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The amount of sheer joy Iroh must have felt when Izumi was born

Let’s be real.

The day Ozai banished Zuko was also the day he lost the war.

“Uncle?”

The light knock came at the door to the Jasmine Dragon’s office,set back away from the dining room. The teashop had been closed for about an hour now, and Iroh had been working on paperwork in the back room. The setting sun streams through his window, and his seat was comfortable and his tea was hot.

He hadn’t expected anyone to still be in the restaurant- so he startled a little at the voice, until not only the voice but the word registered.

His heart fluttered a little, a smile pulling at the corners of his lips. He was happy in Ba Sing Se, he was, but every day his heart ached a little for his nephew, wanting to be with him.

The door cracked open, and Iroh stood up to greet his nephew. The young man sensed permission to come in, and the smile in his eyes nearly brought tears to Iroh’s.

Before Iroh was able to get out of his seat, Zuko had already crossed the room, placing a brightly colored package on the desk. “It’s good to see you, Uncle. I know you weren’t expecting me, I hope I’m not interrupting anything?”

Just the thought of Zuko interrupting anything seemed outlandish to Iroh, as Zuko was more important than anything in his life. “No, no, of course not, nephew. But what brings you here? Surely the throne is keeping you busy.” Iroh hoped there was no bad news.

In response, Zuko gestured to the package he had brought in, smiling, “I brought you something.”

Iroh looked down. The package was long and rectangular, like a book. It was wrapped neatly in thick red paper, a simple golden bow was elegantly wrapped around it.

He picked up the package, looking up at Zuko, who gestured for him to open it. Iroh slowly pulled at the ribbon, undoing the bow. The red paper was easily unwrapped, and Iroh was truly shocked at what laid in his hands.

Mounted in wood and glass, was a painting. In a delicate hand, black ink stretched across parchment, both smooth and jagged lines curving into the roots and branches of a tree.

It was beautiful, and must have cost a fortune, as he surveyed the details in the background behind the tree, the small and low buildings making a bustling market. Intricate blades of grass dotted the landscape, the sky and clouds painted so lightly they almost weren’t there. The skyline met a wall, that stretched across the back of the city…

Iroh stared. The details slowly began to click into place, and before he could even attempt to stop them, tears sprang to Iroh’s eyes.

“Zuko, this…this is…”

“I thought that, since he’s there, the tree should be immortalized in someway. To preserve the memory.”

Iroh was staring at a painting of the tree in Ba Sing Se, the tree his son was buried under.

His smile wobbled, and he looked up at his nephew, who had a light smile on his face— Zuko seemed hesitant to say more, as if he wasn’t sure if his uncle’s tears were of joy or not.

But his uncle immediately moved around the desk towards his nephew. Zuko was a fair bit taller than him now, at least a good 6 inches, so Iroh’s hug ran around Zuko’s waist, putting his head on his nephew’s chest. He squeezed tight, tears slipping from his eyes.

“Thank you. Thank you, Zuko. I love it. I love it.”

“I’m glad you do— I was a little worried it would be…too painful.”

Iroh shook his head against his nephew. “No, no. I miss Lu Ten, every day, but… I also have you.”

Iroh could just make out the faint beat of Zuko’s heart against his cheek, his second son, wonderfully alive.

“Whenever it becomes too much, I think of you. You are what gets me through the bad days. I love you.”

“I love you too, Uncle,” there was a smile in Zuko’s voice, “Happy Father’s Day.”

