#mentions of zuko ozai and ursa

[julietwiskey1]

What are some of your Azula headcanons?

Fluff

Azula is really clingy in her sleep. She grabs something and just cuddles up to it never letting go. Sparky from @ultranos is her all time favorite. Though people who have put her to bed as a child have found themselves trapped as she held on tight to their arms.

Azula can be a bit of a dorky nerd. While she usually comes off as cutting to those she talks to briefly those who know her see another side. She remembers almost everything she was taught in school and tends to bring it up in nerdy ways. And her confidence masks her social awkwardness.

Azula and Zuko were enemies six days a week and best friends one day a week. And it was always a surprise when it would happen. Pretty much no words of understanding or reconciliation would be shared with them. They just wake up and start playing in the garden.

Angst

Post war Azula is struggling with her identity and knowing what she should do with her life. She grew up always being told what to be and what to do. Now that she doesn't have anyone telling her what that is she feels completely lost.

Azula does not know what healthy relationships look or function like. She is prone to entering into abusive relationships and unwilling to leave. She craves to be loved and accepted so any little bit given to her is powerful and lets her look past the mountain of pain they cause.

Ozai never burned or hit Azula. In fact he often became furious if she ever got scratched or burned while in training. He would tell her that those were all signs of weakness and failure. But she needed to be perfect as she was a direct reflection of him. And any burn or scar she got would be a sign that he was not prefect.

How about another comforting thought before I end this? Post war Azula and Ursa reconcile. Azula was actually rather willing to give Ursa a chance as she was desperate for love. Ursa helps Azula develop her self esteem and learn how to judge if things are good for herself. And her proudest moment is when Azula yelled at her when she messed up. It showed growth in Azula in understanding that she no longer had to morph herself to be a tool for a parent or others.

[five-flavor-soup]

I personally think that basing your interpretation of how Ursa treated Azula on Zuko’s memories shown in ‘Zuko Alone’ is kind… incorrect. You can obviously — they’re the only real images of their childhood we get in the cartoon, other than the tiniest of snapshots in sepia — and that’s fine, but for me personally I just don’t think they’re complete enough.

These memories are from Zuko’s perspective. Not Ursa’s, not Azula’s, not Ozai’s or Iroh’s—Zuko’s perspective, his memories. And they’re all about him and Ursa together: every one of these memories have Ursa at their centre. We see her protect him and be kind to him, see her be physically affectionate and gentle, see her encourage him to be kind to himself and to Azula.

They essentially tell us that Zuko is Ursa’s son first, Ozai’s son second. Ozai remains a hovering, intimidating shadow on the sidelines (we still don’t see his face, we don’t see him genuinely interact with his children, and we see him irritating his father while being a very hands-off kinda dad himself) but Ursa is fully present. And ‘Zuko Alone’ is about Zuko trying to figure out who he is: the memories show that he views being his mother’s son as an exceptionally important part of his identity, which means they are about Zuko and his relationship with Ursa alone.

They are not supposed to tell us that Ursa neglected or abused Azula emotionally—that she only focused on protecting Zuko, while leaving Azula to suffer in Ozai’s incapable hands. Sure, we see Ursa scold Zuko for acting like Azula and cuddle him right after, and we see her scold Azula for acting mean and not cuddle her right after, but the key differences here are that Zuko shows guilt after frightening the turtleducks and Azula doubles down on trying to scare Zuko. The behaviour is different and will be, by any halfway decent parent, treated differently. 

I’m absolutely not saying that Azula wasn’t abused, because she 100% was. She was absolutely abused by Ozai, and I’m not ruling out that Ursa didn’t have a hand in how Azula ultimately turned out. But my point here is: these memories are far too limited and narrow for the viewer to properly determine whether Azula was treated incorrectly by Ursa. 

Zuko isn’t going to remember an intimate, lovely moment between Ursa and Azula when all that’s on his mind is his identity, and how it’s entangled with his mother and what she may have sacrificed for him. Additionally, he’s not particularly fond of Azula at this moment in the show (she did kind of kickstart his being a refugee, disregarding how the audience sees this sequence of events having begun), so he’s not going to remember her fondly either. Why would Zuko try to remember Ursa’s relationship with Azula at that point, instead of his own?

(Small tidbit: we also... don't know if Ursa's last words to Azula were 'what is wrong with that child', disregarding the comics which completely ruin azula anyway. Again, the memories are from Zuko's perspective and therefore won't show any private moments between Ursa and Azula. We're not even certain whether Azulon actually ordered Ozai to kill Zuko, or if that is simply what Azula interpreted it as/thought would be funny to say--causing the sequence of events that ultimately put Ozai on the throne. But whatever)

[the-genius-az]

Mom's daughter?

Azula never felt Ursa's love, did her mother really love her? If he did, why was he never there? Why isn't she there when you need her?

She still remembers those times when she cried in her room and no one came, or when she wanted the same things as Zuko and her mother only gave them to her brother, regardless of whether she asked for them first.

The times she looked at her mother and only saw rejection and sadness in her eyes when she looked at her. Why doesn't her mother love her? Is she really not worth enough to Ursa? Is it her fault that she felt so sad when she was born?

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Have you noted that no one from Azula's family was shown to express love and affection towards her?

That is mostly true. Ozai's affection is clearly conditional (and full on manipulation at worse, like we see in the finale), Ursa canonically favors Zuko to the point that we never see her spending any alone time with Azula like she did with Zuko, and while Iroh gave her a toy like he did to Zuko the toy in question was so OBVIOUSLY wrong for a kid like Azula that it's comical AND show's he did not really know his niece at all.

But there is a constant exception.

Zuko's relationship with Azula is complicated. He clearly admires her strength and power, but he hates how she uses it. She lied to him many times, was seen apparently cheering Ozai on during the Agni Kai, tried to have him imprisoned and even said she'd celebrate being an only child - and then allows him to come home as a hero after Ba Sing Se, even though SHE had the control of the Dai Li and was not yet aware Aang could have survived, meaning she had nothing to gain from it.

And when she lets him know that if he's caught talking to Iroh people might think he is a traitor too, and explicitly says "Believe it or not, I'm actually looking out for you" Zuko drops his innitial suspicion that she wanted something and that's why she was helping him.

On The Beach, he just follows her when she say their old family home is depressing and they shouldn't waste their time there. When she's asking him who she is angry at, she mentions herself and Zuko explicitly says that is not the case.

He doesn't trust her and know she has a tendency to mock or full on lie to him... yet when he wants to know about Fire Lord Sozin he asks her about it, and lets it slide when she mocks him by saying he should make sure the royal painter got his good side - for a character as quick to anger as Zuko, that is a big deal. In Nightmares and Daydreams he also goes to her to find out if he'll be allowed at the war meeting.

More importantly:

1 - Iroh's infamous "She's crazy and needs to go down" line was only said because ZUKO, without anyone putting that idea in his head before, suddenly went "I know what you're going to say. She's my sister and I should be trying to get along with her"

2 - Zuko only jumped into the fight in Ba Sing Se when Azula was being cornered by Aang and Katara.

3 - Zuko looked genuinely shocked and even distressed when she was falling off that cliff. He just sounded so shaken saying "She's... not gonna make it..."

4 - In the writer's own words, Zuko felt no hate but only pity when seeing her breakdown. Katara tried to comfort him because, canonically, even though Zuko and Azula are enemies, this was never what he wanted because he still sees her as family. That's why the Last Agni Kai's music is not the epic you'd expect from a battle, but a tragic one.

