Avatar: The Last Airbender’s best (and worst) couples

cyberfeed.pl 10 miesięcy temu

Avatar: The Last Airbender had more pressing things on its head than romance — as you may recall, everything changed erstwhile the Fire Nation attacked, and Avatar Aang had a lot to learn before he could save anyone (let alone the world). But love, like life, finds a way. This is simply a show about teenagers, after all, and the characters found connections that for any would last a lifetime.

The thing is, fans do not agree on whether or not those are the right pairings. The conflict between shippers has calmed, somewhat, in the years since the show went off the air. But these are inactive profoundly held beliefs about how AtLA should’ve paired people off — after all, each pairing brings out a different shade in the characters. With that in head (and the live-action show due later this month), we’ve cataloged the Major Ships — canon or not — of the Last Airbender universe, and are here to weigh in: erstwhile all the dust of the Ozai conflict has settled, who should’ve ended up with whom?

[Ed. note: This post contains any spoilers for the end of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Additionally, we weren’t foolhardy adequate to think we could possibly cover every single possible ship in the AtLA universe, so if we missed your favorite, we’d love to hear why you love them in the comments.]

Sokka/Suki

Image: Nickelodeon Animation Studio

Ana: I don’t have much to say another than these 2 just fit each other. Suki helps Sokka grow as a individual and challenges his ideas of who can be strong and what strength looks like. Also, I’d like to think that Suki shows him how you don’t request to be a bender to be a actual squad player.

Petrana: Out of all canonical endgame ship, this 1 makes the most sense! They clearly inspire 1 another, and they’re akin adequate to have any common ground, but different adequate to challenge 1 another. Plus, I am always here for a relation where the girl could beat up the guy.

Zosha: Sokka is instantly a better character erstwhile Suki knocks him on his ass (literally and metaphorically). There are fewer better examples in this universe of people bringing out and encouraging the best parts of the other, and a badass fighter supporting her smartass inventor boyfriend is an indelible dynamic.

Mai/Zuko

Ana: Mai’s decision to save the “jerk” who dumped her is an all-time-great minute in the series. It stands out as an example where we can see Zuko’s change affect those around him and, to me, represents a real turning point in the series since it shows 2 members of Fire Nation advanced society turn against the empire. I love that Mai is able to see the importance of Zuko’s decision — even if it meant him dumping her.

Petrana: I usually like relationships where couples have something akin that grounds them, but I feel like this 1 came out of nowhere. I just do not believe that these 2 edgelords had the emotional capacity to profess their feelings for each another in that short of a time span! That being said, with a small more pining and buildup I could be totally on board.

Zosha: In a very real way, this relation allows both of them to contextualize Azula’s cruelty and feel a small little alone in this world. But in a different, fluffier way: Emos request love, too.

Roku/Sozin

Ana: Did the hundred-year war happen due to the fact that bro was besides shy to come out and say his feelings?

Petrana: This is Bad Ending Catradora, old-man yaoi edition. (Complimentary.)

Zosha: Sozin doesn’t truly show any remorse for leaving Roku to die — I just don’t see it for them.

Zuko/Sokka (also known as “Zukka”)

Petrana: If Zuko is going to get with 1 of the confederate Water Tribe siblings, I think Sokka is the best bet. Zuko needs any levity in his life, and Sokka with his large plans, passion for (bad) art, and goofy jokes is precisely that. I feel like Zuko respects Sokka in a way that quite a few the another members of the Gaang don’t, especially after seeing him in action at Boiling Rock. It’s just a fun dynamic, and 1 that I’m glad people are sparking to alternatively of Zutara!

Zosha: I do think Zuko (perhaps due to his militant background) appreciates Sokka’s ingenuity a lot more genuinely than everyone else. That’s nice!

Ana: I besides think they both can relate to the feeling of not surviving up to certain standards of masculinity. Sokka learns how to value his own contributions despite not having bending. Zuko needs to choose his own way and aid make a Fire Nation that values love and peace, alternatively of embracing an angry, militaristic culture.

Zosha: Oh, that’s a large point. In a way, they have 2 sides of the same arc, and I love how they come together through that, both skeptical but open. Like any another ships on this list: surely a pairing that makes so much immediate sense to me that I want I got more time of them together. I will say all bit of headcanon that comes across my Tumblr dash on this just innately makes sense to me.

Ana: It is definitely 1 of those ships that didn’t make immediate sense to me, but the more I think about it, the more it works!

Petrana: Yes! Thematically, they just make quite a few sense, and I feel like unlike most another Zuko pairings, this 1 has them both bring out the best in each other. I besides love their small two-episode side quest to save Suki and Sokka’s dad, and I want we had more of them together! That’s OK, due to the fact that as Zosha says, that’s what Tumblr headcanons are for.

