#even azula lost hers in the agni kai

[chiptrillino]

ok now i have to ask

why do you hate the cape (from the comics)?

Welll... -inserts edna mode no capes montage-

But in all honesty... I understand tradition costom and representation. But the whole design for zuko is just... heavily weighing him down. And the cape makes it worse.

I dont think a cape is a good idea when somone fights with fire. Exspecially somone that does lot of spinning or sometimes brakedancing moves.

You want to make zuko look badass? Scrap the cape, return his swords. Because where are they?

Give this man his swords back dang it!!!

The only time we see in canon zuko wear cape is when he sneaks around and hides in the third season. With a hood!

What does he hide this time? (Probably himself because he is ashamed and embarrassed that he has to wear...THAT)

All my frustration aside the design is... alright. Its a good and flexible redesign of the former fire lords ones. I can live with that. Just NO CAPE

[littleweowmeow]

Azula was the only one who lost in Agni Kai. And we all know that, but not everyone can handle it. She can only win in the minds of her fans. Coped with it.

[byfulcrums]

I love the soundtrack for the last Agni Kai because it's not epic, it's tragic. Most shows would make an epic soundtrack for one of the final battles that were the key for victory, but not ATLA. It shows that Zuko's victory isn't really something to be celebrated (though the characters would not be wrong to do so). It shows that Zuko and Azula's story is a tragedy. They're both just children forced to fight a war that wasn't even theirs, and they weren't even able to fight it together

[incoherent-orca]

💭

🐳

[johnskleats]

Azula would have lost the Final Agni Kai no matter what. Here's why:

Azula is insecure. That's why she takes cheap shots. She did it with Katara, and she did it with Aang in CoD, AND she did it with Iroh striking him with lightning. One could even argue that her behavior in CoD foreshadows some of what happens in the Agni Kai, where in CoD, Katara fights Azula, and Zuko saves her, whereas in the Final Agni Kai, Zuko fights Azula and saves Katara. It's a little mismatch of dynamics.

Azula cheating (constantly), is a staple of dishonorable behavior, which I think is interesting.

We see her "play with her food" like a cat, with the Dai Lee and other opponents she encounters. She tricks them and manipulates them and there's no threat. Killing Aang with lightning was SUPREMELY stupid on her part, and she wouldn't have done it unless she was cornered. She didn't even stick around to make sure he was dead or have any of them followed-- because she was scared. Zuko NEVER flees in fights out of fear. He doubles down like a lunatic and tries to get himself killed instead. Azula is not willing to risk her life, and that's why she's a worse fighter. The insecurity gets to her head and she psychs herself out

Azula has a lot of fire power (lol), but Zuko has the heart and commitment to see actions through to the end. That's why he would have won, had Azula not cheated.

By the end, they were evenly matched in firepower anyway. They did the Raging Line of Flames Competing Colors thing and met in the middle, and stayed there. That's how animation tells us about their ability.

Azula's seat of power in her firebending is spite and fear. She's not even mad, bro.

Zuko's seat of power, at the end, is light and life and love. One is a powder keg that runs out after you blow it up once, and the other is like an oil fire in a parking lot. There's essentially infinite fuel there.

Zuko would have certainly outlasted her. And did, if you think about it. Because she panicked.

Azula's entire persona is a mask, just as Zuko's bravado and pettiness in the first season was a mask. (Funny, that he can only be himself when he's hidden the scar with the blue spirit mask, therefore freeing himself of the shame and the mark that brands him as a villain)

They show us that Azula's mask is not only slipping, but cracking, crumbling in the mirror scene. That's why it's there: to show the audience that all of her running has finally caught up with her.

This world that Azula created has been a sham from the beginning. Castles in the sky to make up for what she lacks: love.

Which is why she would never win against Zuko if they both reached their full potential, as they did during the comet.

[aangarchy]

"Azula never underestimated nonbenders!" Except she literally did? She underestimated Mai and Ty Lee, she constantly underestimates Sokka, she even underestimates other benders (notably Katara and Zuko) and that's what brought her downfall.

"Azula chose Mai and Ty Lee for her team bc she knew how powerful they are even without bending" yeah, and because she underestimated their ability to make their own decisions and to overcome their fear of her.

"Azula kept Sokka busy during the invasion bc she knew to watch out for him!" No she kept him busy because she knew there was no way Aang and Toph would leave his side if he stayed. She tried other methods before by taunting Toph into lashing out, and she noticed how once Sokka figured out her plan to waste their time, Toph calmed down and listened. She knew then and there that Sokka was their leader.

