With The Legend of Korra season 2 now airing and the final installment of The Search set to hit stores next month, we look at one of the biggest controversies in the comics.
As we mentioned in our previous comics post, perhaps the biggest reveal of the Avatar: The Last Airbender comics has been that Zuko is not, perhaps, Ursa and Ozai’s son after all. Zuko, during his search for his mother, found a letter from Ursa to her ex-fiance from her home village of Hira’a, Ikem, calling Zuko “our son” and saying, “When I look into his eyes, it’s as if I’m looking into yours.”
While this shocking development potentially explains Ozai’s disdain for his son and his willingness to kill him as a child and to later severely scar and banish him, it also leads to more questions.
A major theme of Zuko’s character arc was presented in season 3’s “The Avatar and the Fire Lord” when Iroh reveals that Zuko is the descendent of both Avatar Roku and Fire Lord Sozin:
Because understanding the struggle between your two great-grandfathers can help you better understand the battle within yourself. Evil and good are always at war inside you, Zuko. It is your nature, your legacy. But, there is a bright side. What happened generations ago can be resolved now, by you. Because of your legacy, you alone can cleanse the sins of our family and the Fire Nation. Born in you, along with all the strife, is the power to restore balance to the world.
Zuko’s series-long arc involved him coming to terms with his heritage and the idea that good can be born of evil. Zuko overcame the shadows of his family and the Fire Nation royal line to help a new era of peace alongside the Avatar — a battle made all the more poignant due to what he had to overcome and sacrifice in the process.
Of this development, series co-creater Mike DiMartino said, “This story is not just about the external plot of Zuko searching for his mother, but also his internal search for who he is (or who he thinks he is). And that’s what makes this particular chapter in the Avatar saga much more than just a mystery to be solved.”
But this story also has implications beyond Zuko. Zuko’s disposition was in direct contrast to his sister’s, though they both came from the same lineage. While Zuko struggled with the war of good and evil within him and eventually chose good, that conflict manifested itself in insanity in Azula. Zuko also had Iroh’s calming influence to guide him in his exile, while Azula was shaped by her father — which creates an interesting debate of nature versus nurture.
But this development, if Zuko truly is the illegitimate son of Ursa and Ikem, seems to counter that message entirely, as good was not actually born of evil as indicated. And what does it mean for Azula and her eventual fate, if only the child born out of wedlock can overcome the curse of Sozin’s line?
The implication is scary, to say the least.
DiMartino added:
What I love about the revelation at the end of part 1, is that Zuko finds a sense of freedom in his new knowledge. If he’s not Ozai’s son, that means he’ll be unburdened from his past and all the horrible things that happened to him. He thinks he can start fresh. In fact, Zuko seems to be the most relieved of his friends to find out this news — they’re all looking at the big picture and wondering what it means for the world if Zuko isn’t the rightful Fire Lord. Meanwhile, Zuko just smiles and says he feels hopeful.
But does this clean slate erase the development Zuko went through over the course of three seasons, going from an exiled prince craving his father’s approval to a strong, independent leader? Or does it only matter that Zuko made all his decisions believing that he was Ozai’ son?