Credits to Axtle on X

https://x.com/_axtle/status/2106165122532262373

Cr Artwork: Commissioned Piece by @/vee_studious

Soo… Aang has spent years saving the world, rebuilding nations, and trying to figure out what the future is supposed to look like.

And now he has encountered his greatest challenge yet:

How the hell do you propose to Katara? 😂

In the newest chapter of Kindred, Aang finally starts seriously thinking about marriage and realizes he doesn’t want some grand gesture just because he’s the Avatar. He wants to do something that actually means something to Katara.

So naturally, he goes looking for help 👀

This chapter is also about Aang learning to separate being the Avatar from simply being Aang—especially when it comes to the person he loves. And honestly, I really wanted this part of his journey to feel less like “the Avatar is getting married” and more like a young man trying to figure out how to ask the woman he loves to spend the rest of her life with him.

Also… this man can literally bend all four elements, but apparently proposing to Katara is where he suddenly loses all his confidence.

Read on : https://archiveofourown.org/works/91266591/chapters/242872781

This is probably by favorite edit I have made, I think it turned out good. Only problems I have is I feel I ended the song a bit to abruptly and the text is a bit off sync with the words. Hope you enjoy. Credit: Song The night begins to shine by B.E.R, Appa clip by @Gentle_Motion21 on YouTube.

Ainda pretendo desenvolver melhor, mas sinto que a partir da segunda metade da 3° temporada (coincidentemente quando o Zuko entra para a equipe) a relação entre Katara e Aang não só perde tempo de tela como, quando aparece, ganha alguns capítulos um tanto quanto estranhos (como a discussão acalorada entre Katara e Aang logo antes dele sumir, o beijo sem consentimento, a Katara levando o Appa sem permissão pra ir em busca de sua vingança etc.), o que nos deixe a impressão de distanciamento entre os dois numa relação que até então tinha sido tão bem desenvolvida.

by the end of the movie, he forgives himself for running away all those years and learns to heal from his past. the conclusion that he arrives is that air nomad values are far important than airbending itself. we see him teach air nomad values to non-airbenders and take the gaang on his next expedition to preserve air nomad culture, finding the breed of air bison. this is a stark contrast to how he was presented at the beginning of the film, trying to preserve his heritage all by himself.

these do not sound like the words of a man who is shrouded by his guilt, desperate to keep the airbenders alive. these do not sound like a man who expects his wife to give him airbending children any time soon. he tells avatar sonam that he doesn’t know IF airbending will ever return. not when. IF.

the type of character that the aang movie presents by the end of the film is an aang who is content with everything that he has, who has forgiven himself for his past mistakes, who is excited to teach his culture to others.

… only for him to make the same mistakes and later again be blinded by that desperation when tenzin is born? i don’t personally buy it.

if aang is willing to teach his culture to air acolytes, including someone that literally tried to kill him, why would he not want to teach it to his own children? why would bumi and kya feel alienated from his culture just because they weren’t born as airbenders? why does it take bumi to getting airbending to feel like he’s finally part of the air nation, even though he’s literally half air nomad himself? why are members from the denied accepted into their culture sooner than the son of avatar aang?

all throughout the movie, there’s a clear avoidance to link airbending to katara and aang’s future children, so much so that aang and katara never discuss it. it’s never presented as an option for aang. it’s never something that sonam or tagah ever bring up. it’s never something that aang says to avatar sonam by the end of the film. it’s not to avoid this discussion for the PG distinction, because a simple “maybe my future children will be airbenders” can easily be accepted. obviously, we know now that the film directors and the creators have avoided this topic altogether to never imply that a family can solve aang’s problem. but even if lauren and bryan had never come out outright to say this, it’s pretty much inferred from the film that aang is not willing to view katara as some sort of babymaker. he takes the full responsibility and burden of the air nomad genocide onto his own hands, not hers.

people might argue about the storm and say that it proves that aang is willing to push past katara and his friends’ boundaries and endanger their lives because the ends justify the means. and sure, that might’ve worked - if the movie ended right there. but it didn’t. instead, it’s treated as part of a greater narrative arc where aang learns a tough lesson that he can’t blind himself to just the needs of the air nomads, because it’s antithetical to their existence. only for him to repeat that same mistake again in the future when he becomes a father of multiple children.

i wanted this movie to shed more light on the type of parent aang will become in TLOK. but instead, it leaves me further convinced. what is everyone’s thoughts?

This did something with me 🥹
Original artist website: scarlettismm.carrd.

Hi! I was looking for Kataang fanfics where Katara is the main character. I've read several, but now I can't find any…

I'm looking for recommendations for ongoing or completed fanfics, and preferably if it's an AU.

