#Mai doesn't deserve Azula

[fortunatelyyoungbarbarian]

Can we talk about Yue?

Let's just say there is a world where she doesn't have to sacrifice herself for Tui - because my girl deserves so much better like look at her.

But also, imagine the interactions she could have with all the other characters!!

Also, for that point, I'll be ignoring the fact that she'd most likely wouldn't leave the northern watertribe because responsibilities and her parents and jade jade. Let's just say it's her time for teenage rebellion and she sneaks off with the gaang or something. Idk.

Like she'd be there for the character development for Aang, Katara and Sokka (even Zuko).

But imagine she meets Toph!

Toph 'fuck you and what society/ my parents expect from me, I won't be put into a damn box because I'm not delicate porcelain to be put up on a shelf, I'll go kick ass and show people who I am, who I really am' Beifong?

That sounds so interesting! Like their parallels? Both being kept 'protected' and being put into positions they don't want and don't like (Toph being keept in a cage so to say and Yue being married off to someone neither she nor he loves).

But also, Yue is what Tophs parents see as a perfect daughter. She is soft spoken, elegant, meek and such. She is what Toph isn't.

But Toph gets free. She runs away and becomes happy and free.

I feel like they'd be such good friends once they get over the struggles. Toph would go commit some chaos and Yue would just smile and come along.

Imagine she meets Azula.

She's basically the opposite of Yue but they both have the same royal devotion. Also, Azula is a girl and it doesn't matter, she's respected and she's badass. That must be a culture shock for Yue.

Also, I think Azula and Yue have quite the interesting parallels as well. Both of them are the 'perfect princess' in the eyes of their people and culture but they are soooo different. Both put their duty above themselves in a way, both are 'blessed' (Yue literally by the moon and Azula is a prodigy), both have fathers who decide things for them (The whole marriage thing with Yue and do I even have to go into detail with Ozai?), both are kept in this cage of responsibilities and duty and both suffer in the end because of it, not having experienced the freedom a child of their status could have had their whole life only to be doomed in the end.

(Also, if we just mess more with canon and redeem Azula, I think they could be besties as well. Like they could learn so much from one another. Azula is sorta like an unhinged and abused Katara so I think it could work.)

Her meeting Mai and Ty Lee would also be something.

Nonbenders who are fucking badass? Respected for who they are? I imagine they could teach Yue how to defend herself. Just imagine Yue throwing knifes and chi-blocking people.

Same with Suki.

Another nonbender who's badass and a leader of a respected group. I think they'd get along just fine.

(Also, about that whole ship drama that would probably happen: I don't really care about ships so idk, make them poly? Who cares, just let them be happy man)

But what I would be most hyped about would be her meeting with Kanna.

You know, Kanna, who said fuck you to the sexist rules and just fucking moved across the world while a war was going on? Kanna, who basically told Pakku to fuck off and she won't marry a sexist man like him? Kanna, who's the grandmother of Katara? Who send Katara across the world to kick Pakkus ass (because she must have know)? The og? The legend? It would be amazing. I imagine they would both roast Pakku to his face. And Kanna would immediately adopt Yue as one of hers. It would be so wholesome come on.

Of course there are a lot of other characters that she'd meet, but I think the ones I mentioned are the most interesting once because of parallels and stuff.

[floatyflowers]

Dark Platonic! Fire Nation Royal Family x Non-bender Reader

Part 2

With Ozai:

At first he didn't accept the fact that you, his youngest child, is a non-bender, and ignored your existence.

That was until he noticed how his older brother, Iroh, spends time with you, Ozai got extremely jealous.

And decided to spend time with you, only to realize that you are his favorite child, and felt like an actual father.

Yes, you can't firebend nor do you even have the ability to protect yourself.

But why would you need to protect yourself when your father is going to be the Phoenix king of the fire nation?

Ozai will burn down the world for you.

"You, my sweet child, will grow up in the presence of a very powerful father"

With Ursa:

When Ursa found out that you couldn't bend, she became overprotective of you to the point of paranoia.

Since childhood, she refused to allow you to play with anyone except Zuko.

One time, one of her handmaidens scolded you harshly for playing outside without your mother's permission which resulted in you bursting into tears.

The next day, that handmaiden was fired and Ursa made sure that she gets no other jobs.

While thinking of escaping, she thought to take you with her.

However, Ozai has forbidden that from happening.

"When you find out the truth, promise to come find me"

With Azulon

While still alive, he made sure you had the best education and guards.

Azulon also made sure to have you believe that the fire nation is without mistakes or faults.

He tried manipulating you into believing that just your loyalty to your people is enough duty.

However, you are kind, too kind.

Yet, he Azulon didn't hate you for it even if he considered a weak trait to have in the royal family.

He also still has the flower crown you made him stored away safely so it doesn't rot.

It is rumored that the last word he muttered was your name.

With Iroh

Uncle Iroh isn't really as possessive as the other characters, but he focuses on advising you from time to time.

You enjoy drinking tea with him and gossiping about everything.

Even though, Ozai has forbidden him from speaking with you, you would sneak behind your father's back to drink tea with him.

After the loss of his son in the war, Lu Ten, Iroh felt depressed.

Yet you managed to comfort him with your cheerfulness and playful attitude.

It reminded him of his son.

"The best quality in a princess is her kindness, something which your sister clearly lacks"

With Zuko

Zuko thought you would be like Azula but you have proven him wrong.

You are kind, gentle, and nurturing just like your and his mother.

That's why Zuko always found himself by your side, being your playmate...being your protecter.

His mother told him that it's his duty to protect you from danger considering that he is your older brother.

Even though Azula has never hurt you, but Zuko was always wary of her, especially after his mother disappeared.

When Ozai challenged him to an Agni Kai, you were the first to cry out and plead with him to let Zuko off, but Ozai felt jealous of your relationship with Zuko and was determined to teach his son a lesson.

However when your brother got banished, Zuko took you with him in secret not wanting you to be left with Azula.

"I know the journey will take long but once I restore my honor we can return home together"

With Azula

Azula was extremely jealous when you were born, thinking that you will take all the attention from her.

But she realized that you deserve all the attention.

You didn't treat her like a monster, you weren't scared of her.

Instead you showed her love and called her 'big sister'

You would cling to her as a toddler, whenever there was lightning, you would secretly sneak to her room and sleep beside her.

"How can you be scared of lightning, we control it, silly"

Mai and Ty Lee saw how Azula softens whenever you are around.

And when Azula discovered that you have left with Zuko, she destroyed everything in her way and burned a few servants.

