I rewatched The Avatar and the Fire Lord a few days ago, and god, what a good episode. Revealing that Zuko is a descendant of both Sozin and Roku was a genius move (and that's not even getting into the Zuko/Aang parallels of it all). But there's something the show doesn't seem to think of, and that I haven't seen anyone in the fandom discuss either — the fact that Zuko isn't the only one descendant from both these men. Azula is, too.

The conclusion of this story that Iroh presents to Zuko at the end of the episode is that he alone — because of his lineage from both men the war was started from — is uniquely capable of cleansing the sins of his family and the fire nation and bringing peace to the world. But, the thing is, there's two sides of this conflict, and therefor two sides to its legacy. The external and the personal. The legacy of the external is the war, but the legacy of the personal is the sibling rivalries that kept repeating through generations of the royal family.

Though Roku and Sozin were not actually related, they were childhood friends as close as siblings and fucking shared a birthday, so the symbolism works. We know very little about Azulon's childhood or if he even had any direct sibling rivalries like this at all, but from what I can find on his wiki page, we know that Sozin favoured him over "other family" (I'm assuming his siblings). What we know very well, however, is what happened in the next generation between Iroh and Ozai. We know Azulon favoured Iroh over Ozai, and that this likely is the initial source of their hatred for each other, which resulted in perhaps the worst sibling rivalry of them all (what with the indirect patricide and throne stealing).

Then we go on to Zuko and Azula, whose upbringing kept going in the same patterns, but the key difference is them being the first ones to both be descendant from the men who started it all. If Zuko having this lineage makes him uniquely capable of ending the cycle of war in his country and restoring balance to the world, shouldn't that mean that both he and Azula having this lineage makes them uniquely capable of ending the cycle of brutal sibling rivalries and restoring balance to their family?

This conclusion I've presented seems to fit perfectly with the lesson Aang draws from the same story as well:

"Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Sozin was, right? If anything, their story proves that anyone's capable of great good and great evil. Everyone, even the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation, have to be treated like they're worth giving a chance."

I know this is supposed to be foreshadowing to Aang refusing to kill Ozai later, but I can't help but think it's even more applicable to fourteen year old Azula. It's really so ironic that the show runners thought Azula deserved what she got when their own show seems to be telling them that Zuko mending his relationship with her is what he ultimately should've done.

But, then again... that does sort of make her the perfect tragedy.

So I was thinking about how ATLA inverted the favored sibling trope -if u can call it a trope-. Like usually in fiction, it's the older sibling that is the favorite and the younger one is kind of the underdog. And then I realized that they didn't only invert it they also subtly executed the classic version of it. It's never said explicitly but in the one scene, where we see Ozai and Azulon interact with each other, it is abundantly clear that Azulon favors Iroh - his older son- and completely dismisses Ozai. Ozai is the one lacking, Ozai can't do anything right in his father's eyes.

And now we go one generation further, Ozai is now an admittedly terrible father to two children. Zuko and Azula, and who does he favor?!

THE YOUNGER ONE

AZULA

Of course he does, Ozai heavily projects on both of his kids. He goes the extreme other way and puts the same abusive pattern on his own children, just reversed.

- Iroh himself btw never has the opportunity to develop that pattern, first of all because he only had one child, and second of all because he was the one who got the at least somewhat "healthier" dynamic with his father and probably his mother, if we go with the theory that Ilah died in childbirth.-

Because he sees the exceptional prodigy of Azula as himself, the second child, who in his narcissism is the better option. Who he can form to be the perfect successor of his legacy.

And in that way of thinking he treats Zuko, his older child with the same neglect and dismissal as he was treated as a child. He himself does not realise it, but he creates in that way in Zuko a kind of distorted mirror image of himself.

With one difference. Zuko has his mother and his uncle to teach him compassion. Not only that but Zuko himself is someone who as a person has a strict honor code he follows. (See 41st division).

Zuko is with that in mind, not just a reflection of Ozai but also a WEAK reflection from his perspective.

