This Duo Needs To Be Talked About More I Just Know They Were Best Friends

People always say they want complex characters. They ask for nuance, for gray areas, for emotional depth and realistic growth. But when a character starts feeling too real, so much so that they stop acting like someone in a story and start feeling like someone you could actually meet – that's when the discomfort kicks in. That's when admiration often turns into criticism. And very few in The Legend of Korra walks that tightrope quite like Suyin Beifong.

Su doesn’t follow the typical “lesson of the week” formula. She doesn’t get handed a tidy moment of reckoning, followed by an instant transformation. Her arc isn’t flashy or obvious. It’s slow, subtle, and sometimes contradictory. Just like real people. Because the truth is, most of us don’t change overnight. We grow a little here, slip back there. We learn something, but that doesn’t mean we always apply it in every situation. That’s Suyin in a nutshell.

Look at how she changes as a mother. At first, she tries to micromanage Opal’s choices out of fear, mostly, and a need to protect her. But eventually, she lets Opal go and lets her live her life without trying to control her path. That’s a win. That’s real growth. But then Baatar Jr. betrays the family, and Su reacts by putting him under house arrest. It’s easy to point at that and call it hypocrisy, but that misses the bigger picture. Her deepest fears for her kids came true with Baatar, and so, of course, she tries to regain some kind of control in the aftermath. And yet, she doesn’t try to rope Opal back in. She lets her stay free. That shows her earlier growth wasn’t erased, just complicated by pain.

This is the part people tend to ignore. They rush to call her a hypocrite without stopping to think about what hypocrisy really is. People are full of contradictions. We want conflicting things. We act on emotion. We stumble. We grow unevenly. No one is morally consistent all the time. Su isn’t some moral failure she’s just human. And that’s what unsettles people. They want characters who get what’s coming to them or learn the “right” lesson. But Su doesn’t fit into that framework. She just keeps going, flaws and all.

That’s also what makes her so compelling. She’s not a straightforward hero or a satisfying villain. She’s a complicated woman trying to balance power, family, control, and identity in ways that are messy and real. When people critique her, it’s often not because she doesn’t make sense, but because she makes too much sense.

She’s too familiar. Too human.

Everyone says they want nuanced characters... until they’re faced with someone like Suyin. Someone who holds up a mirror. And when that reflection hits a little too close to home, people tend to look away. But it’s in that raw honesty where her character really shines.

Zuko: Wow, the stars are beautiful.

Katara: Yeah they are.

Zuko: You know who else is beautiful?

Katara: *blushes* Who?

Zuko: Mai.

I really want to thank the anti zuko crowd for breaking my delusions that the anti aang folks were the only unhinged people in this fandom cause imagine the look on my face when I look at you people ignore half the things presented to us and choosing to psychoanalyze some photo to infinity and beyond instead and then ending your collaborative thesis with a JK ROWLING QUOTE like that's just an universal truth like... wow..

Soon we will see this powerful couple in a movie (It’s going be EPIC!!!)

i feel as if the atla fandom argues about a lot of meaningless shit but one of the biggest (and MOST inane) points of contention to me is that....katara didn't get a statue in lok. like. i could go on about how katara's presence in lok was way more meaningful than anyone else in the gaang appearing and how she was a steady solid presence for korra who had far more of an impact than just a quick punchy fight scene and was actually compassionate and skilled and her political presence sets SO much of legend of korra's worldbuilding up and how the fandom is really notorious for reducing katara to a poor helpless victim as much as possible because she had a complex and significant and emotional character arc that didn't always have the most "classic" #girlboss plot points but the truth is like. its a statue? its a fucking statue??? a fucking hunk of rock im sorry??? i could not care less about a piece of rock over a character's actual presence?

im hilarious 🤓🤓

so tired of people rushing their relationship. they’re getting back together either way and it’s best for mai and zuko to take their time.

Ashes of the Academy is on point about Mai and Zuko not being back together yet mostly because the comic takes place around a year after Smoke and Shadow. And the writer of Smoke and Shadow did say they will get together again after three years after Smoke and Shadow right? that means 2 years after Ashes of the Academy. I personally loved seeing Mai's development and her chosen career for the future. It sounds cute being Izumi's teacher at the academy and teasing her.

I do want a comic about them getting back together though. Maybe if there is a Zuko movie? or comic it doesn't matter. they do need to conclude the Fire Nation and Azula's arc.

zuko making up for his past mistakes in his relationship with mai. everything is basically set for them to begin their relationship again after a while and y’all say they won’t be endgame 🤦‍♀️

well, Ashes of The Academy was such a nice read. this part in particular stayed with me because it reminded me of their argument during the Beach episode and looked at them now learning to trust and resolve their disagreements in a healthy way 😚

Of course, this is the generation that will lead the Fire Nation down a better path.

Now I wish we had more of this. a whole series of Mai continuing to find her purpose. Starting first with teaching and then perhaps other aspects of Fire Nation society too.