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ljwritesThere's an old saying in Korea, "It's the widower who understands the widow." In many ways, this seems an apt way to describe the Hakoda/Ursa pairing. Who would understand each other better than two people who lost spouses under traumatic (if very different) circumstances, and who know the complications of dating after the end of a prior marriage? Done poorly, this can be a "pair the spares" situation where an attractive widower and divorcee find Twu Wuv simply by virtue of being single.
And then there are stories like Qwi-Xux's Guide Me Home that take what seems like a cliched pairing and makes it sing. In Guide Me Home, Hakoda and Ursa are brought together through a series of events that interweave with and run parallel to the main story of Avatar: The Last Airbender. In the writer's very capable hands, the story brought out the many similarities and compatibilities that the two romantic leads shared. Both were forced to endure separation from their children because of the war; both were willing to give everything to end it; both had, and helped each other discover, reserves of resilience and will that helped them through the tumultuous events of the war. Compared to all that, the fact that they had both lost prior marriages was just a small part of their equation, though it was another aspect of their shared bond. The widower understood the divorcee, and vice versa, but more fundamentally Hakoda and Ursa understood each other as people, and their relationship became the strength that carried them through past heartbreak and current hardship.
More fundamentally, though, Guide Me Home is a story squarely centered on the female protagonist's struggle and growth. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was dissatisfied with Ursa's story arc in the original show. Quite aside from the fact that she dropped off the story with only a mention at the end, even when she was present she was stereotypical and one-dimensional. Sure, Ozai implied she killed Firelord Azulon, but with Azulon ordering Zuko's death it was arguably in defense of her child. We knew nothing about her except the fact that she was Zuko's loving mother and had a more ambiguous relationship with Azula, and while motherhood is an intriguing aspect of her character it was also the only aspect we knew, leaving the character flat. What were her thoughts about the war? What was her relationship with her husband? What were her beliefs and aspirations, other than being a mother? What did she think about her heritage as Avatar Roku's descendant? Who knows? The woman in canon is largely a blank.
Guide Me Home fills out that blank with a traumatized yet brave woman who works tirelessly against the Fire Nation by joining the Earth Kingdom resistance. Racked with guilt over her role in bringing Ozai to power, plagued by terrible memories, and fearing for her children through long years of separation, she tries to build a new life for herself while doing selflessly brave work in redemption--until the day her life comes tumbling down yet again, and she is forced to face not only personal danger but her own past and her deepest fears as she strives to do her part to end the war.
I find so many things to admire about the Ursa that Qwi-Xux has fleshed out. She has been through much, yes, but she isn't a crying victim who has to be saved by the dashing Hakoda. She chooses to sail with the Southern Water Tribe fleet and train as a warrior (and performs solidly when necessary, without being improbably talented), becomes a trusted member of the crew, and redeems herself in her own eyes through dedication and self-sacrifice. The romance aspect was really secondary to her personal development, and that was one of the joys of reading the story. It wasn't a "dating a handsome guy solves everything" story, but a story about a sympathetic woman's struggles to find her way in life. In that sense, Guide Me Home is a feminist story as well as a good romance and adventure story, and more importantly it's a human story.
One particularly heartbreaking aspect of Ursa's trauma was the huge amount of guilt she carries in relation to Azulon's demise and Ozai's rise to power. It shows both her awareness of the larger implications of her actions and her beliefs regarding the war, but it was so sad that she felt it was her fault that the world was in such a state.
The easy answer here might be that it wasn't her fault, that she was put in a horrific situation and forced to defend her son by any means available. And that's a correct statement, but on a deeper level I think I understand why Ursa felt the way she did. Because if she admitted that it wasn't her fault, that it was Ozai's fault and no other, that would mean Ozai had all the power over her life and she had none--and that can be more terrifying than undeserved guilt. Her guilt, painful as it is, seemed to me an attempt to hold onto some measure of control over her own destiny. Her journey to accept her past and herself while reclaiming control over her life was deeply moving, and felt universal despite her very unique circumstances. As I put it in my ff.n review:
And that is, in many ways, the true test of a writer's skill, taking a very specific character from a specific background and circumstances and making that character's story universal. To take a page out of Robert McKee's Story and apply his discussion of archetypal and stereotypical stories to characters, the skilled writer tells a universal story through characters that are grounded in a specific time and place, while the mediocre writer tells a specific story with no universal meaning through vague, generic characters. In this story, Qwi-Xux definitely shows herself to be skilled, and to have the insight to find the universal in the specific and concrete.
