Sura Character Analysis

Sura Character Analysis for Book 3/4

[Role: Foil to the Main Character]

In Book 2, Team Avatar faces the Suicide Squad and they present themselves as foils to the main cast (Kim/Captain, Rhino/Bayar, Eagle/Wang, Poi/Snake). However, Shen explicitly does not have a foil within the group.

This is why Sura was invented. At the end of Book 2/Book 3 Intro Shen is at this lowest point, fearing that he's incompetent and that his role is futile, and that he's been invalidated. It is because of these feelings that the Soundbender appears thematically, as for Shen, she represents the confirmation of those fears of uselessness and his loss of viability. The two act as foils and are made such that they are to be compared and contrasted.

She is presented in story as the EF's "Anti-Avatar" and has partial inhumanity, meaning a disconnect to the nature of both humanity and spirits, opposing Shen's role as the ambassador and bridge for both. This extends to her bending even; soundbending negates other forms of bending by manipulating or distorting it by force, instead of the ideal way an Avatar would treat the elements by learning how to use them to their best effect and having them act as they would in nature.

Sura was intended to be the EF's superweapon, much like Vachir intended for Shen to be the FN's superweapon.

Sura, like Shen, was forced to help the world against her will. Shen finds out how the FN has been manipulating him but calmly handles it an tries to stop the war. Sura's response to her manipulation by the EF is to get revenge on the EF as soon as she gets the opportunity, which contrasts with Shen letting his hate go.

She's also female, which technically is a foil trait.

In the sidestory and Book 4 as acquaintances (or a couple) the two's opposing traits bring them together and they begin to understand each other, and they both become an integral part of each other's healing process.

[Motifs]

"Unnatural":
As the series "bleeding edge" technology, she exists to be a surprise to the audience in terms of advancement, but the technology required for her to exist is prevalent in the story, making it only a twist if you don't pay attention. She flows kind of unnaturally, and while the Soundbender, she's meant to have that as a motif. She's mostly silent, her voice is pained and metallic, she moves oddly, she breathes weird, and her bending is such that it doesn't seem like Airbending at all anymore, it's this new, destructive mechanism. She feels unnatural to people in story also as the SS doesn't like her either, she's too eerie, silent, menacing and weird, in addition to ruining their character dynamics. Rhe EF keeps referring to her as "it", for them to keep the image of her as this ultimate weapon.

"Corruption and Tarnished Beauty":
Sura's existence plays up the motif of corruption we see in the plot with other characters (like Vachir, Taxman, Shen's inner self) as her cyborg-ness is meant to appear as a corruption of her humanity to the point the audience thinks she isn't human in her first appearance, and her bending is meant to illustrate how a beautiful. artistic sub-bending skill is turned into utilitarian executioner style technique. The way her bending works illustrates the theme as it literally corrupts the art of bending by manipulating and distorting it unnaturally. This extends to almost every facet of her character even her physical appearance, which has nasty scars and metallic attachments over a beautiful girl. This also ties into her motif of "tarnished beauty", as her bending has been morphed into a killing move, her body has been repurposed as a weapon and she's riddled with scarring both physically and emotionally.

[Important Relationships]

Shen
[Book 3] She appears to Shen as a physical representation of the thought looming in his head about him being a failure, the world maybe not needing the avatar, etc. Shen sees this as incredibly terrifying because of this, in addition to it being crazy strong. After learning that she was human, he realizes that they weren't much different, and easily could have been place in similar situations if Shen didn't leave the FN's grasp. Shen sympathizes with her and opts to save her from herself by stopping her when she seeks revenge on the EF. Shen is able to make her realize they aren't so different and that causing more violence won't solve the problem.

