r/ATLA • u/JustAPerson_YesOrNo "Hello, it's Zuko here" • May 25 '25

Question What ATLA take make you like this?

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Posting here bc mods are (not) mean

585 Upvotes

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118

u/Xerinic May 25 '25

The people unironically saying Zuko didn’t do anything THAT bad when comparing him to Azula.

Like, my man outright burns Kyoshi Island, outright declares his crew doesn’t matter, and threatens Gran Gran when attacking the Souther Water Tribe.

And those are just the first few episodes.

89

u/HAZMAT_Eater May 25 '25

Zuko helped Azula conquer Ba Sing Se and kill Aang. Even when he suspected Aang was alive, he hired an assassin to kill a boy just to cover his own sorry ass.

Let's not minimise Zuko's villainy. His redemption arc exists because he wasn't a good guy.

15

u/Exciting_Bandicoot16 May 25 '25

To be fair to Zuko, he changed his mind by the end of the episode (in regards to caring about his crew).

That's like saying that Aang abused animals because he airbended that one vulture-wasp into a rock (and probably killed it).

13

u/Xerinic May 26 '25

Aang still killed an animal.

Just like Zuko still put his crew in danger.

Their feelings afterwards don’t erase these actions.

4

u/Formal_Illustrator96 May 26 '25

You say “and those are just the first few episodes” as if he does way worse stuff later on when he really doesn’t.

Zuko burned a bunch of houses down during the fight and left once Aang did. He declared his crew didn’t matter but proved he didn’t actually think that when he risked his own life to save his crew. He “threatened” Gran Gran(he really just aggressively asked where the Avatar was), then left without doing harm when Aang surrendered.

Azula literally murdered Aang while smiling. She attempted to murder Zuko multiple times. She attempted to murder the Gaang multiple times. She is the one to suggest burning the entire earth kingdom to the ground, potentially killing… thousand? Millions? I don’t know how many people are in the ATLA world.

The only thing that Zuko did that comes close to what Azula did was hiring the assassin.

2

u/No_Persimmons May 26 '25

Yeah, this is pretty spot on. Rewatching, when zuko is confronting the gaang, he almost never is actually looking to kill them. Subdue, capture, injure so they can't get away- yeah, but never kill. The only time that I can recall zuko actually wishing death on someone was when he hired Sparky Sparky Boom Man- to cover his butt to "keep" the avatar dead. Plus, he was back around the influence of his crazy family and was now constantly being manipulated by azula. But even when Zuko was away from his family and used his own judgement , and Combustion Man actually had a shot at killing him, Zuko ordered him to stop.

Azula, straight out of the gate, was out for blood. It didn't matter who got in the way either. Her status of power both through royalty and physical ability justified any loss of life in the pursuit of getting what she (thinks and believes) wants.

2

u/ciri_grayskull May 29 '25

Zuko was tasked with capturing and bringing the avatar to the fire nation, not killing him. If Ozai had told him to kill the avatar to return home then it would be a different story.

-3

u/Girthquake23 May 25 '25

I agree but I will say it’s cuz Zuko was emulating the golden child to try to get good boy points with Daddy

9

u/Xerinic May 26 '25

Azula is doing the same thing.

Zuko isn’t copying Azula.

He’s trying to be like his father. Ozai pitted them against each other.

4

u/Girthquake23 May 26 '25

I guess what I mean is Zuko notices what Azula gets praised for over him and takes that as a “this is how you should act”

Which is, yes, pinning them against each other