A little Bit of Meta and Some Predictions for "The Search"

[attackfish]

Since "The Search" part two is coming out soon, I've been seeing an uptick in writing about it, and how it's awful, and wrong, and how dare they make Ozai not Zuko's biological father, and this teaches the children of bad people (who are often their most convenient victims) that they will grow up bad no matter what.

This is all true, if this was where the writers were going, and it's a common enough reveal, but there are three reasons I'm not worried at all, and fandom, which is full of smart people who love to analyze things, is for some reason not talking about any of these things.

Firstly, if Zuko were not Ozai's son, he would lose his claim to the Fire Nation throne. We know that he rules until he abdicates late in life and passes it to his daughter. Now, it's conceivable he could hide his heritage, and destroy all records, and remind everybody not to listen to his sister, because she's crazy, but this is Zuko we're talking about, who not only hates to lie and has an overdeveloped sense of honor, but is also really bad at it. It would eat at him inside until it came out, and then he would have civil war. That would make it really difficult to accomplish all the cool things we know he accomplished as Firelord, wouldn't it?

Secondly, Bryke have openly said they modeled Ozai on Zuko and what he would look like as a grown man. The physical resemblance is extremely strong between father and son. You cannot tell me that this man:


is not the son of this man:


Heck, in "The Promise", when Zuko clearly wasn't eating right, and his cheeks were sunk in, the resemblance was even stronger.  Young Iroh in Korra has an even stronger resemblance to both of them, being in the middle of their two ages, and we know he's Zuko's grandson.  No, there is a strong genetic link between Zuko and Ozai.

Thirdly, it makes no sense to have the big reveal about Zuko's parentage so soon.  If Zuko really were illegitimate, I would expect to find out in part two or three of "The Search", not part one.  That says to me that it is set up. 

What does make sense, however, is that Ozai thought Zuko wasn't his.  It would certainly be a reason to show such blatant favoritism, and why he went from favoring Zuko just as much as Azula, as shown in "The Promise" to completely disregarding him so quickly.  I bet he nearly had a heart attack when Zuko came home looking just exactly like him.  I bet Ozai suddenly having time for him in season three had as much to do with that as with Azula telling him he brought down the Avatar.

It also sets up a further contrast between Ozai and Iroh.  Ozai sees a loving, eager to please boy he believes is not his son, and mistreats him and casts him aside.  Iroh sees a resentful, sullen, defiant teenage boy he knows is not his son (yes, he's his nephew, but I doubt their relationship is predicated on Zuko being Ozai's child, in fact it's probably a strike against it) and takes him in and cares for him, and does his best to raise him into becoming a good man.

And it gives Zuko an oppertunity for a little more character growth and some closure.  Zuko is still desperate for a father.  He has Iroh, but there is still a little boy, who desperately wants his dad to love him, and if that dad isn't Ozai, so much the better.  It gives Zuko the chance to hope that Ozai isn't his father, before making him accept that yes, Ozai is his father, Ozai is a nasty horrible human being, and Zuko doesn't have to be.  Funnily enough, that would address directly the cultural narrative that many fans are so afraid will play out in "The Search", and it would very much be in the style of Bryke and A:tLA thus far.

What I would love to see (though doubt I will) is for Ozai at the end of this to act like "Well, now you know why I treated you like garbage, and now that I know you're my real son, you should forgive me," and Zuko being all "No, you're a horrible person, rot in prison."

Comments

[lizbee]

I agree! I also think it's possible that Ozai planted the letter himself, possibly to legitimise his plans to disinherit Zuko in favour of Azula.

It has quite puzzled me that fandom has taken the letter literally, although fandom seems to do that a lot these days, and then complain of being cheated when the narrative twist turns up. (All fandoms that I can see, not just Avatar.)

I got a Mandarin-speaking friend to read the characters for me, and she said that while there are no major differences, it's interesting that the artists have used a generic "our" character for "our son", not a "yours and mine".

[attackfish]

I agree! I also think it's possible that Ozai planted the letter himself, possibly to legitimise his plans to disinherit Zuko in favour of Azula.