"She's mine, and only MINE"

[balanceoflightanddark]

Azula is, without a doubt, the most controversial character in Avatar: the Last Airbender. There's no tapdancing around it. Most discussions involving her usually devolve into "why are you justifying a despot," or "was she born evil," or "does she deserve redemption?". Whenever she's brought up, it's like battle lines are being drawn and we're all waiting for somebody to take the first shot.

My question is, what about her is generating so much controversy to begin with? I mean, ATLA is no stranger to controversial characters. Katara's gotten it. Aang's gotten it. Jet and Hama have gotten it. So Azula isn't quite out of the norm regarding hot-button topics.

The first thing I can think of is that she's the enemy of Zuko, the fandom's golden child. Again, no way around it. He's insanely popular, and anybody who's opposed to him is going to be seen in a negative light. This includes Azula since she's his primary nemesis. Ozai may have caused his scar and Zhao may have more genuinely hated his guts, but Azula's the one that got under his skin.

Here's where I think the problem sets in. With Zuko being so popular, people are more willing to take his side in things. This includes Azula, which he sees as a rival and whatever sympathy he might have is stifled by his desire to "put her in her place". She's the primary enemy in his flashback in "Zuko Alone" despite Ozai being the one who actually set things off for his crappy upbringing. Now, there's no denying she's a villain and had to be stopped. But I think the fandom is a bit too willing to unconditionally take Zuko's word on it. This is despite the fact that the famous "born lucky, lucky to be born" quote was when he himself was a villain and he was griping to Aang about his problems.

Basically, by taking Zuko's opinion, we're assuming he's completely right and his version of Azula is reality. Even though this is the same kid who was willing to believe in the best in his dad until the eleventh hour. So his judgment can be askewed.

The same thing goes with Iroh. Again, there's that famous "she's crazy and she needs to go down" line people love to use to justify Azula being born evil or always being crazy. Expect, again, Iroh's not immune to biasism either. He paints Azula as the enemy, bt has nothing but regret for how things with Ozai fell out. He didn't even warn Zuko about who Ozai truly was.

Now, this isn't me clowning on either Zuko or Iroh. Zuko's a dumb kid who has a very messed up sense of morality for most of his life and Iroh's likely struggling with his own issues with Ozai. I wouldn't even put it past them to paint Azula in a negative light since they're going to run into her again, so it might be best to put aside sympathies so she doesn't kill them. At least for the time being. I don't agree with them, but I'm not going to say they're the worst people ever for it.

No, what I think the problem is that we very rarely see Azula's side of the story. We only see it in "The Beach" and the mirror scene. Here we see a character that's not a force of nature, but a conflicted girl about her own morality and whether or not she's a monster. She puts on a sarcastic face about it, but we can see it still eats her from the inside. And we see she does care about Ty Lee, Mai, and Zuko, even if she does a piss poor job of doing it.

This is where I think the controversy comes in: how sympathetic are we supposed to see Azula? We are meant to feel SOME sympathy, but not to the point that we can excuse her actions. Yet some take it the wrong way and say she's completely irredeemable and a monster just as bad as Ozai. Sure she's a villain that needed to be stopped, but putting her on the same level is a tad bit extreme (we are talking about a 14 year old girl compared to a grown ass man after all).

I think the disconnect comes from the fact that, again, we only see Azula through Iroh and Zuko's lenses. She's the villain in their eyes, an unstoppable force, and so we see the same thing. There's nothing really challenging that in the narrative outside of a few scenes. Azula never really gets the chance to express her side of the story, not even during the Last Agni Kai. And the few times she does like in the campfire scene? Nobody says word, validating her belief that she's saying the truth and that she's a monster.

Nobody challenges Zuko and Iroh on Azula, while nobody challenges Azula on her belief that she's a monster. Which is funny since Zuko and Iroh DO (at least initially) provide some possible sympathetic angles on Ozai (at least before he really became a monster). Zuko talks about how he wanted to get along with him. Iroh doesn't talk all that much ill about him at first. We even see his baby picture for crying out loud. So while we're meant to see Ozai as a tyrant and too far gone for any realistic chance of redemption, we're asked to wonder where he came from and raises the possibility that he wasn't always evil.

We don't get such challenges with Azula. She's only very rarely given sympathy. We're meant to feel sorry for her, but we're not given the whole story. We're given one side, and we're left scrambling to try and find out who she really is.

[camcat1320]

The Fortune-Teller does not deserve the hate it has received. It's actually a great episode that people misunderstand. Let me explain.

Kataangers love the episode for it says Katara is destined to be with Aang. Zutarians hate the episode for this reason along with forcing Katara into a pigeon hole. I stand between these warring tribes and say that they are both wrong.

To be clear, I am a Zutarian. If we would've had a Book 4 like the head writer had intended, this episode would've been integral for that book.

"But the 3-act story structure!" some may argue. A 3-act story structure is just a 4-act story structure in disguise.

Anyways, let's continue.

The destiny that Aunt Wu foretells does not give names and is vague in nature. She tells Katara that she is to be married to a powerful bender. She didn't say the most powerful nor did she say bender of all four elements. One doesn't have to be the Avatar to be a powerful bender.

Come Aang's fortune, she foretold of a great battle between good and evil that will determine the fate of the world. We immediately think of Aang battling Firelord Ozai to end the 100 year war. However, this fortune is vague and could foretell another battle after Ozai has fallen.

When Aunt Wu learns that Aang wants to learn about his future about love, she cheers him up by giving him a vague, seemingly harmless white lie to satisfy him. "Follow your heart and you will be with the one you love." Since Aang is 12, he can easily misconstrue infatuation for love.

I believe The Fortune-Teller is a giant red herring that many people in both Zutara and Kataang sectors have fallen for. But wait, what is a red herring?

In literature, a red herring is a device to throw the characters and the audience off the scent of future events. It's meant to distract and deceive.

At the end of The Fortune-Teller, Katara believes she is destined to be with Aang and Aang believes it as well. Throughout the remainder of the series, Katara's emotional bond with Aang is challenged. Then by The Ember Island Players, Katara is confused, unsure about her feelings, unsure about her destiny.

What other character struggled with his perception of his destiny?

For the majority of the series, Zuko falsely believed that his destiny was to hunt down the Avatar and regain his honor. We know that this destiny was forced upon him by his father, Ozai.

But as Iroh has said, "Destiny is a funny thing." Iroh had believed he would have been in Ba Sing Se as a conqueror but instead, he had liberated Ba Sing Se from Fire Nation occupation.

