Ok, I've said this in another thread.
But I'd rly like to see everyone's opinion in a thread dedicated to just this topic.
Pls, don't start any shipping wars!!! This is meant to be a discussion, I value everyone's opinion.
So, when I think of Katara, I think of a mature young woman w/ very motherly instincts (I see her as like 14 going on 15) who has been through a lot of pain with the death of her mother. And she hasn't seen her father in many years.
When I think of Aang, I think of a little kid who is still growing up and needs to accept the responsibility of his destiny. He'll mature alot, but he's still a kid maturity wise, a 12 yr old.
Zuko, at 16, has been through much, he's had to grow up too fast. He's a good person and (especially in season 2) has revealed that he cares for others, has a strong personal honor code. Also, he never really supported the war, even in episode 3 of season one (The southern air temple) he said to Zhao, "If my father thinks the rest of the world will follow him willingly, then he is a fool."
So, in terms of relationships, I know Aang likes Katara, but it seems like a one sided crush thing. If Aang ever told Katara about his feelings for her, I could see her accepting it, but in like a "o, Aang, I love you like a little brother, but am touched that you care for me like that". Because she's older and more mature and could never really see him in a romantic light. Aang, within the context of the show (I know if they grew up, age wouldn't be an issue) could never meet the maturity level of Katara and be involved in a romantic relationship with her.
Zuko, however, who has also experienced the loss of family (his mother, Luten) is mature like Katara. If he and his uncle ever joined the gaang (which could happen I think) I could see him learning about Katara's past and her learning about his past. As a result, they might get closer because they've both experienced the loss that war brings with it on a personal scale. (We're still in the middle of the series right now, who know's how much growth and development could happen with these characters in the rest of season 2 and 3).
Ok, wow that was long...
So, in light of all of this, my question is,
Now I want to know, no matter what ship you ship, what do you think? I know many ship Katara and Aang, but it just seems a little weird to me because of their difference in age and maturity. If Zuko ever joined the group, I could see Katara trying to make him open up more and they would grow closer. And if they never became involved romantically but were just friends, that would be fine. But I just can't see a romantic relationship between Katara and Aang.
What does everyone think??
Aaahhh, such a long post!
-- pls, no bashing, insulting, etc. Just discuss
To be honest, I disagree.
What makes a person mature? What defines maturity? What is it about Zuko that makes him mature? Let's face it: He spent the entire first season as nothing but a brat. He was consistently verbally abusive towards his uncle, he showed in general a relatively low view of his crew, and he generally treated others without any semblance of respect, even if they were helping him with his own personal goals (he was pretty rude to Jun, for instance). Zuko did however slowly mature, and over time he learned to be more loving to his uncle, even though he was still oftentimes rude to him. He did, gradually, learn to be a better person, but I don't think that he had a very high level of maturity.
I find the first sentence in this paragraph to be odd, quite frankly:
That, in my opinion, is off the mark, since it does not take into account that simply losing family doesn't make one mature. I can lose my entire family, but if I deal with it badly, begin to disregard others, and become generally abusive towards others who love me even years after the events happened (two years for Zuko), then it means that I was never strong enough emotionally to deal with the suffering. Yes, I'm allowed to mourn if I lose my family, but one thing is that one shouldn't make
others suffer because of
my grief, and that's exactly what Zuko did through his attitudes and behaviors towards others.
Now, Zuko
has matured, most definitely. He is more appreciative of his uncle, but he is still somewhat of a brat, even though he has valued the lives of others more deeply. His behavior in Zuko Alone was quite mature and heroic, but look at his behavior in The Desert toward his uncle. He still has a bit of brattiness in him, even if he is maturing in other places.
Now take Aang. He ran away from home, got caught in a storm, and solidified himself in an iceberg. When he woke up, he was living a hundred years after his own time period. What that means is that he literally woke up and every single friend, every single family member, every single elder, his father figure in his life (and also a good friend, telling from the nature of their interaction), his entire civilization, and his entire culture were
dead. He also went to the Northern Air Temple and found that much of the history of his people had been destroyed.
Now, look at how Aang has reacted to all this. He is sad. I believe that firmly. He showed very strong hints of grief about everything that happened to him, in the Southern Air Temple, The Blue Spirit, Bato of the Water Tribe, and The Northern Air Temple. Yet Aang, for the most part, has
not let his grief get in the way of his mission. He has
not shown massive amounts of depression, because he knows that he has no time to mourn, and
he uses his emotional strength to repress his grief for the sake of better performing his mission. That requires
strength. One can go through a horrible tragedy and, because of duty, override grief for the sake of mission.
