I'm both glad and surprised that you actually intended for Azula to be sympathetic in her loss of Ursa. Glad, because I didn't come across as an abuse apologist asshole, and surprised because I thought you'd have difficulty viewing Azula in a sympathetic light when she reminds you so strongly of your own tormentor.
I think Ursa loved her daughter, and knew there was something very wrong with her, and was the only person to try to set boundaries for her
This. Ursa might not always have liked Azula, which is a good thing because if you like her through everything she does you either have some form of Stockholm syndrome or are a psychopath yourself. However, there is no doubt that Ursa never stopped loving Azula, Exhibit 1 of which is the fact that Ursa always cared enough to discipline her daughter and tell her what was and was not acceptable.
To make a contrast, I would say Ozai always liked Azula (the troubling implications of which I mentioned in the previous paragraph) but never loved her enough set appropriate boundaries and give her tools to deal with reality.
I am endlessly creeped out when people point to Ursa's being an actual parent to Azula as evidence that she didn't love her, because it implies that they think love means endless praise no matter what you do. (A chillingly common pathology in the United States, I am given to understand.) In other words, the way Ozai treated Azula looks like love to them. Even leaving aside the Zuko question--which you can't--they think this "love," which utterly hollowed out whatever capacity for decency and proportionality Azula might have had that Ursa was trying to nurture, was actually a good thing.
I don't even want to think about what real-life experiences led people to think this way. I hope they're just young and immature, and will learn better in short order.
She yelled and screamed for her missing doll because she couldn't yell and scream for her missing mother without admitting just how she really felt.
Ooh, I hadn't even thought about that. Excellent point.
Yes, having a fall guy is nice, but surely she would be even more secure if there were only Azula.
I read about this dynamic in an essay, though it was basically a fall guy theory. It argued that Azula wasn't secure without Zuko because she'd have no one to look good next to and the full brunt of Ozai's expectation and displeasure would fall on her. I used it in a fic where Azula, prior to Zuko's banishment, has an enraged breakdown at the possibility that a scheme of hers might have killed Zuko.
Do you think part of what triggered Azula's breakdown at the end of the show might have been having to kill Zuko? The attack on the Western Air Temple, where she first announced her intention to kill him ("I'm about to celebrate being an only child!") was also the first time Zuko fought back against her on an equal basis and almost won. And granted, Zuko had grown stronger by meeting with the dragons and everything, but this used to be an opponent who could take him and the Gaang single-handedly. The Agni Kai at the palace was the first time Zuko noticed Azula wasn't her old self, but maybe she'd been slipping for a while already.
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I think Ursa loved her daughter, and knew there was something very wrong with her, and was the only person to try to set boundaries for her
This. Ursa might not always have liked Azula, which is a good thing because if you like her through everything she does you either have some form of Stockholm syndrome or are a psychopath yourself. However, there is no doubt that Ursa never stopped loving Azula, Exhibit 1 of which is the fact that Ursa always cared enough to discipline her daughter and tell her what was and was not acceptable.
To make a contrast, I would say Ozai always liked Azula (the troubling implications of which I mentioned in the previous paragraph) but never loved her enough set appropriate boundaries and give her tools to deal with reality.
I am endlessly creeped out when people point to Ursa's being an actual parent to Azula as evidence that she didn't love her, because it implies that they think love means endless praise no matter what you do. (A chillingly common pathology in the United States, I am given to understand.) In other words, the way Ozai treated Azula looks like love to them. Even leaving aside the Zuko question--which you can't--they think this "love," which utterly hollowed out whatever capacity for decency and proportionality Azula might have had that Ursa was trying to nurture, was actually a good thing.
I don't even want to think about what real-life experiences led people to think this way. I hope they're just young and immature, and will learn better in short order.
She yelled and screamed for her missing doll because she couldn't yell and scream for her missing mother without admitting just how she really felt.
Ooh, I hadn't even thought about that. Excellent point.
Yes, having a fall guy is nice, but surely she would be even more secure if there were only Azula.
I read about this dynamic in an essay, though it was basically a fall guy theory. It argued that Azula wasn't secure without Zuko because she'd have no one to look good next to and the full brunt of Ozai's expectation and displeasure would fall on her. I used it in a fic where Azula, prior to Zuko's banishment, has an enraged breakdown at the possibility that a scheme of hers might have killed Zuko.
Do you think part of what triggered Azula's breakdown at the end of the show might have been having to kill Zuko? The attack on the Western Air Temple, where she first announced her intention to kill him ("I'm about to celebrate being an only child!") was also the first time Zuko fought back against her on an equal basis and almost won. And granted, Zuko had grown stronger by meeting with the dragons and everything, but this used to be an opponent who could take him and the Gaang single-handedly. The Agni Kai at the palace was the first time Zuko noticed Azula wasn't her old self, but maybe she'd been slipping for a while already.