Zuko-Always-Lies

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Something You Hate to Need by Cassrabit

Fading Falsehoods by TalesOfOnyxBats

What I remember most about that fic is that there is a certain point where Azula tries to escape. Not because she wants to overthrow Zuko’s regime(in fact she’s told Ozai to fuck off by this point), or because she wants to do evil, but because she doesn’t like being imprisoned and she’s tired of the toxicity of the Fire Nation court.  And the only reason she doesn’t successfully escape is because she saves Suki from bleeding to death(after Suki is nearly killed by an Ozai supporter). And Azula continues to be imprisoned and is even mildly punished for her escape attempt, and the narrative treats none of that as a bad thing, because Azula is apparently a thing for Zuko to control.

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In this case, there’s one point where Azula tries to escape because she wants to get out of the controlling environment she’s in and she only fails because she stops to save Suki’s life when she’s wounded in a relatively unrelated battle. Azula doesn’t get her freedom, and Zuko punishes her for the attempt, not severely, but like she’s a child who needs to be disciplined. This is treated entirely OK and right by the narrative.

another

Azula gets “therapy” for being an asshole that avoids her suicidal ideation and falls in love with Suki, theoretically. [the "premise"]

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I read the fanfic and liked it well enough to read through the entire thing but the sheer anger I felt towards a lot of the characters in it ruined the experience. I assumed it was done on purpose while reading it and hoped that the characters would eventually realize what they were doing and stop or that Azula will actually and successfully stand up for herself and leave but I was left extremely disappointed. It had so much potential but it failed to live up to it.

Just gotten to a part where Azula's Bending is flicking in and out, after she defeated an assassination attempt on herself and got scolded for fighting back against someone who tried to kill her.

What gets me here is that the story is presenting the dude who scolded her for not being murdered as Good Guy ZukoTM.

Ah, the thing that actually got me annoyed here (that is not Zuko himself), is that Katara was angry with Azula because she wasn’t here for Zuko and the only reason that Aang didn’t take away Azula’s bending is because Zuko asked not to.

I...pardon me.

I just...what?!?

That's not redemption! That's just giving the chain to a new master! When the hell did Azula getting better mean submitting to a supposedly nicer master?!?

She also seems to be written as kind and compassionate at times, but this really doesn't stand out because A:TLA's default depiction of female characters is "kind and compassionate." That's a whole other issue. When kindness is assumed as the default in women.

Essentially even woman or girl in ATLA was written as kind and compassionate, even the one's (like Azula) who really weren't intended to be written that way.* Hama and Yon Rha's mom are like the only two female characters not written as kind and compassionate.

So I've liked atla and Azula for a while, but I had never actually interacted much with the atla fandom since recently because of the movie's revival of the fandom and throughout all that time that I was a very like not casual, but just a very non active fan of atla, I think I had always been in the side of Tyzula before because it was THE Azula ship of the fandom and it made sense, but like back on 2024 I remember I saw a Maizula fanart like for the first time and it impacted me then, but I never gave it much thought ( again because I just wasn't that into atla as a fandom), point is, I hadn't really been that into the fandom to think much about it, but honestly for sometime now I think I have grown to prefer Maizula over tyzula by a long shot, although both can be deeply compelling and obviously the three of them as a poly ship are amazing, I do feel that the level of angst between Mai and Azula really is something different, specially because Mai is the one to say "I love Zuko more than I fear you" essentially triggering Azula's mommy issues (yikes), which btw I don't think Mai feared Azula exactly, like i think she was aware of what she was capable of, and she has always been a very non conflicting person, so of course she knows is better to stay on the good side of a relationship with Azula, but fear isn't the word I'd use, the part about Zuko can be debatable, but in my opinion she used the words, I love Zuko more than I fear you instead of more than I love you because she knows that this specific sentiment is far more of a detrimental one, since Azula doesn't really see herself as lovable so it's expected, but being feared (which how Azula actually understand loyalty aka love), instead of loved, because of Zuko, is like Azula’s biggest insecurity.

