Ozai's children are his depth. People fail to realize that everything the Gang faces from Zuko and Azula is a direct result of Ozai's true sociopathy. His unwillingness to love or care about anything besides himself pervades every aspect of the fire nation and the threats the gang faces along the way. Sometimes you don't need a villain to be sympathetic, relatable or reasonable. Sometimes they're just freaking evil
Ozai felt the fire bending return during the eclipse faster than Azula, lightning bended with 2 hands instead of one with a shorter wind up speed than any lightning bender we've seen. That short scene is a display of power. And the fact that he fully intended to murder his son in that scene cements him as evil.
An argument can be made that he was not evil in that scene Zuko was indeed betraying the fire nation and was going to help the avatar...the penalty for that is death
Ozai is the fastest and strongest lightningbender in the entire Avatarverse. The magnitude of his lightning surpasses Azula, Iroh and Mako. He can charge it up faster and repeatedly during his fight with Aang. The only weakness he had on that though is that he didn't know how to deal with redirection. Aang was able to manhandle practically EVERYONE in a straight up fight with no Avatar mode or anything and Aang was never trying to hurt or kill anyone and just dominated them. Even with all four elements Ozai was dominating Aang and he didn't have an answer to the situation to end it in a peaceful resolution only when he went Avatar he crushed Ozai.
As you said not every Villain needs to be super layered. A power hungry dictator is the perfect antagonist for a show that has war as one of its main topics. And i think Ozai would have even worked if they did flesh him and gave him a backstory.
Another dimension to the 'not showing Ozai's face' thing that I don't often see mentioned, is that whenever Ozai is shown in S1-2, it's always in Zuko's flashbacks. Zuko has not seen his father's face for three years at that point. It's not unimaginable that Zuko's memories of his father's face have become a little blurred in that time. The first time we, and Zuko, see him clearly, is when they reunite in S3.
I really like how ambiguous they left Ozai for most of the show, you might forget about it, but hes always there planning and waging the war in the shadows of his palace. For example, In the "Imprisoned" episode, we learn that the village the Gaang walks into has been taken over by the Fire Nation and that their basically exploiting the village of their coal & resources, those resources which are very likely used for the major industrialization that is going on during Ozais reign in the Fire Nation, to fuel their massive navy & other mechanical war machines later on like the giant drill or the air balloons. Overall I think Fire Lord Ozai is a great villain, his voice acting & design are good and so is his Firebending which is really fun to watch. Ozai doesn’t shoot one bolt but two at the same time, with such unparalleled speed. The fact he was able to do that through sensing the slightest sliver of sunlight in a underground bunker is impressive. Also, regarding the comment about Azula coming up with the plan to burn down the earth kingdom. I always thought that this was sort of given from the moment we learn about Sozins comet in the Winter Solstice Part 2,. What else was he going to do but scorch the Earth Kingdom? I guess before there might have been a elaborate plan to conquer or more likely burn Ba Sing Se to the ground. But that plan obviously was not needed anymore, when the city was captured. I personally interpret the scene more as Azula trying to grab Ozais attention, before Zuko is able to backtrack on his comment and be punished again.
woah, that's such an interesting interpretation of Azula's proposal! never thought about it that way. And glad to see someone agree that Ozai is a good villain :)
I don’t think they NEED to have the actual sunlight on their skin. It’s a spiritual thing. Most likely there is a Sun Spirit, just as there is a Moon Spirit. You just need to be near it as the rays hit the Earth. I could be wrong though!
Ozai was always Zuko’s enemy. Zuko just didn’t know it. Zuko looks like him but hehaves like his mother so it pisses him off that his wife made his spitting image soft. Also the fact that Zuko reminds him of Iroh. Who only claims the throne by birthright.
There is a cool scene where Zuko is crying but no tears are coming out of the eye that is scared by the flames. It is an obvious metaphor for how Ozai emotionally Stunted Zuko.
I saw that. Like your brother created Lightning Redirection, and you didn’t think that if Zuko sided with Iroh, Iroh wouldn’t hesitate how to teach Zuko how to counter Azula, and Ozai, two of the strongest lightning benders? Maybe it was quicker? The motion to generate lightning?
It's like TvTropes frequently says, "Tropes are not bad" and "Tropes are tools". A flat character or a one-dimensional villain is not necessarily a poorly written one. It all depends on the execution and how they fulfill their role in the narrative.
3:59, Azula had a cruel and sadistic streak since the beginning which was something that Ozai either allowed or encouraged but we don’t actually see any of that. We see that Ozai favours her over Zuko and praises her for her skills. And we see that Ursa scolds Azula for openly wishing her Uncle Iroh dead with Azula being completely unfazed by that (unlike Zuko who was ashamed when Ursa scolded him for hurting the Turtle-Ducks). Based on the fact that Ozai punished Zuko for his compassion, I can accept that Ozai rewarded Azula for her cruelty and that that is part of why she became as evil as she did. But it’s also worth noting that the “almost isn’t good enough” is something we only ever get from Azula and never from Ozai.
Azula is evil due to her nature. Ozai just fostered that potential but even when she was young and raise dmostly by the loving Ursa, she just didn't cared about people until they didn't praise her constantly. Remember that the sins of Sozin clearly flowed through his bloodline until Zuko ended it all when he helped Aang defeat the Fire Nation, that was stated by Iroh.
@@basilofgoodwishes4138 Of course. We do see the family get worse over time. Sozin genuinely regards his motivations as noble and pure and (at least when he starts) sees himself as a benevolent conqueror. And then he abandons Roku to die in a volcano and commits genocide in an effort to kill a twelve year old boy to neutralize the threat in potentia that he poses, invades the Earth Kingdom and starts a war, hunts dragons to near extinction for glory and spends the rest of his life searching in vain for the Avatar. While his son Fire Lord Azulon does horrible things to the Southern Water Tribe and (probably) murders all the Waterbenders after Hama’s escape and actively seeks the conquest of the Earth Kingdom (and searched in vain for the Avatar). But he’s still horrified by the suggestion that he punish Iroh for the loss of his son but he still responds to it by commanding Ozai to kill his own son as punishment. Iroh’s a complicated case but Ozai manages to be worse than Azulon was in that Azulon had some form of behavioural code as evil as he was but Ozai didn’t. With Azula, she snaps and has a mental breakdown, though she was quite evil beforehand. Though Iroh encountered the dragons before Zuko was born and learned the true meaning of Firebending from them and lied to keep them safe, so there were aspects of the evils of Fire Nation that he opposed and of which he refused to be a part even when he was a General of Azulon. Even though his growth happens mainly after his son is killed in Ba Sing Se. I would posit that Azula is a product of nature but is not “a born devil upon whose nature nurture can never stick” (as Shakespeare would put it) but one whose nature was reinforced by nurture.
Thank you for explaining why Ozai is perfect as an evil villain and how he doesn't need to be a sympathetic villain. He's clearly shown through Zuko and Azula.
Ozai needs to be as completely evil as he is to show how far the Fire Nation has fallen, it makes Zuko's task of redeeming it more meaningful and adds a lot to the themes on war, showing how badly it can corrupt intentions and create evil. War takes you from Sozin, an honourable man with understandable intentions who was too arrogant and looked down upon the other nations, in his old age becoming cruel enough to kill the Air Nomads, through Azulon, a warmonger with all illusions of the war benefitting the other nations long gone, but probably a sensible strategist and at least a passable father to Iroh, to Ozai, who has no redeeming qualities or humanising motives left. He's cowardly, abusive, sadistic, and seeks mindless destruction and victory for its own sake, even if he destroys what could have been his own domain.
I like the "not show villain face ever" is very good. Could also used for enigmatic characters or someone that is a good guy too for different reasons. Another part of that narrative that spun something that doesn't need explanation for is, how Ozai appears is how Zuko has always seen him, Zuko most likely never looked at his father straight in the eyes, Zuko spent his life with his head bowed down and staring at the ground so he never knew what his father really looked like. The creators were definitely at their peak making this, sad that Korra did not have the same level of epicness. There is speculation that Ozai was behind Iroh's son's death but that I haven't seen any credible data on yet. But it does make a lot of sense because of how Ozai planned his steps for the throne it would make too much sense.
The fact that he goes from composed to "Imma kill my own son with lightning" in 1 second should be sufficient to go yup he's the big bad. Don't see how people don't see him as a good villain. You don't consistently fight the final boss. You fight them once or twice.