Azula also underestimated Katara twice. Once during the battle in the crystal catacombs (which she would have lost if Zuko didn't come and interrupt their 1v1) and the second time during the final agni kai.

Azula's grand failure is continuing to underestimate people. Yes she knows how powerful other people can be BUT she also overestimates how powerful she is herself. If you grow up being a golden child, always having to be perfect and being compared to your less powerful older brother, your ego might become the death of you.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Have you noted that no one from Azula's family was shown to express love and affection towards her?

That is mostly true. Ozai's affection is clearly conditional (and full on manipulation at worse, like we see in the finale), Ursa canonically favors Zuko to the point that we never see her spending any alone time with Azula like she did with Zuko, and while Iroh gave her a toy like he did to Zuko the toy in question was so OBVIOUSLY wrong for a kid like Azula that it's comical AND show's he did not really know his niece at all.

But there is a constant exception.

Zuko's relationship with Azula is complicated. He clearly admires her strength and power, but he hates how she uses it. She lied to him many times, was seen apparently cheering Ozai on during the Agni Kai, tried to have him imprisoned and even said she'd celebrate being an only child - and then allows him to come home as a hero after Ba Sing Se, even though SHE had the control of the Dai Li and was not yet aware Aang could have survived, meaning she had nothing to gain from it.

And when she lets him know that if he's caught talking to Iroh people might think he is a traitor too, and explicitly says "Believe it or not, I'm actually looking out for you" Zuko drops his innitial suspicion that she wanted something and that's why she was helping him.

On The Beach, he just follows her when she say their old family home is depressing and they shouldn't waste their time there. When she's asking him who she is angry at, she mentions herself and Zuko explicitly says that is not the case.

He doesn't trust her and know she has a tendency to mock or full on lie to him... yet when he wants to know about Fire Lord Sozin he asks her about it, and lets it slide when she mocks him by saying he should make sure the royal painter got his good side - for a character as quick to anger as Zuko, that is a big deal. In Nightmares and Daydreams he also goes to her to find out if he'll be allowed at the war meeting.

More importantly:

1 - Iroh's infamous "She's crazy and needs to go down" line was only said because ZUKO, without anyone putting that idea in his head before, suddenly went "I know what you're going to say. She's my sister and I should be trying to get along with her"

2 - Zuko only jumped into the fight in Ba Sing Se when Azula was being cornered by Aang and Katara.

3 - Zuko looked genuinely shocked and even distressed when she was falling off that cliff. He just sounded so shaken saying "She's... not gonna make it..."

4 - In the writer's own words, Zuko felt no hate but only pity when seeing her breakdown. Katara tried to comfort him because, canonically, even though Zuko and Azula are enemies, this was never what he wanted because he still sees her as family. That's why the Last Agni Kai's music is not the epic you'd expect from a battle, but a tragic one.

5 - Aaron Ehasz, the lead writter for the show, probably the person with the most influence after Bryke, has REPEATEDLY said that he always felt Azula should have gotten a redemption arc, Zuko being an Iroh figure to give her advice and be the only one still by her side when all else was seemingly lost to her forever.

Even the comics (most of which I HATE, mainly because Azula's storyline checks nearly every box for "the mentally ill are inherently evil/less human, so it's fine if literally every other person on the planet mistreats them") didn't fully abandon their complex dynamic.

Zuko is not a perfect sibling, and for a long chunk of the story he seemed too focused on his own issues for Azula to ever be a factor in his mind (aside from the moments in which she was a potential/explict threat), but he DOES still feel a sense of obligation towards her, to the point that it made him do something no one else in their family had done before or since - actually look at Azula. Not the prodigious daughter/perfect weapon, or the problem child that is difficult to handle, or the pontentially deadly enemy that was in the way, but Azula.

His 14-year-old sister that got on his nerves a lot, was far from the kindest person alive, and that he had a ton of issues with, but that he could never fully hate or even be indifferent to. Because she's family. Because he remembers a happier time in which the gap between them didn't seem so big. Because if things had been slightly different he could have been her. Because he went from wanting to be her to seeing just how miserable her life ended up being - especially compared to the one he now had - and feeling deeply sorry for her.

Now if you guys excuse me, I'm gonna go cry in the corner. Have some wholesome/bittersweet fanart if you wanna cry too.

[missaccuracy]

do you think azula would be the type to project her anger and blame others when she's in grief?

I think if anything, Azula would blame herself before she blames anyone else. Remember, Azula thought that Ursa was right for thinking of her as a monster. Even if there's a deep-seated anger towards her parents, she'd likely still blame herself that she somehow failed to please them. Or if, for example, she'd be sad that she lost an agni-kai at the end of the war, while some part of her may feel angry at others, I think she'd mostly be mad at herself and think it's her own failure.

