This screenshot motivational poster is highly, hugely, utterly, and absolutely Pro-Zuko, Pro-Katara, and, of course, Pro-Zutara! Sit back, relax, and soak in how much I hold Zutara in such high regard.
At the risk of sounding melodramatic, I was born a full-fledged Zutarian, I live as a full-fledged Zutarian, and I will die a full-fledged Zutarian. All right, I was being hyperbolic in the former statement, given that I was born in 1992 and Avatar: The Last Airbender first aired on Nickelodeon in 2005, but the sentiment remains that I am and always will be a Zutarian from my head to my heart all the way to my soul.
When I was a young teenager, I immersed myself into a lot of Zutara fan art, even though the show in its first season had them as enemies to each other, and I thought a lot of it was really lovely. The thought of Zuko and Katara ending up together seemed really intriguing because of the whole enemies to lovers dynamic and the whole appeal of opposite elements attracting each other. I even made it clear in my now 5 going on 6-year-old review of Avatar: The Last Airbender that I was Team Zutara, especially in the second part of my favorite episodes of this show. I tried liking the canon ships for Zuko and Katara, i.e. Maiko and Kataang, but they did not and never really held that much weight in my eyes anymore because of how their respective relationships were fraught with issues.
Growing up I have always wondered why was it that I loved Zutara with the passion of a million burning suns, why was it that I got so excited whenever I saw a piece of Zutara fan art or fanfiction, and why did this particular couple hold this much weight in stark comparison to the canon “couples”. It all came down to the thematic significance of balance and the potential for a healthy relationship, Zuko and Katara almost mirroring Oma and Shu as forbidden lovers divided by a war and encountering each other in a secret tunnel, how much validation Zuko and Katara gave to each other, despite the rockiness that occurred, and demonstrating that they are both living, breathing human beings with their own ideals, goals, and dreams.
Back when I was about 13 or 14 years old, I was quite intrigued with Zuko and Katara as a couple. It was not until I reached my mid-teens as a high school student that my love for Zutara really accelerated beyond belief. My reasons used to be that they looked great together and that their was an enchanting appeal about two individuals from opposing nations being conjugally united. Nowadays, as an adult and that my flame for Zutara has been reignited by such amazing YouTube video essayists such as Joshua Fagan and Sneezy Reviews among other content creators and that I found a great piece of fanfiction written by babyfairy called didn’t know my heart, I can say with full-fledged confidence that Zutara will always be here to stay and I proudly wear Zutara like a badge of honor.
With that said, I shall provide you, dear readers, my seven reasons of what makes me believe that Zutara holds up so well to this very day.
1. The strong support Zutara has from Avatar: The Last Airbender’s creative team who are not Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante diMartino
I have nothing but respect of Bryan and Michael for creating what has to be my number one most favorite Nicktoon of all time, let alone one of my most favorite pieces of Western Animation ranking alongside Samurai Jack, Steven Universe, Teen Titans, Xiaolin Showdown, Megas XLR, Adventure Time, Regular Show, Mission Hill, and King of the Hill. However, their approach to writing romance within the main narrative of Avatar: The Last Airbender was rather myopic because Aang still idealized Katara as his dream girl while not fully validating her flaws and troubles, which led to an eventual downfall in their dynamics only to have it quickly resolved in the end of the series, and that Mai’s and Zuko’s relationship seemed torrid from the get-go, despite Mai displaying affection for Zuko when she was a child. Michael and Bryan never really intended for Zutara to be the endgame pairing in this show. Yet, the likes of writer Aaron Ehasz, his ex-wife Elizabeth Welch, episode director Giancarlo Volpe, illustrator Irene Koh, and even Zuko’s and Katara’s voice actors, Dante Basco and Mae Whitman, plus Azula’s voice actress, Grey Delisle, are all Zutarians, with Dante Basco being the captain of this ship! It really says something that even Zuko’s and Katara’s voice actors are passionate about this couple and were quite sad that it did not come to fruition, given that Dante and Mae also worked on American Dragon: Jake Long with him as the title hero, Jake, and her as the deuteragonist who lives a double life as Jake’s love interest by day and enemy by night, Rose aka Huntsgirl. Zutara’s staying power and popularity within the creative team as well as some of the voice actors proves to be a formidable one and it is not only just within the fans’ realms. The compassion that we the viewers and the people behind the scenes have for Zuko and Katara as complex characters and the thematic importance of balance are what make Zutara just as relevant when the show was being made even after it concluded yet continued with the comic trilogy and the sequel plus its own set of comics.
