#as much as this is very much an Azula redemption it's also always been a homage to Yue

[leocchisart]

OKAY; We need to talk about this TyZula scene:

this scene has been talked about a LOT. specifically by anti-tyzula/azula fans. but for this "rant" im looking at it through the lens of just azulas character.

it is DETRIMENTAL to azula as a character. this will be a slightly indepth review i guess. im sure someone already talked about this and what im going to say, but i just want to bring it to light considering some of the anti-azula/tyzula stuff i've been seeing recently

Part 1: Azulas reaction to the way Ty Lee approaches her

the way ty lee approached azula is really important here. you might just think, "oh leo it's just Azula being jealous!" but when ty lee walks up to azula saying, "thank goodness you're here!" (i didn't get this part in the clip cuz im a fool and didn't record it on time but whatever go watch the clip on youtube) this qoute is really impactful. it possibly made azula feel less than ty lee. here is the qoute again, "Thank goodness you're here", i feel like azula would take this very personally.

even just the single first sentence. "Thank goodness" is obviously ty lee thanking azula, but for what? you might say, "well yeah for being there" but i genuinely believe azula would interpret this along the lines of, "she only wants me when she needs me" or something like that.

Part 2: Azula's jealously towards Ty Lee

i think a lot of people solely think she's jealous over the boys liking ty lee more than her. but it's not just that. i genuinely find that azula is not only jealous of the boys, but also social interaction in general. specifically with ty lee having that skill and her not.

we don't have much information as to mai, ty lee, and azulas experience in the Royal Fire Academy for Girls, but im assuming azula didn't need much social skills to succeed there. she had two close friends to deal with people speaking to her, and was literally a crown princess of the FIRE NATION. if she couldn't get what she wanted whether mai or ty lee were there- she could always use her royalty as her advantage. i also can see her threatening those in school who opposed her (without using her royalty as a reason). there is a key moment we see during a flashback where azula and ty lee are playing. azula did her best to preform a cartwheel and failed while ty lee succeeded. because of this azula actually pushes ty lee down!

keep in mind that this is one of azulas closest friends other than mai. we can only IMAGINE what azula would do to a student who got in the way of something she wanted.

so yes; azula is jealous of ty lee getting attention from boys, but it's not solely that. it's her social skills that she's also jealous of.

Part 3: The Conflict

azula gets defensive after her reaction to the previous plot point. she verbally attacks ty lee because of it. azula says to ty lee, "those boys only like you because you make it so easy for them! you're not a challenge, you're a tease."

yes azula is "critiquing" the "way" ty lee attracts men. azula is saying she'd do the exact opposite. but the opposite is all she knows. she grew up learning the power of being the best, being perfect, and fear mongering. she genuinely sees that as the way to handle ANY social situation.

as far as, "it's not like they actually care who you are." qoute goes; azula sees this as another flaw in her interactions with men.

example is when she tries to convince chan to to maybe (?) have a relationship or farther; she uses (not exactly royality) but her skills as a skilled bender for a reason to stay with her. considering she has no social skills, her only option (in her mind) is to use her higher power. ty lee doesn't use her high rank in nobility (along with her chi blocking abilities) to what azula would call an advantage.

im not defending azulas verbal assault on ty lee. im solely explaining (imo) the feelings behind it.

Part 4: Ty Lee's reaction

This one is simple. ty lee is hurt by azulas words. obviously.

Part 5: Azula's redemption for this scene

it already baffles me when people say azula is (pure evil) just based on her actions between others. but this scene shows a side of azula we haven't been able to see so far through the series. an apology. not only did she apologize to ty lee but admitted her mistake and explained why she said what she did. i think it's insane that people solely walk past this scene and only see it as azula bullying ty lee. if anything it's the opposite. yes she makes a rude remark, but after seeing ty lee's reaction she IMMEDIATELY takes her comment back an apologizes.

this is so human and shows a side we hardly ever got to see. especially when it's specifically between her and ty lee. their relationship is so important as far as azulas character goes. (not to get too deep into it but,) even in "Azula and the Spirit Temple" ty lee is one of the illusions that the spirit attempts to make her happy with. azula obviously has a strong connection to ty lee in a loving and caring way that most people look past. whether it's from these scene or that specific comic. obviously their relationship has unhealthy flaws but what relationship doesn't?

Part 6: A quick resolution

so there you go. basically an essay on a single 36 second clip i just wanted to give azula some light because people ALWAYS paint her as "crazy" or "evil" but that's simply not true. same goes for TyZula. yes there is a power imbalance, but azula does admit her mistakes and apologizes for hurting ty lee's feelings.

Anyway thanks for reading!!

#atla #princess azula #ty lee #tyzula #azula #ty lee atla #avatar the last airbender #im scared to post this

[eponastory]

Let's see... so we are just going to ignore that the show gives us enemies to friends again?

Not all relationships start out directly to falling in love. Those feelings are never really explored in the show because let's face it Bryke is not good at writing the nuances of close relationships. We only get to see the feelings of two characters in the entire show. That being Aang and Zuko.

It's pretty clear that Zuko and Katara start out as enemies, but they become friends. I honestly don't like the trope of omg love at first sight... it's just, meh. And weird. Lovers actually start out as friends of some kind. This is what the show gives us with both (although Aang is... ugh let's not go there it's weird) potential couples.

Aang and Katara start out friends. Although for Aang's part he's madly in love (infatuation is what it's really called, but whatever) with Katara at first sight. Zuko is not the case. As I've said before, he freaking cares about Katara enough to work for her trust and forgiveness. Then he puts his life on the line for her. These are not so subtle indications that he values her life over his. He is that kind of person and always has been. Think about why he was banished in the first place? He did not like sacrificing fresh troops so that well trained troops could come in. He has a deep respect for life. That is core to his character. So yes, he cares deeply for those he considers friends. Not to mention, the Gaang are probably the only friends he has ever had. You can't count Mai or Ty Lee because they are first and foremost Azula's friends. He's a lonely frustrated teenager with no friends. He's also unable to properly talk to them at first because he didn't have friends before.

So Katara is the first one to bridge that gap with her compassion, and maybe, just maybe, she can be his friend because they have a shared feeling of survivors guilt. It's a very sweet moment that he ultimately screws up because Azula dangles redemption in his face.

While Aang may have said 'do you think if the war didn't happen we could be friends?' It was Katara that made the idea possible. So, would they have time to develop a romantic relationship before the finale? It's possible. Time has no effect on how a relationship develops. It just depends on mutual trust. You always start out as friends. Can I see them getting together post-war? Absolutely. They've probably figured out what they wanted as they get older.

This doesn't work for Kat*ang because they get together so young that it's not guaranteed. People change and find themselves as they grow older. I know that they are written to get together, but going off of post war comics and LoK... it's not healthy. Katara is basically isolated from everyone she cares about while Aang goes do his avatar stuff. It's pretty sad.