[discordiansamba]

azula's first memories of zuko are all of him ignoring her.

she'd try to show him something, and he'd brush her off. she'd try to follow after him, only for him to start walking too quickly for her little toddler legs to catch up. sometimes she'd fall. zuko would just ignore her. when she was really little, she didn't understand why he was so mean to her. he was her brother. she just wanted him to like her.

when she was older, she found out that was only half true.

she and zuko shared a mother- but they had different fathers. her mother had briefly been married to someone else before she'd married father- and zuko was a product of that union. she'd always noticed that zuko didn't look like anyone else in their family, but she'd never known the reason why. she asked her mother about why she'd left her first marriage. she just gave her a sad look and changed the subject.

her father was more forthcoming.

mother's first husband had been a commoner. her grandfather had wanted mother to marry her father instead- something about her being from avatar roku's bloodline. he'd absolved the marriage, and mother had married her father instead- but she'd already been pregnant with zuko at the time. her grandfather hadn't wanted to turn away a child of roku's bloodline, so he'd grafted him onto the family tree.

"that's why," her father had smiled at her, "-you're so much better at everything than he is. you have royal blood in you. even with avatar roku's blood in him, your half-brother is just a peasant."

azula had taken comfort in those words. she didn't need to be liked by her half-brother. she was better than him. it couldn't be more obvious that it was true- where zuko struggled, she always succeeded. nowhere was it more obvious than it was with their bending- her first flame was strong and steady, unlike zuko's pitiful, sputtering thing.

grandfather still chose to keep him around.

then grandfather was dead- and mother was gone. not long after, so was zuko- he'd gone to live with his swordsmanship master. he would return eventually- father couldn't simply excise him from their family. it would be considered disrespectful to grandfather's memory. she'd asked father anyways. he'd only laughed and told her that his existence only served to make her look better.

she didn't think she needed it. she was a princess- born with the divine right of rule. her uncle, when he returned to the palace, would look at her sadly and tell her that he wished she would get along with her half-brother. azula had scoffed. get along with zuzu? why would she bother? he'd never wanted her around to begin with. she was just returning the favor.

zuko returned to the palace with even more of a commoner's stink to him. she didn't think it was possible.

she was there when he sealed his own fate. it was stupid, really- who cared about some stupid servant? zuko, she supposed. he'd stood up for them over a general of old, noble blood. if he'd been a real prince, it might have not been a big deal. but for a fraud like her half-brother? grabbing the hand of a noble was the ultimate insult.

he really should have expected the agni kai.

(she'd give him a few points for actually trying to fight. not by much- he'd still lost, naturally.)

father banished him- sent him on an impossible quest to find the avatar. azula assumed that would be the last she'd ever hear of him. he'd probably die in the earth kingdom somewhere. everyone knew the avatar was dead. the cycle was broken. he'd never find them.

(and then he did.)

[sokkastyles]

Came across a few posts about how Azula is the best firebender in the series, and that subject is probably more based on opinion than fact I guess, but still feels like saying that is antithetical to the themes of the story. What do you think?

I agree that it's antithetical to the themes of the story. Azula cannot be the best firebender because she is not working with a complete understanding of firebending, which is linked to the themes of the story and bending as a metaphor for how we engage with ourselves and others.

I recently saw a post that said the dragons would judge Azula worthy because firebending is about drive. And oh, boy, does that completely misunderstand the themes of that episode.

The whole point is that the Fire Nation's post-Sozin relationship with fire, the idea of "having the power and drive to achieve what you want" and valuing that above all else is exactly what caused the world to fall out of balance. It is this drive for power that we see corrupt people like Sozin, Zhao, Ozai, and yes, Azula.

When Zuko faces the dragons, the original firebending masters, he learns that fire is so much more than just a drive for power. Fire is life itself, it's passion, it's warmth, it's something to be both kept in check and nurtured to become healthy. Like a little heartbeat that can be snuffed out if you aren't careful, or can burn out of control if not tempered.

So many people like to say Azula only lost the final agni kai because of her mental state, but the truth is that 1) Azula was never in a healthy mental state, at any point that we saw her in the show, and 2) she does not have the wisdom to see anything beyond her own drive for power, and that is going to prevent her from having a true link to her element.

The elements themselves are inspired by different martial arts. This is well-known. But martial arts is a form that emphasizes discipline over raw power, especially Xiaolin, which firebending is based on. It's all about self control and finding balance within oneself. Which is a theme that is cited over and over again in the show.

