#Azula and Ursa

[scamper333]

While in the Asylum Azula is abused and has her head shaved (a Major insult for a member of the Royal Family). Livid, Zuko punishes those responsible and brings an utterly broken (child like) Azula with severe separation anxiety (practically staying glued to Ursa) back to the palace to heal her broken mind and relationships

This could be one of those stories that is heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time

[memopmiff]

[emma-o-yt]

We need to talk about Ursa

Edit: Just discovered more of the defunct lore. Nice to know that she is indeed a privileged Fire Nation loyalist. Roku and his wife were high born, only makes sense she would be too. She and Ozai were in love for real. They call her a wonderful mother yet say she has a favourite and spends most her time brainwashing her children to be loyalists like her. This actually aligns with what I said, she chastises Azula twice for her disloyalty and then for implying that her beloved husband has bad intentions. It mostly comes down to differences of opinion on what constitutes a good parent. Bryke things Aang was a good father but many in the fandom do not. I don't mind her being sweet, you can easily interpret her actions like that.

Now, I want to focus mainly on the cartoon as a lot of opinions about Ursa were formed before the comics came out and most people have only watched the cartoon.

First of all, most fandom beliefs about Ursa are headcanon, there is no evidence to back that up. This is a major problem I have with fandom where they treat fanon as canon. As for why these headcanons exist, well it's because Zuko likes her. That's all.

What we do get comes in Zuko Alone mainly. Her first scene has her feeding turtleducks with Zuko. When Zuko hurts one of them, her reaction is shock. She doesn't chastise him for it, keep that in mind and we know that she's not against chastising her children for perceived wrongdoings. She just laughs and says that moms are fiercely protective of their young, foreshadowing for later. This does not show her as kind.

We do have her push Zuko to play with Azula when he doesn't want to. Either because she wants to keep the peace or because she falls for Azula's manipulations.

The next time we see her, she's excited to hear from Iroh about the war and laughs as he says he might have to burn the city down. This shows her as very loyal to the Fire Nation as she cheers at the fact that many people are dying, being gravely injured and/or getting traumatised. In fact, two of the three times she gets angry at Azula are for Azula's disloyalty? Don't believe me?

The first is when Azula gives the hypothetical that if Iroh died, then Ozai would be Fire Lord. The next is when she disrespects Azulon by calling him grandfather instead of Fire Lord and denying the lie that he's in perfect health. Why is this disloyalty? Because Azulon has the same opinion. He rips Ozai apart for suggesting that he deny Iroh his birthright for grieving his beloved son. Funnily enough, I sometimes see people martyr Azulon as well for loving Iroh.

The last time is when she gets the most mad at Azula is for implying that Ozai would do something bad to Zuko. You can say that she's mad at Azula for trying to scare Zuko but I believe the former has more evidence. Remember, Azula was just parroting what Ozai said before. Ursa goes "what's wrong with that girl?" As in, she is not willing to acknowledge Ozai's bad influence. She'd rather confront her nine year old over her husband. That's a bad mom right there.

Continuing on her relationship with Azula, Azula states in The Beach that her own mother thought she was a monster. Even if Ursa didn't believe that, the fact that Azula felt so deeply wounded by her mother is enough to criticise Ursa for. Making your child feel unloved makes you a bad mom.

As for the hallucinations, remember this is just Azula's headspace. This is how Azula really feels, there is no proof Ursa ever felt this way. A simple reason why Azula had Ursa say this is because she didn't agree with the way Azula was going about as we see in Zuko Alone. She also feels betrayed by her mother, and she's just been betrayed by everyone. Azula is breaking down because fear didn't work this time. There is no proof that Ursa ever criticised Azula for using fear to her advantage. The worst Azula does in her flashbacks is repeat what Ozai says. Other than that, she's the equivalent of a schoolyard bully. She pushes Ty Lee for being better than her then plays a mean prank on Mai and Zuko because she knows they have a crush on each other.

"I love you Azula, I do." That's probably meant to be true. We never see it on screen of course but the fact that a Fire Nation loyalist like Ursa betrayed her own country, her own Fire Lord, to save her son makes me feel that it's likely.

