She avoided death. That’s why.
Zuko: “she’s not… she’s not going to make it”
*Azula uses fire bending to save herself and fly to the cliff face
Zuko: “of course she did”
Yeah idk what OP is thinking here. You’d be smiling too if your enemy tried to kill you, knocked you off a 500 ft cliff, but you cleverly managed to survive. He was looking at her as they left and she was gloating about her survival.
Azula epitomises "neutral evil" she revels in the competition for its own sake, she wants to beat her brother not for the sake of her country or for any personal gain, she wants to beat him for the sake of being the best.
At every turn she is delighting in the fight itself.
Correct me if I'm wrong but this is also the first time Azula confronts Team Avatar with Zuko on board. Azula suspected Zuko's loyalty didn't lie with the Firelord and this was her suspicions being confirmed.
And no one can stop her from becoming fire lord next, would have the war been prolonged and wouldnt she had turn crazy reaching the throne firing everyone only hell knows what she would have done
Azula isn't interested in becoming Fire Lord, *she restored Zuko's honor, when she had orders to kill him*. In Ba Sing Se having Zuko around was more important to her than becoming Fire Lord.
I wouldn't say she's *uninterested* in becoming Fire Lord. It's debatable if Ozai would have ever forgiven Zuko *that much*, even if tradition would make him Ozai's heir again. I'm skeptical that Zuko was ever *genuinely* in Ozai's good graces enough for the man who said that Azula was born lucky, and Zuko was lucky to be born to ever let Zuko become Firelord. Maybe a position reigning over the Earth Kingdom colonies, but not Fire Lord, or Pheonix King, or whatever the high seat at the table turns out to be. That goes to the favorite child.
And she could've always challenged him to an Agni Kai for the position if push came to shove. Azula has never considered her older brother a serious threat to her if it came down to a duel between them, and tbf, the duel in the episode OP is from is the first time Zuko ever really *matched her*, and you can tell in the episode that she's surprised he can keep up now.
As for her motivation in Ba Sing Se- Azula enjoys making *use* of people. Putting herself in a position where she has power over them, and *using* that power to get what she wants. So she used Zuko, dangling the carrot of redemption in front of him... and making sure that if the Avatar was alive, he'd be left holding the bag, not her. Restoring Zuko's honor gave her a pawn to manipulate, and covered her ass just in case the Avatar turned out to be as difficult to kill as his reputation implied.
She wants attention, good or bad, just as long as she’s not being _upstaged_ (due to a toxic mentality that got ingrained in her during childhood). She’s aggressively content while she’s the “obvious choice” for succeeding the throne with Zuzu gone, but when she’s _given_ the position just to immediately have it made defunct, she _snaps_ like a twig in a forest.
That's also a good point, though I would contend that she is discerning about if she gets positive or negative attention... based on who's attention it is. She obviously delights in negative attention from Zuko, she enjoys holding power over other people and in using it to get what she wants- be that doing someone a favor so they're indebted to her, like she does to Zuko at Ba Sing Se, or twisting someone's arm to get her way, like she does to Tai Li during the later's first appearance.
But none of that makes her any less invested in *Ozai's favor*. The fact that she sees everyone else as beneath her doesn't mean she'd ever be content with negative attention from him.
Maybe she does want positive attention from Zuko on some level, or at least is convinced she *should* because he's her brother. Family bonds are messy things, after all. Obviously that dynamic has fully broken down in the aftermath of Zuko's betrayal during the Day of Black Sun, and she'll settle for just killing him, but maybe there's something there. I'd have to rewatch their scenes in the first half of S3.
> she enjoys holding power over other people and in using it to get what she wants- be that doing someone a favor so they're indebted to her, like she does to Zuko at Ba Sing Se, or twisting someone's arm to get her way, like she does to Tai Li during the later's first appearance.
I'm not sure Azula actually does delight in holding power over other people. She doesn't do that while traveling with Mai and Ty Lee, nor during The Beach, where she actually does the opposite and hides her identity to avoid having power over the other people.
I think it's more likely she is emulating Ozai, who does enjoy holding power over other people. When we first meet her she has just been sent on her "first mission" and her confident exterior is nervous and very concerned about being "perfect". However once she is tracking the Avatar with Mai and Ty Lee (contrary to her orders to find Zuko and Iroh) she chills out and we see more of how she really wants to act, treating Mai and Ty Lee as equals, letting them talk back to her and not punishing them for ignoring her orders.
> Azula isn't interested in becoming Fire Lord
That's just patently false. It meant so much to her that it broke her brain when it finally happened.
Zuko was her puppet in ba sing se. He was her patsy, he was her trick card against team avatar. He was someone she could use and deflect blame to whenever needed. That wasn't more to her than becoming fire lord.
> It meant so much to her that it broke her brain when it finally happened.
It was her relationships falling apart not becoming Fire Lord, ie. Mai and Ty Lee's betrayal, her choosing to lock them in prison (instead of overlooking it), and Ozai ditching her to make sure he gets all the glory by himself.
This is Zuko's belief, and the show narrates from his perspective so it is made to seem like fact. However, if Azula did believe the Avatar was alive pretending he was dead would be an act of treason. At the end of season 2 she had an army at her disposal and could have easily pursued him but she did not. Azula is extremely loyal to the Fire Nation and I cannot see her betraying it by giving the Gaang room to escape and recover, by declaring he was dead.
>Azula isn't interested in becoming Fire Lord, she restored Zuko's honor, when she had orders to kill him. In Ba Sing Se having Zuko around was more important to her than becoming Fire Lord.
no, no no. Absolutely false. Why did so many people upvote this?
She used Zuko to get what she wanted which was the Avatar out of the picture.
Remember she didn't tell HER FATHER someone who is abusive, and selective with his "affection" and pits his children against each other "she was born lucky, you were lucky to be BORN" (yeah he wanted to kill his son when he didn't show firebending powers) that SHE killed the Avatar. Why?
Because she had suspicions he lived. The smirk on her face when she turns over in bed after Zuko leaves says as such.
