#abuse tw

The different ways in which Zuko and Azula were abused

Zuko

Zuko was psychologically and physically abused by Ozai. Ozai made Zuko feel inferior to Azula. He made Zuko feel like he was worthless because he struggled with learning firebending while Azula learned firebending very quickly. This made Zuko’s self esteem be very low. Then we all know what happened to Zuko when he was thirteen.

Azula

Azula was psychologically abused by Ozai. She was molded into a weapon of war by her father because of her prodigious firebending talents and extreme intelligence and cunning. She was isolated from her other family members by Ozai telling her how much better she was from them and how they were weak. Ozai made Azula believe that she wasn’t worth anything unless she was useful to him.

How this affected the way Zuko and Azula viewed each other

Due to constantly being compared negatively to Azula, Zuko viewed her in a negative light. He viewed her as an obstacle to getting their father’s favor because Azula was always outshining him. He was extremely resentful and distrustful of her. Due to her father telling her how weak Zuko was, Azula viewed him in just that way. As a pathetic weakling who always hid behind their mother. Still, beneath all of that, I do believe that she cared for him. And to put it more simply, both siblings were also jealous of each other for being the other parent’s supposed favorite child.

Therefore, Ozai is at fault for Zuko and Azula’s negative views of each other. The different ways in which Ozai abused both of his children was detrimental to Zuko and Azula’s relationship. Ozai did not love Zuko or Azula. He only viewed them as tools to use in his own ambitions.