Everyone talks about Zuko's redemption arc but nobody talks about Iroh's redemption arc. Probably because it's a lot subtler and we only see it from the outside, and only the tail-end of it.
Before his son died, Iroh was a pretty bad dude. He had redeeming qualities, like sparing the last dragons and loving his family. But he was still a general leading a campaign of conquest.
His redemption started after his son died. He clearly had a lot of self reflection as well as a spiritual awakening in the following years.
But he was still conflicted, trying to remain loyal to his nation and family while also practicing the principles he learned from his travels. But those things were incompatible.
Even after he had to actively fight against the Fire Nation when Zhao threatened the moon spirit, he still thought he could return to living in the Fire Nation.
It's only after Azula tried to imprison him and Zuko and forced them on the run that he gave up on the idea.
I think it's sometime around their time staying in Ba Sing Se that he finally decided to oppose the Fire Nation. At the price of his own freedom, eventually.
I think seeing Zuko's struggles with redemption reminded him of his own earlier struggles, and it's what finally pushed him over the edge. He didn't just help Zuko redeem himself, Zuko helped him redeem himself too.
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it's interesting that jake doesn't consider himself one of the sky people anymore, has obviously lived more life as na'vi than human now, but he didn't raise his children as na'vi would have. he raised them as human, as a former soldier. as a marine.
orders and not words, punishments and not guidance, sir and not father. he taught them military communication from a nato alphabet in a world that doesn't even have nato. he raised them like soldiers, even in a time of peace. "i'm not gonna say it again." there's never any compromise.
his sons feel like they have to live up to him, like they have to earn his approval, prove themselves worthy before him. because jake makes them feel that way.
of course, none of that he's doing on purpose. much can be said about ex-military parents with untreated ptsd. we all know this story.
jake is still very much human, even nearing his forties in a na'vi body. him choosing the rifle over the bow every single time is symbolic. jake will never be able to live a normal life, he's spent too much time fighting in his previous one. he's never healed from venezuela. he's always waiting for the moment things turn bad again, for the war to come back.
he needs it. he doesn't know how to exist without it. and he hates himself for it.
and the thing is, quaritch knows this all too well. knows it because they came from the same place, share the same ghosts. it's one of the core conflicts between these characters, because quaritch doesn't flinch at violence the way jake does. quaritch fully embraces that part of himself.
it's even more interesting that jake does recoil from it. he doesn't want it. in his heart, he's not a warrior. simply forced to be one and never taught any other way. he winces at the memory of once being toruk makto, despises every time he has to become him again. but he keeps doing it anyway. tragic.
jake might've escaped humanity, but he never escaped the war within himself. and now that quaritch is back, he's never going to let jake forget it.
i love how lin seems to have recognized what toph couldn't—that she is not a parental type and that wanting to have a legacy is not the same as wanting to be a parent.
do i think that toph loves her daughters deeply? yes. but i think that somewhere between the ending of the 100-year war and her taking off for travels, she prioritized being authority over having freedom and the decision to have children was mostly aligned with her new path—the mentor at the metalbending academy, the chief of police, the republic city politician.
i find it compelling that it was bc of her involvement in the foundation of the republic city and perhaps bc of aang's influence that she grew more authoritative over time and focused on (to the point of being blinded by) achieving goals tightly connected to his—the responsibility of continuing their legacy and protecting what they were building together.
it had started to crumble down when she chose to destroy suyin's police report. she tarnished her authority as the chief to have the beifong authority untarnished. figure that's why she sought a true enlightment later on.
and that makes toph the most interesting character from the adult gaang. while her influence on lin and how lin grew to be makes lin the most interesting of gaang's children—she might have the most mental health and emotional issues, but she saw herself clearly and she never derailed from the path that was right for her.
poetically, thought, if toph being true to herself by distancing came to her with ease and meant freedom, lin being true to herself by distancing came to her with pain and meant loneliness.
I was watching the deleted/original cut of the scene with Neytiri holding Spider hostage which — first off, incredible scene by the way like holy shit — but it made me think about how perfectly it served for Neytiri’s character.
Someone might’ve already talked about this already, but what I don’t think a lot of people realize is that this scene serves as the payoff for earlier Neytiri-related scenes as well as a starting point for her arc going forward.
If you haven’t watched the scene, here, it’s a far more impactful version of an already hard hitting scene and I’m going to treat it as what “really” happened in the story for the sake of analysis.
The first moment I’m focusing on is this one where Neytiri goes to pick up her bow after killing a few RDA grunts, only to find that the bow is now broken and unusable.
There’s a running theme in these two movies that I’ve seen people point out and that’s how Neytiri keeps losing things that are precious to her, whether they be people, places, or objects.
