#fight analysis

Hi everyone! We're back with another entry into my Perfecting series, where I break down fics that I think perfectly embody some aspect.

I was watching a youtube video (link) about how to write a climatic fight scene. It was excellent and very enlightening! So I thought I would apply some of the concepts to SWWL’s climatic fight scene; Rumi vs Mira and Zoey. 

Massive, massive spoilers ahead for So We Were Liars by @arendellesfirstwinter

Also, happy Aren day!

The first concept is “The most climatic fight should be a World Cup.” Well, what is a World Cup? See the diagram below. 

This is gauging the strength of the winning party versus the strength of the losing party. The winning party is Zoey and Mira, while the losing party is Rumi. Now, the actual results of this fight are Fly Swatting, I won’t deny that. But it’s only because Rumi wasn’t seriously trying to harm them. I count this as a world cup fight because it is that on paper, ignoring the characters. These are the top characters of the verse/story, it is the strongest players fighting each other. In the context of the story this is the strongest going at it, even if one of them is severally handicapped. That's the spirit of World Cup. It's saying that the climatic fight shouldn't be two random bums going at it. It needs to have the highest stakes of that story, and this is our three main characters all fighting each other, making a World Cup series.

Looking at what type of fight excels at which metrics, you can see that World Cup fights feature both characterization and strategy. There is strategy involved in the fight, Mira and Zoey have a solid win condition and outplay Rumi.  Ideally, the climatic fight shouldn't play out as X wins because they're stronger. Or Y wins because they have a better strategy. It should be the combination of characterization and strategy, better detailed by the diagram below.

This is essentially a way of visualizing a fight- you gauge their strength against each other, who has a better strategy, and who has the narrative behind them. Whoever wins the fight will have a higher bar. And an excellent fight will make use of all three categories. 

Before we can break it down, though, we have to further understand the rules of this fight. You, dear reader, may be confused. Is it really a fight? It’s more Rumi running away. 

I am arguing yes, this is a fight. It’s just both an emotional and physical fight. We’ll get into it more during the strategy section, but the girls are fighting each other. Rumi just tried to fight in a different way. 

Let’s get into the chart! Strength is the easiest. Rumi, with her demon physiology, and being the leader, would probably be a tough challenge for Mira and Zo, strength wise. However, the fight isn’t decided by just “who’s stronger.” You also have to consider mental strength and fortitude. Mira and Zoey want to protect their girlfriend from a Demon. Rumi wants to live, while hating herself. Rumi fundamentally has a weaker mental here from lying to others and herself, she has less stakes in this fight.

Strategy. This fight can be broken into each party’s win conditions: Mira and Zoey want to kill Rumi. (Okay, they want to kill what they think is an imposter, but, it’s Rumi. We’re speaking from an outside perspective here)

Rumi’s objective is to convince them she is not an imposter, or escape. So “Winning” the fight for Zoey and Mira looks like killing Rumi. Winning the fight for Rumi is basically any outcome that isn’t anyone dying. She could win by killing Mira and Zoey, but obviously that would be bad. Technically she has a win condition of “incapacitate Mira and Zoey” but I do not think mentally she can hurt them. 

So the fight starts and their strategies initially form. Mira decides to 1v1 Rumi, while telling Zoey to scout for information… to find Rumi. And Rumi decides to convince them, getting within range of Mira’s weapon. Mira decides to wear down Rumi, which makes sense as Zoey did suffer a concussion. Rumi does attempt escape here, though is unsuccessful. She does manage to stave off Mira physically, though, at which point Zoey joins the fight. This isn’t explicitly stated, but I like to imagine that Mira forcing Rumi back gave Zoey space to work at range. It would be good strategy from Mira, along with synergy. Speaking of synergy, time to bring up another graphic! The youtube video has the 5 S’s of strategy, shown below. 

Important to note! You do not need every single one of these for a good fight. But you should have a handful, and every one helps. A fight with none of these is just fists flying in an empty parking lot, which is boring.

So far, Mira and Zoey have mainly used Synergy with a tiny bit of Sneak Attack (Mira at the beginning rushing Rumi). 

Zoey continues to throw at range, landing a hit on Rumi, in her thigh. You could count this as Spot of Weakness, since running away is one of Rumi’s win conditions, which is now firmly shut down. 

Rumi begins throwing items at Mira and Zoey. While ineffective, this is a use of Surroundings. 

Rumi begins to beg, switching her strategy from convincing Mira and Zoey to saying she’ll leave. While still trying to run. 

