Princess Azula

Living in the shadow of an over-popular older sibling is never a good feeling. It stings the emotions and burns the soul just a little. To feel like your parents honestly place more loving value on one of their children more than you. Though I can't completely relate, I do know where Azula, the wicked female villain of Avatar: The Last Airbender is coming from. Honestly, she must be given a closer look. Rejected by her mother and championed by her father only because his first born son failed to be as perversely subordinate as she, must have been an unimaginable hurt to carry with her every day she walked the Fire Nation. When she and her friends went to Ember Island she remained the level-headed teen while all around her the gang was broken down by their private hurts. Always was burdened to be normal. Beautiful yes, but like so many scarred women nowadays, her damaged soul was hard to look past, when trying to attract the opposite sex. While Prince Zuko flaunted his hurt and struggled to master the anger inside of him, Azula indifferently pranced about parties and social gatherings puzzled as to why young men did not approach her. Thai Li, Azula's cute comrade had trouble fending off boys' affection and desperate for some of the loving attention her rigid parents had denied her. It worked to an extent, but the damage of Azula's past is often too strong for her to supress for extended periods of time. Nevertheless, this blog is not about Ember Island. Let's continue.

Azula, a woman of immense power, and dark aura was the first character on the show to reveal that the Avatar was in fact still mortal. When Aang attempted to enter a mastered Avatar State, it was Azula--crafty and cunning--who struck him down and imprisoned her traitorous Uncle Iroh. Uncle Iro, the Fire Nation hero turned rogue warrior never pushed her to follow her own destiny as he did Zuko. Perhaps he sensed the color of her heart's desire and knew she would not be as easily ebbed from a life of wickedness as Prince Zuko. By the end of the last season Azula seems not only bent on killing the Avatar, but also on destroying her brother as well.

It makes sense, since he was the first born son. He was the only thing standing in between her and her birthright. Her chance at total domination, the full love of her father, and the throne which her power-craving soul is told will make her happy. She actively lured in her brother and tried to get him to confide his secrets in her. And Azula used Zuzu's confessions against him, each time because she always suspected that his evil did not match hers in calibre. To an extent she was right. Zuko would be the better and kinder-hearted of the two siblings. However, it must be said that one soul must be horribly defecated if you have the heart to use the doubts and fears of those closest to you against you. Hmph. And this was a trend for Azula throughout Avatar. She used loved ones against each other all the time. Capturing one as bait to reel in their smitten counterparts and lead them to their demise was a recipe she relished in using. Azula used Sokka's love of Suki to distract him during their invasion on the Day of Black Sun. Azula sneered at her foes. She loathed the manner in which they pursued her to rescue a lost cause.

Superficially, this is directly in line with Azula's character because she enjoys mocking the innocent for their weakness of caring for anyone more than themselves. Underneath that layer of wicked laughter, there lies the soul of an unnurtured infant clinging to the sorrow of a familial structure that never built her up as an individual, save all of her triumphs for the Fire Nation. A child raised up in the cruelty of neglect. Had she not taken a vested interests in her Father and King's plot to rule and destroy the world, she might be as alienated as her brother, Prince Zuko. Her soul it seems, is tainted with the sins of all the Fathers of the Fire Nation. Sozin. Ozai. And the whole lot.

Not that it may explain everything, but part of Azula's problem is that she's a girl. And I mean that with all the loaded ideology and male chauvinism that the phrase invokes. The fact that the Fire Lord has always been a man suggests exactly what kind of societal structure governs the Four Nations: patriarchy. Azula, as strong as she is, for all her might and evil karma could never rule the land without the weight of a man bearing down on her every move. It must be a terrible load to struggle with every day and each night. To know that you had the physical power to crush everyone in your path, but are forced to play a complex game of subservience to enemies and allies alike, for sake of your gender.

Were Azula a man, she would be able to seize power whenever and however she saw fit. And thus, she too, like her mother is a victim of her sex. She remains imprisoned in a system that doesn't respect her fervor and power in equal shares with a man. Azula, your outburst on the final episode, when you are trapped in the icy ropes of Katarra are an excellent depiction of what you are. A matriarchal martyr who can never sit atop the throne for your gender automatically disqualifies you from the running. What a tragic figure you are. I weep for you. You really are beautiful, you know? No..............you probably don't. Hmph.