On Azula burning turtleducks...

She doesn't.

That's it, that's the meta.

Of course that's not all, I have proof.

Some antis used Azula in the Spirit Temple as "proof" of her burning turtleducks because of her flashback from when she learned how to firebend.

And that's stupid.

Azula most definitely did set a turtleduck looking thing on fire. But it wasn't an actual turtleduck. You can tell by the way it's drawn.

It's laying down unnaturally and it's not trying to get up despite the fact that it should be startled by the person approaching it, especially if the person approaching it is someone that hurt it.

Despite the fact that is has been picked up, it doesn't react at all, doesn't try to escape and doesn't turn to look at the person that picked it up.

A new person has entered the picture and the turtleduck has no reacted with curiosity or fear caused by the new presence and motion, when other living creatures in the panel (Azula) have.

The turtleduck is literally on fire and isn't making any noise of pain, it's not trying to escape, it's not writhing, it's not reacting at all. It's just sitting there like "Is it hot in here? Are you hot?"

The turtleduck is making no attempts to nurse it's wounds of escape from the grip of the person that had set it on fire. It's showing no fear or pain or any emotion at all.

The mother of the little monster doesn't give a fuck about the turtleduck. You'd expect a woman that wants her children to treat animals and plants with respect, would stop her daughter from harming a turtleduck. Realistically, if it was real, Ursa would remove it from Azula's hands and try to nurse it to health or return it to its mother, but she doesn't. She doesn't even care. She only pays attention to Azula, because Azula is the only living thing in the picture. The turtleduck is not real. All Ursa cares about is Azula's firebending and it's what she's disappointed at. She can't exactly lecture a kid for developing naturally, so she stays quiet. But she very much can lecture a kid on setting an animal on fire, so if the turtleduck was real, she'd be scolding Azula.

To try and villainize Azula by painting her as a turtleduck burner is dumb when the turtleduck isn't even real. It's probably a toy of hers or Zuko's. Probably hers, since Ursa isn't saying anything about Azula stealing from Zuko, but it could be Zuko's too, considering we know Azula burned his toys.

She did do that, right?

Wrong, possibilities are she actually didn't.

But that's for another meta.

Anyway, Azula doesn't burn turtleducks, she only throws bread at them.

Thus proven.

What I find interesting is how the fandom cherry picks what Ursa's hallucination says.

In almost every Ursa discourse I see someone claim that the hallucination proves that Ursa loved Azula.

" See? Even Azula knows for sure her mother loved her, because her hallucination outright says so! "

And the same people who think that, more often than not, hold the opinion that:

" Ursa absolutely wouldn't be proud of Azula, because Azula became a bad person and that's why Azula herself doesn't believe this in the mirror scene. "

- What are you doing here?

- I didn't want to miss my own daughter's coronation.

- Don't pretend to act proud! I know what you really think of me! You think I'm a monster.

Yes, Azula doesn't buy Ursa being proud of her coronation, but this is clearly not what the hallucination implies here. The hallucination of Ursa literally says that she didn't want to miss her "own daughter's coronation", impling pride in Azula for her achievement.

Should we also take this hallucination line as a proof that deep down Azula knew Ursa would be proud of her coronation, but denies it? And this is where I think the fandom will disagree.

So why one thing is the truth and the other is not? According to the fandom, we must believe, that Ursa acting proud of Azula's coronation is a lie, but her telling Azula that she loves her is suddenly the truth that Azula denies. I think there's a clear inconsistency here, which is overlooked.

Overall, this is Azula's own belief about the real Ursa:

That Ursa liked Zuko more than her and that she thought of her as a monster and that's why she wouldn't be proud of her.

Meanwhile, the hallucination:

Azula is the center of Ursa's attention. Ursa acts proud of Azula's coronation, reassuring Azula that she's she's just confused and that she loves her.

