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One of the most captivating and acclaimed parts of ATLA has been Zuko and his road to redemption. After an altercation with his father (the Fire Lord himself), Zuko bitterly chases the avatar, Aang, who is the last airbender, in hopes that he can capture him and bring him to the Fire Lord so he can return home and reclaim his honor. As Zuko repeatedly fails to capture Aang while dealing with his own conflicted emotions, his sister Azula is called to action.
Zuko and Azula’s relationship has always been far from functional, which is clearly seen in nearly every interaction they have had together. Zuko and Azula have always had tension between them, along with disdain and envy towards one another. Despite being born into the royal family of the Fire Nation, they seem to come from completely different worlds. The reasoning behind Zuko and Azula’s estranged relationship resulted in them taking different paths in life due to their different upbringing and their relationships with their parents, family, and peers.
Zuko And Azula’s Childhood
Zuko and Azula come from a strict upbringing, being the grandson and granddaughter of the Fire Lord himself, Azulon. Already as children, high expectations were thrust upon both of them. That being said, different factors lead to each child’s attitude and outlook on life. Both children did not seem to get equal attention from each parent, and though both were very sheltered in the Fire Nation kingdom, it took Zuko being banished to truly experience life outside of his tyrant nation. This gave him compassion and understanding, while Azula remained sheltered and entitled, eventually leading to a rude awakening down the road.
Zuko: A Soft Heart In A Cold Family
Zuko was brought up under stringent circumstances. As the son of the household, he had many expectations thrust upon him at a young age. When Zuko was born, his father, Prince Ozai, seemed to hold an immediate disdain towards his firstborn, noting that he lacked the “spark” of a firebender in his eyes. The royal family expressed shame at having a possible non-bender being the firstborn, and Ozai contemplated throwing Zuko over the palace walls over it. As a late bloomer, Zuko struggled with his firebending. When he could not master techniques quick enough, he would receive immense verbal abuse from his father, nearly bordering on violence quite a few times.
Ozai often thought of Zuko as weak due to his lack of skill and his strong sense of morality and tender heart. Zuko was never the aggressive type like his father or grandfather, being a very soft and kind boy who never wanted to see people he cared about getting hurt. He was very close to his mother, who is most likely the one who instilled empathy into him from the very beginning. Zuko’s mother was the one who kept him hopeful and calmed him whenever he felt his anxiety and feelings of worthlessness take hold. She often protected him from his abusive father and his sister’s sadistic behavior towards him.
“My father says she was born lucky. He says I was lucky to be born. I don’t need luck, though. I don’t want it.”
Zuko (( Avatar: The Last Airbender. “The Siege of the North: Part 1,” Nickelodeon. December 2, 2005. ))
Between the awful treatment he would receive from his father and sister, Zuko suffered quite a bit emotionally and mentally. But despite his rough life behind palace walls, he was not alone. His mother, Ursa, was constantly there to comfort and encourage him. She also taught him not to lose faith, no matter how bad things got. Ursa’s unconditional love and kindness gave Zuko the strength to keep trying and made the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father and sister more bearable. Though she wasn’t in a position to do much when it came to his abuse, she still did what she could to protect her son and loved him just as hard.
When Zuko and Azula were small, they would play together like any normal siblings, and Zuko could actually recall a few happy memories from those early days. But as the two got older, their relationship drastically began to change. Despite being the eldest of the two, Zuko was constantly being picked on by his younger sister, and it was only continuously fueled by his father, who seemed to favor Azula. Azula was viewed as a prodigy from a young age, unlike Zuko, who was essentially treated like trash. She was given a lot of freedom to do whatever she wanted with little to no consequence.
Zuko and Azula were opposites from the start, making it difficult for them to get along or understand one another. Though Azula had the freedom to do what she wanted, including antagonizing Zuko, she could only go so far before their mother would step in. However, Zuko wouldn’t be protected by Ursa forever, as things drastically changed for the royal family in a very short amount of time. When Ozai was ordered to have Zuko killed (due to angering Fire Lord Azulon), Ursa quickly made a compromise — her life for her son’s. Before Zuko could even comprehend what was happening, his mother had given him some loving parting words and left, and Zuko was suddenly left without his one source of comfort and love.
