What A Man Needs

Once I tried to think of how Harry James Potter would have looked like when he got older.

I imagine McGonagall seeing him and thinking that Harry looks like everyone he loved now. His mother’s green eyes, his father’s features, Sirius’ hair (and even beard) and Remus, because of the scars on his face.

Okay so even if you don’t ship it, what I am about to say will be undeniably true.

First and foremost, katara treats everyone, EVERYONE in the group like a child that she mothers EXCEPT for Zuko.

When they were on ember island at the play, the phrase ‘avatar’s girl’ is spoken on stage and Aang nods proudly like he owns Katara, it’s possessive. When Katara tells him she needs time to think, because she doesn’t know what she wants, instead of respecting her wishes Aang kisses her out of no where because he thinks it’s his rite.

When Katara and Zuko go to see the southern raiders, he watches her blood bend a man without batting an eye. He doesn’t judge her when she can’t kill the murderer either, and after on the dock she basically ignores Aang and jumps into Zuko’s arms for a real affectionate hug.

When she hugs Aang it’s always rather hesitantly as if she is hugging a close friend, not a lover. When he goes into the avatar state after aapa is stolen, she hugs him because he needed it.

Her and Zuko have a hateful relationship up until the point of the cave in ba sing se, where she finally realizes he is hurting just as much as she is. She is even allowed to touch his scar which no one has done so far in the series. Even as she leaves with Aang, her eyes travel back to Zuko. Her heart breaks when she sees him fighting along side Azula, and that is why she is so guarded when he finally makes the right desicion and tries to join up. She doesn’t want to be hurt again because she has genuine affection for him.

When she meets Aang in the iceberg, he is just a goofy kid who likes to laugh. Once she realizes he is the avatar things change and the friendship begins. They travel the world together and become life long friends, but no where in any of the episodes does it show true attraction. Even in the cave of two lovers it was just coincidence that they got stick together, and even then Katara is only blushing awkwardly because it’s a first kiss, plus she only offered as an escape from the cave. When they first kiss on the invasion day it was almost an instinctual reaction. Aang didn’t know if he was going to die, and katara didn’t know if she’s ever see him again so they shared a special moment ‘just in case’ but that was it.

This show is all about balance, ying and yang, tui and la, light and dark, fire and water. Everything leading up to the final agni kai was all supposed to end differently. How Zuko attacked katara village and her multiple times. How he saved Aang as the blue spirit and freed aapa. How he betrayed her again at ba sing se and almost killed Aang, only to save them all from combustion man 'who he hired.’ How he helped her grieve her mother’s death in a way that no one else in the group could. Finally when he is beating Azula and sees blue sparks head towards katara, all that he has worked for, his honor, his throne, his nation, his life. He was willing to give all that up as he dove in front of the lightning. Yes he was trying to redirect it, but being in the air he was not grounded, and could have easily died. And in the end when he finally sees her face all he can say is 'thank you’ because for a moment he hasn’t decided if he is dead or not and if he is he is grateful that the first face he sees is her. And she should have pulled him into a hug before kissing him, and then she would fumble around awkwardly until she felt him brush her cheek, and pull her in for a slow warm kiss. They would have achieved balance, yin and yang, anger and kindness, introvert and extrovert, guarded and stoic vs open and cheerful, light and dark, fire and water.

To her Aang will always be that goofy kid in the iceberg, and maybe she does love him but it would be a fist love. The kind you get when you are 14 and meet a strange boy who isn’t from the tribe you have lived in your whole life and offers to take you away from your home to see the world. A love that never had any conflict, no hate and arguments or bad thoughts, the love of a perfect friend.

Then you have the love that has grown and molded and been shaped by both of your hand as both you and he seek redemption. Zuko was the enemy and everything she hated about the fire nation. In her eyes he was the reason her mother had to die, for people like him and then he redeems himself and she starts to feel her heart pulled to him by some unknown force, until she is touching his face in an affectionate way. And then all at once the tug is broken by and flash of lightning and she has to save the day, but as she flew away the tug may be gone but she can still feel the sensation in your heart. She hates him so much it feels like she could fire bend herself and then he’s there. All at once as he was standing before her she felt the tug again and quickly had to cut it herself, refusing to believe that he had changed. And then he gave her peace and all at once she stopped fighting it and let the tug pull her straight into his arms on the dock. And as she say him dive in front of lightning for her her heart stopped and didn’t beat until he was thanking her, and she pulled him into a kiss and the world finally found balance in 100 years.

