It frustrates me when Azula discourse is either like
A) “she’s only like that because she was abused, she was robbed of redemption”
or
B) “she’s an evil monster who should burn in hell”
She was indoctrinated by her father and Fire Nation culture to value power and hate above anything else. As a 14 year old, she obviously deserves to unlearn that ideology and heal from that abuse. But the fact that she wasn’t able to escape that life (a consequence of both her own destructive, violent choices which can’t be excused by abuse and how no one tried to reach out to help her) is what makes her story a great tragedy.
She’s supposed to contrast Zuko’s arc of discovering the evil of the fire nation and how it’s damaged his identity. Her identity was far too centered around fear and power to make the same realizations he did. Yes, it’s sad and heartbreaking, and you’re supposed to feel sympathetic towards her, but her story is better with a tragic ending. I like to think Azula heals someday in the future, but remaining a villian within the show’s enclosed narrative makes her so much more compelling.