa is putting Zuko under more pressure by asking him to explain himself. But I’m not going to use your methods against you; this is another instance of ridiculous finger-pointing at a good parenting moment. Azula had already hurt animals and her friends in this episode, so Ursa is correct to be concerned about her daughter being so cavalier with violence against her family.

> Later the same day, we see Ursa grab Azula by the arm and physically drag her from the room before either child has a chance to explain what they were fighting about. (While not inherently abusive in itself, she is still interacting with two children that have lived in an abusive environment their entire lives. […])

Ursa holds Azula in the exact same way that Azula holds Zuko earlier in the episode.

(In fact, it’s not the same. Azula held Zuko by the arm, Ursa held Azula by the wrist—so, more delicately)

Since you’re discussing how a child raised in this environment would interpret this motion, I have to ask: do we ever see Ozai touch his children? Their home is depicted as almost entirely lacking in physical contact—I can’t think of a single time Ozai has reached for his children besides his attacks on Zuko. So no, I don’t think being grabbed by the wrist would remind Azula of Ozai.

> "Young lady! Not another word!" Here, Ursa doesn't even use Azula's name. Instead, she talks down to her, reducing her to her age and gender.

Again with the overanalysis—now we’re breaking it down to semantics. This is the second time Azula has expressed a wish to see a family member dead, and it comes after a pattern of violence toward animals and her own friends. How would a good parent react to that comment? Do you think they would start weighing their semantics?

> This isn't because Zuko never did anything wrong as a child.

Name them. Name the ‘wrong’ things that Zuko did as a child that Ursa should’ve admonished him for.

Funnily enough, you didn’t include the scene where Ursa calls Azula “darling” and tells Zuko to play with her, nor the fact that Ursa didn’t punish Azula when Zuko came back soaking wet, or the scene where they’re all smiling while reading Iroh’s card. You handpicked a tender scene with Zuko and compared it to scenes where Azula is acting out.

SHE SAID YOURE WELCOME BITCHES!!!!

also!

Aang: over duty and responsibility.

Toph: over bending, maybe over their awful childhoods.

Sokka: nerding out over military history and other military stuff, maybe a bit about responsibility.

Suki: fighting moves, leadership, responsibility.

And then Azula would just be like... Glorious. Your wrath is beautiful. Feels good doesn't it..

You are not a monster Katara, but you are strong. Now show me....

This is an interesting question for ATLA, and one sometimes without a clear answer. Some characters have reasonably complete character arcs, and others simply don't, to a degree which is often not acknowledged today. A few are in-between. This not necessarily a function of screen time. Jet and Yue have reasonably complete character arcs despite only briefly appearing, while others with far more screen time do not.

Without further ado, I'll go through the characters one by one and try to give an answer:

Yue, as I said, has a story which feels complete with a beginning, middle, and end. She's a very duty bound person committed a political marriage to help her tribe, a person who was saved by the holy symbols of it in the first place. Then she falls in love with Sokka but refuses to break off her engagement out of duty. And finally she sacrifices her life out of duty to save everyone.

Jet also feels like he has an arc. You can take issue with how it was written and how it plays out, since he really got the short straw, but it's an arc. From being orphaned by the Iroh-aligned Rough Rhinos, to fighting the Fire Nation and going "too far," to trying to make a new start in Ba Sing Se, to correctly getting suspicious about Zuko and Iroh, to being brainwashed by the Dai Li, to dying fighting against Long Feng. It's not nearly as coherent as Yue's arc, but it's something.

Suki, by contrast, doesn't have much of an arc. I've heard before the concept of "character arc" being defined as "either the character changes or the audience's perception of them changes." Neither of those things ever happen with Suki. She remains unchanged, and we learn nothing really about her. The only meaningful character change which happens is that she and Sokka fall in love.

Aang quite obviously has an arc: grow into the position of Avatar, defeat the Firelord, befriend Zuko, and the end the war. And, of course, get together with Katara.

Zuko also has an arc, which the show probably spends more time on than with anyone else: change sides, become friends with the Gaang(although that bit was very poorly written), and reject his abusive father and instead start worshipping his uncle. And I suppose grow strong enough to beat the crap out of his sister, like he's always wanted to do.

Iroh, by contrast, couldn't have less of an arc. Any attempt to read an arc into the mess of extremely incoherent writing he was would require extreme charity. In the end, we're supposed to both accept he "changed" offscreen before the show(that his arc was already mostly complete?) but also that he was "always good" anyways.