In the first movie, she loses a lot including but not limited to the Hometree, the Tree of Voices, her older sister, Tsu’tey, her Ikran, and her father. When her father dies, he grants her the Ceremonial Bow and that’s what she ends up using to fight in all subsequent battles.
In the second movie, she thankfully doesn’t lose as much, but she’s still forced to leave her home and her first born son is killed in the heat of battle, rough times all around.
You’ll note that I didn’t include losing her precious bow on the list of things she lost and that’s because she didn’t lose the bow, she broke it.
All the other losses I’ve described are caused by the RDA, but this one isn’t. Instead of her bow being broken by another grunt in the heat of the battle, she’s the one who breaks it by swinging it haphazardly at her enemies.
I may not know all that much about archery or making weapons, but I’m almost certain that bows aren’t designed to be used like that, which is why her bow broke the way that it did.
And it cannot be understated how important this bow must be to Neytiri. I mentioned before that it was given to her by her late father, making it an important connection to her family already, but it’s also made from the wood of Hometree. So not only is it a connection to her family, it’s a connection to her people and the home that was stolen from them.
All that and she still broke it, not because she didn’t cherish the bow, but because she just couldn’t control her anger enough to handle it properly.
And that’s what I feel Neytiri’s fatal flaw is, as well as what her arc will be primarily focusing on in the upcoming movies — Neytiri’s anger and hatred leads to blind rage, and she becomes liable to hurt those she cares about.
For the record, I am not making the claim that Neytiri’s flaw is that she gets angry. Being outraged by death and destruction, hating those who bring about injustice, these aren’t flaws and aren’t things she should be vilified for. What is a flaw is how she uses her anger, or rather how it uses her.
Jake spells it out pretty cleanly in a scene that happened a while ago. When Tonowari told Jake and Neytiri about the destruction the RDA was causing to the nearby villages, they immediately connect it back to Quaritch. Neytiri describes how they have to finish off Quaritch — “we have to hunt this demon, trap him, kill him” — and this is what Jake says in response to that idea:
“We gotta be smart…”
He’s not dismissing the idea of doing something, he’s just cautioning her on how they go about doing it. That’s the crux of Neytiri’s most prevalent flaw, it isn’t her becoming angered at the injustice she and her people face, it’s her not being smart about how she acts on it.
The last two moments I’d like to draw attention to are the one where one of Quartich’s lackey calls Neytiri a “wild animal” and the one where she actually acts like one.
For the record, Lyle and Quaritch are in the wrong for likening Neytiri to an animal and dehumanizing her in the process, especially when the reason they insulted her was because she was acting violent in the video where she was protecting her husband. However, it’s undeniable that during the fight on the Sea Dragon, Neytiri is the most violent and rage filled we’ve ever seen her.
It’s particularly noticeable right before she realizes she broke her bow, which is definitely not a coincidence I’ll tell you that much.
She screams in the guys face and stabs him over and over and over again, after which she gets up and starts growling, searching for anything else that moves. It’s not a stretch to say that, in this moment, she’s acting almost like a bloodthirsty animal hungry for vengeance, not too dissimilar from the wild animal the recoms painted her as.
And all of this, her accidentally breaking her father’s bow, being asked to be smart about it all, acting like a wild animal, it all comes to a head in the moment where she uses Spider’s life as leverage to save Kiri’s. It starts off good when she makes Quaritch let Kiri go, but when Kiri is freed from Quaritch’s grasp and she can turn her attention to the man himself…
…she puts the blade back against Spider’s neck and utters those infamous lines:
“A son for a son.”
I’ve seen a lot of people comment on how “powerful” of a scene this is, and while I agree that it’s a powerful storytelling moment and extremely important to Neytiri’s character, I think a lot of people miss the fact that this isn’t an admirable moment of a mother’s rage, but a scary and dark moment where Neytiri is about to fall to Quaritch’s lows.
Because if Neytiri had actually gone through with this decision, then she would’ve done the same thing to her family that she did with her bow — destroy it. What’s important to note about Neytiri’s hatred towards Spider is that; while it’s understandable considering all the trauma she went through at the hands of his father and the RDA, she’s the only one in her family that feels this way towards him.
For one thing, Spider is both Lo’ak and Kiri’s best friend and they know how much Spider hates being Quaritch’s son, there’s no way that they’d just accept Neytiri after she killed their best friend. We don’t get much development on Spider’s relationship with Tuk or Neteyam, but we see Spider protect Tuk, tease Neteyam, and cry during Neteyam’s death, so they must be friends on some level.
And finally Jake. Admittedly, Jake is pretty lukewarm towards Spider throughout the entire movie, but I’d argue that’s him keeping a respectful distance because of him wanting to side with his wife and not any malice Jake genuinely holds towards Spider himself. We even see him checking over Spider at the end of the movie like he does with Lo’ak and Neteyam.
