Lord of Fire, Ozai

information

Fire Lord Ozai was the tyrannical ruler of the Fire Nation during the final years of the Hundred Year War. He was the second son of Azulon and Ilah, the younger brother of Iroh, the husband of Ursa, and the father of Prince Zuko and Princess Azula. Like every Fire Lord, Ozai was a master of firebending, and before the end of the War, he was believed to have been one of the most powerful firebenders in the world. After Iroh's only son, Lu Ten, died, Ozai usurped his brother's birthright to the throne, a plan that resulted in his father's death and Ursa's banishment.

early years (1/?)

When Ozai was an infant, a portrait of him was painted while he was playing on a beach. When he grew up, like his father and grandfather before him, he attempted to find and capture the Avatar, but was unsuccessful. Unlike his father, grandfather, and brother, Ozai was never a general, and thus had no great military achievements other than being the leader of the Fire Nation. Ozai and his father sought to add Avatar Roku's bloodline to the Royal Family, as the Fire Sages predicted that this would yield a very powerful bloodline of firebenders. The two traveled to Hira'a and located Ursa, the granddaughter of the previous Avatar. After a brief introduction by her father, Ozai proposed to Ursa and she agreed. However, as they prepared to travel back to the capital city, a commoner blocked their way, demanding that they release Ursa. Azulon ordered his bodyguards to deal with him, but after a brief struggle, Ursa pleaded with Ozai to stop his soldiers' attack, guaranteeing the man's safety, and let her speak to the man in order to get him to go home. After being called "My Love" by his future wife, the prince complied with the request. After the man was convinced to stop, the group continued their journey back to the capital.

early years (2/?)

Ozai and Ursa later married, and during the banquet the prince told his wife about his new duties. Much to her surprise, he explained that he had to cut all ties with his past life, in accordance with ancient traditions such as family and friends, in order to fully dedicate himself to his new duties and the royal family. Ozai happily kissed Ursa, saying that she now belonged to him. After their wedding, they had two children together: Zuko and Azula. However, when Zuko was born, his parents were unsure of him being a firebender, as he lacked "the spark in [his] eyes." Considering that it would be a "shame" for a Fire Nation prince to have a non-bender as his firstborn, Ozai planned to remove his infant son from the palace. However, Ursa and the Fire Sages pleaded with Ozai to give Zuko a chance, and the prince eventually gave it to him. The young family took frequent vacations to Ember Island to relax. On one vacation around 87 AG, Zuko nearly drowned while trying to help a turtle crab. When the tide swept his eldest son into the sea, Ozai dove into the water and rescued Zuko, who spent the rest of the day in his mother's arms, recovering from the experience. Ozai later confessed that he had tried to be a good father in his sons' early years.

early years (3/?)

Aware of his wife's desire to be in touch with her former life, he had ordered his servant, Elua, to pass on all the letters Ursa gave her in secret to smuggle out of the palace. However, one day when he was training, the old woman approached him with a letter that she felt required the prince's attention. After he read it, he yelled at the impossibility of the secret writing's content, and crumpled the letter in his hand. Consumed by the information he had read in Ursa's letter, he grew even more resentful towards his wife and eldest son. He called a Yuyan Archer, Vachir, to the palace and ordered him to travel to Hira'a to kill Ikem, Ursa's former boyfriend.

early years (4/?)

Months later, during a family dinner, Ozai listened animatedly to Azula's recollection of how her firebending instructor, Master Kunyo, was useless. He sided with his daughter when she said that Kunyo was wrong about how a larger burst of fire is generated, pointing out that he would send the firebending master to the colonies. When Zuko attempted to speak in Kunyo's defense, however, Ozai snapped at his son, telling him that he had no right to give Azula lessons in firebending, considering that even though she was younger, she was already more advanced in the technique. Ozai continued, telling her that he wasn't even sure Zuko had been a bender in the first place, and that he had been lucky that his mother and the Fire Sages had come to his defense, as she had been planning to kick him out of the palace for being a disgrace to him. She ended by telling Zuko that Azula had "never needed that kind of luck" and that she had "been born lucky," but Zuko had nevertheless "been lucky to be born." Hearing this, Ursa came to her son's defense, but at that moment, a palace servant alerted Ozai of an audience that a Yuyan Archer was requesting, and Ozai quickly left the room. Ozai met Vachir on one of the palace balconies and listened to the tale of Archer Yuyan's adventures. Vachir informed the prince that he had been unable to track down Ikem, as the man had disappeared into the Valley of Oblivion, where he was presumed to have died. Ozai, however, was not satisfied with this, considering it all to be assumptions. He then told the archer that he was ordering him to resign from the Yuyan Archers, as his failure made him unfit to be part of the elite group.

