charlottxxx This is a really good article!! Very interesting!!

zanhar1 Thank you, glad you liked it.

KataraLover I always love hearing you talk about Azula and explaining just what a fascinating character she is. I think her lack of close relationships also made her very loyal to those she felt she trusted like her father, Mai, Ty Lee, and Zuko when he was on her side. She even had dirt on him like going to see Iroh that she could've used to get him into serious trouble and accused of treason in order to ensure her position as the heir to the throne but she didn't use it for that at all. She instead was just telling him to be careful because she cares about him, though she shows it in her own way. She also could've betrayed him after he had helped her defeat the Avatar and take over Ba Sing Se because he was no longer of any use to her but she kept didn't and made sure he would return home and be considered a hero. She also could've let him die when they were children by just not saying anything to him about Ozai planning to kill him, which was information that ended up getting to Ursa, and she would her father become the Fire Lord, she'd become the heir to the throne, and she'd have her mother to give her the attention she was deprived of because of Zuko. She couldn't have just messed all that up just so she could taunt him about it. She may of been a little girl but she was a lot smarter than that and was strategic even at that age. She even manipulated her own mother into making Zuko play with her and her friends. She had no reason to blow it all just for a few moments of taunting unless she cared about him and just wanted to save him by suggesting he runaway and maybe get an Earth Kingdom family to adopt him. She had done so much to help him, even when it would've benefitted her not to help him, so I imagine it really hurt her to have her brother betray her and their nation. I feel that this shows in the beginning of the episode The Southern Raiders (Having been betrayed by Mai and Ty Lee in the previous episode) where she clearly doesn't look right in the head or like her usual self. You can tell she was beginning to close her mind, even though what would really set her off was Ozai's betrayal. Mai betrayed her because of Zuko (She even helped to get them together) and Ty Lee betrayed her because of Mai, so she believed that if she had let him die as a child or betrayed him when she had the chances to do so that she wouldn't have lost her friends. So she wanted to rectify this by... as she put it "I'm about to celebrate becoming an ONLY CHILD!" I do feel that while Zuko played a hand in her losing her sanity that he also ended up being the one to save her to where she was able to gain back control over her mind later in the comic books. In The Search, he tells her that he loves her and always will because she's his sister and he cares about her. That was the first time (At least to our knowledge) someone told her that they love her and it wasn't from a hallucination in her mind but from someone real and it was genuine. As we see in her next appearance in the comics, she has gained back control of her mind and was actually trying to do what she, in her own twisted way, helping Zuko because she cared about him. She didn't even try to stop him or his friends after she revealed her face to them and her plan failed. The old Azula would've definitely put up a fight first and never would've let a single strand of hair be out of place but she had like three or so strands out of place and looked more relax because someone told her they loved her and it wasn't just in her imagination. Her becoming Fire Lord didn't even mean anything because Ozai planned on becoming the Phoenix King, which would make all other royal titles from the four nations (Including his own) be obsolete. He was basically throwing a meaningless crown at her where she'd have little to no power if Ozai succeeded in the end just to get her off his back. Her one slip up of failing to kill the Avatar, which wasn't her fault because if Katara didn't have the spirit water he would be dead, was what made him think she was of no further use to him after all she had done to please him and be the weapon he wanted her to be. If I were her, I'd feel betrayed too, especially since in her time, she was arguably the strongest firebender of them all in the show. Aang was still an amateur at firebending at the end of the show, so she was currently more powerful than even Aang, at least when it came to firebending alone without the other elements. She's the only known firebender to have different color fire, as well as one that is MUCH hotter than normal fire, and the only other firebenders with that skill were the last two living dragons. Her firebending skill and ability to have fire that is more powerful than normal firebending could only be matched up with two FREAKING dragons! That is something I bet no other firebender can say. She can bend lightning and later in the comics learned how to redirect lighting (Which at the time, only Iroh, Zuko, and Aang had been able to accomplish). She even trained herself to be able to fight without her bending in case of emergency because she's always prepared, which is something most benders lack. She was even able to still hold her own against the freaking Avatar even though she didn't have her bending at the time. She clearly had pushed herself to gain her father's approval, which to her translated to genuine love, but the one time she did something that didn't please him resulted in him no longer considering her of any further use to him. What a F*CKING D*CK! She could easily take him down because she is FAR more skilled than him and can actually fight even without her bending. She could fight three members of Team Avatar (Two of whom are benders and one of those benders being the Avatar) on her own without her bending while her father needed his bending and was at the mercy of his son, who also could fight without his bending. She worked so hard all her life to be what he wanted her to be and the one time she makes a mistake she was just tossed aside like an old glove. No wonder the last straw of her mental control ended up getting yanked out. All at the age of fourteen-years-old. Although, since this show seemed to run the course of almost a year, would she of been fifteen in the end? You saying she was fifteen in your article when she was confirmed to be fourteen made me question how old she is by the end of the show lol. Though she still looks like someone who would at least be at the age of consent, particularly in season 3. She looks eighteen or ninteen, but I'm getting off topic lol. Sorry for the REALLY LONG comment. Well, I'm sure you won't mind considering you've accidentally made comments this or even longer before. I still remember that one comment that took me over thirty minutes (Maybe even over fourty, I can't remember) to read lol. Oh well, you usually turn those comments into articles, which is awesome. Besides, I can tell you put a lot of work into this, as you always do, and I wanted to give you more than just a "Great job" or a "That was really interesting" or any of those simple comments. You worked hard on this and deserve to have a comment that truly appreciates your hard work, no offense to anyone else. Although, I didn't initially plan for my comment to be this long, it just kind of happened lol. Awesome job!

