#asylum era gene

[angelbambisworld]

Asylum era Gene. . .

Save me Asylum era Gene. . .

Asylum era Gene please save me

[rolandrockover]

Reprise Vol. 4 - War Machine & Not For the Innocent

War Machine is hitting the shit a lot harder than just about any other Kiss song before. Not only musically, because of its straight but brute heaviness, but most certainly to the same degree lyrically as well.

These more or less give free rein to a fantasy of violence lead by a call for regency of the fist over society, if of necessity, then even by pure forceful breaking the laws of nature in two. Demons or whatever merely make it in as a side note, but only to demonstrate the pure wickedness of the non-demonic spokesman of this song, who gets pure satisfaction by calling for the release of all demons, and finds pleasure in the midst of the chaos he creates.

So, someone please tell me that this is not hard stuff.

You could ask yourself if this could be a foreshadowing of a planned removal of the make-up for the release of Creatures of the Night, considering that War Machine's title character is only human, and not a demon or anything similar, thus demonstrating that this human protagonist of War Machine, a possibly unmasked Gene, is quite capable of not only competing with demons, but even being superior to them in pure attitude (1). If this were indeed the case, I would find it rather regrettable not to have been true to this line in the following years.

Apart from Lick It Up, of course.

If you wanted it that way you could include Not for the Innocent (2) in this attitude scheme, and more than just the attempt to express that one is dealing with really bad guys here. The world in which we move here is primarily concerned with the law of the jungle in an anarchic world from which there is no escape, because apparently no one is left to protect the innocent from the beasts on the loose. If Kiss were universe-building in their lyrics, one could assume this and the apocalyptic theme of the Lick it up videos was as a direct consequence of the intended world overthrow out of War Machine (3).

This concept would have at least provided a real opportunity for Gene to have a contemporary tough persona for himself during the unmasked era that he could have stayed true to. But I guess that new revolution just didn't work (4) .

And Asylum and that colorful drag were a pretty good concept, too.

Side Note:

(1) After all, War Machine was the legitimate God of Thunder of the 80s for unmasked Kiss.

(2) All Hell's Breakin' Loose, And on the 8th Day, Young and Wasted and whatever from Lick It Up also fitted in perfectly.

(3) Incidentally, the substantially longer original entry from which some of these words originate can be found right here.

(4) The apocalyptic theme at least made it onto the back cover of Animalize, but that was it.

War Machine (1982)

Not For the Innocent (1983)

[999-roses]

on “dracula  (the novel) is problematic”, “stop making dracula (the count) cute, he’s evil”, Victorian mores, and modern woes

dracula daily has really swept us up, huh? naturally we got anti’s with “discourse” such as “stop fetishizing Dracula, he’s evil and an abuser”, or “cancel the book, it disseminates caricatures of Othered identities and furthers xenophobia, homophobia, racism, antisemitism, orientalist tropes, etc”. 

Traditional face-value reading of Dracula gets you a “good triumphs over evil” story, but thinking about questions like “who gets to tell the story” “what are the values of the characters who get to be the narrators, who are they and what do they represent in Victorian society” “why is evil personified in this way”, and in the historical context of the novel, gives you a host of more interesting, nuanced and valuable takes. (This is the premise of this whole post. warning: large wall of text, you are as always completely free to not engage)

And it is such a tragedy that Dracula still gets read as a straight (sorry for the pun) good-triumphs-over-evil story today. Like it or not, we’re still seeing facets of Dracula [the Count] as semitic, as foreign, as queer, and as Other, subconsciously or not -- and those are on purpose because those Othered identities were feared or hated by Victorians. Like, I get objection to uwubification and silliness, it’s a familiar tool to make violators or abusers seem not so bad, or objection that most of the popular posts display little critical lens on the text (valid, but like is anyone going to bother to read my wall of text? lol), but I think it’s really great that there are fan retellings of the story thru the lens of the titular character who doesn’t even get his own POV in the novel with his name on it. And so many more retellings where the female characters have agency, and retellings where van Helsing chooses not to kill the Count. And that emphasizes even more the original story, where all of the female characters are passive while the ideal masculine pillars of Victorian society, personified in affluent Western European men who are lawyer-real estate agent-solicitor, nobility inheritor of land/title/wealth, wealthy Texan (no doubt benefitting from Jim Crow era in his homeland), insane asylum director, and doctor-scientist, collude to erase the foreign, Eastern, queer, sexual, deviant and monstrous Vampire from existence and mainly for the sake of a woman’s “life” or virtuosity, so she will not go down the same path as unvirtuous, defiled, predator of children, "undead” Lucy, who they decapitated as well (Rest in Peace).

And to the rally of “Dracula the character is utter evil, you’re not allowed to make him silly or likeable, stop fetishizing him, it’s like people humanizing and thirsting for Ted Bundy”: to the first part, maybe the point is to deconstruct the notion of who or what is evil, and who is calling the shots about labeling evil? which is NOT like humanizing a real life serial killer.

Vampires -- creatures who must be confined to the night because sexuality, queerness, and otherness are not allowed to come out during Victorian virtuous daylight -- are vilified (by daywalker “proper” Victorians) to the point of it being factual that they are evil and sinister and kill people. It’s not a far echo away from the arguments that Eugenicists, contemporaries of the author Bram Stoker, were making about the people they wanted to Other, control, and eventually get rid of.

(To summarize, Eugenicists wanted to improve society by preventing “undesirable” people from reproducing. The movement picked up in popularity  in the 1870s, a good 20 years before Dracula was published. Morons, imbeciles, weak etc were labels they put on the “undesirables” - not limited to: women who had sex out of wedlock “the promiscuous”, sexual deviants (from rapists to non-prudes to queers), colored people ranging from “savages” to Jews, disabled people, the debtor, the poor... sinners, all. The Eugenicists saw in these people the source of crime and societal ills, and sought to “humanely” remove them from the gene pool including using methods such as forced sterilization, instead of addressing their social or material conditions. To top it off, insane asylums were often places where many of “undesirables” (if they weren’t otherwise detained in jails or unlucky enough to not be born western european) were confined to and frequently the site where forced/involuntary sterilizations occurred. Later on in the 1900s, the Eugenics movement had an unsurprising thorough entanglement with the Nazis, and it’s clear to me that white supremacy has its roots in the same ideas as Eugenics. It’s unfortunately still relevant today, with right-wing media peddling the myth of the very much white supremacist “Great Replacement Theory” which runs parallel to xenophobic and anti-micegenation thinking.)

Maybe the identities that the privileged of a society deem unwanted or unsavory or disgusting to the point that it is wrapped up in a cape of all-encompassing evil, is just that - an exaggerated label, conflated true evils like rape or murder with deviancy or foreignness in one fell caste, to justify violence and destruction. And furthermore, the privileged classes of society use “science” and “rationality” like phrenology (racist skull profiling), actual profiling, law and order, social darwinism, and other caste frameworks aligned with the Eugenics movement to justify their condemnation on the Other, to give “evidence” of deformity or monstrosity. It is absolutely no coincidence that the gang who kill Dracula are the all the different sorts of person to support the Eugenics movement, particularly the “good” white immigrants ie the Texan and the Dutchman, as they would be deemed the “well-bred” benefactors that the movement considered “good breeding stock”, or “of good blood”.

Does it not echo the “arguments” from right-wing circles we are hearing today, labeling gay/trans people and supportive parents as “molesters”, “predators”, “groomers”, “abusers” or otherwise “defilers” of children? What does it say when "righteous voices” in our society are calling folks going about their non-orthodox lives “monsters” but call young men, nay, children defending white supremacy using guns “heroes”?

In the novel, the Count does not get a point of view, he can’t see himself reflected in a mirror, and he doesn’t have a Voice. What we the reader know about Dracula comes from the other characters’ recorded letters, dairies, etc, we do not know what he might have said to us directly -- about himself, about his world, about how he sees the other characters. Let people humanize the Count! It is not on par with real life serial killers. Reading about monsters in the horror genre is not the same as reading about a subjective character, subjective in nature like the other characters in Dracula are offered POV spotlights as subjects and not objects (well, the female characters are barely above that “object” threshold lol). Monsters of literary horror are not supposed to be people like you or I. Particularly, unlike those who get cast as “real monsters”, the real life serial killers 1) actually factually killed real (not fictional) people 2) the likes of Ted Bundy predated on specifically young women and yes used his conventionally attractive mug to do evil 3) the fetishized serial killers tend to be white cishet men, and their fanbases tend to further the narrative that white cishet men get to have their side of the story, get to be humanized rather than monster-ified, which already happens in our society. They get to plea mental illness, self defense clauses, defend their actions as “just their nature as a redblooded man [to do evil things to anyone underneath them in the social totem pole]”, claim that their bigotry is rational (sometimes even “publishing” manifestos on their “rationality”), or otherwise get to tell their story, instead of getting shot on sight, publicly ridiculed, or silenced, as the “Othered” who might challenge real irl Monsters do.

Yea, I’m reaching for my pitchfork now, cuz Dracula is putting forth ideas I as a modern person condemn now! Hold your horses - Bram Stoker was close friends with Oscar Wilde. Stoker started writing Dracula a month after Wilde’s libel trial in which Wilde was very publicly outed from the closet, lost the case resulting in bankruptcy, and then tried and found guilty in another case for sodomy and gross indecency - basically, being a queer deviant. Scholars note that this event made Stoker decide to (further) closet his nonconventional identity, enshrouding that part of himself in darkness as much as possible. There’s wider evidence to Stoker’s closeted status (linked a book below I’m waiting for my local library to lend me a copy, there are also scholarly publications on the topic as well). Dracula was published while Wilde was still serving his sentence of two years’ hard labor. 

I tried to succinctly point the queer undercurrents (and very much internalized homophobia) in the book out to someone in a comment thread somewhere and was met with “>:( you’re saying that Stoker being a sad gay boy means racism and xenophobia etc is ok”. Thanks for jumping to conclusions, I was trying to make a point of being a terrified closeted man where your formerly close associate has been ripped out of the beneficia of high society specifically colors (and likely enhances the internalized homophobia in) the book produced by such an environment. Someone like that would be more sensitive to understanding the anxieties and phobias (not limited to homophobia) of their society, and would feel the need to understand how to blend in/uproot “evil’ in himself. In the book we can see this reflected in the triumph of Christian Victorian mores at the conclusion of Dracula. But I do not deny that Stoker absorbed the homophobic/xenophobic/antisemitic zeitgeist of his time. He absolutely did (that’s my verdict as a casual reader). It was like writing Dracula was a treatise to convince himself of the “right” path, literature as conversion therapy. Academics might have a different angle to this, how Stoker’s will to fit in with Victorian society, sexual repression ever heightened, shaped his worldview, and then distilled into Dracula. It’s clear to me that Stoker very much followed Eugenicist notions of his time, at the very least. He recognized he was queer and chose to only have one child (very rare for well-to-do Victorians), selecting himself out of the “gene pool” for fear of passing on his “bad blood”. 

As this piece of literature as a foundational staple to the horror genre, I think it is important to understand the Victorian environment (historically, culturally, socially) of its origin, which enriches all the derivative works and particularly the subversions we see today. (And indeed, there’s a whole ‘nother discussion about the lasting cultural impact of Count Dracula, like how despite how all the characters tell us that he is a monster and we should shun and fear him, he has such a draw, and still fascinates and even arouses us still.)

anyway, I recommend further wider discourse in threads like this (I linked this earlier, it includes a book recommendation), James Somerton’s youtube videos about horror and queerness, book summary/spotlight for Something in the Blood: The Untold Story of Bram Stoker, regarding more thorough background into Victorian mores and queerness of Bram Stoker, here’s a great post about antisemitism and Dracula, here’s a podcast regarding antisemitism and eugenics in Dracula... and, of course, other meta discussions about the horror genre and its place as a literary tool for transgressive topics

[richincolor]

Home, Vol. 1 by Julio Anta

After being separated from his mother at the US border, a young Guatemalan immigrant must learn to harness emerging superhuman abilities while being hunted by the Federal Government.

JULIO ANTA and ANNA WIESZCZYK debut with a deeply grounded, and heartfelt graphic novel that explores the real world implications of a migrant with extraordinary powers.

Review: I've said this before and I'll say it again -- this is such a good time for graphic novels right now, especially graphic novels featuring marginalized voices and underrepresented stories. From Gene Luen Yang's Superman run, to queer graphic novels like Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me and Mooncakes, it's a good time to be reading. And of course, we can't forget John Lewis's incredible graphic memoirs which you absolutely need to read if you haven't already.

Home by Julio Anta and Anna Wieszczyk is another great entry into this era of impactful graphic novels for young people. It follows a Guatemalan boy and his mother as they seek asylum in America and are met with the cruelty, neglect, and injustice that pervades the American immigration system, including the family separation policy. But in Home, our hero discovers his own latent superpowers, and that's where the story takes a turn. He has powers he can hone and harness, and he is not alone.

The storytelling and art in this graphic novel are incredibly compelling. I read this in one sitting and you likely will too, if you pick it up. The ending does leave many things unresolved, which I assume points to the first volume being part of a larger series. Unfortunately, I don't see more issues coming out at the current moment, so this story will have to be left on a cliffhanger for me.

That said, I'm excited for what Julio Anta does next, and if you are looking for a heartfelt, impactful graphic novel that doesn't shy away from current events, Home is where you'll want to look.

Recommendation: Get it soon!

[sokkastyles]

I know that you have called out Azula fans for making the assumption that just because she was in a straightjacket she was abused in her asylum. Especially since Aang's era has little options outside of bending removal to safely contain someone as hostile and dangerous as Azula.

But have you read Gene Yang's comments in which he all but says that there is systemic abuse in Fire Nation asylums that not only made Azula's condition worse, but (implicitly) allowed her to recruit fellow asylum inmates to her terrorist cell? And if so, does that change your analysis?

Also, what are your thoughts on Gene Yang saying in an interview (https://www.hypable.com/gene-yang-interview/) that comics!Azula developed a spilt personality disorder?

Because I know that you have written how you don't like the tendency of writers to conflate mental illness with female villainy. Especially in Azula's case since her villainy can be easily explained by her growing up in the indoctrinated Fire Nation Court and her father's abuse while her mental breakdown can easily be explained as stress-based, not the start of any long-term mental illness.

Anyway, sorry if my ask comes off as sealioning and I hope you have a good day!

Here is the interview where the above photo comes from: https://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/1027/avatar-last-airbender-search-cbr-interviews-gene-y

The above photo comes from the library edition of Smoke and Shadow

I didn't mean that people assumed she was abused just because she was shown in a straight jacket. What I meant was that the fact that all we are shown of the asylum is Azula and one other person being wheeled in the background, both in straight jackets, and the fact that people assume that she was abused because she was institutionalized are part of the same ableist stereotype about the mental healthcare system.

This comment that you screenshotted does not say that there is systemic abuse in Fire Nation asylums, it says "We'll see what a prolonged stay in a Fire Nation mental institution does to a person." At least in what you screenshotted, there is no specification about what that means, but I HIGHLY doubt it means that Yang was trying to make a statement about abuse in mental health facilities - which IS a rampant problem, by the way. I never said that abuse doesn't happen. Abuse happens everywhere, and it is much more likely to happen in places where abusers can get away with having authority over a vulnerable class of people. But what I think Yang meant is that he just sees being institutionalized as the same sort of stereotype that I was pushing against, the idea that getting mental help always makes you worse, and not better, and mental healthcare facilities are prisons in everything but name. This is a harmful stereotype because it stigmatizes the idea of anyone getting mental help, and I'm not just talking about institutions, because of course institutionalization is far from the only option available, but it's the one that gets the most publicity in media, and it's almost ALWAYS negative. It doesn't matter whether it's a Fire Nation asylum or an Earth Kingdom one. And if it did, why would Zuko not choose the best one he could for Azula? I doubt Yang sees any difference.

If Gene Yang were trying to actually say something about abuse of the mentally ill, he would not have written such a callous portrayal. I've seen some theories that he wrote it that way because he thinks Azula being abused is justified, but I think that's ascribing him not only more malice than he deserves, but more credit, because it implies that he actually thought for five seconds about mental healthcare. Hanlon's Razor comes to mind: never attribute to malice what can often be explained by stupidity.

I doubt that Gene Yang even recognizes that putting a patient in a straight jacket for no discernable reason would, in the real world, be abusive, he just used it to signal to the reader that Azula is "crazy." Which is its own problem, but a serious portrayal of abuse in the mental healthcare system it is not, so treating this story like Azula is being abused by her brother and his friends is just more demonization of mental health issues on top of what is already there. Gene Yang did not say that because he wants to imply that Azula was abused, he said it because he thinks mental healthcare facilities are horrible places that no one would ever want to be in, because that's the typical portrayal of them in popular media. While yes, abuse does happen, it does nothing for people who need help to imply that getting help is worse than the alternative.

For a nuanced portrayal of mental health facilities in popular media, I'd point to the first season of FX's Legion, which, while I don't think it always gets things right, does a good job of portraying the institution as a place that's not actively harmful, and David's sister is not portrayed as wrong for making the decision to institutionalize him, even though the show also didn't shy away from David's trauma from being institutionalized.

I have not read Smoke and Shadow, but you also have to consider that Azula and the other characters she recruits are villains, and of course Azula is going to say that being institutionalized is horrible because she doesn't see anything wrong with the way she is or any reason why she would need help.

I read the part in the linked interview about a split personality, and to me it doesn't look like he's saying that Azula actually has a split personality, he's talking more about the way he wrote her character. Here's the context:

I love Azula. She’s such a great character. She’s totally in control for most of the animated series, and then at the very end, she cracks. She goes insane. We wanted to keep both her controlling side and her crazy side in the comics, so we gave her something of a split personality. We also wanted to figure out what it means to care for somebody like that, somebody who vacillates between evil and insane.

I don't think he's referring to any sort of diagnosis, and that's a big problem with treating Azula seriously as a mentally ill character. What is Azula's mental illness, exactly? I only see the words "crazy," "insane," and "evil" being thrown around as modifiers. Oh, I know plenty of people have diagnosed her, and some of those people seem to be speaking from personal experience, and again, I don't begrudge anyone their headcanons if they see themselves in Azula. But Azula does not have a canon mental illness. "Vacillates between evil and insane," is not a diagnosis, nor is it even a very good description of the character and what's going on with her. Why is she institutionalized in the first place, other than that the plot needed a place for her to be where she wouldn't be able to break out using her bending? If it was Zuko's decision to put here there, when did he make that decision, and how did he come to it? Especially since in "The Search," at least, nobody seems to know that Azula is actively hallucinating and their reactions to Azula are mostly to be confused and shocked by her "crazy" behavior. I just find it really odd that the conclusions people come to after seeing such a half-baked portrayal are "wow Azula is being abused by her brother and the writers want her to be abused" and not "wow what a badly written story."

What's even stranger is that I didn't realize until I read the article you linked that Gene Yang also wrote American Born Chinese. He is not a bad writer. But these comics are so badly written, I just have to assume that Yang either didn't care and was just trying to make a buck or the interference from Bryke turned whatever he was trying to do into the hack job that we got.

[zuko-always-lies]

Why Azula Staying a Villain Will Only Lead To Bad Stories Part 3: Why Azula Staying a Villain Is Bad for Her Own Character[anon submission]

Note (Here is a link to an interview where Gene Yang implies that Azula got less than ideal treatment at her asylum): https://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/1027/avatar-last-airbender-search-cbr-interviews-gene-y

Note (Here Is a Post Containing All the New, Azula-Relevant Lore From the TRPG, Including What She Has Been up to Post-Smoke and Shadow): https://ly0nstea.tumblr.com/post/681136479604457472/all-of-the-canonical-information-the-avatar

Part 1 Link:  https://zuko-always-lies.tumblr.com/post/662081384160067584/why-azula-staying-a-villain-will-only-lead-to-bad

Part 2 Link: https://zuko-always-lies.tumblr.com/post/663982608366157824/why-azula-staying-a-villain-will-only-lead-to-bad

In the earlier parts of this series I explained why Azula staying a villain will only have bad effects on stories set in Aang’s era, the characters involved in such stories, and the messages such stories are trying to send to the audience. But I haven’t yet talked about why Azula staying a villain is bad for Azula’s character herself and so I will do so here.

