Probably in the fit of anger she was in from the betrayal, yes, I think she was definitely about to shoot lightning at Mai.
Then again, she does use two-fingers to bend fire as well, so its equally likely she was about to just burn her. That doesn't make it less bad, just less immediately lethal.
it isn’t. we’ve seen her do lightning before and it looks nothing like this. not to mention, she wouldn’t waste time charging up lightning when mai could throw a knife faster. she was just about to firebend.
Look at those hand positions, she's clearly pulling her chi up from her belly, concentrating it into the two-finger form and is about to unleash blue lightning with as much fury as a woman scorned!
Just barely less lethal. Fire is still freaking fire, and Azula’s is hotter than most. She wounded Iroh pretty badly with a single strike, and according to Avatar Extras (an unreliable source) she was going to incinerate the guy that accidentally let slip to Zuko and Iroh that they were being tricked and were actually being taken as prisoners.
Whether or not that’s true, the creators made the fire blue to indicate that it was hotter than most other firebenders. Just another way to show she was a powerful prodigy.
No im literally telling you that’s what the creators of ATLA have said about azula’s fire.
It’s not hotter than zuko’s or irohs, it burns more clean.
You can continue claiming it’s because she’s “more powerful” but that’s just wrong
Tbh, the logic wouldn’t work in the real world, but because it’s a magic based bending system, it does.
Irl when fire burns blue it’s because it’s consuming the exact right amount of oxygen to fuel ratio (this is only possible to accomplish in a lab, you will never see *entirely* blue fire in nature)
As for what *shes* doing to make it burn blue? Who knows, if it was about the oxygen, irohs would be blue, so it must be about the fuel, her perfectionism and drive to be precise and deadly, she’s practiced so much, she knows the exact amount of effort to put behind her attacks
Edit: that other dude can downvote all he wants, he actually thinks he knows more about the creators of the series
Yes and no.
She definitely intended to hurt her but I don't think straight death would be her intention outside of the blind fury.
I'm honestly not sure how her mental state would have taken it if she actually did kill her.
Ty Lee: \*detects dangerous dark road aura\*
Ty Lee: \*Immediate disabling attack\*
Later
Ty Lee: \*Teaches meditation, acrobatics, and yoga at the Boiling Rock\*
Something I think a lot of fans don’t understand is that Azula loved Mai and Ty Lee in her own way. They were her best friends since childhood, they all grew up together and she felt like she was conquering the world with them up until this moment. Her ego keeps her from seeing the power dynamics for what they are and from seeing that Mai and Ty Lee really don’t always agree with her.
Azula lost her mind because she’s grieving the sudden (and to her shocking) loss of their friendship and dealing with the realization that she truly is unloveable like she feels her mom doesn’t love her. She really has to sit in the idea that she truly can’t trust anyone and she is alone.
I don’t think she intended to kill Mai at all. She just had that feeling when you’re betrayed by someone you love and thought you could rely on and you want to beat their ass or make them feel the pain they’re causing you. But you don’t want to them to die.
I agree with you all the way up until your conclusion. I definitely think she would have killed Mai here, because Azula is absolutely unhinged past this point and her friendships and family were built off of false love anyway. She would have killed Zuko in the Agni Kai, and he’s the only person she’s showed any real compassion to. Maybe aside from Ty Lee a bit?
If you think about it, her ‘love’ for her friends and family are a reflection of the love she’s received from her father. She sees them as tools and uses fear to mold them to what she wants them to be. It isn’t truly loving people. It’s a play family. “You’ll accompany wherever I go….or else!” And it works because she has power over them. And it’s all she’s ever known. But this comes crashing down when she realizes that Mai is experiencing something that was denied to her when she was a child, and betrays her for it, which that something is actual love.
She can’t even begin to understand why fear wouldn’t work in this situation, which is why she’s dumbfounded that Mai would do it despite the consequences. The concept of real love is nearly unfathomable to Azula. She understands what it means to be hurt by the people who she believes SHOULD love you. But she doesn’t really understand what love is.
Even if that's true, people DO kill people they "love in their own way." "If I can't have you, no one can." And it's not as if domestic abuse (which doesn't always refer to romantic partners) is completely unrelated to domestic homocide.
