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This video's honestly amazing in so many ways, but I feel like the part about it that I loved the most was its perspective on love (ha, see what I did there?). Love, to me, has been something that I've always struggled with fully grasping the definition of. There's been many philosophers that have argued about whether or not love should be used as a noun or a verb, an unconcious idea or an active effort, and I've never found myself fully agreeing with either. However, thinking of love as an idea that can vary depending on where you've come and how you've been socialized seems like an idea I can get behind.

Good video, really enjoyed the witty rhetoric.

dark magic has a overpowered effect of entropy, the left overs become sterile and cannot be renewed like killing plants and animals with bare hands

I know I am late, but I hate Max and Eleanor as characters. Max, betrays people left, right, and center. Eleanor uses someone (Charles Vane) who deeply cares about her, and although he may not be a morally aligned character by any means, he actually tries to be a good boyfriend, partner, or whatever. But no, instead she uses him like a tool until she has no use for him. Max could have left Nassau, like she planned, after Vane had cut her loose, but no, she stays and causes all kinds of damage to Nassau, and my opinion may not be well-accepted, but it's my opinion that she is a chronic manipulator, along with Eleanor. (I say this because my favorite character is Charles Vane and I hate seeing him used and then discarded.) I also hated the love triangle between Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny, and Max, because Jack and Anne are the only couple that's actually loyal to each other, while Max will literally bounce around between alliances and loyalties. That is all I have to say, sorry for the paragraph XD

Regarding how Azula and Zuko turned out differently, I think it's also partially that Azula was more aware of how cutthroat the Fire Nation can be. Like, when she tells Zuko their father's planning to kill him, Zuko says, "Dad would never do that to me." He still needs to reassure himself with the whole "Azula always lies" thing, but -- unlike Azula -- he denies that Ozai would kill him. Meanwhile, Azula grows up with the knowledge that her father would kill her brother if ordered (and their grandfather would order it), which makes violence (even against family members and children) seem expected/normal to her. Re: the comics. While it’s not the direction I would go if I were writing her, I don’t inherently hate the idea of Azula’s hallucinations persisting post-season three. What I _hate_ about The Search is that they handle it in the worst way possible. It seems the narrative doesn’t have any sympathy for Azula _and_ is condoning violence against mentally ill people.

Her mother was also very lacking in understanding her and showing compassion. Her father totally shaped who she was and messed her up all the way.

We saw that Ozai was the "pure evil" (for the lack of a better word) and in contrast to him, Azula can be viewed as a redeemable villain because of her perfectionism and other human traits. Or I just relate to her too much, I don't know lol

If quidditch is the human condition, what are the Bludgers? Mindless automated obstacles, arbitrarily made of solid metal, purpose-built to injure the players and to be a method by which the players can injure each other indirectly (because more direct but less violent forms of checking are forbidden). They raise the stakes, the tension. They're a story device. They're Azula - the singularity point of the "danger context" that the characters offered the privilege of dynamism and development can orbit around. I don't think Iroh dismissing Azula's capacity for redemption was contrary to the rest of the text - I think it was the actual views of its authors at its most earnest, testing the waters for agreement just like telling a deniably-racist joke in mixed company. One of the coremost themes of the show, pacifism, is its most weakly explored: Aang's personal moral victory in subduing Ozai without taking his life is nothing more than personal. The story ends before we see if it had any consequences. Additionally, it isn't earned as a result of Aang's trials over the course of the series the way that the martial aspect of his victory is MASTERFULLY crafted to be; but given to him in his sleep by an out-of-context Godlike figure; revealed only at the moment of its relevance. In other contexts, the only consequence for excess violence is Katara's disapproval, as the only reward for restraint is her approval. Jet plays a strawman of a rebel, whose methods jump from crude but effective to cruel and disaffected the moment he needs to be used as a moral scapegoat. Katara fails to defeat Hama until she accepts her capacity for bloodbending, and she only finds closure over her mother's murder by physically overpowering Yon Rha - the fact that she chose only to humiliate rather than kill him is ornamental; her privilege to even have that choice was earned by her brute force. Avatar is not at all anti-violence, rather it depicts violence as a language by which peace can be negotiated. In that way, Zuko would be able to be even more of an outlier - if his redemption wasn't ALSO written in the language of violence. Teaching Aang to master firebending (culminating in the two of them being anointed side by side by literal dragons). Maybe some day he goes on to learn more actual pacifism from Iroh, and maybe when tested against the pressures of ruling a former fascist state those methods do prove effective - but if so, it all happens off-screen; and the writers are not challenged to explain how.

