#azula defender for fuckin life

[liliennacht]

of course it is!!! SOO MANY FANS GET HER SOO WRONG AND VILIFY HER SO MUCH.

aaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

When people talk about a character like they are an irredemeable monster who deserves to die a thousand slow death and you look the character up and they are a 14y/o kid who had a horrible childhood where they were treated as monsters and never got a change to heal.

Bonus point if people talk like the xharacter was born a monster and thus undeserving of any kind of chance or betterment vecause they are just evil.

[agnisleftpec]

ok @akiizayoi4869 opened a can of worms by expressing mild, passing interest on my thoughts on the second half of book 3, so here's my Ramble

disclaimer, this is mostly just initial thoughts. i haven't gone through the Essay Analysis process for this, so there's bound to be holes in my interpretation here.

so 2 topics for this breakdown. 1st, zuko's narrative symbols and how i interpret them. 2nd, how those symbols play out in season 3 and a few gripes with season 3 in general.

this one's fuckin long, so buckle up

part 1, zuko's identity and its symbols

okay so the main symbols i tend to see are as follows: fire, swords, and the blue spirit mask. each represents a part of zuko's identity that is somehow at odds with each other at some point. fire is basically Prince of the Fire Nation. swords are who zuko is detatched from his nation. the blue spirit mask is selfishness and the Ozai mentality, as ive been calling it.

first, fire. pretty big for a symbol, i know. specifically for zuko, i think that fire represents zuko as the crown prince. and that comes with all the turmoil of prince zuko. it starts with being what he's been taught a prince is, following orders and being the loyal son, and ends with what he discovers a prince should be, a protector of his people, even if its from themselves. that mirrors the development of fire throughout the show as initially spooky scary big bad burning rage to actually it's life and love and rage and everything in between, and you have to know how to use it. zuko learning how to firebend without anger parallels him learning that being prince is more than what he was taught.

second, swords. and yes, this is distinct from the blue spirit mask. this is basically "just zuko." it's what zuko relies on when he's not a prince. when the prince can't do anything, "just zuko" can. its what he is when traveling the earth kingdom, basically nationless and without a higher identity to cling to. it's instinctual, something he's good at, and something he hides away because it's not becoming of a Prince to be "just zuko."

the most important aspects of this symbol come when they are used without the mask. in zuko alone, he uses the swords to defend innocent people from cruel soldiers. (he decidedly does not use the mask.) the one time zuko firebends while using his swords, combining "prince" and "just zuko," he is punished for combining them and run out of town. (wouldn't it be great if there was a chance for positive reinforcement of combining these symbols later on?) he uses the swords against jet to defend his right to be "just zuko" in ba sing se. he uses them against ozai when he finally sees through the ozai mentality (more on that in a sec) and leaves to teach aang firebending. he presents himself as "just zuko," who was never enough for ozai, and tells ozai to go fuck himself.

third, the blue spirit mask is a combo of selfishness and the ozai mentality.

the ozai mentality is the idea that some things are awful and essential. they are excusable because of the end result. the war, zuko's banishment, his disfigurement. the ozai mentality isnt necessarily tied to the blue spirit, but the blue spirit doesn't exist without it. he steals the avatar from zhao because it's essential (not princely, he doesn't firebend. its horrible for a prince to do, but essential). he steals song's ostrich horse because its essential. he sides with azula in ba sing se because its essential. awful, but essential. these last two happen without the mask because the ozai mentality sticks to zuko far beyond the reaches of the mask as a symbol. (so maybe the mask doesn't actually represent the ozai mentality, and that just doesn't have a symbol, idk lol, im just moving past that, rigidly defined symbols are hard.)

the selfishness is over-indulgence, taking more than he should, stealing in excess because he deserves it. it's only believing in the ozai mentality when it serves him.

letting go of the blue spirit mask is getting rid of the idea that what he wants is more important than the world, as much as it is the first step in accepting that some things that happen are not essential. ("it was cruel and it was wrong" doesn't come out until he starts to reject the ozai mentality.)