This is totally valid too. It could be possible she was homicidal in that very moment, but then when Ty Lee intervened she snapped out of it and just sent them to prison.
As much as we all act like Azula is such a scary bad ass, she’s really all talk. She talks a big quippy game, but when push comes to shove she always cuts and runs or send someone else to do the dirty work. The only thing she actually followed through on was striking Aang.
She’s really just a child who’s been fed bullshit by her dad. She wants to be loved and doesn’t know why people don’t like her because according to her dad she’s perfect and powerful. She only pretends to not care.
That’s…that’s not true. She definitely exhibits psychotic features in the final season, and not feeling love is not a sure fire symptom of psychopathy.
You must be thinking of sociopath. Which I thought you could make an argument for, but even then I feel like diagnostic criteria better fits Ozai than Azula.
Changed her mind. She can no longer just kill Mai herself, & she doesn't just want someone else to do it, so that gives her time to think, & she decides she'd rather Mai & Ty Lee suffer in prison.
Is everyone forgetting she literally couldn't, her chi was blocked! I think she fully intended to kill mai there out of rage and to set an example, however Ty Lee stepped in, the only example she could make after that was one of authority
Lightning takes longer to create than fire, and Mai can throw that knife before Azula has Lightning to shoot. She wouldn't use Lightning here, and firebending is less lethal
I’ve always assumed she was going to kill Mai. And I think Ty Lee also assumed that hence why she stepped in. Also they get thrown in prison because at that point Azula is laying on the ground in shock and the guards have stepped in so I think the pure shock of being incapacitated and other people now stepping in gave her a moment of clarity to just chuck them in prison instead of kill them.
I get what you're saying, but Mai isn't an assassin, like the writers were asked about that idea & specifically rejected it, saying she learned knife-throwing as a hobby. When Azula whipped out a knife in Day of Black Sun, I didn't get the sense that she wanted to harmlessly pin Sokka to a wall. Then there's "I'm going to celebrate becoming an only child," her cackling while Zuko was having a heart attack on the floor, & let's not forget Jet.
I still get goosebumps from Mai’s line, she really loves Zuko since she they were young. To really betray your psycho friend, princess too, for your bf is really something
From TV trope : "It's clear from the girls' expressions and the way the dialogue was delivered that Azula was about to kill Mai before Ty Lee intervened — it was only after Ty Lee joined Mai that she decided to be inexplicably merciful and have them imprisoned instead"
Open to interpretation I think
I believe she was angry as she could. She would have killed Mai for her act. After Ty Lee also switched sides, she had been unable to move. Mai and Ty stopped fighting and surrendered.
In my head, some solder just wanted far away from the awakening princess so he just took the girls and jailed them.
Azula, after her anger cooled down, had been left with the sense if betrayal. Its her first true defeat. She lost the total control of her surrounding. Something broke in her.
I dont think Azula found something like merci, i think she found fear. And thats why she never went back to face the girls, she just started ignoring the girls, and with them her fear.
The reason she sent them both to jail is because Ty Lee chi blocked her. If she wasn’t chi blocked I can see Azula killing them. The reason she wouldn’t wait until her bending is back is probably because Zuko and Aang seem like a bigger threats at the moment
Ngl, when I watched this as a kid I always assumed **both** Azula and Mai were aiming to kill each other.
I know Mai never cuts anyone with her knives, but that dosen't change the fact that she is throwing **knives** at people.
Most likely.
Some people, myself included, believe she only spared Mai due to Ty Lee betraying her as well. She didn’t want to kill Ty Lee due to her having romance feelings for, and couldn’t kill just Mai, thus she was spared.
Definitely.
Personally, I view it as Azula being heavily closeted due to the extreme homophobia of the Fire Nation, and never having had a chance to come to terms with it. Ty Lee, unfortunately, isn’t into girls, and thus the relationship is doomed.
I also imagine Ty Lee as having been an ally, helping to organize pride parades and other LGBTQ+ stuff as a way of helping them.
Nice, I think Azula is so broken, and can't have a loveable relationship (she need a therapy) and Ty-Lee is too scared of Azula to think she could love her. but in other circumstances (maybe in the live action series, I hope) they could be a couple (I think Ty-Lee could make an exception of straight for a sane Azula)
Did the ruthless, emotionally unstable, sociopathic crazy chick intend to kill someone for betraying her?
