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@whtybsshe
Chapter 49 of Angels of Torment is out!
Summary: Hinata has confidently taken the decision to let things take its course and for her not to get in the way anymore. She doesn’t know what’s happening and is not interested to. However, such words hold no confidence, and no truths.
Link:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/67124884/chapters/213042821
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Funniest thing about young azula getting demonized is that…of course she’d throw a big ball of bread at the ducks , she’s a kid! She doesn’t understand!! Of course she’d push Ty Lee in jealousy…she’s literally a kid!! Of course she’d do that prank with Ty Lee to get mai and Zuko together…she’s a cheeky kid! Even in all the other scenes, like the one where Azula mocks Irohs reaction or mocks her grandfather that’s because she’s probably reproducing what she’s heard, most likely from Ozai and the rest of the court, you can easily tell at that stage which sound like her words and which don’t. You can really tell that Azula had heard shit from other places and she’s reproducing it.
Iroh was disgraced from leaving the war and failing the siege, she technically didn’t say anything “wrong” (though morally and ethically she was wrong).
Azulon WAS loosing his power from Ozai trying to scratch his way into the throne. Irohs failing was also HIS loss too! He lost Ba sing se!
All of these stuff were happening in the way azula was talking about. This shit obv did not come purely out of her own interpretation. It suggests that azula was victim of the environment she grew up in.
Azula was the one who INTENTIONALLY saves Zukos life by snooping around. When azula says that Ozai will kill him, she doesn’t actually wish his death. She hopes he will find refuge instead, to a “nice earth kingdom family”(lol).It demonstrates the fact that Azula is still very much naive and innocent to the concept of death and especially that of a closed one. Again, she doesn’t say he’ll die, she hopes that he will escape, hence why she tells him and Ursa afterwards. It’s a more of a “aha” moment, that he will be mildly upset and annoyed while she gets all the parental affection (lol). Not that he will literally die by his father’s hand.
What’s even funnier is that kids ARE NOT angels. I mean they’re pure in a sense but they’re not nice. None of us were fully nice kids and we did do stuff relatively close to one of young Azulas shenanigans. I dare say, she was fairly normal kid of sorts from early on, but it was Zukos and Irohs biased view as well as the NEGLECT she faced from the theoretically “positive” people that were suppoesed to steer her in the right direction, which made her turn for the worse instead.
Nobody blames Azula for the things she did as a child.
It's all of the OTHER things she chooses to do as a fully congniscent adult that makes her a bad person.
She had as many, if not MORE opportunities than Zuko to get better.
Instead she CHOOSES to get worse.
No, just no!
I don't know what show you are watching or what Azula hate you are reading, but no.
Azula still gets hate for things she did as a nine-year-old in the Zuko Alone flashbacks. Example: Fans still say she abused turtleducks, wished death upon Zuko and other members of her family, among other things. And they'll use it as evidence that she is a bad person, as you said.
Saying she was a "fully cogniscent adult." No! Absolutely not! She was FOURTEEN when she appeared in season 2. FOURTEEN!!! A fourteen-year-old who is not only groomed by her father her entire life, but also groomed by the imperialistic propaganda that has kept the war going for a 100 years. She is literally the furthest thing from a fully cogniscent adult! She was still a child!
You know who was a fully cogniscent adult, IROH. Iroh was in his late 40s, pushing 50, when he led the 600-day siege in Ba Sing Se. Keep in mind, he spared the last dragon decades before the siege. He never challenged Ozai for the throne. Jeong-Jeong and Piandao were fully cognisant adults who fought in the Fire Nation Military. These grown-ass men who committed worse atrocities than Azula DEFECTED.
Saying she got around the same amount or more chances than Zuko is laughable. Ok, Zuko (pre-redemption) was the one who kept rejecting opportunities to change.
Example:
Blue Spirit Ep when Aang asked, "if we knew each other back then, do you thing we could have been friends?" He shoots fire
Saving his life in The Siege of the North ep
The Chase Ep when Katara says she can help Iroh. He shoots fire
The Crossroads of Destiny by both Katara and Iroh
Where in the show did Azula get a single chance?
Iroh made a choice. He made it late. But he made it.
Zuko made a choice. He took some lumps. But he made it.
Like you said, he backslid more than once. That gives Azula even FEWER excuses not to have had SOME kind of epiphany. A MOMENT'S hesitation. SOMEWHERE.
But she doesn't.
Not when she's trying to kill her own brother and uncle with lightning.
Not when her best friends decide this has gone on far enough (the PERFECT time for her to have SOME kind of realization)
Not after Aang and Zuko spare her life and bring her on a journey to find the mother that left such a yawning pit in her soul.
Zuko and Azula are similar characters. They come from the same place. Zuko made it out. Azula didn't. What's the difference?
The plain fact that one of Azula's core traits is that she ENJOYS hurting people. She feels POWERFUL when she causes pain and suffering. And nothing will convince her it's worth it to give up that feeling. Not her mother's love, or her father's abuse, or her "best friends" telling her what a stuck up little bully she is.
I get that you like her. So do I. She's a cool and tragic...villain.
And that's what she is. She's the villain. And there's a reason.
What's the difference?
Zuko was banished for 3 years, and Azula was not.
Azula was their father's favourite, and Zuko was not.
Zuko had 3 years with Iroh, Azula had 3 years alone with Ozai.
That in season 2 and the second half of season 3, Zuko and Iroh were wanted dead or alive by the Fire Lord, and Azula was ordered to hunt them down.
If Azula truly enjoyed hurting people to the (honestly comically cartoonish) degree you say she does, then she wouldn't:
push herself to perfection out of fear of losing her father's approval
be hurt over her mother thinking she was a monster - the Beach
Tell the Warden that he's interrogating the wrong man - Boiling Rock
break down after hallucinating her mother
Tell the hallucination of her mother: "What choice do I have? Trust is for fools. Fear is the only reliable way." Which really goes against your view. She's saying she doesn't have a choice to be what she is.
Saying Zuko backslid (rejecting opportunities), so Azula should have had an epiphany, makes no fucking sense. It practically screams double standards. Zuko rejecting opportunities really indicates just how challenging it is for him to confront the propaganda he has been taught since birth. So reasonably, it would be similarly challenging for Azula to unlearn her father's influence and the imperialistic propaganda.
She very much did question Mai - she says,"Â I never expected this from you. The thing I don't understand is "Why?". Why would you do it? You know the consequences."
