Avatar TLA : Azula's Fate (Finale Spoilers)

I've had friends who woke up a question I had since the finale aired : Did Azula go down too easily? I mean, here we had the prime on-screen villain (Ozai spending so much time offscreen) beaten after a ferocious fight in which her two skilled opponents could only hold their own.

I answered their questions, and mostly my own, by pointing out the following, though I still have twinges of it being too easy.

1 - Any regular viewer had to note that Azula had never been truly defeated before. Even setbacks like the drill in Ba Sing Se had been followed by taking the city w/o firing a shot and having her brother come back home willingly. It took all of Team A plus Iroh and Zuko to even turn her back, that one time. I wondered a lot during S2 what a real defeat would do to her, whether she would be able to come back from it the way her brother, Aang and the others did. The finale seemed to provide that answer, and more-over, she had by that point shredded anything she had resembling a support structure.

2 - That her ego was built on a house of cards had always been evident. As a child, she resorted to petty tricks to embarass her brother, Mai and Ty Lee, and of course ate up the attention her father gave at Zuko's direct expense. As the princess, the only one who could stand up to her and survive was Zuko, and she made sure to peck away at his already shaky self-confidence every chance she got. Though I'm certain some small part of her wanted her mother's unconditional love, IMO much more of it that desire came from the fact that Zuko had what she never could. I really wish some FB had showed exactly what Ursa told Azula when she supposedly called her a 'monster'. I tend to think it wasn't as direct as all that, but we can't know, barring a TV-movie based in this continuity. Even before the final arc, she was disgusted by Ty Lee's easy attraction of the boys around her to the point of *lowering* herself to ask advice--advice that it was not really in her to use.

Then came the final arc : In rapid short order, her brother was now fully capable of facing her in combat, her two friends/captives finally told her to screw off, and the throne she had always wanted was granted to her--as a vassal. By the time of the last battle, the woman once capable of lying flatly even to Toph was so off her game, even Zuko could see it. The Aang gang's ingrained habit of saying 'Well, we got our butts kicked. What now?' was nowhere in her psyche. Defeat was so literally unthinkable, it may have cost Azula her mind.

3 - Lastly, we have to take a hard look at who finally took Azula down, besides herself. No one could possibly be more her opposite than Katara. Born to a humble family. Making due with what she had (Had an Uncle presented her with a doll, it would have been gratefully treasured). Having to keep her talents quiet. A mother who gladly sacrificed her life for her. A brother who willingly adores and (to an extent) obeys her, and who offers advice she values, despite his being demonstrably less powerful. Despite all the resources of the FN, it was she who found the Avatar. A young woman who feared and was chastened by her over-power of blood-bending, in contrast to Azula's delight in lightning-bending. Katara was the one her friends all depended on for physical and spiritual healing; anyone allied with Azula hoped to achieve this despite her. A loving father who explained his painful actions versus one who just demanded obedience for even the pretense of affection. Like Sokka, no problem attracting the attention of the other sex. Etc., etc., inlcuding of course Water versus Fire.

My (apologies) long argument aside, I still feel a bit like someone so powerful was taken apart in a heartbeat. Am I still missing something?

 

It depends on how you're defining "taken down easily." If you mean her physical defeat in the final confrontation was too quick, that's only because Katara made it look easy; it took extraordinary skill and finesse to achieve what she did, and great imagination to think of it in the heat of battle. Bottom line, Katara had finally reached the point where she was simply better than Azula.

If you're speaking of her rapid psychological deterioration in the final 4-parter, then I'd tend to agree. Prior to this, she'd been the one cartoon villain who consistently avoided making any of the Evil Overlord List mistakes. She was always smart, prepared, canny, well-adjusted. And that was great, because heroes are measured by the quality of their enemies, and she was a truly potent enemy, not someone who sabotaged herself with her own neuroses or blind spots and made it easy for the heroes to beat her. So it felt to me like the writers were taking the lazy way out when they had her disintegrate into madness and dismantle her own support structure, leaving herself without allies when the final confrontation came. She went pretty quickly from the smartest, sanest archenemy ever to a more conventional nutcase-berserker enemy. If anything, it didn't make sense that she could still firebend effectively, since she'd lost the cold control that was the source of her power (analogously to how Zuko lost his power when he lost his rage). Certainly she shouldn't have been able to lightning-bend in such an erratic emotional state; she should've killed herself in the attempt.

