History YMMV / AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch

* AbandonShipping: Ozai/Ursa suffered a massive blow after the comic gave insight to what their relationship was actually like.

* CommonKnowledge: "Ozai isn't Zuko's real father" became this for a while, thanks to Part One ensing on the "reveal" that this might be the case. Cue criticism about how it completely invalidates Zuko's arc from the series, which was about him finally realizing that he shouldn't be loving his life trying to please an abusive father who will never truly love him. Not to mention the implication that this means Zuko continued to occupy a throne that wasn't legally his, per ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''. Quite a few people never bothered to read the remaining parts, where Zuko, overjoyed by this supposed revelation, must be brought down to Earth and have this HopeSpot crushed by Ursa, who confirms that Ozai is, unquestionably and without a doubt, his father and, what's more, that Ozai never questioned this fact either. What's more, Ozai is even worse than Zuko realized, because he went so far as to abuse him ''purposefully'' for the sake of getting back at his mother.

* AbandonShipping: Ozai/Ursa suffered a massive blow after the comic give insight to what their relationship was actually like.

* NeverLiveItDown: Ursa's portrayal here as an UnintentionallySympathetic person. People seems to exaggerate Ursa's faults and downplay either her good qualities or Ozai's own actions. Despite what people act like, Ursa's decisions in the story are not portrayed as completely in the right, with even Ursa outright regretting what she did and apologizing for not loving Azula enough before choosing to regain her memories and face. Yet, she is known best here for unintentionally causing Zuko to be treated worse by Ozai (Even though that doesn't excuse how Ozai reacted and in fact, makes the abuse all the more despicable.) and getting a new face at the cost of the memories of her children (regardless of the fact that Ozai's blackmail and leverage didn't give her much of a choice in the matter.)

* ContestedSequel: Just like its [[Comicbook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderThePromise predecessor]],; some fans even feel these books almost as a fanfiction and would prefer to think of it as non-canon, and bringing it up risks starting a fan war.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Familial love and involvement in a child's life is crucial and important to a child's development. Without Ursa around to protect him from Ozai and Azula's abuse, Zuko devolved into the RoyalBrat we see at the start of the animated series, while Azula without her mother to reign her in (and an asshole of a father to warp her) got turned into a prodigious firebender who is also batshit insane and badly hurting.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Azula. Granted, she's still very unpleasant and dangerous but she's still a 15-16 year old clearly suffering from severe mental illness and desperation to find a purpose in life. Zuko and Aang try to make nice with her; but Azula's just too barbed when lucid and unreasonable when she isn't. Sokka outright distrusts her with good reason while Katara keeps neutral about the whole affair. As ties into RealityEnsues, it's difficult for anybody to make progress with her when they can't talk to her without risking a fight; but she's no better to try when she's either focused on her own agenda or lost in insanity otherwise. It also doesn't help that Azula thinks her mother hates her, and [[spoiler:with the reason for Ursa's disappearance, she might now have a very good reason to resent her mother.]]

* CompleteMonster: [[EvilIsBurningHot Fire]] [[AristocratsAreEvil Lord]] [[BigBad Ozai]] has shown that his unrepentant evil and depravity remained unchanged from the show and even shown worse. He forced Ursa into marrying him, and tried to kill her old lover out of spite. He obtained the throne when he manipulated Ursa into murdering his father to usurp the throne from his grieving older brother Iroh. [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves He then thanked her with banishment from the Fire Nation]] and threatened to hunt them down and kill the children if she took them with her. He abused his son Zuko out of spite when [[spoiler:Ursa claimed that Zuko was not his son even though he knew it was a lie]].

** The true reason behind Ozai and Ursa's ArrangedMarriage. Was it, as Azulon proclaims, due to the Fire Sages' advice to breed a better, more powerful royal heir with the blood of Avatar Roku and the Fire Nation Royal Family or was it a calculated political strategy to avoid the rise of a potential threat to the Fire Nation Royal Family's position and power from Roku's lineage by merging the two bloodlines?

* RonTheDeathEater: Admittedly, [[spoiler:what Ursa did was terribly tragic and there isn't really any excusing it; even Ursa herself agrees with this. However, some fans take it too far and actually claim she's a worse, more awful parent than Ozai, which is hyperbole to the extreme. Remember who challenged, scarred, banished and later tried to kill Zuko. It was not Ursa.]]

