Ozai

  

This article is about the character in The Last Airbender. For other similar uses, see Ozai (disambiguation).

Ozai
Biographical information
Nationality	Fire Nation
Physical description
Eye color	Amber
Hair color	Black
Personal information
Allies	Azula, Zhao, Fire Nation military
Enemies	Team Avatar, Zuko, Iroh, Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom
Weapon of choice	Fire
Fighting style	Firebending
Political information
Position	Fire Lord Firebending master
Reign	95 AG- present
Affiliation	Fire Nation Fire Nation Royal Family
Chronological information
Portrayed by	Cliff Curtis
Image gallery (3)

Fire Lord Ozai is the tyrannical leader of the Fire Nation. He is the father of Zuko and Azula. He banished his son for speaking out of turn in a war planning session, with the condition that he may return if the Avatar was captured.

History

Fire Lord Ozai discussing with Commander Zhao.

Fire Lord Ozai is the only known Fire Lord in the film. Being raised a coldhearted person, he neglected his son Zuko yet openly showed much love for his evil daughter, Azula. Not much is known of Ozai's past. After his son Zuko had spoken out of turn to a general in defense of some of his friends who were going to sacrificed in battle, Ozai sentenced his son to an Agni kī Duel (अग्नि की डूएल - "Duel of Fire"). When Zuko showed up, it was Ozai himself he was to fight, but Zuko would not fight his father. Ozai mocked him, saying "I should bring your sister up here to beat you", before burning his son to teach him a lesson. He subsequently banished Zuko, leaving the former General Iroh to take care of him from that point on.

Ozai was also close allies with Zhao, who was his right-hand man, and was behind Zhao's raid of the hidden library and information therein that can be used to eliminate the Ocean and Moon Spirit. However, Ozai still kept tabs on his son's quest for the Avatar and when Zhao professed his confidence in finding the Avatar and dismissed Zuko as having failed, Ozai made it clear that he would have no reservations ranking Zuko higher if he found the Avatar first and did not permit Zhao to act on his suspicion that the Blue Spirit who helped the Avatar escape was his son, telling him to leave Zuko in his isolation. After acknowledging their destiny to have found this information he ordered Zhao to eliminate the spirits, take the Northern Water Tribe City, and destroy the Avatar at the same time. After Zhao died during the Siege of the North, his daughter Azula gladly accepted the task he requested of her to stop the Avatar from mastering earth and fire, and give the Fire Nation time for Sozin's Comet to arrive. His main enemy is the Avatar.

Personality

This version of Ozai seems to share most of the traits of his original self, being ruthless, cruel and domineering, as displayed by his lack of hesitation in punishing his son for standing up for his friends when they were to be sacrificed and waging war with the other Nations with the apparent goal of world-domination. However, Ozai seems to have somewhat more compassion for his family, as he refused to have Zhao kill Zuko out of suspicion that he was the Blue Spirit, telling him to leave his son in isolation. He also made it clear that he was more than willing to fully accept Zuko finding the Avatar before Zhao and declare him a hero and give him a status beyond Zhao's. Additionally, while dismissing Iroh as a traitor and Zuko as a failure, he did not order them to be hunted and just asked Azula to buy time for the Fire Nation to win the war.

Film

Ozai is played by New Zealander Cliff Curtis. Curtis said that "I'm kind of like the Darth Vader character for that franchise", which is interesting because in the original Star Wars trilogy, Darth Vader was shown as the main antagonist like animated Zhao, while the Emperor was hidden like animated Ozai. He also said that "I haven't watched the TV series to get confused by it." Referring to Shyamalan, "I wanted to take his lead on what way he wanted to take the franchise. He's had to condense, I don't know how many episodes, but two or three years' worth of television episodes into three movies."

The character in the film is the main antagonist of the film series, much like the animated Zhao is in the original series. Along with roles originally played by the animated Ozai, he played many roles of the animated Zhao. In some cases, the roles are jointly shared with the film Zhao, particularly the plan to eliminate the Ocean and Moon Spirits in the Siege of the North. The characterization for the animated Zhao is more closely depicted with this Ozai than with the film Zhao, e.g., sinister and devious, rather than cocky and ambitious.

Trivia

A younger Ozai and his family, complete with long hair and a beard just like his series counterpart.

• Ozai's face is not hidden in the movie like in the show, instead he is seen clearly at the beginning of the film.
• Ozai also does not have long hair or a beard as he did in the show, but instead has a simple crew cut. However, a family portrait (the one held by Zuko before his firebending training) implied that he did have long hair and a beard when he was younger, only to shave it off after he took over as Fire Lord from Azulon. His sideburns are more prominent than the film Zhao, which animated Ozai also did not have.
• In the animated show, the library was found by Zhao years before the siege, when he was a junior Lieutenant serving under General Shu in the Earth Kingdom. In the movie, it was found months before the siege by the younger film Zhao, who presented his findings to this film Ozai.
• While the animated Zhao considered the elimination of the Ocean and Moon Spirits as his destiny, this Ozai considered it as a shared destiny with the film Zhao: "It is destiny that we have found this information, Zhao".
• During the Siege of the North in the film, Zhao told Iroh not to worry about the Moon Spirit's power because "Your brother, Fire Lord Ozai, and I have decided it's in our best interest to kill the Moon Spirit." This may be a nod to the animated Zhao character being split, as it may be more accurate to say "Fire Lord Ozai ordered me to kill the Moon Spirit."
• In the series, Ozai wears a simple red, burgundy, and gold robe, yet in the film, Ozai wears a fancy crimson colored robe with a gold, red, and black chestplate and a long black and gold cape. Cliff Curtis said in an interview that the costume was "sort of like a cross between Roman and kind of Greek, [a] gold, Roman and Greek military/samurai military [uniform]."
• In the movie novelization, after Zhao accused Zuko to be Blue Spirit (albeit without proof), Ozai ordered Zhao to "take care of this" for him and "make appear to be an accident. An unfortunate accident." This was changed in the actual movie: Zhao sabotaged Zuko's ship despite being ordered to leave him in his isolation, making Ozai seem less cruel. Voice-overs of Ozai inquiring any news of his son from Zhao was also added.
• Ozai is an interesting composite of his animated counterpart and the animated Zhao, the latter being decomposed into separate two film characters: one merged with this film Ozai (played by Cliff Curtis) and the other as a younger film Zhao (played by Aasif Mandvi) serving as an "extension" to this older self and apparently also his illegitimate son, turning the relationship dynamics between "Zhao Jr." and Zuko similar to Edmund and Edgar in King Lear. As such, the film contains many scenes between him and Commander Zhao, a relationship not illustrated in the cartoon.