So I don't know, maybe this is the Ursa that Azula had just imagined to herself, rather than what what she knows, in order to cope with the reality of what she actually believed about what her mother thought of her. It can be just logically concluded that it's very unlikely that these are the things that Azula herself knows.

This is a question about free will and moral accountability. Free Will says that you could have made different choices with the knowledge and experiences you had at the time, it doesn't say that you could have made noticeably better moral choices with the knowledge and experiences you had at the time. When people say, "Azula could have acted differently," what they often mean is "Azula could have acted in such a way that is radically and unreasonably contrary to her usual self. She could...

... have done a 180 in 5 minutes!" So I think people are too hard on Azula. I also think people are too hard on Ozai. When people say, "Ozai could have acted differently," what they often mean is "Ozai could have done a 180 in 5 minutes!" Who's to say that people such as Azula and Ozai weren't doing the best they could with the experiences they had at the time? After all, I'm sure Azula and Ozai both went through experiences that are unique only to them.

TW: for abuse talk

I think that it's really complicated; especially in the case of Ozai. I'm not the biggest fan of Ozai at all. However I do believe that Ozai was also a victim of circumstance, environment, and upbringing. He was raised in a very hostile, dog eats dog environment and he became the abuse. That's one of the saddest, most tragic aspects of abuse; the susceptibility of the abused to become the abuser.

Unpopular opinion maybe: I don't think that Ozai is 100% beyond help and redemption. But it would be extraordinarily difficult for him and he would have monumental obstacles to overcome. A lot of people cite age as the reason why he is a lost cause but I disagree with that. Iroh was middle aged when he decided to change. Ozai's problem is that he doesn't think that he has to. He is very set in his ways and he doesn't seem to think that the problem lies with him. And that's why I can't see him being redeemed in canon. But I do feel bad for him because he was raised in a way where he kind of didn't really have a chance. Going back to the free will thing--all he really knew was power and war.

I do think that people are very hard on Azula especially because she is so, so young. I've said it a few times but Azula is young enough to be put back on a better path. She pretty much parrots her father's actions. He's her role model. She was indoctrinated. "Free Will says that you could have made different choices with the knowledge and experiences you had at the time." I very much agree with this. The thing is that I think a lot of people might not realize is that Azula's knowledge and experiences all came from her abusive father and a shitton of wartime propaganda.

She couldn't really make an informed decision so to speak because she was only given one side. She was told that the world worked a certain way and never had the chance to have those views challenged in the ways that Zuko and Iroh did.

Azula is an extremely intelligent girl and so I don't think that it would be far fetched for her to alter her worldview when confronted with facts that challenge it. She is a logically driven person. And she has shown in the past (in working with the Dai Li) that she doesn't really see the other nations as beneath her as someone like Ozai and Zhao did. She had a level of respect for their methods. She's rather adaptable and willing to work with different groups of people.

For that, I think it would actually be pretty easy to get her to unlearn some harmful worldviews. The hard part would be getting her to let down her walls and be vulnerable enough to try.

So going back to the free will thing; yeah she had free will but she did not have enough knowledge and experience to make a morally better decision. Literally all she knew was 'Fire Nation best nation', 'power and fear are everything.'

On top of all of that, despite her upbringing she was, on some level, able to recognize that she might just be in the wrong. That scene on the Beach and the mirror scene said a lot. Azula wouldn't have had this internal debate about using fear to control people, she wouldn't be calling herself a monster if she didn't feel guilty deep down.

And this is what sets her apart from Ozai. At her lowest, when she was breaking she showed signs of recognizing that it was she who got herself to where she was. On some level, she knows that she needs to better herself. And this is why I think that it wouldn't be as hard as some people might think to get her some help and healing.

I think that she'll have a lot of setbacks and regresses because she has so many things ingrained in her. But I do think that getting her on the path to redemption wouldn't be too hard. That's kind of what I'm hoping for with the solo comic; Azula having to confront her own biases and think about them. She needs her world views challenged. She needs to get more knowledge and experience; see the other side of things that Ozai and Fire Nation propaganda didn't show her.

