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the truth is that azula cares about zuko (in a very distorted way given how her upbringing and trauma restrict her ability to express it in a way anywhere in the area code of healthy) to the extent that because she chooses him over herself in bringing him home (because it is an insane retcon that implies she is near omnipotent to say she knew for certain the avatar was not really dead and was just going to scapegoat zuko, not to mention it makes very little sense and is, again, boring), she loses everything. and zuko cares so little for azula that he only feels anything remotely close to grief about it all when he sees just how badly she's hurting.

Azula loves Zuko, she cares about him, like OP said. The thing is, she grew up in a toxic, unhealthy environment all her life, and contrary to Zuko, who had first his mother and then Iroh, she has no support aside for the man who praises her every move, her father. And so her rude, cruel, “evil” and malicious ways to play with her brother don’t look like that in her eyes. They seem simple playing with Zuko. Even taunting him for what Azulon said, she did it to kind of warn him, I guess? Because I don’t think she thought it could actually happen, and yet it was true.

Azula is a child whose father’s enablement made her blind to the pain she caused, to the point where she couldn’t even see that her way of playing with her brother and friends was wrong, or cruel. And when her mother did not enable her behavior, or justify her way of playing, she considered her the enemy, someone who preferred Zuko over her. Which pushed her towards Ozai even further.

Meanwhile, Zuko is older, he knows his mother and uncle’s compassion. He knows that the way Azula plays with people and with him is wrong. He doesn’t like it. And in his child mind, the basic sibling rivalry is much more than that. He has to prove himself to best his sister and win his father’s love for once. But he fails, Azula taunts him in her way to be a sister, and he grows to hate her. So of course, Zuko grows up resenting his sister, without seeing the good in her. Just what Ozai wants. Not what Ozai made her.

And by Zuko’s pov, Azula is simply the prodigy who follows him and taunts him and takes things away from him, and when she does do things for him, he’s too paranoid to see the good and automatically thinks she is out to get him. He doesn’t realize that the betrayal on the day of the black sun deeply scarred her. He doesn’t realize his leaving once again is just another step towards insanity. And when she fully goes mad, he doesn’t see a sister. Just an enemy. Because at that point he made peace with the fact that she doesn’t care for him and never did, which is a lie.

I think this view and point of view of Zuko was also shared by Iroh, because he too isn’t capable to see the good in her, as he usually does. And given that he wasn’t always present during Zuko and Azula’s childhood, he only sees the grown up version of Azula in which the enablement has cemented.

So in the end, it is all about the character’s perspective. Azula cared for her brother but never showed it in a traditional way, as Zuko wanted, because of Ozai’s influence in her life. And Zuko cares for his sister, loves her even, but has lost all faith in her because he doesn’t align with her way of playing/joking/reacting, and thinks of it as hatred and hostility towards him. As a result he doesn’t see her as someone he loves anymore, but as an enemy.

i'm genuinely asking you to tell me when zuko ever does or says anything to imply he cares about azula in the show. not your personal beliefs about his secret thoughts that we never see proof of but legitimate proof within canon that he cares about azula at all because i cannot think of a single moment that supports this idea.

and once more i will clarify: i am not morally indicting this fictional character for not caring about his sister. he's not real. him being a bad brother doesn't do any real world harm. it just makes his dynamic with his sister more compelling because it's interesting and subversive to what we usually see portrayed in fractured sibling relationships in fiction. if your response to "zuko is flawed and doesn't care about his sister" is to provide a moral defense for that lack of care instead of to provide evidence in canon that he does care, you have misunderstood what i said.

you've cherry picked this reblog of my post which is your prerogative, but it is interesting to note that when i replied to this reblog asking the op both why they pretend to agree with what i said while completely undermining my point with this desire to clear zuko's good name from bad brother accusations and to show me a single moment wherein zuko actually demonstrated any kind of care for azula, they didn't even try.

i'm not interested in if zuko is morally good. i'm not saying that him being a bad brother doesn't make sense. i'm not even saying that i wouldn't find it interesting to see azula and zuko mend fences one day. but i am saying that he is a bad brother in that he fundamentally doesn't care about azula as his sister and expresses zero desire to be her brother and i have yet to see a single person offer proof that says otherwise.

The Greens