Zuko had turned against his father and his supposed destiny and set out to aid the Avatar instead. After this, Zuko's new belief is that it is his destiny to help Aang in defeating Ozai instead. Truly, destiny is funny that way.

But why is this only applied to Zuko? Why isn't this the same message given to Katara's arc? Is she truly destined to be with Aang and she cannot fight against this fate? Is this strong female character destined to be reduced to servitude?

The same girl that inspired imprisoned earthbenders to fight back? The same girl that fought against gender roles in her own culture? The same girl that didn't give into despair and led her crew out of the desert? The same girl that aided in healing a Fire Nation village? The same girl that rose above her mentor and used bloodbending to save her loved ones? The same girl that went toe to toe with Azula and won?

I SAY NAY!

Imagine, if you will, what Katara's continued arc could've been like in Book 4. Katara would've defied the destiny that was forced upon her and determined her destiny for herself. But in the end, destiny is a funny thing for this action only plays into fate. Zuko is a powerful bender after all. 👀

Now, I must depart before I give too many spoilers for my writing. Fare thee well, until we meet again!

[akiizayoi4869]

Just had a thought about the scene where Mai shouts at Azula "leave me alone!" Mai says that growing up, she was taught to not speak unless spoken to, to not show any emotion, to not do anything that would ruin her father's position in high society, etc. Basically what you'd expect as far as the expectations for girls back in those times in that kind of society. Azula understands her the most in this regard thanks to her relationship with her own mother, and having similar expectations placed on her as a princess. Expectations that Zuko didn't have because he was the first born as well as a boy. So when Azula psycho analyzed Mai, she lashes out at her (understandable) because she didn't want to talk about it anymore than she already did (which is a result of how she was raised. Don't show your emotions to others and don't say anything to ruin your father's image. Talking about the way how she was raised plays into that) and she doesn't want anyone to dive too deep into her trauma, which is exactly what Azula did in that scene. What's interesting though is that Azula is the exact same way. As shown when she immediately downplays the whole "my own mother thought that I was a monster" comment by immediately following it up with a joke. Who knows, had she not done that the others may have said something. Azula also didn't want them to dive too deep into what she just said, because she didn't want to talk about her own trauma, in part because she was raised to believe that showing any sort of vulnerability was a sign of weakness.

Fast forward to the Boiling Rock part 2 episode, and Mai psycho analyzes Azula with one sentence: "I love Zuko more than I fear you." proving that she knows exactly what Azula's trauma was. People always choosing Zuko over her, loving him but not her, leaving her for him. And in her eyes, he did absolutely nothing to deserve that kind of devotion. And what does Azula do? She lashes out and attempts to attack Mai for what she said. Which is exactly what Mai did (minus the attacking part) when Azula said what she did to her in The Beach episode. These two are more alike than the fandom gives them credit for, and this is honestly why I think that Azula and Mai had a closer bond with each other than the bond that they had with Ty Lee.

[beifong-brainrot]

I think the reason I'm a bit iffy about most zutara shippers who call themesleves "pro Katara" (and lets be honest the tags pro katara/katara deserved better are mainly people building themselves a moral highground of "if you disagree with me, you clearly dilslike Katara and want her to suffer") is just the hypocrisy of it all.

Katara's consent was violated by Aang, yes. But Zuko threatening her and being a fucking creep in the "I'll save you from the pirates" scene was sexy and not at all the nightmare of any sane woman.

Katara's role as a healer is treated as her acting subservient and her loosing her feminist icon status. Unless she's healing/offering to heal Zuko.

Aang is immature and childish. But we will handily ignore Zuko, a whole ass 16 year old who's heir to a country throwing a temper tantrum because his girlfriend dared to speak to another man. [Frankly, in my opinion, Zuko isn't really ready for a serious romantic relationship, but yall arent ready for that conversation]

Aang is supposedly misogynistic, but Zuko's many instances of actual misogyny are swept under the rug. Aang is shown in canon to be incredibly supportive of Katara defying the patriarchy.

Supposedly Aang makes Katara do all the housework. Despite there being evidence to the contrary. Zuko has just recently learnt to brew tea.

Katara being the Avatar's wife is supposedly degrading. But if she were Zuko's wife, I'm sure she wouldn't be just a baby maker. (What a horribke thing to call a woman btw. Tall call your own mothers baby makers too???) Despite the fact that Izumi's mother hasn't even been mentioned by name in tlok. But yeah. She'd be afforded the respect she deserves I'm certain.

Aang is, on most accounts, supportive and respectful of Katara's opinions, even when he disagrees with them. Zuko openly mocks people who oppose him. I am going to make a longer post on the Southern Raiders episodes and how all of you watched that episode blindfolded or smth.

Aang comparing Appa being kidnapped (his last connection to his genocided people, the last vestige of his happy past) to Katara's anger over her mother is bad. But Zuko comparing mommy leaving his ass to Katara's mother getting brutally slaughtered in front of her ? Silence.

Aang supposedly needs Katara to mother him and that's a bad thing. But Azula, Mai and Ty Lee having to gentle parent Zuko almost everytime they interact is never talked about, despite the uncalled for verbal abuse that trio goes through from him.

Aang and Katara's 2 year age gap is creepy. But Zuko and Katara's 2 year age gap is fine. My bigest gripe with Zutara lovers is them completely erasing Katara's childishness and immaturity, in order for her and Zuko to have this mature, sexy relationship. She's 14, guys. 14.

This post really isn't meant to decry Zutara. I just want people who ship Zutara to get off their high horse of feminism and to accept that they're no better than the rest of us ship loving freaks. Wanting the main girl to bump uglies with the broody emo twink doesn't make you a modern day suffragette. Disliking a main canon pairing isn't a measure of your love for a female character.

Grow up.

Enjoy your ship like a normal person.

[ilikepjo24]

On The Ashes of the Academy...

This will be a full review/analysis of the newest atla comic, now that I finally got my hands on it. I'll duel on some things more than others but overall, I'll share my unfiltered thoughts and feelings about it.

SpoliersSpoilersSpoilersSpoilersSpoilers!

First things first, this is such a hit-and-miss.

We're all glad Ursa is looking after Kiyi and we're all glad she sees that there was somthing wrong with Azula's upbringing, but ma'am, the school is not the problem. Sure, a bad learning environment doesn't benefit children in any way, but Azula's main problem was what was happening in her home, not in her school. Maybe, since you're finally considering taking a look in your daughter's childhood, you should also start looking inside and taking note of where you failed her. This just seems like an attempt at making Ursa look blameless by saying "Oh, look, Azula isn't inherently evil, it's her school that messed her up. Certainly, Zuko's perfect mom didn't contribute to it at all!"

