History Fanfic / Embers

* {{Kitsune}}: One of Wan Shin Tong's 'procurers'.

''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5398503/1/Embers Embers]]'' is an ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' FanFic by Creator/{{Vathara}} that attempts to deconstruct the standard story of a [[TheTeam group]] of [[IdiotHero kids]] [[BlackAndWhiteMorality saving]] the world from TheEmpire, with copious amounts of FridgeLogic and FridgeHorror. Moving the ''Avatar'' universe on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism (characters had best not try to invoke HeroInsurance, for example), causes the good guys to [[HanlonsRazor seem]] less good and the bad guys to range from AntiHero to pure evil. It also explores things that the TV show had to gloss over for kids, like [[ChildByRape the horrors of war]], [[EldritchAbomination dangerous]] spirits and [[MindRape Azula]].

* AbductionIsLove: In the historical form of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_kidnapping Bride Kidnapping]]. Played straight by the Water Tribes according to Sokka, and by the Earth Kingdom according to the Dai Li (when it comes to spiritually strong 'desert witches' for the Earth King's bloodline), but inverted in the Fire Nation, where it's a woman that ambushes the man with 'three cups of wine and a [[RedStringOfFate red cord]].' In both cases, it's merely ceremonial, basically part of the marriage rites or a proposal (Iroh's wife proposed in this fashion). However Teruko [[BlackComedyRape jokes]] about doing it to [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale Sokka]], since he's prime stock, and given the Northern Water Tribe's feuding traditions and all three groups' cultures, it's probably been nonconsensual more than often enough in the past.
* AbsenceOfEvidence: Sokka notices in Chapter 33 that one very important thing was missing from the remnants of the Fire Nation's attack against the Southern Air Temple a century ago: [[spoiler:the human remains of all the Air Nomad children that lived there]]. While in the TV episode this was likely done to prevent a R-rating or worse, this is a ''very'' important plot point in ''Embers''.

* AllMythsAreTrue: The stories of the [[spoiler:dragon wife and healing fire survived in the Fire Nation]] in the form of plays and legends, despite [[spoiler:deliberate attempts to destroy knowledge of them, according to Iroh and Azula. ]]

** Vathara has a ''huge'' thing for claws. Has given them to people in ways that involve Zuko (and Kenshin, in two other universes) being part dragon, some [[FanFic/ProjectTatterdemalion AU space version]] of the Manga/{{Bleach}} cast becoming [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot octopus-cat-alien-hybrid]] survivors of TheVirus, some ''bizarre'' gene-sharing with Godzilla, [[NomDeGuerre Battousai]] being a psychic dragon-tooth demon sword which possesses the mild-mannered [[Manga/RurouniKenshin Kenshin]], genetic tampering on the ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' cast by [[Series/StargateSG1 Goa'uld]], and a ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' AU in which Zack and Cloud [[SerialEscalation become part griffin because of a conversation Aerith has with a sentient gargoyle]]. These are all considered good things.

* BadassBoast: Avatar Yangchen has the best so far, surprisingly. And she's not even ''boasting,'' she was trying to be ''reassuring.'' [[spoiler:Well, she was [[RaisedByWolves raised by evil monks]] who wanted to keep her ignorant of the outside world.]]

** Zuko gets one in chapter 80.

** Chapter 59 has one such Fire Nation citizen [[spoiler:the Byakko "merchant" Hitomi is actually one of the Yamabushi, the so-called Renegades that Monk Yuan-ti spoke of in chapter 31. Hitomi isn't an airbender, but she is of Air Nomad descent, and fearful of Monk Aang.]]

** In chapter 31, [[spoiler:Langxue explicitly refrains from offhandedly wishing Saoluan dead, choosing instead to specify banging pots together while she slept and yelling at her]]. Malicious spirits are noted to use otherwise benign curses as a excuse to inflict suffering and death.
** In chapter 45, Bon and Quan talk about the difficulties of their occupation, since it makes them unattractive to women, therefore barring them from having a normal life, let alone a family: "Pray," Bon echoed. "Right. Because it'd take a miracle to find spiritually strong women in the middle of a Fire Nation invasion-". Right after that, guess what happens?

* BigBrotherIsWatching: The Dai Li and their brainwashed Joo Dees. [[spoiler:It's implied that at least some of the Dai Li remain with Azula in order to make sure that no one tells her about Lake Laogai. One tells Min that he'll [[ShootTheDog kill him]] instead of letting Azula have him, which he's grateful for]]. However, it's very possible that she knows and doesn't care, because she doesn't need it. Without the checks and balances provided by [[spoiler:fire healing allowing rebels to survive and the lords of several domains being willing to gang up on anyone who crosses the MoralEventHorizon by trying to use it this way, fire loyalty can be used to]] punish thoughtcrime with death, no expensive surveillance system required.

** In chapter 45, [[spoiler:Shidan]] informs Zuko that Zuko possesses, "The blessing – of no blessing at all." Because he has absolutely no luck, he is, in some unexplained way, invisible to spirits (which apparently gives him power to change the world that he apparently wouldn't have otherwise). Of course, the downside of this is his lack of luck.

** Air Nomads" Piety--the unquestioning acceptance of what they are taught by older Airbenders.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: a major source of conflict in the fic, both for plot and worldbuilding purposes. It applies to Spirits and partly to dragons. Because of this it is sometimes impossible to avoid angering some spirits without the Avatar's help. It definitely explains why making the Four Nations understand each other was a full time job requiring an Avatar's powers – especially as the spiritual realm does ''not'' care about human ethics. The spirits of the Fire Nation believe that the Fire Lord has the ''right'' to do as he likes to the rest of the world [[spoiler:in the Avatar's absence, because he has Avatar Kyoshi's mandate]]. That is why Aang '''is''' TheOnlyOne who can end the war – [[spoiler:by forcibly revoking that mandate.]]

* BrickJoke : Chapter 27 has this exchange;

** In chapter 91;
--->[[spoiler:'''Toph''' : When I'm old enough, you point me at some good sake. I've got some ideas for a cord that won't burn, and I'm going to need somebody who can make sure it's red...]]
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Some readers feel the fic isn't spending enough time on the villainous acts of the Fire Nation: characters aren't appropriately horrified by them, or they should be ignoring the Avatar's own actions due to what the Fire Nation did first [[spoiler:or second, or after having been run through the gears of a GambitPileup twice]]. This trope itself appears to be at fault for this – the Fire Nation has committed so many invasions, genocides, war crimes and other actions that people might occasionally be shocked by something really audacious (like killing the Moon) but there's not a lot of real surprise: everybody knows what happened to the Air Nomads, so when they do something else it's Just Another Tuesday for Sozin's Fire Nation. On the other hand, when a good guy, much less a pacifist, does something as unexpected as [[spoiler:metaphorically bringing a very dirty warhead to a bending fight when he's the Avatar, and thus by definition powerful enough to have no real need to resort to such a thing,]] WhatTheHellHero ensues.

* ChasteHero: [[spoiler:Dragons don't start looking for mates until they have claimed a territory to bring them home to,]] which tallies with canon Zuko being in a relationship with Mai as soon as he was accepted back as heir, and then leaving her behind when he lost that position instead of taking her with him to join Aang.

** Ch. 49 tells the episode of the Painted Lady through her pov. [[spoiler:Katara disguises herself as the Painted Lady, which in ''Embers'', has the grisly consequences of what happens when one takes the name of said spirit]]. This goes back to the prequel of this fic, ''Theft Absolute''. The aesop is "Never steal from one who provides you hospitality". Suddenly, the controversy of Aang's using Koizilla against the Fire Navy makes sense. As the Avatar, Aang can make anyone, any spirit, bow to his command and do his bidding. Tui didn't possess Aang; it's the other way around. The rage against the drowned Fire Navy spirits may be due to Aang's using Tui's power and form, and then doing absolutely nothing to help Tui clean up. In other words, [[OhCrap ''ouch'']].
** In chapter 22, Iroh hints that the White Lotus has, centuries ago, had to deal with an Avatar that went bad. [[spoiler:It has been revealed in chapter 57 that Avatar was Kesuk, from the Northern Water Tribe. According to the records the White Lotus kept, she was never really strong of mind or spirit, and when her spirit beast was killed, Kesuk snapped. Already desiring the world at her feet, she went on a destructive rampage. The dragons of Asagitatsu, with lots of help from both the Fire Isles and Air Nomads, stopped her, though it cost them greatly.]]
** In chapter 9, after Zuko startles himself [[spoiler:with rudimentary waterbending]], he asks if there are spirits in the water of well in Amaya's clinic. Her response?
--->'''Amaya:''' "Not to my knowledge. A little paranoid, aren't you?"

** In Chapter 14, Zuko creates a move that uses burning leaves to create wind. In Chapter 80, he finally gets to use it seriously...against Aang.

* ChekhovsVolcano: The [[FourIsDeath four great water volcanoes]] of the Avatar world, each on a [[TimeBomb different timer to blow]], and each on its own [[EarthShatteringKaboom having more than enough potential]] to wipe out a [[ApocalypseHow damn good chunk of the human population should they explode: first in the fallout by breathing in the ash, and then by starving out the survivors thanks to the damage to crops and farmland. And of course, this destructive genocidal power is a prominent feature in Koh's grand plan to KillAllHumans]].
** [[spoiler:Vathara named them after the [[TheFourGods Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations]]. The Black Tortoise (Kurokame) and Vermillion Bird (Akitori) volcanoes threaten to go every 6000 and 3000 years respectively; they are thusly guarded by dragons who are both completely disinterested in and out of reach of humans. Shirotora (White Tiger, every 500 years) and Asagitatsu (Azure Dragon, every 1000 years) are not.]]

* LesCollaborateurs: [[spoiler:Ty Lee & the Elders of the non-Byakko Airbenders living in the Fire Nation, aka Azulon's ninja, who killed Kuzon when he rescued some of the air nomad children they'd brainwashed.]]

*** In regards to Katara's inner monologue about how "nobody deserved that pain", her inner voice, the same voice that picked a fight with Toph said "not even Zuko?" Even back then Katara was having issues doing the right thing when it came to people of the Fire-nation, she healed Iroh though, because at the time she saw him as a harmless elder & on the Water Tribes' side. After Ba-Sing-Se, Katara now saw Iroh as A) a warrior and B) the enemy. Combine that with the awful time she had in Ba-Sing-Se...well she's going to be kinda snarly towards anyone whose Fire-Nation, and then things kept getting worse.

*** As of Chapter 31 [[spoiler:it appears the Author has somewhat resolved the conflict between Katara and Zuko, but Aang is still holding it, along with the IdiotBall]]
** Mostly, this Troper feels that everything is mostly IC, on the outer edges of it, but within the bounds of legitimate interpretation. However, there are two that really stick out at me. Both in Chapter 32(?) when Vathara deliberately makes [[spoiler:Katara argumentative so her protests give Hakoda the wrong impression, that she was bending people on purpose,]] as it could have easily gone the other way. And well, the IC one that [[spoiler:Zuko threw at the Gaang and the Water Tribe Fleet on purpose.]]
* ConservationOfNinjutsu: In chapter 36, Shirong thinks that they have absolutely no chance against [[spoiler:Ty Lee]], while [[spoiler:Kuzon was able to kill a fourth of Azulon's air nomad ninja forces before finally being taken down.]]

* CultureClash: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshades]] and [[{{Anvilicious}} Anvils]] abound here. Vathara's biggest reason behind writing the fic seems to be exasperation at the canon Four Nations being {{The Theme Park Version}}s of China, Japan, Tibetan Monks and Inuit Tribes. For example, Vathara spends almost an entire chapter on the difference between the Nations' different definitions of "truce."

* CursedWithAwesome: [[spoiler:Yue's 'gift' of waterbending ensures that Zuko cannot become the next Fire Lord, which would mean he has no alternative but to go his canon route and join Aang earlier, except he's intent on [[RefusalOfTheCall Refusing]]]]. Chapter 36 specifically discusses this as a curse.

*** The Fire Nation attacked the Air Nomads because the Air Nomads [[spoiler:did not warn them about the coming hurricane, and because they harbor the Avatar, who, as Kyoshi, killed thousands of them and destroyed the foundations of their culture. They also remember the raids of the White Wind, ancestors of the airbenders they killed who raided, enslaved, and killed their people]]. They may have also attacked the Earth Kingdom because they [[spoiler:spawned Kyoshi.]]

** [[spoiler:Zuko also plans to do this with Asagitatsu if Aang doesn't accept the idea of his all-nation colony]]
* DealWithTheDevil: Or rather [[spoiler:A Deal with Temul]]. In Chapter 54.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance:
** The Fire Nation's justice system is utterly alien; The Water Tribes, Air Nomads and Earth Kingdoms have familiar ethics-based legal systems (assumption of innocence, punishment of the guilty, reparation to the injured) enforced by the heads of their communities. Competence and integrity may vary, and they may disagree on minutiae, but they can comprehend each other easily enough. The Fire Nation has a [[ItsAllAboutMe sociopathically selfish]] approach to justice: the only reason ''not'' to commit a hostile act is if the person you're attacking will kill you for it, and if they don't have the ability to stop you, then they ''[[TheSocialDarwinist deserve]]'' to lose property, to suffer pain and to die unlamented - MightMakesRight. The other nations dub this "homicidal mania."
--->[[spoiler:'''Shidan''']]:''...to '''not''' take up weapons, to '''not''' prepare night and day to slaughter any enemies that would come against them - it is unthinkable. It is - one who does such a thing, who believes the world will '''not''' be dangerous, will '''not''' strive to kill him... That is what we call '''insane.''' ...And it is our dangerousness, our peril to each other, that keeps each clan from another's throats. If one member of the clan '''will not fight''', and other clans '''know''' that to be true...''
--->'''Langxue''': ''They stomp on him, everybody else comes roaring in to fight, and the whole countryside goes up in flames.''
*** This even applies to ''warfare.'' Zuko believes the War is wrong because the Fire Nation will be unable to hold its new territories, and as a result be unable to prevent retaliation by the other nations - retaliation that will kill pretty much everyone in the Fire Nation. He doesn't believe that the war is immoral, just ''unsuccessful.'' Vathara suggests this is inherent to their culture - a throwback to the constant state of clan warfare in which the only law was; "War is [[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught only immoral if you lose.]]"
--->'''Zuko''': ''I wish I could stop the war, Toph. I really wish I could. But I can't. Because you know what will happen if it stops? They'll come for us. The Earth Kingdom, the Water Tribes… you have no idea how much they hate us. They'll come.''

** Averted in a meta-example. We the readers think [[spoiler:being part dragon is awesome and a mark of being special]]. However what Vathara is writing is that the [[spoiler:other nations would not see it that way. They would most likely view the Fire Nation as being animals, either partially or fully--beasts that need to be put down, and all around easier to dehumanize]]. Named characters don't view it this way, but individuals are smart, people are dumb.