I just think the idea of Azula and Mai being the two people who can see through each other's bullshit and somehow have this silent agreement that they are the same until Zuko comes along and starts unpacking all those insecurities between them man the angst, the pining, the unsaid, the yearning, the denial, two very closed off people that somehow manage to see each other without needing to open up like other people expect them to, is amazing, I always felt that Azula understood Mai more than any of the fire nation group, like Ty Lee and Mai were somewhat aware of each others baggage, but were kinda condescending about it and Zuko was too focused on his own problems to really care about Mai, cause let's be honest Zuko never really shows that he actually understands Mai, he says he loves her, but I think he would have left Mai if it meant he could do the right thing and join the Avatar, like essentially, if Mai didn't protect Zuko that day, if Mai hadn't chosen Zuko at the boiling rock, nothing would have changed in what Zuko did, he still would have left her, and he still would have chosen the avatar and his own self resolution, which is fine, I just think it's important because Mai choosing Zuko to me is more about surviving that it is about a declaration of their love or whatever

It's kinda interesting to me that the only person that doesn't seem bothered at all by Mai's lack of expression is funnily enough, Azula. While Ty Lee and Zuko go on about how she's emotionally nothing and gray and boring, Azula doesn't say anything and just then says a very decently empathetic comment about how she understands why Mai is the way she is, she doesn't even say it in a way to imply that she's asking for more or that there's something wrong, Azula sounds very genuine and neutral, like I get it, you act because of this and that, very reasonable, almost like an observation, and is very suspiciously unbothered by the fact that Mai doesn't seem to obey her like you'd expect from Azula, there's multiple times where Mai is just like, Idc I won't do that and Azula just dgaf.

Now that I think about it, it's weird how when Zuko insults Mai, Azula doesn't laugh, she only laughs when Zuko insults Ty Lee, hmmm, but she does feel regret about it, interesting.

Anyways I think Mai and Azula somehow silently being very aware of each other's bullshit while also being super closed off emotionally makes for a very interesting kind of closeness they both desperately need but won't ask for, and then add the whole Zuko and Mai drama into the mix makes the possibility of unsaid and unresolved romantic yearning between Azula and Mai very very compelling, and then of course Mai betraying Azula could read as a more devastating example of how the way they were brought and raised would have never allowed for them to really see what the problem was, because this is a matter of survivable, the royal life, the noble life is lethal and no matter how much love there is, betrayal reeks of death at every corner, and it all comes down to well, Azula would have never allowed for Mai to get closer and that pushed Mai away because there was no way Azula would chose Mai and Ty Lee over her father and becoming the thing she was groomed to be. Maybe if Azula had let Mai in, there would have been a chance that Mai would have wanted to save her, but Azula wouldn't allow it, so Mai chose something familiar and easier that didn't make surviving complicated, even if she herself is not aware persay.

And of course a post series redemption Azula having to now confront her feelings, and Mai not being able to deny hers anymore because, it was easy when Azula was cruel and dangerous and unstable, but now she's really trying, to heal or whatever and she can't deny that, idk man they are so interesting, I think Mai was always someone far more ambitious to settle for Zuko, she liked to play with Knives and to lean into danger and I think that her and Azula really liked each other, but also I think Mai hated her a little bit, I think Azula genuinely liked Mai, but Mai kinda hated her a little bit because she knew that Azula was a lost cause at least at the time, for any real connection, but she also understood why that is, and she was fine with that, because she herself was like that, so to have someone accept that part of yourself and allow you to be more than just a dumb silent noble piece of decor for a no name noble family of the bunch made Mai feel grateful.