Despite the circumstances, Zuko still fought for his father’s (now Fire Lord) love and approval, though he never receives it. He was still looked down upon by his father, and Azula was still praised as the gifted child. Zuko endured this as he grew older and still tried to maintain his title as prince by being more involved in royal affairs. This could have very well been an effort to try to get his father to notice him and possibly gain his approval, though the events that followed only threw Zuko into an even worse cycle of abuse.
Azula: The Prodigy
Azula was not given the same type of treatment when it came to her father. Ozai constantly praised her for being gifted — a firebending prodigy. She never failed at impressing her father and the rest of the royal family with her skills, and she was always viewed as the one that Ozai would like to succeed him, rather than Zuko. She never had to suffer any mental and emotional turmoil like her brother had, nor bear the stress of being the firstborn in a royal family– at least not until later. Azula was consistently coddled, with servants waiting on her hand and foot while the elders continuously praised her.
This may have lead Azula to develop a complex, even becoming borderline narcissistic in the process. The only one who seemed to reprimand Azula when she got too far out of line was Ursa, and after she was banished, there was nobody else to tell Azula no. Because of this, Azula became even crueler and entitled. This type of coddling would eventually lead to Azula having a near-psychotic break, with no idea of how to get a handle on her emotions.
While Zuko was away, her father continued to praise her, and the elders continued to coddle her, leaving her with a very skewed view of how the world actually works. On top of that, Azula was never taught how to deal with negative outcomes since she always seemed to get what she wanted. She constantly took from others. Whether it was handed to her or taken by force, Azula always got her way.
Despite being the apple of her father’s eye, it is hinted that she lacked affection from her mother and that it had negatively impacted her to a degree. When she briefly talks about it in the episode “The Beach,” it seems to rub her the wrong way, but she quickly tries to shrug it off. It’s possible that Azula, even in her narcissistic state, also dealt with negative emotions regarding her parents. Azula felt that Ursa favored Zuko and didn’t really love her, which was not the truth. It was true that Ursa and her daughter never seemed to be on the same page, but she stilled loved Azula.
Azula seems to briefly envy the relationship that Zuko and Ursa had, almost mirroring her brother and his longing to be accepted by his father. Perhaps Azula longed to have a loving relationship with her mother, just like Zuko desired to have with his father. With Ozai, Azula seemed to act like she constantly needed to impress him, and though he constantly praised her, there was still no real father-daughter relationship there.
Zuko and Ursa had a very special bond, and it could be that Azula was jealous of it. Mothers and daughters are supposed to have loving relationships, but Azula didn’t really get a chance to grow up with a mother around. It is even implied that she resented Ursa for it, despite the circumstances.
“My own mother thought I was a monster. She was right, of course, but it still hurt.”
Azula (( Avatar: The Last Airbender. “The Beach,” Nickelodeon. October 19, 2007. ))
It could be easily said that Zuko and Azula were both robbed of a normal childhood. Not only was it a heavy burden to bear being born into the royal family, but neither of them had a chance to really be a family, aside from Zuko and Azula’s earlier memories. Ozai was abusive towards Ursa and Zuko, and though he continuously spoiled Azula, he still left her care mostly with the royal staff or elders. He was not involved in his children’s lives like he should have been, and his banishing Ursa only made things worse, not only for Zuko but Azula as well.
A Different World: Zuko’s Banishment
Despite the painful circumstances behind it, Zuko’s banishment from the Fire Nation was one of his biggest and most important turning points. After angering his father by speaking out of turn at a war meeting, Zuko was challenged to an Agni Kai. Not wanting to fight his own father due to his soft heart, he begged for forgiveness. Unfortunately, Ozai took his anger out on Zuko in an irreversible way. After badly burning Zuko’s face, Ozai banished him from his home. Zuko ended up chasing an airbender named Aang, who was chosen to be the next avatar. Only when he captured the avatar could he return home and reclaim his honor.
Zuko had finally been brought to one of his lowest points at a young age. The Zuko seen at the beginning of the series is a far cry from the tender-hearted boy we see in flashbacks. His father literally ruined his life. He stripped him of his mother, home, and honor and left Zuko with a constant reminder of it all right on his face. Throughout the duration of the first season, Zuko is constantly chasing Aang, desperate to capture him so he could go home and reclaim his honor and possibly gain at least some approval from his father. But destiny had other plans for him.
