Uncle Iroh is not Perfect (Avatar: The Last Airbender) 

Uncle Iroh is best uncle.

Idk what to do with the android token, but the link at the end of the video did bring me to the Play Store page. I think it's very cool Nickelodeon made this game and sponsored you. Hope my comment helps a bit. Cheers.

When will there be a web browser based version? 😢

Fun fact, despite the creators claiming Rangi's name meaning tiger, based a word that means tiger in Korean, horangee or horangi, by omitting the ho part, they essentially made her name mean wolf instead of tiger.

Yes, Iroh isn't "Perfect" but that's also kind of the point.

Zhao is a twisted reflection of what Iroh could have been. Smart, capable, learned, self-assured. He even learns from his hotheaded interaction with Aang. Trying to have Iroh's surrogate son killed turned him against the people who orchestrated it. Seeing the Moon Spirit harmed was the breaking point for abandoning the whole of the Fire Nation and its war philosophies. The people can change, but the crusade started by Sozen was evil, willing to throw life itself out of balance in the pursuit of domination.

they prolly just didnt develop his character as much at that point. but i also think that at the time he had to sorta "play-dead" in a sense. because if he tried to resist capturing the avatar at that point he would have no chance to help zuko, zuko wouldve left him behind.

I was confused on this as well. At the time of just watching the show I had some amount of reservation for him because for me he was hypocritical or conflicted. How could he be so honourable yet corrupted at the same time? Thanks for the perspective 🙏 really shows how truly intelligently written this show was.

Mmm,I think he was just giving hope to zuko,going along whit him in his journey before he finally could change his mind and purpose,but he never actively tried to help him to capture the avatar Like you said,in the second episode they shoot him a fireball But just like that,like,one fireball,that wasnt even that powerfull The same Iroh that could stand a chance against the fire lord,and he only shoots one fireball I think that if he was really into capturing the avatar,he would have no problem in doing it right there I think he stated his redemption when he lost his son and finally saw what war makes to people,and for the start of the series he already was convinced of all that

like comment above me said He "helped" Zuko, or at least tried to, in his adventure to capture Aang. But you can see that was "uncle Iroh" helping Zuko, not the "war veteran/strategist general Iroh". If he refused to capture the Avatar, you know how it goes - he's ousted from the Fire Nation, and from Zuko. Did he wanted that? No, obviously. So he helped, as little as he can.

"life is not bad or good, its your emotions which matters, if you bring happiness, you will live happy, balance of life

Also, I'm pretty sure that the Air Nomads were wiped out before Iroh's time. Sozin did that, so that might've been even before Iroh's father, Azulon, ascended to the throne, much less after his son, Lu Ten, died.

shit gets me choked up just reading that quote lol what a show

He said sad

There are ppl who gag (maybe not all in bad faith) this moment for being too on the nose. But it was enough. Book 3 is mostly about every character after all and honestly, it takes a lot of strength to figure out your pain in words. The scene is not overated, is indeed powerful!

People don't talk enough about Iroh's influence of Ozai

Agree. Even iroh should be the next fire lord and on the line heritage

​@@hez859 yes it is.

I feel like it's easily forgotten that Iroh was the hard favorite (which is fair) of Azulon to the point Azulon made Ozai kill his own son at the suggestion of pulling the firelord seat up from under Iroh. I think Iroh would have been a good person as Firelord (Ozai was really just twisted) kinda like Zuko turned out where he cared about the citizens and soldiers and still had good values while believing in the imperialism of the fire nation.

he still killed alot of innocent people and took over nations and never felt bad until his son died, he's a likeable character but he's a genocidal maniac and yall are weird for not acknowledging that.

This is my question to the writers too. Azula and Zuko's destiny can be interchanged if Iroh stayed and guided Azula. But it will harder than guiding Zuko. Azula's life is a cycle of 'im toxic > because no one guided me to the right path > because im toxic > no one will stay'. It's sad but this is the reality for some people. If this isnt a kids show, maybe the writers might had gone into a more darker path in Azula's story.

