Ozai Avatar - Blog Posts

this is what the fandom needs to understand 🤦‍♀️ couldn’t have worded it better

I really think "Aang should not have killed Ozai" and "there is ample reason for Ozai to be dead" are two statements that can absolutely coexist.

Aang would have had to give up the teachings and philosophy of his culture, that he is the sole survivor of, in order to kill Ozai, who already mocked his culture for being "weak" and "not deserving to exist in this world." Aang choosing not to kill Ozai is a testament to his and his people's strength and it takes Ozai's words and makes him eat them.

Anyone else? They don't face the same responsibility. If it had been them to face Ozai, then they would have every reason to kill him.

But the reason it was Aang who faced him is the same reason that Aang didn't kill him. Ozai was forced to look at the last member of a culture who his ancestors wiped off the face of the earth, to look at someone who he viewed as lesser, as primitive, as weak, and to be defeated by that person without them ever giving up their people's philosophy, even when he thought that murder and violence was the only way to show strength and "deserving" of existing. It's more complicated than "Ozai should have died."

did you guys know i love piandao

Angry again over the ATLA fandom's treatment of Ursa, one of the biggest victims in the entire series of the FN Royal Family.

People treat the Royal Family like it's just another abusive household, which results in the overly harsh treatment of Ursa, who was the most powerless person in that entire family by political standards. She was a lowborn, engaged to the younger prince as a test to merge the bloodlines of the Royal Family with that of an Avatar's. She was basically forced into an experimental arranged marriage to a disposable heir, cut off from her family, and thrown into a pit of vipers AKA the Royal Palace.

Imagine being in her shoes. Imagine having virtually no support or standing in an unfamiliar place where even the slightest mistake could result in either humiliation at best or death at worst. She is married to a horrible man who despises the fact that he doesn't even get a noble for a wife, that he is being ridiculed by being married off to a lowborn and basically being told that it was impossible for him to ever be the Fire Lord, since if he had a fair shot wouldn't they have ensured a better marriage prospect? He gains no supporters or additional backing through his wife, which he should have had as a prince, and doesn't that just sting? He's discredited in Azulon's eyes, and in the eyes of the nobility, so what chance does he have to rise above his station now?

Who do you think took the brunt of his shame and anger at his situation? Who would have suffered most at the hands of an angry young man who had no qualms with burning his own thirteen-year-old son for just daring to speak up unasked?

People claim Ursa had let go of Azula because she thought Azula was a monster and that she only helped Zuko because he was kind. Zuko was allowed to be kind because he was deemed weak, and Ozai didn't want to pay attention to him. He is only kind because of his mother's influence, which he wouldn't have had if he was up to Ozai's standards. If he had been, Ozai would have kept Ursa and Zuko separate to better control Zuko and ensure his son's loyalty. He wanted his heir to be a child that he could paint entirely in his own image to cover up the fact that their other parent was a peasant, which would cast further doubts on his rights and position within the palace.

People make it out to be like Ursa CHOSE to save Zuko, laughably assuming that this woman had the ability to CHOOSE anything, much less ANY sort of power within the palace. Even her own children outranked her in the nobles' eyes by virtue of having royal blood. She lived in the place where her husband worked and where all the servants answered to either him or his father, so she was never truly free to move or act. Every move was watched. Every interaction was noted.

Ursa was able to influence and help Zuko by showing him a form of kindness, but notice how she never said a bad word about Ozai or the Royal Family? She couldn't. She never twisted Zuko away or tried to outright call her husband wrong—she even defended some of his actions despite knowing otherwise. She could not act or speak freely. She knew she was being watched. She couldn't even pull Zuko away completely from Ozai—that's how utterly powerless she was. Her children loved a monster, and she could do nothing to stop them.

We are shown in canon that Ursa and Zuko spend time together, but that's just it. Ursa never tries to turn Zuko "good" or convince him Ozai is terrible because she CAN'T. She does her best by being stern and setting examples, and Zuko is desperate enough for love to internalize every moment with her, but the pond scene shows how Ursa was only able to do just that—play the role of a stern, kind mother.

And the thing is—if given the chance, she'd save them both. She loved them both, even if Azula reminded her too much of the monster that she married. If she had ever had the opportunity, she would have left with both. Except she couldn't because once Ozai had his prodigy, she was never going to be able to go near her child ever again. Ursa would try, through Zuko as we see in the flashback, to reach her daughter somehow, but it never worked. If she truly always thought of Azula as a "monster", would she let her "perfect son" go play with her? She could have shut Azula out completely and discourage her from ever coming close, Azula is young enough to still listen to her Mom, but we see both Azula and Zuko at her side reading the letter. Ursa doesn't lean away from her daughter. We see her hesitate but never flinch away when she is near Azula.

Ursa only spent time with Zuko because he was the only one she COULD have paid attention to, not because she CHOSE to. Ozai paid him no interest, so she was ALLOWED to spend her time with Zuko. If she had the chance, the allowance, to spend time with Azula she would have done it in a fucking heartbeat. People paint her as "saving" the one "who could be saved" or "throwing Azula to the wolves to focus on Zuko" as if she had any fucking choice, as if she didn't took what crumbs she could get to be close to her children. She didn't toss Azula aside, Ozai KEPT THEM APART. I REPEAT, HE KEPT THEM APART. He did NOT want his lowborn wife influencing his prized heir with her ways, so he kept them apart, READ THAT AGAIN.

It was never Ursa "choosing" which of her kids to save and protect. It was always her doing her best to use her limited, almost non-existent freedom of movement to reach her children in any way, and Zuko just happened to be free. If anyone was doing the whole "focusing on one kid and tossing aside the other" it. Was. Ozai.

i love making these johvocgcgugx

I love how The Search had the dumb plot line of "omg what if Ozai isn't actually Zuko's father?!" and actually has Zuko doubting it for a while, when he is literally the spitting image of Ozai.

The writers deliberately created Zuko to make him look like Ozai, who is pretty much the adult version of Zuko without a scar, and who Zuko could have turned out to be just like if things went differently for him.

Wow you’re so smart for saying Ozai wasn’t evil. That’s definitely a thoughtful observation and not you completely misinterpreting a character and spinning your lack of comprehension as clout.

Ooh, now you’re saying Aang was abusive and the real villain? Boy we’re getting so clout thirsty now. You’re definitely a super smart viewer above these pesky “general audiences” that just don’t get it. Your hyper-fixation on and removal of situational context from a single scene where he does something bad is totally making your point appealing to us mere mortals.

No, no, no, don’t worry that millions of people don’t share your opinion! You’re smarter than them for not being able to properly identify a protagonist and antagonist in a children’s show! They’re just not bright enough! Keep it up queen! You got this! Post that meta about Mai actually being responsible for the Air Nomad Genocide!