Avatar essay
Beneath the cut is a rather tl;dr essay I wrote about how "The Southern Raiders," far from being the Zutarafest it might seem to be, is in fact one of the biggest turning points for Aang and Katara's relationship.
I've been in fandoms a long time and it isn't surprising to me that Zuko is so popular in the fandom. He's older, he's the bad boy, he's got a redemptive character arc. He really is a great, interesting character who greatly enriches the complexity of the show. He's the Spike of ATLA. Generally, the most popular character is the one who gets paired up with absolutely everyone. So Zuko gets to be the little black dress of the ATLA fandom...he looks good on everybody.
Generally speaking, when you have two competing ships in a fandom that involve Character A paired with two different partners, B and C, people's ship preferences are not about Character A. The ships are about characters B and C. If you prefer character B, you'll be an A/B shipper. If you prefer character C, you'll be an A/C shipper. Now, Aang gets more love in the ATLA fandom than just about any other central character I've come across (as a rule, the central character in any media is the one who gets the least love from the fandom), but Zuko is a more popular character overall, so it isn't surprising that Zutara is a more popular ship. I'm a diehard Kataanger and I can see its appeal.
What I can't see, however, is when Katara is spoken of as having to choose between them in the canon. There wasn't ever really a choice. There was never any love triangle going on in the canon. Zuko never displayed any romantic feelings toward Katara, and while she had some affection for him at the end, one never got the sense that she was pining for him or that her confusion over how she felt about Aang was the result of having conflicting feelings for Zuko. They both seemed pretty squicked out by the whole idea during EIP. She couldn't have "picked" Zuko. He was never really an option on the table.
Which brings me to the point of this essay, which is that "The Southern Raiders," while on its surface one of the great episodes for Zutarans, is in fact THE turning point for Aang and Katara, even though Aang is barely in the episode.
The four episodes that follow "The Western Air Temple" are all about Zuko and his acceptance into the group. They are about him rebuilding his idea of himself after leaving behind everything he knew and thought he wanted. The thing is that Zuko's mission never really changed. He always wanted to prove himself and reclaim his honor. What that means is what changed. Before, he wanted to prove himself to his father and reclaim his honor in the Fire Nation. By now, he's proving himself to Iroh and to his own internal conscience, and reclaiming his own honor by helping Aang. So with each successive episode after he joins the group, he takes another step to fully committing to his new course in life. With each episode, he tackles another person who has a pre-existing notion of him, and he does this by helping each person accomplish something difficult. He starts with Aang, because Aang is the easy one. Aang already knows that Zuko is capable of good, not only because of the Blue Spirit but because Aang has a keen sense of people's inner selves and always has. So even though Aang is the one with the most to resent...he's the one Zuko chased for months and helped to nearly kill, after all...it was kind of a foregone conclusion that he'd accept him, because Aang always thinks the best of everyone, even people who hate him and try to hurt him.
Then he moves on to Sokka. He is a tougher nut than Aang but he's practical at heart, so he sees the assets that Zuko can bring. While he cements Sokka's opinion of him, he also causes Mai and Ty Lee to sever their connection to Azula, and gains another ally in Suki.
Which brings us to Southern Raiders, and Zuko's greatest challenge: Katara. What is she to him? Is she a romantic interest? No. She is a symbol of his redemption. She is the proof he needs that he has truly become who Iroh hoped he could become. He knows that she bears the most hostility towards him and the most mistrust, so if he can get HER to like him, he must be a good person. Right?
And why, exactly, is it that Katara has the most hostility? Katara fell victim to Zuko's troubled conscience before. She felt personally betrayed when he turned against them in Ba Sing Se. She's the most hardened toward him because he made her feel foolish for believing in him, for softening her heart toward him. She is angered that he invoked something so sacred to her, namely the memory of her mother, to gain her sympathy and then it was thrown back in her face. But I think a big factor as well is her knowledge of what that betrayal almost cost her. If Iroh and Aang had been five minutes later arriving in the catacombs, she would have used that spirit water on Zuko's face. If she had? Aang would be dead. She would not have had the water to heal him. So the thought of what she almost allowed to happen, that she almost wasted that water and left herself without the means to heal Aang, makes her that much more unlikely to trust Zuko again. Katara's hostility toward Zuko is only partially her own. It's also on Aang's behalf. In a way, Aang doesn't have to hate Zuko because Katara is doing it for him. When Zuko joins the group, she isn't worried that he'll hurt her. She's worried that he'll hurt Aang.
Zuko knows this. So if he can get Katara on his side, it'll mean that he's really and truly reformed. It'll be a validation of the new course he's set his life on. It'll mean he's worthy.
So how does he propose to gain Katara's trust? By helping her do something that WE know she shouldn't do...kill the man who murdered her mother. He tells her what she wants to hear, urges her to do what she wants to do. Take her vengeance. Strike back at the person who hurt her so deeply. Show him that she isn't the weak little girl she once was, and avenge her mother's death. But this isn't what Iroh would advise Zuko to do. It isn't what New Zuko knows he probably should do. He's encouraging Katara's lust for vengeance because he so badly wants her acceptance and her approval to prove that he's really good now. See how good he is? Even Katara, who hated him the most, accepts him now. Zuko's assistance in Katara's quest for vengeance is self-serving. It isn't about helping Katara, it's about Zuko's need for her approval.