Azula was too much like her father to ever really grow or change. Iroh knew that, which was probably why he favored and nurtured Zuko instead of her. Unlike Azula, Zuko from a very young age displayed warmth, kindness, compassion, honor, and empathy, which meant that he had the most potential for great change and personal growth. Even if he wanted to reach out to her, she would’ve dismissed this as some sort of cynical ploy to gain power or saw it as some kind of pathetic weakness on his part.

@@kcirtapelyk6060 thats why paranoia is one of the hardest to deal with in terms of mental disorders. Its even harder if the person had paranoia and absolute power, like Azula and some tyrant dictators and conquerors.

@@kcirtapelyk6060 I don't agree that she was too much like Ozai from an early age, he shaped her to his will thru manipulation. Now, it is true that Azula would have seen Iroh's attempts at kindness with mistrust, Zuko and Azula are very different, and Iroh would have needed to take a different approach when reaching out to her. It is understandable that Iroh preferred Zuko, since he was indeed naturally kind and reminded him of his son; I believe Iroh just didn't know *how* to reach out to her. I believe that when it comes to people like Azula, you need to become someone worthy of admiring in their eyes, and then they'll listen. I guess I just have a soft spot for Azula, she reminds me of myself when I was younger. A perfectionist, "advanced" child, that lacked empathy, and CRAVED attention from certain adults.

​@@angelajaime5155 I completely agree! Azula was raised in the SAME culture Zuko was in. People just believe she was born "evil" because she wasn't nurturing to her OLDER brother like Katara was.

I really don't think he is that flawed in his presentation in the series. He is very much a good guy with a messed up past hanging on the baddies'' side out of inertia. He doesn't stay there long.

@@willnash7907 *war criminal*, not a "messed up past"

@@OhNoTheFace What war crime did he commit?

@@OhNoTheFace And Schindler was a Nazi war profiteer. The point of a redemption arc is that redemption is possible. I don't think it changes the fact that Iroh's flaws are present only in the past, and there not prominent.

Yeah that's something I always hated about the fandom.

Meanwhile in alternate universe= Azula best waifu of all time, strong, wise and compassionate.

Can you really blame them though? Even as a little girl, she was practically a clone of her father. Cold, ruthless, heartless, and power hungry. Iroh saw that she was too far gone while Zuko on the other hand displayed kindness, compassion, and empathy, therefore had greater potential for positive change and personal growth. It also helped that he was abused and neglected by his father, hence he was in desperate need of a more positive masculine role model in his life. A role that Iroh was more than happy to play.

I have heard about people like her who are born with nasty personality quicks. There’s this one woman, a psychopath, grew up with far better people to guide her than Azula ever got. She could get on people's nerves and act without a hint of empathy. But she was law-abiding and somewhere along the line came to a appreciate her child as a part of herself. Psychopaths have self worth and all the other things that makes us humans. But with people like Azula there are special needs that neither Iroh nor Ursa could provide for given the circumstances.

@@comradeblin256 to be fair, aside from her being quick to violence, she is the best waifu

While I agree with Azula upbringing being tough, this is one thing I can't put on Iroh. Zuko was cast out by Ozai so Iroh was able to slide in and guide him. I doubt Ozai wouldn't let Iroh have the prodigy child he was hand rearing. And Iroh was in no position to take on the newly power hungry Firelord who killed his own father and was willing to kill his son.

I definitely agree

Facts

What we see from iroh is effectively the wise mentor. But I don’t think that’s why anyone really appreciates his character. It’s his acceptance of his failings and his determination to bios a positive impact that makes him beloved.

This was written by a woman

THIS IS SOOO GOOODBI

yea you're totally right oh man! the kid scorning the earth kingdom wisdom on the knife purely from prejudice against the fire nation is a direct parallel to the way that Zuko did a very universally kind thing but they still refused to see its value, simply because of his heritage! :0

@@godsstrongestmagicalgirl5217 Yeah indeed! Also, Sage rain was wrong about Azula & the doll. Zuko needed courage, so he gives him the knife. Azula already has courage and a lot of skill. Sp she gets the doll to try to nurture some more

Where did you learn that from??