early years (5/5)

Afterwards, Ozai went to Ursa's room and confronted her about the letters she had sent to Ikem, reminding her that she must forget about her old life and that any communication with her past life was a betrayal. Although she considered Zuko as evidence of her treacherous act, she declared that she would not kill the boy, claiming to be merciful. However, he was pleased to inform his wife that he had sent an assassin after Ikem and that he had succeeded in his task, breaking Ursa's heart.

coronation (1/1)

About eight years before Aang was freed from the iceberg, Ozai's older brother Iroh began a famous six-hundred-day siege of Ba Sing Se, the capital of the Earth Kingdom. It ended when Iroh's only son, Lu Ten, was killed in battle. So Ozai went to request that his father, Fire Lord Azulon, revoke Iroh's birthright as crown prince. Ozai explained that without an heir, the Fire Lord line would end with Iroh, while he still had two sons. Azulon was furious, and refused to betray his son's right to the throne. As punishment, Azulon ordered him to kill his own son, Zuko, to understand Iroh's pain. He was willing to go along with his father's orders, but Princess Ursa learned of the plan, and begged Ozai to spare Zuko's life. Knowing that Ozai would do anything, even kill his own son, to become Fire Lord, she offered him a plan that would ensure his ascension to the throne and keep Zuko safe. She proposed that since she was a very good herbalist, she would make a colorless and odorless poison, only if it would ensure that Zuko could stay alive. He accepted the proposal, but knew that after this, it would only be a matter of time before she poisoned him, and told Ursa that she must leave the palace for good. When she told him that she would do so if she took her children with her, Ozai refused. He explained that her children were her insurance; if she did not try to return to the palace or contact Zuko or Azula, they would be safe. However, if she tried to take the children, he would hunt them down and kill them, just as he had done with Ikem. Eventually, Ursa handed the poison over to Ozai, and after Azulon's death, Ozai was crowned the new Fire Lord, pushing aside his brother Iroh, the true heir.

new plans (1/1)

Despite their family ties, Zuko bore the brunt of his father's cruelty. Three years prior to Aang's discovery at the South Pole, at the age of 14 Zuko found himself in his father's war room where he voiced his disapproval of a plan that involved sending rookie soldiers as decoys. Angered by his insolence, Ozai asked Zuko to fight in an Agni Kai, not with the general whom Zuko had disrespected, but with Ozai himself. Upon seeing the Fire Lord in the arena, Zuko fell to his knees, begging for forgiveness and refusing to fight his own father. For this cowardice and disrespect, Ozai burned the left side of Zuko's face, leaving a large scar on his face. Due to Zuko's disrespect and the dishonor he had caused himself, Ozai exiled Zuko, under orders not to return until he captured the Avatar who had been missing for nearly a hundred years. This was meant to be an easy way to get rid of Zuko. With the Avatar's sudden reappearance as a twelve-year-old airbender, Ozai became more aggressive in his quest for victory. Distrustful of his son's competence, Ozai promoted Commander Zhao to Admiral in order to increase his chances of capturing the Avatar. Admiral Zhao was thwarted in his mission by Ozai's brother Iroh, who committed treason in an effort to stop Zhao from killing the Ocean Spirit, so he assigned Azula to capture the Avatar as well as his son and brother. After the successful coup d'état at Ba Sing Se, Ozai had almost successfully taken control of the world. He eventually spoke to his son Zuko, who had regained his honor from the supposed "death" of the Avatar, and help Azula conquer Ba Sing Se. This was the first and only time Ozai felt pride for his son.

tactical measures (1/?)

At a war meeting with his generals the day before the eclipse, Ozai was assessing the Earth Kingdom's rebellion problems, and sought advice from Zuko, who had been spending time among its citizens. The prince told him that even though the Earth Kingdom had been officially conquered, its citizens would not accept defeat as long as they had hope. Following Azula's recommendation, Ozai concluded that the only way to end the Earth Kingdom's resistance was to use the power of Sozin's Comet to completely burn the continent, as had been done to the Air Nomads one hundred years earlier.

tactical measures (2/?)

