Zuko vs Azula: Breaking Down the REAL Best Fight Of Your Childhood

91 days ago from the time of writing this script I published a video breaking down what I considered to be the best fight of my childhood Aang versus Ozai I expected the video to do well but I had seemed to underestimate the continued popularity and recent resurgence of Avatar because that video went on to get nearly 300,000 views by the way I hit and make a penny from that video because I got copyright claimed anyway I wish is happy that a lot of you found my breakdown of a in vs. Ozai so enjoyable but there was one sentiment shared to me over and over again by many different people they believed as a climactic fight anger says Ozai didn't hold a candle to Zuko versus Azula now believe it or not I had always wanted to make a video looking at the final Agni Kai it just got to the point where I'd literally didn't know if that would be smart to do in total I spent about 20 hours working on the Aang purses Ozai video but ended up making a whopping $0.00 meaning it became a lot harder for me to pay my bills that month looking into the future making a Zuko versus Azula video seemed like something I just couldn't afford to do but then again my job isn't make responsible financial decisions or worry about my retirement plans it's make youtube videos about writing doing it and that's what I'm gonna do I realize going into this final Agni Kai video I'm probably not going to make any money off of it because it will get copyright claim but so many of you wanted it that I am here to deliver the only thing I would ask is that if you want to continue seeing content like this and you are feeling generous the best thing you could do to ensure you keep receiving videos from me is to support the channel on patreon even just giving two dollars is at least income I know is guaranteed each month and hey you could get cool perks too like early videos talks with me or even discounts on editing it may really seem like a small inconsequential thing to pledge two dollars a month but enough people doing it really adds up out of the 118 thousand people subscribed to me just about 2.000 six percent support on patreon and if we could skyrocket that number up to a point zero zero six percent that would actually literally guarantee me the to make whatever I and you guys want regardless of D monetization but enough of me panhandling for pocket change you didn't come here for that you came here for a breakdown of the real best fight scene of your childhood just you and me brother the showdown that was always meant to be Agni Kai so let's start right off the bat with some editing hot takes the final Agni Kai on paper doesn't work the fight on its own merits has no reason to be as good as it actually is and it's phenomenal Zuko versus Azula bucks nearly every writing guideline that goes into creating a polished climactic battle Zuko arguably the protagonist of the entire scene never personally overcomes Azula the major inconsistent antagonist of his journey a female character is put into the damsel role that needs to be saved by a selfless male lead the antagonist refuses to finish off a downed main character before moving on to the next opponent a character defeats the antagonist with an ability that has never been seen before and to top it all off this climactic story defining conflict is only four minutes contrast that with a immerses Ozai which is nearly three times as long so with all these tropes and cliches and narrative trespasses included in the fight why is it still so good well that is because while the fight might not work on paper it totally works in practice and this I believe is one of the most difficult aspects of not only writing fight scenes but writing in general you can have something that makes perfect sense on a structural level but fails in execution conversely you can have a plot that appears completely nonsensical but turns out beautifully FMA Brotherhood but since this video is about a fight scene let's stick with understanding fights and how this Agni Kai fails on paper but it works beautifully in practice it all comes down to the difference between storage of in fight scenes versus character driven fight scenes and how they are used now for a complete disclosure these are not terms that you will find written in any books at least not as far as I know these are categorical guidelines that I have Korea over my years of professionally editing and they helped me to conceptualize scenes of conflict so let's start by understanding the differences between these types of fights story-driven fights are scenes of conflict where the primary interest in the fight comes from its implications for the overall narrative I know that might seem confusing right now but hopefully I can spend the next minute or so breaking it down story-driven fights are largely given power by themes and ideals battling against each other characters involved in story driven fights represent opposing outlooks philosophies or moral standings and the audience's engagement with the fight comes from seeing which of these outlooks will prevail to take command of the narrative sometimes these outlooks are as simple as one side being good and one side being evil character driven fights on the other hand are scenes of conflict where the primary interest in the fight comes from the relationship of the characters involved in the conflict the more deeply the characters are emotionally invested in each other and the more deeply the audience understands that investment the more powerful a character different fight becomes and yes this will also be broken down in more simple terms one important thing to note is that all character driven fights fit under the umbrella of story driven fights we as the audience still care about the fights implication for the overall narrative but we as the audience also have a second deeper layer of interest in the fight because of the relationship between the characters where a story driven fight can succeed on one level a character driven fight can succeed on to another important thing to note is that these two types of fights exist on a spectrum of course it is easier to categorize fights as they come closer to either end but some fights are harder to pin down with these labels like all my vs. all for one for example still even though we recognize these two categories of fight scenes now we must understand what they mean in execution looking at character driven fights since the audience is interested in both the relationship between the characters and the outcome of the