Anyway, I've probably talked about this so much in the past that it's redundant now.

#zutara

[zuko-always-lies]

My Brief thoughts on the Azula in the Spirit Temple comic

It's very short and essentially a character piece with no plot. I didn't like it; it felt like it missed a lot of opportunities (spoilers below):

So I just read it today. It's pretty short, and definitely the most sympathetic presentation Azula since the show. Of course, that's a very low bar to clear. I can also praise the fact that it did not depict Azula as "crazy" or "a nutso," which another low bar this franchise has repeatedly failed to clear.

That being said, it's mostly weird and uninteresting. Despite the comic acknowledging Azula's weird Smoke and Shadow plot to make Zuko a better Firelord and stating that her current actions are part of that, it depicts Azula as entirely obsessed with becoming Firelord and has her declare that she's the rightful Firelord essentially every page. This contradiction isn't dealt with, and of course in the show Azula did not obsess over the position of Firelord.

A lot of emphasis is placed on Azula's relationship with Mai and Ty Lee in this comic, but, given that they almost exclusively appear as "spirits" here, little is said aside than Azula knows she treated them badly but struggles to admit it. There's really nothing about what her past relationship with them meant to her or about how these relationships developed her time, no imagination what their interactions outside the battlefield might have been like or their relationships as little kids. No flashbacks to their time in school together, only standard lines about manipulation and fear. The comic can't be bothered to imagine what various relationships might mean or have meant to Azula. And it's like it's incapable of depicting or imagining any event not already depicted in the show.

Much the same way, the comic has nothing to say on the meaning of Azula's relationship to her brother to her. Iroh is also a nonfactor.

Azula's loyalty to her father is left mostly unexplored, as are Azula's motivations in general. Imperialism was a massive part of Azula's life, but, as always in the comics, it's ignored.

Hicks apparently felt it necessary to canonize or at least reaffirm the fanon idea that Azula was really into burning turtleducks. The idea that Ursa could have just always disliked Azula never occurred to her, apparently.

If the story is pushing an idea, it's mainly that Azula was responsible for almost every problem she had with her relationships with others, aside from with Ozai. She needs to beg for forgiveness. The issues she has with other people are generally depicted as unreasonable on her end.

And of course the comic goes nowhere. It has an open ending that will put zero constraints on future writers; no clear step toward redemption is made. The only thing accomplished is to depict Azula a little more sympathetically for people who paid little attention to her in the show. I suppose, given the general composition of the ATLA fandom, that's something, and of course we have to acknowledge how short 80 pages is to tell a story.

But the reality of the situation is that it took 15 years for this comic to come out, only for it to advance her character not at all and to say nothing that wasn't evident from the show itself. Maybe in another 15 years we'll get something actually interesting about her, if we're still alive.

As for making Azula more sympathetic, hundreds of fanfics have already done a better job than this comic manages.

#Azula #azula in the spirit temple

[mozeloon]

on the good omens s2 finale ....

Finally got around to watching this show and at first I was very surprised with the turn of events in episode 6... esp Aziraphale saying "you're the bad guys" about hell, and in general being so happy to invite Crowley back to heaven with him. I thought, surely he knows Crowley would say no, how could he be so naive? truly a tough watch, i was cringing but so invested. And I knew ahead of time they were going to kiss!!! I didn't know it was going to be this way!!!!

I see a lot of parallels between Azi and Zuko's redemption arc in ATLA. In season 2 of ATLA, Zuko is utterly rejected by and pitted against the family and nation he has relied on/been loyal to. Now, he is completely relying on the one person who truly loves him, and he is forced by his circumstances (and gently guided by Iroh) to reckon with taking a new direction in his life. This involves a lot of grief and struggle, and finally, when Zuko starts to adjust to his new life, to find joy in it, he is offered the greatest possible temptation: a glorious return to his family and title.

His father and sister have not changed or regretted their treatment of him; Azula's coaxing at the end of S2, telling Zuko she needs him, is very similar to how she traps Zuko at the beginning of the season, telling him their father regrets his banishment and wants to keep his children close. But from Zuko's perspective, he wants to believe that they do have regrets – that they recognize his efforts and his actions (like how he asserts that "I have changed" when he joins Azula against the gaang).

We know from watching the series play out that this is a necessary regression in his character arc - he needs to encounter these temptations, and eventually turn away from them, for his redemption to feel earned and complete. If not given the chance to return to the fire nation, his life in Ba Sing Se could be seen as making the best of a bad situation - he could still dream every night of returning home.

To return to Good Omens, this is much how I saw S2 play out. Aziraphale, long loyal to heaven despite occasionally diverging according to his own morals, is left a little more on his own and is clearly a bit put out about "not reporting to heaven" anymore. He gets to enjoy shenanigans with the one person who unconditionally loves him, and gain confidence in the decisions he is making against the will of the heavenly bureaucracy, when he is offered the chance to get back everything he lost. Like Zuko, Aziraphale is manipulated into thinking that heaven has changed, because he is being rewarded for his actions with a promotion – so of course, they are on the same side!

I think, despite hearing Crowley say over and over that he is not interested in being on the side of heaven or hell, Aziraphale has always projected a bit of his own feelings about the matter: he thinks Crowley is just saying that because that is a way to make the best of their situation. Not to mention that they both feel that Crowley's fall was undeserved. Aziraphale, like Zuko, have both been indoctrinated to be grateful for any kind of recognition or acceptance, even if they are poorly treated in the process. I would imagine that Crowley, who had to unlearn this long ago, is also worried Aziraphale might be hurt or corrupted by the system around him.

For this reason, I don't think the Metatron will immediately reveal himself as evil and subdue Aziraphale, or that Crowley and Azi have switched bodies again, or that Aziraphale is already hatching some genius plan, or anything like that. In the same way that Zuko had to return home to realize he lied to himself about how his life would turn out, Aziraphale is still hoping to make a positive difference and find a way to reconcile these different threads of his life. This is at the root of his naive, black-and-white thinking during that final confrontation with Crowley - he's just desperate and trying to convince himself. Only once back in heaven will he realize he cannot fit back into his old mold.

I have more thoughts but that will have to be for another post.

#good omens #ineffable husbands #atla #my boy zuko :( #tv #zuko #redemption arc #the parallels of it all #aziracrow #aziraphale #crowley #good omens 2

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

It just rubs me wrong every time whenever anyone says "Azula treated Mai as an equal". The whole point between Azula's relationship with her friends was that they were done with the power dynamics and Azula having the upper hand in it. Even if the show did a poor job showing it with Mai.

"I love Zuko more than I fear you." - Totally the words of someone who has been treated as an equal.

I FULLY disagree with the notion that the show did a poor job showing Azula didn't treat Mai as an equal. Sure, it didn't beat us over the head with the information, but it was not always that subtle.

