Fire Emblem Vs. The Last Airbender! Ambition as hot and dangerous as flames, two royal women prepare for conquest in a fight to the death.
Intro[]
Wiz: Ruling a nation is no easy feat. With such power at ones’ disposal, it is inevitable that some would use it to usher in war.
Boomstick: Let me tell you something, Wiz. There’s nothing hotter than a woman with ambition. Even if they might have a couple screws loose. And brother issues.
Wiz: Like Edelgard Von Hresvelg, the Emperor of Adrestia.
Boomstick: And Azula, the eldest daughter of Fire Lord Ozai. He’s Wiz and I’m Boomstick.
Wiz: And it’s our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win… a Death Battle.
Edelgard[]
Wiz: Edelgard Von Hresvelg was born into the Adrestian Empire, the daughter of Emperor Ionius IX. As princess and heir to the throne, Edelgard learned quickly the weight of her birthright.
Boomstick: But even she couldn’t have predicted how bad things would get. Her mom ditched her pansy dad and went to Faerghus, which meant she had a new step-brother in the form of Dimitri. Aw, it’d be cute if it didn’t end up horribly tragic.
Wiz: Shortly after meeting her step-brother, Edelgard’s life was turned upside down. Lord Arundel, Edelgards’ uncle, conspired with Adrestian nobles to strip her father of his power, leaving the throne nothing more than a puppet’s stage. To make matters worse, Arundel orchestrated the experimentation of Edelgard and her ten siblings.
Boomstick: Yeah, there’s these things called Crests, and can give you some insane abilities.
Wiz: Crests aren’t just small physical abnormalities. Some can even grant the bearer superhuman strength, like Edelgard and Dimitri. But Arundel and his associates, Those Who Slither in the Dark, wanted more.
Boomstick: “Those Who Slither in the Dark”? That’s a mouthful. Why not just call them wrinkly zombie mole people?
Wiz: Questionable naming aside, Edelgard was subjected to Crest Experimentation, an incredibly dangerous operation that claimed the sanity – or lives – of all of Edelgard’s siblings.
Boomstick: As luck would have it, Edelgard was the only one to make it out relatively normal. Relatively. Just a bit of mental trauma and permanently bleached hair, you know, the usual.
Wiz: Not just that. Edelgard’s lifespan was drastically inhibited by this event, which would forever change the young princess. She grew to detest Crests and their dominion over society, and sought to dedicate her remaining life to dismantling the organization that injected Crests into humanity in the first place: The Church of Seiros.
Boomstick: And her plan to do so? Join the Officer’s Academy, medieval Hogwarts, and pretend to be a well-intentioned student, until… SURPRISE! No one ever expects the Adrestian Inquisition!
Wiz: With her war against Rhea waged, Edelgard was finally crowned the Emperor of Adrestia, and immediately fought back against the corrupt nobles who’d stripped her father of his power. By… working with Those Who Slither in the Dark.
Boomstick: Wait, WHAT? She’s working with the molemen that implanted Crest cancer into her? I don’t think she made it out sane, Wiz.
Wiz: Well, in her eyes, working with her enemy meant keeping them close, and she could benefit from their resources in her continental war against the Church.
Boomstick: I guess. She definitely had the power to keep the mole-people at bay. After all, her Cresticles basically made her a superhuman!
Wiz: Don’t call them that. But… yes, Edelgards’ twin Crests drastically increased her strength, speed and durability, to the point where she could even give Dimitri a run for his money.
Boomstick: You know, Dimitri? King of maniacal laughter, bacon, and killing entire armies of men with his bare hands?
Wiz: With little more than a training axe, Edelgard can kill giant beasts with absolute ease, or even compete with warriors with decades of experience on her.
Boomstick: That’s cool and all, but let’s get back to that axe thing, because Edelgard’s weapon of choice is a thing of beauty. Aymr here glows a wicked orange, and packs a massive wallop to any poor sucker on the end of this thing.