Iroh tells Zuko at the beginning of the show that he cannot move on to advanced forms until he has mastered the basics. He is trying to teach him how to develop the control he needs to be a true firebending master. Zuko acts this way towards his element because this is what he learned from Ozai, and from watching Azula, who has no self control and no patience. We see her practice her forms, sure, but we also see her get incredibly angry when it's not perfect. Azula has some moves that she's perfected to cause the most damage, but she's not comfortable when stepping outside of that zone, cannot take criticism at all, and threatens anyone who says she is not the best. She cannot possibly be the best firebender with such a limited understanding of her element.

Which is also why she loses even with the power of the comet on her side. Because all the power in the world won't help if the spirit isn't in balance. People will act like Azula's mental breakdown only existed to "nerf" her in the finale but it's like, literally the whole point, and was something that was building since the beginning of the series.

[nayadoesstuff]

my azula/zuko role swap

I spent a lot of time thinking about *why* Azula would be banished. she's the typical golden child, the prodigy. so why would Ozai give that up? I read everyone's suggestions, had a good think and I think I've finally got it. Something we need to remember, is Azula isn't like Zuko. she isn't Zuko, so i highly doubt she'd be punished for speaking out of turn - because she probably wouldn't speak out of turn in the first place. I did see the idea of someone saying Azula *accidentally* murdered Ursa (or so she thought) and I really liked it. I wanted to be more original, so I did tweak the story - but credits go to @oscar-meir Everything up to the meeting with Fire Lord Azulon is the same. Azula believes her mother fears her, that she loves Zuko more, etc. However, this is where things change. You see, Azulon ordered Ozai to kill Zuko, and Ozai was going to do it. Azula overhears, and decides to interfere. Despite everything, Zuko is her brother, even if she resents him. She attempts to defend him, and steps between Ozai and Zuko (metaphorically, Zuko isn't present). A fight breaks out, and Azula is outmatched (obviously, she's like 7) but I feel like at that moment, she would've gotten blue fire. Ursa hears all of this, and comes to interfere. The next morning, half the palace is scorched, Azulon is dead, and Ursa is missing. This whole scenario is traumatic, and Azula mostly represses it. The official story is that she lost control of her power, and Azula has no reason to not believe it. She believes, deep down, she is a monster responsible for the death of her own mother. Ozai gets crowned, and the next few years are relatively similar to canon, with the exception of Zuko's agni kai. Ozai has seen Azula's power, so he pushes her into rigorous training. She's a prodigy, after all. Azula is mostly consumed by guilt - she's afraid of her power, deep down. She even begins seeing her mother. But she cannot lose her father's favour, so she continues to train hard. We can see her become mostly similar to canon - she's strong, powerful, intelligent, but that feeling that she's a monster keeps gnawing at her, keeping her from her full potential, and Ozai fears her, and wants to control her. He's desperate to fully weaponise Azula, so he tries his hardest to snuff out her weakness. He of course, fails. Azula is still mostly hesitant to achieve her full potential, which leaves Ozai frustrated. She begins to slip from her perfectionist personality, eventually becoming more of a scapegoat. In this scenario, lets say Ozai gives Azula a mission, and she fails. He declares she has lost her honour, and must fight an agni kai to regain it. Azula is afraid from the last clash with her father - she refuses to fight, and is punished. Ozai declares she is banished - she cannot return until she captures the avatar. It's the only way to regain her honour. He orders Iroh to accompany her, so he is out of the way. Iroh doesn't want to go with Azula, but he can't refuse an order from the firelord, so reluctantly goes. I don't see Iroh doing much to help Azula though. from what we know, he doesn't like her, and she never had much respect for him. Azula is desperate to regain her father's favour. This, however leaves Zuko alone with Ozai. considering Zuko is now Ozai's only option for an heir, he does his best to shape Zuko into a tool, similar to Azula in canon. Zuko is constantly reminded he is the future of the fire nation, the only option for firelord. this is constantly drilled into Zuko's head, allowing his negative traits to flourish. he could become angrier, crueler, as a result of the way he feels - a replacement for Azula, and his father's only option. I believe he'd try to control people with fear and violence, just like Azula in canon.

[likeabxrdinflight]

Naturally I have a lot of thoughts about Azula's role in the live action adaptation. I'd say about 95% of them are positive thoughts.

First of all, I love that she is this baby-faced, squishy-cheeked kid (I know her actress is a little older than the character but that's okay.) At Elizabeth Yu's age, I also easily passed for 14-15, she just has a young-looking face and clearly hasn't lost all her baby fat. And that is perfect, actually. I've criticized the sharpness and angularity of the animated Azula many times over, she has always looked far too old for her canonical age. I've said it before and I'll say it again- it's a problem that so many people watched the original cartoon and thought Azula was older than Zuko. I can't even blame them for it, she's drawn to look 20 or older. So it is wonderful to see a version of Azula who looks closer to her canonical age. I think it really drives home the point.