while I admit that Katara (and Aang too) was never my favourite, I did get her character more after her talk with Hakoda and the first few episodes of S03 in general. I did never like Kataang though, it was clear Katara saw herself as a pseudo-mother figure and Aang just had a crush on her, which I thought he would grow out of as his character develops. I honestly thought he would let go of Katara to master the avatar state in season 3 and that he'd come to respect her as a fellow warrior and equal. (Also I watched ATLA in 2020 but I knew some stuff from tumblr so I fully thought Zutara was the canon ship and that Aang would be the second lead in a love triangle lol) The ending kiss icked me out but I didn't give much thought to it beyond "it's weird cause Katara is a mom figure to him; also they didn't resolve anything?" and in LoK I was surprised Katara wasn't more active in world affairs but again I didn't think much on it. Watching this video has made everything make more sense now. Thanks

Speaking of Azula's redemption, have you read the most recent comic "Azula in the Spirit Temple"? I think it showed that while Azula can be "redeemed" she still doesn't want to change, and until she does there isn't anything that can be done about it. Which makes sense, considering how people in real life are, and considering how long Zuko took to get out of denial about his father and stuff. Canon does want to do good by Azula's character but I don't think they know just how to do it. Are we supposed to believe that she was a "monster" by birth and hence Ursa didn't favour her? Or can we actually blame Ursa for not giving a child the love she deserves, which the comics seem very hesitant to do? For the most part, I like the comics, I think they did do a good job on the worldbuilding level, showing decolonisation and industrialisation and loss of cultures, but they really messed up with The Search. I have a lot of thoughts about Azula, how her relationship with Ozai shaped her and how it might affect her "redemption" going forward. I think a lot of people forget that she was just 14 and if she did not behave the way she did, she likely would have been "discarded" by Ozai. Anyway, I liked your take on Azula's character, I had thought a bit about the culture and time she was a product of (being from a collectivist culture that was colonised, I couldn't not go there) but not as much as I could have and how history and nationality ties in to values. Oh and idk if you'll appreciate this but HelloFutureMe's video essay on Azula's psychology provides great insight, so I'd recommend that.

Concerning Long Feng, you should not necessary see this as Azula´s believe as she´s not having a conversation here, she´s talking to the Dai Li, not Long Feng. She battles over control with her words and wins and that is the only time she brings up any divinity. It may be her believe, it may be just the right thing to say to the traditionalist Dai Li, who betrayed their king for a commoner. Also a sign that we mostly see The princess of the Fire Nation, not Azula, is the Beach. She is dominating people around her till she realizes nobody knows who she is...then she becomes an awkward teen who tries to flirt and is hurt by a boy´s rejection. A mask formed to be what Ozai showed her to be what he, and therefor the Fire Nation, expect of her. And surrounded by people who didn´t know her and the few she felt comfortable around, brother and friends, she let that mask slip.

'Azula wants power!' Also Azula...one of 2 heirs to the throne, with the other one banished and disinherited till Azula reinstalls him as crown prince...so she herself put herself down the ladder...for evil reasons of course.

I really like the little bit you did from Ozais' perspective on the Agni Kai. He's obviously an evil bastard, but I still find it fascinating to look at things through the villains pov and I haven't seen anyone make a psychological breakdown on Ozai before (other than saying he's evil and these are the ways he hurts people). If it isn't too much to ask, do you think you could make a full video on Ozai and his warped ideals?

This has such a suprisingly low amount of views considering content quality. I agree with you fully that Azula is nowhere near psychopathic, but I wasn't fully able to express why (as I had little knowledge on the creation of psychopathy as a concept before this) until watching this video. You truly are wonderful at character analysis, and I feel like I've gotten a much better understanding of Azula after this.

