Zutara

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Pairing
Pairing: Zuko x Katara
Alternative name(s): Zutara, Painted Blue
Gender category: Het
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Canonical?: No
Prevalence: Popular, Juggernaut Ship
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Zuko/Katara, or Zutara, is a popular het pairing in the Avatar: The Last Airbender fandom. The pairing gained popularity early on, and maintained a strong following throughout the show's three season run.

Canon

Early evidence for the ship was based primarily on the episode 1x09 "The Waterbending Scroll." Future episodes contained interaction between Zuko and Katara which gave their fans hope of a canonical relationship. The season two finale, 2x20, "The Crossroads of Destiny," had a scene that would have fit seamlessly into many a Zutara fanfic, for instance.

The third season was especially kind of Zuko/Katara 'shippers. Midway through the season, Zuko joined the Gaang, which put him into regular, close contact with Katara. While she was initially hostile towards him, Katara and Zuko eventually established a strong working relationship, highlighted in episodes such as "The Southern Raiders."

Not all nods to Zuko/Katara fans were so kind, however. The DVD extra "School Time Shipping" teased the fans of a variety of ships, including Zuko/Katara. The season three episode "The Ember Island Players" also poked fun at Zuko/Katara fans, and was greeted with annoyance and hurt by some fans: "Way the fuck too meta. It crossed the line between teasing the fans and mocking them."[1]

Fandom

Zutara is considered the juggernaut ship of the Avatar fandom. Zutara Week, first held in 2008, invented the modern fanweek and inspired countless fanweeks for many other ships and characters. Dante Basco, who voices Zuko was nominated by the early fandom as the captain of the Zutara ship. [2] Both Mae Whitman and Dante Basco (the voice actors of Katara and Zuko) have expressed support for the fandom.[3]

Zutara is a well known ship across fandoms in general and has been a major influence on many professionally published authors due to the feeling of wasted potential by not having the two end up together. Tracy Deonn's The Legendborn Cycle[4] and R.F. Kuang's The Poppy War have both cited Zutara as an inspiration.[5] Joe Abercrombie of The First Law fame has also expressed a preference for the pairing.[6] Multi-award winning author N.K. Jemisin even used to write Zutara fanfiction, with Thirteen Nights being one of her best known.

Themes and Trends in Zutara Fanfic

As of 2024, Zuko/Katara was the 34th most written M/F ship of all time on Archive of Our Own and the most written about ship in the entire Avatar franchise.[7]

Early Zuko/Katara fanfic frequently found Katara a prisoner on Zuko's ship. Season two saw a shift in Zutara fanfic. Rather than focusing on a captor/captive dynamic, fanwriters began to explore scenarios in which the characters were forced to work together as a team. Many Zutara fans address the series finale—and the canon relationships—by setting their stories several years in the future, after Zuko and Mai, and Katara and Aang, have gone their separate ways. Others simply diverge in the finale by having Zuko and Mai not reconcile and Katara reject Aang.

A sub-genre is pairing Katara's Painted Lady persona with Zuko's Blue Spirit, known as the "Painted Blue" ship. Variations include "Blutara" (Katara with Zuko's Blue Spirit) and "Paintedko" (Zuko with Katara's Painted Lady).

There are numerous fandom-specific plots in the Zutara fandom:

  • Zuko growing up in the Southern Water Tribe, possibly with his mother and sister, becoming childhood friends with Katara.
  • Zuko and Katara being put in an arranged marriage to end the war as Zuko is the Fire Nation Prince and Katara is the Southern Water Tribe Chief's daughter.
  • Zuko joining Team Avatar earlier, usually the season 2 finale, leading to a closer bond with Katara.
  • Katara becoming the Southern Water Tribe Ambassador to Fire Lord Zuko, leading to romance.
  • The war never happening or ending quickly, allowing Zuko and Katara to grow up in peacetime.
  • Aang staying in the iceberg longer, with Zuko and Katara already adults and potentially a couple.
  • Iroh becoming Fire Lord instead, or Zuko abolishing the Fire Nation monarchy to be with Katara.
  • Political challenges arising from their union and potential mixed Fire Nation and Water Tribe children.
  • Exploring their destined connection, as both were targeted for death by Azulon when they were young children, but survived due to the sacrifices of their respective mothers. They defeated Azula together, the very person who was named in honor of Azulon as she represented the ideal heir and inheritor of his legacy. Zuko and Katara becoming a couple could be seen as a form of karmic retribution as the two children Azulon sought to eliminate would end up ruling over his realm together as adults. As he was also a proponent of eugenics, Azulon's spirit would be disturbed that the grandson he deemed a failure would inherit the throne to become Fire Lord and marry a Water Tribe peasant rather than a Fire Nation noble (which is the usual expectation of Fire Nation royalty).
  • How their friends and family would react to their relationship, with Aang potentially letting go of his attachment to Katara to achieve enlightenment as many Zutara shippers disliked that this arc was dropped in the series with no explanation.
  • Zuko and Katara being brainwashed by the Dai Li to forget their past lives after the two were imprisoned in the Crystal Catacombs.