That said, this Azula is definitely different than her animated counterpart in other ways. The animated Azula was (almost) always perfectly in control. She could become angry and snap at people- but it was fairly rare, Azula always seemed the image of perfect calm, control, and precision. She was deadly precisely because she was so cool and collected and did not get easily rankled. This was also part of what made her breakdown so shocking.

The thing is, the breakdown is not especially foreshadowed prior to season three. There are a few moments that show the chinks in Azula's armor, but most of them don't come until "The Beach," and then after Mai and Ty Lee's betrayal. I've always believed that betrayal was the real inciting incident for her eventual psychotic break- I've argued before that it sent Azula into what's called a prodromal state, which is like a sort of "pre-psychosis."

More on the animated version's mental state here

Point being, there's really only one instance in season two that suggests any flaws to Azula's cool exterior, and it's one of her very first scenes. You know the one: "almost isn't good enough." It makes for a very subtle build-up to the breakdown and her eventual fall. But it comes at the cost of depicting her predominantly as a capital-V Villain prior to it. You're not really supposed to sympathize with Azula until "The Beach," arguably not until "Into the Inferno." For most of the animated show's run, you're supposed to find her scary and threatening.

And this is done effectively- almost too effectively. She's an obvious foil to Zuko, and serves as such a good primary antagonist that they had to neutralize her in the finale by giving her the breakdown. It's like they knew there was no way a healthy Azula was going to be beatable during Sozin's Comet. She appeared to be an effortlessly talented fire bender, a brilliant strategist, and a more dangerous opponent than even Ozai.

Live action Azula does not have this same feeling to her. There is still something "scary" about her- we see her watching people being burned alive with little to no reaction, and her face is quite blank at Zuko's Agni Kai. She's still cunning and still willing to manipulate things to her advantage- we see this in how she plays Zhao. So if this version gets a season two I have no doubt that this Azula will still serve as a dangerous antagonist to the Gaang and I don't doubt this is still an Azula capable of bringing down Ba Sing Se.

But she's not quite the calm, collected character she first seemed in the animated version. This Azula is a little less hinged. She has more moments of snapping and losing some of that perfect control. She's more frustrated and feels more at the mercy of her father. She reads far more like the Azula we saw in "The Phoenix King," the one who talked back and protested that her father couldn't treat her like Zuko. That Azula, however, was about one bad night's sleep away from a psychotic break. This Azula, presumably, isn't there yet.

I can agree that something of her original character gets lost when you essentially start foreshadowing the breakdown from the jump. It's not gonna be a surprise to any new audiences. She's not gonna be quite the same. But it does humanize her much sooner than the original show did, and it asks the audience to consider her circumstances from the jump- is this a sympathetic character or not? I obviously think she is in the original, and I do think in the end she was meant to be. But it's much more of a debate. The live action show unequivocally says "yes" and does not make it a debate at all.

I'd be tempted to say it's not trusting the audience to read between the lines, but given all the Azula discourse...they might be right to take this more direct approach.

Anyways. Live action Azula also feels more like a real teenager. She's petty, she's irritable, she's desperate to remain in her father's favor and beat her brother in the artificial competition her father has set up between them and will go to any lengths to do so- lengths she probably wouldn't have in the cartoon. She has a strong drive to prove herself and to protect the image she constructs about herself as the "perfect daughter." But that image also feels far more fragile than it did in the animated version.

This Azula doesn't say that "almost [perfect] isn't good enough." She says that "it [perfect] isn't good enough." It's a subtle but meaningful difference.

(Side note- I think the reason this Azula is fine shooting lightning in the direction of her father, seemingly in defiance of his orders, is a direct result of the change to the Agni Kai- she watched as Ozai berated and burned Zuko for not giving him his all, versus in the original where Zuko's sin was in not fighting back period. So here she's showing Ozai her "all", she's giving him everything she has to prove she's capable of doing more than Zuko running drills and smoking out resistance rings.)

I like this change. I like this more desperate, more grounded take on Azula. She feels like a real girl in a horrendous home environment. This Azula was raised in a family where it's expected you be cool with setting people on fire in the throne room and where there's a tangible symbol of Daddy's love sitting beneath him at all times. This Azula was forged in the fires of competition and manipulation that's more subtle than the animated Ozai ever seemed capable of. (More on Ozai later, but he's a much more subtle character than his animated counterpart despite still being...pretty blatantly Evil). So I think it makes sense that she's not quite as calm and controlled and perfect as the animated version.

