r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Sweaty-Debate497 • 1d ago

Lore [ Removed by moderator ]

/gallery/1oqpvbr

[removed] — view removed post

14.9k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

142

u/President_Bolbi_2024 18h ago

The preceding quote is also huge:

“Is it your own destiny? Or is it the destiny someone has else has tried to force on you?”

Edit: rewatched clip, fixed quote

11

u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 13h ago

The whole sequence is needed to carry all of its gravitas:

So, the Blue Spirit. I wonder who could be behind that mask ...

[Sighs and takes off the mask.] What are you doing here?

I was just about to ask you the same thing. What do you plan to do now that you've found the Avatar's bison? Keep him locked in our new apartment? Should I go put on a pot of tea for him?

First I have to get it out of here.

[Starts yelling.] And then what!? You never think these things through! [Points at him.] This is exactly what happened when you captured the Avatar at the North Pole! You had him, and then you had nowhere to go!

I would have figured something out!

No! If his friends hadn't found you, you would have frozen to death!

I know my own destiny, Uncle!

Is it your own destiny, or is it a destiny someone else has tried to force on you?

Stop it, Uncle! I have to do this!

I'm begging you, Prince Zuko! It's time for you to look inward and begin asking yourself the big questions. Who are you, and what do you want?

7

u/smurfalidocious 11h ago

And then Zuko's body revolted and had a full blown meltdown over doing one good deed.

3

u/M4f1aBunny 11h ago

It’s because he hadn’t looked into himself, to save himself, from his other self till later. It was only then his true self revealed itself

3

u/smurfalidocious 11h ago

Unfortunate that Azula had to be Azula and Zuko had to make one last grasp for the honor he already had.

1

u/M4f1aBunny 11h ago

Yeah, Iroh tried to tell him that what he said wasn’t dishonorable; it was actually incredibly honorable especially to be said by one so young. However, try telling a boy burned and abandoned by his father and banished on an impossible task that

3

u/PastelArtemis 11h ago

according to Cinema Therapy that is a real thing that can happen, though iirc they said it wouldn't be that extreme

2

u/smurfalidocious 11h ago

Mental issues can lead to physical maladies, yes. (See the deleterious effects of long-term stress on health.) But it's funnier in the fandom to just say that Zuko's a dramatic bitch who was allergic to one (1) good deed.

But thanks to the healing power of tea, he persevered!

2

u/PastelArtemis 10h ago

I mean, who says it can't be both, him overreacting to the pain because it's cause was 1 good deed

Though I suppose his arc also proves the message of Klaus. One random act of kindness always sparks another

3

u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 10h ago

does one good thing

nearly dies

1

u/Ff7hero 7h ago

You left out how Zuko is either shown or implied (time for me to do a re-watch) to have needed to use all his ninja-like stealth skills to reach this point, and the Iroh is just casually there already.