If Azula Had Said “I Can’t Remember My Mother’s Face. As Hard As I Try To Picture Her, All I Can

if azula had said “I can’t remember my mother’s face. as hard as I try to picture her, all I can see is zuko” (which obviously azula would never say because she would never want to admit to missing ursa or having any weaknesses of course, but you get it) everyone would’ve been like “oh she can no longer associate her mother with anything other than her sacrifice. she can only remember what her mother did for her brother, and now they are inextricably linked in her mind, so she does not realize the ultimate tragedy that she actually does see her mother every time she looks in the mirror, because she has her mother’s face.”

but of course, that’s exactly what sokka said about his mother, who sacrificed herself to save katara. and now katara feels a massive responsibility to honor that sacrifice, while in turn, sokka bears the responsibility of keeping katara safe, so when he tries to think about his mother, all he can think of is katara and the central role she plays in their narrative. in this sense, they are both adopting kya’s legacy: katara must be kya to prove that her sacrifice was not in vain, and sokka must be kya in sacrificing himself for katara.

when sokka says he cannot picture his mother’s face, what we know as the audience (although not upon a first viewing, because “the southern raiders” is crucial to contextualizing the present dynamic of this family) is that he has his mother’s face. thus, when he tries to picture his mother’s face, his own face, all he can see is katara, because he has sublimated his own identity and selfhood for her ever since kya’s death demonstrated the very real consequences of what katara’s status as the last southern waterbender meant for their family and their people. while katara’s duty is to remember, to carry on that legacy, sokka’s duty is to repress, to deny himself anything outside of his responsibility to katara.

when he says that katara is the one who’s always been there, the one who held their family together after kya’s death, of course she did, because katara was the reason behind kya’s death, so of course katara’s very existence, the fact that she survived, is what gave them the hope to keep going. not to mention that katara knowing that her mother sacrificed herself for her made her feel the need to be her mother, to prove herself and fill that new hole in their family.

katara is all sokka sees because she is the most important thing in his life bar none. sokka cannot picture himself without seeing katara, because she is his identity far more than he has any understanding of himself as an individual. sokka can only understand himself in terms of what he can do for others, and katara is the primary figure in his life and has been for a very long time. he does not see her as a mother, he sees her as his mother, in that he sees her as kya, due to the exact nature of his family history and legacy, but if people think that means that he is somehow careless with katara, that is exactly wrong, and their interpretation of what he said is incredibly reductive because it does not take into account the rest of their relationship as it is depicted in the show, which illustrates why sokka said what he said and why he feels the way that he does.

katara is not a mom, she is not sokka’s mom, she is not aang’s mom, she is not toph’s mom, she is not even momo’s mom! she is her own mom, because she needs to be, because she needs to carry on kya’s legacy and the legacy of her tribe—and that in and of itself is fucking tragic, so terribly heartbreaking, such a weighty burden for a little girl who does not deserve to have to carry the grief and hope of her entire people. so yes, she is her own mom—but she is not anyone else’s.

a list of real Harry Potter characters that could be in the Marauders Era to use in fics

Emmeline Vance

Benjy Fenwick

Caradoc Dearborn

Rabastan Lestrange

Fabian Prewett

Gideon Prewett

Amos Diggory

Amelia Bones

Edgar Bones

Bertram Aubrey

Ludo Bagman

Otto Bagman

Alecto Carrow

Amycus Carrow

Dirk Cresswell

Antonin Dolohov

Hestia Jones

Bertha Jorkins

Gilderoy Lockhart

Xenophilius Lovegood

Mulciber

Avery

Quirinus Quirell

Sybill Trelawney

Charity Burbage

Rita Skeeter

Corban Yaxley

Wilkes

Tags

kinda jegulus james fleamont potter regulus arcturus black lily evans james potter jily regulus black jegulus explanation

22 notes View Post

ihatehomework

1 year ago

yessssss

55 notes View Post

ihatehomework

11 months ago

percy would NOT be jealous/possessive of anyone having a crush on annabeth because 1) she's so possessive that he knows she would never cheat on him and 2) he thinks she is so smart and pretty and cool and awesome that he's just like "hell yes. my girlfriend is sooo awesome thank you for noticing!"

4K notes View Post

ihatehomework

2 years ago

What do u think james would have been like as a father

Oh boy, here we go.

Anon, this might be my favourite ask ever. Ever, do you hear me? So take a seat because this is going to be a long one.

It goes without saying that he would have been incredible, yes, but in what way?