* DistressedDamsel: [[spoiler:Amaya,]] leading to a CMOA for Iroh.
* DontYouDarePityMe: The Fire Nation: Iroh specifically says this is one of the reasons they don't talk about [[spoiler:Kyoshi or loyalty sickness]]. Zuko also says that Katara would try to rip his heart out if he ever dared pity her, and [[InLoveWithYourCarnage it kind of sounds like a compliment]].

* DragonLady: [[spoiler:Makoto (aka Fire Lady Tejina) was a literal one at one point.]]
* DragonRider: So far, only the canon ones: Roku, Sozin, and Kuzon. Roku's was his spirit animal/guide (as Appa is Aang's), Sozin's [[spoiler:became his wife]], and Kuzon's [[spoiler:ended up marrying his daughter and becoming Zuko's grandfather]]. Since ''Embers'' shows that dragons are very proud creatures and just as intelligent as humans (and very touchy about respect and dominance issues), there probably won't be too many more [[spoiler:even if Byakko's refugee dragon population goes to war alongside the humans.]]

* EasyLogistics: Easi''er'' at least. Though the Earth Kingdom has had a number of rebellions and screw-ups, one of which [[spoiler:was an ''assassination attempt'' on the Earth King's family that put Long Feng in charge of the Dai Li, who left that province to be abandoned to the Fire Nation]], the Fire Nation is ''completely'' immune to such setbacks because [[spoiler:the mandate granted to the Fire Lord by Avatar Kyoshi means that [[StateSec any domain that protests the war]] is [[{{Ghostapo}} ravaged by angry spirits]]]]. Everyone in Fire Nation ''has'' to support the war, no matter what it costs them – even to the point of permitting the Creator/{{Charles Dickens}}esque poverty and environmental damage seen in "The Painted Lady".

* EnemyCivilWar: [[spoiler:What Zuko believes will happen when Ozai dies, especially if Azula takes the throne]]. He is knowingly [[spoiler:making this more likely by creating another Domain outside of the Fire Lord's control.]]

* EvilPlan: It's too early to say for sure, but given the fic's track record for foreshadowing, the current state of the cycle, Aang's ignorance, [[spoiler:the blunders of the recent Avatars, the extinction of the yaoren and the swift deaths of any new ones, what Yangchen did to turn the Air Nomads into the 'Air Monks',]] and almost the current state of the world may be consequences of [[spoiler:Koh the Face Stealer's vendetta against the Avatar, especially since characters have often wondered about what it would take to get vengeance on or get rid of the Avatar. To kill the Avatar would require ending the cycle of rebirth, for one thing, and having humanity, or as much as possible of it, be actively seeking to destroy the Avatar too could only be a good thing.]]

** Even species get in on the act; the "rattle vipers" are suspiciously similar to Pern's tunnelsnakes, complete with "you know it's not a snake, I know it's not a snake, try telling that to the locals." (chapter 53)
* FantasticRacism: In addition to the more normal racism shown in the show (the Fire Nation thinks the others are inferior, the others think the Fire Nation is AlwaysChaoticEvil / BadPowersBadPeople), Iroh tells Toph that he is afraid that [[spoiler:this trope will come into play if the other nations find out that the Fire Nation has draconic ancestry and what that means]]. After all, it would be very attractive to blame their tendency to kill and so on on them being actual monsters instead of [[spoiler:Kyoshi's blunder]], and it would serve as an additional justification for the genocide practically the entire Fire Nation is convinced would happen following a defeat by the Avatar, between the Avatar's right for vengeance on his people's killers and the Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom's own grievances.
** Even [[spoiler:Professor Wen, who married a woman from the Fire Nation, is discomforted by the fact his wife 'isn't human.' However, this is not so much due to any kind of disgust than utter terror that a Great Name of Fire could use Loyalty to steal her from him. And though she ''says'' in Chapter 13 that her husband and children will always be more important to her than any Lord, that was before she learned who Zuko was -- and her [[INeedAFreakingDrink reaction]] did not inspire confidence. She didn't immediately re-affirm her loyalty to her family either, recognizing the depth of the problem. Instead, Meixiang took quiet a few chapters before acting, and then in chapter 29 decided that the best option was to merge traditions and make a clan of ''both'' Earth and Fire in order to protect her loyalty and that of her children, especially Jinhai. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Keeping Shirong sane by adding him to the Wen Clan was little more than a moral bonus to her]].]]

* GenocideBackfire: [[spoiler:Zuko's apology to Katara]] reveals that by Fire Nation law and custom, Aang is obligated to kill his father's murderer. Since Aang doesn't know who his father is? The entire Fire Nation is convinced that he's going to wipe them out (even the ones who 'like' Aang think he'll let his allies do it) since they acknowledge that it's 'the right thing for him to do' according to their moral system. Azula's inner monologue shows how useful she and Ozai find this as a means to get the Fire Nation to continue the war, since obviously even the ones who don't want to fight can't stop, because that means the Avatar can kill their families unopposed [[spoiler:, not to mention the firebenders among them will drop dead if they tell Ozai no]]. Aang is not just a [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids naive little boy]]. His ideals are the only ones that can stop the war.

* GoodIsNotNice: Or rather, spirits aren't. Yue [[spoiler:makes Zuko a waterbender without asking consent, and may or may not have known what this would do to the Fire Nation]]. As for [[spoiler:Wan Shi Tong's kitsune agent and the haima-jiao...]]

** [[spoiler:In Ch 57,Langxue tells Zuko that yaoren can feel where they died. Hyourin and his comrades made sure they survived until they reached a White Lotus secret vault containing the reason Koh hates humans so that their bodies could serve as markers to their reincarnations. They gave up their own right to proper burials just so the vault was never permanently lost.]]

** In canon, the Sun Warriors were this: Vathara has not decided whether or not to include them. Byakko may be a subversion: they're a popular tourist destination due to having one of the few mountains in the Fire Nation high enough to have snow, and they bought the amount of not isolation but insulation from Ozai's power they have by [[spoiler:the rulers giving their daughter Ursa to Ozai, and never even getting to meet their grandchildren, at least not yet]]. They have very good reasons for keeping under the radar: [[spoiler:according to Teruko, they're hiding dragons, who are supposed to be extinct, people on Azulon's 'execute on sight' List, firebenders who haven't sworn loyalty to Ozai since they came into their power after the age at which the Fire Nation stops testing, and given the description of the mountain monks in an earlier chapter and the Air Monk letter in Chapter 31, they may also be hiding airbenders]]. It's not so much hypocrisy and disgust at the world as a deliberate plan [[spoiler:to provide a refuge]], likely by Kuzon. Zuko [[spoiler:seems to have the same idea of creating a place to preserve both Fire Nation traditions and, explicitly, the freedom which is necessary for airbenders to be born.]]
** As of Chapter 34, it is more or less guaranteed that [[spoiler:Byakko is hiding Airbender descendants from the male-only Southern Temple. Likely full Masters, no less. Which could be good or bad, depending on what they've learned in the hundred years since their people were rendered nearly extinct. It also raises the issue of the Western Air Temple, which was one of the two female-only Air Nomad Temples, and was located in the Fire Nation itself, much closer to Byakko then even the Southern Temple Aang was raised in.]]
** In chapter 37, [[spoiler:The mystery of the missing Air Temple children is solved- those that weren't killed by Sozin or rescued by Kuzon, the Fire Lord had kidnapped to be raised by his onmitsu.]]
** In chapter 76, [[spoiler:Lituya Bay, a fishing village in Byakko is home to some of the surviving southern waterbenders.]]

** In addition to that, this is the reason that some of the spirits want to [[spoiler:wipe out humanity]]. Others are in it for power or personal vendettas.
* HumansAreSpecial: [[spoiler:When spirits want to wipe out humanity, do they pick a fight with us? No, they try to trick us into destroying ''ourselves,'' slowly destroying our capability to fight them and turning the strengths of the various nations into weaknesses]]. The fact that humanity can and ''should'' stop relying on the Avatar to solve all its problems and regain its own strength and agency is a theme in the fic, culminating when Sokka tells Aang that he doesn't believe in the Avatar's ability to save the world, but that of Aang himself: the person, not the powerful spirit.
-->Sokka: I believe in the kid who was smart enough to trick Katara into penguin-sledding. Who was crazy enough to ride the Unagi. Who had the guts to save Zuko – man, I can't believe you saved Zuko! – instead of letting Zhao grab him. That's what's really going to save the world. Sure, we need plans and weapons and benders strong enough to stop the Fire Lord. We need to fight. And it's not going to be pretty. But after that? We need ''you''.
** As of chapter 46-47, [[spoiler:it's pretty much proven that Koh has become so frustrated with humans avoiding, averting, or defeating his attempts to destroy them all that he's decided to use a historically unstoppable super-volcano to do the job this time.]]
* AnIcePerson: [[spoiler:The third Yaoren,]] as appropriate for a Hitsugaya expy. [[spoiler:In his previous life as one of Yangchen's assistants, he was a water-fire yaoren, and notes that while he used to use those two highly emotional and forceful elements to keep each other in check, due to the personality changes associated with yaoren powers, air will now be allowing water to affect him even more strongly as well as having its own effects on his rationality.]]

** Justified. You know how the title is Avatar: The Last Airbender? The fact he's the last of the Air Nomads is a big part of Aang's identity, and since he is the last, if he ceases to be an Air Nomad then his people will cease to be, and it will be all his fault twice over. However, according to ''Embers'', the Avatar is NOT a member of the people he is born to: Roku not really being Fire Nation and therefore not feeling what everyone else around him knew instinctively is a plot point. Instead, it is the Avatar's job to try to understand all the cultures without ever really being a member of any of them. Aang ran away from Gyatso in the first place to be able to stay with his 'family' and remain a normal Air Nomad. Throughout the original series and ''Embers'', he's been holding on to his airbender identity so that his people can live on. [[IdiotBall The pacifism and other ideals]] Aang espouses are a fundamental part of being an air nomad. If he were a normal air nomad, they'd be the right way to be. As the Avatar, being in denial about who he is (and therefore isn't) and rejecting his responsibilities to the world is one big IdiotBall. Trying to pry it out of his hands is a big part of the fic, and necessary to world peace, but [[TheWoobie man, you have to feel sorry for the kid]]. On the other hand, they also need the ideals; everyone needs to do a balancing act between having to kill the monsters like Azula, and stopping a CycleOfRevenge in its tracks.
** According to WordOfGod in review responses, Aang is absolutely right about something else too: [[spoiler:the air nomads as he knew them will cease to be as a consequence of at least one of his duties as Avatar]]. Is it really an idiot ball if carrying it is necessary to achieve your goals?
** WordOfGod too is that Aang ''should'' get to ''stay'' true to his pacifistic ideals, and solve things without violence. [[spoiler:He does]]. It's not exactly an IdiotBall when [[TheWoobie Aang]] is surrounded by people who think he means 'stop' as in 'kill' the Fire Lord, and is learning that [[spoiler:the Air Nomads were not exactly what he was raised to think they were.]]
* ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder: In Chapter 15, Amaya says "I'm a healer, not a spirit."

* IThoughtEveryoneCouldDoThat: Zuko's assumption when he hears that the Water Tribes [[spoiler:trim their nails]] without [[AbsurdlySharpBlade obsidian knives]] is that either they have some metalworking trick the Fire Nation doesn't or that bone knives might be better than he thought. He doesn't realize that there's something special about [[spoiler:having fingernails that steel can't cut, or any of his other signs of draconic ancestry]]. It's pointed out in the Author's Notes that people tend to judge normal by themselves and what they can do. Sokka's accuracy with Boomerang is another example: [[spoiler:he's been using his chi to fight all along without noticing it]] even though he thought only benders could use chi. Aang also had no idea that other people had problems with temperatures below freezing, since Aang's perfectly capable of sleeping on snow without ill effects.
* ItRunsInTheFamily: Most members of Fire Nation royal and Byakko family are highly paranoid and agressive. They are also prone to sociopathy. [[spoiler:Dragon blood tends to do this to people]]. It's hinted that it may be a case with many other Fire Nation clans.

* JigsawPuzzlePlot: Vathara treats canon as this, fitting in bits of Real Life history to fill in the gaps. The metaphor is used by Ty Lee and Azula in Ch. 36.
* JustFollowingOrders: In the Fire Nation, this justifies everything from kidnapping to cold-blooded murder. [[spoiler:A side effect of Loyalty: people who disobey the orders of their Lords die the most horrible deaths it is possible for a human being to suffer]]. Thus, Zuko has never and ''will'' never apologize for any of his canonical actions throughout Season One.
-->(Chapter 22)'''''I had my orders!'''''

* KatanasAreJustBetter: [[spoiler:They were the ancient symbol of airbending, and both foreshadowing and the way Vathara characterizes airbenders hints that she'll be giving the show's depiction of them her usual levels in badass]]. As of Ch. 36, she has.
* KissingCousins: [[spoiler:Zuko/Mai]]. The historical Chinese variant, where any known relation is unacceptable. [[spoiler:Azula knew all along]]. The author also notes that the characters are afraid if one link is hidden, there might be many more they don't know about.
** According to [[spoiler:Teruko, The Fire Nation's]] obsession with geneology and preventing inbreeding is in order to prevent [[spoiler:anyone ending up with too much dragon blood]], since this results in [[spoiler:people like Azula at worst, or the social graces (and all-consuming rage) of Zuko at best]]. Since [[spoiler:Mai is the descendant of non-firebenders and Avatar Roku, she's no more likely to have evil children than Zuko and any other Fire Nation person]]. However, they don't know that, and [[spoiler:the current Fire Nation theory of genetics says that they would, and that's specifically why Azula set them up in the first place.]]

* LaserGuidedKarma: Except the spirits have bad aim. Anyone who fights a spirit, regardless of whether or not they're a good person or even if the spirit was trying to eat them for something they had nothing to do with at the time, has open season declared on them. [[spoiler:Tingzhe Wen was hit with a fever that might have been fatal because Sokka hit Wan Shin Tong over the head with a book, and some spirits take this to the extreme of 'because some humans hurt the balance, I get to kill you all.']]

** Airbenders tend to [[spoiler:not to regard lying as a big deal, despite being aware that the people of other nations, unlike themselves, can be lied to. This hits berserk buttons, particularily among dragon-descended firebenders. This is less firebenders being lie detectors and Vathara extrapolating from the fact that in canon Dragons seem to be telepaths or empaths of one sort of another]]. See BerserkButton.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Zuko is not only unaware he's [[spoiler:descended from the Avatar, although slightly differently than in canon,]] but also [[spoiler:Kuzon's reincarnation]]. Azula kept Zuko's letters from reaching Mai [[spoiler:to make her think marrying him was still viable.]]

* MessianicArchetype: The Avatar, with much attention paid to what this implies. For instance, originally the Fire Sages, who were the priests of Agni, served the Avatar, as the voice of Agni on earth. This meant that [[spoiler:Kyoshi's decree]] carried the force of a divine commandment and, given the mechanics of Fire Nation loyalty, [[spoiler:for a Firebender to turn against the Fire Lord would require foreswearing their loyalty to them, the Avatar, and Agni, the source of firebending himself]]. So it is, in a sense, a very good thing for Aang that modern firebenders don't like him, much less have loyalty to him or regard him as The Messiah in the first place. It's likely that the Fire Sage who helped Aang in canon either [[spoiler:nurtured loyalty to Agni in place of Ozai in order to survive loyalty sickness before Aang came along, since all (known) firebenders are required to swear loyalty to him, or was able to hold it off long enough to help Aang, as Zuko did, and then died offscreen.]]

