#oedipus complex

Would’ve killed him too if not for fact he knew the world needed the Avatar to fight the battle.

As an expert in Official Freudian Bullshit and someone who prioritizes fairness/accuracy over dunking on zutarians, I say we just cannot take this specific shitty anti-aang/anti-kataang argument and go "NO U" at zutara fans because it'd make as much sense as "Kataang is Oedipus Complex" aka no sense at all.

There is a BIG difference between an OBJECTIVE "My mom is great to me, my dad thinks I'm a living punching bag and is abusive to mom too, so I don't want him anywhere near us" and Oedipus Complex.

Oedipus bullshit requires actual enmeshment/emotional incest (aka a dysnfunctional dynamic that is not necessarily sexual, but can turn into that) between the son and mother, which then either fully creates or merely worsens tensions with the father, who can be anything from just an innocent person caught in a mess to a vile monster that actively contribuites to the mess by being abusive, and thus making the son more codependent with the mother by validating the "Us VS The World" mentality she's teaching him (out of deliberate malice or just poor parenting, doesn't matter).

What Zuko had towards Ursa was a very understandable "you're the parent that is not abusive to me, so I feel safer around you and don't get scared to show/ask for affection that my father denies me and mocks me for wanting" type of closeness. The more "saintly" image he has of her comes from the fact that HE THINKS SHE'S DEAD. He has fond memories of her, but she comes up in 4 episodes out of 61, and only influences his decision making in three scenes. She's not haunting his every thought and choice.

There's a reason why, when confronting Ozai, Zuko lists all the way he sucked as a parent and ruler - but not as a husband, because URSA HAD NOTHING TO DO WHY ZUKO GREW TO DISLIKE HIS DAD!

And lets not act like Zuko hated Ozai from day one. He loved the fucker so much he came back to be his right hand despite believing not only that Ursa was likely murdered, but that Ozai had something to do with it, or at least with the cover up of it. He genuinely believed "my father had every right to disfigure and banish me" for the longest time. He was constantly mad at Azula for being better than him, but not once got mad at Ozai for making this kids compete against each other. He became verbally abusive to Iroh for daring to say "Your father wouldn't change his mind and say he was sorry, he doesn't care about you."

Ozai was, objectively, the villain of Zuko's story, but Zuko was in denial about it. His complex towards Ozai puts the bastard up in a PEDESTAL, not in the role of antagonist he needs to defeat. Zuko loved his mom, but the parent he WORSHIPED, struggled to form a separate identity from, and had a completely unhealthy attachment to was his father - which is why Zuko temporary turns into a clone of Iroh in the Ba Sing Se arc when he thinks there's genuinely no way back to Ozai. He projected all those complexes onto the availiable PATERNAL, not just parental, figure.

Boy is WAAAAAAY more of an Electra (dad is the center of my world) than Oedipus (mom is the center of my world), let's be fucking real - and again, it's not one-to-one because he doesn't hate his mother at all and his father manipulates him through LACK of closeness. Keeping his kids at arm's length, and using the hurt this distance causes to his advantage, is Ozai's whole deal.

Also Zuko is Fire Lord, he has full legal authority to execute Ozai whenever he wants, Aang's opinion, or anyone's opinion really, be damned now that it is purely "Fire Nation business" not "Avatar business". He didn't do it because he came to genuinely accept/believe Aang was right to spare his father - if he didn't, he'd have just demanded to know where Ursa was when speaking to Ozai and said nothing else.

There is no universe in which Zuko EVER tells ANYONE , especially his abuser that he was now aware was indeed abusive, "I believe you can still change and become a better person" if he didn't mean it. That's just not how Zuko works.

Zuko doesn't want Ozai in his life anymore. He also has zero intention of killing him, or doing anything to hurt/control him, that is not 100% necessary. He's a victim drawing a boundary with his abuser to protect himself (and others), not a son with an irrational, potentially undeserved hatred towards his father, rooted in "You were the villain between me and mom/the villain I had to save mom from."

When Makima controls everyone by her presence, especially Denji, she represents not only a sexual desire to him but too a motherly figure that Denji doesn't have in his entire childhood. A mother who is an onipotent authority that demands atribbutes of her child all the time in exchange for affectionate care. For example, at the beginning, she gives everything good that he wanted to enjoy, like eating miso, fixing his tie, teaching him to write/sign in the paper etc, all of this is done to draw him into her maternal and sensual image, transforming him into an emotional and physical slave through her manipulative actions.

It's no coincidence that Denji always looks for a psychological pattern in likeable dominant female models, confusing desire with emotional need, that is, a lack of affection (hence the sexualization). Furthermore, Makima also rivals other women whose actions are distinct from her: Reze represents the reciprocal love; Power, the egalitarian affection; and Quanxi (more or less), the emotional maturity. This pyramid threatens the main control models instigated by her, eliminating them to deprive the "son" of functional stability.

It's worth noting that Denji detests male authority due to past paternal trauma, but respects the people behind it for different reasons. Aki arrived, in his eyes, as the rival "limiting father" who also seeks his boss's attention; however, this breaks down because he begins to see him as an older brother who wanted to protect him, completely moving away from the authoritarian paternal figure. This also applies to Kishibe, although in a different way, as he acts as a mature mentor who teaches him how to survive psychologically in this chaotic world. Does Denji still fear him? Yes, but he partially understands his honesty without the other seeking domination.

Unfortunately, even after Makima's death, he remains in a state of emotional regression stemming from the Oedipus complex and trauma, using hypersexuality as an escape valve for the emotional deprivation that has shaped him, submitting to the mold of the monopolizing mother who appears in several female characters in Part 2. Therefore, Asa and Yoru represent maternal duality: the former representing the real affection that Denji never had for Makima; while the latter follows the dominant principles of the omnipotent, controlling mother.

“While it is unclear to what extent [Bram] Stoker was aware that his vampire represents the evil or repressed fantasies of his characters, it is the case that the associations of violence with madness and vampirism with sexuality are typical in the Gothic. True to the nature of the Gothic, Dracula is the external representation of Renfield's insanity, Lucy and Mina's sexuality, and Harker's episodes both of delirium and passivity […] vampirism is associated not only with death, immortality, and orality, but also with sexuality.

Further, in psychoanalytic terms, the vampirism is a manifestation of greatly desired and equally strongly feared fantasies. These fantasies have encouraged critics to point to the Oedipus complex at the center of the novel. Dracula, for example, is seen as the “father-figure of huge potency”.

— Phyllis A. Roth; “Suddenly Sexual Women in Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (in “Dracula: Criticism” edited by Nina Auerbach and David J. Skal, 1997)

Sigmund Freud: After having done all my research on the human psyche, I have concluded that the mind contains 3 primary agents: The Id, the ego, and the superego

Balan: What a fascinating discovery! I’m sure it will aid in many humans’ recovery.

Freud: Also every man wants to kill his father and have sex with his mother.

♈ Bharani Sun (atmakaraka), Ashwini Venus (lagnesha) and Rahu in the 7H

♉ Rohini moon and Krittika Mercury in the 8H

♎ Swati ASC and Chitra Ketu in the 1H

♍ Hasta Mars (Rx) in the 12H in opposition with Uttara Bhadrapada ♓ Jupiter in the 6H