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vanitashazeAVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER REC:
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white_knuckle's Hearsay Is the New History. Prince Ozai and Princess Ursa do not celebrate the birth of their firstborn.
All you Avatar: the Last Airbender fans out there: you must read this, for it's incredible. This is the tragedy of Zuko that we all know too well - the battle between good and evil, between free will and destiny, choices that change the world - except this time, the writer expanded it, made the same themes echo back across the bloodline to make it bigger than Zuko, older and deeper ingrained. She makes the tragedy of Sozin's line a story of sons and fathers, trapped in the same pattern over and over again, and gives me a rationale I can believe for what Ozai did, both to Zuko and the world.
And Ursa! Ursa is incredible in this, too. As one of the commenters said, this is "a fierce Ursa, a dangerous Ursa, someone who is an equal to her husband. She will make the world kneel to make her boy strong." She's not weaker for her devotion; this is the woman who murdered the Firelord in his sleep for love for her son. I've had a hunger for this Ursa, and this is perfect and eerie and... gah. My only complaint is that there isn't more.
ETA: TWO THINGS ABOUT NAMES, IDENTITY, AND RENAMING
1. Jet chose his name. It's not canon, of course, but I believe it. I mean, apparently the characters for that name (杰特) happen to mean "heroic" and "special". Oh, Jet. I do have a fondness for him, in the same way I have a fondness for Hama, or perhaps a sympathy. They're completely terrifying, of course, but... they're what happens in war, and I'm glad the creators recognized that. Avatar may be not so complex on some levels, and rather immature on others, but they're better than most at understanding and portraying the different facets of war, the incredibly complex tangle it creates.
2. [Piandao to Sokka:] "You should have chosen Li. There are a million 'Li's." AHAHAHAHA ZUKO. HOW UNORIGINAL ARE YOU. Though I like to think that, in part, the reason why Zuko kept the name was because of the boy he met. As a reminder, maybe? Or a hair shirt. Knowing Zuko, probably both.
white_knuckle's Hearsay Is the New History. Prince Ozai and Princess Ursa do not celebrate the birth of their firstborn.All you Avatar: the Last Airbender fans out there: you must read this, for it's incredible. This is the tragedy of Zuko that we all know too well - the battle between good and evil, between free will and destiny, choices that change the world - except this time, the writer expanded it, made the same themes echo back across the bloodline to make it bigger than Zuko, older and deeper ingrained. She makes the tragedy of Sozin's line a story of sons and fathers, trapped in the same pattern over and over again, and gives me a rationale I can believe for what Ozai did, both to Zuko and the world.
And Ursa! Ursa is incredible in this, too. As one of the commenters said, this is "a fierce Ursa, a dangerous Ursa, someone who is an equal to her husband. She will make the world kneel to make her boy strong." She's not weaker for her devotion; this is the woman who murdered the Firelord in his sleep for love for her son. I've had a hunger for this Ursa, and this is perfect and eerie and... gah. My only complaint is that there isn't more.
ETA: TWO THINGS ABOUT NAMES, IDENTITY, AND RENAMING
1. Jet chose his name. It's not canon, of course, but I believe it. I mean, apparently the characters for that name (杰特) happen to mean "heroic" and "special". Oh, Jet. I do have a fondness for him, in the same way I have a fondness for Hama, or perhaps a sympathy. They're completely terrifying, of course, but... they're what happens in war, and I'm glad the creators recognized that. Avatar may be not so complex on some levels, and rather immature on others, but they're better than most at understanding and portraying the different facets of war, the incredibly complex tangle it creates.
2. [Piandao to Sokka:] "You should have chosen Li. There are a million 'Li's." AHAHAHAHA ZUKO. HOW UNORIGINAL ARE YOU. Though I like to think that, in part, the reason why Zuko kept the name was because of the boy he met. As a reminder, maybe? Or a hair shirt. Knowing Zuko, probably both.
