Jaime x Brienne Fic Recs: Master Post

LAST UPDATED: 16 August 2020

All the J/B fic recs by yours truly. I am no longer updating this post as I have been doing very little reading and reccing over the past year or so.

Just a note that these are mostly suggestions just to start readers off, it’s not meant to be a comprehensive database. I’ll occasionally add to past answers/lists but part of the fun of reading fic is discovering stories on your own! Here’s a messy AO3 search tips post that might help you out.

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Ugh I will always love the concept of Katara using blood bending to revive Zuko after the last agni kai, mostly because it makes no sense to me that Zuko was able to bounce back so easily after being struck by lightning, but also because the way the show treats bloodbending is just odd to me. It was a defense mechanism created by a traumatized victim of some of the most devastating parts of colonization, and although I understand that Hama was supposed to symbolize the "bad parts" of waterbending and was important for Katara's growth in realizing that the world isn't entirely black and white, its still disappointing to me that the show never explored the gray areas of blood bending, especially since that episode was, as I stated above, about understanding the gray areas of the war. Katara using blood bending to revive Zuko would add so much to the last agni kai in demonstrating that she has truly realized that "good" and "evil" are relative concepts, and Zuko being saved by both a defense mechanism of a survivor of colonialism and a type of bending used to terrorize his people would have even added to his arc, as the narrative required him to save and subsequently be saved by the physical embodiment of everything his family sought to annihilate.

Also, if we look at blood bending as a cautionary tale about if oppressed people suddenly had power over their oppressors, Zuko willingly giving Katara that kind of power over him and Katara using that power not for evil but for good is a great way to explore the full circle of both their arcs.

The bloodbending arc is also about generational trauma. Hama didn't just want revenge on the fire nation, she wanted to make Katara the same as she was.

"You're a bloodbender now."

She wanted Katara tainted and damaged, the same way she saw herself. Not because she had some misguided idea that it was the only way Katara could defend herself, but because that way it was ok that *Hama* Was damaged.

Some people experience trauma and decide that they must inflict that damage on others - or at least allow it to happen. It's horrible. And very common.

100%

Which is why it's not only healing for Katara to use bloodbending for good, but healing for Zuko to let himself be healed by someone who has oppressed by his people.

Because Zuko's story is also about generational trauma and building an identity around being damaged by generational trauma. Zuko had to learn that firebending was more than causing harm, and that his trauma didn't mean it was okay for him to cause harm to others.

This is also what I've been saying about Azula. Azula, like Hama, is a victim who became a perpetrator and convinced herself that everyone else was also like her to cope. She is enraged when Zuko is able to walk away because it proves her entire worldview and coping mechanism wrong.

Just one hug in the finale. That’s all I wanted.

♥ Please do not repost. If you like it and want to show people, share a link to this page instead. Thank you! | ♥ Image manip, bases from: AtLA.

Poor Zuko

He just wanted to join the Gaang but now the blind girl is moving metal, the sweet watergirl is bending blood and the kid is talking to spirits

At least he can count on Sokka to be normal. Oh, where did you say that sword was from?

Yeah, that’s right, fucking outer space

hey so do you guys remember how zuko was deemed worthy and blessed with the true nature of fire by the guardians of light themselves and became 100x the firebender he was after, with a newfound understanding and oneness with his element

kind of like how katara handled the moon and ocean spirit with her own hands and was blessed with unmatched waterbending power and oneness with her element and also spirit water but get this, also the healing ability to bring someone back from certain death

y'all remember that

does anyone have braime fic recs? preferably book!braime bit ill take anything really

Here are a random handful of my favourites with book canon or canon divergence.

ASOIAF

A Dance with Ice and Fire by ShirleyAnn66, 149,860 words, Teen

Summary: This is how it ends (or Jaime and Brienne and End Game).

None But the Lonely Heart by OccasionalAvenger, 121,079 words, Teen

Summary: featuring: the quiet isle, chekhov’s wolfpack, someone's bloody wedding, brienne in king's landing, a messy custody battle, dad jaime, a long night that lasts considerably more than a night, and endgame.

