Easily the most fearsome enemy in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Azula has been a true villain in the series. A firebending prodigy, the Fire Lord's daughter has accomplished many things, including the conquest of Ba Sing Se and nearly killing the Avatar himself while in the Avatar State.
Out of all of the characters in Avatar: The Last Airbender though, her future is most murky after the events of the series. While most members of Team Avatar had legacies, flashbacks, or lived through the events of The Legend of Korra, Azula has been conspicuously absent.
10 Started The New Ozai Society
In the comic arc Smoke and Shadow, Azula had been secretly plotting with others to overthrow Zuko as the Fire Lord. Only a few years removed from the final events of the series, Zuko's reign is quite fresh and many in the Fire Nation are upset with his appeasement policy.
Seeing a golden opportunity to change the leadership from the inside, Azula gathers loyalists to her father and seeks to prepare an uprising. In this, multiple assassination attempts and minor uprisings are issued against her brother.
9 Dressed Up As Mai's Nightmare To Kidnap Children
As children, Azula and Mai were the best of friends. With Ty Lee, they grew up together, mastering their skills at the Fire Nation Academy. Still, when Mai and Ty Lee betrayed Azula to save Zuko, it drove her to madness.
In this, Azula had a moment of clarity for the greatest revenge. Remembering an old sleepover with Mai, she recalled Mai's great nightmare of the Kemurikage spirits. Dressing up with others like this spirit, she proceeds to kidnap Mai's brother and other children.
8 Met Her Mom For Real
One of the most heartbreaking moments in Avatar: The Last Airbender was during Azula's Fire Lord coronation. Already deeply unstable, Azula's mindset was further driven to paranoia by Ozai's departure and the betrayal of her friends. In this, Azula is visited by her mother. Still, it is clear that these are most likely deeply traumatic mental hallucinations and Azula is only moments from total breakdown.
In the comic arc The Search, Team Avatar goes to find Ursa, but Zuko decides to take Azula with them. Throughout the journey, Azula does good and bad things, leading to the penultimate moment where Ursa's face is restored and Zuko and Azula are reunited with her.
7 Saved Team Avatar From Moth Wasps
Azula is often known for her swift reflexes and sharp skills. In The Search arc, the gang is attacked by a large swarm of moth wasps and they are completely taken by surprise. In this, Azula's quick thinking and prodigious ability come to the forefront.
She quickly dispatches the swarm by firing lightning, causing them to seek the light instead of the gang. This gives her some credibility within the team as only moments before Katara and Sokka wanted to kill Azula.
6 Fought A Plantbender
Plantbenders are actually just waterbenders and were generally only known to be the country-folk hailing from the Foggy Swamp. Descendants of the Southern Water Tribe, these loveable benders have been revealed as only one faction of plantbenders.
In The Search, the gang meets Misu and her brother from the Northern Water Tribe. Misu's brother had his face stolen by Koh the Face Stealer and they were on a mission in the Fire Nation to save him. Upon seeing Team Avatar, Misu immediately attacked them with plantbending leading to a fight with Azula.
5 Redirected Lightning That Was Redirected At Her
Long taunted by Zuko to shoot lightning at him, Azula has the last laugh in the Smoke and Shadow arc. When she fires lightning at Zuko, he happily redirects it at her only to have her redirect it back to him. Despite Azula's strange mental state she had observed and learned the tactic after a few duels with Zuko and Iroh.
Having only been hit with the redirection two or three times, it stands as a testament to Azula's amazing talent as a firebender to figure out the strength of such a move. Her understanding to move the lightning through the stomach was also a masterstroke of observation.
4 Was Enraged Upon Seeing Her Half-Sister
Often scolded for her usually violent behavior and manipulative manner, Azula even remarked that her mother saw her as a monster. In many ways, her jealousy and talent for firebending came as a result of Ursa's disapproval for her.
Longing to be loved by her mother, Azula's jealousy stems from anyone else receiving better treatment from Ursa. In The Search, Azula finds Ursa and discovers that Ursa not only forgot about her due to spirit magic but also had another daughter. Seeing a new daughter beloved by her mother threw her into a manic rage.
3 Wanted To Rule Through Zuko
After the events of The Search, Azula had run off in a manic rage, as previously mentioned. Coming to her lowest point she realized that she was not destined to rule and embraced this. In Smoke and Shadow, Azula used assassins and started the New Ozai Society merely as a ploy to make Zuko more ruthless so he could rule the Fire Nation more confidently.
In this, Azula wanted the best for the Fire Nation, and only wished to make the world fear and respect them as they did before. While she failed to adequately change Zuko into a more militant leader, she did help him find what kind of leader he wanted to be.
2 Manipulated Mai's Father
Mai's father Ukano was known in Avatar: The Last Airbender as the governor of Omashu which he held until King Bumi retook it on the Day of Black Sun. In Smoke and Shadow, Ukano was dissatisfied with Zuko's offer of a government job, angry at the concept of being controlled by his daughter's boyfriend.
Azula saw this and Ukano's deep loyalty to Ozai and started the New Ozai Society with him. In this, Azula manipulated poor Ukano into even kidnapping his own child. In this, her deception had Ukano doing things he would not do and it caused friction in his family, ultimately splitting them up.
1 Went To A Mental Asylum
After the final events of the television series, Azula's mental state was exceptionally weakened. She had lost in a fight with Katara and had already suffered from hallucinations and extreme paranoia. Crying and thrashing about as Katara went to check on Zuko, Azula was cut as a rather tragic figure.
In the events of The Search, Azula was shown to have been at a mental asylum instead of a prison. Zuko felt responsible for her and chose to take care of her despite her malicious attitude towards him.