Yeah, I really like what they're doing with siblings in this one -- the parallels/contrasts between Sokka and Katara, Zuko and Azula, and the Water Tribe siblings are very interesting. (What's also interesting is that it's all brother-sister pairs. Does ATLA have any same-sex sibling pairs? Korra has Mako and Bolin, I guess ...)
I'm guessing Ikem at least (and probably Ursa, too) got new faces? And as long as I'm speculating, conservation of characters gives good odds that Ikem is Noren. . . .
... oh my. Neither of these possibilities had occurred to me. I think I'd gotten stuck on thinking the wolf spirit was Ikem, or was somehow connected to Ikem, and forgot when I was reading this issue that we have no idea what happened to him. Ikem being Noren is an absolutely fascinating possibility! Actually, since the idea of face-switching hadn't occurred to me, this raises the EVEN MORE fascinating possibility that the couple with the little girl (Noren and his wife) ARE Ikem and Ursa ... with new faces and (in Ursa's case, at least) a case of amnesia induced by the Forgetting Valley. This would tidily explain why she never went back for her kids. Plus, they're about the right age. Ursa with a new face, a new life, and amnesia; Noren with a new face and ... had amnesia until he saw Ursa in the flashback on page 60? Maybe? Okay, still trying to figure that one out, though I have a slightly cockeyed idea: he got a flash of recognition when he saw her but still didn't actually remember her -- so he courted her, but eventually Ursa left for the Forgetting Valley to look for Ikem, not knowing she'd already found him. Noren promised to wait for her. Then she came back with a new face and a new name. He knows she used to be Ursa (which she doesn't), so he's trying to protect her from the outsiders, but he doesn't know he used to be Ikem.
It ... fits. In a weird way. And somehow it seems like a very ATLA-esque twist if they'd already been talking to Zuko's mom (and Zuko playing with his -- adopted? -- sister) without having a clue.
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I'm guessing Ikem at least (and probably Ursa, too) got new faces? And as long as I'm speculating, conservation of characters gives good odds that Ikem is Noren. . . .
... oh my. Neither of these possibilities had occurred to me. I think I'd gotten stuck on thinking the wolf spirit was Ikem, or was somehow connected to Ikem, and forgot when I was reading this issue that we have no idea what happened to him. Ikem being Noren is an absolutely fascinating possibility! Actually, since the idea of face-switching hadn't occurred to me, this raises the EVEN MORE fascinating possibility that the couple with the little girl (Noren and his wife) ARE Ikem and Ursa ... with new faces and (in Ursa's case, at least) a case of amnesia induced by the Forgetting Valley. This would tidily explain why she never went back for her kids. Plus, they're about the right age. Ursa with a new face, a new life, and amnesia; Noren with a new face and ... had amnesia until he saw Ursa in the flashback on page 60? Maybe? Okay, still trying to figure that one out, though I have a slightly cockeyed idea: he got a flash of recognition when he saw her but still didn't actually remember her -- so he courted her, but eventually Ursa left for the Forgetting Valley to look for Ikem, not knowing she'd already found him. Noren promised to wait for her. Then she came back with a new face and a new name. He knows she used to be Ursa (which she doesn't), so he's trying to protect her from the outsiders, but he doesn't know he used to be Ikem.
It ... fits. In a weird way. And somehow it seems like a very ATLA-esque twist if they'd already been talking to Zuko's mom (and Zuko playing with his -- adopted? -- sister) without having a clue.