((Sadly, I can picture this scene all too easily -- and as you said, it's canon for your Toph, so that's a good thing.
What's sad about this is how clear the divide is -- without Aang to intercede, the Waterbenders argue to leave the Firebender, pointing at the sins of others and ignoring how Iroh saved them. Though one wonders what Aang would say anyway; one thing the finale proved is that this series isn't quite as predictable as everyone assumed.
The Earth King's silence on the matter is telling; he has no authority here, and his uneducated opinion about the situation is ultimately pointless, as he has no idea about what has occured. Does he have a name, anyway? I keep thinking 'Liu Chan', but, uh, different fandom...
And the way that Toph is able to see past all of that so easily, the way she gets to the core -- 'he's our friend, leaving him is wrong' -- suits her. And it's sad to see her conceding the point, even in such dire circumstances. That isn't what we're used to, and it hurts.))
The Earth King makes me think of a child that's happy when everything is going just swell but has no idea what to do when things fall apart. So instead of taking any stance on the issue, he does what he is apt to do--talk with Bosco.
Toph is the only one who never knew Iroh as an enemy, so she certainly has more of a soft spot towards him than the others. Aang could potentially side with her, but like you said, he's incapacitated and unable to play the role of mediator. So you end up with Toph who, more so than probably any other character, does not really see people in terms of where they come from facing off against Katara and Sokka, who've had bad things happen to them in the past because of the Fire Nation and are somewhat biased because of that.
I'm really interested to see what they do with Iroh in the show. I'd love to see the Gaang formulate a plan to rescue him, but I'm not sure if it's going to happen.))
((It'll be interesting to see what they do with the Earth King. Traveling and getting a wealth of new experiences under his belt could be very good for him, but at this point, there's no way to know what they've got planned for his character. But at least they didn't leave him behind, WTF.
I fear for Iroh, honestly. I really have trouble seeing this end happily for him or, by proxy, Zuko. But then again, there's just no way of knowing until canon plays out...))
((I don't really anticipate the Earth King traveling with the group for a long period of time. I imagine the third season will open with them dropping him off somewhere, like with the Water Tribe warriors or something. Or maybe King Bumi will finally execute his plan and recapture Omashu, and they'll leave the Earth King there.
I've said since the beginning of the show that Iroh is bound to die at some point... I'd be sad to see it happen, though, since he's by far one of my favorite characters. But, I've been wrong before.))
((Or Kiyoshi Island. That would be awkward, even if it might be safe. But yeah, I seriously doubt they'd go the route of turning him into a full-time Gaang member even if that would mean giving him a name.
It seems even more likely now that Zuko's broken the collective brain of the fandom. Though this could also bring in Iroh's connections or whatever...))
((According to nick.com, his name is actually "Kuei", but since he's been on the throne since he was young, he's gotten used to everyone just calling him "Earth King" instead.
Haha, yeah. People have theorized that the White Lotus Society will play a part in getting Aang and co. into the Fire Nation next season, so who knows. I imagine that Iroh is going to end up being Aang's Firebending teacher one way or another, though.))
((Apparently it means 'chief' or 'puppet' depending on how you translate it, so it's kind of fitting.
Yeah. Zuko has to actually master Firebending before he's ready to teach anyone, heh. And plus the whole 'turning traitor' thing would be a bit of a problem.))
((Hmm. Still going to be hard not to think of him as 'Liu Chan', but that works.
Well, when you think about it, Zuko didn't betray the Gaang so much as he did Iroh. He's still a Fire Nation patriot, and aside from the fandom's wishes/expectations and the fact he's a sympathetic character in an action cartoon, there was no real reason for him to turn on Azula there, especially since she was offering him the chance to get back everything he wanted. Ignoring the fact she's a lying bitch, but hey, that's exactly what he's apparently doing, so...!
Character-wise, it makes sense for him, because Zuko's been screwing up and making mistakes throughout the series thus far. It's just that this one hurts because he's gone against what Iroh/fandom expected/was hoping for. And everybody loves Iroh, and generally speaking, people hate getting proven wrong, so...
...Yeah, stupid, stupid rat creatures Prince Zuko.))
((Well, I think the one reason he had for not joining Azula is that she's evil and he knows it. She's a total sociopath that will kill or doublecross anyone if it gets her in a better position. He's seen this time and time again. Unless he has a brilliant plan (doubtful, since this is Zuko we're talking about), it seems to me that it's only a matter of time before Azula pulls a fast one on him when it suits her. It's pretty obvious that she's just manipulating him now rather than actually caring about what happens to him.
It does make sense since Zuko is pretty crazy about getting his honor back, and Azula offered him an easy way to do so, even if he probably should have thought harder about just who was offering him that deal.
Someone on a forum I was reading said that he thought the main reason there was such a backlash against Zuko after the finale wasn't because he joined the side no one expected, but because he betrayed Iroh. Iroh is probably the single most well-liked character in the show, and betraying him? That's like
( ... )
((But then again, look at the start of the second season, where he ignores Iroh's warnings and his history with Azula because he's all caught up in 'OMGYAY Daddy's taking me back! ♥' He has serious blind spots when it comes to his family and honor, and that's bit him before. It's going to bite him again and again until he either gets it or bites it. And can you imagine the shitstorm that would follow if Zuko was the one to die after everyone kept predicting it for Iroh?