Except we know that vengeance isn't what Katara needs, or what will help her. Who is it who understands her better than that? Aang. Throughout the episode, Aang is probably the calmest, most Zen we've ever seen him. Goofball!Aang does not make an appearance in this episode. WiseAvatar!Aang is who we get. He speaks quietly but with confidence. He isn't judgmental, but he states his own position. Zuko tells Katara what she should do, but Aang does not. He merely says that he hopes she will not choose vengeance, and then he lets her go so that she can make her own choice. Aang loves Katara enough to know that he can't tell her what to do, or that her feelings are wrong...and that he has to let her go find out on her own who she is and what she really needs from this.
Aang isn't there when Katara finds the man who killed her mother, but in another sense he is very much there. He and Zuko are the angel and the devil on Katara's shoulders. Zuko means well here. He thinks he's helping her, but his notion of what will help her the most is colored by his need to gain her approval. Aang is willing to risk her disapproval and her anger in order to tell her what he really feels, and the truth that he knows. So while Zuko watches her bloodbend, helps her ambush an old man, and encourages her to take her revenge, his is not the voice she hears. And it isn't like she decides to take Aang's advice over Zuko's, in the sense of deciding which of these two men in her life she's going to obey. It's that she realizes that what Aang said was true, for herself. Killing Yon Rha isn't what she needs or wants. So while she is in Zuko's company during this adventure, it's Aang that she's really connecting with. When she gets back to the group, she's able to let go of her mistrust of Zuko and forgive his misdeeds. Aang's influence has strengthened her spirit, and I think she feels it on a new level, and it's a little scary. I think that's the source of the confusion she professes in EIP.
Season 3 for Aang and Katara was a lot about them moving to more equal footing in their relationship. In "Awakening" he actively rejects her comfort and attention. In "Headband" we see her jealous of other girls, and that she is attracted to him. In "Painted Lady" they team up to accomplish something. Now with this episode, suddenly he is someone who could be an emotional and spiritual partner to her, not just an object of her devotion and affection and caretaking, not just someone who desires her from afar and is passive about his feelings. In "Day of Black Sun," Katara was proud of Aang. Here, he is proud of her. Suddenly she isn't so clearly the person with the upper hand in their relationship. That's a step toward being in love with someone, as opposed to just loving them as a friend or family member.
I've been in fandoms a long time and it isn't surprising to me that Zuko is so popular in the fandom. He's older, he's the bad boy, he's got a redemptive character arc. He really is a great, interesting character who greatly enriches the complexity of the show. He's the Spike of ATLA. Generally, the most popular character is the one who gets paired up with absolutely everyone. So Zuko gets to be the little black dress of the ATLA fandom...he looks good on everybody.
Generally speaking, when you have two competing ships in a fandom that involve Character A paired with two different partners, B and C, people's ship preferences are not about Character A. The ships are about characters B and C. If you prefer character B, you'll be an A/B shipper. If you prefer character C, you'll be an A/C shipper. Now, Aang gets more love in the ATLA fandom than just about any other central character I've come across (as a rule, the central character in any media is the one who gets the least love from the fandom), but Zuko is a more popular character overall, so it isn't surprising that Zutara is a more popular ship. I'm a diehard Kataanger and I can see its appeal.
What I can't see, however, is when Katara is spoken of as having to choose between them in the canon. There wasn't ever really a choice. There was never any love triangle going on in the canon. Zuko never displayed any romantic feelings toward Katara, and while she had some affection for him at the end, one never got the sense that she was pining for him or that her confusion over how she felt about Aang was the result of having conflicting feelings for Zuko. They both seemed pretty squicked out by the whole idea during EIP. She couldn't have "picked" Zuko. He was never really an option on the table.
Which brings me to the point of this essay, which is that "The Southern Raiders," while on its surface one of the great episodes for Zutarans, is in fact THE turning point for Aang and Katara, even though Aang is barely in the episode.
The four episodes that follow "The Western Air Temple" are all about Zuko and his acceptance into the group. They are about him rebuilding his idea of himself after leaving behind everything he knew and thought he wanted. The thing is that Zuko's mission never really changed. He always wanted to prove himself and reclaim his honor. What that means is what changed. Before, he wanted to prove himself to his father and reclaim his honor in the Fire Nation. By now, he's proving himself to Iroh and to his own internal conscience, and reclaiming his own honor by helping Aang. So with each successive episode after he joins the group, he takes another step to fully committing to his new course in life. With each episode, he tackles another person who has a pre-existing notion of him, and he does this by helping each person accomplish something difficult. He starts with Aang, because Aang is the easy one. Aang already knows that Zuko is capable of good, not only because of the Blue Spirit but because Aang has a keen sense of people's inner selves and always has. So even though Aang is the one with the most to resent...he's the one Zuko chased for months and helped to nearly kill, after all...it was kind of a foregone conclusion that he'd accept him, because Aang always thinks the best of everyone, even people who hate him and try to hurt him.