As much as Jake unconditionally loves Neytiri, I cannot see a world where he’s able to look at her the same way if she killed an innocent child.
And I do mean innocent, because at this point in time Spider’s only “crimes” are being human(not his choice) and being Quaritch’s son(also not his choice). Even if Neytiri’s feelings towards him are understandable and valid, her actions at this point are not justifiable and Jake knows it.
That’s not even mentioning how she hisses at Kiri during this scene, she’s not acting with her family’s best interest in mind, she’s acting on pure rage.
If she had gone through with it and killed Spider, Kiri and Lo’ak would hate her, Tuk wouldn’t be able to look at her the same way again, and Jake probably would’ve left her. She truly did come a hair’s width away from destroying something precious to her once again.
Now let’s talk about Spider for a minute because he’s crucial to all of this, as Neytiri’s hatred for humans extends to her hatred of him.
We already know that, to the Na’vi, “I see you” is considered a respectful greeting, but it’s also a show of great understanding between two people; it’s why Jake’s two pivotal emotional moments at the end of the movies are him telling a loved one “I see you,” it’s because he’s come to understand them as a person beyond what he initially thought.
In contrast, Neytiri does not see Spider, her eyes are shut. Instead of seeing Spider as a person, all she sees is just another human who ought to be with his own kind, a demon. And this is honestly fine, Neytiri isn’t Spider’s mother or caretaker so she’s not obligated to try and understand him as anything deeper than her enemies child and her own children’s best friend.
However, because Neytiri refuses to see Spider as anything other than another human, she lets this hatred for him and his heritage fester until she feels comfortable to threaten his life and see him as a means to an end. And that, no matter how much one may argue it’s understandable from her perspective, leads to dire consequences.
Namely, Spider’s choice to save Quaritch.
Now, before anyone yells at me let me clarify — I am not saying that Neytiri is responsible for Spider’s choice, nor is she responsible for any harm Quaritch will cause in the upcoming movies. However, it’s undeniable that her actions influenced Spider’s decision, whether directly or indirectly.
When Neytiri threatened Spider’s life, Quaritch initially plays off the fact that he’s technically not his son, citing that they aren’t even the same species. But when Neytiri pushes even further, he breaks and shows that he does actually care about Spider, willing to let go of his hostage in order to protect him.
This is big for Spider as his only major desire is to have a family, specifically a parental figure who genuinely cared about him as he is. I’d even go as far as to say that this moment probably proved to Spider that Quaritch cares about him as more than just a mean’s to an end. He’d already helped Quaritch bond with an Ikran and find the Sully family(against his will), he had nothing else to offer but Quaritch still wanted him alive.
This, along with the months they spent together, are what pushed Spider to make his decision at the end of the movie, a decision he was explicitly conflicted about.
And this came about from Neytiri’s decision. I know a lot of people would argue that Neytiri had to do this because it was the only way to save her daughter, and I’ll agree that there weren’t many options for her. But this wasn’t a tactical move she was making, she wasn’t bluffing or putting on a show to force Quaritch’s hand, she was explicitly going to kill Spider just to make Quaritch hurt in the same way she was hurting.
Also, if we want to nitpick we could also say that the months Quaritch and Spider spent together also came about as a result of her actions. When they’re running away from the Recoms, Spider is the only one who falls to the ground and Neytiri doesn’t even think to try and go get him.
“B-But there’s no way Neytiri would’ve been able to save him and get away! She has her own children to worry about!” I hear you typing in the notes of this post, and to that I say you’ve got a point.
However, the fact that Neytiri doesn’t even consider going down to rescue him, doesn’t look over the branch and hesitate before making the difficult decision to prioritize Kiri and feel bad about it later shows that her reasoning is solidly NOT rooted in him being one of her kids or not.
She doesn’t even try, and because of that Quaritch and Spider end up forming the basis for a solid bond.
TLDR; Neytiri’s fatal flaw is that she allows her anger and hatred to cloud her better judgment and control her, leading to a destructive attitude that can ultimately hurt the people she loves and make things worse for her.
Now, what does this have to do with her arc going forward?
At this point, I’m pretty sure everyone has heard at least a little bit about the next movie, Avatar Fire and Ash. I’ve seen people theorizing that the fire tribe will be joining forces with the RDA, that they don’t believe in Eywa, and that Neytiri will have to infiltrate the tribe in order to rescue her children.
I’m not certain whether any of this is true, but what I am certain of is that — if these concept arts hold water by the time the movie is released — then the fire tribe we’ll be encountering in the third movie is going to be an extremely violent community, likely one that puts emphasis on anger and hatred.