Of course, even the most dramatic romance and character development cannot take place outside of a coherent narrative. Even the most internalized and spiritual of journeys take place within events and actions that reflect and shape that inner journey. It is the author's skill with plot and pace that will determine how interesting this outer aspect of the journey is. Here, too, Guide Me Home shines. It's even more impressive because the plot fits perfectly into that of the original show, and complements the canon story by providing additional meaning and impact. Hakoda and Ursa arrive at the North Pole shortly after the Gaang, for instance, where they hear of their respective children's exploits. They are also at Chameleon Bay with the Southern Water Tribe crew, except Sokka does not meet her because Ursa is temporarily away with a Water Tribe comrade wounded in an earlier battle with the Fire Navy. The narrative weaves deftly in and out of the canon story until the thrilling and moving conclusion, like two streams that touch and intersect, flowing together and apart but always in the same direction until they reach the same great waters at their end.
And isn't that the story of all parents and children? Children may come from their parents, but at some point the paths of their lives diverge even when they are close. At some point every parent has to live through the separation of their children becoming individuals who make their own choices with their own triumphs and mistakes. For Ursa and Hakoda that point simply came earlier than some, due to the extraordinary demands the war placed on them. Their joy and pain as parents, playing their own part in the fight while hearing of their children's from afar and tantalizingly close, added new dimensions to the two leads and made their romance that much richer and more complex.
These strands of Ursa's life, the shadow in her past and her courage in overcoming it, her growing bond with Hakoda, and above all her love and yearning for her children, lead at the climax to a decision that takes her away from the man she loves into both personal danger and the very heart of her long grief. That choice, more than any mountains of description and dialogue, showed the person she had grown to become through the events of the story. I have to admit I cried shamelessly, but more than pained I was inspired by the long journey that had taken the character to that height of courage and devotion. It was a resounding moment of fiction that laid bare so many truths about my own life, and showed me a glimpse of the kind of life I wanted to live, the person I wanted to be. It was to me, in short, what every story should be.
After a paean like that I'm almost tempted to skip the parts about the story I didn't like, but that would go against my picky nature. And baby, I was born this way or something so I should express myself, right? (Neither link is safe for work.) So the next part of the review will be about the parts of the story I thought could be improved. Keep in mind that this is mostly me expressing my personal preferences, pointing out parts that would have made Guide Me Home a better story for me, personally.
Links
- Fanfiction.net profile: Qwi-Xux
- Guide Me Home
- Tropes Page
And then there are stories like Qwi-Xux's Guide Me Home that take what seems like a cliched pairing and makes it sing. In Guide Me Home, Hakoda and Ursa are brought together through a series of events that interweave with and run parallel to the main story of Avatar: The Last Airbender. In the writer's very capable hands, the story brought out the many similarities and compatibilities that the two romantic leads shared. Both were forced to endure separation from their children because of the war; both were willing to give everything to end it; both had, and helped each other discover, reserves of resilience and will that helped them through the tumultuous events of the war. Compared to all that, the fact that they had both lost prior marriages was just a small part of their equation, though it was another aspect of their shared bond. The widower understood the divorcee, and vice versa, but more fundamentally Hakoda and Ursa understood each other as people, and their relationship became the strength that carried them through past heartbreak and current hardship.
More fundamentally, though, Guide Me Home is a story squarely centered on the female protagonist's struggle and growth. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was dissatisfied with Ursa's story arc in the original show. Quite aside from the fact that she dropped off the story with only a mention at the end, even when she was present she was stereotypical and one-dimensional. Sure, Ozai implied she killed Firelord Azulon, but with Azulon ordering Zuko's death it was arguably in defense of her child. We knew nothing about her except the fact that she was Zuko's loving mother and had a more ambiguous relationship with Azula, and while motherhood is an intriguing aspect of her character it was also the only aspect we knew, leaving the character flat. What were her thoughts about the war? What was her relationship with her husband? What were her beliefs and aspirations, other than being a mother? What did she think about her heritage as Avatar Roku's descendant? Who knows? The woman in canon is largely a blank.
Guide Me Home fills out that blank with a traumatized yet brave woman who works tirelessly against the Fire Nation by joining the Earth Kingdom resistance. Racked with guilt over her role in bringing Ozai to power, plagued by terrible memories, and fearing for her children through long years of separation, she tries to build a new life for herself while doing selflessly brave work in redemption--until the day her life comes tumbling down yet again, and she is forced to face not only personal danger but her own past and her deepest fears as she strives to do her part to end the war.
I find so many things to admire about the Ursa that Qwi-Xux has fleshed out. She has been through much, yes, but she isn't a crying victim who has to be saved by the dashing Hakoda. She chooses to sail with the Southern Water Tribe fleet and train as a warrior (and performs solidly when necessary, without being improbably talented), becomes a trusted member of the crew, and redeems herself in her own eyes through dedication and self-sacrifice. The romance aspect was really secondary to her personal development, and that was one of the joys of reading the story. It wasn't a "dating a handsome guy solves everything" story, but a story about a sympathetic woman's struggles to find her way in life. In that sense, Guide Me Home is a feminist story as well as a good romance and adventure story, and more importantly it's a human story.