2. Zuko’s and Katara’s willingness to open up to each other
Season 2’s Crossroads of Destiny and a great chunk of Season 3 really gave Zuko and Katara a lot of potential to keep on growing together as well as individually. Sure, Zuko did start off as an arrogant antagonist in Season 1, but layer by layer, his whole moral viewpoint and his whole ideology of wanting to return to his father’s graces became more uncertain and perhaps there was more to his life than wanting to return to such an imperialist country run by propaganda. Katara has always been the kind, gentle, and motherly heart and soul of her tribe and towards her brother Sokka and her friend Aang and she also has very strong ideas, but underneath that facade is a lot of pain, mourning for the loss of her mother, and trauma that she had to endure because of this century-long war. That all changed when Zuko and Katara were thrown in Ba Sing Se’s prison that they started to get to know one another and bare their souls. Even after Zuko made the wrong choice by betraying Katara, he realized that his return to the Fire Nation as well as his relationship with Mai was unfulfilling because Mai did not understand Zuko and he was angry at himself. Katara was definitely hurt by this, even as Zuko made up his mind to join Team Avatar. He worked really hard to gain Katara’s trust, especially where The Southern Raiders was concerned. Aang’s simplistic moral views would have made Katara forgive her mother’s murderer, but to Katara, it is not as clear-cut nor as easy as that, for Katara witnessed her mother’s death and held that traumatic memory close to her heart. Zuko at least helped Katara confront Yon Rha, her mother’s murderer, and gave her a choice, thus validating her as a person and not an object. With Katara ready to forgive Zuko, the animosity that existed between them was nowhere to be found in the next few episodes. When Zuko expressed doubt if Uncle Iroh could ever forgive him, Katara was there to comfort him. She even encouraged Zuko to join in the Team Avatar group hug, thus also validating him as not only part of the team but also part of the family. This willingness to open up to each other is what made Zuko choose Katara to fight alongside him against Azula in the final Agni Kai. This was also evident when Zuko saved Katara from a dirty trick that the mentally unstable Azula had up her sleeve when she shot blue lightning from her fingertips. With Katara overpowering Azula with craftiness and reviving Zuko from that pain, it demonstrated that there was nobody else they could trust than each other.
3. Zuko’s and Katara’s validation of each other as human beings
Throughout their lives, Zuko was made to think that the Fire Nation was superior and that other elemental nations were inferior and Katara was made to believe that the Fire Nation consisted of cruel, selfish, greedy people who have no regard for equality and that the Southern Water Tribe was a haven of peace and safety. However, Avatar: The Last Airbender demonstrates that there is no such thing as a good nation or a bad nation, but there are people whose distorted and twisted views of their ideology make them incapable of looking at the bigger picture of the world. For instance, Jeong-Jeong may be a firebender, but even he believes that fire is destructive yet water is healing and soothing. Hama may be a waterbender, but her usage of bloodbending was used as a tool her obtaining revenge on the Fire Nation after being captured by them when she was a young woman. Jet may be from The Earth Kingdom, but his extremist views of the Fire Nation drove him to hurt those he swore to protect. Why do I bring these tangents up? This is attributed to the beliefs that Zuko and Katara were indoctrinated in and what would have happened to them if they did not do what was truly right. If Zuko remained in the path of wanting to capture the Avatar just to regain his abusive father’s approval, he would have sacrificed his integrity and his true honor for an empty cause instead of realizing that he has family in his uncle and surrogate father, Iroh, and in Team Avatar. If Katara gave in to her vengeful desires, she would have ended up as another Hama, thus bittersweetly tearjerking ending to The Puppetmaster, which saw Hama laughing maniacally as she was being led in chains while leaving Katara to weep. When it comes to Zuko and Katara together, there is idealization of each other. Instead, they would see the best and the worst sides of each other and accept each other for who they really are and not turning away from each other at all. Part of what it is like to be human is to have one’s perceptions challenged and Zuko’s and Katara’s perceptions of each other have been challenged on more than one occasion to the point where they have seen the best and the worst in each other and will support each other through thick and thin.
