The Princess Azula
Sep. 20th, 2020 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blueflamequeen Imagine, if you would, a couple of alternate possibilities for our Fire Nation Princess.
The first is one where she and her Dangerous Ladies, in fact, failed, in their coup attempt in Ba Sing Se. Azula had to swallow, first, the bitter pill of defeat and not long afterwards, the even more desperate realization that her father had no interest in her now that she was no longer bathing him in unmitigated glory. Thankfully, she found some small comfort with her friends, Ty Lee and Mai. Not long after her capture, she would find herself reunited with none other than her own mother- a woman whom she realized that she had quite a bit in common with. While her brother would ultimately join the Avatar in his quest to bring down the Fire Lord and restore harmony to the nations, Azula had her own journey of self-discovery to make. She would also, contrary to all indications, enjoy a moment of almost unmitigated heroism when she and her friends stood to protect Ba Sing Se from a monstrously powerful firebender (Combustion Man) during Sozin's Comet.
Entering Ba Sing Se to undermine and destroy the Earth Kingdom, Azula ultimately ended up saving it. Not that she's ... uninterested in advancing her own agenda. Of course she is. She always is, but now it is hers and hers alone.
The second is one which hews closer to the traditional canon, where Azula has her nervous breakdown and comes to know the bitterness of defeat and abandonment that way, isolated in an island fortress traditionally used to imprison disgraced Fire Nation royals. There, she is visited by her mother Ursa and her friend Ty Lee, who despite her actions at the Boiling Rock, never stopped caring for Azula.
She comes to realize that being Fire Lord isn't all it's cracked up to be. Instead, she resolves to be something else- the greatest firebender who ever lived. She will spend some time travelling the world, learning everything she can. One day, perhaps she will open a firebending school. Or simply enjoy being the best firebender on Earth. Toph certainly enjoys her position as the world's best earthbender ...
The first is one where she and her Dangerous Ladies, in fact, failed, in their coup attempt in Ba Sing Se. Azula had to swallow, first, the bitter pill of defeat and not long afterwards, the even more desperate realization that her father had no interest in her now that she was no longer bathing him in unmitigated glory. Thankfully, she found some small comfort with her friends, Ty Lee and Mai. Not long after her capture, she would find herself reunited with none other than her own mother- a woman whom she realized that she had quite a bit in common with. While her brother would ultimately join the Avatar in his quest to bring down the Fire Lord and restore harmony to the nations, Azula had her own journey of self-discovery to make. She would also, contrary to all indications, enjoy a moment of almost unmitigated heroism when she and her friends stood to protect Ba Sing Se from a monstrously powerful firebender (Combustion Man) during Sozin's Comet.
Entering Ba Sing Se to undermine and destroy the Earth Kingdom, Azula ultimately ended up saving it. Not that she's ... uninterested in advancing her own agenda. Of course she is. She always is, but now it is hers and hers alone.
The second is one which hews closer to the traditional canon, where Azula has her nervous breakdown and comes to know the bitterness of defeat and abandonment that way, isolated in an island fortress traditionally used to imprison disgraced Fire Nation royals. There, she is visited by her mother Ursa and her friend Ty Lee, who despite her actions at the Boiling Rock, never stopped caring for Azula.
She comes to realize that being Fire Lord isn't all it's cracked up to be. Instead, she resolves to be something else- the greatest firebender who ever lived. She will spend some time travelling the world, learning everything she can. One day, perhaps she will open a firebending school. Or simply enjoy being the best firebender on Earth. Toph certainly enjoys her position as the world's best earthbender ...
