I haven’t been in the ATLA fandom long enough to know how popular this opinion is, but I think at her core, Azula wants to be accepted, to be loved, to belong.
I think you can tell a lot about a character by finding out what breaks them. Looking at goals can be helpful, but a lot of the times goals can mask true desires.
What truly begins to break Azula is the betrayal from Mai and Ty Lee. She's also strangely bothered by the belief that her mother thinks she's a monster. In the scene where she hallucinates her mother, Azula only breaks down and shatters the mirror when her mother says she loves her. As if Azula desperately wants it to be true but can't believe it, so she lashes out.
In the finale when Ozai leaves her behind to go destroy the earth kingdom, she says: “I thought we were going to do this together” and “you can’t treat me like Zuko”. She’s desperate to belong, to be accepted by her father. And even though she’s had his approval for her entire life, she’s immediately afraid of being cast aside.
While she is pretty obsessed with succeeding at everything she does and doing things perfectly (ie “almost isn’t good enough”), I think the real reason she’s so obsessed is because she believes she must earn her worth in order to be accepted.
Azula hasn't had many experiences with healthy relationships as a child so she makes people stay by instilling fear and proving her worth. Power and success aren't what she truly desires. They are more so a means to an end.
I also think in the last Agni Kai, she breaks down not just because she's defeated, but because Zuko and Katara defeat her together. A painful reminder that other people have support they can rely on, but she has no one.
It's also really interesting to compare her to Zuko because I don't think Zuko has the same motivation at his core. Yes Zuko became obsessed with chasing the Avatar to be accepted by his father, but really it was about his honor. Zuko saw acceptance in the Fire Nation as a means to an end for his own worth and honor.
And that's the reason Zuko isn't satisfied when he's back to belonging in the Fire Nation again in season 3. And he's not satisfied in the Earth Kingdom with his uncle's support, nor satisfied being accepted and trusted by Katara in that cave.
I'm not saying Zuko doesn't care about or want acceptance from people, just that there is something deeper motivating him.
When Azula pushes people away, it's defense mechanism. When Zuko pushes people away, he's yearning for something more.
And I will tell you my:
First impression
Impression now
Favorite moment
Idea for a story
Unpopular opinion
Favorite relationship
Favorite headcanon
EVERYTHING YOU SAID YES
Notice that Miles never mentions following in MVK's footsteps or the "von Karma creed/blood/name" when talking about his motivations to prosecute. (Compared to Franziska who mentions it as soon as she is introduced in 2-2). Miles only talks about the DL-6 incident and his father's death and punishing himself in relation to why he became a prosecutor instead of a defense attorney.
Now I'm not saying Miles wasn't influenced by MVK, I'm sure he was. But ignoring the reasons that Miles explicitly tells us, and instead claiming brainwashing or abuse, is doing a huge disservice to both Miles's and Manfred's character.
Manfred is a petty, cowardly man who killed a man over a penalty and ruined Miles's life. And considering all the issues Miles and Franziska has, I believe he is also quite a flawed parent. Manfred being abusive, homophobic, sexist, etc however, is not canon (him calling Miles "worthless" is a mistranslation!!).
So yeah, I rest my case. Miles, Franziska, and Manfred are some of my favorite Ace Attorney characters and Manfred not being Pure Evil™️ honestly makes all the angst and pain so much more delicious.
“Manfred von Karma brainwashed Miles into becoming a prosecutor!”
*scratches head*
Not gonna lie, I was one of the people who believed in this claim until a friend told me otherwise and I started replaying Turnabout Goodbyes recently.
It's really wild to me how almost all of Manfred's mischaracterization can be tied back to Miles' mischaracterization from the AA fandom LMAO
Fandom telephone can be such a curse sometimes.
today, you'll never guess what happened at gourd lake
#i feel like i'm gonna get thrown tomatoes for this but#he's terrible for that but honestly i get it #it's the courtroom. not a therapy session #on my replay #i got to that part yesterday and i thought it would make me mad but as someone who's similar to adrian... #being slapped with reality like that works in waking you up sometimes #like yes it deeply hurts when things like that get unearthed but by ignoring it and refusing to talk about it........ it's more damaging yk #but ofc it's different for everybody #idk man.... bc considering he's also suicidal.... well. Well. it has certain implications #and imo he didn't mean it......he just wanted the truth out of her rather than telling it himself i guess #not defending him tho. irl that's unredeemable in my eyes lol <-- previous tags
No, no, you're right! And that's pretty much what I was trying to say. Ruthlessness is not inherently a good or bad trait. What Miles did was hurtful... but it was necessary in the end. And I truly love this part of his character, how he's so adamant about dragging the truth out and dismantling people's delusions. I wish this side of him was acknowledged more in the fandom.