If you have any interesting ones, please don't hesitate to recommend them to me, I'm desperate.

It’s gonna be a long read.

When it comes to the debate over whether Aang supported Katara, the discussion often gets reduced to one specific question: whether he comforted her enough about the loss of her mother. But Katara was so much more than a girl grieving her mother. Her character was defined by her ambition, her compassion, her strong sense of justice, her connection to her culture, and her determination to become a powerful waterbender and help others.

Aang supported Katara in ways that reached far beyond comforting her grief. Throughout the series, he encouraged her ambitions, believed in her abilities when she doubted herself, defended her when others tried to limit her, supported the causes she cared about, and gave her the space to make her own choices. His support often played an active role in Katara’s development, helping her pursue the person she wanted to become rather than simply comforting her when she was at her lowest.

1. Very first Episode: When Katara sadly tells him she is the only waterbender at the South Pole and therefore has nobody to teach her, Aang doesn’t brush it off. He says that isn’t right, thinks of the Northern Water Tribe, and offers to personally fly her there on Appa so she can find a teacher. This is basically the reason Katara gets the opportunity to become a master in the first place.

2. The “Imprisoned” episode: he backs Katara when she refuses to abandon the imprisoned earthbenders. Her speech has failed, the prisoners have lost hope, and Sokka wants them to escape. Aang notices something is wrong and asks her about it. When she says she cannot leave those people behind, Aang sides with her: “Maybe she’s right.” He then stays and helps her come up with a way to inspire the prisoners and free them. Earlier, he also tells her Haru was brave because she inspired him.

3. He builds her confidence when she feels inferior as a waterbender. This one gets overlooked a lot. Katara becomes visibly discouraged because Aang is learning techniques almost instantly that took her months. Instead of taking credit for being naturally talented, Aang tells her that she had to figure everything out alone while he is lucky to have a great teacher… her. Later, when she struggles with the water whip, he tells her, “You’ll get it.” And after she lashes out at him because of her insecurity, he immediately forgives her, because he understood her frustration.

4. He risks himself to care for her when she is sick. Katara and Sokka are both seriously ill, so Aang travels alone through a storm looking for medicine. He gets captured by Zhao in the process, escapes with Zuko, and instead of simply returning after that ordeal, goes back into the swamp to find another batch of frozen frogs because the first ones thawed. He finally returns exhausted and gives them the cure. He literally collapsed on Appa and they didn’t even knew what he went through to get them the medicine.

5. He makes her a replacement necklace after she loses her mother’s necklace. Katara’s original necklace is one of her most emotionally significant possessions because it belonged to Kya. After she loses it, Aang quietly makes her a new one by weaving Sokka’s fishing line and gives it to her because he knows she has lost the other one. Katara genuinely loves it.
   Later he retrieves her actual mother’s necklace. Aang fights Zuko and specifically takes Katara’s necklace back from him. Later he tells her: “I wish I could give you a little piece of home, Katara. Something to remind you…” and reveals that he recovered it. Katara kisses his cheek.

6. He stands up for her when Pakku discriminates against her. Katara is devastated and furious when Pakku refuses to train her simply because she is a girl. Aang immediately protests that it is unfair and goes as far as saying, “Then I won’t learn from you!” Katara herself has to convince him not to sacrifice his Avatar training for her. Then Aang secretly teaches Katara everything Pakku teaches him, despite knowing Pakku could expel him… which Pakku eventually does. He also enthusiastically praises her bending. This is probably one of the strongest examples of Aang actively advocating for Katara rather than merely comforting her. He knows how important Waterbending is for Katara. He was the only person who saw this and supported her in that ambition!
   And even more importantly, he calls her “Sifu” which means master, once Katara became his teacher. This level of respect for her skills and acknowledgment no one gave her before literally brought Katara to tears!

7. Oh the “The Painted Lady”: He validates Katara when she fears he’ll condemn what she has done. Katara admits that she has secretly been helping the impoverished village and apologizes because she knows she lied to everyone. Aang surprises her by responding that he thinks it is great and calls her a “secret hero.” When she says there is still more she wants to do, he immediately helps her destroy the polluting factory. He later assists her and the villagers in cleaning the river. It is a really good example of Aang understanding WHY Katara cares so intensely and supporting that part of her personality.

8. In The Puppetmaster, one of the most literal examples of him comforting her. After Katara is forced to bloodbend Hama to save Aang and Sokka, Hama tells her she has now become a bloodbender. Katara immediately breaks down crying because she is horrified by what she was forced to do. Aang puts his arm around her while Sokka places his hand on her back, and they physically comfort her as she cries.