Shipping Wars

Shipping wars in the Avatar fandom were fierce, and usually divided along Zuko/Katara and Aang/Katara lines (see Kataang vs Zutara). Shipping wars led to character bashing, usually of Mai and Aang, although Katara wasn't immune from fan rage. Zutarians were called the Harmonians of the Avatar fandom by Kataang shippers.[8] Many Zutara fans felt betrayed by the series concluding with a definite Aang/Katara and Zuko/Mai slant, and expressed bitterness that their ship did not become canon.[9][10] Others shrugged off the series finale's ships, and continued to create Zuko/Katara fanworks much as they had before.

A long-running debate in the fandom revolved around whether the Zutara pairing becoming canon was ever considered by the writers. While the showrunners maintain that Kataang was planned from the start and Zutara was never a possibility, some comments from other people involved in the franchise contradicted this. Joshua Hamilton's Avatar Extras stated that "Zuko was originally going to be the love interest for Katara" and "The writers and creators toyed with the idea of Zuko and Katara falling in love". M. Night Shyamalan noted that during the production of Book Three: Fire, co-creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko had not yet decided how the series would conclude, "At that time they hadn't even decided where things were going to end, even like who Katara was going to end up with".[11]

Many Kataang fans denied the Avatar Extras as "goofs" or "written by Nickelodeon" (even though they were actually created by staff writers Joshua Hamilton and Katie Mattila), while they ignored Shyamalan's answer because he was not a writer for the series. They insisted that none of the writers ever considered Zutara as a possibility. These dismissals were shot down when writer John O'Bryan was featured on the 'Braving the Elements' podcast. He confirmed that a Zuko/Katara ending was brought up "a lot" in the writer's room and that some on the writing team did indeed push for Zutara to happen instead of Kataang: "I would have gone Katara-Zuko... I know that we lost that fight, but... I'm sure there's some alternate dimension where they are a thing.".[12] Joshua Hamilton backed up O'Bryan's statement in his own podcast feature by stating that there were many arguments among the writers on whether Katara should end up with Zuko or Aang. Hamilton even said that there was a version of the series bible with an alternate ending where Zuko and Katara become a couple instead of Aang and Katara: "I read the bible a long time ago and it said they're supposed to get together, so I still think we did it wrong."[13]

Zuko was originally going to switch sides and join Team Avatar at the end of Book Two: Earth, but head writer Aaron Ehasz felt that he "still wasn't ready" at that point.[14] In Book Two, Mai was established to have a crush on Zuko since childhood, but Zuko did not reciprocate her feelings.[15] However, the two are in a relationship in the season premiere of Book Three: Fire, The Awakening, as Zuko's characterization was retconned in the "Going Home Again" comic to turn Mai's one-sided feelings into a mutual crush.[16] Director Giancarlo Volpe has stated that he was shocked by this development because co-creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino constantly telegraphed their storyline plans to the crew far in advance, but they never mentioned that Zuko and Mai would become a couple or that Zuko even had any romantic interest in Mai in the first place.[17]

