Snowy The River 🌊

cause on one hand, since zuko and katara's relationship never explicitly turns romantic, I think it spared their dynamic from the weird pitfalls that the writing suffered from when it came to the canon romances. and what we do get from the canon zk dynamic is a really compelling and cohesive narrative arc: enemies -> resentful co-captives -> empathizing co-captives -> ...mayyyybeee allies? -> ENEMIES 2.0 -> "Mr. Sorry For Betraying You" & "Ms. No Worries I'll Just Kill You Next Time :)" -> Southern Raiders "I fear only one person has ever understood me and I hate the guy" + "the guy" accomplices -> brief spy interlude -> Friends <3 -> synergetic teammates -> Co-Usurpers -> literally laid his life down for her

@zutaraweek Day 2: Counterpart

He gets his face scar from an Agni Kai with his father that he doesn’t want to fight. He was challenged to that Agni Kai because he “betrayed” his father by trying to protect nobody fire nation soldiers from being treated as cannon fodder. This is framed as a sacrifice.

He gets his chest scar from jumping into danger to sacrifice himself for a genocide victim that he built a connection with and betrayed. Had he died, and Katara not bloodbended his ass, because ain’t no way he redirected that lightning, he would have sacrificed the future of the fire nation and the world.

Removing his scar and not Aang’s is even stupider. Katara almost healed Zuko’s face scar, but saved Aang instead, because of his betrayal. Had she healed Zuko, Aang would have died. She would have unintentionally allowed the only “hope for the world” to die. Eventually, she did get to heal Zuko after he was electrocuted by his own sister, in a direct parallel to the Crystal catacombs.

Specifically, this: Zuko would have been very unlikely to join Team Avatar if not for Katara.

Now I'm not saying that Zuko had a secret crush on her or anything. As much fun as that concept can be to explore in fics, I don't love the idea of Zuko's redemption being motivated by romantic interest, and his canonical arc is clearly driven by his own evolving understanding of the world and the morals that come along with that understanding. Still, if you cut out his interactions with Katara, especially in the crystal catacombs, I just don't see him ever taking that last step to turn against his father and join Team Avatar. He would have been discontented in the Fire Nation, sure. Spending a few years away from home with a guardian who genuinely cared about and protected him could easily push him that far all on its own. He might have become disillusioned enough with the Fire Nation and its role in the war to run away too. Zuko spent enough time in the Earth Kingdom, learning about the people and their suffering, to have doubts and regrets when he finally learned about Ozai's true plans.

But without Katara reaching out to him in the crystal catacombs (or more accurately, Zuko reaching out to sympathize with Katara, and Katara reciprocating), I'm not convinced that he would have considered his future or his place in the world enough to go farther than that. To leave and to join the enemy. And even if he had considered joining Team Avatar, I'm not convinced that he would have thought he had a chance of being accepted if he hadn't shared that moment in the crystal catacombs with Katara.

I mean... sure, Aang sort of reached out to Zuko way back in Book 1. But even leaving aside the fact that that was one moment several months before Zuko finally left home (and an offer that brief and that old is probably shaky at best), it wasn't an offer of friendship in quite the same way that Katara's kindness was. What Aang said to Zuko was:

You know what the worst part of being born over a hundred years ago is? I miss all the friends I used to hang out with. Before the war started, I used to always visit my friend Kuzon. The two of us, we'd get in and out of so much trouble together. He was one of the best friends I ever had, and he was from the Fire Nation, just like you. If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends, too?

"If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends, too?"

It's a hypothetical question. Aang is thinking back to a time before the war, to the people he knew in the Fire Nation an entire lifetime ago, and trying to imagine where Zuko might have fit into that time and those relationships. He doesn't reach out a hand to directly offer Zuko a friendship in the present (and frankly, it wouldn't make sense in the moment if he had), nor does he ever make another offer of friendship until after Zuko actually joins the team. Every encounter between Zuko and Aang from The Blue Spirit on through The Western Air Temple is either a) a fight, b) Aang sparing Zuko's life while Zuko is unconscious (and therefore unable to see the kind gesture and interpret it as an offer of friendship), c) unwilling cooperation against a common enemy, or d) ... That Face that Aang makes at Zuko after interrupting him and Katara in the crystal catacombs.

