#character breakdown

Okay, so apparently there’s discourse about whether Katara actually acted maternally/like a babysitter towards Aang. I saw this post a while back, and now I just saw another one where someone flat out denied that Katara was motherly. This is a little ridiculous to me because this just really isn’t something up for debate, it’s an undeniable fact. 

So let’s just get this over with.

Two of the biggest distinguishing emotional factors between a caretaker-kid dynamic and a relationship of equals (platonic or romantic) are present within the Ka/taang dynamic, that is:

1. One person always confiding in the other person about their personal problems and the other person never doing the same.

2. One person always playing the role of “the bigger person” in conflicts in the relationship.

1. A.ang confides in Katara but Katara doesn’t confide in A.ang. 

This is pretty clear and simple. A.ang has confided in Katara about his intimate personal problems more times than you can count but Katara from the start of the show all the way to the end, never once did this with A.ang. 

Just so we’re clear, by “confide” I mean talking to him about her deeply personal issues purely for her own sake, not to sympathize or make him feel better. And we know that she can do this, cause she does it with her dad and then later with Zuko. She shares with Zuko and him only, her most personal and intimate story all without him even asking about it.

Katara: But we were too late. When we got there, the man was gone. [Voice begins breaking.] And so was she. Zuko: Your mother was a brave woman.

Of course all of this makes sense, younger kids depend on their caretaker (parent/teacher/babysitter) for stability and are less emotionally mature than they are, so it doesn’t make sense to dump your personal problems on them and even if you did they’re likely not going to be able to actually do anything about it. 

2. Katara is always the bigger person 

The times when Katara and A.ang had conflict, Katara always acted as the bigger person in the situation. She either remained patient and tolerated him, apologized first even when she did nothing wrong or she’d choose to just forget about what he did even if he doesn’t apologize. 

Katara wasn’t allowed to just stay mad at A.ang and have him work to fix their relationship/conflict. Just to make my point, I’ll contrast it with her relationship with Zuko. 

In the crystal catacombs, Katara is angry, frustrated and is not being nice to Zuko at all (rightfully so) and then when she starts to cry, Zuko chooses to ignore the fact that she was just yelling at him, prioritizes her feelings, sympathizes with her and extends an olive branch out to her. She didn’t have to be the bigger person in order for them to reach a resolution, she even tries to apologize for yelling at Zuko and he just tells her that it’s okay

Katara: [Enraged.] I don't? How dare you! You have no idea what this war has put me through! [Sits down.] Me personally! [She sits down and touches her necklace, begins to cry.] The Fire Nation took my mother away from me. Zuko: [He turns around to face Katara.] I'm sorry. [Pauses. Katara is now sobbing.] That's something we have in common.

Katara: [Apologetic.] I'm sorry I yelled at you before. Zuko: It’s Okay.

Then again in Book three, Katara is mad at Zuko and even gets to be a little petty too (again, rightfully so) and he remains patient with her for about four episodes, takes her anger in strides, listens to her and then actively works to make it up to her and fix their relationship. Once again, she got to just be mad and left the burden of reconciliation to Zuko as he was the offender in this situation.

With Aang, the burden of reconciliation is always on Katara, she’s the one who has to always resolve the conflicts in their relationship.

Here, Katara is busy taking care of all the stuff no one else wants to and A.ang suggests she abandons her responsibilities to come watch him goof off, then when she refuses to do that (because she’s not stupid), he accuses her of just being jealous.

Katara : [Resumed filling the pot with more vegetables.] Watching you show off for a bunch of girls does not sound like fun. Aang : [Disappointed.] Well, neither does carrying your basket. Katara: [Annoyed.] It's not my basket. These supplies are for our trip. I told you, we have to leave Kyoshi soon.

Despite the fact that she was not in the wrong here at all, she ends up being the one who takes the high road and goes to A.ang to apologize to him first. 