"You can't treat me like Zuko!" Huh, why am I crying?

Wow! That sounds like a really good fanfic to read. Thanks for the video! Dropping you a like!!

Ok watching this one as well now - from the last video and the beginning of this one I was not with you about what the creators want us to believe. I was thinking they don't want to tell us what to believe. Which is true to an extent, I think they try to raise a lot of moral questions and ask the audience to draw their own conclusions. But you've really sold me on how it still operates with its own moral code, whether that was intentional or not. And flint is really the perfect example of that

I think you're missing two things about the finale that might give you a clearer idea of how you feel about it. 1. It's a tragedy and 2. It's ambiguous. It's intentionally written to be a tragic ending with a few morsels of hope. The treasure island characters, specifically, have to be set up for the start of the book, and so flint and silver's end has to be horribly tragic. Also, the show is partly historical, and pirates and slaves unfortunately didn't overthrow the british empire. We're happy that max realized that love is more important than legitimacy, that anne was willing to forgive her for betraying her, that woodes rogers won't go down in history as a hero. We're devestated that silver's choice destroys any chance of revolution and destroys his relationship with both flint and madi in the process. I don't think they want us to agree with max or silver's choices. I don't think we're meant to believe that the pursuit of a better world is pointless, this is just a story about people who tried. Secondly/ maybe this is really the same point: there is a very real possibility that silver killed flint in those woods. We hear birds scatter from a gunshot, and the rest of the story is told to us by one of the biggest liars in the show. Flint meeting thomas in the field is shot similarly to flashbacks and dream sequences. You're meant to be able to believe either ending. Both outcomes are pretty tragic from silver's perspective though.

does it really matter if aaravos was a hero back then if now he is a lucifer figure? possessing callum and trying to kill zym are crimes big enough to give him death sentence that rayla and callum want to give him

dark magic is worse as murdering someone in self defense or to eat only destroys the body and you can still be human about the murder in mourning the one you killed dark magic also destroys the soul and it dehumanizes the victim into only being an useful component to a purpose, the dark mages doesn't give a crap for the life and agency of its victim

i think of aaravos as the following -sid phillips from toy story, a sadistic boy that tortures toys just for fun -the collector from owl house, same as sid phillips but with god powers -high evolutionary from guardians of galaxy, he kidnapped animals of all planets and forcibly turned them into furries, not because he cares about enlighting them and improve their lives but to prove himself being the best genetic engineer in the universe, he wanted to kill rocket raccoon for being envious rocket is smarter than him, wanting to use rocket's brain as a computer and because rocket peeled off his face after mocking him of killing his friends, evolutionary also nuked his furry planet after peter quill told him there are prostitutes and drug dealers instead of rehabilitating the bad apples -dr henry wu from jurassic park, same as high evolutionary but only on earth -ares from wonder woman, whom stoked the inherent greed and bloodlust in humanity to destroy each other and return things to the natural world

Great video! The quality is awesome

I'm getting into this show as an adult and I completely agree with the point you're making. You found the words to describe the awful feeling the ending gave me. Also, Zutara!

This was so insightful and nuanced. Thanks for sharing it

I love this video but that comment about Toph put me off, just because she doesn't conform to the standards of femininity like Katara doesn't mean she's not a girl, nothing wrong with a headcanon but your reasoning is uncomfortable for people who felt more seen by gender role breaking characters like Toph than Katara (hopefully that isn't upsetting to you and you can understand where I'm coming from) - also Toph should totally be a topic of conversation in the ATLA community in regards to feminism. she's extremely powerful but because of this she gets sidelined, Toph gets no hate and no discourse because, besides being cool, she barely does anything besides that which is comfortable for a male audience, but the moment a character like her gets the spotlight (Korra), people hate it, I think her and Katara exist in contrast, Toph ignores gender roles completely, and enjoys masculinity despite her assigned role as meek and unable to care for herself but will occasionally find comfort in the feminine (which I personally relate to more as a cis woman), while Katara simultaneously embraces those roles while fighting back when necessary. Because Katara is more typically feminine, she is afforded more screentime and development, her connection with motherhood and such is explored, she gets her own Zuko Field Trip, but she is ultimately an object in the narrative, she is labeled as a prize for Aang regardless of how she breaks from the narrative otherwise, because she's pretty and feminine Meanwhile, Toph was originally written as a male character, because of this she is a pretty typical badass and cool girl, but we're not allowed to see much of her inner world, which is classically showcased in her lack of Zuko Fieldtrip, despite being lampshaded by the narrative, her interest in romance is played as a joke, her comedic potential is outlined, but it's never taken further like Sokka's, and her only purpose is ultimately just be cool with moments of humanity that never give her the full scope of the other characters