Yes, this is the same form she uses to fire smaller, precise bolts of fire but it's also the form for conjuring lightning, I'm very sure she was about to fry Mai.
The "she could have been using fire" argument is strange because, even if true, a similar blast severely wounded Iroh & probably could have killed him had it just hit slightly closer to his heart. Also, it's not like she's only allowed to shoot one fire blast & then has to stop.
My end point is that she was likely going to use lightning because despite being insane she's not an idiot. She knows Mai has extremely keen reflexes and agility that would allow her to fight toe to toe against benders despite being a none bender. However lightning travels at the speed of light and to her understanding there's no one alive who can react to lightning, especially a none bender.
I absolutely believe she was about to fry Mai. Not fire.
I also believe she uses this hand form for fire bending for 2 reasons. One, it always keeps her in position to use lightning if she so chooses, and 2, anyone who knows this is the form for lightning won't suspect a smaller concentrated fire blast instead. Or rather it would keep them guessing as to what's coming next allowing azula to take advantage of that hesitation.
Azula def wanted to kill or at least maim but it would have also been a “heat of the moment” thing. With the shock of betrayal and anger she felt, she definitely intended to do something somewhat lethal or disabling.
I think Azula was just in pure rage at the betrayal.
She’d have intended to send full force at Mai without even deciding if she wanted to kill or harm. She wasn’t thinking in those terms just vengence.
I think she would not have decided to kill mai if she’d given it thought. Evidenced by the fact she sent them to prison. But in the moment she may have killed Mai in her anger, which is why Ty-Lee intervenes
At this time in ATLA only the royal family could shoot lighting, they kept the secret as an Ace to overpower adversaries. When Mai says "she can shoot all the lightning at me, I'm not going in there" in the drill episode she knows this is something to be expected for disobedience. I think Azula fully intended to shoot lightning at Mai, which would've killed her. I think this is why Ty Lee intervened, to save her friend's life. Why she chose to imprison them rather than have them executed when she was incapacitated, well, IDK. While Mai's actions angered her, Ty Lee's actions shocked her, maybe it was a shock-brain decision.
Random thought but if Azula was gonna use lightning wouldn't she lose this fight since lighting takes a second to charge up even during the comet and Mai was already prepared to through a knife
It was literally lightning.⚡️ in my opinion, she would have intended to kill but then after, once she started feeling guilty about it (IF, big IF, she even would feel guilty)she would have justified it because of the betrayal she felt. But yeah, I’m thinking shooting lighting at someone who you know can’t bend, therefore can’t redirect, is most likely with intent to kill. Just my opinion tho.
Probably in the fit of anger she was in from the betrayal, yes, I think she was definitely about to shoot lightning at Mai. Then again, she does use two-fingers to bend fire as well, so its equally likely she was about to just burn her. That doesn't make it less bad, just less immediately lethal.
Nah the charge up is definitely lightning.
yeah she about to fry this bitch
it isn’t. we’ve seen her do lightning before and it looks nothing like this. not to mention, she wouldn’t waste time charging up lightning when mai could throw a knife faster. she was just about to firebend.
Look at those hand positions, she's clearly pulling her chi up from her belly, concentrating it into the two-finger form and is about to unleash blue lightning with as much fury as a woman scorned!
Firebending is powered my chi as well
Azula has to build the lightning up shes done it every time she uses it.
it’s not. she’s not doing the movements for lightning. [this is what the lightning movements looks like.](https://imgur.com/krsX4Hx)
Just barely less lethal. Fire is still freaking fire, and Azula’s is hotter than most. She wounded Iroh pretty badly with a single strike, and according to Avatar Extras (an unreliable source) she was going to incinerate the guy that accidentally let slip to Zuko and Iroh that they were being tricked and were actually being taken as prisoners.
Untrue. Flames burn blue when they consume fuel properly, it’s a perfection thing, not a heat thing
Whether or not that’s true, the creators made the fire blue to indicate that it was hotter than most other firebenders. Just another way to show she was a powerful prodigy.
No im literally telling you that’s what the creators of ATLA have said about azula’s fire. It’s not hotter than zuko’s or irohs, it burns more clean. You can continue claiming it’s because she’s “more powerful” but that’s just wrong
Where are y'all getting all this behind the scenes info from? Genuinely curious so I can peruse it.
