#like I don’t care how evil azula is she was a KID

[azulaaaaaaah]

rating every zuko ship (cause that mf is shipped with everyone)

CLICKBAIT!!! this isn’t every zuko ship just the main ones i immediately lied lol. idk if any of these are hot takes or not but please don’t crucify me (might do a part 2 where it’s azula ships)

Jinko - Zuko/Jin

6/10

awwww it’s cute (for what it is)

and what it is was one singular date that was never really mentioned again

i really appreciate how jin is so unperturbed by zuko’s awkward angst and just genuinely likes him

howevvver she’s kinda one dimensional (as she’s only in like an episode) and i just don’t see this going anywhere longterm

less a ship, more a vehicle for zuko’s character development lol

Jetko- Zuko/Jet

3/10

jet being zuko’s first gay encounter is canon in my eyes

don’t ship them however cause i hate jet with the fire of a thousands suns

similar issues to jin as well where their interactions are extremely limited so personally have no clue how this could be a long term thing

Maiko- Zuko/Mai

5/10

i am so impartial on this ship it’s not even funny.

i get that it’s canon. i get that izumi looks suspiciously like mai so it’s endgame. i just don’t see HOW?? it feels as if the writers realised zutara was becoming popular and were like ‘OH SHIT WE GOTTA DEFUSE THIS SITUATION SOMEHOW’

their relationship is basically just mai being a cold asshole and zuko being an angry asshole and there’s no change or development between EITHER OF THEM

however when they’re cute they’re cute !!!!

‘i love zuko more than i fear you’ COLDEST LINE EVER

however again it’s like - you had a crush on him as a kid. he was BANISHED. you dated for like a month as teens. you argued the whole time. he left again- and shortly after you saved him from prison, but then you were imprisoned partly due to his actions. you get back together again, he becomes the ruler of a country, and then you’re surprised it’s isolating him/making him even more of an asshole???

on the other hand we as a society need to admit that zuko is weirdly possessive of her (ig that’s a positive if ur a booktok romance girlie but im not). like if i was mai i wouldn’t put up with that toxic shit either

at the end of the day, i honestly don’t care that they’re canon lol- but i think they’d probably best as a bitchy best friend duo

Zukaang - Zuko/Aang

1/10

not round here partner. not round here

my first issue is the age gap is objectively extremely weird if examined in canon. leaving it at that

i get that this is grumpy x sunshine in a way the other ships aren’t to me- but we’ve only ever seen these two characters interact with each other when there’s (again) A WEIRD AGE GAP

they are bros in the least homosexual way possible

the cherry on top of this situation is: isn’t aang the reincarnation of his great grandpa? isn’t that giving slight, uh, inc*st vibes??? imagine if people shipped korra and jinora isn’t that just WEIRD???

Zuki - Zuko/Suki

8/10

is this my most controversial take ???

i am a sucker for bodyguard x royal family dynamics guys

and the fact that this is girlboss x malewife is even BETTER

suki seems the most competent at handling his pissy ass in a way the other people on this list aren’t

like she’s real. she’s not sugarcoating his situation, BUT SHES COMPASSIONATE !!

i don’t like throuples typically but suzukki is even eliter than this, which removes the whole ‘going against the bro code’ element that arises from them being together

also i feel like if you haven’t read the comics this doesnt make sense At All so please do

-2 points for the lack of tangible reason to ship them lol

Zutara - Zuko/Katara

7.5/10

okay this one makes the most logistical sense to me within canon (solely examined as a zuko ship not overall)

it really seems as if they were gonna make this canon and swerved circa book 2

LIKE CMONNNN OG ENEMIES TO LOVERS WHERE THE GUY ACTUALLY HAS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AND ISN’T JUST EVIL? FIRE X WATER? ITS INTRIGUING

something about this makes me uncomfortable though. (despite the age gap which again a little weird)

something about katara potentially becoming the fire lady is so… icky. she’s a waterbender. the fire nation tried to systematically erase her kind. her mother is killed by the fire nation because they think she’s a waterbender. and katara…. what, becomes part of the royal family? it just seems wrong, and like something she wouldn’t be into

also i feel like their arguments would be a little too NUCLEAR. there’s like, a 50% chance of divorce

she deserves a better ending than that is all i’m saying

to paraphrase the hunger games: katara has plenty of fire herself. SHE NEEDS THAT DANDELION IN THE SPRING MAN

(i’m a kataang truther)

Zukka - Zuko/Sokka

9/10

my zuko related otp!!!

bros to lovers guys, where zuko falls first but sokka falls HARDER !!!

ik this will never be canon and im happy with that. i know there’s not even a whisper of romance between them in the show, but i just think it’s c u t e .

sokka (like suki) is very likely to call zuko out on his shit, but less likely to lose his own shit (like katara)

this in my heart of hearts is 10/10 however is still problematic in a similar way to zutara

his mother is killed by the fire nation and he (presumably) becomes consort ?

however though, i would still say it’s not as ruhroh as zutara bc firstly, sokka isn’t a waterbender, and secondly, ‘consort’ is a lot more open to interpretation than i think fire lady is. in my opinion a consort ≠ a fire lady, just like irl a consort ≠ a queen. it kinda means he can still be ambassador to the southern water tribe/a leader of his own people, while just so happening to be married to the fire lord.

overall i can’t help but stan a friends to lover ship cmOn now

[fwitolei]

The Dragon Prince Thoughts 6x08 - We All Fall Down

Previous Episode // Masterlist // Next Episode

Join the Taglist

Spoilers under the cut

Omgg i’m so scared—

AHH

And it starts

Omg sol regem banging into the towers and stuff too this is wild

OH NO THEY’RE TRAPPED

Shit—

OH SHIT

SOREN NO—

Plsbeokayplsbeokayplsbeokayplsbeokay—

HE’S ALIVE WHOO

Omg babeee ur bleeding—

Now he’s really gonna have a scar like corvus

“Get everyone out”

See he learned from the pyrrah incident in s2 he’s prioritizing the people now that he’s not in the whole “xadia is evil” mindset

Hey wait where’s he going—

“Take good care of Hat.”

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN??

SOREN—honey—wHaT aRe YoU dOiNg—

WHAT

AARAVOS IS CONTROLLING PHAROS—

Is this cuz the dark magic infection thingy

Omg viren’s been in there for a long time lmao—

“You have your other way! Dark magic!”

Notice how soren said “your other way” as if he still doesn’t condone it, but he knows it’s the only way to save everyone

Dark magic is so nuanced in situations like these like yeah it’s last resort but if you’re someone who hates it with a passion and then you end up needing it what are you supposed to do

Do you give up your ideals for the greater good or stand your ground and risk disaster

That’s why i love this show so much there’s no clear bad guy

“Take my heart.”

SOREN N O

S T O P

NO

I mean what else is he supposed to do yeah but STILL—

N O O O O O O o o O omg pls—

No not soren

Omg i’m so scared not soren PLEASE—

I’m actually gonna cry if he dies please no—

OH MY GOSH IS VIREN USING HIS OWN HEART—

GAHHH I CAN’T TAKE IT

Just as i forgave him too—

GAHH NO it’s the way he’s ACTIVELY DYING while doing the spell to the point he can barely say the incantation 😭😭😭😭😭😭

“I am a… servant.”

This scene pretty much speaks for itself idrk what to say

This shit is sad like fuck—

“My dad! I need to find my dad!”

CLAUDIA NO

Oooomg she’s gonna lose it if she finds him

Full azula mode

“What happened to your beloved mate who disappeared?”

Is he says he ate her imma pop off—

Who even is aithne solaire? Was she mentionedin something?

“In your fury, you buried her.. Alive.”

WHAT THE FUCK—

Like actually???

Not the way aaravos just dies laughing after dropping the darkest most depressing truth bomb ever��

OMG HE ATE PHAROS

“Choke on your own pride.”

HOW THE FUCK IS HE CHOKING ON A TINY LITTLE ELF

Oh my gosh—

This is just brutal

i'm terrified of choking too so it's that much worse

AND HE CATCHES ON FIRE—

“I don’t think you should see him like this.”

Ugh i love terry for being so considerate after everything she’s done

Like yes save the last of her sanity while she still has it

This episode is hard to watch—

The voice acting is impeccable tho like give claudia’s va a raise

OH SHIT SHE FOUND THE PEARL—

Lujanne giving no fucks about the crown is the funniest thing

But wtf is she talking about the diamond don’t tell me it’s fake—

“Her dad just died. Can’t she just take a moment to grieve?”

FINALLY Terry’s talking sense like shit aaravos at least give her a minute—

I KNEW IT

I FUCKIN KNEW IT

VIREN’S STAFF HAS A QUASAR DIAMOND

I literally said it like 2-3 episodes ago too

WAIT THAT MEANS—

“I can only save two of them.”

Oh you’ve gotta be kidding me—

Alright y’all it’s a wrap. Katolis is gone, viren is dead, aaravos is getting out, it’s a whole ass shit show. Ooooooomg i’m scaredddddd. Especially when callum finds out the real pearl was in katolis all along, i guarantee you he’s gonna spiral like he did in kosmo’s vision. This episode was really hard to watch, I was surprised, but in a good way. One more episode to go, then season sevennnnnnnnn whoooo

Time to cry :D

[simpywriter]

Flames (Bonus Chapter - 1)

Blue Fire

Pairing: Zuko x Reader Universe: Canon Words: 866

Flames - Main

Summary: you can't stand the way it ended with Zuko's sister. (This is a bonus chapter for my three-chapters fic 'Flames', but you can also read it separatly)

Warnings: angst, angst, angst, a lot of angst sorry

«Are you sure you want to do this?» «I am the Fire Lady, how would I look like to the people if I didn’t take care of unresolved issues?». Zuko smiled looking at you, his eyes drifted to the small crown adorning your combed hair, «It’s been a year and it’s still weird to see you dressed so formally» «Well it feels weird too, I certainly prefer my old uniform» He lifted the corner of his lips, looking at you from top to bottom «Or your ‘bed uniform’». His lewd comment earned him a soft punch to the chest, even if you doubted he could feel anything under the royal armor.

