Tales of Fire

The Facts behind the Tales

First, I would like to thank everyone who read and reviewed this story. Secondly, I would like to tell you how I came up with the concept of this odd new look on the Fire Nation Royal Family. If you don't mind, I will waste your time with the facts.

First are the facts about Ozai. Let's say Azula lies, as she often has. If we take into consideration the interesting fact that she lies once per episode, it can be safely assumed that Ozai's punishment was not to kill his only son. After all, this would do serious damage to the family line, even though Iroh had lost his son. But Iroh cared for Zuko as well, and, more importantly, while Lu Ten was loved deeply by his father, the same cannot be said for Zuko. A more fitting punishment would be the execution of his daughter or, more interesting, banishment. Now, this would explain why Azula would lie to Zuko, and then likely to her own mother.

On to Lu Ten. This chapter came about as two of my ideas; one, that Lu Ten made it into Ba Sing Se, which is where he was captured by Koh; two, that Toph has one of the two Earthbending Spirits within her. This is not so hard to imagine, and this concept shall return in the sequel to 'Come What May'. That the other is Koh will be explained soon enough. We can assume Lu Ten shared his father's free spirit, considering how devastated he was. That the two parties met would explain both the spirit in Toph and the death of Lu Ten.

Within the chapter of Iroh, the Fire Nation General is mourning his son. The part about the Earthbenders worshiping a monster is reflected by the fact that Koh stole the face of someone the Avatar loved. However, the many human faces could not have been taken in the Spirit World, as very few people have ever gone there. Now, by remembering that Koh is black with a white mask (Ocean Spirit, black with white spot), it could be presumed that the spirit 'old enough to remember the Ocean and Moon' was in fact a spirit of Earthbending, representing their Diversity and many faces. Of course, another factor is that the Avatar was unable to kill Koh. Not only did he fail, but Zhao stated that the 'Ocean and Moon gave up their immortality a long time ago.' These two point to a possibility that Koh was once in the mortal realm, having given up its immortality as well.

Azulon's chapter is more of a journal of the night he was killed. Again, I have used my usual suspect. The death of either of Ozai's children would be a very stupid act, considering they are the only grandchildren he has left. Men, unlike women, are capable of reproducing even in old age (or maybe that's different in the Fire Nation), and so Iroh could have produced an heir, unless Fire Nation marriages continue after death. None of the Fire Lords have had living or present wives (we haven't seen Sozin or earlier, however), and so we cannot be sure. However, the fact Ursa may have been 'caring for him' in his old age would put her close enough to kill him. One last part of this is that the punishment would be interesting; I feel it would be ironic if it turned out that Ozai's punishment was to be banished, and therefore unable to claim the throne of the Fire Lord. This would also spur Azula into action, and explain the Fire Lord statement in the chapter (this proves the fic, and thus my reasoning). This would also teach Ozai that banishment was a ferocious punishment, one not to be taken lightly, and so explaining the fact that the scar was added to by the banishment.

Sozin is a SOB, as far as I care. I find it very interesting that the Fire Lord, whose son ruled for 23 years out of 100, then died about 8 years before the end, was old and frail. At most, he could be about 80, but then one must remember his children, and theirs. A simple fact is that there are two kinds of heirs. The Heir Apparent, the oldest eligible kid, gets the throne. The Heir Apparent, anybody born before an Heir Apparent, but not fitting all the circumstances, gets the throne unless over-ruled by an Her Apparent. In other words, Azulon was the oldest male child of Sozin (I think those creepy old ladies were his sisters or something). So, about 31/100 years were ruled by someone OTHER than Sozin. That's why I made him no older than Aang. Also, note that the comet comes around once every hundred years. I see no reason why it should start just for a war, and then one has to ask, 'Why do they have the same name?' In real life, advisors are often seen as scheming, and do in fact rule the country in the presence of a child. However, due to the incredible Firebending of the Royal Family, I suppose he mastered Firebending at that age.

Next, we come to Avatar Roku. Interestingly enough, he slightly resembles Iroh (white hair and topknot being the obvious relations), but more importantly, he wears something in his hair. His mannerisms even resemble Iroh's; though he is dead, he is kind to his friends and deadly to his foes. The fact he resembles Iroh may be coincidental, but he also shares similarities with Ozai. Most importantly, the thing in Ozai's hair is similar to the one in Roku's hair, though Roku's admittedly isn't flame-shaped, but then, the Avatar is more important than the Fire Lord. It is, of course, also likely that the fact the only difference between his name and Zuko's are the order of letters (vowels switched, uko to oku) and first letter. In Japanese (random, I know), Zu means picture or drawing, and ko means small (or apparently large and great…). Ro means oar (ironically, rowing needs an oar), and ku means ward (also nine and some stuff about writing) (oku also means hundred million, perhaps meaning he's that avatar). Either way, I say he was the Fire Lord and the Avatar. Feel free to dispute me on this point.

Finally, we come to Kuzon. By no stretch of the imagination can one deny this possibility. We know only his name, and his nation. If Kuzon were Fire Lord, it would help to explain the odd coincidence that Aang just happened to befriend the future king of the first Earthbending city. If the royalty of each nation was drawn to the Avatar, it would only help to further the Avatar's power to maintain balance. If Zuko were to take the Fire Nation Throne, the fact that Aang is best friends with the temporary leaders of the Southern Water Tribe (and considered a hero by the Northern Water Tribe), along with the fact he is the last Airbender, and his friendship with Bumi, this means no nation can attack another without fighting the friend of their friend, and therefore, without turning against their powerful… Friend.

I would like to thank anyone who read all of this, and I have one message to pass on to you, dear reader:

The Fire Nation Royalty all have Daddy Issues