I mean, if you want my opinion, you lost her when you subconsciously decided to give her less attention than Zuko, which, tragically, could have been before she was even born. But this series of panels, once again, does the same thing I mentioned above; passing the responsibility around. Ursa didn't lose Azula to someone or something. She let her go. And that's assuming that she even had Azula is the first place, at any point, which could be just wishful thinking. While Ozai, and the FN as a whole played a part, Ursa can't keep viewing them as the only parties responsible instead of holding herself accountable.

Zuko pisses me off her as well because he's doing the exactly same thing, but in a different way. He removes responsibility from Ursa, but instead of placing it on the school or his father, he seems to place it on Azula's very own nature, implying that her problem was just that she was Azula, and other kids under similar circumstances would have done better, simply because they are not Azula, which is simply not true. Azula's problem isn't that she's Azula, it's that she is a product of systematic propaganda and domestic abuse and neglect.

It must take lots of nerve to hire a person that's a product of Ozai's rule, that actively and publicly supports Ozai's way of doing things, and then being bothered and flabbergasted that this person wants to do things Ozai's way. Zuko, my man, hire a new headmistress. I've seen this lady once and I know better than to trust her. Are all that survival instincts Zuko ever had sliding right off his smooth, shiny brain? Either he is actively trying to sabotage himself, or he's just that stupid.

DOGSHIT. Arguably the most annoying thing about this comic, methinks. Such a lazy way of trying to redeem Mai. I understand that she's meant to be Zuko's love intrest, so she needs to be good and support his deals, but FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, this must be the worst way to do it. This is just anti-Azula propaganda by this point.

If you want to redeem a character, hot take, actually redeem them. Instead of actually moving forward with Mai's character, they're backpetaling. Instead of adding redeeming qualities, they are removing the bad ones in an underhanded way. Very lazy, very bad writing. Both Mai and Azula deserve better than this.

I have way too many thoughts about these bit specifically, but this is an overall review of the comic, so I don't want to duel on one thing apecifically. I' ll talk more about everything that I hate about this "twist" in regards to Mai's character and her relationship with Azula in a different post on a different day.

Can't wait to show this to the "Azula is abusive for thowing fire at an apple that was on top of Mai's head" people. Behold! Mai started throwing dangerous shit at Azula first. This is them becoming friends. If Azula is abusive for continuing the tradition, what does tha make Mai, the one who started it?

This is more amusing to me than frustrating, if I'm being honest. They are trying so hard to make Azula out to be this inherently evil hell creature, that they don't even realize how terribly they're failing. The only thing making this interaction intimidating is framing. Azula is genuinly just being a normal kid here. Seriously, I dare you to antagonize a kid and count the minutes until they pull the parent card. I've had kids tell me that their parent works in the environment of political figures and can get me fired unless I let them run wild. Children are terribly aware of their powerlessness even if they don't show it. Borrowing mommy and daddy's "power" to wield as a threat is very typical behavior, especially in new environments. Azula isn't any more evil than any other first grader is. Which, to be fair, is reletavily evil, dependend on who you ask XD.

"Being friends with her sucked. Yeah, she was the only person I had growing up that made me feel like I mattered, since my dad used me and my mom wanted me to be an unemotional porcelain doll, but she was evil."

Two faced. Too fake. Do better. I am officially a certified Mai hater.

At this point, Mai confuses me. On one hand, she acts as if Azula is the antichrist and being mean just for the hell of it. Then, when Kiyi asks, she seems to display some actual understanding towards Azula's situation. Seems to acknowledge that who Azula is right now is the handywork of a third party, the intentions of which Azula herself doesn't fully understand, but blindly follows anyway because what else can she really do? The third party includes the only parent that pays attention to her after all.

Listen closely, because I will say this once. I better not see any of you haters blame Azula for this. "Oh, Azula is still trying to take the throne-" Shut your bitch ass up. Azula is not talking to those guys. She's working with her Fire Warriors and has no interactions with those dudes. Their actions do not reflect on her in any way, shape, or form. Them waiting for her doesn't mean she's working with them or that she has promised them anything at all. They're popping off in the assumption that she's coming back and the assumption that she'll reward them when she does. Key word beinh assumption.

And that will be all for now folks. All in all, this comic sucked. It attempts to redeem Mai and to demonize Azula and, franky, it fails at both those tasks as far as I'm conserned.

I do have that the empathy Mai showcased towards Azula is the begining of something. That her new role as a teacher and her mission of helping clean up the rooten system that raised Azula will develop into a teaching moment for the cast and the fandom. That it'll show them that Azula isn't inherently evil and therefore not beyond redemption. I genuinely hope that, eventually, we'll get the redemption Hicks teased in The Spirit Temple and that she's just playing the long game.

But for that to happen, some things have to change. The sytematic abuse needs to be showcased even more. We need to see the neglect Azula endured at home. Ursa needs to be held accountable for her failures. Azula should be given the chance to be a kid, not a weapon. I want to see a comic taking place before she displayed her firebending abilities for the first time.

Do better, Hicks.

[katarasmomsnecklace]

I wanna talk about all my fav ATLA ships cuz being a multishipper can suck sometimes

I wanna look at ship tags and not see hate for another ship in them

SPREAD THE LOVE

KatAang: Classic friends to lovers. Couples who commit ecoterrorism together stay together

TAang: She was a punk He did ballet what more can I say. But like actually they're so fun to analyze with what we have in canon, they legit give soulmate vibes.

ZuTara: SHOT THROUGH THE HEART another fun one to analyze, opposites attract/enemies to lovers it's a good time

KaToph: They're defined by overcoming their "weaknesses" Katara fought for her right to be a master despite her gender and became one of the most powerful benders because of her will to fight. Toph literally invented a whole new bending style BECAUSE of her blindness. Love them

MaiLee: Bad bitches deserve bad bitches, we love a sunshine and sunshine protector. Their fighting styles compliment each other as do their personalities

MaiKo: 'I love Zuko more than I fear you" will never not be the hardest line in the show. *doesn't care she got pickles* "HOW FUCKING DARE YOU SHE SAID NO PICKLES"

Ty Luki: I just want Suki to show TyLee the ropes of being a kyoshi warrior. They have so much they can teach each other also if you like the Airbender! TyLee headcanon there's something poetic about her unlocking her powers with kyoshi's fans

YueTara: MOON AND OCEAN NEED I SAY MORE

ZUe (I actually don't know their ship name) we in rare pair hell but SUN AND MOON NEED I SAY MORE also applies to Yue x Azula you guys come up with the coolest scenarios that put either of the fire siblings in the north pole, this fandom is so creative

ZuKKi: Let Sokka pull lol but actually a King and His Guard and King and his Ambassador, it's like Sukka is great but make it better

Mai TyLee and Suki should be a bigger ship cuz I swear I'm the only one that sees it (help me name them)

Tell me about your favorite ATLA ships I freaking love these characters and I love when they love each other

[bluespiritshonour]

I am a fan of dead beat sister Mai and I also believe that Mai giving up Tom Tom in Return to Omashu is supposed to parallel her finally refusing to do so with Zuko in The Boiling Rock. It really isn't hard to reconcile the two.

