Going to be traveling and bored meme

[attackfish]

This looks like I can answer with my cell phone keyboard!  (On a side note, please forgive my more numerous than usual spelling mistakes in this.  I don't have spellcheck on my phone, and my spelling is lamentable at the best of times.)

Ganked fromsholio

Give me a character and I'll tell you a piece of my personal headcanon. Any fandom is welcome here, provided that I am reasonably familiar with it.

Comments

Re: Ursa 2/2

[luunyscarlet.livejournal.com]

I feel very sorry for your stalker's siblings. Poor things :(.

Azula apologists who think that Ursa was somehow evil for thinking there was something wrong with her child, or that she must have been favoring Zuko as much as Ozai favored Azula
This. All of this. I mean, "Zuko Alone" shows Azula laughing and taunting Zuko about the fact that Azulon has ordered Ozai to kill him. Let's repeat the facts again. She is laughing about the fact that her FATHER is going to murder her BROTHER. She is NOT sorry or upset about this AT ALL. That and Ursa's previous, "What is WRONG with that child?" shows that there was something deeply wrong with Azula even then. Azula's behaviour must have deeply worried her mother. The thing is, she had no idea how to deal with it and had no one to turn to. Talking with her husband about it probably got a ,"What are you talking about? There's nothing wrong with our daughter." Attempts to discipline her didn't work (and punishments were quickly overturned by Ozai, which is why Azula believed that her mother hated her).
I do believe that she loved her daughter still, despite her many problems and had Azulon ordered Ozai to murder Azula instead of Zuko, she would've still killed him.

I do like the idea that she was a powerful firebender who used dual swords. Note that Azula is the only Fire Royal who uses blue flames, which everybody knows is MUCH hotter than regular flame. Where did she get this ability from, if not from her mother? Yes, we never see Ursa firebending in AtLA. But then again, we are only seeing her from ZUKO's point of view. I like the idea that she's a dual sword user because Zuko uses dao blades and that means that she could've been the one to teach him. As some one commented on LJ, learning to use a sword requires a teacher and that dual-wielding is hard and dangerous. Which means that Zuko can't have been self-taught and frankly, I can't see Ozai getting him a teacher in that. So why can't Ursa be Zuko's teacher in dual swords? Seriously, this is why I don't like fics portraying Ursa as a battered wife. I keep thinking, "People, this is the woman who gave birth to Zuko of 'never give up without a fight' and AZULA. The same woman who murdered her FATHER IN-LAW to save her son. If Ozai tried to hit her, she'd probably hit back!"

Iroh was so sunk into grief when he came home, that he didn't really snap out of it until the Agni Kai
Yes. This makes sense. As s3 finale showed us, Zuko could still fight Azula for the throne despite the fact that Ozai named her his heir. That implies that Iroh could've done the same thing when he came back from Ba Sing Se, but just didn't do it. Him being in depression makes sense. That and he probably didn't want to kill his little brother. Then the Agni Kai occurs and he is HORRIFIED that Ozai could do something like that to his own son. He probably felt guilty about it as well as HE was the one who let Zuko in that war meeting. Zuko's reaction to Iroh deciding to come along on his exile was probably on the lines of, "??? Why is Uncle suddenly coming along? He didn't seem to care about much before this."

Re: Ursa 2/2

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

I occasionally hear about my first stalker and her family through friends who still live in the town. It's never pretty. Sometimes, I feel guilty for getting away from her, which is ridiculous and stupid, and also how it goes.

She is laughing about the fact that her FATHER is going to murder her BROTHER. She is NOT sorry or upset about this AT ALL.

This. Just this. Any good loving parent is going to be a little freaked out by that. And thinking there is something very wrong with your child, or even worrying that they may be a monster is no barrier to loving them. And when you are treated the way Ozai treated her by one parent, you think the other parent, who loves you and tries to make you follow rules is an evil, unloving tyrant. Doesn't make it true.

I keep thinking, "People, this is the woman who gave birth to Zuko of 'never give up without a fight' and AZULA. The same woman who murdered her FATHER IN-LAW to save her son. If Ozai tried to hit her, she'd probably hit back!"

I agree that Ursa's one tough cookie, but I have met incredibly smart, strong willed people become victims of abuse. Ursa as a spouse to a royal in that particular warped family had little power, and children to think about, and probably would have been executed for treason or something if she hit back, so would be an ideal target for an abusive husband, no matter how strong. Saying "I can't see such and such character as a battered wife because she would hit back" is just a little victim blaming, implying that abuse victims did something to cause their abuse or should have been able to end it.

That being said, I don't see her as a victim of physical abuse from Ozai. Emotional, hell yes, because Ozai emotionally abuses everybody he can, but given how hands off he seems with his children, aside from the whole face burning thing, I don't think it's his MO.

You can teach yourself something like dual swords if you have a strong basis in other martial arts (both my marital arts masters taught double stick fighting to near beginners to teach us to move multiple parts of our bodies in tandem), which we know the royal sibs had, but why did he pick that weapon? Maybe the swords he used as the blue spirit really were antiques? Belonging to his mother?

uko's reaction to Iroh deciding to come along on his exile was probably on the lines of, "??? Why is Uncle suddenly coming along? He didn't seem to care about much before this."

This is going to show up in Kindle the Wind. Mostly from Iroh's point of view, mind.

Re: Ursa 2/2

[luunyscarlet.livejournal.com]

Ursa as a spouse to a royal in that particular warped family had little power, and children to think about, and probably would have been executed for treason or something if she hit back, so would be an ideal target for an abusive husband, no matter how strong.
Point. You're probably right about the emotional abuse. I can see Ursa and Ozai having a lot of fights. Most of them were probably behind closed doors, though.

You can teach yourself something like dual swords if you have a strong basis in other martial arts
Ah, I didn't know that. Thanks for the information :).

This is going to show up in Kindle the Wind. Mostly from Iroh's point of view, mind.
Looking forward to it ;).

Re: Ursa 2/2

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

I only know that because of my own martial arts experience. Nunchuks are another matter, however.