#fire nation parenting

[phoenix-king-ozai]

I imagine this is how Ozai and Azulon's relationship was like. For context, little Ozai tried to give Azulon a father's day gift and Azulon responded poorly not just because he finds Ozai irritating, but because he interrupted his convo with Iroh so it goes about as well as one would expect.

My theory is that Azulon’s wife Ilah died to give birth to Ozai because she was middle-aged and Azulon wanted a spare heir in case of Iroh's death on the battlefield or his incapability to procreate (Iroh had Lu Ten very late in life despite being a promiscuous war general) Azulon also wanted are younger child for the return of Sozin’s comet. Ilah refused because she knew the risk involved and Azulon forced himself on her as his right as Fire Lord and her husband. Ilah despises Azulon after this despite his apologies and guilt due to her shunning of him.

Azulon truly loved Ilah but let his temper and desire go to his head. Fire Lady Ilah refuses his apology and never forgives him for his martial raping her. But on the other hand, she is somewhat happy and hopeful about their second child. Crown Prince-Shogun Iroh on the other hand is ecstatic about having a baby brother or sister. The birth of Prince Ozai during the Summer Solstice and the hottest day in the history of the Fire Nation bring joy and pride to Fire Lord Azulon and Crown Fire Prince-Shogun Iroh as this is a sign that the newborn has been blessed by Agni the Spirit of Fire | Flame & the Sun itself!

That joy and pride turn into hatred, horror, sadness, and despair when Fire Lady Ilah dies of traumatic pregnancy, covered in blood and burns. The horror and trauma that their beloved wife | mother suffered had left a gruesome, bloody, and violent image in their mind. Azulon despite knowing the truth that he killed Ilah through his actions of marital rape, uses baby Ozai as a scapegoat to let out his anger, rage, fury, and despair. Iroh also grows to despise & resent his baby brother and refuses to touch or hold him out of complete neglect, but later comes to regret his part in the emotional abuse on his innocent child brother.

The newborn’s only aunt’s Li and Lo look after their baby nephew, teaching him the ways of their father, his grandfather Fire Lord Sozin. The Imperial Clan of the Fire Nation: Ryuzo Clan (Fire Lord clan) has lost one powerhouse in favor of another. Strong, gifted, and intelligent like his mother and brutal, ruthless, cunning, proud, and above all a powerful warriors like his brother, father, and grandfather before him.

However, whereas Ozai was neglected and despised over Fire Lady Ilah's death by Iroh and Azulon. Lu Ten wasn't despised or mistreated by Iroh and Azulon compared to Ozai. Probably because Azulon cared more about his heir to his first-born son and having his first grandson. Also, I believe that Iroh later realized that the neglect, isolation, and emotional abuse his brother suffered during his childhood had emotionally scarred him. He didn't want the same fate for Lu Ten despite his beloved wife dying just like his mother had. Lu Ten being the Golden Child of the family and Azulon and Iroh's pride and joy despite having the same circumstances that befall him, and Ozai being the Black Sheep of the family; causes him immense loathing and jealousy of his nephew's happiness and relationships with his father and brother.

I believe that Ozai and Ursa have a long loving, complex, and complicated relationship. Ozai's imperialistic ambition and brainwashing along with paternal abuse by Azulon made him extremely emotionally damaged and socially unstable. Iroh had Ilah and Zuko had Ursa to help love and guide them. Ozai probably only had abusive Azulon and neglectful Iroh; who both probably hate him due to Ilah's death in childbirth.

@trashfactorysstuff His phenonmal artwork and headcanon!

[phoenix-king-ozai]

Ozai's parenting style is very authoritative, demanding, controlling, and ruthless like the Fire Nation Empire itself. Ozai most definitely inherited this style of dominating and vicious dictatorial parenting method from Azulon who inherited it from Sozin. Ozai treats his children more like soldiers and pawns for the Fire Nation's grand schemes and designs. Their happiness, wishes, and desires means nothing to him compared to the cost of his family's Imperial Legacy. Ozai and Ursa used to have a happy family with Zuko and Azula during their early childhood years but Ozai "changed" when the children became older. I believe Ozai decided to allow Zuko and Azula to have a happy and "normal" childhood that he didn't get to experience as a child. However, once he saw a chance at becoming Fire Lord and fulfilling Sozin's dream and legacy. Ozai gave up on the lenient and caring fatherly act because it was unnatural to him given his own personal childhood and relationship with Fire Lord Azulon.

