Azula

**Azula** was the princess of the Fire Nation, daughter of Fire Lord Ozai and Ursa, younger sister of Zuko, older half-sister of Kiyi, paternal aunt of Izumi, and great aunt of Iroh. She was a key adversary of Team Avatar,[4]chasing Avatar Aang and her banished brother far across the Earth Kingdom accompanied by her two best friends at the time, Mai and Ty Lee.

A firebending prodigy, Azula was sadistic, manipulative, and obsessed with power. Like Jigglikus. She was a skilled strategist who orchestrated the coup over the Earth Kingdom capital Ba Sing Se,[5][6] and halted the invasion on the Day of Black Sun.[7]

Azula harbored deep mental instabilities, believing her mother loved Zuko more than her.[8] Raised by her father in an environment without a mother-figure, Azula had to be nothing less than perfect in her father's eyes just to earn any affection from him. After the betrayal of her two closest friends Mai and Ty Lee, these instabilities were brought up to the surface.[1] Upon the arrival of Sozin's Comet, Azula was soon to be crowned Fire Lord;[9]however, her defeat at the hands of her brother Zuko and Katara caused her to suffer a complete mental breakdown.[10]

Following her emotional breakdown, Azula was put in a mental health facility to recover, though she eventually joined Team Avatar on their search for Ursa as part of her secret agenda to betray them and usurp the throne from Zuko. At this quest's completion, however, Azula escaped the team's supervision.

Sometime after her exile, Azula returned to the Fire Nation Capital in secret. Having finally accepted that she would never be Fire Lord, Azula resorted to manipulate Zuko into becoming a tyrant. Gathering a group of female supporters, she took on the guise of the mythical Kemurikage to intimidate Ukano into attempting to overthrow Zuko. When that failed, Azula and her followers resorted to kidnapping children in the capital, setting the city into unrest. Though Zuko and his allies were able to rescue the children, Azula and her followers escaped.

## Personality

"*Almost perfect."*
"One hair out of place."

"Almost isn't good enough!*"*

―Lo and Li talking to Azula about her training.[23]
Born a princess and hailed as a prodigy, Azula grew up to be narcissistic and confident. She relentlessly drilled herself toward perfection and settled for nothing less from herself or those who served her.[23] She believed that power and domination were the defining traits of strength, and as such would only help others if she thought there was some personal gain at stake. She had absolute confidence in her "divine right to rule", with which she believed she was born.[6]She harbored neither pity nor mercy for those she marked as treasonous or inferior. As one who wanted nothing less than absolute control, she likewise had remarkable control of herself, seemingly able to react to any situation at a moment's notice without losing her composure.

Azula was marked by a distinct lack of empathy. Even as a child, she reacted with hostility when outdone, a trait clearly displayed when she shoved Ty Lee to the ground after the girl bested her at gymnastics.[11] This behavior would characterize her relationship with her friends for many years. Although she could show sympathy toward them, she never cared for their feelings and manipulated them as she saw fit, such as when she intimidated Ty Lee into leaving the circus and joining her cause.[13]

She was prone to asserting herself and her authority in a grandiose way, such as when she humiliated Long Feng in front of his former henchmen,[6] or when she threatened the captain of her ship.[23] She also showed a need for admiration, mostly from her father, whom she emulated to a great degree, and from everyone else around her, though to a lesser extent. She reacted with despair and rage when she learned her father was going to the Earth Kingdom without her.[9]

Azula was known to have a cruel personality, showing little to no concern for others. From a very young age, Azula demonstrated sadistic aggression and a near total lack of remorse to friends, servants, family, and animals. Her own mother, Princess Ursa, once remarked, "What is wrong with that child?" after observing her casual cruelties. Azula's first reaction to hearing of Iroh's son's death was to wonder whether this now made her father the heir to the throne. She later dismissed her uncle as a quitter and a loser when learning he had ended his six hundred day Siege of Ba Sing Se to grieve for Lu Ten.[11] She eagerly watched Azulon proclaim Ozai's punishment for trying to claim the throne and grinned maliciously when Zuko was burned and scarred by their father. She also did not seem to care when her mother disappeared or when her grandfather died.[15] Her cruelty was apparently infamous and extreme; when Iroh accidentally ingested the poisonous white jade flower, both he and Zuko quickly decided that they would rather seek help from the Earth Kingdom at the risk of facing certain death than the possibility of being handed over to Azula by the Fire Nation.[24]

