It really says something about Azula that Ty Lee's parents, who are minor noblity, give up all chances of getting good with the royal family and get their daughter out of there. The point about the blue flames is also poignant. It might be usefull for forgework, but Azula is never going to do that. So she focuses on something that is difficult, looks impressive and ignores the basic fundamentals on why it might not be the most usefull.
The bit with the Air Nomads having survivers is also good worldbuilding. It would not suprise me if the Sandbenders have some Air Nomad blood, their style seems to have taken some inspiration from airbending.
The conversation about the end of the war shows how arrogant Ozai is. The previous Fire Lords most likely used a leapfrog strategy. First they conquered a piece of territory, then spend 10 years making sure it stays conquered and then use it as a base for more conquests. It's a method of conquest that slower, but has better chances of succes and less destructive impact on the economy. But the Fire Lord who begins it will not see it's end. Ozai on the other hand want's to see the whole world conquered in his lifetime, wich is going to bite him.
Now a few suggestions on worldbuilding:
Language: When speaking to people from other regions they're using a trade language. The Air Nomads probably spread their tongue during their travels and like english it got picked up as a language most traders could at least muddle through a conversation. And like english the Air Nomad language is an utter mess, leading to the joke that the one thing Air Nomads steal is loose grammar.
Religion: The Avatar World is based on animist and polytheist ideas. That means there are a lot of shrines scattered around that soldiers, even in war, try to avoid damaging. They don't want to piss off the spirits. People will also try to hedge their bets with the spirits. The Fire Nation navy will make a lot of sacrifices to the ocean and moon spirits, to avoid arousing their wrath. Kings are also important religious figures. Ozai must preform a big public sacrifice to Agni every year. His personal feelings do not factor into this, if he doesn't he will lose the support of a great deal of people, and with that power.
I also think Ancestor worship would be part of the culture. Now an interesting part of that is the idea of the Hero Cult. These are people, often legendary founders, that had such an impact on the world that people conclude that some of that power remains with them after death. That they can do alone what otherwise would take hundreds of ancestral spirits. The city of Omashu is named after the first earthbenders. I would expect the city to have a shrine honoring them. And the various Fire Lords each having a shrine dedicated to them would neatly fit with their Personality Cult.
First thanks for this long review. Let's s answer your points now.
Yeah, your daughter almost getting maimed by the princess is a very good wake-up call. If you think about it, Azula has the same problem as Zuko in canon, only expressed in a different way. She's tying her self-worth at more and more gandiose displays of firebending. As we saw in canaon, when being confronted with a Zuko who had reclaimed his confidence, her blue fames made no difference at all.
Yeah, it always annoys me when people think the monks and nuns are all of the Air Nomands. That ignores that a) it say NOMANDS and b) a nation consisting entirely of celibate monks and nuns won't exist for long. Mai snarking about the idea was very fitting. And good point, the sandbenders for sure must have airbender influence and even ancestors that they create these small tornados to drave their gliders. I'll add that to the story!
I also base it on real-life troubles when ending a war. Even when you've won, getting back to a peace econmy will be horrible. The US suffered a horrible recession after WW2 and right now Russia has to continue the war, or the economy will collapse. And yes, Ozai is stupid about it. Sozin and Azulon knew they had to do this methodically and that slow conquest is smart. We will see signs of that later on. Ozai wants all the glory now and thinks the comet is the all-winning Joker.
Sadly, that will be next to impossible for to do in text, and since the series glossed over the issue of language as well, I'll just sweep that under the rug. Though, perhaps some hints of Eeath regions using Fire Nation terms could be put in.
In the first chapter Shyu muses that spirituality in the Fire Nation is at an all-time low and that official doctirine is dismissive of it. However, the long and cruel war also significantly damage religion in the Earth Kingdom. After all, after a century of such horror, belief is going to be damaged. I patterned that after how faith went into a serious decline in Wurope after two Word Wars (and now imagine a war a century long!).
The bits about language and religion might be helpfull with Aang. People would find it odd to hear someone that young speak the way their grandparents do and might conclude he comes from some far off old fashioned village. Aang was raised before the War started, so he would be of higher spirituality then most people. So him seeing a shrine in disrepair would be something that would hammer in that the world has changed.
The Earth King would also be kept busy with religious tasks, even the ones that would normally be done by a high priest. A way for Long Feng to keep him occupied and out of his hair.
Maybe I can add a bit where Bumi tells Aang to adapt to how the young generation talks, since while it's OK for him to talk that way, Aang just sounds plain weird to young people at times.
Comment on Atonement
hjgz89 on Chapter 4 Sat 14 Jun 2025 01:19PM UTC
Comment Actions
TribunG on Chapter 4 Sun 15 Jun 2025 10:59AM UTC
Comment Actions
hjgz89 on Chapter 4 Sun 15 Jun 2025 12:42PM UTC
Comment Actions
TribunG on Chapter 4 Sun 15 Jun 2025 01:20PM UTC
Comment Actions