«Alright, for the last time. Are you sure you want to be alone?», he asked when his chuckles died down, thumb caressing your cheekbone «Yes, your presence would only make her more hostile» It was obvious that he didn’t like your idea, but he also knew how stubborn you could be when you got something into that hot head of yours, «I’ll be right here, if you need anything». He left a small kiss on your lips before letting you inside the room.

During the Agni Kai against the former Fire Prince, you noticed how battered Azula looked like; but seeing her in that condition, tied to a chair in a straitjacket, with dirt hair covering her hallucinated eyes while she angrily muttered under her breath, made you realize how fragile Zuko’s sister really was. «Look who’s back», she chirped before you could open your mouth, her voice almost consumed and piercing through your ears «The little whiny kid who decided to entirely destroy my life»

«You know it’s not like that». But the girl in front of you just burst in a hysterical laughter that made you jump, her shoulders were shaking before she stopped abruptly looking to her right and growling a “Shut up!”. «You’re just like those two fakes I used to call friends. You used me for power and then, when you realized that you would never be at my level because of your weakness and stupidity, you conspired to destroy me. And you’re the worst of all, with those big innocent eyes… now look at you wearing my crown» Her words dug a hole into your chest, raising an upsetting sensation of guilt inside of you «Why do you hate me so much?» «Because it’s all your fault!» she screamed, trying to jump from the chair and making the restrains struggle to keep her seated, the creaking of the wood and the fabric accompanying Azula’s screams «You convinced that stupid moron of my brother that he was a good person, a leader. So he went against my father and was banished. And I was left alone with him! No mother, no uncle, no friends! Ty Lee ran away right after and Mai didn’t come back to the palace anymore. I was here alone with my father and his rage! You think you’re good and that I’m evil but you’re a horrible person just like me!»

Spit ran from her lips and you found yourself trembling under her red-hot gaze «I-I always considered you as my friend, I didn’t have any idea that they…» Another dark chuckle, «Don’t make me laugh. I was you enemy from the start» You shook your head, trying to blink away your upcoming tears «Azula… I’m sorry…» «Don’t pity me! You hear me?? I was never your friend and I’ll never be!», locks fell from her messy bun, framing her face in a even more disastrous way «So cross that door and go back to my fake excuse of a brother and sleep in my bed in my palace» You just ran away from the room, letting the servants to close the door before collapsing against the wall with ragged breaths. «Hey hey, Y/N», Zuko, who was just a few feet away, reached your side in less than a second, immediately holding your shoulders. «Are you alright? What has she said to you? I swear I’m gon-» «I’m fine», you muttered. You found comfort in his caresses, his soft gaze and the little kisses he placed on your temple.

«She’s not okay Zuko», you said after a while, you hand searched his and you interlocked your fingers together, feeling your boyfriend breathing softly against your hair. He was tense, but at the same time he knew he could trust you with all his being, letting his guard down; «Just… don’t leave her alone» «I won’t». He kissed your neck softly, nothing mischievous behind it, just a reassuring little gesture.

«Do you want to feed the turtleducks?», you asked after a while. He moved away from your neck with a happy grin creasing his lips.

Spirits, he’s just So. Fucking. Cute. But before you could blush at your own thoughts he took a step behind keeping your hands locked together, «You lead, my Fire Lady» he said, and you could feel your heart skipping a beat as he pulled you to him, bringing his lips to your before you could even start to act upon his words. Yes. He’ll be a perfect Fire Lord, brother and partner.

| The End |

Hiiiii, so sorry for the angst ;) BUT I tried to make it up by adding a bit of fluff at the end. Aaaaaand.... Hype your avatar stand ass*s because the next bonus chapter is gonna be a full and juicy SMUT. Hope you liked this chapter! See you next fic!

[juniperhillpatient]

How’s it going @juniperhillpatient ?

So I watched the two most recent scream movies for the first time this weak. Starting on Friday night and finishing on Saturday morning. They were entertaining, see I’ve only ever watched the original first one years ago but the connections between the films were interesting.

To get to the question, I recall that one of your Azutara AU ideas is a Scream fic ( along with the IT Au). In it I think one of your post in the past stated that Azula would be (slightly) based on Sam? If so, would that then make Ozai Billy Loomis? If so, I’ve got to say depicting Ozai as a deranged murder would be oddly appropriate. What with the emotional and physical abuse of both his spouse and his kids, along with the attempted genocide and all.

Oh! I also greatly enjoyed todays (well yesterdays) chapter in Happenstance. I’ve got to say though, I’m with Azula, Katara not turning in Hama is a very… injudicious decision. What happens when Hama decides to no longer go after corrupt officials like she did in chapter (one of whom has a family!) and she decides to go after innocent people (as she did in canon). What if Hama decides to escalate from just hostage taking? What if lives of innocents, of children even are lost her quest? That’s starts of with noble intentions, but become corrupted. Becoming in reality just hate of Fire Nations under the façade of environmentalism? Are Katara/Yue/Jet prepared for that possibility?

Or would Jet, Katara, and Yue not care cause those innocent people are Fire Nation? Naw just using rhetoric for Katara and Yue. They obviously would care. But Jet? Him I’m not 100% sure about.

It would have been better to get rid of threat (Hama) earlier on by turning her over. Than again, some police can be corrupt (though I use the world loosely) so maybe they were also right not to turn her over?

It’s a bit of a head scratcher, ain’t it. Which is awesome by the way. It’s fun reading these little moral quandaries and philosophical question in a sitcom fic. Questions like, is it okay to harm others we deem immoral to bring about ends that we believe to be an objective good? Can intrinsic good come from an extrinsic evil? Essentially, does the ends justify the means? And how far is too far? Happenstance is great in that and In all ways! Especially horror, romance (it’s Azutara so that’s a given 😉) and comedy.

Thank you for indulging my ramblings. I hope everything is well on your end. I recall a post from earlier speaking about your cat preventing you from cashing a check at your bank. Your bank decided to come to you right? To give a house call as it were? It’s the polite thing to do after all.

745 voice of the people

Hello! It could be going better. I am suffering because I’ve been sick on & off for like a fucking month & it’s starting to feel like God hates me 🥲 However, it could also be going worse. My mommy gave me money for groceries even though I told her not to because she is the best & she knows how much work I’ve missed due to illness so I have lots of good food & also hot chocolate with marshmallows 💜🙏

Anyway I am sure you didn’t expect that TMI when you asked how it’s going but I’m a dramatic rambly bitch 😌 I hope you are doing good yourself 💜

I am so happy you watched the new Scream movies 🍿 Most iconic series of all time honestly. Yes, Ozai would be a version of Billy Loomis in this AU! However, keep in mind this is all just ideas & not a real project in the works just yet 😉

Anyway I don’t have too too much to add to your analysis on the moral dilemma from last week’s Happenstance because I want to purposefully leave it open. I like posing these quandaries without creating a firm resolution just like there wouldn’t necessarily be in real life sometimes! Of course - Hama may just show up again. We will see!

I will say - Katara & Yue would definitely feel guilty if someone innocent got hurt because of their choice not to turn Hama in. Also, even though Jet hates the Fire Nation, he is dating Zuko & friends with several Fire Nation characters by now including pretty much best friends with Azula. So…. Could he really justify it if innocent Fire Nation civilians got hurt at this stage of the story? Tricky. Unlike Katara & Yue I don’t think he’d have much trouble justifying it if someone like Ichiro or Daisuke got hurt. While the girls would feel guilt over anyone being harmed, I think Jet would have a more pragmatic attitude if the people getting hurt were doing a lot of harm. The only reason he stood up to Hama in the end was that she hinted at plans to “subdue” Katara & Yue if they didn’t go along with her ideas. So, he was probably the least opposed to kidnap of the three. But I don’t think any of them would be okay with it if Hama hurt innocent people down the line - which is not out of the realm of possibility if it served a cause she cared about.

Anyway- I said I wouldn’t add & then I did! I love rambling about my story too much 😁

I seriously love your analysis & thoughts on this head scratcher! Thank you SO much for sharing 💜💜💜

[jessilynallendilla]

So just read Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects and....I have some thoughts

I’ll put it out right now this book has child abuse, child sex abuse, rape, self-harm alcoholism, drug use ect.

Oh and there will be spoilers

This woman Camille is just a few months out of the psych ward and her boss who knows she has problems with her mother and hometown has her go back there for a like a week and stay with her mother to cover what is apparently the brutal serial killings of preteens cause they need the story before it breaks

This town is just awful it’s like Smallville’s evil twin

No character is redeemable, just awful people being awful to each other, even the murdered girls, they had violent streaks like biting and stabbing people in the eyes  

Camille’s childhood just sucked, you know those mothers who just don’t love their children, yeah that was Camille’s childhood. She wasn’t a perfect little doll for her mother so didn’t get mother’s love and it got worse after her younger sister died and Camille spirals into self-destructive behavior of cutting, promiscuity ect at 13

Camille is sympathetic because of it but she is also just an awful person making assumptions about people, calls a man sexist for thinking it’s a crime for a drunk teen girl to be gang raped, sleeps with a drunk kid who’s barely legal and has a girlfriend, goes to a teen party and does drugs with her younger sister and weirdly sexualizing things especially her 13-year-old sister  

Adora their mother is a narcissist who wants the conceptual doll like perfectness of a daughter and also the attention and praise of being a doting mother whenever her children are sick and wants them needy of her. All attention needs to be on her like playing up a thorn prick by having layers of gauze wrapped around her hands by her beta husband. Even personal relationships can’t happen naturally without her being in the middle so Camille couldn’t even get close with her stepfather. There’s absolutely no sympathy for Camille and her state either, there’s the faux care but when seeing how Camille can’t wear certain clothes without showing her scars just gives a nasty are you happy with what you’ve done to yourself.

And the sister, the sister, Amma is just A LOT, her mother dotes on her if she acts like a needy child and dresses her in frilly little girl dresses. Yet out of her mother’s eye she drinks, does drugs, gets with older high school boys, sets up her blacked-out friends to be gang raped, knows how to manipulate those around her. She makes Azula and the Heathers look like Sunday school kids. My question is her mother only gives her flowered dresses, so where is she getting super short skirts and tube tops, where is she getting these drugs she hides in her bra, and she learned to manipulate by acting pitiful and childlike, so how did she learn to be promiscuous flirt. And this is a small conservative town so no one’s seen her around like this and called her mom about her13-year-old daughter going around dressed like that and flirting with older boys.