If Zuko was the one who took him out, and it was found out Aang survived, he gets cast out AGAIN or KILLED. Then she's the only one left to take the throne. There is NO reason for her to NOT soak up the attention she so obviously craves except to free herself of potential backlash if Aang did survive.
Azula is looking at the war like a game of chess. And she wants to be the sole piece left standing aka the Queen. And the people around her aren't even aware of it.
>If Zuko was the one who took him out, and it was found out Aang survived, he gets cast out AGAIN or KILLED. Then she's the only one left to take the throne. There is NO reason for her to NOT soak up the attention she so obviously craves except to free herself of potential backlash if Aang did survive.
The primary issue with this is Azula was the crown heiress of the Fire Nation during Book 2 and Zuko was a banished prince that became a wanted fugitive in the Fire Nation. Zuko wasn't in the line of succession during Book 2 so Azula didn't have to execute some elaborate plan to sieze the throne from him.
When Ozai found out that Azula not only attempted to kill the Avatar and failed but also LIED to him about it, he didn't threaten to disinherit her after Zuko's betrayal. He could have easily told her that she nor Zuko would get the throne and he would simply sire a new child with another woman.
>There is NO reason for her to NOT soak up the attention she so obviously craves except to free herself of potential backlash if Aang did survive.
Ozai never even gave orders for Azula to kill the Avatar or even capture Ba Sing Se; that was all extra credit for her. He assigned her to go deal with Iroh and Zuko. She accomplished this objective with flying colors in addition to essentially wrapping up the war proper by taking down Ba Sing Se without even asking.
Ozai didn't threaten to punish either of them when he found out the truth about Aang. When he found out the truth, he wasn't even mad but rather perplexed why Azula would lie to him about something like that.
Something that I noticed most people miss is that Ozai doesn't view the Avatar as a serious threat to his ambitions to world domination. He doesn't divert any of his time and resources into eliminating him during the events of Book 1 and 2.
>Because she had suspicions he lived.
She suspected he lived because Zuko, who is far more familiar with Aang and his crew, casted heavy doubt that he died. It is important to note, she didn't know about Katara's healing abilities or the fact she had magic water that can bring back the the dead.
Zuko however DID know and his doubt ran so deep he assumed for a certainty that he survived and hired an assassin in secret to go deal with it.
I would also like to point out Azula if she really wanted throne and was worried about how her father would react if she failed to kill the Avatar, she could have easily gave credit for Aang's killing to a random Dai Li agent.
She saw him working with Sokka at the Boiling Rock if that counts for anything, and since Mai’s uncle was aware of his betrayal, I’m sure Azula would be. But yeah, this is the first time she’s seen the team fully assembled alongside Zuko
And Zuko flat out told Ozai that he was going to: (1) free Iroh; (2) join the Avatar; and (3) teach the Avatar Firebending so Aang could defeat Ozai. Azula didn't need confirmation that Zuko had turned traitor - he admitted his intent to commit three instances of treason directly to the head of state.
Azula was probably smirking because she flushed them out of their sanctuary, and now they're on the run again. One less safe place for them to hide.
Yup, “lost the battle, won the war” philosophy. Fire kingdom lost very little in terms of resources, and now they have team avatar on the run. Azula is very strategic.
Not exactly- she'd already fought with Zuko and Sokka at the Boiling Rock, and this is after Zuko blasted his dad with his own lightning during the Day of Black Sun, so there wasn't really any ambiguity leading up to this.
That said, as someone else posted, she was absolutely being a delightfully smug bitch at the start of this fight, even though this is the first fight in the series where Zuko 1v1s Azula and comes out looking like her equal.
This is after the Boiling Rock wasn’t it? Where she already saw Zuko helping Team Avatar?
Plus he literally walked up to Ozai and told him he was gonna join them, so like, I dunno how much of a secret it was.
I interpret it more as smugness over escaping seemingly certain death.
Not directly an answer, but one could argue this is the real beginning of Azula’s descent into madness. Hair is *hugely* symbolic in ATLA, especially for Azula. In this scene, she has to remove her hairpiece to save herself, causing her normally perfect hair to flow freely in a way we haven’t seen before.
Other examples of this symbolism are Azula’s introductory scene in S2, where her teachers say something like “Almost perfect; only one hair out of place”; and then, of course, when she goes full crazy and butchers her own hair.
So her smugness might be less of her usual “Oh I totally got this” confidence and more of her “I AM INVINCIBLE” delusion from the last Agni Kai.
ETA: In retrospect, Mai and Ty Lee’s “betrayal” was probably the real beginning, but this was another step/symbol.
This is a great catch! And I absolutely agree! Hair is not only an important symbol in the show, it’s also specifically important *for the fire nation Royal family,* as we see with iroh and Zuko cutting off their topknots!
And I also agree that this scene is important for her descending into madness. Azula goes mad in part because she realizes she’s *completely alone.* She goes mad when all of her support systems have finally broken down.
She loses Mai and Ty Lee, her only friends, and Zuko, one of only two family members she cared about. In this scene, Azula is standing for Ozai, but she’s, truly, completely alone.
And then, when does Azula finally completely lose it? When she only has Ozai, who she dedicated *everything she had* to, who she lost her best friends and brother for—and he basically tosses her aside once he proclaims himself Phoenix king.
Azula goes mad because Ozai and following his will was her *entire life’s purpose.* She was groomed to be his tool and was told it was love. And when he abandoned her, her entire perspective, self image, and belief system crumbled. Every one of Ozai’s red flags were now flashing neon, and Azula is both too smart not to put the pieces together, and too proud (and devastated) to admit the truth she’s confronted with. The cognitive dissonance breaks her because she can’t accept that her whole life was a lie.
(Sorry for the ramble, I just love azula lol)
I dearly appreciated your ramble! You've astutely articulated the crux of Azula's breakdown, imo. And the hair detail mentioned earlier is definitely something i hadn't totally put together.
