>laughed about destroying a capital city
>thousands killed under his leadership
>sent war trophies home like they were nothing
Yet everyone acts like he's this innocent dude because he's a kind and goofy fat old man. The whole moral relativism card gets handed out to him but not Ozai who is pretty much doing the same shit.
Iroh got better, Ozai was evil until he got defeated.
A big part of Iroh is that after losing his son he totally changed and I'm sure he looked back on his war time with shame at what he did and how he acted.
>what is a redemption arc
What was the explanation why Iroh didn't become the fire lord again?
Pretty much these, he had that nickname for a reason but he clearly mellowed out with age. He tried to teach Zuko to not follow in his footsteps and that is own personal journey/life matters much more than his honor & proving yourself to others.
the world would just see it as one brother grabbing power from another. it needed to be the Avatar that brought balance to the world
The only thing he did wrong was stopping his campaign instead of painting the streets of Ba Sing Se with blood of his son's killers.
No I mean Iroh is older so wouldn't he have been first when their dad died?
Correction: He's a redeemed old man which is the reason why is a goofy and kind. He's done evil shit and he knows nothing can change that so he decides that he would no longer commit such atrocities while helping those around him better themselves to make the world he left shit better. He is an admiral man worthy of respect.
He lost his son and stop caring
Yes, he was the first born son and was heir to the throne. Ozai managed to convince Azulon to change that since Iroh was without a direct heir. This is what lead to the whole Ursa mystery. Did you even watch the show?
His son died which made him a broken man,the perfect opportunity for Ozai to seize the throne by asking daddy that Iroh is too unstable to take the throne.
Iroh was away mourning the loss of his son when Ursa killed Azulon, meaning Ozai had the opportunity to grab the chance. I assume he was still heavy in grieving to even consider ruling the nation.
That was the plan yeah, but when Iroh's son was killed that left Iroh without an heir while Ozai still had two children that could succeed him. At least I think that was the argument that Ozai put forth, its been a while.
In my defense its been like a decade? since ATLA
It's not that big of a plot point to forget so you have no excuse. Time for a re-watch.
>war trophies
You say that like its a bad thing.
Look war and death are shitty. War torn areas are going to be burned or bulldozed regardless.
Whats the harm in sending some things to another part of the world where they will be preserved and admired?
For archeologists, captured items provide valuable information about the interactions of ancient peoples.
Some artifacts exist only because they were taken from their original location.
If you are looting and stripping an area of resources they'll need to rebuild, thats fucking cruel.
But the vast majority of souvenirs aren't related to infrastructure or agriculture.
They are primarily weapons and armor or little trinkets that wouldn't be missed in the long run.
>Fails to avenge son and butcher Earth Nation Degenerate
>Becomes a fucking traitor to the best nation
Oh look, the pro-war faggot returns. Kill yourself.
Wars happens and are inevitable sometimes, one can see the relatively good things on bad things that can't be changed anymore as a way to carry on.
I think the point was that he realized that causing pain only brings pain. If he hadn't fought for the Fire Nation and took control of Ba Sing Se, his son, who was likely murdered in retaliation, wouldn't have died.
The important thing is, he didn't kill anyone the viewers cared about.
He spend whole life after redeeming himself for prissily that, so yeah.
Why is it completely okay to install a puppet ruler when it's the Avatar doing it.
>He spend whole life
*He spent his whole life
What? Ozai murdered Azulon and everyone had to take his word that the latter suddenly decided to let him be Fire Lord instead of Iroh. Did everyone suddenly forget that Azulon was going to have Zuko killed because Ozai had the audacity to ask him to revoke Iroh's birthright? Jesus. Did you even watch the show, yourself, retard?
Well considering the Avatar is viewed as the spirit of the world that keeps balance between everyone most anything they do is gonna have some level of authority behind it.
Second, it's the way the war would be resolved. If the Fire Lord's brother kills the Fire Lord then takes over and surrenders people won't be sure how much it can be trusted. A much stronger show of reconciliation is if the Avatar himself defeated the Fire Lord and personally approved of the new Fire Lord, someone that had accompanied him on part of his journey. The other nations would be much more comfortable and trusting of this.
This
Pretty sure the real reason Iroh isn't firelord is because he disappeared after his son died so no one was going to fight Ozais claim to the throne.
And to further expound upon that, Iroh could have easily fought against the idea that Azulon decided to let Ozai take over instead of him, but he was so broken by losing his son that he didn't care to challenge it. It was clear as day that Ozai made up Azulon's 'last wish.'
>Ozais claim to the throne.
*Ozai's claim to the throne.
Why are you acting like this wasn't pretty much the entire point of his character and why he was so determined to redeem himself and steer his nephew on the right path he learned too late? It's not as if they hid these facts about Iroh. They were sort of the point.
Because Avatar's writing has always been shit. Only redeeming factor with Iroh is his voice and he died because of it.
>Avatar's writing has always been shit
But he tells Zuko it's ok to take the throne from Azula?
It's okay, nobody likes Azula.
he learned from his mistakes that he was wrong, and he paid for them in the most tragic way... that's why he is well loved.
There's a subtle difference between taking down an active ruler in open battle and filling up the power vacuum after that ruler has fallen.
As long as Ozai is still around, everyone else's status as Firelord is purely nominal, so it's not like Azula would have been cemented in the minds of the people as a real ruler who has a throne to be taken in the first place.
>thousands killed under his leadership
It was a war. He didn't kill them for fun.
Does anyone feel that Iroh's achievement of breaking through Ba Sing Se's wall shares parallels with the invasion of Nanking?
According to that guy with the beard who works on the show, it was meant to parallel the LA Riots I believe.
Iroh seemed like a mostly alright guy before he lost his son, though. He did find the last two dragons in existence and spare their lives after meeting them.
Think it's implied that his spirit was broken when Lu Ten was killed, which is also why he retreated from Ba Seng Se, despite the fact he was closing in on an easy victory.
Makes absolutely no sense.
No, because the Japanese actually succeeded and raped the shit out of the city that they Chinese are still butthurt over it. Iroh is just a failure.
Do deny war is to deny human nature, faggot.
War is no accident that man's care could have averted.
Helps that the choice he picked was also the crowned prince of the fire nation.
What are you even trying to say?
>be a general
>fight wars, because, you know, its your fucking job
>but don't take pleasure in your victories!
>men die under your command, but its your burden to shoulder that, and mitigate your losses by being better than your enemy
>send home gifts from a far off land to your family to show them the culture you are engaged with to help them understand other places