Y'know What I've Realized I'd Like To See More Often? Zuko Befriending The Gaang While Still Dealing

Y'know what I've realized I'd like to see more often? Zuko befriending the Gaang while still dealing with the fact that his instinctive response to insecurity or fear is to get defensively angry and snappy. Less of Zuko being a quiet mouse who flinches away from any hint of aggression from the others, and more of Zuko who does his best to reign in his temper and then flinches away from his own defensively snappy remarks or the instinct to firebend out his frustrations. More of Zuko who has let go of the bulk of his anger and is doing his best to lean in to his mother's and his uncle's lessons on compassion and empathy, but who is also still in the process of unlearning his years of reliance on anger as his go-to method of covering up any insecurity or "weak" spot around other people.

So I did not expect this post to blow up the way it did! Since it's gotten so much attention and I see all the tags in my notes, though, I do want to clarify my position on something:

Zuko is both an awkward turtleduck and a bit of a shouty angry menace sometimes.

He's a precious cutie who just wants to do the right thing and be soft and loved. He is also very awkward in social situations, and part of his awkwardness comes from his strong instinct to get defensive and put his hackles up when he feels teased or belittled, because of how he was treated by his family members as a kid (including Azula, who pretty clearly used her position as their father's favorite to bully him when they were both kids).

Y'know what I've realized I'd like to see more often? Zuko befriending the Gaang while still dealing with the fact that his instinctive response to insecurity or fear is to get defensively angry and snappy. Less of Zuko being a quiet mouse who flinches away from any hint of aggression from the others, and more of Zuko who does his best to reign in his temper and then flinches away from his own defensively snappy remarks or the instinct to firebend out his frustrations. More of Zuko who has let go of the bulk of his anger and is doing his best to lean in to his mother's and his uncle's lessons on compassion and empathy, but who is also still in the process of unlearning his years of reliance on anger as his go-to method of covering up any insecurity or "weak" spot around other people.

I think, perhaps, what I actually dislike about Zuko's S3 fieldtrip episodes is that he doesn't get nearly enough credit for what he does in them. Zuko has spent three years struggling with shame, anger, and feelings of inadequacy over his bending. Yet in the three field trips, he becomes for the GAang the person he had needed during those three years. He surpasses his Uncle in a way, and he is able to give the GAang the help he had not been able to give himself back then.

1. Aang has been struggling with fire, because he tried to do something he wasn't ready for, tried to jump ahead in his lessons without fully recognizing the possible consequences of his actions. Because he lacked sufficient self control for the lessons he'd argued his way into with someone older and doubtful of his skills, an innocent person got burned for his recklessness. After getting an innocent person burned, Aang becomes afraid of fire and struggles with how to move forward from his own actions.

In S3, Zuko struggles with his fire, too, and then learns the true meaning of fire alongside Aang. Nevertheless, he is still also able to guide Aang, to provide knowledge and insight that expand upon the lesson from the dragons, and to teach Aang how to master the fire that he now better understands and is no longer afraid of.

2. Sokka has recently experienced a terrible military defeat. He blames himself for his people's capture and possible deaths, and he becomes impulsive and reckless due to his feelings of shame and his loss of confidence in his leadership skills. He even emotionally manipulates Zuko, claiming that he lost his honor to ensure that Zuko won't tell the others about his dangerous, impulsive, reckless plan to heroically accomplish an impossible task that will impress his father and thus give himself back the confidence he has lost in himself.

So Zuko helps him plan and execute this impossible, ridiculous task. Because of Zuko's help, not only does Sokka succeed at freeing his father, he also finds and frees Suki - getting Zuko found out and temporarily captured in the process. Finally, Zuko helps Sokka escape the prison they'd walked themselves into, even though Zuko had been discovered and captured, and Sokka even gets the chance to save Zuko's life after having gotten Zuko captured with his impulsive actions in the first place.

3. Lastly, there is Katara. Katara, who is angry and hurting and lost. Katara, who feels alone and like no one appreciates or understands her anger, like no one is taking her fear and frustrations seriously. Katara, who still struggled with the loss of her mom to powerful forces she couldn't fight when she was a child, and who pushed her fear and pain outwards as anger whenever her compassion was returned with unexpected pain. Katara, who felt betrayed by someone she had trusted (someone who the people around her have come to trust and believe in by TSR episode), and who as a consequence had lost the ability to trust in herself.

And Zuko validates her anger, gives her the chance to face the man who had caused her life's greatest tragedy, and validates her too when she finally chooses to value life and compassion again over her need for revenge.

Anyways, Zuko is an amazing character and his redemption arc is genuinely so well done.

Hello, Zukka here.

A rushed comic about Zuko being Sokka’s hype man.

the thing about cracking open a long-established popular ship tag on ao3 is that it allows you to be extraordinarily picky, and i think it must be the closest thing i will ever experience to being filthy rich. i scroll along at super speed like no today i am only interested in fics with this precise range of words and one of these three tags. only authors i’ve heard of, please. hmm, i suppose i could consider an unknown quantity given its apparent popularity with the people, but… no, no, this summary doesn’t do it for me. no particular reason, it’s just… eh, i don’t need to explain myself. bring me 50 more like this for me to choose from and we’ll see.

i swear I like him a normal amount