one of the most common anti zutara arguments i see is that Zuko would have taken lightning for any member of the Gaang. i agree completely.
but would Azula have targeted any other member?
i actually don’t think so.
Azula is calculating, manipulative, and an expert on how to upset her brother. She reads and analyzes each and every thing that he does.
When Zuko shows up in the Catacombs Azula doesn’t know whose side Zuko is going to choose. Her face says that she’s calculating his next move.
And then Zuko decides to attack Aang.
Azula’s satisfied smirk says she’s pleased, but not that she was necessarily expecting it. But look at Katara, she’s actually kind of surprised that Zuko went after Aang. And then the fight ensues.
I’ve said it before, but Zuko doesn’t attack Katara until Azula is in serious danger. She sincerely thinks that Katara is about to smash her into the ground. Why is that? Very little manages to unsettle Azula; this is probably the most frightened we see her up to this point. Being at Katara’s mercy scares the crap out of Azula, even after Zuko seems to have chosen Azula’s side against the Avatar.
Maybe she doubts Zuko’s abilities, maybe she understands Katara’s power.
Or, maybe she doesn’t think Zuko will try to stop Katara.
But then Zuko does step in to break Katara’s hold on Azula. He doesn’t strike Katara, even though he has a clear shot at her and it would be the more strategic move. He only breaks her grip on Azula.
Another calculating look from Azula. Yes, her brother came to her aid against the waterbender. But did he attack her? Not quite. Attacking Katara directly would have accomplished the same goal as severing her water tentacles, but Zuko chose the option that wouldn’t harm Katara. He had just gone after Aang relentlessly, but he hesitated to use such violence against Katara. Azula wouldn’t fail to take note of this.
And Azula hears Katara angry with Zuko. Thinking he had made a change, become a better person (by Katara’s standards). Azula would be able to gather that something had taken place in the Catacombs when they were together. Azula’s the one who put them in there.
The next time Azula sees her brother he’s joined up with the Gaang. During this fight she’s only really gunning for Zuko. She could go after Sokka or Suki in an attempt to upset Zuko, but she doesn’t. Azula doesn’t see the value in sending either of them careening into the boiling lake.
The next time Azula sees Zuko, she sees this. They’re both falling to their deaths and it’s the waterbender who is up in the saddle, reaching out to Zuko. The same girl who had thought Zuko had changed before he chose Azula’s side in Ba Sing Se. The same girl that Zuko had been trying not to harm last time they fought.
She’s the one who isn’t clinging to the saddle for safety, but risking toppling off the bison to save Zuko.
And Azula says interesting indeed.
Azula doesn’t witness this ^^ particular tenderness, but she sees a flicker of it when these two turn up for the Agni Kai.
That’s why we see the “I know more than you do” smirk when Azula takes aim at Katara. She has spent her whole life finding ways to hurt Zuko. She knows that Katara in particular is a weakness for Zuko. She saw it when they were in the Catacombs.
Zuko is grounded and confident today when they’re fighting. Katara is by his side and apparently she was right about Zuko changing. And Azula sees that Katara has helped make Zuko strong. She’s been there for him. Saved him. Supported him. Encouraged him. Katara was the one who already believed in Zuko back in Ba Sing Se, betrayal aside.
That’s why Azula wants to kill her.
I’m going to circle back to something else to prove this point. In The Chase, we see the first time that everyone else unites against Azula.
Azula realizes then, too, that she is outmatched. And she pulls the same tactic in The Chase as she does during the Agni Kai.
She goes after someone who loves Zuko, who believes in him and supports him. Someone who believes that Zuko’s strength lies in his goodness.
Azula goes after Iroh because she knows how much damage it will do to Zuko. More damage than could be done by killing him. It will break him enough for Azula to defeat him.
Prior to his return, Azula sees Zuko hesitate about taking her side in the presence of two people: Iroh and Katara. Azula has exclusively seen these two as a threat to Zuko siding with her. Azula has seen firsthand that, for some reason, Katara makes Zuko hesitate.
Azula thinks that she’s going to kill Katara. She doesn’t think for one second that Zuko is going to move faster than lightning to save Katara
But he does. And he has the same horrified look on his face as he did when Azula nearly killed Iroh. Because Azula was right, as usual.
Azula comes completely unhinged after she hits Zuko because she absolutely intended to kill Katara, not Zuko. (Despite it all, she cares about him) She had calculated that Katara would matter enough to Zuko for her death to change the tides and for Azula to win the Agni Kai. But she micalculated. Again. She hadn’t anticipated that Katara dying would scare Zuko so much that he would die in her place.
Azula isn’t stupid. Even crazed, she’s calculating. She’s seen evidence that Katara will make Zuko hesitate. Like she knew attacking Iroh would completely distract Zuko.
There is only one member of the Gaang who Azula has this impression of, and it’s Katara. If any other member of the Gaang had been waiting in the wings I don’t think Azula would have broken the rules of the Agni Kai. She wouldn’t have been able to bank on it being enough for her to take Zuko down.
But Azula knew that, with Katara, it would be.
Whatever has gone on between these two is strong, and Azula knows it.
I have written a lot of meta about the final Agni Kai. I’ve talked about how the framing, storyboarding, animation, music, movement–everything that went into that scene was designed to be as romantically coded as possible. I’ve talked about the subsequent focus on their hands (something paralleled with Sukka in the same set of episodes, though with Sokka and Suki there isn’t quite as much focus on their hands in the framing) reaching out to each other, about how Katara forgot about the comet-powered prodigy on the battlefield in her desperation to get to Zuko’s side. I’ve talked about how, while Zuko may have taken that lightning bolt for anyone, it’s especially important that he took it for Katara because if it had been anyone else, he would have died–and how, given their relationship, it made perfect sense for him to pick Katara in a way that simply would not have worked for anyone else in the gaang. I’ve even talked about the narrative parallels with Oma and Shu, and that Zuko, as Oma’s parallel (or reincarnation, if you’re a sap like me), could not stand to lose Katara, as Shu, not again.
But one thing I’ve never really touched on, and never seen talked about (I think it’s been mentioned off-hand in another meta by someone else, but not focused on in this sort of detail), is the fact that Azula would not have targeted them if Zuko had brought anyone else to that Agni Kai. You are absolutely right, and this is a huge point that I’m amazed I’ve never actually seen an in-depth meta on before.
Thank you for this post. I don’t often see new arguments, and I’m so happy this now exists so I can stick it on my blog.
What can I say? I think everything has been said.
And wow! I hope this shuts some people up.
Hands down this is the best constructed counter argument to Ye Olde Lighting Debate I’ve seen. However, I’d like to add, this argument is only strengthened if we include the further context of the way the narrative is constructed, the character arcs, and the story beats, requiring Katara to be the one in the Agni Kai with him. Zuko and Katara, like Oma and Shu, are set up like a tragedy; Katara is the only one Zuko would choose to fight Azula by his side, both for character and narrative reasons, and likewise, Katara is the only one Azula would’ve shot. It was always going to end like this… one of my favorite Omashu parallels is actually that both of them survive. Considering a central theme of the show is never giving up on hope, especially for Katara, her saving Zuko against all odds is profound.
(Side note - If I remember correctly in the live action, it is directly framed as him choosing between Azula and Katara, and he doesn’t directly attack Katara AT ALL. He holds back, sparring with her almost, and repeatedly tries to separate her and Azula like in the original… )