I specifically said: Where in the show did Azula get a single chance? Notice that I didn't mention the comics.
But since you did, in the Search, Azula made a deal to Zuko to join the journey to find Ursa, none of the Gaang was happy with taking her along. And this is the same comic where Zuko dangled her over a cliff, right after he got Aang to leave, saying he could handle her. The same comic where her mind has deteriorated due to being in an abusive asylum for more than a year. The same comic where no one asked if she was ok when she jumped off Appa mid-air, hallucinated and rambled on about Ursa conspiring against her. If they were trying to help her, they did a terrible job at it. It drove her further away from them.
You say you like Azula. Yet you are the one who said she was a fully cogniscent adult instead of a teenager. When I point out that she's 14 and that there were fully cogniscent adults like Iroh, Jeong-Jeong and Piandao, who defected after committing atrocities worse than Azula, you don't seem to really acknowledge it. In fact, you apply these adult- level moralisations that she should have hesistated, she should have realised, she should have has an epiphany. That's clarity expected from an adult not a child solider.
The Azula you describe reads a lot like a fanon caricature.
No YOUR version reads like a fandom interpretation trying to absolve Azula while demonizing the rest of the cast. Like I said, Azula is a VILLAIN. And she's treated like one because she ACTS like one. Over and over and over again we see the way that she grins and cackles at the thought of causing harm and pain to the people around her. Including and especially the people she claims to care for, if she can be said to claim caring for them at all. She recruit Ty Lee with an overt threat and a power move putting her life at risk just so Azula can prove that she CAN have her killed at any time. The reason I brought up Zuko's backsliding is because it proves that no matter how deep the programming is eventually there reaches a point where you have to make a decision. And you only have to make the right decision once.
Why SHOULD any of the Gaang have tried to help her? From their perspective the ONLY things they'd ever seen her do was try to kill them all without a single second's remorse!
She pushes herself for her father's approval because she WANTS HER FATHER'S APPROVAL. She believes in and agrees with Ozai's perspective and consistently chooses to hold herself to his standards, rather than listening to whatever vestigial human empathy she might still have. Zuko realized sacrificing innocent lives was wrong enough to shout it out in front of a room full of generals as a CHILD. Azula sees her two best friends reach a moral limit and turn against her, has her father basically spit in her eye due to his own ego, and is confronted by her own mother calling her a monster. And then doesn't blink.
You should be embarrassed.
It's so glaringly obvious that you haven't watched the show in a while, or you watched it while your eyes were closed.
You literally thought Azula was a fully cogniscent adult. Ignored that I even pointed it out. Ignored that you still seem to expect her to have adult-level critical thinking to have an epiphany on her own.
Think of me however you want. I'm not going to waste my time debating someone who only half-heartedly acknowledges what I have to say just to circle back to the same reductive take.
If Aang can make moral decisions. So can Azula.
If Katara can make moral decisions. So can Azula.
If Zuko can make moral decisions. So can Azula.
In OUR world, a 14 year old girl is not a full adult. But the show's universe and narriative demonstrably disagrees. At a certain point, her shitty parent is no longer an excuse. Especially when not only did a boy raised by the SAME PARENTS make DIFFERENT CHOICES but when we also see Azula chooses to do what she does when literal days travel away from Ozai's ability to do anything about it. Mai and Ty Lee's rebellion at the prison should have caused her pause. And if anything, she chose to double down instead.
Ok my little pony fan
Buddy, we're talking about a children's cartoon and you have a naruto cosplay as your pfp. Do not sit in judgement, we are both at the same devil's sacrament.
I like mlp and I like Naruto but I don’t use Naruto or mlp logic to judge Azula tho hope that helps💕
Funniest thing about young azula getting demonized is that…of course she’d throw a big ball of bread at the ducks , she’s a kid! She doesn’t understand!! Of course she’d push Ty Lee in jealousy…she’s literally a kid!! Of course she’d do that prank with Ty Lee to get mai and Zuko together…she’s a cheeky kid! Even in all the other scenes, like the one where Azula mocks Irohs reaction or mocks her grandfather that’s because she’s probably reproducing what she’s heard, most likely from Ozai and the rest of the court, you can easily tell at that stage which sound like her words and which don’t. You can really tell that Azula had heard shit from other places and she’s reproducing it.
Iroh was disgraced from leaving the war and failing the siege, she technically didn’t say anything “wrong” (though morally and ethically she was wrong).
Azulon WAS loosing his power from Ozai trying to scratch his way into the throne. Irohs failing was also HIS loss too! He lost Ba sing se!
All of these stuff were happening in the way azula was talking about. This shit obv did not come purely out of her own interpretation. It suggests that azula was victim of the environment she grew up in.
Azula was the one who INTENTIONALLY saves Zukos life by snooping around. When azula says that Ozai will kill him, she doesn’t actually wish his death. She hopes he will find refuge instead, to a “nice earth kingdom family”(lol).It demonstrates the fact that Azula is still very much naive and innocent to the concept of death and especially that of a closed one. Again, she doesn’t say he’ll die, she hopes that he will escape, hence why she tells him and Ursa afterwards. It’s a more of a “aha” moment, that he will be mildly upset and annoyed while she gets all the parental affection (lol). Not that he will literally die by his father’s hand.
What’s even funnier is that kids ARE NOT angels. I mean they’re pure in a sense but they’re not nice. None of us were fully nice kids and we did do stuff relatively close to one of young Azulas shenanigans. I dare say, she was fairly normal kid of sorts from early on, but it was Zukos and Irohs biased view as well as the NEGLECT she faced from the theoretically “positive” people that were suppoesed to steer her in the right direction, which made her turn for the worse instead.
Nobody blames Azula for the things she did as a child.
It's all of the OTHER things she chooses to do as a fully congniscent adult that makes her a bad person.
She had as many, if not MORE opportunities than Zuko to get better.
Instead she CHOOSES to get worse.
No, just no!
I don't know what show you are watching or what Azula hate you are reading, but no.
Azula still gets hate for things she did as a nine-year-old in the Zuko Alone flashbacks. Example: Fans still say she abused turtleducks, wished death upon Zuko and other members of her family, among other things. And they'll use it as evidence that she is a bad person, as you said.
Saying she was a "fully cogniscent adult." No! Absolutely not! She was FOURTEEN when she appeared in season 2. FOURTEEN!!! A fourteen-year-old who is not only groomed by her father her entire life, but also groomed by the imperialistic propaganda that has kept the war going for a 100 years. She is literally the furthest thing from a fully cogniscent adult! She was still a child!
