Zuko - Blog Posts
Avatar: The Last Airbender | 1.02 - “The Avatar Returns”
I cried so much at the end of atla partially because of the realization that now, Iroh not only has Zuko as a son, but he has a whole gaggle of dumbass children to love and give wisdom to over cups of hot tea.
@carpecaelo how dare you hide this in the tag
Sorry, but having Zuko actually fight back against Ozai during their Agni Kai is just wrong. He was a child, only 13 at the time, afraid to fight his own father and was mutilated as punishment, because Ozai saw Zuko's begging and unwillingness to fight as unforgiveable weakness.
The Angi Kai isn't meant to be a showcase of Zuko's fighting potential (that's what the Zhao fight is for), but to show the utter cruelty of Ozai.
A list of (sometimes angry) (often male) INFP characters with daddy issues because there are a LOT
Kylo Ren/Ben Solo - Star Wars
Zuko - Avatar the last Airbender
Gaara - Naruto
Shinji Ikari - Neon Genesis Evangelion
Adrien Agreste - Miraculous Ladybug
Luke Skywalker - Star Wars
Will Byers? - Stranger Things
Alluka Zoldyk - Hunter X Hunter
Muichiro Tokito - Demon Slayer
Junpei Yoshino - Jujutsu Kaisen
Mitsuha Miyamizu - Kimi no Na wa
Nico Diangelo - (Percy Jackson)
Dobby - Harry Potter (😂)
Todd Anderson - Dead Poets Society
Rui - Demon Slayer
Edward Scissorhands - Edward Scissorhands
Eri - My Hero Academia
Quasimodo - Hunchback of Notre Dame
Faramir - Lord of the Rings
Wylan Van Eck - Six of Crows
Carlos De Vil - Descendants (mommy issues)
Ratcatcher 2 - DC Universe/Suicide Squad
Patroclus - The Song of Achilles
Frankenstein's Monster - Frankenstein
Feel free to add more, I skipped over the ones I wasn't sure about
Edit: why did I realize like several hours later that not all of these are male characters? I apologize
Ozai is so pathetic, like that “take his bending away haha he’s harmless now” trick would never have worked on Zuko, if you took his bending away he’d just grab his swords and come at you twice as hard, Azula doesn’t have swords or anything but she’s pretty good at hand to hand and amazing at talking her way out of problems, Iroh bust himself out of prison with no bending at all, meanwhile Ozai? Gets his bending taken away and then just collapses, doesn’t even try anymore, then just sits in prison and tries to get into Zuko’s head some more, he could have trained up and tried to break out too! But no! Bet he can’t break steel bars with his bare hands. Bet he can’t kick a steel lever in two. Bet he can’t even do a flip.
Also we never really see him do any really impressive firebending apart from when he has magic comet power, I guesss he shoots some lightning at Zuko, but that’s it and Azula is still better at the lightning thing. Azula has blue flames. Zuko can do firebreakdancing and bend with his swords. Does Ozai, who is not 14 years old, have blue flames? No he doesn’t.
He didn’t even do his coup himself, Ursa had to kill Azulon for him! Could have just challenged Iroh to an Agni Kai for the throne but he didn’t bc he knew he’d lose.
And then he only ruled for like 6 years! He lost a war that had been going on for 100 years bc of a bunch of kids.
Loserlord indeed
I kinda hate that all the anti maiko post are directed towards mai and never acknowledge zukos flaws in the relationship or if they do they try to excuse them when villianizing mai to the max.
More ppl should talk about how weirdly possessive zuko is of mai not just in the comics(which are overall ooc for both mai and zuko) where zuko continously flirts with her and tries to push his feelings on her while she has a new boyfriend. In the show as well like during the beach episode where he pushes a guy across the room for talking to her and tries to accuse mai of liking a guy because he looked at her, she didn't even look at him.
Everyone talks about how mai pushed zukos gift of the seashell aside but never talks about how earlier mai mentions how she doesn't like seashells in front of zuko when the where in li and lo's palace. Showing how zuko didn't listen to her.
And there's more examples but idrc to go all into it.
Anyways I'm not saying that mai doesn't have her own faults but their relationship isn't one sided toxic as many try to make it seem.
i need a taigen and zuko crossover ep mote than i need oxygen
Zuko (an empath): there's something off about her. I can't explain it, but she's slipping
Literally Azula:
prince zuko "falls dramatically ill after doing one (1) good deed" of the fire nation
Imagine if Zuko's role and life and bloodline was taken even more extreme by the developers and writers and decided to make Zuko a descendent of Avatar Wan by making Sozin a descendent.
