I'm so sick of Azula haters. Like seriously find someone else to attack (maybe the man who left his 11-year-old niece with her physically abusive father for 3 years just a suggestion).
There is all this hate for a 14-year-old girl who is heavily brainwashed and hasn't even done much wrong (in the specific circumstances).
The major things Azula did in the show were: try to kill Aang, Zuko, and Katara (and I guess the rest of the gaang), imprison Suki and take over Ba Sing Se. I'm gonna talk about these all individually for a moment. Because people seem to forget they were at war.
Attempting to kill any member of the gaang (including her brother) is just war, would you call any person who fought for either side of a war in history massively evil for doing it. I don't think so. The fact that she never actually succeeded in doing this on top of that. Why does she get hate for this? Please remember that for a while the gaang were actively trying to kill her father (excluding Aang) and Aang only refused because of air nation principles. Everyone else was still massively for it.
Suki's and the rest of the Kyoshi warrior's imprisonment. Absolutely justifiable. Once again they were at war. We don't even get a mention of them being physically harmed or tortured here (that could be because it's a kids show though). But still imprisoning someone on the opposite side of a war to you is absolutely justifiable - in fact, expected.
The take over of Ba Sing Se especially was a bloodless coup. That means that the only person who was harmed in this entire takeover was Aang, one person, and Azula managed to take an entire city. This isn't just a war tactic this is actively non-violent. Iroh spent years at the siege of Ba Sing Se and was actively violent (his son wasn't the first soldier to die on the field I can assure you).
Basically, Azula's actions can all be justified as classic war maneuvers that were relatively non-violent (especially for the fire nation). The only time she was violent was when people were actively attacking her as well - she didn't harm random innocent people for fun.
There are a lot of people who are like Azula's mental health issues don't excuse her actions. No, they don't, what excuses her actions is the fact that she was at war. And none of her actions are particularly cruel or unexpected.
I fully agree that Azula is on the wrong side of the war. But if she had done this against the fire nation. No one would have a problem with any of her actions. And the reason she was on the wrong side of the war is that she has been fed propaganda since she was a child.
She grew up believing in the superiority of the fire nation - this was never challenged from her perspective. She likely hadn't left the fire nation until the show started and we see that in fire nation schools they believe that their colonisation of the world is to share their greatness and technology.
Azula isn't inherently a bad person, she has been taught (read brainwashed) into thinking that what she is doing is the best thing for the world.
Azula deserves redemption because she isn't inherently evil. But rather has just been fighting for a cause that she believes is correct when it isn't. All this girl needs is some love, some psychological help, and someone to show her why the fire nation is in the wrong.
I believe that Azula truly cares for her people and just wants what is best for the fire nation and its people. She just doesn't understand why what she is doing is wrong currently because no one ever taught her that.
Zuko had Ursa and Iroh to guide him and his morals but neither of them paid any attention to Azula. She gathered her morals and her ruthlessness of Ozai.
I'm gonna put in a comparison to Zoya Nazyalensky here (Spoilers for Shadow and Bone if you haven't read it). Very similar characters in my eyes. Ruthless, determined, initially led wrong. If Zoya had stayed with the Darkling she probably would have ended up the way Azula did in the show. And I think that if Azula got the healing and teaching and love that she needs that she can end up like Zoya.
Basically, I think it's ridiculous that people are so hateful of a 14-year-old, who was brainwashed from birth, for committing actions that any person actively involved in a war would commit.