I never thought of that! It's definitely a possibility. He was certainly searching for a pretext, and if he had to manufacture one, so be it.

Also, I now want fic in which Ozai pulled this instead of exiling and scarring him. Court intrigue please.

*Is interested to see if the generic character will come to mean anything, or if it's just a coincidence*

The thing about fandom is, it likes getting into a hot bother. And then, when there's nothing that was worth being in a hot bother, fandom sulks off for a while before deciding they like it. *shakes head*. I do not get.

[lizbee]

Also, I now want fic in which Ozai pulled this instead of exiling and scarring him. Court intrigue please.

That would be SO GREAT, because Iroh would recognise the ploy for what it is and throw his support behind Zuko, which means whatever faction supported him would join him, and then Ozai would find he had made a huge mistake.

The thing about fandom is, it likes getting into a hot bother. And then, when there's nothing that was worth being in a hot bother, fandom sulks off for a while before deciding they like it. *shakes head*. I do not get.

Me neither, but I'm also naturally predisposed to squee, and to explain away any bits that don't make sense. (It comes from being a Trekkie at an early age.) Watching Korra with my mostly-non-fannish flatmate is great, because she goes from ranting about how Republic City's real problem is capitalism, to Pabu-squee.

[attackfish]

and then Ozai would find he had made a huge mistake.

And it would be beautiful. And Zuko would be so confused, poor little thing.

Don't mind me, I'm just here for the fire ferrets...

[chordatesrock]

That would absolutely be the best fic ever.

[umadoshi]

This whole post made me really happy. ^_^

[attackfish]

I'm so glad! Fandom's been making me a little antsy lately with all of this.

[umadoshi]

I have to admit that with ATLA (and Korra) I stay well back from the fandoms at large, having heard so many horror stories. :/ I pretty much only follow links from people I trust. It makes me sad, though, because ATLA is amazing and I love that so many people love it!

(Which is to say that I got here from lizbee's link!)

[attackfish]

I came out of Harry Potter fandom, so A:tLA seems pleasantly balanced and low key in comparison... Actually, when I was in White Collar fandom, I realized just how terrifying and not safe nice little fandoms can be. I think it's just the nature of fandom to leave me going "What? No!" on a day to day basis.

I've been linked on twitter, I think that's a first!

[sholio]

I like your thoughts! I admit that my first thought on reading those pages was "... wait, WHAT?!" but once I had time to think about it, it just seems like too much of a game-changer to be basically thrown in post-series (particularly since it essentially means Zuko losing the throne). If something like that was gonna come out, it would've come out in the show itself. I guess it's not impossible, but I really, truly don't think so.

But -- while I don't know if they're actually going this way -- Ozai believing it makes every bit of sense in the world. It fits his behavior in the series perfectly. (Even though Ozai favoring Azula simply because she's more talented and reminds him more of himself is also a perfectly good explanation.)

And I really like your point about Zuko having some time to explore the idea that he's not really Ozai's son before being forced to come to terms with the fact that yes, he is, but he's his own person, not his father's son. I really like that, and it fits very well with Zuko's overall character journey (and you make a good point about this serving to further separate Ozai and Iroh's behavior, as well).

Basically, good post. :)

[attackfish]

(Even though Ozai favoring Azula simply because she's more talented and reminds him more of himself is also a perfectly good explanation.)

I think if anything, Zuko reminds Ozai more of himself, and I think he hates him for it. Underneath all of his bluster and arrogance and megalomania, he's still also the little boy who couldn't please his father, and whose big brother was always better. Ozai wants to, and does, see himself in the talented Azula, but he also sees himself in Zuko, and it's the things he hates about himself, that he perceives as weakness that he sees. Of course, he also sees a whole bunch of other "weaknesses", like Zuko being a decent human being, but I think a lot of Ozai's cruelty comes from him projecting all the things he hates about himself and make him feel inadequate onto Zuko.