Maybe it's just me, but... none of those interactions exactly set up a strong foundation for a future friendship, or even a future alliance. If Aang's old "offer of friendship" was all Zuko had to go on, then joining Team Avatar would have been a long shot. An extremely long shot.

By contrast, Katara bares her heart to Zuko and, at least in the moment, makes it clear that her kindness is deliberate. They've fought against one another time after time, they've been unwilling allies in the fight against Azula, and they've had some... generally antagonistic face-to-face interactions as well. But even after all of that, Katara offers to heal Iroh with very little hesitation in The Chase, then offers compassion to Zuko himself in The Crossroads of Destiny. She openly shows Zuko that there's a chance for him, and even when he turns against her in CoD, her angry dialogue still reflects the fact that she thinks he can be better. That she wants and expects him to be better. "I thought you had changed" isn't just anger, it's also a sign that her trust and kindness in the catacombs was genuine.

It's a sign to Zuko that if he can become the person who Katara thought he was for those few minutes in the caverns beneath Ba Sing Se, he might be able to prove himself worthy of that same trust and kindness again. And once Zuko has finally had enough of living under his father's thumb, of sitting silent on the sidelines while the world burns around him, once he leaves his old life behind for good, it's the beacon that draws him onward into a new life and a new purpose.

I can't claim to know exactly what would have happened if Zuko had never shared those pre-redemption moments with Katara. I'm just one random fic writer in a quiet corner of the internet, but I don't think it's unreasonable to say that her kindness to him in Book 2 made his decision easier. Without Katara, Zuko still might have left the Fire Nation behind. He still might have told off his father and tried to rescue Iroh from prison during the eclipse, but that doesn't necessarily mean that his next step would have been to run off to the Western Air Temple and offer himself up as a teacher.

Without Katara, Zuko might have fallen into the cracks in between the Fire Nation and Team Avatar. He might have become a different type of dissenter - maybe a less obtrusive one, like Piandao or Jeong Jeong, or he might have fallen back into his vigilante persona. He might have gone searching for his mother while the war kept raging on the other side of the ocean, or he might have tried to settle down into the type of quiet life that Iroh wanted for them both in Ba Sing Se. But regardless of what choice Zuko would have made, I think it would have been much harder for him to choose Team Avatar if he hadn't had Katara's voice in the back of his mind, telling him that he could be better, and that if he was, he might have a place with her and her friends.

Aang definitely should have had to sacrifice something in order to defeat the Firelord. Head writer Aaron Ehasz tried to sneak some Aang development past Bryke in the Season 2 ending, where Aang had to let Katara go in order to enter the Avatar State. But then in Season 3, especially the back half where everything was winding to a close, Aang was still extremely attached to Katara to the point of assuming consent and literally not knowing illusion from reality.

These are all completely natural flaws for a twelve-year-old boy to have. The problem isn’t Aang himself so much as how his flaws and beliefs are all validated at the end of the show. And I wouldn’t have had Aang sacrifice his beliefs so much as adapt his beliefs the way others do throughout Avatar.

Why Zuko’s belief system holds up better than Aang’s:

“That’s cute. But this isn’t Air Templepreschool; it’s the real world.” 

Much has been made of Zuko deriding Air Nomad philosophy in “The Southern Raiders” with this and his “guru goody-goody” line, especially when he himself is the biggest beneficiary of Aang’s philosophy of forgiveness. And let’s be honest: Zuko was being an asshole. But … just how wrong was he about how Aang is voicing his beliefs?

This isn’t Air Templepreschool.