But before I do so, I have to make it clear that I will analyze Azula’s character through both of fandom’s most popular interpretations of Azula’s character and so I will elaborate on what they are before starting my analysis.

The Psychopath

The Psychopath is how the majority of ATLA’s fandom views Azula (I will refer to this Azula as The Psycho from here on out), who is both meant to be a cautionary tale of how those born with severe, incurable ASPD/dark triad traits are not meant to be given any quarter and how no amount of love or care will be able to make them fit for society, let alone a functional person.

Under this lense, The Psycho, unlike Zuko or Iroh, inherited Ozai, Azulon, and/or Sozin’s mental illness(es) and only lives for power and to subjugate others. She is only capable of understanding hierarchical relationships based on power, hence her predatorily targeting the psychologically vulnerable Ty Lee and Mai to be her slaves friends on top of her relentless tormenting of Zuko, whose death, along with Iroh, Azulon, and Lu Ten’s she craves so Ozai, who she only “loves” because of his power, can get the throne and make her his heir.

The Psycho deeply resents Ursa, not because Ursa was neglectful to her, but because she hated Ursa for how she constantly reprimanded her antisocial behavior on top of not being able to comprehend Ursa’s non-psychopathic morality or why she was drawn Zuko displaying values in line with her’s. And when Azula hallucinates Ursa saying she loves Azula, it is not because Azula desperately wanted her mother’s love, or that Ursa didn’t love her, but instead Azula raging at the first person who saw through and rejected her manipulative ways.

When the psychopath allowed Zuko to “redeem” himself during The Crossroads of Destiny, it wasn’t because she actually meant it. No, it was because she needed someone to not only take down Aang and Katara, but to also take down Iroh before she would have betrayed him on the spot and thrown him into a cell next to Iroh.

But alas, Katara managed to escape with Aang’s dead body before she could double-tap and thus she had to bring Zuko home while giving him the credit so that in the case of Aang surviving, Ozai will do what she thinks he should have done a long time ago and kill Zuko off, leaving her the sole heir. Or if Aang really did die, Zuko’s paranoia will eat him alive and allow Azula to easily be named her father’s heir since she is the stable one in comparison.

When she comforts Zuko and Ty Lee, or shows concern about them, during The Beach, it is not because she cares about them. No, it is because she realizes that for her plans to work, she needs both of them to stay by her side as her complaint and willing tools, and so manipulates them by feigning empathy.

When Mai and Ty Lee “betray” her and start her downward spiral, the “guilt” she feels is not her feeling remorse for her actions and behavior towards them but a narcissistic injury, which is only worsened once she sees Zuko stand victorious and guaranteed the throne while she is chained to the ground and denied everything she has been working towards her whole life.

The Princess

This interpretation of Azula (who I will from here on out refer to as The Princess) is the minority opinion held by those who are Azula sympathizers, or at least those who don’t want to make Azula born evil or evil for evil’s sake considering that it would go against the ethos of the show.

The Princess is meant to be a tragic tale of how: being a golden child is not a good thing and is in fact a form of abuse; how royalty, especially the genocidal, imperialism, colonizing royalty that Azula was born into, is an inherently abusive institution that creates abusers while victimizing the royals themselves; and how grooming someone to be a child general only has negative effects on the one being groomed.

For under this lens, The Princess’ deepest desire was to do right by her family and friends while receiving their affection. Not to mention being the exemplary post-Sozin Princess.

But unfortunately for The Princess, she was born the second child to Prince Ozai, who from the very moment he saw that she the “spark”, sought to turn her into the son that he never had in an effort to claim the Fire Nation throne to sate his desire for power, with the first thing that he bestowed upon her, her name, being an ominous omen of what was to come.

For while Azula did have a good relationship with her brother and mother, in addition to making two friends from school in the form of Mai and Ty Lee, things quickly soured once Azula’s firebending kicked in and it was apparent that she was a prodigy, causing Ozai to focus his attention on making Azula the son he should have had in an effort to make a credible bid in the future despite the fact that his father would never favor him, a lowly palace creature, over his war-hero first born son Iroh or his war-hero grandchild Lu Ten.

Thus, Azula slowly but surely became more cruel, adopting the viewpoints and aggressive/sadistic behavior that her father egged her to adopt. And while Ozai’s corruption of her could have been stopped and/or counteracted by one of the adults in her life noticing Ozai’s favor for what it was, unfortunately none of the adults in her life did so.

For Iroh and Lu Ten were off at war and, as evidenced by Iroh’s gift to Azula (anyone who interacted with Azula for more than a minute would know that Azula is not a doll type of girl), really didn’t know her that well in addition to Iroh most likely favoring Zuko (ex. knife from a defeated general with a worthwhile message vs. a generic doll) due to the fact that while he knew how boys worked, he most likely didn’t know how to interact with girls considering Azula was the first girl born to the Royal Family in generations.

Azulon, as evidenced by his reactions to Azula and Zuko’s performances and him ordering to kill Zuko after Ozai made an ill advised claim to the throne, really does not care for the children produced by his second born son even though they make up the majority of his second generations heirs.

And Ursa, while scolding Azula’s negative behavior and encouraging Azula’s prosocial behavior, like pushing Zuko to play with Azula when Azula asks if Zuko could play with her and her friends, fails to get at the root of why Azula says horrible things like wishing that her Uncle and cousin would die so Ozai could get the throne.

While the TV show makes it unclear why Ursa treats Azula the way she does, the comics heavily imply that a mix of Ozai threatening to hurt her if she corrected his prodigy and Ursa seeing Azula as the successful byproduct of the eugenics experiment that caused Azulon to kidnap her and have Ozai rape her, causes Ursa to inadvertenly neglect Azula in an effort to avoid triggering herself as much as possible.

But even with all that, at least with Azulon on the throne, Iroh as the Crown Prince with Lu Ten as his heir, and Ursa around, at least Azula still had a childhood where she got to play games with her friends and Zuko.

But after the chain reaction that started with Lu Ten’s unexpected death and ended with Ozai on the throne, Ursa banished, and Iroh discredited in the eyes of their nation, Azula’s childhood was nothing more than a memory.

For Azula within a span of two years not only starts wearing makeup in a likely attempt to make herself look older in court, but also has blue flames (Iroh and Zuko when they see the 14 year old Azula don’t act shocked by Azula’s flames, heavily implying Azula had them before Zuko’s banishment), no doubt due to Ozai, now with no restraints, actively grooming both of his child to become the child generals he needs to win the war. And once Zuko showed that he couldn’t “measure up”, Ozai burned him in an Agni Kai before sending him on a wild goose chase with the intention of never bringing him back home.

And speaking of Agni Kai’s, under this lens, when The Princess smirks as she sees her brother burn it is due to some combination of: being glad that it is not her; thinking that it is expected of her to overtly relish sadistic acts since that is what is expected of post-Sozin nobility; thinking that Zuko is finally getting what he deserves now that no one can “coddle” him; and thinking that Zuko deserves it for being tied to their mother’s disappearance (there is no way Azula by that age didn’t realize the connection between her telling Ursa of Azulon’s order and Ursa’s disappearance).

But after Zuko and Iroh leave, things get much worse for The Princess since she realizes that without Daddy’s favorite scapegoat, all his attention is on her with her knowing damn well what happens to children that fail to meet his obscene standards.

This, in combination with her friends moving away, causes Azula to spend three years basically either studying, training, or in court, with her already limited social skills becoming even more stunted due to her only interactions coming from palace servants who are meant to be seen not heard, old men in court/her father’s war council, Lo and Li, and her father.

Thus, by the time Ozai gives her mission to bring back Iroh and Zuko dead or alive, she may be a master firebender and military strategist/tactician, but she is an emotional and socially stunted human being incapable of forming real bonds despite her desire to do so, let alone navigate the impossible situation of trying to be a friend while also being a military commander/their absolute sovereign.

For after Zuko and Iroh escape her at the beach, causing Azula to realize that she needs a small elite team to hunt them, Azula quickly realizes that Ty Lee and Mai, who have skills that compliment her skills while also being people she trusts, are perfect for the mission.

And while Ty Lee is glad to see Azula, she refuses to join Azula’s mission since she enjoys the circus, forcing Azula to either have to pull rank and destroy their friendship (if there was any friendship in the first place) or accept Ty Lee’s refusal and jeopardize the success of her mission and even her life considering Ozai’s track record in regards to accepting failure.

Thus, Azula burns Ty Lee’s nets and gets Ty Lee to come as a “friend”, which is fucked up to say the least, but at least it makes logical sense for what someone of Azula’s upbringing would do, instead of being a vicious act done to sate her innate cruelty and sadism.

Likewise, even though Mai willingly and enthusiastically, at least on the surface, joins Azula’s quest, Azula essentially forces Mai to not trade Bumi for Tom Tom despite Mai’s obvious displeasure (note that the scene where Mai “agrees” with Azula to not trade for Bumi is the only time she ever refers to Azula as Princess Azula) for largely the same reasons why Azula burned Ty Lee’s nets.

For how do you think Ozai would have reacted if he found out that Azula traded away one of the most dangerous POWs for a toddler?

When The Princess allowed Zuko to redeem himself during the Crossroads of Destiny, it wasn’t because she needed his help or that she was going into the fight with the intention to scapegoat Zuko, but because she found him pitiful being Iroh’s little tea boy and desired him back in her life, even if it meant basically sacrificing the throne.

And that Katara managing to escape with Aang’s body did not change her plans since as far as Azula is concerned, there is no way someone could survive a fully charged lighting blast with no grounding. That is until their little talk at the pond caused Azula to realize that Zuko lied to her about the possibility of Aang’s survival, causing her to lie to Ozai about who “killed” Aang in an attempt to cover her ass and give Zuko a chance to rectify his mistake.

And yes, her lie was partially motivated by giving Zuko a chance to rectify his mistake for if Azula was just interested in scapegoating Zuko, she could have used his visits to Iroh to show Ozai that he lied to her about Aang’s death. For if Zuko was willing to lie about his covert visits to Iroh, why wouldn’t he lie about Aang’s survival like the “dishonorable” man he was?

When she comforted Zuko and Ty Lee, or showed concern about them, during The Beach, it is because she cares about them and that she wants nothing more than to spend her vacation with her friends and brother by her side, with them choosing, when given the choice, to spend their vacation time away from her deeply hurting her.

When Mai and Ty Lee “betray” her and start her downward spiral, she feels genuine remorse for her actions and behavior towards them. But unlike Zuko who had Iroh to help him process his emotions, all she had was Ozai and Lo and Li, with the former giving her the now worthless title of Fire Lord to go burn the world by himself when all she wanted was for him to not leave her like everyone else did, and the latter just being subordinates who ultimately had no power over Azula.

And when she cries once she see Zuko stand victorious and guaranteed the throne while she is chained to the ground, it is not due to her being denied everything she has been working towards her whole life, but due to seeing Zuko having a friend who will stand unconditionally by him while she has no one by her side despite doing everything that was expected of her by her teachers and father.

Interlude

So now that I have laid out what are the two most popular conceptions of Azula’s character, I will proceed to go through the events of The Search and Smoke and Shadow (which I’ll refer to from here on out as S&S) in order to show why the actions she took in those stories and/or powers she displayed don’t really make sense with either conception of Azula.

The Search (Both)

There isn’t really anything to criticize here since Azula is deeply psychotic during The Search due to not really receiving any treatment in the asylum (WoG all but says the asylum is responsible for comics!Azula’s mental state) and is acting to restore what she considers the righteous regime since, instead of anyone trying to make any effort to help realize that indoctrination she received was wrong, all the communication she received in the 1 to 2 years she was stuck in the asylum was between her healers and her fellow asylum inmates.

But there is one major point that does need criticism and that is Azula’s bending and physical prowess.

And this is because despite being in an abusive asylum for 1 to 2 years where (presumably) she was constantly chi-blocked and restrained, Azula’s physical capabilities seem to remain intact.

And even more inexplicably, her bending seems to have gotten better since she is now able to make a lighting sphere, make lighting zaps, make her flames stay blue even after she is no longer actively controlling them, use her lighting as a bootleg chidori (as seen when she breaks the roof of Noren and Noriko’s home), and is able to make instant lighting.

And while I don’t think it was impossible for Azula to improve her bending in such a short time or discover new techniques, I hate how her improvements fly in the face of how her abilities, and quite frankly how bending in general, were previously depicted.

For in the TV show, Azula’s abilities were depicted as the combination of natural talent, having the resources of a nation-state help her to hone said talent, having friends with diverse skills willing to help her filling in the gaps in her skills, and being able to/having the incentive to obsessively train to reach her full potential.

But in the comics, they tell us the only thing that Azula has left out of the above elements that led her to being so powerful is her natural talent and yet they want us to believe that she made massive improvements?

And making things worse is that other than slightly quicker lighting generation and fire jets, TV!Azula does not really improve and/or add new techniques due to the implication that Azula has mastered Sozin style firebending and all she thinks she left to do is steadily improve what she knows while waiting to finish puberty to achieve her full power.

Meanwhile, part of the reason why Zuko and Katara manage to get to her level, or even surpass her depending on your views, so quickly is due to the combination of meeting the original masters of their bending art and/or being exposed to and implementing the other bending arts into their bending to either improve it or implement countermeasures for when they encounter hostile benders of the other elements.

For example, when Katara fights in the North Pole, part of the reason why she loses to Zuko is because despite restraining him in a dome of ice, the fact that it is hollow allows Zuko just enough movement and air in order to melt the whole thing.

But after spending time with Aang and Zuko and (presumably) learning about the the airbender’s heat regulation ability, Zuko’s breath of fire technique, and how firebenders need both movement and air to use their bending, Katara is able to use said knowledge to defeat Azula during Sozin’s Comet by first freezing the two of them in solid ice (thus not allowing Azula to move or breathe) and then uses her breathing to warm ice into water so she can move around in the block of ice so she can restraint Azula.

And yet, despite having no exposure to the other bending elements or to the dragons, Azula is able to come up with several innovations?

(Yes, I know Xu Ping Au had instant lighting 400 years ago but it seems pretty obvious that the technique was lost to time seeing as how neither Ozai or Iroh could ever do the technique despite both of them being in situations where it would have been useful. Hence the assumption that Azula “discovered” instant lighting.)

But despite Azula’s new bending skills and retained physical prowess, it is not like the comics would continue to give Azula new bending abilities, or even increase her physical prowess, despite her becoming a homeless, penniless, fugitive deep in psychosis after she escapes Zuko’s custody during the climax of The Search, right?

S&S (Both)

Well unfortunately for those who want their characters to have power boosts that make sense with previous established lore, Azula’s bending and physical prowess get such a massive boost in S&S to the point that not only does she become the clear cut strongest firebender in history, there is also now a credible argument that she is the strongest non-Avatar, non-bloodbending, non-spirit fused fighter in the entire Avatar franchise.

For in regards to her bending Azula develops: area of effect lighting, the ability to use quick charge lighting, concussive-effect only lighting, the ability to control and split her lighting after she has fired it, and smoke-bending.

And in regards to her physical prowess Azula is able to ward off Suki and Ty Lee despite wearing a one-eyed mask and a billowing cape, consistently dodge Mai’s knives even when Mai throws them with lethal intent, and quickly physical overwhelm Zuko despite Zuko having no indication that she wasn’t fighting to kill him and thus had no reason to hold back.

Like, I understand that her bending and physical boosts in S&S are at least more plausible than they were in The Search due to being free and having people to train with, but even then, when you think about it, they still are really unjustified.

For example, Suki and Ty Lee at this point have not only taught each other their skills in addition to Ty Lee presumably telling Suki Azula’s fighting style, especially after Azula escapes Zuko’s custody and they have every reason to believe that Azula is going to seek revenge against all that have “wronged” her.

Moreover, they had at least one year to improve under nearly perfect circumstances since they are the Fire Lord’s bodyguards and so they mostly likely had access to best training resources and recovery methods that Zuko can provide since Zuko has every incentive to make sure his protection detail is up to par since he is facing constant assassination attempts on his life.

And yet, despite all their advantages combined with the fact that Azula has had subpar at best training circumstances, we are supposed to believe that they can’t even keep her occupied long enough for reinforcements, who at worst like 30 seconds away, to come or even force her to use her bending to ward them off?

Or in another example, how did Azula and the Fire Warriors learn to smokebend, let alone master it to the degree they seem to have? For while smokebending is a thing (Aang smokebended in the beginning of The Original Masters while Kyoshi bended smoke when she tried to firebend for the first time), the Kyoshi novels imply that it is painful to bend smoke.

And the fact that despite its highly useful applications, only the Fire Warriors are seen using it, implies that either the Fire Warriors invented the technique or that it was a lost technique that can only be done by master benders.

But despite all the questions that smokebending brings up, we are never given an in-universe or out-of universe explanation for how it works despite it almost leading to Aang getting killed by two unnamed Fire Warriors while Azula uses it to escape Zuko’s clutches despite being in a crypt with only one exit even though Aang and Zuko already had experience with the technique.

And while I could keep on going, the point of bringing up Azula physical and bending power boosts is to highlight how the comics’ desperation to keep Azula a credible antagonist, even though her situation post-Sozin’s Comet and previous established lore indicated that post-Sozin’s Comet Azula would suffer a massive decrease in her bending and physical prowess due to being involuntary psych warded, caused it give Azula unearned and unjustified power boosts despite Azula previously being depicted as someone who had to work hard and take advantage of the resources she had access too be the formidable warrior was depicted in the TV show.

And how the only plausible explanation, that Azula is a mutant thanks to being a successful eugenics experiment, not only flies in the face of how her bending progress was previously depicted but also how bending in general worked before the comics in addition to giving a pro-eugenics endorsement, which I don’t think was the point.

But even with all the problems in regards to how comics!Azula was able to improve her physicality and bending, at least the comics took advantage of Azula becoming stronger in order to tell compelling stories in line with either popular conception of Azula’s character once she supposedly recovered her sanity in S&S, right?

S&S (The Psycho)

Well, in regards to The Psycho, I don’t think S&S is a favorable depiction of her at all. For while Azula does engage in a lot of violence and plotting that seems similar to her actions in the TV show, when you take a closer look, you find only a superficial similarity at best.

And this is because while the psycho is a sadist, all of her actions while sane were taken with two goals in mind: to secure and/or further her power.

But despite supposedly regaining her sanity, being able to recruit a loyal team of elite firebenders without Zuko ever finding out, becoming the strongest firebender in history, being able to link up with and convince a pro-Ozai group, the New Ozai Society (NOS), to give her the chains of command, and being able to operate a whole ass conspiracy in the Royal Palace without anyone finding out for at least day, The Psycho decides that the best course of action is neither to use the pro-Ozai group to raise a rebellion to restore her and/or her father onto the throne or to kill everyone who would oppose her return to power.

(Yes, I think the Fire Warriors had the power to outright kill everyone who opposed them considering two of them were able to knock down Aang while Azula was able to easily defeat Zuko in the crypt of the first Fire Lord’s royal adviser.)