4. Compassion, Kindness, Passion, Integrity, and Courage: The Backbone of Zutara
It might seem hard to believe, but the traits of compassion to others, showing kindness to those who need it the most, the passion for strong and constructive ideals, the integrity uphold one’s words, and the courage to accept each other are what make Zuko and Katara absolutely compatible to each other. Through the darkness and despair, they have learned to see the light and are fiercely loyal to their friends and their family. They have seen through each others’ fears, doubts, anguish, and pain and have learned to realize that they have a lot more in common than they actually realized. They have no illusions of who they really are and would embrace each and every new challenge with a brave face. Furthermore, they would learn to heal each other and give each other the peace and balance they really deserve.
5. A Historical and Political Unity of Epic Proportions
Yes, I know this has been told ad nauseam, but the conjugal union of Zuko and Katara would signify a much more symbolic era of peace and unity between the Southern Water Tribe and the Fire Nation as well as the whole darn world. However, it is not only these two nations that deserve unity, but also the world. With Katara as the Fire Lady, she would also help out Zuko in the sociopolitical reforms to heal the world after what occurred in the Hundred-Year War. Zuko would be really grateful to have Katara as his wife, for her passion, compassion, and strong ideology would make her worthy of the title of Fire Lady from Water Tribe origins. Should anybody be so brazen to demean or undermine Katara, she would prove them wrong and Zuko would ensure that Katara attains as much respect because of how intelligent, clever, and self-sacrificing she is. Therefore, a new page of history would demonstrate how vital Katara is as a catalyst for significant change and not just being relegated as the Fire Lord’s wife.
6. Zuko and Katara actually have common ground
On the surface, one might think that Zuko and Katara are vastly different. However, during their intimate moment in Ba Sing Se as well as those moments together, they have more in common than they think. Both of them despise how the Fire Nation has abused their power to commit genocide among the Air Nomads, the Water Tribes, and the Earth Kingdom. Both of them lost their mothers, though Ursa moved on from Ozai to live a more secluded life with her new husband and her little daughter. Both have endured so much pain, loss, anguish, and unfairness, but have found the strength to carry on. Both are passionate, idealistic, and strong-minded individuals who will always keep their word and will stay true to what they believe in. Both are also the most mature and most insightful members of Team Avatar to the point where they function as the Team Parents. When it comes to synergy, both Zuko and Katara have that in spades and they can challenge each others’ preconceived notions while emerging anew as completely enlightened individuals.
7. Authenticity, Genuineness, and Unconditional Love Galore!
It is no surprise that throughout all of Zuko’s and Katara’s trials that they are each others’ best equal. There is no fakery, no pretentiousness, and no illusions to be found in this relationship which is built on trust and unconditional love. Zuko and Katara would always find the strength to constructively build each other up and will always be comfortable in each others’ skins. Despite all of the dark clouds they encounter, they will always root for each other and will protect each other from all harm. Zuko and Katara would work very well with each other and would never allow their family to crumble. The fierce loyalty they have for each other would bloom like the most fragrant of roses and shine like the brightest of diamonds.
To conclude, there is no way in this life and in the afterlife that I would, should, and/or could ever separate myself from Zutara. There is a reason why I consider this ship so precious. The compassion Zuko and Katara have for each other, the respect and allegiance that is present to the point of pure validation, and the thematic vitality of balance are what make me love Zutara with all my heart, mind, and soul and make me truly proud to be a Zutarian.
I would also love to hear from you, fellow Zutarians. Do you agree with what I have to express? Or do you have other reasons why you love Zutara so much? Please leave me a comment and let me know.
I hope you all enjoyed this Pro-Zutara motivational poster and I will see you in the next submission. Take care, stay safe, and keep on spreading the Zutara love, everybody.
Zuko and Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender belong to Bryan Konietzko, Michael DiMartino, and Nickelodeon.