Fully agree. What got me to appreciate Ozai as a villain was a conversation he has with Zuko in the comics. We get a clear idea of how he views things, how he justifies his evil deeds. So he sits there in jail recounting an anecdote from when Zuko was little. The story is just framing but I like it a lot, he uses the story to point out how indecisive Zuko is. Which is also a nice parallel to his great grandfather Roku, who's biggest mistake was not being decisive enough to stop Zuko's other great grandfather Sozin. But anyway, The core idea of it is that the Firelord has unique power to decide right from wrong and warp reality. He's defined all actions taken by him as good, regardless of the consequences, by the mere status of being Firelord. Zuko rightfully argues that good and evil are judgments that exist above humans, but you can clearly tell Ozai has a sort of god complex. Both because of the might makes right philosophy, and the fact he thinks he could rebirth the world in fire like at the end of book 3.
wow, thank you for the very thoughtful engagement!! while i disagree with most of your points it's always nice to hear alternate opinions in the comments. would love to know what you think of the videos I made on Kataang and Azula as well :)
I think you missed one key reason. Ozai is a great villain because he is a foil to Aang. His "pure evil" leaves no room other than direct confrontation and pushes Aang's peaceful philosophy to the edge. This would not have happened if Ozai had been more layered.
6:12, does it show that though? He scolds her for impertinence when she’s impertinent (and let’s remember when Zuko was impertinent he challenged him to a duel) and his reasoning for not taking her with him to the attack was because he wanted someone to rule the Fire Nation in his absence and wanted it to be her. And even gives her the title of Fire Lord since once he rules the world itself he won’t be able to rule his country himself (which is a fair thing to reckon) so he gives it to her. That doesn’t translate as “he only ever saw her as a pawn”.
@@thedelordhimselfgokublack She would actually be ruling as Governor of an entire country (albeit one within a greater empire). And her paranoia leads to her abusing her power to shreds.
Honestly, I think ozai not being a key player in strategic decision is because unlike iroh, he didn't go to war and act as a general. He likely engaged in the political aspect, gaining loyalty, making people indebted to him and manipulating people to get his policies and such enacted. All of that is likely a good reason as to why none of the important figures in the Fire Nation cabinet made any moves to further verify that Azulon wanted Ozai to be crowned instead of Iroh.
The more we learn about him the more we realize how truly evil that man is. His cruelty and sadistic ideas outclass his daughter on an unknowable scale (he can manipulate his own family, specifically his daughter, like playing a Sugi horn)
One thing I like about avatar is how it doesn't give redemption arcs to people that do really evil things they would have to answer for in order to satisfy justice. Like Zuko. The closest he get to something really evil is when he burns down Suki's village in his attempt to capture aang. Which while bad, is in accord with the laws of war. Compare that to azula who. 1. Attempts to murder her uncle in a bit to escape 2. The political assassination of the council of 5 3. The Dai Lee coup
I loved Ozai when he finally showed up. It was like Madara coming to the battlefield after being reanimated 😂 he comes in late in the story but he's been a menacing presence throughout, always looming over the plot. I loved it
Ozai’s a great villain because of how he’s able to have such a terrifying presence and influence. He has little screen time, is mostly seen as a silhouette for most of the show, doesn’t have too many lines yet his influence and impact of the show is reflected through the behavior of his children. The impact and stain he left on his family and his nation and how he influenced and drove the whole conflict of the show is proof of how he’s a great villain
I liked your analysis. It's important to realise that in our own actual world, there are many villains who have a flat and onedimensional personality. By focussing only on maintaining and expanding power and crushing people's dreams in the process, you really become a rump person instead of a fully developed individual.
With evil villains it's simple. You can choose wether they have backstory or not. But if you choose to make them bad for the sake of being bad, at least make them badasses, powerful, & generally people not to be messed with. It's basic stuff; no backstory equals to having to overcompensate with power.
totally agree! I'd like to add one more type of villain though: the bureaucratic one. Like Umbridge from Harry Potter or Danzo from Naruto, where they're not particularly powerful but are in a position of power where they can let their hateful ideas wreak havoc. Although maybe that does fall under making them powerful? Hm idk
Why does Ozai get a lot of backlash for not being a fleshed out character and yet he's pretty much on par with the likes of Emperor Palpatine or Sauron and yet neither of these mentioned villains are given the same treatment? Sometimes you need a good ol fashion pure evil Villain to make a good story. Sauron's pure evil character in LOTR helps to expose the fragility of power within other characters giving us characters like Boromir, Saruman, Denethor, Gollum and many more who are affected by the horrors of having power and becoming it's slave. Even his so called evil minions are subject to his manipulation and power The same goes for Palpatine and the Dark Side. In the end power is not something you truly want and Ozai's philosophy of power is no different from theirs Ozai share's Sauron's lack of appearance and yet his strong influence, much like how Saruman or Denethor believe they need the ring to become more powerful than Sauron is much like how the earth Kingdom general tried to use the Avatar to defeat the fire nation. A pure evil and powerful Villain encouraging others to become like him even when he isn't trying. Ozai also shares Palpatine's manipulation and and dominance over his slaves. Vader is much like Zuko and Azula, traumatised, wounded, abused and nothing but an extention of his power. To these men friends or family is nothing but tools Having depth is a recipe for a character, but not always for a Villain
I think the meaning behind phoenix is more important than the looks, just ozai described it in the season finale. The phoenix is an immortal bird associated with Greek mythology (with analogs in many cultures) that cyclically regenerates or is otherwise born again. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by rising from the ashes of its predecessor.
5:32, I’ll acknowledge that on the Zuko side, Ozai is a decent antagonist but it’s in relation to the other characters (most notably Aang) that I find him an underwhelming villain.
I think he works as a great antagonist for Aang if you think of him as just the face of the fire nation. Just like how Palpatine is the face of the galactic empire. He is also the embodiment of a philosophy opposite to Aang's. Aang believes in kindness and mercy and Ozai believes in power and control.
“You’re weak, just like the rest of your people. They did not deserve to exist in this world-in MY world! Prepare to join them! Prepare to die!” THIS is considered underwhelming? Dang.
@@wildfire9280 It feels like something that was scrawled on at the last minute just to give him something to say to Aang that sounded evil so that we could accept Ozai as his ultimate nemesis despite them having no specific personal connection. Ozai telling Zuko that Azula was born lucky and Zuko was lucky to be born (as revealed by Zuko) explains a lot about Zuko (and for that matter Azula) and makes it possible for there to be a certain catharsis in Zuko throwing Ozai’s lightning right back at him. That doesn’t exist with Aang and Ozai. Honestly, Galbitorix’s Name of Names speech to Eragon in Inheritance by Christopher Paolini was much more whelming than Ozai’s line to Aang. (I apologize in advance for the length) “The answer must be obvious to you now elfling. It has taken me most of the past century but I at long last have found what I was searching for: a means of governing the spell-casters of Alagaësa. The search was not easy; most men would have given up in frustration or if they had the required patience fear. But not I. I persisted. And through my study, I had discovered what I had for so long desired. A tablet written in another land in another age, by hands that were neither elf nor dwarf nor human nor Urgal. And upon that tablet was inscribed a certain word- a name that magicians throughout the ages have hunted for with nothing but bitterness as their reward. The name of all names. The name of the ancient language.” And Galabatorix is far from particularly whelming. Also that Ozai line would have packed much more of a punch if Ozai were the Fire Lord who had ordered the Airbender genocide himself (I know he ordered the one of the Earth Kingdom at Azula’s recommendation but Aang is an Air Nomad).
@@matityaloran9157 They *do* have a connection. Aang is facing the next worst thing to the people responsible for the Air Nomad genocide; their glorifying descendants. Ozai taunting Aang in this way perfectly suits both his narcissism and the Fire Nation’s cultural supremacy as well as both of their justifications for the Firelord’s actions. It solidifies his character and the characterization of the Fire Nation. I can’t see how it feels forced or like a last minute addition when this has already been established in previous episodes. If anything Ozai just said the quiet part out loud.
@@wildfire9280 They don’t have a personal connection. The Air Nomad genocide was committed by Sozin not Ozai and practically any one of the Firebender antagonists would qualify as their glorifying descendants. Zhao, for instance, also taunted Aang about the demise of the Air Nomads. Also, the Fire Nation isn’t and cannot be a character due to not being an individual. Ozai is a proxy for the Fire Nation and the Fire Nation has a strong connection to Aang therefore Ozai does is simply not something which works. It makes him a generic firebender despot by the standards of this show with little to nothing to distinguish him from Aang’s other adversaries
I think an "inactive" villian works well. In away its insinuating that his time is so important, that it is not worth giving any to dealing with Aang. No that is if for his children while he does more important things.
There's also something to be said for making Ozai fairly flat to *contrast* with how rounded and complex the heroes are. It makes that roundedness a virtue in itself. Reminds me of a lot of Pratchett villains and heroes in that regard.
Ozai is the biggest roadblock in Aang’s overall journey. The whole point was “with my Avatar State gone, how am I going to defeat someone who’s way more powerful than me?”. Ozai is a fantastic antagonist, but I like to look at everything surrounding him.