After that she'll have a better chance of making better moral decisions.

And with Ozai not there to whisper in her ear and mold her, I think she has a pretty good chance.

I hope that I understood the point of this ask right xD thanks for stopping by!

Okay so I’m not done with this yet but I need to bounce this off someone and see if it’s going okay. But I felt like writing some Azula introspection. Specifically how she views herself as a monster.

Azula grew up with stories of monsters. Terrifying beasts with razor sharp claws, slithering shadows hidden underneath beds waiting to strike, apparitions in the mirror clouding your mind. She was always fascinated by these outlandish tales. And she always asked her mother to tell her these stories before bed, instead of Zuko who wanted to hear a happy ending.

Her mother always looked slightly put off whenever Azula asked for a violent story with lies and deception. But father tended to indulge her with the great history of the fire nation. And that always included poison words and dangerous deeds.

Mother and Zuko must’ve been weak to not appreciate good storytelling she always thought.

Zuko was always weak, and she’d told him as much. In order to survive he needed to learn how to be ruthless, but he never seemed to understand. She figured it was his own fault for being banished. She almost missed him sometimes, but this was his punishment for being a disappointment to the nation.

He was too much like Mother, and she’d been outlawed too. She resented them both for being so pathetic, maybe if they had been stronger, better, they could have stayed. But Azula didn’t need them. She was perfect, a polished gear in a gleaming weapon.

Father said she was an asset to the nation and that’s all that mattered, she couldn’t be beat.

The perfect daughter, the perfect princess, the perfect blade in the nation’s arsenal. Absolutely perfect.

From an early age she’d honed her firebending, surpassing her elder brother. Lightning leaped from her fingertips with pinpoint accuracy. She kept her tongue sharp and words sickeningly sweet. The ability to use others was imperative for someone like her to survive.

Since she was young servants and visiting dignitaries always looked at her the same. Something wonderful was in their eyes, something that proved she was a prodigy, the true successor to the throne.

They looked at her the same way they looked at Father. With fear in their eyes. Azula cherished those looks, that unease she had caused by merely existing. It meant she was like Father. And that she was not a disappointment to the nation like so many in her family.

Oh. Poor child

actually i just realized why interpretations of [atla] characters that are like “aang doesn’t lie” (blatantly textually false) or “katara would be offended by swearing” (sensically false) are so common. aang and katara are the most overtly ethical characters in the show, and people [subconsciously] associate morality with honesty and “clean language.” but none of aang’s principles preclude him from lying (he lies. a lot), just as nothing in katara’s moral code dictates that she must be a square (she is, in fact, the furthest thing from a square, and if you argue otherwise you are simply misremembering her character). i can understand why people think that an ethically principled person would consider honesty a virtue, even if aang clearly doesn’t, but the association between morality and language feels like a very christian (to broadly generalize) conception of “sin” and moral transgression that doesn’t map onto the atla characters whatsoever, and is entirely a projection of the largely american (and otherwise western) viewership. inversely, fanart that depicts “modern au” azula as some kind of goth abg with dyed hair and leather pants also attempts to map our internalized notions of how aesthetics are illustrative of morality onto a character who would clearly never present herself in any way countercultural. if azula were suddenly transported to montclair, new jersey, she would be a conservative and present herself accordingly (most likely scenario she would dress like shiv roy). i’m not saying all this to condemn the activity of projecting onto characters, as i clearly participate and engage in these fandom-cultural practices, but rather that i think it’s important we be mindful of what connotations are carried in certain interpretations and depictions, because even our subconscious associations can stem from a legacy of cultural contexts, often embedded within harmful institutions we may not consciously wish to associate with, or that are simply not useful or relevant associations when thinking through whatever thing we are in the process of fandomitizing.