Let’s do a quick recap of Aang’s stated beliefs throughout the show:

Ying:How can we abandon hope? It’s all we have.Aang: I don’t know. The monks used to say that hope is a distraction. So maybewe need to abandon it. 

Katara:Why do they have all these poor people blocked off in one part of the city?Aang: This is why I never came here before. I always heard it was so differentfrom the way the monks taught us to live.

Aang:As the monks used to say, sometimes the shadows of the past can be felt by thepresent.

Aang:The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat-viper. While youwatch your enemy go down, you’re being poisoned yourself.

Aang:Avatar Yangchen, the monks always taught me that all life is sacred. Even thelife of the tiniest spider-fly caught in its own web. Yangchen: Yes, all life is sacred. Aang: I know, I’m even a vegetarian. I’ve always tried to solve my problems bybeing quick or clever, and I’ve only had to use violence for necessary defense,and I’ve certainly never used it to take a life. Yangchen: Avatar Aang, I know that you are a gentle spirit, and the monks havetaught you well. But this isn’t about you, this is about the world. Aang: But the monks taught me that I had to detach myself from the world so myspirit could be free.

Asa rule, Aang states his ideals in terms of generic aphorisms that were passeddown from the monks that raised him. The fact that these truisms—including theone he used in the Southern Raiders—are direct sayings means they have traveledfrom the monks to Aang, uncontested and unchallenged. Throughout the show, Aangnever has to question or analyze those ideals between hearing them and actingupon them. Every time we hear him speak of the monks, Aang repeats their beliefsas if they are immovable facts; and throughout all the evolution the seriesand its characters undergo, that never—not once—changes.

Nowlet’s look at Zuko’s stated beliefs.

Idon’t need luck, though. I’ve always had to struggle and fight, and that’s mademe strong. It made me who I am.  

You’renot soldiers; you’re bullies. You’re sick cowards abusing your power, mostlyover women and kids.

Thepeople of the Earth Kingdom are proud and strong. They can endure anything, aslong as they have hope.

I’vebeen through a lot these past few years, and it’s been hard. But lately, I’verealized that I needed to go through all that to learn the truth. I thought Ihad lost my honor, and my father could return it somehow. But now I know thatno one can give you your honor. It’s something you earn for yourself, bychoosing to do what’s right.

Growingup, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization inhistory, and that somehow, the war was our way of sharing our greatness withthe rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was. The people of the worldare terrified by the Fire Nation! They don’t see our greatness; they hate us.And we deserve it. We’ve created an era of fear in the world, and if we don’twant the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peaceand kindness.

Ahundred years of fighting has left the world scarred and divided. But with theAvatar’s help, we can get it back on the right path and begin a new era of loveand peace.

Zuko’sbeliefs come straight from his own experience, rather than somebody else’s.Zuko too has a wise old sage who spouts quoteworthy nuggets at him, but the wayhe interacts with that wisdom is completely different. Zuko never successfullyrepeats his uncle’s advice verbatim—the two times he tries, it comes out asindecipherable nonsense. It is through actingon this uncle’s advice and making it his own that Zuko succeeds; he needsto feel what Iroh means, rather than reiterating Iroh’s words. This is a muchstronger method of learning than Aang’s is; it’s the difference betweencritical thinking and rote memorization. Thatis why Zuko thinks Aang’s beliefs are still in preschool mode—because Aangis telling Katara to just agree with something that the monks said because itwas the monks who said it, rather than seeing that Katara’s sense of justicemight be different from his own…andthat’s okay.

Itshould be noted that the show (or at least Bryke) take the same approach to AirNomad beliefs that Aang does. There is this attitude in A:TLA that because allof the Air Nomads were peaceful and were wiped out, Aang needs to keep theirways and wisdom pristine. They were victims, even martyrs—so their idealsshould not be touched. This is true even though the monks are only fleshed outin one episode, “The Storm,” in which they seem as flawed and human as anyone:

They told Aang he was the Avatar before he turned sixteen, whichMonk Gyatso acknowledges was a mistake.

