History of Azula (Spring 100 AG)

After being sent on a mission to capture her brother and uncle by her father, Azula forms an elite team and begins to chase down Team Avatar.

A Family Reunion


When Fire Lord Ozai branded Iroh a traitor and her brother Zuko a failure, she willingly obeyed her father's command for her to go and capture them, as seen in the final seconds of the first season finale. While en-route, she worked at perfecting her ability to create lightning, with the aid of her advisers and masters Lo and Li. Azula attempted to capture Zuko and Iroh, (now considered traitors to the Fire Nation) luring Zuko with the false promise of being accepted home with open arms. When Zuko learned of the deception, though, he attacked her. She easily evaded his attacks, and struck back with taunts and brief attacks. However, she failed to finish her brother off, as Iroh redirected her lightning attack away from Zuko and into a nearby cliff, and then kicked her off the edge of the ship.

A New Target
After being counseled by her twin masters Lo and Li that the royal procession was not a wise choice to accompany her on her mission, she agreed and decided to abandon the unit, opting to find and recruit her two childhood friends. Ty Lee required some "convincing" as she had already started a life at the circus, but Mai was only too willing to leave the boredom of the conquered city of Omashu in favor of going on an exciting hunt especially if it involved interacting with her childhood crush Zuko. Whilst in the city, Azula met with Mai's father to 'discuss' matters of the city. She felt that he was failing his task of governing the city. After this she renamed Omashu as the city of New Ozai, in honor of her father.



During this episode, Azula first encountered the Avatar, Aang. She and her new allies were almost able to defeat Aang and his friends, but their overall unpreparedness, not being able to work as a team as well as a trump card delivered by a shrewd King Bumi enabled Team Avatar the time needed to escape the city. Soon after the battle she is seen leaving the city where she named the Avatar as a personal target in addition to capturing her brother and uncle.

Princess Azula and her two friends are not seen again until they relentlessly pursued the Avatar's group, using a highly advanced Fire Nation tank train and three Mongoose Dragons as mounts to pursue them night and day. After wearing down the foursome, Azula decided they should split up, as Aang tried to lead Azula and her friends away from Sokka and Katara's trail. Azula noticed the deception, however, and sent Ty Lee and Mai to follow Sokka and Katara, while she continued chasing down the Avatar. Azula encountered the Avatar in an abandoned town and prepared to fight him; she was interrupted, though, by her brother Zuko, who had tracked them and had his own plans for capturing Aang. Azula fought the two boys, and despite the fact that both mostly concentrated on attacking her, she dominated the fight,easily landing a knockout blow on Zuko and later trapping Aang beneath some fallen rubble. Victory was denied to her, however, when Katara, Sokka, and Toph showed up to rescue Aang, while Iroh arrived to help Zuko. Cornered, she claimed to be willing to give in, saying that "a princess surrenders with honor", but to everyone's surprise and dismay, Azula took advantage of Iroh momentarily being off guard and seriously wounded him with a bolt of blue fire, then escaped as the four benders attacked with their respective elements.

Azula was not seen again until she, along with her allies Mai and Ty Lee, were overseeing War Minister Qin's efforts to use a giant drill to break through the outer wall of Ba Sing Se. When the engineers reported an accident involving an ambushed engineer, stolen drill schematics, and further sabotage, Azula recognized that it was the work of the Avatar. Upon finding Aang, Katara, and Sokka attempting to break the engine's braces, Azula forced Aang and his gang to quickly flee. She sent Mai and Ty Lee after Katara and Sokka while Azula followed Aang, once again claiming personal ownership over the Avatar's capture. She caught Aang trying to bore a hole at the top of the drill, and they began a brutal match. Her Firebending nearly overwhelmed the young Avatar, but he continued to fight as the drill bored its way through the wall. The fight ended in a rather undignified manner, with the drill's slurry water pipes bursting and Azula slipping into Aang; both of them almost fell off the drill. Azula tried to regain the advantage, but Aang was faster and by the time she had recovered, he was already on his way down the wall to destroy the drill. Azula gave one final strike with flame, but was a second too slow. Aang's powerful impact on the earthen wedge destroyed the drill and knocked Azula away.

Infiltration


Following this incident, Azula took Mai and Ty Lee and began hunting for the Avatar's bison, once again following his trail of hair. When the princess and her companions finally came across him in, he was in a forest clearing being tended to by a group of female warriors—the Kyoshi Warriors. After a few snide remarks in which she dismissed the warriors as the Avatar's "fan girls", Azula and her friends initiated a fight. Azula engaged Suki in a swift one-on-one battle and managed to disarm the warrior and kick her to the ground; however, she was distracted by another Kyoshi Warrior and turned to fight her instead. By the time she returned to Suki, Suki had already driven Appa off with a flaming branch. Suki then proceeded to take a firm stance, whereas Azula merely condescendingly teased her again, before rushing in to battle—the girls clashed, but the rest of the fight was left unseen.

