[ID: A digital bust portrait of Katara coloured in blue tones. She faces the viewer with a stern expression and her hands are raised near her face with water floating between them. She’s wearing the top section of her hair pulled back while the rest flows around her, covering her chest and shoulders so that only her hands and necklace are visible. Her hair loopies are braided. End ID.]
drew the greatest waterbending master in honour of international womens day
[ID: A digital line drawing of Suki and Katara from Avatar the Last Airbender, they are sparring. Katara is in the foreground facing away from the viewer, stepping forwards into a bending stance with water curling around from behind to infront of her. The water splashes back towards Katara where it hits Suki’s fan. Suki is in the background stepping forwards towards Katara in a low defensive stance, one arm holding out the fan braced on her bent knee. Suki wears her Kyoshi Warrior uniform, Katara wears her hair down and loose like in book 3 /End ID] @atladescribed
I’m hosting a DTIYS contest on my Instagram to celebrate reaching 11k! You’re more than welcome to join on tumblr, but I recommend submitting your work on Instagram so it’s easier for me to find. Here are the rules:
Like this post and follow me if you’re not already (please lol)
Draw this in your style but feel free to add your own twist on it if you’d like
You can draw whatever part is easiest for you, so you can draw the full body, or just waist up, or even shoulders up, whatever strikes your fancy
Use the hashtag #leafydraws11k and tag me, otherwise I won’t see it :(
The deadline is September 1st, so there’s still plenty of time to join! I’ll be posting my favs on my Instagram story and for my top favorite I’ll be drawing them a fanart of a character of their choosing Good luck and have fun!
i saw a post about how if you google what happened to katara after the war, all you get is that she married aang and had three children with him. just to provide the benefit of the doubt, i googled the same question for every other member of the gaang to see what theygot:
hm. so all of them have their significant roles, achievements, and careers listed, but not a single mention of their marriage or children. interesting.
then i did the same for katara just to be fair:
katara returns home to the southern water tribe.
that’s it. the section below that isn’t even about her, it’s about the nwt’s annexation of the south.
i even clicked the first question in the “people also ask” tab just because i was like surely this isn’t all they have to say, and:
the first result for katara post-war isn’t even about the achievements she does have in canon, problematic as they are. there’s nothing about her outlawing bloodbending, becoming the greatest healer in the world, or even training korra, because the treatment of her achievements outside the narrative mimick the way they’re treated by the narrative itself: with utter irrelevance.
I am going to be honest. I can’t believe it took four years for Katara to make it to the chart when Toph, Sokka, Aang, and Zuko have all already made it. I am happy about the ATLA resurgence! I cannot wait to write her profile.
Hockey player Sokka is fine I guess but!! Have you ever considered pairs figure skaters Sokka and Katara? Kya got them started when they were teeny tiny tots and yes, they were exactly as adorable as you’re imagining, and yes, Hakoda has a picture in his wallet if you’re interested (please be interested.)
Katara absolutely lives for figure skating. She is the embodiment of fluid grace and athleticism, breathes easier when she is on the ice and every exhale brings with it a cloud of condensation, jumps a double Lutz as naturally as the next person take a step.
Sokka… does not live for figure skating. Don’t get him wrong, he doesn’t actively dislike it or anything! His parents would never force him to do something he hates (not like their competition, Zuko and Azula, whose Dadager always leaves them looking a little dead behind the eyes). And it’s not like he thinks he would be dishonouring his mother’s memory by turning his back on the passion she shared with him and Katara, or he gets a knot in his stomach when he thinks of all the money his father has spent through the years on gas money alone, or he ever looks at his Gran Gran’s weathered hands and remembers the hours hunched over sewing sequin after sequin. He does honestly enjoy the artistic side of things: the costume design and song selection, writing a complete story through choreography that can also rack up an impressive points total. But he knows he’s not as naturally gifted as Katara, and he could quit competition tomorrow and not miss it.