Still, I suppose I can buy that Azula was less stable than she appeared. Having Mai and Ty Lee turn on her started to unravel her certainties, and then when her beloved father cast her aside, it took away her psychological anchor. Her sense of betrayal and abandonment quickly escalated into rabid paranoia and led to her downfall.

But though that's understandable, it's regrettable that she couldn't have kept that remarkable strength and poise to the very end. I was actually expecting that she'd assassinate Ozai and become the ultimate Big Bad the Avatar would have to confront.

 

I'd forgotten about the lightning-bending and the need for emotional control. Azula certainly had lost that at the time of the final battle. Maybe though, her one-note rage and ego-driven persona was still unconflicted enough to keep an ability she already had and had used so often. And I don't discount Katara's cleverness. I never meant to imply her victory was unearned, merely a close thing. BTW, I also forgot-were it not for her own scruples, Katara could have shut Azula down quicker than you know, with blood-bending.

I've said it before--I'll likely say it ad nauseum. While the story as told was great and brilliant, I think a Fourth Book would have given everything room to play out. Most everything was, but I still feel 'Air' had a story to tell.

 

Not necessarily, not unless there was a full moon. But yes, I was certainly aware of the possibility. I'd been expecting it to come into play in the finale, but instead they dealt with it earlier in "The Southern Raiders," laying a good foundation for why she wouldn't use it in the finale.

I think the story as it stands is complete, but there's the possibility of sequels of some sort.

 

Zuko's last demand to Ozai would seem to indicate at least one more movie. We know that Azula never really tasted defeat before. Now that she has, can she recover? There have to be a lot of FN soldiers who are just happy to go home, but there's gonna be some who say 'we almost had the whole thing', and they'd be ripe for a recovered Azula, although she'd never be the supremely confident being she was ever again.

Again, I'd forgotten about the full moon, though someone as clever as Katara with a brother full of ideas might be able to reason out a lesser control even when the moon wasn't full. Raising an opponent's internal temperature could throw them off badly. Even causing a hand tremor might be enough. In fact, Katara might be a lot more comfortable with tripping someone up than controlling them.

I wonder, if they do (as they have indicated) another series set during a different, perhaps a future incarnation, will our new band of heroes go on an epic quest for 'The Lost Space Sword Of Sokka'?

 

That might be cool; but on the other hand, I can imagine Iroh taking the broken Azula under his wing and helping her to heal and find a more positive path. It's not too different from what he did with Zuko, although it would probably be harder. But just imagine what that great intelligence and skill could achieve if directed toward good. It would be kind of Azula: Warrior Princess, I guess, a former conqueror on a journey of redemption.

 

personally I didn't care for how the complete degeneration into utter paranoia and craziness seemed to happen largely over the course of a few days. Obviously her character had been building to it, but it felt like the majority of it just occurred during the final 2 or 3 episodes. It felt kind of forced TBH.

 

Iroh could do it, no doubt. But even he would need a glimmer of hope that such was possible. Zuko met his downfall speaking up for soldiers to be ruthlessly sacrificed in a diversion. I have a hard time imagining Azula at such a moment. I hope and imagine that Iroh would vet her desire for redemption with a mineful of salt.

 

I think she was always clearly portrayed as megalomaniac. And in that way, she was clearly always on the edge of insanity.

She was dependant on her little team, Tai Li and Mai, for emotional support but she went to great lengths to hide it. The reality was that she was alone, she had always been alone, and it was she herself who drove everyone away.

It was kind of startling at the end of season 2, beginning of season 3, that she hadn't ever actually betrayed Zuko once he returned. She was actually sincere, to the best of her abilities. And it turns out, because she had a genuine need for someone, anyone, to be her friend.