5 - Aaron Ehasz, the lead writter for the show, probably the person with the most influence after Bryke, has REPEATEDLY said that he always felt Azula should have gotten a redemption arc, Zuko being an Iroh figure to give her advice and be the only one still by her side when all else was seemingly lost to her forever.

Even the comics (most of which I HATE, mainly because Azula's storyline checks nearly every box for "the mentally ill are inherently evil/less human, so it's fine if literally every other person on the planet mistreats them") didn't fully abandon their complex dynamic.

Zuko is not a perfect sibling, and for a long chunk of the story he seemed too focused on his own issues for Azula to ever be a factor in his mind (aside from the moments in which she was a potential/explict threat), but he DOES still feel a sense of obligation towards her, to the point that it made him do something no one else in their family had done before or since - actually look at Azula. Not the prodigious daughter/perfect weapon, or the problem child that is difficult to handle, or the pontentially deadly enemy that was in the way, but Azula.

His 14-year-old sister that got on his nerves a lot, was far from the kindest person alive, and that he had a ton of issues with, but that he could never fully hate or even be indifferent to. Because she's family. Because he remembers a happier time in which the gap between them didn't seem so big. Because if things had been slightly different he could have been her. Because he went from wanting to be her to seeing just how miserable her life ended up being - especially compared to the one he now had - and feeling deeply sorry for her.

Now if you guys excuse me, I'm gonna go cry in the corner. Have some wholesome/bittersweet fanart if you wanna cry too.

[cobra-diamond]

Who Cared for Azula?

And which of them did she hurt?

Some people will read this and think the answer is obvious. The answer is not obvious. Azula in the Spirit Temple contains a particularly puzzling scene that feels eerily out-of-place and concerns the titular subject: who cared for Azula, and which of them did she hurt? I’m referring to this scene:

Spoilers under the cut.

Who is the Zuko ghost referring to? Honestly ask yourself this: who cared for Azula, and of those people, which of them did she hurt?

Her mother?

Ursa more than likely loves, and at a minimum cares for, her daughter despite us never seeing Ursa act affectionate and snugly toward Azula as she does Zuko, but Azula never hurt her mom. She was a young kid when Ursa left. Is the ghost referring to The Search? Smoke & Shadow? Azula never mentions the face change, Kiyi, the Kemurikage, any of that. Those comics barely seem to exist for this comic.

No, not Ursa.

Her father?

I’d be hard-pressed to say that Ozai loves his daughter, but he definitely cares for her. But Azula didn’t hurt her father. Failing to prevent Zuko’s coup? Mentally falling apart in the biggest moment? Lying to him about Zuko killing the Avatar? Maybe? That can’t be what the Zuko ghost is referring to, but I can believe Azula feels guilt over the events of Sozin’s Comet and that she, in part, is responsible for his current sorry state.

Maybe her father.

Her uncle?

Iroh is not shown to “care” for his niece. Be cordial, polite, neutral, yes, but affectionate? Devoted? No way. Azula only hurts Iroh after he hurt the Fire Nation, as a traitor, as per her father’s orders. Azula did not hurt Iroh personally and Iroh did not care for Azula personally either. Iroh did, after all, fail to avenge Lu Ten’s death and abandoned the siege. That’s not Azula’s fault. Other people in the Fire Nation, and Earth Kingdom, dislike him too.

Definitely not Iroh.

Her brother?

Zuko is never shown to care for his sister. Let me make something clear: siblings do no tend to leave each other as they love their parents. Perhaps in an ideal world deep sibling love is the standard, but there’s a reason siblings terrorizing each other is a meme: they want all the parental attention for themselves. And this happens between Zuko and Azula. Zuko is bitter toward his sister, highly competitive, and harbors a massive inferiority complex. Zuko is never shown to be loving, affectionate, or personally devoted to her. In fact, Azula is shown displaying more evidence of sibling love than Zuko, but that is neither here nor there. Azula has hurt Zuko, yes, but Zuko did not care for her. Zuko is not someone who cared for Azula, and who Azula hurt. He’s primarily a rival whose weakness she didn’t care for.

Not Zuko.

Mai?

Mai cared for Azula? In what way? When is Mai shown being affectionate, loving, and personally devoted to Azula? When does Mai bring Gatorade and Campbell’s over to Azula when she is sick? Mai is as biting and sarcastic and nasty as Azula at times. And how exactly did Azula hurt Mai in such a way as to draw feelings of guilt from Azula? Azula helped bring Zuko home so Mai could get back together with him. Azula “freed” Mai from Mai’s parents and Omashu. How did Mai care for Azula outside of taking orders from her nation’s princess?

Not Mai.

Ty Lee?

Maybe. Did Ty Lee care for Azula? Did Ty Lee love Azula, feel affection and personal devotion to her? She hugged her in Return to Omashu and was excited to see her, but she turned down her “beloved friend’s” offer without a second thought. Did Ty Lee want Azula as a friend at that point, or was she upset Princess Azula knew of her and wished she had never known her? Azula definitely hurt Ty Lee at the circus, without a doubt. But did Ty Lee care for Azula? All we see is Ty Lee giving Azula lousy dating advice that did nothing to assuage Azula’s self-esteem issues. That’s love? That’s care?

Azula hurt Ty Lee, but did Ty Lee care for Azula? Maybe, but likely no.

Lo and Li?

Lo and Li said they were concerned for her well-being. Nobody else ever said anything like that to Azula throughout the show, nor any expanded content since. Yeah, they might have cared for her. Maybe they even loved her. I have a hard time saying Lo and Li were good for her, but it does seem they took a personal interest in Azula. And Azula banished them unfairly. She hurt them. And they appeared to care for her.

Yes, Lo and Li.

Her servants?

Her servants technically cared for her, cooking meals, doing laundry, her hair. They seemed shocked when Azula banished the girl holding the cherries. Perhaps some of them loved her, having known her for her whole life. I find it plausible Azula’s servants felt affection and personal devotion to Azula. And she hurt them. She unfairly banished them. They didn’t deserve it. And they cared for her.

Yes, her servants.

Her Imperial Firebenders?

Maybe? I assume they were mostly men and some women. I imagine at least some of those men were attracted to their princess, and I imagine some of those women were impressed by their princess’ firebending prowess. I can’t say they loved her or were affectionate, but they were certainly dutiful, at least duty-bound. And she banished them unfairly.

Yes, her Imperial Firebenders. They didn’t deserve it at least.

Her Dai Lee agents?

Screw the Dai Lee. They are scumbags. She was right to kick their sorry asses to the curb.

Who else? Her Fire Warriors?

How did she hurt them? She rescued them from the asylum!

The Zuko ghost confused me, and I find it interesting that it also confused Azula. Of all the dialogue in the comic, this felt the most unnatural, disturbing even, and Azula’s expressions during the encounter reflect that same feeling.

The Zuko ghost doesn’t sound like the rest of the comic. Azula had responses to all the ghosts until that point. The previous discussions concerned topics that felt natural to Azula’s perspective and experiences. The Zuko ghost don’t sound like it is expressing Azula’s self-loathing and creeping doubt the other ghosts conveyed.

To me, it sounds like it was speaking fandom talking points.

Grey Delisle, many years ago, said in an interview that she thinks Azula manipulates people into being her friends because she’s afraid people will leave her. The comic almost says this verbatim.

Certain fans believe that Azula took advantage of scores of people who were weaker than her, or dependent on her as would a petty toxic individual in an abusive interpersonal relationship, regardless of her station as princess. They, without question, cite Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee as being the prime examples.

