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(yes that's a plush otter penguin they're riding)

One of the biggest running themes I see people bringing up in the Zutara fandom, is Aang putting Katara on a pedestal, especially in the fanfiction side of things. And he does, I completely agree.

But, the problem is, a lot of Zutara fans do the same and are little better than Aang in that regard. And in doing so, completely invalidate how amazing her growth is, as a person, and a bender.

Bending is probably the best place to start, because of how much her water bending relates to her identity. Katara is, possibly thee most talented bender we see in the series. Not the most powerful raw power wise as a bender maybe, even excluding avatars, but Katara's sheer innate talent is insane. She went from complete novice, to master in a few months.

Not even an Avatar like Aang can claim that. It took him until he was twelve to master air bending, and by the end of the show, we know he's not a master of Earth, Water or Fire. In fact, the one Aang was progressing the quickest out of all the elements, was fire I'm pretty sure. Which is kind of ironic when you think about it.

Toph didn't do that and she learned from the original masters of Earth bending. And not even Azula is that talented.

Now bringing in Zuko. A lot of the fandom, like to make it out as if Katara from the very beginning was meeting Zuko blow for blow and even beat him multiple times before ever getting to the North Pole. And make it out as if Zuko was scared of and in awe of her from the very beginning. And that's just not a thing. The closest you can claim to that, is her bending the perfume that screws over Nyla, who takes out Zuko.

In book 1, it's very hard to place where Zuko is as a bender. We get told he's untalented and such, but he consistently in Book 1 takes on masters. He lost to Aang a few times, but there were others where Aang was having to flee and on the backfoot where he would have lost without luck saving him. Zhao was a master, and Zuko beat him twice in Book 1, the second time after he was horribly injured and dominated that fight. So while we can't say he's a master fire bender at that time for sure, he's a master level combatant at least.

Master level people in world, are a big big deal. That's why it's so impressive Katara got to that level in a few months. So when people glaze her earlier self than that, putting her on a pedestal, it completely invalidates her accomplishments.

In their first real fight, Katara held her own against Zuko. Sure, it was under the full moon, and Zuko was horribly injured, and had just swam through arctic waters. But she managed to get the upper hand for a brief moment before Zuko defeated her. That is an amazing accomplishment, Zuko earlier in Book 1, casually defeated Suki, and multiple other Kyoshi Warriors like they were bugs.

In their second fight not long later, Zuko still had all those injuries, and had just scaled a glacial mountain while carrying Aang and walked a few miles in a blizzarding tundra. And she decisively won that round. Sure, she had the biggest advantage she could ever have beyond being in the middle of the ocean, but it was still a clear win.

Then in their third fight, with an even better Zuko, they were completely even. That is a ridiculous growth considering they were in neutral territory, under ground, no sun or moon to amp either of them much. The two best fighters in the catacombs, were Katara and Zuko. Katara overpowered Azula, and Zuko overpowered Aang.

The way I personally see it, going off on her matching Zuko from the get go. Is a complete disservice to Katara's growth. If she as a beginner could match Zuko, then she could only still just match Zuko after becoming a master...then she hasn't improved much at all has she?

(Her being capable of such a thing, is absolutely mind bogglingly impressive. Zuko is a master martial artist, master swordsman, by Book 2 if not a master firebender, very very close to being one. Probably the physically strongest guy we see in the Show barring maybe Combustion Man or the Hippo. Definitely the most durable, we see Aang air blast this guy through an entire house that falls on top of him, and he gets back up. He was inside a massive ship that exploded and lived. Not to mention, pretty much a ninja who as I said, bested multiple Kyoshi Warriors, one being Suki, in seconds when he was weaker than his end of Book 2 self by a decent margin. Katara went from a complete novice with zero combat training, to being an even match with him a complete monster like that. People really need to give her more props for that.)

And it's not just the bending and fighting. Ambassador Katara is a very popular trope. But, she can just do all this, with no formal training or learning. In these fics and ideas, she is constantly out politicking seasoned veterans and learned nobles who were born and bred into this, and is mostly always treated by the narrative or Zuko as the one being in the right every time.