My headcanon is that Fire Lady Ilah died in childbirth to Ozai; which is why she wasn't able to give him the love, care, and happiness that children need especially early on. However, Ilah was able to provide those values and morals to Iroh who was probably 15 years old when she died. Ilah loved and cared for Iroh and gave him happiness during his childhood instead of the strict, heartless, soulless, and authoritarian emotionally abusive parenting that Azulon gave Ozai after Ilah died. Iroh continued Ilah's legacy with Lu Ten and then later with Zuko during his exile. I don't think Ozai was purposely being malicious and cruel to Zuko and Azula to torture them. However, raised Zuko and Azula via the Imperialistic and Authoritarian parenting style that he knows and values because of his father Azulon, and grandfather Sozin's legacy and parenting strategy.

I have a question, do you think ozai is a good parent?

Thanks for the ask!

No. Not at all. Throughout the show, we see that he's a horrible, horrible father.

He commits probably multiple accounts of physical abuse (though we only see one) and emotional abuse. Despite the limited time Zuko and Azula have with Ozai in the show, it's very easy to see that they're both terrified of him and what he could do to them. Zuko's scar is a pretty clear showing of the physical abuse side, but emotional abuse is very prevalent throughout the show. Ozai's love is conditional and he only gives it to Zuko and Azula when they please him. In the second picture, even Azula, Ozai's favorite child, is afraid of being burned when she raises her voice.

[ionlybleedbubbles]

[amirmeavid]

Its funny when I push dadkoda and zuko fluff supremacy online and I get responses like: That would never happen in canon!!! 😡

Like...

My brother in christ. My favourite ship is Zukka. Tf makes you think I'm interested in canon accuracy when looking for fluffy fics?

(Yes this is a cry for more fic recs. Please yall.)

[darkprince1110]

Y/n: Listen to your mother son

[burst-of-iridescent]

not to beat the "sokka's misogyny" disk horse even further into the ground, but while i agree with the take that sokka being sexist logically doesn't make sense, i would go further to say that the water tribes themselves being sexist is both illogical and thematically contradictory.

the flaws of each nation in atla have always been linked to their element, and specifically what those elements represent. fire is the element of power; power, left unchecked, leads to imperialism and authoritarianism. earth is the element of substance and stability; stability, prioritized too highly, creates and justifies the rigid class system and rampant corruption of ba sing se. air is the element of freedom; freedom, taken too far, becomes irresponsibility and abandonment.

meanwhile, water is the element of change... therefore the water tribes cling to antiquated ideas about gender roles instead of adapting with the times (especially when the times involve a fucking war going on).

not only is this unrealistic, it also breaks the thematic pattern of the nations' flaws being virtues taken to extremes, and how this dovetails into the show's overall message about the importance of balance. if we're keeping with the pattern of virtue and vice being two sides of the same coin, then the flaw of the water tribes has to be related to change. and here is where some of the (badly executed) ideas in the comics and legend of korra could have come into play: change, left uncontrolled, can lead to progress... but at the cost of tradition and spirituality.

(imagine a nwt cut off from the world and forced to rely solely on itself, ingenuity and creativity flourishing out of sheer, desperate need. imagine a nwt where waterbending is nothing more than a tool, used to build and defend and maintain a fortress always at risk, its spiritual origins slowly lost to time. imagine a nwt more military than community, whose architecture and technology far exceed anything the world has ever seen, who look down upon their less advanced sister tribe, and see no need for the avatar - after all, where was he when they had no one but themselves for the last 100 years?

when warned that the fire nation is coming, they show no fear; they have held strong on their own for the last century, bolstered by their weapons and wits, and will continue to do so. you need the spirits, aang implores, and is met with derision, for there is no place for spirits in a society always chasing more, greater, better. the spirits have not helped us before, avatar. why would they now? we are all we need.

when the moon spirit falls, unprotected and forgotten in an abandoned, rundown spirit oasis - so do they.)