No, she decides that her “true destiny” is to manipulate the pro-Ozai group to act way sooner than they should have to get all their members, and those would support them, arrested while using their funds to engage in a mass child kidnapping scheme as part of a long term plan to turn Zuko into the dictator of her dreams while wearing a costume inspired by the nightmares of her childhood slave friend that she is responsible for, which makes no sense.

For even if The Psycho might fear that the Fire Nation population would never stand her on the throne, that fear is highly unsupported considering she was the war hero who had essentially ended the war before her brother’s unexpected betrayal caused the Fire Nation’s efforts for the past 100 years to be naught, something that she could use to further endear herself to the still heavily indoctrinated population.

Not to mention, if The Psycho was able to convince a foreign secret police that their best option in the moment was to join her, the enemy princess with only two allies at moment, how hard would it have been for her to convince her subjects to rally around her? Especially since Zuko forced them to vacate their newest colonies as well as pay reparations, at least to the Southern Water Tribe?

But in the case that The Psycho is unable to rally people around her in traditional counterrevolution, or even outright kill Zuko and his allies, there were still other ways to achieve her goals of securing power.

Ways like leading a guerrilla movement in which they destabilize the Fire Nation to the point that the masses are beg for a strongwoman to replace the weak-willed Zuko, or taking advantage of Zuko and Ursa’s desire to fix their family to come back to the palace and launch a soft coup after manipulating the Royal Court, or even taking advantage of the fact that and her team of smokebenders had unfettered access to the Palace for at least a day to covertly assassinate Zuko and anyone in the palace who might support him.

But no, The Psycho decided on a plot that not only discredited her among any groups that would seek to put Ozai and/or her back on the throne, but also made her the most wanted terrorist in the Fire Nation with a good chunk of her real allies, the Fire Warriors, in jail after getting defeated in the Garden of Tranquil Souls. Moreover, Zuko is now aware of Azula’s desire to mold him and is highly unlikely to be swayed by her attempts to manipulate him, let alone accept her back into his life if she ever decides to try to manipulate him by “turning a new leaf”.

“But Azula is a sadistic psycho who derives pleasure from tormenting others. Hence why she decided to mess with him in S&S since if she can’t have the throne as long as Aang is alive, she might as well fuck with Zuko by doing things like reducing him to begging Azula to not take his life because no one will stand for her on the throne.”

Well, even if we ignore the fact that her team did knock down Aang for a considerable amount of time, as well as my well-founded assumption that the Fire Warriors are strong enough to outright kill Zuko and his allies, there were a lot of better ways for Azula to sadistically torment Zuko if that is what she wanted to do. Especially considering from her POV, Zuko had her sadistically locked up in the abusive asylum for over a year before only retrieving her so she could extract intel from Ozai about the location of the mother who she blames from her downfall, with Zuko then “mercifully” offering her the option of returning the palace, provided that she is kept under constant surveillance 24/7, as a reward for doing his bidding.

Like killing and/or maiming the kidnapped kids one by one, or killing Kiyi in front of him instead of kidnapping her, or either killing or scarring Ty Lee instead of just slapping her, or either killing or scarring Mai instead of just toying with her, or even giving Zuko another facial scar after she had defeated him in the crypt.

But no, instead of actually engaging in sadism, all we got was The Psycho essentially playing a meaner version of the ultimately harmless pranks she used to play on Zuko as children, only on a grander scale and with no opportunity to repeat it again considering Zuko, and his allies assuming he told them about Azula’s motive rant, are now aware of her long term plans.

However, maybe my complaints about S&S are unfounded because maybe Azula’s character is not what adherents to the The Psycho interpretation of her character think it is. For maybe The Princess interpretation of her character is the correct one and so S&S makes sense under that interpretation, right?

S&S (The Princess)

Well, in regards to The Princess, I don’t think Azula’s actions and behavior in S&S fits within this interpretation of Azula either. Especially since in S&S, The Princess is supposed to have not only regained her sanity but also have moved past supporting Ozai.

For in regards to her nation, how does engaging in mass kidnapping plot that turns the Caldera City masses into a fear riddled mess liable to start agitating for Ozai’s return, or working with a pro-Ozai organization that nearly succeeds in killing Zuko, as well as Ursa, Noren, and Kiyi, going to help Zuko become a ruler who rules through fear, or help his in reign in general?

For isn’t the source of the Fire Lord’s divine right to rule their ability their ability to maintain order? And so by showing that Zuko is unable to keep the peace, isn’t Azula undermining Zuko’s rule? Especially since from the masses’ POV, unless Zuko later went public with the identity of the Fire Warriors, the Kemurikage spirits are rebuking him just like they rebuked Toz?

And while Azula did bloodlessly dismantle the NOS by forcing them to act sooner than they should have while also draining their coffers by forcing Ukano to care for the kidnapped kids, surely the person who essentially conquered Ba Sing Se with just three other people could have come up with a way to bloodlessly dismantle the NOS that didn’t involve needlessly traumatizing her subjects.

In regards to her family, why would Zuko, after the bullshit she pulled in S&S, ever want her back in his life, let alone do anything other than throw her into the nearest jail cell for life after having Aang de-bend her? And why would Ursa want anything to do with her after she endangered both of her siblings? Especially if Azula was the one who told Ukano about the real road the Fire Lord uses to travel to the Royal Palace from the Royal Harbor and thus is responsible for almost getting Zuko, Ursa, Kiyi, and Noren all killed during Ukano’s ambush?

And in regards to her former friends, why would Azula sadistically fuck with them after regaining her mental stability? For even if Azula still hasn’t consciously accepted what her subconscious told her about her being wrong to control them with fear, isn’t it odd that someone who is still hurt by her friends’ “betrayals” go out her way to antagonize them, especially Mai?

For what was the purpose of slapping Ty Lee, when a simple punch would have done the job, other than to get back at Ty Lee for chi-blocking her at The Boiling Rock?

Is Azula so stupid that she could not see Mai interpreting her manipulating Ukano, as well as kidnapping Tom Tom, as anything other than her punishing Mai for her betrayal? Especially after her mochi rant in which she all but said that the Fire Warriors took image of the Kemurikage thanks to Azula remembering Mai fearing being tormented by them after Azula “convinced” her to steal the mochi Michi made for Mai’s grandmother’s birthday?

Like, assuming that Azula does still care about them, does she realize that her actions towards them in S&S all but closed off any attempts of reconciliation? Because at least Azula’s actions towards them pre-S&S could be explained by Azula trying to be the daughter, and later general, her father demanded her to be, whereas in S&S Azula doesn’t even have that excuse considering Ozai has long been disposed of.

“Why are you assuming that just because Azula regained her sanity and turned her back means that she is suddenly going to become a good person? Abuse victims’ paths of healing are not straight lines; abuse victims often regress before becoming better for good like Zuko did in Ba Sing Se? So why are you acting like it is illogical for Azula to act like this, especially when Azula mannerisms during certain parts of S&S, like her rant to Mai, indicate that she is still psychotic, albeit not actively?”

I recognize that healing is often not linear and I do think it is more than logical to think that Azula’s healing will involve a lot of backsliding. But what I don’t agree with is the idea that Azula’s actions as a healing abuse victim make sense either in-universe or meta-textually.

For example, while it was tough to see Zuko backsliding in regards to his healing arc by betraying Iroh and helping Azula not only conqueror Ba Sing Se but help put a lighting bolt in Aang’s back, it made perfect sense.

And this is because in-universe it was obvious in retrospect that Zuko only changed because there was no feasible way for him to “redeem” himself to Ozai. Hence why he decided that if he could not be Ozai’s ideal son, he could at least be Iroh’s ideal son.

However, when Azula gave him the means to get everything he wanted in life, with Iroh’s only response to Azula’s “offer” being telling Zuko to turn his back on his nation and family with no prior build up, of course Zuko would choose the easy path.

Meanwhile, meta-textually, Zuko choosing the easy path made Zuko’s redemption arc that much stronger since not only did it give his redemption that much more weight when he got everything he thought he wanted and yet rejected it because it was wrong, but also subverted audience expectations since Book 2 had been priming the audience for Zuko’s heel-face turn.

However, in-universe it doesn’t make sense that Azula would resort to using fear-based tactics when she knows, at least subconsciously, that her fear-mongering pushed away everyone she cared about. Not to mention the fact that, unlike with Zuko in Ba Sing Se, Azula doesn’t care about Ozai and so there is no need to get back into his good graces by adopting his methods once again.

And meta-textually, seeing Azula speed-run through her TV show arc of using fear and manipulation to get what she wants, only to fail once people start standing up to her because love is stronger than fear, is boring since it is a repeat of her TV show arc. Especially since the audience will not take Azula seriously since LoK prevents Azula from succeeding, or even causing long-term damage, and so she lacks the credibility she had during the events of the TV show.

“But Azula regressing and resorting to her old tactics is good storytelling since not everyone can overcome their abuse and so having a character who rejects help provides much needed realism to Avatar while also highlighting how special/lucky Zuko was to break out of the cycle of abuse.”

Personally, I don’t think Azula healing and then either finding peace or redeeming herself really affect Zuko’s story or character since I think she can be more than Zuko, Iroh, and the Gaang’s foil. But even disregarding my personal bias, I don’t think such an arc will work because Azula has yet to receive honest, real help.

For instead of getting actual mental health treatment and de-Sozinfication, she just got dumped in asylum that not only abused her, but would have been her new permanent home if Zuko didn’t, after realizing that the shitty state of his nuclear family reflected badly on him, decide to bring her back into the palace under 24/7 surveillance after she extracted intel from Ozai about Ursa’s possible location.

Azula then only managed to go on the search for Ursa unbound and free, but with people who she hates, who (rightfully) hate her, and have no knowledge on how to deal with someone dealing with severe mental health issues, because she managed to break free of her restraints, find Ozai’s secret chest full of Ursa’s letters, and burn all of them except for the bastard letter, thus allowing her to blackmail Zuko into agreeing with her terms.

And even though Zuko during the climax of The Search offered to help her, she rejects Zuko’s offer since as far as she is concerned, Zuko put her in the asylum in an effort to break her and is only trying to make amends so he can put her there for life again, especially since he already got what he needed from her on top of almost killing their mother in front of him.

I am fine with people not being able to overcome their abuse/trauma and rejecting not only help, but also a second chance to do better, but when has anyone ever tried talking to Azula like a rational actor and tried to explain to her the error of ways?

For in my opinion, it is weird that most, if not all of the main villains in Avatar, got several chances to do better, before becoming irredeemable evil because they consciously, as rational actors, rejected the heroes’s overtures to do better.

Hell, even Ozai got two chances from Aang to stop the war before Aang de-bended him and removed him from power.

So what makes Azula so dangerous or inherently irredeemable that she can’t even be reasoned with?

Unless…Azula was never a rational actor in the first place and so my attempts to analyze her as either a very misguided person or cold blooded dark triad is wrong.

For maybe the correct way to analyze Azula is not with The Psycho or The Princess lenses but instead…

The Crazy One

While most people like to believe that the people have their reasons for doing evil, there are the rare few who like causing pain and suffering just because. And The Crazy One is one of those people who got to indulge in all of her crazy thanks being born into a family actively waging a genocidal war on the rest of the planet.

Under this lens, Azula never had any reason for hurting others other than just because she wanted to and only snapped at the end of ATLA because Ozai, the one person capable of keeping her on her lease, left her to her own device and so her destructive tendencies turned on herself.

And this lack of a master, combined with her inherent craziness, explains all of her antics in the comics. For Azula was always crazy and insane, it is just that the shift from Azulon and Ozai’s regimes, in which cruelty and violence were celebrated, to Zuko’s more humane regime meant that her antics were no longer condoned, let alone legally acceptable.

Or in other words, who is mentally ill often depends on social context and The Crazy One had her social context change almost overnight to her detriment.

And The Crazy One’s insanity removes the need to analyze her motives and desires because there is none just like the Post-Crisis version of The Joker doesn’t really lead himself to deep characterization because there is no rhyme or reason to what they do other than to satisfy their sick desires and/or impulses.

However, while I do think The Crazy One interpretation is the one, on first glance, that best explains Azula’s actions in the comics, I don’t really think it works at all in the TV show.

For as far as current canon is concerned, Azula never showed any signs of mental instability before Mai and Ty Lee’s “betrayals” and never showed any signs of madness before her conversation with “Ursa” during Sozin’s Comet.

Not to mention there is ample evidence that Azula does not do things for the lols. Evidence like (1) the fact the fact that she is constantly refers mentions either the Fire Nation or her father whenever she wants to accomplish something, (2) the fact that when she found out she wasn’t going with Ozai on Sozin’s Comet, her first reaction was yell at Ozai that he can’t treat her like Zuko, and (3) the existence of “Ursa”.

For in regards to (1), even if you think you think it is wrong to take those comments at face value since Azula is a raging narcissist who conflates the Fire Nation with herself and only talks about Ozai because he is the source of her power, at least self-aggrandizement is a motive beyond lols. Not to mention Azula does talk about Ozai even when there is no way Ozai, or people loyal to him, could hear her say so.

In regards to (2), the fact that she says, “You can’t treat me like Zuko!” the moment Ozai tells her she is not coming with him to raze the Earth Kingdom instead of telling him, for example, that it is her plan and so she deserves to share the glory, or that she is the strongest firebender loyal to him and so she can make razing the Earth Kingdom easier, or that she should come because she can help him the event that Iroh, Aang, and/or the rest of the resistance attempt to attack him during Sozin’s Comet, heavily suggests that one of her motivations, if not the main one, is to avoid losing Ozai’s favor, or even worse, become his scapegoat.

For it is quite obvious that Azula knows what happens to Ozai’s children who fail to meet his standards and/or “betray” him. And Azula has every reason to believe that Ozai is angry with her considering she lied to him about the possibility of Aang surviving, who really killed Aang, and whether or not Zuko was completely loyal to him (it is likely in the aftermath of Iroh’s escape that Ozai, after having the surviving guard(s) investigated, learned of Zuko’s visits to Iroh).

Not to mention on top of her lies, she failed to capture and/or kill the Gaang as well as have her allies betray her, enabling Zuko to escape with several high-value war prisoners.

But if (1) and (2) fail to convince you that Azula has actual motives, (3) is the strongest argument in my opinion. For “Ursa” is not some random figment of Azula’s imagination but her heavily suppressed consciousness essentially telling her that she was wrong to use fear to control others and that her justification for doing so is completely wrong.

Azula believed that trust is for fools and fear is the only reliable way because she tried trusting Ursa, but Ursa “rejected” her due to being a “monster” while she got “loved” by Ozai as long as she feared him and did exactly what he said. Hence why Azula used fear to keep Mai and Ty Lee by her side (along with arguably Zuko depending whether or not you believe Azula actually cares for Zuko), and why she was shocked, and hurt, that they turned on her despite knowing the consequences of doing so.

In fact, the existence of “Ursa” during the comics is exactly why The Crazy One interpretation of Azula’s character doesn’t make sense in the comics either. For The Search has Azula essentially listen to “Ursa” tell her that she was wrong and that she can find a place in the post-war world if she just let go of Ozai’s obviously erroneous teachings. And in S&S, “Ursa” stops “harassing” Azula once she decides her true destiny is to “help” Zuko.

Not to mention, the comics give evidence that avoiding becoming Ozai’s scapegoat is at least one of her motivating factors for they show Ozai severely emotionally abuse Zuko in front of Azula with Ursa, the only other (relevant) adult in the room, being powerless to stop it.

“But comics!Azula is raving loon whose conception of helping her brother is becoming a mass child kidnapping domestic terrorist hellbent on turning Zuko into a tryant!”

I never said that Azula having motives equals her being mentally stable or that she would try to achieve her goals in a rational manner. Also, there are several good reasons why comics!Azula comes off a raving loon.

For Azula spent at least a year in an asylum where she not only failed to receive any de-Sozinfication*, but also got abused to the point she thought Zuko put her in there to break her when she knows Zuko doesn’t have that level of cruelty in him. And even after she escapes his custody and stops hearing “Ursa’s” voice, the artwork in S&S at certain times (ex. Her rant to Mai about why the Fire Warriors decided to use the Kemurikage’s visage) suggests that Azula has not overcome her mental illness, but in fact only managed to stop being actively psychotic…for now at least.

*(The only way Zuko and Iroh, who are similar to Azula in that they grew up as indoctrinated royalty, was able to turn away from Sozinism was by spending time away from the palace and experience life as peasants so they could see that Sozin was wrong about the other nations and the war. So, while I don’t think post-war Azula should be allowed to travel freely, or even to the other nations, I think for her to heal, she needs to be exposed to the other cultures through stuff like unedited history books.)

“Come on man! If Azula is not a dark-triad seeking to dominate the world, a good person who had the misfortune of being born to an autocratic royal family waging a genocidal world war to facilitate settler colonialism and imperialism, or a loon whose only desire is to see others be hurt, then what is comics!Azula, and why is it bad for her character that she remains a villain?”

Well, I do have an explanation for what explains comics!Azula’s character and why it is bad for her character. But before I do, I have to talk about the….

TRPG

Before I get to the main conclusion, I have to address the recently released TRPG, especially since its characterization of a non-redeemed Azula is for the most part what I wanted from the franchise.

For while the TRPG does not talk about the abusive nature of the asylum and how it worsened Azula’s mental state, the TRPG makes it clear that Azula’s abusive behavior and imperialism was caused by being raised in the Fire Nation’s Royal Court as well as due to Ozai focusing attention on his golden child with Ursa, despite her best efforts, being unable to counter Ozai’s poisonous influence.

And that, due to her lack of de-Sozinfication, Azula is actively working to regain the throne so she restart the 100 Year War and lead the Fire Nation to imperial glory by establishing a transnational, clandestine network of pro-war Fire Nationalists while also searching for means to overcome the Avatar’s overwhelming power like trying to find a scroll that describes how to unleash a dangerously powerful dark spirit.

However, no matter how much I like this course correction, it doesn’t make sense considering Azula’s previous actions and behavior in S&S. For if S&S Azula had her TRPG motivations, why didn’t she with her team kill Zuko and his allies considering they had the power to do so on top of their sleath advantage?

Why did Azula kidnap Kiyi in the fashion that she did knowing that she was highly likely to get into a fight with Zuko and his allies and most likely expose her involvement as well as her continued desire to antagonize Zuko?

Why did Azula essentially cause the NOS to collapse when, if Fire Warriors didn’t force Ukano to act before he had an adequate amount of support, it would have been the perfect vehicle to challenge Zuko? Especially since people in prison talk and short of Zuko imposing a punishable by death gag order on everyone involved like Ukano and Mai, it would quickly become public knowledge hat her leadership is worthless considering she got most of her “allies” imprisoned and had to resort to mass child kidnapping to attempt to achieve her (on the surface) goals?

Or, if Zuko ever talks about what Azula told him in the tomb and it leaks out, that Azula thinks it her destiny to mold Zuko in her image and thus anyone who would support her would drop their support since, in addition to being a bonkers goal, it is obvious that Azula won’t succeed?

Why would a character noted for her martial genius essentially risk becoming a pariah to the group of people willing to sacrifice their lives to put her back on the throne? Especially since she is aware that the act of banishing everyone during her short reign as Fire Lord-apparent has to make people suspicious of her ability to maintain a hold on power without veering into insanity?

But maybe I am wrong for asking questions about Azula’s characterization and motives because she is not supposed to be a character with psychological interiority and motives.

For maybe Azula is not a character unto herself and only exists to help other characters develop as well as drive the plot forward. Or in other words, Azula is…

The Plot Device

After trying analyze Azula’s character through the three most popular interpretations, the best explanation for Azula’s post-TV show behavior is that she is a living plot device who exists solely to provide conflict in a story since the franchise needs a recognizable villain who has the means and motive to provide a challenge to the post-War Gaang.

