| “ | With Roku gone, and the great comet returning, the timing was perfect to change the world. I knew the next Avatar would be born an Air Nomad, so I wiped out the air temples. But somehow, the new Avatar eluded me. I wasted the remainder of my life searching in vain. I know he's hiding out there somewhere. The Fire Nation's greatest threat... the last airbender. | „ |
| ~ Fire Lord Sozin. |
Sozin, also known as Fire Lord Sozin, is the posthumous overarching antagonist of Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender.
He was the previous Fire Lord before his son Azulon, the grandfather of main antagonist Ozai and great-grandfather of antagonist Azula and antagonist-turned-deuteragonist Zuko. Sozin was the former best friend of Roku, Avatar Aang’s predecessor, and the man responsible for starting the Hundred Year War and the Air Nomad genocide that made Aang the titular last Airbender.
He was voiced by Ron Perlman, who also voiced Warhok in Kim Possible and The Lich in Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
- He tried to get Roku to join his plan of conquering the world under the guise of “sharing wealth and prosperity to all", ignoring Roku’s attempts to redeem him and cutting ties with him when Roku refused to join him.
- He spent the next 17 years conquering the Earth Kingdom, killing hundreds of people and establishing dozens of Fire Nation colonies.
- He tried to literally kill Roku behind his back, although he would live to deeply regret it later.
- Although he initially decided to help Roku fight a raging volcano, he soon leaves him and his dragon to be poisoned to death by volcanic gases so he wouldn't stop his plans.
- During the events of "The Reckoning of Roku" Sozin is already shown to display problematic tendencies.
- Sozin manipulates Roku into helping him claim a remote island by sending assassins after the latter and Ta Min. Although Ta Min wasn't an intended target nor did Sozin intended to endanger Roku's life (The assassins had orders to coerce Roku but weren't supposed to end the life of the latter). Sozin's actions were still wrong.
- During their time on Lambak Island, Sozin is already shown to display xenophobic beliefs regarding Air Nomads and vegetarians in general as he claims that one should never trust anyone who never consumes meat.
- Furthermore, Sozin kills Malaya in cold blood. Although Malaya instigated the fight, it was only because she correctly deduced that Sozin would become a significant threat. Furthermore, Sozin could've knocked Malaya out. To make matters worse Sozin passes Malaya's murder off as a consequences of the rockslide Roku created. Not only was Sozin being dishonest, but his claims gave Roku the impression that he was at fault for Malaya's death.
- In the epilogue Sozin is already considering surpassing the Avatar.
- On the day of the comet that would later be named after him, he launched an ambush on the Air Nomads, wiping them all out with the sole exception of Aang, who had coincidentally ran away days earlier.
- It is even worse considering that Sozin knew the Air Nomads were pacifists and later indoctrinated his nation into believing they had a military, including an overconfident Fire Nation soldier who believed it years later.
- During the same day, he mustered an invasion force to subjugate the Water Tribes in order to control information about any possible reincarnated Avatars.
- Although he favored his son Azulon over his other children, that was only because Azulon was a firebending prodigy who was the perfect heir to the throne (in a Social Darwinist sense), not out of genuine care. He started the tradition of unhealthy and violent sibling rivalries and dysfunctional families that would plague the Fire Nation Royal Family for generations to come (this makes him responsible for the emotional trauma of his great-grandchildren Zuko and Azula, the latter who had an nervous breakdown).
- He created a mass wildfire to wipe out all the defenders of the Earth Kingdom city of Han Tui before conquering the city.
- Even though he had one of his own, he drove the dragons to near-extinction for no reason other than sadistic blood sport.
- He destroyed any information about the true source of firebending powered by calmness and discipline and propagated the dark side of firebending powered by rage and hate, so that his soldiers and citizens won't question his legacy.
- This would eventually become the cause for the mental corruption of his descendants (such as Azulon, Ozai, Azula and Zuko until his own realization) and the aggressive nature of the Fire Nation.
- Jeong-Jeong would become pessimistic of his firebending, referring it as a "burning curse".
- Although he didn’t execute Fire Sage Kaja, that was because Kaja had given him useful information that the Avatar was still alive and he preferred the pragmatic approach of silencing his opposition like Kaja soon after by proceeding to label anyone who helped the Avatar as a traitor to the Fire Nation who would be imprisoned or executed, successfully ordering the Fire Sages to swear allegiance to him.
- He continued hunting the Avatar and trying to find/kill him for the rest of his life despite knowing that Aang was just a child.
- He outlawed same-sex romances for seemingly no reason besides presumed bigotry.
- He established a cult of personality around himself, making monuments of himself throughout the Fire Nation and using propaganda to establish himself as a “higher being.”
- He would also seal off all Fire Nation history before his reign to make it look like the Fire Nation and its history started with him all to fuel his own ego and god-complex, establishing a toxic tradition his descendants would follow.
- He ordered the invasion of the Northern Water Tribe 15 years into the Hundred Year War to dominate the North Pole.
- His legacy would be responsible for ruining the Fire Nation Royal Family and the Fire Nation and make him indirectly responsible for all the atrocities Azulon and Ozai would commit. The fact that he died peacefully in his sleep instead of as punishment for his crimes also makes him a Karma Houdini.
- He stands out even more considering his incredibly limited screen time, yet still committing some of the vilest actions in the franchise.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- He is well-intentioned extremist, as while it doesn’t justify much of his actions, Sozin genuinely wanted to improve the world by conquering it by using the vast resources and developments the Fire Nation had.
- He did genuinely love his friend Roku and did say in his last years of life that his life was brighter with him around, considering him a good friend, clearly showing he regretted leaving Roku to die all those years ago.
Trivia[]
- He is one of three Avatar: The Last Airbender villains from the Fire Nation to be Near Pure Evil, alongside Azulon and Zhao.
- It's currently unknown if his live-action counterpart from the Netflix live-action adaptation will be Near Pure Evil or not, since he isn't shown to have any redeeming qualities during his sole appearance in the first season of the show.
External Links[]
- Sozin on the Villains Wiki
- Sozin on the Avatar Wiki
[]
 Near Pure Evils
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