Even going past the last air bender to legend of korra, we see that Aang favors his only air bending son Tenzin for his own selfish reasons, and when Zuko in all of his flaws and short comings hears that Izumi may be in trouble his first and only thought is to be by his daughters side to protect her. Loyalty vs selfish gains. You can argue that Aang would be excited to finally be the person who restarts the air benders so to speak, but at the sake of making your other children feel neglected just doesn’t seem like a fair trade.

To me Zuko is the true hero of the story for all the reasons Aang is not, starting with the fact that he earned everything he has, born into a palace that set him up for every opportunity in the world, UNTIL he was literally scarred and banished to never return until he found some fabled figure that hasn't been seen in a hundred years, if ever to exist to begin with rather than just being a story.

The reason he was gone in the first place is because Aang threw a temper tantrum because again, CHILD, and by doing so dammed the world. Not his fault, just a fact that caused repercussions that echoed through out the century until he returned and was prepared to play again, only to find out his people were slaughtered and he is the last. Terrible and no excuses can be made for his pain, but the way he went about the rest of his task is still reflective of a child desperate to play rather than perform.

When Zuko was banished by his own father for simply speaking out against the plan to sacrafice innocent soldiers, he was punished publicly and brutally by the one man who was supposed to protect him, raise him in a peaceful world rather than tear it apart with war. So instead of getting to play in his youth he is forced on an impossible journey to regain his figment of honor so that he can reclaim his rightful place by his fathers side.

Throughout the series we see Aang learn new techniques and question the order of the new world, but never within the episodes do we see someone question him to the point where he alters his understanding. Each time he is faced with a problem he triumphs by his own rules, 'reshaping the clouds' to suit his own gains while the village watched below, just as his destiny has promised, him the only one who can save the world.

Zuko on the other hand fails, and fails again at every opportunity, not only when he ACTUALLY FINDS THE AVATAR, who has been missing for a century, but faces an unknown force called air bending that naturally beats him with surprise alone, but does that stop him from trying and trying again, not at all skippy, instead he learns Aangs moves and studies them naturally growing better against them, even as he is plagued with self doubt.

Aang is the avatar and gifted with natural abilities that are praised not only for their skill, but because of the rarity, his riding the unagi becaue he has air bending is cool, but much cooler simply because he is the only one in the world with access to the power, and he is the avatar, so he is praised and revered for everything he does, further boosting his ego rather than disciplining him.

Zuko constantly gets rejected and begins to understand the other side of things, growing up learning the fire nation was the greatest, but slowly deciphering for himself that they plagued the lands from which he shunned, both in 'Alone' and the inner rings of the circle when he works in the tea shop, slowly starting to understand other people views and change his ways even when they show him hate and actively fighting and despising him.

The first time Aang is brought to a crossroads, where something may be torn from him, aka when katara and sokka get news of their father, he steals it becaue he has a selfish desire to keep them around, its terrible, but again he is 12! and that is a justified reaction of losing what he loves, so when hes caught he runs away, only to be saved and then reunited with katara and sokka who decide to go with him despite his mistakes.

Zuko comes to a cross roads and falls into an intimate situation with katara in the catacombs, only to betray them in the hopes of regaining the honor he has been brainwashed to beleive is his only redemption, helping his sister who knows the proper ways to manipulate him without a second thought, and when he finally realizes his mistakes and tries to do the right thing he is shunned by the entire group and forced to work for their forgiveness, thereby learning EVEN MORE about the others and their ideals.

When Aang finds out katara wishes to seek vengeance on her mothers killer he actively protest and berates her desicions, forcing his own in her place rather than letting her make her own choice. When he expresses his desire to be with her and she rejects him, he kisses her rather than respecting her space their again forcing his own opinion on her without a thought for her own.