Modern!A:TLA AU Headcanons regarding transportation:

Aang:

-rides a bicycle

-saving up for a Nissan Leaf (refuses to get anything else)

-calls Katara if he needs to go anywhere long distance (he has a seatbelt for his Old English Sheepdog, Appa)

-has AUX cord privileges: plays pop and classic 80s rock (ex. Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” or anything by Shawn Mendes)

-rolls down all of Katara’s windows on the highway

Katara:

-Toyota RAV 4

-has 7 first aid kits in her trunk

-always goes 5 MPH below the speed limit

-is denied AUX cord privileges (too much Taylor Swift, Sokka complained)

-Bath and Body Works air freshener

-has never been pulled over

-DDS (Designated Driver Supreme)

Sokka:

-Ford F-150 (he bought it from Suki)

-award for most parking tickets

-5 months behind on his oil change

-SOMETIMES get the AUX cord: plays electronic music from YouTube channels or popular rap (ex. Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”)

Toph:

-the Queen of Uber

-the most fun on road trips

-had AUX cord privileges, but they were revoked when she made a playlist that was just 72 minutes of Toto’s “Africa”

Zuko:

-either an Audi or a Lexus

-inside and outside of car is immaculate

-regrets having leather seats in the summer

-Little Tree Black Ice air freshener

-gets pulled over the most

-occasionally gets the AUX cord: plays Panic! At the Disco, Fall Out Boy, and select Avril Lavigne songs (think “Complicated” era)

-Iroh cannot drive therefore Zuko has to drive him everywhere: he insists on paying for gas but Zuko never lets him

-maybe has a motorcycle??? IDK I feel like he and Sokka could be Motorbike Buddies

Adding to my Modern!ATLA AU regarding transportation:

Azula:

-Corvette. No exceptions.

-soundtrack is just Evanescence’s Fallen album on repeat

-the worst driver of them all but won’t admit it

-regards the speed limit as an unasked for suggestion

Mai:

- I don’t wanna say BMW but I’m gonna say BMW

-doesn’t listen to music or, on the rare occasion, instrumental music

-refuses bumper stickers of any kind

-buys the most expensive gas

Ty Lee:

-white Jeep Wrangler. You know the one.

-mainstream music: particularly fond of Icona Pop

-cares not for seatbelts

-cried when she ran over a plastic bag that she thought was an animal (Mai had to calm her down)

Stars

Suki sat with her legs dangling from the side of the Western Air Temple, the quiet dark settled contently around her, a peaceful breeze making a slight whistle as it blew through the structure. 

The others were farther in the temple, most likely sleeping (except for maybe Zuko; Suki doesn’t think the Fire Prince ever sleeps). Sokka, however, was only a few feet away from her, snoring softy with his mouth slightly open. 

It had only been a few hours since they had returned from the Boiling Rock, and the four of them had been exhausted. After Katara had embraced her father, and the group had settled down to discuss what had occurred, Aang had lit them a fire and slowly, they had all drifted off to sleep. 

She had gone to look over the amazing view of the Western Air Temple, how even in the dark inky sky, you could see the stars as clear as they were the sun. Sokka had eventually made his way over to her in silence, dragging his bedroll with him, and wordlessly falling asleep next to her. 

The moon was nearly full that night, and Suki couldn’t tell if the moon was smiling at her or crying. 

“I know that you…in reality, you were his first.” Suki whispers, keeping her head down. 

“But I love him, too. I didn’t know you in life, but if he loved you and wanted to protect you, then you must have been an amazing person.” Suki sighed, looking up at the stars.

“I’m sorry I never got to meet you, Yue.”

Suddenly, the wind stopped all at once, the landscape going completely still, the air stagnant and silent. 

The stars burned a little brighter, and Suki could almost hear a young princess laughing. 

Bones

Skeletons of war aren’t in the closet, they hide in plain sight. 

The first sign of war is on display in each one of the air temples: actual skeletons of a people who were killed amidst kindness, left hollow by the passing of a century.

The Fire Lord who helped end the war will return to one of these temples, years after the war has been won. He will go alone, and he will scour the Southern Air Temple for weeks. 

When he returns, he will gift the Avatar with the record of his birth, found in a library turned to dust, dirt, unburnt. 

The Avatar will cry, and feel more connected to his new family and his old than he ever has before, but the Fire Lord knows the Air Nomads will never come back. 

The second sign of war is the soldiers through the Earth Kingdom, disciplined and barbaric alike. 

The same Fire Lord will remember a young boy with his brother stolen for the front lines, who turned on him when he knew who he (his family, his legacy) really was. He will remember a girl’s kindness, repaid in rapacity. He will remember all the the charred earth he had seen, and a boy who died beneath a lake. 