not only would this fit better thematically, it would also ensure that the nwt's flaw plays a role in its own downfall. where the fire nation's warmongering resulted in the poverty and suffering of its own people, and the earth kingdom's corruption led - at least in part - to the fall of ba sing se, the misogyny of the water tribes is never shown to negatively impact them in any way. the north isn't defeated by the fire nation because they relegated half the population to healing. the south doesn't suffer raids or lose their waterbenders because they (supposedly) didn't let women fight. this lack of narrative punishment means that - outside of a few girlboss moments for katara - the sexism of the nwt isn't significant to the overall story whatsoever.

furthermore, while the ba sing se arc last almosts half a season, and the fire nation's actions drive the entire show, this supposed systemic oppression of women shows up for one episode in the first season before disappearing entirely. pakku is reminded of his lost love, magically turns into a feminist, and somehow the entire tribe follows suit? no one else protests, not even the other students or the chief?

and yet, though there are still no female waterbenders other than katara, or agency for kanna in her relationship, or any indication that women stopped being forcibly betrothed - the entire issue is simply swept under the rug and never brought up ever again in the show. i understand this was a children's cartoon made in 2005, and that even having female characters openly speak about and challenge misogyny was a radical feat for the time and genre, but the reality of patriarchy is that it's structural, sustained and immensely difficult to resist - if the show was going to depict that resistance, it should have done so with greater depth and nuance, as it did for many of the other difficult topics it tackled.

ultimately, handwaving misogyny away like it never existed is far more disrespectful to katara's character, her fight against injustice, and the girls who saw themselves in her, than simply toning it down or removing it could ever be.

[d4rklyra]

Here, have a drawing section of a mentally unstable after war Ozai, featuring hallucination Azulon

[zuko-always-lies]

Unpopular Opinion: Ursa's parenting negatively affected Zuko

One of the fascinating things about the ATLA fandom is that people are utterly uninterested in analyzing how Ursa's parenting really screwed up Zuko, even though it's pretty clear. I don't mean to attack Ursa here, because I think she had good intentions, but, although her parenting was far better than Ozai's, it contributed to Zuko's many poor decisions.

I've given a broader coverage to values Ursa extols to her children elsewhere. The general point you should take away from that is that Ursa was critical in instilling imperialist values in her children and in teaching them to respect/obey the Firelord.

However, that's not the point I will belabor here. I want to turn to something else. Let's take a look closely at the scene where Zuko tries to perform Azula's firebending routine in front of his grandfather and his father but falls flat on his face:

Ozai frowns at this news. Zuko starts off well, doing the same circular motions as Azula earlier. He manages to produce a small fire blast, which does not impress Fire Lord Azulon. When he tries to create another one, he falls. He gets back up, panting heavily, and tries again, only to fall harder. Ursa gets up worriedly and approaches Zuko to comfort him. Young Zuko: I failed. Ursa: No. I loved watching you. That's who you are, Zuko. Someone who keeps fighting even though it's hard.

The lesson that Zuko learns from Ursa here is that his gift is stubborn persistence and that he should never stop trying to meet the toxic expectations of the Fire Nation royal court and of his father(she also might have inadvertently encouraged the Zuko-Azula sibling rivalry).

How do we know this is what Zuko took away from this? These scenes are paired together at the end of "Zuko Alone," as Zuko struggles to defeat Gow:

In the flashback, Zuko is sleeping in his room at night when a hand gently touches his shoulder. He awakens drowsily to see his mother dressed in a cloak.

Young Zuko: … Mom? Ursa: Zuko, please, my love, listen to me. Everything I've done, I've done to protect you. She pulls the barely conscious Zuko into a hug. Ursa: Remember this, Zuko. No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are.

and this scene:

Gow: Who ... who are you? Zuko:My name is Zuko. Son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai. Prince of the Fire Nation, and heir to the throne. Old man: Liar! I heard of you! You're not a prince, you're an outcast! His own father burned and disowned him!

Zuko took Ursa's advice to never give up and never forget who he was to heart, and as a result even though he's been burned, banished, and declared a traitor, even though he objectively has no real chance of getting his status and Ozai's favor back at this point, Zuko is still trying to do that and refuses to let go of his long-lost position in the Fire Nation as crown prince. The smart thing to do would be to give up and move on, but Zuko refuses to do that.

We can also turn to what Zuko says to Aang in "The Siege of the North, II":

Zuko: I finally have you, but I can't get you home because of this blizzard. [Stands up and looks outside the cave.] There's always something. Not that you would understand. You're like my sister. Everything always came easy to her. She's a firebending prodigy, and everyone adores her. My father says she was born lucky. He says I was lucky to be born. I don't need luck, though. I don't want it. I've always had to struggle and fight and that's made me strong. It's made me who I am.