I genuinely always like to analyze the bonfire scene in the beach episode because it really is Azula the only one who doesn't pressure Mai to be more emotional or more "reactive" or be more, or to even open up, she understands why Mai is the way she is, because in a way, Azula is the same, but unlike Mai, to cover up those neglected emotional needs, Azula doesn't use indifferece and silence, her restraint comes out in a shell of power, she projects this idealize untouchable idea of power, a firebending Prodigy, a perfectionist, emotionally closed off, a princess, cruel and who is to be fear, but inside all that is a deeply neglected abused girl that sees how cruel the world is to weak emotional people, her brother is the prime example, and Mai, is also aware of how being emotionally vulnerable is dangerous, specially in the intrinsically complex politics of royal dynamics, there's even an argument to be made about how Zuko doesn't understand Mai for the gender complexities of their situation, Mai is a girl, expected to be serviceable, quiet and complicit, to just marry a noble and be a good housewife, and Zuko isn't aware of that, he thinks Mai is just bland because she's just repressing herself, because if I can burst into anger for my emotional repressions and you can't than that means you don't feel anything, he doesn't see other people's problems (actually correction, I think he doesn't specifically see Mai, Ty Lee and Azula's problems because he already categorized them in his head as part of the "problem" he has so to him they are an extension of his discomfort with himself and his father and a reflection of his failures, so he dehumanizes them, probably unconciously to make sense in his head, because if he acknowledged that Azula and by extension Mai and Ty Lee are also victims, it would be harder to deal with his own insatisfaction with his inability to fit in, it's like, they excel and still suffer, so what's my excuse, anyway sorry for the tangent).

Clearly the beach episode is an example of how he thinks that everyone should express pain like him or they aren't suffering, (again this isn't me shitting on Zuko, just like Azula, Zuko is a product of his environment and abuse, but I think that growing up in a household where they show violence and anger and pain as a natural response to well violence, specially a more masculine type of violence, it makes sense he thinks that way), however, this specific situation applies to Azula too, she too is expected to be a noble woman, a princess, and in a way, her own mother expected of her a kind, nice, sweet little girl, but Azula is a firebender and she's cunning and she's observant and is quick to understand the dynamics at play and how to use them, is common for girls that grow up in this type of settings to become complicit, is easier to survive this way, Azula would have never been allowed to be emotionally vulnerable, and she already knew how that went for her brother and her mother as well, she's ambitious and clings into those lethal things that allow that repressed side of her to exist, even if they're also abusive and detrimental to the humanity of it all.

I think it is very telling that outside of the prodigious/failure status of Zuko and Azula respectively, it's Zuko, the man, who is punished physically and Azula is psychologically groomed, idk I think there's an aspect of gender roles at play, but back to the point.

So in a way, both Mai and Azula are deeply aware of the royal implications of them as noble women, as warriors, the difference of course is that Azula being a firebender is expected to excel perfectly or else to stay quiet and stop being a bother, and Azula knows this, unless she is perfect, there's no hope she'll survive, she's aware that it isn't a matter of love but survival and has always made sure she comes out unscratched, thing Zuko doesn't realize, Azula knows why her brother acts and feels the things he does, but Zuko doesn't understand Azula, he genuinely thinks she's perfect and has no problems, but the reality is, Azula is closer to ending up like Zuko than they both realize.

So Mai is in a way similar, but she doesn't have any expectations of combat on her, just to be a perfect quiet sidepiece of Noble decor, and Azula sees that, but sees beyond that, a strong lethal warrior and Azula respects that about Mai, understands why she acts like that as a way to survive, just like Azula closes any way of humanizing herself to others in fear of them taking advantage of her, and doesn't ask for Mai to change at all, in fact between everyone I think she's the only one that likes Mai just how she is, because indirectly, Mai being like that, allows for Azula to be understood by someone without having to be vulnerable about it, they observe each other and understand, they know what to expect from each other and shit without having to play into the emotional theatrics of expressing emotions that could be used as weapons to harm them.