Zuko's Hell
In the darkest of nights,
The quietest of moments,
Amidst the harshest of cold winds,
Laying in the loud of the silence
The moonlight glints
The abyss grins
The shadows grow
The eyes stare
He stands petrified
Breath shallow and ragged
Eyes wide in terror
Mouth open in horror
In the past, he visits
In the present, he is
In the dark, he lies
In the pain, he lives
He hears laughing
He smells burning
He sees smiling
He feels he is hurting
A ghostly touch
Yet so painful
He cries
He begs
No one listens
Everyone laughs
They point and stare
Now they whisper and glare
The past of his
A lesson they teach
Experience he has
Pain he befriends
He remembers, words from him
He recalls, cries of his
They talk, the begging he did
They mutter, the sinful deed
Burning hot white pain
Tears streaming down his other eye
He sees, atop of him, his father
Grinning with a wild look in his eyes
Of many things, he wonders
Of his sisters crazed giggles
Of his uncle's cowardly response
Of his mother's absence
Of his father's abuse
Of his ignorance
Ignorance that caused the death of many
The losses of his
He cries
He sins
He watches
He tries
He helps
He rages
He whimpers
He wakes up
He's in another hell
And he thinks,
Only the demon of their hell
Finds it to their liking
He smiles
He's tired
He ages
He's alone
Once more
One last time
One more moment
He dreams
"He cupped my face so gently, so caring. His touch one of a loving father.
He other hand came to atop my head, like he was patting me for a assurance.
Then it came.
The searing hot pain.
It burned and burned, a white hot burn. It was so intense, like the sun came down to Earth and visited me, touched me with it's flaming hand and painful touch.
Then...
Nothing.
Everything was black, and for a millisecond, I was scared, frightened. Begging for my mother's comfort.
Next thing I know, I woke up, numb with anesthesia.
I was confused, moment of pain that occured before momentarily forgotten. My hand came up to my head and brushed against cloth. The bandage, hiding and obscuring the burn that was surely there from view. Memories flashed before my eyes and tears welled up in my eyes.
Hours later, I was told the news regarding my banishment and the fool's errand that my father sent me on.
That was three years ago, I'm sixteen now.
I still don't know who was in the wrong."
my (quillthills) updated ao3 ATLA masterlist
kataang:
"the teenager in the iceberg"- multichap
i feel like a lot of people have wondered how different atla as a whole would be if aang had been older, so in this au, aang was frozen at age 16! naturally, i just had to flip aang being after katara from day one to katara now having a crush on aang from the very beginning. essentially, to recap. ATLA aang aged up AU fic. kataang. where she falls first, and he falls harder. also, cmon. i just had to write a new version of the scene where zuko and aang meet.
all at once, everything is different, now that i see you:
stuck in her tower for all eighteen years of her life, katara had come to peace with her own lonely, repetitive existence, her only company being her mother, hama. at least, she *was* at peace, until a certain airbending thief happened along her tower, caught her eye, and forever shifted the path of her destiny. OR: kataangled. and yes, i came up with that brilliant wordplay all on my own. for day two of kataang week 2024: protectiveness/ bodyguard
and i promise, that one day i'll feel fine:
after an upsetting council meeting in which aang is painfully reminded of how little the other nations understand of air nomad culture, katara is there to remind him that he isn't as alone as he thinks OR: aang & katara friends to lovers post-war 👀 for day two of kataang week 2024: cultural exchange/culture sharing/revival of traditions
if happiness were a tangible thing, it would be you:
Katara is tired of the iron grip that Emperor Ozai has over the kingdom of Rosas, tired of watching him spread his influence across the mainland. When Sokka comes home from the palace with the knowledge of an impending tragedy, Katara is left to wish on the stars in hope that they will offer salvation. They do, in the form of the Avatar, a boy transformed into a wishing star almost a century earlier. Her wish for hope is fulfilled, in the form of a boy known to be the embodiment of hope. Will that same hope be enough to stand against a man powered by the dreams and wishes of an entire kingdom?
you with the dark curls, you with the watercolour eyes:
Avatar Aang had been told time and time again that to venture across the surface of the sea when the moon had risen and claimed what rightfully belonged to it was to sign your own death certificate. And yet, he found himself here, at the water’s edge, skipping stones, lost in thought. To be the Avatar had once meant something, years before. Before the four tribes had separated, scattered to the ends of the earth. Those who formed fire itself chased the other tribes from the surface lands, those who could move rock and metal burrowed underground, those who flowed with the air sent ships with great sails across the sea until they reached towering mountain spires. Those who bent water, who bent blood… they retreated to the depths of the sea, and with time, they became a part of it. Legend told of the way in which the Water tribes had adapted, two legs smoothed into razor sharp scales and voices twisted into something dark and luring. Now, they were the monsters known as sirens.
