If Ty Lee Had Been Zuko's Canon Love Interest Rather Than Mai, I Don't Think I Would Be As Big of a ZK Shipper
Okay hear me out! This is a long one, but I had a thought and I wanted to see if anyone else agrees. I want to just say that I love Zutara and this is by no means anti-ZK, so just bear with me.
I can't for the life of me remember where I saw this but there was a post going around a while ago about how Mai didn't really fear Azula especially profoundly and therefore the "I love Zuko more than I fear you" line didn't make sense for her character development and it got me thinking... Mai talked back to Azula a lot. She was sarcastic to her and didn't put in the same effort Ty Lee did to obey her.
As the reader, we're supposed to infer that despite her actual actions and every appearance, when she eventually turns on Azula and saves Zuko, she was just as scared of Azula as Ty Lee because that's what the show is telling us at the time. But there's never any canonical evidence of that. The show is telling us one thing and showing us another. In my opinion, it's just plain bad writing, and part of the reason I dislike Mai as a love interest for Zuko. Her character is interesting but she's written extremely inconsistently without clear motivations other than escaping her family and gaining attention. But nothing about her character arc satisfies those goals, nor does she learn to be a better person despite them. (To be clear, I don't hate Mai! I think she was a very interesting character that isn't fully satisfied due to inconsistent writing!)
Now, let's get into what would have been actually satisfying in the infamous "I love Zuko more than I fear you" scene. If the writers really wanted Zuko to have a love interest from the FN, I think that Ty Lee was a much better option than Mai, and as the rather clickbaity title of this would suggest, I don't think I would be as much of a zutara shipper if Ty Lee and Zuko had gotten together, simply because the romantic interests in the series would have satisfied at least one half of zutara, even if kataang (barf) had still occurred. Don't get me wrong, I still love them, I still think there's plenty of canon evidence suggesting they should have gotten together, I still don't like Katara ending up with Aang, but if Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee's character arcs were more satisfied by their romantic interests or lack thereof, I might not have as much cause to hate the fact that ZK didn't end up together.
This is mostly because Ty Lee actually did fear Azula. We see this many times throughout the series, such as when she was coerced into leaving the circus, which is notably different than Mai, who immediately acquiesces to Azula's request to join her and even suggests getting the gang back together herself.
Of course, we the audience are meant to later infer that Mai, too, did this out of fear, but it makes more sense to me that she did it out of a want to be recognized and break free from the control of her parents. She wanted the chance to be her own person, which is admirable and interesting in its own right, but of course, is never explored, and in my opinion is even impeded by her becoming Fire Lady with Zuko, where she can never be free of the constraints of court life. Maybe that's just me trying to add depth to her character, but I think that would have been a more interesting direction to take her storyline, at the very least.
For Ty Lee, learning not to fear Azula, and making the decision not to follow her despite the consequences on her own behalf would be so much more interesting than her choosing between Mai and Azula in the canon scene.
Because yes, she is sacrificing herself for her friend, which is extremely noble and a good part of her arc, but I think giving her more agency in this scene would make it more powerful. She even says to Mai, "Come on, let's get out of here!" after chi blocking Azula, meaning she was under the impression they could still escape rather than learning not to run from her problems, an alternate ending which I think would improve her arc. I also think her becoming Fire Lady would give more satisfaction to her character, as she would not only have to become a leader without the influence of Azula to make her decisions for her, but also be given the individuality she never had in childhood, which she doesn't get at the end of the series due to her becoming a Kyoshi Warrior.
I think Mai actually would have benefitted more from becoming a warrior. It would have allowed her to realize her own strength without her parents or Azula, but also given her a chance to recognize and help fix the damage she caused by aiding the FN, which is something she never fully comes to terms with in the show, unlike Ty Lee, who seems to be trying to get away from her past and not do anyone harm by fleeing to the circus before the series begins.
Anyway, I have a lot more ideas on these characters and on this ship, so I might make a part two explaining how I think it would also benefit Zuko's character more, since I kind of skimmed over that in my explanation, but I wanted this just to focus on my beautiful fire ladies for now.
(Also I am tagging this zutara because I think my fellow ZKs will get me but please let me know if you think that's a breach of fandom etiquette at all. We have enough crazies invading our little corner of the internet, I don't want to be one of them.)
