Embers-WTF
There is a fic in A:TLA known as Embers. I have not read it, but while it's apparently well written it is filled with horrible racism, Fire Nation sympathizing (THEY ARE THE ENEMY, okay it's their dictator government BUT STILL!), and Katara bashing. Also, the authoress justifies her ideas with odd things like this
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Personality Powers - A person's raw ability in manipulating an element or using techniques based on it is dependent on the degree they possess the personality traits related to that element (among other factors, such as genetics and spiritual favour). The reverse is also revealed to be true, when those who become yaoren experience personality changes related to the new element. Zuko, who is forcibly given water, becomes far more willing to let others close, and what Shirong experiences after being given fire can be summed up as an increased tendency towards fanaticism that really worries him.
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Protagonist-Centered Morality - Subverted. While the narrative often seems to favor the protagonists, it's mainly because the POVs are often characters that already follow (as with Teruko), like (Toph and Amaya), or have a good impression of them (Xiu). Dissenting point of views are narrated much later in the story, when they chip in to the momentum of the plot.
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Sadly Mythtaken - One of Kyoshi's followers had become a Yaoren and died for lack of spirit-healing. Seeing an Earthbending follower die from Waterbending was a major reason for Avatar Kyoshi insisting on the rigid separation of the elements and nations. However, in the present, hundred-year-old spiritualists like Aang and Tao believe the spirits took offense to and struck down the follower for daring to tread on two elements. This was a completely wrong attribution of cause, as bending two element requires both great spirits' blessing. However, it could be quite true, for present benders, since the spirits tend to violently uphold an Avatar's Decree and it's unclear whether Kyoshi ever formally decreed this or just considered it a self-evident truth.
Name a historical hero and prepare to be disillusioned. In the latest chapter, it's revealed that a Northern Water Tribe Avatar went insane and tried to take over the world.
In chapter 46, Langxue insists that Asagitatsu didn't kill Avatar Yangchen. It killed dozens of people, one of whom was her.
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Shapeshifting Lover - A common Interspecies Romance fairy tale in the Fire Nation about dragons that's true. Shidan, Kuzon's dragon companion, married Kuzon's daughter and became Ursa's father. This is likely intended, not just to be special, but as a polar opposite of the Water Tribes. Earth and Air learn from their bending spirit animals, Water learns from spirits, and Fire, in effect, joins with their bending spirit animals.
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Super Prototype - Subverted. The dating of the White Lotus' (remaining?) records indicates that the yaoren came before the Avatar. Since they're the result of a spirit deciding to empower a mortal to handle something that threatens the balance, it makes sense that when they were unable to handle whatever problem and the Avatar Spirit began to be incarnated, it took that template and turned it Up to Eleven. The Avatar has all four elements instead of just two, is born with them instead of having to worry about any of those possibly-madness-and-death-inducing spiritual wounds, is incredibly powerful instead of sometimes possessing Heroic Willpower without the raw bending power to back it up (which would likely be why they got that wound in the first place), is reborn like yaoren often are instead of immortal like normal spirits (which likely helps immensely when it comes to understanding the human condition, since Aang is only slightly Genre Blind instead of utterly incapable of acting like or understanding normal people,) has the past incarnations to act as full-on advisors... It's no wonder the yaoren got demoted to Hero Secret Service.
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Wendigo - Discussed as part of the Shown Their Work about why Katara is acting as a responsible adult and doing the right thing when she suspects that Zuko is driving the others crazy and needs to die under Ba Sing Se. Or rather, she would be if this were the Water Tribes. Vathara seems to enjoy breaking brains and conventional definitions of right and wrong by pointing out the scary bits of how the human psyche works.
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You Are Not Alone: Since the job of the Earth King is to deal with spirits, and those who fight spirits are marked and thus seperated from normal people, Yangchen implies that Kyoshi created the Dai Li so that the Earth King would have not just help in dealing with spirits (part of what set off Chin's rebellion), but a group of people, including commoners, who could be regarded as friends and co-workers, allowing the Kings to have a source of friends and much more understanding of the people around them. The purpose of the yaoren appears to be this as well: a new avatar is understandably going to be upset at finding out their whole life was a lie, they're not like the people they love anymore (or never were), they now have a destiny to fulfill that doesn't care about what they wanted and got three more elements dropped on them. Not to mention teaching what you can pull with two elements that wouldn't occur to single element teachers. Meaning the elimination of the yaoren led to the Avatar feeling alone and isolated, as Aang does since he's 'the only one who can save the world,' and thus far less mentally stable.
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And, from the fanfic itself:
"We all used to heal," Katara said, stunned herself. "Sozin hunted down fire-healers. Chin got the earth-healers. And... someone called Xiangchen was after the air-healers." She gulped. "If the Avatar has to master every element, but part of our bending is gone..."Chapter 32
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