I Simply Do Not Understand How People Can Think Writing About Things That Aren't Real Is Bad. Its Not

I simply do not understand how people can think writing about things that aren't real is bad. Its not real. Its not a real thing why are you mad.

my advice to kids on the internet is don't get too attached to your username and absolutely do not blend your offline life with your online presence. you do not want your future self to have any connection to the stuff you are saying and doing right now

you don't have the privilege of every embarrassing thing you said being lost to a defunct bbcode forum like my generation did. please, please leave yourself the opportunity for a clean slate. you'll thank yourself later.

The imposter

Let’s Read ATLA: The Search pp151-209

So I’m surprised that this was a part of the story I haven’t been spoiled on but I’m pretty sure I know what’s going on here. Yes, Ursa, it IS strange. I think you should run.

Yep. But also wtf. Ursa didn’t want to leave and Ikem is making this all about him. The whole thing where he has a new identity and doesn’t tell Ursa at first is also super creepy.

So while Ursa was stuck married to Ozai and had to watch him destroy her children, she wrote letters to Ikem - because she did love him! - because he was the only thing that gave her hope. And I can see why Ursa, as wrongheaded as that was, would want to believe that Zuko was Ikem’s. But Ikem didn’t receive her letters and went off into the spirit forest to become an incel, apparently.

Of course Zuko is willing to give up finding Ursa to help the waterbender and her brother, because they need the help more. He’s grown so much from the selfish person that was obsessed with his own honor that we first saw in book one of ATLA. And of course Azula sees that as a sign of her brother’s “weakness.” That also echoes what Ozai told Zuko about being Fire Lord, that he shouldn’t worry about morality because whatever decision he makes is the right one. Azula is also still stuck in that mindset, which is why she says that Zuko is weak even when he is strong, i.e., he’s the fire lord, so he should be just taking what he wants.

There’s just not enough of a narrative reason for Zuko to believe that this is the best chance of finding Ursa, though. Of course it is, but I don’t feel like the writing made that clear enough to the characters, who just stumble from one spirit shenanigan to another.

I like how the spirit, who announces herself as kind and benevolent, chose to honor Azula’s request even though she blatantly interrupted.

“As plain as can be.” That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?

So then Azula runs off because her entire motive is to like, kill Ursa or something. I guess that was the point of the whole hallucination plotline, so that Azula could have a motive for going with them. It’s still stupid, though. I don’t think Azula’s motive is just to kill Ursa, though. I think she also wants to reconcile the part of herself that knows, deep down, that her mother loved her, and is desperate for that love. But again, they could have done that without implying that Azula is CrAzY.

Nobody told me about this I have Important Questions. Like: Noren WTF?

Some of y’all acting like Ursa chose to forget her children without a second thought. Like, this traumatized woman is forced to leave her children with her abuser to save one of her children, knowing that he’ll probably be harmed anyway, and NOBODY told me that Ikem was the one who pressured her into forgetting her family because he’s a weirdo incel. It’s also really sus that Ikem gets to keep his memories and KNOWS who Ursa really is. And at this point Ursa has nowhere else to go, so she basically is reliant on this guy who has this weird kind of power over her, but at least he’s not Ozai, I guess.

But WHERE is the AU where Ursa gets a new face but keeps her memories, and finds a way to integrate into her children’s lives and protect them from afar?

“Not the OTHER pair of siblings that keep shooting fire at each other, they’re with me, but - “

I think the “everyone wants to be beautiful without realizing they already are” thing is a good sentiment, but Mother of Faces herself was the one who said Noriko was ugly. And yeah, that isn’t what Rafa needs.

Would Zuko ask for a new, unscarred face if he had the chance? Would he ask to not look like his father? Would he also want to forget who he is, especially now that he’s questioning whether he wants to be Fire Lord?

See, now, Ma’am, you can’t be all “the humans are insulting my work” when you’re like “I’ll sell you this poor sad sack for a buck fifty.”

The Mother of Faces is the one who offers Ursa the chance to forget, and I don’t think Ikem knew that she could do that so it’s not like Ikem intentionally wanted Ursa to forget, and Ursa is the one who accepts, and chooses to remember Ikem but not anything about her life with Ozai. It’s still creepy that Ikem has knowledge about Ursa’s old life that she doesn’t. Ursa makes the decision to forget her children in a moment of incredible pain while dealing with this trauma. She might have changed her mind later but can’t because she’s not even aware of what she lost. and so many people on tumblr write about this as if she made this decision callously just because she wanted to be with her lover, when she doesn’t really have much of another choice and right now Ikem is the only thing in her life that’s good. And to be fair, Ikem doesn’t try to hide Ursa’s old life from her when her kids come around. I still don’t like this, though, and Ursa is still a traumatized victim who is being retraumatized by this whole thing.

This man knows exactly who Zuko is and could have turned him away and even thought he was making the right decision by sparing his wife, and Ursa would have been none the wiser. It’s still shitty that Ursa doesn’t get to make that decision, but at least Noren isn’t trying to make it for her. Or for Zuko, who is welcomed by this family more than his own.

Zuko, honey.

Aaaand there we cut to another plotline. That’s a critique of this storyline I’ve already read, and it’s a consistent problem with these comics. You might think, “but surely we’ll come back to this part and not skip the emotional climax.” You would think.

I KNEW Koh was involved somehow!

So we get another story within a story of an estranged mother and son with the face/identity theme.

Then we go back to Zuko, but instead of getting Ursa’s reaction to Zuko’s revelation, Noren does most of the talking.

Oh, Zuko.

Then Azula comes in.

I compared the story of the Mother of Faces and Koh the Face-Stealer to Zuko looking for his mom, but maybe the comparison should be to Ursa and Azula, Azula resenting her estranged mother and blaming her for what she became.

And I know people dislike Kiyi as a character but none of this is her fault. I agree about the criticisms of Kiyi as a “replacement” for Azula but the thing is, she also exists as a foil and parallel to Azula herself. Azula terrorizing this young girl by threatening her mother because she was traumatized as a young girl over the loss of her mother. That’s the cycle of abuse for you, folks.

Neither Ursa nor Azula have the full understanding of the reality of their situations, but they still obviously care about each other.

Zuko moves to defend Ursa and maybe if he hadn’t done that, Ursa and Azula might have reached some reconciliation, but Zuko’s not wrong for being scared and wanting to protect his mother.

Azula says that if she kills Ursa then both she and Zuko will be free, because Zuko will also be free of a throne he doesn’t want. It won’t make either of them free, though. Zuko knows that because Azula right now is a lot like he used to be, angry and taking all that anger out on everyone around her because she thinks it’ll make her free.

This in contrast to Ursa choosing to forget broken family relationships. I think seeing what happened with Ursa makes Zuko want to try even harder with Azula.

But, like all the times Zuko lashed out at Iroh, Azula can’t handle her brother genuinely trying to reach out because it contradicts that world she’s built up to cope with her own trauma.

There is a part of Azula that wants to accept the love from her brother and mother (even if Ursa doesn’t remember being Azula’s mother, she did offer her love in that scene). But she can’t. It hurts too much. So she falls back on the old belief, that Zuko showing her love is just a weakness. Azula is also recognizing that Zuko showed strength by not giving up on being Fire Lord, although not for the reasons Azula sees the throne as valuable. Zuko knows he can’t give up the throne because it’s not just about himself, it’s about a duty to the world.

Mommy, I think we’ve angered the spirits now.

Andre Braugher; best known for portraying Frank Pembleton in HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET and Captain Ray Holt in BROOKLYN NINE-NINE has died at the age of 61.