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the-greatest-earthbender:

instrumentalsftw:

nazi-julieandrews:

missturdle:

bellagerantalii:

jason-penis-todd:

instrumentalsftw:

xingli:

myyesterdayswalkwithme:

Aang: No, I agree with you. Fire Lord Ozai is a horrible person and the World will probably be better off without him. There’s gotta be another way.
Zuko: Like what‌?
Aang: I don’t know. Maybe we can make some big pots of glue and then I can use gluebending to stick his arms and legs together so he can’t bend anymore!
Zuko: Yeah. Then you can show him his baby pictures and all those happy memories will make him good again!
Aang: Do you really think that would work‌?
Zuko: No!

There were so many times in the show I just wanted to punch Aang repeatedly in the face.

oh that’s funny, because Zuko’s attitude during these scene, along with Southern Raiders when he mocked Aang’s pacifist culture and…probably most of season 1 and some of season 2 made me want to slap him pretty hard in the face…and he’s one of my favorite characters.

Honestly though, I was angry that everyone (except Katara) thinks this is something to be mocked while Aang is facing one of the hardest decisions in his life. One that goes against his beliefs and culture. It’s obviously bothering him and no one gives a fuck. Just “do it, Aang! You’re the Avatar after all. We don’t have the same burden.” Not a really good moment for these characters.

Aang > everyone else

Zuko is my favorite character and I snort with laughter during this part but at the same time I feel awful for laughing because Aang is a 12 year old kid with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He is a 12 year old who is expected to kill a man and save the entire world, and he has been taught that murder is bad. He’s even a vegetarian because he believes so strongly in this. No one would’ve acted any differently in his shoes. And as funny as Zuko is in this scene he’s being a huge ass.

necessary disclaimer in this fandom: I love me some Zuko

HOWEVER COMMA

this scene sort of makes me hate Zuko a teeny tiny bit

look, we can all argue until we’re blue in the face over whether or not it was right or wrong for Aang to evade his duty, but jfc, you do a better job at the age of twelve. he was experiencing a tremendous amount of pressure at this point in the series, and while I get where Zuko was coming from (he and I deal with stressful situations like this very similarly), that was still a jackass thing to say.

here, you’ve got this kid — guys, he’s twelve. he’s done amazing things, but he’s still a kid who if given the option wouldn’t do anything more stressful than play air ball all day. contrast him to Toph, who’s his same age — Toph LOVES to fight. that’s just not who Aang is, though, and faulting him for that is awful. you’ve got this kid, I say, who has this heartbreakingly optimistic outlook on life, who completely had the rug pulled out from under him.

“Oh, you’re not a confrontational person? You’d rather not fight? You err towards non-violence? Well, here — we’re going to push the duty of being the Avatar, which you shouldn’t have to deal with for another four years, on you at an early age — oh, you’re running away. Okay. Well in that case, you’re going to inherit the burden of a 100 year war triggered by your predecessor and his relationship with the Fire Lord. You have to end it. You might have to go against everything you believe in to do so. You also have less than a year to do what other Avatars take a lifetime to accomplish. And you’re going to be hounded and hunted all the while. Good luck with that.”

Yes, truly, how dare Aang grasp at straws here at the end, grope around desperately for a wisp of hope that his duty won’t crush him. How dare he wish for a way out of this last, final, horrible duty that’s being thrust upon him. How dare he ask for a reprise.

I know and you know and Aang knows that at the end he’s going to have to do whatever it takes to stop Ozai. Can you not see that in his desperation to find another way? It’s heartbreaking. This scene honestly makes me want to cry. He is so lost and so scared and the world is telling him that he’s not allowed to do that. He’s not allowed to feel what he’s feeling because there’s bigger things than him to worry about. Who cares about the feelings of a twelve-year-old boy when the world hangs in the balance? Not the world, certainly. Everything he’s been told since be woke up has pointed to a level of self-sacrifice on his part that grown-ass people in that world aren’t expected to take on. That’s a lot to deal with, and people don’t give him enough credit for dealing with it for as long as he did without breaking down completely.

[more cut for length]

But look at where Zuko was at age twelve, or thirteen. Because first his mother assassinated his Grandfather to keep him from being killed, and then he never saw her again. People wanted to murder him, and have wanted to murder him for a long time. He had not been able to exist in a nice happy little world like Aang has, because it had been kill or be killed for a good while. IDK I THINK ZUKO HAD THE RIGHT TO BE PISSED OFF RIGHT HERE his dad burned off half of his face when he was about Aang’s age. 

Also at this point, Zuko knows his father is planning on massively slaughtering people in the Earth Kingdom on the day of the comet so personally, in Zuko’s shoes, I’d probably be like “are you fucking kidding me, no, that won’t work, he’s going to murder everyone.”

I mean I feel like I get where Zuko is coming from. #shrug

As far as Zuko has seen, his father has no redeeming qualities and it must be really painful for Aang to keep spouting his pacifism and whatnot when Zuko’s tried that and it failed.

Yeah, losing everything and everyone you ever cared about is totally unimportant compared to the horrors of having a scar and mommy leaving you (**GASP**). No one is denying that Zuko has problems but his problems do NOT trump everything and as Mai would say, it doesn’t excuse his asshole tendencies. 

Usually, it’s like whatever, you can have your opinions and that’s fine. But in this case, that opinion is DEEPLY DISTURBING and fucked up. I don’t give a shit if your dad is evil and was mean to you and your sister got all the love and your family is full of creeps. Telling a 12 year-old CHILD to kill and get over it is fucked up and wrong, especially when Zuko has never taken a life himself. Whether or not you believe killing itself is wrong or if you believe in the death penalty, forcing a child to commit murder will never not be wrong and messed up. 

Oh btw Zuko, back when you were bad and trying to kill him, Aang saved your ungrateful ass TWICE when he could’ve just left you to die. THINK ABOUT THAT. 

yup. thank you.

can I just point out that while Zuko is frowning at Aang and Sokka and Suki are snickering at him, Katara is looking very worried and slightly upset in the background.