Of the three, Zuko is the only one she took advantage of for petty reasons, and primarily as a poorly-raised child. For Ty Lee, she gave her the medieval lord treatment to rip her from the smelly circus where platypus-bears lay eggs out in the open. Mai? I don’t see it. But the Zuko ghost is not talking about people she hurt in general. It’s talking about people who cared for her that she hurt.

Zuko has hurt Azula. Ty Lee has hurt Azula. Mai has especially hurt Azula. But did these people care for her? Did she betray their love they held for her?

I don’t think Zuko, Mai, or Ty Lee “cared” for Azula by the time the events of the show roll around. The Zuko ghost sounds like it is using fandom talking points from certain fans who hold the most pessimistic interpretations of Azula’s behavior.

I find it notable that Azula is drawn with a confused and disturbed expression while she is being confronted by the most off-sounding accusations. I also find it notable that the ghost delivering these accusations turns into a threatening monster. I also find it notable that she winds up killing this ghost.

Maybe it is a metaphor.

To answer the question, "Who cared for Azula, and which of them did she hurt?" It appears to be Lo and Li, her servants, and Imperial Firebenders. Maybe Ty Lee and maybe her father. But think of all the arguments over Azula and her interpersonal relationships. Does anyone care about Lo and Li getting banished? Her servants getting wrongfully accused of trying to assassinate her? Her Imperial Firebenders for being disloyal? Her father being in prison and debended at the hands of Zuko and his supporters?

Of course not, it's always Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee, but the evidence that they "cared" for her is flimsy at best. The people who Azula should feel most guilty about hurting are the ones we, as fans, and the narrative, give the least amount of sympathy to.

[akiizayoi4869]

Azula In The Spirit Temple

So, I read the comic yesterday. And while I was confused about it at first, like I'm sure many people were, talking with some friends about it made me come to a conclusion. This comic was a reset button. That's why we didn't get anything new about Azula, and why what we actually did get was something that every Azula fan has known and has been saying for years now about her character. But this comic wasn't just for us. It was for the entire fandom as a whole. And as we all know, much of the fandom doesn't share our thoughts when it comes to her.

I'm not going to talk about the beginning of the comic since that part didn't interest me at all. What I want to talk about is when Azula is inside of the temple. A lot of interesting stuff happens there.

The first part being this. We see what happened when Azula firebended for the first time. We see how Ursa is afraid for Azula and not of her, because she knows what this means for Azula going forward. To Azula, however, she can't tell if Ursa was afraid for her or of her thanks to the fact that the relationship between them was never really good. Also, I need to make one thing clear before I move on: that turtle duck isn't real, it's a toy. I know that people are going to use and say that it proves that Azula is a psycho, but please use your brains for a minute. If it was actually real, do you really think the damn thing would be still? It would have been writhing around in pain and screeching to the high heavens. Not to mention that Ursa's reaction would have been very different. Heck, the entire scene would have played out differently.

Next up we have this part:

After so many years, the writers finally made what every Azula fan has been saying for years canon: that Azula was indeed abused by Ozai, Ursa's neglect hurt her deeply, and that both of these things played no small part in how she eventually turned out. We see Azula coming to terms with the fact that Ozai abused her, and that Ursa failed to protect her from him because she was so focused on Zuko that the way Ozai was with Azula seemed almost natural to Ursa. It didn't register that it was full on abuse. What really interested me about this scene was how Azula says that if Ursa has just allowed Zuko to be killed, she would have been able to stay and protect her. Is this fucked up? Yes. But it makes sense that Azula would think like that. In her pov, everyone left her for Zuko. Everyone wanted to protect him, but nobody felt like she needed protection too.

We get some scenes with Mai, Ty Lee, and Zuko as well:

These scenes show us how Azula feels about the betrayal at the Boiling Rock, as well as how she viewed her friendship with Mai and Ty Lee overall. It also shows us the harsh truths that Azula has internalized about herself: that her treatment of them wasn't ok, and that her overall attitude towards others in general is a problem. Ty Lee sort of says that to Azula, albeit in a kind way, which is reminiscent of how Ty Lee actually is. She tells Azula what she wants to hear. Mai, though? She straight up tells Azula the truth, very bluntly at that. Holds no punches at all. Mai tells Azula what she needs to hear, whether she likes it or not. Then the spirit takes the form of Zuko, who proceeds to tell her that everything that ever happened to Azula is her fault, and that nobody is responsible for her but herself. At first, this came across as victim blaming to me by the writers, which made me mad. But when I thought about it some more, I realized that that's not what this scene was. The spirit doesn't know anything about Azula. It's just showing her what she's thinking. It created a play of her innermost thoughts. So when you think about it like that, you come to one conclusion: Azula blames herself for her abuse, and how her life turned out. Which is actually common with abuse victims. They can acknowledge that they were abused, while at the same time simultaneously blaming themselves for it. Because the person who abused them loved them, right? So if they felt the need to harm them, obviously it's the victims fault for doing something wrong.

Then we get to the part where she's "offered" a chance at redemption:

Now, I know that there's going to be idiots who will look at this and go "See?! She had her chance at redemption but rejected it! Proof that she's evil!" but was it really "redemption"? Think about it. Like I said earlier, what the spirit was showing Azula was what she's been thinking for who knows how long. What it offered her was basically a false reality that it created where she could be happy. In other words, it wasn't real. Things would still be the same for her in the real world. And if you know that something is fake, are you going to take it? No. Not to mention, the damn thing tried to kill her😭. So is it really any wonder that she said "yeah no fuck you and your redemption offer" and blasted it full of lightning?

Azula escapes from the temple and eventually finds the rest of the Kemurikage in the end, but she ultimately decides to leave them alone, saying that they are unworthy of her leadership.

All in all, this comic wasn't bad and I actually like it. Now, as for why I say that it's a reset on her character? Because certain things from the previous comics that were centered around Azula aren't mentioned. One topic in particular, something that you would think would have been mentioned considering how much it hurt Azula in The Search.

Ursa choosing to forget about her and Zuko. Abandoning them to they're abuser.

When we see the spirit version of Ursa and Azula says what she does to her, nothing about that is ever mentioned. And if Azula was supposed to be unloading her grievances to Ursa, why wasn't this mentioned?

In the beginning, when they fight Ty Lee, Ty Lee says "Fire Lord Zuko is tired of your mischief, Azula!" which can honestly mean a number of things. The kidnapping incident from Smoke and Shadow doesn't get spoken about here either. Which brings me to my next point: Kiyi is nowhere to be found in this. Considering that Azula saw her as a replacement daughter for Ursa, we should have seen her at some point. Not to mention that Azula kidnapped her. And if the spirit was supposed to be showing her all of her past misdeeds and that she was wrong for them? I'm pretty sure that kidnapping a bunch of kids would have been pretty high on the list.

So going by all of that, I think it's pretty safe to say that the writers are trying to move away from Yang's writing, particularly with Azula, considering how much his portrayal of her is hated, especially in The Search. And in a time where more and more people are vocal about how things are shown in media, especially sensitive topics like mental health? It's no wonder that they would want to move away from that. And I mean really, this is what we've been asking them to do for a long time now. To retcon the Yang comics because he ruined every character, and if they want to redeem Azula, his writing of her would make it incredibly hard to do so. This comic I feel is a start to said retcons. With that being said though, I can understand why people are disappointed. The marketing for it made it seem like we were getting something else, and not this. For the Azula fans who've been waiting for 15 years basically for the writers to release some quality Azula content, I can see why this would be a let down.

