There, she’s presented with dreams designed to bring her peace, but her hatred and loathing (both for herself and others) make that easier said than done. Azula, in her spiritual journey, blames the way she is due to those around her who did not give her a fighting chance, like her mother, her domineering father, her friends. It means if only she had been nicer, Aang would have been defeated and the Fire Nation victorious and Zuko would be alongside her and their father helping dominate the Earth. Azula, one of the most enigmatic and complex characters in the Avatar universe, has always sparked passionate discussions among fans, with some seeing her as an irredeemable villain and others as a tragic figure shaped by her circumstances. Young Azula is kneeling on the floor and holding a burning turtle duck figurine, surrounded by broken pieces.

Like that we were actually friends, despite you threatening my life to force me to join your Avatar hunt. Peter Wartman and Adele Matera do their best to copy the look and feel of Avatar: The Last Airbender in terms of the general art and color style, and for the most part, they do a good job at it. We see a firebending punch at its start and finish, but we don’t feel the motion of the technique behind it, and for a series with bending techniques so strongly built upon martial arts, the lack is noticeable. Azula’s Acolytes in this story, much like the fandom, see her as a monster who cannot be compromised with, just as Mai and Ty Lee could no longer cooperate with Azula and chose to abandon her.O Produto não veio lacrado, e apresenta pequenas avarias externas, e isso me incomodou, mas em relação ao conteúdo, achei simplesmente Excepcional, uma história curta, mas que agrega bastante a jornada da Azula, que nos mostra o que aconteceu após os eventos de Smoke and Shadow. The story begins at night, showing a group of Fire Warriors running through the forest, led by Azula. Written in consultation with Avatar Studios , the veteran team of Faith Erin Hicks, Peter Wartman and Adele Matera is back with a new story in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender .

Yes, I know she was unhinged and villainous, but I thought we would be exploring more of her parent’s treatment of her. It means the war would have been fine as long as Azula was more like Iroh, smiling and drinking tea while razing villages and conquering cities instead of doing it with a smug smirk that makes grown men (and the viewer) feel small. Rule of thumb is never actually tell the audience a character’s fundamental wants and fears, because where’s the fun in that. Like the illustrations, the color work in “Azula in the Spirit Temple” really helps the comic feel like a proper part of the Avatar setting. But after a failed attack on her latest target, Azula finds herself in a mysterious forest temple inhabited by a solitary monk…or is it something more mysterious?

From there, it’s a conflict as much internal as it is against the spirit haunting the temple, as it’s never clear what’s real and what is an illusion designed to test her. The subreddit for fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, the comics, the upcoming Avatar Studios animated movies and other projects, novels, games, and all other Avatar content. It means if only she had been nicer, she would have been a more effective villain because she would have had allies to help her kill Zuko and Katara during Sozin’s Comet. I must admit, I was going into this thinking we were going to get a very shallow and rushed redemption arc for the character, but I was surprised to see that Azula’s journey ends up in an even more interesting place, despite the overall plot of the Airbender franchise being largely unchanged.

Instead, it subtly conveys her thoughts and feelings, allowing readers to interpret the narrative on their own, respecting the audience’s intelligence. Subverted when Ozai hugs and praises Azula in a flashback after she first firebends, as it's framed as yet another example of Ozai only valuing Azula for her power. One of the things fans love most about Azula is the fact that she is just so good at being a villain, representing a truly terrifying look at the power of obsession, familial pressure, and jealousy.

Azula having a girl crush on “Beach” era Ty Lee is cute and makes sense, but Azula being a self-loathing, sexually frustrated, dark lesbian who is bitter she can’t have Ty Lee makes zero sense given all that has not happened to support either of them harboring such feelings for each other, and it will inevitably end up as the focus of Azula’s character development to the detriment of all else about her. Spirit: My manifestations did not lie: this is a sacred place of peace and rest, should you wish for those things. In reality, I’d like to think the bug spirit sprayed Azula with a hallucinogen, which enable this whole story to start, and the spirit does a good job showing Azula visions that were harsh but truthful.

In fact, Azula gets some great looks of rage and self-righteous fury, which really help her voice come through. It answers an age-old fan debate about whether a character can or should be redeemed in a way that stays true to all we’ve seen of Azula throughout the animated series, without falling into tired tropes. Of all the takeaways from the late Estelle Nadel’s incredible story in “The Girl Who Sang,” that’s the one that still lingers hardest. I don’t mean they need to be killed, or literally made to vanish, but the Kemurikage as a concept needs to end.

More recently in the Avatar: The Last Airbender sequel comics, Azula has become obsessed with causing instability in her brother's Fire Nation through political turmoil and upheaval. One new reveal that was only hinted at in the show was the abandonment Azula felt when her mother left to live her own life outside the palace walls of the Fire Nation Capital.