All of this brings me back to my main point. Ozai might have been the one who burned and banished Zuko, who abused him and declared him a traitor, who demanded that Zuko capture the Avatar, but Ursa is the one who taught Zuko the persistence that made him chase after legends for three years, that made him take reckless risk after reckless risk, that made him continue chasing the Avatar even after Ozai was having him hunted as a traitor across the Earth Kingdom.

The biggest problem in Zuko's life is that he refuses to let go of his dream of regaining Ozai's favor, that he refuses to accept that Ozai doesn't love and move on and find something better to center his life around, and from what we see Ursa played a huge role in this, because she taught Zuko to never give up trying fulfilling the expectations of Ozai and the court, no matter how many times he failed. Ursa wasn't intending ill, but her parenting had a huge negative effect on Zuko's life.

[five-flavor-soup]

I personally think that basing your interpretation of how Ursa treated Azula on Zuko’s memories shown in ‘Zuko Alone’ is kind… incorrect. You can obviously — they’re the only real images of their childhood we get in the cartoon, other than the tiniest of snapshots in sepia — and that’s fine, but for me personally I just don’t think they’re complete enough.

These memories are from Zuko’s perspective. Not Ursa’s, not Azula’s, not Ozai’s or Iroh’s—Zuko’s perspective, his memories. And they’re all about him and Ursa together: every one of these memories have Ursa at their centre. We see her protect him and be kind to him, see her be physically affectionate and gentle, see her encourage him to be kind to himself and to Azula.

They essentially tell us that Zuko is Ursa’s son first, Ozai’s son second. Ozai remains a hovering, intimidating shadow on the sidelines (we still don’t see his face, we don’t see him genuinely interact with his children, and we see him irritating his father while being a very hands-off kinda dad himself) but Ursa is fully present. And ‘Zuko Alone’ is about Zuko trying to figure out who he is: the memories show that he views being his mother’s son as an exceptionally important part of his identity, which means they are about Zuko and his relationship with Ursa alone.

They are not supposed to tell us that Ursa neglected or abused Azula emotionally—that she only focused on protecting Zuko, while leaving Azula to suffer in Ozai’s incapable hands. Sure, we see Ursa scold Zuko for acting like Azula and cuddle him right after, and we see her scold Azula for acting mean and not cuddle her right after, but the key differences here are that Zuko shows guilt after frightening the turtleducks and Azula doubles down on trying to scare Zuko. The behaviour is different and will be, by any halfway decent parent, treated differently. 

I’m absolutely not saying that Azula wasn’t abused, because she 100% was. She was absolutely abused by Ozai, and I’m not ruling out that Ursa didn’t have a hand in how Azula ultimately turned out. But my point here is: these memories are far too limited and narrow for the viewer to properly determine whether Azula was treated incorrectly by Ursa. 

Zuko isn’t going to remember an intimate, lovely moment between Ursa and Azula when all that’s on his mind is his identity, and how it’s entangled with his mother and what she may have sacrificed for him. Additionally, he’s not particularly fond of Azula at this moment in the show (she did kind of kickstart his being a refugee, disregarding how the audience sees this sequence of events having begun), so he’s not going to remember her fondly either. Why would Zuko try to remember Ursa’s relationship with Azula at that point, instead of his own?

(Small tidbit: we also... don't know if Ursa's last words to Azula were 'what is wrong with that child', disregarding the comics which completely ruin azula anyway. Again, the memories are from Zuko's perspective and therefore won't show any private moments between Ursa and Azula. We're not even certain whether Azulon actually ordered Ozai to kill Zuko, or if that is simply what Azula interpreted it as/thought would be funny to say--causing the sequence of events that ultimately put Ozai on the throne. But whatever)

[kibutsulove]

UH tiny little design + lore for the fire nation’s patron spirit. or something. Like a Tui + La situation

inspo taken from @lazyveran ‘s twin sun god au (<- bare titty warning btw 🙏🏼) AND depictions of the Hindu gods Agni + Rama. So. And I’ve named him Agni

Extra notes

- his heads can fuse together to symbolize solar noon, which is actually extremely freaky for everyone

- genuinely tweaks out whenever there’s a solar eclipse. He can’t stand it. He needs to kill his twin (or Yue, depends on the time)

- believed to be the ancestor of the fn royal family, much like how the Japanese royal family is/was thought to be related to Amaterasu

- aside from being the sun spirit, he is also considered to be the spirit of war and as well as the cycle of life. Despite one of his things being war, he would strangle sozin with his bare hands if he was able to

[balanceoflightanddark]

The fire nation's defeat was technically Azula's fault.