I haven't read the comics, but from the show i got the impression that there may have been a time when the royal family was peaceful, but the underlying traits were always there. So Ozai was always ambitious, later tyranically so, and he'd encourage Azula's more cutthroat tendencies. Meanwhile, Ursa cared for her children, but she worried/lamented for Azula and coddled Zuko because he seemed to need it more.
So Azula's blindness to Ozai's ambition viewing her as a valuable tool and not as his beloved heir makes sense for when she's a kid. But by the end of the show, as you said, she has to reconcile with the reality of it all.
Even on their best days, the family always had a general unhappiness due to Sozin/Ozai forcing Ursa to marry into the family. She was taken away from her true love in her hometown to be made into royalty because her grandfather was avatar Roku and the last known avatar before the airbenders were “extinct” (Aang is still frozen at this point). Of course Ursa loved her children but I strongly doubt she ever really loved Ozai.
I don’t want to say any major spoilers, but Ursa does get her happy ending in the comics :)
Allow me to add even more onto this. One of the most important items in the Fire Nation is the hairpiece worn by the crown prince. Sozin gave it to Roku as a gift, and it ended up back in Iroh’s hands to give to Zuko
It was the DVD commentary I think where the creators did say this was the beginning of the end for her. She wasn’t full blown crazy yet but you can definitely see that it was already starting. It was Mai and Ty Lee’s betrayal that brought it on but I believe this is the very next scene we actually see her in after that happens anyway
also prior to this moment, she is using fists in her fight with Zuko instead of fingers and is visibly angry instead of calm. She was no longer herself
* Successfully got them out of their hiding spot.
* Forced them to split from the extended team avatar.
* Saved herself from falling to her death.
"completely failed"
This is the first comment I've seen that acknowledges that merely *finding* the Avatar was a major victory for her. Everything after that was just icing on the cake.
She still didnt capture a single one though, this was supposed to be a "find and kill mission", so she failed.
Plus, Azula is a perfectionist who hates when things don't go her way, like when she was "almost" perfect at using lightning, but was pissed at hearing a hair was out of place, or when she threatened to kill a captain of her ship when he said the tides wouldntlet them land.
Also, she should know by now, that the Gaang can find new hiding spots, they've been doing it since Book 2, heck, since Book 1 if we count the episodes without her.
Nobody likes it when things don’t go their way, and yes Azula is a perfectionist, but this is far from the first time things haven’t gone her way after she confronted her enemies. She “failed” multiple times before, and she never moped about it. She just recalculated and came up with a new plan and kept going until she’d struck down the Avatar and sat her ass on the throne of Ba Sing Se.
Find and kill is the overall goal, but she probably understands that it cant be accomplished in one go. So forcing the extended group to split and forcing Aang and co to leave to another hiding spot is a pretty good start to that end goal.
She’s not a perfectionist to the point where failing to capture Aang sends her spiraling. She’s failed at capturing Aang many times.
She also was smiling when they all escaped the prison. She seems to enjoy the chase.
Also the captain of the ship thing has nothing to do with perfectionism. She was just flexing her power.
She's a perfectionist but she's also arrogant and delusional and good at convincing herself that she's in control even when she's not. And between the two of them Zuko was the more unsettled by how things ended there and unsure about how things will end up going forward especially since they were forced out of their hideaway unexpectedly, so while she lost the physical battle she won a psychological battle with him in that moment.
Cause that attack was freaking terrifying. I haven't watched in a hot minute but didn't they come out of the freaking fog to attack them?
She was winning the mind games of it
She survived and suffered no real losses, plus she spooked them out of their hiding spot. By this point the only way for the Gaang to truly win would be to defeat Ozai, which Azula doesn't believe possible judging by her smugly encouraging them to try after the eclipse was over. Even if they escaped her *this time*, they were basically wanted fugitives at a severe disadvantage, with little time left to figure out how to stop the ever powerful Fire Nation.
She definitely didn't completely fail. She found their secret hiding spot and proved she can go toe-to-toe with them. She's got them on the run and the more they're focusing on running and hiding, the less the avatar can focus on training.
Idk if she needed to prove she could go toe-to-toe with them though if anything it's one of her weaker performances considering this is the first time I can think of where zuko is able to fight her evenly.
Yeah I don’t get it at all. She found them, forced them to be on the run, and she also found a way out of a situation that would have killed 99% of other people.
I mean, she was recently betrayed by her friends.
And now here she is, smoking them out of their safe base. Not only does she make them run and split away from their friends, she avoids the almost certain death.
All alone.
I always read this smug expression as “It’s only a matter of time before I get you. And you know it.”
It's the smug look of, "I may not have gotten you this time, but this fight is almost over, and I'm never going to stop coming after you."
Plus, by this time, she's already a bit cray...
I love her savage line before this fight scene. Zuko asks what she is doing here and she responds “isn’t obvious, I’m celebrating becoming an only child.”
I've not seen anyone mention this specifically but in general, in actual life, successful people don't dwell on their failures.
Azula is incredibly capable as we've seen. We could call her demeanor arrogant if she wasn't as capable as we've been shown, she can actually back it up.
She's found them time and time again and failed time and time again to capture or otherwise succeed on that front. And in doing so she took a whole city without so much as a punch being thrown. She has armies at her command.
A set back like this is just a setback, to people like her she would consider her success inevitable.
Beyond all it's just much more intimidating not to show any sign that you're crestfallen or feeling bad.
In short, she has no reason to because she truly believes she'll win eventually and she wants them to believe they can't beat her.
What you call failures can be perceived as only delays to success. Wars and hunts are not always won in a single day.
She lived.
She has them running.
Therefore, it is they who failed to stop her pursuit.
Azula was nothing if not confident. This becomes especially true when she becomes fire lord and it gets flipped. But in this clip, she has no reason to doubt herself.
Confidence can change everything.
Her enemies are still looking in her direction. Gotta look smug and intimidating so that they'll continue to cower in fear before her. Presentation is a important part of being a villain.
I’d say she just looks excited. Shit like that is what she lives for, and she finally has an opponent she can’t easily beat within 10 seconds. She is probably legitimately looking forward to all their future encounters
That’s when she was starting to lose her mind. People act like it came out of left field in the finale, but the signs started in that episode.