The villages will be rebuilt, the soldiers brought home, and a baby ostrich horse will find a new home. A Fire Nation village, nestled in an Earth Kingdom forest, will be instructed to leave the intricate hideouts in the trees where they are. 

The Fire Lord won’t stay in these towns long enough to hear them say thank you, feeling he would break if he ever heard such a lie as gratefulness to him.  

Third, the destruction of the Southern water benders, an entire bending discipline now resting on the shoulders of a single water bender, made terrified by the prospect of unyielding control under the light of a full moon. 

He will release the prisoner who had taught her to blood bend into the water bender’s custody, and lets her decide what she sees fit (she looks into her eyes, blue bearing into gray, and demand imprisonment for eternity, both in body and in spirit).The young Fire Lord will see the relief and gratitude in her eyes, and ignore the loud protests of his advisors, who wanted the woman executed. But looking at Katara, he feels as though the Fire Nation should get no say in the matter. 

And the fourth is the Fire Lord himself, broken by a lineage of war and deceit, and even though he tries, even though he is reassured he has done more than what anyone expected of him, gone above and beyond, he will never be able to shake the feeling of guilt for a heritage he did not choose. 

He hides this skeleton in the closet, and smiles for the other nations, for his friends, but he feels it in his bones and in his soul. Every night he takes out the skeleton he made of these bones and dances with it, in the form of pacing, shaking, the thought of rest ever so a foreign concept. The night he arrives at the Southern Water Tribe (for the second time) greeted by Sokka with an embrace (he remembers tossing him to the side before), he will lay awake and clench his jaw, trying so hard not to think about Katara, the last water bender in the south pole. He will help rebuild the villages and towns and pay reparations to the Earth Kingdom, doubting his choice only in the case of Yu Dao, and even years later, is scared to think he actually made the wrong choice. He will help the Avatar rebuild the ties to the spirit world, replanting trees into a lush forest, a statue watching them gratefully in the distance. He will grip his hands, plaster a smile on his face, when Aang’s voice hitches when he talks about the air benders, and waits until he is alone at night to sob. 

The Fire Lord is haunted by ghosts and bones alike, the balance within him forever off kilter. So the Fire Lord carves every lost water bender, every Earth Kingdom family ripped apart, and every air nomad corpse into his own bones, a promise to always be redeeming, a darkness he takes with him to the grave.

Something I noticed that I thought was kind of cool is that Appa liking Zuko is the reason Aang even listened to him at first.

The reason the Earth King heard Team Avatar out when they were trying to convince him Long Feng was corrupt and they were at war was because Bosco liked Aang.

The animals, man. They know.

*on the Day of Black Sun*

Ozai: Why wait? You have your swords and I’m defenseless. You could just kill me now.

Zuko:…

Zuko: Shit, you right.

Ozai: WAIT NO

Cargo

Appa knew that he was more than just transportation. 

He knew that he was a member of their family, the same as any human would be. 

Appa and Aang had an unbreakable bond, something he knew even before he was lost, but was solidified by the deep ache inside of the bison that had nothing to do with hunger. Appa missed Aang so much that it manifested into a physical form, and only abated on the shores of Lake Laogai, when Aang hugged him deep and Appa felt the boys tears as he whispered “I missed you, buddy.” 

Appa could not speak words that Aang could understand, nor could the bison cry to show how much he missed Aang, but Appa felt that Aang already knew.

Katara had always believed in Appa, even when sometimes the bison was unsure of himself. She encouraged him when he flew through Fire Nation blockades, desserts that stretch out endlessly, and when the Day of Black Sun came, she fought by his side, not as a master but as a comrade. 

Katara is the one who always kept a hand on him in caves, her touch comforting like winter’s first snowfall. 

Sokka, Appa had to earn his belief, and in a way, that's its own merit— Sokka believed when it was proven, and that meant that it was solid— Appa’s strength and abilities where solid, and Sokka saw that. Sokka had painstakingly designed sky bison armor, something that had never been done before, simply because he felt Appa deserved to be protected. 

