#redbayly

It's the argument that Zutara would've cheapened Zuko's redemption. That a romance between Zuko and Katara would've meant Zuko only turned "good" for a girl.

But, like, isn't that basically what M@iko is? Mai never worked for redemption. She just loved Zuko and that was enough to justify her being a "good guy" at the end when there was no indication that she ever regretted any of her previous actions. She didn't even save Zuko at the prison out of remorse or compassion. It was solely because she had feelings for him. She was able to jump on the "good guy" bandwagon only because she's Zuko's love interest. She betrayed the Fire Nation just because she liked a boy.

Zuko, on the other hand, went through an entire journey of self-discovery and had his eyes opened to the evils his country was doing. Even if he did fall in love with Katara, that wouldn't have been the only reason for him to turn against the Fire Nation. He's spent months with minimal to no contact with Katara or anyone else from Team Avatar, but he still put in the effort all on his own to reform himself. Zuko isn't the kind of person who heel-turns out of romantic feelings. His near conversion to the good guys was based on his lived experiences; and, if I'm honest, Katara was also very close to breaking through to him when they were in the catacombs due to their shared trauma and the fact that she was willing to speak to him as a person rather than an enemy. The reason for his betrayal at Ba Sing Se was because he was still very susceptible to Azula's manipulation and deeply insecure about whether he'd be accepted on either side. It had nothing to do with romance and everything to do with his internal conflict, his lifelong struggle between what he knew to be right and what he knew was expected of him.

Redbayly's states I drew about a month ago ᕙ[ò۝ó]ᕗ

You can find Redbayly 's works on..

DeviantArt: ↓↓↓↓↓

Her states fic: ((I'm at chapter 48 guys, it's THAT good, I cried once or twice bc of this fic too lol)) ↓↓↓↓↓

Kylo’s Brain: It’s poisoned! Whatever you do, don’t eat it!

*Kylo is already eating the lasagna*

Kylo’s Brain: Okay, you’re already eating it. Just don’t finish it!

*Kylo has already finished the lasagna*

Kylo’s Brain: Okay, you finished it. But don’t ask for–

Kylo: Seconds, please!

Kylo’s Brain: You moron! Just kill her!

Ahaha thanks, and yeah, things are never really on the up for poor Maedhros :( 

To answer your question, yes, absolutely I think that there are orcs who do the mundane civil service jobs in Angband. As you correctly point out, Angband is both a fortress and essentially a capital city, and though it is very focused towards warfare, there’s a whole load of other things that go into running a smoothly operating empire. I’d imagine there are lots of orcs who supervise various agricultural outputs, and lots who do the farming themselves. There would be messengers, civil planners, nurses, explorers, bureaucrats, engineers, clerics, cooks, farriers, smithies, builders, musicians - you name a job in a pseudo-medieval society and there’s probably an orc out there doing it! I would expect that as much manual labour as possible would be left for slaves to perform, but there’s only a limited amount of slaves, so probably a lot of orcs get their hands dirty too. We just haven’t seen too many of these guys in my writing save in passing mention, they’ve never really been the focus of my stories, but maybe they should be! 

And when it comes to higher authorities, while I think there are more Maiar among the higher echelons of Angband’s society, there would be a fair few orcs and uruks too - ones with cunning and intelligence to make the fortress run at its most efficient best! 

I then explained that I ship Zuko and Katara, and then explained some of the show to them and my reasons for shipping Zutara. I also explained a bit about K@taang and asked the girls if they would ever think a 14-year-old girl would fall for a bald, goofy 12-year-old. There was an immediate "No" to that. A couple of them actively cringed at the thought.

Bear in mind, these were girls around Katara's age. I gave the most surface-level explanation of Aang and Zuko as characters, but they all agreed that they would pick Zuko if they were Katara.

I know antis will just say it's teen girls self-inserting into Katara because Zuko is hot and I'm like...

Yeah. What a surprise. Breaking News: Teenage girls know what teenage girls like. Stop the presses, everyone. Teenage girls are more interested in handsome, broody, older boys than dorky 12-year-olds who kiss them without consent.

(Bonus: Yin-Yang Symbolism)

As I was lying in bed last night, my ADHD brain started doing its thing and I began to ponder on how Katara and Zuko seemingly contrast yet are very similar in their personalities, and, even further, that they seem to contrast their own elements in certain ways.

Katara is associated with water and ice, yet she is generally associated with a warm, nurturing personality, as well as having a fiery temper. She doesn't generally demonstrate 'coldness' or otherwise distant or indifferent qualities. While she is narratively an embodiment of Yin, in that she represents the traditional gendered aspect of Taoist dualism as the female figure associated with water and the moon, she has more of a Yang personality in that she is active and aggressive.

Then there's Zuko. For all his temper and outward aggression, he can act cold and passive. He goes into stretches of brooding silence and often cuts himself off from others. It's also clear that anger is not his natural state, but a behavior learned from years of Fire Nation indoctrination and the cruelty his faced from his father and sister; his true personality is much gentler, more compassionate, considerate, and kind, but he's forced himself to suppress those parts of himself out of fear of being seen as "weak." Obviously, Zuko does have Yang associations, as he is male and connected with fire and the sun, but he also demonstrates Yin qualities, in that he is initially a "dark" (but not evil) character with internal light.

Katara, in contrast, is a light-coded character with dark qualities.

They both possess similar characteristics and traits, but they demonstrate them in different ways. Zuko is forced to hide his gentle side behind an angry and distant exterior while Katara is forced to suppress her rage and act like the nurturing caregiver all the time. When their inner selves manifest, they have been met with disapproval. Zuko has been mocked for "weakness" by his father and sister, and Katara has been criticized by Sokka for letting her emotions interfere with "common sense" (and also by Aang, for acting on her desire for revenge instead of being gentle and forgiving).

Another point I'd light to make is on their relationships with change.

Katara's culture is associated with change, due to its identity with water. Yet, despite her ability to adapt to new environments and situations when needed, Katara also demonstrates immense stubbornness and unwavering commitment to her goals and ideals, as we see in her refusal to cave to pressure when she insists on saving Earth Kingdom prisoners and Fire Nation civilians or when she did not back down in the face of Master Pakku's sexism. Katara accepts change when needed, but is unmovable when it comes to matters of right or wrong.

Zuko is more directly stubborn about his goals. At first, it is not about what is morally right but what will achieve his aim of returning home (capturing the Avatar). He routinely puts himself and his crew at risk and refuses to listen to sensible advice from his uncle. However, Zuko also begins to show his openness to change once he realizes the cost of his actions. Once we get into the second season, Zuko is still resolute in his mission but continues to show he can adapt when he puts in the effort. He does end up regressing in the season finale, but season three shows that he has internalized his uncle's lessons and is willing to embrace change more fully.