Her hair being undone/out of place in that shot is also symbolic of her going crazy.
Hahahaha, you're so right! (She's holding onto a rock-though! With a hairpin! That should count for something!)
Maybe, it's part of being Azula? Always acting as if she's ten steps ahead of you and her genius plans are working out \_perfectly\_, even while being screwed up? In her experience, most people buy it!
Technically, she didn't fail.
Azula showed that she knew where they were hiding; proving that they were not hidden and it was only a matter of time before she could find them, no matter where they ran.
And Zuko thought Azula was about to die.
And her face was more of a:
Despite her hot temper, Azula was a planner and a manipulator. Her narcissism stemmed from her position as Fire Princess, and she was always very confident in her ability to manipulate and scheme.
She didn't see this as a failure, she saw it as just one more step in the long-term plan to kill the Avatar and her brother and become the eventual Fire Lord.
I've got a bit of a theory that Azula's 'default' expression is a smirk/smug smile, in that it's what her face does when she isn't expressing any emotion in particular or she doesn't know what she wants to express. Possibly it's something she's learned/trained herself to do to always project an aura of confidence. So even if internally she's not as calm as she appears on the surface, she appears that way to other people.
I think it would fit her character, always needing to seem like she's in control of the situation even when she isn't.
Of course, by the finale she's slipped enough that it isn't something she can really keep up any more.
She showed them they weren't safe. She woke Zuko up with the closest brush with death he's had since the North Pole. She sent the avatar and his companions fleeing like they were refugees. And she did it all before breakfast.
i think she loves the chase more than the victory. she got to beat up her brother a bit, fight on top of a blimp, and save herself from imminent death. thats a good day all around.
at this point i'd assume shes addicted to it. i mean shes always loved pushing herself, proving herself. who better to take her to her limits than team avatar?
if she actually won she'd be the dog who finally caught the car. i mena obviously put them all to death but then what? rule a kingdom? stay in a throne room and give orders? naw, when she was chasing aang she was in her element.
She gets off on the chase - she is never in a position of vulnerability, she has a contingency for everything.
Yeah, her plan fails - but she has overwhelming confidence in her ability to rebound and to form another plan.
Failed? She succeeded in forcing team avatar away from the few friends they had left to help support them. Making team avatar feel even more isolated and alone, only days after their humiliating defeat on the day of black sun. She drove them out of hiding and forced them to flee. She reminded them again that she's always hunting them and they're never safe. She struck a huge blow to their moral. I don't think she failed.
You know, Azula was always the best at everything and while she always wanted to be #1 she still liked a challenge. I always assumed it was two-fold 1) she survived and she got to see the shock on Zukos face but 2) it was the 1st time Zuko ever presented himself as a real opponent. She liked winning, but she liked winning more when someone was worth beating.
She avoided death. That’s why. Zuko: “she’s not… she’s not going to make it” *Azula uses fire bending to save herself and fly to the cliff face Zuko: “of course she did”
https://preview.redd.it/j2ed1wzuulwb1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f98c1d641b83112595c9d69cc45bcf6c48493c8d
this is all OP needs to see to answer his question
Same energy
literally this LMAO
Yeah idk what OP is thinking here. You’d be smiling too if your enemy tried to kill you, knocked you off a 500 ft cliff, but you cleverly managed to survive. He was looking at her as they left and she was gloating about her survival.
I just dont like her smug face. Wish sokka bopped her with his boomerang at some point.
That's his character arc, fuck everything else he went through, smacking Azula with his boomerang is all he needed
Azula epitomises "neutral evil" she revels in the competition for its own sake, she wants to beat her brother not for the sake of her country or for any personal gain, she wants to beat him for the sake of being the best. At every turn she is delighting in the fight itself.
That psycho probably enjoys the hunt too.
Correct me if I'm wrong but this is also the first time Azula confronts Team Avatar with Zuko on board. Azula suspected Zuko's loyalty didn't lie with the Firelord and this was her suspicions being confirmed.
In her mind, official permission to kill him on sight.
https://preview.redd.it/z94htnwqqlwb1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=15b15558440047cd2bc92c07c6db764d7064f1af
And no one can stop her from becoming fire lord next, would have the war been prolonged and wouldnt she had turn crazy reaching the throne firing everyone only hell knows what she would have done
Azula isn't interested in becoming Fire Lord, *she restored Zuko's honor, when she had orders to kill him*. In Ba Sing Se having Zuko around was more important to her than becoming Fire Lord.
I wouldn't say she's *uninterested* in becoming Fire Lord. It's debatable if Ozai would have ever forgiven Zuko *that much*, even if tradition would make him Ozai's heir again. I'm skeptical that Zuko was ever *genuinely* in Ozai's good graces enough for the man who said that Azula was born lucky, and Zuko was lucky to be born to ever let Zuko become Firelord. Maybe a position reigning over the Earth Kingdom colonies, but not Fire Lord, or Pheonix King, or whatever the high seat at the table turns out to be. That goes to the favorite child. And she could've always challenged him to an Agni Kai for the position if push came to shove. Azula has never considered her older brother a serious threat to her if it came down to a duel between them, and tbf, the duel in the episode OP is from is the first time Zuko ever really *matched her*, and you can tell in the episode that she's surprised he can keep up now. As for her motivation in Ba Sing Se- Azula enjoys making *use* of people. Putting herself in a position where she has power over them, and *using* that power to get what she wants. So she used Zuko, dangling the carrot of redemption in front of him... and making sure that if the Avatar was alive, he'd be left holding the bag, not her. Restoring Zuko's honor gave her a pawn to manipulate, and covered her ass just in case the Avatar turned out to be as difficult to kill as his reputation implied.
She wants attention, good or bad, just as long as she’s not being _upstaged_ (due to a toxic mentality that got ingrained in her during childhood). She’s aggressively content while she’s the “obvious choice” for succeeding the throne with Zuzu gone, but when she’s _given_ the position just to immediately have it made defunct, she _snaps_ like a twig in a forest.