Wiz: Interestingly enough, while it bears a striking resemblance to the Heroes’ Relics, Aymr doesn’t seem to share the same origin at all. For one, while the Heroes’ Relics require Umbral Steel to repair, Aymr is strengthened by Agarthium.
Boomstick: Doesn’t matter where it’s from to me, as long as it destroys my enemies!
Wiz: That it does. Edelgard also wields the Sword of Seiros, a token of her victory over Rhea’s magistrate.
Boomstick: That’s cool I guess, but I’m still not over the glowing bone axe.
Wiz: Funnily enough, Aymr’s structural design is frankly abysmal. Any ordinary axe shaped like this would shatter on impact, given the thin and narrow shape of the bone. The fact that it can withstand even a single swing is impressive in and of itself. Though if she needs to, Edelgard can also tap into magic for ranged opponents.
Boomstick: She can heal herself by sucking the lifeforce of her enemies with Nosferatu, or even make a small black hole that can ignore defenses to magic.
Wiz: That would be Luna, but it’s not even her most powerful spell. With Hades, Edelgard can create a giant storm of dark magic, enveloping her foes in a twister of death.
Boomstick: That reminds me, I tried my hand at dark magic too!
Wiz: Really? You don’t seem like the type to study the dark arts… or arts. Or… study, honestly.
Boomstick: Duh! We keep talking about all these insanely powerful people using magic or something, so I went and learned some. Here’s a little example. *Ahem* DARK ARTS, HEED ME! ISTHMUS SESQUIPEDALIAN ANTIDESESTABLISHMENTARIANISM!
Wiz: … I don’t think any of those are magical words, Boomstick.
Boomstick: Wait for it…… Waaaait for it…..
Wiz: Um, anyway, while Boomstick does that... Edelgard doesn’t just rely on her weapons and magic, potent as they are. Her Crests, the Major Crest of Flames and Minor Crest of Seiros, aren’t just any ordinary Crests. While others, such as the Crests of Blaiddyd and Riegan, come from the Ten Elites, the Flame and Seiros Crests are Divine, wielded only by some of the most powerful beings in Fodlan.
Boomstick: Like Byleth, Sothis, Nemesis, and Rhea. You know you’re a top dog if you have just one of these, but Edelgard has BOTH.
Wiz: Her Crests combined grant Edelgard spontaneous bouts of increased strength individually, further adding to her immense natural strength. The Crest of Flames can even prevent her foes from counterattacking, making her assaults all the deadlier.
Boomstick: Speaking of counterattacking, she can do that from almost ANYWHERE. How is she even doing that?
Wiz: Honestly? I have no clue. This makes absolutely no sense. Edelgard can somehow respond and counter-strike even from across entire battlefields, with her axe.
Boomstick: Imagine thinking you’ve got the upper hand on her, and throwing a METEOR on her face and she just smacks you from miles away with her axe.
Wiz: And afterward, you’d be afflicted by Seal Strength and Magic, crippling your attack power if you somehow managed to survive.
Boomstick: But her best technique is the Raging Storm. Have you ever been frustrated with things like weight, speed and stamina? Well, not to worry! With Raging Storm, Edelgard can initiate a ton of attacks on her opponent at once, not stopping even once to let them breathe. So much for wearing heavy armor!
Wiz: With all this power at her disposal, its no surprise Edelgard ultimately succeeded in her mission, killing Rhea and abolishing the Church of Seiros, uniting Fodlan under a new meritocracy.
Boomstick: Wait, she won? I thought she was like, y’know, the bad guy.
Wiz: Well, she could be. In another life, Edelgard’s ambition corroded her morality, leaving her a shell of herself. She went as far as to set her own friends and allies on fire, and even killed innocents to see her goals through, but was finally stopped in her conquest by Claude, cut down by Byleth, or impaled by her dear brother Dimitri.