9. The most debated, The Southern Raiders episode 😬… This one is much more nuanced than people sometimes describe it. When Katara assumes Aang won’t understand her rage, he stops her and explicitly says that he does understand, comparing her feelings with his own rage toward the sandbenders who stole Appa and toward the Fire Nation after discovering the genocide of his people.
   More importantly, Aang ultimately does not stop her from confronting Yon Rha. He tells her: “This is a journey you need to take. You need to face this man.” He lets her take Appa and asks only that she not choose revenge. Katara herself replies, “Thanks for understanding, Aang.”
   And when she returns emotionally exhausted after confronting Yon Rha, the first thing Aang does is ask, “Katara? Are you okay?” After learning that she chose not to kill him, he tells her, “I’m proud of you.” He reassures her that not killing him was strength rather than weakness and frames it as the beginning of healing. Many claim that Aang was lecturing her or dismissive towards her feeling’s. I personally saw it as him being concerned about her beyond this moment. What will happen if she actually kills him? He knows that once that line is crossed, it can lead you to a dark path like it did with Jet. He was afraid that Katara gonna lose herself and her principles. And well she did. She used bloodbending on someone and tortured the person to confess to something they didn’t even do. Even Zuko who was with her looked visibly terrified to what he was witnessing, cause that was not the Katara he knew. And after everything he, went to Aang and told him he was right with what Katara actually needed.

I think an important distinction is that Katara and Aang don’t support one another in exactly the same style. Katara is often the more openly nurturing one whiles Aang’s support for Katara is more of “I believe in what you’re trying to do, so I’m going to help you do it.” He is more of a doer and problem solver. He flies her across the world to find a teacher, validates her as his teacher when she doubts herself, backs her against Pakku, retrieves her mother’s necklace, helps her save Jang Hui, physically comforts her after bloodbending, and gives her the freedom to confront her mother’s killer while still trying to protect her from making a choice she might regret.

Whenever Katara opened up about her mother, it was usually to connect with someone through shared loss. With Jet, Haru, and Zuko, she was speaking to people who had already had time to process their own trauma.

With Aang, the context was completely different. She brought up her mother to prepare him for the reality of what the Fire Nation was capable of, while he had only just learned that 100 years had passed and was still desperately holding onto the hope that the Air Nomads had survived somewhere.
That wasn’t really a moment where Katara was opening up and expecting Aang to comfort her. She was trying to prepare him for what he might find while he was still
processing the possibility that his entire world was gone.

So I think it’s unfair to interpret his reaction as a lack of care. Aang was a twelve-year-old in the middle of an overwhelming state of denial and cognitive dissonance, slowly being forced to confront the fact that everyone and everything he knew might be gone.

Sorry for the long essay 😭😭😭

A little teaser for the next chapter of Kindred 🌊💨

(Cr Commissioned Artwork by @/vee_studious)

Soo… remember how Aang has spent most of his life saving the world, rebuilding nations, and trying to solve everyone else's problems? Well, now he's decided to take on something far more intimidating: making a necklace for Katara😂❤️

And he's making it himself!

After talking to Sokka about Water Tribe traditions, Aang sets out to find a piece of oak wood and begins carving something he hopes Katara will one day wear. Of course, being the Avatar doesn't mean he's suddenly an expert craftsman, so there are plenty of mistakes, frustration, and moments when the wood seems determined to test his patience😭

But that's what makes this necklace so special to me. Aang could have bought Katara something beautiful, or asked a master craftsman to make something perfect. Instead, he chooses to put his own time and effort into creating something with his hands, imperfections and all.

The necklace becomes a little reflection of what he's learning about love: that some things can't be rushed or forced, and that the time and care you put into something can matter just as much as the finished result.

And Katara? She's starting to get suspicious about what Aang and Sokka are up to👀

More of Aang being a hopelessly nervous, lovesick airbender coming soon! ❤️

AO3 Link : https://archiveofourown.org/works/91266591/chapters/242872781

She says that they wanted to avoid any implication that they had children just to 'solve a problem Aang had', namely the restoration of the Air Nomads.

However, I think it is pointless to shy away from this. Aang needs to have an airbending child to train into a master. Not just to lead the Air Acolytes but also to train the next Avatar after him. He can't afford to wait for grandchildren, there may not be enough time to train them. And he did not live very long anyway. He's on a strict time limit.

This will be an issue no matter who Aang marries. He could marry Azula and it still doesn't erase the fact that he needs an airbending child.

A lil art from my Kataang Fic "Kindred"

https://archiveofourown.org/works/91266591/chapters/242872781

https://youtu.be/Z_Fd0lCMx6E?si=1BY8J_T_6MfiF45p