I Cannot WAIT For Natla’s Version Of This - Blog Posts

do you guys ever think about how insane the lightning scene was during the agni kai like specifically zuko SACRIFICING his life for KATARA????

like let’s break it down together.

zuko stupidly (affectionate) mentions lightning to azula, provoking her. god knows why he did that, it was only gonna end badly. then she bends lightning, and i think she knows at this point that zuko Can lightning bend since he redirected the lightning back to ozai on the day of black sun. ozai definitely told azula.

and azula KNOWS zuko cares about katara deeply. if there’s one thing she knows, it’s how to take down zuko. and so she PIVOTS, shooting the lightning at KATARA instead, which literally disqualifies her from the agni kai. did she know she wasn’t going to win? she just wanted to hurt zuko? not too sure. but ANYWHO she bends the lightning to katara.

and zuko sees this. and he’s like absolutely NOT. and this boy…RUNS FASTER THAN LIGHTNING.

RUNS FASTER THAN LIGHTNING.

and absorbs the lightning, redirecting part of it, but he takes in most of it.

and then…azula goes after katara. and while he is on the GROUnd with LIGHTNING coursing through him, it literally burned and teared his insides, he is actively DYING…his instinct is to try to help katara.

let me say it again. he has just been STRUCK—not even struck—ABSORBED LIGHTNING…and his FIRST instinct when DYING is to reach for KATARA.

and mind you, this isn’t any regular schmegular lightning. this is SOZIN’S COMET CHARGED LIGHTNING. AZULA, ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL BENDERS EVER WHOSE BENDING IS CURRENTLY BEING STRENGTHENED BY SOZINS COMET SENT THIS LIGHTNING.

his injury is on his chest, so while he’s convulsing on the ground, somehow he manages to FLIP OVER onto his CHEST…his lightning torn CHEST…and he tries to reach for katara to help her.

of course because he is actively dying, he can’t help her and his hand falls down.

but OH MY GOD?

and then katara’s point of view is SO AHHHH

because katara only came with zuko because he asked to. in her words, he admitted to his uncle that he needed help facing azula. and he asked her. she immediately caught onto azula trying to split them up, and she knew the agni kai was a bad idea. but zuko reassured her, and she knew it had to be done.

i wonder what context katara had of agni kai’s before this moment. she obviously knew zuko would have to fight azula, but was she aware of the significance of agni kai’s in zuko’s life? the fact that his father scarred him in one? that he was almost killed in both of the agni kai’s he’d participated in, at ages 13 and 16 respectively? did she know that his father tried to kill him with lightning the first chance he got on the day of black sun?

(did she know that the only reason he knew how to save her later on was because his father did the same thing to him?)

the fight comes to a standstill, zuko essentially beating azula. katara hears zuko mention lightning (idiot) and azula takes it.

katara knows how powerful azula’s lightning is. it killed aang.

and azula bends lightning, and suddenly, katara sees azula’s eyes lock on her, before it shoots out of her fingers, and katara is paralyzed in fear. but zuko, ZUKO jumps in front of her, saving her.

it isn’t until he hits the ground that katara is snapped out of her frozen state, immediately running to try to heal him, but azula is on her first.

katara then evades azula, who is unhinged (for reasons we will not get into here) and eventually outsmarts her with the water and the chains.

and katara runs to zuko, to heal him.

but i wonder what she was thinking. i wish this scene was more fleshed out. its pretty short (and sweet), katara flipping him over, healing him, he stops shuddering, thanks her softly. she thanks him instead, and she helps him stand.

but katara, realistically, was terrified.

azula’s lightning killed aang. and the only way she was able to bring him back was with the spirit water.

this is sozin’s comet supercharged lightning from azula. and she has no magic healing water.

(in my head she used bloodbending. but the fact that she canonically single-handedly revived zuko from sozin’s-comet-powered lightning from azula with just her hands is so incredible)

what if the moments she spent fighting azula were too long? what if she had already lost zuko by then? what would she have done?

at this point, she and zuko are far gone from being enemies. they are (canonically) friends. they have a deep connection. what if she couldn’t save him?

but for zuko, it was the easiest choice in the world. he didn’t hesitate for a second. katara’s life over his, always.

katara heals him, and he thanks her. so softly, so gently. and with tears in her eyes, she tells him that she should be the one thanking him.

i fear i want to throw up! i love them so much!

and i love this for katara. she has been taking care of everyone around her all her life, sacrificing her childhood for them. she assumed her mother’s role after she died. katara deserves to be loved the way zuko loves her. fully, completely, deeply, enough to die for her with no hesitation.

thank you for reading me freaking the freak out about zutara