The first thing Mai says to Azula is "please say you're here to kill me", and when talking to Ty Lee she's clearly confused as to what the hell the girl is even doing since she said the circus was her calling, getting only a "Azula called a little louder" as a response. To me, that is the show reminding us that, yes, Mai chose to join Azula willingly, but if she had said no like Ty Lee did, Azula would force her to join anyway.

There's also Mai and Azula exchanging a look after Azula says they shouldn't trade a king for a baby, and while it's never explained what was going through Mai's head at the moment, one could interpret it as Azula challenging or full on threatening Mai into putting the mission before her family.

More importantly, in The Drill, when Mai refuses to obey Azula, she says "she can shoot all the lightning she wants at me", and this time there is zero indication of it being a joke or exageration.

When Azula interrupts Mai's date with Zuko to talk to him by finding a dumb excuse to send her away, Mai is visibly pissed off and even side-eyes Azula because come on, couldn't talk to him later or politely ask Mai to give them a moment?

Finally, we have the beach, in which Mai full on screams at everyone, Azula very much included, to just leave her alone.

The show made it very clear fromt he begining that the bitter end of Azula's friendships was inevitable due to the huge power imbalance. Fans don't deny that because of issues in the writting, they do it because they fit in one of three category:

1 - Fan that likes the IDEA of Azula, but not the actual character, and is uncomfortable with the fact that she did bad things, so instead of trying to imagine a healing/redemption arc, they just pretend stuff like her using fear to keep Mai and Ty Lee under her thumb didn't happen in the first place.

2 - Fan (usually a zutara shipper) that HATES Mai and doesn't want to acknowledge things like her troubled family life and unhealthy dynamic with Azula because they cast a more sympathetic light on her and give her understandable motivations for doing bad things.

3 - The typical atla fan that cannot understand any kind of complex situation. They see Mai willingly joining Azula and ignore all the other issues in their relationship, as well as being CONVINCED, for no fucking reason, that this means Azula would not have coerced Mai into joining her had she said no like Ty Lee did. I've said it a million times, and I'll say it a million more: if Zuko didn't have the proof of his abuse at the hands of Ozai burned into his face, there'd absolutely be fans of the show claiming Zuko wasn't abused at all and that people who claim otherwise just want to justify liking an evil character.

#mai meta #mai deserved better

[stanlunter]

It's ironic that Azula doesn't get a happy ending, while Catra does, considering Catra is a more messed-up person then Azula... Azula isn't perfect, but she's very loyal to her kingdom, she treats Mai + Ty Lee with more respect then Catra does to her own allies... The worst thing Azula does to her allies is when she commands Ty Lee's circus net to be set on fire and releasing the circus animals (because Ty Lee disobeyed Azula's orders, which is a no-no since Azula is the princess), but other than that Azula treats Ty Lee decently (Azula even apologizes for making Ty Lee cry)... Azula also treats Zuko with somewhat more respect, then Catra does to Adora (Azula even gives Zuko a chance to restore his honor and return home + she keeps her word and they have fun at the beach)... If Zuko had gotten blue fire, Azula would be surprised, but also impressed (unlike Catra, who's angry at Adora for becoming She-Ra)... 🔥

So real. I will always say that they should have been swapped their endings, lol.

Idk if you've seen my post about why Azula is much better than Catra (she was a groomed child, while Catra was an adult; she did the things for her nation, not bc she hated someone; no one gave her a chance for redemption so we can't know how would she react, while Catra had multipe chances to be better, but she rejected them)

And I also love your argument!

Yeah, Azula treated her people better. Yeah, she treated them when it was necessary or when they disobeyed, which is bad for a person, but is normal for a commander. The worst thing she ever did to her people was bunishing them and threat them. While Catra just send Entrapta to a Beast island, while she was sure she's gonna die there. Also the whole way she treated Scorpia in s4. Azula treated her ENEMIES better. When Mai and Ty lee betrayed her, she didn't kill them, she just put them in prison. When she defeated Suki, her enemy and a leader of a warrior group, she put her in prison. And she did it with everyone else. She never killed anyone besides the Avatar, if it even counts. And "killing" him was a necessary goal, something that the Fire nation tried to do for decades that was the only way to finally win.

Azula never intentionally tried to hurt her enemies like Catra did with Adora. When Azula fought her enemies, including Zuko, her goal was to defeat them, bc it just was her mission since they didn't let her do her job. But she never hurt Zuko for fun or out of anger like Catra did. While Catra's goal was always to make Adora feel as much pain as she could. Just bc she hates Adora and wants her to suffer. She always was violent for no reason. She was destroying the villages and kingdomes, putting under attack regular people who didn't even fight her and almost destroyed the whole world. Azula was never like this. When she took Ba sing se, she didn't hurt anyone. None of the innocent people were unnecessary hurt bc of her. Bc of the fire nation, sure, but she only hurt her enemies, not regular people.

About mental abuse, It's arguble. Azula knows really well what to say to deeply hurt people. Like when she hurt Sokka when she reminded him about Suki, or Toph about being blind. However, the thing is that she did that, it was a strategy to distract them and make them run for her instead of capturing Ozai. With Zuko It's more complecated, however when she says something mean to Zuko, she doesn't try to make him him feel like a shit or to hate himself like Catra does. She rather tries to show that she's better, not that he's worse. Ofc I don't deny the fact that she's usually mean to him, but in their case It's basically something siblings always do. Basically all of their verbal interactions they act just like regular siblings, not enemies and Azula doesn't hate Zuko or doesn't want him to hate himself. She shows him that she's better, bc their whole dynamic is based on their competion for being the favourite child and everything Azula says to Zuko is being said to prove that she's the favourite child, not that he's a useless piece of shit that shouldn't exist. Their relationship is 100% toxic, but they are far not as abusive as relationship between Catra and Adora.

And to be honest, Azula litterally gave Zuko a chance to get his honor back and to show Ozai that he's a good child to him.

While with Catra...well, after Catra left Adora to hang on the cliff to die, the only time Catra wanted Adora back was when she made Adora go berserk and wanted to use her as a weapon, see the difference?

So yes, I absolutely agree with you, Azula is way better than Catra and she was the one who should have been get a redemption arc, not Catra

#Azula #Atla #azula deserved better #Anti catra

[sokkastyles]

So about that post we're both included in...the good thing about being at work when I saw that come through was that I wasn't able to respond. lol

I've decided not to respond but something they said that really irked me and wanted to get your thoughts on was this: In all that time between his return and Zuko's exile, there's no evidence that he (Iroh) ever tried to reach out to Azula

This comment and other's like it always irritate me because they always seem to leave out the idea that Azula has to be receptive to Iroh's help. They act like that all Iroh had to do was extend a hand to Azula and she wouldn't turned out the way she did. As if we haven't been shown that Azula has been dismissive of Iroh from a very young age. The idea that Iroh was ignoring her that whole time between when he moved back into the palace and leaving with Zuko, is just another way of blaming Iroh for not loving her enough. I highly doubt Azula was eager to spend time with Iroh around then and tried to avoid it as much as possible. Zuko was trapped on a boat. 😆 You cannot tell me that whatever short time they had together, that Iroh never left the door open for her. At some point, doesn't Azula need to reach out as well?

