History Webcomic / HowIBecameYours

** Later, Katara kills Mai in a painful manner. Although it was in the heat of battle, which would be an acceptable excuse, Katara explains that it's because Mai poisoned her to cause her to miscarry. While the anger within Katara is understandable, the ProtagonistCenteredMorality comes from the fact that Sokka tells her that it was a heroic thing to do.

* LoveMakesYouEvil: Mai's love for Zuko and her envy and anger over his feelings for Katara drive her to poison Katara, cause her to lose her unborn baby, and eventually plot to murder all of Zuko's friends and his sister in order to get back at him for abandoning their marriage.

** Mai also holds onto an IdiotBall by not only keeping the incriminating letter for three years, but leaving it out where one of her maids could easily spot it and bring it to Zuko.

* TheDragon: Mai's accomplice ([[AmbiguousSituation and possibly brother]]), Sho. Although a firebending BloodKnight himself, whose powers appears to be greater than Mai's own, he defers to her while she remains in command.

** [[spoiler: Azula ]] gives a long speech with no sign of difficulty despite having been stabbed in the chest.]]

DisproportionateRetribution: When Katara discovers [[spoiler: Mai is the one responsible for sending her miscarriage-inducing fruit]], she declares that she’ll see her “post on death row!”

* EvilGloating: Mai indulges in a bit of this when she confronts Katara in chapter four, and reveals she was the one who caused Katara's miscarriage.
--> '''Mai:''' You have no idea what it was like, having to put on a smile for everyone knowing your husband loves another... hearing him cry out another woman's name in his sleep. A [[PrecisionFStrike Water Tribe whore...]] Tell me something, Princess. ''Do you miss your little boy?'' [...] You see, all those years ago, when I got to your letter, something had to be done. You were not sick, like I wanted everyone to believe. I had made something just for you to eat, so that little problem would go away... and yes, I took [[RougeAnglesOfSatin pleaser]] in it. [...] Oh yes, it was me. Zuko didn't even know, which is how I wanted it. And how it will stay...

* ConvenientMiscarriage: Mai poisons Katara in the beginning, making her lose Zuko's love child.

** Zigzagged after [[spoiler:Azula ]] is stabbed in the chest. Katara warns that removing the knife will cause them to bleed out, but the solution is to leave the knife in during a sea voyage that takes at least a day.

* TheChosenOne: Azula. When she was born, there appeared the image of a beautiful woman holding fire in her hands in the heavens, showing that Agni had blessed her for a great task. As the story develops, it turns out that [[spoiler:she was chosen to give birth to the child that will bring peace to the ''Avatar'' world.]]

* IdleRich: All the protagonists by the time the story begins, except Zuko (who is a reigning monarch, thus not idle) and Aang (who, as an Airbender monk, lives more frugally). Though several of them take on new responsibilities over the course of the story.

** Played straight just about everywhere else in that sequence. Despite having a sword to Sokka's neck, Sho does nothing as Mai gives a ReasonYouSuckSpeech to Mai and [[spoiler:bloodbends her to death]].
** [[spoiler: Azula ]] gives a long speech despite having been stabbed in the chest.

* TearsOfBlood: [[spoiler:Mai bleeds from the eyes after being bloodbended.]]
* TeenPregnancy: Katara would've only been about fifteen when she was pregnant with Zuko's child. Later, in the epilogue (when she would have been 21), Toph has children who seem to be ''at least'' kindergarten-age.

* CherryBlossoms: A rare homage to the Eastern setting of the show. The romantic undertone is clear, given the alternate meaning of the word [[AccidentalInnuendo cherry]] and thesex scene under the trees.

* Adaptational Badass: [[spoiler:Zuko and Azula's mother Ursa]] is revealed to be a master firebender.