I don't know yet which version I'll prefer when all is said and done- she was ultimately a minor role in this season. Animated Azula is iconic and always will be, but there's a lot I've always been critical of about how she was depicted in the original show. I think a lot of us that love and empathize with Azula do so despite the way she was written, not because of it. This version might change things a little.

But it also might make it seem infinitely more cruel if she isn't given some kind of redemptive ending (or at least one that implies some hope for her.) The bleak ending of the original show might feel really bad for this more sympathetic version of Azula. So if they stick with that...I dunno. It could hit or miss.

For now, I like what I'm seeing. And Elizabeth Yu understood the assignment.

[the-genius-az]

Azula with Tuberculosis Au.

After Agni Kai, Azula locked herself in her room, not wanting to come out, and the only people who entered her room were Zuko and Katara.

She didn't know why, couldn't they just leave her alone? She lost everything, she has nothing to offer or give.

Azula was trying to sleep, after vomiting blood again, Katara said to call her when that happened, but she didn't have the strength to do it, besides, how could she? She couldn't even walk two steps without falling because she was so weak.

She stopped her thoughts when she heard footsteps stopping behind her door and sighed irritably, because she knew who it was.

Slowly Zuko opened the door, peeked his head in, and noticed that Azula was collapsed on her bed, something that was normal nowadays.

"I brought you your food," he murmured, as he entered Azula's room.

Azula didn't know exactly why her brother became nice to her, did he feel sorry for her? She doesn't believe it, Zuko is an idiot, even more so with Azula- the sick.

Zuko waited for Azula to sit on the bed so he could eat, but she didn't. He looked at her as he waited, but she still didn't move, he let out a sigh and put the food on the nightstand.

"Katara says... Katara says you could die," Zuko waited for a response, but it never came.

Minutes passed, until she turned around and looked at her brother.

"Do you think they would miss me if I died?" she asked, staring at him.

Zuko knew who she was talking about, he knew of the strange and complex relationship his sister had with her former friends.

"I...I really don't know, Azula," he let out a sigh and looked away from her. "They're mad at you...and me too."

Azula looked down and slowly sat up on her bed.

"With you?" she asked, in a soft whisper that he couldn't have heard if there were no sound in the room.

"They're furious that I betrayed them, and the Nation... also because I'm the fire lord and not you," he murmured, completely uncomfortable with telling her that.

"Mad at you...even Mai is?" she asked, wanting to know if Mai was still with Zuko.

Zuko clenched his fists unconsciously, but he answered her.

"Yes, she doesn't want to be with me again until you recover," they both knew that won't happen now because of Karara's new diagnosis.

She couldn't help but smile slightly and lowered her head, until Zuko interrupted her thoughts.

"Leave them some letters before you die," he offered, though they both knew that wasn't what he really meant.

"For what? What do you want me to tell them?" She scoffed, wishing he would say it directly.

Zuko let out a very upset sigh, he didn't want to look like an idiot in front of his dying sister, but she could never give him what he wanted.

"I want you to write to Mai so she can date me when you die," he ordered involuntarily, then regretted his words.

"Mai deserves someone to spend her life with," he tried as he looked at the ground, embarrassed by his own words but not wanting to stop.

Azula grabbed the sheets with her hands.

She didn't want to be selfish, but when both siblings were in the same room they both always let out their worst sides.

"I don't want that... I don't want Mai to be with you or anyone else! I don't want Ty Lee with anyone else either!" she yelled angrily at him, as tears fell down her cheeks.

"I want to be with them forever! Even after my death, I want them to love me for at least ten more years!" she cried intensely, finally breaking down.

Zuko looked at her perplexed, and slowly began to cry as well.

Everything was so intense for both of them, Azula was going to die and Zuko was going to lose someone else.

But there was something on both of their minds, and it was that they had never looked alike in their entire lives until now.

[cobra-diamond]

My Problems With Azula In the Spirit Temple

Spirit Temple feels like a breath of fresh air in a lot of ways, but it also contains a number of lingering foul odors. Here are some of the problems I have with Spirit Temple:

This Version of Casual Bitch Face Azula

Not be confused with Resting Bitch Face Azula. I'm talking her eyebrows raised casually, her aloof expression, flippant demeanor, and very sharp, even jaundice features. I know we’ve seen variants of this Azula before, but this comic's version in the beginning and at the end feels like an amalgam of her characterizations from Book 2, Book 3, and The Search, maybe even Smoke & Shadow a bit. Something feels off about this characterization of Azula. It feels a bit forced and exaggerated.