sun tzu said "if you know your enemy and yourself, you will win, if you don't know your enemy but you know yourself, you will resist, if you don't know your enemy and yourself, you're dead" viren didn't fully know xadians, humans and himself, he knows them in magical, political and militaristic power but he doesn't know them emotionally he didn't know humans don't like to be lied to risk their lives to a possible false alarm and that they'd prefer peace if it benefits everyone, unlike viren, rational humans are able to care for other species and reflect on their mistakes, which is a reason humans turned against him and he inspired them to not be as awful as him he didn't know and doesn't care that xadians can be friendly and civil, they are defending themselves from poachers and invaders, season 3 proves xadia is vulnerable without avizandum, and they don't like to die and be used as dark magic ingredients, he sees them as monsters when they are alive and livestock when they are dead he didn't know the part of himself of being greedy, selfish, uncaring, oportunistic, xenophobic, jingoistic, deluded, hypocritical, sadistic, bloodthirsty, psychopathic, unwilling to admit his epic fails and acknowledge is his fault things got worse, aside from extinxtion of humanity viren's biggest fear is being wrong as it will make him feel weak and stupid even if he wants peace and equality, xadians will never accept it from him, in part never forgiving killing the royal family and khessa and if dark magic is on the table, xadians will be afraid of humans stealing their organs and driving them to extinction hunting and killing in self defense only destroys the body, dark magic can also destroy the soul, that is what xadians value more and what think of dark magic being so rotten, primal magic borrows nature's energy like solar panels and wind turbines, dark magic consumes it and destroying it, like fossil fuels, dark magic victims may be denied of afterlife like runaan and rayla's parents, maybe avizandum, nature need the spiritual energy to renew itself also that xadians will never trust humans and less viren if he succeeded in conquering xadia as he wanted to kill zym, so they'd assume humans will eat their babies and that will drive them to extinction, specially that zym is already from a possibly endangered species many say viren has many layers, then he is like donkey described shrek, as a rotten onion that make you cry and he stinks the more you peel his layers of hypocrisy, jingoism, xenophobia, wrecklessness, irresponsability, sadism, dogmatism, stupidity, greed, hubris, apathy, sociopathy, nepotism, crybaby-ism and assholery, now that he peeled off all his nasty layers he may become a onion seed to start anew or other more beautiful flower or a kitsugi pot that is fixed with gold

i have always felt that something was wrong with kataras portrayal but i never completely new what it was, but this video really sums up everything i didnt even know i felt. damn.

Considering that in the show in the later seasons we find out that there were other humans who could do primal magic. The other show material aka the shorts and the Creators always said that Callum is not the first human to use primal magic but it had been along time since one has.