Boomstick: I don’t see how, with the stuff she’s done. She’s strong tough enough to take friggin’ meteors to the face, and could give Dimitri and Byleth a run for their money, or outright beat them!
Wiz: Byleth in particular is important. See, Byleth wields the Sword of the Creator, a weapon crafted from Sothis’s remains. With the power of a literal creation deity residing in it, this sword was once capable of slicing an entire mountain in half.
Boomstick: And Edelgard could be even stronger than Byleth!
Wiz: Well, don’t get the wrong idea. Edelgard likely isn’t quite on the same level of the Sword of the Creator, but we do know she can contend with it. To find her real strength, we can look toward The Immaculate One, Rhea’s draconic true form.
Boomstick: Rhea was able to survive being blasted by two Javelins of Light, and these things could total entire cities.
Wiz: When Edelgard and Byleth killed The Immaculate One, they did so with a dual swing on her head, killing her instantly.
Boomstick: She’s not just strong either, she can easily dodge lightning spells even in her giant armor. Makes you wonder how she even lost to Dimitri and Claude in the first place.
Wiz: Well, there is one trump card, if you can call it that, at her disposal. By tapping into arcane arts, Edelgard can unleash the full power of her Crests, at the cost of her physical form.
Boomstick: Becoming the Hedgehog Husk-
Wiz: Hegemon.
Boomstick: Whatever.
Wiz: In the Hegemon Husk, Edelgard gains numerous abilities, such as Wilted Flower, which ignores defenses entirely. However, while this form drastically increases her power, it still isn’t invulnerable. After all, it ultimately failed to defeat Dimitri.
Boomstick: And it’s kind of a super-duper last resort, so I wouldn’t expect her to just pull it out if her life isn’t already on the line.
Wiz: Still, Edelgard is an incredible warrior, a capable leader, and a legendary hero. Or a terrible war criminal.
Boomstick: Either way, she's still afraid of rats. The power to slay a dragon, and she cowers at the sight of the mighty sewer king.
(Wiz holds up a rat to Boomstick)
Boomstick: AAAAAAAAAAAH GET IT AWAY GET IT AWAY!!!
Wiz: Regardless of her shortcomings - even her mundane fears - Edelgard is not someone to take lightly.
Azula[]
Wiz: The Fire Nation, a land known for its elite military, technological advancements, and refined creative arts.
Boomstick: Oh come on, no one cares about some dumb theater plays. The Fire Nation is home to FIREBENDERS, guys who can literally control fire with their mind!
Wiz: It’s true. Firebending suited the powerful nation, whose history since ancient times has always revolved around war.
Boomstick: One of the Fire Lords, Sozin, even started a literal hundred year war, just so he could flex his military on the world. What a chad.
Wiz: Some might prefer ‘tyrant’. However, Sozin’s legacy would live well past his own death. Though he failed to kill the next Avatar, the Fire Nation became a world-dominating power.
Boomstick: Bet he regretted that! That Avatar turned out to be Aang, the Last Airbender. Heh.
Wiz: Though Sozin wouldn’t live to see the Avatar resurface, his descendants would. Ozai, the reigning Fire Lord at the time, wouldn’t face the new Avatar alone, though.
Boomstick: Ozai had his kiddies do some work for him in the ‘ol baldie hunting too. That’s how Zuko and Azula got involved, trying to impress pops.
Wiz: Well, not exactly. That may be true for Zuko, but Azula is a completely different story. Even from a young age, Azula was favored by her father over her brother, whom he ridiculed and treated with utter malice.
Boomstick: But it turns out Azula wasn’t a daddy’s girl. All she wanted was her mom to love her, but she was kinda busy… y’know. Consoling Zuko over the whole shitty dad thing.
Wiz: Desperate for her mother’s attention, Azula would often act out, which ultimately led to her development of cruel and abusive methods, encouraged by Ozai.
Boomstick: Azula is… kind of insane. Not like, your typical insane, but the actual psychopathic insane. She feels no remorse over ANYTHING, loves manipulating people, and thrives off causing chaos. Just like my ex-wife…….