That’s the whole thing about this awful town full of awful people, they see and know awful things are happening and do nothing.

So, the murders, these girls have been having their teeth pulled after they were killed, and they weren’t assaulted so everybody is wondering why and who dun it. Well over the course of the book it’s revealed Adora has Munchausen's by proxy and if you read you’ll remember how she was all doting as her children where sick and she’s insistent they take medicine that makes them sick. And she tried to get close to these two girls because she wanted to turn them into perfect little darlings, and they weren’t having that, one even bit her. So, with all this circumstantial evidence, a damning diary and a tox test on Camille Adora is arrested for the murders of her daughter and these two girls.

Well, the book isn’t over yet, Amma was more fucked up that anyone realized, you see growing up alone with a mother whose conditional love and attention you’ll only have if you play your role is threatened by someone, the solution is to get rid of that someone. So, this is all revealed when Amma was sent to live with Camille, she made a friend that Camille made the mistake of liking and who is later killed by the same MO as the two other girls. Over the book Amma’s dollhouse is brought up several times, how it’s an exact replica of Adora’s house and it’s brought up several times that Adora’s room has ivory tiles, you can’t get ivory anymore, but ivory is bone and during the house search those teeth weren’t found.  

So, yeah, generational trauma is a bitch.  

Everyone Thinks That We’re Perfect~

Please Don’t Let Them Look Through The Curtains~

D-O-L-L-H-O-U-S-E~

I See Things That Nobody Else Sees~

If you can get past all the weird sexualization and just the general awfulness of all the characters you might enjoy this book, it’s only 250 pages, you can get through it in an afternoon. I give it three stars good concept but needed some reworking to make the experience more pleasant, but this was Gillian’s debut novel and I haven’t read any of her other work to know if she improved or everything is awful nihilistic cynicism is just her writing style.  

[super-hero-confessions]

Hades from Totally Spies, Mandy from Hercules, and Darkseid from DC are my favorite bad guys. The Lord of the Dead is a hilarious yet threatening snarker with an excellent performer, the Asian mean girl has the best comebacks and her two-dimensionality makes her ripe for “Fanfic Fuel” (no not “Fetish Fuel” you pervs), and Apokolips’ ruler is all the more terrifying when you consider what he represents and how it has resurfaced in our current society. Sure Hades does not represent the original myths at all*, Mandy’s voice might be a little weird, and Darkseid has definitely been overexposed but at least those villains haven't been retconned to death (Xehanort), shoehorned when they didn’t need to be there (Adam Taurus), written as “crazy” to justify lazy writing (DCEU Lex Luthor, Joker), suddenly written as “crazy” out of nowhere (Azula), pathetic (that one guy from LOK who i can’t remember the name), barely show up or are involved with the main story at all (MCU Thanos, and from what was seen so far, MCU Kang), not given enough chance to shine due to being a twist villain (most Disney antagonists nowadays), a tired evil Superman cliche, outright contradict the culture of the work (The “Devil” character in LOK even though it’s supposed to be a Asian world, NOT based on Christianity), unintentionally more sympathetic than the “heroes” (Magneto), incredibly inconsistent due to writers unable to make their minds up on how to write the character (Freddy Krueger and Mystique*). etc. And it doesn’t matter that LOK had good villains, that show was still ******* awful. * Then again, “staying true to the myths” is how we got that horrible version of Wonder Woman’s Amazon family in the New 52, so is that really a good idea now? *No seriously Marvel, WTF is with Mystique in the comics? Is she really good deep within? Is she the most evil mutant ever? In her solo series, she’s in tears about having to sacrifice a child (though someone beats her to it), when one comic said she couldn’t give two shits about throwing Nightcrawler down a cliff and if memory serves the panel even showed her flashing an evil grin (at least the 90s animated series made it clear Mystique felt guilty over it). And apparently a new story revealed that she instead tied him to a log and sensed him down a stream, so oh wait she didn’t really throw Nightcrawler down a cliff? Or something like that. Also in that solo series she seems to really care about mutants whereas other writers say she’s only in it for herself. In fact, Mystique in her solo title seemed to be a very chill anti-hero overall, never doing anything truly twisted. Even when she’s doing bad **** the writers can’t make up their mind on her personality. Her trying to assassinate Senator Kelly and sacrifice a newborn was bad but at least she still was trying to save her dying daughter and wasn’t actively “malicious”; and Senator Kelly was an bigoted ******* so, meanwhile she’s written in other books as a utterly sadistic assshat who killed Carol Danver’s lover while impersonating her for some reason and in Bendis’ run she’s an unapologetic asshole who put Dazzler in a coma and framed to X-men for a crime spree she pulled with Sabretooth and that other villain. And what the duck is with everything she pulled in Jason Aaron’s run? Her relationship with her kids is also all kinds of “do whatever”. Again does she truly love Nightcrawler and Rogue and would give her life for them (as the 90s animated version did one time) or does she see them as tools to be used and is not afraid to maim or kill them? Claremont’s run probably wrote her as a loving mom yet in a later X-Men comic she freakin stabbed Rogue! Even the sympathetic solo series points this out! For gods sake Marvel, I don’t care if she’s good or evil JUST PICK ONE SINGLE VISION FOR THE CHARACTER AND BE DONE WITH IT. Mystique has like 5 or more different characters just crammed in there and it’s such an exhausting mess. Kind of like Xehanort really.

[ideal-girl]

Rhe Links are like this because I accidentally deleted this several times over and I got tired of linking them correctly. 

Now about the topics of retributive and restorative Justice. Well more like, more EXACTLY rambling.

On the original (I guess the now private) post, I believe you mentioned your disdain for someone suggesting that Israel should face restorative Justice instead of retributive Justice. Instead of leaving the response there, I decided to make a separate one because that post was too long and I’m mixed about retributive Justice in by itself and I rather Israel not be the focus on this post.

Now I think I can get why “Retributive Justice” is a favored concept. I mean for the past years there’s been a surge of politicians who’s trying to make life a living hell for LGBT people; such as forbidding talk in school about sexual orientation, trying to ban drag shows, even trying to get To Kill a Mockingbird banned from libraries, and making stupid “educational videos” where they basically say “Slavery wasn’t a terrible thing kids!” So of course it would be hugely entertaining so watch those kind of people get their just desserts.

The problem is that “retributive Justice” can very easily be a pipeline into some either misaimed, toxic, or even wicked beliefs. For starters well basically it’s punishment. And punishment can in many instances, be equivalent to suffering. And it’s believed in society that suffering is a good thing, that one could only be greater better through suffering, that it teaches one how to be a good person. Which is not always true.

I’ve seen this already with fictional characters, as more than a handful of people believe that Catra and Azula, both victims of abuse since childhood, should have suffered more than they already had by their respective series, despite the fact that Catra’s whole arc was that she kept putting herself in a cycle of self-punishment and suffering due to her bad actions and the latter gets locked up in a mental institution by the end. Not to mention wishing they could have suffered more contradicts some of the themes in those shows. I’ve seen a “funny” RWBY fan skit where the villain Adam Taurus gets one of his eyes branded using the logo of a mining factory company in what was supposed to be a “badass” moment. The same mining company which forced him to slavery since childhood and already branded one of his eyes, which is implied to be a strong reason why he ended up a terrible person.

https://www.reddit.com/r/PrincessesOfPower/comments/jkzgxe/some_thoughts_on_catras_redemption_for_the_all/

It’s something that affects real life. There’s this weird incident that’s not really about punishment but it is about suffering sorta. Sydney Sweeney recounted working a brief stint as a tour guide for that tram ride in Universal Studios Hollywood to make ends meet for her struggling family as they were poor and some weird entitled Tiktoker tried to claim she was lying because apparently becoming a Universal tour guide was this “notoriously difficult” position that “not everybody could get into”, and apparently a bandwagon of people hopped up trying to say that she actually had a cushy life as if struggling and suffering is the key to being a good person.

ever heard of Jasmine Richardson? She’s a Canadian killer who murdered her own parents and younger brother along with a boyfriend accomplice. She was incarcerated for 10 years, and then afterward once she served her time, the legal system cleared her criminal history and she walks free now. By all means, this sounds like a real life pure evil character and a misjudgment… except if you know that Jasmine was 12 years old when she did this. And the boyfriend character was a 23 year old man. Medical professionals confirmed that she did appear to be truly rehabilitated upon her release. The comments don’t care, they say that this person who was a manipulated child groomed by a older man is a utter monster who does not deserve a chance and should instead be locked up for life in prison or at least publicly shamed.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2hfMn2maU8o&pp=ygUSSmFzbWluZSByaWNoYXJkc29u

Speaking of prisons actually, have you ever heard about the prison system in Norway? Originally they built prisons similar to that of the US however due to the fact that prisoners released kept recommitting crimes two years of their release Norway decided to take a new approach. They focused on “Restorative Justice”, treating their prisoners (even the crueler ones) like ordinary people with more humane conditions to make it so they can reintegrate into society easier, some have even got a better chance of getting employed afterwards. It seems to be working pretty well for them, as their recidivism rate is one of the lowest in the world. Compare that to the more “retributive” US prison system where often prisoners are treated subhuman and it’s nigh impossible for anyone to hire them afterwards, and of course the high recidivism. And the US may not be the worst in that regards! What do you think about the Norway prison system?

https://ultranos.tumblr.com/post/645435392662929408/sits-down-and-brews-chrysanthemum-tea-atla

Here’s a choice quote from this blog post that got me thinking: “This has told me that the very basis of the US justice system is flawed. That people are focused on the “retribution” part of retributive justice, they’re focused on vengeance. Not mercy. Not the humanity of the victim and perpetrator.”

Another post I’ve recently found that got me thinking is this which points out that the thing is, people like Qanon, racists, anti-abortionists, corrupt governments like America, Israel and North Korea do believe that they are the good guys and that their acts of violence or whatever are their form of Justice. Sure those are more obviously evil motives, but the fact is those still function on the same motive on “retribution” which can turn into a pipeline to more reckless thoughts.