@@newsearching obviously from the comics

Oh wow I never considered that

And when Iroh saw what Ozai had become on the day that Ozai burned Zuko's face, Iroh knew that he had to correct his mistake. And Zuko was the one best suited to take the throne of the Fire Lord away from Ozai. But he (Iroh) couldn't let the Fire Nation know about his plan or risk any of them figuring this out, so he kept watch over Zuko for the first 2 seasons, then Zuko needed to figure things out on his own during the third season.

@@rail7646 Which comic??? I own most of them and I don't remember anything about Ozai's childhood in any of them.

Indeed, there is much difference in the views of life when such a large emotional point takes place. It is not entirely clear on Iroh's life as a young man, we are only really aware of how he was when he was a father and how he had a change from when the loss of his own son led to him to when we first saw him on screen. I think you are right on the death of his son, we often do not sense the emotion of loss until he came face to face with it. After it happened, he must have started to focus more on loss and saw the many civilians and soldiers of the earth kingdom left without life. The realization of emotion and focus revolves around many parts of life. When a person loses a dog, the take the pain and start to feel the emptiness of where their companion once was. Then they start to focus on the other dogs around, the other people that are smiling and playing with their own dogs. Seeing the death of his own son, then seeing the pain the earth kingdom citizens must of shifted his view of the war and the mentality of the fire nation. This of course is only a guess to how he started to change, but I am sure the deaths of others started to course a deeper sense of sadness after his son was gone. Mistakes allow for growth, Iroh is open to making mistakes for the sake of making even a stranger's day a little bit better. He may not be perfect, but you are right that we should all do our best even if we do not reach our goals.

It's not the case. Iroh was also a coleader of the invasion of the North Pole he joinded after Zhao personaly requested him to join. Obviously Iroh joined to help Zuko BUT; Why would Zhao ask him to join in the first place? 1)Zhao was petty and didn't liked having his authority challanged and Fire Lord's brother was someone who could do that. 2) Zhao expected Iroh's betrayel. 3) They were not in good relations at least since Zhao's Agni Kai with Zuko. And yet despite all of it Zhao asked him to join him. Why? There must have been a military reason for that. Weather it was inspiring the troops and boosting their morale or taking part in planing the invasion(Iroh was a tacticall and strategic genious) Iroh had part in the conquest of the North. Also notice that his only concern with killing the moon spirit was that it would affect Fire Nation negativly. He only given up on Fire Nation after Azula wanted to arest him and Zuko and not because he was against what fire nation was doing but because it was his person(and Zuko) that was now hunted by the Fire nation.

@@Alaryk111 I think you have some good points, but I think Iroh was in a way intentionally misleading the Fire nation, and would have left long ago if it wasn’t for Zuko. I can fully imagine Iroh doing this, but I don’t think we can know for sure. I interpret his comments on the moon spirit to not be about his concern for the Fire nation, but as a way of appealing to Zhao, who is still invested in the Fire nation. Either way I think Iroh has a lot of good lessons, and a lot you can look up to, but it is still important to be careful of idolizing other people (especially those in history and real life)

@@Alaryk111 Zhao's only motivation for inviting Iroh to the North was to gloat. Zhao was ambitious, egotistical and wanted his achievements to be recognised. As much as Iroh was dishonoured by his failure to conquer Ba Sing Se, he was still recognised as royalty and one of the Fire Nation's greatest ever generals. Zhao wanted Iroh there to bear witness to his greatest victory - perhaps in the hopes of gaining validation from a peer, or more likely, simply to rub Iroh's nose in the dirt. He wanted to be seen as superior to Iroh, and what better way than to have the man himself present to remind everyone. Much like with Zuko's quest to capture the Avatar, Iroh's support of Zhao's invasion is entirely passive. Iroh offers Zhao no advice that would gain him strategic advantage over the Waterbenders, only warnings that might help avoid needless casualties.