Then he moves on to Sokka. He is a tougher nut than Aang but he's practical at heart, so he sees the assets that Zuko can bring. While he cements Sokka's opinion of him, he also causes Mai and Ty Lee to sever their connection to Azula, and gains another ally in Suki.
Which brings us to Southern Raiders, and Zuko's greatest challenge: Katara. What is she to him? Is she a romantic interest? No. She is a symbol of his redemption. She is the proof he needs that he has truly become who Iroh hoped he could become. He knows that she bears the most hostility towards him and the most mistrust, so if he can get HER to like him, he must be a good person. Right?
And why, exactly, is it that Katara has the most hostility? Katara fell victim to Zuko's troubled conscience before. She felt personally betrayed when he turned against them in Ba Sing Se. She's the most hardened toward him because he made her feel foolish for believing in him, for softening her heart toward him. She is angered that he invoked something so sacred to her, namely the memory of her mother, to gain her sympathy and then it was thrown back in her face. But I think a big factor as well is her knowledge of what that betrayal almost cost her. If Iroh and Aang had been five minutes later arriving in the catacombs, she would have used that spirit water on Zuko's face. If she had? Aang would be dead. She would not have had the water to heal him. So the thought of what she almost allowed to happen, that she almost wasted that water and left herself without the means to heal Aang, makes her that much more unlikely to trust Zuko again. Katara's hostility toward Zuko is only partially her own. It's also on Aang's behalf. In a way, Aang doesn't have to hate Zuko because Katara is doing it for him. When Zuko joins the group, she isn't worried that he'll hurt her. She's worried that he'll hurt Aang.
Zuko knows this. So if he can get Katara on his side, it'll mean that he's really and truly reformed. It'll be a validation of the new course he's set his life on. It'll mean he's worthy.
So how does he propose to gain Katara's trust? By helping her do something that WE know she shouldn't do...kill the man who murdered her mother. He tells her what she wants to hear, urges her to do what she wants to do. Take her vengeance. Strike back at the person who hurt her so deeply. Show him that she isn't the weak little girl she once was, and avenge her mother's death. But this isn't what Iroh would advise Zuko to do. It isn't what New Zuko knows he probably should do. He's encouraging Katara's lust for vengeance because he so badly wants her acceptance and her approval to prove that he's really good now. See how good he is? Even Katara, who hated him the most, accepts him now. Zuko's assistance in Katara's quest for vengeance is self-serving. It isn't about helping Katara, it's about Zuko's need for her approval.
Except we know that vengeance isn't what Katara needs, or what will help her. Who is it who understands her better than that? Aang. Throughout the episode, Aang is probably the calmest, most Zen we've ever seen him. Goofball!Aang does not make an appearance in this episode. WiseAvatar!Aang is who we get. He speaks quietly but with confidence. He isn't judgmental, but he states his own position. Zuko tells Katara what she should do, but Aang does not. He merely says that he hopes she will not choose vengeance, and then he lets her go so that she can make her own choice. Aang loves Katara enough to know that he can't tell her what to do, or that her feelings are wrong...and that he has to let her go find out on her own who she is and what she really needs from this.
Aang isn't there when Katara finds the man who killed her mother, but in another sense he is very much there. He and Zuko are the angel and the devil on Katara's shoulders. Zuko means well here. He thinks he's helping her, but his notion of what will help her the most is colored by his need to gain her approval. Aang is willing to risk her disapproval and her anger in order to tell her what he really feels, and the truth that he knows. So while Zuko watches her bloodbend, helps her ambush an old man, and encourages her to take her revenge, his is not the voice she hears. And it isn't like she decides to take Aang's advice over Zuko's, in the sense of deciding which of these two men in her life she's going to obey. It's that she realizes that what Aang said was true, for herself. Killing Yon Rha isn't what she needs or wants. So while she is in Zuko's company during this adventure, it's Aang that she's really connecting with. When she gets back to the group, she's able to let go of her mistrust of Zuko and forgive his misdeeds. Aang's influence has strengthened her spirit, and I think she feels it on a new level, and it's a little scary. I think that's the source of the confusion she professes in EIP.
Season 3 for Aang and Katara was a lot about them moving to more equal footing in their relationship. In "Awakening" he actively rejects her comfort and attention. In "Headband" we see her jealous of other girls, and that she is attracted to him. In "Painted Lady" they team up to accomplish something. Now with this episode, suddenly he is someone who could be an emotional and spiritual partner to her, not just an object of her devotion and affection and caretaking, not just someone who desires her from afar and is passive about his feelings. In "Day of Black Sun," Katara was proud of Aang. Here, he is proud of her. Suddenly she isn't so clearly the person with the upper hand in their relationship. That's a step toward being in love with someone, as opposed to just loving them as a friend or family member.