Which puts us back to the reason of, why he burned the face.

So in conclusion did ATLA not only invert a trope, it also used it to develop a unhealthy family dynamic and create a realistic picture of the cycle of generational trauma.

Becoming more and more convinced that firelords just reproduce like amoeba.

Sozin has no wife mentioned as far as I know, Azulon’s wife is named but that’s all we know about her, Iroh seemingly just magically gained Lu Ten out of thin air and both Zuko and Azula look far more like Ozai than they do like Ursa.

Bonus points for LOK continuing the tradition and Zuko having Izumi while Izumi has Iroh the second, no mention of second parents anywhere.

Hence, the fire lords can reproduce asexually. I do not know the exact science of this or what it means for the world of avatar, only that I will not be taking criticism at this time.

When is gonna be the time you show love to your second child 😾❓

2x7 Screenshot redraw

hehedgf

I think he was fit even in his 95th

HEH

No, I’m sorry, but actually What The Fuck did Azulon think he was going to achieve when he ordered Ozai to kill Zuko?

Like “As punishment for being an asshole about your brother’s pain from his beloved son’s loss, I order you to kill the child you clearly don’t favor or like. Yes, the child that you literally could not care less about, the one who Iroh likes more out of your 2 children. Yes, that will teach you.”

Seriously what the fuck was he thinking???

There's no way you can convice me that the fire nation individuals aren't latinos. For once, skin color in latino countries can vastly vary, going from black to white and everything in between. However, other than in a few areas, dark hair is more often than not the norm. AND any individual with inner fire (metaforically, literally or else) gets immediately classified as a latino. Just because.

OH, BROTHER WHERE ART THOU ? — atla prequel fic

TRADITION : fire lord azulon, casted with jet li, CUNNING : fire lady ilah, casted with michelle yeoh, TALENT: prince iroh, casted with remy hii, BRUTALITY : prince ozai, casted with dylan wang, INNOCENCE : lady ursa, casted with lola tung, FREEDOM: aliya, casted with simone ashley, VIRTUE : lady saori, casted with jamie chung

this is mostly for @introverted-indigo

There are probably other reasons why Izumi is probably an only child, but I wonder if the reason is to act as a reset for the Fire Nation Royal family. Like Iroh & Ozai had a more one sided fuelled sibling rivalry. Then there’s Zuko & Azula’s sibling rivalry that was spurred on by their father after he exploited who was the stronger bender, and Iroh didn’t help with their sibling rivalry even more.

I wonder as an act of restarting his Nation further Zuko only wanted one child because of addressed and unaddressed toxic sibling rivalries within the family, and decided that with Izumi there would be a clean slate. The last only child within the family was Azulon which Sozin started with to push the Fire Nation ideal and instilled in continuing the Hundred Year War. I would think Zuko would do that but to push the ideals of peace and reparations with Izumi. It would be interesting to think about.

A Rant on "Azulon wanted to test Ozai"

There's a common headcanon in the Avatar: the Last Airbender fandom that states that Azulon told Ozai to kill Zuko because he wanted to test him, and that the 'right' answer would be to refuse. Usually this headcanon is held by people who view Ozai as the incarnation of all evil and want to convince themselves that Azulon is good because he treated Iroh, saint of all saints, well. In other words, usually people who have this headcanon don't understand any of these characters (Ozai, Iroh, or Azulon) beyond a surface level.

But. Let's look at this headcanon. Let's look at what it really means.

I see three separate (reasonable) ways to respond to Azulon's implied/hypothetical demand that Ozai kill Zuko (it's not actually outright stated in-show). First, that Ozai says he will kill Zuko and actually kills Zuko; second, that Ozai says he will not kill Zuko and doesn't kill Zuko; third, that Ozai says he will kill Zuko but does not actually kill Zuko. (The fourth option, that Ozai says he will not kill Zuko and then does kill Zuko, would have no actual rationale behind it.) However, only whether Ozai says he will kill Zuko or not, or how he reacts immediately to Azulon's demand, is our concern here. So what's the right answer for Ozai, to agree to kill Zuko or to refuse?

