Wait I Just Saw A Post Saying That Aang Let Go Of His Attachment To Katara To Protect Her In The Crossroads

Wait… I just saw a post saying that “Aang let go of his attachment to Katara to protect her” in The Crossroads of Destiny but I honestly can’t remember that happening? I thought that he never ended up letting go of his attachment?? Is my memory just foggy??

They're talking about the scene where Aang and Katara are fighting against Azula and Zuko in the catacombs. The Dai Li arrive and surround them, Aang sees that they're overwhelmed, says "I'm sorry Katara," and then goes into the Avatar state.

I. Hate. This. Scene.

I've read SO many metas about it, from various perspectives, and none of them make it make sense. We're supposed to believe he gave up his attachment, yes, but it's not at all clear why or how or if he did it to protect Katara.

Aang does his thing and there's a shot of Zuko watching like "what in the holy Ba Sing Se is happening now???" That is me watching that scene.

Me too, Zuko. Me too.

I remember when I first watched this part I was like, extremely pissed at Aang. He sees Katara surrounded by Dai Li agents, struggling to fight them off, says he's sorry, then creates a structure of crystal around himself to meditate. I was pissed because his apology seems like he's giving up on saving her in exchange for going into the Avatar State. He seems to have realized that they can't win unless he purposefully goes into the Avatar state, but by doing so he's leaving Katara momentarily vulnerable.

See, that would really have been sacrificing his attachment to her.

It's not very clear that he's trying to protect her or how that exactly constitutes giving up on his attachment to her, how he manages to do it while leaving her vulnerable to the Dai Li, and why, if he's doing it to protect her, he's apologizing to her.

Like, I know he's supposed to be apologizing because he loves her, but like, dude, she's looking like this.

She's happy to see Aang going into the Avatar state willingly and consciously, not scary and out of control like the other times. This isn't sacrificing Katara, because this is what Katara wanted, the fulfillment of everything she'd been trying to do with Aang. Aang's apology isn't really for Katara, who never asked for Aang's love to begin with. It's an apology for himself. Which means he isn't actually letting her go at all. The only way this would actually be a sacrifice and a letting go is if he had to break up with her or something or would never see her again or doing this left Katara in danger somehow, which would make sense.

Except it only takes two seconds for him to give up his earthly attachment, the thing that he struggled with so hard in the last episode, and he opens his chakras just like that. There's some wonky spirit plane effects, and then BAM, fully realized Avatar.

Which is all well and good, I guess, because the show told us what he was supposed to do and that he did it, but we didn't actually see him do it. This is the epitome of telling and not showing.

Like giving up your earthly attachment to the world, to the person you love, is just a switch you flick in your head.

Look, I get that this is hard to portray in a cartoon show, but I would like a little narrative cohesion here, and I would like the plot elements to be meaningful to the characters.

How was Aang suddenly able to give up his earthly attachment to Katara, which it is established an episode prior is a representation for his love for his lost people? Did he just decide to? Did he just say "well screw her, I guess she can die?" How is this going to change his relationship to Katara (spoiler: it won't)? If Aang couldn't give up his attachment to Katara when he got a vision of her being captured, how in the Omashu is he going to give up his attachment to her while she's being menaced by an army of Dai Li? It just doesn't make sense. You don't meditate for two seconds during the climax of the battle, your adrenaline pumping while the bad guys are closing in, and then reach enlightenment. Even the most spiritual person in the world would find that impossible, without all the baggage that Aang is dealing with.

This is completely contrary to how Aang's Avatar state is established to work in the first episode of the season, too. There, Katara being in danger is enough to drive him into Avatar State overdrive, uncontrollable destructive rage and all. What changed? How did we get from there to Aang deliberately deciding to let go of Katara while she is in active danger and that being the thing that unlocks his chakra? How was Aang able to achieve this especially after flagrantly disregarding the Guru's words and lying about it?

I get that they're drawing from Eastern spirituality, and that they're trying to portray it in a way that would make sense to the average American young person, but the show literally did this with Zuko a million times better an episode ago, and was able to tie Zuko's spiritual awakening into the story in a way that made sense for the character. I totally believe that Zuko would be able to reach a more enlightened spiritual state after being at war with his own morals and suffering a long illness and having to be taken care of by his Uncle, and then waking up with a new appreciation of his life and his relationship to said Uncle, realizing that the home he wants could be the one he makes with Iroh. It makes sense on a spiritual level and a character level.