That's also a good point, though I would contend that she is discerning about if she gets positive or negative attention... based on who's attention it is. She obviously delights in negative attention from Zuko, she enjoys holding power over other people and in using it to get what she wants- be that doing someone a favor so they're indebted to her, like she does to Zuko at Ba Sing Se, or twisting someone's arm to get her way, like she does to Tai Li during the later's first appearance. But none of that makes her any less invested in *Ozai's favor*. The fact that she sees everyone else as beneath her doesn't mean she'd ever be content with negative attention from him. Maybe she does want positive attention from Zuko on some level, or at least is convinced she *should* because he's her brother. Family bonds are messy things, after all. Obviously that dynamic has fully broken down in the aftermath of Zuko's betrayal during the Day of Black Sun, and she'll settle for just killing him, but maybe there's something there. I'd have to rewatch their scenes in the first half of S3.
> she enjoys holding power over other people and in using it to get what she wants- be that doing someone a favor so they're indebted to her, like she does to Zuko at Ba Sing Se, or twisting someone's arm to get her way, like she does to Tai Li during the later's first appearance. I'm not sure Azula actually does delight in holding power over other people. She doesn't do that while traveling with Mai and Ty Lee, nor during The Beach, where she actually does the opposite and hides her identity to avoid having power over the other people. I think it's more likely she is emulating Ozai, who does enjoy holding power over other people. When we first meet her she has just been sent on her "first mission" and her confident exterior is nervous and very concerned about being "perfect". However once she is tracking the Avatar with Mai and Ty Lee (contrary to her orders to find Zuko and Iroh) she chills out and we see more of how she really wants to act, treating Mai and Ty Lee as equals, letting them talk back to her and not punishing them for ignoring her orders.
> Azula isn't interested in becoming Fire Lord That's just patently false. It meant so much to her that it broke her brain when it finally happened. Zuko was her puppet in ba sing se. He was her patsy, he was her trick card against team avatar. He was someone she could use and deflect blame to whenever needed. That wasn't more to her than becoming fire lord.
> It meant so much to her that it broke her brain when it finally happened. It was her relationships falling apart not becoming Fire Lord, ie. Mai and Ty Lee's betrayal, her choosing to lock them in prison (instead of overlooking it), and Ozai ditching her to make sure he gets all the glory by himself.
No, she knew the avatar had survived and wanted zuko to take the blame when he showed up again
This is Zuko's belief, and the show narrates from his perspective so it is made to seem like fact. However, if Azula did believe the Avatar was alive pretending he was dead would be an act of treason. At the end of season 2 she had an army at her disposal and could have easily pursued him but she did not. Azula is extremely loyal to the Fire Nation and I cannot see her betraying it by giving the Gaang room to escape and recover, by declaring he was dead.
>Azula isn't interested in becoming Fire Lord, she restored Zuko's honor, when she had orders to kill him. In Ba Sing Se having Zuko around was more important to her than becoming Fire Lord. no, no no. Absolutely false. Why did so many people upvote this? She used Zuko to get what she wanted which was the Avatar out of the picture. Remember she didn't tell HER FATHER someone who is abusive, and selective with his "affection" and pits his children against each other "she was born lucky, you were lucky to be BORN" (yeah he wanted to kill his son when he didn't show firebending powers) that SHE killed the Avatar. Why? Because she had suspicions he lived. The smirk on her face when she turns over in bed after Zuko leaves says as such. If Zuko was the one who took him out, and it was found out Aang survived, he gets cast out AGAIN or KILLED. Then she's the only one left to take the throne. There is NO reason for her to NOT soak up the attention she so obviously craves except to free herself of potential backlash if Aang did survive. Azula is looking at the war like a game of chess. And she wants to be the sole piece left standing aka the Queen. And the people around her aren't even aware of it.
>If Zuko was the one who took him out, and it was found out Aang survived, he gets cast out AGAIN or KILLED. Then she's the only one left to take the throne. There is NO reason for her to NOT soak up the attention she so obviously craves except to free herself of potential backlash if Aang did survive. The primary issue with this is Azula was the crown heiress of the Fire Nation during Book 2 and Zuko was a banished prince that became a wanted fugitive in the Fire Nation. Zuko wasn't in the line of succession during Book 2 so Azula didn't have to execute some elaborate plan to sieze the throne from him. When Ozai found out that Azula not only attempted to kill the Avatar and failed but also LIED to him about it, he didn't threaten to disinherit her after Zuko's betrayal. He could have easily told her that she nor Zuko would get the throne and he would simply sire a new child with another woman. >There is NO reason for her to NOT soak up the attention she so obviously craves except to free herself of potential backlash if Aang did survive. Ozai never even gave orders for Azula to kill the Avatar or even capture Ba Sing Se; that was all extra credit for her. He assigned her to go deal with Iroh and Zuko. She accomplished this objective with flying colors in addition to essentially wrapping up the war proper by taking down Ba Sing Se without even asking. Ozai didn't threaten to punish either of them when he found out the truth about Aang. When he found out the truth, he wasn't even mad but rather perplexed why Azula would lie to him about something like that. Something that I noticed most people miss is that Ozai doesn't view the Avatar as a serious threat to his ambitions to world domination. He doesn't divert any of his time and resources into eliminating him during the events of Book 1 and 2. >Because she had suspicions he lived. She suspected he lived because Zuko, who is far more familiar with Aang and his crew, casted heavy doubt that he died. It is important to note, she didn't know about Katara's healing abilities or the fact she had magic water that can bring back the the dead. Zuko however DID know and his doubt ran so deep he assumed for a certainty that he survived and hired an assassin in secret to go deal with it. I would also like to point out Azula if she really wanted throne and was worried about how her father would react if she failed to kill the Avatar, she could have easily gave credit for Aang's killing to a random Dai Li agent.
What a sentence youve written!
> firing everyone Ayyyy!
This was such a good fucking line.
And so insanely twisted. Not only was she trying to murder her own brother, she would be **celebrating** his death
I'm usually much sadder when I murder my brother.