[eponastory]

I know you most likely already realized this, but I was just thinking about Aang as a father in LOK, and realized something. If Katara ended up with Zuko and eventually had children together, Zuko would likely end up being a better father than Aang. Aang never even met his parents, and only had instructors as parental figures. They're like parents but mostly just in the way that a school teacher would be. But Zuko understands what good parents and what bad parents look like because he knows what his own parents are like. His memories of Ursa and Iroh would be his guide to what you SHOULD do for a child, and Ozai is an example of what you should NOT do. Zuko doesn't have the pressure of repopulating firebenders because firebenders aren't virtually extinct, so there wouldn't be as much (if any) pressure to pay unfairly extra attention to one child over the other. Zuko knows what it's like to be neglected by a parent that's supposed to love because of something you can't control. Aang clearly doesn't, hence why he neglected Bumi and Kya II in the first place. Zuko also has experience with Azula, and would know to recognize any bad signs of sibling jealousy and/or hatred, and put an end to it because he knows what bad sibling dynamics look like.

I feel like he would also be a better husband to Katara. He's not as naive as Aang when it comes to marriage; Zuko has the experience of growing up with two married parents, and would know what not to do. Katara would relax better because the distribution over who watches the kids would be more fair, as Zuko would give them ALL attention. While Aang made Katara jealous from always being around the Air Acolytes (in the comics), I feel like Zuko would not give polite attention to women who are rude to Katara/flirting with him because in the show, Zuko knows exactly how hurtful it feels for a romantic partner to flirt with/give polite attention to people who are obviously pursuers. Imagine being in an alternate dimension where Zutara was the main endgame couple, and we get to see their parental dynamics in LoK. There would probably be a flashback of Katara getting worked up about one of their children, and Zuko would ease her into calming down because he sees a solution that she didn't.

Aang's issues are more than he doesn't know. He is selfish by nature. Selfish parents aren't good parents. I know this for a fact. It's an endless cycle of 'It's your fault' or 'what about how I feel' every time you try to say something. It's not fun, and it's damaging. I can totally see Aang using this behavior as a way to get what he wants. As far as him being naive... yes. He is very naive and doesn't take anything seriously.

Like the war, for instance. He was only there for the last year of it. He wasn't born into the war like Zuko, Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Suki. They aren't naive. They know what war is like. Toph is the same age as Aang, and she is much more mature than he is. He's got this idea that killing anyone is bad, but he is responsible for a lot of deaths. Honestly, he has a kill count from the Fire Nation attack on the NWT, and a lot of people overlook that for some reason. Actually, the show overlooks it because Aang is the Hero, and it's okay if he killed people. So, when all is said and done, all of the things that he does afterward is overlooked too. It's a huge writing flaw with the show. So how does this translate to him as a parent?

It makes him a hypocrite.

Plain and simple.

He's so focused on reviving the Air Nomads that he has little knowledge on what they actually believed. What we are given is a few Taoist, Hindu, and Buddhist proverbs to go off of. Then, it's completely disregarded (disrespected as well) for 'Love'. This 'Love' is actually deep infatuation fueled by jealousy and possessive behavior. Which is actually frowned upon by the three religions mentioned above. It is a 'poison' to the spirit. And disconnects you from being enlightened (I think that is what the proverbs/scriptures are eluding too, if I'm wrong, please do not hesitate to explain, I'm super interested in cultures and eastern religions) or granted a place in Heaven (or their version of it). Letting go of all earthly possessions is common place in most religions. Aang does not do this. But I digress.

So, while there is the Nature vs Nurture aspect of parenting... where Katara does most of the Nurturing because that is how her character is written post-war and LoK. Notice how is said Written. Written by two misogynistic men who stripped her of a lot of her characteristics from the original run of the show. This is the problem. And it's the same with Aang. I can't take him seriously because he doesn't take any of it seriously. Especially with his children. He's not a serious character. He acts like he's serious, but he never really left the 12 year old boy behind to mature. Probably because in his fictional relationship with Katara, she enables him to keep doing what he always does. Which is to not grow. Relationships grow sour when the two people in them do not grow. It's not really about who grew up with parents at that point because it's the current parents that are the ones that should be to blame.

Now on to Headcanon space...

Zutara is a Headcanon ship. Did it almost happen? Oh yes I believe it did because the writing supports it heavily and Bryke's actions post show also scream 'lairs'. Sorry, but I have a pretty good Bullshit metor and Bryke set it off big time by their immature behavior.

But I digress.

Zuko grew up with a Narcissistic Sociopath as a Father and a Mother who was caught in the middle of a choice she was essentially forced to make. Ursa was also forced to forget her own parents never existed after she married Ozai. This is all canon, by the way. Her life before her marriage was great, but then it was taken away so she had nothing left but her morals and beliefs. However, while she loved both of her children, her influence on Zuko is essentially what made him who he is. Ursa didn't get to influence Azula like she did Zuko. Why? Because of Ozai.

Ozai pit his children against each other. This was apparently a Fire Nation Royal Family tradition because it sounds like Azulon did this with Iroh and Ozai as well. This kind of parenting style is abusive to its core. What Ozai did to Zuko isn't neglect... it's straightforward abuse and control. How do you make a child do what you want? You hurt them, or you take something away from them. Ozai both hurt Zuko and took away his home by banishing him. If Zuko wants to go back home, he has to find and capture the Avatar. It's that simple, but at the same time, it's also near impossible.

Flash forward to Canon Zuko and we see he has one child and he is a very loving father. Actually, he's the best father in the show. His experiences with growing up as the not so favorite child has made his choice to have one child easy. Probably because he and his spouse had a less than perfect relationship. This also may have influenced him to be protective of Izumi (as we can see he's still protective over her even at 90 years old) because of the loveless relationship his parents had. It was enough to damage him deeply when it came to relationships. This is likely also why he had trouble with Mai as well.

Headcanon space now...

Zuko loving Katara is what makes the difference here. Love is giving your partner the freedom to make their own choices and support them. As long as there is good communication, trust, and honesty. Something Maiko does not have, by the way. So it stands to reason that even with Nature Vs Nurture in the way of parenting, both win here. I'll tell you why Zuko's relationship with his parents here have no effect on why he would choose to have more children with Katara.

Because if written well, it's a very good relationship between them. We already know they work well as a team. The show gives us this. We know that Zuko absolutely cares about Katara. The show also gives us that. We also know they become lifelong friends. So why do they make great parents?

Because they rely on each other.

It has nothing to do with how they were raised individually, but everything to do with how they support each other narritively. They trust each other to make good decisions together. They rely on being honest with each other. They also communicate with each other. This by itself is the building blocks for a healthy and stable relationship. With that in mind, parenting is easier. There is no need to be afraid of becoming a bad parent because they hold each other accountable. It's a deep relationship. Having multiple children is easier because it is a loving relationship. There's no conflict besides the silly little arguments over simple things that happen all the time. It's just an overall healthy dynamic.

And that is what appeals to Zutarians.

While it was almost canon, I'm glad it isn't because Bryke would definitely not get it right. They tried to make Korra and Mako happen out of spite because they believe Zutara is toxic. It's not. Their children would turn out absolutely fine because Zuko would not change a thing about Katara. It's in the show. He doesn't try to change her because that's not his job. His job in TSR is to let her find closure. He offers it to her because he cares about her. Bottom line.

Anyway, I probably forgot what you said at this point because I just tend to go on and on, but I tried my best to stay on topic... ADHD is both a blessing and a curse.

[zuko-always-lies]

List of Azula AU/fic ideas

Better parenting Ursa

Azula raises Katara AU (and continued) and more

Azula and Katara get friendly postwar and talk about their brothers.