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Averted in a meta-example. We the readers think [[spoiler:being part dragon is awesome and a mark of being special]]. However what Vathara is writing is that the [[spoiler:other nations would not see it that way. They would most likely view the Fire Nation as being animals, either partially or fully--beasts that need to be put down, and all around easier to dehumanize]]. Named characters don't view it this way, but individuals are smart, people are dumb.

** Also people, who have been dealing with the spirits before or are spiritualy aware. They tend to become [[DoomMagnet Doom Magnets]] as well. Society ostracizes them, because of a danger their presence may cause.

* {{Expy}}: [[WordofGod According to]] Vathara, her method of OC creation is to not do so. Instead, she uses expies of characters from other series. Of course, most of her other fics are crossovers.

* TheEvilPrince: Azula. While yes, she may be trying to kill Zuko with Ozai's blessing, [[spoiler:she used Ty Lee's ability to interfere with Zuko's firebending kata practice despite the fact she knew how embarrassing it was to Ozai to have his firstborn son be so weak, and hence Ozai would be furious if he found out.]]

''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5398503/1/Embers Embers]]'' is an ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' FanFic by Creator/{{Vathara}} that attempts to deconstruct the standard story of a [[FiveManBand group]] of [[IdiotHero kids]] [[BlackAndWhiteMorality saving]] the world from TheEmpire, with copious amounts of FridgeLogic and FridgeHorror. Moving the ''Avatar'' universe on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism (characters had best not try to invoke HeroInsurance, for example), causes the good guys to [[HanlonsRazor seem]] less good and the bad guys to range from AntiHero to pure evil. It also explores things that the TV show had to gloss over for kids, like [[ChildByRape the horrors of war]], [[EldritchAbomination dangerous]] spirits and [[MindRape Azula]].

* CompletelyMissingThePoint: [[BlackandWhiteMorality Many characters believe themselves to be doing the right thing,]] [[GreyandGrayMorality but of course]], [[SarcasmMode everyone thinks they're right]]. [[WrongGenreSavvy Readers are no exception to this]].

* NotSoDifferent: All the different factions.

* HumansAreBastards: [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped What makes someone a good person is being honest about their own flaws and trying to minimize the damage]]; Vathara seems to be arguing that this is the true nature of heroism, since [[GenreBlindness claiming that everyone is fundamentally good]] and [[KnightTemplar forcing them to act that way]] when they can't is stupid and likely to make things worse at best and leads to fearsomeness at worst.

** Let's not forget Earth King Kuei. Do NOT ''ever'' hurt any of his people. Wan Shi Tong is one such example.

* TheDeterminator: Zuko and [[spoiler:his previous incarnation, Kuzon, who didn't let even death stop him from trying to find and help his friend]]. Chapter 32(?) has both Sokka and Toph agreeing [[spoiler:Aang needs to learn how to do this.]]

** Earth King Kuei. Clearly, his majesty keeps getting [[CharacterDevelopment more and more awesome]] with each appearance he makes, especially [[spoiler:where he accepts Eshe, knowing where is duty as Earth King lies.]]

* DragonAncestry: Most of the Fire Nation has dragon ancestry to some degree or another; for most its distant enough that the only non-human traits they have are SupernaturalGoldEyes, but for Zuko and Azula ([[spoiler:whose grandfather is a dragon]]), they have claw-like nails that can only be filed with obsidian, more powerful [[PlayingWithFire firebending]] than is usual, and NoSocialSkills due to the conflict between their draconic and human instincts for how to interact with others. The reason that it isn't widely known is that Fire Nation keeps their draconic heritage a secret from the other nations, out of fear of being seen as animals or less than human because of it.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: In addition to being the source of Firebending, most of the Fire Nation [[spoiler:has draconic ancestry, in some cases very recently and on all sides.]]

* BadassNormal: The Fire Nation in canon has a disproportionate amount of these, which is justified by the fact that firebenders start bending late (while the others seem to start at birth), meaning they need to start teaching martial arts discipline to everyone, early, before they start throwing sparks. As this story has everyone able to use chi, this makes Piando understandable but still awesome. [[spoiler:The Yu Yan are non-bender chi users founded to fight air bender raiding parties; Zuko points out that Boomerang always hitting where Sokka wants is not (just) skill.]]

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Shidan, lord of Byakko, [[spoiler:grandfather]], dragon in human form, among most feared/respected Firebenders on the planet, probably a beyond-lethal swordsman, and quite likely one of the (if not ''the'') most powerful bender shown until now... yet it's stated very clearly by Zuko[[spoiler:/Kuzon]] that he could never visit Ozai's court, for he [[DeadlyDecadentCourt would]] [[TheEmpath slaughter]] the SmugSnake noble bastards within minutes... and then immediately be killed by Ozai. Say what you will about Ozai and his methods, he ''really'' deserves the title of Fire Lord.

It is a a sequel to her one-shot ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5115106/1/Theft_Absolute Theft Absolute]]'', which was written, in part, due to Vathara's exasperation with the theft in "Cave of Two Lovers". If Zuko could sneak into the North Pole, then he certainly should have thought out that theft better. Further, due to her knowledge of history, it was especially jarring:

During their travels in the Earth Kingdom, Zuko - [[ForWantOfANail instead of]] resorting to banditry to survive - reveals a Firebending technique he learned from his mother: Fire-''healing.'' This draws him into a millennia-old conspiracy spanning both the living and spirit worlds - to wipe out all healing benders, cripple the Avatar by eliminating the yaoren, who were meant to train him in dealing with spirits & combining elements in the same way that his other teachers taught him about the four forms of normal bending, and, eventually wipe out the human race. Oh, and there are dragons too.

Embers can be divided into twelve major story arcs:

* [[WalkingTheEarth The Walking The Earth Kingdom]] Arc: After the confrontation in Theft Absolute, Iroh talks Zuko into wandering the Earth Kingdom posing as a healer. Along the way they fight a plague spirit, acquire a team pet in the form of a cranky, attack-happy ostrich-horse, and Zuko learns how to fake waterbending with very hot water. Iroh makes the mistake of praying to Yue, and Zuko and Katara work together to save Iroh after Azula's attack, causing the Gaang to question what they know about Zuko, Iroh, and firebending. Chapters 1-7.

Embers is complete as of January 18, 2014.

* AbductionIsLove: In the historical form of bride capture. Played straight by the Water Tribes according to Sokka, and by the Earth Kingdom according to the Dai Li (when it comes to spiritually strong 'desert witches' for the Earth King's bloodline), but inverted in the Fire Nation, where it's a woman that ambushes the man with 'three cups of wine and a [[RedStringOfFate red cord]].' In both cases, it's implied to ideally be ceremonial, basically part of the marriage process or a proposal (Iroh's wife proposed in this fashion), but Teruko [[BlackComedyRape jokes]] about doing it to [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale Sokka]], since he's prime stock, and given the Northern Water Tribe's feuding traditions and all three groups' cultures, it's probably been nonconsensual often enough.

* AncientTradition: The Order of the White Lotus has agents everywhere and has been around for a number of ''millenia''.
* AndroclesLion: Invoked by Shirong, [[spoiler:trying to convince Kuei to trust the Fire Nation refugees. ]]

* AuraVision: Ty Lee, [[spoiler:since she's an airbender. Aang's own lie detection ability seems to work in the same way, only without the visualization, which may be because he's a master.]]

** Vathara also loves military units and the men who command them. Especially when they're accustomed to killing enough to not blink at doing it but don't like it ''too'' much, are extremely dutiful and [[AFatherToHisMen fathers to their men]], and their personal senses of duty and ethics come into collision because [[GeneralRipper the brass is evil]]. That particular [=OC=] appears in a large selection of her work; Embers has a whole sub-plot involving the Earth and Fire versions working together to keep peace in occupied Ba Sing Se.

* AuthorTract: Moved to the Embers [[Headscratchers/{{Embers}} Just Bugs Me]] page. (It was very long before it was moved.)

-->Toph: "I'm not saying Aang should be like me. I'm the greatest earthbender in the ''world''. Too much awesome? Could ''break'' something."
* BadassBoast: Yangchen has the best so far, surprisingly. And she's not even ''boasting,'' she was trying to be ''reassurring.'' [[spoiler:Well, she was [[RaisedByWolves raised by evil monks]] who wanted to keep her ignorant of the outside world.]]
-->Yangchen: "You don't truly think you would survive if I meant you ill, do you, young one?"

-->Zuko: [[spoiler:Ask [[TheDevil your elder]] what I've done to the drowned. Ask the ocean where the sea serpent's bones lie. Ask who woke Asagitatsu! ''Do you think you can face me?'']]

** [[spoiler:This seems to be a trait common to dragons. They played target for Avatar Kesuk's rage and Shidan plans to do this if a spirit is involved in one of his people's disappearance in Hama's village. Technically he'll be doing it twice as if any supposed spirit is strong enough to to defeat him then it is a threat to the entire Fire Nation.]]

* BewareTheNiceOnes: A recurring theme that shows up most dramatically in Iroh's [[spoiler:killing of General Gang (debatably in cold blood)]], Aang, and Ty Lee's own [[spoiler:inner monologue about how it's oh so sad that Zuko died but only natural, and everyone should just surrender to Ozai so no one else will get killed. And how Aang should have surrendered so Zuko could have been the heir. This appears to be ''official policy'' for the non-Byakko airbender survivors.]]

* BigBad: Surprisingly, not Ozai. He's treated as a symptom of a disease: if the world was running properly, someone like that would have been stopped long before gaining that much power. It seems as though the real enemy is the current disruption of the cycle, ignorance and racism themselves. However, it's been confirmed that it was caused to get this bad, [[spoiler:specifically by Koh the Face Stealer.]]

* BilingualBonus: 'Tejina' is Japanese for "sleight of hand", while 'Makoto' means "truth". Keep that in mind where those names come up.
* BlackAndGreyMorality: While more upbeat than most examples of this, one of Embers' main themes is that people will often find themselves in situations where they will have to do the wrong thing for the right reasons, or the right thing for the wrong reasons. While at first it seems that this is a case of GreyAndGrayMorality, or 'messed-up people messing up in a messed-up world', sometimes people just have to die, and what divides the characters Vathara holds up as examples from those she deconstructs is their willingness to admit it when they've done something unethical or are going to for the sake of what they hold dear, right reasons or not.
* BlessedWithSuck: The yaoren in the fic (Zuko, Shirong, and Langxue), who all have terrible luck.

*** [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Vathara's dragons]] turn this into fearsomeness, simply because dragon morality is similar to human morality with a crucial difference: both human and dragon morality have [[LawfulGood innocence and trustworthiness]] as shared key virtues, but are opposed as to which takes priority – to a human, a [[NeutralGood nonviolent traitor]] (a draft dodger) is less of a concern than a [[LawfulEvil dutiful sociopath]] (a war criminal). For dragons, it's the other way around – a BloodKnight is at least of use to the clan, but a DirtyCoward is a weak link to be eliminated at all costs. Basically, if asked to choose whether ToBeLawfulOrGood, humans are more likely to pick Good, and dragons (along with all other known spiritual entities) are more likely to pick Lawful. As you can guess, this causes humans and dragons to confuse the hell out of each other at best, and actively seek each others' destruction at worst. In chapter 39, we get to hear why the dragons went along with the genocide of the Air Nomads from a dragon who witnessed but actively subverted it: [[spoiler:'''''Zuko's maternal grandfather.''''']]
--->'''[[spoiler:Shidan]]:''' "For one of dragon's blood to not take up weapons, to not prepare night and day to slaughter any enemies that would come against them – it is unthinkable. It is – one who does such a thing, who believes the world will not be dangerous, will not strive to kill him... That is what we call ''insane''. Do you understand? ...The bonds of clan mean one ''must'' assist one's kin. And it is our dangerousness, our peril to each other, that keeps each clan from another's throats. If one member of the clan ''will not fight'', and other clans know that to be true..."
--->'''Langxue:''' "They stomp on him, everybody else comes roaring in to fight, and the whole countryside goes up in flames."
*** The dragons, including [[spoiler:Shidan]] interpreted the airbender genocide as acting against deserters. In other words, if there had been Embers-verse dragons in America IRL during TheSixties, they would have helped UsefulNotes/RichardNixon ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings slaughter every protester at Kent State.]]'' If they'd been... [[GodwinsLaw elsewhere]]... a [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII couple of decades earlier]]... And in both cases, ''some'' of them ''might'' figure out that they'd committed atrocities ''decades'' later. Let's just say that dragons don't make good neighbors for humans.

-->Zuko: "''I know already!''"

** Ch. 49 tells the episode of the Painted Lady through her pov. [[spoiler:Katara disguises herself as the Painted Lady, which in Embers, has the grisly consequences of what happens when one takes the name of said spirit]]. This goes back to the prequel of this fic, Theft Absolute. The aesop is "Never steal from one who provides you hospitality". Suddenly, the controversy of Aang's using Koizilla against the Fire Navy makes sense. As the Avatar, Aang can make anyone, any spirit, bow to his command and do his bidding. Tui didn't possess Aang; it's the other way around. The rage against the drowned Fire Navy spirits may be due to Aang's using Tui's power and form, and then doing absolutely nothing to help Tui clean up. In other words, [[OhCrap ''ouch'']].

* ChekhovsSkill: Didn't you think it was '''weird''' in the series that the Dai Li, sworn to protect Ba Sing Se, ''left'' their city to follow Azula around? Embers explains that certain Firebenders can bend the inner flame, which affects loyalty. Suddenly it all makes sense: Azula presented herself as someone better and more worthy to follow, and used her Inner Fire so they'd follow her. But then, who else has it? What about the other elements? Vathara takes things to their logical extremes.

** This sticks out since Katara only gets handed the ConflictBall after Ba Sing Se. In the earlier chapters of Embers, she helps save Iroh's life, as she offered to do in canon, and her inner monologue says that 'nobody deserved that pain' (referring to Zuko). Then she starts acting far more irrationally after having about ten chapters to muse on the encounter.

** Then there's the instance of Aang's escape in the first episode. Which no one really seems to care about (no one mentions it). In Embers, it's suddenly this huge slight that '''Cannot Be Forgiven'''.

** Embers also implies another reason for Zuko's determinator status: [[spoiler:his [[HalfHumanHybrid prey drive]]]] which (luckily for Aang) seems to stop after the [[spoiler:Search, Eye-stalk, and the Chase aspects, whereas Azula prefers the Kill Bite]]. Aang might also have intuited that Sokka's description of Zuko's behavior [[spoiler:"He was hunting us."]] in Chapter 34, seems a little... off. (But not inaccurate.) [[spoiler:Aang's different preconceptions about what hunting means might be helping him out in this case.]]