[Sidestory] This takes place in a sidestory preceding Book 4, 2 years after the events of Book 3. The two are together, on a mission to find the "other cyborgs" that Sura faintly remembers hearing about, in an effort to retrieve her blueprints. Sura is hesitant to aid Shen in the mission but wants to get past this part of her life so she agrees. While the two of them hve an awkward start together, having been out to kill each other at one point, it takes a little while before the two realize their common interests of singing, nature etc.
During this adventure, Shen's kindness and empathy would bridge the gap between the two as the story goes on, and Sura would become comfortable with him, showing more emotion, relating and revealing information about herself, and at one point letting him touch her prosthetic limbs. She would also become a comforting voice for Shen, share his interests, and alleviate his worries with her ability to empathize and commiserate when he lets on that his experiences as in Book 1-3 haven't quite left him without emotional issues or problems, as he's been thrusting himself into dangerous situations like this in order to take his mind away from what he's seen.
All of this connection would lead Sura to think that maybe Shen was becoming romantically interested in her, but personally shoots down these thoughts because of her self-loathing and depression. At one point the two would have an intimate personal moment and her feelings boil over and she kisses Shen, leaving him visibly shocked, and Sura's disposition falters and she tells him that she thought there was something more there, and that she was sorry she mistook his kindness for something else. However, Shen would look at her and tell her otherwise, and that he was just surprised, and would kiss her back and cement the start of a relationship. It could work as Shen's behalf has a motif of "looking towards inner beauty/acceptance of the whole" and Sura has a motif of "tarnished beauty/corruption", which really complement each other. This could be effective for Shen he'd be looking past her robotic parts and previous history to find a real person in there that he wants to be with. This is effective for Sura because she finds solace in someone who accepts every aspect of her, and gives her the strength to do so as well.
No matter how this happens we will need to be deft in Sura's characterization in starting the romance; not only should it reflect her newfound agency, it takes away the unfortunate implications of someone using emotional duress to romance someone. Instead it's meant to be about a girl who gets over her problems while helping someone else with theirs and, in them, coincidentally finds a lover. The two help each other heal and fall in love in the process.

[Personality]

[Pre-Cyborg] Sura is a caring, good-natured and loving individual, to an almost annoying degree. She, despite creating an extremely deadly technique, is quite sensitive, empathetic and compassionate. This also leads to her being indecisive, overly passive, and sometimes lets things or problems get out of hand due to not wanting to create any opposition. This mentality actually is one of the reasons she's led into the UER deal that transforms her into the Soundbender.

[Soundbender] As a force, she is a silent, unstoppable juggernaut. She is implacable and follows UER orders to a T. Her actual personality is completely subdued until she's freed from the UER bonds.
(This change in personality and tone of her character also serves to promote the motifs of corruption and tarnished beauty.)

[Post] Sura's emotional state on the outside seems subdued after the events of Book 3. (Reference: http://sensitivearstiste.tumblr.com/post/108169650780, the gifs and the picture I posted in the thread) Sura's created a persona that doesn't really faze as a result of her hardship; she doesn't reject people outright or is emotionless, but the emotions she express always appear to be overshadowed by melancholy, her face doesn't fully express emotion, just gives hints or fleeting moments of expression. Even when she does fully express, it doesn't take long for her to return to her melancholy state. Sura is really a broken bird at this point. She (kind of obviously) is depressed and extremely insecure about her prostheses and almost always hides them with clothing insisting that no one touch them. Only when someone gets really close to her does she let on the sadness she feels or let them touch her prosthetics. She thinks herself a monster, and her self-esteem suffers for it.

A simple way to think of her, as one anon put it, is: "If you took a Disney Princess and made her into a killing machine, and then explored the logical aftermath of that."

[I'm crafting a side story about Shen and Sura involving trying to find the facility that created her, other cyborgs (Sura is the 7th model), her development past her emotional issues as well as a myriad of unexplored story ideas and her growing closeness to Shen which leads her to staying with him and joining his new Team Avatar in Book 4, proposal here: http://pastebin.com/i4jfnBNz]

[Book 4] Sura has returned to her old disposition for the most part, but she's a much more "aggressive" person now. By this I mean she has more agency and has turned her struggle into her strength, becoming more resilient and dependable. Her kindness and compliance now has limits, as she does not want it to be taken for granted. She still has her motherliness and empathy but she's just in more control of it, not letting it blind her to issues or problems. She's returned to being more expressive, and shows emotions outwardly. She's secure about her prostheses now, not hiding them.