They refused to let him grow up as a normal boy.

They tried to rush Aang’s training.

They tried to take Aang away from Monk Gyatso, his fatherfigure, mentor, and the wisest monk in the temple.

Is it a tragedy that all these men werekilled? Of course. But does that make them the guardians of absolute morality?Should their wisdom be treated as infallible, when we can see that theythemselves were anything but? Being the victim of genocide is a terrible thing,but it does not automatically elevate you and your culture to sainthood. Contrast this with the way every other nation’s beliefsare challenged in the show. The Water Tribe’s beliefs about the place of men and women are criticized and proven false by Katara. The Earth Kingdom’s belief in separating the social classes as a key to order is shown to be authoritarian. The Fire Nation’s belief in its own superiority and the rectitude of its conquest is destroying the world. 

The Air Nomads, though? The Air Nomadbeliefs are given a free pass in a way no other nation’s are. Their ways areright, period, and anyone who doesn’t know that will have to be taughtotherwise. This sounds good for Aang because he gets to be right so much of the time. But from a narrative perspective, this doesn’t match what the rest of the showis trying to tell us about how understanding and learning from all the fournations makes us stronger. 

Here’s my take: Aang’s Air Nomad philosophy works well in many situations, but not in all of them, and that is true of every philosophy in the Four Nations. That’s why Iroh says drawing wisdom from only one source makes your values rigid and stale. And what could be more stale and rigid thanunquestioning repetition?In effect, the Zuko half of A:TLA’s narrative says you should draw wisdom from multiple sources, and the Aang half says that if you don’t stick to Air Nomad tradition, you’ll be compromising your principles. These diametrically opposed and incompatible viewpoints constantly fight each other, all the way to the end of the show, and even spill over into fandom discussions like this one.

Morality is just asmuch about how you interact with your beliefs as it is about the beliefsthemselves. And this is why there’s a difference between who is the better person and who is the better character. Zuko’s beliefs are not superior to Aang’s in theory, but in practice, they are held to the fire,tempered, strengthened as they are proven right and cast aside when provenwrong. Thus when audience members disagree with Zuko’s values, they can atleast respect how he came to believe them. Aang’s loss of the Air Nomads isenormous, but when it makes him cling to everybelief they have no matter how it’s challenged by the outside world, it hurtshis development. Especially since he’s the Avatar and his job is to understandthe equality of the nations and their values. Aang’s narrative thread candefinitely find an audience among those who alreadybelieve the same things that Aang does and don’t have to be told why. Butpeople whose beliefs don’t match Aang’s will have a very hard time being toldto just accept that those beliefs arecorrect without a rigorous examination of them in-show.

Isthere a way for Aang to keep his core tenets the same while developing his ownvalue system? Yes, and the key to it lies in the very scene you mentioned.

Behold the corpse of Monk Gyatso,surrounded by the bodies of Fire Nation soldiers whom he killed inself-defense. Aang was specifically shown that his mentor killed those men in the thirdepisode of the series. Yet it never even occursto Aang to doubt his cherished ideal. He never reconciles what he has heardfrom the monks with what he has seen with his own eyes. And the fact that MonkGyatso and Avatar Yangchen—the only two Air Nomads we see break away from thestrict Air Nomad code against killing—are also the monks that offer Aang themost genuine wisdom is a huge indicator that it is possible to reconcile the ideals of the monks with the realityof the world that they live in. It’s just not something that Aang was everrequired to do himself. Rather, it is reality that is expected to bend and conform to Aang’s belief system so he doesn’thave to change his way of thinking.