(I was toying with the idea of doing a Mandy story with this theme; but the problem is that it would be a big Author tract and I usually design the stories to be open to interpretation so I don’t know if I should send it)

There’s this great story of the George Perez Wonder Woman comic series that dealt with this matter, better than a mediocre episode of Justice League which tried to deal with a similar theme. The story was that there was this island much like Themyscira, except that its inhabitants came to be through a violent revolution where most of the men died. Despite banning men from coming to the island, the argonaut Jason and his crew came into the island, seducing the women which resulted in many offspring. However Jason and the crew abandoned them, and the islanders took ”justice” by slaughtering all the remaining men (mostly infants) including the Queen’s own father and son and banishing her and her daughter. In the end, it was revealed that because it was a ”paradise” brought by prejudice and violence, and with no one left to fight now that all the men were dead, the women turned their anger towards and slaughtered each other, the society collapsed. Maybe you can use it as an allegory for something in real life, IDK. But the Themyscira shown in that same series as ruled by Hippolyta and Diana did not suffer from this problem as they chose a more peaceful approach (in fact, any instances of writers portraying a more flawed version of Wonder Woman’s homeworld usually go use Amazon stereotypes, and those tend to be poorly written)

https://unbidden-yidden.tumblr.com/post/733640314679689216/there-are-two-related-things-ive-noticed-coming

[just-rogi]

YO WHAT THE FUCK I just realized the age gap between Zuko and Azula is almost the same as me and my step brother?? AND ZUKO CHALLENGES HER TO AN AGNI KAI??? like obviously I conceptualized that their relationship was fucked up and that it was wrong for Zuko to challenge his 14 year old sister,, but holy shit man,, Azula was his BABY sister.

Like I STILL struggle to remember that my FIFTEEN YEAR OLD brother isn’t the seven year old with chubby cheeks who followed me around constantly and held my hand to cross the street and sat next to me every day on the bus to school, I STILL see him that way sometimes. Like maybe I’m the weird one bc I am definitely a bit over protective with him but man, it just kinda hit me that when I was 18 he was Azulas age. Sorry but that just fucked with my head so much and really put into context how wrong Zuko was for fighting her in the finale when she was CLEARLY broken and “slipping” ,,, god she was a baby, fuck at that age I was helping him with his history homework at the kitchen table and making lunch for us because he only knew how to make grilled cheese and scrambled eggs and French toast sticks

Azula probably wanted an older sibling to do homework with and to make HER lunch, man fuck Zuko, why am I actually emotional about this wtf

[justanotherthrowaway1950]

Why Azula Won’t Get a Second Chance, and Why the Audience Won’t Care

There are a lot of good reasons why Azula should be redeemed, like the fact that she was an abused child soldier and general groomed, and still being groomed until Ozai got deposed, into what she became in addition to suffering from severe mental illness. 

But I don’t think the narrative cares at all for any of that all since by focusing so much on the aesthetics of Azula’s villainy, the show basically caused fandom, and even the creators, to ignore the humanity in Azula to the point that it basically blocks off any interesting storytelling avenues Post-Sozin’s Comet with Azula other than killing her, jailing her, de-bending her, and/or turning her into a Scooby-Doo/ Team Rocket type of villain.

For Azula constantly wears make-up even when straightjacketed, has a “sexy” voice despite being a heavily sheltered kid, and has scenes with brimming sexual tension (ex. the bedroom scene), all hallmarks of the seductive temptress villainess archetype, one that does not get redeemed in the overwhelming majority of works the archetype appears in.

Whenever we see flashbacks to child!Azula, all we see is Azula acting like a jackass without any context, narrative focus, and/or inner monologue to help explain her behavior, leaving the audience to believe that she is evil just because, in addition to making the audience comfortable with Zuko’s eventual redemption since he is a “cute and innocent turtleduck” in comparison.

Would it have been that hard, for example, to show Azula have special one on one meetings with Ozai where Ozai engages in parentification and tells her his unfiltered thoughts about Azulon, Iroh, and Lu Ten, explaining not only why she such low thoughts about them, but also why she says such vile and derogatory things about them as well?

Moreover, the show makes it clear, in my opinion, that the only person who can truly defeat Azula is Azula herself. 

And this is because for most of Season 2, she is stalemated at best, with her only clear cut loss being The Drill, which can easily be attributed to The Drill’s crew, before conquering Ba Sing Se, getting the invasion plan details, killing Aang, turning Zuko, and capturing Iroh with nay a scratch on her.

She then manages to turn what should have been the relatively bloodless end of the war from the perspective of the Gaang, the Day of Black Sun, into a crushing loss that doesn’t end with all of them captured only because The Fire Nation had no means of capturing Appa at the time.

And even after the Boiling Rock triggered the start of her childhood schizo disorder, she almost killed Zuko at The Western Air Temple if it wasn’t for the Gaang saving him. 

Hell! The only reason why Zuko and Katara even got to the capital unmolested during Sozin's Comet is because Azula, during the onset of her childhood schizo disorder, banished everyone.

And even if she was losing to Zuko, she almost managed to take down both Zuko and Katara despite suffering from a schizo episode, and only lost because she got too close to Katara on top of what appeared to be the only open water source in the entire arena. 

And this trend of Azula being a nigh-undefeatable, all-intimidating villain gets taken to new highs in the comics, where, despite a year in captivity, she manages to blackmail Zuko into going on the search for Ursa unbound and with dignity, despite starting the comic in a wheelchair with a straightjacket and chains around her legs, before almost managing to kill off the only person who could refute the “bastard” letter and running off with it, with the only plausible explanation of why she didn’t do so is solely because she didn’t want to.

And in Smoke and Shadow, she successfully takes out the New Ozai Society, despite being a penniless, homeless, fugitive, and shows Zuko how he easily he can become a dictator before dipping out to plot the next step in her plan to remake Zuko in her image. 

Not to mention the fact that she has managed to become GOAT firebender by this point, for not only has her flames become hotter (her flames stay blue even after she releases her hold), she has smokebending powers, and unprecedented lightning manipulation on top of being arguably the best H2H fighter in her era.

Also, not to belabour a point, but is not like “sane” Azula, in the show or comics, doesn’t dominate every single fight she is in except her fight with Katara in the Catacombs, with that near defeat being easily explained as either plot induced stupidity or that she was going to use her fire breathing to escape Katara’s hold and got interrupted by Zuko’s intervention.

No, not all.

But the point is that Azula never really lost by anyone’s hand but her own, for her biggest and only outright loss, Sozin’s Comet, only occurred because she got dealt a shit hand in regards to genetics and timing (she got jumped at the worst possible moment). For it is ironic to say, but Zuko was born lucky while Azula was lucky to be born when it came to having the underlying genetics for a schizo disorder, which is the only thing that can really defeat Azula.

So why would the audience care for the showy, nigh-invincible villain? I mean, at least Zuko was an underdog, or at least compared to the Gaang and his sister who are all once in a generation prodigies in their respective fields, and him joining the Gaang didn’t require his competence and/or intelligence to take a hit.

For unless redeemed!Azula gets nerfed, why would there be any tension in any story that she is involved in?

For example, how could you write a compelling story about Zuko dealing with a civil war if redeemed!Azula is by his side, and thus crushes the opposition before getting everyone even tangentially involved arrested like her prior feats suggest would happen?

But moving on, I don’t think anyone in-universe cares that Azula was a kid in regards to her redeemability considering the age of majority in Avatar’s world is lower than our’s today, Azula was either second- or third-in-command in Ozai’s regime during his reign, and the fact she was an active and willingly agent of imperialism. 

And you know, the whole “I suggested and helped plan for a genocide” thing. For yes, I know it can be argued that she suggested scorched earth tactics, but I don’t think anyone in-universe is going to argue in favor of Azula.

Also hurting Azula’s chances of getting a second chance post-war is the poor state of the Fire Nation asylum system, which is responsible for making her mental state worse as heavily implied by Yang’s Word of God, and the fact that she has alienated everyone in power and/or who could have helped her, especially post-comics. 

For Zuko never really cared to help her until he needed her to find Ursa and realized the poor state of his nuclear family was sending a bad message to his nation and the world. And when pushed to his limit by Azula during The Search, he asks her why did she have to make his life so hard from the day she was born, like his primary abuser wasn't Ozai, and Azulon wasn’t Ozai’s primary enabler.

(Note: Azula is Zuko’s secondary abuser as well as an Ozai enabler, but that is not the focus of this post.)

Iroh is never in canon seen caring for her once, except telling the Gaang to let Azula go on the search for Ursa on her own terms since it might bring her peace, and in The Legacy of The Fire Nation blames her for her abuse.

Ursa never had a soft moment with Azula on screen or on panel with both of them conscious, is never shown to have any real interest in parenting Azula, and post-comics is probably furious at Azula for kidnapping Kiyi and continuing to harass and assault her favored child after trying to jail and/or murder him several times. 

Moreover, the “bastard” letter, which might be the closest thing we have to Ursa’s unfiltered thoughts about Azula, implies that she views Azula as part of the pain associated with her life as a Fire Nation Princess.

So why would Ursa want to help someone who has caused nothing but pain to herself and her (actual) loved ones?

Mai and Ty Lee have utterly disowned her, with Mai trying to kill Azula several times and Ty Lee attacking Azula on sight the moment Azula is anything other than docile, in addition to the constant justified paranoia the two have after Azula escaped Zuko’s custody.

Lo and Li are MIA, and even if they weren't, they probably wouldn’t help since they were Azula’s abusers as well.

The Fire Warriors are currently enabling Azula’s worse impulses and either are too beholden to Azula for breaking them out from the asylum to push back or will eventually leave her once she alienates them like she does to everyone other than Ozai, who at this point she has betrayed and is actively working against. Aang is too busy and everyone else, including her own subjects apparently, (already) views her as a crazy psycho who needs to be locked up for the good of the world.

Like I know this is kind of dark to say, but it seems that Azula is irredeemable not because any innate qualities, but because her circumstances and the choices she made as a kid and teenager have blocked off any avenue for her to get the help she needs to start redeeming herself. For almost everyone who got redeemed in ATLA or LoK had someone show them unearned and unconditional mercy, and I don’t post-comics Azula will ever get that as sad as that sounds.