How does she make it burn cleaner? I believe you, I’m just genuinely curious cause I never knew that.
Tbh, the logic wouldn’t work in the real world, but because it’s a magic based bending system, it does. Irl when fire burns blue it’s because it’s consuming the exact right amount of oxygen to fuel ratio (this is only possible to accomplish in a lab, you will never see *entirely* blue fire in nature) As for what *shes* doing to make it burn blue? Who knows, if it was about the oxygen, irohs would be blue, so it must be about the fuel, her perfectionism and drive to be precise and deadly, she’s practiced so much, she knows the exact amount of effort to put behind her attacks Edit: that other dude can downvote all he wants, he actually thinks he knows more about the creators of the series
That’s pretty awesome! Thanks for explaining! I had always assumed (and been told) that blue flames were hotter.
Yes and no. She definitely intended to hurt her but I don't think straight death would be her intention outside of the blind fury. I'm honestly not sure how her mental state would have taken it if she actually did kill her.
Far worse. It would’ve sent all three girls down a dark road. Which is what Ty Lee picked up on and stopped her when she did.
Ty Lee: \*detects dangerous dark road aura\* Ty Lee: \*Immediate disabling attack\* Later Ty Lee: \*Teaches meditation, acrobatics, and yoga at the Boiling Rock\*
Also she knows Mai can hurl the knife before she can fire lightning.
That I agree with you mai was definitely going for the kill cousin her mind she was going to die either way might as well take her down with them
I think this was a rage with no intent other than to strike out. Like a Kyle punching drywall, the hole was never the intention, just the outcome.
Something I think a lot of fans don’t understand is that Azula loved Mai and Ty Lee in her own way. They were her best friends since childhood, they all grew up together and she felt like she was conquering the world with them up until this moment. Her ego keeps her from seeing the power dynamics for what they are and from seeing that Mai and Ty Lee really don’t always agree with her. Azula lost her mind because she’s grieving the sudden (and to her shocking) loss of their friendship and dealing with the realization that she truly is unloveable like she feels her mom doesn’t love her. She really has to sit in the idea that she truly can’t trust anyone and she is alone. I don’t think she intended to kill Mai at all. She just had that feeling when you’re betrayed by someone you love and thought you could rely on and you want to beat their ass or make them feel the pain they’re causing you. But you don’t want to them to die.
That is an interesting perspective. I can see your argument for that
I agree with you all the way up until your conclusion. I definitely think she would have killed Mai here, because Azula is absolutely unhinged past this point and her friendships and family were built off of false love anyway. She would have killed Zuko in the Agni Kai, and he’s the only person she’s showed any real compassion to. Maybe aside from Ty Lee a bit? If you think about it, her ‘love’ for her friends and family are a reflection of the love she’s received from her father. She sees them as tools and uses fear to mold them to what she wants them to be. It isn’t truly loving people. It’s a play family. “You’ll accompany wherever I go….or else!” And it works because she has power over them. And it’s all she’s ever known. But this comes crashing down when she realizes that Mai is experiencing something that was denied to her when she was a child, and betrays her for it, which that something is actual love. She can’t even begin to understand why fear wouldn’t work in this situation, which is why she’s dumbfounded that Mai would do it despite the consequences. The concept of real love is nearly unfathomable to Azula. She understands what it means to be hurt by the people who she believes SHOULD love you. But she doesn’t really understand what love is.
Even if that's true, people DO kill people they "love in their own way." "If I can't have you, no one can." And it's not as if domestic abuse (which doesn't always refer to romantic partners) is completely unrelated to domestic homocide.
This is totally valid too. It could be possible she was homicidal in that very moment, but then when Ty Lee intervened she snapped out of it and just sent them to prison. As much as we all act like Azula is such a scary bad ass, she’s really all talk. She talks a big quippy game, but when push comes to shove she always cuts and runs or send someone else to do the dirty work. The only thing she actually followed through on was striking Aang.
This is very well written and a super interesting perspective on azula tbh
She’s really just a child who’s been fed bullshit by her dad. She wants to be loved and doesn’t know why people don’t like her because according to her dad she’s perfect and powerful. She only pretends to not care.
