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A few spoilery scans from "The Promise part 3"
Okay, basically this is just me cooing fangirlishly over Zuko and Aang. *g* But I had to wallow a bit.
First of all, this scene -- gnnnn. BOYS. ♥ (I also loved the part right before this, with Zuko talking about suicide and responsibility, and basically apologizing for asking Aang to kill him. But I can't scan the whole comic, and this was the part that really made my heart flip over.)
*pets them* I think one of the things that really gets to me about this scene is how they both think they've failed (as the Avatar and the Firelord, respectively) because they aren't being dicks about it. The reason why Zuko is struggling so hard is because he's trying to do things right and not be Ozai Mark II. And this is a really interesting turning point for Aang, because he's finally decided to embrace his attachment to the world and look upon it as part of who he is, rather than struggling against it all the time. Even though he thinks it makes him a bad Avatar.
I basically just want to hug him.
As well as being really interesting for Aang as a character, this whole subplot is also very interesting thematically, because I can't think of another instance from a kids' show in which the main character has outgrown his wise elderly mentor. Generally, it's the mentor who leaves so that the kid can grow up -- the mentor dies, or does the "I have taught you all that I have to teach you" thing. But in this case, Roku isn't done teaching Aang -- but Aang himself decides to stop asking for advice, because Roku's advice is no longer pertinent to his own situation. The world has changed, and Aang is a different person than Roku, and he's going to have to figure out things on his own now.
One thing that was never explicitly addressed in the comic (at least not that I recall), but I think had to have been intentional on the writers' part, was Roku projecting his own relationship with Sozin onto Aang's interactions with Zuko. What Roku counseled Aang to do is what he wishes he'd done -- killed his friend, no matter the personal cost to himself, to save the world. But Aang isn't Roku, and Zuko isn't Sozin, and the two situations are not analogous. Roku doesn't seem to realize that, but Aang does. (And this, again ... I love that the "wise mentor" character has his own boulder-sized blind spot, and it's causing him to give bad advice.)
I know I'm going backwards here, but I thoroughly adored this panel:
Well, this whole sequence really, but this panel especially. ZUKO'S FACE. ♥
One thing that didn't occur to me until later is that Aang stays in the Avatar state throughout this whole scene, which I think makes it the first time in the whole series that he does something in the Avatar state that is compassionate. I don't remember all the specific instances in the series, but the Avatar state has always been not just Aang's fighting state, but his state of pure disassociation from the world. Aang in Avatar state is all Avatar and no Aang. So this particular sequence is especially interesting in light of Aang's later statements that he's decided to stop trying to separate himself entirely from the world (or, rather, that he's realized the world is made up of the people in it -- it's not just an abstract). He's figured out what kind of Avatar he wants to be. And this scene, I think, is our first glimpse of that Avatar.
I was also contemplating Zuko and Aang's interestingly fraught relationship throughout the series. One thing that's intriguing to me about them is that, unlike the other people that Aang is close to, Zuko isn't really a full-fledged member of the group. He's accepted among them, but I don't think anyone but Aang ever really stops thinking of him, deep down, as a potential enemy (Aang, hilariously, never really started thinking of him as an enemy, even when he was trying to kill them). In "The Promise", the only person in the group who's willing to entertain the possibility that Zuko might not have gone darkside is Suki:
... which isn't something I think represents a lack of sympathy on the part of the others; it's not even that Aang is more willing to let bygones be bygones. It's just that, when it comes right down to it, Aang is closer to Zuko than the other kids are, and he always has been, even when they were technically enemies. Not to the point of letting Zuko off the hook for things he's legitimately done (there were plenty of times during the chase seasons when Aang was perfectly willing to return animosity for animosity). It's just that I think this casts into relief the big rift in the group between Zuko and the rest of Team Avatar -- that they can't simply forget about all those months when he was trying to hurt and kill them ... and they shouldn't. But it also gives new dimensions to Zuko and Aang's friendship, because with Aang and everyone else, there's a kind of "hanging with the team" vibe, an open-hearted and unconditional friendship/love. But with Zuko, there's something interesting and nuanced between them that's more ambiguous than what Aang has with the others, but also more thoroughly stress-tested: a sort of rivalry turned partnership and sometimes-uneasy relationship of equals, with the two of them being probably the two most powerful and influential leaders in the world right now, and having to cooperate on that level.