I'm not sure what I'm asking, I think I just wanted to vent instead of responding to that person. But if you have any thoughts on this, I would love to hear them.

P.S. Sorry for spamming your inbox while going through your old posts. 😁

No problem! Sorry that person reblogged your post to try and continue the argument with me.

You are right that Azula has to be receptive to any attempts Iroh would make to try and reach her, and what we know from canon is that she wasn't. That's why these people always say the doll doesn't matter, because it's evidence of Iroh doing something kind for his niece and her violently rejecting it because she thinks her uncle is a weak fool and her father taught her that people like that deserve to be treated cruelly.

But secondly, lack of being shown him reaching out to her doesn't mean that it never happened. Especially considering Iroh's character and the way he is consistently portrayed, it would be bizarre to interpret him as uncaring towards his niece just because we are not shown it onscreen. The writers expect you to fill in the gaps based on what we are shown onscreen, and what we are shown onscreen is that Iroh, even before his redemption, cares about his family and gets his niece and nephew a gift. We are also shown onscreen that Azula, even as a young child, is cruel towards everyone who is not Ozai, including Iroh, and burns the gift he gives her. Since these characterizations are consistent - Iroh being kind to others, Azula being cruel to others - we can interpret that the reason Iroh and Azula do not have a good relationship is because of what we already know, and that Azula is the reason they do not have a good relationship, and that she would reject whatever attempts Iroh might make to reach out. If the writers wanted to establish that Iroh was uncaring to Azula, it would need to be shown onscreen, since it contradicts everything else we know about his character, and everything we know about Azula and Azula's relationship with Iroh.

It'd be like me trying to argue that Ursa hated Lu Ten, since we never see them interact or get an indication that Ursa feels anything about him one way or the other, except for seeming sad about his death. But that's enough, because we know through everything else we know about Ursa that she is a kind person who cares about her family. Just because we don't see Ursa talking about or interacting with Lu Ten is not evidence of a negative relationship.

I agree that from what we know of Azula as a child, she did not want to spend time with Iroh and probably avoided it. Given how she talks about his reaction to Lu Ten's death, I also think even if Iroh did reach out, he would find it both difficult and extremely painful to be around someone who gleefully made fun of his trauma over his son's death.

Not only does Azula have to be receptive of Iroh, but there is a certain point where Iroh does not need to submit himself to cruelty just because Azula is a child. Azula is also a child with fire powers who is the princess of her nation, and her cruelty towards Iroh is approved by Ozai, who is now the firelord. Can you imagine what it was like for Iroh coming back to that after his son's death, in a world where he was widely seen as a disgrace? How much power does he really have in that situation?

Also imagine that Iroh also has to protect Zuko, who has newly lost his mother, from both his father and his sister.

Imagine, if you will, him inviting both of the children to play pai sho with him one day shortly after his arrival home, aware that he needs to get his niece and nephew away from their father, who now is their only sole parental figure, but also the most powerful man in the country, while he, Iroh, has been reduced overnight to the kooky, disgraced uncle. Even if Azula had accepted that invitation, I imagine that she does not respond well if she were to lose a game to the uncle she thinks is not a real general or the brother she thinks is weak and deserves to be abused. Imagine Iroh trying to problem solve between Zuko and Azula while Azula is shouting at him that he's just a loser who cries all the time because his son died. Meanwhile, Azula is also trying to burn Zuko for taking her piece in the game, and eventually Iroh just has to seperate them both.

And that's sad. It's so sad. I imagine it breaks Iroh's heart to see what is happening to his niece, what his brother is turning her into, just as every cruel jab she aims at him tears open his wounds over the loss of his son, his regret that he might have done something to help her, just as he might have done something to help his brother as he saw Ozai grow into the kind of person he became. We know these are things that are built into Iroh's character, but we also know that he's also not going to allow an abusive person to continue to be enabled, and there's a certain point where what Azula stans seem to want from Iroh is exactly that. They hate him because Azula hates him, and need an excuse for it other than the truth, that Azula was learning to be hateful from her father. They also hate him because he committed the sin of trying to protect Zuko from her and not allowing her to continue the behavior Ozai enabled.

We're also shown this dynamic between Iroh and Azula in the show, from the moment Azula shows up to try and trap Zuko and Iroh immediately susses out her intent and she resents him for it, tries to prevent him from helping Zuko think about what she is saying, and identifies that she needs to seperare Iroh from Zuko. Abusive people are really good at picking out vulnerable people, and also are good at recognizing the people who are less vulnerable and alienating their chosen victims from anyone who is going to be an obstacle, like a protector or guardian. That also increases her hatred of Iroh, that he sees right through her and knows what she's trying to do, and won't allow it. She's not going to respond to an attempt from him to help her because she wouldn't see any benefit to it, because he isn't someone she can manipulate or exploit like Zuko. And she hates that. She hates that she can't control Iroh the way she is used to controlling people, the way she thought she had even her mother under control. Until she learns to let go of that need to control, she is not going to respond to Iroh. Further, he is an obstacle in her continuing to have access to and control Zuko, which increases her hatred of him.

#azula #iroh #abuse cw

[azureflamesideblog]

JUST finished reading Azula In The Spirit Temple and I actually LOVED it. Not kidding, I am so glad I went in with the expectations I did...cause I actually got MORE than what I was hoping for. At least, that is my opinion.

Gonna do bullet list of thoughts. Easier to do and quicker. Probabbly part one of several cause I doubt I am releasing all the things I have going on in my head in one go.

-The BIGGEST thing that I think mattered to me and that I liked is it seemed Azula is actually on some level aware of Ozai's negitive influence on her. She says directly to Ursa even that she was supposed to protect her from him, and that if she didn't make the choice she did she could have done that. Now just as often she says her father is the Phoenix King...not a tradior yada yada...but the idea is there. SHE says it to the vision of Ursa.

-Going off of that. Yes Azula seems very, back and forth and uncertin about a lot of things, in particular what she wants and how she feels about several characters. And I LIKE that. That's what she NEEDED. Something, anything to put the idea in her head that she isn't to far gone and can change her future. It doesn't matter really that she rejects that at this point- the stuff she heard and felt still exsist and WILL continue to linger. Hopefully allowing future Avatar stuff to pick it up and run with that.

-So, the main idea seems to be Azula wants to be apologized to for the things others have done to her but ISN'T ready to return that with any apologies of her own. Mainly because of the way she views those things as well. But that doesn't seem to stop her from WANTING to be loved by those she cares about, or from wanting them to be proud of her.