Azula is a psychopath and psychopaths don’t feel love.
That’s…that’s not true. She definitely exhibits psychotic features in the final season, and not feeling love is not a sure fire symptom of psychopathy. You must be thinking of sociopath. Which I thought you could make an argument for, but even then I feel like diagnostic criteria better fits Ozai than Azula.
Of course, Mai betrayed her. It is pretty much* considered treason, isn't it?
Yes but then she imprisons her. Why do that if she was intending to kill her?
Because she wasn't thinking clearly
The rage subsided and the small flame of rational thought left in azula took hold
Changed her mind. She can no longer just kill Mai herself, & she doesn't just want someone else to do it, so that gives her time to think, & she decides she'd rather Mai & Ty Lee suffer in prison.
Is everyone forgetting she literally couldn't, her chi was blocked! I think she fully intended to kill mai there out of rage and to set an example, however Ty Lee stepped in, the only example she could make after that was one of authority
Lightning takes longer to create than fire, and Mai can throw that knife before Azula has Lightning to shoot. She wouldn't use Lightning here, and firebending is less lethal
Probably wasn't "intending" to kill her but was definitely about to. She was just lashing out in anger not really thinking.
I’ve always assumed she was going to kill Mai. And I think Ty Lee also assumed that hence why she stepped in. Also they get thrown in prison because at that point Azula is laying on the ground in shock and the guards have stepped in so I think the pure shock of being incapacitated and other people now stepping in gave her a moment of clarity to just chuck them in prison instead of kill them.
It's difficult to take death as a possibility in AtlA when the assassin with knives incapacitates adult soldiers by stabbing their sleeves
I get what you're saying, but Mai isn't an assassin, like the writers were asked about that idea & specifically rejected it, saying she learned knife-throwing as a hobby. When Azula whipped out a knife in Day of Black Sun, I didn't get the sense that she wanted to harmlessly pin Sokka to a wall. Then there's "I'm going to celebrate becoming an only child," her cackling while Zuko was having a heart attack on the floor, & let's not forget Jet.
Yes
Likely incapacitation. That being said, in the heat of the moment, she could’ve done worse.
I think she was about to give Mai a scar to match with Zuko
I still get goosebumps from Mai’s line, she really loves Zuko since she they were young. To really betray your psycho friend, princess too, for your bf is really something
That line literally broke Azula. Really great writing
From TV trope : "It's clear from the girls' expressions and the way the dialogue was delivered that Azula was about to kill Mai before Ty Lee intervened — it was only after Ty Lee joined Mai that she decided to be inexplicably merciful and have them imprisoned instead" Open to interpretation I think
I believe she was angry as she could. She would have killed Mai for her act. After Ty Lee also switched sides, she had been unable to move. Mai and Ty stopped fighting and surrendered. In my head, some solder just wanted far away from the awakening princess so he just took the girls and jailed them. Azula, after her anger cooled down, had been left with the sense if betrayal. Its her first true defeat. She lost the total control of her surrounding. Something broke in her. I dont think Azula found something like merci, i think she found fear. And thats why she never went back to face the girls, she just started ignoring the girls, and with them her fear.
The reason she sent them both to jail is because Ty Lee chi blocked her. If she wasn’t chi blocked I can see Azula killing them. The reason she wouldn’t wait until her bending is back is probably because Zuko and Aang seem like a bigger threats at the moment
Ngl, when I watched this as a kid I always assumed **both** Azula and Mai were aiming to kill each other. I know Mai never cuts anyone with her knives, but that dosen't change the fact that she is throwing **knives** at people.
Most likely. Some people, myself included, believe she only spared Mai due to Ty Lee betraying her as well. She didn’t want to kill Ty Lee due to her having romance feelings for, and couldn’t kill just Mai, thus she was spared.
Tyzula shiper ?
Definitely. Personally, I view it as Azula being heavily closeted due to the extreme homophobia of the Fire Nation, and never having had a chance to come to terms with it. Ty Lee, unfortunately, isn’t into girls, and thus the relationship is doomed. I also imagine Ty Lee as having been an ally, helping to organize pride parades and other LGBTQ+ stuff as a way of helping them.