Azula's characteristic blue flames symbolized the power she possessed and constantly sought to increase. Her lack of compassion also accounted for her ability to create and direct lightning, the "cold-blooded fire".[23] According to Iroh, the skill required complete control of all emotion, which would not prove difficult for Azula with her one-track mentality.[25] Because of these skills, she was also an excellent tactician, regularly displaying cunning, perception, and resourcefulness that allowed her to take advantage of almost any situation. She possessed good self-control, facing down Long Feng and deceiving him when held captive,[6] and could lie with a straight face and no physical reactions.[7]

Ironically, for all her refinement and self-confidence, Azula did retain some insecurity. As a result of her sequestered life of royalty, she had developed a considerable amount of social ineptitude, particularly in her uncertainty of how to act around boys, and she frequently intimidated them during conversation. Even when attempting to flirt with Chan, her domineering and megalomaniacal personality manifested in a way that disconcerted him and prompted his recession. Her overly competitive nature surfaced during a kuai ball game, and she later admitted her jealousy over how much attention Ty Lee received from others.[8] Later, Azula began to show signs of a fragile mentality. For all of her self-assurance, she was momentarily driven into rage when Mai betrayed her by helping Zuko to escape and admitted to loving him more than she feared Azula. As Azula moved to strike her down, she was in turn temporarily paralyzed by Ty Lee. After her friends were apprehended, the enraged princess ordered both of them to be locked away and "left to rot".[7] While it was apparent that Azula held herself in high regard above her friends, their sudden betrayal drove her to the edge for an instant, hinting at just how unstable she would later prove to be.[1]

While on Ember Island, Azula revealed her subtle resentment toward being seen as a "monster", particularly by her mother. Though she admittedly agreed with the viewpoint, the princess stated that it was emotionally painful nonetheless. Her time on Ember Island was also one of the few times she showed any sign of compassion for Zuko, as she followed him and urged him to return to the group when he was alone and in pain.[8]

### Psychosis

After being betrayed by Mai and Ty Lee, Azula's mentality continued to crumble in the final weeks of the war. When she attacked Zuko and the gang at the Western Air Temple, Azula was evidently losing her sanity, as her attacks became far more vicious and she was seemingly obsessed with killing Zuko.[26]

The tipping point came during her father's coronation as the Phoenix King, where Azula was told she would not assist in the attack on the Earth Kingdom. Azula seemed distraught at this and took this decision as an offense to her and her honor.[9] For her, Ozai always represented absolute power and perfection, qualities which she desired to acquire. His refusal to bring her along on a mission where the two of them would serve essentially as equals made her realize that her lust for power not only frightened her enemies, but perhaps her father as well. Ozai responded by appointing Azula as the new Fire Lord to govern over the Fire Nation in his absence, temporarily satisfying her desire for power. However, she was unable to cope with the fact that the only human being who may have ever loved her was not only ashamed of her, but also still possessed power over her. Her father was the last person Azula thought she could trust, and Ozai's refusal to include her in his final conquest only served to cause Azula more inner pain. Knowing that her father would neither submit to her will nor love her, Azula's grip on reality began to steadily plummet.

On the day of her coronation, Azula became excessively paranoid and gave into her fear of betrayal and being killed. She accused her servant of purposely leaving a pit in her cherry so that she would choke and got angry at the Dai Li when they arrived five minutes after they had been summoned, suggesting that their laxness could have allowed an assassin to sneak in, kill her, and "be on his merry way". Musing over the possibility that the Dai Li could betray and kill her, Mai and Ty Lee's treason still fresh in memory, she banished them.[1]

It also appeared that she was not sleeping well, as she had dark circles under her eyes. Upon Lo and Li's arrival to counsel her, Azula's fear of disappointing her father was clear. She became so enraged when her old mentors proposed to postpone her coronation, that she momentarily forgot they were not firebenders and ordered them to fight an Agni Kai with each other.[1]

