Lowkey wondering if Ozais' change of attitude towards Azula in Sozin's Commet Part One was due to Zuko telling him that she's the one who killed the avatar (or more precisely failed to do so).
We know he doesn't tolerate failure, he's been cruel to Zuko his whole life because he viewed him as too weak, banished him for speaking slightly out of turn and is most certainly the source of Azulas unwavering perfectionism, like I don't think he would let this shit slide.
And it's not only that Azula didn't do it, it's that she lied to him whitch brings up two new issues:
1) This puts their whole plan in jeopardy. Had Azula told him that Aang might be alive, they could've spent the previous weeks trying to capture him. Or even better, they could've been prepared for his arrival on the day of the Black Sun and ended him right then and there, since they already knew an ambush was gonna happen. Can't stretch enough how tremendous of a loss Azulas desperate sense of self-preservation and inability to trust people caused them. Could've deadass won this war if they placed a giant glue trap in the palace for Aang to step in smh.
2) But more importantly, who the fuck is she to lie to him?
No seriously, Ozai has spent years trying to mold her into a weapon of war and for years she's been executing that role flawlessly. She's manipulative and proactive, but essentially an extension of Ozais will. This was most likely the first time she tried to deceive him and, by extension, do something that benefits her and her alone. And this terrifies Ozai because it forces him to see Azula as a person. A weapon doesn't have needs and wants, it can not serve someone else while gripped tightly in your hand. If Azula doesn't want to be just a cog in the machine, she's automatically a threat. On surface level, it's about power structures and disrespect, but in reality it goes so much deeper than that.
Okay, this man burned Zuko's face for speaking slightly out of turn, so why doesn't Azula get the same treatment? I won't even entertain the idea of him having some innate care for her when he tells Ursa he's going to kill BOTH of her children completely unprompted. Miss me with that "the comics ain't canon" shit.
It could be that he's afraid of her. I personally deluded myself into thinking that she could beat his ass 101 but even if not, she could still choke him in his sleep. Azula's very crafty, outright abandoning her would surely come to bite him in the ass. Also, he already has a child whom he deserted in order to teach him a lesson and look how that panned out.
"Okay but why not just outright kill her?" Ozai taunts Ursa with the idea of killing her children and forcing her to abandon them instead of outright killing her. Crazy idea, but I think this guy might be a sadist who gets a kick out of tormenting people.
So, instead, he starts putting her down in subtle ways. He supposedly wants her to be the next Firelord because it's a very important task, yet he couldn't be bothered to tell her till the last possible moment. Someone had to look out for the homeland in their original plan. What happened to them? If it was Zuko, why hasn't Azula already taken his place. And why was her coronation held on the day of Sozins commet? Ya'll didn't burn the world to the ground yet slow down a little. Wouldn't it make more sence to hold her ceremony after the conquest or, if you need her to have that tittle when Ozai comes back, before they leave in the first place. Idk man sounds to me like pointless bussywork that he assigned her in order to get her out of his sight. The public embarassment on the docks is just a cherry on top.
Azula isn't stupid, obviously she's gonna pick up on the fact that somethings up. And she does, she openly states that her father thinks that is too big of a task for her. Ozai keeps sending her mixed signals- on one hand he made her the Firelord, but on the other he couldn't be bothered to show up to her own corronation. She wasn't privy to the last confrontation with Zuko, so she has no idea what is causing her father to treat her this way. Sure, there are other events that led to her breakdown, but what Mai, Ty Lee and Zuko did was all small potatoes in comparison. You could call it the straw that broke the camels back, but it'd be more appropriate to call it a boulder.
Banishing Zuko was the best thing he could do for him, and for Azula he couldn't even do that.
"Omg, this being Ozais way of punishing was so obvious. How did you not notice that before?" I dunno. I thought he was just being a dick.