New Medium Article: Azula's Descent Into Madess
Happy New Year everyone! I just posted a new article on my Medium page. I decided to do an Avatar: The Last Airbender one this time-since it has been awhile since I have done one. The link to the full article is below, as well as a sneak peek.
Link: https://alysonserenastone.medium.com/...
Sneak Peek:
Azula’s Descent into Madness: Avatar: The Last Airbender’s Most Heartbreaking Character Arc
Spoiler Warning: This article focuses solely on the Avatar: The Last Airbender TV series and does not contain any spoilers for the graphic novels or The Legend of Korra. This article contains spoilers for Avatar: The Last Airbender TV series only.
Princess Azula…. Fire Princess…Firebending prodigy…. Zuko’s younger sister…No matter what you call her, there is no denying that Azula’s character arc is one of the most compelling stories in Avatar: The Last Airbender. The fourteen-year-old princess has been given the task of picking up her brother’s pieces. Her father has given her the job of tracking down Zuko and the Avatar. He puts his complete trust in her. She has everything that going for her. She has the love of the Fire Nation, two best friends, and her father’s love. Her father goes as far as to entrust her with the Fire Nation and wants to make her the next Fire Lord. What more could she want? Why does she lose it all? What causes her emotional breakdown? Were there signs of this breakdown throughout the series? In this article, I will attempt to answer those questions.
Azula is primarily raised in an environment without her mother. When she did have a mother, she believed that her mother loved Zuko more than her. It is this belief that starts her descent into madness. The idea as a young child of being unloved and having to prove yourself to be loved has left a deep impact on her. She believes that to be loved, one must prove that they are worthy of being loved. Having Fire Lord Ozai as a father does not help matters either. In the flashbacks from the show, we can see that Ozai does favour Azula. However, this is not enough for her. She sees the close and loving relationship that Zuko and Ursa have and she wants it. She does anything and everything that she can think of to get her mother’s attention. Instead of getting the relationship that she longs for, it only leads to fights. For example, when she burns a flower that didn’t grow right (according to her), she is punished for disrespecting the garden. Based on what we see in Avatar: The Last Airbender, we don’t know if Ursa ever reached out to Azula-at least early on. We don’t know if she made any attempt to get to know her daughter. Everything we know about the relationship comes from Zuko’s point of view.
Azula is very confident in her abilities as a firebender and a human being. As a result, she has become very narcissistic. She drives to be perfect and anything less than that is not good enough. In one episode, we see her practising and her lesson seems to be going great. At the end of the practice session, there is one piece of hair that is out of place. As a result, she did not do good enough. She needs perfection and will not settle for anything less. Perfection is a sign of strength, which shows off your power and domination. This she why she does not help others and only does so when she has something to gain from it. All this stems from her having instilled into her mind that she has been chosen for her role as the Fire Princess and eventual Fire Lord. This means that anyone whom Azula views as being beneath her is shown no mercy. To mess up goes against the idea of not being perfect and, therefore, is a sign of treason and inferiority. She wants complete control of everything and everyone. This is shown very clearly in her personality as she can keep her calm and react in almost every situation.
Azula does not understand the feelings of others. We see this time and time again. Whenever someone does something better than her, she lashes out at that person. This comes from her desire to be anything but perfect. How she treats Ty Lee is a perfect example of this. Ty Lee is one of Azula’s closest friends. However, Ty Lee is better at gymnastics than she is. Azula responds by pushing her to the ground and calling her a “circus freak.” This goes on for years. It may make it appear that Azula does not care for her friends, but we will see how much they impact her life later. This idea of fear and bullying is what drives much of her friendships. This is not the only time Azula bullies Ty Lee. Whenever Azula starts to put together her team to hunt down Aang, she wants Ty Lee and visits her at the circus. Ty Lee doesn’t want to come. She is happy with her life choices. Azula’s drive pushes her. Azula stays to supposedly watch her friend but ends up putting her in grave danger. She has the circus master set the net below Ty Lee on fire. This makes her afraid and, as a result, she helps Azula, which is what Azula wants.
Azula is not afraid to assert herself and show her authority. She does this by humiliating others. She looks down on those who are not up to her standard. This does, once again, allow her to get what she wants. By making people less than her, it means that they bow down to her. She pushes them to the side and keeps climbing. This is how she takes down Long Feng, gains control of Dai Li, and conquers Bai Sing Se. She does this because she needs to be admired by everyone. Now, she may want it from everyone around her, but there is one person whom she wants it most from her father. Whenever she believes that Fire Lore Ozai does not notice her or acknowledge what she has accomplished, she reacts with rage and despair. This comes from the lack of love and compassion that she has never been shown. Remember that Zuko has Iroh to teach him these things, while Azula has no one.
