Embers (ATLA story)

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Fanfiction
Title: Embers
Author(s): Vathara
Date(s): Published: Sep 24, 2009
Updated: Jan 18, 2014
AO3 version: Apr 17, 2016
Length: 757,722 words (91 chapters)
Genre(s): AU, Adventure/Family
Fandom(s): ATLA
Relationship(s):
External Links: FFN, AO3
Cover art by Dernhelme (2013)

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Embers is an Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfic by Vathara. It is a very influential fic, and is often considered a fandom classic in the ATLA fandom.

Summary

Dragon's fire is not so easily extinguished; when Zuko rediscovers a lost firebending technique, shifting flames can shift the world...

Development, Narrative Choices and Inspiration

Theft Absolute

In 2009, Vathara wrote a short story in which Iroh convinces Zuko not to steal the ostrich horse from Song's family in "The Cave of the Two Lovers". The authors note explained:

A/N: Pre English conquest, the gravest of all crimes in Welsh law was not murder, but theft. And while armed robbery was considered excusable under some circumstances, theft by stealth - theft absolute - could be a capital crime. Stealing from your own host, who'd taken you in and given you shelter… well. Very bad. This story wouldn't have to change canon events much; Zuko could always have bought another mount with stolen funds later. Or then again, it might change quite a bit, down the road…[1]

Developing Embers

Vathara continued the story in Embers, taking "Theft Absolute" as a for want of a nail incident. However, as the story progressed, Vathara introduced far reaching world building changes, including:

  • Fire Healing
  • The philosophies and outlooks of the bending practices that are deeply tied with the cultural values of the Four Nations, in ways not explored in the show. Particular focus is given to the Fire Nation's emphasis on honor and loyalty, which has a magic-like binding influence on Fire people in the fic
  • Zuko (and Iroh) managing the ties of their alliances and making connections even while hiding in Ba Sing Se
  • Yaoren: a kind of vanguard for the Avatar, people who could bend two elements and
  • Fire Nation noble politics
  • Dragons in the Fire Nation inheritance

There are some OCs that received a lot of story prominence, such as Shirong, Lt. Teruko, and the Wen family. Teruko was an inspiration for Muffinlance's Crewman Teruko who has been feature in several of her AUs and recursive fanworks by Muffinlance's fans.[2]

Fan Responses and Reviews

For ATLA fans: Have you ever read that fic where Zuko becomes a healer? No? Well I highly suggest it: it is truly a beautiful fic and deserves every single kudos it has.[3]

Vathara‘s Embers is a classic and definitely deserves to be nominated. One of the best AtLA fics out there.[4]

A stunning piece of world-building. The deep dive into the spiritual connotations of AtlA and how they would shape not only history but how the humans interact with the world was beautiful. They took every year old Avatar he gave us turned it on a 90 degree angle and gave us something better. Each and every nation has his own histories and cultures that class with others. And best of all nobody is perfect or above reproach. Better than many books I read. If you like avatar The last Airbender and you haven't read this you're missing out.[5]

I dont read all that much ATLA fic, but this doorstopper is absolutely one of the best fics ive ever read. Ive read it about 6 times now, somehow. The author just does an amazing job with worldbuilding and makes the Au and character development feel very seamless and the prose is exquisite. If there is any non-crossover ATLA fic that I come back to and rec to people who dont read a whole lot of fanfic, its this one[6]

I'm not sure how to explain this one other than it blends Asian mythology (or what I know of Asian mythology which granted isn't much) and the Avatar universe into a mind-boggling masterpiece. It is ridiculously well written and brings forward so many plot holes that they exploit to add to their stunning story. Granted it is fairly long but I think it's worth the read. It has large plot arcs as well as many subplot arcs and if it were published as a paperback I would buy it instantly.[7]

It's an extremely thorough, well-thought-out AU in which there are others beside the Avatar who can bend more than one element, and who are put there by the spirits to help guide the Avatar. The author makes some bold worldbuilding choices to flesh out the lore of the different nations, particularly the social structure of the air temples, and although you might disagree I think you can't deny that (a) the choices are plausible based on the show's lore and (b) the author does a great job of fully exploring the ramifications of those worldbuilding choices. Despite its imposing wordcount, I felt strongly drawn in and urgently wanted to finish once I started reading. I think its impressively thoughtful lore, its overall high quality of writing, and its large fanbase (complete with TV Tropes page) all combine to make it a classic work of A:TLA fandom.[8]