And if the rumors are true and Neytiri really is going to be infiltrating them, then Neytiri’s flaws might be able to inform what narrative role the Ash People and Varaang in particular will have in the third movie.
I’ve already explained how in depth how her flaw is how she allows her anger to take control of her and close her vision; she’s volatile like lava and burns hot like fire, becoming liable to burn everything and everyone around her.
From that perspective, she seems more suited to be a fire Na’vi rather than a forest or reef one, no? The choice to take us to a volcanic, fire steeped region isn’t just James Cameron checking off the boxes like “oh we did forest and water, fire next!” its him taking us to a we might find uncomfortably befitting of our worst traits.
And that’s basically what I think Neytiri will have to face upon encountering the Ash People — they are the embodiment of all her flaws put on display.
Varaang specifically may work as her narrative foil, a literal funhouse version of her at her worst(from my perspective the concept art of Varaang actually looks a lot like Neytiri, so that’s interesting).
I also think it’s important to note that Neytiri is absolutely going to find out that Spider saved Quaritch in the third movie, or at least it’s incredibly likely if the Ash People really will be working with Quaritch. That means that her hatred for him and her need for revenge will come back into play, this isn’t over.
But this time things will be different, because in between Neytiri learning of Spider’s betrayal she will also get especially close to the Ash People and find that she is uncomfortably similar to them at her worst. Before she does something she might regret, Neytiri will be forced to ask herself some important questions:
Is revenge really worth it? Is this the kind of person she wants to be? If Jake wasn’t there that night, would she have the blood of a child on her hands? Will she hurt other people she loves because of her anger?
These questions are ones she likely never wanted to ask herself, but they’re necessary because she’s starting right in the face of people who didn’t.
Fighting my fear of the ATLA fandom to give my analysis of the “I love Zuko more than I fear you,” scene from a Maizula lens
Let’s start with the preluding line.
“You miscalculated.”
Azula doesn’t miscalculate, that’s kind of her whole thing. We’re introduced to Azula as a character when she refuses to have one hair out of place. She’s perfect. She doesn’t miscalculate.
Her miscalculation is, of course, believing Mai is on her side.
Except Mai has been on her side.
It can’t have been being cruel to Zuko that forced Mai to change sides. Azula does that all the time—she’s been groomed to be cruel to him for years.
Telling Azula she miscalculated is such specific wording. It’s less about declaring her new allegiance, it’s not insulting anything about Azula’s cruelty to members on her own side, it’s insulting Azula’s perfection, the most fragile thing about her.
Mai knows this. She understands Azula and how to push her buttons. Enough that Azula’s shout back, “No! You miscalculated!” feels more out-of-control than Azula normally is.
“I love Zuko more than I fear you.”
I honestly don’t doubt Mai loves Zuko. They’re both trapped in an awful situation, and they’ve been friends since childhood. But I fail to see it as romantic. In fact, while Mai appears to be the one with the crush on him as a little kid, she shuts down most—if not all—Zuko’s attempts at romance.
While it could be a part of her mask, feigned indifference as a defense mechanism, if anything, having feelings for Zuko while he’s on the Fire Nation’s side would only be beneficial.
(But if you’re a big Maiko shipper, take it this way. Mai knows that Zuko isn’t truly loyal to the Fire Nation, she knows he deserves better, but she’s too powerless to leave with him. So she shuts him out.)
Mai and Zuko have been expected to get together their entire lives. It’s beneficial for her to have feelings for him. As beneficial as her indifference is. But she doesn’t.
We see her smile at Ty Lee in the comics, sometimes, but she also jokes with Azula in her proper introduction. “Please tell me you’re here to kill me.” Mai has a sense of humor! It’s just reserved for Azula!
So. Assuming Mai doesn’t love Zuko romantically, and assuming she does love Azula romantically, this sentence takes on a new meaning.
Azula controls people constantly through fear. It’s why she’s more afraid of her mother loving her than fearing her. She doesn’t get love, she gets fear. This is also why she craves Ozai’s affection to such an extent. He’s the only one who loves her. (Well, he doesn’t, but she’s useful to him, and that’s the second best thing.)
Ty Lee doesn’t appear to be an exception. Azula threatens Ty Lee to get her to join. But she doesn’t really threaten Mai, unless I’m remembering wrong. Mai and Ty Lee are her closest friends, the closest equivalent she has to love even if she probably doesn’t view it that way.
Azula has consistently been rejected for her brother, with the exception of Ozai. Iroh and her mother both seem to hold affection for Zuko, but fear for her—although, we don’t see much of Ursa, so it’s hard to say if that’s only her perception or actual reality.
If Mai and Azula are close, Mai would know this.
“I love Zuko,” is an automatic way of saying I don’t love you because Azula has been taught that love is finite, and must be split between her and Zuko. Then “-more than I fear you,” immediately removes the element of fear that Azula has over Mai.