Zoey flanks, launching her weapon into Rumi’s ankles to pin her, and Mira moves in for the killshot. Excellent use of synergy and sneak attack, from Zoey’s perspective. We never see either party sacrifice something to gain an advantage, but that also doesn't really make sense in the story. Mira and Zoey don't need to sacrifice anything, they have the advantage. (Though you could argue by agreeing to leave and never return, Rumi is sacrificing her relationship to fulfill a win condition, running.)

So the final requirement is Narrative Characterization. There’s a statement here, from the video, that must be filled in. “_____ won because they are more ____.” 

Alternatively, “_____ lost because they are less ____.” Basically, narratively, why did Aren make Rumi lose? What was the purpose of it? What is the message behind So We Were Liars? 

I could pretend to be some giant brained analyzer here that picked through the text and studied it for 100 years. 

But Aren yaps about this fic a lot and we already have an answer. This fic is a character study on Rumi, and how her mistakes lead to her ruin, and how she has to shed those mistakes to heal. The front half is an explicit tragedy, a warning and lesson wrapped together. Per the title of the fic, “Rumi lost because she was a liar.” 

That’s it! Kinda. 

Rumi lost because she had done too good of a job convincing Mira and Zoey she wasn’t a demon. Rumi lost because she separated herself from her girls, causing confusion. Rumi lost because she didn’t value her own life. 

Rumi lost because she lied about being a demon while getting closer to the girls. So close, they were sent into a panic at the thought of losing her. 

Going back to our diagram, it would look something like: 

Because Steve’s never really changes all that much. He fought with a shield and sometimes a gun, then he got frozen. And the modern version dropped the gun partly partly bc of the weird line modern pg movies of how obviously you’re allowed to kill people on screen and partly bc he kept ending up in situations where he wasn’t fighting humans he was willing to kill, but despite all the angsting, there was still a place in this world for a supersoldier once he found it

But Bucky, he was a sniper. James Buchanan Barnes was a sniper, and the Winter Soldier was a sniper. I saw the winter soldier unmasking fight scene on here the other day, and he starts with guns. Starts with a sniper rifle, pares down to something closer range when he sees this’ll be a fight, and then it’s only when that stops being an option that he goes to knives and fists. Even when Hydra took him and brainwashed him and pointed him at his best friend, he still fought like Bucky would have - infinitely more dangerous, and against completely different people, but all the same skills.

But then he gets out of it. And he lays low for a while, and he’s no one there. But when the world comes for him again, he can’t be a sniper anymore. He’s not on a team, hasn’t been since he shook hydra. And the world’s changed in a way that makes who he used to be incompatible in a way that it didn’t for Steve. Because Steve can adapt, he can lose the gun and he can join shield, he can be a vigilante in the night. But what role does a sniper have in this world? Personally I’m a fan of the Bucky was drafted theory, but even if not, I don’t think he’d fit back into a military. Wouldn’t trust people, wouldn’t be able to take orders without feeling like someone else’s tool again. There’s no real role for a true sniper in the avengers, no time to sit and plan, no place where someone can be above the action.

And so what can Bucky do but become the Winter Soldier in a way that he never was when he was Hydra? In CW, in TFATWS, he’s fighting hand to hand. Going in with close range attacks, fighting multiple opponents at once. He’s a soldier, not a sniper.

I'm rewatching Season 2 episode 2, the opener, for writing reasons, and can we talk about how Soren actually is a really good fighter again? He's not "getting beaten back" when Rayla first attacks him - he's effortlessly blocking her and falling back to study her attack style. She realizes this and pauses when he just stops moving, but by this time it's too late - he's realized that while she's quick, she's skilled enough to give him a challenge, she's not as strong as he is and she's already angry, and that's going to make her prone to mistakes. But he also caught onto how she realized what HE was doing and backed off, and that's why he gives that little chuckle before he goes after her, because he knows he's going up against someone who's just as talented as he is, so it'll be fun, but more reckless, which means he's likely to win.

warning: hella unstructured

Ok so I was rereading Gojo vs Sukuna and I had a thought.

Gojo only started winning as aggressively as he did because Sukuna was using Mahoraga to keep him on a clock. Gojo started snowballing because of the first black flash he hit against Sukuna (the one that almost ended the fight from giving Sukuna a quick nap). He likely wouldn't have hit that black flash without the time pressure and the pressure to make the surprise reversal red count. Gojo literally amps himself up a few pages before by telling Sukuna he's just going to outperform the clock.

