New Korra Clip: The Favorite Child

[sophranius]

Legend of Korra: "The Favorite Child"

Source

First of all, I think it is incredibly unlikely Aang would consciously play favorites in such a manner that it impacted his kids even decades later. But on top of that, like hell Katara would ever allow anything like that to go on? Neither Aang or Katara would allow this to go on with most vague

Comments

[somnus_angel]

Yeah I would doubt Aang of all people would just forget his other two children and only focus on Tenzin, I see where they are coming from with the fact that they might not have gotten as much attention in general around people since Kya and Bumi are not airbenders but I think its pushing it a little too much with Aang playing a role in this as well

[houndooms]

tbh we never really got to see aang when he was dealing with the matter of rebuilding the airbenders and he WAS the only one so yes i could actually totally see him unintentionally playing favorites. i mean there's probably more to this and i'm sure aang did love kya and bumi but i don't really think this is so far out of left field for a man who was the last of his kind and was basically in charge of keeping his culture and people alive.

that said it doesn't excuse what he did, i just don't think it's unreasonable for someone in aang's position to do something like this. though i do wonder why katara apparently never objected to it? also i wonder if tenzin saying he remembers it differently means anything but probably not.

[sophranius]

If he was taking Tenzin to the air temples that would have made perfect sense. Kyoshi, Ember Island, and apparently a slew of other places, though? Katara wouldn't have let Aang do that to Bumi and Kya. Both Katara and Aang know what it is like to be left behind, or what it feels like to be excluded by people they care about.

I think this is just the writer's trying to force the gap between the Kataang kids even wider, at the expense of Aang's character, so they can probably make it seem really heartwarming when the siblings get it together at the end of the season or whatever.

[houndooms]

idk i don't necessarily think it's at the expense of aang's character, it's a situation where we as the viewer who have never been in a position quite like aang's wouldn't really have an easy time understanding (even though he does know what it feels like to be left out, i think this is something of a different situation). really, the more confusing part for me is that katara was apparently okay with it, i can get aang letting his love for his people leading him to make bad decisions, but i can't get his wife having no problem with him not taking his other two kids with him.

it does seem pretty eye roll worthy so far, but we've gotten less than two minutes of this plot so i'm just going to wait to see where it goes.

eta: and regardless of what really happened, unless kya and bumi had their memories wiped, aang is still a jerk for doing it.

[sophranius]

Yeah, of course. I'm mostly hoping that instead of just stating this and making it about how Tenzin ignores how his siblings are treated/was too self absorbed to care because he's the baby of the family and was the world's great hope, they at least explain a little bit of how the kids were raised with one another. Katara isn't dead. If Aang or she did screw up in the past like that, she'd own up to it now.

I've seen that theory that Aang did mean to just take Tenzin to the air temples, but got sidetracked and did the other stuff each time, but IDK. I think Katara would have corrected him and had him take Kya and Bumi next time after the first screwup.

[houndooms]

omg according to bryan there's an earth queen ruling the earth kingdom!! o/t but this is important.

[sophranius]

Really? That's awesome. :D

I wonder if we'll ever get to see her in future books.

[venom_wolf]

Hell yes. I hope we get to see the Earth Queen and the new Fire Lord in later Books!

[volare]

Ouch.

But... this does resonate.

These kinds of dynamics happen in families without even realizing it until hindsight kicks you in the rear with it. This occurred to a degree between my father, my brother and myself, with my dad seeming to be closer to my younger brother than me, taking trips together and so on -- but that narrative, like Tenzin's, also falls under what somnus_angel already said: My brother stayed in the Boy Scouts while I did not. Tenzin was the airbender... so these trips likely seemed necessary to his specific needs while Aang could have felt Kya and Bumi would be bored, have no connection, or more specifically, if these were also training trips in their own way, a distraction to Tenzin's learning. Tenzin may also frame them as "vacations" in his memory, when between his parents they were pilgrimages, learning trips or what have you... without realizing how they were perceived by the other kids. Even the most loving parents can have this happen, because you don't see it until it's too late.

[tiddlywinks103]

What makes Aang or Katara so special that they would just never, ever, ever nope diddly dope ever play favorites?

It almost seems unavoidable, seeing as how until Tenzin, there were no more airbenders. Mandatory special one-on-one training alone would single Tenzin out. Does not mean that they don't love their other kids, but let's be real, most families know who the fav kid is, and every gets over it. Or not. Some parents just gel better with a particular kid they have.

[sophranius]

Parents usually do just gel better with a different kid, but usually they aren't so stupid and IDGAF about it where they don't even attempt to pretend that's not the case so as to avoid building up resentment between siblings that usually happens because of that. Taking only one child on vacations around the world and leaving the other ones at home is a bad move.