The Gaang ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧
me: i have two right legs
them: ???? u mean two left feet
me: no my left leg really feels like it was born to be a right leg
Have you noted that no one from Azula's family was shown to express love and affection towards her?
That is mostly true. Ozai's affection is clearly conditional (and full on manipulation at worse, like we see in the finale), Ursa canonically favors Zuko to the point that we never see her spending any alone time with Azula like she did with Zuko, and while Iroh gave her a toy like he did to Zuko the toy in question was so OBVIOUSLY wrong for a kid like Azula that it's comical AND show's he did not really know his niece at all.
But there is a constant exception.
Zuko's relationship with Azula is complicated. He clearly admires her strength and power, but he hates how she uses it. She lied to him many times, was seen apparently cheering Ozai on during the Agni Kai, tried to have him imprisoned and even said she'd celebrate being an only child - and then allows him to come home as a hero after Ba Sing Se, even though SHE had the control of the Dai Li and was not yet aware Aang could have survived, meaning she had nothing to gain from it.
And when she lets him know that if he's caught talking to Iroh people might think he is a traitor too, and explicitly says "Believe it or not, I'm actually looking out for you" Zuko drops his innitial suspicion that she wanted something and that's why she was helping him.
On The Beach, he just follows her when she say their old family home is depressing and they shouldn't waste their time there. When she's asking him who she is angry at, she mentions herself and Zuko explicitly says that is not the case.
He doesn't trust her and know she has a tendency to mock or full on lie to him... yet when he wants to know about Fire Lord Sozin he asks her about it, and lets it slide when she mocks him by saying he should make sure the royal painter got his good side - for a character as quick to anger as Zuko, that is a big deal. In Nightmares and Daydreams he also goes to her to find out if he'll be allowed at the war meeting.
More importantly:
1 - Iroh's infamous "She's crazy and needs to go down" line was only said because ZUKO, without anyone putting that idea in his head before, suddenly went "I know what you're going to say. She's my sister and I should be trying to get along with her"
2 - Zuko only jumped into the fight in Ba Sing Se when Azula was being cornered by Aang and Katara.
3 - Zuko looked genuinely shocked and even distressed when she was falling off that cliff. He just sounded so shaken saying "She's... not gonna make it..."
4 - In the writer's own words, Zuko felt no hate but only pity when seeing her breakdown. Katara tried to comfort him because, canonically, even though Zuko and Azula are enemies, this was never what he wanted because he still sees her as family. That's why the Last Agni Kai's music is not the epic you'd expect from a battle, but a tragic one.
5 - Aaron Ehasz, the lead writter for the show, probably the person with the most influence after Bryke, has REPEATEDLY said that he always felt Azula should have gotten a redemption arc, Zuko being an Iroh figure to give her advice and be the only one still by her side when all else was seemingly lost to her forever.
Even the comics (most of which I HATE, mainly because Azula's storyline checks nearly every box for "the mentally ill are inherently evil/less human, so it's fine if literally every other person on the planet mistreats them") didn't fully abandon their complex dynamic.
Zuko is not a perfect sibling, and for a long chunk of the story he seemed too focused on his own issues for Azula to ever be a factor in his mind (aside from the moments in which she was a potential/explict threat), but he DOES still feel a sense of obligation towards her, to the point that it made him do something no one else in their family had done before or since - actually look at Azula. Not the prodigious daughter/perfect weapon, or the problem child that is difficult to handle, or the pontentially deadly enemy that was in the way, but Azula.
His 14-year-old sister that got on his nerves a lot, was far from the kindest person alive, and that he had a ton of issues with, but that he could never fully hate or even be indifferent to. Because she's family. Because he remembers a happier time in which the gap between them didn't seem so big. Because if things had been slightly different he could have been her. Because he went from wanting to be her to seeing just how miserable her life ended up being - especially compared to the one he now had - and feeling deeply sorry for her.