You know what's a good example of giving up earthly attachments? Zuko giving up his unhealthy obsession with capturing the Avatar and trying to please an unpleasable father and choosing instead the security of his tea shop life and his Uncle's love. You know what's another good example? Zuko choosing to break things off with Mai, even though he still loves her, to protect her. That's the difference between selfless love and unhealthy attachment.

But that doesn't matter because this conflict is not only thrown out the window in this episode, it is immediately replaced by the new conflict of Aang's chakra being blocked by Azula's lightning. Why was this necessary? Especially since book three Aang's attachment to Katara becomes more unhealthy, not less. Moreover, it is an external conflict replacing an internal one, and internal conflicts are always more compelling than external conflicts. The show literally threw up its hands and was like, "you know what, this is too complex and emotionally resonant to resolve in a way that makes sense to our audience! Have some lightning!"

Do you know what would have been a good way for the show to address this? Let's say Aang does reach the Avatar state voluntarily under Ba Sing Se by opening all his chakras, but Katara is captured in the process because Aang isn't there to fight off the Dai Li, because in this AU he spends a little bit longer in the spirit realm. Aang has to make the decision to let Katara be captured, and it eats him up inside, he's able to go into the Avatar state, but this doesn't actually solve his problem with being able to control it because now he's more attached to Katara than ever. This sets up the conflict for book three, where Aang has to deal with his increasingly possessive feelings for Katara, along with his insecurities about defeating the Fire Lord (two things that naturally go hand in hand, because the more insecure he gets, the more he clings to Katara) and resolve them in a meaningful way.

About ATLA Relationship Arcs

So, this is me, finally trying to write some meta after lurking in my little tumblr corner for months! Hi!

Although I’ve tried to tag properly, if you are a Kat*anger and just want to enjoy your favourite couple in peace, this might not be the post for you. I am not trying to bash characters but I do have a lot of critical stuff to say about the writing.

Anyway, you have been warned and here is my story about my personal first Atla experience: I watched the show this year for the first time, and after the end of Book 1 I decided to look up spoilers, because after what happened to Yue, I wanted to make sure that Zuko and Iroh would be ok. So I knew what was going to happen: Kat*ang endgame and absolutely no Zutara at all. Still, by the end of Book 3, I was convinced that I had read wrong - that there would be an epilogue with a different ending or at least that Aang would only get together with Katara post-show- in that Korra series or something - because anything else wouldn’t make sense- right?

….

After I got over my shock and surprise, I went online and found out about that decade-long aggressive passionate ship war and how even the showrunners got involved.

And then I really worried that I might have missed a few points. Apparently ”Aang and Katara were the DNA of the show”, according to the creators themselves, and “Zutara could never have happened”.

Another popular anti-ZK argument I found was: Why do you always go on about Katara and Zuko? Just look at Zuko and Aang! They are the hero/ anti-hero and each other’s foils, their relationship is much more meaningful!”

So I tried to find out what it was that I apparently couldn’t see.

(Another disclaimer: I love analysing stories (like many Zutarians apparently) and this will get long and rambly. If you get bored to tears when people start talking about “narrative structure” you will probably not like this.)

Talking about narrative structure, I do believe that, in order to let your story, your characters and their relationships really shine, a good basic structure is important. There should be a recognizable development and individual parts of the story that build upon each other and lead to consequences and change, until there is a completed arc - because it is all about the journey that takes you to a satisfying ending, right? So that’s what I tried to do, with my personal Kat*ang vs. Zutara take, I tried to look at the structure and development of their relationship arcs.

The argument that threw me off track for a while is that compared to Aang and Zuko, Zuko and Katara’s relationship is not supposed to be that relevant for the plot. After all, Zuko is the foil, the anti-hero, the deuteragonist to Aang, who is the hero protagonist.

This is all true of course. But then why is it that in every finale, Zuko’s main opponent (and later ally) is not Aang but Katara? Why is it that their sun/moon, red/blue, fire/water dichotomy is so obviously highlighted?