When she lost Zuko, and then Mai, and then Tai Li, she was alone. She was fully aware that she was soot under her father's feet. Where someone like Zuko or Katara could face being alone and grow out of the experience, for Azula, being alone was the straw that broke her. She had been growing further and further insane over time, and this destroyed her.

From a storytelling standpoint, I think they did a great set up and character description all along, her story makes sense to me. But the way it suddenly seemed to "just happen" in the last episode maybe did stand out. She had certainly unravelled a lot in the episodes since the prison, but we didn't see it until the end.

There was also a clear parallel in the last half of the season, where when Zuko achieves what he thought he wanted, restoration of his honour in the eyes of his father, he realizes how hollow it is. When Azula achieves what she wants, for her too it is completely hollow. The difference between the two is made clear, Zudo moves on and does the right thing, for himself and for the world, while Azula decends into insanity.

Her physical defeat was less of the story, and inevitable when she fell apart mentally.

All that said, I had been looking forward to seeing Katara blood-bend Azula.

 

I'm not assuming Azula would come to him. Rather, I can see him going to her in prison and offering his gentle wisdom, not pushing her but just being there for her and nudging her ever so slowly toward a healing epiphany. It took him years to get Zuko to that point, so we know he has the patience for it.

On the other hand, I'm not sure he'd have the desire. He's the one who said "She's crazy and she has to go down." But now that she is down, now that she's totally broken, maybe he'd think it was worth trying to give her a fresh start.

Ohh, you deeply misread the situation between her and Zuko. She wasn't sincere. She was using him. She herself concocted the lie to Ozai that Zuko had killed the Avatar, because it served her. On the one hand, if the Avatar really was dead, then Zuko was in her debt and thus in her power. On the other hand, if the Avatar turned out to be alive, then Zuko would take the fall instead of Azula. She explained as much in "The Awakening":

http://www.avatarspiritmedia.net/transcripts.php?ep=301 (emphasis added)

Azula hated Zuko. She said outright in "Sozin's Comet Part 1" that she'd always wanted to be an only child -- which is entirely in keeping with her narcissistic, controlling personality. The only reason she'd ever show him any kindness is because it served her purposes.

Close, except strike "Zuko" and insert "Ozai." It was the betrayal of Mai and Ty Lee that began Azula's unraveling, but she'd always been a daddy's girl, following in Ozai's ruthless footsteps and imagining herself as his right hand and eventual successor. So when Ozai dismissed her -- when he simultaneously fulfilled her ambition to become Fire Lord and rendered that achievement worthless by giving himself a higher title -- her sense of abandonment became complete.

Hmm, interesting comparison. This show was full of parallels, but I hadn't considered that one.

But then Katara would've sunk to her level. I think it was great that Katara overcame Azula's violence with finesse and gentleness, just as Aang found a way to overcome Ozai's violence without having to use violence.

 

Well, without killing him, in any event. Their battle was quite violent. I never favored blood-bending per se, but thought that their situation was desperate enough to merit at least a debate about her using it, with Katara flatly refusing except in the most limited way. I noticed that Iroh did not lightning bend while taking back Ba Sing Se, and that, contrary to my expectations, he did not teach it fully to Aang and Zuko, though who knows if they were balanced enough yet to handle it. Given his friends and the depth and variety of their experiences, Aang will have quite a few 'extra' abilities to learn, should he choose. But it seems like that, for the finale, the heroes were not to use the 'dark' bending powers, being blood and lightning. I know Iroh uses it as well, its just that, lets face it, one of the greatest villains of SF/F had lightning as his signature attack, so it tends to seem dark side, despite its appellation as the purest form of fire.

Now that I think about it, Aang (merely as an Air-Bender) and Toph could REALLY screw with people. Aang could take all air from an area, or even remove it from sea water, ala Gojira 1954. Toph? Well, if earth crushing you or burying you isn't enough, consider that we are as humans made up of water and certain elements -- 'The Omega Glory', anyone?

 

But the "debate" about blood-bending was in "The Southern Raiders." It would've been a little repetitive. And they had a lot of other stuff to fit into those four episodes.

Who? Do you mean Emperor Palpatine (based on your "dark side" reference)?