Mai removes three elements of Azula’s power: her perfection, her superiority over Zuko, and the fear others have over her.
Mai knows Azula, and knows how to hurt her.
She’s rejecting Azula to defeat her, and it kills Azula inside.
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Avatar: the Last Airbender Personality Types: Katara
I love Katara as a character, and I love Mae Whitman's voice performance in the role. Here's how I see Katara's personality!
Katara's Enneagram
Wound: Katara lost her mother to the Fire Nation when she was a young girl. Her mother died in her place, protecting her by claiming she was the last remaining waterbender, and not Katara.
Wounding message: This is tricky. Some possibilities are: the world is not a just place, you can't rely on anyone else, your mother died for you (so you'd better be worth her sacrifice)
Core desire: I think her biggest desire is to make things "right" regarding the death of her mother. At various points, this means different things.
Core fear: That what happened to her mother will happen again, to others. That she isn't worth the sacrifice her mother made.
Defense mechanism: to try and make the world (and herself) better
Strengths: Katara is principled, empathetic, hard-working, responsible, and kind
Challenges: Katara can be stubborn, overly critical, irritable, self-righteous, and inflexible
When healthy: Katara is more flexible, spontaneous, and playful
When unhealthy: Katara is angry, pessimistic, and vengeful
Looking at all of this, here's what connects when I go back to the Enneagram post:
Wound: 1, 4, 6, 7, or 8
Wounding message: 1 or 7
Core desire: 1
Core fear: 1, 7, or 9
Defense mechanism: 1
Strengths: 1, 2, 4, or 8
Challenges: 1, 2, 4, or 8
When healthy: 1, 6, or 8
When unhealthy: 1, 2, 6, or 7
Katara is an Enneagram 1.
Katara is such a classic example of all the flaws and the wonderful things about Ones. She can be annoying and bossy and dig in her heels over little things, but she will reliably do the right thing.
(My friends say I'm the Katara of our friend group. No idea why... 😂)
Katara is the character who won't let something go if it's wrong. Whether that's Sokka making a sexist comment, or Master Paku refusing to allow girls and women to learn fighting, she will always take a stand for what she believes in.
What's tricky about identifying her as a 1 is that we don't really have a lot of evidence that she was especially criticized growing up. I wonder if (like me) the harshest criticism she faced came from herself.
Ones live in the Gut center and tend to repress anger.
From Personality Path:
Anger is typically repressed by Type 1s. Type 1s try hard not to express anger as they associate it as a “bad” emotion. Instead, they report a lot of irritation. Interestingly, when their anger is eventually expressed, it can be intense, with a laser focus.
Shame or Sadness can get triggered when they realize they made a mistake or if they feel they have behaved inappropriately.
Fear enters the picture when they feel a loss of control or anxiety over potential errors, mistakes, and missteps in the future.
A harsh inner voice dictating rigid internal standards is often at the bottom of each of the three core emotions for Type 1s.
Wing
The Enneagram Institute describes 1w9 as "The Idealist," and 1w2 as "The Advocate." To me, Katara is very clearly a 1w2 (like me).
Here's the description of 1w2 from Truity:
These Ones are more focused on the livelihoods of other people, and champion causes focused on meeting people’s needs. They may appear overly controlling or critical of other people in an effort to help them become the “best version” of themselves. Like the Type Two, this type wants to help and feel appreciated.
Other 1w2s include Kakeru Manabe and Hiro Sohma, both from Fruits Basket, and Geto Suguru, from JuJutsu Kaisen.
Subtype
My guess, before reading detailed descriptions of the subtypes, is that Katara is either a SO or SX 1. She does tend to focus her desire for "rightness" on the world, which is typical of a SO 1, but she's also pretty likely to show anger, which is more typical of a SX 1.
After reading the descriptions, I do think SO 1 is most likely. From Enneagram Explained:
Focuses On: The need to be correct/right with their groups and communities.
SO 1s often take on being the teacher or role model with those around them; trying to show others the right way to live. These 1s are often concerned with fairness and justice.
Relationship to Their Vice (anger): SO 1s often suppress their anger but are also a bit ok with showing it.
Katara is a SO 1w2
Other SO 1w2s I've analyzed include Geto Suguru again, and Mayuko Shiraki, from Fruits Basket. I've also analyzed two SO 1w9s, both from Fruits Basket: Hatori Sohma and Kazuma Sohma. These two share Katara's subtype, but not her wing.
Tritype
With 1 as Katara's Gut type, I think 6 is her most likely Head type. I could see any of the Heart types as possible, though I'm leaning away from 3.
After reading the descriptions, I think 1-4-6, "The Philosopher", is most likely, though I can still see a good case for 1-2-6, "The Supporter".