He's a flawed character. Setting himself up to become a seriously tragic one, too.
And yeah, that seems to hit it pretty much on the head. That and he screwed over the 'Zutara shippers', and they are scary.))
((I guess I just hoped that he'd have realized that Azula is bad news after what happened in that episode. Zuko says it himself: Azula always lies. I'm sure he'll figure it out sooner or later, but you just have to wonder what it's going to take before he snaps out of it. The death of Iroh, perhaps?
They seem to be setting Zuko up to be the next leader of the Fire Nation, but as the finale proved, they don't always do what the fandom thinks they're going to do. I've thought about Zuko dying before... I'm not sure if I'm going to think on it too much, though. There are people who theorize that every main character is going to die.
Haha, yeah, I laughed about that. If nothing else, Nick has some seriously smart people running their advertising campaign for Avatar. I love how they centered all the commercials around that one shipping moment, even though it only lasted for about two minutes in the show and didn't have a whole lot of bearing on the plot. Brilliant stuff.))
What's sad about this is how clear the divide is -- without Aang to intercede, the Waterbenders argue to leave the Firebender, pointing at the sins of others and ignoring how Iroh saved them. Though one wonders what Aang would say anyway; one thing the finale proved is that this series isn't quite as predictable as everyone assumed.
The Earth King's silence on the matter is telling; he has no authority here, and his uneducated opinion about the situation is ultimately pointless, as he has no idea about what has occured. Does he have a name, anyway? I keep thinking 'Liu Chan', but, uh, different fandom...
And the way that Toph is able to see past all of that so easily, the way she gets to the core -- 'he's our friend, leaving him is wrong' -- suits her. And it's sad to see her conceding the point, even in such dire circumstances. That isn't what we're used to, and it hurts.))
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The Earth King makes me think of a child that's happy when everything is going just swell but has no idea what to do when things fall apart. So instead of taking any stance on the issue, he does what he is apt to do--talk with Bosco.
Toph is the only one who never knew Iroh as an enemy, so she certainly has more of a soft spot towards him than the others. Aang could potentially side with her, but like you said, he's incapacitated and unable to play the role of mediator. So you end up with Toph who, more so than probably any other character, does not really see people in terms of where they come from facing off against Katara and Sokka, who've had bad things happen to them in the past because of the Fire Nation and are somewhat biased because of that.
I'm really interested to see what they do with Iroh in the show. I'd love to see the Gaang formulate a plan to rescue him, but I'm not sure if it's going to happen.))
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I fear for Iroh, honestly. I really have trouble seeing this end happily for him or, by proxy, Zuko. But then again, there's just no way of knowing until canon plays out...))
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I've said since the beginning of the show that Iroh is bound to die at some point... I'd be sad to see it happen, though, since he's by far one of my favorite characters. But, I've been wrong before.))
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It seems even more likely now that Zuko's broken the collective brain of the fandom. Though this could also bring in Iroh's connections or whatever...))
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Haha, yeah. People have theorized that the White Lotus Society will play a part in getting Aang and co. into the Fire Nation next season, so who knows. I imagine that Iroh is going to end up being Aang's Firebending teacher one way or another, though.))
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Iroh seems more likely than Zuko at this point, anyway. Yay for Iroh!))
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Yeah. Zuko has to actually master Firebending before he's ready to teach anyone, heh. And plus the whole 'turning traitor' thing would be a bit of a problem.))
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Well, when you think about it, Zuko didn't betray the Gaang so much as he did Iroh. He's still a Fire Nation patriot, and aside from the fandom's wishes/expectations and the fact he's a sympathetic character in an action cartoon, there was no real reason for him to turn on Azula there, especially since she was offering him the chance to get back everything he wanted. Ignoring the fact she's a lying bitch, but hey, that's exactly what he's apparently doing, so...!
Character-wise, it makes sense for him, because Zuko's been screwing up and making mistakes throughout the series thus far. It's just that this one hurts because he's gone against what Iroh/fandom expected/was hoping for. And everybody loves Iroh, and generally speaking, people hate getting proven wrong, so...
...Yeah, stupid, stupid rat creatures Prince Zuko.))
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It does make sense since Zuko is pretty crazy about getting his honor back, and Azula offered him an easy way to do so, even if he probably should have thought harder about just who was offering him that deal.
Someone on a forum I was reading said that he thought the main reason there was such a backlash against Zuko after the finale wasn't because he joined the side no one expected, but because he betrayed Iroh. Iroh is probably the single most well-liked character in the show, and betraying him? That's like ( ... )
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He's a flawed character. Setting himself up to become a seriously tragic one, too.
And yeah, that seems to hit it pretty much on the head. That and he screwed over the 'Zutara shippers', and they are scary.))
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They seem to be setting Zuko up to be the next leader of the Fire Nation, but as the finale proved, they don't always do what the fandom thinks they're going to do. I've thought about Zuko dying before... I'm not sure if I'm going to think on it too much, though. There are people who theorize that every main character is going to die.
Haha, yeah, I laughed about that. If nothing else, Nick has some seriously smart people running their advertising campaign for Avatar. I love how they centered all the commercials around that one shipping moment, even though it only lasted for about two minutes in the show and didn't have a whole lot of bearing on the plot. Brilliant stuff.))
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And that was a pretty shrewd move. XD ))
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