Post canon Toph who doesn’t want to go back to her shitty parents so she just decides to stay in the Fire Nation and bum off Zuko’s hospitality.
Zuko’s like no, yeah, I totally get it, and just makes her one of his advisors. At first it’s just so she has a good excuse to stay but after the first meeting Toph storms out shouting about how EVERYONE was lying why would you even need to lie about what kind of tea you want??
Zuko: I mean they’re politicians…..but also who, and when, and in what way
They make a subtle Morse code system so Toph can warn him when someone is lying to him without tipping anyone off that she can sense lies.
Zuko gets a reputation for somehow being both extremely socially inept and yet somehow disgustingly perceptive?? You can’t get ANYTHING by him???
#my lord what EXACTLY is ms Beifongs role in these meetings #a nervous nobleman asks after the third time she interrupts them with stupid commentary #zuko with perfect deadpan: she’s my scribe
the fact that we’re expected to buy that iroh told zuko that he should be firelord in front of sokka, toph, suki, and katara and none of them were like “your solution to ending the war is to implement a ‘good’ monarch after replacing the bad one? instead of overturning the imperialist monarchy completely? you want our sixteen year old friend who likes badgerfrogs and turtleducks more than people and is still in the process of unlearning a lifetime of abuse to rule over a nation that’s about to be thrust into an era of political unrest and economic collapse? we’re expected to believe that’s a good idea just because you’re a wise old man who brews good tea? are you high????”
The fact that both of zukos abusers used lightning against zuko and instead of learning to use lightning himself like he could have he learned how to redirect the lightning and let it pass through him and then straight clean out of him… Do you ever think about how that is literally physically representing how instead of absorbing his father and sisters abuse he lets it pass through him and instead of soaking it in and letting it destroy him he redirects it away from himself… I just want some peace in my life
Been rewatching Avatar and still have so much love for these characters. I enjoy thinking of Iroh meeting Zuko’s dragon, sometime after The Search. It would be a nice way of bringing the symbolism of the dragons in their story come full circle.
I- I just can’t get over Zuko and his arc. Everything he did - everything - was out of this insane drive to prove everyone wrong, to prove that he was worth something, and it amazes me that he never realized just how valuable he already was.
His sister tells him ‘You waste all your time playing with knives. You’re not even good!’ and he masters dual swords.
His sister is a prodigy and he’s told he’ll never catch up. He learns from dragons. He trains the Avatar. He takes her down (with the help of a very skilled waterbender)
Anything his family said to him, he managed to turn around and build on it. He thrived on it, exploded from it, turned all the negativity into a positive path and it’s just… it’s amazing.
There’s just no end to my love for this character. No fucking end.
Bonus: The weak, banished prince has fangirls for all the ages. Take that, Ozai.
My favourite thing about this, is that he goes back to his father, and holds him accountable for his actions. He’s thought he was in the wrong for years. That it was his fault he lost his honour. To see him come to this understanding that he was a child and his father was the responsible party was amazing.
I can’t even think of any other animated kids shows where the abuser is called out on their abuse as openly and directly as he was in this show. And don’t even start me on the importance of them showing that a male child can be the victim of abuse by a male parent. That’s a demographic that so often gets brushed aside and they get told to “man up” or in this case “act like a Prince.” And Zuko gets to stand up and say “I AM a Prince. You’re the one who was wrong.”