The Fire Warriors Not Wanting Revenge on Society

Huge missed opportunity. This was an area where Azula and her acolytes could have related to each other and bonded on a personal level; being discarded by their society and their families. The potential was there for the Fire Warriors to be inspired by Azula because the princess of their nation went through the same ordeal as them. They even wore facsimiles of Azula’s clothes. Instead, they want to be Robin Hoods? The fuck? I know why the story did this. It wants to end the Kemurikage plotline and tie Azula to a new, likely comic-erased, plot for Avatar Studios. It’s still a monumental missed opportunity made even worse by the ending.

The Ending

Trash ending. I’ve changed my mind. It’s terrible. It almost sinks the whole comic. Almost, but not quite. One of two outcomes could have occurred for this story: Azula reconciles with the Fire Warriors, or Azula leaves them be, which is what happened. But we needed a more definitive statement from Azula, not Casual Bitch Face Azula flippantly walking off into the sunset. Once again, Azula is walking off alone into a forest, with no clear indication of what will come next for her or what she actually wants.

But the worst part of the ending is her line, “I’ll find new followers, a new place to rule." What complete nonsense. What, is she going to Neverland to rule over the Lost Boys? Skull Island and marry King Kong? This is 100% a result of Avatar Studios' and the franchise’s overall lack of plan surrounding Azula and the Royal Family. Don’t give me this amateur fanfic garbage of her venturing around the world with no money and no allies. The more I look at this ending, the worse it gets.

The Fire Warriors Getting Dropped

This ties into the ending. The franchise has a massive problem of not having people for Azula to talk to, not having anyone in her corner like Iroh was for Zuko. She’s alone in the finale. She’s alone in The Search. Smoke & Shadow is a joke so ignore that crap. And this comic continues the trend.

Being alone is not naturally part of her arc at this point. It's artificial. There should be no shortage of people in the Fire Nation who are willing to befriend the princess, help the princess, woo the princess. The Fire Warriors were clear examples of girls who would admire her, but the franchise chose to turn them into “good” people who just want to steal from the rich and give to the poor. Perhaps the problem is that Azula's allies would be political in nature and the Fire Nation currently lacks the necessary worldbuilding to have political allies for Azula when that would create huge downstream affects for Zuko.

The War Is Not Mentioned

Azula can’t separate her identity with her political role in the Fire Nation, and that's fine, but the franchise needs to be honest about why the Royal Family is so fucked up, why Zuko and Azula fought an Agni Kai, and why Azula is still adversarial to her older brother, because of the war.

The war.

The war. The war. The war.

The war that wiped out the Air Nomads and Southern Water Tribe waterbenders. The war that led Azulon to be an evil sack of shit to his grandson by commanding Ozai to kill him. That war that led Iroh to either be a proud warlord and favorite of said sack of shit Azulon or feckless burnout in the face of his sack-of-shit-to-be brother. The war that led Ozai to have a reason to be brutal and self-serving. The war that led Iroh to convince Zuko to battle his sister and prevent her from being Fire Lord. The war that pinned Zuko and Azula against each other in the first place.

The war, Sozin, and Azulon need to start getting blamed as root causes for a lot of these problems. Ozai is already getting his portion and is starting to get more from Azula. And Iroh doesn’t get off the hook. He failed to challenge his brother to an Agni Kai when clearly any member of the Royal Family can do so according to Zuko's and Azula’s Agni Kai. I need the war to be blamed for destroying the royal family. This comic barely does that.

Azula Was Too Complacent Around the Spirit

We all know Azula is an incredibly brave girl, but she’s also intelligent enough to sniff out danger. Why wasn’t she more forceful in demanding answers from the scary monk? Why did she play the spirit’s game instead of fight it immediately? This isn’t a big problem, but it made the exchange feel a bit forced and Azula experiencing Plot-Induced Stupidity.

The Spirit’s Intentions Were Too Vague

Was it trying to eat her? Why did the monk kick her out? Why couldn’t it “control what happens next”? Why did it think it new how to "redeem" Azula when it demonstrated tat it didn't know her well enough? There were major Coraline vibes in this story, from the Other Mother-esque tactics of giving Azula what she wants, to Azula circling back to the temple when trying to leave. Again, not a big problem, but it made the spirit frustratingly vague.

Azula’s Blank Reaction to the Zuko Monster

Too many blank stares while the Zuko Monster was lambasting her. I think I know what this scene was doing, but, please, if Azula is confused, use some dialogue to express that. If Azula is scared, or overwhelmed, use some dialogue to convey that. The prior scenes already used dialogue very effectively to convey Azula’s perspective.