(tw: mention of suicide) Did we, as a fandom, just collectively forget how ruthless Miles Edgeworth can be sometimes? And I’m not just talking about his demon prosecutor era, I mean also after his redemption arc. Because I was just playing through Farewell My Turnabout and watching him reveal Adrian Andrews attempted suicide in court after she begged both him and Phoenix not to… I was sitting there with my mouth open thinking: damn Edgeworth, was that really necessary??
And you know what, I love it. I love how he was ruthless in getting a guilty verdict in the past, and now he uses that ruthlessness to find the truth. Because I'm not just here for the traumatized, socially awkward, emotionally constipated, caring Edgeworth. I'm also here for the ruthless, intimidating, competent, morally grey Edgeworth. I'm not here for a watered-down version of Edgeworth. He wouldn't be my favorite character if he didn't have this nuance.
Honestly, to me Manfred seems like he would be too rational to spend time on hating a group of people like that. He's extremely obsessed with "perfection" and looking back on Turnabout Goodbyes, he's also ruthlessly efficient. He prides himself on finishing trials in mere minutes and when Phoenix exposes his crime, all he does it tell the judge to hurry up with putting him away. He only acts irrationally when his "perfection" is threatened, namely when he shot Gregory over a penalty. And he puts a lot of effort into regaining his composure (taking the only vacation of his career after his crime). And adding all that on top of everything OP said about him raising Franziska... Manfred being misogynistic just doesn't seem very consistent with canon.
It's really easy to hate Manfred if you love Miles or Franziska and there is nothing wrong with interpretations, but I would recommend taking a good look at the evidence in canon.
Kinda scared to post this, but this has been on my chest for years and I finally have a platform to air it out. I don’t understand people who think that manfred is misogynistic. I know it’s like the cool thing to do in the aa fandom to hate manfred for fanon reasons, but I think manfred being misogynistic is one of the most unrealistic ones for me. Especially since Franziska turning out to be, well, Franziska, indicates otherwise. Like, Franziska is a loud, outspoken, confident, man-hating lesbian with anger issues that scares tf out of people. Basically everything that men hate. If manfred was misogynistic he would’ve snuffed that out as soon as he could. But he doesn’t. Bc he lives for that shit. I highly doubt he would try to constantly bring her down bc she’s a woman and “manfred wanted a male heir” (a fanon idea I also don’t understand since the competition that she and miles had together was started between them, and not directly initiated by manfred at all). Franziska being the way the she is literally can’t be more fitting of Manfred’s ideal of a von karma.
I just think it’s funny that manfred raised an angry lesbian daughter, is supposedly a wife guy (aai2), and overall has never said anything directly misogynistic in the games and the aa fandom chose him to be the misogynist of all people just bc he’s a villain. Really feels like the only reason people do that is bc they hate him so much they pile quite literally every horrible human trait they can think of onto him, and not bc it’s actually justified based on his character….
I love that phoenix is a bit of an asshole like he’s the most character ever
but i will not stand for goofy dumbass pathetic Phoenix erasure.
Bro canonically says “YEOWCH!” when he gets stabbed or hit.
He grabs the back of his neck and chuckles when he’s feeling sheepish.
He called himself “Sherlock Holmes II baby!” when sherlock holmes never existed. A HERLOVK SHOLMES DID
He gushes when something is cute or romantic. “You’re too cute to call you just pearl!” “*actively crying at the delite’s love story* thats so romantic…”
He copies his friends’s mannerisms bc he loves spending time with them. (also bc he has adhd. No this is canon and i’m correct about it no one fight me)
Feenie copies a lot of Larry’s mannerisms
Phoenix copies a lot of Mia’s mannerisms
Beanix has a lot of Dahlia’s mannerisms which i wont look into bc i value my mental health
In the anime he copies Ron Delite when he was yelling and that was so funny
theres more but i always write these when i’m half asleep
He loves to gossip with Maya, (like when gumshoe got a crush)
He loves to argue about pointless shit as well like ladders, which kinda leads into him trying to purposely be difficult bc he thinks its funny
idk i feel like people forget that this is the same dude who got amnesia twice and still went to work (once as his actual job: attorneying and once as a friggin baker 😭😭)
theres a TON of goofy cartoony shit that phoenix does! Yes he can be sarcastic, but he’s also a giant loser who is REALLY good at improv.