* DragonRider: So far, only the canon ones: Roku, Sozin, and Kuzon. Roku's was his spirit animal/guide (as Appa is Aang's), Sozin's [[spoiler:became his wife]], and Kuzon's [[spoiler:ended up marrying his daughter and becoming Zuko's grandfather]]. Since Embers shows that dragons are very proud creatures and just as intelligent as humans (and very touchy about respect and dominance issues), there probably won't be too many more [[spoiler:even if Byakko's refugee dragon population goes to war alongside the humans.]]

** Even [[spoiler:Professor Wen, who married a woman from the Fire Nation, is discomforted by the fact his wife 'isn't human.' However, this is not so much due to any kind of disgust than utter terror that a Great Name of Fire could use Loyalty to steal her from him. And though she ''says'' in Chapter 13 that her husband and children will always be more important to her than any Lord, that was before she learned who Zuko was - and her [[INeedAFreakingDrink reaction]] did not inspire confidence. She didn't immediately re-affirm her loyalty to her family either, recognizing the depth of the problem. Instead, Meixiang took quiet a few chapters before acting, and then in chapter 29 decided that the best option was to merge traditions and make a clan of ''both'' Earth and Fire in order to protect her loyalty and that of her children, especially Jinhai. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Keeping Shirong sane by adding him to the Wen Clan was little more than a moral bonus to her]].]]

* TheFourGods: Given that the blue dragon is her symbol in the original series, Azula, the female version of Azulon, likely does mean Azure Dragon: the Azure Dragon is associated with the East, which would explain the opposition to the Dragon of the West, Iroh. To that Embers adds Byakko, the White Tiger of the West as Kuzon's [[spoiler:and Ursa's]] clan name and domain. It is unknown if Suzaku or Genbu (the lion-turtle of the north?) will feature in the fic. Byakko is associated with the season of autumn and the element of metal: in Avatar [[spoiler:autumn is associated with the element of air, and it's been conformed that Byakko's been sheltering airbenders since before Kyoshi.]]

* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Aang and Azula have this in common, as Zuko points out. Embers examines the logical consequences of this: one of the reasons for Aang's IdiotBall, as Toph points out, is that while Aang is a prodigy at bending and many other things (due to his past lives), he's never had the opportunity to learn ''how to learn'' concepts that are new to him. So while everyone agrees he's a bending and tactical genius, that has actually stunted his ability to learn and adapt. Most people can't learn bending at his level without mastering learning: Aang could.

** Justified. You know how the title is Avatar: The Last Airbender? The fact he's the last of the Air Nomads is a big part of Aang's identity, and since he is the last, if he ceases to be an Air Nomad then his people will cease to be, and it will be all his fault twice over. However, according to Embers, the Avatar is NOT a member of the people he is born to: Roku not really being Fire Nation and therefore not feeling what everyone else around him knew instinctively is a plot point. Instead, it is the Avatar's job to try to understand all the cultures without ever really being a member of any of them. Aang ran away from Gyatso in the first place to be able to stay with his 'family' and remain a normal Air Nomad. Throughout the original series and Embers, he's been holding on to his airbender identity so that his people can live on. [[IdiotBall The pacifism and other ideals]] Aang espouses are a fundamental part of being an air nomad. If he were a normal air nomad, they'd be the right way to be. As the Avatar, being in denial about who he is (and therefore isn't) and rejecting his responsibilities to the world is one big IdiotBall. Trying to pry it out of his hands is a big part of the fic, and necessary to world peace, but [[TheWoobie man, you have to feel sorry for the kid]]. On the other hand, they also need the ideals; everyone needs to do a balancing act between having to kill the monsters like Azula, and stopping a CycleOfRevenge in its tracks.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Zuko practically says the trope name to Katara [[spoiler:talking about her canon motivation of {{Revenge}} for her mother, the aftermath of the BreakTheCutie [[StepfordSmiler she's been trying to hide]] and the MoralMyopia that results from, among other things, not having had the scene in the cave where she found out that Zuko had a mother too, in Embers.]]

* PersonOfMassDestruction: It's not just Aang: One of the illogical things in canon was that a single practitioner of a style stripped of all combat moves was suddenly able to slaughter a small mountain of combat-trained, veteran firebenders given superpowers by Sozin's comet. After experiencing that transformation, it's no wonder Gyatso is horrified by the possibility that airbenders might once again start actually learning how to fight. In the battle in [[spoiler:Chapter 36, on top of a train, Shirong realizes that Ty Lee is holding them in the palm of her hand since her element has them surrounded, and Kuei recites a proverb stating that airbending is the element best at destruction]]. Chalk up another series plothole closed by Embers.
* PhysicalGod: The Avatar Spirit is the closest thing to a western god, and thus by extension [[MessianicArchetype its human incarnations]] are this. In a very CrystalDragonJesus way, the Avatars mediate between the human world and the spirits, allowing [[BlueAndOrangeMorality the Avatar Spirit to understand man]]. A lot of the consequences of this trope are examined in Embers:

* PowerOfFriendship: According to Iroh, dragons, who eat the weak, view this as a real enough type of power that Aang should be safe if he approaches them accompanied by his friends. While seemingly a fic pretty far over to the Cynical side of [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism Idealism Versus Cynicism]], Embers spends a lot of time on the importance of this, as well as the PowerOfLove and PowerOfTrust. Of course, the fact that even good things can have bad consequences is an important theme.

-->Teruko: "Sir.... He's the Avatar. We're Fire Nation. He's not going to treat us honorably. No matter what."

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVillified: Played with. While Embers calls for the complete destruction of the Fire Nation government, Zuko acknowledges that [[spoiler:by creating a hidden refuge he's basically going to be sitting back and allowing the rest of the Fire Nation to be massacred, if not egging it on]], although he and Iroh both agree that it deserves it for a certain value of deserves. On the other hand, it's implied that that the Avatar's actions at the North Pole are deliberately being kept secret by Water Tribe elders and Earth Kingdom officials in order to prevent him from being seen as other than The Messiah (and prompting the Fire Nation to try it with a Fire Spirit) [[spoiler:even though the massed bad karma has already started to kill innocent bystanders; some kind of warning would certainly lower the body count.]]

* {{Shonen}}: Embers could be summed up as 'what if Avatar was a shonen series starring Zuko?' The most obvious influence is Rurouni Kenshin, which Vathara has also written for (some characters introduced in 31 may be expies from it, according to some), what with the retired badass who is still badass (Iroh) and the Fire Nation being made that way with good intentions but ending up an expansionist and racist dictatorship (like the Meiji government).

** If anything, Embers slides it so far over to the cynical side that it ends up being incredibly idealistic and hopeful. Vathara is showing that normally the Avatar universe's methods of preventing racism and war actually do work, (unlike the actual show, which implies people like Ozai and Chin are allowed to get that far and plunge the world into war all the time) and that it's possible for people to overcome all the ignorance and hatred shown in the fic. The fact that she shows how dangerous and deeply ingrained in even the best of us racism and anger actually are just makes the triumph over it more impressive.

-->"Which implied Lee was both pessimistic enough to believe running wouldn't do any good, and optimistic enough to believe he could survive anyway. Ow."

-->'''Shirong:''' "The hero's supposed to get the girl. You know, the handsome prince, or the injured, bleeding common bender who saved the day in the nick of time? It's a fundamental law of the universe!"
-->[[spoiler:'''Iroh''']] "And what makes you think the hero did not?"
* SmugSuper: In addition to how Sokka is treated in canon, according to Hakoda, the Southern Water Tribe left the North for a reason. The way Pakku [[spoiler:sabotaged Katara, because there was absolutly nothing wrong with tampering with people's brains in the service of the Avatar, after all, and what the girl didn't know wouldn't hurt her]] isn't going to help matters. Additionally justified among waterbenders since they're considered blessed by their gods.

** Iroh: The Haima-Jiao attack leads to him understanding [[spoiler:that he perhaps should have extended a hand of assistence to Amaya, even if she did not want it.]]

* SpiritWorld: In canon the only ones we see visit the Spirit World are Aang and Sokka (even if he doesn't remember any of it). We never actually see Iroh there, although it is known that he went there in search of Lu Ten. In Embers,Zuko and Langxue are both dragged there after dying to receive yaoren abilities. The second time occurs in Ch. 53 when all the yaoren voluntarily travel there so that Zuko can speak to Asagitatsu.

* SupernaturalGoldEyes: Called "Sozin's Eyes" in the Fire Nation, they're a rare shade that generally indicates firebending prowess. Zuko has them while Azula doesn't, which is regarded as highly ironic. [[spoiler:Actually, they're a sign of more non-human ancestry, as in Japanese myth, only with dragons instead of kitsune (although kitsune do exist in Embers...)]] The trope mentiones the potential for a SuperpoweredEvilSide [[spoiler:which is sort of true: dragon children, when they go berserk, can lose the ability to understand human speech and may, like spirits, kill even those under their protection if they don't hit the ground in supplication or otherwise show submission fast enough.]]

* TeamDad: As his character page notes, Zuko became this in canon. In Embers [[spoiler:he spends a lot of time and energy avoiding being forced into Aang's true companions, and it looks like the position will be taken by Hakoda.]]

* WhatTheHellHero: This happens a lot. It could even be said that the divergence point of Embers from Canon is Iroh calling Zuko out on something in the prequel oneshot Theft Absolute.

* WhiteMage: In the original series Katara very pointedly chose offensive waterbending over healing, which is then ignored for the rest of the series. In Embers this is even more significant, since [[spoiler:throughout her childhood she was given the impression she was supposed to be the healer, and a failure because she wasn't, so she's not just defying the Northern Water Tribe's sexism when she makes the choice to fight but also her own feelings of insecurity and failure]]. Instead of becoming the healer despite almost no training in the show, her talents and interest lie in the other direction and will likely remain insistant on being the BlackMage. Her alternative candidate for healer training is [[spoiler:Haru, since Toph is also [[CuteBruiser violence-focused]], not to mention more interested on what she can do with seawater.]]

* {{Xenofiction}}: The CentralTheme is that ''absolutely no-one in the story'' is a human as the reader comprehends humans - specifically, ''[[TheEvilsOfFreeWill no-one has truly free will]]''. In Embers, ''every'' character except Aang(who has [[YouCantFightFate even worse baggage of his very own]]) has some kind of RestrainingBolt, MagicallyBindingContract ''and'' ExplosiveLeash InTheBlood which gives their respective leadership both subtle and ''lethal'' control over their actions and thoughts, and ''every'' culture has both a form of MindControl and MoreThanMindControl - and everyone and every culture not only [[IThoughtEveryoneCouldDoThat thinks that theirs is normal and any other type is monstrous]], but only their leadership is likely to be fully aware of their own culture's controls. And since they never talk about those secret control functions, a lot of people have no understanding how and why they work - ''even those from the same culture''. A key part of resolving the conflicts Vathara puts in place is everyone ''finally'', '''after aeons of interaction''', gaining widespread understanding - both internally and externally - of those functions so they can avoid setting them off or abusing them in the future. Vathara never really talks about how those mind control functions express themselves in multiracial pairings, either.

* YouAreGrounded: Aang's [[CrazyEnoughToWork (oddly effective)]] way of dealing with Koh, once and for all.
* YouAreNotAlone: Since the job of the Earth King is to deal with spirits, and those who fight spirits are marked and thus seperated from normal people, Yangchen implies that Kyoshi created the Dai Li so that the Earth King would have not just help in dealing with spirits (part of what set off Chin's rebellion), but a group of people, including commoners, who could be regarded as friends and co-workers, allowing the Kings to have a source of friends and much more understanding of the people around them. The purpose of the [[spoiler:yaoren appears to be this as well: a new avatar is understandably going to be upset at finding out their whole life was a lie, they're not like the people they love anymore (or never were), they now have a destiny to fulfill that doesn't care about what they wanted and got three more elements dropped on them. Not to mention teaching what you can pull with two elements that wouldn't occur to single element teachers. Meaning the elimination of the yaoren led to the Avatar feeling alone and isolated, as Aang does since he's 'the only one who can save the world,' and thus far less mentally stable.]]

->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.

What at first seems like a fairly simple AlternateContinuity, ''Embers'' is deepened by Vathara's worldbuilding. She draws on her extensive research into psychology and real-world history and philosophy (she includes some partial [[ShownTheirWork bibliographies]]) to explain how the ''Avatar'' world could be the way it is and what that would imply about what the viewer does not see. Eventually, it grew into a full-fledged AlternateUniverse. The varying interpretations of people and groups that can result from the different historical & ethical perspective is the main source of controversy. See the [[{{Headscratchers/Embers}} Headscratchers]] and discussion pages for further details.

"I didn't do anything!" Zuko protested. Trying not to look past Meixiang to Katara. Who hated him anyway, so it wasn't like it mattered… but he ''hadn't''.\\

* AncientAstronauts: Inverted. Instead of spirits [[spoiler: actually being SufficientlyAdvancedAliens, humanity may have come to the Avatar's planet from another world.]]

* AnIcePerson: [[spoiler:The third Yaoren,]] as appropriate for a Hitsugaya expy. [[spoiler:In his previous life as one of Yangchen's assistants, he was a water-fire yaoren, and notes that while he used to use those two highly emotional and forceful elements to keep each other in check, due to the personality changes associated with yaoren powers, air will now be allowing water to affect him even more strongly as well as having its own effects on his rationality.]]

* ArrangedMarriage: Ursa and Ozai and each next Earth King, because of a need of a spiritually strong wife. It seems that's how matters look in the Earth Kingdom. [[spoiler: The Touzaikaze didn't have problem with sending an air-healer and a presumably strong sand-bender as potential brides for Kuei.]]

* AuthorTract: Moved to the Embers [[{{Headscratchers/Embers}} Just Bugs Me]] page. (It was very long before it was moved.)

--> Toph: "I'm not saying Aang should be like me. I'm the greatest earthbender in the ''world''. Too much awesome? Could ''break'' something."

** Chapter 59 has one such Fire Nation citizen [[spoiler: the Byakko "merchant" Hitomi is actually one of the Yamabushi, the so-called Renegades that Monk Yuan-ti spoke of in chapter 31. Hitomi isn't an airbender, but she is of Air Nomad descent, and fearful of Monk Aang.]]

** [[spoiler: This seems to be a trait common to dragons. They played target for Avatar Kesuk's rage and Shidan plans to do this if a spirit is involved in one of his people's disappearance in Hama's village. Technically he'll be doing it twice as if any supposed spirit is strong enough to to defeat him then it is a threat to the entire Fire Nation.]]

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Iroh prays to [[spoiler:Yue, and the way she and the other spirits grant it]] completely ruins his plans for [[spoiler:Zuko]]. Shirong prays in general [[spoiler:that a certain messed up kid could have a little help. ''Agni'' answers and Shirong also ends up a yaoren]].
** In chapter 31, [[spoiler: Langxue explicitly refrains from offhandedly wishing Saoluan dead, choosing instead to specify banging pots together while she slept and yelling at her.]] Malicious spirits are noted to use otherwise benign curses as a excuse to inflict suffering and death.