It was made clear that the Kyoshi Warriors did not claim victory in this battle—after the three girls dressed in Kyoshi Warrior uniforms were welcomed by the Earth King--and the leader of the girls was unmistakably Azula.

Shortly after, The Earth King revealed that he had had a troubling week, with Long Feng and the Dai Li planning to take over. Azula's initial smug amusement at the irony of the situation turned to a sudden concern, though, when he revealed to them that the Earth Kingdom will invade the Fire Nation—on the day of a solar eclipse. Azula was visibly caught off-guard by this information, and immediately begins to consider what to do.



After wards, she confided to Ty Lee and Mai that she planned to take control of the Dai Li and take down Ba Sing Se from the inside. She developed a plan to inform the Dai Li of their true nature, and thus spread the word on to their leader, Long Feng. The plan was successful, and Azula was taken by Dai Li agents in the middle of the night to Long Feng, who struck a deal with her. He gave her control of the Dai Li to overthrow the government in exchange for the Avatar.

Meanwhile, Katara discovered that Zuko and Iroh were in the city, and approached Azula, thinking her to be Suki, and informed her of her brother's presence. Azula revealed herself, and before Katara could warn anyone, Ty Lee took the young Waterbender down. Azula proceeded to lock her in the crystal catacombs beneath the city and have a "family reunion" by sending a letter to Iroh and Zuko, telling them that the Earth King wished for them to serve him tea. Near the beginning of "The Crossroads of Destiny", the pair fell into her trap, and became surrounded by Dai Li agents. However, Iroh managed to escape them and the palace—Zuko, on the other hand, chose to stay behind to face Azula, challenging her to an Agni-Kai. His sister nonchalantly turned it down, and he was overwhelmed by the Dai Li. He was then imprisoned in the same dungeon as Katara.

The Coup
Finally, Azula unleashed her coup upon the city, and the Dai Li arrested the Council of Five, the Earth King's highest ranking generals, while she personally captured the Earth King. Sokka and Toph were arrested as well while attempting to warn the Earth King of the danger, and Azula sent them off to a separate dungeon. Immediately afterward, Long Feng arrived on the scene and commanded the Dai Li to arrest Azula, smugly proclaiming a double-cross. The laugh was all Azula's, though, as she gleefully explained that the Dai Li were so impressed by her that they no longer knew who to follow. In fact earlier, a Dai Li agent had remarked to Long Feng that Azula was "both terrifying and inspirational at the same time"; a perfect example of her Machiavellian talents. In a smug and verbose speech, she denounced him for his lack of the divine right to rule—something she possessed and boasted about. She ended by commanding Long Feng to bow to her, since he could not compete with somebody born to rule. He grudgingly obliged, saying that she had beaten him at his own game. She scathingly replied that he was "never even a player".

Battle in the Crystal Catacombs


Azula appeared one last time in the chapter, shortly after Iroh and Aang found Katara and Zuko. Aang and Katara had been sent off by Iroh to find Sokka and Toph, while he remained behind for a moment with Zuko to bring him finally over to the side of good. However, his choice would not be complete without the devil upon his shoulder, and Azula was only too willing to play that part. Using the Dai Li to immobilize Iroh, she put her tongue and wit to the ultimate test, promising that their father would restore Zuko's honor and that she needed him—she promised him everything if he would help her. She closed the argument by leaving him to choose his own destiny and going after Katara and the Avatar. However, things were not going in her favor during the beginning of the battle, as her attacks could not break through their defense, and she found herself surrounded on both sides by Aang and Katara. Just when it seemed that she might lose the battle, her work came to fruition. Zuko arrived, and after a moment of consideration, chose to attack the Avatar. A long battle ensued and Azula attacked Katara only to be held back in a dire predicament, with one leg and one arm immobilized in water. Azula was saved by Zuko's timely intervention, and actually gave him an approving look before proceeding to fight the Avatar. After disabling him, she moved to end the stalemate between her brother and Katara. Together, she and Zuko easily overwhelmed the Waterbender. The Dai Li joined them within a few moments, and Azula and her brother appeared unstoppable.



Aang then closed himself off in a chamber of crystal; the rest of the room stared as he entered the Avatar State. However, Azula positioned herself behind the Avatar, and used her lightning to strike the Avatar in the back before he could unleash his own assault. She would have been the Avatar's killer if not for Katara's timely recovery and swift Waterbending; all the same, the Avatar was unable to fight, and Azula and Zuko were unquestionably the victors. As the siblings approached the defeated duo, though, they were blocked by the timely appearance of Iroh. He temporarily held off Azula, Zuko, and the Dai Li, allowing himself to be captured once Katara had made her escape with Aang. Later, in the throne room of the Earth King, Azula assures a concerned Zuko that he had restored his honor by joining her, and that Iroh had been the one who had betrayed him—not the other way around. His honor was restored, she explained—for after a hundred years, she and Zuko had finally conquered the Earth Kingdom city of Ba Sing Se.