The strike, the pause, the message from God Does that make me his daughter? ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ /ATLA⠀Directory ⠀
Ი⑅𐑼⠀ ⠀✦⠀ ⠀Azula Character Analysis
From a young age, Azula was portrayed as a violent child. Zuko shows his mom how she feeds turtle ducks; by throwing giant chunks of food in their face. She talked a lot about how she wanted to “burn things to the ground.” Azula spent a lot of time with her friends, Mai and Ty Lee, but that doesn’t make up for the family time and structure she really needed. Azula often mistreated or blatantly disrespected her brother there’s no doubt about that, but the issue lies in her mother, Ursa, and how she chose to correct that behavior.

Ursa, wife of Ozai and mother to Zuko and Azula, is the connection between Azula’s actions and her motives. Because of Azula’s firebending skills, her father allowed her to get away with many things she shouldn’t have; disrespecting her brother and mother, speaking ill of her uncle, and her overall violent language even as a young girl. Azula is a smart child, and she knew that ursa favored zuko over her. She knew that maybe her mother loved her but it was not the same way she loved zuko.

Instead of dwelling on that and chasing after her mother’s affection, she sought reassurance from her father, a man with little morals and less parenting skills. He rewarded Azula— not loved, but rewarded. If Azula learned a new firebending skill? He praised her. If she could recount facts about her nation’s history? He praised her. She committed herself to her father and his wishes allowing herself to become a mere puppet. It was an endless cycle of performance to receive a semblance of love from a man who was incapable of giving it. He manipulates her up until the very end, where her father entrusts her with the “difficult task” of becoming Firelord, a position that he would make obsolete with his next sentence in which he declares he will become the Phoenix King, the supreme ruler of the world. He gave Azula whatever scraps he had left to keep her obedient and loyal like the same neglected child she’s always been.

This all culminates in the last episode, where Azula gets ready for her coronation. anxious to be crowned Firelord, Azula tries to fix her hair before the ceremony, but terribly messes up her bangs. in the mirror, she sees her mother who tells her what a shame it is her hair got messed up and that she’s always had such pretty hair. She says she would never want to miss Azula’s coronation; she loves Azula so much and she’s just so proud of her.

Azula promptly shatters the mirror and it’s obvious now that her mother wasn’t there and never said that. In her moment of true greatness, her mother never showed up, never told her she loved her, and never told her she was proud. Ursa’s favoritism of Zuko never went unnoticed by Azula and as much as she wanted to pretend that didn’t affect her, it’s what led her to be such a power-hungry and violent child in the end. Ursa never bothered to parent Azula with as much grace as she did with Zuko. When Azula would do inappropriate things, Ursa would grab her arm dragging her away telling her it’s time for a talk. But Zuko? She would gently ask him why he would do something like that and then scold him for it. She was very hard on Azula, whom she saw as a monster because of her inherently violent tendencies. But could these be blamed on just Azula? She was raised in the presence of her father, a man who never filtered himself in front of his family and brought them into his plans to make himself Firelord. It was no secret that Ozai was a violent man who wouldn’t stop at anything to get whatever he wants. Zuko was able to block out the affects of his father because he was a naturally empathetic child cushioned with his mother’s undivided attention and love. Azula was always an afterthought in Ursa’s eyes; too much a reflection of her father to be seen as a person.

When Azula ultimately loses the final Agni Kai and is chained up, she screams, cries, and tries to burn her way out. She just wants to be free, she never wanted anything bad to happen. In that moment all I imagine is a girl who wants her mother. She wants to be held and to be told everything will be okay. That it’s not her fault things turned out this way. That her mom will always love her and cherish her and protect her. But that never happened and that never will happen because all Azula will ever be to Ursa is a monster.

The difference between Azula and Zuko is that Zuko was able to realize he has a path in life separate from his father’s but Azula’s identity is so intertwined with her father that if she doesn’t submit to him what other purpose can she serve?

Hello. Aya here. Time to talk about how Azula deserved the same grace as Zuko but never got it.