You know who was a fully cogniscent adult, IROH. Iroh was in his late 40s, pushing 50, when he led the 600-day siege in Ba Sing Se. Keep in mind, he spared the last dragon decades before the siege. He never challenged Ozai for the throne. Jeong-Jeong and Piandao were fully cognisant adults who fought in the Fire Nation Military. These grown-ass men who committed worse atrocities than Azula DEFECTED.
Saying she got around the same amount or more chances than Zuko is laughable. Ok, Zuko (pre-redemption) was the one who kept rejecting opportunities to change.
Example:
Blue Spirit Ep when Aang asked, "if we knew each other back then, do you thing we could have been friends?" He shoots fire
Saving his life in The Siege of the North ep
The Chase Ep when Katara says she can help Iroh. He shoots fire
The Crossroads of Destiny by both Katara and Iroh
Where in the show did Azula get a single chance?
Iroh made a choice. He made it late. But he made it.
Zuko made a choice. He took some lumps. But he made it.
Like you said, he backslid more than once. That gives Azula even FEWER excuses not to have had SOME kind of epiphany. A MOMENT'S hesitation. SOMEWHERE.
But she doesn't.
Not when she's trying to kill her own brother and uncle with lightning.
Not when her best friends decide this has gone on far enough (the PERFECT time for her to have SOME kind of realization)
Not after Aang and Zuko spare her life and bring her on a journey to find the mother that left such a yawning pit in her soul.
Zuko and Azula are similar characters. They come from the same place. Zuko made it out. Azula didn't. What's the difference?
The plain fact that one of Azula's core traits is that she ENJOYS hurting people. She feels POWERFUL when she causes pain and suffering. And nothing will convince her it's worth it to give up that feeling. Not her mother's love, or her father's abuse, or her "best friends" telling her what a stuck up little bully she is.
I get that you like her. So do I. She's a cool and tragic...villain.
And that's what she is. She's the villain. And there's a reason.
What's the difference?
Zuko was banished for 3 years, and Azula was not.
Azula was their father's favourite, and Zuko was not.
Zuko had 3 years with Iroh, Azula had 3 years alone with Ozai.
That in season 2 and the second half of season 3, Zuko and Iroh were wanted dead or alive by the Fire Lord, and Azula was ordered to hunt them down.
If Azula truly enjoyed hurting people to the (honestly comically cartoonish) degree you say she does, then she wouldn't:
push herself to perfection out of fear of losing her father's approval
be hurt over her mother thinking she was a monster - the Beach
Tell the Warden that he's interrogating the wrong man - Boiling Rock
break down after hallucinating her mother
Tell the hallucination of her mother: "What choice do I have? Trust is for fools. Fear is the only reliable way." Which really goes against your view. She's saying she doesn't have a choice to be what she is.
Saying Zuko backslid (rejecting opportunities), so Azula should have had an epiphany, makes no fucking sense. It practically screams double standards. Zuko rejecting opportunities really indicates just how challenging it is for him to confront the propaganda he has been taught since birth. So reasonably, it would be similarly challenging for Azula to unlearn her father's influence and the imperialistic propaganda.
She very much did question Mai - she says,"Â I never expected this from you. The thing I don't understand is "Why?". Why would you do it? You know the consequences."
I specifically said: Where in the show did Azula get a single chance? Notice that I didn't mention the comics.
But since you did, in the Search, Azula made a deal to Zuko to join the journey to find Ursa, none of the Gaang was happy with taking her along. And this is the same comic where Zuko dangled her over a cliff, right after he got Aang to leave, saying he could handle her. The same comic where her mind has deteriorated due to being in an abusive asylum for more than a year. The same comic where no one asked if she was ok when she jumped off Appa mid-air, hallucinated and rambled on about Ursa conspiring against her. If they were trying to help her, they did a terrible job at it. It drove her further away from them.
You say you like Azula. Yet you are the one who said she was a fully cogniscent adult instead of a teenager. When I point out that she's 14 and that there were fully cogniscent adults like Iroh, Jeong-Jeong and Piandao, who defected after committing atrocities worse than Azula, you don't seem to really acknowledge it. In fact, you apply these adult- level moralisations that she should have hesistated, she should have realised, she should have has an epiphany. That's clarity expected from an adult not a child solider.
The Azula you describe reads a lot like a fanon caricature.
No YOUR version reads like a fandom interpretation trying to absolve Azula while demonizing the rest of the cast. Like I said, Azula is a VILLAIN. And she's treated like one because she ACTS like one. Over and over and over again we see the way that she grins and cackles at the thought of causing harm and pain to the people around her. Including and especially the people she claims to care for, if she can be said to claim caring for them at all. She recruit Ty Lee with an overt threat and a power move putting her life at risk just so Azula can prove that she CAN have her killed at any time. The reason I brought up Zuko's backsliding is because it proves that no matter how deep the programming is eventually there reaches a point where you have to make a decision. And you only have to make the right decision once.
Why SHOULD any of the Gaang have tried to help her? From their perspective the ONLY things they'd ever seen her do was try to kill them all without a single second's remorse!
She pushes herself for her father's approval because she WANTS HER FATHER'S APPROVAL. She believes in and agrees with Ozai's perspective and consistently chooses to hold herself to his standards, rather than listening to whatever vestigial human empathy she might still have. Zuko realized sacrificing innocent lives was wrong enough to shout it out in front of a room full of generals as a CHILD. Azula sees her two best friends reach a moral limit and turn against her, has her father basically spit in her eye due to his own ego, and is confronted by her own mother calling her a monster. And then doesn't blink.
You should be embarrassed.
It's so glaringly obvious that you haven't watched the show in a while, or you watched it while your eyes were closed.
You literally thought Azula was a fully cogniscent adult. Ignored that I even pointed it out. Ignored that you still seem to expect her to have adult-level critical thinking to have an epiphany on her own.
Think of me however you want. I'm not going to waste my time debating someone who only half-heartedly acknowledges what I have to say just to circle back to the same reductive take.
If Aang can make moral decisions. So can Azula.
If Katara can make moral decisions. So can Azula.
If Zuko can make moral decisions. So can Azula.
