...was how fragile she always was.
Personally, I knew it was about to hit the fan at Boiling Rock. When Mai and Ty Lee turned on her, I saw her snap and understood the unraveling started right there. She built her entire self on the power of fear to achieve everything she wanted. And all it took was one person to not fear her, to inspire another not to fear her. And the thing is, Azula is quite brilliant, she realized that the dominoes had begun to fall and there was no stopping them. That's why, even though she could have ruled the Fire Nation for years on the fear she'd established (minus Aang and Zuko, of course) she became desperate. Her ability to plan so far ahead made it obvious to her that her downfall had begun, that she'd lost her power.

I would feel sorry for her if she were a victim of something other than herself, but it was all her doing. As mentioned, she could have chosen her mother's way over her father's, but she didn't. No sympathy, just maniacal laughter and a warm sense of satisfaction.

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