This is by far the most ambitious fanfic I've ever seen, and it's arguably the best novel I've ever read. Taking the already-excellent original concept for ATLA and adding in far more cultural influences, history, AND spiritual concepts makes this world so much more expansive than the original that it's actually laughable to compare them. That presentation made Aang's predicament so much more profound, and the transformations it's made to Zuko and Sokka took two of my favorite characters and made them better.

I'd honestly say the weakest part of it is the close. Ozai ends up being the character with the least added nuance, and he's handled in such an anticlimactic way that his sections end up feeling like a distraction. I needed him to carry some of the absolute dread and terror we see written into anyone forced to deal with Makoto, because Ozai in the comet should be a more squishy dragon wreaking havoc. But for something that successfully pulled off so many expansions of the original story, one battle scene not fitting is hardly even a surprise, let alone a major concern.

And the others? That train sequence, and the first two battles of Asagitatsu...even that battle on the beach. There are a lot of original fight scenes done well here. But the worldbuilding is the real star and I'd love to see this become a Netflix show someday.

Amazing story. I couldn't stop reading. If I'm not imagining that TophZuko ship, im all for it.

I thought about it recently, but Aang was very lucky that he didn't manage to kill Zuko.
We already know that there are thousands of people who want to put an end to it due to the siege of the North Pole in addition to the Northern Air Temple. That sparks a personal vendetta from much of the Fire Nation for both Aang, Katara, and Sokka. To that we add the family that cares about Zuko, which in this case is Ursa (Probably if Azula or Shidan tell the truth about the whole situation and accepts his love for his son again), Shidan, Iroh (he is his uncle as well as his teacher and considers Zuko as his son and is one of the few people who can claim Asigatatsu as his own but not without punishment by the Kyoshi decree), Amaya (teacher and aunt if she does not lose the twins due to stress which can generate another vendetta), Azula (she just said she was going to kill someone for that), the entire Wen family (who are loyal and Zuko's family) including Shinrong, most likely all of Byakko and her aunts if Shidan decides reveal who Zuko's spirit is which will probably let Kotone take sides because "this brat that my father spent his entire life for and was murdered covering his companions, for whom we have put all of Byakko and the Fire Nation for extension in danger, she kills my grandson in a more careless way than Kyoshi, at least she was looking to kill the pirates, he simply threw him off a cliff on top of a monster that used "the best person in the world" (the same person who wants us all dead), when he was trying to save that disgusting waterbender contaminated by Hama." Now you add to that that Byakko doesn't have much love for Aang for the same reasons that YuYan had who shot him when there was the siege on Dragon's Wings. And Byakko's few waterbenders may decide to throw Katara under the ice if they find out that she is a hama learner and used bloodbending to try to kill Zuko, which Toph might realize.

Furthermore, we already know that Shidan was looking for the northern siege families to prevent them from attacking Aang. He he probably he can direct them to do it.

To that we add the spiritual mess on the part of the earth, fire, air and water. Yue claimed Zuko as hers, Agni returned Agni's Knife to Zuko/Kuzon, to fulfill the mission of finding Aang, plus it is her Yaoren and from what we know she does not usually do that very often with dragon children, who I think we can assume that was a possibility with Temul. Additionally, Yangchen intervened to have Kuzon/Zuko help recover the air nomads, along with Kaze/Lu Ten which brings us to Langzue claimed by La and Tengri as well as Shinrong claimed by Agni, Guayin, Oma and Shu. By becoming a Yaoren they aim to help Zuko. With the objective and mission on the part of the earth king to help Dragon's Wings and probably also avoid the catastrophe of the Shiratora explanation. Which would probably kill half of the Earth Kingdom along with Ozai's fleet.

That means any fire spirit can trick Aang into learning the same story that was killing Roku. or also shiratora can eat another avatar.

In the previous chapter he probably could have killed everyone, Sokka and Suki are not able to confront Aang, Katara was unconscious and injured with a burn somewhat smaller than Zuko's, Shiyu was incapable, perhaps the only one capable of stopping Aang. It was Toph and that and he wasn't able to finish off the Kanaloa. Maybe some avatar or spirit avatar could take control but not without a lot of damage first. Not to mention that he is a Kanaloa who in his rampage could probably attack prisoners and guards.

Also without Zuko, Hakoda doesn't even know where his children are and considering what the environment was like before, they could be left without a fleet and with a bloodbath. Furthermore, Katara is not healed by Zuko or Amak, perhaps not even by herself since she was unconscious, they would only have Toph, who is not a good healer.

Now in those conditions they manage to barely escape, wounded but alive, but without a fleet or Zuko to deal with Azula, think what Azula would have done. She is much healthier mentally and spiritually than she was before but Amaya still had chills because of how she was right after healing her. Makoto tried to put an end to what Amaya did and she had barely been left aside by Ozai. Zuko, Shidan, Ty Lee and maybe Mai with her Dai Lee and her Ominutsu are what keep her sane and responsible. She had that scroll to give to Zuko and she knew that she could use Zuko in her plans so she probably knew that Zuko was with the Gaang. It only took one comment and one bad reaction from any of the Gaang for her to realize that they did something really stupid to her brother.

Yes, in my opinion Aang was very lucky that Zuko did not die

I’ve read this story quite a few times, and it’s only after reading it so many times that I’ve picked up on any inconsistencies at all.

The inconsistency that traps my attention whenever I re-read it is Iroh’s attitude towards what Zuko is. He goes from trying to keep Zuko away from the avatar so as to not force him to help the avatar only to later admit he was planning to have Zuko train Aang in firebending. His explanation of “I wanted to reunite friends,” doesn’t make much sense as Iroh knew Kuzon lived on in Zuko by that point. Nothing changed that would’ve swayed Iroh on that, at least nothing I noticed.

