History Fanfic / Embers

* 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 the Hitsugaya expy gives their job description as holding the line against the current threat until the Avatar can get there to solve the problem.]]

* NoDelaysForTheWicked - Everyone in the Fire Nation has to [[spoiler:[[YouHaveFailedMe do as the Fire Lord says or they die of loyalty sickness or spirit attack]] - they are all JustFollowingOrders really, really reluctantly.]] Fire Nation soldiers in the field [[spoiler:[[ExplosiveLeash die if they blatantly disobey orders]], even ones to commit war crimes, because "[[MoreThanMindControl Fire Is Loyalty]]".]] Fire Nation civilians [[spoiler:get attacked by Fire Nation spirits if they don't support the war because "[[{{Ghostapo}} Fire Spirits Support The Fire Lord]]", [[StateSec rebel and be slaughtered by ghosts]] - even if that support is polluting their water supplies.]] FridgeLogic - ''Why didn't the Fire Nation win the war decades earlier?''
** Because every autumn is hurricane season thus losing a lot of supplies and damaging their infrastructure, the other nations aren't exactly push overs even after a century of war, and sheer human incompetence see Sadao's story.

** It's been all but stated that the Military portion of the Fire Nation does not swear loyalty to the Fire Lord, they swear loyalty to the bloodline--that way there's no hiccups when a new Fire Lord takes the throne, and why there was no loyalty sickness when Zuko's old crew turned traitor ''for him.''
*** Likewise it's unlikely that soliders swear personal loyalty to their commanders. Combine that with an easy bit of DoubleThink: "If I do this horrible thing then the Earth Kingdom will be driven to counter attack viciously and many Fire Nation soldiers will die and that will hurt The Fire Nation." Well, then you can have a bunch of soldiers doing a bad job at atrocities.

* NoDelaysForTheWicked - Everyone in the Fire Nation has to [[spoiler:[[YouHaveFailedMe do as the Fire Lord says or they die of loyalty sickness or spirit attack.]]]] Fire Nation soldiers in the field [[spoiler:die if they blatantly disobey orders, even ones to commit war crimes.]] Fire Nation civilians [[spoiler:get attacked by Fire Nation spirits if they don't support the war - even if that support is polluting their water supplies.]] FridgeLogic - ''Why didn't the Fire Nation win the war decades earlier?''

** On Vathara's part, Chapter 57: [[spoiler:Avatar Kesuk went crazy and got stuck in the Avatar State. It's strongly implied, if not outright stated, that she was in it when she died. Except dying in the Avatar State breaks the cycle, so what was going on there?]]
*** Actually...it's said within the chapter that the World-Spirit bid Asagitatsu to erupt, so it was a natural disaster, really.

