When I worked in a tea shop, I actually got a few people coming in requesting jasmine tea. Why jasmine? Because that’s what Uncle Iroh would drink on Avatar: The Last Airbender.
So here’s something to think about:
Even though he was royalty, Uncle Iroh was a master of preparing his own tea– even after he left with Zuko, he could always be seen preparing it on his own, eventually opening a successful tea shop when the one he worked at turned out to be awful.
For a firebender, heating a pot of water wouldn’t be difficult– a few seconds of rage and you’d have it at a rolling boil– but a rolling boil would ruin the tea.
The secret to a good cup of tea is often in the temperature of water that you use.
Jasmine, green and white tea tends to need between 160-180* F (71-82*C)– go any higher than that, and you’ll scald the leaves and wind up with bitter tea. Let it steep for too long, and it’ll scald anyway. So you can’t just boil the hell out of it and walk away; to be really good, a cup of tea needs a lower temperature and a softer flame. It needs patience and attention. And that’s where Uncle Iroh excelled.
It was such a wonderful character detail, and I love it so.
…I…wait…I just…b…
*Gags* “This tea is nothing more than hot leaf juice!”
“Uncle…that’s what all tea is.”
“How could a member of my own family say something so horrible?”
DO YOU MEAN THAT ZUKO NEVER PREPARED A GOOD CUP OF TEA BEFORE BECAUSE HE WAS TOO IMPATIENT TO PROPERLY HEAT IT AND THAT IROH PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER RIGHT THEN AND THERE?
“We’ll have to make some major changes around here!” — His next line which he says firmly, grabbing the teapot and looking at Zuko as he turns.
Like literally after this the main plotpoint between these two is Iroh teaching Zuko how to be more patient/kind/open-minded while also teaching him how to properly work in the tea shop and I just…do you mean to tell me those two were actually not just random meshing plotpoints but were a direct correlation?
For the record while ATLA is an excellent show and Zukos redemption arc was perfectly paced, I would kill to have had Zuko join the Gaang at the end of book two, because the first half of book three would have been the funniest thing on the planet. Like. Just picture it. A bunch of unsupervised teenagers travelling undercover through enemy territory, trying to blend in… and the only people who have even been there before are 1. A guy who hasnt been there in a century, and 2. The former crown prince who has literally never spoken to a fire nation citizen who wasnt nobility, military, or one of his servants.
Like. Neither of them have any idea what they’re doing, or how normal fire nation citizens act, but they’re pretty sure the other one is wrong. Rest of the gaang knows even less. No adults. Zuko and Aang getting into a shouting debate over the finer points of fire nation culture is a nightly event. They are both so wrong, and so, so awkward
Zuko, for the fifth and probably not last time: FOR THE LAST TIME, NOBODY USES THE PHRASE ‘FLAMEO HOTMAN’!
Aang, aware of that fact but in too deep to back out now: OH YEAH? THEN WHAT DO THEY SAY!?
Zuko, clueless and bluffing: …Something about glory to the Fire Lord?
Toph, well aware that both are lying through their teeth and have no idea what they’re talking about, and fucking loving every second of this train wreck: Clearly the only solution is for both of you to go into town tomorrow and test your theories out.
And the side taking, oh my god the side taking from the other three. Katara sides with Aang every single time. Does she honestly believe that the people of the Fire Nation greet each other with ‘Flame on, my em-brother’? Hell no. Would she rather die than say that Zuko’s correct? Yes.
Sokka usually sides with Zuko, unless he comes up with something astoundingly stupid. Zuko’s thoughts, while usually wrong, sound a lot more plausible then Aangs, and fuck it he’s willing to take a gamble.
Toph is the closest thing to a neutral party they have, in that she knows damn well they’re all full of shit, and has chosen to instead egg them on to make it worse. She’s an agent of chaos, and this is free nightly entertainment. She’s having the time of her life right now.
The debate takes a brief pause once they stop going undercover and get to the business of actually saving the world, but holy shit. once things have settled down? it’s back on with a vengeance. Except now Aang and Zuko aren’t the two most wanted people in the Fire Nation, they’re the two most influential people in the world. They are trendsetters. They can make slang become a thing.
When Zuko first hears the phrase ‘flameo, hotman’ being thrown around casually, it takes a lot of deep breathing exercises to not immediately return to his previous occupation of hunting the Avatar.
