History TearJerker / AvatarTheLastAirbenderBookThree

** The fact that Sozin and Roku were such ''good'' friends, the fact that the viewer knows it will all end horribly... the ''first thing'' Sozin narrates:
--->'''Sozin:''' As I feel my own life dimming, I can't help but think of a time when everything was so much brighter.
* Sozin turned out to have been a WellIntentionedExtremist. At the beginning of all this, he genuinely believed he was doing the right thing for the people of the world. But he cocked it up in the most cosmic way possible, started a hundred-year war that brought nothing but suffering to everyone, and he himself ended up dying in misery and paranoia.
* In the end, Sozin was a KarmaHoudini who is shown not going to any afterlife or IronicHell, though it's certainly possible given the amount of bad spiritual karma he earned. He murdered children, left his best friend to die, and destroyed entire cultures with his campaigns. And yet, he never took the effort to fix his mistakes or asked Azulon to make reformations instead of going for the Water Tribe. Instead, he died with ceremonial honors, and everyone in the Fire Nation seeing him as a savior.

** If Zuko thought speaking out of turn was bad, not doing so was ''worse''--though that isn't saying much, considering what ''did'' happen when he spoke out of turn last time was him getting publicly mutilated. However, the stakes are ''too'' high that he couldn't just walk away from this, and it's this moment that factors into his PostSupportRegret come the Day of Black Sun. By the time he got his father's approval, this moment was the straw that broke the camel's back. Zuko ultimately came to the grave realization that his beloved Fire Nation is at the end of the day, all about bloodshed and tyranny, not peace, compromise, and greatness. His ending narration makes it clear he blames himself for his part in this, and his failure to speak out when he had the chance. *** However, it should also be noted that there's no guarantee Zuko trying to speak out and challenge Ozai's plans would have done any good at all; Ozai ''burned his face'' for speaking out the first time. He's also not above murder and ''tried to kill Zuko [[spoiler: more than once'']] as revealed in the comics. There's no doubt that he would've had to confront his father ''again'' if he spoke out, and even despite how much he had grown as a Firebender, as Zuko makes clear by his statements of Iroh being the only non-Avatar bender capable of defeating Ozai, he knew he wouldn't have stood a chance against Ozai in an Agni Kai. Combine that with the fact that Zuko had already challenged him before, he most likely thought that Ozai wouldn't spare him this time, especially as he now knew the Fire Nation's ultimate victory plans and thus would be too dangerous to be allowed to live. In the end, Zuko's guilt can easily come from either one of these three sources or all of them: First, he could have felt bad for not speaking out against Ozai, even if he knew he would have most likely been killed in process. Secondly, he might have consciously decided KnowWhenToFoldEm by saying nothing but making up his mind to train Aang in Firebending, thus remaining alive to do something good rather than dying in vain, and despite how this was a sound decision, if not the ''only'' way he was going to survive trying to rebel against Ozai, Zuko still couldn't help but feel bitter and ashamed of himself for being both helpless AND perhaps even somewhat cowardly. Finally, he might have felt guilty for ever mentioning the strength of the Earth Kingdom's pride and hope, which lead to the horrific plan being formed in the first place.

** If Zuko thought speaking out of turn was bad, not doing so was ''worse''--though that isn't saying much, considering what ''did'' happen when he spoke out of turn last time was him getting publicly mutilated. However, the stakes are ''too'' high that he couldn't just walk away from this, and it's this moment that factors into his PostSupportRegret come the Day of Black Sun. By the time he got his father's approval, this moment was the straw that broke the camel's back. Zuko ultimately came to the grave realization that his beloved Fire Nation is at the end of the day, all about bloodshed and tyranny, not peace, compromise, and greatness. His ending narration makes it clear he blames himself for his part in this, and his failure to speak out when he had the chance. Even then, it should also reminded that there's no guarantee that it would have done good at all; Ozai ''burned his face'' for speaking out the first time. He's also not above murder and ''tried to kill Zuko [[spoiler: more than once'']] as revealed in the comics. There's no doubt that he probably would've had to confront him ''again'' if he spoke out, and there's still no guarantee by this point that he would win. Nonetheless it's evident Zuko was bound to find out the AwfulTruth about the lengths his father and his country were willing to go, but did he have to find it out the hard way first time? Zuko using this moment to quietly process the truth as the generals are celebrating means the answer is no. Although saying that this is the 'first time' he finds out the hard way doesn't seem entirely accurate, as it can be argued that the first true sign of this cruelty was when Zuko was permanently scarred by his own father. Zuko was just young and foolish, as well as being a ''traumatized, emotionally and physically abused teenager'' back then to open his eyes to the truth. Zuko's character arc was that of a young man who tried so desperately to earn his father's approval and believe that his great-grandfather's legacy will make the world a better place, which will make all the losses and suffering he experienced along with his harmful actions in the past mean something. The story was meant to illustrate that his WellDoneSonGuy mentality could only last so long, before he had to finally face his conscience for all the terrible things he did to earn his father's approval that led up this point: