for Gladiator1/16 c54 
21MosesArk Reborn2000
Are we perhaps getting more Zuko development? I wouldn't mind that as if Azuka's able to develop into a decent, dare I say, exceptional person. Though now that we've seen it, I just know they're going to practice with that whole re-directing lightning with his sword thing for some great combos
21MosesArk Reborn2000Are we perhaps getting more Zuko development? I wouldn't mind that as if Azuka's able to develop into a decent, dare I say, exceptional person. Though now that we've seen it, I just know they're going to practice with that whole re-directing lightning with his sword thing for some great combos
1/13 c384 Guest
Bravo, this is one of the best stories I have ever read
Bravo, this is one of the best stories I have ever read
1/15 c384 Nihilist intellectual
I discovered this fic last year and it's the best Avatar AU I've ever seen!
I'm not sure I can sum up everything I liked in one review, but I'll do my best.
The worldbuilding
We are shown what ATLA would be like if Aang had stayed trapped on ice for almost 10 more years.
The FN has won the war and I like how you reflect this event in politics.
The Comet was used to conquer the remnants of the Earth Kingdom, rather than, you know, razing the entire resource-rich area to make an example of it.
It makes perfect sense that the Northern Water Tribe hasn't been subjugated.
The North is farther away from the Fire Nation and the terrain is much more defensible than the South.
Besides, why would Ozai want to spend resources invading a frozen tundra? For furs? Fresh water? Just for prestige? It would make sense to just block the area and wait for those savages to give up, as Hahn did.
The FN's policy with respect to subject peoples is very well written. They follow a carrot and stick strategy, agreeing on cultural assimilation and indigenization similar to what other empires have done throughout their history.
(persians, romans, arabs, spanish, ottomans, russians, etc).
I find myself playing devil's advocate regarding the Fire Nation.
The 4 nations did not live in the idyllic harmony that Katara narrates in the intro in such a cheesy way.
Let's be frank, why did Sozin choose war, to "share" the prosperity of the Fire Nation instead of trade? Because the Earth Kingdom was a failed state and the water tribes were reactionary Luddites who rejected industrialization.
As much as it pains leftists, imperialism has brought prosperity, order and rule of law to areas that were anarchic shitholes.
Rewriting history and destroying everything that reminds us of colonialism is a stupid and dangerous policy that makes it difficult for us to understand our current world.
Gender equality
On the other hand, it always seemed to me that the fandom made a big deal out of the Fire Nation's gender equality and I find it correct to call it into question.
It is true that the FN, like the USSR, had a feminist policy quite advanced for the time and allowed women access to the workforce and the armed forces.
But above the lower levels, the political and military leaders were overwhelmingly men and many sexist attitudes inherited from the past persisted.
(Azula is the only woman on Ozai's council and most of the other noblewomen are housewives and mothers with no political power).
That Ozai was named Fire Lord is something logical, since Iroh's bloodline had ended, but Azula? The little sister of the crown prince?
This sets a dangerous precedent that could turn succession laws upside down and create a hell of conflicts in all noble families; there was no way that this irregularity was going to be accepted so easily.
The fact that Ozai exiled Zuko makes a lot of sense, he wanted to publicly humiliate his firstborn and cast him away so that Azula would have no opposition to claiming the throne.
Obviously Azula was going to have a lot of pressure on her to marry, since all the nobles would see the golden opportunity in making their children Fire Lord consort.
(She has to arrive at her wedding night with her hymen intact, of course.)
ATLA is set in the second half of the 19th century, so kudos for getting the history of mentalities right.
Why is almost all fiction 21st century cultural norms in a pre-modern setting?
In premodern societies, gender equality and hookup culture are impossible.
Everyone has a place and role assigned from birth so that the community can survive.
Women were not allowed to venture out of the home and had to obey their male relatives for their own fucking safety. If they went out on a trip alone they could be assaulted, even dressing modestly.
Women married young and had many children to support the household and to have someone to care for them in old age.
If they had premarital relations the whole town would stigmatize them as slags, including their own family members. Why?
First, a stained woman is considered unreliable to marry and start a stable family and secondly, her shame spreads to her relatives and they lose the social trust of the community. In those times individuals were not considered islands that could do whatever the fuck they wanted like today.
There were no social security systems that allowed people to abdicate their duties to their families and neighbors into the hands of an omnipotent state in order to waste time and money on leisure, like there is today.
What are Kishimoto and Suzuki thinking when they put these women dressed like 21th Century street whores in their mangas set up in medieval worlds?
Fights
Many shonen and fantasy authors seem to know nothing about human anatomy.
Sexual dimorphism is real, women are physically weaker than men, period.
Becoming a badass takes a lot of time and effort in physical training.
Hard work doesn't defeat natural talent. Kishimoto can stuff the fairy tale of the hard-working underdog who defeats the prodigy down a horse's anus.
If you stop training, whether due to illness, injury or maternity, you quickly become rusty, and from your thirties onwards, decline is almost inevitable.
What I like about your fanfic is that the characters don't pull inexplicable power ups out of their asses like in all that shonen crap, but rather they get out of desperate situations with cunning, quick thinking, and luck.
Another good point is strategy. Sokka and the rebels have to move stealthily and strike hard and fast in order to stand a chance against the Fire Nation. They have to secure some liberated territory first before invading the Islands.
Honestly it pisses me off how all the Shonen War Arcs are always the same shit.
The villain gathers cannon fodder and throws it at the main character and his badass team, just to make them look cool, there are some fights against the elite minions and then the hero kicks the villain's ass, all of that in a day or two to look more epic.
Geopolitics? Military tactics? Peace negotiations? Who cares? All that matters is the fights and showing the five main characters as the BAMFS that otakus would like to be in their wet dreams. Glad you didn't follow this bullshit tradition.
The Characters
All the characters are grown adults, and seem more jaded and wiser in the ways of the world than the canonical teenagers, and that is great.
(Why do main characters in fiction always have to be teenagers? What problem is there for the characters to be in their 20s so that older people can identify with them and their exploits feel not so exaggerated?
Immature and untrained teenagers defeat adult villains with years of experience, haha, how realistic.)
Anyway, there are so many characters to analyze, so I'm going to focus on the Fire Royal Family, the Gaang, the White Lotus and Sokka's family.
The Fire Nation
Ozai
And I like how you've written Ozai, because in ATLA he was portrayed as a one-dimensional cartoonish villain and it doesn’t do him justice.
It bothers me how we were never shown his backstory or his rule, which you do so masterfully.
At first he started out as an underdog, even more so than Zuko.
He had the bad luck of growing up with an older brother who was already well into adulthood and therefore captured the full attention of his father, leaving him with very little room to excel, and any criticism he made towards Iroh was seen as jealousy.
(And the fact that his mother died in childbirth deprived him of a source of affection and made his relationship with his father start off on the wrong foot.)
His backstory of searching for the Avatar with Zhao and his relationship with his wife are very well constructed. We are shown his perspective as a stubborn, ambitious young man who just wants to be respected and valued, but the world frustrates him and pulls him down at every opportunity.
I think the turning point that turned him into the asshole we all know him as was the birth of his prodigy daughter, as he saw in her the opportunity to rise above his hated father and older brother.
For Ozai, Zuko would be nothing more than a mediocre, whinny and spoiled brat, unworthy of his privileges as a male firstborn, jealous and resentful of his younger, talented sister, which is ironic, since he uses the same arguments as his abusive father. (this is how family abuse works, sadly)
The sad thing about Ozai is that he really loves his daughter, but he is so selfish to separate his individual desires from her, as we can see when he finds out that Azula is fucking the gladiator, the concept of her happines does not enter his head, instead he considers his honour as sovereign and punishes her for it.
In a way, Ozai is a dark mirror of Zuko, the loser who never accepted himself and ended believing his own propaganda, lashing out against everything and everyone who may tarnish his prestige, unable to reach a compromise with his enemies, because he sees everything as a zero-sum game.
I like how he has a realization of how much of a jerk he is and how he begins to regret his decisions, but too little too late. (like a certain old KGB man)
Zhao
It makes sense that Zhao is an old friend of Ozai, since he sat on the honor tribune with Azula during the Agni Kai and was named Admiral despite his mediocrity as a commander.
He speaks to the Fire Lord as an equal, it is clear that they trust each other and that they have known each other for a long time.
I love how you've given depth to the character, developing his backstory and adding a bastard daughter, how he starts out as a moderately decent and unpretentious ally of Azula and Sokka until the gladiator is killed and he is forced to marry her and things go downhill from there.
From there he becomes a bitter drunk and a clown, delusional about a supposed conspiring Azula and with getting revenge on Ozai for screwing him over, and then his story follows the canon, with the difference that he does not kill the spirit of the moon and drinks the water of the oasis thinking that it will make him immortal, and dies.
Zuko
Zuko's life in this fic really sucks, he returns home after wasting ten years of his life, he discovers Mai has married, Azula covers herself in glory while he sinks into irrelevance.
That doesn't mean I tolerate him wallowing forever in his self-pity, since he reminds me too much of Shinji Ikari.
It is true that he was a victim of abuse indeed, but he also contributed to worsening his misfortune with his cowardice, passivity and naivety towards his abuser.
His sister is a bitch, yes, but he never has tried to really get to know her, or even gained enough self-control to ignore her and see through her lies.
(Yeah, she's like Asuka Langley Soryu, you need to be man enough to go through her thorns to really know her)
And with everyone else, the prince is like a big sponge, he complains and laments about his fortune but does not push himself to move on, understand people around him and help them. (You're not the only one who's suffering, you know?)
I love how Sokka and Mai open his eyes and how he finally finds his balls when he confronts Ozai.
It's a testament to Zuko's naivety that he needs his father to tell him bluntly that he never loved him before the prince finally grows a spine an tells dad to fuck off.
(Jesus, I wonder what the last year of searching was like.
Zuko: "insists on continuing the search for the 533rd time."
Crewmate: Yeah whatever, do you want to keep going until your uncle dies? Are you sure your fianceé won't get tired of waiting for you? And do you think the Fire Nation will really accept an old sea dog as Crown Prince even if you find the bloody Avatar? Use your brain, Prince Zuko.)
By the way, I love that you paired him with Suki, since she helps him to stop being a pussy and mature for her sake.
I have shipped him with the Kyoshi warrior since I read the comics and I always hated Maiko.
(Seriously, why the fuck are they together? Zuko is a grumpy idiot and Mai is a gloomy cynic and the only thing they have in common is that they both had the misfortune of growing up with that bitch Azula. Wouldn't it be better for them to break up with the past and start a new life with a new partner?)
I love Zuki's arc in the South Pole, especially the intersections with Hakoda, the father Zuko never had.
He sympathizes with the prince, since he knows how abusive the Fire Nation’s Royal Family is and sees how the poor boy is about to have a heart attack after receiving so much news at the same time.
(He gets stranded on the Pole, finds the avatar after ten years of searching and giving up, Suki tells him she got her pregnant. Good Lord man!)
Seriously, I think Zuko deserves a simple, quiet life as a family man away from the burden and stress of power. It bothers me how after breaking up with that toxic family he had to live alone in that palace full of bad memories and cleaning up the mess they left behind, while the Avatar team returned to their cozy homes.
Iroh
I think the fandom misunderstood this character. He is, if you allow me to reference Evangelion again, as Misato Katsuragi, kind and funny on the outside, but very flawed, neglectful, selfish and with clear favoritism towards his boy godson.
Let's remember that he has a long history of failures and war crimes that he tried to compensate by raising and guiding Zuko, not so much for genuine care to the boy, but rather to give meaning to his own existence and some shit about destiny..
(It's not like he was very competent at raising his precious Zuko, since he let him waste 10 years of his youth on a barge and was still the same moron.)
On the other hand, he completely neglected Azula as much as Misato neglected Asuka.
Come on, she was still a young girl, she could still change and she also had a lot of talents. Was Iroh really going to ignore all that in favor of his male nephew, just because this one was nicer and had a dick?
In case Zuko got the throne despite his flaws, what did Iroh plan to do with Azula? Kill her? Imprison her with Ozai? Marry her to some nobleman?
It makes perfect sense that Iroh would insist that Zuko become Fire Lord and expose Azula's affair to his father in order to undermine the “evil princess”, which in my opinion, is pretty hypocritical coming from a guy who 15 years ago nearly turned Ba Sing Se into WW2 Leningrad.
Ursa
Ursa's backstory in the comics it's written like shit.
Are we to believe that the granddaughter of Roku, who was the Fire Lord's pal, is a commoner who lived in a pisspot village? And that Azulon in his later years remembered that she existed and could use her as a broodmare? And he gave her in marriage to his youngest son, the loser?
We later found out that she moved in with her ex-boyfriend and had a daughter with him. Oh, poor Ursa.
Your backstory for Ursa is much better and makes much more sense. Her parents marry her off the idea of uniting the Sozin and Roku bloodlines, and Azulon leaves her to Ozai since he doesn't believe this Lamarckian shit.
The insecure Ozai is initially captivated by his beautiful and gentle wife, while Ursa eventually falls in love with him, pitying the treatment he receives from the cruel Fire Lord.
This is more or less like Anakin and Padmé, things are fine at first until things get toxic due to the guy's insecurities and resentments and the girl's complacency and unlimited dedication.
Azula was the key source of conflict in her marriage. Let's remember that the girl was the last in the line of succession, so her mother tried to raise her according to the gender roles she was raised with.
Ozai psychologically projected his past onto his daughter, wanting her to ascend regardless of what society thought, encouraging her to behave like a dictator, so that no man would dare to cross her.
Ursa, both here and in canon, has the same vices as her son: cowardice and passivity. I can't sympathize with her when she's so blind to her daughter's sociopathic behavior and how she overprotects Zuko, instead of teaching him to defend himself.
I like how in this fic you gave better development to the character and included her within the White Lotus.
Azulon
He may be a posthumous character, but his evil legacy lives on, both in a sociopolitical level and in his dysfunctional family.
If he hadn't been a total dick to his youngest son and hadn't put his grandson on the front lines, things would have been happier for everyone.
He slaps his son as a blessing for his daughter-in-law's pregnancy, what an fucking asshole.
He was the Stalin of the Fire Nation, the one who consolidated its imperial and aggressive ideology and who carried out most of the killing in the war.
It makes perfect sense that the reactionary geezer wouldn't be pleased with his granddaughter's firebending display, considering it would hurt his pride to have Ozai’s kid surpass his legendary mastery, and a girl, no less.
Why else would he order Ozai to kill Zuko? Lu Ten's death would not change the order of succession and if Ozai ever ascended to the throne, he would have the humiliation of losing his male bloodline.
That's how that sexist old timer would see it.
Sokka’s family
Katara is well written, she has a lot of resentment against the fire nation and how the hell is she going to forgive them just because her brother is the princess's lover. She is the same passionate girl we know, motherly and compassionate, but more jaded and it’s great.
Hakkoda is the voice of reason when Sokka is not there. Seeing that the war was lost after the Comet, he was wise enough to turn around and go back home empty-handed rather than continue fighting and end up dying for nothing, leaving his children completely orphaned.
I like how he is especially outraged when he finds out how Ozai treated his own children and tries to guide Zuko in his fatherhood adventure.
I love his interaction with his son, because he sees himself in him, a warrior who carries survivor's guilt and remorse. He is proud of Sokka not only for having survived, but for having adapted and learned from his own experiences more than he did himself in the past.
Aang
Another thing I like is that Aang does not become the savior of everything, since he still needs to master the elements and cannot risk bringing retribution to the South Pole. Aang is powerful and can take down the Firelord, yeah, but what happens next? He needs Sokka and company to help him lead the people towards peace, since 100 years of war cannot be resolved in two days.
Aang is going to have enough trouble restoring the Airbenders without having to act as the world's policeman.
Toph
Toph is still more or less the same character as in the series and I love it. I love how she develops her rocky and sarcastic relationship with Sokka and Azula aka ‘Spicy’.
She is another concept of badass woman in fantasy, the tomboy who does not care about her appearance or feminine manners, unlike the princess.
I like her friends with benefits relationship with Jet, since she is a gladiator and she has already had other sexual partners without risking social disapproval.
Kino
I like the addition of this character, as I think he fulfills three very important roles. First, he is an ordinary soldier who serves to give a face to the Fire Nation Army.
Second he becomes the comic relief of the Gaang now that Sokka is the leader. It's a more important role than it seems, as he lifts the spirits of the troop, a function just as important as any other.
Third, Kino doesn't have any big goals, a family or friends to protect at home. He's like the average single millennial; disconnected, living for work, with no prospects for advancement and no higher purpose that gives meaning to his life.
That's why
I discovered this fic last year and it's the best Avatar AU I've ever seen!
I'm not sure I can sum up everything I liked in one review, but I'll do my best.
The worldbuilding
We are shown what ATLA would be like if Aang had stayed trapped on ice for almost 10 more years.
The FN has won the war and I like how you reflect this event in politics.
The Comet was used to conquer the remnants of the Earth Kingdom, rather than, you know, razing the entire resource-rich area to make an example of it.
It makes perfect sense that the Northern Water Tribe hasn't been subjugated.
The North is farther away from the Fire Nation and the terrain is much more defensible than the South.
Besides, why would Ozai want to spend resources invading a frozen tundra? For furs? Fresh water? Just for prestige? It would make sense to just block the area and wait for those savages to give up, as Hahn did.
The FN's policy with respect to subject peoples is very well written. They follow a carrot and stick strategy, agreeing on cultural assimilation and indigenization similar to what other empires have done throughout their history.
(persians, romans, arabs, spanish, ottomans, russians, etc).
I find myself playing devil's advocate regarding the Fire Nation.
The 4 nations did not live in the idyllic harmony that Katara narrates in the intro in such a cheesy way.
Let's be frank, why did Sozin choose war, to "share" the prosperity of the Fire Nation instead of trade? Because the Earth Kingdom was a failed state and the water tribes were reactionary Luddites who rejected industrialization.
As much as it pains leftists, imperialism has brought prosperity, order and rule of law to areas that were anarchic shitholes.
Rewriting history and destroying everything that reminds us of colonialism is a stupid and dangerous policy that makes it difficult for us to understand our current world.
Gender equality
On the other hand, it always seemed to me that the fandom made a big deal out of the Fire Nation's gender equality and I find it correct to call it into question.
It is true that the FN, like the USSR, had a feminist policy quite advanced for the time and allowed women access to the workforce and the armed forces.
But above the lower levels, the political and military leaders were overwhelmingly men and many sexist attitudes inherited from the past persisted.
(Azula is the only woman on Ozai's council and most of the other noblewomen are housewives and mothers with no political power).
That Ozai was named Fire Lord is something logical, since Iroh's bloodline had ended, but Azula? The little sister of the crown prince?
This sets a dangerous precedent that could turn succession laws upside down and create a hell of conflicts in all noble families; there was no way that this irregularity was going to be accepted so easily.
The fact that Ozai exiled Zuko makes a lot of sense, he wanted to publicly humiliate his firstborn and cast him away so that Azula would have no opposition to claiming the throne.
Obviously Azula was going to have a lot of pressure on her to marry, since all the nobles would see the golden opportunity in making their children Fire Lord consort.
(She has to arrive at her wedding night with her hymen intact, of course.)
ATLA is set in the second half of the 19th century, so kudos for getting the history of mentalities right.
Why is almost all fiction 21st century cultural norms in a pre-modern setting?
In premodern societies, gender equality and hookup culture are impossible.
Everyone has a place and role assigned from birth so that the community can survive.
Women were not allowed to venture out of the home and had to obey their male relatives for their own fucking safety. If they went out on a trip alone they could be assaulted, even dressing modestly.
Women married young and had many children to support the household and to have someone to care for them in old age.
If they had premarital relations the whole town would stigmatize them as slags, including their own family members. Why?
First, a stained woman is considered unreliable to marry and start a stable family and secondly, her shame spreads to her relatives and they lose the social trust of the community. In those times individuals were not considered islands that could do whatever the fuck they wanted like today.
There were no social security systems that allowed people to abdicate their duties to their families and neighbors into the hands of an omnipotent state in order to waste time and money on leisure, like there is today.
What are Kishimoto and Suzuki thinking when they put these women dressed like 21th Century street whores in their mangas set up in medieval worlds?
Fights
Many shonen and fantasy authors seem to know nothing about human anatomy.
Sexual dimorphism is real, women are physically weaker than men, period.
Becoming a badass takes a lot of time and effort in physical training.
Hard work doesn't defeat natural talent. Kishimoto can stuff the fairy tale of the hard-working underdog who defeats the prodigy down a horse's anus.
If you stop training, whether due to illness, injury or maternity, you quickly become rusty, and from your thirties onwards, decline is almost inevitable.
What I like about your fanfic is that the characters don't pull inexplicable power ups out of their asses like in all that shonen crap, but rather they get out of desperate situations with cunning, quick thinking, and luck.
Another good point is strategy. Sokka and the rebels have to move stealthily and strike hard and fast in order to stand a chance against the Fire Nation. They have to secure some liberated territory first before invading the Islands.
Honestly it pisses me off how all the Shonen War Arcs are always the same shit.
The villain gathers cannon fodder and throws it at the main character and his badass team, just to make them look cool, there are some fights against the elite minions and then the hero kicks the villain's ass, all of that in a day or two to look more epic.
Geopolitics? Military tactics? Peace negotiations? Who cares? All that matters is the fights and showing the five main characters as the BAMFS that otakus would like to be in their wet dreams. Glad you didn't follow this bullshit tradition.
The Characters
All the characters are grown adults, and seem more jaded and wiser in the ways of the world than the canonical teenagers, and that is great.
(Why do main characters in fiction always have to be teenagers? What problem is there for the characters to be in their 20s so that older people can identify with them and their exploits feel not so exaggerated?
Immature and untrained teenagers defeat adult villains with years of experience, haha, how realistic.)
Anyway, there are so many characters to analyze, so I'm going to focus on the Fire Royal Family, the Gaang, the White Lotus and Sokka's family.
The Fire Nation
Ozai
And I like how you've written Ozai, because in ATLA he was portrayed as a one-dimensional cartoonish villain and it doesn’t do him justice.
It bothers me how we were never shown his backstory or his rule, which you do so masterfully.
At first he started out as an underdog, even more so than Zuko.
He had the bad luck of growing up with an older brother who was already well into adulthood and therefore captured the full attention of his father, leaving him with very little room to excel, and any criticism he made towards Iroh was seen as jealousy.
(And the fact that his mother died in childbirth deprived him of a source of affection and made his relationship with his father start off on the wrong foot.)
His backstory of searching for the Avatar with Zhao and his relationship with his wife are very well constructed. We are shown his perspective as a stubborn, ambitious young man who just wants to be respected and valued, but the world frustrates him and pulls him down at every opportunity.
I think the turning point that turned him into the asshole we all know him as was the birth of his prodigy daughter, as he saw in her the opportunity to rise above his hated father and older brother.
For Ozai, Zuko would be nothing more than a mediocre, whinny and spoiled brat, unworthy of his privileges as a male firstborn, jealous and resentful of his younger, talented sister, which is ironic, since he uses the same arguments as his abusive father. (this is how family abuse works, sadly)
The sad thing about Ozai is that he really loves his daughter, but he is so selfish to separate his individual desires from her, as we can see when he finds out that Azula is fucking the gladiator, the concept of her happines does not enter his head, instead he considers his honour as sovereign and punishes her for it.
In a way, Ozai is a dark mirror of Zuko, the loser who never accepted himself and ended believing his own propaganda, lashing out against everything and everyone who may tarnish his prestige, unable to reach a compromise with his enemies, because he sees everything as a zero-sum game.
I like how he has a realization of how much of a jerk he is and how he begins to regret his decisions, but too little too late. (like a certain old KGB man)
Zhao
It makes sense that Zhao is an old friend of Ozai, since he sat on the honor tribune with Azula during the Agni Kai and was named Admiral despite his mediocrity as a commander.
He speaks to the Fire Lord as an equal, it is clear that they trust each other and that they have known each other for a long time.
I love how you've given depth to the character, developing his backstory and adding a bastard daughter, how he starts out as a moderately decent and unpretentious ally of Azula and Sokka until the gladiator is killed and he is forced to marry her and things go downhill from there.
From there he becomes a bitter drunk and a clown, delusional about a supposed conspiring Azula and with getting revenge on Ozai for screwing him over, and then his story follows the canon, with the difference that he does not kill the spirit of the moon and drinks the water of the oasis thinking that it will make him immortal, and dies.
Zuko
Zuko's life in this fic really sucks, he returns home after wasting ten years of his life, he discovers Mai has married, Azula covers herself in glory while he sinks into irrelevance.
That doesn't mean I tolerate him wallowing forever in his self-pity, since he reminds me too much of Shinji Ikari.
It is true that he was a victim of abuse indeed, but he also contributed to worsening his misfortune with his cowardice, passivity and naivety towards his abuser.
His sister is a bitch, yes, but he never has tried to really get to know her, or even gained enough self-control to ignore her and see through her lies.
(Yeah, she's like Asuka Langley Soryu, you need to be man enough to go through her thorns to really know her)
And with everyone else, the prince is like a big sponge, he complains and laments about his fortune but does not push himself to move on, understand people around him and help them. (You're not the only one who's suffering, you know?)
I love how Sokka and Mai open his eyes and how he finally finds his balls when he confronts Ozai.
It's a testament to Zuko's naivety that he needs his father to tell him bluntly that he never loved him before the prince finally grows a spine an tells dad to fuck off.
(Jesus, I wonder what the last year of searching was like.
Zuko: "insists on continuing the search for the 533rd time."
Crewmate: Yeah whatever, do you want to keep going until your uncle dies? Are you sure your fianceé won't get tired of waiting for you? And do you think the Fire Nation will really accept an old sea dog as Crown Prince even if you find the bloody Avatar? Use your brain, Prince Zuko.)
By the way, I love that you paired him with Suki, since she helps him to stop being a pussy and mature for her sake.
I have shipped him with the Kyoshi warrior since I read the comics and I always hated Maiko.
(Seriously, why the fuck are they together? Zuko is a grumpy idiot and Mai is a gloomy cynic and the only thing they have in common is that they both had the misfortune of growing up with that bitch Azula. Wouldn't it be better for them to break up with the past and start a new life with a new partner?)
I love Zuki's arc in the South Pole, especially the intersections with Hakoda, the father Zuko never had.
He sympathizes with the prince, since he knows how abusive the Fire Nation’s Royal Family is and sees how the poor boy is about to have a heart attack after receiving so much news at the same time.
(He gets stranded on the Pole, finds the avatar after ten years of searching and giving up, Suki tells him she got her pregnant. Good Lord man!)
Seriously, I think Zuko deserves a simple, quiet life as a family man away from the burden and stress of power. It bothers me how after breaking up with that toxic family he had to live alone in that palace full of bad memories and cleaning up the mess they left behind, while the Avatar team returned to their cozy homes.
Iroh
I think the fandom misunderstood this character. He is, if you allow me to reference Evangelion again, as Misato Katsuragi, kind and funny on the outside, but very flawed, neglectful, selfish and with clear favoritism towards his boy godson.
Let's remember that he has a long history of failures and war crimes that he tried to compensate by raising and guiding Zuko, not so much for genuine care to the boy, but rather to give meaning to his own existence and some shit about destiny..
(It's not like he was very competent at raising his precious Zuko, since he let him waste 10 years of his youth on a barge and was still the same moron.)
On the other hand, he completely neglected Azula as much as Misato neglected Asuka.
Come on, she was still a young girl, she could still change and she also had a lot of talents. Was Iroh really going to ignore all that in favor of his male nephew, just because this one was nicer and had a dick?
In case Zuko got the throne despite his flaws, what did Iroh plan to do with Azula? Kill her? Imprison her with Ozai? Marry her to some nobleman?
It makes perfect sense that Iroh would insist that Zuko become Fire Lord and expose Azula's affair to his father in order to undermine the “evil princess”, which in my opinion, is pretty hypocritical coming from a guy who 15 years ago nearly turned Ba Sing Se into WW2 Leningrad.
Ursa
Ursa's backstory in the comics it's written like shit.
Are we to believe that the granddaughter of Roku, who was the Fire Lord's pal, is a commoner who lived in a pisspot village? And that Azulon in his later years remembered that she existed and could use her as a broodmare? And he gave her in marriage to his youngest son, the loser?
We later found out that she moved in with her ex-boyfriend and had a daughter with him. Oh, poor Ursa.
Your backstory for Ursa is much better and makes much more sense. Her parents marry her off the idea of uniting the Sozin and Roku bloodlines, and Azulon leaves her to Ozai since he doesn't believe this Lamarckian shit.
The insecure Ozai is initially captivated by his beautiful and gentle wife, while Ursa eventually falls in love with him, pitying the treatment he receives from the cruel Fire Lord.
This is more or less like Anakin and Padmé, things are fine at first until things get toxic due to the guy's insecurities and resentments and the girl's complacency and unlimited dedication.
Azula was the key source of conflict in her marriage. Let's remember that the girl was the last in the line of succession, so her mother tried to raise her according to the gender roles she was raised with.
Ozai psychologically projected his past onto his daughter, wanting her to ascend regardless of what society thought, encouraging her to behave like a dictator, so that no man would dare to cross her.
Ursa, both here and in canon, has the same vices as her son: cowardice and passivity. I can't sympathize with her when she's so blind to her daughter's sociopathic behavior and how she overprotects Zuko, instead of teaching him to defend himself.
I like how in this fic you gave better development to the character and included her within the White Lotus.
Azulon
He may be a posthumous character, but his evil legacy lives on, both in a sociopolitical level and in his dysfunctional family.
If he hadn't been a total dick to his youngest son and hadn't put his grandson on the front lines, things would have been happier for everyone.
He slaps his son as a blessing for his daughter-in-law's pregnancy, what an fucking asshole.
He was the Stalin of the Fire Nation, the one who consolidated its imperial and aggressive ideology and who carried out most of the killing in the war.
It makes perfect sense that the reactionary geezer wouldn't be pleased with his granddaughter's firebending display, considering it would hurt his pride to have Ozai’s kid surpass his legendary mastery, and a girl, no less.
Why else would he order Ozai to kill Zuko? Lu Ten's death would not change the order of succession and if Ozai ever ascended to the throne, he would have the humiliation of losing his male bloodline.