... and having said that, let's close with a panel of Zuko looking about 12 with a blanket wrapped around him. *g*
d'awwwww.
First of all, this scene -- gnnnn. BOYS. ♥ (I also loved the part right before this, with Zuko talking about suicide and responsibility, and basically apologizing for asking Aang to kill him. But I can't scan the whole comic, and this was the part that really made my heart flip over.)
*pets them* I think one of the things that really gets to me about this scene is how they both think they've failed (as the Avatar and the Firelord, respectively) because they aren't being dicks about it. The reason why Zuko is struggling so hard is because he's trying to do things right and not be Ozai Mark II. And this is a really interesting turning point for Aang, because he's finally decided to embrace his attachment to the world and look upon it as part of who he is, rather than struggling against it all the time. Even though he thinks it makes him a bad Avatar.
I basically just want to hug him.
As well as being really interesting for Aang as a character, this whole subplot is also very interesting thematically, because I can't think of another instance from a kids' show in which the main character has outgrown his wise elderly mentor. Generally, it's the mentor who leaves so that the kid can grow up -- the mentor dies, or does the "I have taught you all that I have to teach you" thing. But in this case, Roku isn't done teaching Aang -- but Aang himself decides to stop asking for advice, because Roku's advice is no longer pertinent to his own situation. The world has changed, and Aang is a different person than Roku, and he's going to have to figure out things on his own now.
One thing that was never explicitly addressed in the comic (at least not that I recall), but I think had to have been intentional on the writers' part, was Roku projecting his own relationship with Sozin onto Aang's interactions with Zuko. What Roku counseled Aang to do is what he wishes he'd done -- killed his friend, no matter the personal cost to himself, to save the world. But Aang isn't Roku, and Zuko isn't Sozin, and the two situations are not analogous. Roku doesn't seem to realize that, but Aang does. (And this, again ... I love that the "wise mentor" character has his own boulder-sized blind spot, and it's causing him to give bad advice.)
I know I'm going backwards here, but I thoroughly adored this panel:
Well, this whole sequence really, but this panel especially. ZUKO'S FACE. ♥
One thing that didn't occur to me until later is that Aang stays in the Avatar state throughout this whole scene, which I think makes it the first time in the whole series that he does something in the Avatar state that is compassionate. I don't remember all the specific instances in the series, but the Avatar state has always been not just Aang's fighting state, but his state of pure disassociation from the world. Aang in Avatar state is all Avatar and no Aang. So this particular sequence is especially interesting in light of Aang's later statements that he's decided to stop trying to separate himself entirely from the world (or, rather, that he's realized the world is made up of the people in it -- it's not just an abstract). He's figured out what kind of Avatar he wants to be. And this scene, I think, is our first glimpse of that Avatar.
I was also contemplating Zuko and Aang's interestingly fraught relationship throughout the series. One thing that's intriguing to me about them is that, unlike the other people that Aang is close to, Zuko isn't really a full-fledged member of the group. He's accepted among them, but I don't think anyone but Aang ever really stops thinking of him, deep down, as a potential enemy (Aang, hilariously, never really started thinking of him as an enemy, even when he was trying to kill them). In "The Promise", the only person in the group who's willing to entertain the possibility that Zuko might not have gone darkside is Suki:
... which isn't something I think represents a lack of sympathy on the part of the others; it's not even that Aang is more willing to let bygones be bygones. It's just that, when it comes right down to it, Aang is closer to Zuko than the other kids are, and he always has been, even when they were technically enemies. Not to the point of letting Zuko off the hook for things he's legitimately done (there were plenty of times during the chase seasons when Aang was perfectly willing to return animosity for animosity). It's just that I think this casts into relief the big rift in the group between Zuko and the rest of Team Avatar -- that they can't simply forget about all those months when he was trying to hurt and kill them ... and they shouldn't. But it also gives new dimensions to Zuko and Aang's friendship, because with Aang and everyone else, there's a kind of "hanging with the team" vibe, an open-hearted and unconditional friendship/love. But with Zuko, there's something interesting and nuanced between them that's more ambiguous than what Aang has with the others, but also more thoroughly stress-tested: a sort of rivalry turned partnership and sometimes-uneasy relationship of equals, with the two of them being probably the two most powerful and influential leaders in the world right now, and having to cooperate on that level.
... and having said that, let's close with a panel of Zuko looking about 12 with a blanket wrapped around him. *g*
d'awwwww.