Avatar: The Last Airbender --- Ozai

For "the biggest, baddest guy on the planet," as Sokka put it so blatantly, I expected Firelord Ozai to look a bit... tougher. As it is, he looks a bit on the soft side, especially if you compare him to his older brother, Iroh. Of course, appearances can be deceiving.

Iroh himself looked a bit on the soft side for Books 1 and 2, and while imprisoned he transformed himself in short order back into the Dragon of the West, a one-man army, as the jail warden so aptly described him.

And yet, here we have Ozai, a character hyped up to be The Big Bad during three turbulent Avatar seasons. How bad is he? Evidence is minimal.

The one time we see him without his stately robes is just before he burned his son Zuko, during their Agni Kai. His silhouette showed him to be rather muscular despite his delicate facial features. Perhaps he's one of those lucky ones who just never got hit in the face during practice?

What of his firebending? The Agni Kai with Zuko isn't helpful. Burning Zuko's face occurred appropriately off-screen, and even a novice firebender can fry someone who isn't fighting back. He does have one or two instances when the flames around his throne leap up in his angered state, a classic sign of the wayward chi of a firebender with at least above average ability.

And then there's the confrontation scene between him and Zuko on the second half of The Day of Black Sun. We see Ozai attack Zuko with a lightning technique executed with speed and power that exceeds anything we've seen from either Azula or Iroh. Good thing Zuko knows that redirection technique (side note: He could have killed Ozai with his own lightning, IMHO, but that would ruin the ending).

So he does have talent with the bending. Skill and experience is where it's implied he might fall short. Iroh is a general and a warrior. Before the death of his son, he pretty much led the invasion into Earth Kingdom territory. At that time, it seems that Ozai stayed at home. So what is he? Politics, I think. Ozai is a good administrator. He'd likely be a great diplomat as well, if the Fire Nation ever bothered with diplomacy instead of their favored "burn down their villages" approach to foreign policy.

My personal opinion is that he is indeed a powerful firebender, but certainly not the most powerful. It wouldn't be too much to assume that Iroh is his better in skill and experience, if not talent. It might even be the case that Azula matches or even exceeds him.

So why the nasty reputation? Status and infamy. He's the Firelord. Leader of the Fire Nation. They've been oppressing the world for a over a hundred years, and most recently even conquered Ba Sing Se. As their leader, he rises above his entire nation in stature.

Does Aang have to be worried then? Hell yeah. Aang might have control over four elements, and he might have learned how to bend them all, but he's NOT a master of anything but air. Adept, yes. Master, no. So he has a fight on his hands. I'd still give him the advantage, but we know from the title of the finale that when he confronts Ozai, the Firelord will be juiced up with Uber Komet Powah.

Total ownage for either is not in the books.

All and good. Fans want a grand fight. If they want a scene of "Avatar PWNS Firelord" they can watch Roku do it to Sozin.

We'll see a nice battle. One that ends with Aang beating Ozai by pulling down his pants. I believe in the predictive power of dreams.