Sexism in the Avatar fandom appalls me. I go and see people praise male characters for something and then trash a female character who did the exact same thing. Katara and her talking about her mother was valid, she clearly didn't have the means to work through it. I'd like to note that Zuko, a praised character talks about his father and lost honor far more times. Korra gets flamed for a lot of reasons, being called the worst avatar, but Aang did some stupid stuff too! (Objectively the worst avatar was Roku, be honest.) Azula, a 14 year old is said she was evil from birth and deserves no redemption for what she has done, when she was raised by a man who committed genocides without batting an eye. They praise Zuko and Iroh, while simultaneously forgetting they ALSO did bad things before redeeming themselves. Zuko literally hired an assassin to assassinate Aang, but Azula was the only one ok with murder apparently to some people? Iroh also tried to conquer Ba Sing Se, which Azula did too. It's kind of annoying how out of all the characters, Toph is the most respected woman. Not because Toph doesn't deserve it, but the hate for others is just idiotic. Plus, I'd like to add that they only see Toph for her feats. I never see people talk on what she has been through. It isn't until the comics she even sees her family again, and there are multiple times prior that she talks about feeling like she was being suffocated, feeling trapped and hurt, unable to be herself. Toph chooses to ignore and downplay it a lot, but it's evident it affects her a lot. Something they also tend to forget is they are all KIDS. You are literally talking about kids, of course they are reacting the way they are! They were written as kids, not adults. I just wish they'd chill with the sexism, because every Avatar character, especially the main ones have phenomenal depth, you just need to be open to it.

Hey lovely video, I hope that the hate comments arent getting too much to you.

10:04 Here is my answer; I think we humans have an innate understanding of, and fear of, our own mortality. One of the better expressions of this fear that we have is to create something that will outlast us. The obvious and most simple example of this is having children, literally replicating your own genes, but you can also do this by contributing to society in some way. A widely-enjoyed piece of art, a well-designed road system, or a solid foundation on a home are all examples of things that (usually) outlast the ones who created them. In the same manner, something brutal like a murder in a community can leave an effect that ripples out beyond the perpetrator, maybe for generations. In a certain way, what we think of as a 'society' could be conceived of as the ripple effects of everyone who has ever taken part in that society - Even the ones that have died so long ago, everyone living has forgotten that they should remember them. Ordinary people become immortal en masse in this way, possibly to a greater degree than the so-called "great men" of history. Therefore, mass infertility may mean not only our own deaths, but the death of the past and the future as well. 'Capital-W' We don't really have a great framework for dealing with our own mortality beyond either avoiding it or concentrating on doing some good for others, passing things on. A looming total death of the species makes contemplating on how to be a good person for the benefit of future generations much more difficult.

Katara's culture was preserved. Her tribe was small but eventually they would have kids and repopulate. Aang was literally the last ot his kind. Not really comparable. Katara's the last southern waterbender however nonbenders can have bending children so its not like Katara's the only one who can have bending children from the south. And you say Zutara would have been better but that involves Katara moving to the fire nation palace and living in the same house as past tyrants who had ordered raids of her village one which killed her mother. She would have to move so far away from her home and culture and become the fire lords wife. She hated the fire nation why would she want to live there? Plus the southern raiders showed why Kataang is better. Aang encourages the best in Katara whilst Zuko encouraged the worst and didn't attempt to stop her from doing something she will regret. Zutara would just boil her down to Zuko's wife. Also talking about the oppressed-oppressor...Zuko's kingdom literally brutalised Katara's people for at least 2 generations.

i am glad this video exists. Thank you for sharing this.

This is a great video. I agree that Katara is an amazing character and that she is unfairly hated by the fandom. However, I don't think you fairly analyzed Aang and Katara's relationship especially in season 1. In episode 1 before Katara even knows Aang is the Avatar she seeks him out to teach her water bending. The plan to go to the North Pole was first proposed by Aang for Katara to learn water bending. Season 1 Katara is not just going along to protect Aang, she has her own motivations from the get-go and Aang recognizes and respects those motivations. When master Paku refuses to teach Katara water bending Aang initially refuses to learn from him in solidarity, this is a mirror of the scene in episode 2 when Sokka kicks Aang out the village. Season 1 had a lot of development for Katara and Aang's relationship that carries throughout the rest of the series. Aang gives Katara hope, adventure and recognition and Kartara give Aang understanding, strength and love, they both support eachother. Zuko has some great moments with Katara at the very end, but that represents just the beginning of their relationship. Aang and Katara had three seasons of development so I think it makes much more sense for Aang to get with Katara rather and then Zuko.