* AdaptationalWimp:
** In general, every single female character that appears in this comic (sans Mai) get [[{{Chickification}} chickified]] to fairly unrealistic levels, such as giving Toph huge D-cup sized breasts at the age of 16.
** Speaking of Toph, she gets this treatment pretty badly, going from a devil-may-care fighter to a soft-spoken, nervous flower of a girl who willingly bottoms to a guy she calls "twinkle-toes".
** Katara. The things she does the most in this fic? Whining. Being self-centered. Making even her unborn child's death all about her. Only caring about being Zuko's love interest. Wearing pretty European-style dresses (which isn't bad in and of itself, but considering the canon setting, they're very out of place). The only scene in which she's ever seen using the ActionGirl skills that she worked so far for in the series? When [[spoiler:she bloodbends Mai to death]].
** Azula, due to her AmnesiacDissonance, as well as having been [[BroughtDownToNormal de-bended]] like her father. Rather than the DarkActionGirl in the series, she is now a seemingly kind (if somewhat socially unsmooth) ordinary girl with a MysteriousPast. Though then her memories slowly start returning, and [[spoiler:she gets her powers back. In the sequel comic, she is more of a LadyOfWar.]]
** Aang does absolutely nothing in the whole damn comic besides being Toph's lover.
** Actually lampshaded in [[http://s762.photobucket.com/albums/xx265/ReneeLuvsZutara/HIBY%20Chapter%202/?action=view¤t=056.jpg Chapter 2]].
--->'''Toph''': Look Katara what happened to that fearless sugar queen I know? I know she's in there!
** [[AdaptationalBadass Inverted]] with Ursa, of all people, who is revealed to be a master firebender.

* [[AlmostDeadGuy Almost Dead Girl]]: [[spoiler:Azula]] conveniently waits until the battle is over to deliver a long speech to [[spoiler:Sokka]] before she 'dies', despite being ''stabbed in the heart''.

* AmnesiacDissonance: Azula is implied to go through this gradually, getting memories back in her sleep. However, the trope is not used to portray self-conflict and soul-searching right before a HeelFaceTurn, as per the usual implications. Instead, it becomes a HandWave that says "Azula is crying about the evil things she's done in the past, so that means she's automatically a really good and completely different person now."
* AmnesiacsAreInnocent: Azula's amnesia essentially provides the reset to her personality necessary to get her together with Sokka.

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: So, we're supposed to believe that Mai gave Katara a poison so potent, that she miscarries instantly after taking a bite of poisoned fruit despite appearing several months pregnant?
** When Katara heals Azula from her initial poisoning, she leaves Azula's ninja mask on. While there are a myriad of reasons this is a bad idea, the biggest three are it interfere's with Azula's ability to breath properly, it prevents Katara from properly assessing Azula's pain level (since she cannot see her mouth) and if Azula has to vomit, she is pretty much guarunteed to choke on the results.

** Zigzagged after [[spoiler: Azula ]] is stabbed in the chest. Katara warns that removing the knife will cause them to bleed out, but the solution is to leave the knife in during a sea voyage that takes at least a day.

* BrotherSisterTeam: Zuko and Azula, Sokka and Katara, and Mai and Sho. Those last are the only team who really do stuff together, though.

* CaughtInTheRain: Sokka and Azula.

* CherryBlossoms: A rare homage to the Eastern setting of the show. The romantic undertone is clear, given the alternate meaning of the word [[AccidentalInnuendo cherry]] and the gratuitous sex scene under the trees.
* {{Chickification}}: Pulled on Katara, Toph, and ''especially'' on Azula.

* TheChosenOne: Azula. When she was born, there appeared the image of a beautiful woman holding fire in her hands in the heavens, showing that Agni had blessed her for a great task. As the story develops, it turns out that [[spoiler: she was chosen to give birth to the child that will bring peace to the ''Avatar'' world.]]

** In "The Boiling Rock" in the series, Azula shut down the warden's questions by the oneliner, "I'm a people person." In HIBY, on her date with Sokka, when he begins wondering why she asks so many questions about him, she smiles and replies similarly, saying, "I'm just a curious person."

* ConvenientMiscarriage: Mai poisons Katara in the beginning, making her lose Zuko's love child. This leaves Katara free to act like an infatuated teenager when Zuko comes back into the picture three years later, and also serves as a source of cheap {{Wangst}}.
* CostumePorn: Toph wears ''dresses.'' Without complaining. And the other girls' outfits are even fancier than ''hers''.