And this is because, even with the ambiguity in TV!Azula’s character that allows people to credibly argue that she is either redeemable or irredeemable, the comics all but say she was born bad, and can’t be saved due to her learned morals and innate and incurable craziness/evilness.

For isn’t a crazed, sadistic madwoman essentially Azula’s character post-TV show? 

In The Search, she helps search for Ursa so she can off her in an attempt to get rid of the voice in her head, and only stops when Noriko, not Ursa, tells her that she is sorry for neglecting her if she was her mom.

And then in Smoke and Shadow, she breaks out six girls from her asylum as part of a long-term seditious domestic terrorist plot to turn Zuko into a dictator, using the visage of a dark sprit from her former friend Mai’s nightmare that she was responsible for causing to terrorize Capital City, engage in mass child kidnapping, and manipulate terrorist groups to force Zuko's hand before ominously vanishing into smoke, heavily implied to keep trying until she get what she wants, damn the consequences.

And before people bring up the implied asylum abuse and Yang’s Word of God heavily implying Azula’s mental state and actions in the comics due to her "treatment" in the asylum, I don’t think the average fan cares. For if you go onto mainstream sites like reddit and twitter, the majority seem to believe that Azula was essentially born with non-curable severe ASPD, despite that going against the show’s ethos and the show and Bryke's Word of God, at least at the time of Sozin’s Comet, all but saying Azula was a product of nurture, not nature.

So my point in all this is to point out that Azula probably won’t get redeemed due to the writing choices made by the creators’ pigeonholing Azula into the irredeemable villain role that has caused the audience to jetsam whatever sympathy they had for Azula, if they ever had any in the first place.

And while there could be a path for Azula to find redemption post-comics, it would be an exceedingly hard one to write while keeping everyone in character, let alone crafting one that is satisfying to the audience considering the last time they tried redeeming a character similar to Azula, Kuvira, it arguably led to the worse non-movie ATLA product ever released, Ruins of the Empire.

[captain-azoren]

The idea that Azula might have legitimate reasons for disliking Zuko (he was whiny and entitled, reckless, impatient, a poor student, rude, has a bad tempter, chickened out when he finally had to defend his honor, lies about how she feeds turtle ducks (probably), yet still got Ursa’s love and attention) is still a really hard pill for some people to swallow.

This ties into the “awkward turtleduck” perception of Zuko, the idea that Azula tormented and bullied him as kids, as opposed to being rivals for Ozai’s approval. They both resent each other for having the other parent’s affection or approval, and Zuko resents Azula for being more successful at having Ozai’s favor, not because she’s mean to him about it.

She’s rather patient with Zuko all things considered. I think Azula finally gained some real respect for him after his betrayal, but he also betrayed her so she liked him even least. I know the “celebrate becoming an only child” line is meant to demonstrate her downward spiral, but after bringing him back home a hero and then having him throw it away AND having her friends turn on her for him, I can understand her wanting to kill him out of anger.

I really wish the show had devoted even a little time to showing Azula’s perspective more often so we could see how she felt after each betrayal. As it is, I think the depiction makes it seem like Azula doesn’t care that Zuko turned traitor. Azula feels the same way as Ozai; apathetic,a tad frustrated if not unsurprised, and now at least she has an excuse to get rid of him. And that’s such an uninteresting way to go about it.

Even still, if Zuko always resented Azula’s success and played into Ozai’s game as much as she did, Azula doesn’t have much reason to be nice to him. He’s not a Cinderella, or much of the series, Zuko is trying to be as successful and powerful as his sister to impress Ozai. He does not believe that his sister is wrong for doing what she does, he’s envious of her being better than him and angry that she rubs that in his face. Zuko doesn’t truly object to what Azula is doing, which is really what the Fire Nation as a whole is doing, until the war meeting when Ozai says he’ll burn everything down. If Zuko really believed that Azula was evil, he would have joined the Gaang a LOT sooner.

Zuko’s life would not have been any better if Azula didn’t exist, he just wouldn’t have had someone to target his blame and anger at for his failure to gain Ozai’s approval, which by the way, he spent 2.5 seasons figuring out was worthless anyway. He just never bothered to tell Azula that. Not even someting like this for the finale;

“Azula, our father is a monster, he isn’t worth it. You don’t have to listen to him anymore.”

“No.. you’re just a quitter Zuzu, just like Uncle. Now run, like he did.”

“I’m not running, and I’m not quitting until you’re free too. I’m putting an end to this. Enough is enough.”

“... you’re a liar, brother, AND a fool...”

Instead we get “put her in her place” and “No lightning today?” In all fairness, I can understand it being too soon to get over his resentment, but still, a little acknowledgement please.

[firelordteo]

Lukewarm take I guess, but I feel like some people should open their eyes and realize most of the main, recurring characters are kids, teenagers. And not just any kids, but kids who have lived in a world that’s in a war. Kids who experienced trauma, or abuse, are mentally ill, or lived in harsh conditions. Kids who were forced to grow up way faster because of their tragic circumstances. Circumstances that affected how they act, how they see the world, how they react to things. And it makes me really sad how some of ya’ll are so quick to tear some of these kids apart and demonize them for making mistakes, even though making mistakes is just part of life, especially if they live through so many rough things. Should characters be taken accountable for doing mistakes? Yes, absolutely! But it doesn’t make them horrible people or irredeemable, abusive, and whatever other words some folks like to throw around, because the fact is, they still got their whole lives ahead of them. And often times, it makes their character a lot stronger or believable, beause guess what! People in real life make mistakes too. And in Avatar in particular, it was amazing to see these kids grow and learn, even if it was in a shown in a subtle way. And it was amazing to see how everyone was different, how everyone deals with problems they have in different ways, and how they cope with things, even if not in the best or healthiest of ways, because again, that’s just what kids would do. So please,  Stop saying Katara was annoying for bringing up her mother’s death often. She is deeply hurt, she had to step up and take up so much responsibility in her family, and she had a right to have a right time forgiving the people who have made her life so much tougher. And saying Sokka didn’t care about his mom as much as Katara does. He is also hurt from it, and is just coping with it and dealing with it in different ways. This goes the other way too btw, it’s okay Katara expressed it in a different manner than Sokka did. Stop saying Azula is 100% evil and doesn’t deserve love. She was weaponized by her father, encouraged to do bad things, when she was just seeking approval of her parent. (which kids simply just do!) She was just in a very unfortunate position, not being able to realize her wrongs when she lived under the wing of someone who glorified this behavior. She does have feelings too, she even had a moment where she apologized to Ty Lee after making fun of her. She was genuine at that moment.  Has she done some awful things? Definitely, but that doesn’t mean she going completely insane from losing people she thought were loyal friends was a triumphant moment. It was tragic, she’s so damaged, and yet she’s only 14. Stop saying Mai doesn’t care. She does, just because she doesn’t show it outwardly like some other characters do, doesn’t mean she doesn’t care, and doesn’t mean she doesn’t have feelings. It was very clearly mentioned that she didn’t have the best family life, that she was taught to be obedient, quiet, perfect little girl, and it makes complete sense how this affected her later in life. And don’t act like her calling Zuko out over his temper tantrums was abusive. Calling people out on their bullshit is so important, because then, they can better themselves. And just because I said all this doesn’t mean it’s not valid to not be a fan of a character. Sometimes something may not be our cup of tea. But to hate them so much and demonize them, and not even take the effort to think about them in a way that isn’t unclouded by feelings, and not give them any credit where the credit is due is just so tiring to see for me. I could go on and on about this and how some folks just get these (and other ones I didn’t even mention) characters so wrong, but this post is already long enough so I will just leave this here. 

[ellakomskaikru]

I kinda get why Iroh hated Azula ngl. Azula made fun of Iroh for leaving Ba Sing Se when his only son was killed. Even as a kid Azula was cruel and lacked empathy. And she openly talked about Iroh dying so Ozai could rule. Azula didn’t seem to care about her own cousin.

Hello anon.

I don’t believe that Iroh hated Azula, but rather didn’t care much for her. But if he did, it would not be justified.

Azula expressing frustration at Iroh abandoning the siege isn’t something that justifies him hating her. Firstly, Azula was a nine year old child who was clearly influenced by her power hungry and callous father, Ozai. And not to mention, I don’t think that Azula’s comment was actually as bad as some people believe. Azula, since she was very young, has always been very logical over emotional.

Therefore, she would see Iroh withdrawing from Ba Sing Se as a huge waste since he had been close to conquering Ba Sing Se and also because so many soldiers had died trying to get into Ba Sing Se. I’m not blaming Iroh for withdrawing, but I am just trying to explain why it would look bad to Azula. It would also look bad especially when you consider how the Fire Nation viewed showing too much emotion as weakness, and therefore, Azula would have seen Iroh ending the siege out of grief for his son as weakness. It’s messed up, but she is the product of her environment.

Yes, as a child, Azula did display some cruel behavior and have a lack of empathy at times. But, that doesn’t make her a monster. As I have said before, Azula was the favorite child of Ozai, who was already influencing her from very early on. And yes, Azula talked about Iroh possibly dying in favor of her father taking the throne. And yes, it is messed up, but it isn’t as unusual as you think. Of course Azula idealized Ozai over her uncle, Ozai is her father who likely told Azula how much better he was suited for the throne than Iroh was.

Azula was speaking in a way that most children do not speak, and that should be a clear sign that she was being influenced by an adult. And I do believe that Azula actually did care about Lu Ten. Her saying that Iroh should have burned Ba Sing Se to the ground sounded more like she wanted Iroh to get revenge for Lu Ten. Of course, that’s just the way I see it. Overall, Azula’s behavior was not always normal, but unlike you and some others seem to believe it doesn’t mean that she is evil and Iroh would not be right to hate her for her behavior as a child.

Thanks for the ask.

