Sarahkrolokfan - My Blog

there are a lot of bad takes in the atla fandom (like, atla fandom may as well be a bad take generator) but something that has really been pissing me off lately is the assumption that you can categorize the fire nation royal family into good guys and bad guys. first of all, obviously, they're all bad guys. they are imperialists. but the idea that "sozin ozai azula bad" and "iroh lu ten ursa zuko azulon(?!) good" is actually insane.

lu ten died attempting to conquer the earth kingdom. lu ten was there because his father, iroh, was leading the siege. ursa laughed when iroh joked about burning ba sing se to the ground. zuko laughed too, mirroring his dear mother who taught him about the wonders of imperialism. and the fact that some people think that azulon was a good guy because he favored iroh is crazy. he favored iroh because iroh was the better imperialist, was more charming and tactically savvy as he bent the world to his will. people who think that azulon didn't like ozai because ozai was cruel literally have it backwards. ozai was cruel because azulon didn't like him. sozin shaped azulon, and azulon shaped iroh and ozai. azulon reigned for most of the war, and he was responsible for decimating the southern water tribe and colonizing the earth kingdom.

iroh only realizes the error of his ways well into middle age, after spending a majority of his life colonizing the world. he only stops to reconsider once he experiences the adverse effects of war for himself through the loss of his son. likewise, zuko can only gain empathy for the victims of the war by being one himself, as a refugee in the earth kingdom, and bonding with people who have been hurt by the fire nation. azula doesn't get that chance. ozai doesn't get that chance. azulon, lu ten, and ursa are dead, so they will never get that chance. but it's not like there is some ontological moral divide separating azula from zuko. zuko was a sensitive child whereas azula was better at embodying fire nation values of power and cunning. zuko was punished for his outbursts whereas azula knew how to keep her mouth shut. therefore, zuko experienced circumstances that led him to disavow fire nation imperialism.

but that doesn't mean that azula is ontologically evil. azula was the iroh of her generation to zuko's ozai, and iroh (eventually) disavowed conquest as well. there is no inherent divide between good and bad, monster and human. ursa was a warm and loving mother to zuko, just as iroh was a warm and loving father to lu ten, but they both laughed at others' suffering. their values were shaped by their circumstances and experiences. their ideologies do not make them less human, or less capable of change, just as their interpersonal behaviors do not negate their abhorrent ideologies.

Re-uploading an old post

I adjusted the color curve, worked with the font and composition a little, now it’s really good...damnnn who cares

Hey, I'm feel so fucking broken, everything I do is in a shadow ban. I'm nothing.

i did this for a uh certain group of friends but i think it's brilliant

My issue with Korra isn’t that the characters were uninteresting tbh - it’s that they were the exact opposite of that. There was so much room for exploration. Avatar was such a good show (with flaws) because developed it’s characters fantastically (up until Aang’s S3 arc, which could have been handled a lot better imo) - they took the troupes it would’ve been easy to resort to - naggy mom friend, happy go lucky kid, badass girl, edgy guy - and showed the complexities behind them. Aang hides the loss of literally his entire life behind his cheerfulness, and it’s shown how he snaps, gets angry and runs away. Toph’s entire persona is carefully crafted to defy the helpless role she’s been cast in her whole life - she’s not just badass, but badass purposefully. Zuko has a desperation born of years of abuse behind his angst. Katara has survivor’s guilt and trauma, forced parentification, and rage behind her hot temper and mothering, and is allowed to explore those. Sokka is goofy, but he’s intelligent, cunning, and it’s shown how his goofy façade hides his insecurities over his own skills and masculinity.

Korra never gave it’s characters room to breathe. We never got the chance to see who they were past the love triangles, too-fast plots that were dropped after one season, and robots for some reason. Mako was introduced as the edgy love interest, and despite how interesting his backstory is and all the potential behind it (especially with his parallels to Katara - he has so many!!), that’s who he stayed. Bolin, same as the goofy comic relief. Asami, she just… has no real personality. She’s… strong willed. Sometimes she’s angry, I guess. There’s never anything even to hold onto with her - her feelings over her mother’s death are never really explored, nor are her relationships with really anyone sans her romantic bonds with Korra and Mako. Her scenes with her father in S4 showed hints to some potential, but it wasn’t enough to make me invested in a character I had spent three seasons up till now looking at as a blank slate - the Token Badass Nonbender, and that’s that. Jinora’s one of the more interesting characters on the show, but there was a lot more room to explore her insecurities surrounding if she can live up to her grandfather’s legacy, her spirit abilities, and Kai and their relationship especially.

Really, it’s just… Mako’s parents were killed in front of him when he was eight, and then he was forced to basically raise Bolin without a home. Bolin had no stability in his life for most of it, and his only real trusted figure was his two years older brother. Korra is an avatar who was never given a chance to develop any identity outside of that, seeing the world, one carved from the ashes of imperialism and genocide, for the first time. Asami has a father who manipulates her and works with terrorists, but unlike Ozai with Zuko and Azula, genuinely loves her. Even within just these four there are such interesting ways you could go. But Korra was really the only one allowed to develop at all, and even then, for some reason she has to be brutally tortured to… ‘humble’ her? Like, I did like that arc, but there’s also some… things going on there.

Maybe there could have been an episode like the Southern Raiders but for Mako, where he and idk Asami? anyone really, hunt down the firebender who killed his parents, and he’s forced to confront the source of his trauma that started it all. Maybe we could have a storyline about the Triple Threats, Mako and Bolin’s time with them, how bad their circumstances were and some of the things they were forced to do. Maybe something like The Beach but for Asami, letting her crack and break about her complex feelings towards her father. We could have seen more of Mako being an older brother to Kai, Kai’s development from selfish and flightly to kinder and more grounded with Jinora. Maybe we could have been shown more of Kai’s backstory - his parents? Idk.

Korra, of course, would still need to be the focus. Maybe something like Nightmares and Daydreams but darker, like, towards the end of every season to explore how the pressure and trauma from being the avatar is negatively affecting her. Idk.

Just… let the characters develop. Breathe. Be people and not just caricatures or placeholders, yk? This goes for Jinora, Ikki and Meelo, Kai, the Krew, the adults, everyone - Korra had four seasons. Maybe not time for everyone, but at least for more than they gave. At least time for the main four.

I could be a good mother

Prescott from LIS chillin in the flowers

Ozai’s angels!

this is just a reminder for everyone

regulus isn't dead. he's an inferius, not quite human. cursed to live forever as one of the things that destroyed him.

barty isn't dead. he was given the dementor's kiss, which means his soul is gone but the rest of him is still living. he'll never make it to the afterlife.

dorcas is dead. she's in the afterlife, but she'll never forgive her friends for taking the wrong side in the war. she'll do her best to stop loving them.

pandora and evan are dead. they're in the afterlife together, but also alone, just like before hogwarts. and they're waiting. waiting for their family to come back to them. they never will.

“Sorry.”

-

Bloodbending bro hug requested by anon.

Just a quick sketch