** Lying, for Zuko [[spoiler: and dragons/dragon-descended firebenders in general. Given that dragons communicate with emotions and pictures, (canon examples include Fang touching Aang with a whisker to give him visions, as well as Ran and Shao's rainbow fire), not words, most likely only psychopathic 'dark' dragons would be able to manage it, and]] Azula lies as easily as she breathes, without feeling any emotions about it as far as Toph can tell. If the ability to lie meant someone was evil in some species, it'd start ringing instinctive alarm bells very, very quickly.

* BigBrotherIsWatching: The Dai Li and their brainwashed Joo Dees. [[spoiler:It's implied that at least some of the Dai Li remain with Azula in order to make sure that no one tells her about Lake Laogai. One tells Min that he'll [[ShootTheDog kill him]] instead of letting Azula have him, which he's grateful for.]] However, it's very possible that she knows and doesn't care, because she doesn't need it. Without the checks and balances provided by [[spoiler:fire healing allowing rebels to survive and the lords of several domains being willing to gang up on anyone who crosses the MoralEventHorizon by trying to use it this way, fire loyalty can be used to]] punish thoughtcrime with death, no expensive surveillance system required.

** In chapter 45, [[spoiler:Shidan]] informs Zuko that Zuko possesses, "The blessing – of no blessing at all." Because he has absolutely no luck, he is, in some unexplained way, invisible to spirits (which apparently gives him power to change the world that he apparently wouldn't have otherwise). Of course, the downside of this is his lack of luck.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: a major source of conflict in the fic, both for plot and worldbuilding purposes. It applies to Spirits and partly to dragons. Because of this it is sometimes impossible to avoid angering some spirits without the Avatar's help. It definitely explains why making the Four Nations understand each other was a full time job requiring an Avatar's powers – especially as the spiritual realm does ''not'' care about human ethics. The spirits of the Fire Nation believe that the Fire Lord has the ''right'' to do as he likes to the rest of the world [[spoiler:in the Avatar's absence, because he has Avatar Kyoshi's mandate.]] That is why Aang '''is''' TheOnlyOne who can end the war – [[spoiler:by forcibly revoking that mandate.]]

*** [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Vathara's dragons]] turn this into fearsomeness, simply because dragon morality is similar to human morality with a crucial difference: both human and dragon morality have [[LawfulGood innocence and trustworthiness]] as shared key virtues, but are opposed as to which takes priority – to a human, a [[NeutralGood nonviolent traitor]] (a draft dodger) is less of a concern than a [[LawfulEvil dutiful sociopath]] (a war criminal). For dragons, it's the other way around – a BloodKnight is at least of use to the clan, but a DirtyCoward is a weak link to be eliminated at all costs. Basically, if asked to choose whether ToBeLawfulOrGood, humans are more likely to pick Good, and dragons (along with all other known spiritual entities) are more likely to pick Lawful. As you can guess, this causes humans and dragons to confuse the hell out of each other at best, and actively seek each others' destruction at worst. In chapter 39, we get to hear why the dragons went along with the genocide of the Air Nomads from a dragon who witnessed but actively subverted it: [[spoiler:'''''Zuko's maternal grandfather.''''']]
--->'''[[spoiler:Shidan]]''': "For one of dragon's blood to not take up weapons, to not prepare night and day to slaughter any enemies that would come against them – it is unthinkable. It is – one who does such a thing, who believes the world will not be dangerous, will not strive to kill him... That is what we call ''insane''. Do you understand? ...The bonds of clan mean one ''must'' assist one's kin. And it is our dangerousness, our peril to each other, that keeps each clan from another's throats. If one member of the clan ''will not fight'', and other clans know that to be true..."
--->'''Langxue''': "They stomp on him, everybody else comes roaring in to fight, and the whole countryside goes up in flames."

*** Also acts as a case of Fridge Brilliance: human/dragon hybrids with too much dragon blood inheirit hybrid instinctual morality. Zuko is constantly tearing himself apart because he prizes innocence and trustworthiness equally, and can never really console himself to either morality. Azula is TheUnfettered because to her, [[MortonsFork the innocent are untrustworthy and the dutiful are puppets.]]

---> '''Iroh''': Husband-stealing? I have not seen that custom followed in some time. You may wish to watch your step in Byakko, nephew.
---> '''Zuko''': Yeah, right. [[spoiler:Only if she's blind.]]

---> [[spoiler:'''Toph''' : When I'm old enough, you point me at some good sake. I've got some ideas for a cord that won't burn, and I'm going to need somebody who can make sure it's red...]]
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Some readers feel the fic isn't spending enough time on the villainous acts of the Fire Nation: characters aren't appropriately horrified by them, or they should be ignoring the Avatar's own actions due to what the Fire Nation did first [[spoiler:or second, or after having been run through the gears of a GambitPileup twice]]. This trope itself appears to be at fault for this – the Fire Nation has committed so many invasions, genocides, war crimes and other actions that people might occasionally be shocked by something really audacious (like killing the Moon) but there's not a lot of real surprise: everybody knows what happened to the Air Nomads, so when they do something else it's Just Another Tuesday for Sozin's Fire Nation. On the other hand, when a good guy, much less a pacifist, does something as unexpected as [[spoiler:metaphorically bringing a very dirty warhead to a bending fight when he's the Avatar, and thus by definition powerful enough to have no real need to resort to such a thing,]] WhatTheHellHero ensues.
* CainAndAbel:

** Not exactly for the second, it is heavily implied that [[spoiler: Amaya's ability to heal Zuko's spirit (which was broken and bleeding like a head wound when Yue made him a yaoren) came from said Lion-turtle]]
** Ch. 49 tells the episode of the Painted Lady through her pov. [[spoiler: Katara disguises herself as the Painted Lady, which in Embers, has the grisly consequences of what happens when one takes the name of said spirit.]] This goes back to the prequel of this fic, Theft Absolute. The aesop is "Never steal from one who provides you hospitality". Suddenly, the controversy of Aang's using Koizilla against the Fire Navy makes sense. As the Avatar, Aang can make anyone, any spirit, bow to his command and do his bidding. Tui didn't possess Aang; it's the other way around. The rage against the drowned Fire Navy spirits may be due to Aang's using Tui's power and form, and then doing absolutely nothing to help Tui clean up. In other words, [[OhCrap ''ouch'']].
** In chapter 22, Iroh hints that the White Lotus has, centuries ago, had to deal with an Avatar that went bad. [[spoiler: It has been revealed in chapter 57 that Avatar was Kesuk, from the Northern Water Tribe. According to the records the White Lotus kept, she was never really strong of mind or spirit, and when her spirit beast was killed, Kesuk snapped. Already desiring the world at her feet, she went on a destructive rampage. The dragons of Asagitatsu, with lots of help from both the Fire Isles and Air Nomads, stopped her, though it cost them greatly.]]
** In chapter 9, after Zuko startles himself[[spoiler: with rudimentary waterbending]], he asks if there are spirits in the water of well in Amaya's clinic. Her response?
--->'''Amaya''': "Not to my knowledge. A little paranoid, aren't you?"
*** Eight chapters later (17),[[spoiler: the haima-jiao uses said well to possess the waterbending healer.]]
** You guys remember that [[spoiler: skeleton of the horrific sea monster]] they found in [[spoiler: the White Lotus Vault]]? Check out chapter 88.

* ChekhovsVolcano: The [[FourIsDeath four great water volcanoes]] of the Avatar world, each on a [[TimeBomb different timer to blow]], and each on its own [[EarthShatteringKaboom having more than enough potential]] to wipe out a [[ApocalypseHow damn good chunk of the human population should they explode: first in the fallout by breathing in the ash, and then by starving out the survivors thanks to the damage to crops and farmland. And of course, this destructive genocidal power is a prominent feature in Koh's grand plan to KillAllHumans.]]
** [[spoiler: Vathara named them after the [[TheFourGods Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations]]. The Black Tortoise (Kurokame) and Vermillion Bird (Akitori) volcanoes threaten to go every 6000 and 3000 years respectively; they are thusly guarded by dragons who are both completely disinterested in and out of reach of humans. Shirotora (White Tiger, every 500 years) and Asagitatsu (Azure Dragon, every 1000 years) are not.]]
*** [[spoiler: To be more precise, Shirotora is guarded and pacified by the Lords of Byakko and their heirs. Its schedule of eruption every 500 years and the threat inherent should there be none of Clan Byakko living to appease him is pretty much THE only thing that's stopped the Fire Lords from executing the entire family.]]
*** [[spoiler: Asagitatsu, on the other hand, ''has no guardians''. That clan has only one known member – Makoto – and she's been missing for a very long time. The last time Asagitatsu blew, Yangchen and her yaoren were killed and the world was plunged into a nuclear winter. [[FridgeHorror That's why there was no war for a generation after Yangchen's death]]: nobody had either the resources nor manpower available, because they were all focused just on ''staying alive''. The only reason humanity survived was the mid-winter timing; a few months either way would have caused mass famines when harvest or planting seasons failed. It is strongly suggested Koh has learned from this mistake and plans to set Asagitatsu off again, this time during the harvest.]]
*** [[spoiler: Thankfully, ''Suzuran'' has just about everything and everyone on board to prevent catastrophe. Whether they can make a difference or not is the big question.]]

* CombatMedic: Zuko and Katara. It also seems that any other elemental healer before Kuruk was taught to both fight and heal. [[spoiler: Kuei said that swords were a recognized sign of air-healers.]]
** Subverted with Toph. She knows the basics, thanks to Katara, but isn't really willing to learn more.
* CompletelyMissingThePoint: [[BlackandWhiteMorality Many characters believe themselves to be doing the right thing,]] [[GreyandGrayMorality but of course]], [[SarcasmMode everyone thinks they're right.]] [[WrongGenreSavvy Readers are no exception to this.]]

---->"It's just that for so long now, whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy, it was your face." —Katara "The Crossroads of Destiny", Season 2, Episode 20

*** As of Chapter 31 [[spoiler: it appears the Author has somewhat resolved the conflict between Katara and Zuko, but Aang is still holding it, along with the IdiotBall]]

*** Fire is influenced by both the nature of fire and the [[spoiler:predator instincts]] of their [[spoiler: dragon]] ancestors. Whoever has the strength to get the most, gets the most, but if they don't leave enough for others they are likely to end up with nothing as everyone else gangs up on them.
*** For Air, at least at the temples, fairness was based on equality of outcomes and circumstances. Vathara is basing it on the flashback in "The Storm" – where Aang agrees with [[spoiler:the guy who later trained airbending assassins for Sozin]] that it's ''not'' "fair" for the Avatar to compete against normal benders; TallPoppySyndrome.

*** The Air Nomads have their sky burial – they take the body of the deceased up high in the mountains, and render the corpse into little pieces for the vulture-eagles to take care of.

* CursedWithAwesome: [[spoiler:Yue's 'gift' of waterbending ensures that Zuko cannot become the next Fire Lord, which would mean he has no alternative but to go his canon route and join Aang earlier, except he's intent on [[RefusalOfTheCall Refusing]].]] Chapter 36 specifically discusses this as a curse.

*** The Fire Nation attacked the Air Nomads because the Air Nomads [[spoiler:did not warn them about the coming hurricane, and because they harbor the Avatar, who, as Kyoshi, killed thousands of them and destroyed the foundations of their culture. They also remember the raids of the White Wind, ancestors of the airbenders they killed who raided, enslaved, and killed their people]]. They may have also attacked the Earth Kingdom because they [[spoiler:spawned Kyoshi]].

*** Jet takes revenge on anyone in any way associated with the Fire Nation in revenge for what happened to his village, [[spoiler:even those who are trying to stop the war]].

** [[spoiler: Zuko also plans to do this with Asagitatsu if Aang doesn't accept the idea of his all-nation colony]]
* DealWithTheDevil: Or rather [[spoiler:A Deal with Temul.]] In Chapter 54.

* DefensiveFeintTrap: [[spoiler:What Zuko sets for Fong's army at Dragon's Wings]].
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Averted in a meta-example. We the readers think [[spoiler:being part dragon is awesome and a mark of being special.]] However what Vathara is writing is that the [[spoiler:other nations would not see it that way. They would most likely view the Fire Nation as being animals, either partially or fully--beasts that need to be put down, and all around easier to dehumanize.]] Named characters don't view it this way, but individuals are smart, people are dumb.
* TheDeterminator: Zuko and [[spoiler:his previous incarnation, Kuzon, who didn't let even death stop him from trying to find and help his friend.]] Chapter 32(?) has both Sokka and Toph agreeing [[spoiler:Aang needs to learn how to do this.]]

** Embers also implies another reason for Zuko's determinator status: [[spoiler:his [[HalfHumanHybrid prey drive]]]] which (luckily for Aang) seems to stop after the [[spoiler:Search, Eye-stalk, and the Chase aspects, whereas Azula prefers the Kill Bite.]] Aang might also have intuited that Sokka's description of Zuko's behavior [[spoiler:"He was hunting us."]] in Chapter 34, seems a little... off. (But not inaccurate.) [[spoiler:Aang's different preconceptions about what hunting means might be helping him out in this case.]]

** Slightly subverted in Chapter 34 by [[spoiler:Kuei]].
-->"Well – those are the strongest yaoren, in the tales," [[spoiler:Kuei]] managed, eyes still wide. "The warriors. The ones the spirits set between us and harm. But the stories say some benders went on spirit-quests to ''become'' yaoren. Though it was risky. You could die. Even if you didn't, it didn't always work. And the ones who lived... well, they weren't who you might expect." He gave Shirong a shaky smile. "If spirit-torn yaoren are lion-dogs, questing yaoren were cricket-mice. They were healers."

* DisproportionateRetribution: Chin Village doesn't just go after Aang on Avatar Day. Kyoshi Island folks are advised that if it's a choice between Chin Village and racist, potentially war-criminal Fire Nation troops, head for the troops.
* DontYouDarePityMe: The Fire Nation: Iroh specifically says this is one of the reasons they don't talk about [[spoiler:Kyoshi or loyalty sickness.]] Zuko also says that Katara would try to rip his heart out if he ever dared pity her, and [[InLoveWithYourCarnage it kind of sounds like a compliment.]]

* DragonRider: So far, only the canon ones: Roku, Sozin, and Kuzon. Roku's was his spirit animal/guide (as Appa is Aang's), Sozin's [[spoiler:became his wife]], and Kuzon's [[spoiler:ended up marrying his daughter and becoming Zuko's grandfather.]] Since Embers shows that dragons are very proud creatures and just as intelligent as humans (and very touchy about respect and dominance issues), there probably won't be too many more [[spoiler:even if Byakko's refugee dragon population goes to war alongside the humans.]]