-I've seen some readers either mention feeling this book didn't take a stand really on Azula's redemption, or was seemingly overly harsh on her. I will respectfully disagree. While reading, it was actually pleasntly shocked to feel that this was a balanced and pretty fair look at Azula. Yes, she has done horrible hurtful things, but at the same time she has had horrible hurtful things happen to her as well. She needs to apologize, to take the first step if she wants things to be better, but that doesn't mean she isn't owed an apology from others as well.

-The thing I like most about the set up is honestly the fact Azula almost from the beginning knows none of what she is seeing is real. That actually is why it feels fitting there are several moments where she gets honest. I don't think, at the point this story BEGINS she'd be able to do that with the real version of any of these characters

-That said, next step is her...actually confronting these characters (Ursa, Zuko and Ty Lee spesifically). Whenever they do pick up Azula again, which seems to be what they are allowing for, she kinda needs to take what she's working through/concluded here and bring it to them to progress things.

-Also, can't say how OVERJOYED I am for this comic to kinda say 'ya know that Smoke and Shadow stuff? Yea that silly nonsense? Forget about that, THIS is her goal again'.

-The love I have for the fire warriors despite how little we get to see them ever, and how we will likely will never touch on them again is HUGE.

-Now...I've always been neutral on Ursa. I kinda feel yes, she didn't love Azula enough, but she also wasn't set up to love Azula as much as she should have with Ozai looming. And I actually am glad the comics DIDN'T seem to entirely erase URSA'S side of this story that was explored in The Search (as aweful as those comics are). The look on Ursa's face in the real part of the flashback, the one that is just looking at her daughters future as she is being taken in by Ozai...the terror is palpable. To the point even AZULA says she isn't sure if she was scared FOR her or BY her. And that is GREAT because yes, that is very clearly the case. That alone has me actually loveing and wanting more Ursa. She loved her daughter, and was so worried for her and to a young little girl it WOULD read as being afraid OF her.

-Noting here that while it seemed Ty Lee may have gotten more time to actually converse with Azula, I'm gonna say the important stuff was actually with Ursa and less so Mai. Ty Lee and what see says seems to just be meant to poke the bear, while Mai works (ironically enough) like a knife to confront her directly. While Ursa is a gentler attempt at getting through, and meant to be an outlet for Azula to be comfortable being honest. That's why it's her who Azula tells the two big, majior things to. That she feels Ozai is a bad influance and Ursa should have protected her, and that on some level she knows Ursa was scared for her, not of her.

-Also, TWICE Azula LET'S Ursa hold her and man that melts me in ways I did not expect to be melted

-I find it interesting that it's Zuko who she talks with the least, and him who kinda delivers the final question. I almost think Azula doesn't really know exactly how her brother feels? And thus the visions couldn't really pull a thread for him to say like the others. If that makes any sense, I hope it does.

-The final form of the moster bug creature? Nightmare fuel thanks I won't sleep ever again.

-THE LAST FEW PAGES! I was actually NOT expecting that, and am so glad we get to see something changed. What happened def did shake something in her, enough to make her change her mind about something she had fallen asleep uttering that she would do. Yes, I understand being disappointed the change wasn't bigger or more significant, but it IS there. And I'd be far more dissapointed had she fully accepted the offer, cause it would have been WAY WAY to fast.

#Azula #azula redemption #azula in the spirit temple #Probabbly gonna dump more thoughts later but for now I think this is pleanty. Please forgive my extreamly long word wall #Had a lot to say and a lot of feelings.

[likeabxrdinflight]

What is your take on Azula's relationship with Zuko? There's a lot of talk about her rivalry with him, but I find it more intriguing to talk about their other facets, like the implication that Azula deep down actually cares about her brother.

There's this odd phenomenon that's been happening in what I'll call ATLA fandom 2.0 (the post-netflix revival) where it seems like you have to pick a side- Zuko or Azula. If you stan one, you can't stan the other. And I haven't cared for that since, frankly, those two (alongside best girl Katara) are easily my favorite characters. So I'm not all that interested in "picking sides" and I'm not all that interested in them as rivals either. That said, it's important to note that their position in opposition to each other is important to the story the show is telling.

Azula is a character in her own right, but she's also a narrative device. As an antagonist, Azula is Zuko's most direct foil. She's his dark mirror, his evil twin (narratively speaking.) So when she's on top of the world, he's hit rock bottom, and vice versa. She represents the worst of the Fire Nation and is everything he could become if he were to give into his worst instincts (again, this is all speaking symbolically, their personalities are quite different). But because of this, she had to fall for him to rise. It's very effective storytelling within the three seasons of the show. Unfortunately that meant there wasn't much room within those three seasons to showcase any more nuance in their relationship.

I'm always torn on this decision by the showrunners, because on the one hand, it's a huge part of why Zuko's story arc is as effective as it is. And all my biases aside, Zuko's arc is very effective and, for a children's show released in 2005, pretty smartly written. It gets a bit overblown by the fandom, it's a pretty basic redemption arc at the end of the day, but it's still a well executed one and I think it's dishonest to pretend it isn't. On the other hand, it came at the cost of actually developing the relationship between Azula and Zuko and, arguably, of Azula's character as a whole. She isn't allowed to have her own arc independent of Zuko because she really only exists (from a writing standpoint) to be that dark mirror. She's not Aang et al's main antagonist. She's Zuko's. She doesn't really get to do much outside that role.

All that said I do think it goes without saying that Azula cares for Zuko. I think it also goes without saying that Zuko cares for Azula too, but he's ironically worse at expressing it (within the main series at least). Because of the way the show was written, however, none of this can be explored except in supplemental material or fanworks. And supplemental material has been...lacking, I think, in that department.

There's some awesome fanworks out there that explore their dynamic, though. I really do encourage people to go back into the archives and find stuff written years ago because stuff written at the time the show was airing/right when it ended are some of the best. The show hadn't yet been lionized as much and fandom opinions of the characters hadn't yet crystallized into what they are now (and also the comics and lok didn't exist so no one had to deal with that.)

#atla

[ferretteeth]

Having now watched the entirety of Netflix' ATLA here's some thoughts

absolutely zero confidence in the audience's ability to discern information without directly telling us. Aang has this monologue at the start and it's basically just for us to know. hey this character changed his mind, let's tell the audience. is this to address the poor media literacy or is it directly making it worse? i don't know

Katara doesn't have a lot of personality. I feel like at the start of the animated series her character is kind of Supportive Girl but she gets much more personality as time goes. She has nothing here

removing Sokka's sexism is such a misguided attempt of, i guess, addressing misogyny? but instead it accomplishes the opposite. why would you remove characters making mistakes and growing

removed Sokka in drag when this would've been a great opportunity to build on that scene as well as make a statement in the ongoing culture wars. as a side note I hated how the kyoshi warrior makeup looked I felt like it should've looked more like traditional chinese theatre, kind of smeared on instead of these warriors rocking cut creases

actually on the topic of that Sokka is super clearly wearing foundation the whole show while Katara looks very natural. It's equality.

