I've frequently noticed this trope, and it likely originates in fanfiction. Fan-made stories tend to assassinate and undermine existing characters, often to elevate the author's preferred character or an original one. I find it frustrating, especially now that I see it in professionally made stories. Every character is vital and none should be written poorly to prop up another.
I wonder what the most severe and egregious character assassination in fiction is: Superman in the Snyderverse, Superman in The Dark Knight Strikes Again and All-Star Batman & Robin, Batman in All-Star Batman & Robin, Batman in The Dark Knight Rises, Batman in the Snyderverse, Batman in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Peter Parker in One More Day, Mary Jane Watson in One Moment In Time and Dan Slott and Zeb Wells' Spider-Man series, Eddie Brock in Spider-Man 3, Eddie Brock in the Sonyverse, Dr. Henry Pym/Ant-Man/Giant-Man in the Ultimate Universe, Iron Man in Civil War in the comics and the MCU, Iron Man in Secret Invasion, Bruce Banner in the MCU (Infinity War onward), Thor in the MCU (Endgame onward), Wanda Maximoff in WandaVision, Cyclops in the Fox X-Men films, James Bond in the Daniel Craig films, Optimus Prime in the Bayverse, Dexter Morgan in Season 7 onward, Rocky Balboa in the Creed trilogy, Han Solo in the Sequel Trilogy, Luke Skywalker in the Sequel Trilogy, Finn in The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister, Jamie Lannister, Joel Miller in The Last of Us: Part II, or Indiana Jones in The Dial of Destiny.
When I think of character assassinations I think of Spider-man. The damage Marvel writers have done to Peter Parker is just shameful. As far as the Zuko heel turn, you need to understand that there is still a small part of Zuko that wants the approval and love of his dad. Despite everything Azula has done there is a small part of him that still wants to make his dad proud and the point of his heel turn was that he still needed to sort himself out. The beach episode was made to finally force Zuko to confront his problems and it leads to him finally joining Team Avatar Was the idea executed well? Perhaps not but the intention was good. I would probably call it a slight writing misfire but not completely bad. I can understand why you would dislike it but keep.mind not everyone takes writing as seriously as you. That does not make them ignorant.
Thanks for the comment, in response to what you've said: So I absolutely understand that there is still a small part of him that wants his father's approval, however I would argue that by the end of Book 2 it is just that: a small part of him. Every other part of him, however, was firmly put on this redemptive arc as shown by his actions with freeing Appa, going on that date with the Ba Sing Se chick, having that heart-to-heart with Katara in the cave, and also fighting alongside team Avatar previously in the season to take down Azula. I think my two biggest gripes with his heel turn is firstly his complete betrayal of Uncle Iroh - the man who by all accounts has replaced his Father figure and who has shown him nothing but love and hope. The second being that the person who got him to betray everyone was Azula - the person in his life who he hates the most and has lied to him repeatedly throughout the season. These gripes could've been fixed or at least made a lot better if maybe Zuko was tricked into betraying Iroh by anyone other than Azula. Or perhaps Azula could've hypnotized him using the Ba Sing Se conditioning shenanigans? Regardless, thanks again for the view and comment!
Good take.
I've frequently noticed this trope, and it likely originates in fanfiction. Fan-made stories tend to assassinate and undermine existing characters, often to elevate the author's preferred character or an original one. I find it frustrating, especially now that I see it in professionally made stories. Every character is vital and none should be written poorly to prop up another.
I wonder what the most severe and egregious character assassination in fiction is: Superman in the Snyderverse, Superman in The Dark Knight Strikes Again and All-Star Batman & Robin, Batman in All-Star Batman & Robin, Batman in The Dark Knight Rises, Batman in the Snyderverse, Batman in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Peter Parker in One More Day, Mary Jane Watson in One Moment In Time and Dan Slott and Zeb Wells' Spider-Man series, Eddie Brock in Spider-Man 3, Eddie Brock in the Sonyverse, Dr. Henry Pym/Ant-Man/Giant-Man in the Ultimate Universe, Iron Man in Civil War in the comics and the MCU, Iron Man in Secret Invasion, Bruce Banner in the MCU (Infinity War onward), Thor in the MCU (Endgame onward), Wanda Maximoff in WandaVision, Cyclops in the Fox X-Men films, James Bond in the Daniel Craig films, Optimus Prime in the Bayverse, Dexter Morgan in Season 7 onward, Rocky Balboa in the Creed trilogy, Han Solo in the Sequel Trilogy, Luke Skywalker in the Sequel Trilogy, Finn in The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister, Jamie Lannister, Joel Miller in The Last of Us: Part II, or Indiana Jones in The Dial of Destiny.
When I think of character assassinations I think of Spider-man. The damage Marvel writers have done to Peter Parker is just shameful. As far as the Zuko heel turn, you need to understand that there is still a small part of Zuko that wants the approval and love of his dad. Despite everything Azula has done there is a small part of him that still wants to make his dad proud and the point of his heel turn was that he still needed to sort himself out. The beach episode was made to finally force Zuko to confront his problems and it leads to him finally joining Team Avatar
Was the idea executed well? Perhaps not but the intention was good. I would probably call it a slight writing misfire but not completely bad. I can understand why you would dislike it but keep.mind not everyone takes writing as seriously as you. That does not make them ignorant.
Thanks for the comment, in response to what you've said:
So I absolutely understand that there is still a small part of him that wants his father's approval, however I would argue that by the end of Book 2 it is just that: a small part of him. Every other part of him, however, was firmly put on this redemptive arc as shown by his actions with freeing Appa, going on that date with the Ba Sing Se chick, having that heart-to-heart with Katara in the cave, and also fighting alongside team Avatar previously in the season to take down Azula.
I think my two biggest gripes with his heel turn is firstly his complete betrayal of Uncle Iroh - the man who by all accounts has replaced his Father figure and who has shown him nothing but love and hope. The second being that the person who got him to betray everyone was Azula - the person in his life who he hates the most and has lied to him repeatedly throughout the season.
These gripes could've been fixed or at least made a lot better if maybe Zuko was tricked into betraying Iroh by anyone other than Azula. Or perhaps Azula could've hypnotized him using the Ba Sing Se conditioning shenanigans?
Regardless, thanks again for the view and comment!
ITS SUPIN' TIME