* NeverLiveItDown: Ursa's portrayal here as an UnintentionallySympathetic person. People seems to exaggerate Ursa's faults and downplay either her good qualities or Ozai's own actions. Despite what people act like, Ursa's decisions in the story are not portrayed as completely in the right, with even Ursa outright regretting what she did and apologizing for not loving Azula enough before regaining her memories. Yet, she is known best here for unintentionally causing Zuko to be treated worse by Ozai (Even though that doesn't excuse how Ozai reacted and in fact, makes the abuse all the more despicable.) and getting a new face at the cost of the memories of her children (regardless of the fact that Ozai's blackmail and leverage didn't give her much of a choice in the matter)

* RonTheDeathEater: Admittedly, [[spoiler:what Ursa did was terribly tragic and there isn't really any excusing it; even Ursa herself agrees with this. However, some fans take it too far and actually claim she's a worse, more awful parent than Ozai, which is hyperbole to the extreme.]]

* CompleteMonster: [[EvilIsBurningHot Fire]] [[AristocratsAreEvil Lord]] [[BigBad Ozai]] forced Ursa into marrying him, and tried to kill her old lover out of spite. He obtained the throne when he manipulated Ursa into murdering his father to usurp the throne from his grieving older brother Iroh. [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves He then thanked her with banishment from the Fire Nation]] and threatened to hunt them down and kill the children if she took them with her. He abused his son Zuko out of spite when [[spoiler:Ursa claimed that Zuko was not his son even though he knew it was a lie]]. He doesn't regret any of those moments and feels no remorse for the consequences.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Ursa's desire to [[spoiler:change her face and forget her children is morally ambiguous, but her situation was understandable. Ozai told her that if she took their children with her into exile, including a child that he hates, then he would find them all and kill both Zuko and Azula, leaving her alive as a CruelMercy.]] Any attempts on her part to return and see them with a new face would endanger their lives, and Ursa had no way of knowing that Ozai would scar and exile Zuko before attempting to murder him anyway. There was nothing that Ursa could have done because she wasn't a Bender or a BadassNormal, the Avatar hadn't reappeared to inspire rebellion, she was branded a traitor to the Fire Nation, and there was no hope of saving either her son or daughter. All in all, starting a new life was probably the least harmful action she could have taken.

*** On that note, her comic interpretation; nothing like we saw from the animated series to contradiction or an Ursa that is more than just Zuko's fond memories of her?
** Ozai, again. Was he ''always'' a heartless, power-hungry EvilPrince and abusive parent and husband or, just like Ursa, was he a victim of his father's eugenic schemes? In some point, did he really try to be a good father and husband? There is the fact that when he tells Ursa it's true that Azulon ordered him to murder Zuko, he's not cruel or forceful about it. He's just honest and resigned to it. Of course, then he gets manipulative when he says that she'll have to go into exile, and he won't let him take the children because he wants them as bargaining chips in case she ever decides to posion ''him''.
*** Exactly what his relationship with Azula is, does he legitimately believe she would be a better Fire Lord then Zuko or was his telling Azula about the letter, something he knew was fake, just prove that she is just another tool for revenge he is trying to use against Zuko and ''mainly'' Ursa. Or given Azula's mental state, was it all just a ploy to gain back the throne. Given how politically perceptive Ozai is and how good he is at reading people or situations, he could've taken one look at the state his daughter was in, and willingly told Azula in the hopes that Azula would've gone and killed Ursa just to spite his son for dethroning him.
** The true reason behind Ozai and Ursa's ArrangedMarriage. Was it, as Azulon proclaims, due to the Fire Sages' advice to breed a better, more powerful royal heir with blood of Avatar Roku and the Fire Nation Royal Family or actually was it a calculated political strategy to avoid the rise of a potential threat to the Fire Nation Royal Family's position and power from Roku's lineage, merging the two bloodlines?

* FanonDiscontinuity: Due to FanDislikedExplanation many fans just pretend that this story never happened; or [[BroadStrokes happened in a very different way]].