That's how that sexist old timer would see it.
Sokka’s family
Katara is well written, she has a lot of resentment against the fire nation and how the hell is she going to forgive them just because her brother is the princess's lover. She is the same passionate girl we know, motherly and compassionate, but more jaded and it’s great.
Hakkoda is the voice of reason when Sokka is not there. Seeing that the war was lost after the Comet, he was wise enough to turn around and go back home empty-handed rather than continue fighting and end up dying for nothing, leaving his children completely orphaned.
I like how he is especially outraged when he finds out how Ozai treated his own children and tries to guide Zuko in his fatherhood adventure.
I love his interaction with his son, because he sees himself in him, a warrior who carries survivor's guilt and remorse. He is proud of Sokka not only for having survived, but for having adapted and learned from his own experiences more than he did himself in the past.
Aang
Another thing I like is that Aang does not become the savior of everything, since he still needs to master the elements and cannot risk bringing retribution to the South Pole. Aang is powerful and can take down the Firelord, yeah, but what happens next? He needs Sokka and company to help him lead the people towards peace, since 100 years of war cannot be resolved in two days.
Aang is going to have enough trouble restoring the Airbenders without having to act as the world's policeman.
Toph
Toph is still more or less the same character as in the series and I love it. I love how she develops her rocky and sarcastic relationship with Sokka and Azula aka ‘Spicy’.
She is another concept of badass woman in fantasy, the tomboy who does not care about her appearance or feminine manners, unlike the princess.
I like her friends with benefits relationship with Jet, since she is a gladiator and she has already had other sexual partners without risking social disapproval.
Kino
I like the addition of this character, as I think he fulfills three very important roles. First, he is an ordinary soldier who serves to give a face to the Fire Nation Army.
Second he becomes the comic relief of the Gaang now that Sokka is the leader. It's a more important role than it seems, as he lifts the spirits of the troop, a function just as important as any other.
Third, Kino doesn't have any big goals, a family or friends to protect at home. He's like the average single millennial; disconnected, living for work, with no prospects for advancement and no higher purpose that gives meaning to his life.
That's why
1/11 c236 5OwlStorm17
well, I can tell its going to be downhill for a while now sadly...heartbreaking
5OwlStorm17well, I can tell its going to be downhill for a while now sadly...heartbreaking
12/18/2024 c235 OwlStorm17
Well it was a great fight...but looks like their recklessness finally caught up with them. And Iroh proved them right that they couldn't trust him...
Well it was a great fight...but looks like their recklessness finally caught up with them. And Iroh proved them right that they couldn't trust him...
12/15/2024 c234 OwlStorm17
nice build to what is sure to be one of the biggest fight in the Gladiator League.
nice build to what is sure to be one of the biggest fight in the Gladiator League.
12/7/2024 c53 21MosesArk Reborn2000
She must really be out of it for her to leave in her condition, but at least her dragon knows that and after reluctantly taking her to the heart of the action, he went to get someone he knows and trusts to bail her out of the fire.
Then again, we've seen that when she's off balanced in cannon, that Azula is prone to eratic actions. She's a mastermind, and isn't easily shaken but when she is...well, she's a grade A crash-out.
21MosesArk Reborn2000She must really be out of it for her to leave in her condition, but at least her dragon knows that and after reluctantly taking her to the heart of the action, he went to get someone he knows and trusts to bail her out of the fire.
Then again, we've seen that when she's off balanced in cannon, that Azula is prone to eratic actions. She's a mastermind, and isn't easily shaken but when she is...well, she's a grade A crash-out.
12/5/2024 c231 5OwlStorm17
Well that is certainly an unorthodox way of healing, but if it works it works!
5OwlStorm17Well that is certainly an unorthodox way of healing, but if it works it works!
12/3/2024 c230 OwlStorm17
looks like Toph and Combustion Man are going to go ahead and have what should be a great and challenging match.
looks like Toph and Combustion Man are going to go ahead and have what should be a great and challenging match.
12/1/2024 c52 21MosesArk Reborn2000
Well, we know Fire benders can get colds like everyone, but the only two we've seen, including this one, seems to happen when they face some sort of imblance of the spirit, Zuku got sick after he decided to free Appa, and Azula's gotten sick after finally recognising that yes, she has feelings for the water tribe savage despite the risks.
Zuko eventually got better and started taking steps to better himself, till Azula convinced him to regress into old habits. So what I'm fearing is that Azula would get better and start taking steps to better her relationship with Sokka, but then something will get her to backtrack big time, probably her father.
21MosesArk Reborn2000Well, we know Fire benders can get colds like everyone, but the only two we've seen, including this one, seems to happen when they face some sort of imblance of the spirit, Zuku got sick after he decided to free Appa, and Azula's gotten sick after finally recognising that yes, she has feelings for the water tribe savage despite the risks.
Zuko eventually got better and started taking steps to better himself, till Azula convinced him to regress into old habits. So what I'm fearing is that Azula would get better and start taking steps to better her relationship with Sokka, but then something will get her to backtrack big time, probably her father.