But above all else, I am grateful you had the courage to write your own ending. The canon ending is lame and clearly made to appeal to childish fantasy, and that you were able to set the stage for Ozai’s death without making it feel like Aang was benched is inspired, where Aang getting a secret answer that solves all his problems is the opposite of inspirational. I would’ve liked to see Aang face Ozai without having met the lion-turtle. With the easy answer removed from the equation, Aang would have a much harder choice, and that would be more interesting to read.

I’m not complaining you didn’t write the ending I wanted, if I want that ending I’ll have to write it. It’s your story, and it’s very entertaining. I hope to write something as compelling someday, and I’ve taken a lot of lessons from your writing.

"You're not me."

"I am you"

LOBOTOMY KAISEN REFERENCE

This is such a W fic

Jet and his group got tenth or twentieth chances in this fanfic, too many to be realistic at all from what I read in later chapters.

from my many rereads, this is that chapter when the ridiculous amount of triple and quadruple chances start incase you ever do an edit. I love this story btw by my huge review writen on my phone got wiped and I'm smashed so I don't have the energy to rewrite it on a dying phone. amazing fanfic, I have read it over ten times, love you and your story, bye.

This is one of the most amazing story I have read! I spent a lot of time reading it and I could not stop!

This is a MUST read.

I know you’ve probably moved on from and might’ve even forgotten this incredible story you’ve written. But on the off chance that one of these reviews might reach you I wanted to let you know how much I absolutely love this story! I love it so much and I’m rereading it again and tbh it’s one of the only things keeping me sane as my life goes up in flames around me. It’s been the root I’ve clung to in this flood threatening to wash me away. And one day I hope to print it all out and make it into a physical book I can proudly display on my shelf.
(Btw I would never try to sell it or make any profit off of your writing at all, it would just be one copy for myself so I can read it often and have it in my hands. I haven’t done it yet but I was hoping to get your permission first just the same) If on the off chance you can read any of these and wish to reach out (because I would love to talk with you!) here’s my email address,
I would love to get your permission before I try to print it out. But if not just know that it would only be one copy for myself.
Okay thank you! I’m loving reading this again so much it’s helped me get through this storm in my life rn and I just needed to thank you

This is very much self-indulgent, but I will speak up in defense of the Aztec Empire on this one.

Their practice of human sacrifice was... normal. It was something that everyone in that region had done for over a thousand years - and that meant everyone was 'read in' on it and the theological rationale behind it. Looking at it now, it's obviously a horrible thing for people to be killed without any actual need, but at the time?

The gods sacrificed much of themselves to create the world and protect mankind. Even Tezcatlipoca - Smoking Mirror, envoy of all misfortune - offered up one of his *legs* to help defeat Cipactli and raise land above the primordial sea. In a time of great famine, when all else had failed, Xipe Totec flayed himself and wove the first stalks of corn from his skin, so that humanity wouldn't starve.

Warriors are offered to Huitzilpochtli because he needs their blood, their *teotl*, because in order to serve as the Sun he is eternally burning himself alive - he is dying, constantly, for mankind's sake, and the *teotl* of warriors is all that can ward off his end. Not only that, he needs the warriors' souls to serve in his armies when the eclipse comes, and the tzitzimime descend to devour all that rises above the primordial sea. This was simply accepted as true - even enemy warriors awaiting sacrifice could grasp the logic of it, and perhaps even take some comfort from the belief that they would be able to help protect their kin in the afterlife as warriors of Huitzilpochtli.

There is a great emphasis on *mutual obligation* within the Aztec culture - that the gods serve man as much as man serves the gods, and that this is the way that all things should be. There's a great emphasis, too, on community and social bonds. The world is cruel, and it is only through each other that we humans can survive it. It was strange, and grim, and I won't pretend that there's not a degree of me... focusing on the positive aspects of it all, but the Aztecs weren't monsters or madmen.

And yes, your interpretation of the Fire Nation, with its supernatural bonds of loyalty, *does* have a weird sort of resonance with those Aztec ideals of obligation and community - and there's parallels between the Aztec cosmology and some of the larger ideas of A:tLA overall. The idea of a world which can't be taken for granted, of a balance which humans must carefully tend to and nurture or else everything will fall apart.

You know, I think that Shirong is giving the spirits too much credit.

The haima-jiao is literally a being which is driven by sheer jealous outrage at anyone, *anything* being given the gift of life that *it* was never blessed with.

Instead of cryptically signaling why it was sent here, I think the haima-jiao is just enjoying the opportunity to:

A) mock its hunters by lairing right on top of one of their key redoubts

B) finish digesting its latest meal somewhere with sunless waters and the misery of people being held and brainwashed there to enjoy

C) savor the unique misery of an air bison being all but buried alive underground

I do appreciate the cultural interplay; seeing a character feel out and try to grok an unfamiliar culture has always been something I enjoy reading. In particular, you do well at writing Tingzhe with a historian's eye. Him using the term 'great name' in his own head to refer to a member of Fire Nation aristocracy is a very subtle thing, but I think it speaks to you donning the role of the character very well - it's the kind of small detail that naturally flows into the work if you're doing it right.

I rate good fic/10. I don't really like your writing. I find it pretty rough sometimes. However, compared to 99% of fanfiction out there, your story is amazing. I really enjoyed your story's lore. I forget the couple's name, but to me that was the height of your story telling! You should've dedicated another chapter for them.

My favorite scene was when Azula got punched in the t**s by Shirong.

Holy shit, the power dynamics, the differences in culture, the details!, your story telling is just *chefs kiss* mmmawh! Lovely