Wiz: It’s true. Azula very likely suffered some sort of mental illness early on, which would only worsen with age. When Zuko was banished from the Fire Nation, Azula would finally get the chance to prove her worth by becoming the Crown Princess, mastering her craft and experience in war.
Boomstick: Her craft being shooting FIRE from her bare hands! Not just any fire either, Azula can somehow control BLUE fire, which is at least ten times more badass automatically.
Wiz: Firebending is unique in that it is the only type of elemental bending in which the user can generate their own element. Whereas Waterbenders, for example, require a source of, well, water, to bend, Firebenders can create flames anywhere, anytime.
Boomstick: And the kind Azula uses isn’t your old-school uncle Iroh brand. She uses the Sozin style, which fuels her firebending with rage and anger.
Wiz: As such, it makes sense the style is best suited for all-out offensive strikes, overwhelming opponents in scorching blasts of flame. Though Firebenders can do much more than just shoot fire, and Azula is the best example of the style being pushed to its absolute limits.
Boomstick: She can make fire daggers, fire swords, fire walls, fire whips, you name it.
Wiz: Azula’s even mastered the art of Fire Augmentation, which allows to override the size and intensity of any existing flame and manipulate it to her whims. For her, the telltale mark is her trademark blue flames.
Boomstick: Oh, and did we mention she can FLY with fire?
Wiz: Sort of. She can generate streams of flames from her feet and arms to emulate jet propulsion, like a sort of martial artist Iron Man. Though she can’t just up and leave the atmosphere, she can use it for short-range flight and battlefield maneuverability.
Boomstick: Speaking of martial arts, she’s a master of those, too. Both the ‘mysterious ninja’ kind and the ‘beat you with karate chops’ varieties.
Wiz: During her time masquerading as the Kemurikage –
Boomstick: The WHAT?
Wiz: Children-stealing spirits, basically. Anyway, Azula carried smoke traps that could even choke Aang, the master of bending… well, air. Azula further demonstrated the ability to disappear entirely on command.
Boomstick: She really is a ninja kung-fu master!
Wiz: And she’s more than willing to prove it, if need be. By combining her fighting skill with her bending, Azula can combine both into a uniquely close-and-long range fighting style, becoming even deadlier up close with her flames, and far more precise and accurate from afar.
Boomstick: But there’s still one more trick up Azula’s sleeves, her ultimate technique, her ace in the hole – LIGHTNING BENDING!
Wiz: Invented by Iroh, Azula went on to master the form. Originally, this just involved channeling natural lightning from the sky, but Azula can do much more than just act as a lightning rod.
Boomstick: She can literally GENERATE IT whenever she wants! If she’s pointing her fingers at you, you better run like hell, because you’re about to be in for the shock of your life.
Wiz: While lightning bending may seem pretty straightforward, Azula still managed to develop a few techniques, such as using balls of light to blind her foes.
Boomstick: But who needs that when you can just shoot some lightning up someone’s back? Damn, did she KILL Aang??
Wiz: Yes. No. It's complicated. She came arguably closer than anyone else ever had, or ever would, though.
Boomstick: It’s no wonder Azula is regarded as one of the best firebenders of her time. How many can say they nearly killed the friggin’ Avatar? If it weren’t for the power of love and water, the entire Avatar lineage would have died because of her!
Wiz: Though unfortunately for her, she didn’t, and paid the price. After Aang recovered, he mastered firebending from Zuko, and defeated her father, Ozai, in the penultimate showdown.
Boomstick: All while she was going crazier and crazier with power, and she finally snapped like a twig when Zuko came and fought her again. And she would’ve won too, if goddamn Katara didn’t ruin everything again.
Wiz: Suffering a mental breakdown, Azula was taken to a mental institution under the new Fire Lord’s orders – those of her brother, Zuko.