During the eclipse on the Day of Black Sun, Ozai evacuated the capital to defend against the invasion and hid in a heavily guarded underground bunker. There, Zuko appeared and asked for permission to speak with his father. Ozai granted his request, amused that Zuko chose the eclipse to confront him. Zuko revealed that Azula had defeated the Avatar and that she had told him that he had been responsible because the Avatar was actually alive. Ozai became enraged and tried to attack Zuko, but was stopped when Zuko drew his dual swords, knowing that without his firebending, he was no match for his son. Zuko told him that he had tried to win his love, knowing that the same man who banished him and scarred him for life was not worthy of his love. Ozai told him that it was to teach him respect, but Zuko denied it, saying that it was cruel and evil. Having had to learn everything on his own, Zuko now realized that the Fire Nation could not rule the world and that harmony with the rest of the nations needed to be restored. Ozai laughed at this statement, pointing out that Iroh had changed him. Zuko went on to say that he would free Iroh from prison and help the Avatar defeat Ozai, leading Ozai to declare Zuko a traitor. Zuko refused to fight Ozai because he knew that the battle against the Fire Lord was the Avatar's destiny, not his. However, Ozai distracted Zuko by offering to tell him what really happened to his mother.

Tactical measures (3/3)

Ozai revealed to Zuko that his father, Fire Lord Azulon, had gotten Ozai to agree to kill his firstborn, and that he would have done so had Zuko's mother not found out and interfered. She had proposed a plan to spare Zuko's life and allow Ozai to take the throne with Azulon's death. However, Ursa committed "acts of treason that night", and was banished as a result, so Zuko realized she might still be alive. Ozai decided that "banishment [was] too merciful" and sensing the eclipse ending, attempted to kill Zuko with a very powerful display of lightning generation. However, he was unaware of Zuko's ability to redirect lightning, which Zuko used to send the attack back at Ozai, knocking him into a wall and leaving him in a rage, as Zuko fled the Fire Nation to join the Avatar.

Phoenix King (1/1)

When Sozin's Comet arrived, Ozai prepared himself for his new role in the world. He said that like the phoenix rising from the ashes, he must do so as well, and to do so he must abandon his title as Fire Lord and crown himself the Phoenix King. When he informed Azula that she would not be going with him on his mission to burn down the Earth Kingdom, she became enraged, stating that he could not treat her like Zuko, and that she had originally intended to burn down the Earth Kingdom. However, Ozai stopped her, stressing that she must stay in the Fire Nation to protect the capital, and that if he was no longer to be Fire Lord, Azula must be crowned. He then departed with his fleet of Fire Nation airships for the Earth Kingdom to carry out his plan. When he arrived in the Earth Kingdom, he began his attack, but was quickly stopped by Avatar Aang, who destroyed his ship.

personality (1/?)

Ozai was extremely cruel, easily angered, aggressive, domineering, ruthless, merciless, and insatiably power-hungry. It is believed that Ozai's deep anger stemmed from a failed relationship with his own father, Fire Lord Azulon. Iroh has noted several times that his brother is "not the understanding type", and that he had never seen Ozai regret, forgive, or change his mind about anything. Ozai believed in harsh and brutal discipline, and no one was safe from his aggression, not even his own children. When his son, Zuko, was thirteen, he burned Zuko's face and banished him from his country, simply because Zuko spoke out of turn during a war meeting. Although Ozai seemed to think of this as a lesson in respect, Zuko later condemned the action as simple cruelty. He tortured Zuko with his perceived inferiority, saying that Azula was "born lucky" while he was "lucky to be born." He only acknowledged Zuko when he helped his sister conquer Ba Sing Se, and when he "killed" the Avatar. However, despite his behavior towards his children, Ozai seemed to be very forgiving of the failure of certain people, such as War Minister Qin and Zhao, who both retained their positions and, in Zhao's case, was promoted multiple times, despite repeated failures that sometimes bordered on incompetence.

personality (2/?)