Sokka/Yue

Ana: Look, I’m just going to ask the question on everyone’s head for this one: Does Yue gotta see everything that happens between Sokka and Suki at night?

Petrana: It’s sweet, and I think it’s fitting for a sweet, sad first love. However, I’m not raring to read an AU where Yue comes back, actually.

Zosha: Yue is nice, but erstwhile it comes to her and Sokka, she’s mostly there to aid him grow. Zuko said it best: “That’s rough, buddy.”

Ty Lee/Azula

Ana: Out of the three, Ty Lee and Azula appear to be the closest, but I have problem seeing this one! It’s not that they’re competitive, it’s that Azula bullies Ty Lee constantly! I just can’t imagine putting specified a sweet individual down so much.

Petrana: Listen. I love a sapphic mean girl x sweetheart ship as much as the next person, but Ty Lee is besides GOOD for Azula. (And clearly has apparent chemistry with individual else…)

Zosha: I can see the She-Ra appeal of this one, but I think yet Azula doesn’t deserve Ty Lee.

Mai/Ty Lee

Petrana: I cannot tell which dynamic I prefer: Mai pining after Ty Lee but reasoning they’re incompatible due to the fact that Ty Lee is so golden and girly, or Ty Lee pining after Mai but reasoning that she’s besides much of a mess for Mai.

Ana: At first I didn’t know what to make of this ship, but after reasoning about it, I love it so much. For starters, it’s a classical pairing between a sunny golden retriever kind (Ty Lee) and a gloomy kind (Mai). The scene where Ty Lee hastily saves Mai from the rage of Azula at Boiling stone is an all-time-great dramatic minute for me. And while it might be interpreted more as a rejection of Azula’s tyranny than a love of Mai, I think there’s plenty of large fodder here as far as ships go.

Zosha: Yes! I think in a show full of ships that are very intentional (non-derogatory!), this 1 feels like the kind of natural camaraderie between the 2 that feels like the best kind of celebrity couple pairing: They are both made more interesting just by the thought of them being into each other.

They just instantly feel like they make a prism out of the other’s facets just by nature of appreciating each another from specified polar opposites.

Petrana: Never underestimate the bond of the 2 not-so-mean girls being bossed around by a toxic friend. Especially with that toxic friend. That crap transcends decades.

Ana: Yup! The only hesitation I’d have with this ship is that I could besides 100,000% see Ty Lee dating another Kyoshi warrior.

Jin/Zuko (Petrana waves her small flag)

Petrana: THIS IS MY ZUKO SHIP OF CHOICE! I made everyone put this one-episode appearance on here due to the fact that I just love it! I love that she doesn’t know who she is. I love that he turns the lights on for her, and does his best on their date, even if he’s totally out of his depth. Yes, certain you could read it as him doing it to make Iroh happy, but I like to think part of him did find Jin cute but didn’t know how to deal with that due to the fact that Zuko is just totally unfit for dealing with the real world. I love that they almost kissed but he RAN distant due to the fact that HE is simply a SAD PATHETIC LOSER WHO DOESN’T LET HIMSELF BE HAPPY! ARGH!!!!

Anyway, in my head, they run into each another after the war ends and she doesn’t admit him due to the fact that he is, like, Zuko and not Lee, but he immediately recognizes her and they get a happy ending and she’s actually the parent of his children. There is nothing in canon to prove that this is wrong, actually.

Zosha: She’s cute, and I like how she charms Zuko just by being open about her affection. mostly I’m just here to support Petrana.

Ana: I’m not going to lie, I had to look up who Jin was for this one. However, Petrana has convinced me that their romance is simply a sweet minute for Zuko in the series.

Toph/Aang

Ana: I think if they would always end up together, it would be due to the fact that Toph would just want even more time beating up the Avatar.

Petrana: I get that this mostly exists to give Aang (1) a love interest more evidently his age and (2) a pairing for people’s Zutara ships. However, Toph Beifong canonically has 2 baby daddies and settled down with no one, so I just do not think she has the time, patience, or interest in dealing with Aang.

Zosha: Toph in this scenario, honest to god:

Zuko/Sokka/Suki

Ana: For this one, I’m going to invoke an old Water Nation saying that I just made up: “A boomerang can swing both ways depending on how you throw it.”

Petrana: Sokka has 2 hands.

Zosha: Life is about balance, and these 3 have it.

Azula/Katara

Ana: I don’t think even Katara’s healing abilities could fix whatever would happen between these two.

Petrana: Everything about Zutara but a small more fucked up. Honestly… I could get into it.

Zosha: They can both do better.

Zuko/Katara (also known as “Zutara”)

Ana: God, Zutara is specified an all-time-great ship. In 1 sense, this ship is just so simple-minded, like, I want to see the 2 most attractive characters be together, but I think I love them due to the fact that their dynamic truly animates the second half the final period of the show. Like Zuko isn’t full part of the crew until Katara accepts him and also, Katara doesn’t find closure on her mom until she goes on her journey with Zuko. It’s so ahhhhhh — like, I get in a logical sense why Katara makes way more sense erstwhile paired with Aang, but I love Zutara.