* 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.]] Every time Zuko or Iroh or any of the canon Fire Nation "good guys" are asked to answer for a hundred years of war, they change the subject to how they know that they're going to eventually lose, and the other nations will take their revenge, and how most of Fire Nation is going to die. Zuko doesn't seem to be heading for his canon realization that [[http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/The_Day_of_Black_Sun,_Part_2:_The_Eclipse "The people of the world are terrified by the Fire Nation! They don’t see our greatness - they hate us! And we deserve it."]] To reference [[BabylonFive a far better work]], [[http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/The_Very_Long_Night_of_Londo_Mollari "[The Fire Nation's] not sorry for what [they] did! [They]'re just sorry that [they] got caught!"]]
** This is probably integral to [[spoiler:[[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragons]] and [[HalfHumanHybrid dragon hybrids]]]] - they are [[BlueAndOrangeMorality very, VERY focused on what's in immediate proximity to them]] with the corollary that they don't much care for anything happening outside their territory. Those that didn't kill the Air Nomads themselves couldn't make themselves care about it. Also an Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe problem: the Water Tribes let the Fire Nation get at the temples near the poles, and according to a shaman who was alive at the time, general public opinion in the Earth Kingdom at the time of the genocide was that the Air Nomads deserved it for something that happened centuries ago (it was all about the Earth Kingdom and their ancestors). Racism, xenophobia and only caring about our immediate group are human traits, sadly.
** Also justified: Zuko and Iroh are from a revenge-based culture, and the Earth Kingdom has a focus on deals and repayment in kind (the Air Nomads didn't help them, they didn't help the Air Nomads). In sin-and-repentance-based moral systems, crimes are made up for by apologies and atonement: the right thing for the Fire Nation to do would be to apologize and make reparations. In a revenge-based moral system, where 'a man does not rest under the same sky as his father's murderer, or a woman her mother's,' apologies can actually be regarded as morally reprehensible. Shameless begging for mercy by someone who doesn't deserve it, or trying to get out of paying for a crime that should be paid for in blood, not empty words.
*** It's CultureClash between, "You did something bad, so if you don't apologize, you will deserve it when I try to kill you! Apology now!" versus, "We did something bad, so of course you're going to try to kill us: could you please spare the children?" Resulting in, "They won't apologize, so they aren't willing to admit they did something bad: they are evil and shall die!" and, "They're refusing to spare the children?! OhCrap!" The Water Tribes want to hear an apology and the Fire Nation wants to hear how bad the well-deserved beatdown is going to be: [[UnreliableNarrator neither side is actually hearing what the other is saying]], resulting in Katara's belief that they're evil being confirmed, as well as Zuko and Iroh's own incorrect beliefs about the Avatar and what'd going to happen when they lose.
*** So for Katara, it wasn't just about her mother and so on: all three of these groups have different views of how 'justice' is supposed to work that seemed like selfishness to the others.
*** It's still indicative of a ''serious'' problem with Fire Nation culture; admitting guilt for a crime out of an understanding of ethics is part of the thought process of not wanting to repeat the ''crime'', while submitting out of fear of punishment just means you want to avoid that punishment; ''[[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught you'd still commit the crime if you could avoid punishment.]]'' If the Fire Nation won't admit guilt, it's a moral imperative that they be wiped out before they try to conquer the world again, this time trying a hell of a lot harder to win. Canonically, Zuko realizes this in his Black Sun speech - "We have created an era of fear in the world. And if we don’t want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace and kindness." In Embers, he's doing continuous mental gymnastics to divert himself from that realization - he ''admits'' that he has serious psychological problems communicating with people, and may be ''completely incapable'' of comprehending an ethics-based morality as opposed to a punishment-based one.

*** It's still indicative of a ''serious'' problem with Fire Nation culture; admitting guilt for a crime out of an understanding of ethics means it is less likely you'll commit that crime again, but surrendering out of fear of punishment means you'll just be more careful the next time you commit that crime - as in if the Fire Nation won't admit guilt, it's a moral imperative that they be wiped out before they try to conquer the world again, this time trying a hell of a lot harder to win. Canonically, Zuko realizes this in his Black Sun speech - "We have created an era of fear in the world. And if we don’t want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace and kindness." In Embers, he's doing continuous mental gymnastics to divert himself from that realization - he ''admits'' that he has serious psychological problems communicating with people, and may be ''completely incapable'' of comprehending an ethics-based morality as opposed to a punishment-based one.

*** It's still indicative of a ''serious'' problem with Fire Nation culture; admitting guilt for a crime out of an understanding of ethics means it is less likely you'll commit that crime again, but surrendering out of fear of punishment means you'll just be more careful the next time you commit that crime - as in if the Fire Nation won't admit guilt, it's a moral imperative that they be wiped out before they try to conquer the world again, this time trying a hell of a lot harder to win. Canonically, Zuko realizes this in his Black Sun speech. In Embers, he's doing continuous mental gymnastics to divert himself from that realization - he ''admits'' that he has serious psychological problems relating to people, and may be ''completely incapable'' of comprehending an ethics-based morality as opposed to a punishment-based one.

