korrasera:

deliciouskookaburrabouquet:

deliciouskookaburrabouquet:

professorsparklepants:

thanakite:

I wonder if Ozai heard that the Avatar was back and was just like, Shit! Now there’s potential for my son to complete that impossible task I assigned him

Zuko literally is that idiot in a fairy tale who doesn’t realize the task he’s been handed is supposed to be impossible, so he just goes out and fucking does it.

Saving this for later

Okay, I’m back.

I love this, but I have to add… Zuko is not that idiot in a fairytale who doesn’t realise capturing the Avatar is supposed to be impossible.

The second Ozai gives the order and the banishment is official, everyone knows. Nobody has seen the Avatar in a hundred years. Either he’s dead, or he’s an old master that a fourteen year old punk could never hope to beat.

Iroh knows. That’s why he keeps trying to distract Zuko with his little diversions. The crew knows. And they are wondering who exactly they pissed off to get this assignment?

And Zuko knows. Of course he knows. How could he not? But he doesn’t let himself believe it. He lies to himself. Every day. He convinces himself that the Avatar is out there and that one day, if Zuko just tries hard enough, he’ll find him. And he’ll bring him to his father.

Because if it really is impossible? Then that means that Zuko’s father never loved him. Then that means that Zuko can never go home. Then that means that maybe Azula was right and Ozai really was going to kill him the night that his grandfather died and his mother disappeared.

And it is so much easier to believe in the impossible than it is to believe that your father is a monster.

Not only is this perfect, but it’s almost explicitly validated by the canon. Zuko’s redemption arc has a lot to do with him recognizing that his father was a monster who never had any honor in the first place, while Zuko himself is blessed with an abundance of it.