It meant more to Appa than Sokka will ever know. 

Toph was different than the others, her measure of strength not coming from what she could see, but rather, what she could feel. In the desert, Appa understood the sheer amount of strength it took to hold up Wan Shi Tong’s library, while at the same time trying desperately to protect him in the sand. two monumental tasks that any earthbender but Toph would have almost no hope of achieving. In the end, despite everything he went through, Appa supported Toph’s choice, because it kept his family from being buried forever. 

Toph apologized in hushed whispers outside the Earth King’s palace, trying to hold tears back, but Appa felt he didn’t need forgive her for the choice she made, so he nuzzled against her and slept outside her window that night. 

Zuko was complicated in many ways, and Appa has seen him in many different complicated ways. An enemy, a reluctant ally, a friend, his family and as a savior. Appa wasn’t sure what it was that came over Zuko as his uncle pleaded with him under Lake Laogai, but when Zuko struck the chains off of him, Appa felt something deep inside the Fire Prince that would not be forgotten. Months later, when he came to train Aang, Appa knew he was destined to be his fire bending teacher, and to be apart of their family. 

When Zuko used his bending late at night to warm the chilly caverns of the Western Air Temple, breathing gentle flames into the air over the sleeping group, Appa didn’t rear back in fear, he huddled closer to Zuko’s warmth. 

They didn’t think of him as an animal, and he didn’t think of them as anything other than family. 

The five lives he carried on his back, the one who he was frozen for 100 years with, the one who comforts him with a touch, the one who was skeptical but truly thought he was magical, the one who fought for him despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered, and the one who trusted him even as he was falling to his death, were the precious cargo that Appa carried.

He would protect them, no mater what. 

I love how Iroh is 100% able to admit he has made mistakes in his life, but he has yet to acknowledge the greatest one:

At the end of a 100 YEAR WAR, he decided to leave the MOST POWERFUL COUNTRY IN THE WORLD in the hands of a TRAUMATIZED 16 YEAR OLD, and then move like 100,000 miles away.

Exhausted

Hakoda knows that Sokka is exhausted. 

They all were, all the time, his son even saying that tired was now apart of his personality. 

“That’s me,” he would joke, “the meat, sarcasm and perpetually tired guy.” 

Hakoda was tired, too. The war had been over for a few years now, and the Northern and Southern Water Tribes were working on rebuilding their relations as well as their cities. Hakoda, Bato and Sokka were the only ones as representatives for their small tribe of only 40, while the Northern had thousands, and had sent over 50 representatives.

They had decided to convene in Omashu, where King Bumi had been gracious enough to let them host, after the Northern Water Tribe realized that traveling from pole to pole was not an easy feat for the southerners (them, too, but they would never admit that). 

Getting a chance to speak was difficult, the formal language used was difficult, getting the representatives to understand just how different their tribes were was difficult, even finding a seat had been difficult. 

The door to the apartment they were staying in opened abruptly and then slammed a moment later, and Hakoda’s heart started to race. Sokka was home, and that meant that he…had to tell Sokka. Hakoda took a deep breath as his son entered the room. 

“S-“

“Not now,” Sokka practically growled, and if he had been a fire bender, he certainly would have let out a huff of fire, “I’m really not in the mood for anything right now. I’m hungry, exhausted and this place is horrible. The people here are all jerks.” 

“Sokka, I think you should—“

“Why do they care that we’re using one of the fifteen conference rooms? Bumi said it was fine!”

“Sokka, you should—“

“They weren’t even politicians! They were damn delivery drivers!” Sokka pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“should—“

“Dad, I literally just said I didn’t want to talk!”

“read—“

“Ugh!” Sokka threw his hands in the air, frustration pouring out of him. “Goodnight, dad. Don’t wake me in the morning, unless something catastrophic happens. Actually, scratch that, even if the world ends, don’t wake me up. La knows it would be an improvement.” 

