I think a lot of people have a really hard time recognizing emotional abuse for what it is, and since Azula never lays a hand on her friends until The Boiling Rock, it doesn't connect as abusive and deeply toxic for them. Also, a lot of people have a very difficult time dealing with the fact that someone can be both abusive and abused, and that they can be so without one causing the other. I'm sure Azula was abused by Ozai. He's extremely abusive. And that abuse almost certainly contributed to her mental instability that fueled her psychosis (I subscribe to the theory that she had an episode of brief reactive psychosis rather than something organic) But she's also a terrifying sociopath. Horrible people don't have some kind of horrible person courtesy where they say "oh, you're horrible too, so I won't hurt you, let's be buddies!"* Azula is both horribly treated by her father and horrible herself.
*Okay, sometimes they do, but it's not consistent, and is generally about filling a mutual need rather than evil person good manners.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2013-03-02 02:59 pm (UTC)*Okay, sometimes they do, but it's not consistent, and is generally about filling a mutual need rather than evil person good manners.