 

Yes, Palpatine. Even though in the case ATLA a hero can use it, it still is an iconic imagery of a great evil. Ironic, then, that Zuko first used his ability to deflect lightning against his Dad, played by, natch, Mark Hamill.

I kind of knew that 'Southern Raiders' would put paid to use of blood-bending. Until then, I saw it as something the others might try and convince her to use.

 

Maybe it's a generational thing, but I never thought of Palpatine as particularly iconic. Darth Vader, sure, but in terms of story importance, Palpatine in the original trilogy was essentially secondary to Vader as an antagonist. His evolving villainy was the most worthwhile thing about the prequel trilogy, but I can't see much about those being considered iconic. (Except for Jar-Jar Binks being iconic of bad ideas.)

When I think of icons associated with throwing lightning, I think of Zeus and Thor. The Flash is also associated with lightning.

 

Yeah, I pretty much figured that. She was aware that she was nuts. Her mom said she was a monster and she agreed. For Azula, it was all about control. Or how much control she had. Once things stopped going her way, her already fragile psyche just went down the toilet and she was pretty much beatable. I think Azula fans who think she went down too easily give her way too much credit. I knew she was a grade a sociopath the minute I saw her walk onto the screen and I knew there would come a time would come when it would be her downfall.

 

I've expressed this before, but I'm not upset with what they did:

on the one hand, the immediate response is "that was too easy"

but then again, that was the whole point: Azula's source of strength was her insanity and ruthlessness, but this carries the seed of her greatest weakness; she's unstable. Logically it was only a matter of time before she just lost it.

Meanwhile, Zuko's entire character arc has been slowly learning how to focus himself better and through humility and struggle, growing in power.

So Azula had "nowhere to go but down" while much of the series was about the rising ability of Zuko.

So while it did seem like a "letdown"....it made entirely logical sense, and not only that, kind of seemed inevitable to happen that way.

 

See, that's just it -- I never saw Azula as insane or psychopathic. A sociopath and narcissist, certainly, but a very rational, intelligent, calculating, disciplined one. She wasn't the kind of TV villain who's constantly sabotaging herself with her own screwed-up behavior and hangups and making it easy for the heroes to beat her. She had her act even more together than the heroes did, was always playing the game three steps ahead of them, and that made her supremely dangerous and challenging for the heroes to beat. That was what I loved about her as a character. So her rapid disintegration seemed incongruous to me, and moreover it seemed like a creative copout, a way to make her easier to beat in the finale.

 

Azula was never batshit, except for that final moment after Katara successfully chained her. The problem for her was that her world rested on certain pillars. She would always get the better of Zuko, no longer a given. Her father would always reward her loyalty and strength with an assured place by his right hand. Pfft. No one would ever dare defy her out of fear. Not only did Mai do so, but Ty Lee sided with her in a heartbeat, the matter either already decided in their minds (and perhaps hinted at in the S2 closer) or not even needing a decision. Katara robbed her of the last pillar, that she was so ruthless and clever and skilled that she would never be taken in battle. Azula was still the brilliant prodigy she was when she was a child, but she never heard what every child needed to hear in a meaningful way : NO. Her power rested around her never having to acknowledge that word.


I see your point about sending her allies away. From a plot point of view, the presence of her allies would have made it impossible for two people to take her down, unless they had allies of their own. That might have made for a more interesting fight, but perhaps budget reasons precluded it.

Also, these heroes and villain were, for the most part, teens. More capable than most adults any of us know, forced to grow up one hell of a lot faster, but still teens. Most teens take away from that time that they have a lot of limits. Azula evaded all that until she couldn't, and when it hit her, she had not one whit of psychic armor. Without that, her other considerable strengths meant nothing. So I guess to answer my own question again, I'll say a mite rapid but not artificial.

 

Intriguing analysis. That makes a lot of sense.

More likely story pacing reasons. They had so much else to cover. Also, they had big battles going on at Ba Sing Se and in the dirigible fleet, so another one might've been redundant.

Besides, there's the Reverse Ninja Rule: one opponent is incredibly formidable, while fifty drop like flies. Less facetiously, a one-on-one confrontation is more focused and dramatic than a group confrontation. Azula and Ozai are the archvillains of the series, so it was kind of dramatically necessary that they both be taken on alone by the key protagonists.