But of course Zuko comes along and ruins everything jajsjsj (sorry Zuko)

I still think they're toxic af and even when Azula did try to open up there wasn't any initiative from any of the three to talk about it or even say anything remotely comforting it was just kinda ignored so I don't judge Azula for regretting allowing herself to be vulnerable.

I think that Mai choosing Zuko is more an act of familiarity and survival than any true love

All of the three, Mai, Azula, and Ty Lee are selfish people, they do what they must to survive, specially Mai and Azula, Ty Lee is a bit more social and emotionally open to connect with other people, but she also isn't dumb and will stand her ground if needed.

I think there's a part of Azula that truly believed there was something deeper between her and Mai and probably there was, but Mai is also in a far more vulnerable position than Azula, she's just a noble not the princess, and choosing Zuko is choosing safety, to survive, to what she knows, beside all the whole thing that homosexuality was prohibited in the fire nation throughout that time period which lmaooo they really were born unlucky like avatar Kyoshi was out there with her hot fire nation girlfriend and then Sozin decides actually no let's make it illegal for no reason and now Azula is born in the most bigoted, oppressive version of the fire nation ever, poor gay girl.

Anyways Azula and Mai are tragic and also very interesting to explore, I do think however that Azula likes Mai more than Mai liked her, I do think Mai liked Azula, but she was also aware of the unsaid power imbalance and that Azula is an unaware dense person that can be very dangerous and Mai had been taught by her life experience to survive, I think the fact they're friendship started as a political benefit also says it all.

I think that in the surface their friendship was acting according to what it was expected of it so, that is, Mai befriends Azula to secure her family a status amongst the noble affairs, and Azula obviously is aware and offers Mai just that, nothing more, nothing else, but they kinda both believed there was something more being left unsaid but never addressed it, let alone any romantic implications and they secretly both desired to be free, Mai more conscious of that desire than Azula, so I guess that, maybe, in a post series scenario, where they are both adults, where Azula has healed and moved on, they could reflect past beyond their need to survive and realize how their shitty environment was really to blame, and seeing Azula really try to be, not good, just not bad, makes Mai rethink her own feelings about Azula, and of course Azula is an obvious awkward mess that takes things deeply literal and is very dense about things.

She wasn't mean to or besting some self-insert-type character. She mostly imposed a fascist regime as a chosen ideology on a bunch of randos with no screentime. And let's be real: who cares?

The randos, obviously. But they have no screentime. They're basically the same kind of faceless victims Iroh accumulated over fifty years of his life. The audience doesn't see them, doesn't know them or feel them, doesn't have anyone to emotionally attach to. And, as they say, better once to see than a hundred times to hear. So the crimes remain abstract. There is no designated uwu victim for the viewer to emotionally project onto.

Meanwhile, Azula was very much committing the WAR CRIME of being mean to and repeatedly besting the male self-insert character. So suddenly it's personal.

Apparently, watching a fascist regime oppress people you don't know is one thing, but watching the character you emotionally identify with get humiliated by a younger sister and a girl is where we draw the line. That's when the moral outrage kicks in. That's when she becomes an irredeemable, born-evil monster in a show where nobody is supposed to be born evil.

P.S. I'm not even a fan of most of the redemption and reconciliation stories written for her. Because, again, not all of them, but many seem to imply that what's fundamentally wrong with Azula is being any kind of threat to the male leads - politically, intellectually, through bending or sheer competence, or simply by having ambitions and desires of her own.

And once she gives all of that up, she's fine. Once she's no longer politically ambitious, intellectually threatening, powerful, competitive, or particularly difficult for the male characters to deal with, she can finally exist in peace. In other words, she has been successfully rehabilitated into submission to the right, pure-good men in her family instead of the wrong, pure-bad one.

LOL.

Something You Hate to Need by Cassrabit

Fading Falsehoods by TalesOfOnyxBats

Something You Hate to Need by Cassrabit

Fading Falsehoods by TalesOfOnyxBats