* CrazyPrepared: Mai and Sho launch an elaborate scheme to provide them with alibis and make sure Zuko is nowhere near when they plot to murder Katara, and prepare carefully to deal with everything the rest of Team Avatar can throw at them. They lose only because of a wild card factor they couldn't possibly predict--namely, [[spoiler: Katara's daylight bloodbending, which everyone believed to be an impossibility]].
* CutAndPasteComic: Taken to truly absurd heights, especially considering that everything was traced or vectored in the first place. Each character averages in at about 4 distinct faces for the duration of the comic and about 2 poses for each outfit.
* DeadGuyJunior: Katara's miscarried baby is named Kuzon, after Aang's Fire Nation friend from before the war. [[spoiler:Her next baby is also named Kuzon, apparently in honor of his older brother]].

* DramaticEllipsis: ''Plenty''.
* DullSurprise: To be expected given the amount of copying and pasting; a character might be speaking calmly one panel, then shouting or breaking down into tears in the next ''with the exact same face''.
* EasyAmnesia: Rather than delve into the canon Azula's complex, fractured mental state, Diaz opts to use this trope as an excuse to completely rewrite the character.
* ExactEavesdropping: How Azula finds out that Sokka likes her. Interesting that he just ''happens'' to start talking about how physically attractive she is when she's supposedly hidden from sight...in a bright, [[PrincessesPreferPink salmon-colored]], [[ImpossiblyLowNeckline low-cut]] dress.

* FanservicePack: Sokka becomes noticeably, what is likely supposed to be, more attractive as time goes on.
* FixFic: The writer appears not to have liked how the romances turned out in canon, and so rewrites them in another way.

* ForcedMiscarriage: This occured prior to the story. Zuko's jealous wife Mai learns about Katara's pregnancy before he does. She sends Katara poisoned fruit and forces her to have a stillbirth halfway through her pregnancy.

* HiddenElfVillage: During the TimeSkip between the end of the series and the beginning of this comic, Aang finds one of these, populated by Air Nomads. Thus, the fourth elemental nation is not extinct after all. [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot Nothing more is said about this development]].

* IdiotBall: Sokka starts the plot off by accidentally mailing a letter concerning all of the details of Katara's pregnancy directly to Mai's doorstep. The only explanation given is that he didn't bother checking where the messenger hawks were going, even though he didn't have a reason to be sending any messages to the Fire Nation in the first place.

** After finding an injured woman dressed as an assassin, the gang decide not to unmask her. Even ignoring the medical reasons (see Artistic Lisence above) their logic is that she's trying to hide her identity, so they need to respect that, which ignores the fact that if she's trying to hide her identity from them, that means she is an enemy, and if she isn't trying to hide from them, then she won't mind.
*** They also fail to recognize Azula despite her striking profile, noticeable pale skin and almost unique golden eyes.

* ItsAllMyFault: Sokka blames himself for [[spoiler:Azula getting stabbed by Mai]], even though he had absolutely nothing to do with the events that led up to it (unless you count his IdiotBall mentioned above) and was powerless anyway to do anything to prevent it.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Katara has a miscarriage. Traumatic and tragic, right? Except the thing that upsets her most (judging by what she emphasizes) is that it happened the day before ''her'' birthday. Topped off when, at the beginning of the story, Katara visits her baby's memorial on the anniversary of the miscarriage. She quickly jumps from mourning being unable to save her child to wangsting about how she can't confess her love to Zuko.

* LettingHerHairDown: Katara, Azula, and Toph. Poor Mai is never allowed to relax like they are.

* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Mai's the intended [[LoveMakesYouEvil (and most obvious)]] example of this trope, but it arguably applies to almost the entire main cast. Zuko deserts his nation for months to be with Katara; Katara [[spoiler: [[MurderTheHypotenuse murders her hypotenuse]]]] to be with Zuko. Azula ends up lobotomized and giggly even after she gets her memories back, and Toph... well, her sex scene with Aang is listed under NightmareFuel. And all of them, even Sokka and Aang who barely do anything else, defy nasty nation-centric prejudices (which were basically nonexistant in the series) for love.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Mai, intentionally. Unintentionally, Zuko and Katara as well.
* MagicSkirt: Hilariously displayed with Katara when Mai attacks her.