He wouldn’t though, because while he may not love the sport that much, he does love his sister that much. No two people in the world could understand and trust and love each other the way Sokka and Katara do, so as long as his little sister is throwing herself in the air with blades on her feet, he’s gonna be the one catching her and making sure she doesn’t break her neck. He’s gonna be the one up at 4am every morning running drills with her, fielding attacks on his masculinity for her, accepting a gold medal round his neck beside her, and eagerly awaiting their retirement all the while.
“Do NOT anger Katara! Last time she got really mad she summoned the freaken avatar and I do NOT want to know what she will drag from the depths next!” -Sokka probably.
Once when the gaang visits the Fire Nation, they’re all just on the side of too tipsy when Zuko leans in with the most grave expression imaginable.
“Aang,” Zuko says, “This has been… hauntingme….Whydid your friends need to suck on those frogs?”
And Aang just gasps, and does not explain the frogs, because he has suddenly remembered that Miyuki is still wanted by the Fire Nation and that just won’t do. So Aang demands that Zuko pardon Miyuki for her crimes, which then gets the rest of the gaang to dogpile on and also demand justice for Miyuki.
Zuko is willing to hear him out.
…Zuko is significantly less willing to hear him out when Aang mentions that Miyuki is a cat.
(Zuko finds it difficult to believe that a catis legitimately wanted by the Fire Nation)
But because they are all the worst, he relents and they all drunkenly stumble down to go find the records of Miyuki’s crimes and write her up a pardon, much to the chagrin of the night-shift archivist.
Zuko, staring blankly at Miyuki’s rap sheet:
The gaang:
Zuko:
Zuko: I don’t …. I don’t think I can pardon this…
Sokka: It can’t be that bad! Let me see-
Sokka:
Zuko: You see what I mean?
Toph:Is anyone going to tell me what it says or am I just going to have to wait in suspense?
Would be funny if even Aang rescinded his plea for a pardon after reading the rap sheet.
he’s probably freaked out (rightfully so) but in the back of his mind he’s probably also thinking “worst comes to worst, I could probably fight her” until:
this happens and he’s like:
and immediately starts reevaluating every bender he’s ever met, thinking of every time Katara totally could’ve killed him, and is forever grateful that she has morals lol
Feat. an AU I came up with while drawing, where Zuko works part-time at some cinema owned by Iroh? and runs into Katara during a blackout… and well, why wouldn’t he show off to a pretty girl ✋✨
Anyone ever think about how the first conversation Zuko has after betraying his uncle and siding with Azula, stepping backwards from his redemption, is with Mai. And then his last conversation before reconciling with his uncle and, through this, completing his redemption, is with Katara.
Both of these characters come over to him when he is by himself and ask after his wellbeing:
Mai: Aren’t you cold?
Katara: Are you okay?
And Zuko responds to this probing in both situations by giving some variation of “not in good headspace right now”
Zuko: I’ve got alot on my mind.
Zuko: No I’m not okay.
He then lays out the external situation.
Zuko: It’s been so long. Over three years since I was home. I wonder what’s changed.
Zuko: My uncle hates me I know it. He loved and supported me in every way he could and I still turned against him.
In the first scene he’s contemplating his step back. In the second he’s contemplating his step forward. He goes on to pose a question to each, wondering if this is a step he’ll even be able to take.
Zuko: I wonder how I’ve changed.
Zuko: How can I even face him?
This is where the scenes diverge. Mai reacts by yawning and voicing her disinterest, effectively shutting him down.
Mai: I just asked if you were cold I didn’t ask for your whole life story. Stop worrying.
Her advice is to ignore this conflict that he’s facing, just as she’s doing. Notably, Zuko doesn’t speak again in this scene after this. Mai also kisses him, meaning to distract him from his problems completely.
Katara has a very different approach:
Katara: Zuko, you’re sorry for what you did, right?
She presses him to actually answer his question. He asked how he can face his uncle. He can face him if he wants to be better, if he’s truly sorry for the things he’s done. So she asks him, is he?