Here's the description of 1-4-6, from Katherine Fauvre's website:
If you are a 146, you are diligent, intuitive, and inquisitive. You want to be ethical, original, and certain. You are a private and introspective person and prefer to keep your world small to pursue your creative interests. Only one or two know your true thoughts and insecurities. Morally focused, you voice your expectations and criticisms, hoping your insights will help them to improve. However, you are kind-hearted, and cannot turn a blind eye to others you feel you should assist.
She shares this tritype with Geto Suguru, Kazuma Sohma, and Mayuko Shiraki!
Katara's MBTI:
I liked the format I used for MBTI in my Aang post, so I'm going to stick with that here.
Information-Gathering:
Everyone uses both iNtuition and Sensing, but one will be more natural to rely on. Everyone will also introvert one of these processes, and extrovert the other.
Someone who introverts iNtuition and extroverts Sensing will be able to cut to the core of understanding something in a state of deep, solitary focus. They will gather sensory information through their experience in the present, preferably with others.
Someone who extroverts iNtuition and introverts Sensing will tend to brainstorm aloud, connecting many possibilities at once, and will rely on comparisons to past sense-memories in order to understand the present.
I think the second paragraph describes Katara better than the first, and I think she uses Ne more than Si. This makes her an -N-P type.
Decision-Making:
Just like with the two information-gathering processes, everyone uses both Thinking and Feeling to some degree, but will use one more naturally. And again, they will introvert one, and extrovert the other.
Someone who introverts Thinking and extroverts Feeling will use their own internal logic to come to decisions, and will base their decisions on outcomes for the people around them.
On the other hand, someone who extroverts Thinking and introverts Feeling will rely on external logic in decision-making, such as rules, laws, procedures, checklists, etc... and will base their decisions on the kind of person they want to be, or the kind of person they see themselves to be.
I feel that Katara has an extremely strong inner moral compass, making the second paragraph a better description of her. She very clearly uses Fi more than Te, making her an -NFP type.
Knowing her four processes (Ne, Si, Fi, and Te), and that Ne and Fi are her preferred processes, the next step is to figure out whether she's Ne Fi Te Si, or Fi Ne Si Te (an E or I type; ENFP or INFP).
I personally see Fi as her most likely dominant process, and Te as her most likely inferior process. Let's see how the Myers and Briggs Foundation describes these:
Fi as dominant:
Seeks harmony of action and thoughts with personal values. May not always articulate those values. Empathetic, sensitive, and idealistic. Keyword: Valuing.
When exaggerated:
carry the weight of the world on their shoulders, hypersensitive, pompous, feel sorry for themselves
Te as inferior:
overly critical and negative toward others, judge others harshly, quick to take action to try and control/correct their own imagined incompetence which often backfires making the problem worse
I think this all sounds like Katara!
This would make her INFP, The Healer! A description:
Idealistic, loyal to their values and to people who are important to them. Want to live a life that is congruent with their values. Curious, quick to see possibilities, can be catalysts for implementing ideas. Seek to understand people and to help them fulfill their potential. Adaptable, flexible, and accepting unless a value is threatened.
She shares this with Tohru Honda, from Fruits Basket, but also again with Geto Suguru! (I actually think Geto is an INFJ now, so...)
Katara's Personality Summary:
Enneagram: SO 1w2 (The Reformer/The Advocate)
Tritype: 4-6-1 (The Philosopher)
MBTI: INFP (The Healer)
Katara is distinguished by her strong moral compass, her commitment to her values, her empathy, and her diligence. She's stubborn and fierce and I love her for it.
What do you think? Did I get it right or wrong? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Spoilers for the RoR, and other Chronicles of the Avatar novels. (mostly just Roku's and Kyoshi's, but light general plot stuff for Yangchen)
The title can also be called "Wow, they could've TOTALLY done more exploration with Kyoshi's Legacy and Roku's imposter syndrome"
Roku has imposter syndrome in the novel. It's bad. It's stupid. It comes up only every so often, partially because we have our asses being yeeted away from him to someone more "interesting" (and sometimes that someone is BARELY more interesting than Roku).
Like I'm sorry, I bought a ROKU novel. Shouldn't I be getting more ROKU?! >_>
Roku's imposter syndrome can be summed up with:
I'm not as good as my twin Yasu
My parents like Yasu more
Maybe I'm more like the false Avatar Yun
How could I compare to Kyoshi? (mentioned like ONCE/not a lot)
Sozin and Yasu would've probs been a better pick than me (I think this was said by him, that or it was Sozin.....it's whatever)
You can sum it up fairly easily because it's not talked about a lot. 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃 And sometimes when it is, it's not even from Roku's perspective.