No one points this out, Ozai is Hitler, The Fire Nation are Nazis, the fire insignia is the swatztika, and the extermination of the airbenders is the genocide, it's brilliant storytelling
The greatest feats of the Fire Nation during his reign were done by Azula, and he only got the throne because of his wife. Great villain but he is not successful against anyone actually fighting him or executing plans himself. Literally the only thing he does successfully in the show is traumatize his family
Zhao was just all around AWFUL and ineffective. In every situation, he always fails. He lost to Zuko embarrassingly, he failed to catch Aang on the island of the Fire Sages, and failed to capture both Aang and Zuko when they made their daring escape. Makes me wonder why he was never fired from serving in the army. Plus, he never faced any inner turmoil, and was extremely one dimensional. He's not even in the "love to hate" category, he's just bad at being a villain.
And worse after these failures, Ozai promoted him from Admiral to General Zhao! Zhao must have blamed others for his failures to Ozai...😒 The only good thing I have to say about Zhao is his Voice Actor! The guy did great as Zhao!
@@Prince-Shogun He probably promoted him to be an incentive to not fail. Similar to when certain Austrian artist promoted a general to field marshal to encourage him to not surrender at Stalingrad.
@@Prince-Shogun After his death he suffered an even worse punishment:Damnatio memoriae. His final failure led to his name being blotted out. Not even the stage play felt him important enough to include and nobody else mentioned him again after the North Pole.
Dafuq are you talking about Phoenix King Ozai is GOATED. Can you explain why you didn’t like it as much and the drip looks more powerful and he actually looks like an Emperor/King.
Imo, I think Ozai IS supposed to be a little underwhelming because, in the end... he's JUST a guy. Every character in A:TLA is JUST human, even the god-like superbeing like the avatar is always just another person in the end. I think the point of Ozai is to show how people who are evil, no matter how intimidating or powerful, are just people- maybe not sympathetic, but definitely still people. Ozai is just some guy who's kinda good at firebending and REALLY egotistical (Which I think is supported by all his monolouging and the goofy outfit). Hell, I'd go as far as to say the only thing he's truly good at is intimidation. Ozai (And by extension, his forefathers) is the example of how an unchecked ego often leads to madness and a desperate, useless, desire for power will be one's downfall. This could've been done better- the sheer size of his ego shown a bit more through interactions with zuko and azula- like azula's fall from grace. However, I think it still works. Zuko and Iroh are examples of choosing to step away from power and be humble and hone themselves before anything else. Ozai and Azula are the opposite- choosing to feed their own ego and power at the expense of everything around them and never looking in. Zuko and Iroh are thus rewarded with happiness while Ozai and Azula are punished with failure and shame.
definitely agree on Ozai. but azula is imo a little different. feels like she's doing things not just for her own ego, but also to please Ozai. super well thought out comment regardless :)
You joke about the outfit and Phoenix King thing, but you have to remember that the series is heavily based on Asian history and those titles and the style of outfit is very Chinese like - you can watch any Chinese action period film and see that big, overly dine style of outfit, and many emperor s of old would name themselves like mythical creatures and the Phoenix is one of the most important ones often even found decorated on tombs etc. So it is massively fitting for the fire lord but maybe Westerners cannot see it...
Even though I disagree about him being a great villain I respect the hell out of your argument and I got to admit you understand the story well; because that's the way that Uncle Iroh would want me to look at this.
The problem with him and the fire nation as a whole that ruined a lot of avatar for me. Firebenders were to weak. The only reason Aang was struggling against Ozai was because he refused to kill him. The fire nation are the main villains' so you have to fear them to some extent for there to be any tension. Every time there was a fight between a Firebender and any other kind of bender I never once thought the Firebender would lose which takes away a lot of the suspense. On a related note Waterbenders were way to overpowered and that also took a lot of the tension away from me.
I think he is suppose to be that evil force that you always root to take down. When I watched the final , seeing Ozai's arrogance made me so angry that when I finally saw The avatar state beating the crap out of him was satisfying. Even to this day I hate how arrogant he was and I guess that what he is suppose to be , that bad guy you are rooting to get destroyed
And then you have the thing that we don't talk about where they show Ozai entirely with zero build up. It's almost like they knew the movie would flop.
I think him being an underwhelming foe was the point. for the first two books Ozai was viewed as this larger than life figure, an inhuman monster to the heroes, and a paragon of Fire Nation greatness to the villains and the people of the Fire Nation. only to show us at the end that Ozai is neither of those things, he's just another human being, a very powerful fire bender, but still a human being that can be easily beaten when overwhelmed.
I agree with you but I think you missed the most importent point and it is that ozai needed to be a contrast to Aang, he needed to be pure evil to make us the viewers hate him and want to see him dead. there was not even one reason to keep him alive, you never felt sorry for him or understood why he is the way he is. But Aang still couldn't kill him, his believes and morals was so strong, he couldn't do it even when everyone told him he have to . The show wants us to know that there is no good reason for taking life and no one should have the rigth to do so. I think that it is so much better without ozai's backstory, this it exactly the fault of a lot of movies and shows this days, thay feel the need to explain every villain and write them some sad backstory. Sometimes the villain need to be just a tool to tall a good story and ozai is this tool
Also another somewhat unrelated nitpick. I wish Zuko was the one to beat Azula. Zuko is my favorite character and he never really got a super big win for himself. I wish he got at least one and beating Azula could have been perfect. As opposed to Katara that already had so many big wins.
thats fair- to me Zuko's big moment was confronting Ozai during the eclipse. Personally I thought it was pretty in character for Azula to basically cheat (Zuko was going to beat her) and it gave Katara something to do, but I can see how you would think that + respect with your opinion :)
I only twigged this the other week and it probably is wrong BUT I think the title Phoenix King is because of Iroh. You see when you killed a dragon you earned the title 'Dragon'. Iroh is known as the 'Dragon of the West' but he claimed to have killed the last dragon and doing so denied Ozai the chance to kill one and be titled Dragon. He couldn't call himself Dragon King so Phoenix is the logical alternative.
No ,a Phoenix is a bird that can Bring itself back to life from its ashes And that's what Ozai was going to do to the earth kingdom by burning it to the ground and then a new world being born
I agree with you, for the most part, and I'm like "Boy, this video got 20k views but this guy only has 2subs, what gives?". If you really want to dive into it deeper, I would suggest working a bit more on your audio editing skills, especially since you are obviously very talented in editing video.
Ozai is the polar opposite to aang and he was meant to evoke fear on aang back then he evoked fear in me and still does he pushes aang to his limits morally etc. He is the climax of who aang Is he is a big part of aang and zukos character arcs. And ozais power and little mercy is what made him scary against aang specifically because he pushed aang to almost killing him. The fight was intense a villain doesn't always have to be infinitely superior to be threatening that's not creative. Ozai is threatening for different reasons.
7:32, Okay then. 1) Fire Lord Sozin, truly evil 2) Fire Lord Azulon, truly evil, 3) Zhao, truly evil, 4) Long Feng, truly evil, 5) Azula, truly evil, 6) Combustion Man, truly evil, 7), Ozai, truly evil. The problem with Ozai isn’t that he’s evil, it’s that there’s no substantive difference between him and a generic monster of the week. Sure, he functions well as a backstory for Zuko but beyond that he is not a good villain
In a way, I think Ozai is characterized by other villains in the series if that makes. I think the beat interpretation of Ozai is through a subtle lense. There is more I can say but I'll leave it at that.
Agreed on the finale silliness. They kinda dabbled in this cringe element with Ozai the way they did for Zhao. Not the best choice imo, but it seemed they intentionally wanted to make Ozai seem cringe lol.
I can only give you my perspective as someone that does not like the Firelord. For me, it's two reasons. The genericness is a huge flaw in a show whose point was the complexity and greyness of its villains. And the second reason is that I simply did not find him menacing. I can forgive genericness in characters like Voldemort (who had a lot more backstory in the books to be fair) or the emperor, because I perceived them as serious threats and I knew their presence would cause huge trouble for the heroes. But the first time Ozai tried to do something, he got pimp slapped by his son, who we know as a rather inconsistent fighter. Leaving richness of character aside, just compare that with Azula during the Chase. We see how intelligent she is when she does not fall for the false trail, and how good of a fighter she is when she held her own against Iroh, Zuko, Aang, Toph, Sokka and Katara and even finished off Iroh in the process. While watching that fight, I just thought to myself "How on earth are they gonna beat her?" But in the final fight, Aang vs Firelord, I just asked myself "I wonder if Aang is going to kill him or if he finds another way to beat him".