But not too much of a challenge since LoK all but says that the Gaang all lived, for the most part, happy lives in which they became living legends. And so Azula can’t win or cause the Gaang to suffer any real personal or reputational loss.

Hence why Azula managed to grow in power despite spending over a year in an abusive asylum before becoming a penniless, homeless, fugitive and thus without any of the resources or stability that she previously needed to grow in power.

Or why she didn’t kill Noriko despite having her in her grasp with no one being able to stop her before dropping the bastard letter that would have helped her delegitmize Zuko’s rule.

Or why she was able to break into several asylums and find several willing elite firebenders to join her terrorist cell without Zuko ever finding out.

Or why she was able to turn on Ozai despite lacking the life experiences and support that Zuko needed to realize that Ozai was not worth following.

Or why Azula had enough mental stability to essentially destroy the NOS from the inside but not enough mental stability to recognize larping as a spirit and engaging in mass child kidnapping would more likely than not make her a permanent pariah to her family, her former friends, her brother’s supporters, and anyone willing to support her and/or Ozai’s claim to the throne.

Or why she didn’t outright kill Zuko and his allies despite having an elite team of smokebenders who were more than capable of matching the Gaang.

Or why she didn’t actually sadastically torture Zuko, or anyone she percieved to be even tangentially involved in her downfall, despite having several opportunities to do so.

Or why, despite telling Zuko that she thinks that it is her destiny to mold him into the tyrant of her dreams, and proving it by not killing him when she had the chance, she goes back to thinking that her destiny is to reclaim the throne.

Or why Azula is able to establish a transnational network dedicated to putting her back in power that Zuko can’t even find with the resources of a nation-state despite it (likely) being public knowledge that she destroyed the NOS thanks to her delusional leadership just like her delusions allowed the then traitor Zuko to take the throne from her and thus cause the Fire Nation, with the Avatar’s help, to lose the 100 Year War even though they had all but won it.

And you what sucks about Azula becoming a living plot device?

Unlike other living plot devices like Post-Crisis Joker, whose existence causes the audience to ask thought provoking questions (ex. when is someone truly irredeemable, should viligiantants become executors when the law is incapable of putting monsters away, etc.) on top furthering post-crisis Batman’s characterization by highlighting how Batman’s no-kill rule doesn’t come from morality but from his psychosis, post-TV show Azula doesn’t really cause the audience to engage with difficult questions or further any of the other main character’s characterization in any meaningful way.

Thus, it is Azula becoming a living plot device, or more specially, a plot device that does nothing to advance the story or other characters’ characterization is why I think Azula staying a villain will only lead to bad stories. For short of Aang’s era becoming a lot darker, or Bryke becoming willing to use Azula to drive meaningful change in other characters**, there are no more meaningful or exciting stories to tell with Azula.

**(I think an example of using Azula to drive meaningful change in another character is having the details of Azula’s escape become public knowledge after she has caused a mass casualty event, forcing Zuko to realize that he has been a lackluster, selfish Fire Lord up to that point. Thus, public pressure plus the lives lost makes Zuko take active steps to become a better ruler, steps that cause Zuko to start becoming the respected Fire Lord that LoK heavily implies he became.)

For if Azula keeps staying antagonist, and doesn’t get imprisoned and/or killed for good, she’ll just become an expy of Team Rocket where she shows up and causes non-irreversible trouble before blasting off again once she has either met her nebulous, ever changing goals or realizes that the Gaang has put an end to her current plot.

Moreover, I think a Team Rocket-esque is a betrayal of Azula’s character because, regardless of your views on Azula, I think it is safe to say that TV!Azula was a serious threat who not drove the plot a good chunk of the time, but forced the protagonists to grow in order to meet the threat she represented, especially after she killed Aang, caused Zuko to backslide, and took over Ba Sing Se with only one casualty.

And yet, for all the power-ups, the maniacal motive rants, and dastardly plots, post-TV show Azula doesn’t have the aura of danger that she had in the TV show, and I think her character suffers greatly for it.

Or in other words, when you saw Azula in the TV show, you knew shit would get real. But whenever you see Azula in a post-TV work, you just go, “Oh, there goes that crazy Azula with her crazy plans that are doomed to fail thanks to LoK and Aang’s era’s age rating.”

Hence why I wish Azula would stop being a villain and at least either become an anti-hero or an anonymous peasant who has found peace and is a productive member of society even if she never reconciled with her family and old friends.

Or, if Azula is too evil and/or broken to be anything more than a constant danger to society, that she be killed or imprisoned for life after being de-bended. For I would rather Azula be taken to the metaphorical woodshed then to see a once great character continue to fall.

Conclusion

So yeah, it is clear that Bryke wanted Azula to be the final villain but it doesn’t make sense how Azula can be such a threat or powerful bender post-Sozin’s Comet. She clearly has no inner peace, she has been restrained in an abusive asylum for at least a year, she is still too nationalistic to willingly incorporate techniques from other forms of bending, she no longer has access to wealth and power of the Fire Nation state, and she is a homeless, penniless fugitive.

And yet she is the best H2H fighter and firebender in the franchise after the comics and is able to create a terrorist cell made up of asylum inmates without Zuko ever finding out before then creating a transnational network dedicated to helping her reclaim the throne with Zuko being unable to find her, or dismantle her network, despite having the literal resources of a nation-state at his command.

Like I understand that Azula often tends to break the rules the franchise sets even in the show (ex. generating lighting despite being in the middle of a psychotic breakdown) but their need to keep Azula a villain is really starting to hurt the franchise.

Like if they wanted a villain!Azula, couldn’t they, for example, have her become the first crime lord of the United Republic in an effort to cultivate power outside of the nation-state construct and to help prevent people from turning her in into Aang’s allies’ custody after she escapes in The Search?

Isn’t that weird that comics!Azula quickly got over her trauma of being betrayed by Mai and Ty Lee in S&S?

How did she manage to get over Ozai to the point she would actively work against him and presumably get reinstated as his heir?

Why would she think it is her life goal to “help” Zuko when the last time she helped him it ended in his betrayal & ultimately her getting locked up in an abusive asylum?

Why doesn’t Azula care about having a conversation with real!Ursa?

Why would Azula, after the events of S&S, go back to thinking that her true destiny is to retake the throne so she can restart the 100 Year War?

Like what is the explanation? Well, as of right now, there is none, suggesting that they view Azula just a plot device who exists just to drive conflict in Fire Nation-centered stories.

But not too much conflict since if Azula was to do anything truly irredeemable, it would make Aang and Zuko look bad since Azula only managed to get, and stay, free because of their incompetence, and in Zuko’s case, selfishness.

Therefore, it is for the above articulated reasons why I think Azula staying a villain will only lead to bad stories.

For if Azula doesn’t/can’t drive change and has no discernible motives, why should we care about her character or the stories she is involved in?

[justanotherthrowaway1950]

Why Azula Staying a Villain Will Only Lead To Bad Stories Part 3: Why Azula Staying a Villain Is Bad for Her Own Character

Note: Here is a link to an interview where Gene Yang implies that Azula got less than ideal treatment at her asylum.

Note: Here Is a Post Containing All the New, Azula-Relevant Lore From the TRPG, Including What She Has Been up to Post-Smoke and Shadow.

Note: Here are the links to Part 1 and Part 2 of This Series

In the earlier parts of this series I explained why Azula staying a villain will only have bad effects on stories set in Aang’s era, the characters involved in such stories, and the messages such stories are trying to send to the audience. But I haven’t yet talked about why Azula staying a villain is bad for Azula’s character herself, and so I will do so here.

But before I do so, I have to make it clear that I will analyze Azula’s character through both of fandom’s most popular interpretations of Azula’s character, and so I will elaborate on what they are before starting my analysis.

The Psychopath

The Psychopath is how the majority of ATLA’s fandom views Azula (I will refer to this Azula as The Psycho from here on out), who is both meant to be a cautionary tale of how those born with severe, incurable ASPD/dark triad traits are not meant to be given any quarter, and how no amount of love or care will be able to make them fit for society, let alone a functional person. 

Under this lens, The Psycho, unlike Zuko or Iroh, inherited Ozai, Azulon, and/or Sozin’s mental illness(es) and only lives for power and to subjugate others. She is only capable of understanding hierarchical relationships based on power, hence her predatorily targeting the psychologically vulnerable Ty Lee and Mai to be her slaves friends on top of her relentless tormenting of Zuko, whose death, along with Iroh, Azulon, and Lu Ten’s, she craves so Ozai, who she only “loves” because of his power, can get the throne and make her his heir. 

The Psycho deeply resents Ursa, not because Ursa was neglectful to her, but because she hated Ursa for how she constantly reprimanded her antisocial behavior on top of not being able to comprehend Ursa’s non-psychopathic morality, or why she was drawn Zuko displaying values in line with her’s. And when Azula hallucinates Ursa saying she loves Azula, it is not because Azula desperately wanted her mother’s love, or that Ursa didn't love her, but instead Azula raging at the first person who saw through and rejected her manipulative ways.

When the psychopath allowed Zuko to “redeem” himself during The Crossroads of Destiny, it wasn’t because she actually meant it. No, it was because she needed someone to not only take down Aang and Katara, but also take down Iroh before she would have betrayed him on the spot and thrown him into a cell next to Iroh. 

But alas, Katara managed to escape with Aang’s dead body before she could double-tap, and therefore had to bring Zuko home while giving him the credit so that in the case of Aang surviving, Ozai will do what she thinks he should have done a long time ago and kill Zuko off, leaving her the sole heir. Or if Aang really did die, Zuko’s paranoia will eat him alive and allow Azula to easily be named her father’s heir since she is the stable one in comparison.

When she comforts Zuko and Ty Lee, or shows concern about them, during The Beach, it is not because she cares about them. No, it is because she realizes that for her plans to work, she needs both of them to stay by her side as her complaint and willing tools, and so manipulates them by feigning empathy.

When Mai and Ty Lee “betray” her and start her downward spiral, the “guilt” she feels is not her feeling remorse for her actions and behavior towards them, but instead a narcissistic injury, which is only worsened once she sees Zuko stand victorious and guaranteed the throne while she is chained to the ground and denied everything she has been working towards her whole life.

The Princess

This interpretation of Azula (who I will from here on out refer to as The Princess) is the minority opinion held by those who are Azula sympathizers, or at least those who don’t want to make Azula born evil or evil for evil’s sake considering that it would go against the ethos of the show.

The Princess is meant to be a tragic tale of how: being a golden child is not a good thing and is in fact a form of abuse; how royalty, especially the genocidal, imperialist, colonizing royalty that Azula was born into, is an inherently abusive institution that creates abusers while victimizing the royals themselves; and how grooming someone to be a child general only has negative effects on the one being groomed.

For under this lens, The Princess’ deepest desire was to do right by her family and friends while also receiving their affection. Not to mention being the exemplary post-Sozin Princess. 

But unfortunately for The Princess, she was born the second child to Prince Ozai, who, from the very moment he saw she had the “spark”, sought to turn her into the son he never had in an effort to claim the Fire Nation throne to sate his desire for power, with the first thing he bestowed upon her, her name, being an ominous omen of what was to come.

For while Azula did have a good relationship with her brother and mother, in addition to making two friends from school in the form of Mai and Ty Lee, things quickly soured once Azula’s firebending kicked in and it was apparent that she was a prodigy, causing Ozai to focus his attention on making Azula the son he should have had in an effort to make a credible bid for the throne in the future, despite the fact that his father would never favor him, a lowly palace creature, over his war hero first born son Iroh, or his war hero grandchild Lu Ten.

Thus, Azula slowly but surely became more cruel, adopting the viewpoints and aggressive/sadistic behavior that her father egged her to adopt. And while Ozai’s corruption of her could have been stopped and/or counteracted by one of the adults in her life noticing Ozai’s favor for what it was, unfortunately none of the adults in her life did so.

For Iroh and Lu Ten were off at war and, as evidenced by Iroh’s gift to Azula (anyone who interacted with Azula for more than a minute would know that Azula is not a doll type of girl), really didn’t know her that well, in addition to Iroh most likely favoring Zuko (ex. knife from a defeated general with a worthwhile message vs. a generic doll) due to the fact that, while he knew how boys worked, he most likely didn’t know how to interact with girls considering Azula was the first girl born to the Royal Family in generations.

Azulon, as evidenced by his reactions to Azula and Zuko’s performances and him ordering to kill Zuko after Ozai made an ill-advised claim to the throne, really does not care for the children produced by his second born son, even though they make up the majority of his second generation heirs.

And Ursa, while scolding Azula’s negative behavior and encouraging Azula’s prosocial behavior, like pushing Zuko to play with Azula when Azula asks if Zuko could play with her and her friends, fails to get at the root of why Azula says horrible things like wishing that her Uncle and cousin would die so Ozai could get the throne. 

While the TV show makes it unclear why Ursa treats Azula the way she does, the comics heavily imply that a mix of Ozai threatening to hurt her if she corrected his prodigy and Ursa seeing Azula as the successful byproduct of the eugenics experiment that caused Azulon to kidnap her and have Ozai rape her, causes Ursa to inadvertently neglect Azula in an effort to avoid triggering herself as much as possible.

But even with all that, at least with Azulon on the throne, Iroh as the Crown Prince with Lu Ten as his heir, and Ursa around, at least Azula still had a childhood where she got to play games with her friends and Zuko.

But after the chain reaction that started with Lu Ten’s unexpected death and ended with Ozai on the throne, Ursa banished, and Iroh discredited in the eyes of their nation, Azula's childhood was nothing more than a memory.

For Azula within a span of two years not only starts wearing makeup in a likely attempt to make herself look older in court, but also has blue flames (Iroh and Zuko when they see the 14 year old Azula don’t act shocked by Azula’s flames, heavily implying Azula had them before Zuko’s banishment), no doubt due to Ozai, now with no restraints, actively grooming both of his child to become the child generals he needs to win the war. And once Zuko showed that he couldn’t “measure up”, Ozai burned him in an Agni Kai before sending him on a wild goose chase with the intention of never bringing him back home.

And speaking of Agni Kai’s, under this lens, when The Princess smirks as she sees her brother burn, it is due to some combination of: being glad that it is not her; thinking that it is expected of her to overtly relish sadistic acts since that is what is expected of post-Sozin nobility; thinking that Zuko is finally getting what he deserves now that no one can “coddle” him; and thinking that Zuko deserves it for being tied to their mother’s disappearance (there is no way Azula by that age didn’t realize the connection between her telling Ursa of Azulon’s order and Ursa’s disappearance).

But after Zuko and Iroh leave, things get much worse for The Princess since she realizes that without Daddy’s favorite scapegoat, all his attention is on her, knowing damn well what happens to children that fail to meet his obscene standards.

This, in combination with her friends moving away, causes Azula to spend three years basically studying, training, or in court, with her already limited social skills becoming even more stunted due to her only interactions coming from palace servants who are meant to be seen, not heard, old men in court/her father’s war council, Lo and Li, and her father.

Thus, by the time Ozai gives her mission to bring back Iroh and Zuko dead or alive, she may be a master firebender and military strategist/tactician, but she is an emotional and socially stunted human being incapable of forming real bonds despite her desire to do so, let alone navigate the impossible situation of trying to be a friend while also being a military commander/their absolute sovereign.

For after Zuko and Iroh escape her at the beach, causing Azula to realize that she needs a small elite team to hunt them, Azula quickly realizes that Ty Lee and Mai, who have skills that compliment her skills while also being people she trusts, are perfect for the mission.

And while Ty Lee is glad to see Azula, she refuses to join Azula’s mission since she enjoys the circus, forcing Azula to either have to pull rank and destroy their friendship, if there was any friendship in the first place, or accept Ty Lee’s refusal and jeopardize the success of her mission, and even her life considering Ozai’s track record in regards to accepting failure.

Thus, Azula burns Ty Lee’s nets and gets Ty Lee to come as a “friend”, which is fucked up to say the least, but at least it makes logical sense for what someone of Azula’s upbringing would do, instead of being a vicious act done to sate her innate cruelty and sadism.

Likewise, even though Mai willingly and enthusiastically, at least on the surface, joins Azula’s quest, Azula essentially forces Mai to not trade Bumi for Tom Tom, despite Mai’s obvious displeasure (note that the scene where Mai “agrees” with Azula to not trade for Bumi is the only time she ever refers to Azula as Princess Azula), for largely the same reasons why Azula burned Ty Lee’s nets. 

For how do you think Ozai would have reacted if he found out that Azula traded away one of the most dangerous POWs for a toddler?

When The Princess allowed Zuko to "redeem" himself during the Crossroads of Destiny, it wasn’t because she needed his help, or that she was going into the fight with the intention to scapegoat Zuko, but because she found him pitiful being Iroh’s little tea boy and desired him back in her life, even if it meant basically sacrificing the throne.

And that Katara managing to escape with Aang’s body did not change her plans since, as far as Azula is concerned, there is no way someone could survive a fully charged lightning blast with no grounding. That is until their little talk at the pond caused Azula to realize that Zuko lied to her about the possibility of Aang’s survival, thus causing her to lie to Ozai about who “killed” Aang in an attempt to cover her ass, as well as give Zuko a chance to rectify his mistake.

And yes, her lie was partially motivated by giving Zuko a chance to rectify his mistake, for if Azula was just interested in scapegoating Zuko, she could have used his visits to Iroh to show Ozai that he lied to her about Aang’s death. For if Zuko was willing to lie about his covert visits to Iroh, why wouldn’t he lie about Aang’s survival like the “dishonorable” man he was?

When she comforted Zuko and Ty Lee, or showed concern about them, during The Beach, it is because she cares about them and wants nothing more than to spend her vacation with her friends and brother by her side, with them choosing, when given the choice, to spend their vacation time away from her deeply hurting her.

When Mai and Ty Lee “betray” her and start her downward spiral, she feels genuine remorse for her actions and behavior towards them. But unlike Zuko who had Iroh to help him process his emotions, all she had was Ozai and Lo and Li, with the former giving her the now worthless title of Fire Lord to go burn the world by himself when all she wanted was for him to not leave her like everyone else did, and the latter just being subordinates who ultimately had no power over her.

And when she cries once she sees Zuko stand victorious and guaranteed the throne while she is chained to the ground, it is not due to her being denied everything she has been working towards her whole life, but instead due to seeing Zuko have a friend who will unconditionally stand by him while she has no one by her side, despite doing everything that was expected of her by her teachers and father.

Interlude

So now that I have laid out what are the two most popular conceptions of Azula’s character, I will proceed to go through the events of The Search and Smoke and Shadow (which I’ll refer to from here on out as S&S) in order to show why the actions she took in those stories and/or powers she displayed don’t really make sense with either conception of Azula.

The Search (Both)

There isn’t really anything to criticize here since Azula is deeply psychotic during The Search due to not really receiving any treatment in the asylum (WoG all but says the asylum is responsible for comics!Azula’s mental state) and is acting to restore what she considers the righteous regime since, instead of anyone trying to make any effort to help her realize that indoctrination she received was wrong, all the communication she received in the 1 to 2 years she was stuck in the asylum was between her healers and her fellow asylum inmates.

But there is one major point that does need criticism, and that is Azula’s bending and physical prowess.

And this is because, despite being in an abusive asylum for 1 to 2 years where (presumably) she was constantly chi-blocked and restrained, Azula’s physical capabilities seem to remain intact. 

And even more inexplicably, her bending seems to have gotten better since she is now able to make a lightning sphere, make lightning zaps, make her flames stay blue even after she is no longer actively controlling them, use her lightning as a bootleg chidori (as seen when she breaks the roof of Noren and Noriko’s home), and is able to make instant lightning.

