Character Development: By the time of the Smoke and Shadow trilogy, not only is she a lot more mentally stable, but she has also reevaluated where her mentality has gotten her up to this point: Although still somewhat unhinged and obsessed with controlling others, Azula realized that she could rule through Zuko and thereby share the burden of being Fire Lord with him; this contrasts against her original approach for trying to gain absolute power which eventually led to her breakdown, this results in Azula overcoming multiple insecurities she has and feeling freer than ever before. The Friend Nobody Likes: It becomes clear that neither Mai or Ty Lee actually like Azula all that much, but simply follow her out of fear. However, it turns out both of them have principles that outweigh their fear of Azula, causing them both to turn on her. Which for Azula... hurt her harder than she really thought it would have. Mai: I guess you just don't know people as well as you think you do. You miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you.

Hallucinations: She hallucinates that her mother is talking to her just before the final Agni Kai. As this analysis points out, what the hallucinations tell her are inconsistent. In the series, Ursa tells Azula that she feels confused about using fear to control people (that Azula shows guilt about) and doesn't talk or mentioned anything about the throne at all. In the comics, she only tells Azula day and night that the throne is Zuko’s and she should just move on. By Smoke and Shadow, the hallucinations stopped by her accord when she adopted her new plan and focus. Faux Affably Evil: She is perfectly capable of acting polite as a manipulation tactic, with the keyword being "acting", giving a far more sinister edge to almost everything she says. This actually is shown off as both an advantage and a crippling flaw, as outside of situations where she needs to play her opponents like puppets, she is utterly clueless as to how to act. Beneath the Mask: Azula pretends to be cold and uncaring like her father was to mask the pain of being shunned by her mother. Come the final episode, Azula reveals herself as a very lonely child looking to be loved and and have friends she can trust. When she watches Katara revive Zuko, she once again gets to see he get the one thing she feels she never can have, and fully breaks. A sincere belief her mother never loved her and considered her a monster, combined with a father who was a psychotic, manipulative, emotionally abusive monster who encouraged her to be a monster so she'd be more useful to him that way. In the end, she's shown to be deeply insecure about anyone loving her. Bryan also has stated that growing up in a royal family of a nation seeking to Take Over the World worsened her problems.

AZULA RETURNS IN A NEW ‘AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER’ STORY FROM DARK HORSE AND AVATAR STUDIOS

Dark and Troubled Past: Azula has severe Mommy Issues and was raised by her abusive father to be a Tyke-Bomb.

Though the martial arts should be a giveaway and it's Played for Laughs in the volleyball game; Azula's exceptionally gifted in sports as well. I made one bad call while reading. I totally thought that when Azula unleashed her lightning on the Spirit that there'd be a reveal that in fact the real Ty Lee had been there all along and Azula had accidentally seriously wounded her. Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: See No Social Skills. If the finale is any indication, she also can't style her hair on her own, having gotten used to servants doing it for her. It's a lot more important than it may sound.Why? Because if Azula is to be redeemed, I think that's how you do it. I think hurting Ty Lee is one of the few things that would cause Azula to feel genuine remorse and make her look at herself and realise what she has become. Now this is the part where we’re going to delve into spoilers, because it’s an important part of the character exploration, so read on at your own risk. If you want to skip the spoilers, skip the next three paragraphs.