Now if you guys excuse me, I'm gonna go cry in the corner. Have some wholesome/bittersweet fanart if you wanna cry too.
if jily + other marauders era characters weren't in the houses they are in:
james would be a cute little hufflepuff because hes loyal af, kind (to people who deserve it) and also he is an excellent cook (my hc)
lily evans is a ravenclaw, and there is no argument for her being slytherin. a) she would probably be murdered or tortured for being muggleborn, b) she THIRSTS for knowledge (and james potter) and is extremely creative and witty and self-aware. plus shes (in most fanfics i read) excellent at charms which is flitwicks class.
anyways if they werent the ultimate gryffindor head boy/girl couple, they would be the huffleclaw head boy/girl couple that everyone adored.
sirius: he is a gryffindor fight me on this
remus: ravenclaw
peter: hufflepuff EXCEPT towards the end hes a slytherin
marlene: slytherin
dorcas: she was ORIGINALLY a gryffindor but if not then she would be a ravenclaw
mary: hufflepuff
regulus: ravenclaw
evan: hufflepuff
barty: gryffindor
narcissa: hufflepuff
andromeda: gryffindor
bellatrix: ravenclaw
jegulily are nerds. huge, giant, nerds. but in very different ways.
lily is a nerd in the sense she spends most of her time in the library, planning her career and studying for classes, obsessing over fictional books, playing chess, reading lord of the rings a million times, practices potion making for fun and likes to make the same potion over and over, gets excited over quidditch stats and making types of plays but finds watching the actual game boring
regulus is a nerd in the sense he obsesses over classical music and relentlessly learns compositions, secretly loves classic romance books and uses them to work out how to socialise, spends all his time studying or on independent projects usually related to something in one of his classes, was ojce given a cigarette and his first thought was to dissect it open
james is a nerd in the sense he obsessively watched star wars over and over and then brought every piece of merch he could find, always gets top marks in everything, willingly reads extremely high level transfiguration books for fun all the time, spends all day working out quidditch stats, and had a map making phase as a kid (which he still has)
MORE THINGS I FORGOT TO ADD:
YES, the la was rushed but hello they got 8 episodes? og was like 20+, and the episodes from last are not over 2x in length
C'MON AZULA'S PRETTY GOOD, like the way she acts is soooo azula. the la isn't a carbon copy of the og, ofc azula will be different. personally, i'm excited if they elaborate on her complexities a little more. also, fat shaming? seriously???? like wtf shes a young adult? plus, shes absolutely gorgeous, and the og azula looking normal doesnt really strike fear into my heart, it gives more literal princess vibes. its only when azula is smirking/being serious that i find her scary
GUYS I THINK THAT THE LA ATLA IS PRETTY GOOD GUYS LIKE.
YES, katara isnt angry enough but is it really 2010 bad? its also the writers fault not the actress like kiawentiio is SOOOO katara in all of the interviews etc
YES, ozai is hot BUT thats seriously doesnt excuse THE CHILD ABUSE!!!! yall can simp for him but dont condone his actions :))))))
YES, zuko is sassy af THATS HOW HES SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE. did we seriously watch the same show
SOKKAS' ACTOR IS NOT WHITE, like if he was and he got the role, it's the casting directors's fault. they didn't know what they were auditioning for, so i don't see why he would've lied about his background. plus, he really doesn't look white, like at all. and seriously, how would you feel if someone told you that you were lying about your race
pls no one come for me on this but i feel like james is just so white boy coded. like he exudes british white boy energy. he just. i respect all those who hc him as poc but hes like (in my brain) the definition of a white boy. like in my head him and lily are the most annoyingly cute white straight couple that everyone still loves. anyways thanks for coming to my ted talk.
Since you guys seemed to really dig the first bunch, here are a few more studies of the kids :>
★ patreon || website || twitter ★
finally got around to coloring some valentine’s day sketches 💞
When I was writing the Fortnight music video, I wanted to show you the worlds I saw in my head that served as the backdrop for making this music. Pretty much everything in it is a metaphor or a reference to one corner of the album or another. For me, this video turned out to be the perfect visual representation of this record and the stories I tell in it. Post Malone blew me away on set as our tortured tragic hero and I’m so grateful to him for everything he put into this collaboration. I’m still laughing from getting to work with the coolest guys on earth, Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles (tortured poets, meet your colleagues from down the hall, the dead poets). I still can’t believe I get to work with the unfathomably brilliant Rodrigo Prieto on cinematography and my team of dream collaborators: Ethan Tobman (production design), Chancler Haynes (editor), Anthony Dimino (1st AD), Jil Hardin (producer) and Dom Thomas (executive producer). Parliament aced the VFX as always. Joseph Cassell, Lorrie Turk and Jemma Muradian made these tortured looks come to life. The entire crew made this a dream to shoot. Thank you to everyone involved and everyone who has watched it!! https://taylor.lnk.to/FortnightMV