Mai is significantly older than Azula and Ty Lee AU (Older "sister" Mai)

Jin works at Iroh's teashop but finds out about his past

Zuko tells Azula about the Spirit Water

Ursa and Ozai get along better, and it's not a good thing AU

Imperialist Lu Ten survives the war and tries to regain his throne afterwards

Zuko finds out more about his nation AU

Revolutionary Azula takes over Ba Sing Se AU

Three different AU ideas in one

Favoritism in the royal family is a little different

What if Zuko had a nonbending twin sister (who he doesn't get along with).

Zuko's daughter changes how he sees Azula

Zuko and Ursa try to isolate Azula ("for her own good")

Ozai gets exiled and the Gaang stupidly ally with him

Earth Kingdom ends up with custody of Azula postwar and support her bid for the Fire Nation throne when Zuko starts another war with them.

The Gaang tries to figure out why Zuko joined them.

Dangerous Ladies find Ursa in Book 2

Azula and Toph fake dating

Zuko/"world leaders" try to force Aang to take away Azula's bending and he's very much not OK with it.

Azula is thrown away to the NWT postwar as a trinket and Chief Arnook adopts her.

Comics! Ursa's letter about Zuko being a bastard gets out.

Zuko and Katara lie about what happened during the Agni Kai

An exiled Azula finds Fire Imperialist! Ursa postwar

Aang has to save Azula from being executed by Zuko

Zuko's defection during DoBS goes very badly for Mai

Zuko joins the Gaang at Ba Sing Se, but it ends poorly

Zuko killed Azula during the Agni Kai, and now he has to deal with the consequences.

AU idea where Zuko keeps Azula permanently imprisoned in bad and torturous conditions postwar, and Izumi finds out about when she’s relatively young, and draws exactly the sort of conclusions about her parents that you would expect. Not to mention being terrified that she might be treated the same way if she missteps…

Ozai never declares Zuko and Iroh traitors

Iroh-Azula roleswap au

Zuko asks Azula for help with his firebending

Zuko wants Azula to like him but doesn't get why she doesn't like him (postwar)

Katara has an arranged marriage with Zuko and Azula tries to get into the good graces of her sister in law

"Katara is supposed to have an arranged marriage with Zuko, but she falls in love with Azula instead."

Another take on Zvtara (arranged marriage) and Maizula.

Azula-Katara AU idea (or: Katara runs into an Azula who has changed a lot in some ways and not very much in others)

Zuko is actually Ikem's son

Firelord Azula ends her brother's exile

Azula raises Izumi (it's complicated)

"AU idea: Azula commits suicide out of despair, and just about everyone is convinced that Zuko had her murdered or at the very least “encouraged” her to do it."

Dangerous Ladies get banished/declared traitors and Azula basically gives up. Mai has to step up her place

I have to say, “Zuko has to deal with finding out that Ursa very much isn’t who he believed she was” remains excellent fanfic fodder.

"AU idea: Ursa is more aware of Ozai’s abuse and potential for abuse than in canon, so, right after her exile, she seeks out Iroh and charges him with protecting both of her children."

Firelord Iroh treats Azula in a really screwed up way.

"AU where Azula dies during the latter stages of the war or right after it, and Mai is the only person who ever morns her as a person, not as a politically convenient symbol (Ty Lee runs away from her complex feelings on Azula as much as she can)."

Dark idea

"Since so much of the fandom is convinced that Azula is Zuko’s older sister, I need an AU where this is true and Zuko is just as throne-obsessed as canon and spends all his time trying to usurp his older sister."

"AU where Ozai has a heart attack and dies right after the fire siblings return to the Fire Nation, and Zuko and Azula have to pick up the pieces. Meanwhile, the Gaang are plotting to overthrow them and bring the war to a close once and for all..."

King Kuai adopts Azula as his heir

Things get complicated, darkly (Azula exiled postwar AU)

What if Zuko tried to be a good brother

"I really need an AU where Lu Ten returns and is pissed over Ozai’s usurpation, so he kills Ozai, seizes the throne, and continues the war. Of course, Iroh ends up supporting his actual son in all of this, and the conflict in the Fire Nation ends up boiling down to Zuko and Azula vs. Lu Ten and Iroh as the situation spirals toward civil war, at the same time the 100 years war continues."

"Maizula AU where Mai married Zuko, but he died not long after Izumi was born, and Azula and Mai are secretly carrying out a relationship while raising Izumi and ruling the Fire Nation as her regents."

Azula joins the Gaang with a twist...

"The chaos which would result if Lu Ten showed up alive again in Book 1 and launched a rebellion against Ozai in pursuit of “his” throne."

Ursa opposes Firelord Zuko

Iroh tries to kill Azula during "The Chase"

Mai and Ty Lee on trial for "war crimes"" and Azula has to save them

This is very long list, and people are welcome to steal any ideas they want from it for their own use.

[phoenix-king-ozai]

The Ozai, Ursa, & Ikem romance debacle…

I truly honestly hope that the Netflix adaptation doesn’t adapt The Search when it comes to Ozai and Ursa’s relationship. Which, thank Agni seems not to fully be the case. It seems that LA Ozai does care for Ursa and his family members, even Zuko. He show respect to Lu Ten and Iroh and even cried when burning Zuko. He even mentioned the “soft” mother Ursa when talking to Zuko and referenced her when saying “don’t talk to me about loss” Showing that he had feeling for her.

The Search is very poorly written and turn Ozai into a very piss-poor caricature of an evil abusive bad man for no good or compelling reason yet even fails to deliver on that interpretation of Ozai and Ursa’s complex and compelling relationship.

This song is basically the Urzai relationship in the ATLA comics!

If The Search wanted to turn Ozai into a compelling, vicious, dangerous, and cruel monstrous villain in Ursa’s and our own eyes. Then why didn’t Yang have Ozai kill Ikem when he THREATENED his father, Fire Lord’s Azulon life in defiance due to his love for Ursa? Yet, for some reason, he had Ozai spare Ikem’s life due to Ursa's “love” for Ozai which Ozai knows is a blatant lie and stupidly desperate!

The realistic and emotionally heart-wrenching scenario would be for Ozai to march towards Ikem, Ursa tries to stop Ozai, however Ozai scarred Ursa’s wrist by burning her via firebending and then backhanded her causing her lip to bleed. Then proceed to execute Ikem by immolation in front of Ursa’s very eyes. This very demented, sinister, vile, and cruel brutal punishment for DARING to raise his hand against Fire Lord Azulon, Fire Prince Ozai, and the Fire Sages wishes would had created a compelling narrative regarding Ursa having complete and justified loathing of her betroth Ozai.

It was extremely foolish, idiotic, unreasonable, and unrealistic to have a no-named peasant like Ikem, who is not a firebender, attack the royal carriage and guards no matter how brave and noble his affection and intentions were regarding the integrity of his childhood love. Fire Lord Azulon and Fire Prince Ozai probably should have immediately immolated Ikem and his familial relations due to his affront against the Fire Lord and his son. Trying to stand up against the authoritarian, oppressive, violent, and vicious absolute monarchical regime of Fire Lord Azulon and Fire Prince Ozai should have come with immense consequences just like the fire nation rebels in Episode 3: Omashu in NATLA.

Zuko mentions that Ozai and Ursa’s along with their family used to be happy, and we saw that in Zuko's flashbacks. Yang, just decided to make Ursa a victim because in his mind: URSA WOMAN, OZAI BAD MAN, SHE MUST BE HELD, HOSTAGE!!! While Ozai and Ursa arrange marriage does make sense and was confirmed by the creators. It doesn't mean that Ozai and Ursa relationship was ALWAYS BAD, or SHE WAS KIDNAPPED! Plus, the Urzai relationship is quite normal in the antiquity of Asian societies that the Fire Nation is based on aka Shogunates of Japan and Imperial Chinese Dynasties!!!