"Ok ok Silly. You don't like how his imposter syndrome is handled. Is that the missed opportunity?" Yes and no. :D
The miss opportunity is not utilizing Kyoshi more and keeping this story waaaaaay too self contained.
"Yeah yeah we know you like Kyosh-" *grabs lips between my fingers* Shhhhh little voice in my head. That's not what this is AT ALL!
This novel fails to capitalize not only on something the OTHER novels haven't had a chance to, BUT it also failed to capitalize on stuff the other's HAD done! :D
In all honesty, it really is a feat it was able to to do BOTH! At once! It really goes to show how wishy washy this whole thing is..... >_>
Let's focus on what it failed to do that R/SoK and D/LoY did: Feeling the weight of their previous incarnations. Their ripples. Their choices. Their consequences.
R/SoK has Kuruk all over it. Everything Kyoshi is dealing with? Thanks to Kuruk. He may only be mentioned (by name) like 56ish times in RoK, but everything Kyoshi is dealing with is tied back to him. His team is heavily involved (as heroes/protags and villains/antags), the state of the world being just ass crack is because of his reign with all the Daofei running rampant (until Jianzhu cleans up....a lot of it, but not all). Just....EVERYTHING. And it only snowballs as we get into SoK. (where it's kinda revealed that it's not just Kuruk's ripples she has to deal with but Yangchen's...AND Szeto's too!)
Then we have D/LoY. Yangchen has to deal with Szeto fallout, which isn't as insane as Kuruk's (again, not entirely Kuruk's fault, he had to focus on saving the world from spirits). But it's still an ass fucked deal Yangchen is dealt. People just LOVE bringing up Szeto and her other past lives around her.
Like Yangchen and Kyoshi canNOT get away from their past lives. Either them being throw in their faces, dealing with visions and them meddling, or just the world/old friends of them just fucking about in their world!
(and this isn't getting into Aang dealing with all of Roku's BS in ATLA, or some of the issues Kyoshi left him [ironically!]. Or Korra dealing with Aang/Wan's stuff, let alone the Red Lotus just being anti-Avatar)
You want to know what Roku has to deal with? Nothing. Fucking. Nothing. Gotta give a hand to Kyoshi, she stuck around so long she smoothed the ripples that Szeto, Yangchen, and Kuruk (and her own too, at the time) must've made because Roku barely register's her on any type of Richter scale! :'D Oh oh, MAYBE, like MAYBE the Earth Kingdom people deciding to jump onto the island MIGHT be a fallout. But it's not like.....her fallout (it probs really isn't her deal tbh). It's the usual "ok Avatar died, time to fuck about" fallout....but even then we don't really hear a lot of shit going on????
Which is just so INSANE?! Like, this woman lived to be 230! What do you MEAN there's nothing?
Like Kyoshi's presence is NOT THERE??? Like where is it?!
WTF??? TT0TT Like this is INSANE, not just for how long Kyoshi's been alive, but like...just compared to the other entries!
Like with the other Chronicles? Kyoshi and Yangchen still were able to showcase ripples with AVATAR'S THAT HADN'T BEEN EXPLORED FULLY YET! We still felt ripples from Kuruk and Yangchen and Szeto in JUST KYOSHI'S NOVELS! Not even getting into Yangchen, just Kyoshi did we feel it!
Like I said above, even in ATLA and we feel the ripples with Kyoshi and Roku! Hell Kyoshi had more ripples in ATLA than she did with Roku's novel! Maybe even Korra (with the whole Chin/Kuvira parallel). LoK showcased ripples, not just from Aang but from Wan!
Like what is going on RoR??? Why are you afraid of a few wrinkles?! TT0TT
I think we actually get more wrinkles from SZETO'S era than we do from KYOSHI! What the hell? Like no. The whole Fire National identity is brought up a lot. Szeto's name, even if unspoken, is kinda hanging there in the background. He's also brought up in the library to showcase the truth behind the island.
Listen, I love Szeto. I love his ratchet ass causing issues for every Avatar (it's my fav running gag besides the Saowon's being lil' shits). I was hoping for it in this book actually! But we really should be dealing with both Szeto and Kyoshi in this novel. Both are shadows that should be crushing Roku right now. Like how Kuruk and Yangchen were for Kyoshi!
It really should've been paralleling Kyoshi more. Kyoshi had Kuruk, the disappointment, and then Yangchen the "Golden child she should be like" weighing on her. No one outright told her TO be like Yangchen. She just decided it was the best option. Everyone revered Yangchen, so obviously she's a good role model! She should be like her! We constantly hear her brought up in prayer! She's constantly being crushed between trying to make good choices like Yangchen, and not be a disappointment like Kuruk.