I think one reason why Zuko and Katara are paired off so frequently in the story - as opposite elements, as opponents and as allies - is that they BOTH are Aang’s deuteragonists. While Zuko also acts as antagonist and Aang’s foil/mirror, Katara takes over the more traditional deuteragonist role of confidant / best friend/ narrator.

Protagonist Aang is what connects them, although they are on opposite sides: Both need Aang because he represents their hope to save their world. Very simply put, Katara protects him, so he can make the world a safer place again, and Zuko wants to capture him, so he can go home and be safe again. That rivalry between them is already established in the first episode, even before they meet each other: Katara, who hopes that the Avatar will return (as she tells everyone in the intro), and Zuko, who seems to be obsessed with finding him for more sinister reasons.

And just to make sure, I am not talking here about the characters’ feelings and emotions! This is just about the abstract roles they have been assigned within the narrative.

When regarding Zutara’s special connection to Aang and their rivalry with each other, it makes absolute sense to stress their “same but different”ness as well, visually and metaphorically: Red and blue, fire and water, sun and moon, arguably Painted Lady/Blue Spirit, and, when you put into account their story arc, also Oma and Shu.

With this basis, which puts them together and sets them apart simultaneously, their relationship already becomes very dynamic and interesting, even before you consider any romantic potential.

And here’s another thing, Zuko and Katara also have their own story arc within the main plot. Although they don’t have many scenes together before Zuko joins the Gaang, when they do meet there is always a new shift in their relationship and in quite a few cases their interactions are important for the main plot as well. If you just look at their “end fights” at each book’s finale, there is an obvious and consequential build-up, like any decent story arc should have:

Book 1 starts with Zuko as the powered-up enemy and Katara as the weak newbie waterbender. Both are battling over Aang. At the end of Book 1, they are finally established as equally powerful fighters but still fundamentally different (You rise with the moon, I rise with the sun!)

In CoD at the end of Book 2 happens the next step: they realize that they are not different at all! But Aang still doesn’t represent the same for them and they end up on opposing sides of the war again.

In the Book 3 finale, when Zuko has completed his own (anti-) hero's journey and Aang represents the same “hope” for both of them, they do not only join forces: Their “same but different”- traits make them such a uniquely suited match that they are even able to save each other’s lives during their fight with Azula (who in turn happens to be Katara and Zuko’s antagonist/mirror/foil).

And in addition to their own story arc they even get an individual recurring theme, which also appears in every book whenever their relationship status changes: The lost mothers, especially Katara’s mother.

In Book 1, Katara’s necklace (the symbol of Kiya) plays not only a major part in two of Zuko’s capture attempts, it is the reason for their very first one-one one encounter in the story.

Their first friendly connection in COD in Book 2 happens because they start talking about their mothers. And in Book 3, their final reconciliation (sealed with a very cathartic hug) happens after their life-changing trip which is, of course, all about Katara’s mother.

Again, I am not even trying to analyse their characters and motivations within the story - there are many metas that have already done that much better, more detailed and with screenshots. This is just dry structure and tropes and themes. But I think people recognize and connect with a well-structured arc, even subconsciously, which is one of the reasons that makes Zutara such a compelling couple. They complete and contrast each other, their relationship dynamic constantly changes, builds up, falls apart, reconnects. Such a setup is the perfect playground for a lot of creative takes on what-ifs and alternative scenarios and of course, shipping them romantically is extremely tempting - think of all the possibilities! It’s no wonder that the Zutara fandom is still so active decades after the end of the show. And it’s also no wonder that the Zutarians are known for “over-analysing everything”. You can only over-analyse if there is anything that gives you enough food to analyse to begin with. Which brings me to

KAT*ANG

I just go right to the top and take the quote from Br*yke themselves:

Kata*ng was in the DNA of the thing from the start…. [Zutara] was just dark and intriguing.

If you read this quote and then start watching the show, I would (grudgingly) agree that:

Aang and Katara understand and complement each other really well. Aang gives her the chance to have fun and go on adventures and in turn, Katara is his fiercest supporter from the very beginning, something that he really needs after he lost all his people AND has to find out that the world thinks the war is sort of his fault. In turn, the journey to the North Pole is as important to Katara as it is to Aang, because it is her dream to learn waterbending properly. That’s what she literally says when Sokka & Co try to banish Aang: (Sokka: Where do you think you’re going? Katara: To find a waterbender. Aang is taking me to the North Pole.) In that way, they are friends who give and take equally and are equally taken care of. They even have the last Airbender/ last Southern Waterbender status that connects them. The few times they have a fight, Aang does something in the end to redeem himself (perform some heroic feat) and Katara sees that she is right to believe in him.