Personally, I am afraid that the ATLA comics are going to screw up the Fire Nation Royal Family Characterization and Dynamics along with making them one-dimensional especially Ozai and Azulon. They might legit have Azulon and Ozai be abusive and beat Ilah and Ursa. I'm so doomer blackpilled regarding ATLA comics considering the Serach. This is probably why the comic writers ignore making a comic Pre-Zuko Alone flashbacks.

Ozai's harshness and ruthless regarding Zuko has nothing to do with Ursa or Ikem forbidden love! Ozai wants Zuko and Azula to both prove themselves. Ozai doesn't favor Zuko or Azula. It is about which child will succeed Sozin, Azulon, and his legacy as future Fire Lord. In fact, Ozai doesn't want Zuko or Azula to think that they are the “favorite” child. He wants Azula and Zuko to improve through competition. Because of the “only the greatest of pressures can forge diamonds” & “steel sharpen steel” mentality. Ozai has the mentality of an imperialist warlord. Ozai isn't trying to be the world's most loving and caring father but rather continue and build upon a powerful and dominant legacy that his forefathers had created before him. He wants Zuko & Azula to be cold, ruthless, heartless, vicious, and brutal imperialistic warmongers like him (Ozai), his father (Azulon), and his grandfather (Sozin).

[comradekatara]

Hello! So this is not quite an ask but THANK YOU for doing god's work of injecting some actual nuance, defending bolin (among other things), critiquing the comics, and all the plot holes/things that just don't make sense which become glaringly obvious if one thinks about any aspect for more than two seconds (lol but you know this already duh) and am only annoyed I did not stumble upon this blog sooner, since I am so done with this show (but also I keeping at it like the scabs). Also, your art is delightful! If you still require an ask, do you perchance write fanfic? (it's possible you might have mentioned it but sometimes I can't read lol)

Have a good day!

hello, and thank you! also it’s funny that defending bolin is the first thing you list because I thought I made it pretty clear that I think his character is direly poorly-written and that I do not care for him. but… you’re welcome I guess? but yes obviously critiquing the comics and imbuing nuance and all of that I will definitely gladly take credit for. and thank you for liking my art! i do occasionally write fanfic, but i’ve only ever shown it to my friends and never actually posted it anywhere, so functionally, my answer would be no. i have debated posting it in the past, but idk, i don’t think that would be a good idea. maybe someday i’ll snap tho who knows.

as for your other ask…

Also because I clicked on the ask button before I had a brain fart (so if this would come off a bit deranged for posting an ask right after the first my apologies), I also want to mention the commentary that Iroh being 'everyone's favourite sexist' is gold because we just gloss over that and no one ever seems to mention that scene. Another thing about atla is that the reason given for Zuko's constant internal struggle and conflict is because he's descended from the previous avatar and the fire lord but hello, Azula?? Did Ursa have an affair now?? Isn't she just as worthy of redemption, or the fact she's just as abused anyhoo ok im done

I mean I’m assuming by “that scene” you mean the one with june, but tbh his misogyny isn’t relegated to simply one unpalatable scene. it’s reflected in how he treats azula (versus zuko) across the show. and I know that zuko is softer and more amenable than azula, and he has demonstrated a desire to do good that azula hasn’t, but it’s also quite troubling that iroh just writes off his fourteen year old niece as a lost cause when she is also the sibling who most resembles him. and he somehow just can’t seem to understand that she is worthy of the same empathy and compassion and understanding as zuko is, that playing favorites like this isn’t good or normal. and I actually think that azula has it way worse than iroh, both because she’s a girl and because azulon seemed to love iroh conditionally (despite clearly not feeling the same about ozai), whereas ozai’s love for azula is incredibly conditional and does not exempt her from his violence. but you know. her hysterical wandering womb is outta control she needs to go down she cant be trusted she’s a sickopath!!!! like. ok old man.

as for your next point, I do think that what iroh says about zuko’s ancestry reflecting the ideological battle within him is fully bullshit, but I do reconcile that by interpreting iroh’s claims not as what he truly believes, but as a rhetorical point he thinks might get through to zuko. because he’s really run the gamut of wisdom and guidance, some of it even being contradictory, just in an attempt to pierce through zuko’s thick, stubborn skull. and it does pay off, eventually, but it takes ages to get there. like how much do you wanna bet his first approach was to just straight up be like “your father is an abuser and you shouldn’t adhere to his dogmas.” and then when that didn’t work he started getting creative with it. and like, the reason it gets through to zuko isn’t even because roku was his great grandfather, but because he was ursa’s grandfather. and realizing that he too can be good and stand up for what he believes in, like her, his true role model, is his ultimate takeaway from that lesson. but I really do think by that point iroh’s rhetorical strategy was really to just throw vaguely pertinent metaphors at the wall to see what sticks.

[sokkastyles]

Zutara Month Day 11: "Mom and Dad are Fighting Again"

CW in the tags, and Ozai being Ozai, although just a brief mention.

They'd been arguing about some stupid thing. The color of the curtains in what used to be known as the war room. Zuko's advisors had flooded him with samples of various shades of crimson fabric, while Aang had taken it upon himself to list various new functions for what he had dubbed the "peace" room (just doesn't have the same ring to it, Sokka had muttered), when Toph had leaned over and put her hand in front of her mouth in a dramatic imitation of a whisper while she spoke in a sing-song manner in Suki's ear, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

"Mom and Dad are fighting again!"

"Toph!" Katara whirled around. "This is serious. If Zuko wants to rebrand himself as the people's firelord," she glared across the room at him as she spoke, "he can't have curtains the color of blood! A softer apple blush would look lovely here, with a bit of cream and gold, unless someone doesn't think it's manly enough of course..." she trailed off, clearly anticipating his biting comeback.

"Wow, you really are ready to move in with him, aren't you?" Toph said. "I was only joking, but man..."

Katara sputtered at that, then found her voice. "Toph! Zuko!"

Zuko didn't hear her. He stood, hearing the echo of Toph's words, spoken years ago by a much younger girl as she'd grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the open palace window adjacent to the garden where he and his sister had been playing.

"Come on," Azula had said, insistent, tugging on his sleeve, as Zuko let himself be pulled along. He always did. "Come see," she said, and her grin made him feel something open up in the pit of his stomach as his feet followed her. "Mom and dad are fighting again."

Zuko found himself halfway down an empty, sunlit corridor before he realized it, his stiff and pointed firelord shoes echoing on the marble floor. Stumbling, he reached for a latch, pushing open a floor-length window and stepping out into the garden, overgrown now, but still the same place where he and his sister had played as children.

He didn't know how long he had been there before he heard Katara behind him.

"It's beautiful out here," she said, her voice soft with reverence.

"It's not what it used to be," he said, without looking at her. It was true. They had more to do to make things look presentable than just the curtains. His father hadn't cared much for beautiful things, after Lady Ursa had left.

"Are you okay?" she asked gently, and he could feel her behind him. "Look, I'm sorry about the stupid curtains."

"You never have to apologize to me." He wanted to turn around, to reach out to her, to hold her. But he just...didn't know how to. All he could think about was his sister pulling him towards that open window.

Finally he spoke, kneeling to examine a single yellow lily that had somehow grown out of a bed of weeds, the only spot of sunshine in a sea of red. So much damned red. Katara was right, it was reminiscent of nothing short of blood, and they'd had more than enough of that, hadn't they?

"My dad," he said. "Hurt my mom. He didn't...hit her or anything. And I was too young to know, really. But he hurt her."