the mask and the swords make the blue spirit. the blue spirit is what zuko doesn't think is princely, doesn't think is honorable, but he'll do because fuck the world, he deserves this. sounds nice in theory, but not great self care in practice. selfishness, the ozai mentality, and "just zuko" collide in a mix of someone who doesn't have the responsibilities of being prince on their head, but still feels they're owed by the world. who feels like some things just have to happen, and it sucks, but they had it coming. the blue spirit is the worst part of "just zuko", and is abandoned in lake laogai because it only hurts him.

(the mask and fire are incompatible because the blue spirit and the prince are incomaptible. the blue spirit does horrible things that cant be honorable, and the prince can't be selfish in the face of his people's needs.)

if you want more on the blue spirit and vigilantism, here's my breakdown of that in a reblog. it has been changed since OPs reblog, mostly cuz i was acting like there was zero justification for the avenging vigilante take even though the first time zuko does blue spirit shit in season 2, it's literally that. had to think for a bit and clarify. lmao when you wrong, you wrong.

part 2, book 3 second half dumb

so imo, i think the second half of book three feels like a checklist. like, zuko joins gang, zuko reconciles with our list of characters that need reconciliation, token recap comedy, finale. you know exactly whats coming, which i guess isn't bad, but i always struggle to rewatch these episodes cuz it really feels like a list of narrative tasks instead of a story.

so, down the list, episode by episode:

the firebending masters was a great episode, but how was it one fucking episode? a character just fucking losing their bending?? no one is concerned?? this hasn't come up before, why is no one terrified by the fact that this can just happen? also also, why is it resolved in a grand total of one episode? same with Aang's reluctance to firebend. i get what the writers were going for, but a couple of missable lines about "fire is life actually" doesn't do much convincing after an entire show's worth of effort showing us the dangers of fire. give us some time to learn to love it, like come on. take us through that journey with aang. let it culminate in the firebending masters, where aang finally feels like fire is a part of him, and zuko finally knows how to exist without rage driving him.

zuko and aang's relationship also needs more attention. for a whole episode meant to convince us that all feelings are resolved, i was left feeling more awkward than when we started. frankly, i feel that way about everyone. zuko literally has direct character parallels to every gaang member that would be so fun to explore, and yet these episodes felt so hamfisted to me. (aang & zuko: homesickness, did something stupid and cant go home because of it, trying to preserve their culture being swallowed by the war. katara & zuko: anger, emotions, mothers died/vanished protecting them from the fire nation. sokka & zuko: "less talented" sibling to a prodigy, and all the fucked up emotions that that comes with, swords. toph & zuko: aristocratic upbringing, and literally everything iroh said when toph ran into him for tea during The Chase.)

specific annoyances with the symbols, a lot of people think that zuko should've been able to use firebending with his swords more often, and i wholeheartedly agree. i mentioned it earlier, but this combo only happens once, in Zuko Alone. zuko bends with his swords and immediately introduces himself as prince, heir to the throne, and also still fighting off these shitty soldiers and still holding his swords. its proof that the prince and "just zuko" can coexist, and can do it well.

he's forced to leave town for that, and we never see him firebend while holding swords again. fuckin wack is what that is. bad wack.

what we needed was a reconnection of those symbols after that loss of faith. we needed to reconfirm that zuko can be fire lord, because "just zuko" and the prince work together beautifully.

there's a huge amount to tell through these symbols as well, with zuko losing his firebending after betraying his father and technically giving up his place on the throne. it's so obvious that im frustrated it was never brought up. zuko gave up on being prince, in ozais image at least, and now needs to relearn to be prince in his own image or else not be prince at all. he needs to learn to bend without anger, or else not bend at all.