The door slammed, and Hakoda stood. He couldn’t remember how long he stood, how long he stared at the door, before the reality of the situation hit him all at once. 

He covered his mouth with his left palm, an attempt to keep from sobbing, silent tears beginning to slide down his face, hands shaking, the crinkling parchment of the Fire Nation missive heavy in his hand. 

To whomever it may concern: 

Fire Lord Zuko, First of his Name, Protector of the Dragon Throne, and Master of Dragon Fire, has been assassinated by poisoned arrow on the date of the 17th, Late Sun. Lord Zuko was struck in the left shoulder by a lone arrow while presenting a speech to the Council of Education, and died a few hours later from his wounds, as the weapon was laced with belladonna. 

He leaves behind a grieving mother, sister, uncle, and nation. 

No successor has been named as of yet, however Prince Iroh is currently acting as reagent. 

Princess Azula is no longer in line for the Dragon Throne. 

Funeral rites were preformed shortly after death, and the body cremated, as it tradition. Only the Fire Lord’s mother, step father, half sister and Fire Sages had been present, as Prince Iroh was in Ba Sing Se at the time of Fire Lord Zuko’s death. 

May his flame burn bright forever. 

Councilmen of the Court of Flames 

TOP 10 CARTOON/COMIC/GRAPHIC NOVEL FANDOMS ON AO3 BASED ON NUMBER OF FANWORKS,SINGLE CATEGORY TAG ONLY VERSION (2009-2022)

If you don’t see a fandom on the chart, it may be because that fandom only has a multicategory tag and no Cartoons/Comics/Graphic Novels category only tag. (E.g. Homestuck) You can see this category with the muti-category fandoms included in this post.

To make these bar chart race, all series titles in the Cartoons/Comics/Graphic Novels category on November 29 (or the closest date to it) of every year were copy-pasted from Wayback Machine to Google Sheets, rearranged according to number of fanworks, manually filtered for fandoms belonging in only one category, and then inputted to Flourish to turn into a bar chart race.

Locked fanworks aren’t included in the count because Wayback Machine can’t view those, only Ao3 users can.

Fandom tags that are no longer in the Other Media category tag as of posting this are left out of the bar chart race. These tags are usually either miscategorized or already have other tags referring to the same fandom.

Please refer to this post for more bar chart races.

Thanks for understanding and hopefully I didn’t mess up anywhere! 🙏

Ok I couldn't stop thinking about this today and my mind went what if it was kinda a sitcom too? So imma add some bits that I think could be funny but also well yeah that's gonna happen.

1) Per tags you say that Kuruk is early 30's but what if instead Kuruk and Co are 20ish. I tried to find when Kuruk and friends started to travel together but couldn't find an actual answer the most I got was that they weren't adults yet. Back to the point and that being that in the Kyoshi books it's said that Hei-ran and Rangi look like sisters/twins even with Hei-ran being about late 40's to early 50's. So I imagine that with both of them being within a few years of each other that it's almost impossible to tell them apart.

But the funny part comes in when the only two that can tell them apart are Kyoshi and Kuruk. At first the others just assume it's because they've been around their respective Sei'naka clan members for a long time and Kyoshi is dating Rangi so of course it makes sense. But no Kyoshi (and the rest of Kuruk friends) know otherwise. Kyoshi just stares Kuruk down and shakes her head. She is not going to run the risk of Rangi not being born and will do anything she can to make sure Kuruk and Hei-ran are never alone together. Even funnier if Rangi never catches on to this.

2) Kyoshi after she stops having a mental breakdown about the island and warriors see young Kelsang and just immediately starts crying. Because that man? He was basically her father and she finally gets to see him again alive. Of course Kelsang is very confused but like ok??? Of course hijinks ensue of oh my Raava Kelsang has a kid??????? Some even believe it full because she definitely has the height for it and she does in fact have an air nomad as a biological parent. Kyoshi is just too much of a mess to clear things and so on.

3) Kyoshi sees young Jianzhu and has to keep herself from going over there to kill him because she, Yun and Rangi suffered so much from him.