As for her and Ozai, the only thing we see of them is that she's way too defensive of her dusty, so much in fact that she hurts her own daughter for his sake. Did she marry her out of love or was it arranged? We don't know? Did Ozai abuse her? We don't know. Zuko states that they were a happy family once and even fondly remembers playing with Azula despite not wanting to in Zuko Alone. This suggests that something happened between that time.

What we do know is that she was born into a high class family and was a descendant of Roku. We don't even know if she's a bender or not. She agrees wholeheartedly with the FN's atrocities. Is she a part of the war efforts? A diplomat? A spy? We don't see Ozai do anything in Zuko Alone either but we do know that the FN is fairly equal for men and women.

The fandom only martyrs her so much because Zuko loves her and she in return.

As for the comics, a lot of woobifying of Ursa came before them and many people haven't read them and still feel this way. The comics also contradict the cartoon many times, everyone is out of character, etc. Luckily, she is a bad mom there too. I hate the comics, I rated The Promise a 0/10 after all lol.

That's it. Stay diligent folks.

[julietwiskey1]

When did Ursa lose Azula? The answer isn’t when Ozai started molding her or when she went to the academy.

It’s right here.

It’s when Azula in her father’s arms leans away from him to be closer to her mother. To look at her mother with hope that she will be happy or proud of her. That Ursa would close the gap Azula is extending herself to shrink. But Ursa shuts her down, can’t stand to put up more than a fledging performance of congratulations. To push her own child away with her words and towards someone she hates and knows she can’t trust.

Nobody took Azula away from her mother. Ursa never cared to embrace her. Even when Azula extends herself out to Ursa.

Ursa is a bad mom. And the ATLA writers keep on making her worse.

[fishyupmywishy]

Anyone know any good Azula and Ursa fics? Preferably no ships or anything but it’s fine if it gives me what I’m looking for just. Just Azula and Ursa like actually interacting😭

I can never find anything like it because everyone refuses to write Ursa actually caring about Azula so I’m seriously hoping that I was just looking in the wrong place

[sailorluna15]

Azula getting adopted when she's 16 by an older farmer woman who's the same age as Ursa. She's a fierce mama bear who doesn't play about Azula and will defend her with her life. The drama that would ensue when her and Ursa meet. Mother vs Mom. Also, Azula calling her "mommom" and "mama" which is what she used to call Ursa and accepting more affection from her than in the entire 8-9 years she's ever accepted from Ursa.

[elainiisms]

what she wanted vs what she got

[camcat1320]

Ursa Backstory Development

Trigger Warning: Narcissistic Abuse

Book 4: Air, the Missing Element (a fanfic)

Ursa and Ozai

I believe Ursa and Ozai would've been a great lovers-to-enemies arc.

Narcissists can be charming and beguiling, using their charisma to get what they want. Narcissists can also fall in love but for all the wrong reasons. They often pursue power and status and want to surround themselves with good-looking people. There's no denying that Ursa is beautiful but she's also the granddaughter of Avatar Roku, a perfect fit for Ozai's ideal love.

Ursa would fall for Ozai's charm and once he has his prize, he stops putting in effort. The first 2 years of their marriage, Ursa believed she was in love. But as time progresses, Ozai shows his true colors and starts emotionally and verbally abusing Ursa. Ursa struggles with depression because of her being stuck in this toxic relationship. She then struggles with her sense of reality, questioning her sanity as she is gaslit more and more by Ozai.

Ursa and Azula

As Ursa is a mother, she struggles with raising her children with her depression. Her smile never seems to reach her eyes. Ursa has mood swings, especially when she's disciplining Azula which negatively impacts their mother-daughter relationship. This is but a small example of the cycle of neglect and abuse.

There's so much Ursa hate out there and I don't like it. On top of it, the comics are not exploring the cycle of abuse. Bryke wrote in The Search, "I'm sorry I didn't love you enough"? Please, that makes no sense!

What about the narcissistic abuse from Ozai that negatively impacted Ursa and her ability to be the perfect mom? Why not show that Ursa loved Azula but was unable to give what Azula needed? Children don't know how to communicate their needs, let alone know what they need, so they act out to get their needs met.

Show that Ursa tried to be a good mom but every turn she made was another wrong one. Have Ursa feel the weight of inadequacy and believe she is a terrible mother. Have her past trauma with Ozai come back to haunt her after confronting Azula. Give Ursa other people that love and support her so she can work towards redeeming herself in Azula's eyes.

