>>84183389Mmm, I wouldn't say from birth she was a manipulating cunt.
Sorry to go freudean obnoxious on this case, but boys typically tend to try and please their mothers more while girls go to their dads. Daddy's girl and momma's boy are phrases for a reason after all. So lets just sit here and think, Azula came into life with her mother already basically favoring Zuko because hes her precious little boy, so she gets affection from the other parent.
It just happens that the other parent is fucking Ozai who is a heartless bastard. So how do you get your cruel, evil father to give you praise and pat you on the head? Do cruel and evil things.
She had a nasty behavior that was rewarded, with her prodigy fire bending just feeding her ego.
Of course her life falls apart when she can't control people anymore, because her entire life that has been the model to be essentially. The perfect person to be, is like her dad cause shes a daddy's girl. Her dad doesn't have friends, he controls and manipulates people through fear, so of course when she can't do that and be the perfect daddy's girl, her fragile psychy just sort of shatters.
Now in the comics I'm not sure if they're setting up a redemption for her, or if they're just trying to set up some Zuko/Azula alliance realistically. Him ruling the fire nation publically, with her taking care of the dirty work thats required in leading a nation, in the shadows.
