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Azula: Psychology Analysis

The Most Complex Antagonist in Animation History: Azula

In the hit animation series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Azula is one of the main antagonists next to her father, Firelord Ozai. Throughout the show, Azula attempts to kill the Avatar, Avatar Aang, and help her father conquer the other three elemental nations. Her complex background makes viewers question if she truly is an antagonist, or rather a victim herself. 

Childhood

One’s childhood is the most vital period in their life as it shapes who they are, how they think, and how they act. Growing up as Fire Nation royalty, Azula already had immense pressure on her. Her name, Azula, is taken from her grandfather’s name, Firelord Azulon. Something as simple as her name shows that her father already had high expectations for her, and he would rather have her be Firelord than her brother, Zuko. This pushed Firelord Ozai to make his children constantly compete against each other to see who truly was the stronger sibling and therefore, the person that should be the heir to the throne. Having an already competitive relationship with her brother, Azula became even more fierce when she saw that her mother favored Zuko more than her. She constantly tried to win her mother’s love but Azula ultimately knew that she viewed her as a monster, having heard her mother say it herself. With both parents showing no true love or affection to her, Azula had no one in her family to lean on as a child unlike Zuko who had his mother and his uncle, Iroh. 

Betrayal

With no one to turn to in times of need, Azula fortunately had two best friends, Mai and Ty Lee. These three were very close growing up and they eventually reconnected during their teenage years when Azula asked them to help her hunt the Avatar. Despite not showing any affection to them, Azula’s love for the two was very strong. She truly cared for them and wanted them to be by her side when she became the next Firelord. This deep attachment is shown when Azula apologized to Ty Lee after calling her a tease, which is the only person who Azula is shown to apologize to or have any clear compassion towards in the whole series. When Mai and Ty Lee turned against her in the fourth season to help Zuko, Azula reached her breaking point. She visibly became unhinged and constantly on-guard because the only people who she had ever cared for left her. Not to mention, the person they betrayed her for was Zuko, the person who her mother gave all her attention and love to. This event broke all of Azula’s ties to reality and it brought her schizophrenia to light. All of the pain from her childhood came back to her and it eventually led to her downfall during her fight with Zuko. 

Mental Illness 

When Azula is first introduced, she comes off as a ruthless, arrogant teenager that has been given everything she has ever wanted, on top of being naturally gifted. As the series progresses viewers learn so much more about her true personality and the depth behind her seemingly composed nature. After her two closest friends, Mai and Ty Lee, betrayed her for Zuko, all the pain and trauma from her childhood that revolved around her mother came rushing back to her. When Azula is back in the Fire Nation palace, she is shown to hallucinate her mother, which is the scene where her schizophrenia is introduced. During her conversation with her mother, the two talk about Azula’s trust issues and the discussion ends with her mother telling her, “I love you Azula, I do”. This further pushes Azula to her mental breaking point, as she has always wanted to hear her mother say those words, yet she knew that this scenario was only happening in her mind. After this encounter, the princess seems to be more on-edge than ever and her paranoia skyrockets as she even fires the people who taught her firebending, Lo and Li. When Zuko challenges her to an Agni Kai during the last moments of the series, Azula accepts because of her overwhelming pride yet her reckless fighting causes her to lose, which is entirely due to her mental state at the moment. This loss finally breaks Azula and the scene closes with Azula crying as she has a terrifying mental breakdown. 

Intelligence/Personality 

Being born with such incredible talent, Azula was bound to have a superiority complex. This superiority complex came with a large sense of arrogance but it was certainly not unjustified, since Azula is considered to be one of the most powerful and intelligent people in the Avatar series. She constantly strived to be the best and she aimed to be nothing less than perfect, which she picked up from her father constantly expecting perfection from her as a child. Azula’s intelligence and perception skills were also a product of her childhood, as she had few people to talk to or ask for help. She was forced to learn how to meet her father’s standards by herself and this further produced her ability to make quick decisions, strategize, and plan for potential problems. Since Azula was never close to anyone in her family and she rarely talked to them, she spent much of her time studying her family members which built her ability to perceive their thoughts and emotions. This strong sense of emotional intelligence is showcased during the campfire scene, when everyone vented their emotional burdens and trauma. Azula was able to elaborate on what they said and explain what events in their life led up to their trauma and how it currently affects their personality, life, etc. Azula’s interesting mindset and personality are what makes her such an interesting antagonist and they are the main reason why many viewers have taken a liking to her.

Zuko

Zuko had always been more of a rival than a brother to Azula, regarding how their father raised them, but Azula may have never hated him personally. When Azula saw her mother favoring Zuko more than her, she instantly started to resent him for it. The same sense of resentment emerged when her friends chose Zuko over her, yet she was never angered at him personally, she only redirected her emotions towards him. Since everyone chose Zuko over Azula, she envied him for having so much support and love shown to him. An interesting side of her is shown when she convinces Zuko to fight alongside her against the Avatar in Ba Sing Se. She did not do this just because she wanted Zuko to betray his friends, she wanted Zuko to come back to the Fire Nation and rule alongside her. After the two defeated the Avatar and returned to their father, Azula studied Zuko and she became aware of his depression that came from the constant hatred from Firelord Ozai. In an attempt to lift his spirit, she lies and tells their father that Zuko was the one that killed the Avatar, not her. Although many think that Azula set Zuko up for failure since Aang was revived later on, Azula had no way of knowing that Katara could revive him. Even if she did know, she would not have withheld that information from her father because it would greatly affect his plan to conquer all of the Earth Kingdom. In the end, Azula just wanted a somewhat normal relationship with Zuko, yet her friends’ betrayal and Zuko challenging her to an Agni Kai made that impossible to achieve.