additionally, aang and zuko's relationship ties in with these symbols. aang has personally dealt with each one of them, and surprisingly, its the mask and the swords that he gets along with in terms of zuko. (not entirely sure thematically how to resolve the blue spirit mask and aang connection, but also im just yelling at a wall here, not rewriting the season lmao.) they were amazing fighting companions in the blue spirit episode, where fire and the prince were nowhere in sight. when it comes to fire, that has a loaded history.

i would have loved to see an extended version of events that showcased aang and zuko meshing unreasonably well for recent enemies, all until they see the dragons and firebending pops up. after all, its the prince part of zuko that causes the most trouble, so aang thinks. aang learning firebending isn't just about learning that fire is a part of him as the avatar, but also about learning that zuko being prince is okay and doesn't mean they can't be friends. that tension resolves when we finally get some scene that prompts zuko to start bending with his swords, and both he and aang realize that these two parts of zuko are stronger together.

the boiling rock episodes are a joy to watch, but the outcome of the episodes feels so pointless when in the next episode, we immediately separate from hakoda again. like?? there's got to have been a better way to deal with this. the most important things in those episodes were sokka reaffirming his own skills to himself in the wake of the invasion, and azula being betrayed by her friends. the fact that hakoda, suki, and a random ass guy??? were treated as an afterthought to be disregarded next episode is obnoxious. (ok, suki wasnt disregarded, but she also got gaang position with hardly any narrative work, which is annoying cuz she doesn't deserve to be snubbed like that.)

the southern raiders gave katara some closure, dragged zuko along cuz the checklist!!, and then promptly disregarded everything except for "now katara wont kill zuko." like, it even got rid of the shit katara learned. this episode seems like it has a lot it wants to say, but fails to meaningfully say anything, and therefor leaves viewers in a spot where they have to come up with a moral lesson on their own. which is fine, i guess, but it's also a kids show. if there's any place to be direct about your morals, this is it. the episode thematically is in line with things that zuko would do with the blue spirit mask. its all about how that selfish mentality taunts everyone, and that like katara, zuko is also tmepted by it. the selfish need to get what you think you deserve, regardless of what the world needs. regardless of what you actually need. showing this same thread in katara is amazing, and so key to her character development. especially when she, despite being fully enabled by zuko, refuses to submit to it.

we jump forward to aang being anxious over killing ozai, and katara doesn't side with him. after all that?? like i understand there are differences, but i thought the point of the episode was that sometimes bad people go unpunished because enacting "appropriate" punishment will hurt the punisher, and that's not worth it. killing her mom's murderer would've hurt katara in ways that she didn't need. sparing him was not a mercy to him, but to herself. if that guy tripped and fell off a cliff the next day, it wouldn't matter. the point was that katara didn't put herself through that suffering. and now she's totally fine with aang needing to go through that? i don't believe it.

zuko would. zuko will. he'd fucking kill ozai in heartbeat. he might have gotten better at spotting it, but he has not gotten rid of the ozai mentality. it sucks, but it's essential. his dad must die.

and he expects aang to believe the same, and that's another bit of conflict that isn't touched on enough. zuko is ready and willing to kill his own father, regardless of the harm it would do to himself, and i feel like that should be more concerning to the gaang than it is. at the very least, to aang and katara, who have both been in situations where they could kill someone who made their life awful and refused to. and despite the fact that it's good for the world, leaning into the ozai mentality in order to justify killing ozai is fucked up. the show makes a point of telling us this, the whole finale tries to drive it home. the entire show is about refuting this mentality, and now zuko, ozai's son, the guy who's trying so hard to be good, has slipped into it so seemlessly he didn't even flinch, and no one is concerned? cmon.

also the energybending stuff? we coulda worked that in sooner. we've been talking about energy connecting people since the swamp episode. we've been talking about bending being a restriction of the mind since lightningbending, since metalbending. im not opposed to the creepy lion turtle vacation, but there were ways to foreshadow energybending as a solution before the finale, and they just didnt.

