SkyLan

First, I want to clarify that I am a hardcore Zutarian and I do not agree that Zutara is sibling-coded.

But that’s just it. I don’t agree.

It does bother me a little that some people act like this is some gospel truth to argue against shipping them, especially when a lot of their moments can easily be romantically coated (*ahem* lightning scene *ahem*). However, it equally bothers me that fellow Zutarians act like interpreting their relationship as sibling-like is so wrong and people who think it are ignorant.

If people want to see them as sibling-like, then they see them as sibling-like. Romantic or not, we can at least agree that Zuko and Katara deeply care for each other and have the best enemies-to-friends arc.

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.