And while I don’t think it was impossible for Azula to improve her bending in such a short time or discover new techniques, I hate how her improvements fly in the face of how her abilities, and quite frankly how bending in general, were previously depicted.

For in the TV show, Azula’s abilities were depicted as the combination of natural talent, having the resources of a nation-state help her to hone said talent, having friends with diverse skills willing to help her fill in the gaps in her skills, and being able to/having the incentive to obsessively train to reach her full potential.

But in the comics, they tell us the only thing that Azula has left out of the above elements that led her to being so powerful is her natural talent, and yet they want us to believe that she made massive improvements?

And making things worse is that, other than slightly quicker lightning generation and fire jets, TV!Azula does not really improve and/or add new techniques due to the implication that she has mastered Sozin style firebending, and so she thinks all she has do is steadily improve what she knows while waiting to finish puberty to achieve her full potential.

Meanwhile, part of the reason why Zuko and Katara manage to get to her level, or even surpass her depending on your views, so quickly is due to the combination of meeting the original masters of their bending art and/or being exposed to and implementing the other bending arts into their bending to either improve it or implement countermeasures for when they encounter hostile benders of the other elements.

For example, when Katara fights in the North Pole, part of the reason why she loses to Zuko is because, despite restraining him in a dome of ice, the fact that it is hollow allows Zuko just enough movement and air to melt the whole thing. 

But after spending time with Aang and Zuko and (presumably) learning about the the airbender’s heat regulation ability, Zuko’s breath of fire technique, and how firebenders need both movement and air to use their bending, Katara is able to use said knowledge to defeat Azula during Sozin’s Comet by first freezing the two of them in solid ice, thus not allowing Azula to move or breathe, and then using her breathe to warm ice into water so she can move around in the block of ice so she can restraint Azula.

And yet, despite having no exposure to the other bending elements or to the dragons, Azula is able to come up with several innovations?

(Yes, I know Xu Ping An had instant lightning 400 years ago, but it seems pretty obvious that the technique was lost to time seeing as how neither Ozai nor Iroh could ever do the technique despite both of them being in situations where it would have been useful; hence the assumption that Azula “discovered” instant lightning.)

But despite Azula’s new bending skills and retained physical prowess, it is not like the comics would continue to give Azula new bending abilities, or even increase her physical prowess, despite her becoming a homeless, penniless, fugitive deep in psychosis after she escapes Zuko’s custody during the climax of The Search, right?

S&S (Both)

Well unfortunately for those who want their characters to have power boosts that make sense with previous established lore, Azula’s bending and physical prowess get such a massive boost in S&S to the point that not only does she become the clear cut strongest firebender in history, but also now has a credible argument that she is the strongest non-Avatar, non-bloodbending, non-spirit fused fighter in the entire Avatar franchise.

For in regards to her bending, Azula develops: area of effect lightning, the ability to use quick charge lightning, concussive-effect only lightning, the ability to control and split her lightning after she has fired it, and smokebending.

And in regards to her physical prowess, Azula is able to ward off Suki and Ty Lee, despite wearing a one-eyed mask and a billowing cloak, consistently dodge Mai’s knives even when Mai throws them with lethal intent, and quickly physical overwhelm Zuko, despite Zuko having no indication that she wasn’t fighting to kill him, and thus had no reason to hold back. 

Like I understand that her bending and physical boosts in S&S are at least more plausible than they were in The Search due to her being free and having people to train with, but even then, when you think about it, they still are really unjustified.

For example, Suki and Ty Lee at this point have not only taught each other their skills, in addition to Ty Lee presumably telling Suki Azula’s fighting style, especially after Azula escapes Zuko’s custody, but also have every reason to believe that Azula is going to seek revenge against all that have “wronged” her. 

Moreover, they had at least one year to improve under nearly perfect circumstances since they are the Fire Lord’s bodyguards, and so they mostly likely had access to best training resources and recovery methods that Zuko can provide since he has every incentive to make sure his protection detail is up to par since he is facing constant assassination attempts on his life.

And yet, despite all their advantages combined with the fact that Azula has had subpar at best training circumstances, we are supposed to believe that they can’t even keep her occupied long enough for reinforcements, who at worst like 30 seconds away, to come, or even force her to use her bending to ward them off?

Or in another example, how did Azula and the Fire Warriors learn to smokebend, let alone master it to the degree they seem to have? For while smokebending is a thing (Aang smokebended in the beginning of The Firebending Masters while Kyoshi bended smoke when she tried to firebend for the first time), the Kyoshi novels imply that it is painful to bend smoke.

And the fact that despite its highly useful applications, only the Fire Warriors are seen using it, implies that either the Fire Warriors invented the technique or that it was a lost technique that can only be done by master benders.

But despite all the questions that smokebending brings up, we are never given an in-universe or out-of-universe explanation for how it works, despite it almost leading to Aang getting killed by two unnamed Fire Warriors while Azula uses it to escape Zuko’s clutches despite being in a crypt with only one exit even though Aang and Zuko already had experience with the technique.

And while I could keep on going, the point of bringing up Azula's physical and bending power boosts is to highlight how the comics’ desperation to keep Azula a credible antagonist, even though her situation post-Sozin’s Comet and previous established lore indicated that post-Sozin’s Comet Azula would suffer a massive decrease in her bending and physical prowess due to being involuntary psych warded, caused it give Azula unearned and unjustified power boosts despite her previously being depicted as someone who had to work hard and take advantage of the resources she had access to be the formidable warrior was depicted in the TV show.

And how the only plausible explanation, that Azula is a mutant thanks to being a successful eugenics experiment, not only flies in the face of how her bending progress was previously depicted, but also how bending in general worked before the comics, in addition to giving a pro-eugenics endorsement, which I don’t think was the point.

But even with all the problems in regards to how comics!Azula was able to improve her physicality and bending, at least the comics took advantage of Azula becoming stronger in order to tell compelling stories in line with either popular conception of Azula’s character once she supposedly recovered her sanity in S&S, right?

S&S (The Psycho)

Well, in regards to The Psycho, I don’t think S&S is a favorable depiction of her at all. For while Azula does engage in a lot of violence and plotting that seems similar to her actions in the TV show, when you take a closer look, you find only a superficial similarity at best.

And this is because while the psycho is a sadist, all of her actions while sane were taken with two goals in mind: to secure and/or further her power. 

But despite supposedly regaining her sanity, being able to recruit a loyal team of elite firebenders without Zuko ever finding out, becoming the strongest firebender in history, being able to link up with and convince a pro-Ozai group, the New Ozai Society (NOS), to give her the chains of command, and being able to operate a whole ass conspiracy in the Royal Palace without anyone finding out for at least day, The Psycho decides that the best course of action is not to use the pro-Ozai group to raise a rebellion to restore her and/or her father onto the throne, or to kill everyone who would oppose her return to power.

(Yes, I think the Fire Warriors had the power to outright kill everyone who opposed them considering two of them were able to knock down Aang while Azula was able to easily defeat Zuko in the crypt of the first Fire Lord's royal adviser.)

No, she decides that her “true destiny” is to manipulate the pro-Ozai group to act way sooner than they should have to get all their members, and those would support them, arrested while using their funds to engage in a mass child kidnapping scheme as part of a long term plan to turn Zuko into the dictator of her dreams while wearing a costume inspired by the nightmares of her childhood slave friend that she is responsible for, which makes no sense.

For even if The Psycho might fear that the Fire Nation population would never accept her on the throne, that fear is highly unsupported considering she was the war hero who had essentially ended the war before her brother’s unexpected betrayal caused the Fire Nation’s efforts for the past hundred years to be all for nothing, something that she could use to further endear herself to the still heavily indoctrinated population.

Not to mention, if The Psycho was able to convince a foreign secret police that their best option in the moment was to join her, the enemy princess with only two allies at moment, how hard would it have been for her to convince her subjects to rally around her? Especially since Zuko forced them to vacate their newest colonies, as well as pay reparations, at least to the Southern Water Tribe?

But in the case that The Psycho is unable to rally people around her in order to attempt a traditional counterrevolution, or even outright kill Zuko and his allies, there were still other ways to achieve her goal of securing power.

Ways like leading a guerrilla movement in which they destabilize the Fire Nation to the point that the masses are begging for a strongwoman to replace the weak-willed Zuko, or taking advantage of Zuko and Ursa’s desire to fix their family to come back to the palace and launch a soft coup after manipulating the Royal Court, or even taking advantage of the fact that she and her team of smokebenders had unfettered access to the Palace for at least a day to covertly assassinate Zuko and anyone in the palace who might support him.

But no, The Psycho decided on a plot that not only discredited her among any groups that would seek to put her and/or Ozai back on the throne, but also made her the most wanted terrorist in the Fire Nation, with a good chunk of her real allies, the Fire Warriors, in jail after getting defeated in the Garden of Tranquil Souls. Moreover, Zuko is now aware of Azula’s desire to mold him, and therefore is highly unlikely to be swayed by her attempts to manipulate him, let alone accept her back into his life if she ever decides to try to manipulate him by “turning a new leaf”.

“But Azula is a sadistic psycho who derives pleasure from tormenting others. Hence why she decided to mess with him in S&S since if she can’t have the throne as long as Aang is alive, she might as well fuck with Zuko by doing things like reducing him to begging her to not take his life because no one will stand for her on the throne.”

Well, even if we ignore the fact that her team did knock down Aang for a considerable amount of time, as well as my well founded assumption that the Fire Warriors are strong enough to outright kill Zuko and his allies, there were better ways for Azula to sadistically torment Zuko if that is what she wanted to do. Especially considering from her POV, Zuko had her sadistically locked up in the abusive asylum for over a year before only retrieving her so she could extract intel from Ozai about the location of the mother who she blames from her downfall, with Zuko then “mercifully” offering her the option of returning the palace, provided that she is kept under constant surveillance 24/7, as a reward for doing his bidding.

Like killing and/or maiming the kidnapped kids one by one, or killing Kiyi in front of him instead of kidnapping her, or either killing or scarring Ty Lee instead of just slapping her, or either killing or scarring Mai instead of just toying with her, or even giving Zuko another facial scar after she defeated him in the crypt.

But no, instead of actually engaging in sadism, all we got was The Psycho essentially playing a meaner version of the ultimately harmless pranks she used to play on Zuko as children, only on a grander scale and with no opportunity to repeat it again considering Zuko, and his allies assuming he told them about Azula’s motive rant, are now aware of her long term plans.

However, maybe my complaints about S&S are unfounded because maybe Azula’s character is not what adherents to the The Psycho interpretation of her character think it is. For maybe The Princess interpretation of her character is the correct one, and so S&S makes sense under that interpretation, right?

S&S (The Princess)

Well, in regards to The Princess, I don’t think Azula’s actions and behavior in S&S fits within this interpretation of Azula either. Especially since in S&S, The Princess is supposed to have not only regained her sanity, but also have moved past supporting Ozai as well.

For in regards to her nation, how does engaging in a mass kidnapping plot that turns the Caldera City masses into a fear riddled mess liable to start agitating for Ozai’s return, or working with a pro-Ozai organization that nearly succeeds in killing Zuko, as well as Ursa, Noren, and Kiyi, going to help Zuko become a ruler who rules through fear, or help his in reign in general?

For isn’t the source of the Fire Lord’s divine right to rule their ability to maintain order? And so by showing that Zuko is unable to keep the peace, isn’t Azula undermining Zuko’s rule? Especially since from the masses’ POV, unless Zuko later went public with the identity of the Fire Warriors, the Kemurikage spirits are rebuking him just like they rebuked Toz?

And while Azula did bloodlessly dismantle the NOS by forcing them to act sooner than they should have while also draining their coffers by forcing Ukano to care for the kidnapped kids, surely the person who essentially conquered Ba Sing Se with just three other people could have come up with a way to bloodlessly dismantle the NOS that didn’t involve needlessly traumatizing her subjects.

In regards to her family, why would Zuko, after the bullshit she pulled in S&S, ever want her back in his life, let alone do anything other than throw her into the nearest jail cell for life after having Aang de-bend her? And why would Ursa want anything to do with her after she endangered both of her siblings? Especially if Azula was the one who told Ukano about the real road the Fire Lord uses to travel to the Royal Palace from the Royal Harbor, and thus is responsible for almost getting Zuko, Ursa, Kiyi, and Noren all killed during Ukano’s ambush?

And in regards to her former friends, why would Azula sadistically fuck with them after regaining her mental stability? For even if Azula still hasn’t consciously accepted what her subconscious told her about her being wrong to control them with fear, isn’t it odd that someone who is still hurt by her friends’ “betrayals” go out her way to antagonize them, especially Mai?

For what was the purpose of slapping Ty Lee, when a simple punch would have done the job, other than to get back at Ty Lee for chi-blocking her at the Boiling Rock?

Is Azula so stupid that she could not see Mai interpreting her manipulating Ukano, as well as kidnapping Tom Tom, as anything other than her punishing Mai for her betrayal? Especially after her mochi rant in which she all but said that the Fire Warriors took image of the Kemurikage thanks to Azula remembering Mai fearing being tormented by them after Azula “convinced” her to steal the mochi Michi made for Mai’s grandmother’s birthday?

Like assuming that Azula does still care about them, does she realize that her actions towards them in S&S all but closed off any avenue for reconciliation? Because at least Azula’s actions towards them pre-S&S could be explained by Azula trying to be the daughter, and later general, her father demanded her to be, whereas in S&S, Azula doesn’t even have that excuse considering Ozai has long been disposed of.

“Why are you assuming that just because Azula regained her sanity and turned her back on Ozai means that she is suddenly going to become a good person? Abuse victims’ paths of healing are not straight lines; abuse victims often regress before becoming better for good like Zuko did in Ba Sing Se. So why are you acting like it is illogical for Azula to act like this, especially when Azula's mannerisms during certain parts of S&S, like her rant to Mai, indicate that she is still psychotic, albeit not actively?”

I recognize that healing is often not linear, and I do think it is more than logical to think that Azula’s healing will involve a lot of backsliding. But what I don’t agree with is the idea that Azula’s actions as a healing abuse victim make sense in-universe or meta-textually.

For example, while it was tough to see Zuko backsliding in regards to his healing arc by betraying Iroh and helping Azula not only conqueror Ba Sing Se, but also help put a lightning bolt in Aang’s back, it made perfect sense. 

And this is because in-universe it was obvious in retrospect that Zuko only changed because there was no feasible way for him to “redeem” himself to Ozai. Hence why he decided that if he could not be Ozai’s ideal son, he could at least be Iroh’s ideal son. 

However, when Azula gave him the means to get everything he wanted in life, with Iroh’s only response to Azula’s “offer” being telling Zuko to turn his back on his nation and family with no prior build up, of course Zuko would choose the easy path.

Meanwhile, meta-textually, Zuko choosing the easy path made his redemption arc that much stronger since not only did it give his redemption that much more weight when he got everything he thought he wanted, and yet rejected it because it was wrong, but also subverted audience expectations since Book 2 had been priming the audience for Zuko’s heel-face turn.

However, in-universe it doesn’t make sense that Azula would resort to using fear-based tactics when she knows, at least subconsciously, that her fear-mongering pushed away everyone she cared about. Not to mention the fact that, unlike with Zuko in Ba Sing Se, Azula doesn’t care about Ozai, and so there is no need to get back into his good graces by adopting his methods once again.

And meta-textually, seeing Azula speed-run through her TV show arc of using fear and manipulation to get what she wants, only to fail once people start standing up to her because love is stronger than fear, is boring since it is a repeat of her TV show arc. Especially since the audience will not take Azula seriously since LoK prevents Azula from succeeding, or even causing long-term damage, and so she lacks the credibility she had during the events of the TV show.

“But Azula regressing and resorting to her old tactics is good storytelling since not everyone can overcome their abuse, and so having a character who rejects help provides much needed realism to Avatar while also highlighting how special/lucky Zuko was to break out of the cycle of abuse.”

Personally, I don’t think Azula healing and then either finding peace or redeeming herself really affects Zuko’s story or character since I think she can be more than Zuko, Iroh, and the Gaang's foil. But even disregarding my personal bias, I don’t think such an arc will work because Azula has yet to receive honest, real help.

For instead of getting actual mental health treatment and de-Sozinfication, she instead got dumped in an asylum that not only abused her, but also would have been her new permanent home if Zuko didn’t, after realizing that the shitty state of his nuclear family reflected badly on him, decide to bring her back to the palace under 24/7 surveillance after she extracted intel from Ozai about Ursa’s possible location. 

Azula then only managed to go on the search for Ursa unbound and free, but with people who she hates, who (rightfully) hate her, and have no knowledge on how to deal with someone dealing with severe mental health issues, because she managed to break free of her restraints, find Ozai’s secret chest full of Ursa’s letters, and burn all of them except for the bastard letter, thus allowing her to blackmail Zuko into agreeing with her terms.

And even though Zuko during the climax of The Search offered to help her, she rejects Zuko’s offer since, as far as she is concerned, Zuko put her in the asylum in an effort to break her, and is only trying to make amends so he can put her there for life again, especially since he already got what he needed from her on top of her almost killing their mother in front of him.

I am fine with people not being able to overcome their abuse/trauma and rejecting not only help, but also a second chance to do better.

But when has anyone ever tried talking to Azula like a rational actor, or tried to explain to her the error of her ways?

For in my opinion, it is weird that most, if not all of the main villains in Avatar, got several chances to do better before becoming irredeemable evil because they consciously, as rational actors, rejected the heroes’ overtures to do better.

Hell, even Ozai got two chances from Aang to stop the war before Aang de-bended him and removed him from power.

So what makes Azula so dangerous or inherently irredeemable that she can’t even be reasoned with?

Unless…Azula was never a rational actor in the first place, and so my attempts to analyze her as either a very misguided person or cold-blooded dark triad is wrong. 

For maybe the correct way to analyze Azula is not with The Psycho or The Princess lenses, but instead…

The Crazy One

While most people like to believe that the people have their reasons for doing evil, there are the rare few who like causing pain and suffering just because. And The Crazy One is one of those people who got to indulge in all of her crazy thanks being born into a family actively waging a genocidal war on the rest of the planet.

Under this lens, Azula never had any reason for hurting others other than just because she wanted to, and only snapped at the end of the TV show because Ozai, the one person capable of keeping her on her lease, left her to her own devices, and so her destructive tendencies turned inward.

And this lack of a master, combined with her inherent craziness, explains all of her antics in the comics. For Azula was always crazy and insane, it is just that the shift from Azulon and Ozai’s regimes, in which cruelty and violence were celebrated, to Zuko’s more humane regime meant that her antics were no longer condoned, let alone legally acceptable.

Or in other words, who is mentally ill often depends on social context, and The Crazy One had her social context change almost overnight to her detriment.

And The Crazy One’s insanity removes the need to analyze her motives and desires because there is none, just like the Post-Crisis version of The Joker doesn’t really lead himself to deep characterization because there is no rhyme or reason to what they do other than to satisfy their sick desires and/or impulses.

However, while I do think The Crazy One interpretation is the one, on first glance, that best explains Azula’s actions in the comics, I don’t really think it works at all in the TV show.

For as far as current canon is concerned, Azula never showed any signs of mental instability before Mai and Ty Lee’s “betrayals” and never showed any signs of madness before her conversation with “Ursa” during Sozin’s Comet. 

Not to mention there is ample evidence that Azula does not do things for the lols. Evidence like (1) the fact the fact that she is constantly refers to/mentions either the Fire Nation or her father whenever she wants to accomplish something, (2) the fact that when she found out she wasn’t going with Ozai on Sozin’s Comet, her first reaction was yell at Ozai that he can’t treat her like Zuko, and (3) the existence of “Ursa”.