After the events that happened at the North Pole, Zuko and his uncle Iroh were deemed as traitors. Azula had found the two and tried to trick them into coming with her, saying Zuko’s banishment was lifted. When Zuko found out it was a trap to capture them and bring them to justice, they became fugitives on the run. Frustrated and feeling worse off than before, Zuko split off from his uncle and traveled the Earth Kingdom alone for a while. On his journey, he met many different people and was often surprised by the amount of kindness given to him, a random stranger.
He listened to the stories of these people and realized that the Fire Nation was not as revered as he was raised to believe. He witnessed the destruction that his nation had caused firsthand on innocent villages and their people, and for the first time in a while, Zuko starts to think with heart, at least a little bit. After settling in Ba Sing Se, Zuko tries to adjust to normal life by working with Iroh in a tea shop. He is able to live normally for the first time in his life, but he still cannot shake his past, and he is left with more conflict.
Zuko has bounced back and forth between his allegiance to his nation and his empathetic heart. Even after betraying Iroh and being able to go home, his life had already completely changed. He was no longer cut out to be a sheltered prince. His morals and empathy had returned, and Zuko began to realize that the path he was on was not his destiny. Being banished from the Fire Nation opened his eyes to the world, and he learned that more exists outside of his sheltered palace walls. He learned that the world couldn’t run the way it had been running anymore, and instead of reclaiming his honor in the way that his father had told him to, Zuko set out to reclaim it in his own way.
Unconditional Love: Uncle Iroh
One of Zuko’s biggest sources of indefinite love and support was his uncle Iroh. A once highly revered Fire Nation general, Iroh’s view on life changed after losing his only son to war. A legendary firebender, Iroh retired from military life and spent most of his time pursuing enlightenment and spending time with his nephew, even choosing to travel with Zuko after his banishment from the Fire Nation. Iroh has been Zuko’s one main constant in his life and was the person to truly reach him when he went through bouts of personal conflict.
“It’s time for you to look inward and start asking yourself the big questions: who are you and what do you want?”
Iroh (( Avatar: The Last Airbender. “Lake Laogai,” Nickelodeon. November 3, 2006. ))
Iroh looked at Zuko as more than just his nephew but as a son. After losing his own son due to war, Iroh did not want to see the same outcome with Zuko. He also didn’t want to see him end up cold and heartless like his brother Ozai and only wanted Zuko to have a wonderful and happy life, no matter what it entailed. There is no doubt that Iroh loved Zuko unconditionally, much like his mother, Ursa. He has often acted protective, despite Zuko being able to look out for himself. It’s also possible that Iroh helped reinstate empathy within Zuko, something he had long abandoned and forgotten after being banished by his father.
He ultimately let Zuko choose his path, but he still heavily encouraged him to really think about his path in life, not as a prince or even as the Fire Lord’s son — he wanted Zuko to choose how he wanted to live his life. As a result, Zuko spent his life trying to prove himself to others, mostly his father. Iroh taught Zuko that he didn’t need validation from anyone to reclaim his honor, and he didn’t need to become someone he was not meant to be.
Iroh was more of a father to Zuko than Ozai could ever be and constantly showed him how much he loved him and how proud he was when he made it through his toughest trials. As the series goes on, Zuko exhibits much less rage and starts to reclaim his own identity. It is Iroh who kept perpetuating these thoughts into Zuko’s mind for years — that being kind was not a weakness and that having a big heart can do a lot of good not just for him but for others as well. Iroh’s words eventually stuck, and Zuko was finally able to start finding himself again without any more shame. All of this was because of Iroh’s unconditional love for his nephew.
A Different World: Azula’s Breakdown
Azula’s breakdown had a lot to do with her relationships. She didn’t have a good relationship with her mother and held resentment towards her due to her favoring Zuko. Her relationship with her brother was toxic, she had a nonexistent relationship with her uncle Iroh, and she drove her only friends away. The only one she considered to have a close relationship with was her father Ozai, and Azula quickly discovered that her father was not someone she could go to for love or care. Ozai had only ever been concerned with becoming more powerful while he used his children to bend to his will. Unfortunately, this behavior was passed onto Azula, and in turn, it destroyed her.
Now left with nothing and realizing that her father would probably never let her succeed him, Azula starts to break. She starts to act paranoid, “banishing” nearly everyone who coddled her over the years. Suddenly Azula is left alone, and she quickly realizes that she’s completely helpless, even down to doing her own hair. She starts to hallucinate, seeing her mother in the mirror as she once again expressed her resentment towards her. When Azula faced Zuko again, he could already tell that something was off.