fight the audience is given incentive to pay attention to the whole scene interest in the battle itself is fueled by either the audience emotional investment or emotional understanding of the characters all the interest in the conclusion of the battle is fueled by a desire to know the impact on the narrative this is not the case though with story driven fights by definition a story driven fight is not given power by the relationship between the competing characters another way of saying this is the audience is not interested in the relationship between the characters in the fight the only innate draw of a story driven fight is its outcome ie its impact on the story so what we can understand here is that the actual fight has no built-in incentive for the audience to care about it now there are generally two writing techniques used to make up for this deficit and some scenes use both the first technique is to make a story-driven scene of conflict in action visually spectacular to inspire an audience to watch this is why you will notice that movies that have either poorly developed antagonist or poor interaction with the antagonist have such over-the-top climactic battles DC movies are a great example of this since the main characters do not have well established relationships with the antagonist the fuel for the scene must be visual spectacle but this does not mean that just because a piece of fiction has a visually spectacular climactic battle that it is poorly written or even story-driven since these two types of fights are on a spectrum many of their qualities are interchangeable naruto vs sasuke is a character driven fight with spectacular visuals the same is true of obi-wan versus Anakin Rock Lee vs. kimimaro is a story driven fight with spectacular visuals Rock Lee and kimimaro have no established relationship but the way they battle looks really cool so the fight is enjoyable the second more difficult method to keep an audience interested in storage Riven fight scenes is to build up the impactful themes of the fight beforehand what does this mean in simple terms it means that the conflict and tension of the narrative should be directly related to what occurs in the fight let's use an example to make things even more clear we all know the climactic fight that happens at the end of The Incredibles 1 obviously the family has no personal relationship with the death robot they are fighting so this would be a story-driven fight scene and we can see that it is visually spectacular but more than that what also makes the fight so interesting is its relationship to the story the theme of The Incredibles is the characters coming into their own identity in being unified and cooperative as a family this is their struggle across the entire movie so during this final fight when all the family members are working together as heroes to overcome the antagonist if we work together the fight naturally feels like a completion and a validation of their story a story driven fight should directly relate to the story that came before it this is the harder route because it takes proper story construction and not just flashy visuals so getting back to Avatar Aang versus Bo's eye is a story-driven fight with spectacular visuals that directly relates to the story beforehand Aang and OHS I have no established relationship giving power to the fight but the conflict is so stunning and the weight of the narrative is so massive that we stay interested and yes I already hear people saying that anga knows I do have an established relationship because of everything that has happened prior again because this is all based on a spectrum such matters are open to argumentation what is important is to simply understand these our outlooks for better understanding the narrative purposes and needs for a fight scene so now that I have spent 18 hundred words explaining the categorization of fights let's get back to the fight that you came here for the final at Makai geniusly makes use of both types of fight scenes the battle between Zuko and Azula is character driven while the battle between Katara and Azula is story driven again this directly leads to why the fight fails on paper but works in practice many of the final Agni Kai's quote-unquote writing mistakes become justified when put into context against the story at large so to properly understand how this relates to Zuko Azula and Katara on a critical level we have to look back at another fight involving these characters and the narrative pieces the show spent years laying down in order to produce such a great climactic battle this is when we can turn our to the season 2 finale the crossroads of destiny today you restored your own honor Zuko and Azula are attacking Aang and Katara all things considered a pretty standard affair in the Avatar worried but there are some aspects to pay attention to while Aang is fighting Zuko Katara is facing off against Azula and as the battle continues and realizes that things are not looking good Aang eventually makes the painful decision of letting go of Katara of turning his back on her even in her time of need for the betterment of the world and his journey as the avatar of course we all know what happens next Aang takes a blast of lightning and Katara has to whisk him away to safety with the help of Iroh everything that occurred here is important when considering what worked in the final Agni Kai but a scene just before it deserves equal attention there in Katara and Zuko are confined together allowing the seeds of major character relationships to be planted Zuko hears for the first time how the war has affected Katara personally you have no idea what this war has put me through me personally the Fire Nation took my mother away from me and Katara is able to hear that Zuko understands her pain I'm sorry that's something we have in common this scene goes on to establish a moment of genuine bonding between the two characters where Katara offers to heal Zuko and Zuko tells Katara he now has the ability to choose his own destiny of course not long after Azula appears to tempt Zuko ultimately succeeding in convincing him to ally with her in the Fire Nation once again so when Zuko actually does join team avatar it is Katara specifically that is most skeptical and mistrustful of him give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang and you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore it wasn't until Zuko helped Katara find the southern Raiders until Zuko saw firsthand the damage and trauma that the Fire Nation had caused did the seeds of these two