Aang: Katara! You showed up! Katara: [Somewhat concerned.] I wanted to make sure you were safe. You really had me worried….I’m sorry. Aang: Me too…

Then of course, you have the occasions of Katara choosing to remain patient with Aang. 

Aang : [Lashes out.] I'm sorry, okay! It's a desert cloud; I did all I could! What's anyone else doing?! [Pointing his staff at Katara.] What are you doing‌?! [She returns his attack with a shocked look on her face.] Katara : Trying to keep everyone together. Let's just get moving. We need to head this direction.

And then occasions of her choosing to just forget about his offenses without him having to apologize. For instance, the Ember Island Players kiss, after which she just forgets about it by the next episode, or A.ang yelling at her for something that was not her fault in the finale and her still forgetting about it without an apology by the end.

As the eldest daughter myself, it was quite easy for me to recognize what was going on here because I’ve displayed these exact behaviors myself. As a teenager, I never confided in my younger siblings about my personal problems and I tried to be the bigger person in conflicts cause I knew they weren’t emotionally mature enough to actually solve the problem. 

I’m sure anyone who’s looked after kids before, especially when you were younger, can relate to what Katara was doing with A.ang and if someone doesn’t believe these behaviors are distinctly reflective of a caretaker-kid dynamic, then there’s one other relationship in which this behavior is displayed, a codependent relationship, where one party (Katara) believes this is the only way to sustain the relationship and feel needed. Take your pick, cause either way, it’s still a bad relationship to become romantic

Textual Evidence And Scene-Framing Implications

(or just common sense)

When I first watched the show as a twelve year old, I was sold that Katara was going to be playing a caretaker/babysitter role in A.ang’s life by the end of the fourth episode. 

We all know what typical caretaker/babysitter/older sister behaviors look like but for some reason, whenever it comes to Ka/taang we pretend like we don’t.

Over the course of the show, I noticed those two factors I talked about above specifically and then multiple framing and writing choices only served to reinforce this interpretation. 

You have the typical parent/older sister/babysitter doing domestic work while the kid tries to show them a cool new trick and the caretaker responds with “that’s nice, honey” without looking at them.

Aang: Hey Katara, check out this airbending trick! [Katara taking no notice and continues to sew.] Katara: [Nonchalantly, still focusing on her task at hand.] That's great, Aang. Aang: [Disappointed, stops performing the trick.] You didn't even look. Katara: [Looks over to Aang and attempts to show enthusiasm.] That's great! Aang: [Dismayed.] But I'm not doing it now.

You have Katara saying she uses positive reinforcement and only “gentle nudges in the right direction” on A.ang complete with her talking to Toph with the typical soft, nurturing and calm mummy tone like a mother talking to her son’s teacher.

Katara: [Trying to help Toph teach.] I've been training Aang for a while now. He really responds well to a positive teaching experience. Lots of encouragement and praise. Kind words. If he's doing something wrong, maybe a gentle nudge in the right direction.

Then of course you have the La Pieta (Mother Mary and Jesus Christ) framing, Katara feeling comfortable dressing up as A.ang’s mum, Katara tucking him into bed, fixing his clothes(can’t remember the episode this happened but I’m sure it did), this scene:

Katara: Stop rubbing your eye and speak clearly when you talk! Aang and Sokka: Yes Ma’am!

and the list goes on and on. 

You then have a whole episode dedicated to diving deeper into Katara’s parentification and motherliness with the characters explicitly stating that she does act motherly and according to Sokka, has been doing so since their mother was killed, which is almost seven years at that point. 

(But sure…the kid who never knew a day of hardship or heavy responsibility in his life up until a few months ago is totally on her level, I call that an insult to Katara’s character)

You also have the fact that the show points out that Katara has been doing most of the domestic labor around camp since their mother died and Sokka didn’t because at that point he saw domestic chores as “women’s work” but hunted because he perceived that as being a more masculine activity.