just a reminder that azulas hair arc is just as important to her character as zukos is to his

her first real intro draws attention to the perfection of her hair (“only one hair out of place”)

after ty lee and mai betray her, while she’s attacking the western air temple & zuko, her hair frays and she eventually pulls out her hairpin to catch herself on the cliff side, a hint at the self destruction she’s willing to endure to achieve her goal

and ofc when she becomes firelord and has her psychotic episode, she cuts her hair into a ragged mess

zukos arc is about rejecting the original idea of what honor is and coming to and achieving your own sense of honor, and azulas is about failing to achieve perfection and losing control of yourself in the process. the evolution of their hair shows this so well—zukos is just more obvious

The thing that I find to be so funny and annoying about Azula hate is that people just do not seem to realize that Zuko could have ended up just like her, if it wasn’t for the fact that he had positive influences in his life. One of the many reasons why Azula is the way she is, is because none of the adults thought that she was worth the time and effort. Which Ozai saw and took advantage of. Thanks to his parenting “skills” and other factors, she learned how to play the game very early on in life in order to survive. Zuko, however, never got the memo, therefore he did not know how to play the game. Azula learned how to play the game and Zuko did not. That’s like, one of the many things that sets these two apart from each other, and what ultimately makes Azula’s character so tragic in the end: she thought that learning how to play the game and playing that game well would be what would protect her and keep her safe, but instead it’s what led to her eventual downfall. Meanwhile, Zuko not learning/knowing how to play the game is what initially put him in harm’s way at the palace, but it’s inevitably what saved him and put him on the better path in the end.

Listening to the ATLA soundtrack and ‘Last Agni Kai’ in particular reminded me of what is by far my favorite bit of symbolism of the show that for some reason I never see discussed:

Specifically, that Zuko and Azula have this big, dramatic, drawn-out firebender-versus-firebender duel that burns down a good chunk of the capital and shows both combatants more or less evenly matched. Yet as soon as Zuko is knocked out of the fight via cheap-shot and it becomes a waterbender-on-firebender fight, KATARA takes down Azula pretty much immediately.

The not-so-subtle symbolism being: “Hey, here’s a crazy thought; how about instead of fighting fire with fire, we fight fire with fucking WATER? Seems like that would be quite a bit EASIER, no?”

Oh and if anyone wants to point out that firebending golden boy Zuko could have beaten Azula with the lightning-redirect he learned from Iroh, let’s consider for a moment where exactly Iroh LEARNED that technique:

From studying WATERBENDERS.

In short, Avatar gave us one of the greatest symbolic takedowns of the bullshit ‘fight fire with fire’ trope/mentality and I will forever love that.

It’s so tiring atp when I constantly see people compare Zuko or Azula’s truama. I’m re watching ATLA and both are so tragic and went through horrible stuff just in different ways. They both deserved better and they’re honestly two of some of the best ATLA characters for me. 😭

“Zuko had it harder” “Azula had it harder” stfu. Both had equal amounts of problems and hardships by their god awful father that’s that. 🙌🏻

Anyways fire sibling GIF of them being adorable asf

Here are My Favourite Female Animated Characters from various eras! Interestingly, I've noticed a recurring pattern among them, Ummm.

On the topic of live action Azula...

I'm sick and tired of people hating her on Azula's new design because they think it's not right. Her outfit isn't right, that's true, but what's with everyone complaining about her facial features? The only off thing about her facial features is her eyes not being gold.

That being said, some of y'all's complains are uncalled for.

"I always pictured Azula with razor sharp eyes."

Okay but... Why?

Her eyes can very much be wide. And they can also be narrowed and sharp. Can I tell you a secret? The way your eyes look changes depending on your facial expression. I know, it's crazy! Who could have thought that when Azula is concentrated or upset, her eyes would narrow because her eyebrows would frown. And who could have also thought that her eyes can be wide too, if she's surprised. It's almost like she has a normal face that moves and her eyes can take different shapes, and if she's just resting her face and not making a particular expression, her eyes will have normal, semi-narrow, semi-wide shape. Who could have thought Azula has a face that works the way faces do 🤯

"Her cheeks are too chubby for Azula because Azula works out so much!"

