Ozai

**Fire Lord Ozai** is the main antagonist of the 2005 TV series *Avatar: The Last Airbender*.

He is the mysterious and evil Fire Lord of the Fire Nation who wishes to destroy the other three elemental nations and bring the world under his control. He is the second son of Azulon and Ilah, the younger brother of Iroh, the father of Zuko and Azula, the ex-husband of Ursa, the uncle of Lu Ten and the grandson of Sozin. He is Aang's arch-nemesis.

He was voiced by Mark Hamill.

## His Evil Ranking

### What Makes Him Villainous?

* He attempted to have his wife's previous lover killed out of jealousy of their relationship and took sadistic glee in his supposed death.
* He began psychologically abusing his son, Zuko, purely out of spite for the fact that Ursa wished Zuko was the son of her true love.
* He is far past his implied past where he was a caring and loving father and no longer holds that affection for any of his family members.
* He took advantage of Iroh's sorrow over the loss of his son by demanding to be given a higher authority and power than him, which outraged his father to the point of sacrificing his son Zuko as a punishment for his selfish intent. However, Ursa wanted Zuko to be spared, so he took advantage of this by forcing her to conspire with him to kill his father Azulon instead so he could take over his position as the new Fire Lord, then promptly banished her, and showed no remorse for any of it. He hypocritically called Ursa a traitor and forced her into banishment even though he agreed to this plan and was thus a traitor as well.
	+ Ozai will later reveal to Zuko he was fully planning to kill him that day, not out of his father's orders but more to get rid of a weakling in his eyes with justification.
* He forced his own son to fight him in an Agni Kai simply for speaking out of turn (against a plan to use newly-recruited Fire Nation soldiers as an expendable distraction), then burned/disfigured half of Zuko's face for refusing to fight him, something which Zuko would have for the rest of his life.
* He banished Zuko from the Fire Nation for refusing to fight and only allowed him to return if he captured the Avatar.
* He sent Azula to capture Iroh due to being a traitor (despite him only acting so to stop Zhao from destroying the world's balance) and Zuko due to being a failure.
* He threatened to kill Zuko after he revealed that the Avatar was still alive simply out of anger for this sudden revelation, then almost killed him with his lightning once he regained his fire bending without any hint of remorse.
* He neglected his daughter Azula despite her being his favorite child and praised her for being a fire bending prodigy, viewing her as a tool for his own power and dominance, which contributed to her having a complete mental breakdown at the end of the series.
* He nearly committed genocide by incinerating thousands of civilians in the Earth Kingdom. While Azula did suggest it, she did it to prove herself to him, to help him and she suggested it which Ozai accepted, not ordered him to do it, so the blame for majority of the near genocide of the Earth Kingdom would be on his hands. Ozai was also very much willing to burn down his own soldiers and colonists in the attempt to destroy Earth Kingdom, thus his posturing for the greatness of the Fire Nation is revealed to be a lie in his case.
* When Aang gave Ozai the chance to end things peacefully, Ozai refused the offer and chose to fight.
* During his fight with Aang, he tortured Aang both physically and psychologically, attempting to burn him alive while mocking his weakness and the genocide of his people.
* After having been spared by Aang, Ozai mocked him for his weakness and attempted to attack him from behind.
* After being stripped of his firebending, Ozai still attempted to attack Aang, Toph, Sokka and Suki, fully intending to kill them only to discover he can't firebend anymore.
* Though being stripped of his firebending and title coupled with his subsequent imprisonment caused him to become calmer and more logical, he still retained his domineering personality, mocking his son for his insecurity when he visited him and later with his former wife, Ursa, he smiled and screamed that he will do something worse than killing her loved ones that he promised so she can fear him again, but she just pointed out his very small heart that has room for one, himself. Instead of realizing and accepting her words, he just furiously yelled to kneel to him as she walks away. Furthermore, he showed no signs of remorse or reflection for any of his actions.
* While not as heinous as Vaatu, despite being the ruler of an entire empire with firebending, Ozai is still immensely less powerful than him and unlike Vaatu, he possesses clear personality and moral agency and is entirely accountable for his actions.
* There is also no indication he believes in the Fire Nation propaganda that his grandfather Sozin or is delusional about his intentions like Sozin was. (Neither did Azulon, yet his genuine care for Iroh at least disqualifies him being PE) In fact, everything indicates he is only keeping the propaganda going to maintain power over the Fire Nation, in addition to him knowing he's on the evil side and choosing to remain evil. He even tells Zuko in the comics that good and evil is decided by the Fire Lord, demonstrating his belief in the Fire Nation is nothing more than an excuse that just proves his selfishness.
* He treats allies like pawns, doesn't care if they are defeated, killed or captured, including his own daughter, Azula.

### What Makes Him Irresistible?

* Even though he is a horrible man, he is positively praised by fans of the TV series due to his actions and personality, making him stand out as one of the best villains in the series, if not the best.

## Trivia

* Ozai is easily the worst and evilest villain in the *Avatar* franchise, and the only one to be Irresistibly Villainous.

## External Links

* Ozai - Villains Wiki
* Ozai - Pure Evil Wiki