Being a Christian, one example that I think of is Ezekiel, from the Bible. I remember a story (though I can't find the chapter) where the prophet Ezekiel lost his wife, who was described by God as "the delight of your eyes" to Ezekiel. Yet, the prophet Ezekiel was not allowed to mourn but only to "groan quietly", and was told to not shed any tears or perform any sort of lamentation. When I read this passage, the first thing I thought of would be how painful it to not be allowed to grieve and how it requires strength to be able to repress such emotions. Not take Aang. Aang lost
everybody he knew. I might seem to be repetitive now, but one can hardly emphasize how massive the amount of suffering of losing everything, materially, relationally, and culturally could be.
Now, you may be thinking about Aang in Bato of the Water Tribe, in which he basically let his emotions force him to keep the whereabouts of Katara and Sokka's father to them. Think about this though. Aang was travelling north as fast as he could. He's basically in a rush to learn all four elements and defeat the firelord. Hakoda was the eastern part of the Earth Kingdom. This would mean that in order for Katara and Sokka to see their father, who they love dearly and talk about how they want to see him again, they would have to abandon Aang, possibly permanently. That would leave Aang with no friends to ease the pain of his loss of all his former friends and family. One example I can think of in real life is a friend of mine. This friend of mine lost a
lot of her family and friends when she was younger, and I can tell that she's terrified of the thought of losing any more. To be honest, I don't think anybody can understand the terror of the thought of losing more friends and more family after losing others unless it's happened to that person. Yes...Aang let his weakness get the better of him, and he reacted in a negative situation, but to be honest...I would done the same thing as him in that situation. And I'm fifteen.
I don't know about other people here, but if someone says "I wouldn't do that," I'd have to ask how they know...one can't make assumptions about what you would do in a situation like that until you've ever been in something similar. This is the only time where Aang let his pain allow him to hurt somebody else, and to be honest, one time is a lot less "times" than what Zuko has done. Aang's actions were the result of a potentially emotionally terrifying scenario for him, and he reacted negatively. But he learned from this lesson, and one can tell that afterwards, at the end of the episode, he had learned from his mistake so that if he was presented with the same scenario a second time, he would choose differently. He messed up. But it was the result of a massively emotional situation and he learned from it.
What's my point? My point is that emotionally, Aang is stronger than Zuko. As a matter of fact, I think Aang's emotional strength is amazing. If I were him, I would probably have ended up on the edge of insanity and would have let my emotions get in the way of my mission. Yet Aang is three years younger than me, and he hass done far better than I could in that situation. He truly is a suffering hero...and I believe firmly that through emotional strength that he represses his grief and doesn't let it get in the way of his mission.
Now, about maturity. Yes, Aang was immature in the first season. He was still trying to act like a kid despite what was going on in the world. But look at him now. His attitude has changed remarkably. Look at his conversation between him and Katara during The Avatar State. "No, you don't understand. Every day more and more people die. I'm already a hundred years late. Defeating the firelord is the only way to end this war." Does that sound anything like early season one Aang? No, it doesn't. He has done remarkably well in focusing on his mission in the second season. He has matured. In my opinion, Aang is
remarkably mature for his Aang so far in season two. I honestly can't think of Aang acting immature
once in the current season. If someone has an example then please bring it up, I would like to hear it.
So, personally, I believe that Aang is very mature and that he currently could easily be a viable emotional partner for Katara. Aang has experienced the loss of
everybody he loved to the war. If anything, the reason that Aang and Katara wouldn't be able to talk about that if they couldn't would be because Aang's loss would be so much greater than Katara's. I find the idea that they wouldn't be able to talk about their comparitive losses as a way to deepen their relationship to be false, so that means that Aang can supply the same thing as Zuko here. Not only that, but Aang is less hurtful towards others, so Aang would be a better companion for Katara because he would treat her better than Zuko would (Zuko still refers to his loving uncle as an "old gasbag" in The Desert, for instance), and Aang's maturity level is easily on par with Katara's. They have spent much time together already, and have already forged bonds with one another that run deep.
In short, Aang is a better partner for Katara than Zuko. That is my opinion.