whetstonefires: katy-l-wood: ilya-boltagon:This flashback in ATLA, Azulon becoming enraged with Ozai
whetstonefires: katy-l-wood: ilya-boltagon:This flashback in ATLA, Azulon becoming enraged with Ozai for disrespecting Iroh and the recently deceased Lu Ten, is usually interpreted as Azulon then ordering Ozai to kill Zuko. I disagree with this for two reasons.1: We don’t actually hear Azulon say that, it’s only referred to by Azula (who was around seven or eight at the time and might have misunderstood what she heard) and by Ozai, years later, when he is taunting Zuko on the Day of Black Sun. Neither Azula nor Ozai are reliable narrators.2: Azulon is, at the time of this flashback, the ruler of the Fire Nation who has just lost one of his only two grandsons and heirs. What kind of monarch loses one heir and then turns around and demands the death of another, especially when losing Zuko would hardly bother Ozai?My interpretation of this situation is Azulon ordered Ozai to give Zuko into Iroh’s care, replacing Lu Ten as Iroh’s heir, neatly removing any argument Ozai had about Iroh’s line having ended. Ozai of course would never accept this. He either lied to Ursa, claiming Azulon wished Zuko dead, or outright told his wife he’d kill Zuko before seeing him get ahead of him in the line of succession, thus manipulating Ursa to help him assassinate Azulon. I think this theory makes far more logical sense than ‘Azulon ordered the murder of his nine-year-old grandson’. Oh, I like this. I like this lots. Yeah! It’s more logical from Azulon as a strategic move and it ties perfectly into Ozai’s existing motives to be a dick to Zuko for reasons that are actually about Iroh.Because I can’t entertain any doubt that a lot of how Ozai is with his kids is in reaction to having been the spare to Iroh’s heir. He leapt on the first chance to favor Azula once she showed signs of budding genius because it was a chance to re-litigate his lasting resentments about what he felt was unfair treatment from his father. (Which it probably was a little, but also Iroh is like 20+ years older and a genius and socially adept and Ozai was never going to be able to compete on any level, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t fantasize about it endlessly.) Ozai’s a fucking menace. -- source link