12/1/2024 c51 MosesArk Reborn2000
I'm loving this dragon who can talk to her about things in such a frank way, helping to see that yes, it's risky, but if she wants it-why shouldn't she at least try and be with the man she so clearly has feelings for? After all, he's the first person-first thing that she's found herself considering giving up ehr royal status for, not even Ty Lee and Mai can say that.
Sadly, we have another failed interaction between the siblings as Azula's too used to being the better of the two, and Zuko's too used to people questioning him and while their interaction is typical sibling stuff, considering thier history-I would say it's far from healthy. She still wants to be seen as perfect by him, but that 'perfection' also means coming off as cruel, which we know she doesn't want so she really needs to start to let him him, he's possible the only member of her messed up family they she can as her mother's gone, her grandfather dead, her father a bastard that would call her weak for having emotions and she and Iroh aren't even on speaking terms.
Meanwhile Zuko...well, he got his own issues as he seems so fixated in just proving his sister wrong then being his own man, which seems to be a running theme with him, this compulsion to prove himself to others which just makes him offf as desperate and unfit for leadership, nevermind royalty as for example, he doesn't want to admit that he goes to the Gladiator arena, so he goes in disguise which most can see right through, making him look even worse. Whereas Azula comes and goes in full view of everyone helped carry her fighter out after Toph nearly killed him which earned her the respect of both the fans and the other fighters who WISH they had a sponsor that hands on. Sure, Azula also worries too much about others pecieve her, but instead of her brother who would then react, she plots and then moves when she has a plan and/or good hand to play.
Speaking of Zuko, seems like he's developing a crush as his opinions of her fans weren't bad, as he likes Suki, but not as this fighter but more as a person that he wants to get to know, which is pretty sweet. Though I can only imagine how pissed he would be to learn that the Avatar wasn'r reborn, but had managed to survive for 100 years from pre-war, and is a Air nomad so he doesn't need to learn Air bending, he already knows it.
With Suki, we already know thanks to the boy from the last chapter that some fighters choose to become gladiators for the money, which is part of it, but also seems like like Sokka, she didn't choose this life because she wanted it, but because it was the best of a bunch of terrible options. I would assume that part of why she fights for money, even when she had to fight her last foe was to 'buy' back her people, which is all kinds of messed up.
That said, this was one of the harder fights we've seen, both in her opponent, and in how she won by turning their weapon against them just like Peter did to Norman back in the day. Much lik Sokka, she doesn't like hurting others, especially killing so when she's forced to, it takes a toll on her and it seems that Zuko, because he sees her as a person, was the only one that noticed that.
So good for them for meeting up and having a real talk.
And the White Lotus...interesting that they're making a move, though we're not seeing their best but instead, its reckless youth
I'm loving this dragon who can talk to her about things in such a frank way, helping to see that yes, it's risky, but if she wants it-why shouldn't she at least try and be with the man she so clearly has feelings for? After all, he's the first person-first thing that she's found herself considering giving up ehr royal status for, not even Ty Lee and Mai can say that.
Sadly, we have another failed interaction between the siblings as Azula's too used to being the better of the two, and Zuko's too used to people questioning him and while their interaction is typical sibling stuff, considering thier history-I would say it's far from healthy. She still wants to be seen as perfect by him, but that 'perfection' also means coming off as cruel, which we know she doesn't want so she really needs to start to let him him, he's possible the only member of her messed up family they she can as her mother's gone, her grandfather dead, her father a bastard that would call her weak for having emotions and she and Iroh aren't even on speaking terms.
Meanwhile Zuko...well, he got his own issues as he seems so fixated in just proving his sister wrong then being his own man, which seems to be a running theme with him, this compulsion to prove himself to others which just makes him offf as desperate and unfit for leadership, nevermind royalty as for example, he doesn't want to admit that he goes to the Gladiator arena, so he goes in disguise which most can see right through, making him look even worse. Whereas Azula comes and goes in full view of everyone helped carry her fighter out after Toph nearly killed him which earned her the respect of both the fans and the other fighters who WISH they had a sponsor that hands on. Sure, Azula also worries too much about others pecieve her, but instead of her brother who would then react, she plots and then moves when she has a plan and/or good hand to play.
Speaking of Zuko, seems like he's developing a crush as his opinions of her fans weren't bad, as he likes Suki, but not as this fighter but more as a person that he wants to get to know, which is pretty sweet. Though I can only imagine how pissed he would be to learn that the Avatar wasn'r reborn, but had managed to survive for 100 years from pre-war, and is a Air nomad so he doesn't need to learn Air bending, he already knows it.
With Suki, we already know thanks to the boy from the last chapter that some fighters choose to become gladiators for the money, which is part of it, but also seems like like Sokka, she didn't choose this life because she wanted it, but because it was the best of a bunch of terrible options. I would assume that part of why she fights for money, even when she had to fight her last foe was to 'buy' back her people, which is all kinds of messed up.
That said, this was one of the harder fights we've seen, both in her opponent, and in how she won by turning their weapon against them just like Peter did to Norman back in the day. Much lik Sokka, she doesn't like hurting others, especially killing so when she's forced to, it takes a toll on her and it seems that Zuko, because he sees her as a person, was the only one that noticed that.
So good for them for meeting up and having a real talk.
And the White Lotus...interesting that they're making a move, though we're not seeing their best but instead, its reckless youth