Zuko and Iroh were branded traitors and failures. Azula was given specific instructions to capture them, dead or alive. Azula had them both red-handed in Ba Sing Se. Instead of doing what she was told, she asks for Zuko's help and she clears his name in return.

Now, it could be argued that without Zuko's help, she would've been pummeled into submission by Aang and Azula. Well, then after his usefulness was used up, she had a chance to pull yet another fast one and apprehend him without having to lie to Ozai.

Zuko acted suspiciously. He made Azula doubt that Aang really died and she began to think that Zuko may have had something to do with his survival. Instead of searching for proof of Aang's survival and informing her suspicions to Ozai, she puts unnecessary risk on herself and sets up a gambit that was ultimately pointless in more ways than one.

If Azula did what she was supposed to do, Zuko and Iroh would be dead or put in prison which leads to Zuko never finding out about the plans with the comet, Aang never finds a firebending sifu, the FN gains victory unopposed, and Azula can reign as Fire Lord.

In short, by choosing to lend Zuko a hand more than once, she indirectly did Team Avatar a huge favor.

Boom: Butterfly Effect.

The FN's MVP was also Team Avatar's MVP. I do enjoy the irony.

I wonder though, what would the Gaang's, Azula's Zuko's, Iroh's, Ozai's, and all of FN's reactions when realizing this epiphany?

It would break Azula.

...no seriously. It would break her.

While I think it would be a bit of a stretch to say that the defeat of the Fire Nation was her fault (cause there's no way in hell she could've seen bringing Zuko home would end up with his betrayal of Ozai), I do think she was hurting already with Zuko betraying her. If she was torn up about Mai and Ty Lee turning on her, I have no doubt she'd feel the same about Zuko regardless of what her relationship with him is right now. Add on to the fact that this is a girl that is hoisted with way too much responsibility than she is able to handle (being driven to become perfect at any cost), a revelation like this would destroy her.

And the fallout wouldn't be pretty. At all. It would probably rival her breakdown at Sozin's Comet, if not be worse. Hell, I think Zuko and Iroh would be a bit concerned for her. Zuko did seem somewhat regretful at her state after the Last Agni Kai and Iroh (while not Azula's biggest fan) probably wouldn't be that callous to brush her off.

Ozai would hate her though. Hate hate HATE her though. He puts on so much pressure for her to be perfect. What do you think the abusive piece of shit is going to do when he puts two and two together. Might even disown her on the spot, which will cause her to spiral even more. And she'd probably lose a lot of support in the Fire Nation for indirectly letting an unpopular successor on the throne, which would cause her to spiral even further.

...kind of why I don't really want to put the blame on the Fire Nation's defeat on her since the poor kid doesn't need that on top of her failures already. Besides, I think the defeat of the Fire Nation can better be laid on Ozai's feet. I mean, he was the one who banished Zuko and mistreated both him and Azula. If we want to go indirect, he set up a domino effect. And directly, he wasn't able to consolidate the Fire Nation's gains at the end of the war which led to a huge rebellion movement. And he certainly didn't seem to want to get involved with fighting Aang during the Day of the Black Sun which could've stacked the odds further against him when the firebending was turned back on. Mind you, this was before Zuko showed up. Like he was sipping tea while Azula was holding the Gaang off.

That being said, I could see him pass the buck off on Azula for the Fire Nation's defeat. Which would lead into the scenario I just outlined above.

[phoenix-king-ozai]

Honestly I'm more impressed when reading fanfics in ATLA how Ozai is constantly tormenting his kids(sexually, physically, emotionally) like 24/7. Personally Ozai struck me as the type of person to not really focus on his kids beyond honing in their skills, especially if that kid is Zuko.

Seriously if Zuko never spoke during the war meeting Ozai probably would've entirely ignored him. When we see what Ozai's ideal version of Zuko is like when he's under the impression Zuko killed Aang, Zuko is legit silent and basically sits there like furniture during the meeting.