With unhealthy family dynamics, it's not simply the matter of not loving each other enough. There's so much complexity at play and simplifying it to this isn't good writing.

Sorry, didn't mean to go on a tangent there but there it is.

[frog-man-moments]

quick question for azula fans,

how would you feel about azula getting a found family arc instead of her rejoining the royal family?

[fusionfanatic]

Ursa? Is that you?

(credit: @hannah.grabau on TikTok)

[xadoringmal18]

Azula/Chloe/Cassandra>>>

->Mommy Issues

->Antagonists/AntiHeroines

->Harsh Childhoods

->Bully/Hurt People As They Wanna Get Their Attentions

-I Honestly Love Chloe, Azula And Cassandra As My Favourite Characters. It's Sad To See Chloe And Azula Having The Sad Ending Except For Cassandra Who Had Happy Ending (Thanks To Rapunzel).

-It's Painful To See How Those Girls Here Have Mothers Who Would Look Down On Them And Abandoned Them.

- They Became The Villain Because Of The Pain They Had Gone Through Since Childhood.

-I'm Planning To Edit Those Three Girls With One Of Melanie Martinez's Song As It Describes Them As The Unlucky Ones.

[scamper333]

After years of trying to go on a famous “life-changing field trip” with Zuko, Toph decides to take one with Azula instead

HAVE AT IT

[sleepyfriend]

Katara and Azula are two sides of the same coin, they’re complex but so important to me AND OF COURSE THE STORY.

[theowritesfiction]

the lunacy of people screaming 'victim blaming' as soon as Ursa's qualities as a mother are being called into question is astounding. it's like people have too much microplastics in their brain to comprehend that Ursa can be BOTH the victim of Ozai's abuse, but also a bad mother. that contrast is literally THE thing that makes her an interesting character, you partisan numbskulls who will screech like wild banshees as soon as someone points out that *GASP* your beloved character has a FLAW. Oh no, the sky is falling. give me a break.

[julietwiskey1]

can we get some more of those ursa and azula head cannons that you have no proof for. i liked them they seem fun (especially the one about the sweet tooth they have)

Sure! (Just a little late I guess)

Azula and Ursa both have a beautiful singing voice. When Azula was little she awed her vocal teachers but when Ursa left she stopped taking lessons. And she was actually pretty happy about it. She enjoyed other subjects more. They also made her sad even though she couldn’t figure out why. When Ursa came back and would quietly hum to herself it made Azula realize why. When they work on bonding together they tried singing classes together and had a few beautiful mother daughter duets.

Ursa has a very powerful “not angry, just disappointed” face. It cuts Zuko and Azula to the bone. While Ursa used it a lot on Azula Zuko was not home free. While he gets in trouble with her less Azula just so happens to share the same face. So growing up he got it from the both of them, even more often post war. When Azula was five Iroh was visiting and she gave him the face. He laughed very hard never having seen such an expression on a small child.

How about something sad? In Ursa’s last few years she started to go senile. Often forgetting when it is or how her relationships have grown. The worst of it is when she forgets that she and Azula reconciled or that she was still living away from her children. She would cry at the thought of not having Azula in her life. And it could take awhile for them to assure Ursa that Azula is still with her and that she is home with her children and grandchildren.

To continue spy Ursa from last time, after Ursa left Azula would write letters to her. Often times they were in the form of a report. Little things that Azula would notice. Like the type of people her father was seeing, the conversations she eavesdropped on, but also things like the changing of seasons, or Ursa specific decorations being removed.

Some more happy thoughts to end out. In Ursa’s youth she loved to play the volleyball type game Azula liked. And she was competitive. Post war people can’t decide if it is better to have them together on the same team and have them crush others, or be forced to play game after game as they try to beat each other. One year Zuko just burned the net because he got fed up with them. He regretted it when he got both of them doing the “not angry just disappointed” face at him.

Thank you for the ask.

[nooowestayandgetcaught]

The Last Waterbender Of The Southern Water Tribe

read on AO3

1.2k, Kya & Ursa, Azula & Ursa & Zuko, T-rating, Pre-S1 Summary: For years, someone has been wrongfully kept in one of the prison-towers. Ursa frees them once she's been banishment.