[hello-nichya-here]

"Psychopath" Azula

"Azula is a psychopath." Everyone in the Avatar fandom has seen many people claim that - especially Azula fans, and it's often in an unnecessarily aggressive way and comes right the fuck out of nowhere. To say that it is a popular, but controversial headcanon, is an understatement. But does it actually make any sense? And if it doesn't, then why do people insist that it is canon? (Warning: this analysis is incredibly long and does not consider the comics because they should never, ever, ever be taken into consideration due to shitty writing)

The Fandom Problem

I've said it many times, and I'll keep on saying it: Many fans (and by this point even Bryke) view Azula exclusively through "crazy monster lens." To them, Azula is not a character with a personality, flaws, qualities, fears, goals, feelings - she's insane. And evil. That's it. That is her "motivation" for everything she does.

The possibility of her having ASPD (or any personality disorder and/or mental illness) is not meant to make us think "What does this mean for her character in the context of the story? How can it affect her arc? How does that recontextualize some of her actions and WHICH of her actions does that diagnosis recontextualize?" People don't slap the label "psychopath" on Azula to start a conversation - they do it to end it, especially if subject was the mere possibility of her being redeemable. At "best" that's a way of labeling her as a broken child that can never be saved and that was always doomed and that no adult could have ever helped (especially not her mother or uncle). At worse, it's seen as the equivalent of finding her finger-prints on murder weapons - which murders? ALL OF THEM! Don't you know Azula is responsible for everything bad that ever happened in the story? Including the beginning of the war itself (never mind that it started nearly a century before she was born).

You can rarely find any non-biased discussion on whether Azula has ASPD, because, since many fans want her to be a "psychopath" so they'll have an "unbeatable argument" to say she could never be redeemed, they'll just insist that this label fits her without offering any real evidence. It's not even "Guilty until proven innocent" it's "Guilty because I said so."

But does she have ASPD? Well, before we can even begin to discuss traits of the disorder, we need to put some very important things into context.

Azula's Personality And Background

Cold, Precise, Deadly - Azula can be difficult to understand at first, especially if you try to look at her through “Good or Evil” lenses. At first, she might look like a typical bad guy - she’s on the wrong side of war, is absolutely ruthless, likes to taunt her rivals/enemies, and has no problem with manipulation, kidnaping, invasions, coups, or murder. She can even be a threat to the people she cares about if they’re in her way or are refusing to help her.

However, people often forget her main traits: Pragmatism and perfectionism.

Azula goes to great lengths to have control of everything, including herself and own emotions. When she’s on a mission, her focus is solely on being successful - it doesn’t matter if said mission includes threatening one her best friends, capturing her brother and uncle, invading a city (or staging a coup), lying, double-crossing, taking prisoners/hostages, or even killing someone (again, including family). 

It’s not personal, it’s about finding the most effective way to achieve her goals, and avoiding being punished by a guy that she knows has no problem with being extremely cruel to his own family. It’s also a matter of survival - this is a war after all, and hesitating can mean not just failure, but also the death of your allies and your own. Zuko had problem fighting her to assure his own survival/success, Sokka of all people has a higher body count than she does, and even the past Avatars looked Aang straight in the face and said “Murder ain’t that bad, kid.” Azula IS scary and even deadly, but the she only ever attacks “fair” targets - people who are in her way somehow. 

Azula follows the rules. The problem is she follows the Fire Nation/Ozai rules.

1 - Never, ever, ever, ever, ever go against the Fire Lord.

2 - Do anything to assure the Fire Nation wins the war

3 - Don’t ever allow traitors to get on the way, even if said traitors are your family.

4 - Be a proper lady/princess (that includes her polite bichyness, devotion to Ozai - her father who is not a traitor AND is the Fire Lord - and, of course, getting rid of traitors)

She did horrible things. She’s also a literal child-soldier. This can NEVER be over-looked. 

Mixed Messages - I often see many people claim that Ozai was trying to turn Zuko and Azula into imperialists, while Ursa was trying to save them from that. I really wanna know what version of the show these people watched, because it simply cannot be the same as the one I saw.

Azula was taught by both of her parents that what their nation was doing to the rest of the world was 100% acceptable, and Iroh agreed with it too for most of his life. The difference is that Ozai said that, as royalty, aka superior people, they were allowed to look down on everyone, including people of the Fire Nation - regular people, rich people, soldiers, commanders, admirals, generals, nobility, and yes, even their friends and family.

Ursa and Iroh meanwhile, went for the “It’s only acceptable to be an asshole to the people who are not one of us” approach. It looks morally superior to Ozai’s approach at first, but it’s actually more of the same, with nothing but favoritism and hypocrisy added in. But it is different enough for them to be upset at Azula, which naturally confuses and irritates her because, from her point of view, Ozai’s approach makes more sense (likely because she was a child, and it was easier for her to understand something that was consistent instead of a rule that had exceptions). The fact that he was the parent giving her positive attention certainly didn’t hurt Ozai’s chances of having Azula side with him.

Ozai eventually becomes Fire Lord, while Ursa is banished, Iroh ends up in prison, and Zuko manages to become crowned prince again after Ozai taught him a harsh lesson about respect and knowing his place. Since she’s pragmatic, that confirms to her that her father was right, but then when the finale happens and she’s losing everything she’s starts questioning that mentality...

...Except she was already questioning it before the finale.

Almost Isn’t Good Enough - Azula’s humanity and vulnerability shines through for the first on The Beach - very fitting since the episode is set in Ember Island, which both a place where Azula and Zuko used to go to “back when their family was actually happy” and a supposedly magical place that reveals your true self.

Following that logic, Azula’s true self is conflicted 14-year-old that is obviously unhappy and unsure of herself, but suppresses those feelings as much as possible.

She was supposed to be having a great time since everything is going right for her nation, but quite clearly feels empty, and during that famous scene of her saying “My own mother thought I was a monster. She was right of course, but it still hurt” we find out something very telling that completely changes the way we look at her character (or at least it should): She doesn’t think she’s unhappy because her methods (Ozai’s methods) are wrong, but because she herself is problem that needs to be fixed - and nothing seems to do the trick. Azula is a perfectionist who believes herself to be fundamentally broken; damaged beyond repair. It’s pretty hard to think of a worse combo for someone’s mental health.

Trust Is For Fools - I feel these words are the perfect way to describe the tragedy of Azula’s character. No matter how many doubts she has, how much she’s suffering, how unfullfiled she feels, how bad things get, how scared she is, how lonely she is, and even how desperate for help she is, she will never ask for said help. Because she taught her whole life by the one person she still has left that needing anything from anyone makes her weak, worthless and a failure. Her downfall is so shocking and sad because it’s a character who always tried to convince everyone, including herself, that she didn’t need any kind of support falling apart, breaking down, and finally, literally, crying out for help.

The Fire Nation/Firebending Problem - This one is so important to understand her character that it's own post, but the basics are “Being a half-human, half-flame thrower your whole life is likely to fuck you up, especially if you grew up in a place that constantly told you to just wreck shit when things don’t go your way”

https://hello-nichya-here.tumblr.com/post/673864636667510784/understanding-azula

How Therapy Actually Works

One thing that people often screw up when trying to see if Azula fits the criteria for literally any mental illness/personality disorder is that they work backwards from that conclusion and try to prove it right, ignoring any evidence to the contrary and basically making up things to support it. Confirmation bias is a very real thing, and doctors are very careful to avoid it while diagnosing a patient.

As for the treatment for ASPD if Azula did have it, it would NOT require a complete personality change, but constant therapy, policing herself (which she already does), support from friends and family, and some medication. But most of all, it would require her to be removed from the deeply toxic and unhealthy home-life she had.

Okay, enough context - does she have ASPD or not?

Actual Traits Of ASPD

Disregard For Social Rules And Behavior Standards - Azula doesn't have this trait. At all. The main problem with her character is that she holds onto the values, rules, laws and standards of her society when she shouldn't.

Difficulty To Maintain Relationships, But Not To Start Them - This is a hard one because while Azula's relationships all fell apart, we can't forget that indoctrination, war, and a dysfunctional, neglectful, abusive family played a really significant part in it. And when it comes to easily stablishing relationships, that is also not so clear-cut, since she succeeds in militaristic settings (she won the Dai Li with just her intimidating, yet inspiring personality) but she doesn't really know how to act "normal" (which could be a sign of a disorder like autism, or just a consequence of trauma and indoctrination). I'll say this one is inconclusive.

Lack Of Empathy - Before I even go into this one, let me make one thing clear here: EMPATHY IS NOT THE SAME AS COMPASSION! Empathy is merely the understanding of what someone else is feeling. Low empathy doesn't mean someone is cruel, and high empathy doesn't mean someone is nice.

Does Azula have empathy? Sometimes, and the level gets higher or lower depending on the situation/who she's dealing with. She can tell when a prisoner is lying or telling the truth just by looking at them, and she often knows what people want to hear, but other times she seems oblivious to other people's feelings (this also ties into her throwing bread at the turtleducks - animal cruelty by itself isn't a trait, and this behavior is pretty low on the cruelty scale, but it could possibly show a lack of understanding of why it is wrong to harm living creatures, even if just a little). We can't say if this a result of nature, nurture, or both, but we can at least say that, while her empathy is not that high (sometimes) it also isn't all that low.

Lack Of Remorse/Guilt - Nope. The Finale makes it pretty clear that is being consumed by regret and it causes her breakdown. Considering her perfectionism, she'd probably struggle with self-loathing and guilt a lot after the day of the comet.

Violent Tendencies - As I've said on The Fire Nation/Firebending Problem, there is nothing in the show that indicates she's more violent than any other firebender (including Aang and other Avatars), and she actually shows incredible restraint. Hell, her ability to combine firebending's impressive, destructive power with a more cold and calculating approach is what makes her so scary and it even leads to her being compared to lightning itself. She's so completely in control that even when she's out of her mind she can still generate lightning despite it requiring peace of mind.

Blaming Others For Their Own Mistakes - Once again, no. She tries it in the finale by labeling Mai and Ty Lee as traitors, and "Ursa" (aka her own mind) won't let her do it. Considering how she says she is a monster when she was merely a misguided child who was failed by every adult in her life, and how she's terrified of disappointing her father and feels bad for not being what he wanted even though he shouldn't be demanding so much of her, Azula seems to have a pattern of holding herself accountable for things that were in no way her fault.