also also toph and zuko deserved better. where the fuck was their field trip? they didn't get one because the point of those episodes was not friendship, it was reaching a baseline of okay.

which is another thing. fandom is awesome, but watching season 3, i still don't believe that zuko is anywhere near close to these kids. they're hardly friends by the end of this, and based on what the show shows me, i fully believe that the coronation was the first time aang even called zuko his friend. and that's not something someone like aang would hold off on, so they're very much just battle bonded companions until the epilogue.

and i mean, if it works, it works. there's only so much time, but still. i think there should've been 4 seasons, enough to actually establish friendships between zuko (and suki, fuck she's so ignored its stupid) and the gaang and really drive home the fact that joining the gaang wasn't just good for the world, but was good for zuko too.

anyway, thats my uh. rant. about season 3. clearly overshadowed by my love of zuko's character with a heavy lean into Aang's space because he's blorbo no. 2 and i love aang and zuko's relationship because of the parallels.

i have no conclusion. hope you enjoyed adhfjdh

[le-dreadmau5]

I didn't realize it till I started calling out my parents for their abusive parenting but:

Ozai only cares about being a parent in the abstract. He only cared about parenting to mold Zuko and Azula into the model Fire Nation royalty that they were expected to be. Look at Azula. From (presumably) birth, homegirl has been pretty fuckin intense with her bending training and always being ruthless...just what the Fire Nation would need in times of conquering the World. Get rid of anything that dares oppose you. She was constantly taught and encouraged that from her dad, grandfather and Lo & Li. However, they never taught her balance in life. She never got to be a carefree kid and her intense drive overflowed into every part of her life...including using fear to keep her friends despite them genuinely caring for her (to an extent ). Her own mother tried to care for her but Azula couldn't recognize it.

Now look at Zuko. He wasn't always so driven and honor crazy. He used to be a kid that enjoyed nature and defending others. Something his mother saw and resonated with. As such, Zuko and his mother were close and had a healthy relationship. However, Ozai saw Zuko as "soft" and inadequate. So to try and "toughen him up" Ozai took the first chance he could and physically and emotionally scarred him for life. But even right up to the fight, he's still begging for his dad's forgiveness out of his good nature. Afterwards, you see he just isn't the same. He grows cold and indifferent. Towards family, towards nature, towards everyone.

But Iroh sees the remaining sparks of goodness in Zuko struggling to stay alive. In S1, Zuko saves selfishly saves the helmsman from certain death. S2, we see him not rob a family with a newborn despite being on the edge of starvation; we see Zukos soft spot with a girl on his date- a soft spot string enough to use his bending; him trying to do good that boy in the town but realizing how deeply scarred that town is...just like he is.

And when Zuko is reunited with his dad, it's a very cold reunion. Gone for years and no tears or hugs. Just "you're back your honors sitting on the couch, meetings in the morning". Ozai feels no emotional attachment to either of his kids, not even the "perfect one" who's really just a teenager end of the day.

But Iroh, Iroh wept and shook as he saw Zuko again after months. When Zuko expected anger from him, Iroh dashed it away with emotional affirmation that had Zuko tearing up.

TLDR: Iroh was the parent Zuko needed. Ozai was the parent the fire nation expected for appearances that led to Emotional and Mental abuses

There will never be a more ICONIC moment in TV than when Ozai mocks Zuko about how Iroh will pass down to him “the ways of tea and failure” only to have Zuko redirect Ozai’s lightning like two seconds later and brutally smash him into a wall; a skill Zuko learned from Iroh. Even when he was not physically there, Iroh protected Zuko from his most dangerous enemy.

[akiizayoi4869]

I feel you, the hate that she gets is insane😭

When people talk about a character like they are an irredemeable monster who deserves to die a thousand slow death and you look the character up and they are a 14y/o kid who had a horrible childhood where they were treated as monsters and never got a change to heal.

Bonus point if people talk like the xharacter was born a monster and thus undeserving of any kind of chance or betterment vecause they are just evil.