A Full Analysis of Zuko's Treatment of Azula in The Promise and The Search
I've never written a comprehensive analysis of this before. I always knew his treatment of her was completely terrible, but doing research for this post made me realize that there was aspects of the terribleness I never considered before. I am not going to discuss The Search's ableism here, nor how incredibly idiotic it makes Zuko and the Gaang look. There are ample other places you can read about those.
For the purpose of this piece, I'm going to assume you know what the extremely dumb plots of The Promise and The Search are. You can easily look them up if you don't.
I am also not going to try to get into how Azula behaves in The Search. I am not arguing that The Search depicts her as a good sister, a good daughter, a good family member, a good person, etc. Most of my analysis focuses on The Promise Part 3 and The Search Part 1, where Azula is almost entirely disempowered and forced to endure Zuko's treatment of her.
I also personally don't consider the comics part of canon, but there is plenty of interesting stuff to analyze in them.
Let us start off with some background information. Here is what Gene Yang said about the asylum Zuko dumped Azula into:
ASN: Many of us have heard that we will finally see Azula in Part 3. She was a complicated character before her defeat and breakdown. What is it like to write for her now that she has been “recovering” in an asylum?
Gene: Azula is a complicated character, especially after spending time in the asylum. We had many conversations both over the phone and in e-mail before I started scripting her.
CBR: Speaking of Zuko's family, what's Azula been up to? Her stay in the Fire Nation mental institution has got to be incredibly interesting.
Yang: In "The Search," we'll see what a prolonged stay in a Fire Nation mental institution does to a person.
Although this came much later, we get more information about the asylum from Azula in the Spirit Temple:
There is another extremely important factor to take into account here, which is Zuko does not seem to understand that Azula is mentally ill in The Search, despite her showing consistent extremely obvious signs of it.
If Zuko doesn't believe that Azula is mentally ill, he can't have sent her to the asylum to treat her mental illness. Either he dumped her there as a convenient way to get rid of her, or he sent her there in hope that the institution would break her and teach her "humility" and "respect."
Moving on, we need to talk about how Zuko treats Ozai in The Promise.
Zuko visits Ozai at least four times, and possibly significantly more than that, including once soon after Ozai's imprisonment. He calls Ozai "my father" and addresses him as "Father."
It's clear that Zuko start regards Ozai as family.
I'm bringing this up, because Zuko's actions regarding Azula make it clear Zuko does not, in fact, see Azula as part of his family and regards her as an object and tool to be used to his purposes.
Now get to honestly one of the most bizarre parts of The Promise and The Search. Zuko apparently sees (in The Promise) "finding Ursa as a means to reconnect with his heritage (and become a better rule?)" and (in The Search) "reconciling with his family as a means to make himself a better ruler." It's important to understand that, under this framework, Zuko's actions toward his family members are driven by ulterior motives. Any "kindness" he shows them, any attempt at "reconciliation," he makes toward them, is not driven by compassion, empathy, care, duty or love toward them, but instead by the belief that "reconciliation" will make him a better, more successful ruler. Even his attempt to find Ursa is primarily driven by this ulterior motive. Zuko's family is nothing but tools to him.
Now we finally get to Azula. Several things are notable here:
Zuko only goes to the asylum and visits Azula because he needs her help to find Ursa. It seems to be the first visit since he imprisoned her.
" I feel disconnected from the good in my own family ... and in my own nation. For a whole host of reasons, I believe finding my mother would help me reconnect." Reconciliation with Azula (not that Zuko seems interested in that) would not help Zuko reconnect with his family, only finding Ursa will.
Zuko talks about Ursa as "my mother" to Azula's face, while Azula uses "our mother." Zuko does not view Azula as part of his family.
Zuko had a goddamn throne dragged to the asylum to empathize his power and authority over the (straightjacked) Azula. He could not bother to talk to her as an equal. He needed to flex on her.
Even though "The Promise" had a long plot about Zuko realizing that talking to Ozai was a bad idea for him, he wants Azula to talk to Ozai.
Any "kindness" Zuko shows them, any attempt at "reconciliation," he makes toward them, is not driven by compassion, empathy, care, duty or love toward them, but instead by the belief that "reconciliation" will make him a better, more successful ruler. If Zuko actually cared about Azula, he would have thought about how she could drink the tea. And honestly tea was likely supposed to help move the Azula-Ozai talks along, more than anything.
