#AvatarTheLastAirbender #Shera

Zuko/Catra parallels-A thread on two amazing redemption arcs.

(Also I guess a thread for the RWBY fandom on what makes a villain redeemable xD)

"Victims"

I feel like the first thing that should be touched is the fact that they are both victims of abuse from a parent(in Zuko's case) and from a maternal figure(in Catra's case).

Their struggles coming from this is something we see in the entire series.

"The Failure"

Something that we see with them constantly is being treated like a failure, like someone worthless.

This is one thing that drives both of them to prove their worth. Through any means necessary

"The Anchor"(Iroh/Scorpia)

While they were on the dark side, they both had someone who anchored them. Someone who kept them sane, someone who kept them from fully succumbing to the dark side.

They both pushed away that person at some point and then reconciled with them

"The Rescue"

As time passes in both series, we see Zuko saving Aang, and Catra saving Adora many times, but the most important rescue for them imo is Catra saving Glimmer and the Blue Spirit saving Aang.

"The win"

I will always love the idea of giving the villain exactly what they thought they wanted and then showing them not being happy with it.

They both got what they "wanted", but they were never happy

"Who are you and what do you want?"

Having them being confronted by someone on this was great. Having Iroh making Zuko look inside himself and having Double Trouble calling Catra out were some of my favorite scenes.

These speeches didn't work instantly, but they helped

"Choose the good"

I feel like they both needed this push. Someone telling them to do good. With Zuko didn't help right away and Catra did it because she expected to die anyway, but it's another thing that helped down the line.

"Twisted Love"

As most victims of abuse they grew attachment to their abusers. For Zuko it was his father, for Catra it was a maternal figure.

And because of that love, they were manipulated and hurt.

"True, unconditional love"

But in the end, they learned what true love is. Where they expected hurt and anger towards them, they just found pure love and warmth.

"Remorse"

If there is one thing that is unmistakable, that is the fact that both Zuko and Catra did a lot of bad things

But they felt remorse for their actions. They felt ashamed of them

And this trait, being apologetic, for me it's the most important one for a redemption arc.

"No second thoughts"

One thing that will always make me soft is how they pretty much "sacrifice" themselves without a second thought for someone they tried to kill in the past xD

Lucky for Catra, that fire was just an illusion, but she jumped into it without a second thought

"Acceptance"

These 2 scenes that I put here made me cry of happiness so hard. I remember for both of them how overwhelmed of happiness I was for both.

Both Zuko and Catra hurt the people from each circle. A LOT. But in the end, they accept them.

"Hero of the day"

Now towards the end I wanted to put 2 things just for fun.

The first one is both Zuko and Catra having an episode in which they are treated as the hero of the day because of something they did xD

"The Haircut"

Well, for Catra the haircut isn't exactly something she wanted to get, it wasn't consensual, but still. I just love both of their new haircuts in their final form A LOT xD

And that concludes this thread.

It was really fun to make. Zuko is my favorite ATLA character and Catra is my favorite She-Ra characters

There were more similarities between these two than I expected and I loved it.

In the end...Name two better glow ups xD