zanhar1 Thanks for the super, super long comment. It's cool to know that someone actually puts care into reading articles still. Tbh I don't particularly have the mental energy to type a long comment myself right now but I read all of yours and will respond to a few points. [i]She had done so much to help him, even when it would've benefitted her not to help him, so I imagine it really hurt her to have her brother betray her and their nation. I feel that this shows in the beginning of the episode The Southern Raiders[/i] I think that a lot of people downplay just how much it might have hurt Azula to see Zuko go. We all know that Azula is really weird with relationships. I feel as though she did care for Zuko and was genuinely happy to have him back (hence that scene at the beach house) but has a lot of trouble expression that. I think that she might have thought that they were on at least somewhat decent terms. I also think that her attack at the Air Temple may have stemmed from hurt. I feel like she is the type to mask hurt with anger. [i]I do feel that while Zuko played a hand in her losing her sanity that he also ended up being the one to save her to where she was able to gain back control over her mind later in the comic books. In The Search,[/i] I would agree with this too. I think that he also cares for her to some degree. In S&S she seemed to truly want to help him become a better leader in her own twisted Azula way. There were a good many times where he could have really hurt her (mentally or physically) or killed her but chose to spare her. I can't imagine that she doesn't see this. I just think that it may be difficult for her to come to terms with it. [i]She didn't even try to stop him or his friends after she revealed her face to them and her plan failed.[/i] I don't think she did fail though, her goal was to make him ruthless. She said it herself that it was her plan. She lost but she won at the same time. But again, I think that she really was trying to help him, she just has no idea how to do that in a conventional way. [i]She clearly had pushed herself to gain her father's approval, which to her translated to genuine love, but the one time she did something that didn't please him resulted in him no longer considering her of any further use to him.[/i] And I think that this is exactly what led to her snapping. She threw all of her soul and power into pleasing the man and she had done so every step of the way. But she screwed up once and he left her behind and wrote her off. His love was very conditional and Azula needed unconditional love. Which is again where I take issue with Ursa and Iroh who didn't really give her unconditional love either and left her to a very dangerous man. They left her at the mercy of a man that they [b]knew[/b] was dangerous. And she was just a child when they did that. So when she reached adolescence, that danger came into play and he began pushing her beyond her limits and setting her up to think that she had to be perfect to the point where even she didn't like herself if she made a mistake. Therefore Zuko defeating her was like the final straw. Her father saw him as weak so she saw him as weak. And if she couldn't defeat him then she probably decided that she was weak. Which probably created (at least) a temporary period of self-doubt and self-loathing. It probably drove her completely wild knowing that her one and only mess-up in the series cost her literally everything she had built up. [i]You saying she was fifteen in your article when she was confirmed to be fourteen made me question how old she is by the end of the show lol.[/i] She was 14 in season 2 and 15 in season 3. There was a time skip of (I think) 3 years in The Search which would make her about 18(ish).

Zukos_bride I love zuko but tbh he and ursa and iroh should of tried to do more for her I can't believe ursa didn't care that azula was alone living in a forest lmao she cared way more for zuko and kiyi I think she should love all her kids equally.. azula isn't a complete sociopath she reminds me of noatak she became a war machine because of an abusive father and zuko was like tarrlok he was scared but still let negative emotions take a hold of him, they needed help.

zanhar1 That's what I'm saying. I like all three but there was very little intervention done with Azula that could have helped her out. And Ursa's lack of concern after Azula ran off into the Forgetful Valley bothers me. I feel like a mother should do more... Like you said, it seems like she cares more for Zuko and Kiyi and it isn't right to neglect one kid. I feel like Azula is more damaged than broken. Like she's not a lost cause as some people seem to make her out to be. She's still very young and has a chance to grow.