you're in the wind, i'm in the water:
aang has only just been crowned as the avatar, the king of all four elements, and already, he struggles to find his footing in a society without any of his people. a dance with princess katara of the water tribe, and a subsequent escape to the palace gardens, helps him find that footing. OR: the first of many kataang regency-era works ♔
so i will go to secret gardens in my mind:
after he and katara's escape to the palace gardens the night prior, avatar aang, the king of all four elements, cannot stop thinking of the beautiful dark-haired water princess. misunderstandings and deliberate deception constructed by regent ozai makes the reconciliation of these star-crossed lovers more complicated than necessary. OR: the second of many kataang regency-era works ♔
well, my (not-yet) boyfriend's in a band:
in which the gaang are in a band, and when it comes time for them to write an original song to submit to the republic city music festival, aang is...suspiciously good at writing love song lyrics OR kataang, if they were in an indie band and aang didn't know how to communicate his feelings except through writing love songs
i'm no longer a kid, and everything has changed:
after aang falls to azula's lightning strike in the caves of the earth kingdom, toph, sokka, and katara are left to pick up the pieces. katara's healing abilities are put to the test in the weeks that follow, but she finds herself seeing aang in a different light as she realizes how much he's endured since emerging from the iceberg only months before. OR: the weeks-long gap between the end of season two and the beginning of season three of ATLA is finally at least partially expanded upon. ALSO OR: a bit of aangst, or kataangst, if you will
can you see me using everything to hold back?
Katara's life after saving the world was filled with a whirlwind romance with Fire Lord Zuko that became a loveless, controlling marriage she is no longer happy in. After finding out the extent to which her husband has betrayed her trust, she escapes to find home in the person she has missed most during her time in the Fire Nation. OR: The common Zutara trope of "Zuko helps Katara escape an unhealthy relationship with Aang" is flipped entirely and completely on its head.
my heart is yours, it's you that i hold on to:
The war has been ended, Ozai has been rendered helpless, and Zuko has reclaimed the Fire Nation with the promise of peace. Everything that Aang has been working towards since the moment Katara freed him from the iceberg has been done. He's saved the world. Now, all that's left is to confess to his forever girl. OR Aang wakes up the morning after him and his friends saved the entire world, and the first (and only) thing he can think about is Katara. When they get a chance to talk, the two take a walk down memory lane.
the avatar's adventures in parenting:
aang being a bad parent is CHARACTER ASSASSINATION and i won't stand for it. i just know that him and katara wouldn't be focused on just passing on bending, but the *teachings* and ideals of both of their tribes to all their children, regardless of bending status. OR, aang and katara become parents and aang finds out that parenting is his proudest achievement, more so than stopping a hundred year war or holding the position of avatar
i'm trying to tell you something, something that i already said:
katara speaks to each member of the gaang individually and finds out that aang has been head over heels with her for years and no one ever bothered telling her. this takes place after the fire lord is defeated, but in my version, they never kissed in the finale:oo katara is basically dumb in terms of love and so is aang and they are peak miscommunication trope and theres too much zutara content and not enough kataang OR katara interrogates each of her friends (toph, sokka, and zuko) and comes to the conclusion that she has lived for years without the kind of love most people wish for their entire lives
yukka:
there's a star-man, waiting in the sky:
a flash-fiction atla modern AU in which yue passes away from cancer early in life, and sokka becomes an astronaut so that he can go to space and be close to the moon she always loved so much ☾
shining down on me:
sokka can't stop thinking about yue. she comes to him in his dreams, and try as he might, he just can't move on. inspired by the song "my love, mine all mine" by mitski "moon, tell me if i could send up my heart to you? so, when i die, which i must do, could it shine down here, with you?"
if any of these speak to you, they can all be found on my ao3 account:)<3 happy reading!!!
atla tumblr, i need help! (poll 2/2)
i'm working on a summer olympics atla au oneshot, and while i have picked some of the gaang's sports, i'm struggling a little extra with choosing sports for katara and zuko.
for reference, aang & toph are both rock climbers (for reasons that will be clear upon reading), sokka is a fencer (and yes, sokka calls his fencing sword a "space sword"), mai competes in the shooting event (because c'mon, mai with a gun just makes sense), suki does judo, and azula does volleyball (very competitively, think back to the beach episode).