Suki refers to Azula as a "prisoner," reaffirming how Zuko and co. see her.
Ultimately what's going on in this scene can not be untangled from the power dynamics and the immense power Zuko wields over Azula and Ozai.
Like I said, the primary point of the tea was to try to get Azula and Ozai to talk about Ursa. The reason that Zuko is having Ozai and Azula meet is not out of any kindness toward them, but solely to use Azula as a tool to extract information about Ursa from Ozai.
Once again, Zuko refers to Ursa as "my mother," not "our mother." Azula is just a tool to find Ursa.
"I've asked the palace staff to prepare your old room. I'd like you to stay there instead of the institution. You'll be guarded every minute of every day, of course, but it'll be more comfortable for you."
This one of the very examples of Zuko apparently being "kind" to Azula, and it's one of the things that people will cite as evidence for him being a "good brother." However, there are some qualifications we should make:
"Any "kindness" Zuko shows them, any attempt at "reconciliation," he makes toward them, is not driven by compassion, empathy, care, duty or love toward them, but instead by the belief that "reconciliation" will make him a better, more successful ruler."
Moving beyond that, I think we should realize that Zuko must have been planning to dump Azula in front of Ozai over and over again, to try to get the information about Ursa. There's no way Zuko would give up after only one attempt. Keeping Azula in the palace instead of the asylum is much more convenient for those purposes, and Zuko is incentivized to "reward" her for cooperating.
Zuko doesn't seem to be thinking about Azula's treatment at all. If she was being treated for mental illness in the asylum, he would naturally have to find a way to continue this in her new abode. It's more evidence that Zuko does not believe Azula is mentally ill.
Yet another piece of "evidence" people use to claim that Zuko was trying to be a good brother. Notably, it's not from any of Zuko's actions, but from Iroh, who idealizes Zuko and also who can't be bothered to spend five minutes talking to Azula himself.
Here is something I want to briefly discuss, before we move on. Essentially The Search has this thing going where the Gaang and Zuko are as violent and aggressive toward Azula as she is toward them, even though Azula is extremely delusional and not in control of her actions on her part, while on their part they're being extremely aggressive, hostile, and violent towards someone who is obviously mentally ill. I just want to note it. It is not really that interesting.
"Any "kindness" Zuko shows them, any attempt at "reconciliation," he makes toward them, is not driven by compassion, empathy, care, duty or love toward them, but instead by the belief that "reconciliation" will make him a better, more successful ruler."
In fact, Zuko seems incredibly confused by the idea of even showing the most minimal kindness toward Azula, suggesting that perhaps he has never done so in the past.
And of course he finds the letter...Zuko's kindness was just a plot device to move things along.
One thing that The Search doesn't care about, because Gene Yang hates Azula, is that the letter is the only way Azula has of removing Zuko from the throne, and removing him from there is the only way she can guarantee he doesn't have the power to keep abusing her. Of course she freaks out when he steals it.
And, additionally, even though Zuko is on his back and helpless, the moment she gets the letter back, she stops attacking him.
Of course, here is the rest of the "cliff scene."
Notably, Zuko dangles Azula over a cliff while telling her she ruined his life by being born.
He keeps her dangling for quite a while, even as she tells him she's afraid he's going to drop her over the edge.
Notably, Azula finds Zuko not murdering her a shocking display of "kindness" on his part. His behavior has set her standards that low. You do have to wonder if comics! Zuko has ever been kind to her, once in her life.
Once again, Azula finds Zuko not murdering her a shocking display of "kindness" on his part. His behavior has set her standards that low. You do have to wonder if comics! Zuko has ever been kind to her, once in her life.
Zuko claims that "the throne is his destiny," even though at this point he thinks he's a bastard with no legal right to it.
Zuko claims that he sees Azula as his sister and that he only "wants to help her," which Azula apparently finds touching, probably because that is the nicest he's ever been to her.
However, we can look back and see how Zuko has consistently used Azula as a tool and treated her as an object, not a family member, this entire comic. Zuko is full of shit.
"Any "kindness" Zuko shows them, any attempt at "reconciliation," he makes toward them, is not driven by compassion, empathy, care, duty or love toward them, but instead by the belief that "reconciliation" will make him a better, more successful ruler."
