I don't think Zuko could understand Azula on the fundamental level. Azula's whole personality is a mask forged by severe emotional neglect. The best he can do is shut up and listen. The worst he can do is try to dictate how she recovers. The more power he holds over her the less trust she would have.
Ah yes, because if there's one person that can't understand being neglected by Ozai, feeling conflicted about his own identity because he can no longer remember what's really him VS what's just Ozai's insane standards for what his kids should be, feeling like he's too far gone, too ambitious and too broken to ever change from his fixed role as just Ozai's child, and also feeling like becoming a better person would be not only a betrayal towards Ozai, but also somehow greater than any offense he ever commited towards his family is... Zuko.
Ya know. The banished prince? The guy that literally spent an entire episode hallucinating when he did something Ozai would NEVER approve of and it literally broke his mind for a bit? The guy that rejected redemption when his uncle and the Gaang offered it to him because he just craved Ozai's validation THAT desperately?
He toooootally doesn't get Azula. At all. That's why he was winning against her in their Agni Kai by literally using her own tactics against her, right?
Ehasz didn't choose Zuko to be Azula's path to redemption out of laziness or just because he's a popular character. He did it because they're family. Not in the sense of "They're obligated to get along", but as in THEY HAVE THE SAME ABUSER. They grew up with the same parents, in the same household, in the same nation. In Book 3 Zuko even temporarely becomes Azula's equal, or even her superior, when he's placed as Ozai's right hand.
The golden child and the scapegoat are treated differently, but they are broken in the exact same way - that's the realization Zuko has when he witnesses Azula's breakdown.
They also heal the exact same way. Being supported but also being held accountable. By speaking up AND listening. By connecting with someone who might be doing okay now, but is not a saint and has made many of the same mistakes and is just trying to save them the pain.
As for this notion that, the more power Zuko has over her, the less Azula would trust him: she gave him the crown. Twice. In Ba Sing Se, when she brought him home like she promised despite not knowing Aang was still alive and despite having full control of the Dai Li and thus being in the perfect position to betray him with no consequence. Then again in The Headband, when she warns him to be careful when visiting Iroh so he doesn't end up banished again (or worse) without gaining ANYTHING out of it and after he just gave her actual good reason not to trust him by not being honest about Aang surviving.
Not to mention: Zuko is not only her legal guardian now, he's her Fire Lord. A Fire Lord that is friends with the Avatar.
Yet Azula is still alive. She still has her bending. And if she gets any help, from doctors, from their mom, from her friends, or from whoever, it'd be because ZUKO either allowed it or actively made it happen. Even after everything she put him through. You think she'd just not notice that?
(And Ozai, the person Azula loves the most in the world, is also alive, and Zuko even went as far as saying he's not rulling out the possibility that maybe Ozai will change too. Despite being that man's victim for years)
This is so obvious even the Yang comics couldn't fuck it up completely, as Azula was literally trying to make Zuko a "better" Fire Lord, and said that sooner or later he'd realize they're the same (and did it in a crypt belonging to a previous Fire Lord's most trusted advisor no less).
And in the MUCH better written comic by Faith Hicks? Azula is mad as hell, but can't keep Zuko's name out her mouth, which is acknowledged by the story itself, and even sees a younger, loving, unscarred Zuko in her ideal world. Only cowering before the angry, scarred, hit-by-her-lightning Zuko.
Zuko is canonically the person she loves the most after Ozai, and that was already true when he wasn't putting any effort into being a good brother to her. What do you think it's going to happen once he gets his shit together, right when Ozai is no longer in the picture and Azula is at her lowest?
Azula was created to be the other half of Zuko's character. His shadow, his superior, his evil(er) counterpart. The one that succeeded where he failed, and vice versa. In Zuko's Hero Journey, she's both part of his grief for his once happy life, the antagonist that is tempting him to make the wrong choices, and the final boss he'll either defeat or succumb to.
Her role in the story revolves around his arc, his flaws, his growth. OF COURSE it'd be ridiculously easy for them to trade places in the "who exists to motivate the other" category. Of course they both know what makes the other tick. She was created FOR him.
Must not make this a zucest post, must not make this a zucest post, must not make this a zucest post, must not mak-FUCK IT!
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
snowghoul
theartofmadeline
titsay
kianamaiart
origamiaround
prguitarman
discoholicmusic