Petrana: I think the writers truly shot Kataang in the ft erstwhile they sent Katara and Zuko off together to face Azula in the Fire Nation in the finale, while Aang went off and did his solo mission thing. If I had watched this show erstwhile I was younger, I think I would’ve been so into it. That being said, I do think long-term they would not be good for each other. However, man, they have so many Moments of push and pull with each another that neither Kataang or Mei/Zuko has.

Zosha: I did watch this show erstwhile I was younger, so I will be the hothead hotman to say: I am full against Zutara!

I totally agree with what you guys say here, but I don’t think there’s adequate on their adventure to actually bring them together. “Friend” is simply a beautiful good reward (and underrated ship) for the guy who’s inactive unlearning his Fire Nation colonialism!

Ana: Oh god, no, I know! That’s the thing. I think I have a divided between watching this show now and erstwhile I watched it as a kid. Now that I have a full developed prefrontal cortex, I’d never want to push Katara into a relation with Zuko, and this doesn’t even get into what it would functionally be like for Katara to be with the literal emperor of the nation who killed her parent and the confederate Water Tribe benders.

Petrana: I think the fact that Katara comes along for Zuko’s endgame side quest alternatively of going along with Aang does quite a few dense lifting for Zutara shippers. I think they’re both besides intense, though, and while that makes for a good ally by your side, I don’t think it spells out an actual functional romance.

Zosha: That’s precisely how I feel; I find the energies and features they bring out in each another just kind of toxic. And I think — peculiarly in a show like Avatar: The Last Airbender that’s so careful to give space to characters learning to nurture the mundane kindness in themselves and the planet — the way Zuko tries to aid Katara is actually them indulging their worst impulses. It’s a lesson she has to learn, and 1 most likely best learned alongside him. But it’s never felt romanticist to me, and if it turned that way I would have serious qualms!

But (just like with my Gilmore Girls fave) I realize due to the fact that I feel the same way about the actual ship that comes out of here for me…

Katara/Aang (also known as “Kataang”)

Zosha: Look, I get the problems with this 1 — most notably that I think that the show took for granted that these 2 would get together, and kind of pushed Katara past a real genuine consideration of Aang as a romanticist partner that the arc was due. But besides this is precisely the kind of culmination I want to see for both of them: They both truly appreciate and see each other, while inactive pushing the another to be better than they are. I think the sweetness and kindness of the pairing truly speaks to me, and is the kind of easy loveliness that makes for the best love stories (if not the best torrid ships).

Petrana: Not to insert another popular fandom ship war in here, but: Aang is the Peeta, in that he represents the worldview that Katara should grow toward.

I do want Aang was a smidge older, though, due to the fact that it does give Anakin-Padme Phantom Menace vibes, especially in the first season.

Ana: I agree with Petrana and I think part of the problem is that we only see Aang as specified a young child. So possibly it’s not the age gap, but Aang’s age.

Along these lines, I think the show writers didn’t do Katara any favors by writing her to be specified a motherly character. Aang definitely sees her and appreciates her resilience and strength, but it can be hard to see her as a motherly kind and then see her interact with Aang, who isn’t even a teen yet. While I think Zuko brings out a toxic side in Katara, we do see a kind of passion of sorts we don’t see with Aang. But akin to what Zosha said earlier, sometimes the right and most loving ship might not be the most breathtaking one.

Zosha: Yeah, and truly I get that. due to their ages, the fact it’s a kids’ show, and the fact the show is about Bigger crucial Things they are dealing with, I don’t think (rightly) this romance is foregrounded in a peculiarly inspiring way. frequently that kind of young crush energy can feel like it’s just there to be there.

But besides I think weirdly the things people don’t like with this ship are the things I find most interesting about it. I don’t think Katara’s journey should be about bucking any maternal energy; it’s about uncovering ways to embrace it without tamping down on the sides of herself that besides deserve to be unfurled. And I think Aang — or who Aang could grow into, as a truly thoughtful, fun-loving kid who’s at erstwhile goofy and wise beyond his 12 (or 112) years — affords her a space to be as strong or weak as she needs to be. So while I wouldn’t say I see this as an OTP, I think it’s the kind of pairing that feels more built to last than a kind of hot/cold dynamic that large love stories are frequently afforded.

Ana: Oh, for sure! And just to affirm all your points above, I do think Aang and Katara’s love does embody the values and themes of the full show itself due to the fact that their relation is so sweet and genuine.

Petrana: I just truly want the last shot of this full epic show was not of them kissing. Sorry!

Zosha: Oh absolutely; it as a culmination of everything for the show? Oversold. But happy for how it teed up Korra’s end, at least!

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