Mai might not have had any love lost for Tom Tom, but that doesn't mean she appreciated having to give him up like that. He's still her brother and she doesn't necessarily hate him or wish him harm. And Azula knows Mai's family dynamics pretty well, she wouldn't have pulled the whole thing if Mai really was that uncaring about Tom Tom: it was supposed to prove Mai's loyalty to Azula and to the Fire Nation. Mai didn't have to be a simpering doting elder sister for the hostage exchange situation at Omashu to work.

An authoritarian state asks for complete submission, even that of your family, and Mai is well aware, and dare I say, not a fan of it. Yes, she wasn't too broken up about Tom Tom later either when her mother was crying: because for her, she did what was expected of her. Her parents, even though they're worried and crying, do not reprimand her for not bringing Tom Tom back. They're a cog in the imperial war machine that is FN and they know their place. And they made sure Mai knows hers too.

She might be quiet and never voice these opinions but there's so much resentment she harbours under the surface: for her parents, for Azula. I think she's, at most, indifferent towards Tom Tom. Mai wants to be treated with respect, that she never is. You might think, "when did anyone disrespect her?"

Well, being forced to conform and being ordered around and stripped of autonomy and most of all, not being taken seriously is insulting! It's one of the many forms misogyny manifests in in general. And with FN, since it's an authoritarian state with an established hierarchy, that's how the power structure manifests too. I think so many people misunderstand Mai because they don't take into account the society she was born into.

So many girls who have an upbringing similar to hers have such low sense of self!—I think it's incredible that throughout this all, Mai has somehow managed to cling to her self-esteem. Of course she conforms and bends herself into what's expected of her but it doesn't mean she appreciates it! Even her rebellion is either quiet in a way she can get away with (disobeying Azula she isn't around) or it finds acceptable avenues (accompanying Azula on her mission). There's always that undercurrent of resentment with her and I honestly love her for it: it means she knows she deserves better. (I think more women should be like her).

It feels like people on this site have never seen this elder sister younger brother dynamic where the younger brother is the child the parents always wanted. They don't even try to hide their favouritism, worse, the sister is asked to be just as dedicated as her parents to the said brother. And she's considered a monster if she isn't (whoa, reminds me of ATLA fandom, y'all are gonna make a bunch of boymoms for sure). God forbid women have less than positive emotions ever. I've seen girls as young as five-years-old being asked to compromise and prioritise their brothers over their own well being and happiness.

So, don't tell me Mai being an exception to the sacrificial elder sister trope isn't refreshing.

Besides, Mai is only indifferent to Tom Tom? Even if her parents weren't the "male heir is everything" kind and Mai wasn't fucked up by it... Even then, with the kind of age difference between her and Tom Tom, it's normal for them to be a little distant.

I don't care what the fandom thinks. And I don't care if misogynistic losers who think women are incapable of negative emotions and if they have them then there's something wrong with them (it's understandable for men though UWU) don't like Mai for it. I would forever defend dead beat sister Mai.

"She didn't like her brother waaaa—"

Well, good for her.

So thank you very much avatar comics, I'll take my dead beat sister Mai. I love her without reservations. You can keep your motherly one with you.

And no, it doesn't dilute her character development from Return to Omashu to The Boiling Rock if she isn't a doting sister! She still has a sense of familial loyalty underneath all that resentment (she wouldn't bend herself into a "big blah" otherwise).

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

(i kept forgetting to make this post for a while and only remembered when i was reading @antispopausandstuff 's recent post; sorry for the tag!)

i have to say this: catra having a mental breakdown basically every single season was pathetic.

usually villains have a third-act breakdown where they realize that they're losing to the heroes or they're losing control over their own allies, and they spiral into anger and desperation.

azula's spiralling in s3 of atla is a clear example of this, as she goes from the level-headed, cunning prodigy to a child who has lost everyone in her life and is desperately trying to use fear to keep people around. it's tragic because yes, she's a horrible person who enjoys torturing people and seeing them in pain, but she's also a 13 year old who was groomed into the perfect soldier by her father.

not all third-act breakdowns are like this though. sometimes instead of feeling bad for the villain, we feel satisfied seeing their downfall, because they weren't a sympathetic character in the slightest and they deserved to have that realization right before getting their ass whooped.

with catra, i get neither of these. i guess i felt a little bad for her the first time and i felt satisfied the second time, but then it just got boring.

there was no need for her to have a meltdown in every single season, only for the writers to use it as an excuse to make catra do even worse shit and hurt more people.

not to mention, her mental state wasn't consistent enough during these breakdowns. let me explain. let's take the s3 one, for instance.

catra is clearly rattled by the knowledge that shadow weaver picked adora over her (which.. wow who would have thought. but whatever). she is dissociating as she walks back to scorpia, there are tears in her eyes, she's devastated.

but then, as soon as catra reaches the horde with adora as her prisoner, she seems perfectly fine. she's calm and smirking proudly as she throws a bound adora to the floor.

and then when entrapta tries to oppose catra's attempts at opening the portal, oh no! catra is not mentally well again and she electrocutes entrapta. and she threatens to do the same to scorpia.

and then she goes right back to being calm and tells hordak that entrapta betrayed him (i'm sorry i don't care how good at lying someone is, i doubt they can deliver such a convincing lie when they are in a poor mental state) and mocks him for trusting entrapta.

and then throughout the portal sequence, catra is oddly calm. not just during the false reality, when she was pretending that everything was normal, but even after that when she starts sadistically torturing adora.

this doesn't seem like a character who finally snapped and is doing horrible things in a desperate attempt to regain control. it reads as a character who always wanted to do horrible things and finally got the chance to do it.

i can't view catra's breakdown in s3 as sympathetic because her actions seemed so intentional. the writers didn't even try to make it look like catra was going through some serious mental health issues and was only making such a dangerous choice because of that.