Now, aside from the two distinguishing factors I talked about, if one or two of these framing and writing choices were done, I could’ve given them the benefit of the doubt and thought maybe it was just a mistake, coincidence or it means something else. But all of these things put together creates a context that paints a picture of the true nature of Katara and A.ang’s dynamic. 

I saw it that way, so did my family, friends and apparently half of the ATLA fandom. And here’s the thing, a romantic pairing being described as having a babysitter-kid dynamic isn’t a common critique of ships, because this dynamic is quite distinct and easily discernible for most people. 

Authorial Intent and Behind-The-Scenes Information 

This interpretation of their relationship seemed solid and was quite easy for me to identify, so I assumed A.ang’s crush wouldn’t be taken too seriously and the writers would go the Dipper-Wendy and Princess Bubblegum-Finn route (which would’ve undoubtedly taught kids much better lessons than the ADULT characters telling A.ang and young boys watching to be persistent with girls and eventually they’ll have to come around to you) 

So, when they started trying to insert romance into their dynamic (like in The Cave Of Two Lovers), It was like mental whiplash and I cringed so bad. It was so weird and uncomfortable and now I know a large part of that discomfort was cognitive dissonance. 

The show made it clear that Katara acted like A.ang’s caretaker and now they were forcing them to kiss to get out of a cave??? Then proceeded to do both dynamics at once?? I don’t know about others, but my brain was incapable of reconciling those two dynamics into one.

When I later got online, I still just got more confirmation that this interpretation of their dynamic was deliberately and intentionally crafted by the writers and was very much their mindset/vision for the characters. 

You have this

You have this interview by Mike and Bryan done after the show was already airing

Bryke saying in another interview that Katara’s protectiveness over A.ang was a motherly quality, in other words, she acts like a momma-bear towards him and they write it like this on purpose.

You have them saying Katara struggled to accept A.ang romantically because of maturity.

(And these are the guys who pushed for Ka/taang to be made canon and publicly mocked teenagers and kids for shipping Zutara btw)

It’s clear that Katara’s motherliness was a very deliberate and intentional aspect of her characterization.

Final Thoughts  

Those framing choices combined with those two major factors and all the behind-the-scenes information on top of that, it paints a very clear picture of what this dynamic actually was and denying that is a little ignorant.

And I’d suggest that if you make all these arguments to someone and they still insist that Katara did not act motherly/like a babysitter towards A.ang, then just walk away cause you’re arguing with a wall.

Everyone can agree that this was one of the most pivotal scenes of the season. But I wanted to expand on it a bit.

* Please note: this is meant to be an observational piece, not a character-bashing post.

-

Alastor was right.

For an overlord, there really are no friends in Hell.

A lot of people have already broken down Alastor’s transactional “friendships” with Mimzy, Vox, and Rosie. But I want to focus on something different: the hotel gang—specifically Charlie.

Listen. I know Charlie is a stressed, naïve little thing- but she’s also supposed to be the heart of the show, the embodiment of “goodness.” She’s the one who tells Vox, “I believe anyone can be redeemed.” And yet, she seems to make an exception in showing compassion when it’s towards Alastor.

After the battle against Adam, she didn’t even look for Alastor. Not a mention. Not a glance. Nothing.

What makes it worse is that she clearly grieved Pentious. The crew sang his praises and created a portrait in his honor. Dazzle even got a statue. But Alastor—who supposedly died in that battle as far as they knew—gets no memorial at all.

And the moment they find out he’s alive? He gets… a hug. The touch-adverse deer gets a hug. No apologies, no “thank goodness you’re all right.” A single moment of relief, then back to business.

Lucifer mentions Alastor’s loss to Adam right before he quit. How did Lucifer know that Al got his ass kicked? Did Vox release the video? If so, why didn’t anyone check and make sure he was okay afterwards?

And after he’s captured by the Vees? Charlie gives him one line of concern. One.

Every other time his name comes up, it’s laced with irritation that he isn’t there to “do his job.” This is despite the fact that (as far as the hotel knows) he literally sacrificed himself for her.