For in regards to (1), even if you think you think it is wrong to take those comments at face value since Azula is a raging narcissist who conflates the Fire Nation with herself and only talks about Ozai because he is the source of her power, at least self-aggrandizement is a motive beyond lols. Not to mention Azula does talk about Ozai even when there is no way Ozai, or people loyal to him, could hear her say so.

In regards to (2), the fact that she says, “You can’t treat me like Zuko!” the moment Ozai tells her she is not coming with him to raze the Earth Kingdom instead of telling him, for example, that it is her plan, and so she deserves to share the glory, or that she is the strongest firebender loyal to him, and so she can make razing the Earth Kingdom easier, or that she should come because she can help him the event that Iroh, Aang, and/or the rest of the resistance attempt to attack him during Sozin’s Comet, heavily suggests that one of her motivations, if not the main one, is to avoid losing Ozai’s favor, or even worse, become his scapegoat.

For it is quite obvious that Azula knows what happens to Ozai’s children who fail to meet his standards and/or “betray” him. And Azula has every reason to believe that Ozai is angry with her considering she lied to him about the possibility of Aang surviving, who really killed Aang, and whether or not Zuko was completely loyal to him.

(In my opinion, it is likely in the aftermath of Iroh’s escape that Ozai learned of Zuko’s visits to Iroh after having the surviving guard(s) investigated.)

Not to mention, on top of her lies, she failed to capture and/or kill the Gaang, as well as have her allies betray her, enabling Zuko to escape with several high value war prisoners.

But if (1) and (2) fail to convince you that Azula has actual motives, (3) is the strongest argument in my opinion. For “Ursa” is not some random figment of Azula’s imagination, but instead her heavily suppressed consciousness essentially telling her that she was wrong to use fear to control others and that her justification for doing so is completely wrong.

Azula believed that trust is for fools, fear is the only reliable way because she tried trusting Ursa, but Ursa “rejected” her due to being a “monster” while she got “loved” by Ozai as long as she feared him and did exactly what he said. Hence why Azula used fear to keep Mai and Ty Lee by her side, along with Zuko depending whether or not you believe Azula actually cares for Zuko, and why she was shocked and hurt that they turned on her despite knowing the consequences of doing so.

In fact, the existence of “Ursa” during the comics is exactly why The Crazy One interpretation of Azula’s character doesn’t make sense in the comics either. For The Search has Azula essentially listen to “Ursa” tell her that she was wrong, and that she can find a place in the post-war world if she just lets go of Ozai’s obviously erroneous teachings. And in S&S, “Ursa” stops “harassing” Azula once she decides her true destiny is to “help” Zuko.

Not to mention, the comics give evidence that avoiding becoming Ozai’s scapegoat is at least one of her motivating factors, for they show Ozai severely emotionally abuse Zuko in front of Azula, with Ursa, the only other (relevant) adult in the room, being powerless to stop it.

“But comics!Azula is raving loon whose conception of helping her brother is becoming a mass child kidnapping domestic terrorist hellbent on turning him into a tyrant!”

I never said that Azula having motives equals her being mentally stable, or that she would try to achieve her goals in a rational manner. Also, there are several good reasons why comics!Azula comes off a raving loon. 

For Azula spent at least a year in an asylum where she not only failed to receive any de-Sozinfication*, but also got abused to the point that she thought Zuko put her in there to break her, even though she knows Zuko doesn’t have that level of cruelty in him. And even after she escapes his custody and stops hearing “Ursa’s” voice, the artwork in S&S at certain times (ex. her rant to Mai about why the Fire Warriors decided to use the Kemurikage’s visage) suggests that Azula has not overcome her mental illness, but instead only managed to stop being actively psychotic…for now at least.

(*The only way Zuko and Iroh, who are similar to Azula in that they grew up as indoctrinated royalty, were able to turn away from Sozinism was by spending time away from the palace and experiencing life as peasants so they could see that Sozin was wrong about the other nations and the war. So, while I don’t think post-war Azula should be allowed to travel freely, or even to the other nations, I think for her to heal, she needs to be exposed to other cultures through stuff like unedited history books.)

“Come on man! If Azula is not a dark-triad seeking to dominate the world, a good person who had the misfortune of being born to an autocratic royal family waging a genocidal world war to facilitate settler colonialism and imperialism, or a loon whose only desire is to see others be hurt, then what is comics!Azula, and why is it bad for her character that she remains a villain?”

Well, I do have an explanation for what explains comics!Azula’s character, and why it is bad for her character. But before I do, I have to talk about the….

TTRPG

Before I get to the main conclusion, I have to address the recently released TTRPG, especially since its characterization of a non-redeemed Azula is for the most part what I wanted from the franchise.

For while the TTRPG does not talk about the abusive nature of the asylum, and how it worsened Azula’s mental state, the TTRPG makes it clear that Azula’s abusive behavior and imperialism was caused by being raised in the Fire Nation’s Royal Court, as well as due to Ozai focusing attention on his golden child, with Ursa, despite her best efforts, being unable to counter Ozai’s poisonous influence.

And that, due to her lack of de-Sozinfication, Azula is actively working to regain the throne so she restart the Hundred Year War and lead the Fire Nation to imperial glory by establishing a transnational, clandestine network of pro-war Fire Nationalists while also searching for means to overcome the Avatar’s overwhelming power like trying to find a scroll that describes how to unleash a dangerously powerful dark spirit.

However, no matter how much I like this course correction, it doesn’t make sense considering Azula’s previous actions and behavior in S&S. For if S&S!Azula had her TTRPG motivations, why didn’t the Fire Warriors kill Zuko and his allies considering they had the power to do so on top of their stealth advantage? 

Why did Azula kidnap Kiyi in the fashion that she did knowing that she was highly likely to get into a fight with Zuko and his allies, and therefore most likely expose her involvement, as well as her continued desire to antagonize Zuko?

Why did Azula essentially cause the NOS to collapse when, if Fire Warriors didn’t force Ukano to act before he had an adequate amount of support, it would have been the perfect vehicle to challenge Zuko? Especially since people in prison talk, and short of Zuko imposing a punishable by death gag order on everyone involved like Ukano and Mai, it would quickly become public knowledge hat her leadership is worthless considering she got most of her “allies” imprisoned and had to resort to mass child kidnapping to attempt to achieve her (on the surface) goals?

Or, if Zuko ever talks about what Azula told him in the tomb and it leaks out, that Azula thinks it is her destiny to mold Zuko in her image, and thus anyone who would support her would drop their support since, in addition to being a bonkers goal, it is obvious that Azula won’t succeed?

Why would a character noted for her martial genius essentially risk becoming a pariah to people willing to sacrifice their lives to put her back on the throne? Especially since she is aware that the act of banishing everyone during her short reign as Fire Lord-apparent (probably) makes people suspicious of her ability to maintain a hold on power without veering into insanity?

But maybe I am wrong for asking questions about Azula’s characterization and motives because she is not supposed to be a character with psychological interiority and motives.

For maybe Azula is not a character unto herself and only exists to help other characters develop as well as drive the plot forward. Or in other words, Azula is…

The Plot Device

After trying analyze Azula’s character through the three most popular interpretations, the best explanation for Azula’s post-TV show behavior is that she is a living plot device who exists solely to provide conflict in a story since the franchise needs a recognizable villain who has the means and motive to provide a challenge to the post-War Gaang. 

But not too much of a challenge since LoK all but says that the Gaang lived, for the most part, happy lives in which they became living legends. And so Azula can’t win or cause the Gaang to suffer any real personal or reputational loss. 

Hence why Azula managed to grow in power despite spending over a year in an abusive asylum before becoming a penniless, homeless, fugitive, and thus without any of the resources or stability she previously needed to grow in power. 

Or why she didn���t kill Noriko despite having her in her grasp with no one being able to stop her before dropping the bastard letter that would have helped her delegitimize Zuko’s rule.

Or why she was able to break into several asylums and find several willing, elite firebenders to join her terrorist cell without Zuko ever finding out.

Or why she was able to turn on Ozai despite lacking the life experiences and support that Zuko needed to realize that Ozai was not worth following.

Or why Azula had enough mental stability to essentially destroy the NOS from the inside, but not enough mental stability to recognize larping as a spirit and engaging in mass child kidnapping would more likely than not make her a permanent pariah to her family, her former friends, her brother’s supporters, and anyone willing to support her and/or Ozai’s claim to the throne.

Or why she didn’t outright kill Zuko and his allies despite having an elite team of smokebenders who were more than capable of matching the Gaang.

Or why she didn’t sadistically torture Zuko, or anyone she perceived to be even tangentially involved in her downfall, despite having several opportunities to do so.

Or why, despite telling Zuko that she thinks that it is her destiny to mold him into the tyrant of her dreams, and proving it by not killing him when she had the chance, she goes back to thinking that her destiny is to reclaim the throne.

Or why Azula is able to establish a transnational network dedicated to putting her back in power that Zuko can’t find, even with the resources of a nation-state, despite it (likely) being public knowledge that she destroyed the NOS thanks to her delusional leadership just like her delusions allowed the then traitor Zuko to take the throne from her, and thus cause the Fire Nation, with the Avatar’s help, to lose the Hundred Year War even though they had all but won it.

And you what sucks about Azula becoming a living plot device? 

Unlike other living plot devices like Post-Crisis Joker, whose existence causes the audience to ask thought provoking questions (ex. when is someone truly irredeemable, should vigilantes become executors when the law is incapable of putting monsters away, etc.) on top furthering post-crisis Batman’s characterization by highlighting how Batman’s no-kill rule doesn’t come from morality, but instead from his psychosis, post-TV show Azula doesn’t really cause the audience to engage with difficult questions, or further any of the other main character’s characterization in any meaningful way.

Thus, it is Azula becoming a living plot device, or more specially, a plot device that does nothing to advance the story or other characters’ characterization, is why I think Azula staying a villain will only lead to bad stories. For short of Aang’s era becoming a lot darker, or Bryke becoming willing to use Azula to drive meaningful change in other characters**, there are no more meaningful or exciting stories to tell with Azula.

(**I think an example of using Azula to drive meaningful change in other characters is having the details of Azula’s escape become public knowledge after she has caused a mass casualty event, forcing Zuko to realize that he has been a lackluster, selfish Fire Lord up to that point. Thus, public pressure plus the lives lost makes Zuko take active steps to become a better ruler, steps that cause Zuko to start becoming the respected Fire Lord that LoK heavily implies he became.)

For if Azula remains an antagonist and doesn’t get imprisoned and/or killed for good, she’ll just become an expy of Team Rocket where she shows up and causes non-irreversible trouble before blasting off again once she has either met her nebulous, ever changing goals or realizes that the Gaang has put an end to her current plot.

Moreover, I think a Team Rocket-esque Azula is a betrayal of her character because, regardless of your views on Azula, I think it is safe to say that TV!Azula was a serious threat who not drove the plot a good chunk of the time, but also forced the protagonists to grow in order to meet the threat she represented, especially after she killed Aang, caused Zuko to backslide, and took over Ba Sing Se with only one casualty.

And yet, for all the power-ups, the maniacal motive rants, and dastardly plots, post-TV show Azula doesn’t have the aura of danger that she had in the TV show, and I think her character suffers greatly for it.

Or in other words, when you saw Azula in the TV show, you knew shit would get real. But whenever you see Azula in a post-TV show work, you just go, “Oh, there goes that crazy Azula with her crazy plans that are doomed to fail thanks to LoK and Aang’s era’s age rating.”

Hence why I wish Azula would stop being a villain and at least either become an anti-hero or an anonymous peasant who has found peace and is a productive member of society, even if she never reconciles with her family and/or old friends.

Or, if Azula is too evil and/or broken to be anything more than a constant danger to society, that she be killed or imprisoned for life after being de-bended. For I would rather Azula be taken to the metaphorical woodshed then to see a once great character continue to fall.

Conclusion

So yeah, it is clear that Bryke wanted Azula to be the final villain, but it doesn't make sense how Azula can be such a threat or powerful bender post-Sozin's Comet. She clearly has no inner peace, she was restrained in an abusive asylum for at least a year, she is still too nationalistic to willingly incorporate techniques from other forms of bending, she no longer has access to wealth and power of the Fire Nation state, and she is a homeless, penniless fugitive. 

And yet she is the best H2H fighter and firebender in the franchise after the comics and is able to create a terrorist cell made up of asylum inmates without Zuko ever finding out before then creating a transnational network dedicated to helping her reclaim the throne, with Zuko being unable to find her, or dismantle her network, despite having the literal resources of a nation-state at his command.

Like I understand that Azula often tends to break the rules the franchise sets even in the show (ex. generating lightning despite being in the middle of a psychotic breakdown), but their need to keep Azula a villain is really starting to hurt the franchise.

Like if they wanted a villain!Azula, couldn't they, for example, have her become the first crime lord of the United Republic in an effort to cultivate power outside of the nation-state construct and to help prevent people from turning her in into Aang's allies' custody after she escapes in The Search?

Isn't that weird that comics!Azula quickly got over her trauma of being betrayed by Mai and Ty Lee in S&S? 

How did she manage to get over Ozai to the point that she would actively work against him and (presumably) getting reinstated as his heir? 

Why would she think it is her life goal to "help" Zuko, when the last time she helped him it ended in his betrayal and ultimately getting locked up in an abusive asylum? 

Why doesn't Azula care about having a conversation with real!Ursa?

Why would Azula, after the events of S&S, go back to thinking that her true destiny is to retake the throne so she can restart the Hundred Year War? 

Like what is the explanation? Well, as of right now, there is none, suggesting that they view Azula as just a plot device who only exists to drive conflict in Fire Nation-centered stories.

But not too much conflict since if Azula was to do anything truly irredeemable, it would make Aang and Zuko look bad since Azula only managed to get, and stay, free because of their incompetence, and in Zuko’s case, selfishness.

Therefore, it is for the above articulated reasons why I think Azula staying a villain will only lead to bad stories. 

For if Azula doesn’t/can’t drive change and has no discernible motives, why should we care about her character or the stories she is involved in?

[gh0stfl0ra]

1, 8 and 13 for the KISS asks!!

'Who's your favorite member?'

That's definitely got to be a toss-up, I guess I would have to choose between Gene, Vinnie, Eric Singer, or Peter. It's like picking a favorite child, most people can't. Lol.

'How did you get into KISS?'

Ironically the pandemic got me into them, as I had time to dive into all the albums beyond the radio singles, although my first real exposure to them came from the Psycho Circus video.

'Favorite Era?'

Again, another that's hard to choose. But I can list off a few that resonate as favorites. Hotter than Hell, Destroyer, Dynasty, Unmasked, Creatures of the Night, Lick it Up, Asylum, and Revenge.

Thank you for the ask!

[ladygroovie]

KISS - Asylum Tour (New York City,1986)

Opening Act: Black n' Blue

[dannystattoo]

“Tears Are Falling” KISS (1985) (x)

[asocial-inkblot]

Why Should the Audience Root for an Azula Redemption Arc Instead of a Proper Azula Punishment Arc?

Keynote: This was written as a Devil’s Advocate take and for the most part does not reflect my true views towards Azula since I do want her to get an atonement & healing arc.

Note (Here is Gene Yang all but implying Azula’s asylum was abusive): https://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/1027/avatar-last-airbender-search-cbr-interviews-gene-y

Why shouldn’t the audience after watching ATLA & reading the related comics root for a proper Azula punishment arc instead of an Azula redemption arc? Or why should anyone in-universe want Azula to be redeemed instead of being properly punished?

For I am pretty sure a genocidal, authoritarian who has attempted matricide, avunculicide, fratricide and is a child kidnapping domestic terrorist and seditionist who has not shown any outward remorse for her actions is not who most should show compassion towards.

And before people get up in arms about people in-universe or out of it practicing selective empathy, let us be frank and admit that selective empathy is something that most “good” people engage in all the time and something that most people reading this do all the time without questioning themselves.

I mean, did you feel sympathy when Osama Bin Laden was killed? Or when the U.S Capitol Hill invader was shot? Or when the Sandy Hook killer committed suicide after shooting up an elementary school?

So why would any of Azula’s actual and potential victims feel any sympathy towards Azula? Especially in an era where the age of majority is lower and they don’t really understand mental health at all?

Shouldn’t people’s, in and out of universe, sympathy be towards all the people she attempted to kill? The person who she did? All the traumatized kids she kidnapped?

And before anyone says that Azula’s mental health issues should at least cause a 21st century audience to at least tone down their desire to see Azula be properly punished, I don’t think that is the case.

For even disregarding the fact that a large percentage of the population is still ignorant about mental health issues, something that one children’s franchise, no matter how well written, can fix by itself, even people today have limits in regards to how much they are willing to accept mental health as a mitigating factor in regards to punishment, even in fiction.

For I know this is a different franchise, but The Joker is a severely mentally ill person after all and yet it is a pretty popular opinion, if not the supermajority one, that The Joker should have a shoot on sight order and/or that a superhero kill The Joker lest he fills more graveyards with innocent bodies.

So why should Azula be treated any differently? Especially since she is committed into turning Zuko into a tyrant, has shown that she will go to almost any length to ensure the success of her plan, and that her status as the GOAT firebender in combination with the fact that her power is likely growing by the day means that it is nigh-impossible to take her back into custody safely again, even if she suffers another mental breakdown?

“So what about all the people on the airships who were either going to burn the Earth Kingdom with Ozai and/or were making sure the ships were operational? Or what about all the people who helped or were complicit in all the other Fire Nation’s war crimes committed against Earth Kingdoms & Southern Water Tribesmen/women? Or how about the rest of the Fire Warriors? How come you are so focused on punishing a 14 or 16/17 girl you misogynistic, ableist POS?!”

Well, in regards to the war, who said that everyone who was complicit in the Fire Nation’s war crimes should not face proper punishment?

For while the comics make it clear that only Ozai and Azula (who was mercifully involuntarily psych warded and was given a chance, even if she had to create it, to reform even when she hadn’t shown any indication that she was remorseful) were punished for the Fire Nation’s crimes (ex. The Rough Rhinos are free & became Earthen Fire Industries’ bodyguards), I think one of the biggest mistakes that the Avatar franchise made was not holding a war crimes tribunal after the war to give a proper accounting of all the Fire Nation’s crimes and to make sure people faced justice.

For in addition to the powerful imagery of seeing the victims of genocide and colonization make their killers/oppressors face accountability on their terms, something that has unfortunately been denied to most IRL victims of both, it would have sent a powerful message to future generations in-universe *cough*Kuvira*cough that imperialism and genocide would never be tolerated.

Not to mention it seems odd that a show so focused on colonialism/imperialism and its negative effects denies those negatively harmed by it any real justice. Though Bryke are Westerners after all….

“Do you also think everyone that served the Fire Nation should be locked up?”

No, but everyone who directly committed war crimes, like Yon Rha, the people on Ozai’s warships or The Rough Rhinos, in addition to everyone high up on the chain of command, like Azulon & Ozai’s war council members ,should have been subjected to a war crimes tribunal if they were still alive and appropriately punished.

“But what about Zuko, Iroh, Mai, & Ty Lee?”

Yes, they should be tried too though it is obvious some people will get lightly punished and/or not punished at all based on their actions during the war.

“But Azula was just a mentally ill 14 year old who was just following the orders of her abusive father who was also her supreme sovereign.”

Well, if she is old enough to suggest, help plan, and fully intend to commit genocide, she is old enough to stand trial as an adult and receive a grown-up’s punishment.

Also, the “just following orders” excuse doesn’t really work considering Zuko, Mai, & Ty Lee, who are all her peers/close to her age, all turned against Ozai’s regime at one point despite the life or death consequences and/or harsh punishments they ended up facing.

“But isn’t Zuko a sovereign and thus has the ability to make sure he isn’t subjected to a war crimes tribunal?”