coming back to my original point, repeating a trope (especially a one-time trope like this) quickly gets stale. and it's even funnier when you think about the fact that catra basically had a dedicated mental breakdown every season and still didn't learn her lesson.

you stop feeling sorry for her and start rolling your eyes, wondering what atrocities she's going to commit this time. it's just the same thing over and over again, and it's funny that the writers used this as a way to keep reminding viewers that catra is a poor traumatized baby who definitely didn't make the choices that led to all this.

it's just bad writing. sure, in real life, people may have multiple breakdowns if they going through some shit. i can certainly attest. but it just doesn't work from a story point of view, especially when the writers refuse to hold catra accountable for your actions. mental health issues or not, you are responsible for your actions and you should work on changing your unhealthy coping mechanisms.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Everyone says Azula is a bad friend to Mai and Ty Lee which is a fact but would you say she abuses them? I saw a post say this:

“Azula abused Ty Lee and Mai” again, no evidence in the show. Sure, she’s mean a few times, a bit calloused and pressured them to do stuff. But she never abused them. Never hit them or stuff like that. To some extent she did even slightly care. Also, we saw like only a few snippets of their lives and childhood. We can't make big assumptions like that based on just a few flashbacks.”

I’m confused on the “To some extent she did even slightly care.” Slightly? I feel like she cared a lot about them.

Abuse isn't always physical. Zuko was already a victim of verbal abuse long before he ever got disfigured by his father, and he often repeats that kind of behavior with Iroh, lashing out whenever he says something he doesn't want to hear - Azula has a simmilar pattern of behavior (pushing Ty Lee to the ground when she's better than her at a game, being mean to her at The Beach when she gets more attention from boys).

All of that would make her the "bully friend." It's definitely bad behavior that needs to be corrected because it's hurtful, but it isn't crossing the line into full on abusive behavior - unlike her using the threat of violence to make Ty Lee join her mission and as a way to make sure her friends would never abandon her. THAT is very much abusive behavior.

The thing people have trouble understanding is that "Azula has abusive tendencies that Mai and Ty Lee fall victim to" and "Azula genuinely loves Mai and Ty Lee, and wants to be a good friend to them" are not mutually exclusive.

Azula is an abuse survivor herself - something she is in denial about, hence her internalizing those "lessons" the same way Zuko did. They lash out unfairly at others because that's what they were taught was acceptable behavior by their father. Azula uses fear to keep people around because her entire relationship with Ozai is based on fear. Fear that he'll stop loving her, fear that she isn't good enough, fear that he might hurt her the way he did to Zuko if she steps out of line.

To make matters worse, Azula has a hidden complex about being a fundamentally unlovable person (or monster), so she genuinely believes that if she DOESN'T use threats to make people stay, they'll just walk out on her. And part of her is frustrated at this "truth", hence her deciding to hide the fact that she's a princess during the events of The Beach because she wants to find out how to make people like her without that intimidation factor - and when it fails, she lashes out by trashing Chan's house. Again, there's a clear pattern.

Azula loves her friends, but she was never taught how to love anybody in a healthy way - leading to their "betrayal" being both a well-deserved, cathartic moment of two people who have had enough freeing themselves from a bad situation, and the start of the tragic downfall of someone who desperately needed love, but didn't know how to get it and was constantly acting out of desperation that she masked as cunning.

"Azula is a bad friend that pushed Mai and Ty Lee too far" and "Azula is not doomed to ALWAYS be a bad friend, she just needs guidance" are both truth.

[rose-bunny-28]

I genuinely feel bad for Azula.

^Side note - Yes, I know standards for royalty are different than common everyday standards. Still, it's personally upsetting to me.^

I just finished ATLA for the first time (I'm late for the party, yeah, yeah I know), and I was honestly sad about what happened to Azula. She had so much damn pressure on herself to not mess up and to please her father. She was only 14. Fourteen. She was way too young to be experiencing everything she did. She always had to try to not disappoint her dad, and was taught driving fear into people is better than friendship.

I wouldn't say Azula is like, the best character ever to exist. But she's very well written. I really like her, she's complex and very interesting, and honestly I believe she lived in fear, but doesn't know how to handle it.

I believe that Ozai made her live in a way where she feared that she could be banished, or hurt like Zuko was. She didn't want to be a disappointment.

She says she doesn't have any problems, but in the Ember Island episode, quote "My own mother said I was a monster." For a second, she did seem genuinely sad about it.

But, then she pays it off as if she isn't hurt one bit.

Azula doesn't know how to express herself like normal people. She's a bit like Mai. Mai doesn't express feelings and doesn't really know how to. Azula doesn't know how to express feelings either. So, she hides it all under a mask of confidence and high dignity.

Before her coronation, she had lots of anxiety and didn't know how to handle it. So she was banishing people left and right out of her anxiety that she could be killed.

And when she lost against Zuko and Katara, that was her breaking point.

In the comics after the events of ATLA, it's shown she was put in an insane asylum.

Really if you think about it, everything that has happened to Azula and Zuko is because of Ozai. If he wasn't so strict or cared only about one thing, they wouldn't have ended up how they did. Sure, Zuko got something great but Azula has gone insane.

If people who know me irl read this, they would say it's because I have lots of empathy, so of course I feel bad for Azula. I guess, but also, Azula didn't deserve what happened to her. She deserves better.

Thanks for reading this. Have a great day/night.

And if you want to add something, don't be afraid too. Reblog or commenting something would help.

[balanceoflightanddark]

Acknowledgement of Pain

I think one of the things that I feel Azula in the Spirit Temple gets right is acknowledging one of what I believe to be one of the pillars of her character.

That is, acknowledging what she went through, the pain she endured, was legitimate.

What do I mean by this? Remember that scene where Azula confesses that she feels like she's a monster at the fire pit during "The Beach"?

The way she brushes off her concerns about what she's doing is wrong? She has problems admitting to what is eating at her and opening her up to others. This is reinforced since...well Zuko isn't exactly the most sympathetic to Azula and her relationship with Mai and Ty Lee is strained. So it's not like she can admit to them either. Growing up under Ozai's influence probably wouldn't help since having concerns or internal struggles would probably be seen as "weak" in his eyes.

And weakness...well we all saw what happened to Zuko.

Privately though, we see another side to her:

Azula: Don't pretend to act proud. I know what you really think of me. You think I'm a monster. ... Azula: Well what choice do I have? Fear is the only reliable way. Even you fear me.