4)Roku finding out that dragons nearly went extinct (because I believe in the headcanon that Zuko helped bring back the dragons like Aang did for the flying bisons) and freaks out a bit.

I'd add more but it has been so long since I've watched or read any of the shows/books. So this is all you get

I need a series where Yangchen/Kuruk/Kyoshi/Roku/Aang/Korra (from their respected novels/shows, guess Kuruk is an outlier tho) and their companions all gather in Korra's timeline and just....react to things. TT0TT Like kfljask;dfla I mostly want it because I think Kyoshi's reactions would just be 90% "WhAT?!/*absolutely flabbergasted*"

Yangchen: Let's go to my island! Kuruk: I'm sorry Yangchen, I sank it Yangchen: How do you sink an island? Kuruk: ...........you forget to cherish- Yangchen: Why couldn't you have destroyed some of my statues instead? >_> Aang: How about we go to Kyoshi's Island? Kyoshi: ????? I have an island??? Why do I have an island??? Korra: Kyoshi, you made it. Kyoshi: ????!!!! What???! Aang: Well more like moved it Kyoshi: ???!! WHaT?! Roku: Though you did make the Kyoshi Warriors! Kyoshi: ???? I did??? Why??? Why that name??? Am I a narcissist???? Aang: *sigh* she also made the Dai Li.... Kyoshi: THE FUCK IS A DAI LI???? Aang: Secret security police for the Earth King. Kyoshi, a known criminal: I DID WHAT?! Roku: Should we tell her she lived to around 230? Kyoshi: HUH??????! Wait. no. That tracks. Kyoshi's companions: WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT TRACKS???? Aang: On second, let's just go to the Northern Air Temple. Yangchen: Oops, can't, I'm banned from going. Aang: ????! WHAT?! You're an Air Nomad, how do you get banned from an Air Temple???? How did YOU get banned, but NOT Kyoshi???? Kuruk: She got a tad bit silly. Roku: Oh let's go to Ma'inka island then! It's suppose to be amazing. Kyoshi, war flashbacks: FUCK NO! You can't make me go back there! Yangchen: Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm not welcome there either. They hate my guts. I kinda fucked them over. Aang: What is the matter with you two? Korra: Can we just find a place to chill out where Yangchen isn't banned, and Kyoshi isn't having a meltdown?

when you get jet 💔

loving all these a:tla quizzes going around lately so i made my own, which elderly a:tla side character are you? (disclaimer: iroh is not an option)

sksksksks ok but y'all know I don't ship zutara right

Do you think Iroh is overhyped as a character? It feels strange that people adore a character who comitted wartime atrocities.

you are aware that the point of his character was to show people that anyone is capable of changing and being a better person right?

hell, the show even showed you glimpses of his time in the military to contrast who he became later on. iroh also serves to show zuko who he would become if he chooses the right path.

possibly the most powerful part of his character arc was freeing ba sing se, the nation he besieged in the past. it completed his arc beautifully.

so no, he is not over-hyped. he is a reminder that we are all capable of change no matter our circumstances. he shows that being a good person is a decision you make every single day.

azula's strange charisma is genuinely hysterical to me. she's a genius constantly cracking witty one-liners. she has the verbal intelligence to run circles around you. she has an innate personal charm that demands you look at her.

she also cannot interact with people on a person-to-person basis at all. she has no idea about normal social cues outside of court. cannot hold a regular conversation without somehow insulting and/or playing a mind game. has not one clue about speaking to people her age. she's a literal walking contradiction. incredible

I feel like ozai doesn’t get enough credit as a character because a) people see him as an individual actor as opposed to the product of a system designed to produce someone exactly like himself and ensure that they have utmost power within said system and b) his children are, by design, given more narrative space and depth than he is, making them much more compelling and sympathetic characters. but just because his limited screentime and lack of nuance makes him static and unsympathetic doesn’t make him a bad character. his narrative role is to represent the ideology of the fire nation, and he executes that role perfectly.

milfs…,, milves,