Ozai's ultimate aspiration in life was to conquer the entire world, but in reality his desires may not have been for control but for wholesale destruction to crush all resistance, as demonstrated when he attempted to destroy the Earth Kingdom for refusing to submit to his rule. He was willing to sacrifice his own family when asked just to remain in the good graces of his superiors. When his father Azulon's order was to kill Zuko so that Ozai would know the pain of losing a son, Ozai admitted to Zuko that he would gladly have carried out the murder had Ursa not interfered. He also attempted to kill Zuko once again when the latter announced his intention to join the Avatar. Ozai seemed to show little to no love or care for his own people. On the day Zuko was banished, Ozai seemed to support the idea of ​​sacrificing new recruits to defeat a powerful Earth Kingdom battalion so that he could get closer to controlling Ba Sing Se. When Ozai decided that he was going to use the power of Sozin's Comet to destroy the Earth Kingdom, he did not care that a large number of its people lived in the Fire Nation colonies in the west, where the attack would begin. Ozai apparently viewed the deaths of his own people as lesser sacrifices in order to become King of the World. However, he later told Zuko that it was a Fire Lord's duty to protect his people not out of love or loyalty to them, but because they were extensions of his divine will as the Fire Lord. In short, Ozai would defend his people from outside attacks only because he saw them as an extension of himself, and would not hesitate to dismiss or destroy them if it served his purpose.

personality (3/3)

Ozai was mentally abusive towards his daughter and eventually even physically abusive towards his son. He may have tried to be a good husband and father at one point, as implied by Zuko's flashbacks to the family's vacation on Ember Island. Ozai also mentioned that when Zuko was only three years old and was swept out to sea, he dove in and saved him. However, his anger and lust for power had degraded his relationship with his family. He believed in skill and perfectionism. This allowed Azula's natural talent and cunning to put her in the position of his favorite child. He expected nothing less than the best from her, thinking of her as a firebending prodigy. This expectation put a great deal of stress on Azula, forcing her to become a perfectionist. Ultimately, it was the environment in which Ozai raised Azula, without a mother figure and where fear, power, and perfection are the only reliable truths, that set the stage for her total mental breakdown.

skills: firebending

Fire Lord Ozai was an incredibly powerful and skilled firebender. His fighting style was extremely liberal and emphasized domineering, hellish strength. He was clearly driven by anger, hatred, and rage. The extent of his firebending remained unmatched by any character except, possibly, Iroh, his older brother. Despite his immense power, Ozai's firebending was rarely seen. His first real-time act was seen when he viciously attacked his son with a two-handed lightning bolt, which he performed with great speed and ease, while the sun had not yet fully emerged from eclipse, and the power was at its lowest point. This was the only firebending seen by Ozai that was not enhanced by Sozin's Comet. In his final battle with the Avatar, the Fire Lord revealed the extent of his powers, creating some of the largest towers of fire ever seen. During this battle he also assaulted Aang with lightning storms and demonstrated mastery in firebending, as well as propulsion through the air. The only way Aang was able to defeat Ozai without killing him was by redirecting a bolt of lightning, and ultimately, by removing his bending powers for good. Like Azula, he is able to master and create lightning, with even greater mastery than his daughter, being able to shoot lightning bolts even when the sun was slightly eclipsed.

skills: other skills

Despite his extremely cruel and domineering attitude, Ozai was implied on some occasions to be a respected if not loving Fire Lord by his people, displaying great leadership, intelligence, charisma, and courage. This was demonstrated in several instances. However, one of the most notable instances was when Mayor Morishita of Yu Dao said that Ozai compared to his son was not a coward, concluding that Ozai was a better, more patriotic leader. After his imprisonment, Ozai displayed a knack for manipulation, as seen when he attempted to spin Zuko's doubts about the pressure of being Fire Lord into following in his footsteps. Interestingly, Ozai has gained in prison a more logical and calm attitude, displaying great wisdom and a way of thinking ahead of his time, in that he was one of the first to point out that the concept of separate nations was holding back progress and was in favor of uniting the various nations. Although not much is shown of his fighting style, except when he fights Aang, in doing so, he reveals that he is a very fierce fighter with a very wild and destructive fighting style. Ozai is a brilliant but cruel, ruthless and bloodthirsty strategist, having gone the furthest in his attempts to dominate the world so far.

data

Nationality: Fire Nation Ethnicity: Fire Nation Age: 53 Male gender Hair color: Black Eye color: Amber Allies: Fire Nation, Azula, Zuko (formerly), Ilah, Iroh (formerly), Ursa (formerly), Zhao, Fire Nation Army Enemies: Earth Kingdom, Water Tribe, Team Avatar, Zuko, Iroh, Ursa, more... Weapon: Fire, lightning Fighting style(s): Firebending Position: Ex-Fire Lord Ex-Phoenix King Former Firebending Master Fire Nation Prisoner Reign: 95 - 101 AD (6 years) Predecessor: Azulon (as Fire Lord) Successor: Zuko (as Fire Lord) Affiliation: Fire Nation, Fire Nation Royal Family