Azula begs to differ. Look at those curves.

She's so round she could be a freaking circle. In the second picture she almost is a circle. That's how round she is. And that is called "baby fat" and Azula has it because she's 14, she's still, like, kid kid at this age. People grow up a lot. She's still very young. Now, I know this might be a hard pill to shallow but, and hear me out here, Azula is a young teenager who had barely hit puberty and her face shows it because that's now faces work. I know! It's crazy! I mean, Azula being a person?!? Who came up with that?

Seriously tho, even at The Day Of Black Sun, where her design is arguably the sharpest in the show, she still has a bit of roundness.

"Her cheeks are sunked tho, like Ozai's!"

...No

On a scare from 10 to 10 to ∞ to Toph, how would you rate your blindness?

LITERALLY, JUST LOOK:

"Her face looks top baby-ish! She's supposed to be evil!"

What's wrong antis? Is it finally next to ignore that Azula is literally a freaking child and you got hit by the realization that you've been antagonizing a baby? Does it hurt your pride to have to acknowledge just how ridiculous you're being for having a beef with someone who hasn't hit puberty? Do you feel silly knowing that no one is going to take you seriously anymore when you try to make everyone think Azula's the devil, because she actually looks young and innocent, which is what all 14yo look like? Did you forget to put on your clown make up today?

In any case, og Azula is a drawing, and actors tend to be real people, so obviously she won't look the exact same, but she's pretty close, okay? So unless you're talking about something that is actually inaccurate, like her clothes, or the color of her eyes, just stfu, cause no one is interested in listening to you complain about a casting that has already happened and won't change.

Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but Ursa's treatment of Azula is actually abuse.

" The opposite side of scapegoating is favoritism. "

“Favoritism is the practice of systematically giving positive, preferential treatment to one child, subordinate or associate among a family or group of peers…. Favoritism becomes dysfunctional when actions and opportunities, resources and liberties are systematically denied or applied inequitably for no logical reason and without just cause.” (Out of the FOG)

Favouritism is just another type of emotional abuse, which Zuko has also endured.

" I could sit here and complain about how our mom liked Zuko more than me, but I don't really care. "

Ursa traumatized Azula to the point where she developed a coping mechanism. " I don't really care. " Because if she doesn't care, she can't get hurt.

1. Ursa is a horrible monster

2. And Ursa is completely blameless in how Azula turned out, and it's actually all Ozai and Azula's fault...

Are both inaccurate interpretations of the show.

The sad truth, is that many parents don't even anknowledge they have a favourite child, but it is abuse regardless, because they are showing different treatment with their actions.

Ursa still can aknowledge her mistakes and do better, but we can't excuse abuse and act like she didn't leave an emotional scar on Azula, because she left it.

I don't like the redemption scenario of Azula the hermit who goes off and does her own thing. There is some truth in the idea that redemption doesn't necessarily mean forgiveness from the ones you've hurt, but I don't see Azula being happy alone. One of Azula's main flaws is thinking that she's better than everyone else, and her tragedy is that she ends up alone. Her redemption, therefore, has to come through living for others. Isn't that what redeems all of us in the end?

Sort of long so under the cut.

That one is not one of my favorites either. To me it seems more bittersweet. Speaking as someone who enjoys being more alone and often romanticizes moving into a cabin located deep in a forest away from people, I don’t feel like Azula would enjoy that lifestyle.

I think that she is someone who is very lonely deep down and craves love. Like actual unconditional love. I can see her maybe going of the radar and doing her own thing for a window of time but I don’t think that it would help her to be alone for a long time.

I can see her being semi-isolated like she has two or three people that keep her company while she does her own thing, but I don’t feel like it would be a satisfying arc for her to just be alone.