"Zuko, I'm so sorry," she said, nearly whispering, as if they might break some sort of fragile silence between them.

And here she was, apologizing again, for something he had done. "I just...don't want that to be us," he said, finally, turning to look at her.

"Us?" She eyed him quizzically.

Zuko looked down again, afraid that he had misread things. Of course he wasn't as bad as Toph, he didn't think Katara actually wanted to move in with him, but he had thought... "Unless there's not...an us?" He studied her expression, waiting for her to laugh, or get angry again, but she didn't.

Instead, she reached for his hand. "I'd like there to be an us," she said quietly.

"Me too," he said, entwining his fingers with her cool ones, and when he looked up at her, he saw warmth in her eyes.

[balanceoflightanddark]

I would be curious to hear your full thoughts on Azula in the Spirit Temple

...oh boy...my full thoughts on Azula in the Spirit Temple...

Needless to say, there has been a LOT of discourse on the release of the Azula one-shot these past few days. I know cause...well, I made a post saying my fic was on hiatus till I got my head straight. So needless to say, I've been in the middle of it myself.

The thing about the one-shot though is that it's not just the comic itself but all the baggage and expectations that comes with something that we've been waiting 15 years for. This is the first time Azula has EVER gotten the focus for once. For many of us, this has sort of been a make-or-break situation. I'll get to why in a moment but needless to say, it's been a stressful week.

But having read the comic, I'm ready to give my opinions on it. Spoilers. Obviously.

By now you should know the synopsis: after a raid on a granary, Azula's Fire Warriors make a rescue attempt for one of their comrades, leaving Azula behind. After trying to track them down for their "betrayal", Azula stumbles across a temple deep within the wood home to a monk. Of course, not all is as it seems, as it becomes apparent that something dark resides within, pitting the Princess against her very own psyche.

As I mentioned before, this is Azula's first time in the spotlight. The whole comic is written from her point of view, and she is effectively the protagonist. Going in, I was both excited...and terrified. See, this is her first appearance since the Yang comics and...

...yeah. Needless to say, there's a LOT of bad blood for me going into this comic. So much so that I nearly lost it when I heard some of the spoilers going in.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

To begin, this comic does the most critical thing right: Azula is NOT portrayed as being an irredeemable monster. While she's still a villain and makes a lot of questionable choices (her treatment of the Fire Warriors is reminiscent of how she treated Mai and Ty Lee after all), she's also given a great deal of sympathy. Probably the most we've seen out of the franchise so far.

If Azula was some kind of monster, there's no way panels like this should even exist. What's more, I actually think it does something that I think wasn't handled well in the series and treated little!Azula as...well, a kid. Not a monster or "sick" as Zuko called her in "Zuko Alone". Just a talented kid who unfortunately caught the eye of Ozai for being good at firebending. Hell, that teaser image of her burning the turtleduck was actually a toy and not the real deal.

It's stuff like this that got me excited for the comic initially. This was what we've been waiting for years now. Writers actually acknowledging that Azula was a victim and not some monster.

...which is why I blew up when the previews turned out to be misleading.

See, Azula doesn't get her redemption here. She's offered one (we'll get to that in a minute), but she rejects it and ends the story as a bad guy. Granted there are hints that she's starting to change, but she's still going after the throne and is still opposed to Zuko. Which...kind of got me upset. Mainly cause I thought it was another bait-and-switch like with Yang hinting at Azula changing at the end of The Search, then going around with her crappy portrayal in Smoke and Shadows.

Course there's only so much you can do within a single one-shot, so admittedly...my hopes were too high. Like, there was a lot I wanted. I wanted the heroes to finally get called out on their bull crap. I wanted Azula to get a break. I wanted...I guess I wanted to feel validated that somebody was listening to us.

And granted there is a little bit here and there. The asylum is NOT looked on kindly by Azula or any of the Fire Warriors, with her even trying to reassure herself she's not being held there anymore.

She even calls out Ursa on abandoning her, saying that Ozai effectively conditioned her into being a weapon when she didn't have any choice in the matter. Hell, there's a heavy implication she's genuinely hurt by what Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee pulled in the past (which considering what they did in the comics, is a lot) and wants some kind of apology from them.

Again, while she's not entirely a saint here, I don't think they'd have this panels if she was entirely in the wrong.

Which then we get to the redemption offer. Basically, the Spirit offers to give her a chance to change...which she rejects.

The problem is, said chance involves her apologizing to THEM first. And I don't think that's portrayed as a good thing since the hallucination of Zuko looks eerily reminiscent of Ozai and downright monstrous. As others have pointed out, it's clear that the Spirit doesn't know Azula and the "redemption" sounds more like groveling for forgiveness. So of COURSE it's not going to work for somebody like Azula since that won't solve anything for her.

So...we come to the ending.

The Spirit calls Azula a monster, says she's squandered a chance for redemption, and she looks upon the Fire Warriors having fun together and...she leaves...

...alone...

...look. I understand that @prying-pandora666 said this was essentially a reset. Getting Azula to a post-Sozin's Comet state with a fresh start. And I get that. Particularly if the animated stuff is gonna feature her.

...but she's alone...again...

I'm okay with her not getting a redemption since I don't think she was mentally ready for one. But...

sighs

Listen, remember how I said I wanted a lot from this comic? Too much in fact? Yeah. I was so focused on what I needed as opposed to what Azula needed. A fresh slate might be what she needs. And in a vacuum, I think this comic is pretty solid.

It's just everything else is where I have problems.

15 years waiting. 15 years of Bryke/Yang's comics, ableism, and lack of empathy. 15 years of stress, of being seen as an outcast by the fandom. It's...it's a lot to hold. And there's no way a single good comic is gonna be able to rebuild those burned-down bridges. I understand that there's talk of a potential follow-up and stuff for her from Avatar Studios.

It's just...you know. You're always afraid of this being the end. Which...doesn't sit well with me. I'm just afraid they're gonna use Azula as a marketing tool to sell future comics. That they're gonna drag this out. That they're gonna keep playing this centrist field instead of committing (it's fine here, and I do think Faith does lean in towards Azula being sympathetic after all), it's just...

I'm sorry. I want to love this comic and be excited for more stuff with Azula but...15 years is a long time. And it's going to take more than a single good comic to get me back on board fully.

[clown-cult]

Becoming more and more convinced that firelords just reproduce like amoeba.

Sozin has no wife mentioned as far as I know, Azulon’s wife is named but that’s all we know about her, Iroh seemingly just magically gained Lu Ten out of thin air and both Zuko and Azula look far more like Ozai than they do like Ursa.

Bonus points for LOK continuing the tradition and Zuko having Izumi while Izumi has Iroh the second, no mention of second parents anywhere.

Hence, the fire lords can reproduce asexually. I do not know the exact science of this or what it means for the world of avatar, only that I will not be taking criticism at this time.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

i genuinely think that "zuko goes to ozai for advice" could be an amazing plot beat if they showed it as a self-destructive behavior that zuko clearly regrets it later because he sees that he was simply regressing by doing so. when i first heard that this was a plot point in the comics i thought it was so interesting, to see zuko so isolated he would cave to such a clearly diegetically bad decision! but that was not the way they chose to depict it and that really upset me

The Yang comics really are peak "This could have been a good writting choice if only you had not decided to go about it in the stupidest way imaginable."

Like, take the Azula plot. Azula being too paranoid and set in her ways to understand that Zuko is trying to help her out and bond, and thus lashing out against him and remaining evil, WOULD be an interesting, tragic, compelling arc, and it makes sense considering her breakdown is all about her not trusting even her own shadow.