(Under the cut because it got too long)

I don't think Harry was planned, purely because of the war. If it hadn't been for that, I think he would have still wanted to be a dad, without a doubt, and a young one at that: being raised by elderly parents probably made him realise that he was luckier than his parents, because they never got to see him grow up, grow old. Little did he know...

James adored being a young dad. He loved the fun bits and the ugly bits. Harry helped him become the man he was destined to be. In the 15 months they shared together (don't worry I'll answer your question in a moment), James was forced to learn some hard truths and make tough decisions. I've always seen him as someone who had a 'black and white' mindset when it comes to right or wrong: it was simple for him, and he couldn't really understand why people did bad things when they knew they were wrong. Well, he knew why, but it only started making sense when he became a father, because suddenly he realised how much he had underestimated the privilege of being able to choose. Having a kid during a war took a toll on him and changed him, because now he was forced to decide whether he was a father first or a soldier. And it was a choice he had to make every day.

He also had to choose what kind of father he was going to be. The kind who comes back from a mission and drinks himself into oblivion, or the one who goes straight to his wife and son and despite being bone-tired and with muscles that ache at every step, he's there for them with a smile on his face. And don't get me wrong, I do believe he did get drunk and felt utterly defeated sometimes. He could have done that and he knew no one would have judged him for it, but he couldn't let the bad days outnumber the good ones.

Let's pretend nothing bad happened on Halloween 1981, and that Voldemort died and everyone got their happy ending:

James is the kind of dad who has long conversations with his babbling two year old, where he pretends to talk about politics and books and Quidditch without using baby voices.

He does use baby voices sometimes, though. Mainly when Harry won't eat his peas or when James has to change his nappy (honestly I hope wizards use them, otherwise the poor babies just have to sit in their poop until someone vanishes it). He does impressions of all his Hogwarts professors, but Harry's favourite is Filch, he laughs so much he makes James laugh too.

He sings 'Beautiful Boy' when Harry can't fall asleep, a smile painted on his face, and when Harry's brows start to relax he whispers the rest of the lyrics, brushing his hair until his eyes close and his breath becomes even (credits to this post for the headcanon).

He's an extremely concerned toddler parent, because Harry learns to run first and walk second. The little boy hates hats, and he always comes back from his walks with his hair all tangled and with leaves in it (yes, Harry dives into leaf piles before his parents can stop him). James, heartbroken, takes a bottle of Sleekeazy's and pours the product on Harry's hair, apologising the whole time.

He watches him play and talk to his toys for Merlin knows how long, hypnotised by his brilliant son.

When Harry accidentally makes Sirius' pancake float towards his plate, James picks up his son and starts dancing with him around the kitchen, singing a made up song that Sirius will mock him for every time he has the chance. By noon, James has not only decided he's going to throw a party in honour of Harry's first accidental magic, he's also decided the menu and planned every activity. He invites Fabian and Gideon and asks to bring their nephews too because the more the merrier, and that's how Ron becomes Harry's best friend.

I also thinks James would absolutely love to have a big family, so in my headcanon Harry has at least a couple of siblings. Imagine being surrounded by all those Potters... A dream for some (James) a nightmare for others (probably Petunia, who is straight up horrified the one time she pays them a visit).

James teaches Harry to fly, reads him stories every night and they even have movie nights every Wednesday, even the day after a full moon, where James falls asleep on the sofa as they watch Star Wars, and Harry goes out like a light shortly after him, head on his chest, drooling on James' shirt.

But most of all, James listens. He truly listens. He makes sure Harry never doubts his worth. He's the kind of dad who isn't afraid to show his emotions, and probably cries as Harry boards the Hogwarts Express for the first time.

When Harry gets in trouble at school for the first time, James realises that lecturing him is not that different from when he had to give out detentions as Head Boy... Except that it is, because when James has to tell him that it's wrong to put Padfoot's hairs in Malfoy's potion, Harry asks him why, and he tilts his head exactly like Lily does when she challenges him, and this kid has her eyes and James' knowing smile, but he's also clever in a way James and Lily are not, and James doesn't know what to do with this information.

Honestly, I have so many more headcanons and if I had to write all of them this post would never see the light of day, so I'll stop here and maybe I'll make a part two, who knows.

In conclusion, this James isn't a perfect dad, but he's a wonderful one. He might be too strict sometimes, and other times too lenient; he might disagree with Harry on some things, and they might fight and raise their voices. But James does everything in his power not to make Harry go to sleep angry or sad, and if it does happen, he makes sure to wake him up with a kiss on his forehead and a hug. Or maybe lots of hugs, because James is a very affectionate dad. With his parents in his life, Harry doesn't doubt for one moment that he's not worthy of being loved.

125 notes View Post

End of content

No more pages to load