When zuko learns of katara desicion to find her fathers killer, he respects it and offers to take her there, waiting silently by her side for what comes next and even watching her blood bend without a word. When he first joins the group and katara vocalized her opinion against him, instead of talking over her or forcing his own upon her he sought out sokka's help and then waited the entire night for her to allow him a conversation, ON HER TIME

Whe Aang eventually realizes he is the one who must face the fire lord, he enlists the help of others who all tell him he must kill Ozai, and instead of reevaluating his views or even considering the option he runs away again like a child, NOTHING WRONG WITH NOT WANTING TO KILL, JUST LISTEN. This is while he is blocked out of the avatar state and seeks to find a way to open the gates, told by the monk to do so that he must let go of his earthly bonds and desires, which he as a monk was raised to do from the beginning of his life and is an active argument on his behalf and yet he refuses! Even after katara has openly rejected him.

When zuko understands his path is to teach Aang fire bending he abandons his crown and nation to face people he has openly fought and hunted in the hopes of finding redemption at any means, because the mission 'aka the world' is more important than the man. And when he comes to understand his entire way of life and fire bending are no longer relevant, considering he is a fugitive who can barely bend a spark, he seeks out a new form to entirely remake his soul, bending a sacred part of anyones life especially a prince, and in doing so gains the approval of dragons and accomplishes his goal of teaching the avatar.

When Aang faces ozai, without opening the avatar gate, he is willingly facing off against Hitler who is hell bent on whipping out the entire earth kingdom and their is absolutely no way for him to win without the avatar state and yet he chose to hold onto his childhood crush on katara WHO REJECTED HIM over the lives of an entire race of people and the end as he is losing, ITS A BEAUTIFUL SHOT, but he is saved by a single stone that unlocks the avatar state, which is a God tier power he just happened to be born with that requires no formal training.

When Zuko faces off against azula he does so with the skill and resolve of a true master, able to single handedly defeated the most terrifying bender in the series, not by some fabled gift, but his own mind and understanding, but again when faced with the predicament if the world, his throne and his life for katara's, he chooses her, literally diving in front of lighting and trusting that she could take care of it in his place and she does, and after they win they look on with sorrow at the pain Azula sustains, not triumph for their victory.

Then Aang beats ozai with his gift and takes away his bending, because it's against his own opinion therefore saving Hitler and causing zuko a world of mess in the comics after. 'But it's his way and he kept to his beliefs by not killing him' but that's just one man, and absolutely nothing to do with the army when the head of the snake is still alive and capable of leading

You know who else decided not to kill his father, Zuko! You know who actually stopped the war and reestablished balance within the world, Zuko! You know who treated all people and nations as equals who understood their own opinions by studying them within their ranks, Zuko.

You know who is praised for all the credit and therefore believing all his opinions were right from the beginning, Aang. Never once does he have to reevaluate his stance or understand a different perspective because everything always works out for the best. His possession of katara, his possession of his culture by which he wont compromise. In the comics he throws an entire tantrum when he first meets the air acalytes, claiming they are disrespecting the air nation and it's people. You know who tried to tear the fire nation out of the earth kingdom after the war, claiming it was wrong for families to be there who have been living for a century, Aang. You know what that little town turned into, republic city.

You know who actually fought for the citizens to stay in the city to help keep bonds, Zuko. You know who was so hell bent on doing the right thing that he made his bestfriend promise to kill him if he went of book, Zuko. You know who literally started a trend and protected the next avatar after Aangs death and continued to fight into his 70's Zuko.

You know who is remembered for stopping the war and bring balance to the world, Aang. You know who is praised as the creator of republic city with a gigantic statue in their harbor, Aang. You know who actually agreed to kill his bestfriend even though he refused to kill Hitler, Aang. You know who decided it would be best to keep katara at the south pole while he raised the single airbender as his heir apart from his other two kids, Aang. You know why he did that, its because since he was twelve years old he never once had to sacrafice his mindset or learn a new understanding and perception becaue all he ever did worked out and therefore he never needed to.

“What do you think?” God asked as we passed a nineteen-way taking place in a pool of champagne. Little cherubs flitted overhead armed with mops and cleaning supplies, thankfully. “Lust is our most popular sin.” I eyed the supermodel-like figures of a couple passing nearby, and could easily see why. “You can look however you want. Hell, you can be whatever gender you want. No fetish is too taboo, and no desire can be denied here.”