lots of flashbacks and such which we really don't need?? as well as featuring Azula and Ozai. Ozai in particularly is a miss (even if Daniel Dae Kim's presence always is appreciated) since he spends several seasons as nothing but a menacing silhoutte

a lot of the cameos are just very pandery. people like Azula let's show Azula. people like Secret Tunnel let's feature Secret Tunnel. I'm surprised they didn't just straight up have a Korra cameo

the highlight of the show and the one thing I found myself looking forwards to is Dallas Liu's take on Zuko. I've seen other people say this too. he does an incredible job, he's fun, he sounds and acts and looks like the animated version, a right level of bitchiness, angst, priviliege and drama. If this show gets several seasons, I would be thrilled to see him do the redemption arc

great visuals, also. the bending looks good, the architecture is pretty, i enjoy the art direction they were taking to make the bender cultures look more distinctive

Aang doesn't learn waterbending or frankly do anything but airbending the whole season. Not like Book 1 Water is named that way because he learns to bend water

3/10

#rev txt #atla #Netflix avatar #atla netflix #I watch

[the-genius-az]

You're welcome!

It can have lots of drama before the little pack has their happy ending. I think part of Azula's redemption + healing arc would involve her eventually understanding that they didn't think they had an option + didn't know it could hurt so much. (Original!Azula herself only realized what was happening in the night before she passed away). With the bond still there, Azula tends to be protective, and a little more forgiving once she sees Ty Lee and Mai do love and need her.

I already am thinking about a "Izumi is Maizula's baby" tbh, now that the A/B/O obsession has infiltrated the Azula-centric part of my brain.

Ty Lee needs more fics where she's not the silly, stupid little girl. In the KS AU, I'm making Azula much worse than in canon to make it work with the plot, considering how canon!Azula is a jerk but definitely not a psychopath or anything of the sort. I really don't like the way fandom demonizes her, for a few reasons, and it also makes me feel weird for writing AUs where she is, indeed, a monster.

Yes. Here's the thing, I like the parallel of Oh Sangwoo, a straight man, being SA'd by his mother & Azula, a lesbian woman, being SA'd by her mother (+ I think Oh Sangwoo hallucinates her at some point? So that's a good parallel). Like, something that works into this specific character hating women so much they abuse and kill them in horrific ways.

(I don't like it either, which sounds almost like a hypocrite with the way I have multiple OCs that have SA in their backstory and I do write fucked up content. And because I also have read a lot of fics that have it in them – thankfully they do tend to work it so, so well. Like, not as a torture porn kind of thing, but another layer of her character. Azula x Ozai CSA seems to be almost a must for Maizula fics, and I eat it up every time.)

When I say "everything possible", I do mean it. It's a dragon AU and when Azulon asks for Azula's life instead of Zuko's (because she's Ozai's favorite), Ursa kills Azulon + takes Azula out of the palace (and Azula's hatred comes from how they abandon Zuko in the palace). Like, Ursa up until that point gave Zuko lots of attention, but there's a silent agreement between mother and daughter that goes like "this boy is ours" because they're dragons and all of that. I can talk for days about this AU too.

- Ash 🔥🍌

Thank you for this, Ash!

Original! Azula herself only realized what was happening in the night before she passed away.

I wonder how sad Azula was at that moment, she must have been screwed.

I already am thinking about a "Izumi is Maizula's baby" tbh, now that the A/B/O obsession has infiltrated the Azula-centric part of my brain.

I have an idea about a baby Maizula, maybe I'll post it later!

Ty Lee needs more fics where she's not the silly, stupid little girl.

I needed to bookmark this...

I really don't like the way fandom demonizes her, for a few reasons, and it also makes me feel weird for writing AUs where she is, indeed, a monster.

I know, sometimes the Aus completely change the characters, that makes them interesting or worse.

I like the parallel of Oh Sangwoo, a straight man, being SA'd by his mother & Azula, a lesbian woman, being SA'd by her mother (+ I think Oh Sangwoo hallucinates her at some point? So that's a good parallel).

I see the potential! I still don't like the SA though, but it's because of the plot.

(Honestly, I'm glad that we agree that it is Ursa who commits the act, sometimes everyone ignores that she is not a saint)

I don't like it either, which sounds almost like a hypocrite with the way I have multiple OCs that have SA in their backstory and I do write fucked up content.

Oh, I actually hate that kind of stuff, any fics, novels, manga and more, I'll leave it quick and fly away! I can't stand him, that's why I don't like Bl very much, he always has those things and the fans normalize him.

Seems to be almost a must for Maizula fics.

They are the only Fics that keep me on a leash, there is little content and I am hungry for Maizula.

It's a dragon AU and when Azulon asks for Azula's life instead of Zuko's (because she's Ozai's favorite), Ursa kills Azulon + takes Azula out of the palace (and Azula's hatred comes from how they abandon Zuko in the palace).

You are a bomb from Au's Azula!

(Sometimes my mind spins because of so much information in English, please have mercy next time).

Azula is a VERY loyal girl, it makes sense that she would be a little confused and angry about abandoning one of her own.

Actually, I think I talked something about Azula/Dragon, and her possessions that are people.

Like, Ursa up until that point gave Zuko lots of attention.

What did Ursa change to leave everything for Azula? I'm not saying she doesn't love her, I just don't think she would leave Zuko for Azula.

#Azula #Mai #Ty Lee #Katara #Ursa #Zuko #Ozai #atla #avatar the last airbender #killing stalking #Maizula with a baby. #Au Dragons #Your ideas are great...but have mercy on me and write one at a time in a different message #my translator is going to explode! 😭 #I almost forgot #send me the link when you finish Tyzula/Ks.

[lilu-the-almighty]

