Post by Gotterdammerung on Apr 17, 2006 2:04:41 GMT -5
Though what I interpreted from Hwangsta was that he was incased in an iceberg for 100 years without any knowledge as to what was happening in the outside world. The first person he laid eyes on was Katara-like a chick hatching and being attached to the 1st person it encounters or it could be love at first sight, which is usually blind love.
That might be a workable theory but Aang had no concept of the passage of time while he was in the iceberg. So coming out of it, in his mind, it wasn't as though Katara was the first person he had seen in 100 years. She was just the first person he'd seen since he fell asleep, which, as far as he knew could have been the day before.
Though, I'd probably agree with the "love at first sight" reading, since I think that the way it was shot supports that that was what was being communicated. That doesn't however necessarily mean that the relationship, if it should ever be met, won't last. In fact, the fact that it was the very first thing established about Aang probably better supports the idea that they will end up as THE pairing of the series.
I thought se was put in there to be a competition and great opponent/rival to Katara.
I don't see it. There's no specific rivalry between Mai and Katara. Mai faces Aang and Katara and Sokka (indirectly) and Ty Lee also fights Katara. It's pretty clearly Aang's gang vs. Azula's girlgang. Aang and Azula fight and their companions fight. In fact, considering that Ty Lee impaired Katara's ability to bend, a specific rivalry between them would make more sense.
Mai might automatically be considered Katara's rival in fandom, but that's just because fandom is largely made up of Zuko/Katara shippers, but much like any relationship between Zuko and Katara, that hasn't actually played out in canon.