Whatever comes my way

Management: *smiles and gives me little to no instructions with no bit of info on where to find things*

Me: *slow as fuck*

Guess who became obsessed with Edward Scissorhands ajkdhkjdhjska

We do not know enough about Ursa within the series, we know her role as a mother to Zuko, we do not know about her relationship with Azula, or her relationship with Ozai.

We see Ursa scolding Azula for talking about her grandfathers death, the firelord's death. So yes she deserved to be scolded because she was also implying the death of Iroh as well to make Ozai the Firelord

We also see her pull Azula away from a very anxious Zuko, remember what she was doing in that moment? Antagonizing Zuko, practically celebrating that he was going to be killed by Ozai. That is the last known interaction between Ursa and Azula. Given the context, no pretty words were said.

That btw would probably be Azula's last memory of Ursa, which is probably where she got "my own mother thought i was a monster." Azula's perspective on that relationship cannot be trusted, her last interaction with Ursa would have blinded her to all the previous once.

In that same episode we also see Ursa take Azula's side and forcing Zuko to play with Azula.

We also see Ursa scold Zuko for the way he fed the turtle ducks.

Obviously Ursa had an impact on Azula's development, that is her mother. No matter how great the parent, there will be faults. However, what we see of Ursa is only from Zuko's perspective, we see what Zuko saw, we can take it as truth. We do not however know everything that happened. We do not see Azula and Ursa interacting in private, but we are shown that Ursa is fair and we know she was kind to Zuko.

If we go based on the series only there were changes in the family dynamic, Ozai was once a decent father to his kids, and Azula's personality makes her more drawn to Ozai, there would have been no real reason for Ursa to assume he was being a negative influence on her until it was too late.

To me it seems like the Ursa hate comes from people unwilling to accept that there is only so much a parent can do. Sometimes a parent does give to their child, sometimes you do have good parents and it is still not enough for the child. That is Azula's case with Ursa.

Sometimes parents do not have the tools to support their child in the ways their child needs. In this case the best thing Ursa could have done for Zuko and Azula was to take them away from Ozai. She could not do that, she had no power in that dynamic

The interactions we do see in Zuko alone could be done all throughout one year. It is not a show of the day to day dynamic. Iroh's siege lasted 600 days. They receive two letters in that time, the first talks about how great the wall is, so probably early on in the siege, and the second letter once Lu Ten dies, so once the siege ends.

If Azula was neglected we would have seen a moment from Azula's perspective of Ursa choosing Zuko over her, we arent shown that. We saw a flashback of Zhao in the library, if Azula was neglected would have seen it. As it is you cannot say she was neglected by Ursa because we do not know enough about their dynamic. We can only judge based on the characterization seen and we see Ursa be fair and kind.

Everytime we see Ursa scold Azula in the flashback it is warranted, and it shows that Ursa was the one trying to teach Azula to be a better person. Those arent signs of neglect it shows an involved parent. Azula showed behavior that needed to be corrected and Ursa acted on it. Compare what Zuko did when he got scolded by Ursa to what Azula was doing when she got scolded. Completely different levels of bad so that is not a sign of preferential treatment.

The fact that Azula does within the deep recesses of her mind know Ursa loves her pretty much shows that she was never “abused” or “neglected” by Ursa. Azula, deep down, is likely more upset that her mother was unable to help her rather than her feeling Ursa was inadequate as a mother. And if that’s not what she feels, then it’s 100% true generally, based on everything in the show and the comics.

Yes, Azula is a victim of Ozai and of circumstance. Zuko is too, the difference between is how much influence Ozai had over them. The reason Azula "is crazy and needs to go down," is because Ozai's influence on her was too strong. She was a prodigy on something Ozai placed high value on, and Azula, as any other child would love and live for that praise. Ursa clearly didnt place value on her kids based on skill level. I promise you most kids take pride being better at something than their older siblings, and if it is something the parent with the power in the dynamic praises it is even better.

Yes kids can see which parent has more influence. My parents tried to make it seem like my dad was the decision maker, but all my siblings and i have always known it was our mom, and it is a fact that I have just always known.

It is unfortunate for Azula that her last memory of her mother was a moment where she would be scolded after gloating about Zuko being killed to Zuko himself. I have no doubt that in that moment Ursa would at least imply to Azula that she was a monster for being so happy about it. That being the last memory of her, it would stand out in Azula's mind.

Yes, Ozai groomed her to be the perfect weapon, the Fire Nation Propaganda may have brainwashed her as well. I am positive it was not until Lu Ten died that Iroh started questioning what he had been told his whole life, so i expect Azula to be a victim of the propaganda. That said, Azula also made her own choices, at the age of thirteen Zuko spoke out in the defense of sacrificing men. Azula, at fourteen had no issue with trying to kill Zuko (shooting lightning at him that iroh redirected).

Yes she is a victim but she is also a pepretator. While it can be argued that if she didnt get Zuko and Iroh, she would be punished herself. She didnt have to go for the kill, she could have hesitated, that is her brother. Zuko also never hesitated against fighting Azula, sure but there is a difference, both Zuko and Azula know that Zuko cannot take on Azula and win. They both know who the better firebender is, and the fights we do see him have with Azula (except for 2 of them) we do see him get more frustrated. Contrast that to when Zuko thought Azula fell to her death, he was clearly conflicted.