The thing about the Fire Kingdom Royal family - keeping in mind that I find Ozai to be a tremendously vile creature - is that Zuko knows that Azula is a liar and a danger. He's a fairly nice kid, so they're capable of getting along, but he is scared of her. Boys are not usually terrified of their younger sisters.
I tend to sympathize with Ursa because I don't imagine her marriage to Ozai is a love match, and if I had to live with that man and the child he obviously favored for obvious reasons, I would take sanctuary in Zuko as well. Does that make her perfect? Nah. But in a world of politics, Azula's standing was very clear.
Zuko's childhood was probably very confusing, more than anything else, with constant mixed signals both in the difference in the way Ozai and Ursa treat him and I imagine with Ozai's own patterns of behavior.
Mmm. Zuko knows Azula's a liar and a bully, but I'm not sure he considers her a danger at this point. After all, danger to what? They're not the heirs to the throne, and his body language around her is too loose and open for me to read him as really scared of her. Wary, yes, sometimes. Resentful, oh hell yes. But not scared. Not until the coronation scene. Then he's scared, but at that point he's lost two family members (Ursa and Lu Ten) who liked him, his other ally (Iroh) is missing, his grandfather (who, while not liking him, probably acted as a restraint on Ozai's worse behavior) is dead at his mother's hand and his father and sister's instigation. All his support has vanished in one day and night, his two antagonists have had all their restraints removed, and he knows they're okay with the cold-blooded murder of their own family members. That's scary
( ... )
I think the real reason Iroh fails at presents for Azula is because he's been away from home for a long time, and hasn't yet come to terms with Azula as a person instead of as an idealized niece. He was laying siege to Ba Sing Se for a long time, and reaching the city would have meant marching his army overland a very long distance with all the attendant problems of supply that entails. It may have been two or three years since he's seen Azula, and he might not know what she actually likes so he gets her something he imagines she will like.
Also, you have a good point about Urza not being the best mother, but then again these are Zuko's recollections. We might have something of a biased narrator in terms of selectively editing out things where she favored Azula over him. Nonetheless, I think you have a very good point and Azula does have her own parental issues, ones that are only compounded by her other personal relationships.
Yeah, it's obvious that Iroh is buying a present for 'generic niece,' not specifically for Azula, but given the martial nature of almost everything we've seen about the Fire Nation so far, you'd think he might have tried for something even a little less girly-girly. Then again, Ursa seems soft and kind, and Mai's mother is pretty weepy and useless, so maybe Iroh expects noble ladies to be deliberately cultivating gentleness? (Except nobody blinks twice at Mai being a ninja, and Ursa turns out to be damn effective assassin, so... oh, I don't know, maybe Iroh just always wished he had a pretty daughter who was gentle and played with dolls, and has not yet realized that Azula is never going to be a stand-in for that hypothetical girl.)
The thing about the biased narrator, though, is that the flashbacks are not totally from Zuko's POV. They can't be; we see some thing he was not around to see, like Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai in the gardens before Zuko and Ursa walk by, and Ursa wondering what is wrong with Azula well after Zuko has left
( ... )
I have to admit, I find Azula a lot more interesting than Zuko, and I give her a lot of leeway because of all of this. I mean, I think she's supposed to go insane in season 3 or something, but given her circumstances, what can you expect? Ppl don't spontaneously become saints; Zuko certainly didn't.
Also, I think a lot of a lot of Zuko's hostility to Azula comes from his resentment of her being better than he is at politics/firebending/whathaveyou, rather than anything she actually did to him (before he's exiled, at least,) and I can't have too much sympathy for that because what was she supposed to do, play down her strengths and pretend to be less than she is so he can feel good about himself? It's not like he'd appreciate her for it, either.
Azula is definitely interesting, but I like Zuko better. I dunno, I have a soft spot for angsty, dorky guys who are trying hard to figure out the right thing and do it. That appeals to me more than Azula's gratuitous cruelty. She has mitigating circumstances, just like Zuko, but I prefer his reaction to their fucked-up family. He's trying to figure out what's right. Azula has decided what's right, and her decision was wrong
( ... )
I can sit through humiliation scenes if I have no other choice (ie, if I am in a movie theater), but if I have any control over the situation, I will hit pause or walk out of the room. I have a low tolerance for anything that invokes sympathetic embarrassment.
Yeah, it's not surprising that Zuko announced himself. Doesn't make it any less stupid, but then, Zuko is such a tangled mess of stupidity and intelligence. It's like he can be smart, if he's paying attention and cares enough to bother and has a moment to stop and think... but all too often one or more of those conditions fail to apply, and he goes off and does something blindingly dumb. *sigh* Then again, I don't think I'd be quite as fond of him if he weren't such a dumbass. *deeper sigh*
I look forward to learning more of Azula's family issues!
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I tend to sympathize with Ursa because I don't imagine her marriage to Ozai is a love match, and if I had to live with that man and the child he obviously favored for obvious reasons, I would take sanctuary in Zuko as well. Does that make her perfect? Nah. But in a world of politics, Azula's standing was very clear.
Zuko's childhood was probably very confusing, more than anything else, with constant mixed signals both in the difference in the way Ozai and Ursa treat him and I imagine with Ozai's own patterns of behavior.
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Also, you have a good point about Urza not being the best mother, but then again these are Zuko's recollections. We might have something of a biased narrator in terms of selectively editing out things where she favored Azula over him. Nonetheless, I think you have a very good point and Azula does have her own parental issues, ones that are only compounded by her other personal relationships.
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The thing about the biased narrator, though, is that the flashbacks are not totally from Zuko's POV. They can't be; we see some thing he was not around to see, like Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai in the gardens before Zuko and Ursa walk by, and Ursa wondering what is wrong with Azula well after Zuko has left ( ... )
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I have to admit, I find Azula a lot more interesting than Zuko, and I give her a lot of leeway because of all of this. I mean, I think she's supposed to go insane in season 3 or something, but given her circumstances, what can you expect? Ppl don't spontaneously become saints; Zuko certainly didn't.
Also, I think a lot of a lot of Zuko's hostility to Azula comes from his resentment of her being better than he is at politics/firebending/whathaveyou, rather than anything she actually did to him (before he's exiled, at least,) and I can't have too much sympathy for that because what was she supposed to do, play down her strengths and pretend to be less than she is so he can feel good about himself? It's not like he'd appreciate her for it, either.
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Yeah, it's not surprising that Zuko announced himself. Doesn't make it any less stupid, but then, Zuko is such a tangled mess of stupidity and intelligence. It's like he can be smart, if he's paying attention and cares enough to bother and has a moment to stop and think... but all too often one or more of those conditions fail to apply, and he goes off and does something blindingly dumb. *sigh* Then again, I don't think I'd be quite as fond of him if he weren't such a dumbass. *deeper sigh*
I look forward to learning more of Azula's family issues!
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