Ring of Fire by dreadwulf @dreadwulf, 66,978 words, Teen

Summary: Everything has gone wrong. Brienne delivered Jaime to the Brotherhood Without Banners, but before she could enact the rest of her plan, Ser Ilyn Payne interrupted her and rescued Jaime. Now Brienne is a prisoner, despised by all, with no allies left. Where does she go from here?

so all the world can see by EllisJay, 5,989 words, Explicit

Summary: The first time the thought skittered through his mind was as they journeyed down The Red Fork, and he’d quickly dismissed it as a symptom of fatigue, of starvation, an after-effect of spending a year in chains, covered in filth, deprived of company and the warmth of his sister’s body. Cleos was nattering about his horse and Jaime sat propped against a tree, contemplating the woman before him, dissecting the best way to attack and escape, when she pressed her hand into her lower back and pushed inward, her fingers digging into muscles as her spine curved in an arch that had her letting out a quiet groan of relieved pleasure.

Or four times Jaime thinks about Brienne being with child, and the one time he gives it his best shot.

Stage Whisper by winterkill @thebrimmingheart, 4,906 words, Explicit

Summary: Stopping for the night at some nameless inn off the Kingsroad, after weeks of pining, Jaime thinks Brienne and he are having a clandestine encounter.

Meanwhile, everyone in earshot regrets endorsing Sansa's plan to force them to share a room.

A Walk with Frost and Fire (and Death and Snow) by LuxEvergreen, 181,017 words, not rated

Summary: “Good and evil… man and woman; ice and fire… black and white, death and life. Life has never been one thing or the other, Lady Brienne. Life is a hopeless smudge of gray. But to the White Walkers—they have no grace for everything that falls in between."

ASOIAF canon divergence

Begin Again by PrettyThief @pretty-thief, 63,604 words, Teen

Summary: The realm is on the brink of war, and Jaime Lannister is recently widowed following the death of Elia - his wife and the mother of their young son. Brienne of Tarth has a responsibility she would like to dodge. Jaime doesn't quite understand why she's chosen him as her escape, but he's not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Butterfly Effect by Aviss @aviss, 51,274 words, Teen

Summary: On his way to meet with Cersei at the inn, a recently knighted Jaime sees a girl about to be attacked and intervenes, saving her. He never makes it to the inn, though.

Where one simple decision changes not only Jaime's life but the shape of all Westeros.

Girls don't want boys, they want a Valyrian steelsword, blue armour and a pretty horse by tall_wolf_of_tarth @tall-wolf-of-tarth, 3,950 words, Teen

Summary: If you want to marry a girl from Tarth, you better gift her a nice sword. Don't bother to come with flowers. Especially with a stupid rose.

Lion by chrkrose @chrkrose, 18,154 words, Explicit

Summary: Love is the death of duty.

The Lion of Highgarden by winterkill @thebrimmingheart, 52,811 words, Explicit

Summary: Tywin sends Jaime to be fostered at Highgarden under the watchful eye of Olenna Tyrell. After slaying the Mad King, Jaime flees to Essos, and the stories around him grow more fantastic as the years pass. When Olenna summons him to Highgarden for Margaery's wedding to Renly Baratheon, Jaime meets sword-wielding Brienne of Tarth, who might just be his match.

The Right Question by Aviss @aviss, 56,254 words, Mature

Summary: In which Ned asks the right questions at the right time, and Jaime keeps most of his vows. The important ones at least.

Runaways by greenmtwoman @greenmtwoman, 42,219 words, Teen

Summary: “Where to now, my lady?” asked Jaime. “You are a lady, are you not? By your speech?” Her jerkin was ripped at one shoulder, but he could see that it had been fine wool.

She shook her head. “I’ve already said too much,” she muttered, staring determinedly at the dirty cobbles.

“Where are you going?”

“Away from here.”

“Excellent! Away is my destination, too.”

“Why are you following me?”

“Because you don’t want me to.” Jaime grinned. “I like a challenge.”

The Treaty by MotherofFirkins, 29,204 words, Mature

Summary: The Lannisters accept Robb Stark's peace terms, dooming Jaime Lannister to life as a hostage at Winterfell.

reblog the money pigeon for a financially stable future

I reblog  the money pigeon because I love him.

HAYLEY WILLIAMS Brisbane, AU | x

Katara's Story Is A Tragedy and It's Not An Accident

I was a teenaged girl when Avatar: The Last Airbender aired on Nickelodeon—the group that the show’s creators unintentionally hit while they were aiming for the younger, maler demographic. Nevermind that we’re the reason the show’s popularity caught fire and has endured for two decades; we weren’t the audience Mike and Bryan wanted. And by golly, were they going to make sure we knew it. They’ve been making sure we know it with every snide comment and addendum they’ve made to the story for the last twenty years.

For many of us girls who were raised in the nineties and aughts, Katara was a breath of fresh air—a rare opportunity in a media market saturated with boys having grand adventures to see a young woman having her own adventure and expressing the same fears and frustrations we were often made to feel. 