Being At Least 18 Years Old - I call this one "The requirement for an ASPD diagnosis that Azula haters refuse to acknowledge exists." People can't be diagnosed with any personality disorder until they're at least 18 because the human brain takes a long time to be properly developed and one's brain is their personality.

Irrelevant "Traits"

One frequent mistake people make when discussing if Azula has ASPD, is to list "traits" that are NOT traits of ASPD, or of literally any disorder (and again, some that she does not even have anyway), and since we've already talked about actual ASPD traits, lets take a look at what the arm-chair psychiatrists are making up inside their own little heads.

"Unchildlike" Behavior - Throughout the show, Azula does a bunch of disturbing things that indicate she’s is trying to imitate her father, suffering from trauma, and possibly has some kind of disorder. That is not what I’m talking about now. 

I’m talking about the people who claim that Azula doing things like calling her brother by embarrassing childhood nickname, lying to him because he’s guillible, being annoyed that he got a cool gift he actually liked while she didn’t, destroying a doll, and pushing her friend because she was jealous said friend was better than her at something are signs of a disorder or EVIL. They’re not. If these things were proof of sociopathy, we’d have label 90% of all children as sociopaths.

Azula mocking Zuko’s scar was her crossing a line. Azula being a petty, bratty kid was something completely ordinary could have been easily corrected just by properly explaining to her why what she did was wrong, and not letting her have dessert after dinner if she did it again. 

Azula "Always" Lies - Azula is really good at manipulating people, and she does it a lot, that is undeniable. However, we only ever see her doing that when it's either a matter of survival or to deal with someone that is in the way of her goal/mission. We get a slight a hint that maybe she used to lie to Zuko a lot as a child to trick him into embarrassing situations... but that's something many children do to their friends and especially their siblings. It's also very funny that people use Zuko's line of "Azula always lies" to say she's basically a pathological liar, when the first time and only time we hear that is when Zuko is refusing to believe an uncomfortable truth.

Insanity - Insanity is not a medical term, it's a legal term. Labeling someone as "insane" means they cannot be held accountable for their actions due to not being able to understand the gravity of what they did or not even being aware that they did anything. In the finale, Azula's mental (and emotional) stability has deteriorated considerably, she's seeing things that are not real, and she's far more reckless and paranoid, but we don't know how long this condition will last, if it will get better, if it will get worse, etc. What we do know is that insanity has nothing to do with being a "psychopath", and people only think it does because "the mentally ill are dangerous."

Being Mean/Difficult - In the wise words of some random tumblr user whose blog's name I can't remember now: not every unpleasant experience is trauma, and not every asshole you meet is an abuser.

Also, being mean, being a bad person, and having ASPD are completely separate things.

Having "Evil" Blue Fire - No, this is not a joke. Someone really said that Azula fire is blue because she's evil and cruel. Apparently the fact that blue fire is hotter and "cleaner" than red fire and that Azula, aka a PRODIGY, is the only human who has it isn't self-explanatory for these people. And apparently Aang and Zuko got firebending lessons from the Avatar equivalent of Satan since the dragons had rainbow fire. Can we PLEASE not label anything that makes someone different as evidence of evil or illness? Can we leave that bullshit behind?

Conclusion

Azula might, maybe, perhaps have ASPD, but most of the evidence points to her behavior being just a result of trauma and indoctrination. But, even if Azula has any disorder, her character should not be reduced to it, and using any diagnosis to label her as "irredeemable" or "born evil" is disgustingly ableist and this fandom should do better.

[mohluskiepedard]

Rating ATLA Characters literally only from what I’ve seen in fandom

or: posts that probably shouldn’t be on my writeblr except I don’t have a sideblog

the context here is it’s half midnight and I have never seen ATLA except I have opinions now apparently so here we go whoop de do- 

I’m also not actually rating them like numerically that’s too much work i’m just stating opinions I know I’m a fraud

AANG

- A child?  - A son?  - he is Baby. but also. he has had It Rough  - would make the updog joke - has unspeakable power or smth and everyone says he’s better than the Korra girl who comes after him but honestly tastes like sexism to me - doesn’t kill people because he’s like twelve, right? he’s like twelve so he refuses to kill people - I stan honestly - less twelve year olds should kill people - Some people say his name WRONG and they are BAD but i don’t actually know what the right way or the wrong way is so. have fun w that yall - lived in peace unTIL THE FIRE NATION ATTACKED 

KATARA

- She is also like twelve???  - Is everyone here twelve - Cortana?? Katana?? Catbug??  - She has good hair, - Her mother is dead??? her mother is dead n she has a brother but she cares about her mother being dead WAY more than him (or apparently the entire fandom??) - Badass - She seems soft. good. sweet - she’s a water breather or whatever??? her brother is NOT but he is a meme - I love her 

SOKKA

- NGL looks like a fuckboy  - The meme brother! does not do the water things, but he has an aXe???  - dates BAMF lady - ngl until I talked to my ATLA watching friend I thought he canonically dated Zuko  - kinda mad he doesn’t - I haven’t actually seen anything about him except like. in zuko ship posts and also Suki appreciation posts - joined the white lotus not-a-cult by accident???  - dark ATLA tumblr show me more Sokka posts - is his name prounounced the same way as Soccer or isn’t it I need to know - HIS FIRST GIRLFRIEND TURNED INTO THE MOON - (AND THAT’S ROUGH, BUDDY) - He and Suki are a good ship, but also, Sokka Has Two Hands

SUKI

- the BAMF herself - she says STOP in that photo but also to sexism - Rlly all I see of her in fanon is abt her teaching Sokka to drink his respect women juice and I appreciate her doing that but also it’s sad she never gets talked about outside of what she did for a man - I hope she has other badass moments w/o him it would suck if she didn’t - she is NOT the girlfriend who turned into the moon, she is the one who didn’t - I don’t know much else about her ATLA Fandom y’all should appreciate her more

ZUKO

- Look at him... my son... - He has a good redemption arc - he and his sister are evil lesbian and redeemed gay guy??? - has a straight canon ship but should’ve been with Sokka this boy is gay - I Want To Protect Him - That’s literally it - he has a cool uncle and his dad sucks  - people ship him with Katara and I Do Not Get It that’s his sister in law except not really - “We don’t trust Zuko’s change of heart” [the next day] “so Zuko is my closest friend now,”  - His dad was like “fuck up the avatar to prove your worth to me” and Aang was like “counter argument you already have worth and we should fuck up your dad” and I think that’s beautiful - he becomes the fire man and he’s very good at it - Zuko for President 2020 - in the words of myself, half an hour ago: “ I was like "that kid with the burn on his face seems like a sad but then happy mlm who needs found family" and I was RIGHT” - took too long to find a happy picture of him :( Zuko rights NOW please - His mother’s story got compared to an OC of mine and all I can say is oh no and they deserve better based on that alone - I have had Zuko for five minutes but if anything else happens to him I will kill everyone in this throne room and then myself

TOPH

- She is badass but like also will murder you while laughing maniacally? - for some reason reminds me of Nott from Critical Role, another show I Have Not Seen - Is blind but gets more out of making jokes abt being blind than she would from being able to see - “Sight is just a cheap tactic to make weak benders stronger!!!” - Literally the opposite of Aang and has killed many people?? - She Can Tell When You’re Lying. But I do not know how and Am simply mildly threatened by this - Therapist: Toph’s ability to know if you’re lying isn’t real and can’t hurt you. Toph’s ability to know if I’m lying:  - She and Zuko.... buddies???  - if not they should be - tiny sad boy needs friends like toph

AZULA

- Evil Lesbian Culture - [BDG Voice] You committed a war crime! Oopsie! - took be gay do crime too literally - her and Zuko have accurate sibling writin except instead of “you ever want to murder your sibling for breathing in the same space as you,” being a Joke Azula took it seriously - okay but with a name like azula she should be the blue bender this ANNOYS me she should NOT be red bender - AZULa  - AZUL - IT MEANS BLUE - She was half of y’alls gay awakenings and it SHOWS - Should have maybe been redeemed too??? Jury is out no one knows - Was she gay for Ty Lee or wasn’t she I can’t tell how much of that Audio is a joke - IS SHE ALSO TWELVE??? IS EVERYONE HERE TWELVE?? IS THIS TWELVE YEAR OLD COMITTING ATROCITIES? 

UNCLE IROH

- A Good Man - Finally, Some Good Fucking [Adult Figures]  - he has the tea. literally and figuratively - Ozai is like “and I will permanently disfigure my son and throw him out” and Iroh is like “What The Fuck, Ozai,” thus voicing the entire audience’s thoughts - Literally the only adult in this that I trust - I? I love him. this is all I have to say. my love for him is unending. Some1 protect this man from all harm   - he’s Zuko’s uncle (and also Azula ig) but he does not seem related to Ozai. is it just a theme in this family that one sibling is chill and one sibling commits horrendous atrocities against your fellow human beings or  - something happened to his son???? :((((( I Don’t Want Him To Have Suffered Like This

OZAI

- A BAD MAN - Uh Oh (stinky)  - THE WORST OF THE MEN  - I do not like him - Bastard man. nasty. committed war crimes and then went��“but what if - get this - i also abused my son,”  - I would like him to Not Be Like This - by Like This I mean present and alive  - :/ 

TY LEE

- She’s NOT the There Is No War In Ba Sing Se lady and I don’t know why i thought she WAS but until I looked up her photo I thought that was her  - She looks like a sweetheart tho - I hope nothing bad happens to her????  - talks about auras??? or smth??? let her vibe - She would talk animatedly to me about warrior cats if she was in my year seven class and I was sat alone and I would understand none of it but appreciate her anyway - if azula bullies her I’ll be :( at Azula and Azula will not care because she has Mommy Issues and therefore is slightly unhinged - She seems like that one kid with no trauma vibing at the edge of [every other kid having trauma] and not really getting it but trying her best - Is she also twelve?????? She maybe looks twelve

CABBAGE MAN 

- HIS CABBAGES - fulfills my favourite trope: ordinary person repeatedly has life disrupted by the inconveniences of relying on actual children to save the world - probably has a campaign post canon for letting trained adults fix the worlds’ problems in the future - or sets up the Very First Cabbage Insurance Company - look at him. he loves his cabbages so much. you go you funky lil cabbage man

ALSO THE MOST IMPORTANT ONES MOMO

- LOOK AT HIM HE’S SO GOOD - small. fluffy. big ears - Lord Momo of the Momo Dynasty: his Momoness - a Good Boy...