Also I struggle to see Ozai interacting with his children beyond training since that's probably where Ozai's expertise lies more than parenting. Ursa was probably bench pressing the parenting duties until Ozai told her to leave and even then, I imagine Ozai left other people to do the more tedious tasks like servants or what not.

I believe that Ozai, Ursa, Zuko, and Azula including the entire Fire Nation Royal Family have very complex relationship dynanamics with each other. I believe that over time Ozai began to develop feelings of affection, care, even geniune love for his family. However, since Ozai has been raised to be a ruthless, cunning, manipulative vicious warriors since his childhood. Ozai and Ursa maybe be Fire Nation Royal and Noble by blood. However their personalities and background environment extremely differ. Which is why Ozai is so much colder, cruel, and brutally ruthless compared to his wife Ursa and even brother Iroh. Ozai has been personally brainwashed and socially conditioned since childhood by the Fire Nation Elite and Fire Lord Azulon to become the man that he is today. Compassion, Morality, Peace, Pacifism and Mercy are signs of Weakness and MUST be eradicated and eviscerated. However, during Zuko and Azula early childhood Ozai was more gentle and fatherly towards his children and husbandly towards his wife. Ozai was never some sadistic wife and child beating that the ATLA Fandumb tries to horribly make him out to seem like! It just their Abuse Porn Headcanon Fanficition Obession!

Zuko mentions that Ozai and Ursa along with their family used to be happy, and we saw that in Zuko's flashbacks. Yang, just decided to make Ursa a victim because in his mind: URSA IS A GOOD WOMAN! OZAI IS A BAD MAN! SHE MUST BE HELD HOSTAGE BY THE EVIL ABUSIVE MONSTER!!! While Ozai and Ursa arrange marriage does make sense and was confirmed by the creators. It doesn't mean that Ozai and Ursa's relationship was ALWAYS BAD, or SHE WAS KIDNAPPED! Plus, the Urzai relationship is quite normal in the antiquity of Asian societies that the Fire Nation is based on aka Shogunates of Japan and Imperial Chinese Dynasties!!!

Ozai HIMSELF stated in the comics that he tried to be a good father to Zuko and Azula during their young childhood which is canon to flashbacks that Zuko has in the show. Zuko HIMSELF also stated that Ozai tried to be a good father to him and Azula. WHICH ALSO EXPLAINED WHY ZUKO TRIED SO DESPERATELY TO GET BACK IN HIS FATHER'S GOOD GRACE AGAIN AND REGAIN HIS FATHER'S LOVE! So, in conclusion, Ozai did love and care for Ursa, Zuko, and Azula. Despite, according to the comics he was ALSO FORCED into an eugenics experiment with the granddaughter of his grandfather's old rival and friend. On the orders of his father Fire Lord Azulon and the wishes of the Fire Sages. I believe that Ursa did alot of the child rearing when Zuko and Azula were toddler with Fire Nation Royal Servants helping her as well. However, Ozai was a active and positive influence as a father for his children in their early youth. Why would Zuko desperately want to return to the Fire Nation and his father if Ozai was just a cruel, harshless, bastard to him? Ozai, Ursa and the children used to enjoy the time at Ember Island with theater plays and playing on the beach at their family's summer house.

Ozai's harshness and ruthlessness regarding Zuko have nothing to do with Ursa or Ikem's forbidden love! Ozai wants Zuko and Azula to both prove themselves. Ozai doesn't favor Zuko or Azula. It is about which child will succeed Sozin, Azulon, and his legacy as future Fire Lord. In fact, Ozai doesn't want Zuko or Azula to think that they are the “favorite” child. He wants Azula and Zuko to improve through competition. Because of the “only the greatest of pressures can forge diamonds” & “steel sharpen steel” mentality. Ozai has the mentality of an imperialist warlord. Ozai isn't trying to be the world's most loving and caring father but rather continue and build upon a powerful and dominant legacy that his forefathers had created before him. He wants Zuko & Azula to be cold, ruthless, heartless, vicious, and brutal imperialistic warmongers like him (Ozai), his father (Azulon), and his grandfather (Sozin). As far as Ozai and Azula is concerned, Zuko is a disgrace as Firstborn of the Firelord. Ozai had some hope in the past for Zuko which is why he didn’t Exile, Assassinate or Banished him during his childhood or during reign as Firelord until the Agni Kai duel. Ozai was originally shame of Zuko for possibly being a non bender. Fire Bending probably means everything to Fire Nation Royalty and Nobility, even Piandao [probably noble] parents abandon him for being a non bending because it would be a disgrace. Ozai was probably going to disown Zuko for being a “non-bender” that was born on a Winter Solstice and Premature. High Fire Nation society is all about power, dominance, intimidation. 