Like Vaggie- you can say, “Oh, but Alastor clearly has a plan.”

Yes—he does.

And that plan depends entirely on the fact that they won’t care enough to help him. He knows they never looked for him. He knows they didn’t notice his injury. And he knows that despite everything he’s done since season one, they don’t see him as a person or a human soul—just a monster, an overlord, a tool.

So he leans into it. All the softness that we saw Alastor share the night before the extermination is gone. In its place- is a man trapped and doing whatever he can to ensure his own survival, because these people are not his friends and they surely won’t. They’ve proven it time and time again.

As a former Charlastor shipper, I can’t imagine the mental gymnastics that side of the fandom is doing to justify all of this. Miss“ Everyone-at-the-hotel-is-family-Morningstar” is fine leaving her mentor alone with his known stalker.

In the end, Alastor’s words are a sad, self-fulfilling prophecy.

He was right on two counts . It’s incredible what a human soul can accomplish when they “take charge of their own fate.” (Like he’s doing right now)

I maintain his lack of empathy for humans and gaslight-y behavior comes from his millenia-plus gap from humanity, and a lack of human morals.

A great example of this is Apo. Apo killed Scott four times. From his POV, he kept his cool at the woman who murdered him four times and offered her the gift, which she then took of her own accord. He was incredibly generous. From Apo's perspective, however, this almighty being threatened to end her and turn others if she didn't take this curse. Legitimately, Scott's responses to Apo in the future aren't victimblaming on purpose. He just actually believes his response was not only justified but generous.

Later, his response to a betrayal from Pyro stem from him trusting Pyro COMPLETELY and feeling utterly betrayed.

To 1000+ y/o scott, he cannot comphrend why Pyro would be even looking for a cure, he's taken well to vampire life, and I think, in some messed up corner of scotts brain, he thinks the terrified defferance is a friendship with Pyro.

Scott doesn't seem to actively care whether the others look for a cure, as long as it doesn't affect him. He also, notably, waited until Pyro gave them information that could be possibly dangerous to other vampires (the mineshaft is safe) to confront him at all. When he does confront him, Scott follows up with "I won't hurt you" and while from Pyros pov this is textbook manipulation, but I legitimately think Scott meant it.

To Scott, Pyro is more of an unruly teenager, going through a rebellious phase. I think deep down he feels some sort of care for Pyro, at the very least he trusted him, so his betrayal stings. But, he legitimately doesn't want to hurt Pyro, and can't see the fact that Pyro's loyalty doesn't come from any returned care, but absolute terror.

Or perhaps scott does recognize the absolute terror, and simply prefers it.

However, despite being betrayed twice this episode, scott also IMMEDIATELY welcomes Apo back. Now, perhaps in ep.6 we will see more nuance from his opinion of Apo, but atm, he seems okay to trust her again.

I think this is because of another telling line we got from scott this episode,

"I dont die"

It's not that scott is stupid, it's that he is so confident I'm his ability and power that he knows he can survive. He cares about traitors on more of a personal betrayal level, rather than a fear of the damage they could do.

spike in season 2A (school hard to what's my line part two) - 8.5/10. who is this diva. running little vampire armies and going full gomez addams. running around taking care of everything especially his sick wife. no mercy. this is a killer. he's just doing shit. he's unleashed. it's pretty much all for drusilla. full mob boss spike. he's got business to take care of and things to do. and slayers to kill. he's fabulous.