No

Wdym don't make another season? It's been confirmed already there's a season 2 and 3

Idk Kaatara live action left a sour taste in my mouth because they gave scenes that were so obviously meant for her to Sokka and Aang and does so many things out of character

Also the other thing people need to remember is for the first few months of filming the show they were under COVID restrictions so where we see them all hugging interacting with a lot of those were filmed at the end because I did not shoot in order so like the scene with King boomy katara doesn't help hang get up it's because they run a cover restrictions and could not. But throughout the show you definitely saw that fiery tough side of her come out and I thought she was a great character in the show and looking forward to seeing her develop more and without less restrictions it'll be a lot more of the character everybody's looking for

Ohh, this otta be good. Considering how I found her the weakest character the weakest compared to the animated counterpart in the whole show. Nice video idea👍 Just watched the vid, my takeaway is that this is a completely different character from the show and we should see things from perspective. She is pretty boring though and you conclusion at the end is hilarious

If nothing else, Avatar live action has definitely made me think a lot more about medium. There are different expectations and rules for how moments are expressed in animation that let them get away with certain types of characters. If they changed literally nothing and shot-for-shot, line-for-line adapted katara, it would probably be cringey and uncomfortable because people don't move and talk in the exaggerated ways animated characters can. If the options are to tone it down or change it completely, what should we even want out of a live action Avatar? After watching, I still don't know. Even the parts it does well feel superficial. Maybe a new story with different characters, I could get on board and settle into new expectations, but what we have here just feels wrong.

I don’t think that Katara is written badly as well. The biggest complaints I’ve been hearing are about how she isn’t as fiery or outspoken as she’s supposed to be. I think that these people are missing so many points that it’s ridiculous. The easiest, if they were really paying such close attention to her is that, instead of having her start out that way, or even be as expressive almost unnaturally fast, she’s been building to it. As she’s ventured out into the harsh world and found that she can survive, her confidence has grown, even to the point she was willing to stand up to and challenge someone who was supposed to be far more skilled and experienced than her, yet, while self taught, she did better than anyone thought she or anyone else could. This is also why, even in the animated show, we don’t really see Paku teach her anything, and she can refer to herself as a Master. She’s developed her own fighting style, and, other than some polishing, technically, I don’t think she really needs to be taught by anyone in the things she already knows or is creative enough to come up with on her own.

you're the most compelling ATLA video essayist around atm !! I love your takes!!!

Bryan and Mike left the production in 2020 to form Avatar Studios. If you’re looking for more story, that’s October 2025. Older Gaang animated movie

I feel l so bad for not seeing the katara hate tbh !! I was clearly not deep enough into the fandom back in the day AND YEAH I HATE THIS SO MUCH I hated this as a kid, and i hate this now

Katara was already my favorite character, and this video just made me love her so much more!

I love zutara in fanon but I honestly don't think it would be a satisfying conclusion to katara's story in canon. In the scenario that katara and zuko get married, katara would be fire nation royalty, living in the palace and raising the next generation of fire nation monarchs in sozin's house. I personally don't think that would be a good ending for her at all.

I think the problem with the kataang relationship is that it's lazy. im sorry there's very little true romantic development and much of the infactuation is focused solely on aangs side. We never truly see katara resolve her feelings. Aang had a crush on her from the moment he met her where he's essentially pedestalizing her and viewing her as his soul mate. That's just not realistic. The entire relationship seems like a fantasy for guys getting that crush who friendzoned them

Katara kissing Aang at the end is Bryke going "Well the hero's always gotta get the main girl." rather than actually caring about her character at that moment. At that moment she ceased being a character to them, and became a prize for Aang to win and be rewarded with. No matter what came before.

Katara's arc reminds me of Retsuko from Aggretsuko. This might be a bit of a spoiler now but it's been a while since aggretsuko came out so I'm going for it. It's all the build up of the character where you want some sort of catharsis at the end, but it's just being mellowed down like an old, deflated and wrinkly baloon that leaves everyone bummed at the end. I really wish they let Katara's ending at least somehow open at the end of ATLA instead of giving us the boring old 'happy ending' story. I liked your video btw!

Lost me at "brown girl". Katara is one of my favorite characters of all time but I'm not interested in libtard bullshit.