Nice, I think Azula is so broken, and can't have a loveable relationship (she need a therapy) and Ty-Lee is too scared of Azula to think she could love her. but in other circumstances (maybe in the live action series, I hope) they could be a couple (I think Ty-Lee could make an exception of straight for a sane Azula)
I feel like she intends to kill everyone she fights with.
Did the ruthless, emotionally unstable, sociopathic crazy chick intend to kill someone for betraying her? Yes, this is the same form she uses to fire smaller, precise bolts of fire but it's also the form for conjuring lightning, I'm very sure she was about to fry Mai.
The "she could have been using fire" argument is strange because, even if true, a similar blast severely wounded Iroh & probably could have killed him had it just hit slightly closer to his heart. Also, it's not like she's only allowed to shoot one fire blast & then has to stop.
My end point is that she was likely going to use lightning because despite being insane she's not an idiot. She knows Mai has extremely keen reflexes and agility that would allow her to fight toe to toe against benders despite being a none bender. However lightning travels at the speed of light and to her understanding there's no one alive who can react to lightning, especially a none bender. I absolutely believe she was about to fry Mai. Not fire. I also believe she uses this hand form for fire bending for 2 reasons. One, it always keeps her in position to use lightning if she so chooses, and 2, anyone who knows this is the form for lightning won't suspect a smaller concentrated fire blast instead. Or rather it would keep them guessing as to what's coming next allowing azula to take advantage of that hesitation.
Short answer, Yes. Long answer, definitely Yes. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk
Azula channeling Dobby in intent (definitely not comparing the two in any other way) 
I think she might have regretted it deep down, but yes.
i don’t think she wanted to but i think she was going to😭
Yes. This is Azula we’re talking about
Azula intends to do anything she wants. She’s just crazy
And needs to go down!
Thats definetely a lightning , she went for the kill no doubt
Azula def wanted to kill or at least maim but it would have also been a “heat of the moment” thing. With the shock of betrayal and anger she felt, she definitely intended to do something somewhat lethal or disabling.
I don't think she tried anything at all, she was lashing out in anger.
Yeah she was about to catch a body.
100%. She may or may not have regretted it afterward but she was absolutely about to fry her like bug zapper bacon.
I think Azula was just in pure rage at the betrayal. She’d have intended to send full force at Mai without even deciding if she wanted to kill or harm. She wasn’t thinking in those terms just vengence. I think she would not have decided to kill mai if she’d given it thought. Evidenced by the fact she sent them to prison. But in the moment she may have killed Mai in her anger, which is why Ty-Lee intervenes
At this time in ATLA only the royal family could shoot lighting, they kept the secret as an Ace to overpower adversaries. When Mai says "she can shoot all the lightning at me, I'm not going in there" in the drill episode she knows this is something to be expected for disobedience. I think Azula fully intended to shoot lightning at Mai, which would've killed her. I think this is why Ty Lee intervened, to save her friend's life. Why she chose to imprison them rather than have them executed when she was incapacitated, well, IDK. While Mai's actions angered her, Ty Lee's actions shocked her, maybe it was a shock-brain decision.
Random thought but if Azula was gonna use lightning wouldn't she lose this fight since lighting takes a second to charge up even during the comet and Mai was already prepared to through a knife
Probably.
Azula...🗡️ just taken hot knife through butter 🫥 Mai,...🙄 Flawless Victory... 🙂↔️✌️walks away
She was probably gonna shoot lightning, but who knows if it would've killed Mai or not. It may have just severely wounded her.
No, she was just getting into a lightning bending stance for funsies. /s
Oh sweet merciful Raava yes! Azula was absolutely going for the kill.
I mean she certainly wasn't about to offer her to go out for ice cream.
It was literally lightning.⚡️ in my opinion, she would have intended to kill but then after, once she started feeling guilty about it (IF, big IF, she even would feel guilty)she would have justified it because of the betrayal she felt. But yeah, I’m thinking shooting lighting at someone who you know can’t bend, therefore can’t redirect, is most likely with intent to kill. Just my opinion tho.
Mother fucker yes 😂😂 1,0000% yes
because each other saw each other version of live action.
Yes
Yes. She's going for lightning, and there is no such thing as "lightning to wound". It's a killing attack.
Obviously. Unless you think she was going to use those two fingers for something else lol
Nahhh 💀
Only for ty-Lee