* EasyLogistics: Easi''er'' at least. Though the Earth Kingdom has had a number of rebellions and screw-ups, one of which [[spoiler:was an ''assassination attempt'' on the Earth King's family that put Long Feng in charge of the Dai Li, who left that province to be abandoned to the Fire Nation]], the Fire Nation is ''completely'' immune to such setbacks because [[spoiler:the mandate granted to the Fire Lord by Avatar Kyoshi means that [[StateSec any domain that protests the war]] is [[{{Ghostapo}} ravaged by angry spirits.]]]] Everyone in Fire Nation ''has'' to support the war, no matter what it costs them – even to the point of permitting the Creator/{{Charles Dickens}}esque poverty and environmental damage seen in "The Painted Lady".
* ElementalBaggage: Mentioned with Zuko's temper and how [[spoiler:Shirong experiences emotional and mental changes, as well as a greater drive and focus. It's noted that it can make you do very stupid things for your goals. Airbenders being flighty, Waterbenders being community orientated, and Earthbenders stubborn]].
* EnemyCivilWar: [[spoiler:What Zuko believes will happen when Ozai dies, especially if Azula takes the throne.]] He is knowingly [[spoiler:making this more likely by creating another Domain outside of the Fire Lord's control]].

* FantasticRacism: In addition to the more normal racism shown in the show (the Fire Nation thinks the others are inferior, the others think the Fire Nation is AlwaysChaoticEvil / BadPowersBadPeople), Iroh tells Toph that he is afraid that [[spoiler:this trope will come into play if the other nations find out that the Fire Nation has draconic ancestry and what that means.]] After all, it would be very attractive to blame their tendency to kill and so on on them being actual monsters instead of [[spoiler:Kyoshi's blunder]], and it would serve as an additional justification for the genocide practically the entire Fire Nation is convinced would happen following a defeat by the Avatar, between the Avatar's right for vengeance on his people's killers and the Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom's own grievances.
** Even [[spoiler: Professor Wen, who married a woman from the Fire Nation, is discomforted by the fact his wife 'isn't human.' However, this is not so much due to any kind of disgust than utter terror that a Great Name of Fire could use Loyalty to steal her from him. And though she ''says'' in Chapter 13 that her husband and children will always be more important to her than any Lord, that was before she learned who Zuko was - and her [[INeedAFreakingDrink reaction]] did not inspire confidence. She didn't immediately re-affirm her loyalty to her family either, recognizing the depth of the problem. Instead, Meixiang took quiet a few chapters before acting, and then in chapter 29 decided that the best option was to merge traditions and make a clan of ''both'' Earth and Fire in order to protect her loyalty and that of her children, especially Jinhai. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Keeping Shirong sane by adding him to the Wen Clan was little more than a moral bonus to her]].]]
* FateWorseThanDeath: Ty Lee tells Azula [[spoiler: what happened to the Air Nomads who could not get away from Xiangchen's followers.]]

--> She who only appears if the Imperial Palace is abandoned. If no king rules here, Shirong recalled. The spirits will not recognize Azula as our ruler. No matter what the cost.

* FlatEarthAtheist: Most of the Fire Nation. An entire populace who randomly start PlayingWithFire, yet consider tales of fire-healers or traditions like the blood knot silly and superstitious. Zhao took it UpToEleven, proclaiming they don't have to fear spirits and then tried to kill the Moon.

** Confirmed in Chapter 46. [[spoiler: Meixiang reveals the names of death: Kurokame (lit. "Black Turtle" being Genbu), Akitori ("Red Bird" being Suzaku), Shirotora (we all know what it means), and finally, Asagitatsu (has to be Seiryuu).]]
* FreudianExcuse: Par for the course in both Azula's and Katara's canon characterizations. [[spoiler: And Koh has his own issues with his parent: the Avatar Spirit]].

* GenocideBackfire: [[spoiler:Zuko's apology to Katara]] reveals that by Fire Nation law and custom, Aang is obligated to kill his father's murderer. Since Aang doesn't know who his father is? The entire Fire Nation is convinced that he's going to wipe them out (even the ones who 'like' Aang think he'll let his allies do it) since they acknowledge that it's 'the right thing for him to do' according to their moral system. Azula's inner monologue shows how useful she and Ozai find this as a means to get the Fire Nation to continue the war, since obviously even the ones who don't want to fight can't stop, because that means the Avatar can kill their families unopposed [[spoiler:, not to mention the firebenders among them will drop dead if they tell Ozai no.]] Aang is not just a [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids naive little boy]]. His ideals are the only ones that can stop the war.

* GoodIsNotNice: Or rather, spirits aren't. Yue [[spoiler:makes Zuko a waterbender without asking consent, and may or may not have known what this would do to the Fire Nation.]] As for [[spoiler:Wan Shi Tong's kitsune agent and the haima-jiao...]]

* HealingShiv: To (almost) everyone who's ever been on the wrong ''or'' right end of a Fire Nation's attack and see firebending as a dangerous tool at best.

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Zuko thought this was going to happen when he went to save Aang from Azula: he survived only due to the healing fire and Iroh's presence.]] What happened to Avatar Yangchen and [[spoiler:all the yaoren, courtesy of Koh and a volcano.]]
** [[spoiler: In Ch 57,Langxue tells Zuko that yaoren can feel where they died. Hyourin and his comrades made sure they survived until they reached a White Lotus secret vault containing the reason Koh hates humans so that their bodies could serve as markers to their reincarnations. They gave up their own right to proper burials just so the vault was never permanently lost.]]
*** [[spoiler: The Dragons who used themselves as bait to lure Avatar Kesuk to Asagitatsu and the Air Nomads and Bison who tried to save them when they tired.]]
*** [[spoiler: Hue and the other swampbenders who are planning to lure Makoto away so that she doesn't chase the Gaang.]]
* HeroSecretService: The Gaang, complete with explaining some of Aang's behavior in canon as him wanting, on whatever level, to drive them away so they'd be safe, not wanting them to die for something he considers all his fault anyway. In addition, [[spoiler:the yaoren appear to function as this for the various Avatars – Yangchen's 'dear friends' committed a group HeroicSacrifice alongside her, and Langxue gives their job description as holding the line against the current threat until the Avatar can get there to solve the problem.]]
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Even the people in the Fire Nation who think the war is wrong mostly believe that Aang's [[spoiler:what, the third coming of Kyoshi?]] According to Azula's inner monologue, this is deliberate propoganda to use the threat of the Avatar to mobilize the Fire Nation. Also, the Earth Kingdom generals and Kyoshi Island's leaders appear to be deliberatly trying to keep what happened at the North Pole a secret in order to avoid this trope – which will likely backfire very, very badly when people find out that not only are people being killed by spirits because the Avatar isn't doing his job as the bridge to the Spirit World, he's the one who ticked them off so badly in the first place and isn't lifting a finger to fix it.

** In canon, the Sun Warriors were this: Vathara has not decided whether or not to include them. Byakko may be a subversion: they're a popular tourist destination due to having one of the few mountains in the Fire Nation high enough to have snow, and they bought the amount of not isolation but insulation from Ozai's power they have by [[spoiler:the rulers giving their daughter Ursa to Ozai, and never even getting to meet their grandchildren, at least not yet]]. They have very good reasons for keeping under the radar: [[spoiler:according to Teruko, they're hiding dragons, who are supposed to be extinct, people on Azulon's 'execute on sight' List, firebenders who haven't sworn loyalty to Ozai since they came into their power after the age at which the Fire Nation stops testing, and given the description of the mountain monks in an earlier chapter and the Air Monk letter in Chapter 31, they may also be hiding airbenders.]] It's not so much hypocrisy and disgust at the world as a deliberate plan [[spoiler:to provide a refuge]], likely by Kuzon. Zuko [[spoiler:seems to have the same idea of creating a place to preserve both Fire Nation traditions and, explicitly, the freedom which is necessary for airbenders to be born.]]

** In chapter 76, [[spoiler: Lituya Bay, a fishing village in Byakko is home to some of the surviving southern waterbenders.]]
* HilariousInHindsight: At one point, Zuko gets into a shouting match with Roku, screaming that he was ''not'' his great-grandfather (Roku was damning him as the heir to Sozin's legacy at the time. [[spoiler: Later on, we find out that Zuko had been Kuzon in his former life, and who had chosen to be reborn). So, in fact, Zuko ''is'' his great-grandfather!]]

* HonorBeforeReason: Or rather, honor for very good reasons. Is it death before dishonor if [[spoiler:a firebender betraying their lord caused their inner fire to go out, killing them?]] Of course, [[spoiler:it's not 100% fatal.]] The same thing applies to Earthbenders who break contracts, Waterbenders who abandon the tribe, and likely Airbenders who abandon their teachings.

* HopeSpot: Aang seems to finally be getting a clue about how to deal with the mess the war wrecked, and decides to start listening to people instead of just judging them. [[spoiler:Then he encounters the drowned.]]
* HowDoIShotWeb: [[spoiler: Zuko with Waterbending, Shirong and Jinhai with Firebending, and]] Especially Aang with shamanism.

* HumansAreSpecial: [[spoiler:When spirits want to wipe out humanity, do they pick a fight with us? No, they try to trick us into destroying ''ourselves,'' slowly destroying our capability to fight them and turning the strengths of the various nations into weaknesses.]] The fact that humanity can and ''should'' stop relying on the Avatar to solve all its problems and regain its own strength and agency is a theme in the fic, culminating when Sokka tells Aang that he doesn't believe in the Avatar's ability to save the world, but that of Aang himself: the person, not the powerful spirit.
-->Sokka: I believe in the kid who was smart enough to trick Katara into penguin-sledding. Who was crazy enough to ride the Unagi. Who had the guts to save Zuko – man, I can't believe you saved Zuko! – instead of letting Zhao grab him. That's what's really going to save the world. Sure, we need plans and weapons and benders strong enough to stop the Fire Lord. We need to fight. And it's not going to be pretty. But after that? We need ''you''.
** As of chapter 46-47, [[spoiler: it's pretty much proven that Koh has become so frustrated with humans avoiding, averting, or defeating his attempts to destroy them all that he's decided to use a historically unstoppable super-volcano to do the job this time.]]
* IThoughtEveryoneCouldDoThat: Zuko's assumption when he hears that the Water Tribes [[spoiler:trim their nails]] without [[AbsurdlySharpBlade obsidian knives]] is that either they have some metalworking trick the Fire Nation doesn't or that bone knives might be better than he thought. He doesn't realize that there's something special about [[spoiler:having fingernails that steel can't cut, or any of his other signs of draconic ancestry.]] It's pointed out in the Author's Notes that people tend to judge normal by themselves and what they can do. Sokka's accuracy with Boomerang is another example: [[spoiler:he's been using his chi to fight all along without noticing it]] even though he thought only benders could use chi. Aang also had no idea that other people had problems with temperatures below freezing, since Aang's perfectly capable of sleeping on snow without ill effects.
* ItRunsInTheFamily: Most members of Fire Nation royal and Byakko family are highly paranoid and agressive. They are also prone to sociopathy. [[spoiler: Dragon blood tends to do this to people.]] It's hitned that it may be a case with many other Fire Nation clans.

** Justified. You know how the title is Avatar: The Last Airbender? The fact he's the last of the Air Nomads is a big part of Aang's identity, and since he is the last, if he ceases to be an Air Nomad then his people will cease to be, and it will be all his fault twice over. However, according to Embers, the Avatar is NOT a member of the people he is born to: Roku not really being Fire Nation and therefore not feeling what everyone else around him knew instinctively is a plot point. Instead, it is the Avatar's job to try to understand all the cultures without ever really being a member of any of them. Aang ran away from Gyatso in the first place to be able to stay with his 'family' and remain a normal Air Nomad. Throughout the original series and Embers, he's been holding on to his airbender identity so that his people can live on. [[IdiotBall The pacifism and other ideals]] Aang espouses are a fundamental part of being an air nomad. If he were a normal air nomad, they'd be the right way to be. As the Avatar, being in denial about who he is (and therefore isn't) and rejecting his responsibilities to the world is one big IdiotBall. Trying to pry it out of his hands is a big part of the fic, and necessary to world peace, but [[TheWoobie man, you have to feel sorry for the kid.]] On the other hand, they also need the ideals; everyone needs to do a balancing act between having to kill the monsters like Azula, and stopping a CycleOfRevenge in its tracks.
** According to WordOfGod in review responses, Aang is absolutely right about something else too: [[spoiler:the air nomads as he knew them will cease to be as a consequence of at least one of his duties as Avatar.]] Is it really an idiot ball if carrying it is necessary to achieve your goals?
** WordOfGod too is that Aang ''should'' get to ''stay'' true to his pacifistic ideals, and solve things without violence. [[spoiler:He does.]] It's not exactly an IdiotBall when [[TheWoobie Aang]] is surrounded by people who think he means 'stop' as in 'kill' the Fire Lord, and is learning that [[spoiler: the Air Nomads were not exactly what he was raised to think they were]].

* JustFollowingOrders: In the Fire Nation, this justifies everything from kidnapping to cold-blooded murder. [[spoiler:A side effect of Loyalty: people who disobey the orders of their Lords die the most horrible deaths it is possible for a human being to suffer.]] Thus, Zuko has never and ''will'' never apologize for any of his canonical actions throughout Season One.

* KatanasAreJustBetter: [[spoiler:They were the ancient symbol of airbending, and both foreshadowing and the way Vathara characterizes airbenders hints that she'll be giving the show's depiction of them her usual levels in badass.]] As of Ch. 36, she has.

* KissingCousins: [[spoiler:Zuko/Mai.]] The historical Chinese variant, where any known relation is unacceptable. [[spoiler:Azula knew all along.]] The author also notes that the characters are afraid if one link is hidden, there might be many more they don't know about.
** According to [[spoiler:Teruko, The Fire Nation's]] obsession with geneology and preventing inbreeding is in order to prevent [[spoiler:anyone ending up with too much dragon blood]], since this results in [[spoiler:people like Azula at worst, or the social graces (and all-consuming rage) of Zuko at best.]] Since [[spoiler:Mai is the descendant of non-firebenders and Avatar Roku, she's no more likely to have evil children than Zuko and any other Fire Nation person.]] However, they don't know that, and [[spoiler:the current Fire Nation theory of genetics says that they would, and that's specifically why Azula set them up in the first place.]]
%%* KnightInSourArmor: Zuko
* LaserGuidedKarma: Except the spirits have bad aim. Anyone who fights a spirit, regardless of whether or not they're a good person or even if the spirit was trying to eat them for something they had nothing to do with at the time, has open season declared on them. [[spoiler: Tingzhe Wen was hit with a fever that might have been fatal because Sokka hit Wan Shin Tong over the head with a book, and some spirits take this to the extreme of 'because some humans hurt the balance, I get to kill you all.']]

** Airbenders tend to [[spoiler:not to regard lying as a big deal, despite being aware that the people of other nations, unlike themselves, can be lied to. This hits berserk buttons, particularily among dragon-descended firebenders. This is less firebenders being lie detectors and Vathara extrapolating from the fact that in canon Dragons seem to be telepaths or empaths of one sort of another.]] See BerserkButton.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Zuko is not only unaware he's [[spoiler:descended from the Avatar, although slightly differently than in canon,]] but also [[spoiler:Kuzon's reincarnation.]] Azula kept Zuko's letters from reaching Mai [[spoiler:to make her think marrying him was still viable.]]