Her strained relationship with Ursa and her belief that she's a monster does eat at her. It's not something she can just brush off so easily. Particularly when she doesn't have anybody to admit it to. Sure, she tries to make excuses like how fear is the only thing she knows how to get people to like her, but that's normal. Again, this is something that's instilled in her for years and it's not something she's good at handling by herself.

On some level, she DOES know she's hurting...but she can't admit it to herself since that would be a betrayal of everything Ozai built her up to be. And since Ozai was the only one who validated stuff like her talent with firebending and being more than just a troubled child, how could she tear that down without tearing herself down?

What I think Azula needs though...what she's craving...is for somebody to validate that yes, she was hurt. That her family and loved ones did hurt her. Yes, it might be misdirected since she lumps the Fire Warriors in there, but it's still valid since she probably wouldn't have a grasp on her feelings. I think what Azula wants is for her pain to be acknowledged and for somebody to say, "that's not right". In the environment she got, she never got the chance. And the spirit didn't help since it just labeled her a monster for rejecting its "redemption".

Hell, even her slaying of the Zuko image demanding she apologize to them doesn't acknowledge that she was hurt too and that neither party can entirely blame the other. It's all take and no give according to the spirit, which rightfully isn't treated as valid by Azula or the narrative. Otherwise, I think she would've faced more repercussions for defying it.

What Azula needs is for her pain to be acknowledged. Not brushed aside or downplayed. I mean to actually be acknowledged and treated with the amount of gravity it deserves.

[sokkastyles]

Azula hallucinated her mother saying that she loved her because that’s what Azula really wants more than anything, is for her mother to love her, so her mind created a hallucination of her mother saying that to comfort her because Azula was in a lot of pain. This is why Azula cries after her mother says that she loves her because Azula knows that it’s just a hallucination saying so, not the real Ursa, and so Azula still believes that her mother actually didn’t love her.

Okay, I know you're just a troll with a fetish for being verbally eviscerated online, and don't really deserve the time of day (did you really just make another blog MINUTES after I blocked you just so you could send this?), but this is a thing that actually deserves a longer meta because I see people say this about the mirror scene so often and it's only partially true, and doesn't acknowledge what is so very good about that scene.

Azula does indeed hallucinate her mother in a moment when she is in great pain. I do agree that Azula wants her mother's love more than anything. I also think Azula knows the truth, that her mother is not there, and that this is a large part of why she cries after breaking the mirror.

But you also have to look at what else the scene is telling us about Azula's relationship with her mother.

Because Azula did not conjure up the illusion of her mother to comfort her. I do agree that part of her desperately yearns for that comfort, but in order to understand this scene and what it means for how Azula views her mother, we have to look at what the hallucination of Ursa that Azula's mind conjured up is actually saying, and how Azula reacts to her presence.

Azula does not seek comfort from Ursa. Far from it. When Ursa appears, at first complimenting her hair, Azula reacts defensively, saying "what are you doing here?" She denies it when her mother expresses interest in care toward her, saying that she knows what her mother "really thinks" of her. Ursa replies that Azula is confused.

And, of course, since this is really Azula having a conversation with herself, this means that Azula is confused. She doesn't really know what her mother thinks of her. This is supported both by the textual framing of Azula talking to a mirror - a common trope in visual media used to symbolize that a character's perception is distorted - and by the fact that Azula has been gaslit by her father her whole life to believe only the things he says and to not listen to her mother, who her father took away from her when she was eight. Azula does not see her mother clearly here, and what she is really seeing is a reflection of herself.

The hallucination of Ursa tells Azula that all her life, she has used fear to control people, like Mai and Ty Lee. And because we know that Azula was hit especially hard by Mai and Ty Lee's betrayal, we know that this is a sore spot for Azula. That Azula knows, deep down, that her friends abandoned her because she treated them badly.

Azula does not want to admit this, though, so she replies defensively, saying that fear is the only way, and justifies it with "even you fear me."

Part of what's going on here is that Ursa takes the form of Azula's conscience, saying the things that Azula cannot admit to herself, because she has internalized the idea that the empathy her mother tried to teach her was a weakness. Another thing that's going on, though, is that Azula is trying to justify her actions by falling back on the idea that her mother hated and feared her.

If even Azula's own mother feared her, then fear must be the right way of doing things, the ONLY way of doing things.

And that's the tragedy, because love certainly didn't work for Ursa. It didn't make Ursa stay or make her happy. So therefore, Ozai must be right. Love is a weakness. Fear is the only way. Azula watched her own mother be afraid of her father at the same time that she was forced to choose between who to listen to. Who do you think had more power there? Who did she choose to believe? Ursa was vulnerable and scared, and Azula desperately wants not to be those things. Fear must be the only way because the other option is to be afraid.

But then Ursa says that line, that one line that totally shatters Azula like so many shards of a broken mirror. No. I love you.

Azula cries because this is what she's always wanted. She cries for the mother she's lost. She cries for the friends she's lost. She cries over the fact that she can't let herself love anyone, and that this is why she's alone. She cries for the fear she felt throughout her childhood that she was never allowed to express because it's a weakness. She breaks the mirror in a fit of rage and cries because even destroying the image won't make the truth Azula knows go away, and she can't reconcile the confusion she feels over her mother with what she has internalized from her father, who at this moment has also abandoned her, so she has no idea what she should believe anymore. She cries because she hates her mother and she hates herself and she loves her mother and she doesn't know how to love.

Because remember, Azula is really talking to herself. Destroying the mirror is an act of self-destruction, just as cutting her hair (the hair her mother loved) is an act of self-destruction. Just as challenging her brother to a duel to the death is. Just as the insistence she's held on to for so long that she is a monster is an act of self-destruction, a denial of her own humanity, and therefore a denial of all the things that she thinks make her weak.

But a big theme of atla is that those things, the things that give us our humanity, don't make us weak. They make us strong. This is what Azula fails to reconcile at the end of the story, and that's her tragedy.

[akiizayoi4869]

I was rereading Azula In The Spirit Temple, and I noticed something very interesting that I didn't pick up on before:

When the dream version of Ursa tells Azula that she's proud of her, and Azula responds with shock "You....are?" I find it very interesting that the dream versions of Mai and Ty Lee are the ones that snap her out of the dream by saying "Um, this isn't real. Your mom supposedly thought of you as a monster, right? Who could possibly be proud of or love a monster?"

This line of thinking goes along perfectly with what Azula says here:

"She was right, of course, but it still hurt." this goes along perfectly with the part of her mind that's having the illusions of Mai, Ty Lee, and Zuko that everything that ever happened to her is her fault, because she's a monster. Monsters deserve to have bad things happen to them.