I started reading this because my husband and I had finished re-watching Avatar: the Last Airbender, and I wasn't ready to say goodbye to all the characters. Vathara did a phenomenal job capturing the voice and perspective of every single character. Beyond that, the world-building and plot were stellar, really well grounded in appropriate mythologies and histories. The portrayal of politics and diplomacy rang true, and I especially appreciated the exploration of differing cultures' value systems. Surprise: ideas have consequences.[9]

Simply incredible, the writing is breathtaking beautiful and every character is so well developed it definitely deserves it’s place as one of the top three atla fics[9]

VATHARA RUINED ME. This was the first fucking story I read in this fandom! Do you know what it was like, desperately trying to satisfy this sudden intense craving for MOAR ZUKO and, with every story, having this voice in your head saying "Well, it’s no Embers”? That being said, go read this story. I’ve never read anything that was so meticulous about showing different points of view and it is amazing. I mean, I still wanted to punch people (A LOT, sometimes), but I always had to acknowledge that they thought they were doing the right thing. The worldbuilding is so detailed and complex, and there are so many scenes that - okay, you know how you read something and you bookmark the best stuff for your next runthrough, basically building yourself a “good parts” version of the story? EVERY RUNTHROUGH, I HAVE TO READ EVERY BIT OF ZUKO AS LEE, BECAUSE IT IS PERFECTION. I mean, the whole fic is great, obviously, but that shit gets me RIGHT in the feels, because he is traumatized and in disguise and healing and learning and teaching Jinhai and Suyin and being seen for the awesomeness he is and IT’S SO GOOD FOR ME. Also, I now deeply ship Zuko/Toph and there basically isn’t any. Thanks for that.[10]

I really enjoyed Embers, though it does have it's problems.

I think it assumes that the reader is intimately familiar with A:TLA, which might be a problem if you haven't seen the show (or hadn't seen it in years, like me). I also found the ending rather abrupt.

I wouldn't say the characters are very OOC; most of the AU-ness is in how the world is put together, not in the main character's personalities. They change some from canon, but it happens on-screen and because of things that happen to them in the story.

I'd say than Embers is definitely one of my favorite fanfics, probably top-ten.[11]

For anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about, Embers is a popular (but base-breaking) Avatar: the Last Airbender. It explores fridge horror, fridge logic, and plays up certain elements of the show, such as the Spirit World and "fire is life."

It's controversial for a number of reasons, but a huge reason is the early Alternative Character Interpretation of Aang and Katara. Now, I'm a big fan of those two, but I like their Embers counterparts as well. I like the fact that it takes Aang a lot longer to get accustomed to the world, and to get his head around all the sheer responsibilities and consequences and nuttiness that being the Avatar entails. I like how Katara is much more protective and insular in the show, and how Vathara really gives her a bigger arc in coming to terms with everyone else. I also like the Fridge Horror...

Embers, in terms of prose, isn't brilliant. Don't get me wrong. There are way, way too many fragments. But if you want a long, lovingly built, incredibly well-researched, logically reasoned to the nth degree story, which is also brilliant in terms of characterization and character arcs and narrative structure? If you want dragons, healing, a different way of looking at something? If you were ever curious about why the Fire Nation might be the way it is? If you want a closer look at what the Spirit World might have been like? If you ever wanted over 750,000 words of 95%-proof awesome?

Embers might just be your fic.[12]

I actually read this before I ever watched AtLA, and I still like it better than the real series (although the series is great). With amazing attention to political intrigue, historical precedents, possible cultural misunderstandings, character development, and just... so much world-building, this fic is an absolute treasure.[13]

Critical Reviews

If nothing else, it explores some quite interesting concepts not seen anywhere else in fanfic. I wouldn't necessarily agree with the way it frames its story and characters, and it just is very, very long, but it's a thing that does lots of interesting and thought-provoking things. I (mostly) enjoyed my read through it, but I can also perfectly understand why it runs people the wrong way.[11]