!link to katara's poll here
born to say "haiiii >~<" forced to say "hey 🗿 zuko here 👋🏻"
i keep thinking about in book 2 when zuko was like horrifyingly happy after he got ovdr his fever and imagining if people saw him like that
if any of you require additional info before making your decisions, please feel free to inquire for details in the comments 😌
and if you need my kataang credentials, you can find my fanfic masterlist here and my ao3 here
thank u lovelies!!<3
my (quillthills) ao3 ATLA fanfiction masterlist:
"so i will go to secret gardens in my mind":
after he and katara's escape to the palace gardens the night prior, avatar aang, the king of all four elements, cannot stop thinking of the beautiful dark-haired water princess. misunderstandings and deliberate deception constructed by regent ozai makes the reconciliation of these star-crossed lovers more complicated than necessary. OR: the second of many kataang regency-era works ♔
"you’re in the wind, i’m in the water":
aang has only just been crowned as the avatar, the king of all four elements, and already, he struggles to find his footing in a society without any of his people. a dance with princess katara of the water tribe, and a subsequent escape to the palace gardens, helps him find that footing. OR: the first of many kataang regency-era works ♔
"there's a star-man, waiting in the sky":
a flash-fiction atla modern AU in which yue passes away from cancer early in life, and sokka becomes an astronaut so that he can go to space and be close to the moon she always loved so much ☾
"the teenager in the iceberg"- multichap
i feel like a lot of people have wondered how different atla as a whole would be if aang had been older, so in this au, aang was frozen at age 16! naturally, i just had to flip aang being after katara from day one to katara now having a crush on aang from the very beginning. essentially, to recap. ATLA aang aged up AU fic. kataang. where she falls first, and he falls harder. also, cmon. i just had to write a new version of the scene where zuko and aang meet.
"you with the dark curls, you with the watercolor eyes"- multichap
Avatar Aang had been told time and time again that to venture across the surface of the sea when the moon had risen and claimed what rightfully belonged to it was to sign your own death certificate. And yet, he found himself here, at the water’s edge, skipping stones, lost in thought. To be the Avatar had once meant something, years before. Before the four tribes had separated, scattered to the ends of the earth. Those who formed fire itself chased the other tribes from the surface lands, those who could move rock and metal burrowed underground, those who flowed with the air sent ships with great sails across the sea until they reached towering mountain spires. Those who bent water, who bent blood… they retreated to the depths of the sea, and with time, they became a part of it. Legend told of the way in which the Water tribes had adapted, two legs smoothed into razor sharp scales and voices twisted into something dark and luring. Now, they were the monsters known as sirens. OR: a KATAANG AU where tui and la have split the earth into the sea and the sky. aang is a winged avian, while katara is a siren<3
"well, my (not-yet) boyfriend's in a band":
in which the gaang are in a band, and when it comes time for them to write an original song to submit to the republic city music festival, aang is...suspiciously good at writing love song lyrics OR kataang, if they were in an indie band and aang didn't know how to communicate his feelings except through writing love songs
"i’m no longer a kid, and everything has changed":
after aang falls to azula's lightning strike in the caves of the earth kingdom, toph, sokka, and katara are left to pick up the pieces. katara's healing abilities are put to the test in the weeks that follow, but she finds herself seeing aang in a different light as she realizes how much he's endured since emerging from the iceberg only months before. OR: the weeks-long gap between the end of season two and the beginning of season three of ATLA is finally at least partially expanded upon. ALSO OR: a bit of aangst, or kataangst, if you will
"can you see me using everything to hold back?":
Katara's life after saving the world was filled with a whirlwind romance with Fire Lord Zuko that became a loveless, controlling marriage she is no longer happy in. After finding out the extent to which her husband has betrayed her trust, she escapes to find home in the person she has missed most during her time in the Fire Nation. OR: The common Zutara trope of "Zuko helps Katara escape an unhealthy relationship with Aang" is flipped entirely and completely on its head.
"my heart is yours, it’s you that i hold on to":
The war has been ended, Ozai has been rendered helpless, and Zuko has reclaimed the Fire Nation with the promise of peace. Everything that Aang has been working towards since the moment Katara freed him from the iceberg has been done. He's saved the world. Now, all that's left is to confess to his forever girl. OR Aang wakes up the morning after him and his friends saved the entire world, and the first (and only) thing he can think about is Katara. When they get a chance to talk, the two take a walk down memory lane.