* MeaningfulName: "Azula" is theorized to mean "dragon" in this fic, missing the point that out of universe it's most likely a reference to her blue fire ("Azul" means "blue" in Spanish), as well as, in universe, being named after Azulon. Though of course, the latter does not rule out the comic's explanation.

* MurderTheHypotenuse: Mai attempts this. [[spoiler: Katara achieves it.]]
* MysticalWhiteHair: [[spoiler: Azula, in the end, after the Moon Spirit heals her from a mortal wound. The hair color is also passed on to her unborn child.]]

* NotSoInvincibleAfterAll: Surprisingly enough, this is played straight when [[spoiler:Azula, while regaining her bending powers]], is hit in the chest with a thrown knife and nearly killed. This proves that 1) [[TalkingIsAFreeAction talking isn't a free action]] and 2) mundane weapons, even seemingly unimpressive ones such as knives, are a threat to benders.

* ObliviousToHisOwnDescription: As Sokka [[spoiler:is entering the Spirit World to save Azula]], he begins describing the girl he fell in love with, and she doesn't seem aware that she's the person he's talking about. Justified in that there's no point at which he says "I'm talking about you," and [[spoiler:as a result of being in the Spirit World, Azula]] is gradually losing her memory.

* PayEvilUntoEvil: So your romantic rival's killed your unborn child-now what do you do? If you're Katara, you [[spoiler: kill them in the most horrific manner possible]].

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Diaz seems to be under the impression that being the rulers of a country should come with no extra duties. Pretty much every hero has some kind of exalted title, and each is able to spend months doing nothing much more than gazing into their loved one's eyes.

** Aang is the leader of a HiddenElfVillage of surviving Air Nomads. He deserts them pretty early in the story, and never returns; in the sequel, he lives with Toph in "[[RougeAnglesOfSatin Bong]]" Sing Se.

** Iroh apparently does nothing but get wasted once with the kids, drink tea, and play Pai Sho. And it's ''not'' an act of ObfuscatingStupidity, either, like it was in the show. Though then again, retiring and letting the next generation handle the world's problems is of course [[RetiredBadass exactly what he was planning to do]] at the end of the series proper.

* PowerGlows: Aang's tattoos glow avatar-state style ''while having sex with Toph''.
* ThePowerOfLove: Used to the point of ridiculousness. Azula's love for Sokka allows her to [[spoiler: completely regain her lightning bending]], Sokka and Azula's IntimateHealing, and how Sokka is able to [[spoiler: bring Azula back from the Spirit World.]]
* PrettyInMink: [[spoiler: Azula's]] final dress exudes this.
* PrincessClassic: Both Azula and Katara (TheChiefsDaughter at best) get "upgraded" into something vaguely reminiscent of [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Snow White]]. Azula ''was'' a princess in the show, but is a nicer one in HIBY than the DarkActionGirl she mostly appeared as there.
* PrincessInRags: According to the backstory, Azula was banished from the Fire Nation [[spoiler: after Aang took away her lightning bending]]. Her first appearance has her poisoned and bleeding in a back alley, wearing only a tattered "ninja outfit." Sho later reveals that she got into such terrible shape because [[spoiler: she tried to get a seat in the new Fire Nation Senate by blackmailing Mai about Zuko and Katara's child, and Mai decided to shut her up instead of caving]].

* PsychoExGirlfriend: Mai is written as dishonest and murderously jealous, causing Zuko to break up with her, and becomes completely unhinged after this.

* PutOnABus: Suki does not appear in the story, despite being written as Sokka's LoveInterest in the last season of the series. Her absence is {{handwave}}d in a few lines of dialogue early on.
* RavenHairIvorySkin: Azula and Toph.

* RememberTheNewGuy: We're supposed to believe that Sho has been around since the beginning, since there's no explanation on how he can be Mai's older brother when she's said in canon to be the eldest child in her family. Tom-Tom couldn't be given a PlotRelevantAgeUp and a name change, could he?
* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler: Azula becomes a veritable clone of Princess Yue in the end. Zuko and Katara name their new son Kuzon, after the baby Katara lost in the beginning.]]
* RescueRomance: Sokka and Azula.

* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: After listening to a committee of senators bicker over whether a marriage to Katara would be harmful to the Fire Nation or not, Zuko gets fed up. He reminds them just who instituted the Senate after the war ([[Film/RevengeOfTheSith I AM THE SENATE!]], anyone?) and dismisses the meeting.
* SelfInsertFic: Katara looks a ''lot'' like Ms. Diaz herself, who's also claimed that the events in the story are based on things that actually happened to her.

** The sudden disappearance of [[spoiler: Mai's mangled body]] might also count as a retroactive SequelHook.

* SexySoakedShirt: Azula's dress gets soaked during a sudden rainstorm. Mercifully, there's not all that much to see.

* ShouldersOfDoom: Sho sports them.

* SurprisePregnancy: [[spoiler:Azula, of ALL PEOPLE in chapter 5. Toph figures it out that she's three months in with her Earth-shattering Bending skills and tells Sokka with predictable results.]]

* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: Mai sends Katara a poisoned fruit basket.
* TearsOfBlood: [[spoiler:Mai, after being bloodbended]].

* UnsoundEffect: Of a rather painful variety with sound effects such as "heart beating faster" and "servants leave the room."

* WallBangHer: [[spoiler:Sokka and Azula.]]

** Toward the end, Mai asks Sho if he had coated her knives with poison as she requested, and Sho says yes. This was just a ploy to confirm that Mai was responsible for Azula's EasyAmnesia, and the poison's never mentioned again. And then Sho comes right out and says that Mai had poisoned Azula, so that little tidbit becomes meaningless.

** The new temple of Air Nomads -- potential plot for a good HiddenElfVillage story arc, or throw-away backstory that unceremoniously throws all of Aang's LastOfHisKind troubles into the trash heap?
** The Water Tribes are reorganized into a hereditary monarchy. Yes, both tribes are now under the command of King Pakku and Queen Kanna, with Prince Sokka and Princess Katara in the wings as joint heirs-apparent. However, in light of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', this is no new innovation, save for Pakku succeeding the former ruler to the throne and designating the siblings his heirs.

[[caption-width-right:309:[[CoversAlwaysLie Lies, all lies.]]]]

Toph and Katara have taken up residence at an Earth Kingdom estate owned by Toph's family, where they spend their days [[{{Soaperizing}} monologuing and pining]] after their One True Loves (Aang and Zuko, respectively). Oh, [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Sokka is there too apparently]]. Elsewhere, unbeknownst to the girls, Aang and Zuko also pine after their true loves.

The comic enjoyed moderate popularity before certain members of the Avatar fandom got wind of it, and promptly saw to it that the artist was banned from Website/DeviantArt (the comic's former home) for recurring instances of art theft. Diaz's repeated denials of tracing and art theft [[ImplausibleDeniability in the face of overwhelming evidence (screenshots from the show and her drawings match up ]]''[[ImplausibleDeniability line for line]]'') did nothing to endear her to the fandom. She has sadly friends-locked the entire comic at her Website/MySpace page, however, you can view [[http://howibecameyours-rehost.tumblr.com/ the whole comic in order on Tumblr with a bit better picture quality here.]]

She has also created a sequel comic: ''[[Webcomic/HowIBecameYoursRiseOfTheAgniArmy Rise of the Agni Army]]''. Don't expect much. It's a DeadFic.

* ShirtlessScene: Zuko, Sokka, and Aang all get at least one. Sho doesn't, despite the fact that he's just as good-looking as the others, because he'd be too sympathetic if he were [[EvilIsSexy sexy]] as well as [[EvilIsCool cool]].

** Generally averted, since most of the main characters are of the nobility, and still good. Seemingly played more straight with the ''Fire Nation'' nobility specifically, however, with Mai the story's major villain and Sho (who may or may not be a nobleman himself) her {{dragon}}, and Zuko's aristocratic advisors opposing his marriage to Katara due to FantasticRacism.