#sorry you clearly feel different & I hijacked this ask to yell about my opinions 🤪

[juniperhillpatient]

I can only speak for myself but for me I think azula should have a healing arc but not a redemption arc because I want her to get away from everyone who’s hurt her. she doesn’t owe anyone shit after the comics

Hm okay thank you for explaining! I think we are defining words differently & that’s part of where my confusion came in. @queenofthefaces explained it more concisely than I can in the replies. I’m guessing this is what you mean?

To me, healing would mean that Azula learns that the way she grew up - emotionally & mentally manipulated & taught to idolize her father & turn against her brother - was wrong. This also means she would/should learn that the way she grew up - with the mindset that being Fire Nation & royalty makes her better than everyone else & that people from other nations are below her, & with imperialist ideals - was wrong. If you’d like to stop there, & never have her reconcile with anyone, that’s fine (& imo would count as both redemption & healing), we just disagree on what would make a good story. I’m not satisfied with that ending because it completely separates Azula from the story & the rest of the cast which just isn’t, for me personally, a fulfilling character arc within the context of the show I love so much.

I’m not a fan of the way the comics were written, they were out of character & narratively did not follow up the show well in my opinion & as such they never factor into my analysis. That said, you CAN have a satisfying fan fiction or alternate universe story where Azula separates herself entirely from the cast we know & love & that’s fine - as a lover of alternate universes I have no leg to stand on in terms of being against this, do go & have fun with that idea - but I do think it’s narratively illogical (again, discarding the garbage comics) to do so in the context of canon. If you disagree that’s okay. But my personal opinion is that it would narratively make sense for Azula to reconcile with other characters, especially with Zuko & Ursa as well as Ty Lee & Mai. In a story about friendship, healing & forgiveness where a central theme is the new generation being better than their ancestors, why would you not want the fire siblings to reconcile? It’s the logical follow up in a story where the royal family has always been toxic & feuding & Ozai (& Iroh!) pitted the siblings against each other. It would give Azula a chance at the normalcy she craves & a family that isn’t hateful & toxic. It would wrap up Zuko’s arc of self confidence & healing to recognize that his sister was a victim too. They could find Ursa together & solve that mystery as well as having Ursa tell Azula that she was never a monster. That’s the obvious narratively satisfying ending right there & I’m forever bitter we didn’t get it 😤

Azula forgiving Mai & Ty Lee for their betrayals & understanding why they did what they did to me would make sense as a part of her arc toward recognizing her wrongs in the war. And I don’t see any reason Mai & Ty Lee wouldn’t reconcile with Azula. You could argue she was ready to kill Mai & that’s hard to forgive but idk it was war many of the characters were in deadly altercations including ZUKO VS THE GAANG & MAI & TY LEE VS THE GAANG.

I also think Azula should be friends with the gaang as well - especially / specially Katara, her narrative foil & the one to defeat her. It just makes sense for Azula to learn from Katara, a character with so many parallels to her. And also I think she should reconcile with Aang because he is the Avatar & the one trying to bring peace & balance to the world. Plus a healed & redeemed Azula would be horrified that she almost killed Aang, you can’t change my mind. As for the others, if Azula went on this huge arc & is now friends with Zuko & Katara & Aang why wouldn’t she also get along with Sokka & Toph & Suki? The show itself (let’s not forget it’s a kids show too y’all friendship is in fact at the heart of the story & it’s not a bad thing to have everyone as friends at the end especially if the bad guys have recognized their wrongs) has Ty Lee & Mai as besties with the gaang post war despite them having fought on opposite sides until the Boiling Rock.

In conclusion I don’t know why you wouldn’t want Azula to be redeemed AND healed AND reconcile with her friends & family + make new friends! Unless you count the comics & in that case I just can’t help you sorry