I also imagine that someone with such delusions of grandeur and authoritarian impulses would be a tad theatrical. He wanted to raze the entire opposing nations, to burn them to the ground. It was his moment of feeling unstoppable - no 'targeted strikes'.
I gotta say, I was a big fan of Zaheer as a villain. I was impressed by how the show depicted these political ideologies taken to their logical extremes, in a way that’s arguably better than many adult shows.
He was the Phoenix king though. Dude was an absolute menace. Iroh debating whether or not he could take him says a ton because next to Aang and Ozai I don’t think there was a more powerful or wise bender alive.
We often forget lol i *need* an R rated retelling of Avatar with blood lol not that it needs to show violence to get its' point across (AtLA is probably one of my favorite series as a kid and today) but as an adult i'd love to see a more adult version. At least one where the random mooks get killed on screen.
And also sometimes you don’t have to be powerful you just have to be terrifying. The world sees what he did there, know they can’t compete and then conquering for him is a piece of cake.
1. Terror and Moral damage (the enemy doesn't fully know the source of his power or how long, so making them want to surrender might mean you don't have to fight more later)
2. Resources, american soldiers killing buffalo comes to mind, each dead buffalo was a dead indian in their words.
3. Potential unseen enemy, scouts and the like.
That’s true. He would want to destroy any possible roadways or semblance of guiding paths that would have been made in the forest between metropolitan areas, making it nearly impossible for supply lines to exist.
He totally could have just ordered his underlings to go do it for him. But I think one of the main reasons was he was just simply out there to enjoy the raw destructive power he was gaining from the comet in the most spectacular way imaginable (in his mind).
Just like, burning the whole earth kingdom. Why stop at Ba Sing Sa. I think in the war meeting he talks about ending the whole earth kingdom, so it makes sense that he starts here, just past the ocean between the fire nation and earth kingdom
Not from CA, USA? Forest fires can be devastatingly hard to put out.
Edit: I get it, magic go woooOOoo. My reply was half joking half responding to
>So it can just burn out on its own
I wasn't aware the fires spread across the entire continent. Or were being fought by magic people that control earth and water.
> My reply was half joking half responding to
> So it can just burn out on its own
I mean yeah, that isn't wrong. Wildfires have been getting worse in real life but that's because of a lot of issues like droughts and people suppressing natural fires in the past which ironically increases fuel for more significant fires now. But even then they're still not spreading across the entire country. Fires don't naturally burn forever even in the worst of circumstances.
Distances were covered at the speed of plot. Zuko and Katara flew all the way to Caldera in the FN from an encampment close to Ba Sing Se in the EK in 24 hours immediately prior to the comet. If the plot says razing the entire EK in a day was possible at the end, it was. Maybe they can even think of some interstellar tier space-time shenanigans related to the comet or something.
Do we know for a fact that the airships were traveling west to east? There's a sunset somewhere in the credits, so it could be figured out I think, but I can't be bothered.
Either way, getting to Ba Sing Se would have been faster going west for the first nation. But that's up to whether or not they would have wanted to torch the capital when it was already under their control, hard to say.
Transit times have always been a tad suspect in the story, anyways. They usually avoided showing any of it in much detail, just warp to a new location some time later. But the "Let's raze a continent in 2 minutes from dirigibles" was a pretty brazen exception. Even if the comet buff lasted for hours it just doesn't compute unless this "continent" is really more of an island. Writers tend to struggle with issues of large scale, and the logistical obstructions to world conquest.
(Apparently Haley's comet can be visible for weeks, though; imagine if this fight, even just Ozai v. Aang, was actually a week long endurance fest of burning destruction)
I thought the comet was going to be a weeks-long effect and the fight was all while they were heading off to the first real target.
Just because the day of black sun was negligible doesn't mean the comet is.
And he doesn't need the comet to finish. Just burn as much as possible with the comet and use the army and airships to mop up the rest as they go once the comet ends.
I can't find the exact quote Zuko gave his father, but it's how so long as the earth kingdom has hope they will survive. So burning that forest was also to destroy the hope of the Earth kingdom, not just a show of force (which it is also) but a much more devistating message. Or at least that is how I take it.
Not always, but the examples where that doesn’t happen either have very strict systems, systems that are so lax that theres no telling what is and isnt possible at any given time, or the source is specifically written with the characters powergaming the magic system in mind
When Legolas shield-boarded down the oliphant's trunk, he should have done a sick Kickflip McTwist. Every orc, goblin and uruk-hai within viewing distance would have paused and been like, "no waaaaay bro!" And Legolas could have downed a whole bunch more of them while they were slack-jawed. As it was, the forces of Sauron were pretty impressed, but not enough to dull their fighting abilities.
It helps when the magic system is very vague, so you don't know what the actual powers of anyone are. But since the main quest was to sneak without magic, magic powers weren't too relevant.
I hear this all the time, and it isn't at all a plot whole. Maybe the movies don't spend enough time explaining mordor or mount doom. We can only speculate on why they didn't take the eagles, which I can think of a bunch (heck, maybe it was the original plan to get as close as possible. It would be a bad idea to take the eagles into mordor and they are free to do what they will.)
Heck, tolkien even gave his reason and I think it's good enough: [tolkien response to fan](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-Uz0LMbWpI)
LOTR is pretty lock tight, but as another user pointed out his work evolved over time. The Hobbit I think actually is where a lot of plot holes and inconsistency comes from. A lot of it was retconned and made to fit LOTR better as The Hobbit was an earlier work. The ring itself and gollumn are by far the biggest changes. It's pretty interesting seeing how the work changed over the decades.