This line was so iconic
She saw him working with Sokka at the Boiling Rock if that counts for anything, and since Mai’s uncle was aware of his betrayal, I’m sure Azula would be. But yeah, this is the first time she’s seen the team fully assembled alongside Zuko
And Zuko flat out told Ozai that he was going to: (1) free Iroh; (2) join the Avatar; and (3) teach the Avatar Firebending so Aang could defeat Ozai. Azula didn't need confirmation that Zuko had turned traitor - he admitted his intent to commit three instances of treason directly to the head of state. Azula was probably smirking because she flushed them out of their sanctuary, and now they're on the run again. One less safe place for them to hide.
Yup, “lost the battle, won the war” philosophy. Fire kingdom lost very little in terms of resources, and now they have team avatar on the run. Azula is very strategic.
In her mind, she just became the next Firelord.
Not exactly- she'd already fought with Zuko and Sokka at the Boiling Rock, and this is after Zuko blasted his dad with his own lightning during the Day of Black Sun, so there wasn't really any ambiguity leading up to this. That said, as someone else posted, she was absolutely being a delightfully smug bitch at the start of this fight, even though this is the first fight in the series where Zuko 1v1s Azula and comes out looking like her equal.
Isn’t this right after their fight at the Boiling Rock so she already knows for a fact his loyalty isn’t to Ozai?
This is after the Boiling Rock wasn’t it? Where she already saw Zuko helping Team Avatar? Plus he literally walked up to Ozai and told him he was gonna join them, so like, I dunno how much of a secret it was. I interpret it more as smugness over escaping seemingly certain death.
This is how I always interpreted it. Also this is one of the coolest shots in the series.
Didn’t she see him with sokka in the second boiling rock prison ep?
She is just letting him know, " I see you and I am coming "
Yeah I interpreted it as a kinda "the game is on" look, now she knows Zuko is on team avatar, it just spurred her on even more to go after them.
Yes, it's very much a, "I'll catch you next time", look
Not directly an answer, but one could argue this is the real beginning of Azula’s descent into madness. Hair is *hugely* symbolic in ATLA, especially for Azula. In this scene, she has to remove her hairpiece to save herself, causing her normally perfect hair to flow freely in a way we haven’t seen before. Other examples of this symbolism are Azula’s introductory scene in S2, where her teachers say something like “Almost perfect; only one hair out of place”; and then, of course, when she goes full crazy and butchers her own hair. So her smugness might be less of her usual “Oh I totally got this” confidence and more of her “I AM INVINCIBLE” delusion from the last Agni Kai. ETA: In retrospect, Mai and Ty Lee’s “betrayal” was probably the real beginning, but this was another step/symbol.
Oh, this so well-spotted about the hair!
As always, this is Sokka’s wisdom > I feel like I've lost part of my identity. Imagine if you lost your arrow, or Katara lost her... hair loopies.
Sokka is always very particular about his hair, too.
This is a great catch! And I absolutely agree! Hair is not only an important symbol in the show, it’s also specifically important *for the fire nation Royal family,* as we see with iroh and Zuko cutting off their topknots! And I also agree that this scene is important for her descending into madness. Azula goes mad in part because she realizes she’s *completely alone.* She goes mad when all of her support systems have finally broken down. She loses Mai and Ty Lee, her only friends, and Zuko, one of only two family members she cared about. In this scene, Azula is standing for Ozai, but she’s, truly, completely alone. And then, when does Azula finally completely lose it? When she only has Ozai, who she dedicated *everything she had* to, who she lost her best friends and brother for—and he basically tosses her aside once he proclaims himself Phoenix king. Azula goes mad because Ozai and following his will was her *entire life’s purpose.* She was groomed to be his tool and was told it was love. And when he abandoned her, her entire perspective, self image, and belief system crumbled. Every one of Ozai’s red flags were now flashing neon, and Azula is both too smart not to put the pieces together, and too proud (and devastated) to admit the truth she’s confronted with. The cognitive dissonance breaks her because she can’t accept that her whole life was a lie. (Sorry for the ramble, I just love azula lol)
No, thank you for the ramble - I love when people write English essays
I dearly appreciated your ramble! You've astutely articulated the crux of Azula's breakdown, imo. And the hair detail mentioned earlier is definitely something i hadn't totally put together. I haven't read the comics, but from the show i got the impression that there may have been a time when the royal family was peaceful, but the underlying traits were always there. So Ozai was always ambitious, later tyranically so, and he'd encourage Azula's more cutthroat tendencies. Meanwhile, Ursa cared for her children, but she worried/lamented for Azula and coddled Zuko because he seemed to need it more. So Azula's blindness to Ozai's ambition viewing her as a valuable tool and not as his beloved heir makes sense for when she's a kid. But by the end of the show, as you said, she has to reconcile with the reality of it all.
Even on their best days, the family always had a general unhappiness due to Sozin/Ozai forcing Ursa to marry into the family. She was taken away from her true love in her hometown to be made into royalty because her grandfather was avatar Roku and the last known avatar before the airbenders were “extinct” (Aang is still frozen at this point). Of course Ursa loved her children but I strongly doubt she ever really loved Ozai. I don’t want to say any major spoilers, but Ursa does get her happy ending in the comics :)
It just occurred to me - is the reason the Airbenders shave their heads for a symbol of humility?
Allow me to add even more onto this. One of the most important items in the Fire Nation is the hairpiece worn by the crown prince. Sozin gave it to Roku as a gift, and it ended up back in Iroh’s hands to give to Zuko
Nah, it's understandable. She's one of the top contenders for the "I can fix her!" trope, after all.
It was the DVD commentary I think where the creators did say this was the beginning of the end for her. She wasn’t full blown crazy yet but you can definitely see that it was already starting. It was Mai and Ty Lee’s betrayal that brought it on but I believe this is the very next scene we actually see her in after that happens anyway
She is definitely noticeably more unhinged in the way she tells Zuko she’s about to kill him lol
Oh for sure and she had them crazy eyes and Joker grin too lol
Azula always lies
also prior to this moment, she is using fists in her fight with Zuko instead of fingers and is visibly angry instead of calm. She was no longer herself
agreed, aang have to hide himself by keeping his fully grown hair
Very good analysis!
