Iroh, Dragon of the West
Okay, the Avatar finale--so much awesome. And I haven't heard a lot of complaining about it, but right after it was over there were some issues raised about stuff being done badly that I heard. So this is my post about how I actually think those same things were done REALLY AWESOMELY!
( The function of Iroh--and a little bit Ursa--in the finale--spoilers within, obviously )
( The function of Iroh--and a little bit Ursa--in the finale--spoilers within, obviously )
Hear! Hear!
I really liked your analysis and I found myself nodding at every other sentence. You are completely right that Ursa & Zuko's reunion would have been too complicated and just too much for the story. Perhaps this is where the movie might have some potential, eh? :p
but what makes Aang and Zuko better is their instinct to get along with the other person instead
Only it is Katara that shows mercy, not Zuko.* Zuko was all for commiting the necessary evil (he won't have hesitated to redirect Azula's lightning back at her). But at the end, he was clearly relived that he didn't have to kill his sister and he - and the audience - really came to see Azula was, as you've described in this meta, as the ultimate victim of this story.
*(It was actually this moment that reconcilled me with the Southern Raiders. I still have some issues with that episode but generally, every aspect of the episodes in ( ... )
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Zuko was all for commiting the necessary evil (he won't have hesitated to redirect Azula's lightning back at her)
Zuko might have talked big in Southern Raiders, but he doesn't have a good history of killing people off. Remember when he even tired to save Zhao's life, someone he had no reason to do anything but hate? And he didn't look like he would have been happy of Azula's death in the Southern Raiders beginning either. So I'm doubtful he would have gone through with it even given the chance.
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I thought today that one of the reasons why Zuko talked so big in The Southern Raiders and even why he seemed to put so much pressure on Aang might have been fuelled by his own insecurities about the whole thing. I mean, he could not kill his father in DOBS, and I doubt he could have killed Azula.
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I actually realized this a few thoughts later. ::face palm:: My problem with this is that as much as I agree with it, it then flies in the face of every action he makes in Southern Raiders and his insistence of Aang that Ozzai needs to be killed. I can agree that Southern Raiders was supposed to show that Zuko had a "do whatever it takes" streak and won't hesitate if push comes to shove, and he was trying to pass on that streak first to Katara, then to Aang. But if he doesn't have that streak, then why does he try to incite Katara, and then Aang to do what he already knows he is incapable of doing? ::flails:: It's kind of funny, and kind of sad really, how much that episode fails in the awesomeness that is Avatar.
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It is a geniune question. It's also a question that Zuko believes he knows the answer to. Sokka is impatient with Aang: everyone is, even the old Avatars. No one gives Aang any other advice than to kill Ozzai, not even Zuko. Zuko actually teaches Aang how to deflect lightning and tells him plainly that when Aang deflects Ozzai's lightning, he has to redirect it back at his father. The whole reason why Aang ends up running away, spiritually at least, is because he's surrounded by people who don't understand that he has a problem with ending anybody's life and who are reminding him that yes, you are running out of time.
With Katara I didn't think ( ... )
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Yes, he does do that, and he counter-acts the other people. But what I mean is, there's no scene where Katara herself is hesitatnt and Zuko is pushing her. The two of them seem to just be on the same page to begin with. When he learns what happened he thinks finding the guy who did it is the solution and when he presents it to her she seems to think the same thing. I just didn't think it was a case of Zuko pushing Katara at all. Of the two of them, Zuko is totally on board with what she's doing, but she's even more gung-ho than he is. Zuko is there to enable her and helps get her to where she's got the guy in her power, but even his bringing the information to her isn't presented as Zuko pressuring her or telling her this is what she must do. So when she backs off the guy Zuko sees that as fine too. Making this better for Katara is his goal more than needing to see her get revenge.
Firstly, at the end of the episode, neither have understood the ( ... )
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You’re forgetting one thing: On board the Southern Raiders’ ship, Katara walks away after finding out that she got the wrong man. It is only after Zuko tortures the man for information about Kya’s murderer, that Katara is now back on her path for revenge ( ... )
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I meant a scene where Katara had the guy and didn't want to do violence to him and Zuko pushed her. Zuko wants to present the guy to her. That was what he said he could do--he could give her the guy who killed her mother. So when it's not the guy, Zuko's failed. Katara walks away not because she's not just as eager to get revenge than ever, she just thinks Zuko was wrong in thinking he could get the guy. So Zuko sees his own goal slipping away and says if you're not the guy, who is?
He's totally enabling her, of course, the same way he was when he first brought it up. But he's not pushing her to do violence to the guy, it's just important to him that he give her the guy. When she pulls back from actually killing him Zuko isn't disappointed or angry at that choice. But he can't let it go at the idea that it's impossible to find the guy at all.
I just wish I knew why she forgave Zuko, since other than bring ( ... )
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I feel Zuko does hold out the possibility of killing someone as an idea--so did the rest of the GAang besides Aang. If he'd been given the job of killing the Fire Lord in the way Aang was I don't think he'd have tried to find other options. But when actually faced with the moment it seems like both he and Katara go for something else, no matter how angry they were before that.
I wonder if the connection is that Zuko and Katara are both very emotional characters so can get carried away with anger while Aang is very much not that? That's why they make good foils for him.
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I always thought that Katara and Zuko have much things in common, especially by being more idealistic than the other members of the gaang, and by following their emotions. That's also why they both need someone like Aang, as a friend or as a partner, who laughs at gravity.
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