Sukuna begins to regain ground as the right progresses past this first black flash, but he makes an incredibly major mistake that leads to Gojo winning as hard as he did. Sukuna summoned Agito, putting Gojo on a second clock (the time for Sukuna to heal from the RCT provided by Agito) AND giving gojo a third potential thing to black flash that wasn't anywhere near as strong as maho & Sukuna was an objective mistake, and it almost lost Sukuna the fight.

- he’s got a really solid punch, properly loads each with his hips. interesting to see him do it on the ice as usually you twist your hips to get power into your punches but obviously you need your feet planted firmly. kris gets around that by utilising the slipperiness of the ice to quickly reposition his hips and stance after each punch so he can put maximum force everytime. smart man. If geno is machine gun punching kris is constant artillery.

- lots of overhead hooks and uppercuts (again with solid force!) if he could get away with it he’d probably hammer fist but he might crack a skull open lmao

- kinda bitchy 😂 reminds me of teenage girls fighting? when he grabs hold of the jersey he doesn’t necessarily just hold them there, he’ll drag and shake them around and stuff (like a cat smacking the shit outta something)

- he likes to YANK them around, make em spin and flail

- somehow manages to always end up on top which i credit to him basically baby shaking other players around by the jersey and making them flail and fall over

- always going for the face like he’s gonna claw their eyes out or reaches around the back of the head to grab them by the hair instead of the jersey (once again, peak bitch move)

- seems like he gets peak aggressive when the other players goes for his hair 😂

is being "Peaceful" way far from "harmless", even though I've seen some claims that Aladar's fight with Kron ended the way it did because he was the weaker, actually..

I just…idk, kinda wanted to talk about this take.

It was "Something, something, Katara is going to marry a powerful bender in the future" and something along the lines of Zuko being said powerful bender and Aang not being all that special, and without the avatar state he would'nt be anything or something like that, not going to say names, you know who you are.

First, let's just, take Aunt Wu words out, in the same episode they explained that she was literally bullshiting about seeing the future, Katara could have married Haru or Jet for all we know since destiny isn't written in stone.

Second, let's just… Talk about Airbender tattoos, since the original poster was all about Air Nomads being shaddy by tattooing children and having racial supremacy by being all benders, wich ignoring the lore being based around Yantra Tattooing wich is… Kinda asanine.

They don't tattoo children.

Upon reaching the level of master by completing all thirty-six tiers of airbending, airbenders are tattooed, with another exception being that airbenders who create a completely new technique are automatically entitled to tattoos.

That's Aang.

He mastered thirty-five techniques and created the Air Scooter at the age of twelve.

Let's just…kinda get that out there. Aang is a prodigy in Airbending, you normally get tattooed in an advanced age because mastering bending isn't something that is going to take you some months. He is one, if not THE, youngest Airbender master until LoK.

So, the series starts with Aang already being a Master Airbender, and until Toph appears, between all of his teachers of similar age, Aang was the only one that is a Master at that point.

Zuko was vanished when he was a thirteen-year-old, that's about three years completly focused on training in firebending, and by the start of the series he WAS on the beginner stances since he demanded to Iroh to teach him the advanced set, and is not like Zuko was particulary skilled when he was young (a.k.a at Aang's age)

Azula was the one skilled at a young age.

And now let's talk about Azula and Aang.

Zuko compared Aang to Azula in the "I was lucky to be born" speech.

Zuko: I finally have you, but I can't get you home because of this blizzard. [Stands up and looks outside the cave.] There's always something. Not that you would understand. You're like my sister. Everything always came easy to her. She's a firebending prodigy, and everyone adores her. My father says she was born lucky. He says I was lucky to be born.

Let's just…go and try to say that Zuko din't called lucky the guy that has lost factually everything except the clothes he has on him, his glider, Appa and Momo because of his nation attacking their whole race, but let's analyze what Aang and Azula has in common.

1v1 they beat Zuko more consistently than they don't.

First fight? Aang surrenders because of the screaming women and children behind him make him realize that this people hurt by the Fire Nation for years are going to be hurt again and being surrounded by fire nation soldiers din't help.

Second fight? Aang dances around Zuko and beats him using his surroundings, if Aang was in any way or form more violent, he could keep going right here, he doesn't want to fight Zuko, so he instead goes to escape.

Third fight? Aang is taken to the ground trying to escape, evades, not a single moment does he use Airbending until the fire is literally infront of his face.

He uses the Avatar State once and it isn't to focus into Zuko, but because they were surrounded by Fire Nation soldiers.