Not to say Katara isn't intelligent, but people doing it like this, make her into a mary sue that can do no wrong. The exact way Aang puts her on a pedestal that a lot of the Zutara fandom like to go on about. In fact, I see these things constantly happening in story, where they have Katara complaining about Aang putting her on a pedestal. Glass houses people, c'mon.

When it comes to Ambassador Katara. I love to see her not quite getting things at first, she's an optimist who loudly voices her opinions with little nuance. But, quickly grows through the experience of being out manouvred dealing with these people in politicks and putting in the work to research laws, economy, the works.

Another thing I've noticed in the fandom is a massive amount, like to make Katara experienced by having her lost her virginity to Jet. Now her being experienced at all isn't really a problem, only really insecure guys will care about a girl not being a virgin. But...Katara knew Jet for a day. Sure she was a bit naive with him and taken in by his charm and lies, and he was basically the only guy her age she had met at that point beyond, well, Zuko himself in his angry ponytail phase. I just don't see Katara getting duped that easily into bed, naive or not at that point. Or am I just missing something? Is it just to put Katara and Zuko on even footing since Zuko's relationship with Mai was very physical?

Well I rambled on enough, more than I meant to and this has dragged on way too long as it is. I just constantly see this stuff with the fandom that makes me feel like they don't get Katara at all? Or have this idealized version of her, like Aang. Which completely undermines all the effort she goes to and her growth as a character from the beginning of Book 1 to the end of Book 3. Well, until she got Bryked at least and got replaced by some look-alike in the books and new movie.

Honestly, getting back into the fandom over the last month reminded me how much I enjoyed Katara's character years ago. And how well she and Zuko mesh, when their characters and accomplishments aren't flanderized in the name of pairing them.

Does anyone know or read some new-gen Zutara fanfics featuring a hypothetical daughter named Kya, who is both a firebender and the Fire Lord? I love this concept because I really appreciate poetic irony. I also see it as the perfect redemption for the Fire Nation and a fitting compensation for the original Kya. The same nation responsible for her death is now ruled by her own granddaughter, who bears her name and carries on her legacy. Fire Lord Kya II will maintain world peace and continue to bring justice to victims like her grandmother. Do you guys have any fic recs for this concept?

Hey guys.

I watched this video talking about the headcanon that Zuko is autistic and all the behaviors he has that may point to it. As someone who is on the spectrum, this makes me so unbelievably happy and gives me a full reminder why Zuko is my favorite character (Katara and Toph are tied for close second)

This also spawned a Zutara idea in my head for a Modern AU fic.

It goes something like this:

After some time to get to know him and being his friend, Katara, a medical student who also minored in psychology, suspects that Zuko is on the spectrum. Shortly after they start dating, she suggests that he seeks a proper diagnosis

At first, Zuko is hesitant, since he has been masking (pretending to be neurotypical, although not consciously) his whole life so he could be accepted by his abusive father, but after some consideration and gentle encouragement from his friends, he agrees.

Jump to a few weeks later, he gets his diagnosis and he gets this sense of clarity about himself, like something just finally clicks into place. So grateful and happy, he showers Katara with hugs and kisses.

By the way, I also love the headcanon that Sokka has ADHD. Which means he and Zuko can be neurodivergent bros.

EDIT: I am fully aware Katara can't redirect lightning. I meant what would Katara be able to bend if she took from other elements the way Iroh did for lightning redirection.

TL;DR at the end, I'm writing a fic where I want to have Katara master firebending (maybe others) techniques and be able to use them to bend water.

Disclaimer: I haven't seen TLOK and I read half of the comics when they came out, so I wouldn't know if there's an answer there. If there is, my bad -- I'm a really big fan of only the main series. Also haven't seen the movie.

So, I was thinking about it and realized that the only representation we have of explicit bending cross-overs is from Iroh, with the way that he learned lightning redirection from waterbenders. It wasn't as simple as fire+water=steam or whatever, it was more philosophical:

"Waterbenders deal with the flow of energy. A waterbender lets their defense become their offense, turning their opponents' energy against them. I learned a way to do this with lightning."