Having sent off her staff, she was left alone to style her own hair for the coronation. Frustrated by her inability to tie up her hair bun, she "fixed" the situation by cutting off a part of her hair, leaving it a tattered mess. Panting in frustration, she saw her mother in her mirror in an apparent hallucination. Ursa complimented her, saying that she always had such beautiful hair, though Azula dismissed the compliment and asked her mother why she was there. When Ursa told her that she would not miss her daughter's coronation, Azula told her not to pretend to act proud, stating that she knew her mother thought she was a monster. The hallucination of her mother refuted that, saying she did not think that, that Azula was just confused, and that she loved her. Azula could not cope with the declaration of love and threw her brush at the mirror, shattering it, before breaking down crying.[1]

This incident exposed a complex facet to Azula's persona. Although outwardly maintaining a cold and dismissive opinion of her mother, Ursa's banishment ultimately had a devastating impact upon Azula's fragile psyche.[8] As Azula's sanity began slipping away from her, this inability to reconcile her perceived belief that Ursa considered her a monster with the truer (though idealized) maternal feelings of love and support that Ursa demonstrated in the hallucination created an inescapable conflict in Azula's mind that furthered her eventual mental collapse.[1] Another thread of this argument explored the possibility that Azula may have harbored a guilt-ridden conscience, long suppressed or held at bay for many years by her indomitable will. Her conscience, in the form of her mother Ursa (whose love and guidance she secretly longed for but could never have) reared itself stronger than before. Ursa's gentle, motherly concerns over Azula's use of fear and cruelty as her only means of maintaining relationships with friends and family alike induced a violent mental breakdown prior to her coronation; after smashing a mirror, Azula collapsed and sobbed deeply before regaining any semblance of control.[1]
Azula showed up at her coronation impatient and with her hair still a mess, though the event was interrupted when Katara and Zuko arrived to challenge her. She did not hesitate to challenge her brother to an Agni Kai, though her unstable condition shone through visibly, as Zuko could easily pick up on it. During the battle, Azula constantly provoked and otherwise offended the duo, though her apparent madness interfered with her fighting abilities and Zuko was able to hold his ground and even gain the upper hand at times.[1] Azula was eventually defeated and chained to the ground by Katara. The Fire Nation princess screamed in anger and outrage, while breathing fire uncontrollably and furiously struggling to break herself free, falling into complete insanity, sobbing loudly. She dragged herself along the ground helplessly, as Zuko and Katara looked on in pity and horror.[10] This breakdown was the culmination of her failed relationship with her mother and her jealousy toward Zuko for receiving more of their mother's affection,[8] the betrayal she suffered at the hands of Mai and Ty Lee,[27] and finally, her defeat by Zuko and Katara. Azula was committed to a mental health facility on a nearby island in the Fire Nation, where she was closely monitored and observed.

A year later, a clearly mentally unstable Azula accepted the task of coaxing Ursa's whereabouts out of Ozai from Zuko, stating that not one day had gone by where she had not wondered what became of their mother.[17] In return, she requested permission to join her brother on his quest and to be allowed to travel unbound and with dignity. The Fire Lord accepted and Azula was released. While she had regained much of her previous demeanor, as she haughtily commanded people to cater to her needs and forcefully reacted to irritating situations, though from time to time, she still suffered from psychotic episodes, thinking that everyone around her was conspiring with her mother in order to bring her down. However, she intended to find and kill Ursa in order to stop her from interfering with her plans to take the throne from Zuko.[18] In the end, however, she abandoned both of these goals once Zuko revealed that he would care for her unconditionally no matter what. Leaving Ursa alive and giving Zuko back the letter that could potentially oust him from the throne, Azula ran off from the remainder of the group.[19]

## Abilities

### Firebending

Azula was one of the most skilled firebenders of her time, recognized as a prodigy by both Ozai[11] and Zuko.[16] The most notable feature of Azula's bending was her ability to create blue flames, which are much more intense than the red, orange, and yellow flames normally used by firebenders, though she was only known to bend normal colored fire during her childhood.[11] Azula also used her flames in inventive ways, such as creating jets of flames,[26][27] whirling disks,[13]and blades of fire. She often firebent using only two fingers, rather than with a closed fist or open hand as was commonly used by other firebenders.[4] Also notable was her ability to produce a greater amount of flames than most firebenders without tiring, and she was able to maintain successive assaults for long durations of time.[13]

