This is Stuff You Like, you can call me Ursa, and I love Avatar: The Last Airbender.
So much.
It’s sweet and powerful and poignant and complex and funny.
Do you ever forget how funny something is until you watch it again?
Regardless, this month’s Stuff You Like is something of a character study.
And we may do some of the other Avatar characters at a later date, but when I was plotting my
schedule, the character who I most wanted to talk about was kind of a no-brainer.
Yes indeed, it’s everyone’s favourite honour-seeking burn victim, Prince Zuko of
the Fire Nation.
Although, honestly, while we’re going to start with The Last Airbender Canon Zuko-
not The Legend of Korra because I still haven’t finished it -
I’ll get there.
Eventually.
But I really wanted to talk about was a particular fandom archetype of Zuko, who can best perhaps
be described as Creepy Seductive Zuko.
He’ll save you from the pirates.
Otherwise known as Waterbending Scroll Zuko.
Because he is an amazing example of how Avatar takes things that initially seem very out
of place, and uses them to give you really interesting character insight.
You see, I’ve got a theory.
(It’s not a demon.)
Or rather I’ve heard a theory and I’ve decided to take it and run with it.
So here we go.
Canon Prince Zuko (and again, we’re dealing strictly with the original series here) is
a classic example of someone who works best in situations where the rules are clear.
A lot of people do His particular rule set is
‘I have a task, I will complete this task, all other things are irrelevant.
All of them.’
When chasing the Avatar in Season 1, he is focused and cranky and obsessive and fixated.
Because if I do A (capture the Avatar)
then the result will be B (my father will love me, I will regain my
honour).
To the point that changing this internal monologue by taking contrary actions in Season 2 in
Ba Sing Se kicks off a weird series of fever dreams about red and blue dragons.
As we see in Season 1, when dealing with situations in which there are clear rules, like firebending
matches (Agni Kai) or military wossnames, he is fine.
But ambiguity freaks him out.
Which is hilarious, because his entire arc over the course of the three seasons involves
not only a heel face turn, followed by a face heel turn,
followed by another heel face turn, but also a genuine examination of his ability
to interact with the world and its...inherent ambiguity and grey areas.
Also his ability to deal with Messy Complicated Ever-Changing FEELINGS.
Rarely, there is a clear path for him to take, and even more rarely...he actually takes it.
I mean, even ‘I will teach the Avatar firebending’ comes with nobody trusting him followed by
him losing his abilities because he has lost the rage which has dogged him his entire life.
“I’ve lost my stuff.”
“Don’t look at me!
I didn’t touch your stuff!”
Which goes a long way towards explaining WHY Zuko On Dates is such an horrendous dorky
mess, because dating is inherently ambiguous.
Unfamiliar Seduction Situations Prince Zuko is canonically an awkward dork with the social
graces of a one-legged turtle duck.
Look at Zuko interacting with Mai, or Jin, compared with, say, Toph or June.
When he doesn’t fancy you, he might attempt friendliness, awkwardly, but he’s often
cranky or brusque or overly focused.
With Mai, at least, familiarity lessens the inherent awkwardness, but still, canonically
First Date Zuko is super super awkward.
And kind of adorable.
BUT here’s the thing I actually really want to talk about because it’s fascinating to
me: Fanfic Zuko comes in many flavours, as you would expect,
and each of those flavours focuses on different aspects of his personality,
as you would also expect.
There’s plenty of Dorky Awkward Zuko - and a lot of it is HIGHLARIOUS -
but The Waterbending Scroll’s Creepy Quasi-Seductive Kidnapper Zuko
(and his close fanfic counterpart, Evil But With a Possibility Of Redemption Zuko Especially
If Katara Is Involved) is a very popular chap.
And that interests me first because it tells me something about fandom archetypes and what
people find interesting to write about (after all, that whole ‘evil but Actual
Fluffy Bunny Underneath’ thing is by no means unique to the Avatar fandom)
but also because that particular version of Zuko is canonically SO VERY out of character
based on subsequent interactions with Actual Girls He Likes.
Here is a canonical interaction that Zuko has which is very...uncanonical, if you catch
my drift.
To the point that it makes you ask: What’s different here?
And, then after you rewatch the entire series, the question becomes:
and why is this FAMILIAR?’
And then the answer (and here comes the theory) maybe breaks your heart a little.
“I’ll save you from the pirates.”
These two brief interactions between Katara and Zuko are the most jarringly different
Zuko we see in the entirety of the series.
He is not like this in ANY point really before or after this episode.
If his arc is a confused teenager trying to figure out his place in the world,
swinging between longing for external validation and needing to find his own way,
this seems, at first glance, completely out of place.
Zuko is compassionate or angry or honourable or awkward or dorky or...admittedly somewhat
creepy in a threatening kind of way.
“You rise with the moon.
I rise with the sun” Sure honey.
Sure you do.
But even in that situation, with the weird quasi-pickup lines, it’s pretty clearly
a Fight For Your Life and Your Honour situation.
This?
This creepy circling and personal-space-invading and bribery and low seductive tones thing?
From thence a lot of very popular fanfic springs, but where’s it coming from in terms of character?
WHO ACTS LIKE THIS?
Oh.
OH.
And I would argue that this is an example of Azula and Zuko not really getting the implications
of their behaviour.
When Azula deals with...wossname, Chad, she is as awkward and dorky as Zuko.
Creepy quasi-seducer Azula (and remember, she is FOURTEEN YEARS OLD)
seems simply to be acting in the way her father acts.
And that...probably says some uncomfortable things about their home life even before Ursa
left.
Ew.
No wonder actual FEELINGS stump the pair of them.
No wonder inspiring anything other than fear is alien and impossible for Azula.
And no wonder Zuko is so enamoured with Mai.
I mean, she may be gloomy and sigh a lot but she doesn’t wear all of her feelings on
her sleeve, which is going to be appealing to baby Zuko because feelings are complex
and confusing.
Yes, eventually they reach the point where they have to actually deal with their real
raw emotions, but having grown up in an environment where
not showing how you feel is the norm, the heart-on-sleeve quality possessed by Aang
or Katara or Sokka or Toph must be very strange to Zuko.
Even Iroh is guarded, although not all the time.
As fan theories go, the idea that Creepy Quasi-Seductive Kidnapper Zuko is more accurately Creepy Quasi-Seductive
Because He’s Acting Like His Dad Kidnapper Zuko really appeals to me.
First because it explains the relative rarity of this behaviour from him.
Second because it explains Azula’s schtick.
Third because it explains why both of them suck so hard at actual relationships.
And fourth because it adds another layer to their characters, another level of explanation
for why they are the way they are.
One that fits very well with everything we have previously learned about Ozai and his
kids.
And one that makes you more sympathetic to Zuko and to Azula.
Because Zuko, at least, manages to get past it.
Azula never does.
Did I say how much I love this show?
Probably.
And Zuko, Adorkably Awkward as he is.
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