My idea scenario involves her venturing off and eventually finding a group of people (brand new characters or characters she has never interacted with) and finding a home there. I also like the idea that she eventually makes amends with the gaang but I could be satisfied with her just sticking to her new group.

I do sort of disagree with the “her redemption, therefore, has to come through living for others.” Bit though. And apologies if I misinterpreted what you were saying. But this kind of dances a bit too close to the ‘Azula has to live to be the perfect sister to Zuko’ stance for me. While I do agree that it is important to help others and cherish others, I have always (fictionally and IRL) believed that a person should live for themselves. Not that they should live selfishly but that it’s important to find ones worth in oneself rather than finding worth and validation from other people. I think that there needs to be a balance between living for other people and living for yourself. I don’t think that any one person should live to please others. I think that individuals should strive to do right by themselves while taking others into consideration and putting others first when appropriate if that makes sense.

So in the case of Azula I don’t think that she should live her life entirely through other people. She would need to find what’s good for herself, learn to love herself,  and learn to find validation from with in (rather than from sources like Ozai and Fire Nation propaganda) and then from there she can learn to live for others.

The other reason that I partially disagree with that statement is because I feel like her living for others is part of the problem. I always thought that she was motivated by two things; her need for her dad’s approval (she is living for him) and her need for perfection. She’s a people pleaser who has been trying to please the wrong people. I feel like she would probably blur the lines between living for others in a healthy way and seeking validation/approval. Hence why I think that before anything else she would have to learn to live for herself and get validation from herself first because she has never really done that before.

So basically; I agree but I don’t. I think that she should live for other people but she also has to live for herself too. And she has to live for herself first. She needs a self discovery journey before all else.

Thanks for the ask and I hope that I explained everything well!

Just finished Azula in the Spirit Temple! It’s not perfect but I think it’s a great examination of a famously troubled soul.

On one hand Azula is able to acknowledge that her life was negatively influenced by her family’s actions.

But at the same time Ozai’s standards and abuse have been drilled into her so hard she’d rather continue acting like a villain because that’s easier than attempting to redeem herself. (That would mean accepting she’s in the wrong and she just can’t process that.)

And she is right to call the spirit out on its bullshit. If she’s really gonna redeem herself, then she’ll do it on her own accord, not because some spirit has thrust that decision upon her.

Yet at the same time the spirit vision seems to have helped her. Being told point blank that she surrounds herself with people to manipulate because she can’t stand being alone actually drives her to abandon her revenge plot and move on.

And who knows where she’ll go from here. Maybe she continues down this self-destructive path, never changing. Maybe she does redeem herself and returns to the palace with a new worldview.

Maybe she never returns to the palace and just forges a new life elsewhere. A life completely separated from all her troubles and ambitions — where she can be valued simply for herself.

No matter what happens, she’s earned this life-changing field trip.

I never really thought about this until now, but. why did Aang never express any opinions on Azula whatsoever after she literally killed him

Like, am I supposed to believe that he's not deeply afraid of her after that? Or at least angry? She left a scar on his back that interrupts his culturally significant tattoos, and we just... never see him notice or care about that??

I'm currently about halfway through Book 3 on my rewatch, and the fact that nobody's even told Aang on-screen that Azula was responsible for what happened is more than a little absurd. I'm pretty sure they acknowledge it at some point, but in some kind of offhanded way that really doesn't do the matter justice.

It honestly feels like the show didn't want to touch that plot point with a ten foot pole, only mentioning it when it was absolutely necessary to further the plot on Zuko's side of things. Which is weird! Why kill your protagonist on-screen, leave him with two permanent scars when he's revived, and then never have him confront or even talk about the person who killed him again???

Aang deserved to have a significant dynamic with Azula after what happened at the Crystal Catacombs and the fact that they dropped the topic almost entirely two episodes later lowkey fills me with rage