Well, if Zuko is as truly concerned with honor as he says he is, and is not written in an OOC fashion like comics!Zuko, he would willingly subject himself to the tribunal to send a message to the world that he is after real justice (and not a hollow victor’s justice) and to his subjects that he is not using the tribunal as an excuse to get rid of his political opponents/those that would be hostile to his regime.

For everyone forgets, but Zuko was a co-conqueror of Ba Sing Se and while we know Zuko changed sides because he meant well, to outside observers it seems like he knew he wouldn’t inherit the throne, at least not without Azula being the real power behind the throne, and so he joined The Avatar so he could get the throne (outright), even if it meant his nation fell in battle.

And in regards to the Fire Warriors, they should be punished just like Azula should be for engaging in a mass child kidnapping domestic, seditious terrorist plot as part of an ongoing terrorist plot to make Zuko into a tyrant.

For while the comics don’t give us that much to go off of, from what we do get, it appears that they willingly joined Azula to pay her back for breaking them out of their asylum (Smoke & Shadow library edition says that they all come from Azula’s asylum).

So they should face the consequences of their (apparently) freely chosen actions though I hope that in the process of doing so, the abusive nature of the asylums becomes public knowledge.

For in addition to it hopefully leading to a mental health revolution in the Fire Nation, Zuko can implement reforms to make sure that the asylums don’t become terrorist breeding grounds like they are as of current canon.

Also, Zuko, by publicly punishing his sister and subjecting her to the same laws that commoners/nobles have to face, would be sending a powerful message to his subjects that unlike his forefathers, the law applies equally to everyone regardless of their status and is not something that is selectively applied by the Fire Lord when it suits her/him.

So to sum up, it seems pretty clear that the narrative of ATLA seems to prime the audience for a proper Azula punishment arc. For not only has she committed several unforgivable, or at least nigh-unforgivable, crimes, she has failed to take any responsibility for her actions or show outward remorse.

Thus, the audience most likely wants to see Azula be punished as part of a greater Fire Nation war crimes tribunal and/or for her actions as part of the Fire Warriors.

And while either scenario might be hard for Azula stans fans to watch, at least they have the potential not only serve as a healing moment for people both in or out of the Avatar-verse, but at least provide very entertaining & thought provoking moments.

For imagine Ozai trying to justify his actions to a war crime tribunal? Or watching Iroh tensely wait and see if a jury believes his actions against his brother’s regime outweighs the crimes he committed/is responsible for as both an esteemed Fire Nation general & as Azulon’s heir for decades.

(Sidenote: Yes, technically we don’t know if Iroh committed war crimes but it is highly unlikely that Azulon’s crown prince & general was completely innocent. But I admit this is just a HC for now.)

Or imagine the courtroom scene as the Fire Warriors try to justify them following Azula due to being grateful for her breaking them out of the abusive asylum? Or when one of the asylum healers explains the nature of their treatments and it dawns on the audience that the asylums are worse than prison and are likely to breed terrorists due to inmates resenting the society that locked them up there “for their own good” instead of the more merciful option of prison?

For isn’t Avatar at its best when it manages to simultaneously be both entertaining and thought provoking at the same time?

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Note: This response to the above submission is not in anyway meant to come across as mean or disrespectful to anyone (including the submitter). This was typed up solely from my POV based on what I’ve experienced and witnessed in the fandom, and so if I deeply upset anyone, I’m sorry.

Please remember though, that I have no issue with anyone in particular. If someone would like to correct me on portions where I misinterpreted the submitter, or on ways my opinion could be wrong, please due so. I’m always welcome to having my views changed.

I meditated on whether or not I should respond in any way to this submission in particular or just publish it as is, but in the end, I felt it would be irresponsible of me to post it without giving even a sentence-worth of my thoughts (since someone may automatically assume I 100% co-sign your opinion). Note 2: I did skim through a lot of it. So if I unfairly sear you, let me know, though I like to think no one would blame me for it.

So first of all, your title alone gave me trepidation over what your essay would be about. I’m not sure if you truly realize this, but I and many others are for Azula acquiring a real education and especially her finally healing (which is not the same as a “redemption” arc btw).

Which means we’re already used to seeing all the excuses people give for why she doesn’t deserve any of the above. That’s why I find it a little odd that you would type this up in the first place despite by your own words, wanting the best for her. Surely you’ve also read all the false reasoning behind it and have basically just typed them all up and submitted them to me, no?

You claim here:

“Keynote: This was written as a Devil’s Advocate take and for the most part does not reflect my true views towards Azula since I do want her to get an atonement & healing arc.”

However, saying you love someone and want them to survive and later thrive, doesn’t actually make it so. Plenty of people who call themselves “Azula stans” seem to be, in my opinion, the exact opposite. Just based off the degrading, misogynistic crap they create about her (and Mai and Ty Lee) and distribute for all to see online (if it’s online it’s fair game, sorry but it’s the truth). Now I’m not saying that they’re casual fans/ATLA laymen and so must know less about Azula than I do. I’m only saying that some people seem to love/appreciate her looks and overall aesthetics, and what she can give/do to/how she can pleasure their BB Zuko, but not her in specific.

I think you can guess what I’m talking about here. Not mentioning any group or person in particular, but they know who they are and may respond to this by calling me a hater, the purity police, an abuse apologist, or the ‘dreaded term’ anti. But you know what? Someone, anyone, in any and every fandom should be allowed to notice this sort of thing and call it out. Otherwise, the right to disagree really is dead. I’ll stop here on that conversation though. I think it deserves a post of its own to be honest.

Anyway,

you also said here (with an added link):

“Note (Here is Gene Yang all but implying Azula’s asylum was abusive): https://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/1027/avatar-last-airbender-search-cbr-interviews-gene-y”

You made it clear from the get-go that you will not only be talking about the Azula her fans actually know and adore, but also a caricature of a parody of an empty shell of the real Azula.

Nobody, not even Azula fans, gives a damn about the Azula from the comics (who is the one you look to have spent most of your post denigrating) except to mock Vengeful Ghost Lady Macmeth herself or, in the case of A-fans only, to point out how all her erratic suffering-induced behavior was caused in large amount by none other than Zuko himself!

You know since as you so sweetly put it, Azula “was mercifully involuntarily psych warded and was given a chance, even if she had to create it, to reform even when she hadn’t shown any indication that she was remorseful”. By who? Zuko. Her own brother.

And to think you even appeared to have acknowledged by adding that Gene Yang-related link that her stay in the psych ward was cruel-beyond-belief and that she was given no guidance or compassion (two things an abused child would need to begin healing in the first place!). Azula has never been given a chance.

I really hope you’re not who I feel you may be, because that person has a bad track record on Azula and seems to think abuse and horrific hardship = the best way toward redemption (sorry, “healing”) and for only in Azula’s case. As if Azula hasn’t already gone through more than enough strife, especially compared to others. I say this because I’m unsure if s/he really does wish the best for Azula in the near future or not, for this very reason. Note 3: I don’t think it’s unacceptable to write a story where something upsetting happens to her. Some stories just read, to me, more like Azula Torture P*** (censoring jic) and/or unnecessary woobification for a character who already had moments where she struggled and questioned the morals she grew up on. That’s very 'human’ too, don’t you think?

Anything else I say on your views of the new Fire Lord and more, would just be me acting like I know how you feel about the other Fire Nation war criminals/war supporters (Iroh, Ozai, Ursa, Zuko, Mai, Ty Lee). Although I get the feeling you don’t think what they did was even comparable to what Azula did in the comics or the show, despite them being her accomplices, willingly accepting her gifts in exchange for obeying her—and following Fire Nation custom, giving Azula orders to carry out the acts in the first place, committing far worse war crimes for close to two (2!) whole years (on top of decades), and possibly being who she used to look up to and modeled her appearance, thoughts and behavior off of, respectively. (All of them are referenced to some degree in this paragraph.)

Also, we know that people who solely have an issue with Azula’s behavior are extremely biased and tend to not be open to a change of mind, no matter how this makes them appear. A majority of your points boil down to “people are ignorant due to some distasteful beliefs from their cultures and being misled, and hate being proven wrong or hypocritical; so of course Azula is the most responsible for the end of the war and its aftermath, and must be punished for anything and everything the Fire Nation did/does”. That’s how double standards are born and why they stick around.

Note Repeat: This response to the above submission is not in anyway meant to come across as mean or disrespectful to anyone (including the submitter). This was typed up solely from my POV based on what I’ve experienced and witnessed in the fandom, and so if I deeply upset anyone, I’m sorry.

Please remember though, that I have no issue with anyone in particular. If someone would like to correct me on portions where I misinterpreted the submitter, or on ways my opinion could be wrong, please due so. I’m always welcome to having my views changed.

[rolandrockover]

Exciter's a Deadlier Weapon

And here we are again. Once more starting where something completely different actually left off. But our two candidates aren't actually that different, because they both come from Kiss' relative modern era of the 80s. They are both only two years as well as two albums apart, to be found on Lick It Up from 1983 and Asylum from 1985, and are both comfortable in the up-tempo range. And there shouldn't be too many of those. But ok, I'll play along and give you another hint. One is a Gene song, the rip-off, and the other a Paul song, the one which got ripped off. Still no idea? What the heck, I'll solve the mystery: I am of course talking about Love's a Deadly Weapon and Exciter.

I admit that they are not 100% identical, but they are much too close to be ignored, and to not be perceived as even shamelessly close, if you know what I mean.

In Exciter, this highly dramatic, insane deceleration sequence works more than well and seems absolutely appropriate to end a song of its caliber. What I have never understood, on the other hand, is why someone would ever decide to start a song this way? And then of all things with a song that isn't even worth the half. While we're on the subject of Lick It Up, we can also move on to post-apocalyptic scenarios. So, Gene virtually cannibalized the Mad Max V8 and stuffed its supercharger into his own little junk car. I can't help but think of Never To Young to Die. Has anyone actually seen it? A real trash grenade.

Ooh, give it to me!

Listen for yourself, the links are highlighted:

Exciter (1983)

Love's a Deadly Weapon (1985)

Bonus round: I'll add Russian Roulette, whose relationship to Love's a Deadly Weapon's intro I've already discussed in more detail here.

Russian Roulette (2009)

[science-fiction-is-real]

This was a submission to my blog, in response to something I posted earlier, I am responding to it as I post it. Black text is mine, colored text is the submission.

Why Should the Audience Root for an Azula Redemption Arc Instead of a Proper Azula Punishment Arc?

Keynote: This was written as a Devil’s Advocate take and for the most part does not reflect my true views towards Azula since I do want her to get an atonement & healing arc.

Note: Here is Gene Yang all but implying Azula’s asylum was abusive: https://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/1027/avatar-last-airbender-search-cbr-interviews-gene-y

Why shouldn’t the audience after watching ATLA & reading the related comics root for a proper Azula punishment arc instead of an Azula redemption arc? Or why should anyone in-universe want Azula to be redeemed instead of being properly punished?

This one isn't hard. Azula is a minor. She is not fully culpable for her actions. However the post this submission is responding to has nothing to do with Azula getting a redemption arc. It was about whether or not Azula was a war criminal. Azula did an imperialism. She is worthy of all the punishments imperialists should face (prison, execution, whatnot), but the only reason she deserves any type of a mercy is because she is a kid. There is not much ambiguity legally or culturally with what we do with children who commit horrible deeds. We send her to the gulag like we do with all the other war criminals, but like, the Juvie version of the gulag. What happens to Azula's soul is of no concern to working class people and peasants in the fire nation, earth kingdom, and water tribe, and therefore it is of no concern to me.

For I am pretty sure a genocidal, authoritarian who has attempted matricide, avunculicide, fratricide and is a child kidnapping domestic terrorist and seditionist who has not shown any outward remorse for her actions is not who most people would show compassion towards.

And before people get up in arms about people in-universe or out of it practicing selective empathy, let us be frank and admit that selective empathy is something that most “good” people engage in all the time and something that most people reading this do all the time without questioning themselves.

I mean, did you feel sympathy when Osama Bin Laden was killed? Or when the U.S Capitol Hill invader was shot? Or when the Sandy Hook killer committed suicide after shooting up an elementary school?

OP, what is your point in writing this. We

So why would any of Azula’s actual and potential victims feel any sympathy towards Azula? Especially in an era where the age of majority is lower and they don’t really understand mental health at all?

Shouldn’t people’s, in and out of universe, sympathy be towards all the people she attempted to kill? The person who she did? All the traumatized kids she kidnapped?

And before anyone says that Azula’s mental health issues should at least cause a 21st century audience to at least tone down their desire to see Azula be properly punished, I don’t think that is the case.

For even disregarding the fact that a large percentage of the population is still ignorant about mental health issues, something that one children’s franchise, no matter how well written, can fix by itself, even people today have limits in regards to how much they are willing to accept mental health as a mitigating factor in regards to punishment, even in fiction.

To say that someone is not guilty by reason of insanity according to US law (not that I have any respect for the laws of any bourgeois state. I certainly don't think we should use them to judge ethics.) you have to show that their mental illness rendered someone incapable of understanding the consequences of their actions, and that they did not know right from wrong. All throughout most of the show, Azula was well in touch with reality. She very much understood the consequences of her actions, which was how she could lay complex plans and manipulate the people around her. She showed a basic understanding that other people have thoughts and feelings which she could influence by her actions, which is why she bothered trying to manipulate people in the first place. Azula's symptoms only appear after the events of the show are mostly over with, and at no point in the show or in the comics does it appear that her mental illness renders her unable to understand the difference between right and wrong. There is only one mitigating factor in Azula's case: her youth. Of course, the Juvie Gulag we send her to should have good mental healthcare facilities as all prisons should, but that has nothing to do with her actions in the show.

For I know this is a different franchise, but The Joker is a severely mentally ill person after all and yet it is a pretty popular opinion, if not the supermajority one, that The Joker should have a shoot on sight order and/or that a superhero kill The Joker lest he fills more graveyards with innocent bodies.

So why should Azula be treated any differently? Especially since she is committed into turning Zuko into a tyrant (Azula does not need to turn Zuko into a tyrant. He is an unelected leader of a nation state. He is already a tyrant. What he does from his position of tyranny is neither relevant nor interesting.) has shown that she will go to almost any length to ensure the success of her plan, and that her status as the GOAT firebender in combination with the fact that her power is likely growing by the day means that it is nigh-impossible to take her back into custody safely again, even if she suffers another mental breakdown?

“So what about all the people on the airships who were either going to burn the Earth Kingdom with Ozai and/or were making sure the ships were operational? Or what about all the people who helped or were complicit in all the other Fire Nation’s war crimes committed against Earth Kingdoms & Southern Water Tribesmen/women? Or how about the rest of the Fire Warriors? How come you are so focused on punishing a 14 or 16/17 girl you misogynistic, ableist POS?!”

The focus on Azula isn't a function of ableism or sexism. It's a function of elitism, and the fact that in our culture we are overly obsessed with individuals of the ruling classes. We see members of ruling classes as main characters in the plot of history and the people they oppress (all ruling classes are oppressive by their very existence) as background extras. the Avatar franchise is horribly guilty of this. I can name very few central characters in the show who are not somehow members of society's elite or at least who become elites. Zuko and Azula are royalty. Aang is literally a god. Sokka and Katara are essentially petty nobility in the southern water tribe. Toph is from one of the Earth Kingdoms snobbiest families and grows up to be the most famous cop in the world. In many ways, Korra is even worse.

We are sitting here talking about the contents of Azula's soul when really what we should be talking about, what we WERE talking about in my post OP is responding to, is that imperialism is a crime regardless of what bourgeois laws say, and that those who lead imperialist endeavors need to be held strictly accountable to their actions regardless of whether deep down in their hearts they are good people or bad people.

This is a problem in real life politics too. Think about all the people who are obsessed with George Bush's shitty ass paintings right after he killed half a million Iraqi civilians for no reason except so that US corporations could get their hands on Iraqi oil. Sure, in some of his paintings he expresses reflection on the war and the role he played in it, but that doesn't change the fact he needs to be sitting in a gulag awaiting the day he is marched out in cuffs and told to turn to face the wall.

Well, in regards to the war, who said that everyone who was complicit in the Fire Nation’s war crimes should not face proper punishment?

For while the comics make it clear that only Ozai and Azula (who was mercifully involuntarily psych warded and was given a chance, even if she had to create it, to reform even when she hadn’t shown any indication that she was remorseful) were punished for the Fire Nation’s crimes (ex. The Rough Rhinos are free & became Earthen Fire Industries’ bodyguards) (I'm not sure what you're trying to communicate by bringing up the Rough Rhinos, but before the war ended they were armed thugs who worked for an imperialist army and now they armed thugs who work for capitalism now. Both of those things are bad. Are you trying to use them as an example of reform, because they didn't move up. If they even moved at all). I think one of the biggest mistakes that the Avatar franchise made was not holding a war crimes tribunal after the war to give a proper accounting of all the Fire Nation’s crimes and to make sure people faced justice. (I agree here.)

For in addition to the powerful imagery of seeing the victims of genocide and colonization make their killers/oppressors face accountability on their terms, something that has unfortunately been denied to most IRL victims of both, it would have sent a powerful message to future generations in-universe *cough*Kuvira*cough that imperialism and genocide would never be tolerated. (I get what your saying here, they definitely should have been held accountable, but the thing is, holding nazis accountable for their crimes didn't stop genocide and imperialist wars, because the ruling class that profits off those endeavors still exists. Trials and executions are definately necessary, but the law can't stop oppressions, only revolution can do that. The main problem with ATLA is that it ended rather conservatively, with unelected leaders still governing the three surviving nations. We see in Korra that as the avatar universe continues along a capitalist course of development, this oppression only gets worse. I think Kuvira would have come to power even if the Fire Nation's war criminals had properly been brought to trial.)

Not to mention it seems odd that a show so focused on colonialism/imperialism and its negative effects denies those negatively harmed by it any real justice. Though Bryke are Westerners after all….

“Do you also think everyone that served the Fire Nation should be locked up?”

No, but everyone who directly committed war crimes, like Yon Rha, the people on Ozai’s warships or The Rough Rhinos, in addition to everyone high up on the chain of command, like Azulon & Ozai’s war council members, should have been subjected to a war crimes tribunal if they were still alive and appropriately punished.

“But what about Zuko, Iroh, Mai, & Ty Lee?”

Yes, they should be tried too though it is obvious some people will get lightly punished and/or not punished at all based on their actions during the war.

“But Azula was just a mentally ill 14 year old who was just following the orders of her abusive father who was also her supreme sovereign.”

Well, if she is old enough to suggest, help plan, and fully intend to commit genocide, she is old enough to stand trial as an adult and receive a grown-up’s punishment.

Also, the “just following orders” excuse doesn’t really work considering Zuko, Mai, & Ty Lee, who are all her peers/close to her age, all turned against Ozai’s regime at one point despite the life or death consequences and/or harsh punishments they ended up facing.

(I have no contention with any of the above stuff here.)

“But isn’t Zuko a sovereign and thus has the ability to make sure he isn’t subjected to a war crimes tribunal?”

Well, if Zuko is as truly concerned with honor as he says he is, and is not written in an OOC fashion like comics!Zuko, he would willingly subject himself to the tribunal to send a message to the world that he is after real justice (and not a hollow victor’s justice) and to his subjects that he is not using the tribunal as an excuse to get rid of his political opponents/those that would be hostile to his regime.

If Zuko really cared about justice, he would step down from the thrown and allow the Fire Nation to transition to a democratic way of life. If someone finds themselves in a position of royalty, there are only two moral things they can do in that situation: 1) step down and renounce all titles, privileges and authority, or 2) die.