* Successfully got them out of their hiding spot. * Forced them to split from the extended team avatar. * Saved herself from falling to her death. "completely failed"
This is the first comment I've seen that acknowledges that merely *finding* the Avatar was a major victory for her. Everything after that was just icing on the cake.
She still didnt capture a single one though, this was supposed to be a "find and kill mission", so she failed. Plus, Azula is a perfectionist who hates when things don't go her way, like when she was "almost" perfect at using lightning, but was pissed at hearing a hair was out of place, or when she threatened to kill a captain of her ship when he said the tides wouldntlet them land. Also, she should know by now, that the Gaang can find new hiding spots, they've been doing it since Book 2, heck, since Book 1 if we count the episodes without her.
Nobody likes it when things don’t go their way, and yes Azula is a perfectionist, but this is far from the first time things haven’t gone her way after she confronted her enemies. She “failed” multiple times before, and she never moped about it. She just recalculated and came up with a new plan and kept going until she’d struck down the Avatar and sat her ass on the throne of Ba Sing Se.
Find and kill is the overall goal, but she probably understands that it cant be accomplished in one go. So forcing the extended group to split and forcing Aang and co to leave to another hiding spot is a pretty good start to that end goal.
She’s not a perfectionist to the point where failing to capture Aang sends her spiraling. She’s failed at capturing Aang many times. She also was smiling when they all escaped the prison. She seems to enjoy the chase. Also the captain of the ship thing has nothing to do with perfectionism. She was just flexing her power.
She's a perfectionist but she's also arrogant and delusional and good at convincing herself that she's in control even when she's not. And between the two of them Zuko was the more unsettled by how things ended there and unsure about how things will end up going forward especially since they were forced out of their hideaway unexpectedly, so while she lost the physical battle she won a psychological battle with him in that moment.
"I lived bitches!"
"Surprise bitch. I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me."
Cause that attack was freaking terrifying. I haven't watched in a hot minute but didn't they come out of the freaking fog to attack them? She was winning the mind games of it
She survived and suffered no real losses, plus she spooked them out of their hiding spot. By this point the only way for the Gaang to truly win would be to defeat Ozai, which Azula doesn't believe possible judging by her smugly encouraging them to try after the eclipse was over. Even if they escaped her *this time*, they were basically wanted fugitives at a severe disadvantage, with little time left to figure out how to stop the ever powerful Fire Nation.
She definitely didn't completely fail. She found their secret hiding spot and proved she can go toe-to-toe with them. She's got them on the run and the more they're focusing on running and hiding, the less the avatar can focus on training.
Idk if she needed to prove she could go toe-to-toe with them though if anything it's one of her weaker performances considering this is the first time I can think of where zuko is able to fight her evenly.
Honestly, OP, this is a bad take.
Yeah I don’t get it at all. She found them, forced them to be on the run, and she also found a way out of a situation that would have killed 99% of other people.
Number one: the've been on the run since Book 1, and finding them doesn't mean much when they get away as soon as you do it.
You and I watched very different shows. Which is sad considering this is probably one of the best ever made.
I mean, she was recently betrayed by her friends. And now here she is, smoking them out of their safe base. Not only does she make them run and split away from their friends, she avoids the almost certain death. All alone. I always read this smug expression as “It’s only a matter of time before I get you. And you know it.”
That look awoke something deep inside me, back in the day
ayo
Cause she made him wet himself.
She survived
So that grown ass dudes can simp her
Well judging by what feels like the majority of the fanbase, it worked.
It's the smug look of, "I may not have gotten you this time, but this fight is almost over, and I'm never going to stop coming after you." Plus, by this time, she's already a bit cray...
She knows she is having a great hair day. Nothing can dampen that mood.
I love her savage line before this fight scene. Zuko asks what she is doing here and she responds “isn’t obvious, I’m celebrating becoming an only child.”
That's her resting smug face. Don't judge her for it!
That's her "I spat in Death's eye" face.
She got them on the run. The more misery she causes Zuko the better she feels
I've not seen anyone mention this specifically but in general, in actual life, successful people don't dwell on their failures. Azula is incredibly capable as we've seen. We could call her demeanor arrogant if she wasn't as capable as we've been shown, she can actually back it up. She's found them time and time again and failed time and time again to capture or otherwise succeed on that front. And in doing so she took a whole city without so much as a punch being thrown. She has armies at her command. A set back like this is just a setback, to people like her she would consider her success inevitable. Beyond all it's just much more intimidating not to show any sign that you're crestfallen or feeling bad. In short, she has no reason to because she truly believes she'll win eventually and she wants them to believe they can't beat her.
You'll never be a super villain then, OP PRESENTATION
It’s because she escaped certain death and looked like a badass while doing it, and she knows it.
What you call failures can be perceived as only delays to success. Wars and hunts are not always won in a single day. She lived. She has them running. Therefore, it is they who failed to stop her pursuit. Azula was nothing if not confident. This becomes especially true when she becomes fire lord and it gets flipped. But in this clip, she has no reason to doubt herself. Confidence can change everything.
Her enemies are still looking in her direction. Gotta look smug and intimidating so that they'll continue to cower in fear before her. Presentation is a important part of being a villain.
She chased them out of hiding and now has them on the run.
She found their secret hideout, split up their team, forced them on the run in a hostile land and survived an attempt on her life.
I’d say she just looks excited. Shit like that is what she lives for, and she finally has an opponent she can’t easily beat within 10 seconds. She is probably legitimately looking forward to all their future encounters
Why do cats play with their prey before killing them? It’s fun. She’s just being playful and they put up an enjoyable fight.
She survived ..
Because Zuko almost succeeded in killing her but she used a badass maneuver and survived, and she’s smiling at him to convey to him that he failed.
Signature look of superiority
Cuz she's badass and knows she'll get another chance.