One particularly heartbreaking aspect of Ursa's trauma was the huge amount of guilt she carries in relation to Azulon's demise and Ozai's rise to power. It shows both her awareness of the larger implications of her actions and her beliefs regarding the war, but it was so sad that she felt it was her fault that the world was in such a state.
Because Ozai wouldn't have been Firelord if not for me. . . . There was no guarantee that Iroh would have been different, that the war wouldn't have continued or been worse if she had remained uninvolved, but she couldn't pretend she had nothing to do with the state of the world. She had ensured that Ozai had the throne, and that was crime enough. Zuko had been spared, but the world was suffering.
The easy answer here might be that it wasn't her fault, that she was put in a horrific situation and forced to defend her son by any means available. And that's a correct statement, but on a deeper level I think I understand why Ursa felt the way she did. Because if she admitted that it wasn't her fault, that it was Ozai's fault and no other, that would mean Ozai had all the power over her life and she had none--and that can be more terrifying than undeserved guilt. Her guilt, painful as it is, seemed to me an attempt to hold onto some measure of control over her own destiny. Her journey to accept her past and herself while reclaiming control over her life was deeply moving, and felt universal despite her very unique circumstances. As I put it in my ff.n review:
Ursa's story here . . . is at once extraordinary and universal; she may have been a Fire Nation princess and later mother to the Firelord, but her issues with regret, guilt, family, abuse, romance, and life would strike a chord in anyone. Even though she is nobility, her fight and her courage were those of a woman, an everywoman if you will, caught in war, and when she spoke and struggled I felt like I was watching the same for many, many others. . . . your skill . . . giv[es] this most intimate of stories such panoramic sweep, not only in the scale of events but in the depth of the story told.
And that is, in many ways, the true test of a writer's skill, taking a very specific character from a specific background and circumstances and making that character's story universal. To take a page out of Robert McKee's Story and apply his discussion of archetypal and stereotypical stories to characters, the skilled writer tells a universal story through characters that are grounded in a specific time and place, while the mediocre writer tells a specific story with no universal meaning through vague, generic characters. In this story, Qwi-Xux definitely shows herself to be skilled, and to have the insight to find the universal in the specific and concrete.
Of course, even the most dramatic romance and character development cannot take place outside of a coherent narrative. Even the most internalized and spiritual of journeys take place within events and actions that reflect and shape that inner journey. It is the author's skill with plot and pace that will determine how interesting this outer aspect of the journey is. Here, too, Guide Me Home shines. It's even more impressive because the plot fits perfectly into that of the original show, and complements the canon story by providing additional meaning and impact. Hakoda and Ursa arrive at the North Pole shortly after the Gaang, for instance, where they hear of their respective children's exploits. They are also at Chameleon Bay with the Southern Water Tribe crew, except Sokka does not meet her because Ursa is temporarily away with a Water Tribe comrade wounded in an earlier battle with the Fire Navy. The narrative weaves deftly in and out of the canon story until the thrilling and moving conclusion, like two streams that touch and intersect, flowing together and apart but always in the same direction until they reach the same great waters at their end.
And isn't that the story of all parents and children? Children may come from their parents, but at some point the paths of their lives diverge even when they are close. At some point every parent has to live through the separation of their children becoming individuals who make their own choices with their own triumphs and mistakes. For Ursa and Hakoda that point simply came earlier than some, due to the extraordinary demands the war placed on them. Their joy and pain as parents, playing their own part in the fight while hearing of their children's from afar and tantalizingly close, added new dimensions to the two leads and made their romance that much richer and more complex.
These strands of Ursa's life, the shadow in her past and her courage in overcoming it, her growing bond with Hakoda, and above all her love and yearning for her children, lead at the climax to a decision that takes her away from the man she loves into both personal danger and the very heart of her long grief. That choice, more than any mountains of description and dialogue, showed the person she had grown to become through the events of the story. I have to admit I cried shamelessly, but more than pained I was inspired by the long journey that had taken the character to that height of courage and devotion. It was a resounding moment of fiction that laid bare so many truths about my own life, and showed me a glimpse of the kind of life I wanted to live, the person I wanted to be. It was to me, in short, what every story should be.
After a paean like that I'm almost tempted to skip the parts about the story I didn't like, but that would go against my picky nature. And baby, I was born this way or something so I should express myself, right? (Neither link is safe for work.) So the next part of the review will be about the parts of the story I thought could be improved. Keep in mind that this is mostly me expressing my personal preferences, pointing out parts that would have made Guide Me Home a better story for me, personally.
Links
- Fanfiction.net profile: Qwi-Xux
- Guide Me Home
- Tropes Page