In OUR world, a 14 year old girl is not a full adult. But the show's universe and narriative demonstrably disagrees. At a certain point, her shitty parent is no longer an excuse. Especially when not only did a boy raised by the SAME PARENTS make DIFFERENT CHOICES but when we also see Azula chooses to do what she does when literal days travel away from Ozai's ability to do anything about it. Mai and Ty Lee's rebellion at the prison should have caused her pause. And if anything, she chose to double down instead.
Ok my little pony fan
The ATLA comics were weird.
I read the comics exclusively for Azula and I think a good amount of people did so too. I’ve got very mixed opinions which often lean to the negative side of it as a good percentage of people do lol. But I wanted to points out some points which really struck with me.
The way they screwed up Ty Lee and Mai
Not a lot of people say this but Ty Lee and Mai weren’t just henchmen’s to Azula. They were extensions of Azula.
Ty Lee represents the “femininity”, the princessy aspect, the need for love and validation around her, the need to stand out, what Azula has basically. It makes sense why she was pressured to join a mission that would involve brutality, murder and manipulation. Her admiration to Azula, and the cutesy responses she has to everything that happens around her… I think that those might represent some form of innocence and love buried deep that Azula might have.
Mai on the other hand represent the need to be good for her family. In fact all the campfire confessions at the beach (including Zukos) also stand for Azula. But most importantly, Azula was raised by Ozai in a way that she never had to question why and how, but rather to do what she was told to do. To remain quiet about it. Mai brings out the stoicism that Azula carries herself with. Until she explodes, that is.
Anyways both Ty Lee and Mai are conflicting figures to each other. One loves a carefree life at the circus and the other devotes herself to the family similar with one of Azulas inner conflict between herself as Azula and herself as the Fire Nation princess.
Where I’m going at with this is that both Ty Lees and Mais development are not independent from that of Azulas. Both are as directionless as Azula is. But they do have loyalty towards the nation. That, ultimately gets questioned when Zuko is the one betraying it, and Zuko is the one who needs to die. Azula tries to spare him (somewhat) and even takes him in ba sing se although she didn’t really have a practical reason to since everything was in her favor up to that point. Azula looks out for Zuko, however she’s still a representative of the fire nation and his mistrust of her as a person and as a representative and the ultimate betrayal after the day of the black sun, was one of Azulas first triggers. Seeing that Azula the unstoppable forsce who was surprisingly not that lethal, not only treating a Zukos possible death with nonchalance, but also acting on it , radicalised Mai and it also radicalised Ty Lee to take her down.
Up until that point however, BOTH girls were 100% on board with Azula (save for one or two instances where Mai pulled back but even then you could make the argument that they’d still fail if they didn’t give up). Both were fire nation girls brought up and groomed similarly to Azula, with their heart and respect to the fire nation. What’s more important is that both (or at least ty lee) had the chances to betray and ditch Azula, while pursuing Aang, during the drill, during their plans to get ba sing se. However they cared about the nation and their families and also admired Azula as anyone in the fire nation did.
So it’s weird that there’s this sudden 180 flip where they’re like “ yo I never fucked with this bitch Azula like EVER! She was so evil and mean!!” Or the way both treat Azula with zero regard whatsoever. I would’ve liked seeing Ty Lee and Mai, even if one joined the Kyoshi and the other is Zukos girlfriend to be more affected by Azulas fate. And their “betrayal” against her to have come from a place of concern, not that of simply “choosing Zuko over her”.
The positive in this is that the Spirit temple treats it a bit more carefully even tho they kinda fucked it it up as they still had to be loyal to “the search” material and made Azula not be deadly towards Ty Lee.
The characters were weird and felt weird.
Aang was weird, Katara. Sokka, Zuko. Everyone overall felt very flaunderised and if not flaunderised they felt as if they were mixed on a pot with boiling water and came out looking like boiled chickens without a speck of seasoning.
Azula is obv very screwed over by this. She works as some sort of weird ass villain. It feels like the comics just make fun of her mental state and cruelly remark and point at it. It doesn’t address her status as princess anymore even though it is very important. It’s just the hallucinations, even though there were so many pivotal moments needed to be addressed properly, BY AZULAS POINT OF VIEW.
Also, if they make a new Ozai society, and try to free him, why the fuck wouldn’t they also try and make one with Azula on top. He’s stripped from his bending! Meanwhile Azula was one of the best chances they could logically get to question Zukos reign. Even if they didn’t do so for misogynistic reasons, or idk, because she got locked up in the institution? it would be more infinitely interesting to mention their dismissal towards Azula, and having her story center around this conflict for a while until she moved on.
Her plans do not feel smart or effectively, it feels like her maliciousness was shrivelled up in the process. It doesn’t have a threatening, it-girl factor. And I can’t tell if it’s because Azulas creative juices ran out, or is it because the writers creative juices had gone out.
The spirit temple does a better job at showing Azula that villainry isn’t the option but even then it’s kind of like…meh.
However two things I want to point out.
None of the gaang have a proper interaction with Azula. Why is it important? These lil bitches are curious as hell. If Azula was locked up in an institution for a year, and was acting all weird and nearly jumping from appa, why couldn’t a SINGLE ONE OF THEM “interrogate” her, ask her? Talk to her??? Why would they take Zukos words for granted? lol. It doesn’t feel like the gaang at all because there would be like one or two convos during the ride with Azula in it, and not just with Zuko. They didn’t have to go well, they just had to happen.
Like u mean to tell me that Katara and Aang just casually kiss there meanwhile the fucking elephant in the room stands on their bison???
You mean to tell me that Azula said this and none of these noisy little bitches asked her or Zuko who was this person she was talking about? Or at least bring up the fact she’s hallucinating her mother? Like even as enemies there should’ve been a bit of “concern”, as in something was wrong either as a trick or as an indication or a message of sorts.
And Zuko being wayyy too agressive at Azula kind of contradicts his character development ENTIRELY! Worse, his treatment towards Azula is also seen as “reasonable”.
Also him being immediately okay with the fact his mother had changed identity and history kind of sets me off but whatever good for him to have found her.
My opinions on Azula and the spirit temple.
It was good…kind of?? But it felt EXTREMELY underwhelming to have been waiting two years since the announcement on such little revelation. Did Azula get a step closer to development? Yeah. Was it enough after all those years of anticipation and waiting from fans? Not really, even if Azula doesn’t have a use for the studio or the number of engagement from fans. I liked it, it did a good job on Azulas character and did focus on some things about her which was cool. But idk…it was not very wow or anything.
the thing about phone in bed is that it's so awesome. almost makes you feel like betraying & destroying yourself for nothing isn't all so bad
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Azula felt unloved by her mother not because Ursa didn't love her, but because Ozai fed her a deeply unhealthy version of 'love' as a highly competetive, zero-sum game in which literally any degree of criticism or scolding must indicate general negative/unloving feelings towards the person being scolded.