Zuko having some time to explore the idea that he's not really Ozai's son before being forced to come to terms with the fact that yes, he is, but he's his own person, not his father's son

It als just seems like a really Avatarverse Brykish thing to do.

[metanewsmods]

Hi, can we link this at metanews?

[attackfish]

Sure, go ahead.

*is flattered*

[avocado-love.livejournal.com]

What I would love to see (though doubt I will) is for Ozai at the end of this to act like "Well, now you know why I treated you like garbage, and now that I know you're my real son, you should forgive me," and Zuko being all "No, you're a horrible person, rot in prison."

Frankly, I think that would be the best outcome at this point. If he has as much claim to the throne as Joffery in GOT...I don't know. I'm not one to harp on creators, but I'd wonder what they were smoking.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

There's a part of me that wants to see Zuko go all "Right of conquest, everybody, just try to tell me I'm not Firelord!" but that's more of a fanfic wish than something I want to see play out in canon.

I know nothing of GOT, because I have a low tolerance for character death and sexual violence, so I stayed the hell away from those books. Your reference is beyond me.

[avocado-love.livejournal.com]

Well let's just say the Joffery/Zuko comparison is not a favorable one for Zuko.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

I have managed through cultural osmosis to determine that Joffery is a mean little shit who should have been strangled at birth, yes...

[(Anonymous)]

No not Jeffrey... more like Aegon VI, or Mance Ryder.

[water-soter.livejournal.com]

What I was always confused by the Search was that Zuko and Ozai seemed to get along fine until sometime after his eighth? birthdate. We see in the series Ozai with his hand on Zuko's shoulder in what I assume is pride. If Ozai didn't think Zuko was his son then why would he treat Zuko as if he was? Not to mention that while Ozai does seem like a bastard to Zuko, there doesn't seem to be a lot of antagonistic behavior in the early days. What I can assume from this is that Ozai did think Zuko was his son until Zuko showed that he wasn't as skilled with firebending as his sister. It's all very confusing.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Do we know when Ozai saw the letter? If he saw it when Zuko was about eight, that would explain the sudden change, wouldn't it?

Or on the DW version of this post, Lizbee speculated that Ozai planted the letter as a pretext to disinherit an already unwanted Zuko.

[water-soter.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that's interesting. I thought that it was when she was about to have Zuko, but if I remember correctly, Zuko was a small boy at the time, six or maybe four considering how he spoke. Maybe even smaller. But still, that doesn't explain that bit in the series where Zuko is clearly older and Ozai has his hand on his shoulder . . . but that would make sense if your theory is correct. That Ozai planted that letter or maybe even changed its contents . . . but again it would mean that Ozai knew the Avatar would defeat him and Zuko would defeat Azula and become Firelord. Somehow, I don't think he could have planned that far ahead, especially since he didn't think much of Zuko or his skills. Then again he might have done so when he took him back so that eventually Azula could dethrone him when Zuko inherited the title of Firelord. Hmmmm . . .

We do know that Ozai did love Ursa and Zuko was a lot like her . . .

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

If you mean in "The Storm," I always chalked that up to Early installment weirdness, or fantasy, because he always read as older in the bit with his father's hand around his shoulder than he did in "Zuko Alone" where we know he was already deeply unloved by his father. He looked more like he did at thirteen in the pseudo sepia toned bit in "The Storm" than he looked like he did at ten.

We do know that Ozai did love Ursa.

I see no evidence of this. We know he was possessive of her, but I saw no signs in the show or the comics that he actually loved anyone, including Azula.

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

I just want to say 'this' in response to most of this post. I think a huge part of the narrative is that Zuko is genuinely Ozai's son, that Ozai is crap at parenting/husbandry/life, and that crap parenting and cultural conditioning can be survived and gotten beyond. And I hope the conclusion of The Search will bear this out.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

So do I. And if I'm wrong, I will be just as angry as the fans who are already frothing at the mouth. But I sincerely doubt that's where "The Search" is going.

Also, I love watching Zuko dealing with Ozai angst. It's one of my hard core literary kinks.

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

Well that went better than expected. Blast it, now I need Part 3...