Iroh: I’m so proud of the way you’ve been ruling, nephew. Flameo, hotman!
Just think when Zuko visits babyKorra they would play hide and seek together and he would find her and shout “I’VE CAPTURED THE AVATAR” holding her up like Lion King.
The moment people were like “oh shit water benders”
I really loved this episode though, it was an established theme in the show that firebenders are associated with death and waterbenders are associated with life and healing, and up to this point it all seemed so clear-cut, because fire obviously destroys everything in its path while water can put out fires and heals, as we’ve seen particularly in Katara’s case with her natural healing ability.
Then we meet Hama, who due to years of torture and hatred has found a way to turn the classic gentler waterbending ways into a weapon of destruction and manipulation, and honestly I can’t think of a better way to introduce people to the fact that things are never as clear cut as they seem. We’ve thought of waterbenders as the good guys up until this point, so it’s jarring to find out that no, despite stereotypes and traditions, there are always going to be good and bad people in every culture/group, but that’s the point of the entire show.
It’s revisited later too when Aang and Zuko find the Sun Warriors who teach them firebending is not just about death and destruction, but also about bringing warmth to the earth and making plants grow and both Aang and Zuko needed to hear that they weren’t just instruments of destruction and gain confidence from the idea of using firebending to create life and I love it I love this show so much.
I’ve said this roughly 1,000 times on this blog, but I think this show is a masterpiece of narrative. They establish characters and cultures that any other show would codify and then turn their own concept on its ear in believeable ways time and time again. Really exceptional.
The Fire Nation is Japanese. The Earth Kingdom is Chinese. The Air Nomads are Tibetan. The Water Tribes are Inuit.
There are other peoples out there, but they are mostly just fantasy versions of other Asian or Native peoples.
Korra is an Inuit, Asami is Japanese, and Mako and Bolin are mixed race Chinese/Japanese.
This is an over-simplification. The Avatarverse combines cultures quite often.
For example:
1. The Northern Water Tribe, while also being Inuit-inspired, has Chinese-inspired architecture. Note the circular doors.
2. The character of Song from Zuko alone is very clearly wearing a Korean hanbok. She is from the Earth Kingdom.
3. The Kyoshi Island Warriors dress in kendo uniform-inspired outfits and wear Kabuki-inspired facepaint, both Japanese, despite being Earth Kingdom.
Also, the Fire Nation is most certainly not primarily Japanese-inspired.
1. They had initially planned to base the design of their armor on samurai armor. This is where the misconception typically originates from. However, it was changed before the show came out and they switched to Tang dynasty style armor. Note the pointed, up-turned toes. That is a feature of Tang dynasty armor. The shoes worn by samurai had rounded toes.
2. Look at the clothing of the Fire Nation Royal family. It looks nothing like a kimono. They are wearing hanfu. That panel of cloth attached to the front of the belt is called a bixi. The hairpieces they wear are based off guan, and the practice of distinguishing the heir through a specific headpiece is Han Chinese in origin. The pointed layers of cloth worn over their shoulders are inspired by Thai dance costumes.
3. The commoners’ clothes in Book 3 appear to be inspired by Thai clothing.
4. Fire Nation cuisine is notably spicy. Japanese cuisine is not. However, Thai cuisine is and so are some variants of Chinese cuisine.
5. Zuko’s broadswords are Chinese dao swords.
Yes, the Fire Nation might draw some parallels to World War II Japan in its actions, but its material culture is most certainly not Japanese-inspired.
I know that you mean no harm by parroting the error that the Fire Nation is Japanese-inspired. It is a common misconception that gets circulated due to misinformation and a lack familiarity with Asian culture. It just gets tedious sometimes, for people of Chinese descent, like me, when parts of our culture get misattributed to Japan simply because Japanese culture is more familiar (sometimes, we think “more fashionable”) to Westerners.
The fact that both of zukos abusers used lightning against zuko and instead of learning to use lightning himself like he could have he learned how to redirect the lightning and let it pass through him and then straight clean out of him… Do you ever think about how that is literally physically representing how instead of absorbing his father and sisters abuse he lets it pass through him and instead of soaking it in and letting it destroy him he redirects it away from himself… I just want some peace in my life
reckless & terribly gay 