I just think the writers did set her up as going from not caring about anything to caring about something enough to stick herself out there--rather than showing her as only having one thing she cares about enough to do anything about.
I think it can be read either way. Her words: "I love Zuko more than I fear you [Azula]" indicate two things:
1, The literal meaning: Her love for Zuko is greater than her fear - or by your interpretation, her apathy with respect to Azula. Not that her love has defeated her fear/apathy to every other thing forever. Just that in this situation, she will rise above her default nature for his sake. Mai has personal, direct relationships with both Zuko and Azula and when she makes this statement, she's referring first to these specific relationships and maybe, secondly, to her own nature.
2, The implication: that her fear for Azula is a direct consequence of her feelings for Zuko. Unlike her counterpart Ty Lee, Mai is established pretty early on as not afraid of Azula. She joins her eagerly enough; she sets limits on how far she will go for Azula; she's indifferent about hunting Zuko and the Avatar. But it is when Zuko enters the picture as her (Mai's) boyfriend, she starts being afraid of Azula. So would she feel fear towards Azula if anyone else was being threatened? We can only speculate. The story does not tell us.
And of course, it's made all the more obscure because Mai's story ends in The Boiling Rock, ends with that last grand gesture for Zuko's sake.
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Date: 2009-02-25 06:08 pm (UTC)I think it can be read either way. Her words: "I love Zuko more than I fear you [Azula]" indicate two things:
1, The literal meaning: Her love for Zuko is greater than her fear - or by your interpretation, her apathy with respect to Azula. Not that her love has defeated her fear/apathy to every other thing forever. Just that in this situation, she will rise above her default nature for his sake. Mai has personal, direct relationships with both Zuko and Azula and when she makes this statement, she's referring first to these specific relationships and maybe, secondly, to her own nature.
2, The implication: that her fear for Azula is a direct consequence of her feelings for Zuko. Unlike her counterpart Ty Lee, Mai is established pretty early on as not afraid of Azula. She joins her eagerly enough; she sets limits on how far she will go for Azula; she's indifferent about hunting Zuko and the Avatar. But it is when Zuko enters the picture as her (Mai's) boyfriend, she starts being afraid of Azula. So would she feel fear towards Azula if anyone else was being threatened? We can only speculate. The story does not tell us.
And of course, it's made all the more obscure because Mai's story ends in The Boiling Rock, ends with that last grand gesture for Zuko's sake.