I disagree the only thing you’re saying is that ozai had an affect to characters that made them great characters but you don’t really talk about him as a character in reality ozai as a character is kinda flat
@@mohbegimmusoeva3419 I say that because some ppl say "he's so weak!" As if any bender could stand against The Avatar State. Also he easily swung lightning thru both hands,when Azula and Iroh winded up a lot through one hand.
the biggest question I have . Is so self centert and egomaniacal evil. how did he ever convince Ursa to marry him and have two kids. unless it is a forced marriage and he raped her for the children.
Ozai was a real villain, everything that happened in Book One and Two was because of his relationship with his kids. It's true that he was a major driving force.
The problem with him and the fire nation as a whole that ruined a lot of avatar for me. Firebenders were to weak. The only reason Aang was struggling against Ozai was because he refused to kill him. If Aang fought with killer intent he would have ended the fight pretty much instantly. The fire nation are the main villains so you have to fear them to some extent for there to be any tension. Every time there was a fight between a Firebender and any other kind of bender I never once thought the Firebender would win which takes away a lot of the suspense. On a related note Waterbenders were way to overpowered and that also took a lot of the tension away from me.
Also another somewhat unrelated nitpick. I wish Zuko was the one to beat Azula. Zuko is my favorite character and he never really got a super big win for himself. I wish he got at least one and beating Azula could have been perfect. As opposed to Katara that already had so many big wins.
We both agree that most of the consequences of Ozais' action was good. But it should not eradicate the idea that his actions were 100% bad. So he was a bad vilian.
A villain’s moral’s level doesn’t make a good or bad villain. Palpatine as the Emperor in Star Wars is a brilliant villain and he’s extremely evil. Still a good villain though.
7:21, and I do say that. I think he’s a wooden antagonist. Good as a character in Zuko’s backstory and little more than a generic monster outside of it
I wanna see dark horse comics make another avatar comic and it will Avatar the last airbender Crimes against the four Nations witch show cases ozai and his trial In the fire nation capital Where it has the earth king as the judge Toph as public defender To defend ozai’s life And katara fulling the role of prosecutor showing that ozai can’t get away with the horrible things he has done as fire lord and he needs to put in prison And here’s how the comic will turn out Everyone in the four nations gather at the Fire nation capital after Zuko became the new Fire lord then it’s gonna Have the earth king reading the number of crimes he committed as Fire lord Earth king: ozai you we’re Charged with crimes you Committed as fire lord before and after you are charged with spouse abuse child abuse first degree murder attempted Mass genocide treason Against both the fire nation and earth kingdoms and a failed invasion of the northern water tribe and attempting to kill the avatar what do you say To theses charges former fire lord ozai Then ozai brings out sinister chuckle Ozai: you fools all though I maybe in chains but i am Still kicking this will be even more interesting then the fire days festival Let the comedy begin Everyone in the four nations gasped in horror Upon hearing those words Then it’s gonna have everyone including team avatar bringing up past events from previous episodes of the show as the trial continues Then it will have the earth king being all like Earth king: what do you have to say for yourself Ozai Then ozai claps slowly And says the fallowing words Ozai: you fools i will be Willing to destroy a dozen Northern water tribes even if it Takes for the other nations to kneel before me i will conquer 20 ba sing se‘s destroy 10 omashu’s If i want and destroying 50 families if I have to i have no regrets but hear this from me That all though there is peace in this world there Will always be an ozai to destroy the peace Everyone gasped in shock Then the jury brings out the final verdict Member of the jury: earth king your honor we find the defendant ozai guilty Then the earth king sentence ozai into the Fire nation prison by zuko
i never considered ozai a villain at all he never commited a single crime iroh was a war criminal azula hurt innocent lives yet she and iroh get sympathy/respect and love ozai never got that cause humans are a flawed species, so ozai doesnt have a fan base
@@st.michaelsknight6299Ozai was evil but it was initially Ursa’s plan to kill Azulon since Azulon wanted to punish Ozai by killing Zuko. But it seems that Ozai has the lowest death toll out of his father Azulon and grandfather Sozin. He could have got more but luckily he only ruled for 5-6 years instead of 75 or 68.
I did a couple of reimaginings for Ozai: Version 1: Ursa and Iroh are now siblings and the reason for that is; Roku and Ozai were the ones who were close friends and after Roku returns from his avatar journey, he tells Ozai about Kyoshi's trick on how she lived for 230 years. After Ozai betrays Roku, he decides to teach himself that trick. It's Ozai who starts the 100 year war and has reigned as the warmongering fire lord for the whole 100 years. Basically, Sozin, Azulon and Ozai are combined as one, with only Ozai's name, voice and design being used. The comet is renamed Ozai's comet and it returns by the end of autumn, aka, season finale of book 4: air. Season 3 ends with Zuko, Azula, and Katara's iconic agni kai, minus Ozai's comet being present, but everything else is moved over to season 4. What happens in-between that gap can vary. Version 2: Sozin, Azulon, and Ozai are separate, Iroh's related to Ozai and Sozin's comet returns by the end of summer just like originally. But the story arcs from season 2 of Legends of Korra are moved upward into ATLA. Particularly book 4: air. Ozai is the dark avatar but instead of Ozai fusing with Vaatu. Ozai IS Vaatu. And he only needs harmonic convergence to regain his dark power he lost after Iroh's mother, Ilah, helped him escape from the tree of time. Oh, and, during every solstice, Vaatu manipulated Sozin into waging his war from inside the tree without Sozin even noticing anything. At one point, Ozai (Vaatu) epically battles the last lion turtle and slays it, absorbing its soul.
@@monkfruit the mental problems and i believe that his backstory he talks about is real but some stuff is fabricated so yeah I don’t think he’s pure evil
![The Fire Nation’s Broken Royal Family [Fire Lord Ozai] (Avatar: The Last Airbender)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pMWI7i9szBM/mqdefault.jpg)
![The Fire Nation’s Broken Royal Family [Fire Lord Ozai] (Avatar: The Last Airbender)](/img/tr.png)
You might not see him that much, but you know him through his children. The issues the two kids present pretty tell you everything you need to know.
yes, totally agreed!
I like that subtlety.
Like a less developed Tywin Lannister
Ozai's children are his depth. People fail to realize that everything the Gang faces from Zuko and Azula is a direct result of Ozai's true sociopathy. His unwillingness to love or care about anything besides himself pervades every aspect of the fire nation and the threats the gang faces along the way. Sometimes you don't need a villain to be sympathetic, relatable or reasonable. Sometimes they're just freaking evil
Ozai felt the fire bending return during the eclipse faster than Azula, lightning bended with 2 hands instead of one with a shorter wind up speed than any lightning bender we've seen. That short scene is a display of power.
And the fact that he fully intended to murder his son in that scene cements him as evil.
An argument can be made that he was not evil in that scene
Zuko was indeed betraying the fire nation and was going to help the avatar...the penalty for that is death
Ozai is the fastest and strongest lightningbender in the entire Avatarverse. The magnitude of his lightning surpasses Azula, Iroh and Mako. He can charge it up faster and repeatedly during his fight with Aang. The only weakness he had on that though is that he didn't know how to deal with redirection.
Aang was able to manhandle practically EVERYONE in a straight up fight with no Avatar mode or anything and Aang was never trying to hurt or kill anyone and just dominated them. Even with all four elements Ozai was dominating Aang and he didn't have an answer to the situation to end it in a peaceful resolution only when he went Avatar he crushed Ozai.
As you said not every Villain needs to be super layered. A power hungry dictator is the perfect antagonist for a show that has war as one of its main topics. And i think Ozai would have even worked if they did flesh him and gave him a backstory.
yup, totally agree. and i think it's totally realistic, too- there have definitely been power hungry, crazy warmongers in real life
Another dimension to the 'not showing Ozai's face' thing that I don't often see mentioned, is that whenever Ozai is shown in S1-2, it's always in Zuko's flashbacks. Zuko has not seen his father's face for three years at that point. It's not unimaginable that Zuko's memories of his father's face have become a little blurred in that time. The first time we, and Zuko, see him clearly, is when they reunite in S3.
Zuko's family is the kind where they don't really see their father and he's not present in their life and only from a distance.
I really like how ambiguous they left Ozai for most of the show, you might forget about it, but hes always there planning and waging the war in the shadows of his palace. For example, In the "Imprisoned" episode, we learn that the village the Gaang walks into has been taken over by the Fire Nation and that their basically exploiting the village of their coal & resources, those resources which are very likely used for the major industrialization that is going on during Ozais reign in the Fire Nation, to fuel their massive navy & other mechanical war machines later on like the giant drill or the air balloons.
Overall I think Fire Lord Ozai is a great villain, his voice acting & design are good and so is his Firebending which is really fun to watch. Ozai doesn’t shoot one bolt but two at the same time, with such unparalleled speed. The fact he was able to do that through sensing the slightest sliver of sunlight in a underground bunker is impressive.
Also, regarding the comment about Azula coming up with the plan to burn down the earth kingdom. I always thought that this was sort of given from the moment we learn about Sozins comet in the Winter Solstice Part 2,. What else was he going to do but scorch the Earth Kingdom? I guess before there might have been a elaborate plan to conquer or more likely burn Ba Sing Se to the ground. But that plan obviously was not needed anymore, when the city was captured. I personally interpret the scene more as Azula trying to grab Ozais attention, before Zuko is able to backtrack on his comment and be punished again.
woah, that's such an interesting interpretation of Azula's proposal! never thought about it that way. And glad to see someone agree that Ozai is a good villain :)
So Azula was protecting Zuko?
I don’t think they NEED to have the actual sunlight on their skin. It’s a spiritual thing. Most likely there is a Sun Spirit, just as there is a Moon Spirit. You just need to be near it as the rays hit the Earth. I could be wrong though!
Ozai was always Zuko’s enemy. Zuko just didn’t know it. Zuko looks like him but hehaves like his mother so it pisses him off that his wife made his spitting image soft. Also the fact that Zuko reminds him of Iroh. Who only claims the throne by birthright.
good point! as long as Zuko was trying to be a good person Ozai was always going to be Zuko's enemy.
There is a cool scene where Zuko is crying but no tears are coming out of the eye that is scared by the flames. It is an obvious metaphor for how Ozai emotionally Stunted Zuko.
the fact that Ozai didn’t know Zuko could redirect lightning…
I saw that. Like your brother created Lightning Redirection, and you didn’t think that if Zuko sided with Iroh, Iroh wouldn’t hesitate how to teach Zuko how to counter Azula, and Ozai, two of the strongest lightning benders? Maybe it was quicker? The motion to generate lightning?
@@dakotaanderson7905 But that would assume that Iroh told Ozai that he can redirect lightning
He doesn't know what position Zuko plays in airball either. Ozai's a pretty shitty dad.
It's like TvTropes frequently says, "Tropes are not bad" and "Tropes are tools". A flat character or a one-dimensional villain is not necessarily a poorly written one. It all depends on the execution and how they fulfill their role in the narrative.
yup totally agree! after all the reason tropes even exist is because they are (or at the very least were at one point) effective
3:59, Azula had a cruel and sadistic streak since the beginning which was something that Ozai either allowed or encouraged but we don’t actually see any of that. We see that Ozai favours her over Zuko and praises her for her skills. And we see that Ursa scolds Azula for openly wishing her Uncle Iroh dead with Azula being completely unfazed by that (unlike Zuko who was ashamed when Ursa scolded him for hurting the Turtle-Ducks). Based on the fact that Ozai punished Zuko for his compassion, I can accept that Ozai rewarded Azula for her cruelty and that that is part of why she became as evil as she did. But it’s also worth noting that the “almost isn’t good enough” is something we only ever get from Azula and never from Ozai.
Azula is evil due to her nature. Ozai just fostered that potential but even when she was young and raise dmostly by the loving Ursa, she just didn't cared about people until they didn't praise her constantly.
Remember that the sins of Sozin clearly flowed through his bloodline until Zuko ended it all when he helped Aang defeat the Fire Nation, that was stated by Iroh.
@@basilofgoodwishes4138 Of course. We do see the family get worse over time. Sozin genuinely regards his motivations as noble and pure and (at least when he starts) sees himself as a benevolent conqueror. And then he abandons Roku to die in a volcano and commits genocide in an effort to kill a twelve year old boy to neutralize the threat in potentia that he poses, invades the Earth Kingdom and starts a war, hunts dragons to near extinction for glory and spends the rest of his life searching in vain for the Avatar. While his son Fire Lord Azulon does horrible things to the Southern Water Tribe and (probably) murders all the Waterbenders after Hama’s escape and actively seeks the conquest of the Earth Kingdom (and searched in vain for the Avatar). But he’s still horrified by the suggestion that he punish Iroh for the loss of his son but he still responds to it by commanding Ozai to kill his own son as punishment. Iroh’s a complicated case but Ozai manages to be worse than Azulon was in that Azulon had some form of behavioural code as evil as he was but Ozai didn’t. With Azula, she snaps and has a mental breakdown, though she was quite evil beforehand.
Though Iroh encountered the dragons before Zuko was born and learned the true meaning of Firebending from them and lied to keep them safe, so there were aspects of the evils of Fire Nation that he opposed and of which he refused to be a part even when he was a General of Azulon. Even though his growth happens mainly after his son is killed in Ba Sing Se. I would posit that Azula is a product of nature but is not “a born devil upon whose nature nurture can never stick” (as Shakespeare would put it) but one whose nature was reinforced by nurture.
@@matityaloran9157 Indubitably.
Thank you for explaining why Ozai is perfect as an evil villain and how he doesn't need to be a sympathetic villain. He's clearly shown through Zuko and Azula.
Actually Ozai killed Azulon. Ursa just gave him the poison
oops you are right! my bad
Ozai needs to be as completely evil as he is to show how far the Fire Nation has fallen, it makes Zuko's task of redeeming it more meaningful and adds a lot to the themes on war, showing how badly it can corrupt intentions and create evil. War takes you from Sozin, an honourable man with understandable intentions who was too arrogant and looked down upon the other nations, in his old age becoming cruel enough to kill the Air Nomads, through Azulon, a warmonger with all illusions of the war benefitting the other nations long gone, but probably a sensible strategist and at least a passable father to Iroh, to Ozai, who has no redeeming qualities or humanising motives left. He's cowardly, abusive, sadistic, and seeks mindless destruction and victory for its own sake, even if he destroys what could have been his own domain.
I like the "not show villain face ever" is very good. Could also used for enigmatic characters or someone that is a good guy too for different reasons. Another part of that narrative that spun something that doesn't need explanation for is, how Ozai appears is how Zuko has always seen him, Zuko most likely never looked at his father straight in the eyes, Zuko spent his life with his head bowed down and staring at the ground so he never knew what his father really looked like. The creators were definitely at their peak making this, sad that Korra did not have the same level of epicness.
There is speculation that Ozai was behind Iroh's son's death but that I haven't seen any credible data on yet. But it does make a lot of sense because of how Ozai planned his steps for the throne it would make too much sense.
The fact that he goes from composed to "Imma kill my own son with lightning" in 1 second should be sufficient to go yup he's the big bad. Don't see how people don't see him as a good villain. You don't consistently fight the final boss. You fight them once or twice.
yeah the confrontation between him and zuko painted him as so, so threatening
Yeah he wouldn't be menacing if they consistently fought him and continously survived. They needed to show why Aang needed all 4 elements to beat him
Fully agree. What got me to appreciate Ozai as a villain was a conversation he has with Zuko in the comics. We get a clear idea of how he views things, how he justifies his evil deeds. So he sits there in jail recounting an anecdote from when Zuko was little. The story is just framing but I like it a lot, he uses the story to point out how indecisive Zuko is. Which is also a nice parallel to his great grandfather Roku, who's biggest mistake was not being decisive enough to stop Zuko's other great grandfather Sozin. But anyway,
The core idea of it is that the Firelord has unique power to decide right from wrong and warp reality. He's defined all actions taken by him as good, regardless of the consequences, by the mere status of being Firelord. Zuko rightfully argues that good and evil are judgments that exist above humans, but you can clearly tell Ozai has a sort of god complex. Both because of the might makes right philosophy, and the fact he thinks he could rebirth the world in fire like at the end of book 3.
man comics Ozai was chilling. so manipulative and interesting
I just gave this video it’s 100th upvote. I disagree with its thesis but I am glad that you made it
wow, thank you for the very thoughtful engagement!! while i disagree with most of your points it's always nice to hear alternate opinions in the comments. would love to know what you think of the videos I made on Kataang and Azula as well :)
@@monkfruit When I watch them, I’ll tell you
Great Analysis! Never thought like that. The video made me realize that Ozai indeed is one of the most misunderstood characters..
thank you!
I think you missed one key reason. Ozai is a great villain because he is a foil to Aang. His "pure evil" leaves no room other than direct confrontation and pushes Aang's peaceful philosophy to the edge. This would not have happened if Ozai had been more layered.
6:12, does it show that though? He scolds her for impertinence when she’s impertinent (and let’s remember when Zuko was impertinent he challenged him to a duel) and his reasoning for not taking her with him to the attack was because he wanted someone to rule the Fire Nation in his absence and wanted it to be her. And even gives her the title of Fire Lord since once he rules the world itself he won’t be able to rule his country himself (which is a fair thing to reckon) so he gives it to her. That doesn’t translate as “he only ever saw her as a pawn”.
Its a useless title. He should have just told her to stay behind and guard the homeland.
@@thedelordhimselfgokublack She would actually be ruling as Governor of an entire country (albeit one within a greater empire). And her paranoia leads to her abusing her power to shreds.
Voldemort joker palpatine, you compare ozai to them… AND YOU’R RIGHT!
:)
Honestly, I think ozai not being a key player in strategic decision is because unlike iroh, he didn't go to war and act as a general.
He likely engaged in the political aspect, gaining loyalty, making people indebted to him and manipulating people to get his policies and such enacted. All of that is likely a good reason as to why none of the important figures in the Fire Nation cabinet made any moves to further verify that Azulon wanted Ozai to be crowned instead of Iroh.
I believe Ozia is a lot like long feng but more muscles if you think about it
The more we learn about him the more we realize how truly evil that man is. His cruelty and sadistic ideas outclass his daughter on an unknowable scale (he can manipulate his own family, specifically his daughter, like playing a Sugi horn)
yeah it's wild. and then there are people in these comments saying he wasn't even evil lmao
One thing I like about avatar is how it doesn't give redemption arcs to people that do really evil things they would have to answer for in order to satisfy justice. Like Zuko. The closest he get to something really evil is when he burns down Suki's village in his attempt to capture aang. Which while bad, is in accord with the laws of war. Compare that to azula who.
1. Attempts to murder her uncle in a bit to escape
2. The political assassination of the council of 5
3. The Dai Lee coup
hm not sure if I agree. if you haven't already, check out my Azula redemption video, maybe it'll change your mind :)
@@monkfruit Wait I didnt realize you only had about 400 subs. Your videos are well made, I thought you had atleast a few thousand
@@st.michaelsknight6299 hahaha we all start somewhere :)
I loved Ozai when he finally showed up. It was like Madara coming to the battlefield after being reanimated 😂 he comes in late in the story but he's been a menacing presence throughout, always looming over the plot. I loved it
Damn, you started the video with Ozai's best line.
I'm partial to "she was born lucky. you were lucky to be born" myself
Ozai’s a great villain because of how he’s able to have such a terrifying presence and influence.
He has little screen time, is mostly seen as a silhouette for most of the show, doesn’t have too many lines yet his influence and impact of the show is reflected through the behavior of his children.
The impact and stain he left on his family and his nation and how he influenced and drove the whole conflict of the show is proof of how he’s a great villain
I liked your analysis. It's important to realise that in our own actual world, there are many villains who have a flat and onedimensional personality. By focussing only on maintaining and expanding power and crushing people's dreams in the process, you really become a rump person instead of a fully developed individual.
With evil villains it's simple. You can choose wether they have backstory or not. But if you choose to make them bad for the sake of being bad, at least make them badasses, powerful, & generally people not to be messed with. It's basic stuff; no backstory equals to having to overcompensate with power.
totally agree! I'd like to add one more type of villain though: the bureaucratic one. Like Umbridge from Harry Potter or Danzo from Naruto, where they're not particularly powerful but are in a position of power where they can let their hateful ideas wreak havoc. Although maybe that does fall under making them powerful? Hm idk
Why does Ozai get a lot of backlash for not being a fleshed out character and yet he's pretty much on par with the likes of Emperor Palpatine or Sauron and yet neither of these mentioned villains are given the same treatment?
Sometimes you need a good ol fashion pure evil Villain to make a good story. Sauron's pure evil character in LOTR helps to expose the fragility of power within other characters giving us characters like Boromir, Saruman, Denethor, Gollum and many more who are affected by the horrors of having power and becoming it's slave. Even his so called evil minions are subject to his manipulation and power
The same goes for Palpatine and the Dark Side. In the end power is not something you truly want and Ozai's philosophy of power is no different from theirs
Ozai share's Sauron's lack of appearance and yet his strong influence, much like how Saruman or Denethor believe they need the ring to become more powerful than Sauron is much like how the earth Kingdom general tried to use the Avatar to defeat the fire nation. A pure evil and powerful Villain encouraging others to become like him even when he isn't trying. Ozai also shares Palpatine's manipulation and and dominance over his slaves. Vader is much like Zuko and Azula, traumatised, wounded, abused and nothing but an extention of his power. To these men friends or family is nothing but tools
Having depth is a recipe for a character, but not always for a Villain
couldn't agree more! super well said
I think the meaning behind phoenix is more important than the looks, just ozai described it in the season finale. The phoenix is an immortal bird associated with Greek mythology (with analogs in many cultures) that cyclically regenerates or is otherwise born again. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by rising from the ashes of its predecessor.
5:32, I’ll acknowledge that on the Zuko side, Ozai is a decent antagonist but it’s in relation to the other characters (most notably Aang) that I find him an underwhelming villain.
I think he works as a great antagonist for Aang if you think of him as just the face of the fire nation. Just like how Palpatine is the face of the galactic empire. He is also the embodiment of a philosophy opposite to Aang's. Aang believes in kindness and mercy and Ozai believes in power and control.
“You’re weak, just like the rest of your people. They did not deserve to exist in this world-in MY world! Prepare to join them! Prepare to die!”
THIS is considered underwhelming? Dang.
@@wildfire9280 It feels like something that was scrawled on at the last minute just to give him something to say to Aang that sounded evil so that we could accept Ozai as his ultimate nemesis despite them having no specific personal connection.
Ozai telling Zuko that Azula was born lucky and Zuko was lucky to be born (as revealed by Zuko) explains a lot about Zuko (and for that matter Azula) and makes it possible for there to be a certain catharsis in Zuko throwing Ozai’s lightning right back at him. That doesn’t exist with Aang and Ozai.
Honestly, Galbitorix’s Name of Names speech to Eragon in Inheritance by Christopher Paolini was much more whelming than Ozai’s line to Aang.
(I apologize in advance for the length)
“The answer must be obvious to you now elfling. It has taken me most of the past century but I at long last have found what I was searching for: a means of governing the spell-casters of Alagaësa. The search was not easy; most men would have given up in frustration or if they had the required patience fear. But not I. I persisted. And through my study, I had discovered what I had for so long desired. A tablet written in another land in another age, by hands that were neither elf nor dwarf nor human nor Urgal. And upon that tablet was inscribed a certain word- a name that magicians throughout the ages have hunted for with nothing but bitterness as their reward. The name of all names. The name of the ancient language.” And Galabatorix is far from particularly whelming. Also that Ozai line would have packed much more of a punch if Ozai were the Fire Lord who had ordered the Airbender genocide himself (I know he ordered the one of the Earth Kingdom at Azula’s recommendation but Aang is an Air Nomad).
@@matityaloran9157 They *do* have a connection. Aang is facing the next worst thing to the people responsible for the Air Nomad genocide; their glorifying descendants.
Ozai taunting Aang in this way perfectly suits both his narcissism and the Fire Nation’s cultural supremacy as well as both of their justifications for the Firelord’s actions. It solidifies his character and the characterization of the Fire Nation.
I can’t see how it feels forced or like a last minute addition when this has already been established in previous episodes. If anything Ozai just said the quiet part out loud.
@@wildfire9280 They don’t have a personal connection. The Air Nomad genocide was committed by Sozin not Ozai and practically any one of the Firebender antagonists would qualify as their glorifying descendants. Zhao, for instance, also taunted Aang about the demise of the Air Nomads. Also, the Fire Nation isn’t and cannot be a character due to not being an individual. Ozai is a proxy for the Fire Nation and the Fire Nation has a strong connection to Aang therefore Ozai does is simply not something which works. It makes him a generic firebender despot by the standards of this show with little to nothing to distinguish him from Aang’s other adversaries
I think an "inactive" villian works well. In away its insinuating that his time is so important, that it is not worth giving any to dealing with Aang. No that is if for his children while he does more important things.
There's also something to be said for making Ozai fairly flat to *contrast* with how rounded and complex the heroes are. It makes that roundedness a virtue in itself. Reminds me of a lot of Pratchett villains and heroes in that regard.
yeah tbh I think if they tried to make Ozai 3-D it wouldn't really have worked with the time they had
Ozai is the biggest roadblock in Aang’s overall journey. The whole point was “with my Avatar State gone, how am I going to defeat someone who’s way more powerful than me?”. Ozai is a fantastic antagonist, but I like to look at everything surrounding him.
No one points this out, Ozai is Hitler, The Fire Nation are Nazis, the fire insignia is the swatztika, and the extermination of the airbenders is the genocide, it's brilliant storytelling
The greatest feats of the Fire Nation during his reign were done by Azula, and he only got the throne because of his wife. Great villain but he is not successful against anyone actually fighting him or executing plans himself.
Literally the only thing he does successfully in the show is traumatize his family
LMAO what a good way of putting it
Zhao was just all around AWFUL and ineffective. In every situation, he always fails. He lost to Zuko embarrassingly, he failed to catch Aang on the island of the Fire Sages, and failed to capture both Aang and Zuko when they made their daring escape. Makes me wonder why he was never fired from serving in the army. Plus, he never faced any inner turmoil, and was extremely one dimensional. He's not even in the "love to hate" category, he's just bad at being a villain.
yeah Zhao was really boring lol. definitely a big reason why season 1 was worse than 2 and 3
And worse after these failures, Ozai promoted him from Admiral to General Zhao! Zhao must have blamed others for his failures to Ozai...😒
The only good thing I have to say about Zhao is his Voice Actor! The guy did great as Zhao!
@@Prince-Shogun He probably promoted him to be an incentive to not fail. Similar to when certain Austrian artist promoted a general to field marshal to encourage him to not surrender at Stalingrad.
@@factfiend1000 yeah but, Zhao failed so much that his promotion doesn't feel like he's earned it.
@@Prince-Shogun After his death he suffered an even worse punishment:Damnatio memoriae. His final failure led to his name being blotted out. Not even the stage play felt him important enough to include and nobody else mentioned him again after the North Pole.
There is nothing to suggest that ozai saw azula as a pawn nor that he didnt care about her
FINALLY! SOMEONE says it.
How did people ever think “Bending Hitler” was a *bad* idea for a villain leader of Bending Imperial Japan?
This is a great analysis bro
thank u fam :)
Dafuq are you talking about Phoenix King Ozai is GOATED. Can you explain why you didn’t like it as much and the drip looks more powerful and he actually looks like an Emperor/King.
Imo, I think Ozai IS supposed to be a little underwhelming because, in the end... he's JUST a guy. Every character in A:TLA is JUST human, even the god-like superbeing like the avatar is always just another person in the end. I think the point of Ozai is to show how people who are evil, no matter how intimidating or powerful, are just people- maybe not sympathetic, but definitely still people. Ozai is just some guy who's kinda good at firebending and REALLY egotistical (Which I think is supported by all his monolouging and the goofy outfit). Hell, I'd go as far as to say the only thing he's truly good at is intimidation. Ozai (And by extension, his forefathers) is the example of how an unchecked ego often leads to madness and a desperate, useless, desire for power will be one's downfall.
This could've been done better- the sheer size of his ego shown a bit more through interactions with zuko and azula- like azula's fall from grace. However, I think it still works. Zuko and Iroh are examples of choosing to step away from power and be humble and hone themselves before anything else. Ozai and Azula are the opposite- choosing to feed their own ego and power at the expense of everything around them and never looking in. Zuko and Iroh are thus rewarded with happiness while Ozai and Azula are punished with failure and shame.
definitely agree on Ozai. but azula is imo a little different. feels like she's doing things not just for her own ego, but also to please Ozai. super well thought out comment regardless :)
You joke about the outfit and Phoenix King thing, but you have to remember that the series is heavily based on Asian history and those titles and the style of outfit is very Chinese like - you can watch any Chinese action period film and see that big, overly dine style of outfit, and many emperor s of old would name themselves like mythical creatures and the Phoenix is one of the most important ones often even found decorated on tombs etc. So it is massively fitting for the fire lord but maybe Westerners cannot see it...
Really like the background beat.
They made Ozai too hot to be a realistic villain imo
HAHA Ted Bundy disagrees :)
Even though I disagree about him being a great villain I respect the hell out of your argument and I got to admit you understand the story well; because that's the way that Uncle Iroh would want me to look at this.
hahaha glad you liked the video!
The problem with him and the fire nation as a whole that ruined a lot of avatar for me. Firebenders were to weak. The only reason Aang was struggling against Ozai was because he refused to kill him. The fire nation are the main villains' so you have to fear them to some extent for there to be any tension. Every time there was a fight between a Firebender and any other kind of bender I never once thought the Firebender would lose which takes away a lot of the suspense. On a related note Waterbenders were way to overpowered and that also took a lot of the tension away from me.
The sad thing is, people like him, both as a person and as a father, actually exist in real life
4:03, I haven’t. This is the first of your videos that I have ever seen
I think he is suppose to be that evil force that you always root to take down. When I watched the final , seeing Ozai's arrogance made me so angry that when I finally saw The avatar state beating the crap out of him was satisfying. Even to this day I hate how arrogant he was and I guess that what he is suppose to be , that bad guy you are rooting to get destroyed
definitely, watching Aang grabbing that beard was so satisfying
@@monkfruit yeah I bet Roku was like "Listen hear you little shit!" XD
Really good video.
thanks! :)
And then you have the thing that we don't talk about where they show Ozai entirely with zero build up. It's almost like they knew the movie would flop.
there is no movie in ba sing se
I think him being an underwhelming foe was the point. for the first two books Ozai was viewed as this larger than life figure, an inhuman monster to the heroes, and a paragon of Fire Nation greatness to the villains and the people of the Fire Nation. only to show us at the end that Ozai is neither of those things, he's just another human being, a very powerful fire bender, but still a human being that can be easily beaten when overwhelmed.
kinda like the grasshoppers in a bugs life! The image of ozai as so powerful he's basically inhuman is def a great branding move for the fire nation
@@conniehuang6220 heh... branding move
I agree with you but I think you missed the most importent point and it is that ozai needed to be a contrast to Aang, he needed to be pure evil to make us the viewers hate him and want to see him dead. there was not even one reason to keep him alive, you never felt sorry for him or understood why he is the way he is. But Aang still couldn't kill him, his believes and morals was so strong, he couldn't do it even when everyone told him he have to . The show wants us to know that there is no good reason for taking life and no one should have the rigth to do so. I think that it is so much better without ozai's backstory, this it exactly the fault of a lot of movies and shows this days, thay feel the need to explain every villain and write them some sad backstory. Sometimes the villain need to be just a tool to tall a good story and ozai is this tool
Also another somewhat unrelated nitpick. I wish Zuko was the one to beat Azula. Zuko is my favorite character and he never really got a super big win for himself. I wish he got at least one and beating Azula could have been perfect. As opposed to Katara that already had so many big wins.
thats fair- to me Zuko's big moment was confronting Ozai during the eclipse. Personally I thought it was pretty in character for Azula to basically cheat (Zuko was going to beat her) and it gave Katara something to do, but I can see how you would think that + respect with your opinion :)
@@monkfruit That is actually my favorite moment in all of Avatar. But I don't think it's enough of a win.
I only twigged this the other week and it probably is wrong BUT I think the title Phoenix King is because of Iroh. You see when you killed a dragon you earned the title 'Dragon'. Iroh is known as the 'Dragon of the West' but he claimed to have killed the last dragon and doing so denied Ozai the chance to kill one and be titled Dragon. He couldn't call himself Dragon King so Phoenix is the logical alternative.
woah, I'd never thought of that! super cool if true
No ,a Phoenix is a bird that can Bring itself back to life from its ashes
And that's what Ozai was going to do to the earth kingdom by burning it to the ground and then a new world being born
I agree with you, for the most part, and I'm like "Boy, this video got 20k views but this guy only has 2subs, what gives?". If you really want to dive into it deeper, I would suggest working a bit more on your audio editing skills, especially since you are obviously very talented in editing video.
Hey! Really appreciate the feedback. Just curious, do you mean audio quality or like the way I'm cutting it? Glad you liked the video 🙂
0:54, you’re saying most evil.
Ozai is the polar opposite to aang and he was meant to evoke fear on aang back then he evoked fear in me and still does he pushes aang to his limits morally etc. He is the climax of who aang Is he is a big part of aang and zukos character arcs. And ozais power and little mercy is what made him scary against aang specifically because he pushed aang to almost killing him. The fight was intense a villain doesn't always have to be infinitely superior to be threatening that's not creative. Ozai is threatening for different reasons.
Ozai is perfect. Wouldn't change a thing.
7:32, Okay then. 1) Fire Lord Sozin, truly evil
2) Fire Lord Azulon, truly evil, 3) Zhao, truly evil, 4) Long Feng, truly evil, 5) Azula, truly evil, 6) Combustion Man, truly evil, 7), Ozai, truly evil. The problem with Ozai isn’t that he’s evil, it’s that there’s no substantive difference between him and a generic monster of the week. Sure, he functions well as a backstory for Zuko but beyond that he is not a good villain
I agree, in the finale I was more interested to see katara and zuko vs azula than the final battle between aang and the fire lord
@@horadetodososlegos Same
In a way, I think Ozai is characterized by other villains in the series if that makes. I think the beat interpretation of Ozai is through a subtle lense. There is more I can say but I'll leave it at that.
totally agree! we don't see a TON of him compared to other characters, but his villainy is expressed through his subordinates
Fire lord ozai is the Giga chad
Ozai is a king, him not being in the front line makes sense
1:34, no. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. That said outside of the backstories of Zuko and Azula, Ozai is a boring character.
6:06, neither am I.
Agreed on the finale silliness. They kinda dabbled in this cringe element with Ozai the way they did for Zhao. Not the best choice imo, but it seemed they intentionally wanted to make Ozai seem cringe lol.
Don't crucify me for saying Tim curry might have been a slightly better fit for ozai than Mark hammill doing his joker voice
I can only give you my perspective as someone that does not like the Firelord. For me, it's two reasons. The genericness is a huge flaw in a show whose point was the complexity and greyness of its villains. And the second reason is that I simply did not find him menacing. I can forgive genericness in characters like Voldemort (who had a lot more backstory in the books to be fair) or the emperor, because I perceived them as serious threats and I knew their presence would cause huge trouble for the heroes. But the first time Ozai tried to do something, he got pimp slapped by his son, who we know as a rather inconsistent fighter.
Leaving richness of character aside, just compare that with Azula during the Chase. We see how intelligent she is when she does not fall for the false trail, and how good of a fighter she is when she held her own against Iroh, Zuko, Aang, Toph, Sokka and Katara and even finished off Iroh in the process. While watching that fight, I just thought to myself "How on earth are they gonna beat her?" But in the final fight, Aang vs Firelord, I just asked myself "I wonder if Aang is going to kill him or if he finds another way to beat him".
that's very fair, and I think Ozai not being menacing (especially in the finale) is the thing I like least about his character as well
I disagree the only thing you’re saying is that ozai had an affect to characters that made them great characters but you don’t really talk about him as a character in reality ozai as a character is kinda flat
What’s the theme at the beginning
Kurt - Cheel :)
Thanks
7:14, being powerful is not the same thing as being a well-written villain
Before the Avatar State,Aang only had the advantge with lightning,Ozai was winning thoroughly otherwise.
Yeah
@@mohbegimmusoeva3419 I say that because some ppl say "he's so weak!"
As if any bender could stand against The Avatar State.
Also he easily swung lightning thru both hands,when Azula and Iroh winded up a lot through one hand.
@@berengustav7714 agree bro
the biggest question I have . Is so self centert and egomaniacal evil. how did he ever convince Ursa to marry him and have two kids. unless it is a forced marriage and he raped her for the children.
No, Ozai wasn’t a good villain. I’m saying this prior to having watched the video so let’s see if it can change my mind.
Ozai was a real villain, everything that happened in Book One and Two was because of his relationship with his kids. It's true that he was a major driving force.
yes, totally agree!
I still think that Azulon didn’t order Zuko to be killed, and it was just a lie made up by Ozai and Azula to force Ursa’s hand.
wow that's an interesting theory. That would definitely add another layer to Ozai and Azula's villainy
@@monkfruitIt was not a lie, Azulon wanted Zuko killed to punish Ozai.
good
The problem with him and the fire nation as a whole that ruined a lot of avatar for me. Firebenders were to weak. The only reason Aang was struggling against Ozai was because he refused to kill him. If Aang fought with killer intent he would have ended the fight pretty much instantly. The fire nation are the main villains so you have to fear them to some extent for there to be any tension. Every time there was a fight between a Firebender and any other kind of bender I never once thought the Firebender would win which takes away a lot of the suspense. On a related note Waterbenders were way to overpowered and that also took a lot of the tension away from me.
Also another somewhat unrelated nitpick. I wish Zuko was the one to beat Azula. Zuko is my favorite character and he never really got a super big win for himself. I wish he got at least one and beating Azula could have been perfect. As opposed to Katara that already had so many big wins.
We both agree that most of the consequences of Ozais' action was good. But it should not eradicate the idea that his actions were 100% bad. So he was a bad vilian.
A villain’s moral’s level doesn’t make a good or bad villain. Palpatine as the Emperor in Star Wars is a brilliant villain and he’s extremely evil. Still a good villain though.
7:21, and I do say that. I think he’s a wooden antagonist. Good as a character in Zuko’s backstory and little more than a generic monster outside of it
4:13, that doesn’t in and of itself make him a good villain
I wanna see dark horse comics make another avatar comic and it will
Avatar the last airbender
Crimes against the four
Nations witch show cases ozai and his trial
In the fire nation capital
Where it has the earth king as the judge
Toph as public defender
To defend ozai’s life
And katara fulling the role of prosecutor showing that ozai can’t get away with the horrible things he has done as fire lord and he needs to put in prison
And here’s how the comic will turn out
Everyone in the four nations gather at the
Fire nation capital after
Zuko became the new
Fire lord then it’s gonna
Have the earth king reading the number of crimes he committed as
Fire lord
Earth king: ozai you we’re
Charged with crimes you
Committed as fire lord before and after you are charged with spouse abuse child abuse first degree murder attempted
Mass genocide treason
Against both the fire nation and earth kingdoms and a failed invasion of the northern water tribe and attempting to kill the avatar what do you
say To theses charges former fire lord ozai
Then ozai brings out sinister chuckle
Ozai: you fools all though
I maybe in chains but i am
Still kicking this will be even more interesting then the fire days festival
Let the comedy begin
Everyone in the four nations gasped in horror
Upon hearing those words
Then it’s gonna have everyone including team avatar bringing up past events from previous episodes of the show as the trial continues
Then it will have the earth king being all like
Earth king: what do you have to say for yourself
Ozai
Then ozai claps slowly
And says the fallowing words
Ozai: you fools i will be
Willing to destroy a dozen
Northern water tribes even if it Takes for the other nations to kneel before me i will conquer 20 ba sing se‘s destroy 10
omashu’s If i want and destroying 50 families if
I have to i have no regrets but hear this from me
That all though there is peace in this world there
Will always be an ozai to destroy the peace
Everyone gasped in shock
Then the jury brings out the final verdict
Member of the jury: earth king your honor we find the defendant ozai guilty
Then the earth king sentence ozai into the
Fire nation prison by zuko
Great villain, but a monster of a man.
agreed!
0:50, he’s a mediocre villain
👏
1:41, all of whom are better villains than Ozai is.
Zhao sucks.
i never considered ozai a villain at all
he never commited a single crime
iroh was a war criminal
azula hurt innocent lives yet she and iroh get sympathy/respect and love
ozai never got that cause humans are a flawed species, so ozai doesnt have a fan base
The guy committed war crimes on the regular, and murdered his own father.
my comment was deleted by youtube of course theirs a bias
@@st.michaelsknight6299Ozai was evil but it was initially Ursa’s plan to kill Azulon since Azulon wanted to punish Ozai by killing Zuko. But it seems that Ozai has the lowest death toll out of his father Azulon and grandfather Sozin. He could have got more but luckily he only ruled for 5-6 years instead of 75 or 68.
Ozai is the head of a fascist empire, it would be immoral to try to make him more than that. He was just means to an end and that's okay.
He is underutilized. Him and his family. The comics ruined him.
Ozai was a coward.
I did a couple of reimaginings for Ozai:
Version 1:
Ursa and Iroh are now siblings and the reason for that is; Roku and Ozai were the ones who were close friends and after Roku returns from his avatar journey, he tells Ozai about Kyoshi's trick on how she lived for 230 years. After Ozai betrays Roku, he decides to teach himself that trick. It's Ozai who starts the 100 year war and has reigned as the warmongering fire lord for the whole 100 years.
Basically, Sozin, Azulon and Ozai are combined as one, with only Ozai's name, voice and design being used.
The comet is renamed Ozai's comet and it returns by the end of autumn, aka, season finale of book 4: air. Season 3 ends with Zuko, Azula, and Katara's iconic agni kai, minus Ozai's comet being present, but everything else is moved over to season 4. What happens in-between that gap can vary.
Version 2:
Sozin, Azulon, and Ozai are separate, Iroh's related to Ozai and Sozin's comet returns by the end of summer just like originally. But the story arcs from season 2 of Legends of Korra are moved upward into ATLA. Particularly book 4: air. Ozai is the dark avatar but instead of Ozai fusing with Vaatu. Ozai IS Vaatu. And he only needs harmonic convergence to regain his dark power he lost after Iroh's mother, Ilah, helped him escape from the tree of time.
Oh, and, during every solstice, Vaatu manipulated Sozin into waging his war from inside the tree without Sozin even noticing anything.
At one point, Ozai (Vaatu) epically battles the last lion turtle and slays it, absorbing its soul.
I don’t think the Joker fits the pure evil label.
you don't think so? the guy was a homicidal maniac
@@monkfruit the mental problems and i believe that his backstory he talks about is real but some stuff is fabricated so yeah I don’t think he’s pure evil
Completely subjective