"shining down on me":
sokka can't stop thinking about yue. she comes to him in his dreams, and try as he might, he just can't move on. inspired by the song "my love, mine all mine" by mitski
"the avatar's adventures in parenting":
aang being a bad parent is CHARACTER ASSASSINATION and i won't stand for it. i just know that him and katara wouldn't be focused on just passing on bending, but the *teachings* and ideals of both of their tribes to all their children, regardless of bending status. OR, aang and katara become parents and aang finds out that parenting is his proudest achievement, more so than stopping a hundred year war or holding the position of avatar
"i'm trying to tell you something, something that i already said":
katara speaks to each member of the gaang individually and finds out that aang has been head over heels with her for years and no one ever bothered telling her. this takes place after the fire lord is defeated, but in my version, they never kissed in the finale:oo katara is basically dumb in terms of love and so is aang and they are peak miscommunication trope and theres too much zutara content and not enough kataang OR katara interrogates each of her friends (toph, sokka, and zuko) and comes to the conclusion that she has lived for years without the kind of love most people wish for their entire lives
if any of these speak to you, they can all be found on my ao3 account:)<3 happy reading!!!
the teenager in the iceberg- ch7 sneak-peek!!!
“Psht,” Aang rolled his eyes, sending a breeze to blow back Sokka’s sandy hair. “Katara’s a friend, Sokka. Dependable, just like Appa, or Momo.”
“Thanks.” Katara said flatly, pretending to suddenly be interested in observing the sand at her feet. Dependable. He sure did know what a girl wanted to hear.
“Hah, maybe you should go into the jewellery business, instead of doing your whole world-saving thing!” Sokka exclaimed from the water’s edge, seemingly unaware of the tension that had been crackling between the two benders only moments before.
“I don’t see why I can’t do both!” Aang ambled over to him, leaving Katara thoroughly confused and more than a little hurt. “I would say that you should start a business too, but it looks like you don’t have too much of a chance of breaking into the fishing industry.”
“Mmm, care to help? I don’t see you doing much more than watching from the sidelines.” Sokka shot him with the daggers in his eyes.
“A vegetarian fisher?” Aang raised an eyebrow, but walked into the water alongside Sokka regardless.
“Maybe you can do the bookkeeping for the business. I think you have the potential to have a real head for numbers.” The fish shot up beside Sokka, splashing teasingly, and Sokka lunged, only to come up with empty hands yet again.
Aang doubled over, weak with laughter, which was made worse when the fish came up yet again, just to splash Sokka with a small wave of water. “I think to have a bookkeeper, you need to be able to catch fish to sell,” he managed through his chuckling.
“Yeah, alright, Air-Boy.” Sokka fixed him with another glare, and before Aang could dart out of the water, Sokka tackled him, managing to submerge him for only a couple seconds before Aang erupted from the water in a burst of wind, using the waterbending he’d already learned to combat Sokka’s overeager splashing.
Katara giggled, settling back onto one of the larger rocks, but her smile faded as she watched the way Aang’s eyes shone in merriment, the way he grinned playfully. Katara’s a friend.
She couldn’t stop replaying the words over and over again, even as Sokka finally caught and roasted his fish, even as she and Aang foraged for the nuts and berries that would make up his dinner, even as she extinguished that night’s cooking fire.
Katara’s a friend.
She wasn’t sure if that was fully true. Not after the way she felt when she looked up at him, not after the way he’d jumped to protect her from Jet, not after the way her heart leapt into her throat at every accidental touch.
Was this only friendship, to him?
She cast a sidelong glance to Aang, curled up with Momo under woven orange-and-yellow sleeping sheets. Moonlight danced across the planes of his cheekbones, his skin sparkling as if cast from mica.
It was as if the moon spirits themselves were marking him as hers.
Wordlessly, she leaned over him, quietly adjusting the branches to his right until the moon caught on the leaves above him, until his face was no longer illuminated.
He wasn’t hers. She wasn’t sure why she had to keep reminding herself of that.
♥ check out the six chapters of this (ongoing) fic & my ao3 here! ->
^ zuko & azula's dynamic summed up perfectly and you can't change my mind
POV: zuko doing a total 180 at the end of season two of ATLA after a whole season of slowly improving as a person and finally listening to his uncle
reblogging because i just spent ages reformatting & updating this 🤧
my (quillthills) ao3 ATLA fanfiction masterlist:
"so i will go to secret gardens in my mind":
after he and katara's escape to the palace gardens the night prior, avatar aang, the king of all four elements, cannot stop thinking of the beautiful dark-haired water princess. misunderstandings and deliberate deception constructed by regent ozai makes the reconciliation of these star-crossed lovers more complicated than necessary. OR: the second of many kataang regency-era works ♔
"you’re in the wind, i’m in the water":
aang has only just been crowned as the avatar, the king of all four elements, and already, he struggles to find his footing in a society without any of his people. a dance with princess katara of the water tribe, and a subsequent escape to the palace gardens, helps him find that footing. OR: the first of many kataang regency-era works ♔
"there's a star-man, waiting in the sky":
a flash-fiction atla modern AU in which yue passes away from cancer early in life, and sokka becomes an astronaut so that he can go to space and be close to the moon she always loved so much ☾
"the teenager in the iceberg"- multichap
i feel like a lot of people have wondered how different atla as a whole would be if aang had been older, so in this au, aang was frozen at age 16! naturally, i just had to flip aang being after katara from day one to katara now having a crush on aang from the very beginning. essentially, to recap. ATLA aang aged up AU fic. kataang. where she falls first, and he falls harder. also, cmon. i just had to write a new version of the scene where zuko and aang meet.