The two people who know Azula the most are the ones that her mind chooses to take the forms of and snap her out of the dream, almost as if it's in an attempt to save her from whatever the spirit plans on doing. The part of her mind that's self loathing and is convincing herself that she's the most horrible person to ever exist and doesn't deserve to find happiness takes the forms of Mai and Ty Lee, two people who she cares about and grew up with, and two people that she feels the most guilt towards for how she acted towards them.

The Spirit Temple to Azula is very much like what Zuko's fever dream was to him: a constant back and forth between right and wrong, an internal struggle within themselves. There's one half of Azula's mind that wants the love of her family and friends, the love that she never really got, that acknowledges that she was abused and that the adults in her family failed to protect her from said abuse and wants them to own up to that fact. Then there's the other half of her mind that's saying, everything actually is her fault, she doesn't deserve happiness or for the people in her life to forgive her and accept her, and acknowledge that they (Ursa and Iroh) failed to protect her from Ozai. After all, if she's a monster then why should they love her? Why should they protect her like they did with Zuko? There's a lot of self blaming going on there.

[beifong-brainrot]

do you find it odd azula basically did everything zuko did ( he burnt down a village, she seized ba sing se, they both tried to kill aang multiple times) and wasn’t afforded a redemption( like mai and ty lee who helped in everything she did and this are also culpable ) despite being redeemable ( caring for ty lee as shown by her apology in the beach episode) and was also younger than everyone else and very mentally and abused but somehow kuvira the facist is redeemable and so is ursa who neglected azula?

I do think about that anon I think about it a lot.

I want to say that the reason Zuko got a redemption arc is because we were following him from the beginning of the series and he had time to grow. I have also heard that there was a plan for Azula to get a redemption arc but it never came to fruition.

However when looking purely at the canon material we see that Azula had virtually no support network other than two other teenage girls who were scared of her and also struggling with their own shit, she spent at least 3 years with her only family member being her abusive dad who molded her into a weapon. Like did we really expect her to turn out as anything else?

On the other hand we have Zuko, whom we see do horrible thing, but he has a supportive (and also enabling tbh) uncle, who helps him through these dark times. Zuko has a support system, he gets chances that Azula never got. His banishment was awful, but I think it also saved him in the long run because he was able to free himself from Ozai's direct influence.

Azula never got the chances Zuko did, ironically due to her talents, and because she succeeded where he did not. Being a "good daughter" was a death sentece for her morality.

And I don't want to say that Azula is purely a victim, and that she's a good person. She's not. She has her kind behaviours but she has done awful things. But so has Zuko. Azula was just better at it lol.

When it comes to Ursa, I have mixed feelings about her. I try to stave away my biases against Ursa, but she reminds me very much of my own mother (if you wanna know what type of woman my mom is just mix Ursa and Lin Beifong, and add in Catholicism.). So Ursa kinda makes my skin crawl.

I think Ursa is a very good deduction of a victim, but it comes at the cost of her being a good mother. I think her situation made it difficult for her to parent both her children, hence the gross favouritism towards Zuko. It sometimes feels like Azula was a sort of 'sacrificial lamb' that Ursa allowed Ozai to influence, which let her focus all her attention on Zuko.

And once again, it's hard to blame Ursa fully for her behaviours, due to the strenuous, horrifif position she was in. I want to believe that she did her best, even if she made the occasional mistake.

I think her behaviour in the Search, while shitty, is also at least semi realistic due to her abuse and the awful frame of mind she was in at the time.

This does not really decrease the effect her behaviours have had on Azula, and we should take them into account, even if we don't fully blame Ursa for them. Ursa isn't a bad person, she's someone forced into an awful situation, where it would be impossible for her to take an objectively perfect action. That doesn't mean that she didn't massively drop the ball on Azula.

As for Kuvira, it's honestly really funny to compare Azula and Kuvira. Azula is 14 and has no support system and a controlling abusive father. She is a pawn to Ozai. A talented, brilliant pawn, but a pawn nonetheless.

Kuvira is an adult woman, at least early to mid twenties by my estimate. She had a support system which she handily rejected, probably due to her past traumas. She created her Empire and led it. She had all the cards in this situation.

So why is Kuvira more deserving of redemption?

I think honestly the reason Kuvira got a redemption arc and Azula didn't has more to do with the people around them, especially their mothers, or mother figure in the case of Kuvira.

Azula has no support system, and her mother always treated her like the problem. Ursa's treatment would favour Zuko, the "model" child, over Azula, the "problem" child.

While Kuvira had a support system. It wasn't perfect, but the Beifongs, particularly Suyin clearly cared for her. Also, Suyin was extremely lax in her treatment of Kuvira. Suyin's parenting actually favoured Kuvira, the "problem" child, over, for example Opal, the "model" child.

I think Suyin and Ursa can be posited as opposites, in a way. Ursa seemed to have grown up in a very loving household, but was forced to raise her children in an abusive environment. On the other hand, Suyin grew up in a neglectful, if not abusive household, but managed to create a loving, safe environment for her children.

Ursa sees Ozai, a man whk hurt her, in Azula, and Ikem, a man she loves, in Zuko, to the point where she even lied about Zuko being Ikem's son, which put Zuko in actual danger.

Suyin probably sees herself in Kuvira, they have plenty of parallels between each other. Of course she'd be kinder to Kuvira. Kindness and forgiveness probably saved Suyin's life.

And in the end, Ursa cannot give Azula the love she's craved for so long. While Suyin openly embraces Kuvira, for better or worse.

When we see what characters receieved redemption arcs over Azula, the pattern quickly emerges:

Zuko had Iroh and Ursa, Kuvira had Suyin and the Beifongs.

Azula only had an abusive dad and friends who were scared of her and who probably couldn't help her even if they wanted to.

It's a shitty way to treat characters we know deserve better, but it's also sadly realistic. Shitty people with support networks, with people willing to bat for them are more likely to "get better". And shitty people who are on their own, or surrounded by other shitty people... they have to stew in their misery and shittiness.

I hope Azula gets her redemption arc. But I don't think she ever will, because the only person who seemed genuinely kind to her in the comics was Aang, but I think she's much too fargone at this point to even care or see it as genuine. It would take a really long, intricate comic novel or series to even start on Azula's journey, and I don't know if the creators of Avatar are willing to put the time, effort and money into that.

Damn that was depressing.... oh well, back to ye ol'e Azula is the Shaman from tlok theory because that at least gives me hope lol.