Azula's feelings, particularly the ones she expresses in the beach episode, aren't an indication that Ursa didn't love Azula. They are an indication that Azula struggles to identify healthy expressions of parental love.
I don’t disagree with your statement but the way you explain it is very weird. And you lost me completely at the second paragraph and later in the comments.
“My mother thought I was a monster. She was right of course, but it still hurt.” I’m sorry, where is the indication here that Azula struggled to identify expressions of parental love? Is this parental love?
Ursa did love both her kids equally, with that I can agree, but you scold the commenter to not take the retcons for granted meanwhile you flat out CONTRADICT the ORIGINAL FOOTAGE where Ursa spoke to her way harsher than she did at Zuko. Ursa doesn’t show “respect” towards the children being different. It’s a reaction, whether that is positive or negative. Azula could have very well listened to a softer tone, a more mature explanation, but we are not given that. Ursa treated Zuko a lot more reasonably (not better! But reasonably) than Azula.
That’s not neither of their fault given the circumstances we ALL know, but let’s not strip Azulas point of view from it’s validity and dismissing her as stupid, 100% misunderstood, crazy, psycho, whatever is it that you guys have in your books.
"where Ursa spoke to her way harsher than she did at Zuko."
Yes. Ursa did speak more harshly to Azula than she did to Zuko, in some of the flashbacks from the original cartoon. Absolutely, she did that.
And it was an example of good parenting, not bad.
Azula, in these scenes, was engaging in cruel behavior, and then she responded with dismissiveness and annoyance to Ursa's attempts to scold her for that cruel behavior. This does not merit a decent, loving parent backing off and saying, "Oh, I'm sorry I made you feel bad! Don't worry, kid, it's okay to be cruel, you're not a bad person for wishing harm on family members or causing harm to others for your own amusement!" Azula's behavior merited further scolding from a decent, loving parent.
Zuko, meanwhile, responded with guilt and remorse for his behavior when he was scolded about the turtleduck/bread incident. That's why Ursa softened her behavior after he accepted the initial scolding as deserved. Before that? She scolded him just as harshly as she ever scolded Azula right out of the gate.
Let's not strip Azula of her agency in the cruelty of the choices she made. Azula's point of view was warped, and that's how she justified her cruel choices to herself, but at the end of the day Azula chose, repeatedly and deliberately, to lean into her father's warped view of the world - to lean into cruely, to lean into power over others gained through fear and violence, and to lean into the idea that kindness made people (people like Ursa, like Iroh, like Zuko) weaker and undeserving of empathy or compassion.
And it was not Ursa's job as a 'good parent' to 'love' her child out of such behavior with blind praise or never making Azula feel bad. It was her job as a good parent to scold Azula for cruel behavior and to do her best to model & teach kindness, compassion, and (healthy!) trust to her daughter. It was Azula's job, beyond that, to learn how to make her own choices and decide for herself whether to internalize her mother's lessons on kindness, or her father's lessons on cruelty.
Azula internalized the lessons on cruelty from Ozai and scorned her mother's lessons. That is why Ursa spoke more harshly to her, when she was being cruel and dismissive and otherwise displaying deeply worrisome behavior.
And we also see that Ursa treated Azula with love and trust, love and trust that got Zuko hurt, no less, in the flashback when Azula was trying to get Zuko to 'play' with her (aka play victim to the prank she planned for him and Mai) while Zuko begged Ursa not to make them play together. And Ursa took Azula's side, because Ursa loved both her children and desperately wanted to believe in Azula, in spite of Azula's repeated demonstrations of her own cruel and untrustworthy choices.
Azula wasn't stupid. She was very intelligent. And she used that intelligence to hurt other people more. That makes her behavior worse, not better.
All this paragraph to purposefully misunderstand my point, it’s very sad how u put an effort to be this wrong. Cruelty, evilness, malice…for what? Doing a slightly risky prank that set up mai and Zuko together? Talking shit she heard from the royal court? It’s like yall never have seen kids before. Having full agency? DELIBERATELY CHOOSING? Fictional character are fictional, but talking about women characters, who aren’t good, pristine, motherly, and hold onto bad traits like this exposes to me a lot about what kind of person you guys are.
Funniest thing about young azula getting demonized is that…of course she’d throw a big ball of bread at the ducks , she’s a kid! She doesn’t understand!! Of course she’d push Ty Lee in jealousy…she’s literally a kid!! Of course she’d do that prank with Ty Lee to get mai and Zuko together…she’s a cheeky kid! Even in all the other scenes, like the one where Azula mocks Irohs reaction or mocks her grandfather that’s because she’s probably reproducing what she’s heard, most likely from Ozai and the rest of the court, you can easily tell at that stage which sound like her words and which don’t. You can really tell that Azula had heard shit from other places and she’s reproducing it.
Iroh was disgraced from leaving the war and failing the siege, she technically didn’t say anything “wrong” (though morally and ethically she was wrong).
Azulon WAS loosing his power from Ozai trying to scratch his way into the throne. Irohs failing was also HIS loss too! He lost Ba sing se!
All of these stuff were happening in the way azula was talking about. This shit obv did not come purely out of her own interpretation. It suggests that azula was victim of the environment she grew up in.
Azula was the one who INTENTIONALLY saves Zukos life by snooping around. When azula says that Ozai will kill him, she doesn’t actually wish his death. She hopes he will find refuge instead, to a “nice earth kingdom family”(lol).It demonstrates the fact that Azula is still very much naive and innocent to the concept of death and especially that of a closed one. Again, she doesn’t say he’ll die, she hopes that he will escape, hence why she tells him and Ursa afterwards. It’s a more of a “aha” moment, that he will be mildly upset and annoyed while she gets all the parental affection (lol). Not that he will literally die by his father’s hand.
What’s even funnier is that kids ARE NOT angels. I mean they’re pure in a sense but they’re not nice. None of us were fully nice kids and we did do stuff relatively close to one of young Azulas shenanigans. I dare say, she was fairly normal kid of sorts from early on, but it was Zukos and Irohs biased view as well as the NEGLECT she faced from the theoretically “positive” people that were suppoesed to steer her in the right direction, which made her turn for the worse instead.
