| “ | You dare suggest I betray Iroh, my first born, directly after the demise of his only beloved son? I think Iroh has suffered enough. But you... your punishment has scarcely begun! | „ |
| ~ Azulon berating Ozai as he attempted to seize Iroh's birthright as Fire Lord. |
Fire Lord Azulon, simply known as Azulon, is a posthumous antagonist in Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.
He was the Fire Lord directly preceding his son Ozai as well as the father of Iroh, the son of Sozin and the grandfather of Zuko, Azula, and Lu Ten.
He was voiced by the late Walker Edmiston.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
- Throughout the show, he does all of his crimes off-screen, to the point we never watch Azulon do so much as order a crime. However, the consequences of what he did and said was very much on-screen and he left a heinous legacy after him in the form of his son Ozai and granddaughter Azula that nearly resulted in nigh-omnicide, preventing him from being a case of off-screen villainy.
- As Sozin's heir and General in the Fire Nation, Azulon was already a ruthless leader, aiding in military campaigns across the Earth Kingdom to conqueror it.
- After ascending to become the Fire Lord, he continued his father's goal of world domination, stoking the hatred and fear of the Fire Nation among the other two nations.
- Continued the sport of hunting and killing dragons started by Sozin, despite having no real reason to do so at the point. The dragons would have died out in his reign if his son Iroh hadn't lied to him regarding the deaths of the last two dragons.
- Ordered the raids on the Southern Water Tribe, with the main goal of capturing the waterbenders in order to dominate the Water Tribe.
- It is very much implied that Azulon knew the Avatar would be reincarnated as a waterbender as part of a ten-thousand-year-old cycle, giving him a second malevolent reason. The imprisoned waterbenders were kept in a tortured state for the rest of their lives.
- He was indirectly responsible for the death of Katara and Sokka's mother after he sent the Southern Raiders to kill the last remaining waterbender, with her sacrificing herself to save Katara.
- He was indirectly responsible for Hama's rampage in the Fire Nation, leading to the very creation of bloodbending which caused Yakone's reign of terror over Republic City, as well as Amon's attempts to end bending through a violent revolution.
- He encouraged rivalry between Ozai and Iroh in order to cause a succession crisis (as his father and predecessor Sozin did), causing Ozai to become a greater evil than him and Iroh to become a Fire Nation General till the day Lu Ten died.
- Forced Ursa into an arranged marriage with Ozai, simply to create a lineage of powerful firebenders through the bloodlines of both Roku and Sozin as the Fire Sages prophesized, likely explaining (though not excusing) his lack of care towards Ozai's children. He likely did this by threatening Ursa regarding the well-being of her parents.
- Ordered his bodyguards to kill Ikem, which they would have followed through on if Ursa hadn't talked him and Ozai down.
- Ordered Ozai to kill his firstborn son, despite Zuko being his only grandson and heir-apparent with Lu Ten killed in action. He did this to punish Ozai for trying to usurp the Fire Lord position and making light of Iroh's pain, but Ozai didn't care and would have gladly killed Zuko if Ursa hadn't intervened.
- After his well-deserved death from being poisoned, he became indirectly responsible for Ursa's banishment from the Fire Nation after she conspired with Ozai to kill him, making Zuko's life become more miserable later on.
- He's also indicated that he doesn't care for Azula either (despite being named after him), given his lack of reaction when she demonstrates impressive firebending.
- It is heavily implied by Avatar Roku that he was preparing to utilize the horrific power of Sozin's Comet to end the war and rule the entire world if he had not been poisoned shortly before its long-anticipated arrival.
- Whereas Sozin really did have good intentions at first, Azulon did not and kept the propaganda going to keep his power and plan to have the Fire Nation conquer the world.
- Where it's hinted Azulon used to be a better father (taking an infant Ozai as well as Iroh presumably to his beach house for vacations), he became colder and crueler as a result of micromanaging the invasion and subjugating the Earth Kingdom colonies as well as the raids on the Southern Water Tribe.
- While his son Ozai has more scale in his crime and Sozin has a higher kill count, Azulon still stands out from his malevolent family members with nigh-identical resources for his visceral cruelty, as he fought three quarters of the Hundred Year War his own way to directly cause sorrowful decades of blood and tears, and furthermore, his inhumane genocide against the Southern Water Tribe waterbenders involved much more tortuous, drawn out methods of killing by keeping them in tortured states for the rest of their lives to which they eventually died out as a result of it, inducing more suffering as a result.
- To drive the turning point home, he was also indirectly responsible for the horrible things Hama, Yakone and Amon would proceed to do, and while he never lived to learn of this, it's not like he would have even cared.
- While a very flat character in contrast to Azula and Sozin and even Ozai, he still shows a megalomaniacal, vindictive, and sadistic personality.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- He sincerely cared for his son Iroh, and his grandson Lu Ten to an extent, and didn't blame him for refusing to subjugate Ba Sing Se and rest of the Earth Kingdom, empathizing with Iroh's loss. Even ordering Ozai to kill Zuko was out of anger when Ozai suggested him to betray Iroh.
External Links[]
- Azulon on the Villains Wiki
- Azulon on the Avatar Wiki
[]
 Near Pure Evils
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Animated Shows The Legend of Korra Live-Action Show Comic Books See Also | ||