*** It's still indicative of a ''serious'' problem with Fire Nation culture; admitting guilt for a crime out of an understanding of ethics means it is less likely you'll commit that crime again, but surrendering out of fear of punishment means you'll just be more careful the next time you commit that crime - as in if the Fire Nation won't admit guilt, it's a moral imperative that they be wiped out before they try to conquer the world again, this time trying a hell of a lot harder to win.

* 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 Nato ''have'' to support the war, no matter what it costs them - even to the point of permitting the {{Charles Dickens}}esque poverty and environmental damage seen in "The Painted Lady".

* 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 Nato ''have'' to support the war, no matter what it costs them - even to the point of permitting the [[Charles Dickens]]esque poverty and environmental damage seen in "The Painted Lady".

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:In chapter 51 Sokka realizes Zuko did this at the North Pole. If Zuko wasn't there Iroh might not have been there and Yue wouldn't have known she could save the Moon. That is debatable. What is not is this: If Zuko wasn't there no one would have dragged the meditating Aang across the ice, meaning ''he would have been there when Zhao showed up''.]]
* NoDelaysForTheWicked: Everyone in the Fire Nation has to [[spoiler:[[YouHaveFailedMe do as the Fire Lord says or they die of loyalty sickness or spirit attack.]]]] Fire Nation soldiers in the field [[spoiler:die if they blatantly disobey orders, even ones to commit war crimes.]] Fire Nation civilians [[spoiler:get attacked by Fire Nation spirits if they don't support the war - even if that support is polluting their water supplies.]] FridgeLogic - ''Why didn't the Fire Nation win the war decades earlier?''

* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy - [[spoiler:The Hitsugaya expy has some of his hair turn white where Yue touched him.]] This is specifically described as meant to be scary: "La is ticked," and the character is AnIcePerson and meant to be the rival/counterargument to [[spoiler:Aang's portrayal of airbenders as inherent pacifists who wouldn't hurt a fly.]]

* 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:The Henry Jones Sr. Expy 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.']]

** [[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 twice as if any supposed spirit is strong enough to to defeat him then it is a threat to the entire Fire Nation.]]

* 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!

*** Referencing the above notes about dragons, WordOfGod is as follows:
::: Very cool entry, people. Very cool. I liked this a lot more than I anticipated from the first version that went up. Yes, exactly; Zuko’s instincts are a ''mess'', and the poor guy ''knows it''.
::: Though, please re-read 39. Dragons did not ''participate'' in the Air Nomad massacre. They just didn't help. ''Either side.'' Just like the Air Nomads didn't help the Earth Kingdom when Chin the Conqueror was tearing up the place. After all, humans said that was the ''Avatar's'' job.
::: In Shidan’s case, there are two main reasons he didn’t help, despite actually liking some Air Nomads. First, because he and Kuzon were Up To Something that kept them very busy. (If you’ve read to Chp. 42, you’ve got a good idea what.) Remember that in canon Sozin’s actions caught almost the whole world off guard, and the bulk of the massacre was carried out in ''one day'', much of it thousands of miles from dragon territory. The vast majority of dragons couldn’t have helped whether or not they’d wanted to. Second - Kuzon, Ran, and a host of other people were ''dying''. Byakko goes, Shirotora goes up. Shidan had ''priorities''.

** Vathara ''really'' [[RootingForTheEmpire likes The Empire]]. She has a Ruroken-StarWars fusion which puts the best possible light on the evil empire and the worst on the Jedi that you ever did see without actually changing any major facts... Except that she agrees with Grand Moff Tarkin that WMDs are a reason to surrender unconditionally - ie [[InsaneTrollLogic Kenshin shouldn't publicly aid the rebels because it woud be his fault if they used the Death Star on more planets]]. [[PuttingOnTheReich Militaristic empires]] with huge fleets appear to just put her in her happy place. Thus, the Fire Nation is way cool. ([[EvilIsCool Which it kinda is.]] Vathara downplays the ridiculous propaganda machine, though, because being duped by the government does not befit [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Proud Warrior Race Badass Dragon People]], apparently.)

** [[OrIsIt Or]] [[LongLostRelative Is]] [[KissingCousins It]]?