Roku should be dealing with that too! But it's Szeto/Kuruk (for the negatives) and Yangchen/Kyosh (for the positives). Hell, they can even play with it by flip flopping depending on who's talking (so like a Fire National may make a parallel of: Kyoshifor neg like Kuruk, and Szeto for pos like Yangchen, which is ironically how Kyoshi framed it in her novels, because they like Szeto and not Kyoshi).
Basically, "Do/Don't be like Szeto" and "Do/Don't be more like Kyoshi!"/"Can you live up to/exceed Kyoshi?" Should be two narratives he has to deal with in this novel..... But yet doesn't.
_______
*Inhales*
"Ok so we figured out what it didn't do that the other novels did. Now what did it fail to capitalize on that the other novels didn't have going for it?" Kyoshi.
"Yes we now you-" No. I mean, we have Kyoshi. This is a first time for the novels to have already had a previous Avatar be fairly known by the fandom.
Now we don't know ALL 230 years of her life. We only know up to about the 40th year. But 1) we got two novels of her early life, 2) we know her legacy in AtLA/LoK. Before Wan, she probs had the most info on her besides Roku. Like that's a decent amount to go on. More than Yangchen. Def more than Kuruk or Szeto.
And it would've been a good way to give us more insight on her last years too! :D So what do we get?
We get none of that.
Like you know how crazy this is? It's like having LoK but NEVER, EVER addressing Aang, at least in S1. I know LoK didn't focus a lot on Aang, but we still had his influence all around (esp in S1 when he was still available). His children/grandchildren, friends were still around. We got SOOOO many flashbacks in Season 1. And to the show's credit, at least it came up with a reason for him not to show up again starting with S2 (aka losing the past Avatars). We still get a lot of his essence!
But RoR has none of that? A few off handed remarks about Kyoshi existing at some point. The biggest one being some guy being like "Yeah no I wouldn't have fucked with her."
"Oh! But we have Disha" oh great. >_> She's....just so great......and like....barely a character......hmmmm...... No, girlie ain't even here for most of the book.
And what we get is barely anything. Hei-Ran in RoK has more of a presence than Disha! And that's saying something! We didn't get a lot of Hei-Ran! Hell, Kelsang has more presence than Disha!
Both of them do so much more with their screen time than Disha! I know SO MUCH about them as people/characters with what little screen time I get just in RoK.
Gyatso does more to give us insight on Kysoshi than Disha does imo.
It's just....wow. Just circling back to the lack of ripples. It's just....insane!
Back to my point above the line. It would be more interesting to see people looking at Roku and being like:
Fire Nationals: Be like Szeto! Don't be like Kyoshi!
Non Fire Nationals: Don't be like Szeto! Be like Kyoshi!
"Why can't you decide?" "Why can't you bend?" "Oh, Kyoshi could've/would've done this-"
Like, again, this should be weighing on him, like constantly. Like he communicates this particular weight on him! Not the generic "oh am I gonna be good enough?" generalization sad boi bs I get. I want specifics sweetie! What you gave me was a generic snooze fest, I wanna feel your despair in my BONES. Tell me why these ideologies are tearing you apart molecule by molecule!
Like, Roku and Kuruk were both successors of one of the most highly regarded Avatars. From what we've got of Kuruk, he seems like he was taking it pretty well (until the great Spirits started spiriting). It didn't seem like he had much pressures, either he was good a hiding his true feelings (which is valid because he does that later) or he really was go with the flow early on before the sprits (also valid, he seemed at peace from what we know)
Roku crumbling under Kyoshi's giant shadow should've been his big arc. (Not....not ho-humming about Sozin and Sozin related things/aventures/whatever the fuck you wanna call the premise of this book, tbh the Sozin thing is handled afdklsajfkldjsalf ahhhhrrrrgggg! TT0TT That's for a different time, but Sozin shouldn't have been this involved it just messes with the previously established lore man.....).
They should've been leaning into this like crazy. Leaning into Szeto. Lean into Kyoshi. Into Yun. Into Yasu! A lot more than they did! (Oh don't assume I like Yasu ajkfjdslkf I know I'm saying lean into it more, but I think Yasu was an unnecessary addition)
That being said, one of the best chapters is Roku Alone and us exploring his past with Yasu! Because we actually get something from Roku for once! The next is Two Wicks cause we actually get some Kyoshi! Like those are the two chapters that touch on his issues the most, but the rest of the book just meanders along.
I dunno, I just feel like this whole internal conflict should've/could've/would've carried this book. Not a bs island mystery where we spend like half the book not in Roku's head but in two other people's instead. (And one of them is doing fuck all in a desert >_>) (the whole island premise should've been used for a different Avatar, would've served them better than it did Roku....but that's for a different rant).
It's just a shame. Roku had a good set up. The imposter syndrome and having to deal with Szeto and Kyoshi's shadows? Mwuah! Cinema!