"you with the dark curls, you with the watercolor eyes"- multichap
Avatar Aang had been told time and time again that to venture across the surface of the sea when the moon had risen and claimed what rightfully belonged to it was to sign your own death certificate. And yet, he found himself here, at the water’s edge, skipping stones, lost in thought. To be the Avatar had once meant something, years before. Before the four tribes had separated, scattered to the ends of the earth. Those who formed fire itself chased the other tribes from the surface lands, those who could move rock and metal burrowed underground, those who flowed with the air sent ships with great sails across the sea until they reached towering mountain spires. Those who bent water, who bent blood… they retreated to the depths of the sea, and with time, they became a part of it. Legend told of the way in which the Water tribes had adapted, two legs smoothed into razor sharp scales and voices twisted into something dark and luring. Now, they were the monsters known as sirens. OR: a KATAANG AU where tui and la have split the earth into the sea and the sky. aang is a winged avian, while katara is a siren<3
"well, my (not-yet) boyfriend's in a band":
in which the gaang are in a band, and when it comes time for them to write an original song to submit to the republic city music festival, aang is...suspiciously good at writing love song lyrics OR kataang, if they were in an indie band and aang didn't know how to communicate his feelings except through writing love songs
"i’m no longer a kid, and everything has changed":
after aang falls to azula's lightning strike in the caves of the earth kingdom, toph, sokka, and katara are left to pick up the pieces. katara's healing abilities are put to the test in the weeks that follow, but she finds herself seeing aang in a different light as she realizes how much he's endured since emerging from the iceberg only months before. OR: the weeks-long gap between the end of season two and the beginning of season three of ATLA is finally at least partially expanded upon. ALSO OR: a bit of aangst, or kataangst, if you will
"can you see me using everything to hold back?":
Katara's life after saving the world was filled with a whirlwind romance with Fire Lord Zuko that became a loveless, controlling marriage she is no longer happy in. After finding out the extent to which her husband has betrayed her trust, she escapes to find home in the person she has missed most during her time in the Fire Nation. OR: The common Zutara trope of "Zuko helps Katara escape an unhealthy relationship with Aang" is flipped entirely and completely on its head.
"my heart is yours, it’s you that i hold on to":
The war has been ended, Ozai has been rendered helpless, and Zuko has reclaimed the Fire Nation with the promise of peace. Everything that Aang has been working towards since the moment Katara freed him from the iceberg has been done. He's saved the world. Now, all that's left is to confess to his forever girl. OR Aang wakes up the morning after him and his friends saved the entire world, and the first (and only) thing he can think about is Katara. When they get a chance to talk, the two take a walk down memory lane.
"shining down on me":
sokka can't stop thinking about yue. she comes to him in his dreams, and try as he might, he just can't move on. inspired by the song "my love, mine all mine" by mitski
"the avatar's adventures in parenting":
aang being a bad parent is CHARACTER ASSASSINATION and i won't stand for it. i just know that him and katara wouldn't be focused on just passing on bending, but the *teachings* and ideals of both of their tribes to all their children, regardless of bending status. OR, aang and katara become parents and aang finds out that parenting is his proudest achievement, more so than stopping a hundred year war or holding the position of avatar
"i'm trying to tell you something, something that i already said":
katara speaks to each member of the gaang individually and finds out that aang has been head over heels with her for years and no one ever bothered telling her. this takes place after the fire lord is defeated, but in my version, they never kissed in the finale:oo katara is basically dumb in terms of love and so is aang and they are peak miscommunication trope and theres too much zutara content and not enough kataang OR katara interrogates each of her friends (toph, sokka, and zuko) and comes to the conclusion that she has lived for years without the kind of love most people wish for their entire lives
if any of these speak to you, they can all be found on my ao3 account:)<3 happy reading!!!
i'm writing in jealous aang AND a sparring scene in the upcoming ch of "the teenager in the iceberg"- y'all kataang stans are eating GOOOOODDD 🤭
in order to placate you lovelies, enjoy a couple short & sweet excerpts!!!
also, i love the way that tiny aang in the header looks like he's desperately trying to seperate jet and katara 😭🤍
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Sokka rose, crossing his arms as his expression shifted to anger. “The traps are Fire Nation. You can tell from the metalwork- no other tribes can achieve seams this flawless without the aid of a Firebender that can bend blue flame.”