The Eyes of Ra & Horus

The Egyptians often referred to the Sun and the Moon as the “eye"s of particular gods. The right eye of the god Horus, for instance, was equated with the sun, and his left eye equated with the moon. At times the Egyptians called the lunar eye the “Eye of Horus”, a concept with its own complex mythology and symbolism, and called the solar eye the “Eye of Ra" - Ra being the preeminent sun god in ancient Egyptian religion. (wikipedia)

Water & Fire Chakra

Next is the Water chakra. This chakra deals with pleasure, and is blocked by guilt. Now, look at all the guilt which burdens you so. What do you blame yourself for? Accept the reality that these things happened, but do not let them cloud and poison your energy. If you are to be a positive influence on the world, you need to forgive yourself.

There is a lot of occult symbolism in Avatar and one of the most prominent themes was Zuko, the firebender, being represented by the Sun and Katara, the waterbender being represented by the Moon. Today I’m going to explore just how deep that symbolism went.

First off, I’d like to point out how all of this is NOT a coincidence. Avatar does NOT always have a full moon. Now that this is established…

The very first instance of this is in Bato of the Water Tribe. The episode displays a full moon. This is the first episode that contains a ship tease for Zutara when June calls Katara Zuko’s girlfriend while he hunts Aang with her necklace. There’s also the way he held her dress which raised some eyebrows…

Tui and La represent Zuko and Katara’s relationship as well. The koi fish represent the Sun, which symbolizes masculine energy and the Moon, which symbolizes feminine energy. The yin-yang symbol represents the masculine/feminine energies in balance. This perfect balance of the Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine energies is also known as the Twin Flame.

Twin Flame is also a term for soulmates who have what is called an Alchemical Marriage, in esoteric terms. The Divine and Unconditional Love between them proves to be the perfect magical elixir to ease each other’s pain and deep wounds on a profound and spiritual level. This makes Zuko and Katara’s fight very interesting from a symbolic foreshadowing perspective, and definitely lends a lot of credence to them originally being love interests for each other.

The sun and moon theme is very significant in The Siege of the North. When Zuko finally defeats Katara and captures Aang, it is against the backdrop of the rising sun. However, later, when Zuko makes a more compassionate and merciful decision to try and save Zhao, it is against the backdrop of the Full Moon.

In The Avatar State, the risen sun is shown over Zuko’s boat, while Katara receives Spirit Water bearing a moon symbol from Master Pakku that she’ll later offer to Zuko.

After sunset Zuko and Iroh are branded as traitors, and cut ties with the Fire Nation, taking them to the Earth Kingdom where the Gaang is going.

In Return to Omashu, there is also a full moon. Mai is introduced during it and Tom Tom is kidnapped. We see her shown as unsympathetic to her family.

At sunrise the next day, the hostage trade will begin…

…and Zuko’s two very different love interests will face off.

During The Swamp, the Gaang is pulled into the swamp at sunrise, where Katara sees a vision of her mom. This will later be her connection to Zuko.

In that same episode, while at night under the full moon, Zuko becomes the Blue Spirit again.

At sunrise, Zuko defends a young Earth Kingdom boy from bullies in Zuko Alone.

He befriends the boy under the full moon.

At sunrise, Zuko is thinking about his mother, and agrees to rescue Lee for his distraught mother.

By the end of the episode, however, he leaves all alone into the setting sun, hated by the very people he tried to help.

This full moon and rising sun theme is once again seen during the all night episode, The Chase.

At the end of The Chase, Katara sees how distraught Zuko is after his uncle is injured, and tries to reach out to him with compassion.

The full moon is present in The Desert, where Katara leads her friends out of the desert to get to Ba Sing Se.

While at sunrise, Zuko and Iroh arrive at the tavern to meet the White Lotus members to also go to Ba Sing Se.

During sunrise on the boat during The Serpents Pass, Zuko will make a connection with another outcast, Jet; Kataras other love interest. He will also later fight Jet just like Katara did with Mai.

During the full moon, Zuko will go on a date with a nice girl. Unfortunately Zuko cannot continue their date, even though he likes her.

Zuko’s time as his Blue Spirit alter ego in Lake Laogai was once again done under the full moon…

…the same night, Jet dies during this same full moon.

Later, Zuko lets his other identity go after freeing Appa, to the backdrop of the rising sun.