** And as of Chapter 37, Zuko knows about [[spoiler: his past life as Kuzon]].

* MagneticMedium: People, who have strong spiritual power--or deal with supernatural activity on daily basis--usually attract spirits along with any other [[WeirdnessMagnet strange phenomena]] that follows. This gets them ostracized from society, not just because of danger they may cause, but also the spiritual scars they often get along the way that other people subconsciously find unnerving.
* MessianicArchetype: The Avatar, with much attention paid to what this implies. For instance, originally the Fire Sages, who were the priests of Agni, served the Avatar, as the voice of Agni on earth. This meant that [[spoiler:Kyoshi's decree]] carried the force of a divine commandment and, given the mechanics of Fire Nation loyalty, [[spoiler:for a Firebender to turn against the Fire Lord would require foreswearing their loyalty to them, the Avatar, and Agni, the source of firebending himself.]] So it is, in a sense, a very good thing for Aang that modern firebenders don't like him, much less have loyalty to him or regard him as The Messiah in the first place. It's likely that the Fire Sage who helped Aang in canon either [[spoiler:nurtured loyalty to Agni in place of Ozai in order to survive loyalty sickness before Aang came along, since all (known) firebenders are required to swear loyalty to him, or was able to hold it off long enough to help Aang, as Zuko did, and then died offscreen.]]
** [[spoiler: As he's been rescued from the Boiling Rock prison to serve as Aang's Firebending teacher, either this or he became the third Firebender in the past century to survive loyalty sickness without healing fire]]

* MoralMyopia: In addition to the canon Fire Nation abuses, the Water Tribes show this in spades. [[MisaimedFandom Not to mention some of the fans.]] [[spoiler:And the non-Byakko hidden Air Nomads.]]

* MyOwnGrampa: As Zuko [[spoiler:is the reincarnation of Kuzon]], and Zuko's mother, Ursa, [[spoiler:is the daughter of Shidan and Kuzon's daughter Kotone,]] Zuko is technically his own [[spoiler: great-grandfather]] in a strange spiritual way.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: [[spoiler: Xiangchen to the other Air Nomads. Before Xiangchen, though, was Subodei and his clan, the White Wind. And of course, Aang to the Onmitsu and other Air peoples still hiding out there.]] Chin, Sozin, and Kyoshi all got NOTHING on the Air Nomads.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Aang allowing the Ocean Spirit to possess him in defense of the Northern Water Tribe [[spoiler:was {{plan}}ned by Koh.]] At least Ocean didn't massacre the Northern Water Tribe too since they knew to hit the dirt praying, but [[spoiler:spiritual pollution has spread all the way from there to Kyoshi Island, and the uncremated Fire Nation dead are going to be incredibly angry and vicious due to the way they were killed, meaning the Northern Water Tribe may be under the sort of attack that caused Long Feng's rise to power.]]
** During The Beach arc, Zuko ([[spoiler: aided by memories from his previous life]]) gives a pretty hefty chewing out to Avatar Roku over how he could have prevented Sozin coming to power and the resultant war if he'd just paid attention to his people and how Kyoshi's decree was driving them all nuts instead of giving things the once over, saying "everything's fine as-is", then running away to other nations to train in other forms of bending. In his subsequent explanation of just what Kyoshi did to the Fire Nation that ultimately caused the war, Zuko may not explicitly state that the Fire Nation got drunk for a week after Roku died, but his opinions make it clear they probably didn't care too much to see this second Avatar die.

* NiceJobBreakingItHerod: Sozin's goal wasn't to wipe out the Air Nomads: it was to kill Roku's reincarnation. [[spoiler: He arranged for thousands of people to die in a way that implied the Air Nomads had acted callously, at best, and Aang was going to repeat Kyoshi's massacre, at worst. It's likely Plan A was for the Air Nomads to produce Aang so that he could be put on (show) trial. When they couldn't do that, well, that 'proved' either the Air Nomads has been callously negligent, at best, or Aang was going to repeat Kyoshi's Massacre, at worst.]] Admittedly the '''Fire Nation's''' goals, and propaganda, were for destroying Air Bending so another Avatar could never call down a hurricane again.

* NoDelaysForTheWicked: Everyone in the Fire Nation has to [[spoiler:[[YouHaveFailedMe do as the Fire Lord says or risk death by loyalty sickness]] – JustFollowingOrders with a knife at their neck.]] Fire Nation soldiers in the field [[spoiler:[[ExplosiveLeash die if they blatantly disobey orders]], even if that means committing war crimes, because [[MoreThanMindControl Fire Is Loyalty]].]] Fire Nation civilians [[spoiler: get attacked by Fire Nation spirits if they oppose the war because "[[{{Ghostapo}} Fire Spirits owe loyalty to The Fire Lord]]" – even if that support is polluting their water supplies.]] Luckily, every autumn is hurricane season--crippling the nation-- and the other nations aren't exactly push overs even after a century of war, and sheer human incompetence (see Sadao's story) as well as the way that loyalty isn't meant to be monolithic keep the Fire Nation from being [[Franchise/StarTrek the Borg]]. (Iroh explains in 29 that loyalty means "the bonds of fire and spirit to one's clan, one's lord, and one's followers.")
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Kuzon [[spoiler: reborn as Zuko]] and how!

* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: Aang after being struck by Azula's lightning, and [[spoiler:Zuko betraying Ozai.]] While Azula doesn't say the fatal words in that scene, the triumph in her eyes and voice when she realized [[spoiler:Zuko was trying to stop her]] was more than enough, it seems.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: In addition to being the source of Firebending, most of the Fire Nation [[spoiler:has draconic ancestry, in some cases very recently and on all sides]].

* PersonalityPowers: A person's raw ability in manipulating an element or using techniques based on it is dependent on the degree they possess the personality traits related to that element (among other factors, such as genetics and spiritual favour). [[spoiler: The reverse is also revealed to be true, when those who become yaoren experience personality changes related to the new element. Zuko, who is forcibly given water, becomes far more willing to let others close, and what Shirong experiences after being given fire can be summed up as an increased tendency towards fanaticism that really worries him.]]
* PersonOfMassDestruction: It's not just Aang: One of the illogical things in canon was that a single practitioner of a style stripped of all combat moves was suddenly able to slaughter a small mountain of combat-trained, veteran firebenders given superpowers by Sozin's comet. After experiencing that transformation, it's no wonder Gyatso is horrified by the possibility that airbenders might once again start actually learning how to fight. In the battle in [[spoiler:Chapter 36, on top of a train, Shirong realizes that Ty Lee is holding them in the palm of her hand since her element has them surrounded, and Kuei recites a proverb stating that airbending is the element best at destruction.]] Chalk up another series plothole closed by Embers.

* PillarsOfMoralCharacter: Invoked on Zuko after he gets his [[spoiler: second element]] and healer training, also Iroh, a bit on Amaya. As it is a Japanese trope it is primarily attached to people from the Japan {{Expy}}, the Fire Nation.
* {{Pirate}}: In addition to the pirates Katara stole the waterbending scroll from, the Fire Nation historically got invaded by pirate 'kings' called the waegu (whom might have come from the Earth Kingdom orginally), then the Fire Nation's lack of a central government made them a pirate haven, since all pirates had to do to escape pursuit was to cross the border of one of the many, many small domains, and some domains were entirely on the ocean, meaning very little in the way of international waters. This ended in tragedy when [[spoiler:Kyoshi wiped out the wave clans, along with most of firebending, trying to get the pirates that killed her son.]] In addition to that, both Water Tribes used to not only commit piracy but raid Earth Kingdom villages: the Southern tribe used to fence their loot on Kyoshi Island (despite Kyoshi's views on piracy), and mounting a coast guard was one of the things that brought Chin to power.

-->'''Vathara''': Canon leaves one big plothole... well, one short, somewhat rotund, awesome firebending plothole.

*** Averted: [[spoiler:WordOfGod explains that while Teruko wasn't lying, she wasn't telling the whole truth, either – despite what he did to the dragons, Sozin is still publicly considered a hero for ending the "airbender threat".]]
** Nobody can redirect lightning… until Iroh created that ability, after his study of waterbending. (To heck with this being a Zuko-Sue, it's Iroh-Sue all the way… not that there's anything wrong with that.) [[spoiler:Azula meditates on Iroh's treacherous plans since he kept a counter to the Royal Lightning a secret, while she's trying to bend hot water.]]

*** This one is later explained, as [[spoiler: Kesuk was killed by Asagitatsu- a sacred volcano which explicitly has the power to kill a rampaging Avatar '''without''' destroying the Avatar Cycle.]]

* PowerOfTrust: In their first encounter, Aang [[spoiler:trusted Zuko but didn't feel obligated to be trustworthy in return.]] To [[CultureClash Zuko, representing the Fire Nation]], this had massive UnfortunateImplications, especially since Aang did this knowing Zuko held a high rank in the Fire Nation. [[spoiler:He essentially said he considered all Fire Nation people non-persons, unworthy of honorable treatment.]] Since the Fire Nation being unable to trust the Avatar removes any chance of long-term peace, the fact that even someone who does want peace believes that is very, very scary. Trust is powerful, and this is what happens when there isn't any.

* ProperlyParanoid: Just about any of the less optimistic {{Doom Magnet}}s
* RageAgainstTheMentor: We can only hope Pakku gets the beatdown he so richly deserves. In addition, Zuko isn't likely to appreciate being LockedOutOfTheLoop on several important plot points: [[spoiler:his descent from Avatar Roku, his draconic ancestry, what being Kuzon's reincarnation is doing to his head (it may be making him dislike Aang as well as like him: it's one thing to be hurt by an enemy, another by a best friend).]] Also subverted by [[spoiler:Yue and Katara: instead of being frustrated by the CrypticConversation, Katara realizes that Yue is doing her best and keeps trying to figure out what she means, enabling the real meaning to come through, instead of blaming her and giving up as per the trope.]]

* RememberedICouldFly: [[spoiler: Ty Lee is a non-contrived example. The prospective consequences of Zuko's survival drive her into such desperation that she [[LaserGuidedAmnesia remembers how to Airbend]]. First order of business? Gale-blast everything in Zuko's direction.]]

-->"when I started writing this story, I didn't intend it to be nearly as AU as it turned out. But then I got into researching exactly what sparks off genocides in RL, and what usually has to happen first. And then wondered about why water was the only healing element, and how that might be balanced if all the elements are supposed to be necessary to the world's balance. And then the bunnies tied together Koh, and Wan Shi Tong, and a few other things..." —Vathara AN Chapter 37
* RefusalOfTheCall: Zuko [[spoiler:is trying to find an alternative to becoming Aang's firebending teacher and yaoren ally,]] after Yue ensured that he [[YouCantGoHomeAgain can't go home again]].
* RetiredBadass: Iroh, [[spoiler:who comes out of retirement, and announces it by [[ShockAndAwe smiting an Earth Kingdom general.]]]]

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Zuko [[spoiler:thinks the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes will do this to the Fire Nation once the war's over unless Aang stops it.]] Whether or not he's right is still up in the air. Also, [[spoiler:Katara is trying very hard not to do this while Zuko stamps on her Berserk Buttons. ]]
** And then he offers [[spoiler:her an ''acceptable'' means of doing so, [[MagnificentBastard admitting it's a play]] to [[BreakingTheFellowship separate her from the Gaang]]. and it worked.]] For about five seconds, thanks to [[spoiler:Yue]].

** The Right of Hospitality, recognized by the Air Nomads: you do not attack someone in your camp (under your protection) without due cause and warning. [[spoiler:Aang violating it by almost killing him in chapter 77 is the last straw for Zuko]].
* SacredLanguage: In a world where everyone speaks the same language, there's Fire Nation High Court, unless there's a better trope? Since the Fire Nation is the ThemeParkVersion of Japan, then shouldn't they have an indiginous language just like the real Japan does? In addition to using it for messages that might be intercepted (like Navajo Code Talkers), a disporprotionate amount of the terms Iroh and other Fire Nation people use for spirits and spirit-related things are High Court words. Given that the current Fire Nation government [[spoiler: was formed around the head of the Fire Sages, the ones who dealt with spirits and hence the closest thing the Fire Nation ever had to a multi-domain body without outside interference, it's entirely possible that it was originally mostly a ritual language.]] For instance Agni Kai is High Court. Taking a broad view of the setting it's likely that High Court is a mix of Japanese, due to what the Fire Nation is, and some form of Hindi. Chapter 49 confirms that High Court is Sanskrit, with various Japanese words imported.
* SadlyMythtaken: [[spoiler: One of Kyoshi's followers had become a Yaoren and died for lack of spirit-healing. Seeing an Earthbending follower die from Waterbending was a major reason for Avatar Kyoshi insisting on the rigid separation of the elements and nations. However, in the present, hundred-year-old spiritualists like Aang and Tao believe the spirits took offense to and struck down the follower for daring to tread on two elements. This was a completely wrong attribution of cause, as bending two element requires both great spirits' blessing. However, it could be quite true, for present benders, since the spirits tend to violently uphold an Avatar's Decree and it's unclear whether Kyoshi ever formally decreed this or just considered it a self-evident truth.]]
** Name a historical hero and prepare to be disillusioned. [[spoiler: In the latest chapter, it's revealed that a Northern Water Tribe Avatar went insane and tried to take over the world.]]

* SecretPolice: The Dai Li, and this fic manages to humanize them.
* SeparatedByACommonLanguage: Truce: highly regulated temporary ceasefire, the women calling a time-out, an end to the war, or 'whatever, it's not really that important.'
* SeaMonster: [[spoiler: Man-eating Seahorse dragons, leeches that can give hell to the Unagi, and (by chapter 43) something huge that makes Sokka think twice about pentapi. All stem from the Ocean Spirit's ongoing revenge, and they probably aren't the only things that we'll see.]]

*** [[spoiler: Walking Whales, a.k.a. the Kadzait. They can grow to huge sizes (the skeleton Zuko encounters is 50 ft. tall), live extremely long lives, and can be good or evil, just like dragons. The Dark ones are known as Sea Serpents.]]
*** [[spoiler: In Chapter 78 Zuko defeats a sea serpent banished from his clan for cannibalism of the pods' children. In Chapter 79 we find out that Kadzait are usually sable in color and like colder waters. They have much smaller and more brightly multicolored cousins who live in warm waters called Rakko. The Kadzait seem most like whales while the Rakko are like dolphins.]]
*** [[spoiler: Considering that ''rakko'' means ''otter'' in Japanese, it's likely that the Rakko are otter-dolphin hybrids, following the combined-animal theme of Avatar.]]

* ShapeshifterModeLock: [[spoiler:Shidan can't turn back into a dragon. The transformation to human is described as a gift from Agni, meaning dragons are unable to shapeshift on their own, and lasts either for a night or the lifetime of their [[InterspeciesRomance human lover]], which would be why they disappear after their lover dies.]]
* ShipSinking: [[spoiler: Zuko/Mai]] is no more in this fic, and [[spoiler:Aang/Katara]] is LeftHanging in a precarious position.