Katara is characterized in Embers as someone who cares only for family/tribe, and everyone else can screw off because of Water Tribe culture. Her casual lying and trying to steal the waterbending scroll from the pirates is cited as justification. It ignores, however, that she also saved the Earth Kingdom village and it's Fire Nation garrison rather than let them all drown in Jet's plan, saved Aunt Wu's village from the volcano, & didn't drag Aang away from the anti-Avatar village/sabotage the proceedings out of lack of respect for their laws over family. None of those events are changed - they're still assumed to occur as in canon. This is also same girl who goes on to delay their important journey across the Fire Nation trip to help a bunch of Fire Nation peasants in both canon and Embers. Despite also being Water Tribe, Sokka is not characterized like this. There is real dissonance here. Other characters are less flanderized, but that's the biggest one I can remember.[11]

Embers was the ultimate fic for me for a couple of years, but now I'm bothered more by the characterization and the lack of foreshadowing/integration of facts about the world. There were constant revelations about really cool and fitting history like the wave clans from the Fire Nation, but almost all of those revelations had no build up, and they just kept coming. You couldn't really theorize about where the fic would go or imagine what-ifs because a majority of the important events and encounters relied on information you didn't know up until maybe the chapter before if you were lucky. It really cheapened the scenes because there wasn't enough time to build up tension or the expectations weren't met because a new element had been introduced.

Also, there was something weird going on with all the characters but especially the female ones. It was like they were all this type of girl who was tough and would joke around but be strong and brave in their own way. I don't have anything against that characterization, but I can't think of a single female character who didn't fit this role except maybe Katara (because she wasn't much a joking type). It made me feel like there wasn't any room for sympathetic characters who see the limitations their society puts on their gender and are resigned to them, or the people who are scared and don't manage to think through that to do the thing that protects their family/the right thing.

It might have been similarly a proplem with the guys, but it was less noticable to me because the girls had the repeated struggle against society diminishing or limiting them wereas the guys' struggles didn't overlap as much. All the people encountering a shared problem and all reacting the same way is more noticable.

Despite that, I did reall enjoy all the worldbuilding and I liked a lot of the characters before they got too same-y to me. It's subtle, but I really like how all the analogies (mainly similes) change depeding on the PoV. Sokka compares things with dark ice or hunting, Toph compares things to the earth or to the fighting matches she used to be in, Zuko has a mix of fire and other cultures which matches his worldliness, etc. I didn't have any problems with the pacing, thoogh I know that's something some people have issues with.[11]

Fandom

  • embersvathara, a Livejournal community created for discussing Embers. It was active from July 2013 to January 2014, and recieved 31 posts and 179.

Inspired Fanworks

Podfic

Fanfiction

Art

Example Art Gallery

  • "illustration of Lu Ten, one arm wrapped around Ping's shoulders. Beside them, the Water Tribe woman rolling her eyes."

    Love, compassion, and honor by Mallorn85 (2010)

  • "illustration of Sokka, sitting be the fireside"

    Sokka, heir of Shu Jing by ikebanaka-art (2019)

  • "illustration of Zuko with arms crossed holding two swords and surrounded by flames, text=Embers Vathara"

    Zuko from Vathara’s wonderful fanfic Embers by wish-teria (2020)

See also

References

  1. ^ Theft Absolute on Fanfiction.Net. AO3 mirror
  2. ^ Literally a List of Characters, about Muffinlance's OCs
  3. ^ Comment by SharaFinan on International Fanworks Day Feedback Fest 2022
  4. ^ Comment by Melethril on International Fanworks Day Feedback Fest 2022
  5. ^ Comment by Painted_Purple on International Fanworks Day Feedback Fest 2022
  6. ^ Comment by Wayward_Dragon on International Fanworks Day Feedback Fest 2022
  7. ^ Comment by Aska_the_Weirdo on International Fanworks Day Feedback Fest 2022
  8. ^ Comment by volchitsa_of_winterfell on International Fanworks Day Feedback Fest 2022
  9. ^ a b Goodreads reviews
  10. ^ "May 3, 2015 Tumblr post". Archived from the original on 2022-08-29.
  11. ^ a b c d "Comment on Influential Fanfics that are Divisive on the issue of being "the Greatest" posted to forums.sufficientvelocity.com". Archived from the original on 2022-08-29.
  12. ^ "Jan 25, 2014 Livejournal post". Archived from the original on 2022-08-29.
  13. ^ {{cite web|url=https://buttondown.email/the-rec-center/archive/the-rec-center-129/%7Ctitle=The Rec Center #129|archiveurl=https://archive.ph/9KBBY%7Carchivedate=2024-07-21
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