Nobody blames Azula for the things she did as a child.
It's all of the OTHER things she chooses to do as a fully congniscent adult that makes her a bad person.
She had as many, if not MORE opportunities than Zuko to get better.
Instead she CHOOSES to get worse.
No, just no!
I don't know what show you are watching or what Azula hate you are reading, but no.
Azula still gets hate for things she did as a nine-year-old in the Zuko Alone flashbacks. Example: Fans still say she abused turtleducks, wished death upon Zuko and other members of her family, among other things. And they'll use it as evidence that she is a bad person, as you said.
Saying she was a "fully cogniscent adult." No! Absolutely not! She was FOURTEEN when she appeared in season 2. FOURTEEN!!! A fourteen-year-old who is not only groomed by her father her entire life, but also groomed by the imperialistic propaganda that has kept the war going for a 100 years. She is literally the furthest thing from a fully cogniscent adult! She was still a child!
You know who was a fully cogniscent adult, IROH. Iroh was in his late 40s, pushing 50, when he led the 600-day siege in Ba Sing Se. Keep in mind, he spared the last dragon decades before the siege. He never challenged Ozai for the throne. Jeong-Jeong and Piandao were fully cognisant adults who fought in the Fire Nation Military. These grown-ass men who committed worse atrocities than Azula DEFECTED.
Saying she got around the same amount or more chances than Zuko is laughable. Ok, Zuko (pre-redemption) was the one who kept rejecting opportunities to change.
Example:
Blue Spirit Ep when Aang asked, "if we knew each other back then, do you thing we could have been friends?" He shoots fire
Saving his life in The Siege of the North ep
The Chase Ep when Katara says she can help Iroh. He shoots fire
The Crossroads of Destiny by both Katara and Iroh
Where in the show did Azula get a single chance?
Iroh made a choice. He made it late. But he made it.
Zuko made a choice. He took some lumps. But he made it.
Like you said, he backslid more than once. That gives Azula even FEWER excuses not to have had SOME kind of epiphany. A MOMENT'S hesitation. SOMEWHERE.
But she doesn't.
Not when she's trying to kill her own brother and uncle with lightning.
Not when her best friends decide this has gone on far enough (the PERFECT time for her to have SOME kind of realization)
Not after Aang and Zuko spare her life and bring her on a journey to find the mother that left such a yawning pit in her soul.
Zuko and Azula are similar characters. They come from the same place. Zuko made it out. Azula didn't. What's the difference?
The plain fact that one of Azula's core traits is that she ENJOYS hurting people. She feels POWERFUL when she causes pain and suffering. And nothing will convince her it's worth it to give up that feeling. Not her mother's love, or her father's abuse, or her "best friends" telling her what a stuck up little bully she is.
I get that you like her. So do I. She's a cool and tragic...villain.
And that's what she is. She's the villain. And there's a reason.
Bro you’re like this 🤏 close to the reason and either you’re purposefully not reaching it or you’re just dumb asf
The reason she's the villain is because, unlike Zuko, she keeps approaching moments where she could know better and then choosing not to listen to them. She's not some poor injured, blameless bird. And YOU know that wasn't the show's intention.
Yea I know. It’s true she’s not entirely blameless. And she isn’t just a poor injured bird. She’s has a lot of sides to her that need to be explored and can’t be put in just one box. I also know that you’re a dumbass and your mind and personality are embarrassingly less complex than the fictional character we’re talking about.
The thing about Azula and Ursa is that it doesn't matter if Ursa really did love her, because Azula still felt like she was unloved by her mother.
Kids don't get ideas from nowhere. Kids don't wake up one day and suddenly start thinking their mother thinks they're a monster with no prior evidence. What led Azula to believe Ursa thought that of her? What led her to believe she loved Zuko more?
The issue with Azula is that she truly believes, deep in her heart, that she was unloved by everybody in her life. Regardless of whether or not they 'actually' loved her, they didn't show it enough for it to latch onto her. That in itself is a problem.
I often come across the idea that Azula should somehow serve Zuko in the future. All these ideas have two obvious problems:
First. Let's imagine that after the Agni Kai, Ozai didn't simply send Zuko on a long journey with a ship, a crew, money, and the Dragon of the West. Instead, he locked him in a cage on a remote island and kept him there for over a year, and then came and demanded his complete obedience and transformation into his lapdog. Should Zuko obey Ozai? Will it be good for Zuko? How will this affect his character? If you have the answers to these questions, then replace Ozai with Zuko and Zuko with Azula.
Second. One of the key problems with Azula's character in the original show is her lack of agency. She's Ozai's lapdog, a hero of the Fire Nation, and perhaps the protagonists' key obstacle. It's what she was born with, it's what her parents chose for her. Both parents—Ursa's role was no less than Ozai's. Ursa simply played her role in her own way. But her opportunities for self-discovery, and even banal self-reflection are meager. She only gets time for this in one episode, and her problems are so complex that a single campfire session simply can't address them. And when it's suggested that instead of developing, Azula must choose to literally freeze these imposed qualities, essentially continuing to live on a chain, it's just ugly and very lazy... This, of course, doesn't mean Azula should hate the Fire Nation or even her role in it. She should nothing, that's the point. What's important to Azula herself? What makes her happy? What light guides her through life? How does she see the world and herself in it? That's what matters to her character. And only she can answer these questions.
Will always amuse me how during the show azula is the only fire nation character that work completly for the sake of her nation
We have zhao who only wants glory to himself, we only see him thinking about HIS destiny as the moon slayer
We have ozai who only wants glory to himself and said his destiny is to defeat the avatar ( the Universe brought you to me as an act of providence)
We have iroh who only care about HIS destiny in ba sing se and did nothing for his nation ( didn't stop them and left the work for some childreen)
We have zuko who was for 2 seasons yapping how defeating the avatar is HIS destiny and later he start thinking being the firelord is HIS destiny, to the point leaving the fire nation was easy to him ( zuko words said it himself), the fire nation wasn't what made zuko struggles at joining the avatar but only ozai
Most of these characters didn't care about the fire nation more than their destiny, everything they did was because of a selfish reason
With azula things were diffrent
Everything she did was for her nation, from defeated the avatar, the Invasion and conquering ba sing se, everything was out of loyalty to her firelord and nation
We never see azula talk about her destiny during the show and in the novel she only talks about the fire nation destiny and not herself, azula also use we when she talks about conquering the world while the rest of the characters use I
Azula in season 2, accepted zuko by her side After he prove his loyalty So she didn't care about ozai orders ( until season three when she relized zuko lied to her about the spirit water that may bring the avatar back and puts her in direct danger)
You may argue that azula wants to be firelord, but why this a bad thing, azula only wanted to be a firelord when zuko become a Traitor, she is Literally the rightfull heir to the Throne
Unfortunately in the end she was the one who is most effected by the False propagandaŘŚ, and everything she did was for nothing and Everyone abandoned her, maybe if she was more selfish i will say she desevres it
Yes i know people wouldn't agree with what i am saying and probably will say how she is selfish because she was mean to zuko and wants mommy and daddy
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Think I finally managed to understand why Azula not getting a redemption arc works in the show, but not in the comics (beyond the absurd ableism in the Yang stories that is).
