Irohs Wisdom - Tumblr Posts
i was never the same after the show ended
the fact that even all these years later, people are still arguing over Aang’s choice to not kill Ozai suggests that A. ATLA is the goddamn best and you just can’t recapture the lightning in a bottle that it was and, B. it’s really kind of disturbing how many people are obsessed with the idea that Aang should have committed murder.
You see a lot of this in the fandom. Constant debates about how Katara and Zuko’s quest for revenge was correct in the Southern Raiders (despite the narrative painting Katara’s choice at the end as a correct one), advocating for greater violence on Aang’s part, and so on. But a biggest, disturbing trend is for people to claim that Aang’s decision to not violate the most sacred principle of his people as being immature.
There’s a tendency nowadays to see violence as not just a solution, but the only solution. That the only way to resolve a problem is to end life; to hurt people. It’s called a cop out when Aang chooses to put his own existence on the line.
The implication, therefore, is that the people advocating this sincerely believe that the mature thing to do is to kill.
Similar in nature to posts talking about how superheroes not killing is weak.
And the idea here, of the willingness to kill as a sign of strength, and as the only real solution to anything, is a deeply disturbing and unsettling one.
If Aang had killed Ozai, it truly would have been the end of the Air Nomads, their most sacred spiritual law broken by their only surviving member. Because Aang would have sunk to the level of the man who had ordered his people killed in the first place, and that of the nation which carried it out.
But when he Energybent, he knew that if he failed, he would have died in the process, and Ozai with him. Not only was Aang willing to put his life on the line for his beliefs, he was genuinely willing to die rather than sacrifice who he was, and the last lingering remnant of the Air Nomads.
it just occurred to me that i never posted these kiddos here,
EDIT: i added the flame kids too🔥
(oh also i have a society6!<3)
a new avatar print for melbourne supanova this weekend! let those who complained about sokka and suki’s absence in my last print consider themselves heard! (click through for details)
There are so many things I love about the B plot of 1.03: “The Southern Air Temple”, the Agni Kai, Zuko’s obvious fury and helplessness, Iroh having Zuko’s back against Zhao, the way it’s made clear that the Fire Nation officer class does not respect Zuko, or see him as the heir to the throne, or even think there will be any retaliation if they mistreat him, not to mention the sheer economy of scenes that this massive amount of worldbuilding and character development is done in, but really one of my very favorite things is the shot of all of the enormous new Fire Nation navy vessels, and then there’s Zuko’s ship, heretofore shown as large and menacing through the eyes of the Gaang, completely dwarfed by them. The banished prince and his cute little toy boat, off to capture the Avatar.
Do you ever think how much of an impact having the major leaders of the post-war era be intimately close friends would affect politics in ATLA. The Gaang traveled together for months, living in close quarters, seeing each other at their bravest and their most vulnerable; it affects how you see and act around each other.
They touch each other so casually, so easily it unnerves most nobles. Master Bei Fong throws her feet into Counselor Sokka’s lap at any given opportunity. Fire Lord Zuko absentmindedly straightens out Avatar Aang’s sacred robes that are entangled from some airbending move. Master Katara throws an arm around the shoulder or waist of her compatriots, keeping them safe and within her reach and none of the others so much as blink.
Members snap at each other, vicious little barbs said with crooked smiles. The master waterbender taunts the lord of the Fire Nation about his honor. In the past such a person would have been burned to a crisp for such a slight but this Fire Lord merely rolls his eyes and retorts about some waterbending scroll. Lady Bei Fong pops out of nowhere and launches the most powerful bender into a wall and the spirit of the world just laughs and then throws some rocks back at her.
It scares the hell out of politicians how they communicate so easily with little to no words. Avatar Aang and Counselor Sokka can hold entire, detailed conversations with just their eyebrows and mouth expressions. Master Katara can walk into a room and sense with uncanny accuracy, before anything that happened, that her fellows are up to no good. The group, full of various world leaders and master benders will babble on for minutes, the Fire Lord listening attentively before turning to his stunned and confused audience and translating without a hint of shame. It simply is how it is when the young men and women shaping the world grew up alongside each other in the darkest of days and now can stand together, as one family of four nations, in the light.