Aang has this very sweet crush on her and it will be very sweet and wholesome when Katara will return his feelings at the end of their adventure after he has hit puberty. On the other side, there is also some heavy shipbaiting with Zuko: I save you from the pirates. The betrothal necklace. June and her excellent shipping taste. But in the end they are enemies, they barely know each other and, come on, it would be too dark and intriguing! There is no real threat against friends to lovers Kat*ang, the soft heart of the story. It’s very straightforward and there are a lot of simple “the hero saves the day” scenes for Aang but that’s fine! It’s not really my kind of ship but that’s not the point, it works for the story they want to tell.

End of Book 1.

In my - probably harsh- opinion, everything you really need to know about the Kat*ang relationship has been told by this point. If you want to be really mean, already by Book 1, episode 3.

That explains maybe why many (not all! but many) pro-KA arguments sound as if their shippers have not watched Book 2 and 3 at all. The Book 1 synopsis also perfectly sums up Bry*ke’s quote above. But then Book 2 and 3 are still there and I don’t know what happened but it seems as if they somehow decided that the Kat*ang story does not need any new and lasting input. Maybe because they were afraid that too much new development and change would stray too far away from their original Kat*ang vision. But there are still 2 more books and more adventures and Kat*ang somehow has to be kept apart until the finale.

So the tension in their potential romance is based largely on the question whether or not Katara will return Aang’s feelings. In general I don’t have a problem with that will-she-won’t she-technique. It works well in books where the love interest is not a POV or in shows/ movies where the love interest is not one of the main characters. But Katara is not only the female lead but also arguably the narrative voice of the whole story! As a result, this kind of writing makes Katara look as if she doesn’t have any agency in their relationship, which is not surprisingly a very popular anti-KA criticism.

Additionally, since her dream - learning waterbending - has been fulfilled by the end of Book 1, the relationship work becomes a bit one-sided. Of course Aang is the hero and his journey is the heart of the story. But in order to highlight their special connection it would have helped to give Katara another personal agenda, which Aang could have supported in some way. She is still the last Southern Waterbender and he the Last Airbender but this is not really explored in the Kat*ang relationship. And her other personal agenda, her mother, is already reserved for the Zutara arc.

Instead, in Book 2 and 3 the Kat*ang story is somehow all over the place. Of course there is new conflict and a few romantic scenes as well. But obstacles are either introduced too late or just dropped when not needed anymore, conflict is not resolved and their flirty, romantic moments never lead anywhere- and if they do, they lead to more conflict that is not resolved (yes, I am looking at you, EIP Kiss!).

Take for example Katara’s very sudden argument that they cannot be together now because there is a war going on. We hear her saying that for the first time in the very last episode (EIP) before the 4-part finale. That is too late to have any impact! That she has these kinds of thoughts was never even alluded to before. Not once.

Or the pattern Aang runs away/ is flaky - Katara is upset - Aang comes back and does his hero thing - Katara is relieved. In regards to their relationship arc, nothing changes here between Book 1 and the finale, only the stakes for Aang’s heroic performances get higher.

Or Katara being the one who is able to calm Aang down when he cannot control the Avatar state (which, in my personal opinion, is neither romantic nor healthy). This is also connected to the problem with the seventh Chakra, that Aang needs to let go of his attachment for her. I will be angry forever with how they wasted this for a possible relationship development! That Aang has to decide to either do his duty or save his forever girl (because let’s be fair, he did try to let go and only ran when he had the vision of Katara in danger) - that’s a fantastic setup!

But no, it doesn’t have any real consequences for Kat*ang at all. Instead there were only half-baked attempts – Aang does lie about his failed practice with Guru Pathik but the ultimate reason why his chakra is blocked is Azula, not his decision to run. Aang does try to let go of Katara for a little bit but then Azula shoots him. Nothing in Book 3 shows any change in his feelings that could have been a result of his instant let-it-go. If anything, he gets weirdly obsessive - which could have been used as a side effect of his blocked chakra but – again, no, nothing happens.