Aang’s nose wrinkled as he gently landed next to Katara. “What do the firebenders want with these forest animals?”
“We won’t be sticking around long enough to find out.” Sokka said decisively as the three began to walk back to where they’d left Appa. “As the leader, I say we get walking AQAP.”
Katara raised an eyebrow. “AQAP?”
“It means As Quickly As Possible.” Sokka recited the acronym as if it was obvious. “It’s a more efficient method of communication. I call them ‘short-word-quick-talkers.’ Trust me, they’re gonna be very popular.”
Katara and Aang side-eyed one another sceptically before falling into step behind Sokka.
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Katara bent a stream of water from the bottle strapped to her hip, then carefully sent a water-whip straight for their fire, silently proud at how much her late-night practice sessions had allowed her to improve. “Who says you’re qualified to be the boss, all of a sudden?”
“I’m not the boss, I’m the leader.”
Katara scoffed incredulously. “You’re the leader?”
“Naturally.” Sokka puffed out his chest like a peacock pigeon. “I’m the oldest.”
Aang raised an eyebrow, grinning teasingly. “Sokka, I’ve been around for over a century. I have training robes that are older than you.”
Sokka deflated slightly, his shoulders slouching before he managed a retort. “Well, I’m wiser, then. And I have instincts.”
“Ooh, instincts.” Katara wiggled her fingers at him, her voice filled with fake awe. “Please, oh wise leader, share with us your wisdom.”
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“Down you go,” Jet grinned, self-satisfied and authoritative in his stance. Katara beamed back, her lips parted in an amazed expression, while Aang and Sokka’s features quickly settled into irritation. Before long, an archer and a few other kids dropped from the trees surrounding them, and both Aang and Katara jumped into the fray in response alongside the mismatched gang of weapon-slinging kids. Sokka joined in, his irritation visibly rising as Jet took down each soldier before Sokka could even get close to being in range.
“You snooze you loose, man,” Jet shrugged, his hooks snagging on a man who had been about to grab Katara. “Apologise to the lady.” He smirked, then kicked the man hard, dropping him to the side.
“I had her,” Aang grumbled under his breath, occupied with bending currents of wind to sweep soldiers out of the clearing. Katara furrowed her brow at Aang’s irritation, but decided to note it as something to ask about later. Finally, the remaining soldiers scampered out of the clearing in retreat, their shouts and yelps echoing through the forest. Katara still couldn’t take her eyes off of Jet. He sauntered over to her, a roguish grin on his face as he spoke.
“Hey.” He tossed his hair as he said it, his grin directed entirely at her now, and Katara felt a soft blush spread across her cheeks as she looked up at him. She broke her gaze only to check that Aang and Sokka were okay, and as she looked across the field to Aang…
Was she imagining it, or was his jaw clenching? Was she imagining it, or was his normally approachable expression shifting into a deadpan stare?
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His gaze flicked from Jet to Katara, to the brush brushing her cheeks, the soft smile of her full lips. He was hit by the thought that he wanted to be there, next to her, in Jet’s place.
What was it about Katara that made Aang feel as though he could only breathe when she was around?
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Katara was too caught up in her Jet-related nerves to notice the way that Aang’s breathing was coming more quickly, that his fists were quickly clenching and unclenching. She walked towards Aang, who was joined by Sokka, only for Aang’s eyes to flit away every time they met hers. She reached out an arm reflexively, her hand lightly brushing Aang’s bicep as her brow furrowed in concern.
“Are you alright?”
His eyes flashed with something she couldn’t quite read, and his jaw clenched before he spoke. “I’m sorry, Katara, I just… I need a minute. My judgement is…impaired, right now."
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He hesitated a moment before continuing. “Would you… would you care to join me for sparring practice, tomorrow morning? Might help you feel a bit safer next time you need to face off against Fire Nation swine.”
Katara smiled back. “I’d like that.” Jet continued to regale her with stories of all he and his fighters had accomplished as of late, but Katara found herself distracted, her gaze wandering over his shoulder every now and then.
It was not lost on her that Aang’s light had stayed on and his curtains drawn until Jet had returned her to her room for the night.