We were told that we could be anything we wanted to be. That we were strong and smart and brimming with potential. That we were just as capable as the boys. That we were our brothers’ equals. But we were also told to wash dishes and fold laundry and tidy around the house while our brothers played outside. We were ignored when our male classmates picked teams for kickball and told to go play with the girls on the swings—the same girls we were taught to deride if we wanted to be taken seriously. We were lectured for the same immaturity that was expected of boys our age and older, and we were told to do better while also being told, “Boys will be boys.” Despite all the platitudes about equality and power, we saw our mothers straining under the weight of carrying both full-time careers and unequally divided family responsibilities. We sensed that we were being groomed for the same future. 

And we saw ourselves in Katara. 

Katara begins as a parentified teenaged girl: forced to take on responsibility for the daily care of people around her—including male figures who are capable of looking after themselves but are allowed to be immature enough to foist such labor onto her. She does thankless work for people who take her contributions for granted. She’s belittled by people who love her, but don’t understand her. She’s isolated from the world and denied opportunities to improve her talents. She's told what emotions she's allowed to feel and when to feel them. In essence, she was living our real-world fear: being trapped in someone else’s narrow, stultifying definition of femininity and motherhood. 

Then we watched Katara go through an incredible journey of self-determination and empowerment. Katara goes from being a powerless, fearful victim to being a protector, healer, advocate, and liberator to others who can’t do those things for themselves (a much truer and more fulfilling definition of nurturing and motherhood). It’s necessary in Katara’s growth cycle that she does this for others first because that is the realm she knows. She is given increasingly significant opportunities to speak up and fight on behalf of others, and that allows her to build those advocacy muscles gradually. But she still holds back her own emotional pain because everyone that she attempts to express such things to proves they either don't want to deal with it or they only want to manipulate her feelings for their own purposes. 

Katara continues to do much of the work we think of as traditionally maternal on behalf of her friends and family over the course of the story, but we do see that scale gradually shift. Sokka takes on more responsibility for managing the group’s supplies, and everyone helps around camp, but Katara continues to be the manager of everyone else’s emotions while simultaneously punching down her own. The scales finally seem to tip when Zuko joins the group. With Zuko, we see someone working alongside Katara doing the same tasks she is doing around camp for the first time. Zuko is also the only person who never expects anything of her and whose emotions she never has to manage because he’s actually more emotionally stable and mature than she is by that point. And then, Katara’s arc culminates in her finally getting the chance to fully seize her power, rewrite the story of the traumatic event that cast her into the role of parentified child, be her own protector, and freely express everything she’s kept locked away for the sake of letting everyone else feel comfortable around her. Then she fights alongside an equal partner she knows she can trust and depend on through the story's climax. And for the first time since her mother’s death, the girl who gives and gives and gives while getting nothing back watches someone sacrifice everything for her. But this time, she’s able to change the ending because her power is fully realized. The cycle was officially broken.

Katara’s character arc was catharsis at every step. If Katara could break the mold and recreate the ideas of womanhood and motherhood in her own image, so could we. We could be powerful. We could care for ourselves AND others when they need us—instead of caring for everyone all the time at our own expense. We could have balanced partnerships with give and take going both ways (“Tui and La, push and pull”), rather than the, “I give, they take,” model we were conditioned to expect. We could fight for and determine our own destiny—after all, wasn’t destiny a core theme of the story?

Yes. Destiny was the theme. But the lesson was that Katara didn’t get to determine hers. 

After Katara achieves her victory and completes her arc, the narrative steps in and smacks her back down to where she started. For reasons that are never explained or justified, Katara rewards the hero by giving into his romantic advances even though he has invalidated her emotions, violated her boundaries, lashed out at her for slights against him she never committed, idealized a false idol of her then browbeat her when she deviated from his narrative, and forced her to carry his emotions and put herself in danger when he willingly fails to control himself—even though he never apologizes, never learns his lesson, and never shows any inclination to do better. 

And do better he does not.

The more we dared to voice our own opinions on a character that was clearly meant to represent us, the more Mike and Bryan punished Katara for it.

Throughout the comics, Katara makes herself smaller and smaller and forfeits all rights to personal actualization and satisfaction in her relationship. She punches her feelings down when her partner neglects her and cries alone as he shows more affection and concern for literally every other girl’s feelings than hers. She becomes cowed by his outbursts and threats of violence. Instead of rising with the moon or resting in the warmth of the sun, she learns to stay in his shadow. She gives up her silly childish dreams of rebuilding her own dying culture’s traditions and advocating for other oppressed groups so that she can fulfill his wishes to rebuild his culture instead—by being his babymaker. Katara gave up everything she cared about and everything she fought to become for the whims of a man-child who never saw her as a person, only a possession.

