Afraid to lose control

They don't see our greatness; they hate us!

The Fire Nation is a rocky bit of volcanic islands in the western part of the Avatar world. Full of beaches, hot weather, and spicy food, it's home to firebenders, lots of egomaniacal crazies, and one super cranky prince.

Historically, the Fire Nation has been ruled by power-hungry Firelords (Sozin, Azulon, Ozai) who are willing to do anything to take over the world and expand the Fire Nation's influence. The Fire Nation has advanced its miltaristic use of steam-powered technology and weaponry to aid its master plan of destroying all opposition. Fire Nation children are taught that their country is the greatest and deserves to rule over everyone else.

Some kids, like Azula and the Fire Nation students Aang meets, readily accept this political trickery. Even our man Zuko buys into it until season three, when he finally confronts Ozai and expresses real irritation at what his country's become:

Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history and somehow, the war was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was! The people of the world are terrified of the Fire Nation! They don’t see our greatness; they hate us! And we deserve it. We’ve created an era of fear in the world. And if we don’t want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace and kindness. (S03E11, "The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse")

Zuko's not expecting to become Firelord himself, but by season three he's obviously got a very clear vision of what needs to happen politically to make the Fire Nation the country he's always thought it should be. Just as well, then, that Zuko gets stuck with Firelord duties at the end of the series: other than Iroh, he's pretty much the only one who knows how to turn things around. (Plus, being BFF with the Avatar will surely come in handy.) Whereas the Fire Nation has spent much of its past acting like a jerk toward the other nations, with Zuko at the helm, there's real hope that balance and peace between the nations will return.



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