♥ if you want to stick around for this ch to drop, feel free to head over to the work here! ->
from left to right going down, we've got the most powerful 12 year old that anyone has ever seen, an untrained warrior with the confidence of an entire legion of grown-up soldiers, a trained warrior with the actual strength of an entire legion of grown-up soldiers, an absolutely crazy power-hungry daddy's girl, the embodiment of golden retriever gf that could kill you (ty lee) and black cat gf that will kill you (mai), the emo teenager everyone wanted to be in middle school, the femme version of a booktok boyfriend who invented feminism & waterbending, and the cutest girl that can also knock you out in three seconds flat.
the kids that make up the cast of avatar really are just the best examples of character writing ever. no-one will ever do it better than them 😌
Featuring Aang, Sokka, Toph(top), Azula, Ty Lee, Mai (middle), Zuko, Katara and Suki as children (bottom)
we don't talk enough about how often katara saves aang. like she fully figured out how to pull water from somebody's LUNGS for him. ugh i love her!!!!
the following is an excerpt from my kataang multichapter fic called "the teenager in the iceberg", where aang is aged up to 16 in order to flip him and katara's dynamic into she falls first, he falls harder. this is from chapter four, which JUST DROPPED TODAY!!:D <3
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She watched in horror as dark fins began to rise from the water, and Aang looked back at her with fear in his eyes. He rose from the water, struggling to hold on to the shiny scales of the Unagi. The beast’s head rose out of the water alongside its torso, and it tipped its head curiously at the sight of Aang on its back, baring its teeth as it did. Aang jumped, swinging on the creature’s whiskers, trying to evade its sword-sized teeth. Without notice, it snapped its jaws open, unnaturally wide to the point of unhinging, and a concentrated jet of water shot out of its throat, sending Aang flying across the bay towards Katara. Even from the distance she was at, she could see that his body had landed wrong, unnatural, crumpled.
“AANG!” She shouted, wading into the water as quickly as she could, hoping with all her will that she could somehow outrun this ancient serpent hell bent on getting to Aang before she could. Aang didn’t stir. Against her own pessimistic judgement of their odds of survival, Katara somehow managed to scoop Aang against her, holding him tight. He was unconscious, and she couldn’t see if he was breathing. Another bolt of fear struck through her. Through blurry vision made hazy by fear and anger, Katara watched the Unagi rear its head again, but instead of holding Aang against her and waiting for their inevitable end, she struck back.
It happened so quickly, the wave of water that mirrored the rising tide of anger crashing through Katara’s own body. Her hand moved as if she wasn’t in complete control, and perhaps she wasn’t. Perhaps the spirits of water had looked kindly upon the two kindred souls. Or perhaps, Katara had simply moved in accordance with what the pure adrenaline that seemed to replace her very blood demanded.
The two of them were thrown backwards, Katara’s wave of water pushing them to the safety of the shore. She allowed herself only a second to catch her breath before rolling over to check on Aang.
Still, the Airbender did not stir.
“Aang. Please , wake up.”
He did not breathe.
She closed her eyes, running her hand along his chest, the heat that normally radiated from him snuffed out entirely. She could feel water there, in his lungs, weighing them down. The wrongness of it . She could feel the liquid tugging at her, the molecules themselves wishing to return to the ocean from whence they came.
She obliged them.
Katara coaxed out a thin tendril of the seawater, watching nervously as Aang shuddered involuntarily as the stream of liquid flowed through his lips. He coughed. Coughed again.
Another cough, and his eyes opened, and she was met with the comforting vibrance of his storm-cloud eyes.
“K-Katara,” He managed, the words strained by salt and sea. “Don’t ride the Unagi. Not fun .”
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♥ check out the first four chapters of this (ongoing) fic & my ao3 here! ->
to everybody who suggested "16-year old aang" as a prompt on this year's kataang week submissions, i actually am currently writing a multichapter AU where aang was frozen at 16, and it is kataang!!! it's called "the teenager in the iceberg":)<3
if 16-year-old aang doesn't get chosen as a prompt for kataang week, but it's something you'd love to see in a fic, feel free to check out the first four chapters!!!
Kataang Week 2024's Round 1 Prompt Voting has begun!
You can vote for your seven favorite prompts HERE.
Thank you to everyone who submitted prompt ideas and shared the announcement post! And please do not be discouraged if prompts you submitted or voted for get cut - as always, there will be a free day in addition to the seven main prompts. This means you can use any of the prompts that were initially listed - or come up with your own ideas!
This round of voting will close at the end of the day on Tuesday, May 7th!
Please reblog and spread the word!
We are using a new system this year and no longer using SurveyMonkey or SurveyPlanet. We have switched to Google Forms. Please note the different interfaces.
Prompts that were similar to each other have been combined, just separated with a slash. For example: Glow/Glowing. Some submissions were longer than the one to two words/short phrases limit, so those longer phrases were not accepted.
In total, we had 142 prompts submitted and then consolidated into 115 prompts this year. Thanks again to everyone who submitted!
- The Mods