Azula demonstrated the ability to condense her flames, enabling her fire to cut clean through various objects. When formed into fireballs, the flames had a powerful concussive effect, able to firmly pulverize stone objects. She was also able to generate powerful shields of swirling flames that could withstand the full force of four simultaneous elemental attacks (and a boomerang).[28] She was even able to charge up her fire before releasing it, something she used during her fight with Aang.[29] Azula was also capable of fighting off and defeating multiple Kyoshi Warriors, using both firebending and hand-to-hand techniques.[30]

The depth of Azula's potential was demonstrated in her use of advanced techniques, such as creating large blasts of flame, evaporating a wave of water that Katara threw at her, using her flames to propel herself forward like a jet, and minutes later producing and guiding lightning.[6] While she used her firebending less after returning home, she did demonstrate her abilities a few times, such as when she used her firebending to give extra propulsion to a kuai ball during a game, creating an explosion.[8] She also used her firebending to break free of her shackles and briefly attacked Sokka, Aang, and Toph.[7] Azula engaged in a pitched battle with Zuko and Sokka, where she was still able to battle on equal footing with them despite her being outnumbered.[27] In addition to creating her usual powerful fire balls, she was able to shoot her flames behind her in order to propel herself through the air onto the gondola.[27]

Azula was one of the most powerful firebenders of her time;[1][10] her firebending powers and prodigious skill allowed her to fend off many attackers with little effort and defeat a single talented bender like Aang.[6] She was proficient in the highly difficult technique of generating lightning, a sub-skill of firebending,[23] displaying a fine control of this skill. She could perform minute flickers of lightning, which she used to both temporarily blind Zuko or disarm Sokka of his boomerang, as well as produce large, compressed balls of lightning, as exemplified when she created such a ball to send away a swarm of moth wasps, who were attracted by the intense light.[18] After learning of the ability to also redirect lightning, she applied herself to the technique and came to master it as well.[21]

As Azula gradually lost her sanity prior to the arrival of Sozin's Comet, her firebending became unfocused and wild, which, combined with the Comet's empowering effects, made her all the more dangerous. However it also resulted in her becoming exhausted more easily than usual. Despite her state of mind, her attacks on Zuko and Katara during her final duel proved ferocious and destructive, and she was still able to fire lightning accurately.[1] However, her mental instability still weakened her battlefield prowess, and this ultimately resulted in her defeat at the hands of Katara. She displayed the ability to breathe fire as she struggled against her chains, but this was only brought about by her madness and rage in her defeat.[10]

### Intelligence

Azula was an extremely intelligent and cunning strategist. She was also a highly studious girl. Since childhood, she was well-versed in her nation's military history as she successfully recounting Fire Lord Sozin's strategy in an old battle.[11]She planned a trap for Iroh and Zuko, which was only accidentally foiled by the captain of her ship.[23] She immediately discerned the Avatar's plan to mislead her with a false trail.[28] She also displayed incredible fighting prowess in learning the fighting styles of her foes, such as the sweeping wind kick ability displayed by Aang against her during the battle of the drill. She imitated it in the form of a sweeping fire kick during her battle with the Kyoshi warriors tending to Appa, utilizing that move to end her battle with Suki. With the Kyoshi warriors finally captured, Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai used their robes, stealing their identities to freely enter Ba Sing Se and the Earth King's palace, beginning her coup against the Earth King. This coup was single-handedly orchestrated by her, winning Ba Sing Se for the Fire Nation.[5][6] During the Day of Black Sun, she laid a trap for Aang and his friends using Dai Li agents in the Fire Lord's throne room, ensuring that the eclipse time would be used up.[7] She also displayed the ability to be so extremely capable of lying effectively that even Toph could not sense it regardless of how blatant the lie was, showing that Azula did not feel remorse for lying or many of her other actions.[7] She also displayed an ability to realize whether or not someone was telling the truth, stating simply that she was a "people person".[27]

Even under the effects of her mental illness, her wit and ability to strategize were not completely lost, as she managed to use the after effects of chi blocking, which caused her body joints to become extremely flexible, to free herself from her restraints and from Zuko. On another occasion, she was able to save Team Avatar from a swarm of moth wasps by using a lightning ball to attract them due to the intense light.

