Azula and her hair, a lifeline from the beginning, to the ember islands and the end.
Aside from the intricate outfits and distinct facial features, in the avatar world there’s nothing more significant than hair. Hair represents culture, something as simple as a characters ethnicity, and even a characters personality. Hair makes up for one’s look, so it isn’t surprising that on a good show, it holds importance.
How Azula holds her hair however, is interesting.
We see that in the fire nation, hair means status. The bun upwards represents high status, and the decorations put on it (Ozai, Azula etc). Sozin gives Roku a thing he uses to make his hair, but most importantly, as Roku himself stresses over, it’s the crown prince artefact. It is STATUS and it’s also BELONGING like when Iroh and Zuko removed their ponytails the moment they realise they’re dubbed as traitors from the fire nation.
One of the first scenes we see with Azula is her practicing and re-practicing her lightning generation just because a singular strand of hair was out of place. It gives us just a small peak of Azulas psyche, her need for perfectionism, a sense that she might be powerfully, but not very enduring.
Her perfection isn’t just innate here, it also comes from the fact she just messed up her status and belonging by doing a “not so perfect bending”.
Before we get to the foreshadowing of this scene, there’s also the Ember Island episode where I don’t see a lot of people talking about. In the ship scene, we see Azula with her hair up, talking Zuko down and not at all impressed with Lo and Li and the beach house, (and pretty bored of their small session of lecture). In the beach we see her with her hair up, only being slightly envious of Ty Lee. She also stomps on a sandcastle some kids were making, and tormented some other kids by overplaying volleyball as if it was actual war followed by one of her most iconic lines.
So it all sounds like Azula…untillllll…two boys approach Mai and Ty Lee, invite them to the party but when Azula (I’d argue that she kind of did rightfully so because they were in a group after idkkk) asks them if her and Zuko were invited, they took it with a tinge of doubt. Zuko doesn’t like this and tries to reveal their identities when he’s stopped by Azula. Following the lunch they have with Lo and Li, Azula explains her decision not to reveal her identity because she’s curious of how people will treat them without the title.
AGAIN, people don’t talk about this like at all. Because there’s a lot to unpack here. It’s not the first time Azula has thrown away her status (rejecting the royal guards after they failed retrieving Zuko and Iroh, becoming a Kyoshi warrior) but she’s done so with ULTERIOR MOTIVES and for the sake of the mission. Azula has no reason to do this. She could’ve enjoyed herself getting all the praises and even all the boys hearts a lot more easily if she just said she was the all adored, heroic princess of the fire nation, who retrieved her brother Zuko by peaceful means, jailed a traitor and conquered the most formidable city of the 100 years war. Instead, she comes to the party, misunderstanding the term “dusk till dawn”, with her top bun and…with most of her hair down.
Just as she said, she went through with it. She still kept the bun while being a Kyoshi and without the fire nations direct involvement. Here however,she actually stripped herself of her status as princess. This is where we see Azula as a genuine person. Not as princess Azula, but as just azula. It wasn’t just the boiling rock, or the mirror scene, this is where we start seeing her first cracks. The inability to flirt normally, the intimidating posture Azula does involuntarily that makes other people either irritated or uncomfortable with her. Just as we see the damage that was done to Zuko from the fire nation, these are the damages that Ozai, the war, the fire nation has done to Azula. As they’re not during a battle or a conflict, we don’t usually see the hyena-like general, but rather a person. She worries about Zuko, gathers the others to a fireplace, and tries to understand their grievances. Yea, she does struggle to express care, laughs at Zuko mocking Ty Lee (triumph out of the jealousy she felt) but immediately changes expression when she confesses her own problems. She tries to reiterate Mais problem, rationalise with it, and then worries about Zuko, quickly backed up with “well that’s pathetic”.She repeatedly tries to cover herself in an effort to save face from the awkwardness and the pain she’s keeping sealed within her.
We don’t see much empathy by her friends either.
For example, when Azula confesses to Ty Lee that she’s jealous and she feels like she intimidates the guys she wants to talk with, Ty Lee responds with “Well that’s probably because you will do something horrible to them!”, which is understandable given that it’s Azula and she did drag her to numerous deadly missions lol but it’s still kind of ballsy coming from Ty Lee (even though she does admire Azula a ton). Speaking of ballsy, we got Mai. In the fireplace, she straight up told her (and probably meant it at all three but it was mostly directed to Azula) to leave her alone.
In these string of events, it’s us as viewers who see the entire scope the situation. Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee look at the harsh, perfect, princess Azula, but it’s us that we see who is the Just Azula. And then, when Zuko bends all the fire in the beach,his feelings explosive, begging for a source to get and a place to spread and shine, it leaves only barely glowing embers of it , and there comes the hesitant Azula. The darkness sets the tone of something vulnerable, too afraid to come out.
I could sit here and complain for hours about how my mom loved Zuko more than me, but I don’t really care
My own mother, thought I was a monster…
It doesn’t tell much, but it’s pretty much all we need to know about why she covered her identity as a princess, about Azula herself and why she does what she does. Her hair in this aspect, expresses a vulnerability of hers.
Even though Azula quickly dismisses it, the others dismissed it and proceeded to ruin Chans house, THIS episode was the start of Azulas breaking point. She’s all alone, with little to no help, and the events that would follow lead to this-
Alright hair, it’s time to face your doom!
Mai and Ty Lee betrayed her. Her brother betrayed her. Ozai practically discarded her. So this makes Azula think she’s disposable too, banishing everyone and then going after the most important part of a fire nation person, as if it’s nothing: her hair. Because, what even is the point anymore?
She needs help, however. But she can’t get it from anywhere.
What a shame…you had such beautiful hair.
I think that her cutting her hair was an expression of self harm, caught in deep emotional distress and paranoia. She harmed her status, her persona and her psyche because nothing in her life had a point anymore. She was trying to hold herself together throughout this entire episode.
Azula tries to tell herself “I’m going to be the best fire lord.” However she didn’t even expect being one until Ozai told her. Being fire lord, was at best, a long term goal Azula had set at least 10 years from the current events, provided that Ozai died, ADDITIONALLY provided that Zuko wasn’t in the way (which Azula did not mind btw). What’s even more devastating, is that Azula would be a very localised ruler, basically a figure head. She’d probably be very limited unlike ever before in her reign and career at large. And after everyone she lost for the sake of the fire nations glory and the fact she had practically won the war before the avatars intervention, she gets paid…dust.
Her hair had lost all the beauty and grace and status, and Azula was on the brink of loosing her will to live and pathetically clinging on anything to keep her going and have CONTROL AND AGENCY when she realised she’d get none. (Being fire-lord, banishing people, fighting Zuko in an Agni Kai when she would’ve somehow done something to outsmart him, attempting to kill him and Katara, being tricked by Katara)
So as Zuko has a development of his hair based on the stages of his life, so does Azula. Except it just happens much more differently. I wouldn’t say it was regress, rather than realisation, which led to her demise as no one would hold her hand and guide her otherwise.
snowghoul
andulkaphoto
baratheonpilled
jacobvanloon
germansingergirl