post injury spike, diapolycule era (surprise to becoming part two) - 9.3/10... a personal favourite of mine. i actually really really like this spike and in some ways i wish this spike was the spike buffy dates later on because he's pretty quiet in his sarcasm, evil but he's more frustrated at efficiency than anything... insecure and depressed but not in the way he is later (well briefly but his depression here is nothing like s6 spike's depression) he actually seems really human in this era and shockingly he becomes really relatable the more he becomes a third wheel between angelus and drusilla. he's reaching a breaking point. the first time i watched this season (the only time cough) i remember drawing parallels to spike at this time being the voice of deadpan snark in his trio versus buffy in hers (even though looking back i think it's more like giles) anyways. long live the spike who proposed a truce between himself and buffy

heartbroken slobbering insane spike (lovers walk) - 17/10 no explanation this man is going through it

bitter post divorce rebound spike (the harsh light of the day to wild at heart) - tough call but like 6.5/10. sorry. i will always love him and i thought he was kind of funny in harsh light and in the dark but thats because he's spike. early season 4 spike is so different than previous spike characterizations and he's so funny but like ??? bro just confuses me what the fuck is even going on with this man this is the beginning of spike's obsession with buffy and getting mad at her....? and this is explained later in ffl but literally i dont know why he's acting like buffy divorced him haha

new main character post neutered cat tied to a chair spike (the initiative to doomed) - 9.7/10 iconic. tied to a chair spike is peak. he is such a bitch. this is an important batch of episodes for spike's character and it's also known as his speedrun of being domesticated. some of the funniest spike moments come from these episodes, and he's slowly warming to being everyone's annoying asshole cat coded friend. reminder this spike is the one who roams the street with a ratty blanket over his head staring longingly at demons torturing people before begging buffy and giles to help him. this is a great era for him. the end to this era is him finding out he can hit demons whilst wearing xander's clothes

neighbourhood spike (a new man to where the wild things are) - 9.3/10 very similar to season 2a spike in the sense that he is bitingly relatable in a normal way. he's just here for the goofs and he's not doing anything except move and sometimes chat with them at bars and at parties and insult them. i also really enjoy this spike

judas spike is the only way i can define him this is his trickster era (new moon rising to primeval) - i know i keep ranking things so high but i love him but 9.6/10. spike is shockingly really good at manipulation. this is the era where he teams up with adam to get his chip removed. again this is also kind of season 2a spike and in some ways this mirrors the end of season 2 for spike, he will team up with anyone but will always choose himself or who he loves. this era is so interesting though because this era is spike trying to prove that he's evil and someone who can kill people again. not saying he doesn't want to, but before spike teamed up with someone to save the woman he loves and now he's teaming up with someone to kill the girl he hates. so he's ranked high because he's so fascinating. it's clear that he just wants one thing done, but the person he's kissing ass to isn't doing it. the potential of this guy

a continuation of this era plus just some other purgatory like things spike (restless technically to out of my mind) - 8/10. unlike early s4 spike i like this spike, he's just fucking around but instead of truly fucking around he seems more fixated on buffy so idk. he's fine. surely this wont awaken anything in him

spike who is obsessed with buffy and is aware of it now and it's not good (no place like home to i was made to love you) - 8.9/10 normally i would split this up but no explanation needed everytime he shows up his very presence is haunted by buffy. you know every single time he's thinking about her. this is also an extension of manipulator spike who just essentially leads riley to break up with buffy. this guy is obsessed it is a lot and he is sick

hero spike (forever to the gift) - 100000000/10 PEAK THIS IS WHEN HE ROCKS. THIS GUY IS SYMPATHETIC AND LOVELY ill die on that hill this is also known as the episodes when spike is just a father and the right balance of sarcastic and good

grieving single father spike (bargaining pt 1 to beginning of after life) - 9.7/10 im so glad there are a million post buffy death spike fics because this guy had insane potential. he was actually kind of great as guy who joined and fought with people he didn't like but now that he's a part of the group he just wanted to be included. plus we get a lot of dawn and spike stuff

secret boyfriend spike (affectionate) (after life to tabula rasa) - 9.9999999/10 i miss him

homme fatale/bad boy boyfriend/secret lesbian lover (smashed to as you were) - 9/10 apparently i cant rank things below 9 sorry but objectively id give him a 5 or 6 but personally i have to give him a 9 because he is so fascinating when he is this guy. he makes me sad and mad and theres no way buffy doesnt feel the same way. evil august by taylor swift spike