During their Agni Kai, Azula used a cheap shot, desperate to defeat Zuko in any way to reclaim her dominance over him. To her, Zuko was still beneath her, and she most likely couldn’t stand the thought of losing to him. She ultimately failed, and for the first time, Azula did not get her way, and there was nobody there to enforce her will. She broke down, looking almost like a child throwing a tantrum as she screamed and cried. Zuko could only look on, feeling somewhat sorry for her.
Friendships And Stability
It has been established that a large part of Zuko and Azula’s upbringing was the relationships they had with others. This goes not just for their parents and family, but for their peers as well. Zuko and Azula had very different outcomes when it came to friendships. Since childhood, Azula had her two closest friends, Mai and Ty Lee. Though Azula could be bossy and a borderline bully to her friends, they still remained close for a while; at least, that’s what is seen on the surface. Azula had a history of being manipulative towards her friends, and that behavior did carry into their friendship later on. It was also heavily implied that Azula was manipulating her friends yet again into joining her ranks.
Azula has constantly bullied her friends, which continued when they were older. She berated Ty Lee and practically forced her to join her. Ty Lee easily succumbed to Azula’s offer, even after the bullying transpired. This makes one wonder if Ty Lee was actually afraid of Azula and what she would do if she turned against her. The same went for Mai. Azula manipulated Mai to the point where she was pinned against Zuko, her own boyfriend that she loved very much. Again, this begs the question as to whether Ty Lee and Mai were voluntarily Azula’s friends or just stuck around and did what she said so they didn’t feel the wrath of the royal family.
The latter was revealed to be true when Mai finally defied Azula, who only responded in anger, as expected by her friend. This goes back to Azula and the complex she gained growing up. Azula was never denied anything, which was why she couldn’t deal with Mai being unafraid. When Azula tried to harm Mai, Ty Lee was punished simply for protecting Mai. This also proves that Azula knowingly used fear to keep her so-called friends around. Azula had brief moments where she seemed to care for her friends, but it was usually short-lived, and it was still obvious that she cared more about power she had over others rather than friendship.
She ended up friendless without any idea how to cope on her own. Mai and Ty Lee were around a lot as children, but they were still considered Azula’s friends more than Zuko’s. He was never seen with a circle of friends of his own, which only perpetuated his loneliness growing up.
Team Avatar was most likely Zuko’s first real group of friends, which made an unforgettable impact on him. Zuko wasn’t initially looking for friendship, per se, but wanted to do his part to help the avatar while also atoning for his past mistakes. Zuko developed a personal relationship with each member of the group and took the time to understand and empathize with their own issues. After a while, the group does, in fact, see that Zuko truly has made a change, and they all gradually welcome him into the group. Though Zuko was glad that everyone finally accepted him, he still had no idea how to act among peers.
Zuko didn’t seem to have his own friends growing up, and his banishment only perpetuated his loneliness. After being welcomed into Team Avatar, Zuko experienced many things he hadn’t while growing up behind the palace walls. Zuko hesitantly inched into the circle, soon sharing meals, adventures, and laughs with everyone. Team Avatar always made him feel accepted and loved and often praised him whenever he helped them out of a tough spot.
Team Avatar became more than allies — they became his best friends. They were the last thing he needed to push him in the right direction in life. Again, Zuko wasn’t used to people actually caring about him, but it is evident throughout the rest of book three that he cherishes his friendships.
The Outcome
The change in Zuko and Azula is very noticeable by the end of the series. Once viewed as the antagonist fueled by hatred and violence, Zuko had now found confidence, strength, and enlightenment. He also found love and friendship in the most unexpected places and gained a bunch of wisdom during his time away from the Fire Nation.
Once revered as being a powerful prodigy that could make anyone bend to her will, Azula was reduced to a broken child unaware of how the world (and even life) truly works. Azula’s relationship with her father was nonexistent aside from the praise he gave her, and she had no mother, no friends, and an estranged relationship with Zuko. The lack of positive and loving influences in her life was indefinitely one of the major contributors to her downfall.
Zuko’s positive relationships actually helped him become a better person and brought out the best in him, while Azula’s negative relationships brought out the worst. Despite growing up in a harsh environment and losing his mother at a young age, Zuko was able to find more than enough comfort, love, and security in his relationship with his uncle Iroh and his friends on Team Avatar. And because Azula aligned herself with toxic people and chose to build friendships with fear instead of trust and acceptance, she ultimately lost her security and mental stability.