Have a great day!
Serena
Link: https://alysonserenastone.medium.com/...
Sneak Peek:
Azula’s Descent into Madness: Avatar: The Last Airbender’s Most Heartbreaking Character Arc
Spoiler Warning: This article focuses solely on the Avatar: The Last Airbender TV series and does not contain any spoilers for the graphic novels or The Legend of Korra. This article contains spoilers for Avatar: The Last Airbender TV series only.
Princess Azula…. Fire Princess…Firebending prodigy…. Zuko’s younger sister…No matter what you call her, there is no denying that Azula’s character arc is one of the most compelling stories in Avatar: The Last Airbender. The fourteen-year-old princess has been given the task of picking up her brother’s pieces. Her father has given her the job of tracking down Zuko and the Avatar. He puts his complete trust in her. She has everything that going for her. She has the love of the Fire Nation, two best friends, and her father’s love. Her father goes as far as to entrust her with the Fire Nation and wants to make her the next Fire Lord. What more could she want? Why does she lose it all? What causes her emotional breakdown? Were there signs of this breakdown throughout the series? In this article, I will attempt to answer those questions.
Azula is primarily raised in an environment without her mother. When she did have a mother, she believed that her mother loved Zuko more than her. It is this belief that starts her descent into madness. The idea as a young child of being unloved and having to prove yourself to be loved has left a deep impact on her. She believes that to be loved, one must prove that they are worthy of being loved. Having Fire Lord Ozai as a father does not help matters either. In the flashbacks from the show, we can see that Ozai does favour Azula. However, this is not enough for her. She sees the close and loving relationship that Zuko and Ursa have and she wants it. She does anything and everything that she can think of to get her mother’s attention. Instead of getting the relationship that she longs for, it only leads to fights. For example, when she burns a flower that didn’t grow right (according to her), she is punished for disrespecting the garden. Based on what we see in Avatar: The Last Airbender, we don’t know if Ursa ever reached out to Azula-at least early on. We don’t know if she made any attempt to get to know her daughter. Everything we know about the relationship comes from Zuko’s point of view.
Azula is very confident in her abilities as a firebender and a human being. As a result, she has become very narcissistic. She drives to be perfect and anything less than that is not good enough. In one episode, we see her practising and her lesson seems to be going great. At the end of the practice session, there is one piece of hair that is out of place. As a result, she did not do good enough. She needs perfection and will not settle for anything less. Perfection is a sign of strength, which shows off your power and domination. This she why she does not help others and only does so when she has something to gain from it. All this stems from her having instilled into her mind that she has been chosen for her role as the Fire Princess and eventual Fire Lord. This means that anyone whom Azula views as being beneath her is shown no mercy. To mess up goes against the idea of not being perfect and, therefore, is a sign of treason and inferiority. She wants complete control of everything and everyone. This is shown very clearly in her personality as she can keep her calm and react in almost every situation.
Azula does not understand the feelings of others. We see this time and time again. Whenever someone does something better than her, she lashes out at that person. This comes from her desire to be anything but perfect. How she treats Ty Lee is a perfect example of this. Ty Lee is one of Azula’s closest friends. However, Ty Lee is better at gymnastics than she is. Azula responds by pushing her to the ground and calling her a “circus freak.” This goes on for years. It may make it appear that Azula does not care for her friends, but we will see how much they impact her life later. This idea of fear and bullying is what drives much of her friendships. This is not the only time Azula bullies Ty Lee. Whenever Azula starts to put together her team to hunt down Aang, she wants Ty Lee and visits her at the circus. Ty Lee doesn’t want to come. She is happy with her life choices. Azula’s drive pushes her. Azula stays to supposedly watch her friend but ends up putting her in grave danger. She has the circus master set the net below Ty Lee on fire. This makes her afraid and, as a result, she helps Azula, which is what Azula wants.
Azula is not afraid to assert herself and show her authority. She does this by humiliating others. She looks down on those who are not up to her standard. This does, once again, allow her to get what she wants. By making people less than her, it means that they bow down to her. She pushes them to the side and keeps climbing. This is how she takes down Long Feng, gains control of Dai Li, and conquers Bai Sing Se. She does this because she needs to be admired by everyone. Now, she may want it from everyone around her, but there is one person whom she wants it most from her father. Whenever she believes that Fire Lore Ozai does not notice her or acknowledge what she has accomplished, she reacts with rage and despair. This comes from the lack of love and compassion that she has never been shown. Remember that Zuko has Iroh to teach him these things, while Azula has no one.
Have a great day!
Serena
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