We All Know The Jokes About Zuko Passing Out From Doing A Good Thing And Of Course It's Been Pointed

We all know the jokes about Zuko passing out from doing a good thing and of course it's been pointed out that it's literally a trauma response that happens both in the show when he's faced with doing something that goes against what his father told him was right, and in the comics when he is afraid he's becoming Ozai.

But what both of those scenes have in common is that it happens not just after Zuko is forced to make a conflicting decision that reminds him of the situation his father put him in when he was thirteen. It's also true that in both cases, he experiences a crash after he's safe and no longer in danger. That pretty closely mirrors the rush of adrenaline after a traumatic trigger, plus the sudden exhaustion once the danger has passed. After freeing Appa triggers that ptsd response in him in the show, Zuko passes out the moment he is safe in Iroh's house, because he knows that Iroh is a safe person that he can allow himself to be vulnerable with. Zuko does the same thing in The Promise when he passes out after Aang saves him from falling into the chasm and Zuko realizes he was right to try and protect the people of Yu Dao.

I think it's also worth noting that in both cases, experiencing conflict with someone who he saw as someone who both cared for him and as a moral authority is what caused the stress, but then being cared for by that person reassured him that it was safe to let that person take care of him.

It's not just being told that he did the right thing, but that he deserves care and that his life has value that makes Zuko feel like he's safe, after spending the series feeling like he had to prove his worth to Ozai and spending The Promise thinking that he didn't deserve to live.

Both cases make me wonder what it was like for thirteen year old Zuko waking up after the agni kai and finding out that not only is his father willing to hurt him, but also wants him sent away.