Zuko: More Sorry then I’ve been about anything in my entire life.
Katara: Then he’ll forgive you. He will.
After their conversations, Mai walks away, leaving Zuko alone; Katara stays and watches Zuko enter Iroh’s tent.
These conversations symbolise the difference between Zuko’s old life and his new one. Mai’s words mean forgetting, ignoring your mistakes and staying where you are. Katara’s mean confronting your mistakes and moving on.
And if we needed any more parallels that show this, take note of the almost identical framing, specifically what each girl is seeing when they are looking at him:
Mai is on his right. She’s seeing the unscathed side of his face. The Zuko she’s seeing is the same one she knew in the Fire Nation. She figuratively and literally cannot see the hurt, scarred part of Zuko. The part of him that came as a result of standing up to the Fire Nation in the first place. Mai is talking to the side of him that is on the Fire Nation’s side.
Katara is on his left, facing the scar, the scar which he told her himself represents him being seperate from the Fire Nation, seperate from what they are doing and “free to determine his own destiny”.
Here, Mai represents stepping backwards. Katara represents stepping forwards.
i think about this ALL THE TIME
no hate to mai or m*iko shippers, but that moment was objectively so cringe and sad to me. tbh, i think it was very indicative of how emotionally isolated zuko was about to become in the fire nation post-betrayal. mai wasn’t even acting ooc either (imho), she just really doesn’t seem to naturally handle serious or emotional situations very well—which is totally fine—except that zuko IS FUNDAMENTALLY A SERIOUS AND EMOTIONAL PERSON.
their reunion at the boiling rock is also so sad to me, bc mai absolutely had a right to be angry at zuko for leaving/breaking up with her through a letter—but she also was the one who was emotionally unavailable to him. idk it just seems like the exchange on the boat was teaching zuko/the audience that mai is unwilling or unequipped to emotionally support zuko through such a turbulent time, so it makes sense to me that zuko didn’t trust her enough to tell her his intentions to join the avatar to her face. i don’t think he believed she would understand his perspective, and lowkey, he was right about that.
this whole parallel marked a huge moment for me as a zutara shipper, just bc of how immature the mai and zuko moment was compared to the katara and zuko moment
im gonna spend the rest of my life chasing that high I got when I was nine and watched Zuko and Azula’s Final Agni Kai for the first time aren’t I
the music. the cinematography. the raw, unbridled power of their bending. The horrible, beautiful contrast of red and blue flame consuming the frame. zuko’s growth as both a character and a bender compared to Azula’s tragic deterioration. the animation. the music. zuko’s foot slowly sliding towards Azula’s flame but then stabilizes as he grounds himself. his bending clearly drawing from other elemental techniques outside of fire, lending him an upper hand. “no lightning today? what’s the matter? afraid I’ll redirect it?” “oh I’ll show you lightning!” the lightning. THE LIGHTNING. the slow slide of Zuko’s eyes, his face of horror, as he realizes what’s happening. his choice to sacrifice himself to save Katara. the reflection in Katara’s eyes as he’s being struck. the music oh my god the music. Katara running for her life as Azula attacks her, laughing, laughing, victorious, broken. zuko reaching out to katara as he lays dying. “there you are peasant”. the swell of the music, the uncertainty, azula readying her final strike as katara reaches- then a prison of water and ice. the frame of the two girls, frozen in time, azula’s hand mere inches from Katara’s face. katara finally, finally, breathing out, moving, locking azula to the grate, winning a battle against one of the greatest fire benders in the world on the day of sozin’s comet through sheer ingenuity. healing zuko, a star burst scar centered on his chest. the tears of relief. “thank you katara” “I think I’m the one who should be thanking you.” the narrative significance where every season prior Zuko and Katara spent the finale as opponents, battling one another, to the development of them fighting on the same side and saving one another. azula breaking under the weight, no carefully calculated shield, no dignity, but wailing like a child, lost, alone, who just wants her mother. a victory that doesn’t feel like a victory but a tragedy.