If Ozai agrees to kill Zuko, and it was a test of family loyalty--which is ridiculous, they're royalty in the middle of a war, backstabbing is an inherent part of royalty especially for a violent nation that builds itself on pride and greed--then he will have failed the test, and Azulon would likely be able to use that against him politically, publicly humiliating him. In addition, it isn't a good test of family loyalty, because the duty of the father is (hypothetically) to protect the child, but the duty of the son is to obey his father, so Ozai could argue that he didn't betray his familial duty, just that he chose his duty as the son of the Fire Lord and his loyalty to his nation over his duty to his son. Unfortunately, it's not likely that the type of father that would test his child like that would listen to his arguing, so Ozai gets punished anyways.

If Ozai refuses to kill Zuko, against the Fire Lord's direct wishes, that's treason--Ozai could face the death penalty for refusing, and Azulon has already implied from this order, if you accept that it happens, that he's willing to risk or throw away the lives of his family. And if Ozai says he will do it and then doesn't, either hiding Zuko or staging an failed assassination, and Azulon finds out, he could be charged for treason and killed.

So what's the right answer here?

There is none.

This request, this 'test,' is a horrible catch-22. If you headcanon this, then you have to accept that Azulon is the type of father that would play favorites (Iroh doesn't get this treatment) and treat his own child horribly. And what's the crime that 99.9% of the fandom hates Ozai's guts for? That's right, playing favorites and treating his own child horribly.

Whichever way you slice it, the Fire Nation royal family's generational trauma runs deep.

Can we talk about that Haru looks like a young Azulon?

My newest crack theory for Avatar: The Last Airbender:

Just, keep in mind, this is not serious.

You see, rewatching the show as an adult, two characters that stood out to me were Haru and Azulon, because I think that they kind of look like me, with the long hair, the beards, the lean frame, the thin, long-ish jaw... And that's when it dawned on me....that means they look like each other!

Both as teens...

...and as young adults!

Compare this to Tyro, who really dosen't resemble Haru at all, and we come to the inevitable conclusion that Haru is secretly Azulon's illegitimate son.

Now there are two problems with that theory. Firstly, Azulon has grandchildren that are the same age as Haru's, and is therefore too old to believably be his father. However, Azulon's own father, Sozin, had him at the age of 82, so it's not completely unreasonable Azulon himself would father a child at that age.

Secondly, Haru is an earthbender instead of a firebender, and the show implies that he inherited it from his father Tyro. It's possible though that Haru inherited the earthbending from his mother, either through a dormant gene that skipped a generation or Haru's mother actually was an earthbender and kept it a secret to not be taken in by the fire nation, just like she wanted Haru to do.

Do I think that Haru is the secret offspring of Azulon for real? Nah. But I throwing the Idea around in my head was fun, despite how unlikely it is.

Dear Fire Lord Azulon,

Your moustache is excellent, but how do you keep it from dropping into your soup?

(author: Sorry for disappear for a long time. I had some promblems with my life. I hope I will became more active by the time)

why do you defend Azula's actions so much but not Ozai's? he was born into the same family she was, if not a worse one

I have a very simple answer for you, anon:

Azula is a child. Ozai is not.

Yes, Ozai was abused. Azulon, from what we've seen of him, was a horrifically controlling father who probably pitted Ozai and Iroh against each other just to keep his own power. I have no doubt that Ozai suffered, and that is also heartbreaking in its own right.

But there comes a time where you just cannot excuse people's actions anymore. Ozai has been free of his father for decades now and he still chooses to take the actions that he does - comparatively, Azula has never known life without Ozai looming over her head. Ozai is an adult capable of making his own decisions concerning war and genocide, and has been so for a very long time; this makes him near-irredeemable, if not entirely so.

Azula is a child. Her actions have been cultivated by a need for recognition from Ozai, and she is fourteen years old.