I suspect the whole thing was just introduced to create temporary drama for poor Aang, but it is never explained why Katara holds him back, what aspect of the attachment is blocking him or what would happen if he did let her go. Maybe they tried to make a statement about how love is more important than Avatar rules – which would have been fine but it’s also never properly explored. Instead, as soon as that plot point becomes inconvenient it’s simply dropped like a random rock™.

Compare all that to the Zutara arc, where both characters’ feelings about each other are always very much in the open, and where every interaction causes lasting effects in their relationship. Yes, it is unfair to compare that to Kat*ang, because up to the end of Book 3, Zuko and Katara almost never meet, while Aang and Katara spend almost every episode together – of course they cannot do meaningful things all the time. But on the other side, with Kat*ang, there would have been a great chance to show a subtle, gradual build-up instead.

It also doesn’t help that the Zutara arc seems hellbent on sabotaging every romantic moment Aang is allowed to enjoy:

There is Kat*angs first maybe-kiss in the dark before the background of the Oma and Shu legend. But it does not lead anywhere. Instead, Zuko and Katara almost reenact the legend itself in the Book 2 finale as two real enemies to almost-friends, including a glowy rocks-backdrop and the right costume colours, just so nobody misses the message.

In Footloose The Headband, Aang and Katara have a really sweet dance together, and everybody can see how they almost intuitively know each other's moves. This could be a great hint on how well they will fight together in the finale. But is it plot-relevant? No, because the final tag team is Katara and Zuko! While Aang gets paired off with random rock™.

Then there is Aang’s riding off to battle- kiss in DotBS, which Katara is not even allowed to enjoy, because keeping her feelings vague is apparently more important than character development at this point. It is the only romantic moment that gets mentioned again, but in a way that sinks the former cute and wholesome ship into the deep ocean, and the reason is - Aang is jealous of Zuko!

If all of this was only done for the sake of shipbaiting, then it really went out of control at some point.

In the end, the showrunners still had their reasons to choose Kat*ang, maybe because that corresponded more to their own vision, and there are still enough people out there who agree with them. Which is absolutely fine! In the end, what matters most is how you personally connect to the characters and nobody needs to defend their personal taste. But the typical anti-ZK claim, that all the Zutarians with their crazy analysis and rambling meta essays are reaching and delusional and that they desperately try to construct something that isn’t there, is not only a very lazy argument but simply not true.

And I’d claim that in spite of the canon choice, Zutara is technically the better written relationship. By far.

Four arms, four eyes, two tongues….its only logical he got two dicks. Could i handle it? No. Would i try. Yes.

If Sukuna have more than 2 arms….you think he have two dicks sis? Be honest

Series Title Ideas

I'm still thinking of what to call my Bruce Wayne X Black!OC series and so far i have two options

It's Keeping You Safe, Keeping Me Sane

Endangered Species

In EIP, he literally says if he hadn’t blocked his chakra, he would be in the avatar state, in response to seeing stage katara call him a friend/ snuggle up to zuko. He’s not saying he would conciously enter the avatar state, he’s saying the play was so upsetting to him, he would enter the avatar if it was accessible to him.

My point being, he can’t enter the avatar state at all.

And I’m not saying he should have killed ozai or relied on the AS during the final battle, but we are not going to pretend that him never even attempting to fix his chakra prior to the battle was not completely irresponsible. It was reckless. It makes good drama but its reckless.

The show could have achieved the same drama, if not more, by having aang attempt to fix his chakra throughout s3 and finally getting it right while he was in his rock bubble.

Genuinely upset when i think about the second season finale of avatar. What was the point of giving aang internal conflict if later in season three a rock fixes the issue? Makes the entire guru arc pointless. Everytime i rewatch it i get upset

Whats boils my buttons is that the creators either forgot that specific conflict or repoed the original plot to give us kataang in the end. It doesn’t make sense. I think they repoed that shit bc in the ember island players episode aang literally talked about how if he hadn’t blocked his chakra he would be in the avatar state. So its like, Yall remembered the conflict? And just didn’t care anymore?

And *screech* you know what, i dont have time now, but later I’ll get into how the creators fucked themselves with kataang bc that ship makes no logical sense when you look at the overall story.

Normani, Doja Cat and Chloe. I love a trinity.