Yeah, I commented on that in my own review of the finale on another BBS. Azula's breakdown showed that, for all her power, cunning, skill, and ruthlessness, she was still a 14-year-old girl, and thus had an inherent fragility. One thing I admire the producers for is that they made us feel sorry for Azula in defeat -- didn't try to paint it as a simple black-and-white victory, but let us see her as a damaged, lonely, emotionally shattered child. The superb direction of that sequence by Joaquim Dos Santos and the brilliant performance by Grey DeLisle also enhanced that.

 

While he was more of a straight psychopathic villain, I wish we had gotten to know Ozai better. Like every villain MH voices, he is given to bad bouts of overreach. Joker actually once let Batman go rather than let a plan of Harley's finish him off. Hobgoblin had like no allies left by the time Norman laid him out, given all the multi-crossing he had done. Even the Gargoyle (on UPN's Hulk) kept trying to supplant the Leader w/o any reason to believe he really could.

In Ozai's case, he clumsily used the death of his nephew (and did he play a role in that as well, I always wondered?) to try and advance his cause. Of course, Azulon understood him no better : Zuko's sacrifice would prolly have made Ozai laugh. Then there's his apparent decision to completely favor Azula early on. Prodigy or no, you'd think a prince or king would want two strong heirs. It goes w/o saying that it was hardly neccesary to scar a young boy to prove a point. On a deadline to complete what Sozin began, he elevates a dwindling resistance to a supreme priority, elevates himself with an empty title (If the FN ruled all, isn't the FL world ruler anyway?) and pushes aside his true heir, whose presence arguably could have turned both battles in his favor.

I have so many other thoughts, its ridiculous. Like this one : Was Ursa actually a better parent than Ozai, or, like Ozai himself, did she simply choose to nurture the child who was more like herself in spirit? I mean, my assumption is that Ursa said something more akin to 'You're acting like/becoming a monster', but maybe not. Maybe she didn't give Azula the complete brush-off Ozai did to Zuko, but it occurs to me that she'd be more intriguing if she'd simply chosen her own 'fittest' to survive. It almost makes me picture dialogue :

(After he's found her )

Zuko : Mother, I don't agree with Uncle that this is going to work. But we should try. As long as she's completely insane, she stays dangerous. If she can be talked back to coherence, maybe Uncle can do for her--what he did for me. Maybe.

Ursa : Zuko, I saw the chance to rescue one child of mine from becoming just like Ozai. I only saw that chance in you. I have never seen it, nor can I picture it existing within Azula. Ozai made his choice, and I made mine. I knew all along I had made the wiser one. Ozai's mistakes tend to be too big to clean up. Azula, is, I fear, one of those.

(Zuko leaves the room, disgusted; in another room, Mai and Katara are waiting; Mai knows what she said)

Mai : I agree with her. She made the right choice.

Zuko : You were her friend, once.

Mai : NO, I was her captive. I was her 'travel-with-me-or-else'. I made it out to be for something to do, but she made it pretty clear early on, that this is what I was doing, like it or not. Azula is where she belongs. If Aang could duplicate on her what he did to Ozai, I'd want front row seats, and so would Ty Lee and a lot of other people.

Katara : Well, he can't do that. Maybe ever again, or at least not soon enough for it to matter here. I won't even argue whether she deserves a second chance. But that thing I chained down--that tired, shrieking thing--that wasn't the enemy I feared for months on end.

Mai : Weren't you more afraid of Ty Lee?

Katara : eehhhh---okay. But the point is, there are Fire Nation soldiers out there who don't think too highly of the stand-down. If she recovers just enough on her own to lead them, that's real trouble. So I think that helping her recover on our terms helps us. And the way she keeps babbling on about how 'Mother said I was a monster' means that we need Ursa to say something positive to her. Anything.

Mai : If there's anything to be said.

Zuko : Well, if there is, Mother won't say it. (Glares) In her own way--she's as bad as Ozai.

(Sorry, folks. I don't know where all that came from. - Rob )