THE PROBLEM is that this doesn't work when we see Zuko literally had her commited to an asylum where she's clearly being abused, something Yang himself confirmed. It's not "paranoia" or "being too set in her ways" that is making Azula reject Zuko's kindness - that kindness IS fake, it IS a manipulative tactic to make her let her guard down.

Same for "Ursa is a good mom who just made some mistakes." She wrote a letter with the false claim that Zuko was someone else's kid, just to spite Ozai, even though SHE KNOWS the guy is violent and abusive and already didn't like Zuko. The last thing she ever said to Zuko was "never forget who you are" yet she willingly forgot him and Azula. She says she's sorry for not loving Azula enough, yet she only mentions her ONCE after the whole thing even though Azula is missing while in the middle of very clear mental health crisis. This version of Ursa is clearly a terrible mom and a terrible person, but her backstory is sad so it gets ignored.

What Yang thinks he wrote very rarely matches his actual writting, to the point that I sometimes go "He HAS to be doing it on purpose, there's no way"

[akiizayoi4869]

Zuko's Fever Dream

This dream that Zuko has when he's going through his little "metamorphosis" (odd choice of words there, Iroh) didn't make sense to me years ago as a little kid, and it still really doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me now🤣. Like, if nothing else, this dream is a prime example, and a damn good one at that, of dreams not making sense. It shows Zuko as the Fire Lord, which makes sense, seeing as all he wanted at that point was to return home and claim his birthright (even if said birthright was never his to begin with). He's surrounded by a group of Fire Nation soldiers and two dragons, who are revealed as Azula and Iroh.

The dragon that is supposed to be Azula says this:

"It's getting late. Are you planning to retire soon, my Lord?"

"I'm not tired."

"Relax, Fire Lord Zuko. Just let go. Give in to it. Shut your eyes for a while."

As we see in these two images here, he almost does give in to what she's saying and almost falls asleep until the red dragon speaks up.

"No, Fire Lord Zuko! Do not listen to the blue dragon. You should get out of here right now. Go! Before it's too late!"

"Sleep now, Fire Lord Zuko."

"Sleep. Just like Mother!"

That whole dialogue exchange just doesn't make sense. The last bit that's said is interesting, and it also implies something that's disturbing on Zuko’s end: that he thinks for some reason that Azula, who was either 8 or 9 years old at the time, had something to do with Ursa's disappearance/death. Why does he think that? It doesn't make any sense to assume that his little sister had anything to do with that. It would have made more sense to have Zuko think that Ozai had something to do with it.

I guess you can interpret this dialogue as a sort of nod to their current circumstances. Azula is hunting down Zuko and Iroh for Ozai. By her telling Zuko to close his eyes and sleep, it's making him vulnerable to her, easy to capture. But then Iroh shouts at him not to fall asleep and to leave now while he still can. By doing that, Zuko can avoid being captured. That actually makes sense to me. But if this was supposed to be foreshadowing the eventual betrayal that was coming two episodes later, they could have chosen better dialogue.

The only part about this dream sequence that interests me somewhat is that Azula is portrayed as the devil on Zuko's shoulder, while Iroh is supposed to be the angel. Which, at this point in time, makes sense for Zuko to view the two of them like this. Azula is trying to capture him and Iroh, not to mention the rivalry he had going on with her thanks to Ozai’s abuse. Iroh has been the one family member he's had since Ursa left who has always been there for him. What's frustrating about this is that the narrative never makes Zuko question his views about these two. Iroh is obviously not this perfect angel who can do no wrong. He is very much a morally gray character who has done a ton of fucked up and sketchy shit. Azula isn’t the evil in Zuko's life that he must take down no matter what. That was Ozai. The fact that the narrative never challenges Zuko on his views on these two just stunts his character growth and is proof that he's not done growing.

Finally, we get up to my favorite part of this bizarre dream🤣

This shit. Wtf is this monstrosity😭. Were the writers thinking of the freaking fusion dance from DBZ when they thought of this? It literally looks like a fusion between Aang and Zuko. No wonder the poor boy woke up screaming. If that was me, I would have woken up screaming, too. The last bit of this scene was another thing that stood out to me.

Zuko touches his scar here as a way to reassure himself that he's still him. It just interested me because in an odd way, the scar is like a sort of comfort for him here? I guess? Idk. Maybe comfort isn't the right word to use. But this part just felt like something worth pointing out.

[gardenlollipop]

Why Ozai is not a bad character

This seems like an outrageous take but hear me out.

My first topic of discussion is how horrible ozai's childhood must have been. His father was Azulon and the way he treated Zuko and Azura was probably has a direct correlation to how his own childhood must have been. Like that scene where his dad slapped for spilling a cup of water. He also has burns all over his body from his father, you just don't see them in the show. Or the comics. Trust me. Because there's evidence that clearly points to this.

Second, about Zuko's whole scar. 13 year old Zuko is a known deceptive, manipulative, evil worm. Think about how quickly he switched sides from the "evil" side to team avatar (suspicious). Also, it's so obvious that his scar is fake and that he reapplies it every morning and night. You can even see cosmetics in the background, and there's one scene where it's not even on his face. like could they have made it any more obvious, yet all you LOVE manipulative and lying Zuko.

Next let's talk about URSA. OH MY GOD URSA. When firebird ozai threatened to mistreat Zuko to Ursa, he was just trying to defend himself from his evil manipulative child to his equally manipulative wife. She mistreated her children and him and escaped the second she saw the chance, without a second thought towards her family. Also, the thing that's most ignored by this ignorant fandom, is how she threatened his parents that she would release fire nation noble secrets unless she could marry their son, Ozai, who was terrified of her. Also, the way he proved his love by sacrificing his own parents for her in the comic "North and South".

For Azula, I think it goes without saying how insane Azula is, not to mention how ungrateful she is towards her father in the last episode after she's made firelord even though she's not even that talented, Ozai's words not mine. Ozai also had a good reason to mistreat Azula, seeing how much she mistreated the one he loved, Mai. Even in Azula's childhood she would lie to her parents, even her father even though he clearly cared about her and was a very good parent.

Not much can be said about Iron, considering we don't see much of their relationship. Consider how negligent and uncaring Iron was towards his brother after he lost his nephew, Lu Ten. Iron instead used this to bring attention to himself. He also betrayed Ozai, putting his manipulative nephew Zuko over his own brother.

Next is Mai, she lied to the firelord to get on his good side, and in the end just betrayed him to go with Zuko and avatar. Mai might be the worst character in the show, seeing as she betrayed not only one of her closest friends, but also Ozai, the man who truly loved her. Not to mention, the only reason she liked Zuko was because he joined the avatar and she believed his side would win in the end. Because all she ever cared about was making herself look good.

AANG!! Despite the fact that he had unresolved feelings for the firelord, he still took down his love and deep down should feel ultimately guilty.

Finally, Ozai is extremely attractive. Let's start with his lovely, clear skin and his high sculpted cheekbones and beautiful glossy olive skin. Not to mention his beautiful golden shining eyes, sculpted into the perfect almond shape. He was especially attractive in the New live action. Considering his beautiful ribbed abs, his long Lucious, black locks, and even in the final battle how he still looks put together and attractive and HOT.

We need to talk about one final point, how he just wanted his kingdom and his people to be the best it could possibly. All of his actions were just him looking out for his people. He mistreated some people but he could have been a lot worse. And he was a good king. He's just very patriotic in his love for Agni kai, his people, and the color red. and bonfires. and birds. He especially loved the beautiful sight of grey smoke falling over the beautiful, white, melting snow whenever he attacked the southern water tribe.

Also he is a good king.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk