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| “ | Tyranny? Don’t you mean... unity? Prosperity? Are we not the greatest nation in the world? Have I not led us to the brink of having the entire world under one rule, our rule, to ensure an era of peace? | „ |
| ~ Ozai to Tan. |
| “ | Compassion is a sign of weakness. | „ |
| ~ Ozai to Zuko as he burns his face, his infamous quote. |
| “ | If Zuko is strong, he'll survive. If not... sometimes you have to sacrifice the weak to keep yourself strong. | „ |
| ~ Ozai to the Great Sage. |
Fire Lord Ozai is the main antagonist of Netflix's 2024 adventure fantasy series Avatar: The Last Airbender, based on the Nickelodeon 2005-2008 animated series of the same name.
He is the tyrannical ruler of the Fire Nation, aiming to destroy all the rival nations to take over the Earth for him to subject to his rule. However, Ozai's plans become threatened by the existence of the Avatar Aang, leading him to try to have the young Avatar eliminated so he can proceed with his world-conquering plans.
He is portrayed by Daniel Dae Kim, who also played General Fong and Hiroshi Sato in the franchise's animated shows, Johnny Gat in the Saints Row video games and Dr. Jackson Han in The Good Doctor.
Biography[]
Past[]
Ozai was born to the royal firebending family of the Fire Lord Sozin, who preceded him as the leader of the Fire Nation. He had at least one sibling, a brother named Iroh. Growing up, Ozai rose up to the throne of the Fire Lord while Iroh became one of his generals, becoming known as the "Dragon of the West", enabling Ozai to take over the Earth Kingdom's capital Ba Sing Se. Eventually, Ozai had two children, a son named Zuko and a daughter named Azula, with a "soft" woman and became an uncle as well with Iroh's son Lu Ten, but his nephew lost his life in one of his campaign conquests to expand the Fire Nation's power over the world, so a funeral was held in his honor and Ozai offered his condolences to his brother, promising that his nephew would go down in the nation's history as a hero.
As part of the Fire Nation's tradition, Ozai trained Zuko to be his heir, but to test him, brought him to a war council meeting in which Zuko was appalled upon finding out that Ozai, at General Li's suggestion, was willing to sacrifice the 41st Division for the sake of winning a conquest, believing such military division as disposable due to being weak compared to others. For "challenging" him and his strategies, Ozai forced Zuko to duel him in an Agni Kai, which Zuko nearly won but relented over hurting his father, leading Ozai to best him and, to teach him about weakness, burned one of his shoulders and part of his face, nearly blinding him. As Zuko recovered, Ozai commended him for his body prevailing, but got angry at Zuko expressing his opinion that the weaker could become stronger, leading Ozai to conclude that he had protected Zuko too much so he would be banished to not return unless he could track down and bring the Avatar, who had disappeared since Sozin's time, before him. In addition, Ozai ordered him to take the 41st Division as his crew to assist him in his quest.
Unknown to Zuko and Iroh, who chose to accompany his nephew, Ozai actually didn't intend to lift Zuko's punishment, however. Actually, what Ozai intended to do with his exile was to incite Azula, who wished to be her father's heir instead, to live up to his expectations and succeed at what her brother failed, leading him to often pit his daughter in duels to test her firebending with different opponents.
Avatar: The Last Airbender[]
Aang[]
Three years after his banishment, Zuko and his crew discover that Aang has woken up from the iceberg where he got himself encased one hundred years before during Sozin's massacre of the Air Nomads near the Southern Water Tribe's settlement of Wolf Cove. Willing to bring Aang before his father despite his uncle advising him that defeating the Avatar may be impossible as his father believes, Zuko mentions Ozai while declaring his name to force Sokka, the tribe's leader, to surrender Aang before him, to which Sokka at his sister Katara's behest chooses to face him, leading Aang to come to his rescue before surrendering to Zuko, but in the end, Sokka and Katara choose to rescue Aang and help him with his destiny.
Warriors[]
Ozai appears at the very end of the episode when Commander Zhao notifies him through a message sent by a falcon about the Avatar's return. Ozai receives the message once the falcon arrives to his palace and happily acknowledges that the time he has waited for his entire reign has finally come.
Omashu[]
Ozai appears at the episode's beginning, stopping a revolutionary group of teenage rebels who oppose his rule, thanks to Azula's assistance, having sent her to infiltrate the group and set them up. He mocks the rebels for trying to kill him despite his "achievements" for the Fire Nation's glory before asking Azula to reveal herself, after which the rebels taunt him with the Avatar's return so Ozai executes them all by burning them alive. He then dismisses his guards and informs Azula about the Avatar's return in the form of Aang through Zhao's message, seemingly surprising her.
Into the Dark[]
Ozai appears during a flashback sequence taking place during his nephew Lu Ten's funeral, during which he consoles Iroh by assuring his brother that Lu will go down in history as a champion of the Fire Nation and that his sacrifice will be enshrined in the legends, something that Iroh thanks him for, leaving then for Zuko to offer his condolences to his uncle. Ozai is then mentioned during another flashback sequence of when Zuko's exile began, showing Iroh joining in the quest to be there for his nephew so he isn't alone.
Spirited Away[]
Ozai examines the recent moves of his commanders as well as the expedition led by Zuko to find the Avatar as Azula sucks up to him by complimenting his decision to have Zhao as a commander and suggesting to send more resources to him, to which Ozai asks his daughter that to tell Colonel Shinu to send his Yuyan archers to Zhao and inform the chancellor to redirect some funds, but corrects his daughter by telling her that it was Zuko the one who found the Avatar and that he displayed resilience and dedication, which is what he desires over for a future heir over self-serving flattery and coy whispers, smiling as his ashamed daughter leaves.
Masks[]
A flashback shows how Ozai requested Zuko's presence for a war council meeting, aware that he may take his suggestions. During the present day, as he looks to communicate with Roku to save Sokka and Katara from Koh the Face-Stealer, Aang finds out the Fire Sage temple now revers Ozai instead of Roku, deeming him the spiritual leader who can unify the world even though the Avatar used to be the hope for a unified world.
Back to the flashback sequence, Zuko attends his first war council meeting, with Ozai even asking for his suggestions, only to realize with horror that his father and General Li are willing to sacrifice the "weak" 41st Division for being mostly composed of new disposable recruits for the sake of winning a battle instead of finding ways for the division to escape, to which an angry Ozai forces Zuko to have an Agni Kai duel with him.
Back to the present day, Aang tries to ask Zuko after he rescues him from the Pohuai Fortress why he wants to be the next Fire Lord, advising him that he shouldn't let the expectations of others force him to be like his father or be more compassionate if he doesn't like how his father lacks mercy. Zuko then remembers through another flasback how he dueled his father but refrained from hurting him, only for Ozai to have no such qualms and burn one of his shoulders and part of his face, nearly blinding him.
Ozai appears again for the episode's latest flashback, where it's seen how he commends Zuko for having a strong body able to recover from the damage he inflicted on him, but warning him that he can't let his weak spirit get the best of him, like refraining from attacking him out of respect. Nevertheless, Zuko insists that the weak can become stronger if given a chance, angering Ozai for "overprotecting" him and banish him in addition to taking the 41st Division with him as his crew.
The North[]
It's revealed that Ozai has now ordered for Zuko to be taken into custody back to the Fire Nation's capital city to be tried for treason, which Iroh theorizes it's thanks to Zhao's doing. Iroh and Lieutenant Jee help Zuko escape in a boat, with the former promising the latter to talk with Ozai to solve the problem, but this ends up for naught when Zuko gets seemingly blown up by the blasting jelly placed on his boat, though Iroh acts like if it had been Ozai's doing to throw Zhao off his guard.
Meanwhile at the Fire Nation, Ozai watches Azula defeat a brutish opponent, but deems her performance below average for taking two more moves to defeat him, so she has to face a new trial tomorrow. Unknown to Ozai, Zuko actually survived and plans to capture Aang as Zhao attacks the Northern Water Tribe so he can prove himself to his father and reclaim his throne. Back at the Fire Nation, Ozai has five men of his available to fight Azula, but Azula chooses to not fight any of them, angering her father to the point he threatens her with his firebending, leading her to show off herself making electrical balls and demanding her father to let her go out from the nation to prove herself, earning his approval.
Legends[]
Zhao carries out an attack on the Northern Water Tribe under his orders and gets close to wipe out all the Waterbenders by killing the Moon Spirit even though unraveling utter chaos over the world isn't something even Ozai would want like Iroh warns, but the day is ultimately saved thanks to Princess Yue's sacrifice, thought not before Zhao reveals to Zuko that Ozai never intended him to return but just used him to "motivate" Azula into proving her potential to succeed him.
Despite Zhao's death and their failure to take over Agna Qel'a or the North, Ozai admits that he expected the Avatar to survive and reveals to his aide that he opted to use the North's attack to distract Aang and his friends so he could take over Omashu by sending Azula and his forces there to overthrow King Bumi, with Ba Sing Se being the only remaining territory needed to be conquered to control the Earth Kingdom. His aide commends him for his strategy, but asks him if he knew Zuko survived, to which Ozai says that if he is strong, he must have survived, but if not, he will have to be sacrificed for his weakness. His aide then tells him that after well over a century, they will see Sozin's Comet come back, which pleases Ozai.
Personality[]
| “ | My brother, the Fire Lord, sees things through only one lens. Victory or defeat. Nothing else matters. Not even the loved ones lost along the way. | „ |
| ~ Iroh explaining Ozai's obsession with conquest to Aang. |
Netflix iteration of the character captured many aspects of Ozai's characters from original cartoon while made it more grounded at the same time. Notably, he had more sliver of humanity as shown in his efforts in comforting Iroh during Lu Ten's funeral and harsh yet initially fair treatment towards his children. Moreover, Ozai's favouritism toward Azula apparently developed after deeming Zuko too much of a lost cause to him instead of from start.
Appearance[]
To be added...
Powers and Abilities[]
- Firebending: To be added...
- Leadership: To be added...
- Intelligence: This Ozai was confirmed to be an extremely intelligent and cunning strategist. He had Zuko and Azula competed for his favor with his conditional favoritism in order to get them to accomplish his goals without revealing his involvement, and established a network of spies and saboteurs to deal dissenters throughout his rule.
Quotes[]
To be added...
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Daniel Dae Kim, who played Ozai in the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series, previously voiced General Fong in the original Avatar: The Last Airbender cartoon and Hiroshi Sato in The Legend of Korra.
- This is the second live-action version of Ozai, following the one from M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender film.
- Daniel Dae Kim has stated that the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series will flesh Ozai out much more than in the original cartoon, seeing him as a tragic figure of some sort and comparing him to Darth Vader of the Star Wars franchise.
- This may have been the intention behind three aspects of his characters where Ozai acted differently compared to how he acted in the original cartoon: he does seem to respect Zuko's and Azula's efforts and abilities to please him, Ozai genuinely tries to give Iroh some comfort during Lu Ten's funeral by commending his nephew and assuring him his sacrifice wasn't in vain (whereas in the cartoon he used this moment to convince his father Azulon to not make Iroh his successor), and while he horribly scars Zuko like in the cartoon, here he does so with a painful expression on his face and seemingly planned to let him off the hook and just banished him for not learning the lesson he wanted to taught him that the weak were disposable. This is a stark contrast to his ruthless treatment of Zuko in the cartoon and His total favoring of Azula.
- The prospect of him eventually become as detestable as his cartoon counterpart in upcoming seasons (which now greenlit) however, is best not to rule out as Daniel Dae Kim expressed an interest in exploring Ozai's eventual descent into madness; “A descent into madness sounds like juicy territory for an actor, and it’s not something I’ve explored before on screen. Should we be lucky enough to get a season 2, I look forward to those conversations. Nothing is inevitable in this business and in this industry climate, but there seems to be a lot of excitement about it.”[1]
- Suffice to say this, along with several other change aspects of the original cartoon, has stirred much controversy among fans, especially with Ozai's amazing portrayal as remorseless, egocentric, megalomaniac and genocidal tyrant. Even so, some approved this change by rightfully pointed out his more grounded and nuanced portrayal doesn't subtract from threatening elements he shared with his original cartoon iteration despite made him more humane on the first glance. This also helped by how Ozai's cartoon version being unfortunately too one-dimensional in certain perspective considering he mostly appeared in Book 3.
- This may have been the intention behind three aspects of his characters where Ozai acted differently compared to how he acted in the original cartoon: he does seem to respect Zuko's and Azula's efforts and abilities to please him, Ozai genuinely tries to give Iroh some comfort during Lu Ten's funeral by commending his nephew and assuring him his sacrifice wasn't in vain (whereas in the cartoon he used this moment to convince his father Azulon to not make Iroh his successor), and while he horribly scars Zuko like in the cartoon, here he does so with a painful expression on his face and seemingly planned to let him off the hook and just banished him for not learning the lesson he wanted to taught him that the weak were disposable. This is a stark contrast to his ruthless treatment of Zuko in the cartoon and His total favoring of Azula.
References[]
- ↑ “Nothing is inevitable in this business”: Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Star Daniel Dae Kim Has a Dubious Response to Season 2 After Mixed Reception by Nishanth at Fandom Wire, March 5 2024