Phoenix is just as weird as everyone around him. He’s also a goofball who happens to be a big hater.
I love this conversation so much.
It's clear in RFTA that Phoenix had an idea of how Edgeworth was supposed to heal after this. Kill the prosecutor in your OR let it help you grow... But Edgeworth did both. He had to kill off his old self before he could truly heal.
Do you think this conversation haunted Phoenix before Edgeworth came back
thanks for the tag!!
Favorite color: forest green and light greenish teal (honestly any green + blue combination)
Last song: I love you by EXID
Currently reading: A Crack in the Marble by Steerpike13713 (Ace Attorney fanfic, 3-1 retelling with Bratworth early redemption! It's really good, I recommend it)
Currently watching: Nothing. Well technically the last thing I watched was Better Call Saul but I'm not committed to it.
Currently craving: Bread, like really good European bread
Tea or coffee: Tea 🍵 <3
Tagging (no pressure of course): @shrimppishh @azalawa-scroggs @huldraism @evelinessa @kobitoshiningneedle
Thank you P @jessicamdawn for the tag!
Fav color: White
Last song: A Thousand Years by Christina Perri
Currently reading: 'And here I thought it was me saving you' by @imogenegomi
Currently watching: The Eclipse
Currently craving: Alone time.
Coffee or tea: tea
No pressure tag!
@imogenegomi @midnights-dragon @quillswriting @oregano-gremlin @ririnya7
@theliteraryarchitect @zackprincebooks @randomia-in-wonderland @marlowethelibrarian @rose-coloured-windows
@raeality @dreaminghour
+ an open tag!
I'm revamping my intro post because it's been a few months since I started this blog and some things have changed.
Hello! My name is Jen and welcome to my fandom blog :) Feel free to DM me to talk about any of my interests!
I'll mainly be posting analysis/meta about whatever my main obsession is...
Ace Attorney ⚖️
Favorite characters: (1) Miles Edgeworth, (2) Phoenix Wright, (3) Franziska von Karma, (4) Manfred von Karma
Favorite ships: (1) Miles/Phoenix (Mitsunaru), (2) Manfred/Gregory (Shingou)
Favorite game: Justice for All <3
I am also a fan of over-villainized/neglected characters, like: Franziska von Karma, Manfred von Karma, Dahlia Hawthorne, Larry Butz, Viola Cadaverini.
My AA related tags:
#jen's aa rambles (just me ranting or gushing about ace attorney)
#jen's aa analysis (actually formatted analysis/meta/arguments about ace attorney)
Other Interests :)
Typology! mainly MBTI (cognitive functions!!) and enneagram
The Legend of Korra (Kuvira, Baatar jr, Baavira)
Avatar The Last Airbender (Azula, Katara)
Genshin Impact (Kujou Sara, Arlecchino, Raiden Shogun)
Other fandoms I'm in (feel free to talk to me about these but I doubt I will post anything about them in the near future): Kpop (but mainly Dreamcatcher), The Hunger Games, Divergent, Six of Crows.
Miles Edgeworth is both extremely perceptive about other people’s intentions and motivations, but also terrible at understanding how his own actions affect others. It’s quite an interesting nuance that I think is often overlooked.
When Edgeworth returns in 2-4, he is already aware of what Phoenix is lacking as an attorney before he even knows the full extent of Phoenix's crisis (Maya being kidnapped). In their first conversation, Edgeworth says: "In order to understand this case, you have to understand a certain "truth"". He knows that Phoenix's current motivation for being a defense attorney is flawed (cue his "we are not heroes" line). However, at the same time Edgeworth doesn’t fully understand how his actions of disappearing have affected both Phoenix and Franziska.
Another very obvious example of this is in AAI (I think?). In response to Kay asking: “Have you guys not decided if you are going out, or is it just one sided?” Edgeworth says: “‘Decided’…? Shouldn’t the parties involved naturally just know…?” Edgeworth thinks people in a relationship should instinctively perceive the feelings of the other person without communicating. He doesn’t consider the possibilities of misinterpretation or misunderstanding.
So in the context of Wrightworth, essentially what I'm saying is that unless something like fear is holding him back, Miles definitely knows about Phoenix's feelings. It's Phoenix who's off somewhere deluding himself.
Jen || she/her || 20 I write analysis and meta about my favorite pieces of media! — mostly an Ace Attorney blog [playing AAI2-2]
84 posts