nah I'm continuing on my tags from that last post

Azula is a fucking fantastic character. Holy shit she is so fucking good. And I don't think she needed a redemption arc! I wouldn't be mad if she did, but I also think her not having one is? a really fascinating route to take her character? She isn't Zuko. They both had similarly abusive childhoods, they both did not deserve what happened to them, but they aren't the same person, and they aren't going to respond in the same way. Azula was the golden child, and because of that she needs to be better than everyone. She is perfect and she is untouchable and she destroys any threat to that idea with terrifying ferocity. That is how she has responded to her trauma. She has been told since infancy that she is the best and that is what she is important for, and if she isn't the best then she doesn't matter anymore. So that pressure is built on over and over and over again until it breaks her down and molds her into a machine designed only to be the best fucking daughter, princess, and warlord that she possibly can be and anything standing in her way isn't just on obstacle to her goals, but an obstacle to her worth as a human being. If she fails even once, she is better off dead. She doesn't care if she hurts people, she doesn't care if she destroys lives, families, history, anything, as long as she stays perfect and undefeated and important. And that is what her character hinges on. She doesn't care that she is hurting people, so there is no motivation for her to change. She has no reason to WANT to change. All she wants is to be the greatest daughter she can be, and her idea of that is destroying the other nations and making her father proud. That is her biggest motivation over literally anything else in her life. That is a good fucking character. That is raw and uncomfortable and scary. She is the perfect example of the idea that not every victim is in the right. Just because you have a reason to do what you are doing doesn't mean you are justified in doing it. No matter how horrible your past is, some trauma responses are just as fucked up and wrong. She is a terrifying villain and a beautifully written character. And like I said, I don't think fully redeeming her would hurt that, especially since the writers of ATLA are so fucking good at what they do I can't imagine they would do it poorly, but she doesn't need one. She already is a complex, intriguing, fantastic character just how she is. but they would need to spend the time giving her a very good reason to want to change. Zuko already had that reason, he had always had a baseline of morals against needless killing and death even if he was misguided otherwise, and he had already been wronged by his father and the fire nation, and EVEN THEN it took him three whole seasons to change his ways. Azula has NO reason to change because up until the very end of ATLA she is getting every damn thing she wants from the fire nation and has no reason at all to go against her father and the people who worship the ground she walks on. To give her a reason to redeem herself would mean we would need pretty much a whole spinoff Azula show to give her enough time to see the error in her ways and change as a person. Which yu know, I would NOT fucking be against in any way, but that is a lot of work production side and I unfortunately don't think it is going to happen. Anyway though, I support women's wrongs, especially hers<3

#Azula #princess azula #ATLA #character analysis

[movietvlover94-blog]

This is a review of Azula in the Spirit Temple from Goodreads

What do you think of this review?

"This comic continues the events happening after the show (from 'The Search' and most recently 'Smoke and Shadows'). It does not really advance the main plot though and is more of a side story set in the same timeline.

Story: Azula is continuing her campaign to destabilize Zuko's reign, though her small band looks to have very limited impact. In the aftermath of her most recent raid her group abandons her and while looking for them she stumbles into a spirit temple. Therein she faces her past and forced self-reflection.

Azula has always been an interesting character - in many ways inherently evil but broken and one you would wish could be redeemed - while knowing that a redemption would ruin her as a character. I very much liked what they do with this story - she acts her arrogant self, but is not blind to her own faults, nor is she stupid. I also liked the conclusion even though all we get is slight character building, and even that is left to the interpretation of the reader. The flashbacks we get would have been a great opportunity to learn more about her past but they're mostly spent on rehashing events previously seen."

#azula in the spirit temple

[zuko-always-lies]

I judge Zuko by different standards than by which I judge Azula by, and I think I have valid reasons for it.

I didn’t expect to make this post, as I’ve been trying to be less critical of Zuko recently, but here it is:

Azula isn’t a good person, but the narrative never presents her as a good person. She is presented as a bad person from her first appearance, and never goes through anything intended as a redemption arc.  The fandom and even the creators demonize her.

On the other hand, with Zuko, the narrative presents him as

1) Someone who was always a good person(i.e. his heavy redemption coding from almost the moment he stepped on screen)

2) Someone who goes through “the best redemption arc in the history of fiction” across multiple seasons.

3) Someone who, as the result of #2, has essentially become morally perfect by the end of Book 3.

4) Someone who is the perfect Firelord to “redeem” the Fire Nation and who is 100% ready for this.

I often end up judging Azula and Zuko to how much they live up to what the narrative claims about them, and I think that’s perfectly valid. In Zuko’s case, the incredibly spotty writing of his arc makes it easy to point out the many instances where he doesn’t measure up to #s 1 through 4, and I think that’s a valid way to levy judgement. In Azula’s case, the narrative doesn’t claim that she’s a morally perfect anti-imperialist about to redeem the Fire Nation, so it doesn’t make sense to judge her by that standard.

Of course, I also think I tend to have more sympathy to collectivist goals and manners of thought than individualistic ones, and Azula and Zuko map nicely on this divide.

Moreover, many, if not most, of the posts I make about either Fire sibling are not about morally judging them or judging them at all, but instead about trying to bring perception of them closer to their canon selves. For instance, I’ve posted quite a few times about how I don’t think there is any evidence that Zuko is a particularly forgiving person. I don’t believe  it’s a bad thing he’s not very forgiving (and in fact not forgiving an abuser can be a good thing), but it’s just that fanfiction writers very often tend to write him as incredibly forgiving, and I don’t think that’s very accurate.

#Azula #Zuko #the narrative gives very different scales by which to measure them

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

I have seen the opinion that Mai symbolically means the wrong choice that Zuko made by joining Azula, and the comfort that this "wrong" life can give him (ordering servants, eating pies, not fighting FN imperialism). When Zuko chooses to redeem himself and join the avatar, he becomes a new person and must give up this comfort and Mai as part of this "old life and wrong choice". In addition, his relationship with Mai took place when he was "not himself", when he was trying to become what his father wanted him to be, respectively, Mai did not see his real at that moment. What can you say about it?

Let's get the easy one out of the way: the moment in which Zuko explicitly referred to him as him being Ozai's ideal son, but not being himself, was during the war meeting he in which he did not speak out against his horrible plan to burn the Earth Kingdom down. THAT was the moment in which he felt he was pretending to be something he wasn't, not every scene he spent in the Fire Nation.

And, to make the point even clearer, who was the person he immediately expressed this conflict to after feeling pressured into not being himself? MAI! She was his comfort, his safe-place, the person he didn't have to put on a mask for - HOW can anyone look at that scene and think this means "She doesn't know the real Zuko?" when he is literally proving that he feels fully comfortable being himself in front of her?

As for her supposedly representing the "wrong" choice just because she happened to be in the Fire Nation during his temporary refusal to redeem himself - Zuko was still obsessed with honor after his redemption, still wanted to go back to the Fire Nation, was still very loyal to his nation (he literally said he was trying to SAVE his country, not turning his back on it), and he even ends up becoming Fire Lord even though that was also what was going to happen eventually had he chosen to just let his father take over the world. Why is his relationship with Mai the ONLY THING that needs to be framed as "the wrong choice" when nearly everything else about his life post redemption was EXACTLY like it would have been if he had not changed sides?

Why is Mai considered a factor in this "Temptation That Makes You Evil VS Good, Moral, Correct Choice" dilema, when the two characters that were constantly shown as Zuko's shoulder devil and shoulder angel - or rather, the blue dragon and the red dragon - were Azula and Iroh? (*repeats to self* must not turn this into a zucest post, must not turn this into a zucest p-AZULA REPRESENTS TEMPTATION IN HIS HEAD, OH MY G-)

*clears throat* Sorry, about that.

Even then, Iroh WAS making a big mistake by ignoring Zuko's feelings on the matter of just staying in Ba Sing Se forever (he explictly asks Iroh if he has not considered that the wants more in life than just a job and appartment), and AT NO POINT had the option to join forces with the Avatar ever been discussed - and honestly I doubt Zuko would have ever accepted it at the point in the story, regardless of Azula giving him the choice to come home.