* RonTheDeathEater: Admittedly, [[spoiler: while what Ursa did was terribly tragic and there isn't really any excusing it; even Ursa herself agrees with this. However, some fans take it too far and actually claim she's a worse, more awful parent than Ozai, which is hyperbole to the extreme.]]
* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Familial love and involvement in a child's life is crucial and important to a child's development. Without Ursa around to protect him from Ozai and Azula's abuse; Zuko devolved into the RoyalBrat we see at the start of the animated series, while Azula without her mother to reign her in (and an asshole of a father to warp her) got turned into a prodigious firebender who is also batshit insane and badly hurting.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Azula. Granted, she's still very unpleasant and dangerous but she's still a 14 year old clearly suffering from severe mental illness and desperation to find a purpose in life. Zuko and Aang try to make nice with her; but Azula's just too barbed when lucid and unreasonable when she isn't. Sokka outright distrusts her with good reason while Katara keeps neutral about the whole affair. As ties into RealityEnsues, it's difficult for anybody to make progress with her when they can't talk to her without risking a fight; but she's no better to try when she's either focused on her own agenda or lost in insanity otherwise. It also doesn't help that Azula thinks her mother hates her, and [[spoiler:with the reason for Ursa's disappearance, she might now have a very good reason to resent her mother.]]

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Azula. Granted, she's still very unpleasant and dangerous but she's still a 14 year old clearly suffering from severe mental illness and desperation to find a purpose in life. Everyone in the Gaang sans Zuko and maybe Aang treats her as an irredeemable monster and makes no attempt to reason with or talk her out of her paranoid breakdowns. It also doesn't help that Azula thinks her mother hates her, and [[spoiler:with the reason for Ursa's disappearance, she might now have a very good reason to resent her mother.]]

*** Exactly what his relationship with Azula is, does he legitimately believe she would be a better Fire Lord then Zuko or was his telling Azula about the letter, something he knew was fake, just prove that she is just another tool for revenge he is trying to use against Zuko and ''mainly'' Ursa. Or given Azula's mental state, was it all just a ploy to gain back the throne.

* ContestedSequel: Just like its [[Comicbook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderThePromise predecessor]], exactly how canon these books are is a debated topic in the fandom; some fans even feel these books almost as a fanfiction, and bringing it up risks starting a fan war.

* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: [[spoiler:The idea of Zuko being Ikem's son? Longtime fans knew this development would not stick because of the implications, not to mention how ''huge'' of a plot hole it creates]].

** Many dislike the twist that [[spoiler:Zuko isn't Ozai's son]], mainly because many fans feel it renders pointless a lot of [[spoiler:Zuko's]] character development from the animated series and [[BrokenAesop undermines]] its original aesop: "[[spoiler:You are not your bloodline, your family does not define who you have to be.]]"
** Eventually it's revealed that this first twist was a lie [[spoiler:and Ozai really is Zuko's father after all]], but the reason ''why'' it's untrue, [[spoiler:along with what actually happened to Ursa]], has become an entirely new FanDislikedExplanation: [[spoiler:Ursa wrote that Zuko was not Ozai's son in a deliberate attempt to 1) see if Ozai was reading her letters (which worked) and 2) piss him off if he was (which very much worked). But Ozai, being Ozai, was more pissed that she dared play an obvious lie that he would punish Ursa by treating Zuko like he wasn't his son for the rest of his life.]] NiceJobBreakingItHero.

* IntendedAudienceReaction: Many fans were angered by the revelation that [[spoiler:Ursa voluntarily gave up her memories of her children and started a new life without them because of the pain inextricably tied into her memories of them and which being separated from them caused her.]] Seemingly missing the point that [[spoiler:her decision is ''supposed'' to be morally dubious, with her acknowledging that her actions were selfish. Previously the fans’ view of Ursa was largely through Zuko’s eyes and therefore heavily idealised. This story depicts her as flawed and human, and not supposed to be seen as totally good or totally bad.]]

* IntendedAudienceReaction: Many fans were angered by the revelation that [[spoiler:Ursa voluntarily gave up her memories of her children and started a new life without them because of the pain that being separate from them caused her.]] Seemingly missing the point that [[spoiler:her decision is ''supposed'' to be morally dubious, with her acknowledging that her actions were selfish. Having been built up by Zuko and by fans as a perfect doting mother, this story depicts her as flawed and human, and not supposed to be seen as totally good or totally bad.]]

* MoralEventHorizon: Ozai crossed it ''long'' before he burned Zuko, when he told off Ursa for claiming [[spoiler:Zuko wasn't his son in a letter to Ikem, and said he would hurt Zuko as a proxy.]]