In Fire Nation Elite Society, the Agni Kai between Ozai and Zuko was socially justifiable in the eyes of the of the elite noblity. The burning and banishment was cause by Zuko breaking sacred Fire Nation tradition in a War Meeting that he wasn't invited for!

HE IS A COMPLETE FAILURE OF A FIREBENDER AT 14 AND HAS NO MILITARY EXPERIENCE AS A GENERAL YET HE HAS THE GALL TO CALL OUT GENERAL LI PLANS FOR BEING TERRIBLE?

INSULTING AND CRITICIZING A HIGH RANKING WAR GENERAL WHEN HE SHOULD HAVE NOT BEEN THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE ACCORDING TO IROH!

REFUSING TO DUEL (ANIMATED ATLA) OR HOLDING BACK (NETFLIX ATLA) IN A SACRED AGNI KAI DUEL WHEN COMMANDED BY THE FIRE LORD AND HIS IS OWN FATHER!

Extremely hot take...Yeah, I know. Granted, Zuko was MORALLY RIGHT about the Fire Nation troops being sacrificed on the battlefield for victory, but SACRIFICES ARE COMMON IN FUEDAL ANCIENT WARFARE which the Fire Nation is based on! Tokugawa Shogunate Japan, Yuan Mongolian Empire, Tang Dynasty and etc. Which were Imperialist and Absolute Monarchies. Robb Stark and Napoleon did the same thing and are considered great generals!

Was the plan immoral? Yes, but the Fire Nation genocided the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom for decades. Morality is the LEAST of the Fire Nation concerns especially when you can sacrifice a platoon of inexperienced fodder to capture a massive town or city and flank the powerful EK army. Firelord Sozin also had no issue committing genocide against hundreds or thousands of Air nomads during the beginning of the war, the same can be said for his son Firelord Azulon genocide of the Southern Water Tribes and his raids on the Earth Kingdom and Seige of Ba Sing Se!

Ozai's distaste and despisement of Zuko have NOTHING to do with Ursa and Ozai's arguments in ATLA Canon even in the Comics Ozai was simply saying that to hurt Ursa's feelings and gaslight her over bullshit letters. Ozai views Zuko as a disappointment of a son, firebender, and prince. His skills in Firebending are pathetic compared to his sister's and his morality from his mother and later uncle is out of line with Ozai and mainstream Fire Nation Elite Imperialists. If Zuko was a ruthless and cold-blooded killer like Azula and was at least just as good as his YOUNGER sister, then Ozai would NOT HAVE ANY PROBLEM with Zuko as his son and heir! Zuko represents everything that Ozai was raised to hate and resent; compassion, morality, mercy, weakness, etc. Ozai hates his son for incompetence as a firebending warrior which is antithetical to Ozai as the strongest firebender in the series along with him being an Agni Kai champion along with the morality and softness that Ursa and later Iroh fostered in Zuko. The fact that Zuko doesn't conform to their society's warrior culture and morality bothers his father since Ozai was likely forced to conform since his own childhood under his father Azulon’s reign. Ozai probably resents that Zuko has his mother and uncle's affection whereas Ozai as a child probably didn't have his mother, Ilah's love to protect and care for him from Azulon's wrath due to her death in childbirth. Iroh got to experience his mother's love and presence along with his father's respect during his childhood, something that Ozai never had. Ozai resents his first-born Zuko and relates far more with his second-born daughter Azula who is neglected like him.

[nerdypeanuthoagiebanana]

So I was thinking about how ATLA inverted the favored sibling trope -if u can call it a trope-. Like usually in fiction, it's the older sibling that is the favorite and the younger one is kind of the underdog. And then I realized that they didn't only invert it they also subtly executed the classic version of it. It's never said explicitly but in the one scene, where we see Ozai and Azulon interact with each other, it is abundantly clear that Azulon favors Iroh - his older son- and completely dismisses Ozai. Ozai is the one lacking, Ozai can't do anything right in his father's eyes.