Too Short

I don’t care about the comic format. I need more of this. The ATLA franchise does not have a character remaining who can hold a candle to Azula’s complexity, psychological damage, inner and moral conflicts, and potential for transformation. The Bounty Hunter and the Tea Brewer? Mystery of Penquan Island? ‘Fuck outta here with that shit. Give me more Crime and Punishment, Azula-edition.

[atla-confessions]

There is no universe where Azula was winning against Zuko in the last Agni Kai. I've seen a lot of fans say that Zuko was only winning due to the fact Azula was mentally unstable. Zuko had a mental block throughout the first two seasons. Still, if you look at his firebending in the cross roads of destiny, he launches a big ass fireball at Aang, for which, in season 1, he needed Iroh's help. It's almost scary how quickly Zuko advances in firebending. On top of that, after he redirected the source of his firebending from rage to something more purer, i.e, the Dragons, his firebending only skyrocketed. Look at boiling rock part II, their fight in the Boiling Rock jail lacks any urgency. Yeah, Sokka was their with his sword, but Zuko appears unfazed and flawlessly blocks every assault from Azula. Look at him deflecting fire in the earlier two seasons, then look at season 3. He doesn't get launched back, he does it with ease. Her whole life, Azula only studied firebending. Zuko, however, learned from each element and how to fight them from his experience as he only had basics laid down by Iroh. He's always been in unfair fights, so, it's easy to term him as a bad firebender. But between Azula and Zuko, he is simply the better firebender. Doesn't matter if Azula was in perfect mental condition or not. His awful firebending makes complete sense if you look at his mental state through the timeline. As a child he wasn't good at all, and it continued to weigh on him, if you look at the panel of The Search part II (I think the comics are bad too, but their still canon...), where Ozai yells at Zuko for 'lecturing' his sister on fire bending, and the three panels afterwards, you can see how scared Zuko looks. And then, his mother disappears, Ozai ascends the throne, two/three years later, he's burned and banished and after that, we can see in the show itself, Zuko's mental block and inner turmoil. As he progresses, he realises that his nation, the one he thought of being right was not and he was fed with propaganda the whole time, he realises the truth and he realises his awful actions and his mistakes. He lets go of his false motivation and the drive to please his father, he improves ALOT.

I don't hate or even dislike Azula but I'm fed up with people calling Zuko a bad firebender then saying Azula only lost due to her bad mental state. Zuko had a mental block throughout the first two seasons 🤨😐😑, smh.

Besides that, Zuko has always been great in fighting without bending, which has nothing to do with everything I've written, but his fighting style is so nice to look at, man.

X

[waterfire1848]

For the headcanons do you have any for dragon!Azula? Or dragon!firefam?

Hello, anon!! Thanks for the ask!

When she was younger, it was not uncommon to find Azula up on the roof trying to teach herself how to fly before she was ready. Everyone in the family is older than her and can fly already, so Azula was getting really sick of having to ride on her mom's back whenever they flew somewhere. Azula's flying attempts either resulted in her staying airborne for all of 3 minutes before falling on the ground, Ursa grabbing her before she could jump or, on one occasion, a broken arm.

On nights when she can't sleep or when their parents are screaming in the hall, Azula and Zuko will sneak out of the place and run around town in their dragon forms or go for a fly. The siblings have a distinct enough color and design that people know not to try and hunt them so they can move around as they please.

The Fire Family typically get their dragon forms when they're around 3-6. Ozai got his at 5, Iroh at 3, Lu Ten at 4, Zuko at 6 and Azula at only 2. Ursa can joke about it now but dealing with a two year old that also has teeth sharp enough to bite a finger off, fire breath and claws that could easily take out an eye did not make the terrible twos fun.

When Azula fails at the Boiling Rock and the Western Air Temple, Ozai breaks her wings. Nothing that results in any permanent damage but she has lost the ability to fly and still can't fly when the Agni Kai happens. For a few days after the battle, Zuko lives in guilt because he thinks he broke Azula's wings somehow. Even though she didn't use them during the fight. Katara and Sokka are the ones who work together to help heal her wings.

It's incredibly common for a member of the Fire Family to change their eyes, horns, teeth and tongue when in human form but nothing else. They mostly do this either to freak someone out, scare away animals or show off anger. For the first week on his ship, Zuko walked around with slit eyes, razor sharp teeth and his horns and would hiss at anyone who looked at him funny. The only people it doesn't work on? Mai, Ty Lee and Ursa. It's just very hard to be scared of any dragon when you've also seen one laying on their back in the sun with their tongue out and their eyes almost rolling into the back of their heads.