Azula has become the classic case of a villain that keeps being brought back due to popularity despite clearly not belonging in the story anymore.
Her arc as a villain was completed in the show. She's been the backstabber, the relentless pursuer, and the cunning villain that wins through mindgames. She's been in charge, been under someone else's rule, joined forces with another villain, and had her enemies join forces against her.
She's been the villain that wins people through manipulation and/or charisma, or that full on threatens them into submission. She had henchmen that she used and threw away, and henchmen she cared about and was abandoned by. She was arrogant and power hungry, but also desperate for validation. She was the main villain's adored, loyal pet that was eventually kicked aside in the end.
She's been the lesser of two evils when compared to Ozai, and the worse of multiple evils when compared to Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee. She's been the villain that gets back up after a defeat post The Drill, the villain that wins (by corrupting one of the potential heroes, capturing a friend of the protagonist and KILLING said protagonist) in the Ba Sing Se arc, the villain that has both a satisfying AND tragic downfall in Boiling Rock and the finale, and the villain with hints of humanity that she refuses to embrace in The Headband, The Beach and the finale.
She had conflicts with people she had zero personal history with (Aang, Long Feng) leading to both physical and mental battles, and people she had a messy history with (her friends and Zuko) leading to super emotional scenes.
And finally, she's been the cold, calculating villain AND the villain that is a complete wreck mentally/emotionally - that last one only lasting for the finale because Azula's breakdown was not the CAUSE of her evil actions, it was the consequence of it. And said consequence made her be both the villain that is defeated by the heroes and the one that causes her own downfall.
Every single fucking thing that could have been done with her as villain has been done in the show already. Even Spirit Temple, the only comic that understood her character, couldn't do much beyond just repeat stuff we're already seen.
Azula refusing to accept anything she considers weakness or imperfection? We've see that in nearly every scene she was in.
Azula leading an evil squad? Literally what she did for 90% of her screentime on the show.
Azula losing said squad and refusing to take responsibility for it? Literally the Mai and Ty Lee arc, hence the two haunting her mind in that same comic. Only this time it happened MUCH faster because Azula no longer has all the political power she once had, so there's less consequences for crossing, so she's not as threatening to ANYONE.
Azula being pathetic and making a fool out of herself? The Beach exists.
Azula being obsessive to the point that it's almost laughable? Again, 90% of her screentime.
Azula having issues with her mom, desperately wanting love from her family, friends and a potential boyfriend? Again, The Beach exists and so does the finale.
The scene of her being confronted with a hallucination of an angry Zuko and shooting lightning at him? Literally a direct reference to the Last Agni Kai, which was the culmination of both of their arcs.
The ONLY thing that was new in that comic was the short moment in which Azula shows resentment towards her father for turning her into a copy of him, and that wasn't explored further not just because it's a stand-alone comic, but also because doing so would open the can of worms that is "Wait, if she's self-aware and processing trauma, that means she could learn her lesson and change" and since the writers clearly don't wanna go there, the scene is useless.
If the writers insist on keeping Azula an active threat in the story, they're setting themselves up for failure. Either they're gonna keep repeating storylines we've already seen with far less tension and with a villain that got a severe downgrade, essentially making Azula the Tom to their Jerry, or they're gonna pull a Yang and go "Make her crazier to make her scary again!" while ignoring that her days as a villain were cut BECAUSE she went insane, and now that here vil plans make no fucking sense anymore, the heroes just look stupid for not being able to defeat her.
Azula has nothing more to give to the story in the role of a villain, so she should either only appear in flashbacks or quick mentions of "she's being cared for, but it seems it's too little too late", or she should be redeemed to get a new role in the story, with new paths to explore. She just can't keep being put into the role of active threat, when we've all seen said threat was clearly neutralized already.
It. Does. Not. Work.
Why Azula no longer works as a villain for me
Originally posted on reddit by me
It should come as no secret to anyone that there is a rather heated argument over whether or not Azula should remain a villain and if she should have even appeared again following her defeat in the finale. Personally, I'm of the opinion that she shouldn't remain a villain, and having her disappear from any continuation of the original story is a bad idea given how integral she is to both the characters and the story. We ARE talking about Zuko's foil and one of the primary antagonists after all. And in a story that ultimately ends with the Fire Nation on the path to reformation, one of the chief characters that represents all that was wrong shouldn't just rot somewhere.
Going back to Zuko for a moment, one of the big reasons that Azula doesn’t work for a villain is that her role as a foil is effectively over. Zuko’s already completed his redemption arc, and if you want a foil for how he could end up now that he’s Fire Lord, Ozai is right there. He was actually Fire Lord, and he could serve as a more poignant warning for Zuko. By that logic, Azula doesn’t have a whole lot to offer in her old role. What’s Zuko going to do? Just beat her again and again? Narratively, that leaves him in a rut with not a whole lot else. It’s like Joker being overused as Batman’s nemesis in the comics. There’s only so many times that story is going to be used before it gets old.
Another big reason is that Azula isn't even indicative of the Fire Nation in its current state. For me, villains should work as some kind of commentary on what's wrong with the in-universe society. In the series, Azula worked as the natural consequence of the Fire Nation's indoctrination and fanaticism. She was a neat way of getting that across from the audience and presenting a part of how the bad guys work. Yet, considering how much the writers have been trying to divorce her from the Fire Nation, it's not working anymore. Her power base literally came from a group of mentally ill girls she broke out of an abusive asylum. If anything, she's more indicative of Zuko being flat-out incompetent that corrupt institutions such as the asylum are still around. And considering how thoroughly humiliated she's been ever since the finale, the only way I could see her getting some kind of support is if some crooked nobles were prepared to use her as a puppet ruler.