Same. His actions of liberating Ba Sing Se shows that.

I mean I honestly think it reflects more on the children rather than Iroh. At very least it does like you said reflect Iroh's choice with gifts as strong symbols of the nation it is from with careful choices for the quality and philosophy. I also did not realize he had return the dagger to the boy, while Azula burned the doll. I would say it serves as good forshadowing and just in general good characterization of how they each view the earth kingdom. Like the Swordsmaster Piandao said the blade is not just a weapon, but the extension of oneself, or something like that. Zuko respects the craftsmanship and shows appreciation for the gift with joy, it is the blade he carries when he leaves Iroh to wander alone. Even if he is alone, he carries the spirit of his uncle with him both spiritually and physically with the blade. This goes in contrast to Azula who does not show appreciation for the gift, even if she did not like it she made the choice to destroy it. This shows her disregard for other people's kindness, we as the audience even know what would happen if she got something different. If the gifts were swapped, Zuko would still appreciate the gift however question why he got a doll. Azula would just parade around with the dagger and show it off to Zuko, then mock him for how he got such a chilidsh toy while she got something that is good for fighting with. After that she would probably complain on why the blade is so small or why the color is not red or something. Also I think you are fine with looking into it, I mean each choice made does not necessarily mean it was considered deep. However, we as an audience like to draw ideas from what we currently know about the characters, so we make connections based off what type of thinking they would have.

Lol, here I was thinking it was just Iroh reading Azula’s character wrong and assuming she’d want a doll when she was just as much a warrior as Zuko, if not better. Maybe if he had gotten them both something useful that they could cherish, she wouldn’t have burned the doll.

The doll in the latest Earth Kingdom fashions could also symbolize how Azula and her fighters dressed up in the latest Earth Kingdom fashions to infiltrate it...

@@rockmegently i think one could also see iroh's gift to represent things he wants for the children, he wants zuko to protect himself and be strong for his own merit, since they all know ozai has a big preference for his daughter than his son, while with azula, you could imagine that he give her a doll to try open a more tender side to her, let herself take care of something as fragile and soft as a doll with love and care, but she doesnt

​@@rockmegently I agree with the other guy. Had he given her a dagger like Zuko's, Azula would've probably skinned some cat alive or she would've not appreciated it at all.

Yeah but too many people overate iroh too much I feel like iroh is one of the most overatted character All bevause he got great charm

It is not that Iroh considers himself perfect, it is the audience that often tend to glorify him a bit too much.

@@msk-qp6fn yeah i hated it and the audience are iroh simps I could understamd ur mesmorized by irohs charm Ur u got some daddy issues Or the grandpa u wish but never had But cmon? Why being so bias? There was a quiz vote 1.Who is the nicest character Ty lee, suki , aang , iroh? Iroh won with 70% votes 2. Who is the most spiritual? Ginora, aang, iroh, or the bald guy zaheer 80% voted iroh. Reason? Iroh could see spirits and his body attached the spirit world aang couldnt Like 1st of all thats not what spiritual means 2th of all are u all not being bias? U iroh fans? Now what? Who is the most handsome , iroh? Who got the best sixpack? Ronaldo , ozai, bruce lee or iroh? Ofcourse these blind brainwashed iroh simps would vote iroh for the best sixpack....

@@msk-qp6fn iroh won the vote for being most spiritual Even more then aang zaheer jinora Iroh won the vote quiz Who is nicest Even against ty lee suki or aang iroh got most votes These iroh fans dont think and they annoy me with there biased

​@@Moesie"They don't think" Just because you disagree with them doesnt mean they arent critically thinking

Yeah. I agree he wasn’t perfect but he made himself a better man for it. Only wish that it wasn’t at such a great cost since as Theoden once said “No parent should have to burry their child.”

@@MrWill9002 Yup exactly a fault that is not mentioned is his complete lack of care for his brother. Like I know Ozai is a monster but he never once seemed to care about him or his struggles just as cold with Azula "gotta take him down".