Boomstick: But it turns out Zuko also made the big mistake of letting the crazy sibling out of confinement.
(Insert scene from Thor: The Dark World)
Wiz: Although Azula did help Zuko search for their lost mother, she did so with many complications. It’s kind of hard to call her “help” at all.
Boomstick: And then she bailed, and came back as a baby-stealing ninja. Because of course she would!
Wiz: While she couldn’t usurp Zuko from his throne, she didn’t really want to anymore either. She disappeared one day, with no trace left of her to history.
Boomstick: Well, at least she left behind how stupid powerful she was. That’s all I care about, anywho!
Wiz: Indeed, she did. She can casually vaporize large bodies of water, block attacks from Aang, Toph, Katara and Zuko at once, and could even create these massive blasts of fire in her Agni Kai duel with Zuko.
Boomstick: Look at the size of that thing! All she’s doing is punching and shooting out giant castle-sized flames! I got to learn Firebending somehow.
Wiz: Judging by the size of the nearby lake, Azula was likely outputting around 13 tons of TNT. This, of course, accounting for her intensely hot blue flames.
Boomstick: She can’t just fart out a building sized blast of fire either. She’s quick enough to dodge lightning redirected back at her, or just catch actual lightning from the sky.
Wiz: She was even capable of tanking her own lightning, the same kind of attack that nearly killed Aang.
Boomstick: Yeah, remember him? The guy who could carve a canyon around a city?
Wiz: Azula definitely isn’t on the same level as Aang in the Avatar State, but she can absolutely keep up with and even defeat base Aang more often than not, which is still incredibly impressive. Still, she’s undeniably held back by her unstable mental state, which actively works against Firebending’s principles.
Boomstick: Yeah, apparently being able to make fire comes with more drawbacks than the other bending. Like, you need to be able to breathe properly, which is kinda hard to do when you’re laughing maniacally and pulling out your hair.
Wiz: And Azula relies entirely on her bending for combat. She may be skilled in hand-to-hand combat, but otherwise possesses no superhuman abilities, and if her hands and legs are bound by something as simple as chains, she can no longer utilize her powers.
Boomstick: Though honestly, who’d be crazy enough to want to get close to her anyway? Even if she can’t bend, she’s definitely the type that would kill you with her teeth or something.
Wiz: I don-
(Suddenly, a dark construct appears out of thin air, radiating a purple aura. The energy forms into a fist, and Wiz and Boomstick stare at it briefly before it punches Wiz in the face, knocking him down)
Wiz: AAAHHG
Boomstick: HAHA! YES! I’ve mastered the dark arts! Now, onto Firebending! (Boomstick motions as though he were firebending)
Azula: My own mother… thought I was a monster. She was right, of course, but it still hurt.
Interlude[]
Wiz: Alright, the combatants are set, and we've run the data through all possibilities.
Boomstick: It's time for a DEATH BATTLE!!!
FIGHT![]
Verdict[]
Bonuses[]
Connections:
- Both Edelgard and Azula are associated with fire. Edelgard can use basic fire magic, while Azula specializes in firebending.
- To go a bit further, Azula is literally from the Fire Nation, and Edelgard has the Crest of Flames.
- Both are royals, Edelgard being the daughter of the Adrestian Emperor and Azula being the daughter of the Fire Lord.
- Both have complicated relationships with their brothers. Dimitri and Zuko are also generally the protagonists of their stories, and have to overcome a traumatic past to ultimately face their flame-themed sister in the end.
- Oh, and Dimitri and Zuko both have eye problems and get a new, similar haircut at some point.
- Edelgard is arguably insane, or at least, has some serious mental issues, as she was subjected to Crest Experimentation as a child, and developed trust issues. She further displays the willingness to destroy her body in order to achieve the Hegemon Husk form in order to defeat Dimitri. Similarly, Azula has severre mental issues, derived from her jealousy of Zuko's love from their mother, and this later degenerated to the point of schizophrenia.