And yes, she gave him a CHOICE, and that's why Zuko's arc worked. He spent weeks allowed to have the life he had always wanted, and he would have been able to keep it... as long as he chose to let innocent people die. He was tempted, but in the end did the right thing, and because of the weeks he spent in the Fire Nation, we SEE everything he is giving up on, because before that we had only seen the bad moments, like his abuse at the hands of his father, not him being a beloved prince, having a (mostly) okay relationship with Azula, no longer having to resort to desperate measures to not starve, having the comfort of knowing he'd always have a roof over his head - and yes, being happy and in love with a girl that was a lot like him.

The point of showing us how much he is sacrificing is not to say "Zuko will be better off without those things", but rather to make us cheer for him when he manages to get it all back against all odds, this time with a clear conscience.

Also, let's pretend Mai WAS the person representing "bad choice, bad idea, bad girlfriend" like Zutarians claim - HOW does that immediately translate to "Katara is the right choice" when her love interest is someone else AND she was in no way a factor in Zuko's decision to leave the Fire Nation? Who is to say some other girl wouldn't be "the one"? Why is Katara seen as the ONLY option even though they've barely interacted at that point, and EVERY SINGLE TIME it ended badly?

Zutarians can claim care about Zuko's arc and to be the ''feminist" shippers until they're blue in the face, the absurd takes they come up with for the sole reason of pitting two female characters against each other, with one being almost completely demonized FOR NO REASON, and the other being seen as perfect because of what she supposedly can offer to a guy and not because of her actual personality, just reeks of misogyny.

#anti zutara #pro maiko #pro mai

[lryghe]

MDZS thoughts; jiang cheng

I have been meaning to talk about Jiang Cheng for a while considering he is a very special character and someone that I love thinking about. Because he’s just so interesting to think about, and his closeness to the main character of the story is probably why he’s so highlighted despite the fact he doesn't contribute to the plot the same way all other characters are that have been explored in depth (e.g. Lan Wangji, Nie Huaisang, Jin Guangyao). Yes, this post will contain spoilers, but not just from the novel this time, I would like to incorporate elements from the live action (despite my dislike of it). This may end up being not nearly as thought out as I usually am with my posts, to which I apologise for in advance (also for those who may eventually expect the second half of my MXTX themes and conventions post, you will never get it. I lost inspiration and my thought process deleted itself so I have nothing for you).

I saw a post the other day and it was exploring the idea of characters that are driven by grief and rage, characters who devolve over the length of the story, characters who change, but never for the better. And my first thoughts were like Azula, or maybe Sasuke, but then I remembered that my favourite fictional character of all time, Jiang Cheng is Right Here and he’s so interesting to analyse. Because he is that character that is driven by grief and rage. He has been fighting since he was like 17 and became Jiang Sect Leader at the cost of everyone around him. He is the character that devolves over the length of the story, because he’s so strong for the majority of it, but 13 years of mourning and a revived brother who turns his whole world upside down again is so so damaging to him. And he is that character who changes for the worse, because young Jiang Cheng was always so willing to go along with his older brothers schemes, always so desperate for the approval of those around him, but decades of grief have worn him down to his very foundations, and he is a husk of grief disguised as rage. He no longer needs the approval of the Sect Leaders around him because he is the fearsome Sandu Shengshou, the three poisons. 

I refuse to assume a pitying role with Jiang Cheng though. I see a lot of people saying he did nothing wrong, that he was the victim in the entire situation but I seriously despise when people say this about him. Because he has very clearly done bad things, and sometimes he has no excuse. Sometimes he was just a bad guy, and that’s okay. The live action went on this whole narrative about how Wei Wuxian was a total victim in everything that happened and people have started applying this type of narrative to every other characters, which is so silly in places because MXTX creates these characters to be criticised. They are well rounded and whole characters, and there is a whole spectrum of grey in regards to their actions and motivations. You are definitely allowed to feel bad for characters though, who am I to tell you what to do, but remember to be objective in analysis. Jiang Cheng ‘tortured’ demonic cultivators because he hated his brother so much (allegedly), he abandoned his brother when he was the Yiling Patriarch, he is harsh and cruel and he’s always able to find the one thing to hurt those around him (even to Wei Wuxian, who is notoriously good at not being hurt by what others say to him). 

And to ignore this would be a disservice. Jiang Cheng is forever a part of Wei Wuxian’s backstory, forever the character in MDZS that does not get their redemption, forever Sandu Shengshou, a poison to those surrounding him. And it’s so interesting to think about this concept of poison in relation to Jiang Cheng because objectively, it's like. Kind of true. Literally every other Jiang is dead, even the unofficial Jiang, Wei Wuxian. No one likes Jiang Cheng very much, and he’s purposefully left out of the big 3 ‘zuns’ of the cultivation world, a very informal alliance between the Lans, Nies, and Jins. Even geographically so (in reference MXTX’s presentation of where the sects would be on a real map of China) Yunmeng is isolated from all other notable sects, the only notable place nearby being the Qishan Wen and the Burial Mounds, both not being very happy places to be. His nephew Jin Ling embodies all the outward traits that people don't like about him, brash and arrogant and refusal to admit one's faults. In all senses of the world, Jiang Cheng really is a poison to everyone around him. And this idea of poison is so cool because Jiang Cheng is a background character objectively. His screen time is mostly just to further the emotional plights of Wei Wuxian but he’s such an important antagonist (of sorts!).

The time skip is both a wonderful and fearsome thing in reference to this thought, because we can only guess what happens during those 13 years where he doesn't have screen time, and although there are parts mentioned of what happens (e.g. Jin Guangyao becomes sect leader, Nie Mingjue dies, Lan Wangji goes wherever the chaos is) we don't know the details, specifically in regards to Jiang Cheng. Those 13 years is where he is pushed out of the narrative spotlight, and he’s not relevant until the whole golden core fiasco near the end, which is good because it keeps him as a background character (being otherwise would be detrimental to the themes of the novel), but scary because it takes away so much power from the other characters. 

I just want to end this by saying that I actually love Jiang Cheng and that manifests in writing long posts about how horrible and complicated he is because it's completely fine to be a bad person, that's what makes some of these characters so interesting. He is my favourite out of all of MXTX’s works, right up there alongside Luo Binghe and Xie Lian. So if you ever see me ‘dissing’ these characters, it is born from a love that compels me to analyse them.

Also I wrote this instead of revising for an assessment worth 30% of my overall grade literally an hour before said assessment worth 30% of my overall grade.

Words: 1091

Reading time: 4 mins

#no regrets if i fail its fine anyways (cryinh) #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #mxtx #jiang cheng #jiang wanyin #sandu shengshou #lan wangji #the untamed #cql #wei wuxian #luo binghe #xie lian #tagging every character mentioned because im silly like that #expect a vicious mbti analysis of him in the future ft me dissing the fuck out of literally every pdb poster on the mdzs profiles