This is something that has been floating around my mind for awhile now (when I really should be writing my assorted works-in-progress... *grumbles*), but I thought I might ask the collective if it's even possible to cross A:TLA and Harry Potter without causing aneurysms? I believe that it's possible on the grounds that Nuhuh's Bleach/HP crossover has been one of (perhaps the only) successful crossover that maintains Harry's personality and HP elements (like magic). It's a proof-of-concept that two vastly different Universes could work together.

So... any thoughts?

 

I see two ways that this can be done successfully:

1. Dimension hopping - either dropping Harry in the A:TLA universe, or dropping Aang in the HP universe. Easy to write but difficult to make good.

2. Universe fusion. This can take several different forms. One is simply replacing the cast of one fandom with the other, while keeping the same universe. A variation of this would be combining the casts - this would be difficult, however, as you'd have to balance several important characters. It can be done, though. Alternatively, it can be something less defined - a melding of elements from both universes and/or casts.

 

I was thinking Dimension Hopping myself, though I'm trying to come up with a way to make it sound feasible (plus I've already used Dimension Hopping as a plot device in Skipping Stones... I'd rather not be a one-trick pony). I might be able to swing it if it was somehow a conscious choice Harry made, rather than one day he simply wakes up in the Avatar world (as both my and Nuhuh's Harry did after they died in their respective dimensions).

 

We've seen someone bend spirit before. And not just the avatar, but the lion turtle, who may have taught it to others. Bending spirit might drag across a spirit in harmony, in a state of flux, one that is damaged...say by killing curse. You could have a harry raised in the world of avatar, a proper spirit bender, his magic a reflection of his spirit. Or you could have him show up when he gets greened in book 7. or 4, or 5, or whenever. Lots of times he got spiritaully touched.

 

The interaction between Bending and HP-Magic would be interesting. Provided it's done right, I'd like to see this.

 

OK either you and I have vastly different opinions as to Harry's character, I'm completely misremembering that fic, or we're thinking about two different fics.

But I think the hardest part of meshing the two universes would definitely be the characters and tone. I just can't see Harry or any of the HP series characters fitting in to the Avatar world, and the only character I could see getting along OK in the HP world would be Azula.

Alternatively copious amounts of Toph could be added to the fic to automatically improve it at least 1.5 points.

 

I don't think putting anyone from the Avatar world into the HP world would work out that well. It just doesn't seem that compatible.

Harry somehow going to the Avatar world would probably work better, although I don't know if there's a fantastic role for him to play. A good way to move him between worlds could be at near the end of DH when he's in King's Cross in his mind. Instead of going back to the real world, he could choose to move on, at which point he ends up in the Spirit World. He spends some time there, figures out that some fucked up shit happened and he's not in Kansas anymore, and then encounters Aang. Through some sequence of events, Harry becomes friends with Aang and eventually manifests into the Avatar world (dunno how exactly this would work).

 

I remember reading a theory (somewhere) that Avatar was set in Earth's very distant future in a similar manner as the Wheel of Time series. I doubt it's very credible in canon, but if you really wanted to cross it and Harry Potter over without using dimensional travel, you could always go for time travel instead.

 

Its going to be difficult to make this work. The HP characters are infinitely more serious and dramatic than any of A:TLA's characters and we all know what happens when we try to make Avatar characters more dramatic...

 

Instead of having him "cross" when he is killed in book 7, what about a post hogwarts one? Have some of the remaining death eater elements kidnap him(or kidnap a child to lure him there if you want to be epilogue compliant) and shackle him to a floor and preform a ritual designed to give the death eaters some time without Harry's influence.

After the ritual is done he wakes up x number of years in the future to discover that the wizarding world no longer exists. He learns there was a great war x-10 years in the past which caused the muggles to become aware of the wizarding world, and they subsequently killed the great majority of them. Those that did survive lived in the muggle world and used their magic less and less as the years past. Ultimately creating the benders(you could even say air benders descended from harry's family if you are epilogue compliant).

Now Harry is in the future with no way to get to the past as the Fire Nation is busy starting a war. He was once the Boy-Who-Lived and the Man-Who-Conquered, but he is now Harry Potter, The last Sorcerer.(insert dramatic music)

 

The fic I'm thinking of is Retsu's Folly (here's the link for it). There is another Bleach fic by Bluminous8, which is a good read in a cracktastic sort of way, but isn't quite as good as the other because it isn't played as straight (and has lots of inexplicable sex).

Oh yes, there will be lots of Toph... I have a rough Prologue written now and I'll post it... somewhere when I'm done. Would it fit under the 'Harry Potter Work by Author' thread?

The idea i'm working with is Harry making a conscious choice to go to the Avatar universe... I think Harry being dropped in other worlds against his will is very nearly cliche by now. Of course, I'm intending Harry to be very young when he makes that choice, so it could easily be seen as Harry being taken advantage of.

 

Ok so just take what I already wrote, by instead of him being forced have kid harry find an ancient(book in the local library, Genies Lamp buried in the park, or strange item on his first go-round in Diagon). The Genie would give him 1 wish('I wish i was somewhere that I could be loved'), The book has some ancient spell or potion that is suppose to fullfill his hearts desire(see above wish), or the mysterious shopkeep gives him the strange item with some simple instruction amounting to clicking his heels together saying 'there's no place like home.'

 

Please stop.

 

lol why cuz I just listed every cliche in the book? Ok, why don't you tell him how to do it without using some plot device that has been used in every crossover ever.

 

Xovers rarely use the Alice and Wonderland gambit because the authors want their stories to be realistic.

(Edit) Realism is overrated. (Edit)

Proposed idea: Harry tokes up and has wicked awesome hallucinations about Avatar. When he arrives in this animated world of creatures that are all two different types of animal, he realizes that Aang is actually a girl, Zuko's scar is on the wrong side of his face, Iroh really loves treachery, Katara is constantly crying and making speeches about hope, sokka does not make enough meat-themed jokes, toph is really a large muscled man that releases sonic waves from his mouth, and momo is just a sock-puppet.

 

I just got a contact high reading this damn thing.

 

Okay... this was awesome... I hope my will to write doesn't crap out on me before I get to this scene.

 

I'm probably going to get mocked for saying this but, you do both realize that's the plot of the show within a show in one of the last episodes, right?

 

Wait it's a show within a show

 

Avatar crossovers are difficult by default because the world is incredibly unique. Its hybrid nature of anime and cartoon characteristics mean that while you have an incredibly detailed world, you can't flexibly merge the story with other fandoms (as you could with, say, Harry Potter or even Artemis Fowl). ATLA's closest kin is possibly Naruto, but even then, such crossovers can feel rather jarring.

I'd personally advise exploring the Avatar/Spirit World connection in ATLA. You could feasibly create a "Universe Fusion" story by perhaps creating a premise similar to Awaken Sleeper: Harry wakes up in a hospital after [insert-event] and discovers that the world he lives in is similar to his old one, but with some strange differences. Why does he also dream of King's Cross Station, which every night becomes increasingly jungle-like? Etc. Etc.

Just focus on the similarities shared between ATLA and HP (exploration of warfare, importance of friends, genocide, racism, etc.). Hopefully, you won't fail.

P.S. I still think that a HP/ATLA crossover is a near-impossible order, but it's your own choice to proceed. =/