tragic ancient greek loverboy spike (hells bells) - 10/10 no explanation he was perfect in that one scene

shitty ex boyfriend spike (normal again to seeing red) - -49/10 what the fuck. sad

vague knight/chuck bass paying people to beat him up era (villains to grave) - 6/10 go white boy go

weepy crazy delusional spike (lessons to selfless) - ???/10 i love it but girl HOLY SHIT what are you doing

normal guy (fr this time)(just kidding) (him to sleeper) - 7.5/10 the points are for the speech he gives to buffy about how it's still all about her. i like him being roommates with xander. actually i like him. he's normal and clear. he's alright

damsel (never leave me to showtime) - 9.3/10 yayyyyyyy !!!!

buffy's stay at home husband (potential to get it done) - 8/10 I LIKED HIM the outfits were trash BUT I LIKED HIM. ends when he gets the coat back

champion AND buffy's wife (storyteller to chosen) - 10/10 thank you for undooming our girl from the narrative king

depressed ghost (conviction to lineage) - 8.9/10 REALLY INTERESTING he's also so annoying. spike was meant to be a ghost annoying angel for the rest of eternity

angel's ex-husband (destiny to not fade away) - 9.5/10 peak they're lowkey hilson except if wilson hated house more than he batted his eyelashes at him

The White Lotus (2021—) | Season 3 | Aimee Lou Wood as Chelsea

Yes, jason was a lovely robin, a good kid who loved school and adores his mantle. But it doesn’t erase the fact that he has his moments where it painted him as angry and reckless. I think it’s actually pretty difficult to describe each robin with a singular personality trait.

I wouldn’t mind them as long as both writers and readers remember that, fundamentally, jason was the “angry robin” because he’s such a good person. He was angry on the field not because he can, but because he had such a good heart and it angers him to see good people get hurt.

(I have my own opinions about batman & robin: jason todd however)

This is a kid who was a victim of gotham’s system since he was born. Say what you want about him but he has the rights to be angry for the people of gotham, especially the ones who couldn’t defend themselves from criminals and justice system alike. He’s such a good kid at heart that even the sight of criminals makes his blood boil, the thought that they hurt other innocent people. Despite having a father who was a criminal, jason knew both of his parents were victims at some point too, and I think that’s why he kind of set cathrine in a higher regard compared to willis.

Bruce and the other robins share the same views as him, but none (except Steph) had lived through gotham like he did. He was in the trenches till he was 12 years old when bruce adopted him.

Its why, for me, what’s most devastating about jason turning into red hood isn’t just the good kid turning bad, but its more-so because he had lost so much faith in the system, in batman and robin, that he chose to manage the crimes to make sure it doesn’t get too far. He manages the crimes around to minimize their victims, not to fully erase it.

(Just a messy very angrily written rant on how people perceive Denji. Will be going into detail in later analyses)

The people who call Chainsaw Man a gooner anime genuinely lack any kind of reading comprehension skills whatsoever. These are the type of people who disregard subtext and have no concept of ‘show, don't tell. It astounds me that people like that exist.

It's one of the only anime I've ever watched that actually discusses and explores love and physical intimacy from the lens of a hypersexual teenage boy which isn't just fan service. These sexual scenes aren't just there to cater to the male gaze but actually are used as a tool for Denji to understand the complexity of love. 

This is shown so well with his interactions with Power. Every time he has promiscuous moments with Power he’s unable to actually feel something towards her. After the bathroom scene, he has no physical attraction towards her, and every scene after that just further pushes the narrative that they’re simply meant to be seen through a non-sexual light (Whether it’s platonic or some sort of romance is left to the reader’s understanding).

Denji learns from his relationship with Power that love isn't just confined to having physical intimacy. He realizes sex isn't the only way to feel connected and cared for by others.

Even the swimming pool with Reze can be seen this way. While yes, it is certainly intended to be sexual, it's a genuine moment of  connection between Denji and Reze. This is what he craves. Connection. 

Thank you so much for reading!