Then, in her old age, we get to watch the fallout of his neglect—both toward her and her children who did not meet his expectations. By that point, the girl who would never turn her back on anyone who needed her was too far gone to even advocate for her own children in her own home. And even after he’s gone, Katara never dares to define herself again. She remains, for the next twenty-plus years of her life, nothing more than her husband's grieving widow. She was never recognized for her accomplishments, the battles she won, or the people she liberated. Even her own children and grandchildren have all but forgotten her. She ends her story exactly where it began: trapped in someone else’s narrow, stultifying definition of femininity and motherhood.

The story’s theme was destiny, remember? But this story’s target audience was little boys. Zuko gets to determine his own destiny as long as he works hard and earns it. Aang gets his destiny no matter what he does or doesn’t do to earn it. And Katara cannot change the destiny she was assigned by gender at birth, no matter how hard she fights for it or how many times over she earns it. 

Katara is Winston Smith, and the year is 1984. It doesn’t matter how hard you fight or what you accomplish, little girl. Big Brother is too big, too strong, and too powerful. You will never escape. You will never be free. Your victories are meaningless. So stay in your place, do what you’re told, and cry quietly so your tears don’t bother people who matter.

I will never get over it. Because I am Katara. And so are my friends, sisters, daughters, and nieces. But I am not content to live in Bryke's world.

I will never turn my back on people who need me. Including me.

I honestly and truly believe all good AUs should be a little “”””ooc”””” in the sense that good characterisation involves understanding that changes a characters backstory and circumstances will have an effect on how they respond to the world around them

Good characterisation isn’t about creating a perfect 1:1 canon replica it’s about understanding why a character is different in your work and about grounding the changes you do deliberately choose to make in canon character traits

#big fan of putting people into situations #and seeing how that changes them #I can believe a lot of supposed ooc behaviour if you show me how you got there (x)

Pick and choose or better yet, all at the same time.

I just wanted to draw Zuko with long hair :)

It’s just a quick doodle so there’s not much of a back story to it :D

just thought it’d be fun to draw Firelord Zuko catching ambassador Katara from falling or them dancing together and getting close

Idk it’s something in between 🙃 It’s been so long since I drew something so I kind of zoned out and scribbled this to get used to drawing again

Hope everyone enjoys a great holiday :)!! 🥰

back on my angsty zutara shenanigans🫡

Little Zuzu for an incoming project 🔥

ana's meta masterlist

the official zutara dissertation: part 1 | part 2

zuko, aang and taking lightning for katara

zutara and romantic coding

"you rise with the moon, i rise with the sun" is a zutara line

zutara and thematic significance

zutara vs jetara

zutara parallels in the awakening

zutara's narrative culmination

zutara in the crossroads of destiny:

zutara in the southern raiders:

zutara and bloodbending

zutara's narrative symmetry

why zuko had to betray katara in ba sing se

the official zutara dissertation (p.3)

"zutara would face too much opposition from their countries"

"zuko and katara are a colonizer/colonized ship"

"zuko and katara would fight all the time”

"platonic zutara is better than romantic zutara"

"fire lady katara is racist"

“zuko would’ve taken lightning for anyone”

the official zutara dissertation: part 4 | part 5 | part 6

why mai.ko was never intended to be canon

why mailee is a better ship than mai.ko

how kat.aang could've been fixed

kat.aang's lack of trust in the southern raiders

emotional labour in kat.aang

kat.aang’s narrative imbalance

comparing katara and aang's parenting

azula/katara parallels

katara's choice in the crossroads of destiny

was zuko's betrayal in-character?

zuko's comments in the southern raiders

zuko's comments in the southern raiders (pt. 2)

zuko is not a “bad boy”

sokka didn't feel inferior to katara

did mai fear azula?

comparing mai and toph

sexism in the water tribes

thoughts on the atla comics

gratuitous violence in the legend of korra

zutara and everlark parallels

zutara and everlark parallels (pt. 2)

gale's arc in the hunger games trilogy

the myth of humanity's inherent evil

the ending of lucy gray

individualism under capitalism

the ethics of billionaires

So a few days ago I saw someone (elsewhere) questioning Zutara fans’ excitement about the scarf scene. It wasn't a mean comment, more general curiosity. And well, I didn't have time to get my thoughts out then. But they haven't gone away, so I'm getting them out here:

Here’s what everyone need to understand about Zutara shippers. We were baited baaaad during the initial run of the show–from the magazines to the shorts to the trailers and how they were cut. And Zuko and Katara’s relationship on the show certainly underwent a lot of development and featured objectively emotional–if not overtly romantic–moments between the two. We were well fed, and we had reason to hope. Right up to the end, we had reason to hope.

