The Legend of Korra

Several generations have passed since the 100-Year-War. Almost everyone who even remembers it is long-dead, which means there's no emotional charge to it anymore. It's a historical statistic, not unlike other historical tyrants such as Chin the Conqueror.

Objectively, everyone knows Ozai was a bad dude, but subjectively, everyone also knows that it happened a long time ago and doesn't mean anything today. Since you invoked Hitler, I'll point out that it also helps that the Fire Nation has since disavowed Ozai's actions, just as Germany has done with Hitler. There are few today who think of modern Germans as an Evil Army of Doom.

edited 31st Jul '15 1:25:10 PM by TobiasDrake

Germans are cool.

But can they shoot lightning?

Sometimes.◊

I know, although, now that I think about it, the Fire Nation is more in line with Imperial Japan, Hitler was just someone I know everyone can identify so I went with it.

And, some nations still haven't forgiven Japan. Plus, by now, WW 2 ended longer ago than the Hundred Year War.

edited 31st Jul '15 2:04:40 PM by OmniGoat

Yeah, we in America sometimes don't understand the long memory of other nations, given how buddy-buddy we are with the British, Germans, and Japanese. We were friendly with the Russians for a while too. Basically we'll be friends with anyone who wants to be our friend, and that isn't only policy, it's cultural. In other countries this is very much not the case, and even petty shit can be remembered for centuries. For instance, Saddam Hussein harbored ill-will towards the Mongols for "setting his country back," when they sacked Baghdad back in the late 1200s...

I suppose it bears remembering that Zuko seems to have busted his chops to redeem the Fire Nation in the eyes of the world. While I won't pretend to be an expert on the subject, hasn't Japan had some issues with admitting past crimes?

Yes, they have... and any more on that subject is probably not appropriate for The Legend of Korra.

Yeah, I would think that is part of the reason. One of the big problems of Japan is that they insist they weren't that bad(they were). The annoy a lot of people, quite understandably. The Fire Nation, much like Germany, fully accepted the responsibility for its actions.

While acknowledging that there is some value in talking about reason for bad blood between nations in the 'verse, I can see Bryke not giving it much attention. "It's okay to hate people for what their grandfathers did" is not a message I imagine they would be comfortable with giving.

From the South Pole Iceberg to the Republic City Portal: A Critical Study of the Avatar Franchise: Part Seven

Zhao was never the most interesting antagonist, I suppose. I'm fine with that - his job is to provide someone who can serve as an antagonist to both the Gaang and Zuko, allowing us to sympathize with both groups so that we'll want to see them develop as characters. Once their characters have been properly established, they can devote more time to introducing new ones, including more interesting villains.

For what it's worth, Jason Isaacs does a good job at making him entertaining to watch.

edited 31st Jul '15 3:48:51 PM by KarkatTheDalek

I think the fact that Zuko personally helped Aang overthrow Ozai and Azula went a long way towards making it easier for the other nations to accept the Fire Nation. Being friends with the Avatar and helping with the repairs of the Earth Kingdom probably helped a lot too.

Why would the avatar helping to replace the Fire Lord in a coup help the other nations be willing to forgive the past 100 years of atrocities?

When the new Fire Lord was responsible for attacks throughout the Earth Kingdom? Including places like Kyoshi Island. And the siege of the Northern Water Tribe, and an attack on the Southern Water Tribe. The new Fire Lord also played a central role in the take-over of Ba Sing Se.

Ozai and Azula were allowed to live.

And then the Fire Nation's colonies weren't given back to the Earth Kingdom.

"Lord Zuko, what are you going to do to help repair the damage your nation has done and to repair the harmony between the nations?"
"I'm going to go look for my mother!"

They new Fire Lord also played a role in rebuilding all this places. And the issue of the colonies is much more complex than that. It is not like the Fire Nation got to keep them either (in fact, they did return most of them, if I remember correctly).

edited 31st Jul '15 7:01:21 PM by Heatth

Also, as Iroh pointed out, the Avatar defeating Ozai is less of a "Coup", since it's the Avatar doing so.

Ozai wasn't Fire Lord at the time.

Technically. But even though he declared himself Phoenix King he was still the top dog of the Fire Nation, and Zuko replaced him as top dog of the Fire Nation.

edited 31st Jul '15 8:15:06 PM by Moth13

Though I'd say "Helped put the world back together after 100 years of his family murdering everyone who wore green and his father went and tried declaring himself god-emperor of mankind" would win some brownie points with people.

And republic city is diverse. Whose to say that there aren't places that harbor anti-fire nation sentiment, they just aren't focused on because a firebender is a main character but his life is hard enough without discrimination based on his heritage.

Isn't there some plot in the comics about the earth colonies kinda still hating Zuko?

That was actually because he'd signed them back over to the Earth Kingdom, when they'd developed their own separate cultural identity.

I don't really think it matters whether or not Ozai was calling himself Fire Lord - he was still in charge. The whole "Phoenix King" was pretty much just a massive ego trip for him.

edited 1st Aug '15 5:29:11 PM by KarkatTheDalek

Four moments with Asami.

The world needs more Asami.