For everyone forgets, but Zuko was a co-conqueror of Ba Sing Se and while we know Zuko changed sides because he meant well, to outside observers it seems like he knew he wouldn’t inherit the throne, at least not without Azula being the real power behind the throne, and so he joined The Avatar so he could get the throne (outright), even if it meant his nation fell in battle.

And in regards to the Fire Warriors, they should be punished just like Azula should be for engaging in a mass child kidnapping domestic, seditious terrorist plot as part of an ongoing terrorist plot to make Zuko into a tyrant. Again, Zuko is already a tyrant.

For while the comics don’t give us that much to go off of, from what we do get, it appears that they willingly joined Azula to pay her back for breaking them out of their asylum (Smoke & Shadow library edition says that they all come from Azula’s asylum).

So they should face the consequences of their (apparently) freely chosen actions though I hope that in the process of doing so, the abusive nature of the asylums becomes public knowledge.

One thing I think about in terms of the comics... Azula isn't attempting to undo a democratic revolution. It really is just a sibling rivalry within a family that has no right to claim power in the first place. From a leftist position, when we consider cases in which members of the ruling class are fighting among themselves, it really is not good for us to take sides. If I was a communist living in the fire nation instead of in fucking ohio, the main point me and my comrades would try to communicate to the public is that we don't give a fuck if Zuko or Azula eventually takes the throne. It's a waste of our time to even worry about it. Just like its a waste of time for us to argue that Putin is a worse guy than Zelensky when really what we should be doing is building international anti-war protest movements that stop the war from escalating at all costs. Just like it's a waste of time to worry whether trump is worse than biden when really what we should be doing is building a strong fighting movement of independent working class politics that can stand up to both bourgeois parties in the US. Instead of worrying if Azula takes the throne from zuko, people of the fire nation should concentrate efforts on eliminating throne itself, and turning the fire nation royal palace into public housing or something like that. Obviously that doesn't make sense from a story-telling perspective since Zuko is the main character. But we're not discussing this from a story telling perspective. We're discussing it from a political perspective.

The reason we shouldn't pick sides, why we shouldn't worry about who is the "lesser evil" is because if we chose one side over the other, we have to ally ourselves with that side and make compromises with that side for a "shared" purpose. But for regular people, it always ends badly if we make alliances with any faction of the ruling class. It always ends in us getting horrifically betrayed.

For in addition to it hopefully leading to a mental health revolution in the Fire Nation, Zuko can implement reforms to make sure that the asylums don’t become terrorist breeding grounds like they are as of current canon.

The problem is, mentally healthy people commit acts of terrorism every single day. Realistically, Zuko would be fending off terrorists left and right. These attacks would be led by people who previously were farmers, factory workers, business owners, soldiers, sailors, merchants, and government officials. From the left it would be terrorists angry that the overthrow of Ozai did not lead to true democracy, who still have to deal with greedy landlords, low wages, hunger, and violence from "law enforcement." From the right it would be hyper-reactionaries who were materially benefiting from the old regime.

When leftists are forming terrorist plots, it's because the leaders of the left have failed to properly build organized movements rooted in the working class, and leftists feel their only option to get anything done is to resort to terrorism. When right wingers do terrorism, its because they know that under no circumstances will they ever be able to build a mass movement in support of their elitist agenda, nor would they want to.

Also, Zuko, by publicly punishing his sister and subjecting her to the same laws that commoners/nobles have to face, would be sending a powerful message to his subjects that unlike his forefathers, the law applies equally to everyone regardless of their status and is not something that is selectively applied by the Fire Lord when it suits her/him.

So to sum up, it seems pretty clear that the narrative of ATLA seems to prime the audience for a proper Azula punishment arc. For not only has she committed several unforgivable, or at least nigh-unforgivable, crimes, she has failed to take any responsibility for her actions or show outward remorse.

Thus, the audience most likely wants to see Azula be punished as part of a greater Fire Nation war crimes tribunal and/or for her actions as part of the Fire Warriors.

And while either scenario might be hard for Azula stans fans to watch, at least they have the potential not only serve as a healing moment for people both in or out of the Avatar-verse, but at least provide very entertaining & thought provoking moments.

For imagine Ozai trying to justify his actions to a war crime tribunal? Or watching Iroh tensely wait and see if a jury believes his actions against his brother’s regime outweighs the crimes he committed/is responsible for as both an esteemed Fire Nation general & as Azulon’s heir for decades.

(Sidenote: Yes, technically we don’t know if Iroh committed war crimes but it is highly unlikely that Azulon’s crown prince & general was completely innocent. But I admit this is just a HC for now.)

Imperialism is a war crime. Iroh is most definitely a war criminal. Maybe not under the laws that were written by imperialist governments in the aftermath of world war two. But by any just or logical definition of the term "war crime" he is definitely guilty.

Or imagine the courtroom scene as the Fire Warriors try to justify them following Azula due to being grateful for her breaking them out of the abusive asylum? Or when one of the asylum healers explains the nature of their treatments and it dawns on the audience that the asylums are worse than prison and are likely to breed terrorists due to inmates resenting the society that locked them up there “for their own good” instead of the more merciful option of prison?

For isn’t Avatar at its best when it manages to simultaneously be both entertaining and thought provoking at the same time?

Listen OP. I appreciate you taking your time to share your thoughts. I agree with a lot of what you said here, about why it its important for people like Ozai, Azula, or Iroh to be publicly held accountable. I did want to add some political perspective though from some political theory I have read and my own experience doing political organizing. So if I disagree with a lot of the stuff you wrote, it isn't because I feel any disrespect toward you.

TLDR, to sumarize my thoughts. Some ATLA fans because of the elitist culture we live in, are a bit overly sympathetic with members of the fire nation royal family, believing that because these characters were "good" deep down in their hearts, or because they suffered heartache or trauma that we should imagine a world where they get to live a life as redeemed good guys. As a leftist I say that the content of a person's heart, a last minute change of conscience, or a history of hardship and trauma do not undo the unspeakable horror that is imperialism. Both I, and OP agree that those who lead imperialist wars deserve to be publicly tried and punished for the pain they inflicted on others.

On the other hand, as a leftist, I feel that the ATLA world spends too much time discussing the qualities of individual members of the ruling classes, and not enough time questioning the existence of the ruling class itself. While holding imperialists accountable is necessary, it's not enough to throw away some bad apples, you have to cut down the whole tree. Sending Ozai or Iroh or whomever to prison is not going to erase the class hierarchies that govern the avatar universe, and thus will not eliminate the possibility of such horrors happening again in the future. At the end of the day, we don't fight imperialist war with legalistic beaurocratic measures such as trials and prosecutions. We fight war with revolution.

ATLA while definitely well written espouses some obnoxiously liberal political ideology. Like pretty much all liberals, the writers KNEW that there was such a thing as good an evil, and had a general idea what sort of things constituted good and evil. But because they have no idea how society actually functions, they haven't the slightest idea of how we solve the problem of good and evil. Their solution to the problems of the Four Nations was to simply change out the individuals who were sitting in the fancy chairs, instead of understanding that the problem wasn't the ass in the chair, it was the chair itself.

[entoman-created-by-the-tallgreys]

How Human will, Go Extinct

u See, .... u See ! 

If ..... and that’s a Bbbiiiiiiigg If ..... 

i the Grey alien’s fail n fuck up the Mass Clearing of the Human Race ! 

. . . Then the Human Race die’s Another Way. 

GEEEEENNNNEEEE ! ROT ! 

THE FUCKING DNA ! IS GOING OT GO AWAY ! 

THE HUMAN DNA IS ROTTING AND BRAKEING DOWN ! 

THE HUMAN DNA IS DYING ! 

There is a reason people are Getting vastly Dumber, Mocking thing’s that Matter and Bulling one n other and not tolerating each other, there is a reason Human’s are much Less Human then thay used to be and i don’t mean, its the Grey’s ! 👽

The Human race is Going to fucking Zommmbify ! 

the Human’s are Going too Act Like drug Addict's Being as weak, pale and Worn down and To a Degree, Very Skinny ! 

The Human Cell’s are not going to be able to do there job and above all thay already can’t Compared to Human’s of the By Gone Era. 

There will be no 3017 .... for Humanity .... THIS !  . . . WILL BE HUMANITY ! 

. . . 

As the DNA Brake’s down the Baby’s Are Dead on Arrival. 

The Body Can’t do it’s Job’s the people Make fuck of fact’s, people don’t Take anything Serious, Seriously !  

Thay think everything is fake, thay Mock everything ... just fucking Everything, Like a Crazy person having a Mental brake down in a Asylum, thay just laugh n laugh n laugh ..... At the Rotting of there own Mind’s ! 

. . . 

Insanity Will Sprawl, People Will Get Stranger, as the Mind Brake’s down people won’t be able to think for them self as thay already do n much, aka Herd Mentality !  

Many Can’t Work, there too Weak, Many don’t want to do anything and thay can no longer Have Any Compassion . . . No Empathy, Nothing  ! 

This is is the end of a race the death of a Family ! 

There is More dead then Living, and thay are Aggressive with Every little thing 

Hyper toxic and Hyper Mean, this is the dying of a race ! that Bullies it own self into Extinction ! 

No One Can Bond no one Can Express them self, no one can Admit them self No one can exist with out them being a Problem  

The Human Race is Braking down rapidly, and dying. 

The Human Race will destroy ti self as the grey’s DO ! Do there last thing thay told me .... There Going to Destroy the world, Death star Style ! 

 Like the death Star from Star Wars 

The Grey aliens told us this as there Plan B 

Calling them an alien is ... is so fucking wrong becuz this si there home. thay where Created here born here n Had tot fight a war to take back there world as thay made a life from and protect it from Aliens that wanted it for it’s gene’s, so thay could heal there own people. 

The Grey alien’s if thay fail, taking back the World. 

 This is why thay made there agenda the Human D.n.a, Brake’s Down alot and it can only be Repaired by the Greys So Many Time’s. and then thay Haft to give it and Upgrade but thay want to give it and Upgrade as soon as Possible. but if the Dna is not ready thay got to let just life happen and Wait. 

Many time’s in History thay Abducted people and thay gave them a Injection that would Cure them of there disease and that Cure would be Passed on to the Next gen and thay would be immune to the sickness .... thinking thay where “Special”  . ..  and that the Sickness that Killed there father Could not Kill them. 

Other time’s the grey alien would Edit the Gene Code of a baby, to make it so IT ! Could fight it off and pass the gene on to a Next Kid, after it Mated ! 

. . . 

As Much Horror as every one ! See the end of the world ! 

. . .

. . . 

But this is the Good Ending ! 

Let them Take you, thay will Upgrade your soul, you’ll be better for it, i Promise.

Thay’ll Make you a Hybrid, but then again you really Can’t make a Hybrid out of A Chimera, ... that’s What Human’s are .... Chimera’s, Listen Once thay Get you, you’re Going into a Big Crystal, that Crystal is Dark Purple-ish Red, it Will Freeze but not a cold freeze and Entrap your soul, No Among of power in our soul can free you, you are Trapped , froze, all you can do is W8, W8 for them to Go Get you, Pull you . . . out and then take you threw the Process, You’ll Get a New Body but first thay’ll need to Work on your Soul, as in Get all of the Stupid out make Sure your Thinking Right ! 

AND THEN ! how ever long that may take 1 Year 5 Year’s 10, 100, 1000 <- if your Really Stupid  ! 

You’ll Be Taken Back to the Earth ! 

Either Threw AN Abducted Mother and thay forced You’re Soul in there, or you Migrate Back on your own but the tall gray’s can see everything around the earth and thay’ll know if a soul got loose and make a run for it into the spirit world ! 

thay will Go After you and re-abducted you and forced you into the New Body the Entomen Body ! 

you May or May not Have Bug Wing’s aka fairy Wing’s ! .... That Might be a Later Model ! 

but you will be Super Smart, if a Female Strong as fuck ! and Hyper Lustful, and Very Conceptive for a Male ! 

i kno, i kno, Bla, bla, bla you Herd all of this shit Before 

[popwasabi]

“They Called Us Enemy”: George Takei Recalls Interment and Its Cautionary History

Written by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott

Illustrated by Harmony Becker

 This past weekend I got to make my annual pilgrimage to the nerd Mecca capital of the world; San Diego Comic-Con.

It’s a fun and often exhausting experience between panel hopping to see your favorite movie or TV show actors speak and standing in line often for hours just to see them or to buy merch in the Dealer’s hall.

(At least it wasn’t hot this year.)

Every year though, somehow or another, I always meet at least one celebrity be it intentionally or accidentally. Last year I got to run into Billy West, best known for his voice acting roles on Ren &Stimpy and Futurama, the year before that it was MMA legend Josh Barnett who is a huge comic book geek and before that I met my all-time favorite TV composer Bear McCreary. This year I got to not only meet, but cross a massive name off my bucket list, in George Takei.

(^It me...)

Takei needs no introduction of course; the outspoken OG Star Trek alum is now firmly an internet personality of sorts and hugely popular figure amongst my generation and nerdom alike. But he wasn’t there at Comic-Con to talk about Star Trek or any number of Science Fiction related items to his acting past. No, this time he was here to promote his new graphic novel “They Called Us Enemy” based on a much darker period in his life; the infamous internment of Japanese Americans in concentration camps across the country during World War II.

Takei has never been shy about his opinions on politics and society and definitely very open about his time in those camps but this graphic novel helps not only shed a light on his own personal experience there and all the nuanced feelings that came from that but just how deplorable Executive Order 9066 was on American History.

Now, with the recreation of concentration camps this time along the southern border indefinitely imprisoning migrants seeking asylum in our country, Takei’s graphic novel reminds us all why this is so wrong and why we should not turn our backs again.

“They Called Us Enemy” is one-part history book detailing key events, people and often distressing quotes from our politicians on Japanese-American concentration camps but three-parts a visual and written history of Takei’s family journey from pre-WWII internment to the present. Through his parents, his father a first generation Japanese American, his mother second generation to how the events of Pearl Harbor unlawfully stripped them of their dignity, they try their best to make sense of the situation while keeping their children from baring the weight of this shameful period of history. What is an “extended vacation” for Takei and his siblings is a prolonged agonizing experience of doubt, humiliation and degradation for his parents and the toll it takes on his father especially is told through the panels of this graphic novel.

I think the most astounding thing about this graphic novel is that it isn’t especially bitter. It’s upsetting for sure, and bitter in parts, as Takei certainly wants his reader to feel how his family felt through this period in American history but he makes a point of showing how inevitably in all things in America, the wheels of justice may be slow but they do not stop moving forward as long as there are those willing to fight for it. How Takei’s family handles this humiliating and degrading experience is both brave and sad all at once. Takei, for his and his younger siblings, part are completely ignorant of the situation they’ve been forced into and his parents do their best to keep things as normal as possible for them through this ordeal treating it as a long “vacation” for them. They do this despite the fact they’ve been forcibly torn away from their homes, given no time to pack their things, given nametags like cattle and forced to sleep and live in conditions befitting of farm animals.

America may not have led anyone into death camps, during this period, as the Germans did with the Jews but as Takei points out it was still based on fear of a perceived “enemy” and still forced Japanese Americans into these horrid conditions and to do things that our constitution and Bill of Rights explicitly states against for its citizens.

But for Takei, as a child back then, it was an adventure of sorts for he and his siblings that was shielded by his parents to keep him from grasping the full scope of what was really going on. In this way, the graphic novel is somewhat bittersweet; sweet that George and his siblings through the tireless effort of their parents was able to enjoy some level of a childhood within the camps but bitter that as he grew older he finally understood why he was there.

Through Takei’s writings and Harmony becker’s wonderful illustrations we get a grasp of the simultaneous joy and pain that Takei associates with this period in his life; how his mom, when given little time to grab her own personal belongings when the soldiers came, grabbed only things for her children such as sweets and a sewing machine to fashion them new clothes in the camps as to keep their childhoods alive, and how his father helped organize camp leadership and helped lead these disillusioned Americans who had no idea what the future held or if there was a future there at all.

It was in these camps in fact that Takei discovered his love for acting and theater, as funny as that may sound, as camp members were able to show movies within its barb-wired fences. Takei would use this inspiration when his family returned to Los Angeles to become an actor down the line and eventually take up his famous role as Sulu in “Star Trek” and the reason largely was because of the camps. As the graphic novel states Gene Rodenberry (Star Trek’s original creator) wanted a show that envisioned a future where a diverse cast of people worked together for the benefit of all humanity and having an Asian American not only be present in this cast but be a resourceful, responsible lead was paramount. Takei understanding how taking on a role that could give Asian Americans agency in popular media wanted the part immediately as it could help show the country that people who looked like him weren’t the enemy.

Fifty plus years later and he is still advocating for that representation and need for diversity today.

(Being God damn fabulous at it too)

The graphic novel does lay out many things that most average Americans are probably not familiar with; the fact that much of these Japanese-Americans belongings were liquefied and sold off after they were taken from their homes, that many of them tried to join the fight against Japan after Pearl Harbor but were turned away because of their race, and of course after the US finally needed more troops they conscripted members of these very same camps, people they had openly vilified and wrongly detained, to enlist later to become the 442nd Battalion the most decorated group of its kind during World War II.

It’s again infuriating and uplifting all at once; as Takei points out the people who chose to enlist from the camps were as much patriots and heroes as those who chose not to and who could blame them? Many Japanese Americans saw it as an opportunity to prove they were indeed Americans and show the country that had wronged them that they were as patriotic as their white counterparts. For the others it was an act of civil disobedience showing that they didn’t need prove anything to the country that had turned their backs on them.

Takei’s family chose the latter in this regard and nearly lost everything in the process.

The path toward justice is often a long and degrading road for victims and the unjustly accused. For Japanese Americans during this time it took damn near half a century before reparations were made and by then many of its oldest prisoners had passed away not knowing that America had admitted their guilt. 

Its sad and if reading about this part of history and seeing what’s happening now at the border doesn’t make your blood boil, I’m not sure what will.

“They Call Us Enemy” does a great job of not only informing Americans on what happened during this time period and Takei’s very personal story in between all that, but offers a stark warning about repeating the mistakes of the past as we are now at the border. We cannot keep going with this cycle of endlessly vilifying folks for simply looking the part of “the enemy” regardless of their legal status or us being at war with countries that happen to look like them. 

I’m of the mind that people deserve inalienable rights regardless of citizenry. Locking up people and throwing away the key indefinitely and ripping children from the arms of their screaming mothers (Something we didn’t even do to Japanese Americans) without trial is FUCKING WRONG PERIOD and ill-befitting of country that self-labels itself as the “greatest” on Earth.

If we are to pretend we are the good guys in any of these types of conflicts we better start acting like it. FUCKING NAZIS in Nuremberg were given trials after World War II; you cannot tell me an “illegal” doesn’t deserve a chance at a hearing.

I’m often very angry and bitter about the state of the country these days and where we appear to be trending as a society but Takei’s book is not all doom in gloom when it comes to its warning on where we currently stand on justice. As the graphic novel states:

Our strength as a country is that we are capable of change, we are capable of becoming the pillars of democracy and justice that we profess to be through the valiant efforts of those who fight for it. Whether it was the Abolitionists of the Civil War period, Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights era or for these wrongly interred folks, Fred Korematsu, Yuri Kochiyama, Wayne Collins, or Daniel K. Inouye, we will always find a way to move forward as long as brave individuals come together to fight for what’s right.

We can be those brave individuals too, so long as we stand up, voice our disapproval and move the needle of our democracy. We still have all the power here to affect change. We cannot let the wrongs of the past continue on in our present, our democracy and the very fabric of decency, respect, and justice depend on it. Takei’s family and 120,000 plus Japanese Americans who suffered through this depend on us being better for the present and future.

Don’t turn your back on it. Not now, not ever.