It was quite tempting, but I wasn’t ready to make a permanent decision here. “Let’s see the others,” I told God.

We carried on to Greed. We passed rows and rows of mansions, each more opulent than the next. Some of them were so large that they would have had enough bed rooms to fit my entire hometown. And so many different styles: one second, we were in a beautiful French vineyard in front of a gorgeous chateau with the Alps in the background. The next second, a warm tropical beach with a modern mansion atop breathtaking cliffs. After that, a ski chalet in Colorado with a roaring fire in a hearth large enough to fit an ox. Each one had various Italian sports cars and Rolls Royces parked in front, with the occasional smattering of boats, helicopters, etc.

“Any material desire you ever wanted,” God explained. “Your own world, where you can have everything. You want the Hope Diamond? You can fly to Washington DC in your own solid gold helicopter and buy it from the Smithsonian. Hell, you can just buy the Smithsonian.”

Also tempting, but I decided to keep looking.

Gluttony was next up. Tables and tables of the very finest foods: beautiful steaks cooked medium rare; butter-poached lobster tail; fresh oysters on a half shell; exotic wines in dusty bottles that had been hiding in the cellars of the world’s finest restaurants. Everyone had a glass of champagne in hand and simply lounged on couches and chairs near the tables, eating endlessly. As soon as the inhabitants took a bite, the food just instantly came back. My mouth watered even watching them.

“In every other House, the food is practically sawdust compared to Gluttony,” God explained. “You haven’t truly experienced heaven until you’ve been to Gluttony.”

I shook my head, and we kept moving.

Sloth was as you’d expect. An endless sea of the softest mattresses, stacked with cushions and pillows that made the story of the princess and the pea seem minimalist. Little angels visited each resident, giving them massages that made them all melt into their blankets.

Wrath was… well, a lot like what I’d expect Hell to be like. Fire, brimstone, whips, torture.. you know, the works. Except here, you weren’t the one being tortured. Every enemy you’d ever made in your real life was now under your thumb. “Lots of people choose their fathers,” God explained. “Lots of grudges against parents in general, you know. But you’re not limited to that. Someone beat you out for a big promotion back on Earth? Take your pound of flesh here.”

Then we arrived at Envy. It looked… well, a lot like home.

“Go on in,” God said, gesturing toward the door. I turned the knob and walked in… and found Emily waiting inside. She ran forward, wrapped her arms around my neck, and planted a kiss right on my lips. “Welcome home, honey.”

I looked back toward God. “Oh, don’t be coy,” he said. “You have no secrets from me. We all know that you were in love with your best friend’s wife.” She didn’t seem to hear him at all; she went back into the hall. “We all know that you just settled for your own wife while secretly pining after her. Well, this is your chance to live happily ever after.”

I peered into the kitchen. Emily was baking something, wearing nothing but an apron. Her curly black hair fell softly over her shoulder as she whisked ingredients. She turned back, noticed I was observing her, and an enthusiastic smile spread across her face.

“It’s what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it?” God whispered in my ear.

I wanted to take it. God damn did I want to take it. But I shook my head.

God seemed puzzled. “You need to make a decision,” he told me.

“I haven’t seen Pride yet.”

He scoffed. “No one ever wants Pride, trust me.”

“Well, I want to see it.”

_________________________

Pride was boring. Just a row of workbenches in a bare white room.

“I don’t get it,” I told God.

“Yeah, no one does,” he answered. “That’s why no one ever chooses it. Doesn’t cavorting in Lust sound better than sitting here building little trinkets for the rest of eternity? Wouldn’t you rather gorge yourself in Gluttony? Or spend time with Emily in Envy?”

I considered the options again. “I pick Pride,” I finally told him.

He narrowed his eyes. “What? Look at it!” He gestured around the room again. There wasn’t much to look at. “Why would you choose this for the rest of time?”

“Because you don’t want me to pick it,” I told him. If he was really God, he’d know what a contrarian I can be. And I knew he was hiding something, trying to pretend like Pride didn’t exist. There was something special about it.