During this sunrise, Appa returns to the Gaang and Katara mourns her lost former love interest.

During The Guru there is also a full moon, and then later a rising sun.

This foreshadows Aang needing to let her go, and Zuko and Katara’s eventual connection.

When Mai approaches Zuko in The Awakening, he is alone staring at the full moon. After Mai kisses him, he is left in the exact same position, staring at the full moon again. All alone. After Aang runs away, leaving Katara worried and in tears, the Moon Spirit comes to his aid.

In The Headband, Mai and Zuko watch sunset, then later Azula comes, and Zuko’s scarred side is seen.

Katara’s time helping the Fire Nation villagers in The Painted Lady was also done under the full moon.

During The Beach, Zuko leaves the party, walks down the beach and goes to his parents’ old beach house. The full moon is clearly seen in the background.

He reminisces over memories from long ago that took place during sunset.

Zuko receives a mysterious letter and decides to learn the truth about Sozin and the war. He leaves in the darkness under the light of the full moon in The Avatar and the Firelord.

In The Runaway, Katara overhears Sokka and Toph, and cries about her lost mother under the sunset.

In The Puppetmaster, Katara learns bloodbending under the full moon.

In Nightmares and Daydreams, Aang unsuccessfully tries to kiss Katara under the sunrise.

During this time, Zuko is pulling away from Mai.

Zuko made the choice to finally join Team Avatar during The Day of Black Sun. The eclipse is the time when the sun and moon are in perfect alignment with each other.

In The Boiling Rock, under the full moon, Zuko and Sokka were successfully able to bring Suki and Hakoda (and Chit Sang…) back to the the Western Air Temple…

…making Katara and Zuko both very happy in the process.

In The Southern Raiders, Zuko and Katara save each others’ lives at sunrise.

Zuko learns about what happened to Sokka and Katara’s mother during the full moon.

At sunrise, Zuko and Katara decide to go together to confront the man who killed Katara’s mother.

Zuko wakes up to see Katara had stayed up all night staring at the full moon after using bloodbending willingly for the first time…

…by then it is sunrise. But by the end of the episode, Zuko is able to help her find some peace and healing, and she is then seen staring at the sun. She will then immediately embrace him.

Katara rejects Aang’s kiss under the full moon in The Ember Island Players.

Alright, @baby-turtleduck, I shall.

For those of you who don't know, this is a reply to a post where I mentioned that Zuko has feminine coding and has a Heroine's Journey rather than a traditional Hero's Journey like Aang. (x)

Before I get into the weeds, no, I'm NOT saying that Zuko is canonically a girl in either NATLA or ATLA. That's clearly not the case. He's a cis guy, and there's no denying that.

All coding means is that a character, place and whatnot has traits or features that are associated with a group of people, intentional or not. Kinda like how Scar, Ursula, and Jafar are all queer-coded, despite none of those stories having any hard "evidence" that's actually the case (like them kissing a person of the same gender, being trans, etc).

In Zuko's case, for one, he just has more traditionally feminine qualities compared to say Sokka or Aang. He's quite emotional, compassionate, kind hearted, and empathetic, much like Katara in some sense. He openly cries. He had panic attacks. He struggles with his mental health.

While, yes, Sokka and Aang have some of these traits, too, obviously, Zuko's feminine traits are far pronounced and out in the open. Hell, in the animated series, one key part of Sokka's arc is getting over his toxic masculinity due to his trauma. Aang has unaddressed toxic masculinity issues himself only regarding his weird, obsessive crush on Katara, and that making him feel entitled to her, even if the show never admits it.

Zuko also is also put in the "damsel in distress" role a few times in the series as well. There are plenty of occasions where Aang, Katara or others rescued him. While that happened with Aang, Sokka and other male characters in the series as well, it happened more often with Zuko.