@@johnbradley7294 Perhaps he does care for them deep down but he knew they had passed the point of no return

Meanwhile Azula's crazy ass...

​@@ShinbrigTV That reaction was Iroh's imagination.

​@@obehiikhigbonoaremen1241really

Also Azula pictures Zuko without a scar in her ideal world. @@ShinbrigTV

Exactly. Iroh probably Ignored her cause Zuko reminded him of his son.

@Obehi Ikhigbonoaremen well maybe but we did get a glimpse that Iroh was closer to Zuko while his son was still alive.

@@StonedHunter Yeah I guess

Awesome to see you here!!

Yeah I think it was; Azula is two years younger and Zuko looks like a baby there

THE ULTIMATE IRONY LOL

You get it chip

The point is that he got his wisdom from his errors

I also kinda see it that way, too. I also think that maybe Iroh tried to be as close to Asula as he is with Suko, but Ozai already has a greater influence over the young girl which is why he’s said, “She’s crazy and she needs to go down.” Funny line, but also sad.

Or more likely he just didn't bother getting to know her. Giving Zuko a knife hardly fits with wanting to make his brother's children less violent, especially as he also sent them a letter joking about burning Ba Sing Se to the ground.

@@dale6947 I don't think it was to make Zuko violent, but to give him the needed courage to grow. And he lives by it in a great example in the future especially when he changes and grows.

@@geekcultureandmovieLover It was a war trophy gifted to his thirteen year-old nephew. I think you are reading later events and intentions into it more than you should.

@@dale6947 Maybe I am, but that's how I see it. And also given the fire nation's fascination with war, from my view, I think Iroh wanted his nephew to be stronger, not a monster. To have the strength, but not go through it like the nation did

Loved your mention of the Korra villains as well. I think that series is criminally overlooked by so many. It is messier and not as tight as The Last Airbender, but there are so many moments of genuine growth and I appreciate how the creators chose to tell a story that is completely different from Aang’s. Aang was the kid who didn’t want to be the avatar in a world that desperately needed him, and Korra wanted to be the avatar the world needed when the world didn’t see a need for an avatar. Two beautiful shows.

That’s kinda what made him such a great character. He shown that anyone is capable of great good and great evil.

​@kcirtapelyk6060 but the show barely touches on his crimes. By the time we see him he is entirely absolved from his actions that were only 5 years ago 😂😂😂

Does Iroh fail to understand Azula, or does he understand her better than we think? Azula lacks compassion and empathy. Iroh's gift of the doll could have been a deliberate and subtle attempt to encourage Azula to develop those aspects of her personality that were severely lacking, just as Zuko's gift encouraged him to . Just imagine had Azula accepted the doll. Imagine the possible positive effect on her if through the doll, she were to learn to care for something other than herself - specifically a doll that so clearly represents the enemy.

​​@@dargron7614 Sorry, develop Empathy for the very people Iroh just killed and conquered? 😂 Azula didn't like the gift because she didn't like dolls, lol. She's more interested in other stuff. Azula accepting the doll wouldn't necessarily teach her empathy. Imagine if Iroh gave her the knife.

@@obehiikhigbonoaremen1241 it’s not about it being an earth kingdom doll, just a doll in general. The message sent with the doll was for it to be friend to Azula, it was meant for her feel comfortable and safe with it the same way younger kids do with their dolls/action figures. Zuko got a knife so he’d more confident and Azula a doll to be more compassionate

@@Alpha_Runaway It’s hypocritical of Iroh to do so though, a doll from the people HE has conquered and joked about killing. Lol, Azula believes the same stuff Ozai believes. Besides Azula isn't the type of girl to be interested in dolls anyway. Iroh was obviously closer to Zuko and that played into the gifts he gave them. Iroh gave Zuko something he would actually like, while Iroh went with the most generic thing for Azula.

@@obehiikhigbonoaremen1241 hypocrisy does not make you wrong. you can kill people all you want but the second you say "killing is bad" it does not change the morals of murder nor does it change the reality that you killed.