Which brings me to the next point: the writers have been unwilling to really build up any villains for this new world state. Part of the plotline that the comics have been building on (when it remembers, anyway) is the de-escalation from the war. Yet most of the villains haven't even been involved with the war. It's all focused on stuff that's going to be addressed in LOK. There's no rogue generals or warlords trying to restart the war or anything. And the one time we do get something in the New Ozai Society, the writers pulled a Palpatine and tried to make Azula the bad guy again while exonerating freakin' UKANO of all people. The closest we get to an actual examination of extreme Fire Nation nationalists was in a Korra comic of all places. It feels like they're just trying to forget the war even happened in the first place while using Azula as a crutch, which doesn't exactly make the new era interesting if they're not even invested in creating a natural continuation from the original.
This brings me to my final point: if the Fire Nation is supposed to be "good now" or their plotline is reformation, then Azula should be redeemed. There's no way around it. I've already gone through why she sucked as a villain in the comics. And we can't just have her left to rot either. Why? Because if the Fire Nation is to be redeemed, that means we need more redemptions for more Fire Nation characters. You know, actually show the de-imperialization in process, not just rely on Zuko's redemption alone. And Azula's the easiest because she was absolutely broken at the end of the series, so they're already part of the way there. Otherwise, you need to write a whole bunch of new characters, which makes her absence in this plot all the more conspicuous.
In short, Azula's role as the sole recurring villain has done more to hurt her character and the overall story. Expecting the Fire Nation to be good now just because Zuko is in charge is not only lazy writing, but just flat-out boring. And her role as the bad guy seems more like pandering to nostalgia rather than actually trying something new.
Sometimes it really hits me that so much of the hatred Azula gets is because of misogyny. It’s not different interpretations of the source material, it’s not an issue with taking things at face value, it is blatant misogyny. That’s not to say that everyone who dislikes Azula is a raging misogynist but there is certainly plenty of socially ingrained sexism that’s coming through.
Why is so much of Zuko’s trauma seen as Azula’s fault? Sure, Azula has more screentime than Ozai and interacts with Zuko more, but it’s very much established that Ozai is the BBEG. And yet, Azula is the big villain, the evilest one, offered less sympathy than even Ozai (this article is one of the worst examples of this I’ve seen).
The way Zuko and Iroh (and Ozai!) are treated by the fandom vs how Azula is doesn’t just boil down to protagonists vs antagonists. It’s misogyny.
Mirror & Misdirection - The Distortions of the Mirror Scene
How excessive, myopic emphasis on the Mirror Scene distorted both the fandoms and Brykes’ understanding of Azula, and what the Finale actually says about Avatar’s most controversial villain.
Executive Summary
      To understand any fictional character, you have to understand their Goals, Motivations and Conflicts. This applies to Princess Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender.Â
      Ever since Azula was humanized in the Finale, arguments have raged over whether or not she has the capacity for meaningful growth and change like any other character, or any other human being.
      At the core of these arguments has been the infamous Mirror Scene where, while talking to an hallucination of her mother, Azula expresses doubt, regret and tear-stricken grief. As a thoroughly established villain who had never before shown such feelings, this scene was taken as character-defining.
      However, the Mirror Scene alone does not reveal all of Azula’s Goals, Motivations, and Conflicts. Instead, the Mirror Scene, when taken by itself, is only a Conflict. As a result, the Mirror Scene has distorted both the fandoms and Brykes’ perception of Azula by assuming she is entirely the work of complex, vague and puzzling psychological phenomena surrounding her mother, versus a variety of well-defined Goals and Motivations.
      In actuality, the Finale gives us two other scenes that, combined with the Mirror Scene, give us everything we need to understand Azula’s Goals, Motivations and Conflicts.
      In this article, I will provide an alternative explanation of Azula’s character that relates directly to the source material and which does not rely on psychological theory.
Keep reading
The Science & In-World Reason for Azula’s Blue Flames
It’s not temperature that yields blue flames, but oxygen, cleanliness of the fuel, and complete combustion.
In this essay, I explain why fire has its typical colors (red, orange, yellow) and why blue is, in actuality, the true color of fire (it really is and you will see why). Afterward, I propose an “in-world” theory for why a firebender’s flames can be blue.
This is a technical heavy article, but if you stick with it, you will have both a detailed understanding of what gives fire its color and a theory for why Avatar’s most iconic villain can generate blue flames.
Keep reading
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I think this panel is one of the most interesting ones in the entire comic.
It confirms the long time theory that the asylum was never about treatment of its patients. But rather a convenient place to make daughters of nobles disappear so they can’t cause a fuss.
Azula needed help after the Agni Kai. But they did not send her to a place that would give it to her. Even if they had good intentions at the asylum they probably had little to no experience with treating actual patients. So they restrained her and locked her up and abused her because they didn’t know what else to do.
It also hints at why Azula was there. Not to treat her mental health issues. But to turn her into a proper sister and niece for Zuko and Iroh. A place to make her subservient to her family as they see fit. And the other girls were in there for the same reason.
Sometimes I think about what a paralyzing fear of failure Azula must have had to live with every single day, especially after Zuko was banished, so much so that she must’ve just been scared all the time that she would fall out of favor with her father, how hard that would be to shake
And the confusion she must’ve grown up feeling, asking herself always why her mother seemed to like Zuko so much more, but her father preferred her; what made them both special to each parent, and why in such different ways? There would’ve been no way for her to find an answer to that. Why is her father happy when she parrots his words, but her mother becomes angry and asks what is wrong with her? Why does Ursa love Zuko so much, when Ozai clearly chose Azula?
And then just the hatred and mistrust of love itself that Azula’s upbringing would give her; she would know, as a fact of life, that love does not keep people from leaving her. How could it, when her mother loved Zuko so much, and then left? When there was so much love between Lu Ten and Iroh, but that too was severed? When she loved her mother, but from a young age was shown that this would do nothing to keep her safe?
Azula must just be so deeply afraid and mistrustful and angry, all the time, because nothing she ever did was ever enough for anybody. Her mother didn’t love her for reasons she couldn’t explain. Her uncle barely knew her. Her friends eventually chose her brother, her brother flocked to the mother she couldn’t understand, and no ruthlessness or firebending skill or cruelty could keep even her father from leaving her behind.
This child is so incredibly hurt. It makes me so sad.