As for the Heroine's Journey bit, Maureen Murdock, a Jungian psychotherapist, was once a student of Joseph Campbell (the guy behind the Hero's Journey that everyone should be aware of if you know anything about writing). Supposedly, she asked him, "What about women? Do they get to go on adventures of their own?"

He replied, "Women don't need to make the journey. They are only there to be prizes to be won."

This set her off so much that she created an alternative called the Heroine's Journey. Which is this:

I don't really like Murdoch's model. It's way too convoluted and confusing with "feminine" and "masculine" traits fusing and whatnot. And more importantly, this was only intended to be used in a self-help book for women, not as a blueprint for narrative structure.

There is an alternative by Victoria Lynn Schmidt, a screenwriter and author with a doctorate in psychology, that I like far more, which is this:

Fairytales and folktales use this setup more than the Hero's Journey, especially animal bride groom ones. Though, some myths use this setup like Hades & Persephone along with Cupid & Psyche. Older female-lead novels like Little Women and Pride & Prejudice are as well. More modern female-lead ones do as well like all Disney Princess movies minus Aladdin (thanks to that having a dude as the protagonist rather than a girl like the others, which also leads to it being a male-centric story compared to the others, but that's a whole other discussion completely), Labyrinth, Spirited Away, Legally Blonde, The Hunger Games, etc.

The whole set up is quite similar to the traditional Hero's Journey at the start. The point where they diverge is after the "Road of Trials" stage. In the Hero's Journey, that's where things end with them had saved the day and whatnot. In the Heroine's Journey? Nah, it still keeps going.

The following steps are basically that the main character regresses a bit and gets what they were fighting for, but realizes it doesn't fulfill them. They gave away too many parts of who they were. They have a realization or sometimes descent to another place where they find out what they truly must do. They go back, setting things right. They come back to the ordinary world at least briefly, achieving their goal and a more fulfilled person. Since the journey is cyclical, it can keep going on forever, but it can just end there.

That describes Zuko's arc to a tee.

When he was a young boy, he was much more carefree and naive. This shattered when his father burnt his face as punishment for having the audacity to care about others, and cast him out of the Fire Nation. The only way he could regain his honour is by capturing the Avatar.

While "adult orders the heroine to go on hyper-specific trials" isn't explicitly mentioned as part of the Heroine's Journey, I can definitely see that. Ozai casting his son out and forcing him to do meaningless tasks that he never expects him to ever achieve matches myths like Cupid & Psyche where Aphrodite forces Psyche to do the same after she burnt her son. (Greek and Roman gods in myths tended to be larger than life and had extremely over the top reactions all the time. They also match folklore about the fae in that regard as well. But, again, that's another topic completely, so leaving it at that.)

Zuko sets out on his journey, heading out into the unknown with only a bunch of crewmen, Iroh and Zhao. He gather allies and has many adventures along the way.

By season 2, he seemingly settles down in the Earth Kingdom with his uncle, helping him with his tea shop. Since he has unfinished business, this is short lived.

During Crossroads of Destiny, Azula convinces him to come back to the Fire Nation. She claims that if he did, he would regain his "honour" and be with his family like he always wanted. Zuko casts everything he gained so far aside, and joins Azula, stabbing the Gaang in the back in the process.

Once he gets back, he feels empty. Sure, he has technically achieved his goal, but something is missing.

He goes to prison to talk to his uncle a few times. They eventually have a heart to heart where Zuko realizes that he made a mistake. Iroh forgives him.

Zuko sets out on his journey again. He eventually sets things right and earns the Gaang's forgiveness. He fights alongside them, eventually defeating his father and becoming Fire Lord.

Overall, it's a solid arc. There's a reason why his arc is often allotted as one of the best redemption arcs, not in just western animation, but in general. Part of it is thanks to being a more traditionally "female" arc rather than the usual Hero's Journey, because it makes it stand out, especially at the time when the original came out.

Having written all of this, if the original series was made in the modern day, especially if it was headed by marginalized people instead of two straight white guys, I can see not only Zutara potentially becoming canon, but Zuko being a girl, having it be a queer main ship. All of the coding is there. Nothing would've changed much about his arc or character, since he has a lot of the tells already.