Toph doesn't have an arc. 90% of her character development, such as it was, is confined to her first two appearances. After that, she's merely a hanger on to the Gaang. As much as people love her, there is so little to her story. Her character is better defined than Suki, but her story isn't.

Azula is supposed to have an arc. It's supposed to be about falling apart, going insane, and being lain low. But it was extremely rushed and shoved unconvincingly into the last few episodes, and the writers were uninterested in explaining what actually happened to make her fall apart, so I struggle to say she has anything resembling a coherent arc.

Ty Lee also doesn't have an arc. Her arc, such as it was imagined, was supposed to "betray Azula." Yet none of the character development she gets over the series leads in that direction, and we have every reason to believe she would have acted the same at the beginning of the series as she did at the end. And of course there was no "redemption" aside from switching sides for her.

Mai has slightly more of an arc than Ty Lee, but that's only because it involves her getting together with Zuko and eventually sacrificing herself to protect him. Otherwise, it's about as coherent as Ty Lee's arc.

Sokka's arc is an interesting one. I would say that there are four things they experiment with as the basis for his arc. First, there is his distrust for Aang, which is rapidly resolved. Second is his sexism, which is equally rapidly resolved. Third is unease over being a nonbender, but that's only rarely referenced over the course of the series, and is fully "resolved" in the truly awful episode "Sokka's Master" early in Book 3. Finally, there is the issue of his daddy issues and his desire to prove himself as a warrior. That is something his story keeps coming back to over and over again. However, it is almost entirely resolved in the Day of Black Sun episodes, where Sokka leads the SWT in battle, despite a couple weird later references in the Boiling Rock episodes. Thus, I would Sokka has an arc, but it's resolved well before the series ends.

Finally, we reach Katara. I don't think Katara really has much of a coherent arc in the series. In Book 1, it was all about her trying to become a master waterbender, but she achieves that by the end of the Book. After that, her character lacks clear direction. What's her story supposed to be about after that? Getting together with Aang? "Forgiving Zuko"? The daddy issues which show up for exactly one episode? The conflict with Toph which shows up for two? "Accepting that ordinary Fire Nation people are people too," even though she was always shown to be compassionate to ordinary Fire Nation people not actively engaged in genocide? The "mommy issues" which she often brings up but which are rarely taken seriously by the show, and are ultimately used to get her to forgive Zuko (two separate times!)? All of these seem completely unworthy of hanging her arc on, and I have to say, I don't think Katara has much of a coherent arc past Book 1.

Thing is, if you don't have either a clear character goal (such as how you analyzed them, which is the traditional concept of an arc), or a gradual vision of their transformation and change across time (stuff like bildungsroman, stories about the formative experience of a child becoming an adult, which is what I'd think Sokka's arc can be seen as), then you really can't say you have much of an arc. In my case, I tend to look at characters as they were in their first appearance and their last and wonder what changed in them, what aspects of this character are different from first to last appearance. If there's a noticeable difference, then there's an arc... but whether the arc was well executed or not (... Azula's...), is a matter that requires deeper analysis.

... In cases like Katara's, it's really hard to say the girl had an arc beyond becoming indeed a waterbending master. The way she gets speedran into mastery in the blink of an eye goes ignored by most of the fandom, she wasn't even training for three months before Pakku deems her one. Beyond this point, the story as good as tries to make her the glue of Team Avatar (or the mom...) and there's very little challenge in terms of development for Katara after that besides incidental conflicts that either are resolved too quickly to feel important or aren't resolved at all (... her mother's death. I'm really annoyed by seeing people act like she totally found closure for that, my god..).

Toph? Same thing, lesser scale. Suki? Less so, even. Mai, Ty Lee? Just so. Yue's definitely the one female character who had a purpose and that was to become the Moon Spirit... and die.

So. Not that this is what the post was about, but. Isn't it telling that the majority of the female characters simply ~don't~ have tangible, satisfactory, uplifting character arcs, while the male ones do? :')

we love you daniel, rupert, and emma!!!

Rupert changed his tune when there was the possibility of getting another Harry Potter book and he didn't want to piss of Rowling.

Like I get that if you look at the movies, it would seem Dan and Bonnie don’t quite have the same kind of chemistry as Dan has with Emma, but this kiss shows me that Dan and Bonnie would have managed a convincing and decent portrayal of canon!Harry/Ginny if they were given the chance to explore their characters, were nurtured by a director and a writer who gave a rat’s ass about this couple, who cared to put some development into this relationship.