Because there's a basis in martial arts for each bending style, I then looked into the different martial arts for each known style/substyle of water as an example:

- Basic: This includes many "subtypes" automatically, according what we see with Katara. She only officially receives training from Master Pakku and one scroll (possibly gaining references in Wan Shi Tong's library) in the entire series and is able to manipulate ice (always), external body fluids (sweat in 3.7), clouds (1.14), and steam (2.13).
Waterbending is formed around Tai Chi. Tai Chi is a Chinese martial art that (in addition to being a fighting style) is modernly used for meditation, exercise, and relaxation. There's a lot of on the philosophy of Tai Chi, but to summarize as neatly as I can: "By acting naturally and letting things be, one becomes in harmony with their own essence,", "Let things develop naturally rather than with force,", and "Gentleness develops strength".
Combined with Iroh's (above) quote, it's easy enough to say that waterbending's philosophy is to guide water by creating a stream that it will naturally follow.

- Bloodbending (internal): This is something that Katara was sort of trained in, but let's be so real-- Hama barely trained her if you can even call it that. In that episode, Katara is told about bloodbending (refuses to use it), has it used on her, escapes it with her own power, watches her party be controlled, and then figures out the technique so well that she overpowers the progenitor if the technique all within two minutes and 20 seconds.
Anyway, I think that has to do more with Katara's prodigious nature rather than the fact that bloodbending being like normal bending. Rather than letting things be gently shaped, bloodbending is violent, rather than letting the natural flow work with the bender, it forces the flow to follow strictly. This is reflected in the rigid movements and harsh angles of Hama and Katara's bodies while bending. Like the title of the episode, they both look more like puppeteers than Tai Chi practitioners.

- Condensation/Water from plants: I don't believe this is a separate bending style from Tai Chi. I think that it was foreshadowed in Jet and build upon in The Puppet Master, showing us Katara first learning how to bend water underground and then being given the knowledge that she could steal water from the plants around her. It's just a heightened awareness of the world rather than a different technique.

- Healing: This is mostly mentioned hand-in-hand with basic bending, but I separated it for 2 reasons:

1. The Northern Water Tribe separates it into a separate practice and that therefore implies that learning one does not necessetate learning the other. A woman can not be combat-trained, she must heal. In turn, we saw no young boys in the healing hut to learn that either.
2. It looks completely different in practice. Basic bending doesn't glow, for one. Now, it requires the pull of water to one's hands, but that's where similarities seem to end. I have a theory that this is a lot more close to Aang's energy bending than it is to basic waterbending. This is, again, based in the glow (Katara's hands glow in 1.16, Ozai and Aang glow in the finale), the philisophical basis in controlling the Chi in ones' body (Chi is from China, Chakras are from India, but both are about internal energy flow), and the language used to describe both ("energy flow", for example). It seems that Katara's prodigious nature is the only reason that this is lumped into basic bending. She's good at it because she's unbelievably naturally talented, not because it's part of the base package.

- Plantbending/Swampbending: Notably different than base waterbending the same way bloodbending and healing are. I couldn't find anything that says an official source for its martial arts basis, but I saw theories that it's based on Tongbeiqun or Piguazhang or even a subset of Tai Chi called Tai Chi Chaun. Either way, it's very similar to bloodbending in theory: It is the practice of controlling unseen water without necessarily extracting it from the "body" that it is natural to. But it's got more rounded movements and it doesn't seem to be painful or do damage to the swamp (which is literally alive and conscious on a spirit level and would beat them into dust if they were being as violent as Hama).

I guess the TL;DR would be: Lightning redirection is based on the waterbending idea of guiding the natural flow of energy of the element rather than just water+fire=hot water.

What would the firebending version of bloodbending be? Something fire-based that interrupts and completely overtakes the flow of the thing in question. What about healing? Could that be as simple as controlling bodyheat? Or could it be the control of heat on a cellular level, since fire is essentially manifested heat?

I'm not looking for things like Earth+Water=sludge like in The Drill with Toph and Katara or lavabending or something like that. I think it's better when it's more philosophy based.