#girl was forcibly married to the dictator of a fucking country w near unlimited power. wtf did you think she could do.

[dreadeves]

yknow, thinking about azula & ursa… we all know azula’s pov on ursa is biased due to her own interpretation of events that happened as a child. ursa didn’t think she was a monster; i think there’s an argument for her being afraid of azula when she was particularly cruel, but largely, i think she was scared for azula considering she knew azula’s abilities would get ozai’s attention because azula’s perceived strength aligned with ozai’s idea of strength.

i think ozai saw a lot of himself in azula. id even argue he loved her, because love and abuse aren’t exclusive things. a talented, powerful second child who deserves the throne in the way the soft first doesn’t. she’s proof that he is powerful. i wouldn’t know exactly how he was raised, but id speculate that he & his family were raised to believe they were better and stronger because of who they are by default all divine right-like. like, id compare him to those like, medieval boy kings who were considered to be bloodthirsty & batshit because no one ever told them no, they had almost unlimited power, and they were told they deserved their throne solely by their blood. and then ozai taught azula this, but azula had the added pressure that she had to be perfect and the most powerful at anything, or else she’d have failed ozai & it wouldn’t be true and her life would be a lie. and ozai is mid at best. like i don’t even think he fought in the military a la we know firstborn heir iroh did, so his pov that he was the most powerful is like, based on the privilege he gained as the second son to the throne (ie best training, food, medical care, etc) as well as divine right of kings bs.

continuing to my original point: yknow how azula disliked iroh/thought he was looking down on her for the doll present? well first off, iroh was not as involved in either azula or zuko’s lives as fandom likes to pretend he was. like he was off committing war crimes. but he gets the doll for azula, because last time he visited her she was [insert age younger than ~7] and like, kids usually like dolls. and she takes it as an insult because can’t you see?? she’s in training to be her father’s heir. she’s good at firebending and fighting. she feels he’s trying to make her into something she’s not because he doesn’t like who she is. he doesn’t know her.

ursa encouraged azula’s friendships with mai and ty lee. she wanted them to be friends and play and be kids. but see: ozai wanted azula to be an extension of himself. she thought she wanted her father’s favor, his pride, and being the best in firebending and ruling and etc is how she could do that.

so ultimately, for me: i feel like azula’s perspective of her mother was shaped by the undercurrents going on here. to azula, ursa didn’t like who she was because ursa was constantly trying to change her (be the kid that she is, discipline her when she messes up, and have friends and play with them). i think this and azula’s first time firebending (ie, where ursa watches azula firebend in horror, knowing that ozai is gonna love to have a firebending prodigy in the family) (& probably other moments tbh) made azula think ursa didn’t love her, and that she thought she was a monster. it’s not true, but i can get why azula thought that way.

like. azula in canon is only 14. she’s grown up in a high stakes high pressure abusive environment. i don’t know if she even knows all the behind the scenes details about the family and in particular, ursa. i don’t know why she’s suddenly the expert on her mother, who disappeared when she was a very young child. some things have to be taken with a grain of salt, yknow?