Zhao Attempts To Kill The Moon, But The Gaang Manages To Get There In Time. Zuko Gets In The Way, Attempting

Based on this tweet

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Picture this Zutara fandom… 

Post ATLA one of Zuko’s advisers tries to question his legitimacy to the throne by claiming Katara should have been crowned Fire Lord because she won the Agni Kai against Azula. And the mean advisor gets up in Zuko’s face and is all like: “So unless Master Katara is secretly your wife…” 

And Katara has the biggest smile on her face, before she tells the advisor: “Oh you have no idea.” 

And so begins a 30-chapter slowburn fanfic about how Zuko and Katara bamboozle the more treacherous members of his court and fall in love… 

Yay? Nay? Do we want to adopt this headcanon from Zutara twitter too?  

Hey, I wanna talk about a piece of fridge brilliance (pun intended) in The Boiling Rock.

Specifically, about the Coolers. And about Zuko.

The Coolers are, first and foremost, a means of firebender suppression. They are invoked as a punishment against unsanctioned firebending. They are designed, specifically, to shut down firebenders who have toed out of line. Like the metal prison in Imprisoned, like the suspended cages in The Puppet Master, these are prison facilities designed with a specific sort of bender in mind.

So then - Zuko.

Why throw Zuko in the Cooler as part of the escape plan? He should be EXACTLY the sort of person the Cooler is designed to work most devastatingly against. It would almost make more sense to try to get Sokka thrown into the cooler - he’s from the South Pole at least. Or maybe Suki, who’s not a bender at all. But they choose Zuko. And he’s successful. Subjected to the most severe form of firebender suppression in the Fire Nation’s most high-profile prison, Zuko is able to dismantle the Cooler and walk away smiling.

Why? 

I want to walk you through some facts:

In a tidbit of behind-the-scenes trivia, it was revealed that airbenders can regulate their body temperature with their breath alone. This is why Aang is so weirdly comfortable traveling around the South and North Pole (and really any climate in the series) in his normal monk garb. Everyone else changes outfits to reflect the changing climate, but not Aang, his breath has that covered.

It would be quite useful if a technique like that could be adapted to another style of bending. The same way that a waterbender’s redirection of their opponent’s energy could be adapted to the redirection of a firebender’s lightning. I bet the man who invented lightning redirection by studying waterbending would have some brilliant insight into using the breath for warmth by studying airbending.

In fact, that exact man tells Zuko “Remember your breath of fire. It could save your life out there.” back in Siege of the North. We see Zuko use his breath to warm himself that very episode, per his uncle’s instructions.

And we see Zuko use his breath of fire in one other case:

To endure the cooler.

I’m willing to bet - Breath of Fire, as a means to keep oneself warm, is not a native firebending technique. If it was, the whole concept of the Cooler would be laughable. Any prisoner would just Breath-o-Fire himself warm in there, and the prison guards would all collectively say “oh wow, the Cooler was a stupid idea, time for a new plan.”

But we know a traditional firebender would be sapped so cold in the Cooler that his firebending becomes unusable. If Zuko were relying on traditional firebending techniques, the same would happen to him. But he’s not.

Zuko’s Breath of Fire is an airbending technique. 

One that Iroh taught him. One the Fire Nation has no precedent for. One which lets Zuko ward off the freezing effects of the Cooler like it’s nothing, and allows him to dismantle it from the inside and come away smiling, unhindered, unaffected, warm to his core. 

It’s another case of Iroh’s brilliance. And I’m betting he and Zuko may be the only two firebenders in the world who could pull this off.

Happy tlou hbo day :-)

matching icons for you and your worstie ✨ (+ miscellaneous enemies –> reluctant allies –> ??? doodles)

ZUKO HCs PLEASE (and maybe some zukka if ya feel like it)

Zuko Headcanons!!

Zuko is terrified of lightning. I mean who wouldn’t be after your father and your sister both used it to try and kill you. Zukka side of things, Sokka absolutely holds Zuko during thunderstorms.

Zuko spends time with Uncle Iroh drinking tea at the Jasmine Dragon, and still helps his uncle make tea from time to time.

Zuko loves theater and hates the Ember Island players with a burning passion. On the other hand, Sokka loves the Ember Island players and will drag Zuko to see them. Zuko will subject himself to horrendous theater if it makes his boyfriend happy. Sokka will also go to classy theaters (even though he can find it sort of boring at times) for his boyfriend.

Zuko loves cats. Like he just adores them and absolutely makes a baby voice at them. Which was embarrassing the first time Sokka saw him do it but Sokka just thought it was cute.

Zuko likes having his hair played with and braided! Like he super loves having Sokka braid his hair (which I think Sokka would know how to do because he grew up with Katara and probably had to braid her hair at some point).

Baths! Baths are sooooo something I see Zuko loving. Like a good hot bath with a bath bomb and some Epsom salt. Like he is definitely a bath person.

Also, Zuko likes to cook. Like I can see him in a kitchen and cutting up stuff and making food. Like I know he can have anything done by servants but after his moral conflict there’s the scene where he basically insinuates that bossing around servants doesn’t make him feel happy. So I can see him wanting to make some of his own food.

Zuko is someone who has really good manners and always says thank you to the servants because he knows that they work hard.

He is not a fan of parties and formal settings. Having to go through all the political people he has to talk to just so he can get to a table to sit and then have to talk to more political leaders is really stressful. He’s not a people person.

He likes to garden. Specifically he likes to plant flowers in the garden and study them. He is just infatuated with the gentle yet brilliant plants.

Also I kinda headcanon Zuko as autistic because I feel like he definitely can get special interests. Like I can see him talking about all the flowers he has planted and how he plans the layout of the garden.

WARNING very graphic visual of Lu-Tens last moments. the footage shows, how prince Lu-Ten son of Iroh second in line. has to fight off on his own, two small hatchlings, both enraged by their pray being stolen. and you can clearly see, how his father, the general, dragon of the west crown prince Iroh, JUST SITS ON THE SIDELINES SIPPING HIS TEA AND LAUGHING HIS BELLY OF!

LEADER TRIOOOO my hate-filled egotistical control freaks beloveds

my sister asked for art of them and i thought they both could use a hug

How long do you think it took Zuko to sew the dummy blue spirit mask?