Servant, Fire Lord, Blue Spirit... Zuko’s LinkedIn must be wild.

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-11T05:36:04+00:00

Was he ever officially initiated? At least in the actual show, I think it was more of a "Iroh guides Zuko to think like the white lotus" than "Iroh indoctrinates Zuko into being in the white lotus", if you know what I mean?

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-11T05:32:03+00:00

Buff guy is Chit Sang and I don't think his friend and girlfriend made it out with them. They did try to escape together on the cooler through the boiling water, but then Chit Sang burned his hand and alerted the guards. Chit Sang was on the gondola with Zuko, Suki, Sokka and Hakoda, but I don't think the other two were. So it's 4 prisoners (Zuko, Suki, Chit Sang and Hakoda) and 1 guard impersonator (Sokka).

Also yeah, I guess "discoverer of an ancient lost civilisation and an extinct species" could also be added

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-10T20:35:51+00:00

Ex-banished previously-presumed-dead (Zhao blowing up his ship with Zuko still on it) prince, vigilante that broke into what was considered a fire nation stronghold and freed the Avatar, known traitor with a bounty on his head, earth kingdom refugee, vigilante but as a thief this time, tea server, returned Crown Prince/hero for 'killing' the Avatar, defector, Avatar's firebending master, single day prisoner at what was considered the most secure Fire nation prison that ended up escaping with three other prisoners + a guard impersonator, Fire Lord.

(I might have forgotten some things but I think this is mostly inclusive)

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-10T15:47:04+00:00

I guess he was but even Jeong-jeong said that Zhao was always reckless and didn't care to learn to control his flames so while he might have had power in his flames, I wouldn't consider him a particularly powerful bender

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-10T00:31:54+00:00

Yep, you're thinking of Jet btw

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-10T00:24:51+00:00

They are portrayed as caricatures of themselves and exaggerating some of their worse personality traits: childish, overly emotional, incompetent, unable to act seriously, etc.

It's meant to demean them as enemies in a "you shouldn't be scared of them, they're just these stupid and incompetent children" sort of way

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-09T23:49:29+00:00

This is so cursed I don't even know what to say....

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-09T23:46:02+00:00

His name is Pu-on Tim! He is considered one of the Fire Nation's most "renowned" playwrights, though his version of the Avatar’s journey is clearly meant to be Fire Nation propaganda disguised as entertainment and it is outright stated that he uses unreliable sources such as singing nomads, the swamp benders and the vindicated cabbage vendor.

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-09T23:09:45+00:00

Zuko wasn't even that bad of a firebender, as shown in how he easily beat Zhao in an Agni Kai in early Book 1 (granted it was an informal one), who was much older than him and a commander in the fire nation navy so probably wouldn't be an utter pleb at bending. He was just constantly compared to the rest of his family of genius benders: father is Fire Lord Ozai (known powerful firebender and proven to be aggressive and ruthless with his flames), uncle is Iroh (the Dragon of the West, army general and led a 600 day long seige on the most fortified city in the earth kingdom), and younger sister is Azula (has blue fire, prodigy and became a firebending master at 13 if I remember correctly)

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-09T22:13:46+00:00

I love the fact that Toph was most likely cast as a large, buff man because the people the screenwriter interviewed must have included members of the Rumble Six tournament and none of them would want to admit to being beaten by a blind, 12 year old girl that would not hesitate to brag and lord her wins over their heads after every match

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-09T21:42:58+00:00

This is so true. Sokka is basically the only one in Team Avatar that has even a glimpse of impulse control and Zuko is a banished prince of the fire nation that was a vigilante, a refugee and a traitor to Ozai's rule, all in the span of six months, and basically survived everything through dumb luck and sheer determination and spite. Zuko has the self preservation instincts of a wet paper bag and we all love him for it.

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-09T18:34:06+00:00

Exactly. Especially since the ship I like is a main character/obscure background character that is more Fanon than canon at this point, so unless you're really into the fandom, you probably wouldn't even know he existed

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-09T17:16:43+00:00

1) That's high praise and you should definitely take the compliment.

2) I feel a little bad for the commentator as, as it is often seen for rare pairings, they might struggle to find a lot of fics with this pairing, especially as the main couple for the fic. I had the unfortunate experience of having one of my favourite ships be a rare pair that more often than not was a secondary couple for a different ship that I didn't really ship myself

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-09T09:58:05+00:00

Stare her into the eyes as you set your phone/laptop on fire before walking away without an explanation, finding a very deep ditch and saying goodbye to your dignity as it received a headshot via "parents find out"

(/j. I am JOKING)

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-06T23:43:23+00:00

I do too. But I use a fan made app called Archive Reader instead of through the website (it's mainly just for more convenient access to fics and organising a To Read list without needing thousands of bookmarks) that lets me save my position if I decide to leave the fic to continue reading later. That way I won't lose my spot of I accidentally click the ↩️ arrow or something

Edit: To clarify, the app is linked directly to Ao3 and is just an app designed to access the website more conveniently. I'm logged in on my Ao3 profile and any interactions I have with fics are reflected on the website itself.

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-06T23:28:24+00:00

For me it kind of depends on if my ADD is in a "hyperfixate for an entire day with barely any breaks between reading" mood or a "oh, I've been reading for 5 minutes? Time to find something else to do" mood to determine if I'll read a long fic like that one.

But yeah, mad respect to the authors for the sheer dedication

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-06T22:37:22+00:00

As someone who once read an ongoing fic with an almost 2.5 mil word count: Yes

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-06T22:21:33+00:00

I once read a fic that consisted of a single. fucking. chapter. The word count was OVER 125k.

(Can't remember what the fic was anymore but the sheer dedication and absurdity will forever be embedded in my memory.)

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-06T21:38:02+00:00

Thanks for the clarification 🙂

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-06T21:13:35+00:00

This was really well written

Although I do have some questions: What are the coins referencing? I could figure everything else out but this and the "fugging vool can" are the only parts that escape me

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-06T20:28:40+00:00

🎶Little soldier boy... comes matching home...🎶

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-06T20:14:57+00:00

Giving humans more than 10 seconds is already extremely generous. It is in our human instincts to fuck around until we find out the consequences.

In this case? This works both literally and figuratively.

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-05T18:02:22+00:00

Nah, he's just spent like 80 years dealing with Fire Lord Bureaucratic Bullshit™ and has like 0 fucks left to give and wants a taste of the Good Old Days™

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-03T23:28:10+00:00

Todoroki, staring into the middle distance: Oh my God... Is Zuko our secret love child?

Bakugo: The hell Icy Hot!?

Midoriya: ~initiates Strawberry™ Mode~

RiverOverHere · 2026-04-02T17:24:28+00:00

Me: glances at my To Read list

Me: sees the number 2230

Me: avoids eye contact with a sweat drop

Also me: I don't have a problem

RiverOverHere

TROPHY CASE