* ShootTheMedicFirst: [[spoiler:According to Yue, there are spirits who think that humanity should be wiped out. They're doing it by taking out (by proxy) the healing benders first, since they're a vital component of humanity's ability to defend itself.]] This is probably why everyone except [[spoiler:The Northern Water Tribe]] has lost their [[spoiler:healers]].

* ShoutOut: There's more than just what's listed – Vathara is a crossover author, after all.

** Iroh: The Haima-Jiao attack leads to him understanding [[spoiler: that he perhaps should have extended a hand of assistence to Amaya, even if she did not want it.]]
** Toph: Learns that she probably shouldn't be so quick to stick her toes into unknown water, but rather than just being bitten by a fish [[spoiler: when she happens to be experimenting with the concept of bending salt-water]], she gets attacked by the [[KrakenAndLeviathan Water Spider]] that happens to hunt in that bay.
** Zuko: Indirectly, learns something of overcoming his fears and [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready trauma]] when Shirong shares one of his own inner demons, [[spoiler:which is being haunted by the night he was attacked by something close to an actual demon and its hatchlings]].

* StealthPun: Hey, remember the fused metal fishooks that proved Azula shot Zuko with lighting? Remember when Zuko bought them? No? It was back in Chapter Three. [[IncrediblyLamePun They were Plot Hooks.]]

** [[spoiler: There are also "evil dragons"-- SuperpoweredEvilSide as a characteristic. Non-evil dragons just get pissed and hear monkey-jabber for speech. ]]

* SuperPrototype: Subverted. The dating of the White Lotus' (remaining?) records indicates that [[spoiler:the yaoren came ''before'' the Avatar.]] Since they're the result of a spirit deciding to empower a mortal to handle something that threatens the balance, it makes sense that when they were unable to handle whatever problem and the Avatar Spirit began to be incarnated, it took that template and turned it UpToEleven. The Avatar [[spoiler:has all four elements instead of just two, is born with them instead of having to worry about any of those [[DisabilitySuperpower possibly-madness-and-death-inducing spiritual wounds]], is incredibly powerful instead of sometimes possessing HeroicWillpower without the raw bending power to back it up (which would likely be why they got that wound in the first place), is reborn like yaoren often are instead of immortal like normal spirits (which likely helps immensely when it comes to understanding the human condition, since Aang is only slightly GenreBlind instead of utterly incapable of acting like or understanding normal people,)]] has the past incarnations to act as full-on advisors... It's no wonder [[spoiler:the yaoren got demoted to HeroSecretService.]]

* TakingYouWithMe: Ty Lee tells Azula about Yangchen [[spoiler: taking down Subodei and Xiangchen at the North Pole.]]

* TechnicolorFire: Healing fire is gold, green, and violet[[spoiler:, just like dragon flame.]] And of course Azula's blue fire.

--> Iroh: [[spoiler:“To break one's loyalty, is to douse one's inner fire." Iroh watched them both. "A healer can feed that fire. Can nurture '''embers''' even against the chill of death, until the spirit rallies... or fails.]]
* ToBeLawfulOrGood: The central conflict in ''Embers''; humans need to be Good in order to survive – innocence protected, compassion rewarded, cruelty punished. However, Spirits and spirit-related entities are creatures of Law; to act against their (''extremely'' restrictive) natures is equivalent to being deprived of warmth, food, water, or even air. Violating a contract with a spirit is thus an act of murderous violence, to be answered in kind. As you can guess, this causes humans and spirits to confuse the hell out of each other at best, and actively seek each others' destruction at worst. Take into account that the Avatar – a human/spirit hybrid with divided loyalties – is not unique, and the War and subsequent destruction is not surprising; what is surprising is that there are any humans left ''alive'', as we're ''much'' easier to kill.

** Earth King Kuei. Clearly, his majesty keeps getting [[CharacterDevelopment more and more awesome]] with each appearance he makes, especially [[spoiler:where he accepts Eshe, knowing where is duty as Earth King lies]].

* TouchedByVorlons: [[spoiler: Zuko]] as he was not technically "touched", it was [[spoiler: Yue's]] intevension that gave him his secondary power in a first place.

* UndyingLoyalty: The hat of the Fire Nation. [[spoiler: In a ''very'' literal sense, as in 99% of cases, breaking their loyalty means ''they die.'' Amaya speficially points this out in reference to the Dai Li's brainwashing techniques. People from the Fire Nation can resist the brainwashing for far longer than people of the other nations, and the brainwashing is never wholly effective on them. And Shirong notes that if you ever tried to use one of the few successfully-brainwashed subjects against their own nation, they simply died.]]
--> '''Amaya:''' [[spoiler: They'll break, but they ''won't'' bend.]]

** Practically everyone in the story is an Unreliable Narrator, having their own set of cultural and personal blinders that prevent them from understanding the words and actions of those from other cultures. This CultureClash is one of the main points and themes of the story. Much of the controversy over this story revolves around whether this is done in a way that smoothly meshes with the characters’ canon personalities and behavior, or just shackles them to some form of IdiotBall.

** [[spoiler:Shidan]] makes a big mistake, justified since [[spoiler:he's not the best at understanding humans.]] Knowledge of the show will immediately show that he doesn't know what he's talking about, though.
--> "The Fire Lord is arrogant and cruel. He is not foolish. No one can reign over ashes."

* VisionQuest: Apparently one of these, with guides of all four nations, is another requirement for [[spoiler:becoming a yaoren if another one isn't around to help.]] Katara has her own, [[spoiler:where she is trained to control her wild empathic powers by Yue, but does not become a yaoren.]] On the other hand, given that the most powerful benders are those who learned from the sources of their bending styles, this may end not just compensating for [[spoiler:Pakku's sabotage]], but making her significantly stronger.
* WhamEpisode:
** Chapter 45. [[spoiler: Not only are the Touzaikaze revealed, but one of them is an ''air-healer''. What's more, they offer themselves as potential candidates for brides to the Earth King. Looks like there will be some shipping in the Emberverse after all...]]
** Chapter 57. [[spoiler: Koh is the Avatar Spirit's first child.]]
** Chapter 88. [[spoiler: Ursa. ALIVE. ''With paired dao at her sides''. In front of Azula.]]
* WhiteMage: In the original series Katara very pointedly chose offensive waterbending over healing, which is then ignored for the rest of the series. In Embers this is even more significant, since [[spoiler:throughout her childhood she was given the impression she was supposed to be the healer, and a failure because she wasn't, so she's not just defying the Northern Water Tribe's sexism when she makes the choice to fight but also her own feelings of insecurity and failure.]] Instead of becoming the healer despite almost no training in the show, her talents and interest lie in the other direction and will likely remain insistant on being the BlackMage. Her alternative candidate for healer training is [[spoiler:Haru, since Toph is also [[CuteBruiser violence-focused]], not to mention more interested on what she can do with seawater.]]

* WellDoneSonGuy: Azula and Zuko are both this type of personality, as in canon. [[spoiler: So is Koh, in this continuity]].
* {{Wendigo}}: Discussed as part of the ShownTheirWork about why [[DeliberateValuesDissonance Katara is acting as a responsible adult]] and doing the right thing when [[WrongGenreSavvy she suspects that Zuko is driving the others crazy and needs to die under Ba Sing Se.]] Or rather, [[CultureClash she would be if this were the Water Tribes.]] Vathara seems to enjoy breaking brains and conventional definitions of right and wrong by pointing out the scary bits of how the human psyche works.

* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: [[spoiler:Iroh was about to kill Azula at the end of the Ba Sing Se arc, but is 'rescued' by Toph before he can deliver the finishing blow.]]
** [[spoiler:Captain Lu-shan flat-out questions why the hell Iroh didn't do this, if he's known that Azula has been trying to kill Zuko since she was six.]]

** Chapter 76. [[spoiler: After Hama busted herself out of prison, the other surviving Southern waterbenders decided not to go back to their tribe in the South Pole. Shamed and disgraced and abandoned by one that was their responsibility, they made their home in Lituya Bay.]]

[[/folder]]

* {{Adorkable}}: Zuko, oh so very much.
-->"So, clueless," Shirong concluded.\\
"I very much fear he is, yes."\\
"''He'' is standing right here, Uncle," Zuko said warily. "And ''he'' would like an explanation."\\
"Of course, nephew." Iroh folded his hands in his sleeves with suspicious serenity. "Now let me see, I am sure I have a proverb for this..."\\
"Never mind," Zuko winced. "I don't want to know."
** Ditto Kuei. Bookworm tendencies and a lifetime shut up in the palace tends to do that to a guy;[[spoiler: it's made quite clear after he meets the female Touzaikaze/desert witches in Chapter 45. But hey, at least he's trying. Sort of.]]
-->(Bon, thinking) ''Come on, pick up, I know you have no experience at all, but – oh, who am I kidding? You're clueless–''\\
"Does that sword still mean you're a healer?" Kuei blurted out. "Some of the scrolls I have – here, let me show you..."\\
(Bon) ''... Back to the books.''
--> Bon might be dismissive but Kuei's sharing of the scroll with Eshe was the start of her beginning to trust and like him.

** Possibly ''Disney/LiloAndStitch'': "''I'' have ''a family. It's not my tribe. It's small and hidden and broken.''"

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: All the members of Aang's TrueCompanions are nobility, and Kuei attributes part of his success to this.

* NoDelaysForTheWicked: Everyone in the Fire Nation has to [[spoiler:[[YouHaveFailedMe do as the Fire Lord says or risk death by loyalty sickness]] – JustFollowingOrders with a knife at their neck.]] Fire Nation soldiers in the field [[spoiler:[[ExplosiveLeash die if they blatantly disobey orders]], even if that means committing war crimes, because [[MoreThanMindControl Fire Is Loyalty]].]] Fire Nation civilians [[spoiler: get attacked by Fire Nation spirits if they oppose the war because "[[{{Ghostapo}} Fire Spirits owe loyalty to The Fire Lord]]" – even if that support is polluting their water supplies.]] Luckily, every autumn is hurricane season--crippling the nation-- and the other nations aren't exactly push overs even after a century of war, and sheer human incompetence (see Sadao's story) as well as the way that loyalty isn't meant to be monolithic keep the Fire Nation from being TheBorg. (Iroh explains in 29 that loyalty means "the bonds of fire and spirit to one's clan, one's lord, and one's followers.")

''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5398503/1/Embers Embers]]'' is a popular ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' FanFic by Creator/{{Vathara}} that attempts to deconstruct the standard story of a [[FiveManBand group]] of [[IdiotHero kids]] [[BlackAndWhiteMorality saving]] the world from TheEmpire, with copious amounts of FridgeLogic and FridgeHorror. Moving the ''Avatar'' universe on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism (characters had best not try to invoke HeroInsurance, for example), causes the good guys to [[HanlonsRazor seem]] less good and the bad guys to range from AntiHero to pure evil. It also explores things that the TV show had to gloss over for kids, like [[ChildByRape the horrors of war]], [[EldritchAbomination dangerous]] spirits and [[MindRape Azula]].

-->"He grew up in court," Karasu stated. [[spoiler:"Nephew. You're among kin."]]

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: In addition to being the source of Firebending, most of the Fire Nation [[spoiler:has draconic ancestry, in some cases very recently and on all sides.]]

* GrayEyes: Airbenders, like Aang [[spoiler:and Ty Lee]]. Spiritual, check. Ideas above people, [[spoiler:like putting aside vengeance, or surrendering to Ozai because that would make things so much easier on everyone,]] check. Innocence, check.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: While more upbeat than most examples of this, one of Embers' main themes is that people will often find themselves in situations where they will have to do the wrong thing for the right reasons, or the right thing for the wrong reasons. While at first it seems that this is a case of GreyAndGreyMorality, or 'messed-up people messing up in a messed-up world', sometimes people just have to die, and what divides the characters Vathara holds up as examples from those she deconstructs is their willingness to admit it when they've done something unethical or are going to for the sake of what they hold dear, right reasons or not.

* GrayAndGreyMorality: At first glance, this verse seems like a very well written example of this. People do the right thing for the wrong reasons and the wrong thing for the right reasons. Nothing is ever as cut and dry as it may seem -- and the fact each nation's culture is so very different, as well as backed by spiritual {{Blood Oath}}s (which, in the case of the Fire Nation, bind even non-benders), just causes more incomprehension and confusion. [[ArcWords There are reasons, but no excuses]]. However, the fact that there genuinely are characteristics that can make a person beyond redemption or tolerance, or events so profane they cannot be allowed, makes it a very well written example of BlackAndGrayMorality instead.

* HumansAreSpecial: [[spoiler:When spirits want to wipe out humanity, do they pick a fight with us? No, they try to trick us into destroying ''ourselves,'' slowly destroying our capability to fight them and turning the strengths of the various nations into weaknesses.]] The fact that humanity can and ''should'' stop relying on the Avatar to solve all its problems and regain its own strength and agency is a theme in the fic, culminating in a [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming CMOH]] when Sokka tells Aang that he doesn't believe in the Avatar's ability to save the world, but that of Aang himself: the person, not the powerful spirit.

** WordOfGod too is that Aang ''should'' get to ''stay'' true to his pacifistic ideals, and solve things without violence. [[spoiler:He does and it is a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.]] It's not exactly an IdiotBall when [[TheWoobie Aang]] is surrounded by people who think he means 'stop' as in 'kill' the Fire Lord, and is learning that [[spoiler: the Air Nomads were not exactly what he was raised to think they were]].

* ShockAndAwe: Iroh [[spoiler:comes out of retirement by [[PapaWolf smiting]] a certain Earth Kingdom general]], an event that was both [[IncrediblyLamePun shocking]] and [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome awesome]] to those who weren't familiar with his history. [[PsychoElectro Azula]] is the modern fiction version of a lightning wielder, but in earlier works it was a [[VideoGame/ChronoTrigger heroic or divine element]]. Given some of the foreshadowing (the mind and airbenders), it will likely come up again, especially since the fic makes liberal use of ChekhovsArmory.

* DeadManSwitch: The real reason Clan Byakko hasn't been wiped out. In the same way Kuei's family protects Ba Sing Se from spirits just by existing, Mt. Shirotora, aka the White Tiger, [[spoiler:is the Avatar universe's equivalent of Mt. Krakatoa. While the mountain spirit is implied to be fond of Clan Byakko, who treat it with respect, it would take more than forty fire sages to forcibly subdue it... until they slipped, and they didn't just have a supervolcano eruption on their hands, but an ''angry'' supervolcano.]]

''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5398503/1/Embers Embers]]'' is a popular ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' FanFic by Creator/{{Vathara}} that attempts to deconstruct the standard story of a [[FiveManBand group]] of [[IdiotHero kids]] [[BlackAndWhiteMorality saving]] the world from TheEmpire, with copious amounts of FridgeLogic and FridgeHorror. Moving the WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender universe on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism (characters had best not try to invoke HeroInsurance, for example), causes the good guys to [[HanlonsRazor seem]] less good and the bad guys to range from AntiHero to pure evil. It also explores things that the TV show had to gloss over for kids, like [[ChildByRape the horrors of war]], [[EldritchAbomination dangerous]] spirits and [[MindRape Azula]].