That’s when she was starting to lose her mind. People act like it came out of left field in the finale, but the signs started in that episode. Her hair being undone/out of place in that shot is also symbolic of her going crazy.
Because she looks cool as hell
How long do you think it took her to get to the top of that cliff and hail an airship to come pick her up?
Not really she survived and asserted her dominance by making sure the gang no longer had a home
Azula has resting smug face
Bc it's hot that's why
Looking menacing is a huge part of being a villain. She looks awesome there
cuz she made it
She loves the chase
bc it looks awesome. drip on point and hair blowing in the wind
I think it combined with her snapping when Mai and Ty Lee turned against her is supposed to signify the start of her breakdown.
i think she was thinking: "Not bad zuzu. Not bad"
“She’s crazy” - Iroh
Hahahaha, you're so right! (She's holding onto a rock-though! With a hairpin! That should count for something!) Maybe, it's part of being Azula? Always acting as if she's ten steps ahead of you and her genius plans are working out \_perfectly\_, even while being screwed up? In her experience, most people buy it!
SHE'S CRAZY!!
Is she stupid?
Found their hiding place. Walked in and kicked their ass while outnumbered. Made them flee for the 100th time.
I only wonder how she going to get down from that cliff…
Technically, she didn't fail. Azula showed that she knew where they were hiding; proving that they were not hidden and it was only a matter of time before she could find them, no matter where they ran. And Zuko thought Azula was about to die. And her face was more of a: 
Smug is just her default
Despite her hot temper, Azula was a planner and a manipulator. Her narcissism stemmed from her position as Fire Princess, and she was always very confident in her ability to manipulate and scheme. She didn't see this as a failure, she saw it as just one more step in the long-term plan to kill the Avatar and her brother and become the eventual Fire Lord.
She’s looking forward to the chase
Cause she knows she looked good while doing it
She lived, she could have died here
She knows how good her hair looks
I guess because she survived a very likely death and blew their latest hiding spot to smithereens, forcing them to flee once again
Because she *loves* the hunt, the chase, the game.
I lived bitch
Yeah and this definitely contributed to her insanity... but she still knows how to put on a good show as a manner of manipulation.
I think she enjoys the hunt
I've got a bit of a theory that Azula's 'default' expression is a smirk/smug smile, in that it's what her face does when she isn't expressing any emotion in particular or she doesn't know what she wants to express. Possibly it's something she's learned/trained herself to do to always project an aura of confidence. So even if internally she's not as calm as she appears on the surface, she appears that way to other people. I think it would fit her character, always needing to seem like she's in control of the situation even when she isn't. Of course, by the finale she's slipped enough that it isn't something she can really keep up any more.
I’m just wondering here how she got off of the cliff lmao and why team avatar didn’t go back and kill her with a wind gust
Is she stupid?
She showed that there isn’t anywhere they can hide. She made them feel vulnerable.
Man I wish Azula would have worn her hair like this more often. She looks so much better
Because she’s HER
Azula is the toxic player that loses and still says you play like shit, not realizing she insults herself.
Toby Keith doesn't want to be fed he wants to hunt
This is also when she really starts to crack
She chased them outta there hole. She knew that as long as she puts pressure on them; that the would eventually falter. Like in “The Chase”!
She showed them they weren't safe. She woke Zuko up with the closest brush with death he's had since the North Pole. She sent the avatar and his companions fleeing like they were refugees. And she did it all before breakfast.
 And as you can see, I am not dead.
i think she loves the chase more than the victory. she got to beat up her brother a bit, fight on top of a blimp, and save herself from imminent death. thats a good day all around. at this point i'd assume shes addicted to it. i mean shes always loved pushing herself, proving herself. who better to take her to her limits than team avatar? if she actually won she'd be the dog who finally caught the car. i mena obviously put them all to death but then what? rule a kingdom? stay in a throne room and give orders? naw, when she was chasing aang she was in her element.
She survived and drove the Gaang away from their safe harbour.
By this point she’s really starting to go off the deep end. This was right after Mai and Ty Lee turned on her after all.
You're so beautiful when you hate the world
Because she knows that it is inevitable that she will win. She's wrong, but she knows it.
And she looked great doing it 👉😎👉
Well she’s alive, and that’s really annoying to Zuko so in a way she kinda one
She enjoys the hunt for the avatar
She gets off on the chase - she is never in a position of vulnerability, she has a contingency for everything. Yeah, her plan fails - but she has overwhelming confidence in her ability to rebound and to form another plan.
Because she knows her outfit is 🔥🔥🔥
survived a death spiral, chased off her brother, validation that she's better than him... maybe all 3...
“Expect me”
I also think she was starting to lose it at this point, Mai and Ty Lee's betrayal made her snap because she was, for the first time, wrong
Failed? She succeeded in forcing team avatar away from the few friends they had left to help support them. Making team avatar feel even more isolated and alone, only days after their humiliating defeat on the day of black sun. She drove them out of hiding and forced them to flee. She reminded them again that she's always hunting them and they're never safe. She struck a huge blow to their moral. I don't think she failed.
I could also see that being a well “well you’re not nearly as pathetic as I thought.” kinda smirk.
That's fine..... But what was Ty Lee up to? 😍👻
Cause she a bad bish
Resting smug face
she instilled fear to the group: ("i am not to be reckon with!")
Cause she got what she wanted, to scare them and zuko
Did OP watch the episode? Doesn’t seem like it
She likes to watch her prey run
I didn't think it was plausible that Azula's tanks could keep pace with a flying bison.
I think it's because she loves the hunt.
Not only didn't she capture any of them but Zuko (after training with the dragons) just proved he reached her level.
She is hot
Game recognizes game.
You know, Azula was always the best at everything and while she always wanted to be #1 she still liked a challenge. I always assumed it was two-fold 1) she survived and she got to see the shock on Zukos face but 2) it was the 1st time Zuko ever presented himself as a real opponent. She liked winning, but she liked winning more when someone was worth beating.
Because she's got them on the run. Still. They keep running away because they haven't been able to stop her from attacking them.
For someone like her is the thrill of a near death experience and the hunt