APPA

- he looks so soft... - he can fly but he just does it by??? vibing through the air?? motionless??? iconic - I saw that one post about mishearing it as Abba and thinking he was Aang’s dad and he looks like he would be a good stand in dad ngl - he’s so LORGE - a chonky boy - love him

that is everyone I have heard of it and if I left someone out it’s a sign that y’all should talk about em more bc I have no clue they exist put more ATLA On my Dash ig I’ll do Legend of Korra ig maybe apparently that one has canon wlw and i love me some canon wlw

[shortkingvi]

No, no, tell us more about your thoughts on tyzula

alright,,,, i feel like this was a long time coming with how much i talk about my deep love for azula and her character arc so i'm gonna write a pretty lengthy analysis/discussion here about it all,,,,,,,, i'll put in it a read more so people don't have to scroll past a super long post if they aren't interested, so click below if you DO wanna read it

right SO, in order to understand the crux of why tyzula is so compelling and such a complex ship to understand, we have to understand azula as a character first

to preface, i should clarify that i'm not the kind of person who enjoys the "people are born evil" narrative because it's pessimistic, cheap, and in my opinion, not realistic. i think that characters can progress past the point of redemption, sure, but i don't think that any person is inherently meant to end up a monster

azula is a character who has never received unconditional love. the only reference to positivity in her childhood that we get is ozai's praise of her as the better firebender. this, however, is conditional love to the fullest; growing up knowing your value to your parent is intrinsically tied into what you can accomplish makes you highly defensive of losing your ability and disappointing, because then, what do you have? maybe this is the gifted kid in me speaking, but being identified as "special" at a young age is SO damaging in so many ways

azula only knows love in the form of praise for her abilities, not for her as a person. her mother certainly had no unconditional love for her in the way she did zuko, in azula's mind at least. azula herself says that her mother thought she was a monster; now, we can argue until the hippo cows come home whether or not ursa ACTUALLY thought this but it doesn't change the fact that this is how azula PERCEIVED it. she watched zuko receive love from their mother and their uncle while all she ever received was praise for what she could do, not who she was. she also received praise from her father and admonishment from her mother, so it's natural she would be inclined to follow her father's - horrible - advice rather than her mother's

anyways, now that we've established azula's lack of understanding of unconditional love, let's talk about ty lee. ty lee is the first one to give azula a taste of what love is. now, again, much of this is borne out of manipulation on azula's part BUT this is mainly because azula only knows how to receive approval through actions and not character. for ozai, she molds herself into what he'll approve of; for ty lee, she molds HER into something that won't be swayed by azula's flaws

nonetheless, we see some real azula peek through when she's with ty lee. during the ember island episode, we get a pretty sincere apology from azula to ty lee that feels VERY out of character for someone who never apologizes for anything. we see azula's dependence upon ty lee as, on the surface, something related to ty lee's abilities. however, it does seem strange that azula chose a non-bending circus girl as one of the members of her elite, inside squad (no i'm not arguing ty lee isn't strong or powerful, i think she's actually one of the most powerful characters in the show re: chi blocking, but azula probably wouldn't think this immediately)

INSTEAD, azula chooses ty lee because she TRUSTS her. trust is how love manifests when you aren't taught how to love in the first place. ozai, the only person azula thinks cares about her, puts his trust in azula to carry out his orders so she, in turn, does the same as an expression of care and love. because that's what she thinks love is! love to her is "i trust you to do this for me when i can't" and not "i trust you to do this for me because you WANT to"

because azula doesn't GET to want. she only gets to DO

so, now, let's get into the betrayal, turning, rebellion, whatever you want to call it, at boiling rock

IF azula only ever expresses real compassion for ty lee, and we've established that trust seems to be the way azula expresses this compassion most of the time, a betrayal would be the worst possible thing for her to face. she's already dealing with mai turning on her and choosing zuko, although i'd argue this was always in the back of her mind considering mai and zuko's relationship. what she ISN'T expecting, however, is ty lee. ty lee, who she trusted explicitly, turning on her and choosing the other side. because in azula's mind, she's not sure what she's done wrong! she's carried out orders perfectly, she's the strongest, she's the logical option at this point in terms of who will win the war

and still, ty lee turns on her

so now we have an azula who's lost the one person she cared about most (if we're going on the context clues of the show), and it breaks her. breakdown azula sends away all her advisors and protectors out of fear that they'll betray her because she's already been betrayed by the one person closest to her, so what's stopping all of them from doing the same?

her hallucination is important in understanding tyzula too; her mother talks about her use of fear to control people and azula replies with "trust is for fools, fear is the only reliable option." funny how hallucination ursa never mentions trust here and yet azula talks about it, huh? because trust is equal to love in her mind and she just lost any semblance of love she had left in her life the moment ty lee left her. i could write a whole other thing about the symbolic hair cutting here, but i'll save that for another time probably because this is already getting long and it'll turn into a whole discussion about hair in the avatar universe

ANYWAYS, this is all essentially why i love tyzula so much. we have a girl who doesn't understand and has never felt real, unconditional love losing a person who DID love her deeply but couldn't trust that her actions were good

we have azula, who was raised in a restrictive environment where her abilities were the only things keeping her from being physically abused (because she was regularly being emotionally abused if we're being honest), trying to grapple with understanding what GOOD even looks like

it's worth it to mention that azula was raised in a highly homophobic environment as well; it's not coincidental that bryke specifically confirm it is the fire nation who criminalized homosexuality. azula's internal homophobia, compounded with her inability to understand love, makes tyzula this tragic mish mash of almost, maybe, but also never

in any other world, tyzula happens a million times over; ty lee and azula are childhood friends who grow up, lose contact, come back together, and break free of their oppressive environment that neither of them are truly suited for (azula mentally and ty lee emotionally)

in the world we're given, however, this is everything they CAN'T be. and that's what makes them so fantastic

i love azula, i think about azula a lot, i RELATE to azula, my heart breaks for what she could have been if she weren't a product of her environment. but, more than anything, i'm just so heartbroken by azula getting SO close to understanding what love is but coming just short because the one way she expresses love, through trust, is the one thing she feels ty lee breaks

and isn't that the tragedy of it all?

[ultranos]

Why do you think it is so hard for people to believe Azula is blinded by the propaganda and thinks she is doing what is best for her country? I feel if she got a logical explanation for why peace is best for the Fire nation she would accept it but most of the fandom completely skip this in favor of portraying her as evil for the sake of it or supporting war simply because she likes violence

I think it might have something to do with the outsider perspective coupled with how people generally want to believe they are better than they maybe are.

I’m gonna date myself here really badly, but I think it’s pretty clear that I’m a Millennial. I was pretty much around the same age as Zuko and Azula during the beginning of the Iraq War 2. I was also on my high school’s speech and debate team, specifically in Extemporaneous Speaking and Student Congress (which is apparently called Congressional Debate these days).

This is relevant for a number of reasons:

both events demand a heavy amount of knowledge of current events

topics were usually drawn to be sharply political and usually pretty heavy

at the time, computers were not allowed, meaning our research material was generally limited to major print publications (US News and World, Newsweek, and TIME were the big 3), unless you were stupidly lucky and had an article printout shoved into your evidence bin on a whim.

while our scores were based on how well we spoke, there was a huge amount of bias from judges who absolutely would tank your score if you said something they disagreed with (even if they weren’t supposed to)

most of our topics ended up being about international affairs...which meant the war

there’s definitely scholarship money involved for kids who do really well/place very high at State and/or Nationals.

I can’t even remember the amount of time I spent in a room listening to kids my age very seriously and very earnestly talk about how we needed to turn the Middle East into a sheet of glass.

It was a lot of time.

And I remember being horrified then, of being angry and thinking “how the hell could they think this?”

I remember thinking terribly of them.

But I also remember how I and my schoolmates were viewed and treated by others in the state. We were the urban public school, you see. We were coming into very conservative areas and carving out space to speak. (Sometimes, we were the only POC in the room)

And judges were adults who were generally from that area. I remember standing up to speak and watching the judges. And immediately knowing what I would have to say if I wanted a high score, just from their reactions. I remember staring down men old enough to be my father or grandfather and knowing I was deliberately tanking my own score, destroying my shot at State or Nationals and scholarships, because I refused to say what they wanted to hear about tearing Iraq apart, then North Korea and Iran.

I don’t regret that choice. I knowingly threw away my shot because I said things that pissed off an adult who held sway over my future. But I was lucky, in a way. I had the freedom to do that because I...ultimately didn’t care so much. A speech scholarship wasn’t going to do me much good because that wasn’t where I wanted to go with my life. I was going into STEM, not politics. I didn’t need a championship from State or Nationals on my college applications to stand out.

And looking back, do I really want to condemn those kids who argued in favor of war forever? Some of them honestly believed in it. They were only getting information from those print sources. Not the internet, and certainly not from a teammate who spoke fluent Arabic translating Al-Jezeera. Are all those kids I spent hours in rooms across the state with ultimately monsters because of things they said to please adults who could influence their futures? Were they irredeemable at 14-18?

I don’t want to believe that. I want to believe that if and when a lot of those kids got out of their restrictive and conservative communities and got a chance to go even to the state university, they learned and grew up and changed. When they got more information and could see that their old construction of the world didn’t make sense anymore.

That they saw that they didn’t know any better, and were really just going off on what they had been told. Or saying what they had to say because there was no other way they’d even get to go to college without that championship.

Or saying it because they knew whatever they said would get back to their very conservative parents, because the judge was their parents’ friend and god help them if their parents heard they held a different stance than them.

So Anon, I think it might also be because it’s hard for us to imagine how someone couldn’t know it was wrong. But information wasn’t as accessible in the past as it is now. Hell, I have trouble remembering that and I lived through time when it wasn’t yet, when you had to dig hard for information that wasn’t out in mainstream news (or propaganda).

I think it’s hard for us to conceptualize what it’s really like to drown in propaganda. Even when we’re barely keeping our heads out of it ourselves.