siderealsandman:

ravenonthetardis:

roach-works:

comradekatara:

comradekatara:

imagine having to travel the world with your little sister and two twelve year olds who are all extremely powerful, traumatized, and stubborn, and you have very tangible goals with real stakes but to get them to do anything you have to know how to apply a very delicate touch. and you have to do that for months with absolutely no one to vent to. the fact that sokka didn’t lose every single shred of sanity he had is a testament to his fortitude and strength of character. im just saying.

and then the second you’re about to spend a nice, romantic evening with your awesome girlfriend who is your peer, zuko fucking barges in and demands you describe to him in vivid detail how your mother was murdered. like that won’t kill the mood. smh

everyone always goes on about how katara had to grow up too fast and was so motherly for being a very young teenager and that kind of thing has real psychological consequences but like also: goddamn, sokka was a fifteen year old boy who had the care and feeding of three deeply wounded kids who each had the capacity to kill him on accident, plus zuko. water tribe culture might have some rigid, sexist bullshit to get past, but holy shit does it apparently raise good boys. 

Honestly I think that Zuko joining the Gaang was excellent for Sokka- he was no longer the only adult, no longer the oldest. You can’t vent to your younger siblings, and let’s be real a 15 year old can’t vent to a 12 year old either. But the moment Zuko, a 16 y/o, joins up, they sneak out to rescue is father and girl friend and end up actually talking to each other. Even if the best Zuko can offer is “that’s rough buddy” he’s still listening to Sokka’s struggles in a way that the rest of the Gaang can’t.

IIRC Zuko’s arrival marks the first time we see Sokka leaning on someone else for support. He sorta does it in The Runaway but that’s also on his sister’s behalf in an attempt to mend the rift between her and Toph. 

But Zuko’s like…I would argue in a very similar position to Sokka. Obviously Hakoda and Ozai are nowhere near the same in terms of parenting, but they were both 13 year old boys who were asked to do the job of adults. He can’t lean on Aang or Toph or Katara because he feels responsible for them and, well, good “parents” don’t lean on their children for support; they provide it. 

And he tries to step into that role with Suki in the Serpent’s Pass, tries to take on the burden of protecting her but she pretty effortlessly reminds him that she’s not going to make him responsible for her safety or ask him to sacrifice his emotional well-being to be with her. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that Sokka’s love interest is someone who doesn’t need him but wants him for the kind of person he is and not the things he can provide for her. 

A lot of boys lacking fathers get thrust into the “man of the house” role before they’re even teenagers which plays havoc on a growing boy’s sense of self-esteem and development, effectively reducing their worth to how well they perform the role of “man of the house”. 

Sokka’s journey throughout the series is in part him putting down the responsibility of being a “team dad” at sixteen and pursuing things that interest him (mechanics, strategy, swordplay, meat). Only by doing that does he grow into a hero who helps to save the Earth Kingdom and a world leader.