Azula Makes The Best 'tragic' Villain In ATLA

I believe we're all familiar with certain villains throughout movies/books/cartoons/etc. history. There have been plenty of notable ones from Voldemort, to Darth Vader, and plenty of Disney and Marvel baddies who are on tons of merchandise around the globe. If you ask anyone in fandom these days, it's usually a guarantee that their favorite character is the villain. Something that children from over the years have feared becoming, suddenly people nowadays are becoming so obsessed with the idea of the antagonist. 

At first, I thought it was because the villain's position is a role for what could have been if people were to return to their primitive, selfish state where we don't have to hold back. It's the chance to do whatever we want. Rules of society are taught to us at an early age, but there's always a passion to break those rules, even if our conscious or the consequences outweighing the pros usually stops us. I figured that villains were popular because they can entrap people into wondering why they decided to stop holding back. 

This is why I'm talking about one of the best villains in not just cartoons, but all of the media's history, Azula. The princess of the fire nation whose story ends rather tragically, and in the end, there was nothing that could stop her from meeting it. The reason is why we have become so entrapped with villains lately. 

Most of the responses are from people's perspectives on what makes a villain so great, and while they can have diverse responses to it, it usually is summed up into a few categories. Those being villains who just love to be evil and revel in their bad acts, they're strong and/or clever, or they have a tragic backstory that explains why they are like this way. The latter itself has become more popular in recent years, as it can be shown as a warning to people who may have gone through this as well to seek something better. 

However, with Azula, what makes her so great is that she fills all three of those boxes, and is featured on an incredibly popular show that I absolutely adore. To this day, I guarantee if you google Azula and her reason for being evil, there are tons of articles that go into detail about why she turned out this way. However, I'm going to go into more than just her tragic backstory, but why else she's gained so much popularity during the show's run-time. 

First, let's get the elephant out of the room. Aside from some cool and stylish Disney villainesses such as Maleficent, Ursula, and Cruella DeVil, there weren't many notable villainesses in the early 2000s. For the most part, the villain role was usually filled by a man in movies, comics, and books, but to have a woman be an antagonist that wasn't by Disney was something different and new back then. And they knew how to write and animate her to draw in a crowd. Azula is a beautiful girl, but due to her cunning and malicious nature, she always has this sly look on her face that means danger for her target, just like fire itself. And instead of bending just orange fire as the other firebenders do, she stands out by bending blue fire, which is hotter, and shocked the viewers by displaying for the first time lightning bending. One of the best parts is her voice. Grey Delisle does a fantastic job capturing that clever and sneering tone that fits a character like Azula perfectly. It sounds exactly like a cunning mistress of evil as it should.  

Another role she serves is how she's the opposite end of the coin she shares with her brother's face (and yes, I meant to do that). Zuko was the child who was abused and neglected by his father, always seen as a failure and worthless, but thankfully he had his mother by his side to balance that out. However, because she focused so much on Zuko, Azula began to feel herself getting more drawn into her father and his toxic beliefs. While she became more powerful and loved by Ozai, Zuko became more of an outsider and was literally scarred by his father after he tried to be noble. (This serves as a fantastic image with the two dragons within Zuko and how they've gone down different paths, and it's happened with more than one generation). When Zuko claims his father's words, "She was born lucky, I was lucky to be born," it would all mean the exact opposite. Azula would continue to stew in her attempts to get her father's approval by any means necessary, while Zuko traveled the world with his open-minded uncle to see how the rest of the world views the fire nation. This drastically changes everything as Zuko became more morally bound while the fire nation continued to brainwash his sister. 

Another appeal is Azula's personality. She is a wicked, cold, and ruthless young woman who won't hesitate to carry out horrible deeds for the good of the fire nation, and she's only 14 years old! She sees the harm her father is spreading throughout the world and won't bat an eye. Most of us would hate someone like that, however, there's such a delight to see her smile with maliciousness as she takes out her opponents without any mercy. With her strength in her bending as well as her cleverness to outwit even the earth kingdom's military police, it's no wonder that Ba Sing Se, once thought to be unconquerable, easily submitted to her forces, and she was so young to do so. Having her duo of Ty Lee and Mai, who are also amusing and interesting young ladies, seemed like the perfect way to counterbalance her personality with one being bubbly yet deadly and another being gloomy and sarcastic, making her stand out more. They also add humor to her now and then to make her relatable, such as her not being able to flirt well with boys or how to have a civil conversation with peers, as it shows how socially stunted she was due to her upbringing. 

And then we have the fact that she had such a tragic upbringing. Zuko may have seen one side to her life in which she was always getting the praise he wanted, growing ever stronger and smarter to where she almost kills off the line of avatars, but he didn't consider how she was neglected by their own mother. Ursa was a doting mother towards Zuko to ensure he had a lot of love, but in doing so, Azula thought her mother didn't want her and thought she was a monster. Ozai filled her head with lies about how the fire nation taking over the world would bring forth good things and how their rules are the only ones to live by. He was constantly putting pressure on her to uphold the family name and to make the fire nation proud. However, during the last season, when Zuko joins Team Avatar and keeps becoming more honorable, Azula begins to tread forth into madness, from imprisoning her friends to seeing hallucinations of her mother. The point drove home when her father denied her going with him to conquer the lands during Sozin's comet, making her think all her efforts were in vain because she failed to kill the avatar and lied about how Zuko struck him down instead. We see her come to an ending point where she almost kills her brother and gets captured by Katara, making her break down from everything that was put on her. 

Her story doesn't end in the finale. It continues in the comic when she helps Zuko try to find their mother, although she is continuing to battle her mental state. I won't give away any spoilers, but it isn't that much better compared to the ending of the show. 

A character like Azula, I'm sure, can be found in all sorts of fandoms across the world these days, but we mustn't forget who was one of the best and most complex villains to come out during that time when it wasn't as heard of. I truly feel bad for what Azula has gone through yet I fear her as well, knowing she's always one step ahead no matter what you do. While not a shining example for us to follow, she still belongs as a symbol of women's empowerment.