Once Aang has his glider with him, he is capable of doing this to a fireball made both by Zuko and Iroh.

And this is just the first episode.

But let's see their other fights wich are...huh, not that many.

Bato of the Water Tribe has Aang fighting with Zuko in even ground, he's even disarmed from his glider.

At no point does Zuko even comes close to winning against Aang head on.

Aang is literally using Zuko moves against himself after seeing them once.

And Aang isn't even completly focused into fighting Zuko but taking Katara necklace from him.

The moment he has it, the next move he does literally knocks Zuko

Is not until June and Nyla joins with Zuko that he has problems.

Going into the next fight in The Chase, Aang and Zuko aren't together against Azula. Aang is against the two of them while they are also against each other, Zuko attacks Aang and Azula, Aang mostly evades, but the funny thing is, Zuko is focused mostly on Azula, and Azula is mostly focused against Aang, while he has to fight the two of them sleep deprived, Zuko is knocked out by Azula two times in the fight, and Aang has to fight her alone.

Azula focused specifically on Zuko exactly FOUR Seconds and the rest of the fight, she was going for Aang

And you know what? Aang was having problems against her, he was loosing since he doesn't even fight back as much but tries to escape, first when he sees Azula tossing Zuko around and then when he sees is too much to fight her head on, specifically in the state he is right now.

If it wasn't for Katara (just like if it wasn't with for Iroh with Zuko) Azula did have a chance at killing Aang here, even if he used Airbending he was surrounded by fire in a close environment, there was little for him to do there that would'nt end up burning himself up, a second later and he would be gone.

And then Azula is surrounded by everyone at the same time, wich she obviously has problems with because they're four on one, even if they're, again, completly sleep deprived, they're tired, a couple of hours more and they would start to hallucinate.

And finally we have Crossroads of Destiny.

Let's just say that this fight has some peculiar things, since it is Aang and Katara vs Azula and Zuko, let's just focus on Aang vs Zuko and a little bit of vs Azula.

Zuko attacks Aang

Aang evades

Aang does what ever the hell this is.

This knocks out Zuko into the ground and Aang keeps the attack.

Zuko attacks with a fireball and Aang evades flying to the rocks above

Zuko throws big fireball that breaks the crystals around and behind Aang.

This.

This is the closest, in all three of their fights that Zuko has gotten to knock Aang back that doesn't end up with himself getting knocked himself.

Zuko pulls out the fire whips, and Aang let's a big rock fall to him, this knocks Zuko, while Azula and Katara fight.

And then the next scene has Zuko getting up, helping Azula and Aang is just…getting up from the hole he did from the rock I guess.

Then Aang fights Azula/Katara fights Zuko, and surprise, surprise.

He has problems with Azula, hell, she almost completly overpowers him.

That's the big surprise here.

Not once has Aang has this much problem with any other firebender until Ozai.

Zuko is not a bad firebender, he defeated Zhao who is a general, a grown ass man and a student of Jeong Jeong.

And so did Aang, he din't even throw a single blow and it was enough to make Zhao screw himself over his own ships.

But he is Aang Firebending teacher you could say.

Counterpoint: Zuko din't found the Sun Warriors or learn the Dancing Dragon stances alone, he learns as much as Aang did.

What Zuko teaches Aang are the core basis of Firebending, that again, Zuko has been likely five years into the beginner set.

Is that a bad thing?

Well, not exactly? Firebending is based around Northern Shaolin Kung Fu style, and it may come as a surprise but irl martial arts don't come with super advanced techniques to defeat anyone, the basics of martial arts are the most important techniques you could learn even as a master.

"Firebending draws from several ancient martial arts. Each art has its own specific moves and creates different results. The Xing Yi incorporates strikes from the classic "Seven Stars": hands, feet, knees, elbows, hips, shoulders and head. The Southern Dragon Claw, like a dragon swooping down on its prey, […] has techniques from seizing and holding that utilize the hand. The Northern Shaolin was developed by the Shaolin monks of ancient China, this "longfist" style emphasizes kicking over hand fighting. Kicks are extented as far as possible without compromising balance."

Avatar: The Last Airbender, "Ancient Martial Arts Inlfuence" (The Lost Scolls: Fire)

The only difference between Aang and Zuko is that Zuko got five (likely more) years with Firebending as the art of the creation of fire since they are both new to a completly new style, the core basics, like breathing, were already explained to him by Jeong Jeong, since the militaristic style of the fire nation and the Sun Warriors style both take from the Shaolin style.