Where does Azula’s name come from? Oh sure, in-universe she’s named after her grandfather, Fire Lord Azulon. But what about from a creative standpoint? The root of her name is “azul” — the Spanish word for “blue.” (One shade of blue is named azure in English, and it shares common etymology with azul.)
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It’s a fitting name because the color blue reflects Azula in many ways. Blue fire is something of a contradiction in people’s eyes. We accept blue as a cool color and red/orange as warm ones, even though the reality of fire is the opposite; blue, the cool color by cultural definition, burns the hottest. This contradiction reflects the essential parts of Azula. She’s powerful but doesn’t conduct herself in a way you’d expect from a Firebender.
Fire is the element that symbolizes lack of restraint. (Fiery is an adjective often coupled with “passion” or “rage.”) When Aang first tries to bend fire in the season 1 episode “The Deserter,” he loses control, the flames burst out, and they burn his friend/crush Katara (Mae Whitman). “Uncontrolled” does not describe Azula.
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Azula is cold, calculating, manipulative, and totally in control. She’s got rage, sure, but it’s focused. Despite her mastery over the element fire, she’s not that fiery of a person on the surface. She’s cool and cold in her cruelty — as cool as blue. That’s a total contrast from her hothead brother. Zuko’s flames are red-orange, which are colors we considered to be “hot” because red-orange fire is more common than blue fire. Azula thinks with her head, Zuko thinks with his heart.
The defining difference between the siblings is in the season 2 episode “The Chase,” where they’re both chasing after Aang. Azula pursues Aang into an abandoned building where the upper floor has caved in. She almost falls in but looks before she leaps and catches herself. Zuko, not bothering to look, races in behind Azula and then falls on his face.
Another creative decision for Azula’s blue flames was a technical one. In “Avatar: The Last Airbender (The Art of the Animated Series),” DiMartino added that, “Practically, the blue fire also helped distinguish [Azula’s] attacks from Zuko’s red firebending during their epic battles.” When Zuko and Azula have their last Agni Kai in “Sozin’s Comet,” you can tell which flame comes from which Firebender by its color.
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So, it’s pretty clear that the “Avatar” team didn’t have worldbuilding on its mind when they painted Azula’s flames blue. But “Avatar: The Last Airbender” didn’t need to explain Azula’s blue fire; it was a smart enough show to trust its viewers to glean the meanings themselves. Those meanings lie in symbolism and characterization, not lore.