And now we go one generation further, Ozai is now an admittedly terrible father to two children. Zuko and Azula, and who does he favor?!

THE YOUNGER ONE

AZULA

Of course he does, Ozai heavily projects on both of his kids. He goes the extreme other way and puts the same abusive pattern on his own children, just reversed.

- Iroh himself btw never has the opportunity to develop that pattern, first of all because he only had one child, and second of all because he was the one who got the at least somewhat "healthier" dynamic with his father and probably his mother, if we go with the theory that Ilah died in childbirth.-

Because he sees the exceptional prodigy of Azula as himself, the second child, who in his narcissism is the better option. Who he can form to be the perfect successor of his legacy.

And in that way of thinking he treats Zuko, his older child with the same neglect and dismissal as he was treated as a child. He himself does not realise it, but he creates in that way in Zuko a kind of distorted mirror image of himself.

With one difference. Zuko has his mother and his uncle to teach him compassion. Not only that but Zuko himself is someone who as a person has a strict honor code he follows. (See 41st division).

Zuko is with that in mind, not just a reflection of Ozai but also a WEAK reflection from his perspective.

Which puts us back to the reason of, why he burned the face.

So in conclusion did ATLA not only invert a trope, it also used it to develop a unhealthy family dynamic and create a realistic picture of the cycle of generational trauma.

[kataracy]

Kataang Week DAY 1 // Wind & Rain

A day at the beach with the couple that doesn't know how to sit down

[ur-frndly-neighborhood-memer1]

Fans: Zuko looks exactly like Ozai and Azula looks exactly like Ursa. Therefore they can't look alike!

Meanwhile Zuko and Azula, looking nearly identical:

Honestly, both Fire kids look like a mix of their parents instead of being a mini copy of one.

Zuko remarkably looks like Ozai, but you can still see a hint of Ursa in him (softer eyes & eyebrows, relatively rounder jawline, straight nose etc.)

Meanwhile Azula looks like both her parents equally. Sharp eyes & hard-angeled eyebrows, widow's peak from Ozai. Straight nose, pointy chin, narrow face from Ursa...

[andtheclockstruckthirteen]

I’ve seen a few works in this fandom on ao3 that portray Ursa as a worse parent than Ozai and as ungrateful for everything she had as a princess and then Fire Lady becuase it was a position of privilege that most others in the Fire Nation were too poor for yada yada

I just want to remind people that while she might not have been a great parent to Azula and while she was fortunate to not have to worry about being poor, Ozai is canonically physically and mentally abusive and Ursa was literally forced into a non-consensual marriage under threat of harm and it can be assumed (depending on your preferences, because that would be in headcanon territory not canon as of right now) that the act of producing Zuko and Azula was also non-consensual (through coersion at the very least because even if she participated in it or wasn't expressly fighting back, it's not like she realistically would've had much of a choice)???

And her not having to worry about being poor was replaced by her having to worry about living under an extremely powerful abuser that she physically cannot get away from because he is the highest level of authority in the country under the firelord and crown prince? nevermind that i think Azulon actually arranged the marriage himself? (that might be fanon i will admit, I haven't read the comics and by the sounds of it, I don't really want to see my favs get nerfed like that)

Like Ozai is an abuser from the royal family in an imperialist, war-mongering country??? She was a random girl from a Fire Nation village unfortunate enough to be related to the past fire avatar?

we don't even know if she was a neglectful parent to Azula for sure because families living under powerful abusers have a lot of nuace that people refuse to acknowledge (and who are incredibly fortunate themselves not to understand), especially when that child starts resembling their abuser (and I'm not talking about having anger issues, I'm talking about Azula making fun of Zuko for their father being ordered by their grandfather to comit filicide and their father agreed). but i digress.

even if she was emotionally neglectful of Azula, she would still be a better parent than Ozai who LITERALLY MELTED HALF HIS SON'S FACE OFF AS HE BEGGED FOR MERCY AS A 13 YEAR OLD

in what world is emotion neglect more severe than a murder attempt??? like all abuse is bad 100% but demonising the other parent as horrible and ignoring the parent who tried to murder their own child multiple times in canon??? that's some top-tier victim blaming (and woman-hating, considering I don't see Ozai getting the same treatment for emotionally neglecting Zuko in the same fucking work) right there.