mister daddy longlegs, they are at it again

Azula:

She is often given very little grace for her actions in comparison to her brother. I think people tend to forget that the only reason Zuko gets his redemption arc is because his banishment gave him access to an environment outside of his abusive home, as well as a support network who helped re-contextualize his experiences. Comparatively, Azula is younger than him, she's a girl in a patriarchal society, and she is systematically denied access to support and education that would inform her of the issues with how she is treated. Yes, the way she treats Zuko and her peers is often cruel, but she is also only 14 years old and lives under the constant threat of neglect and violence from a man who intentionally encourages competitiveness and conflates violence with authority. Any apparent delight she takes in Zuko's mistreatment is experienced alongside the understanding that if it wasn't him, it would be her. She does plenty of horrible things throughout the show, but I think her inability to understand the morality of those actions is more of a tragedy that people like to give credit for.

She is a child! Give her access to a support network, therapy, opportunities to learn about new people and places and the world outside of the bubble she has been kept in her whole life. She deserves a chance to deconstruct her experiences, to learn that how she was treated was wrong and that she deserves better, and that she has the opportunity to makes amends for her own actions and to break the cycle should she choose.

She's treated as an irredeemable war criminal and abuser at 14 while Iroh, a 50 something-at-youngest man who spent most of his life participating in a century of imperialism and besieged Ba Sing Se for 600 days before hanging up his hat as a general only after he personally lost his son and then proceeded to not actually take any steps whatsoever towards ending the war despite being the rightful heir, is a beloved fandom figure. People deny her humanity in every way they can at every chance they get and think she deserves to be psychiatrically abused and is incapable of being redeemed. Even a lot of the people who think she can be redeemed think more or less putting her on a leash so she can be Zuko's guard dog is "redemption." People won't even acknowledge that she's also a victim of her father's abuse.

Despite being a fourteen year old child soldier, she is adultified constantly. This usually comes in two forms - as an evil seductress or as evil incarnate, worse than even her father, Ozai. Some people even claim this fourteen year old girl SLEPT TO THE TOP. Or she is painted as evil and irredeemable despite her breakdown on screen. She is constantly hated on in order to prop her brother, Zuko, up.

She is clever and ambitious. She was able to restore her brother's honor, conquer Ba Sing Se, and kill the Avatar in one fell swoop. Evil actions? Yes but damn she did it well. She's been abused all her life and deserves a chance to heal from her trauma. She's the only one we see in the series wield blue flames, immensely powerful. She slays every outfit and scene she appears in. Insanely quotable. "Do the tides command this ship, or do I?…Then I think you should stop worrying about the tides, which have already decided to kill you, spend more time worrying about me, who's still mulling it over."

Sera:

The classic example of "if she was a man you wouldn't be so mean to her". She's loud and it's a flaw. She's crass and it's a flaw. She's not kissing your main character's butt and that's an affront to the player personally (even tho a male character like, say, Fenris is beloved for his snark). She has internalized racism written into her story and isn't shy about expressing the effects of it, and that pisses people off so bad they kick her out. Mind you, male characters like Varric, Solas or, again, Fenris, who express just as much disdainful opinions towards their own race and the city elves/the Dalish in particular, are largely beloved again. (Yes, Solas is more complicated due to his plot, but nobody knew that for sure until Trespasser came out, so don't give me that excuse). On top of that, of course, people are classist about her (claiming it's impossible to understand the way she speaks when even someone with English as their second language can do it. But it's a poor dialect full of street slang and somewhat of a cockney beat to it, so obviously it's bad.) And that's not even mentioning the additional lesbophobia. I could go on for a damn essay and someone will still show up in the comments with "Well I!!! don't like Sera 'cause she's annoying". Point me to a male character who ever got so much hate for being "annoying". Even Oghren doesn't get that.