I can also see Zuko remaining a guy and Zutara being a straight ship as well in such a hypothetical series as well. Showing a guy with feminine traits without it being demonized is progressive, too.

Hey everyone. With the recent leaked images and info from the new movie, I had to come on here and share some thoughts. The creators might have tried their hardest to keep Katara and Zuko apart in this new era—avoiding leaving them alone together, cutting out prolonged eye contact—but the truth is that the psychology of these characters is already cemented. The subtext is there, and it speaks for itself.

The backbone of their dynamic in the movie is clear: Katara and Zuko share the exact same wavelength and operate on a unique frequency of maturity. Both are willing to literally give everything they have for the survival of the team. It’s not that Sokka and Toph don't care, but they simply don't carry that same urgency or heavy burden of responsibility all the time.

I’ve broken down 4 moments from the leaks that prove their connection is inescapable:

1. The Storm and the Parallel Glances

We get a scene where Katara, highly suspicious of Tagah, confronts Aang about the very real fear that they could all die (including him, since he's the Avatar). Aang gets defensive and snaps that she "doesn't understand" (implying no one understands his pain).

Zuko and the rest of the group watch this unfold. When they land, Zuko (followed by Sokka) goes to confront Aang, who is promptly defended by Tagah.

The absolute cherry on top here is the cinematography: Zuko makes an expression of someone who obviously isn't buying the excuse, and the camera cuts straight from his dead-serious face to Katara's dead-serious face. Meanwhile, Sokka has a slightly cartoonish expression looking at Zuko, and Toph (who later gets a comedic scene hugging Tagah) doesn't react with the same gravity. Only Zuko and Katara are on the exact same page when it comes to suspicion and survival instinct.

2. The Constant Burden of Responsibility

During a moment of downtime, we see Zuko busy fixing the airship, while Sokka and Toph are just lying down and resting. At that exact same time, Katara is hyper-focused, likely distracted after losing sight of Tagah. They never switch off. While the others relax, Zuko and Katara keep their sense of duty and their protective instincts over the team turned up to the absolute max.

3. The Frontlines in Battle

When Katara is fighting Tagah, already exhausted, the Gaang shows up to the rescue. The visual detail here is incredibly important: Sokka throws his boomerang, but he is the furthest back in the formation. The second strike comes from Zuko, who was at the very front of the group. This directly implies that he was the one who ran the fastest and with the most desperation to check on Katara. His priority spoke louder.

4. The "Old Couple" and the Directors' Backfire

Finally, the highly discussed spirit scene. To me, this was massive (and pathetic) shade from the directors trying to discourage Zutara shippers, but it completely backfired. The spirit looks at Aang and Sokka and deduces they are baby Toph's brothers. But, upon looking at Katara and Zuko, the spirit calls them an "old couple."

Let's break that down: if the spirit was wrong, why did it perfectly nail the sibling dynamic between Aang, Sokka, and Toph? What we actually take away from this is that Zuko and Katara have an "old soul" connection. Zuko even looks visually older than Katara. They are mature; they are soulmates (even if the narrative actively refuses to let them be together romantically).

And the worst part: the spirit even jokes that it "touched a nerve" because Aang reacts with extreme intensity and insecurity when denying they're a couple. Aang doesn't trust his own partner and his best friend? They would be incapable of betraying him. Which undercover Zutarian disguised as a hater in the writing room pitched this genius idea? Because all it did was prove our point.

They can erase the scar, they can try to diminish Katara, they can silence Zuko. They can say Zuko would save anyone in the Gaang with the same intensity. But what has already been written, what has been built into their psychology and seen on screen, cannot be forgotten, no matter how hard they try to erase it.

They don't need standalone scenes to prove they are each other's pillars. The subtext has already done the heavy lifting for us.

What did you guys think of these scenes?