The last couple of episodes in Book Three appeared to lead toward a Zuko and Katara endgame—or at least to sabotage the relationship between Aang and Katara to many viewers. Some argued that this was just shipbaiting, but writer Tim Hedrick confirmed that it was because the writers were divided on Aang and Katara becoming a couple. He has stated that Katara's rejection of Aang's romantic advances and the allusions to a potential relationship between Zuko and Katara in The Ember Island Players served as a plot device for the writers to keep their options open. He explained that there was no established plan for Aang and Katara to end up together in the series finale, "I mean, I don't think it was really settled that Aang and Katara were going to get together at the end of the season. That's where it seemed like it was going, but it was not, you know... a foregone conclusion. Aang could have just... He could have, you know, embraced his monk lifestyle and just wandered off to get into more adventures."[18]

This shift towards Zutara near the end of the series is more evident in the original scripts as they feature more pronounced ship tease for Zutara, while Kataang was depicted more negatively by contrast. In The Southern Raiders screenplay, written by Elizabeth Welch, the word "Zutara" is referenced directly within the text and the characters are compared to Mr. & Mrs. Smith.[19] The screenplays also revealed that Sozin's Comet, Part 4 utilized ADR (Automatic Dialogue Replacement), one of only two episodes—the other being Jet—in the entire series to do so. This indicates that the original version of Sozin's Comet, Part 4 featured different dialogue but these lines were later re-recorded, and the script was then updated to reflect these changes that had been made in post-production. Although it is unknown what the original scenes were and what replaced them, some Zutara fans speculated that the episode may have originally concluded with either no endgame ships or Zutara being foreshadowed.[20]

Fanworks

Fanfic

Fanart

  • Balance by Aranehl (2008)

    Balance by Aranehl (2008)

  • Our Ending by happyzuko (2011)

    Our Ending by happyzuko (2011)

  • by solar-sea (2012)

    by solar-sea (2012)

  • "digital illustration of Zuko and Katara as adults. Zuko has a hand on Katara's waist and she leans to kiss him o the scarred"

    The Fire Lord and Southern Water Tribe Ambassador by eca.works (2021)

  • Zutara Symbol by agnikai aka DarthMaiden (2006)

    Zutara Symbol by agnikai aka DarthMaiden (2006)

Multimedia

Zines

Other Fan Activities

Meta

Resources

References

  1. ^ "Well, Tonight's Evening Of Entertainment Left Me On The Floor Screaming, 'IS THERE NO GOD?'". Archived from the original on 29 Nov 2012.
  2. ^ You know that the ship sails itself when the captains are the voice actors.
  3. ^ https://zutaras-where-its-at.tumblr.com/post/619718788405985280
  4. ^ https://twitter.com/tracydeonn/status/1247375385588903937
  5. ^ https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GHVSrEhWgAAjQs9?format=jpg
  6. ^ https://twitter.com/LordGrimdark/status/1288572054762029056
  7. ^ https://x.com/paulieponzi/status/1826875840447033584
  8. ^ "If you don't ship anything in Avatar, then GTFO!". Archived from the original on 6 May 2013.
  9. ^ "Avatar Ship Wank". Archived from the original on 6 May 2013.
  10. ^ "Strap on you tinhats 'cause the creator's BETRAYED US!!1!1!!!". Archived from the original on 6 May 2013.
  11. ^ https://www.lastairbenderfans.com/index.php?start_from=&ucat=8&subaction=showfull&id=1269959997&archive=1272555212&
  12. ^ Meet the Writer with John O'Bryan
  13. ^ https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-avatar-braving-the-elemen-83488502/episode/secret-tunnel-with-joshua-hamilton-and-97693295/
  14. ^ "Aaron Ehasz's Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
  15. ^ Mason, Tom; Danko, Dan (2007). Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Ultimate Pocket Guide. Nickelodeon (Television network) (1st ed.). New York: Simon Spotlight/Nickelodeont. ISBN 978-1-4169-4736-3. OCLC 144221915.
  16. ^ Going Home Again. Avatar Magazine #2: Nickelodeon Magazine. September 18, 2007.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  17. ^ "Avatar: Braving the Elements - "Secrets from the Vault: Would Zuko really kill Aang?"".
  18. ^ https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-avatar-braving-the-elemen-83488502/episode/the-elemental-players-with-tim-hedrick-207325691/
  19. ^ https://sneezypeasy.tumblr.com/post/697556130407350272/original-script-analysis-part-1-kataang-is
  20. ^ https://sneezypeasy.tumblr.com/post/697895290000277504/original-script-analysis-part-2-the-southern
  21. ^ [1]
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