The shipping wars were the shipping wars, of course, with all the usual tensions; there are always going to be overzealous fans of each (and any) pairing willing to get toxic. Generally, I think Kataang fans were always jealous of Zutara’s popularity and Zutara fans, post finale, were jealous of Kataang’s, well, canon status. But really it operated much the same as any other large fandom’s shipping wars.

And then came Bryke and the panel where they showed and mocked Zutara fan art, some of which had been created by teens if not straight up children. Then came their, “Come on, kids! It was never going to work. Zutara is just dark and intriguing.”* And the pièce de résistance, their telling Zutara shippers (specifically girls/women) that they were doomed to have failed romantic relationships. Like, what? The thing with the art was arguably cruel, and the rest of it was oh, so condescending. Just all around not well done. 

The after effect was that Zutara went from being simply a fanon pairing to a wrong pairing. The ATLA fandom at large became a far more hostile place for Zutara fans, who were now more commonly deemed delusional and viewed as lesser fans. The vitriol only got worse when the show came to Netfilx and the next wave of antis rolled up with their co-opting of legitimate socio-political terms to paint Zutara not just as wrong but morally corrupt if not evil. It’s all very puritanical.**

So Zutara fans need to be reminded that we weren’t delusional, and we aren’t alone. It’s why it means so much to know that Dante Basco and Mae Whitman shipped their characters. And that so many other VAs came out as Zutara supporters too: Jack De Sena, Michaela Jill Murphy, Grey DeLisle, Janet Varney--even the cabbage man. For it to be revealed that it was discussed in the writers room; that the writers fought over it; that it WAS a canon possibility. (And that writers Joshua Hamilton and John O’Bryan are perfectly comfortable admitting their preference for Zutara.) To know that the Elizabeth Welch Ehasz described Zuko and Katara as an “Avatar-style Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” in the script for The Southern Raiders, and used the phrase “Zutara-feuling synchronicity and cooperation” to describe their action sequences. To see Giancarlo Volpe, a Kataanger, admit Zutara might been the better pairing in retrospect and choose a quiet scene between them (to see their “chemistry”) as what he’d most look forward to in the live action adaptation. It’s why we cling to the artwork done by Korean animation director. We aren’t delusional. We aren’t alone.

But try telling that to the general fandom, right? Most are ignorant of a lot of this, particularly Hamilton and O’Bryan’s revelations re: the writers room. A lot of Zutara fans don't even seem to know. But being baited by Netflix on their official accounts? Oh, people see that. And we are reminded in a big way that we aren't delusional and we aren't alone. And everyone else has to remember it too.

So, of course, we're having fun clowning over the scarf scene. And I think most Zutara fans know we are clowning. I don't think most expect to get canon Zutara in live action because of one little scene or the fact that their Netflix icons are facing each other. (I headcanon that that was totally the doing of Zutara shipper on staff, though, lol. Because there are a lot of us, and we are everywhere.)

And this is okay. Zutara has been doing just fine as a fanon ship. Meanwhile, NATLA might actually do Kataang justice. It always worked better as a future ship. (Really all the pairings do. But I especially don't ever need to see another 12 year old kissing let alone making out, in animation or live action, ever again.) There's a reason Padme and Anakin don't get together in Phantom Menace, after all. Also, there's always the chance they could give us Dante's or Mae's headcanon of them basically suppressing their feelings and choosing duty over love/right person-wrong time. And the odds of getting some more moments to clown over are high enough. 

Anyway, TLDR: Zutara has been made to feel like an out-of-nowhere crack ship and the live action crumbs remind us that it is not. And this is at least partially why we are enjoying it. (Because, also, it's just fun!)

*Side tangent: I’ve never gotten this dark and intriguing comment. Even during Season 1, the height of the capture fic era, Zutara was always a ship fundamentally about hope, predicated on Zuko's redemption. (Back in the day, there were also plenty of antis arguing that there was no way Zuko would ever be one of the gaang.) And they say “intriguing” like it’s a bad thing? Are we not supposed to be interested in the relationships of their characters???

**There have been some very good think pieces written lately on late stage capitalism and consumption as morality. Worth googling.

I keep seeing photos of them i keep drawing them then 😭