Azula's intelligence made her very skillful in manipulating people. She used this skill on many subjects, including her brother Zuko,[6] her mother Ursa,[11] Long Feng,[5][6] the Dai Li,[5][6] Sokka,[7] and even her father to an extent.

### Other skills

Azula's high level skill in unarmed combat was displayed several times during the series. She easily avoided Zuko's frenzied knife attacks without the use of firebending, guiding his hands off course.[23] Later, she proceeded to disarm Suki and knocked her off her feet without bending.[30] She also had some skill with hidden weaponry, as she intended on using a shuriken knife during the eclipse.[7]Her acrobatics and use of a hidden shuriken knife were apparently skills she picked up from Ty Lee and Mai, respectively. Azula was very agile as she was able to run up walls and perform mid-air twirls. She dodged Aang and Toph's bending attacks with little to no effort using high jumps like Ty Lee, ultimately making Aang admit she was too fast to hit.[7] Her physical strength was also adept as she could perform a planche, supporting her body in a horizontal position just by using her arms, with little effort.[26][27]

## TMNT X Pokemon

Azula is one of the villains you will encounter throughout the game. You have to douse her flames before it burns you.

## Trivia

* Azula was the shadowed firebender in the original series' opening credits. Her bending, however, is orange instead of her trademark blue.
* Despite being younger than her brother, Azula sometimes referred to Zuko as "Little Zuzu" and "Little Brother".
* Azula was the only known person to be able to create blue fire.
* Azula was the first character to be seen generating lightning, as well as the only known female able to do so.
	+ She is also the only known female able to redirect lightning.
	+ She is also one of a few known individuals who can both generate and redirect lightning, the others being her Uncle Iroh, Mako, and Lightning Bolt Zolt, before he had his bending removed.
* Azula is also only the second person to be able to lie to Toph without her being able to sense it, the first being Old Sweepy.
* Forms of the word *azul* appear in several languages, including Spanish, Filipino, Galician, and Portuguese, all having the meaning of *blue*, which matches her trademark blue firebending.
* Azula's voice actress, Grey DeLisle, also voiced Ta Min, Roku's wife and Azula's great grandmother.
* Azula displays symptoms similar to those of paranoid schizophrenia, a mental disorder characterized by delusions and hallucinations with an impending sense of doom and paranoia.
* If Katara had not managed to revive Aang with spirit water, Azula would have been the first person to have broken the Avatar Cycle.[6]
* Azula was one of the few characters to have theme music that played when she entered a scene.
* Although Azula was a firebending prodigy, her masters, Lo and Li, were not firebenders at all.
* The only person to whom Azula was ever known to apologize was Ty Lee, after hurting her feelings by calling her a tease.[8]
* Although she was a usurper and never officially crowned, Azula remains as one of two Earth Queens in history and the only known ruler of the Earth Kingdom without such heritage.
* Azula was originally supposed to have an arranged marriage in Book Three, but the idea was scrapped.[32]
* Azula was the only named female firebender seen in the first series, with the exception of the female Avatars.
* In *Zuko's Story*, it was revealed that Azula acquired Zuko's ship for him. However, this only occurred in film canon.
* Azula was born in the Year of the Snake, which seems to suit her personality very well. Those born in the Year of the Snake tend to be "graceful, intelligent, vain, analytical, scheming, and vicious".
* Azula's firebending contains elements from the chāquán system.[33]
* Azula is one of only three known female members of the Fire Nation Royal Family by blood, the other being Izumi and her daughter.[34]
* Azula was originally going to wear armor with a heavy phoenix theme, but the idea was scrapped.[35]
* Azula was the first of seven people to be seen using firebending to propel themselves into the air, the others being Jeong Jeong, Ozai, Iroh, Mako, Wan, and Korra.
* Azula is the only known female to have fought an Agni Kai.
* She respects Jigglikus