element-of-change:

Bloodbending Others 5/5

I have this theory with the main villains we’ve been presented with in the two Avatar series. In terms of their origins, I think I see a parallel. All of the main antagonists form A:TLA were part of the Fire Nation Royal Family. First Zuko, the his younger sister, Azula, and ultimately their power-crazed father, Firelord Ozai. Now I see the creation of both Zuko and Azula as villains to be the result of this perversion of healthy family relationships. And doesn’t this situation ring an all too familiar bell with Noatak and Tarrlok. But even more than this, in both scenarios there is this corruption and abuse of power. Ozai is the product of a successful line of conquerers, the progenitor of which abused this great Spiritual gift, The Great Comet, to massacre an entire race of peaceful beings. Yakone is the progenitor of his own line of insanely powerful Bloodbenders. He takes the most potent, arcane ability of the Waterbenders and perverts it, and then forces this upon his children. Similarly, Ozai created the monster that was Azula with all of his pressures and expectations and injustices.

I just see a striking similarity between these characters. The precocity, the intensity, the generationally translated vendettas (hunting and capturing the Avatar or killing the Avatar with both families in fact), the transformations, and the complex characters of the children involved. It is simply insane.