characters relationship blossom and all of these little pieces that seemed so inconspicuous in the moment actually become pivotal in the final acting Chi the actual fight between Zuko and Azula while having visual spectacle is a character-driven fight scene and lucky for me this show did such an excellent job creating a nuanced three-dimensional relationship between these two I feel I don't even have to break down why the emotions are so high here all that needs to be said is that the 100 or so seconds of conflict between Zuko and Azula is intensely interesting for the audience because we are invested in the relationship between both of these characters and one thing to note for all of you writers out there is the difference in how these types of fight scenes should be choreographed and handled most of the time it is in your best interest to stay as simple as possible in character driven fight scenes notice how tight we are - Zuko and Azula how grounded we stay and how personal this battle is framed now look at the difference of the story driven battle between a and O's AI it's much more pulled back much more grand in scope in much less personal take a look at this character driven fight scene in Civil War or this character-driven fight scene in Harry Potter or dis character different fight scene from Star Wars in moments where the fight is given weight by the two people involved it is best to stay close simple and personal Zuko and Azula do not fly around the city or blast each other through buildings the character-driven fight works because the focus is on the characters and their relationship this fight is a culmination of the animosity that has existed between them for years it is an inquiry into who will prevail the redeemed Prince or the corrupt prodigy and this allows a straightforward 120 second fight to be more emotionally impactful for some than the 10-minute fight between the avatar in the Phoenix cave but we haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet everything from the Lightning on is where the previously established narrative groundwork comes into play remember how a enclosed himself off from Katara in her time of danger and then was struck by azula's lightning well the inverse happens here Zuko without hesitation completely disregards his own personal safety and his fight for the throne to protect Katara he is struck and downed by the lightning shielding her and this is the last that Zuko actually participates in the fight and where on paper one might see this and complain that Zuko did not overcome his antagonist in practice something even better happened Zuko started off this show antagonizing and threatening the Southern Water Tribe all he could focus on or his own personal goals regardless of how it affected others now in the climax Zuko is willing to sacrifice everything his chance at the crown even his own life to protect someone from the Southern Water Tribe we're Aang's huge character moment comes from turning his back on Katara Zucco's is based in rushing to protect her and what's better he is protecting Katara from Azula the person who convinced him previously to turn away from Katara and as the scene continues because Katara and Azula have no personal relationship their conflict becomes a story-driven fight scene and if you notice the framing of the fight changes in kind where previously we kept close to the characters highlighting their relationship now we are pulled back to focus on the spectacle most of the time you can't even see Azula but what really draws in audience interest in the fight is its relevance to what has happened previously in the story Katara's entire storyline within the show has been framed by the damage the Fire Nation has done to her they came to her home and took her mother away they cost her father to leave for war they hunted her friends and started a global conflict Katara's entire journey so far has been based in gaining power to protect those she loves and to stand against the Fire Nation so for a climax what better way would their beats a complete guitars full character journey than to have her travel to the heart of the Fire Nation like they did to her people and defeat the de-facto Fire Lord quite literally overcoming the person that represents the Fire Nation where she retreated from Azula before to save Aang now Katara faces Azula to save Zuko and top it all off her relationship with Zuko comes full circle as well where she was interrupted before when trying to heal him with water after their close bonding moment she is able to literally save his life by accomplishing that now in his time of greatest sacrifice in need and really the cherry on top is the resolution or Azula has a complete mental breakdown whereas ulla shunned her friends and allies in order to prevail and gain power she ultimately lost it all because ooh ko had his own allies that were able to save him when it mattered everything that Azula represented in the show was unambiguously defeated in this moment and it completely validated Zuko struggle against her and really symbolized him overcoming her the final acne Chi works so well in practice because the character-driven battle is tight personal and has the emotional payoff from years of buildup one that keeps us on the edge of our seats likewise the story-driven battle not only had visual spectacle but masterfully placed set up to foster interest in the audience beyond just its conclusion and it did all that in a well-paced for minutes anyway I hope you guys found this video helpful in your understanding of bite scenes and maybe even in your own writing of fight scenes I love Avatar and making avatar videos so hopefully there will be more in the future but again a lot of that depends on the support I receive from you all so if you could head on over to patreon and pledge a couple bucks it would be immensely appreciated if you were interested in my more personal matters and reviews try checking out my second channel link in the description ok I had a blast making this video as always it was a pleasure and I will talk to you all again soon you

Channel: Savage Books

Views: 323,790

Rating: 4.9254746 out of 5

Keywords: avatar the last airbender, zuko vs azula, dialogue dive, final agni kai, the legend of korra, aang, katara, nickleodeon, writing advice, how to write fight scenes, ozai vs aang

Id: SKp-KOAIUk4

Length: 20min 20sec (1220 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 15 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/riku35]

Make sure to check out u/akimble1's channel Savage Books for more content!