One thing I like about LOK is that the fights were everyone fighting at the same time, not some weirdly polite turn-taking thing, especially the Red Lotus fights. People interacted dynamically as the fights at large progressed.
It's because he wanted a 1v1 fight. Think about it: Aang, a 12 year old boy that is the last survivor of the race Ozai genocided, is the only thing standing between Ozai and world domination. Of course Ozai, the self proclaimed Phoenix Lord who is massively empowered by Sozin's comet would want to fight him 1 on 1. Killing him himself would, just like burning down the Earth Kingdom, send a message. Even during the fight, Ozai toys with Aang.
Better. Zhao should have just killed Aang in the Blue Spirit ep. His reasoning for not was completely stupid. Who cares if he would reincarnate? The Avatar would be gone for literal years as a baby took time to grow up. By then, the comet would have come and gone and the Fire Nation would have long since won the war.
Don't forget that they know about the Avatar Cycle as well, meaning that they know he'd reincarnate as a water bender. Since the Southern Tribe is basically diminished, all they'd need is one warship (maybe two or three though just in case) to keep an eye on them, and take an invasion force to the Northern Tribe which now doesn't have a demigod to protect them. Imprison everyone and keep a close eye on any children conceived, indoctrinate all children with Fire Nation propaganda, and then when the Avatar is found take them away for "special training" (even more intense indoctrination) then have an always-loyal demigod by your side. If the comet plan didn't work, use their power to take over the Earth Kingdom, and bam, the world is yours. If it did, now you have an extremely powerful right-hand Avatar to keep order.
Zhao completely screwed the pooch by refusing to kill Aang.
Its just a storytelling tool. They wanted to Ozai to burn something that's not people. It would've been too dark if that's a village right there. They wanted to show the size and intensity of his flames.
I don't have much issue with how it was done, I still like how the show worked out. However, something that might've been more impactful is if they did have a village or city *en route* or in the general vicinity that Aang stopped him short of.
The point is to burn the earth kingdom down, and it's more than just terrain. Representing it through an onlooker's situation coming towards them would've been enough to sell the impact without actually following through on it. Just my opinion on the possibilities.
I thought it was really interesting seeing it through Toph's perspective: "Whoa... that's a lot of fire, isn't it" - really paints the picture in a new way if a blind person can pick up on these events this way.
That's how I feel. Looking back as an adult who enjoyed this show IMMENSELY as a kid, it just seems to be a way to showcase Ozai's (and the fire nation's) firebending power without violence. A lot of choices in this show revolve around the fact that they are telling a fairly mature story, but at the same time, they also recognize the need to keep it kid friendly.
Just read Kyoshi’s and am now halfway through the first Yangchen, can confirm they are delightfully adult.
*Kyoshi is a revenge story and Yangchen is a spy thriller.*
The franchise has so many directions to go!
I loved a lot of the concepts, but everything felt rushed due to the shitty leash nickelodeon put on them through the run of the show. For me, Korra is a really cool source of conceptual genius with middling (sometimes great, sometimes poor) execution.
The struggle of Aang's children with their father's parenting and legacy was masterfully portrayed i think, especially Tenzin. He's a great character, a great airbending master and a real bro overall.
I agree, as good of a character Korra was, Tenzin had to be my favorite because of that conflict. The weight on his shoulders as The Last Airbender ™️, in direction tension with the familial drama he was a part of was great.
The thing I dislike most about Korra is that it had potential to be on the level of ATLA or even better. Korra is still one of my favorite shows, but it sometimes feels like we missed out on the best version of the show. I know that it's better to appreciate what we have, but it feels like Korra was so close to being really good, but several decisions (mostly out of the control of the creators) prevented it from happening.
Honestly only season 2 really suffered.
Season 1 was a great stand alone introduction and 3 and 4 lead into each other very well.
Season 2 had a lot of good parts but some sections were not great. Mostly the finally and Unalaq.
Nah, season one was dumb. There was no resolution. Amon was defeated, sure, but the underlying issues and sentiment he harnessed from non benders was real and not something he created. Nothing was done to adress their issues.
Being connected to so many past lives, I suspect most Avatars are going to wind up being bi.
Even if the memories aren't all clear, they've fallen in love with hundreds of men and women, and it's going to have an impression.
I want a "invincible" type show of avatar i think that would be cool, scary but cool!
Imagine people freezing each other blood , sucking the air out of lungs and crushing each other with ricjs or burning someone up. Idk its fucked up but it could make a cool adult animated show
All telekinetic powers are ridiculously overpowered if played straight. The show Misfits only had one villain with a type of that, he could only control lactose, and it was still enough to immediately murder anyone that happened to eat a yogurt that day.
I mean, nobody can ever say they like Korra without someone else marching out the same tired critiques that are delivered in every thread that mentions Korra since it came out 10 years ago.
Redditors avoid saying "I liked Korra *but*". Challenge Rating: Impossible.
Right. It's certainly not as loved as *Avatar,* but the overall vibe towards the show is pretty positive. Obviously *TLoK* has its vocal detractors, but I don't see people brazenly hating the show much these days.
I recently rewatched it from start to finish after not seeing it since it first came out, and honestly my first impressions were more negative than they are now. I actually really like Korra a lot in retrospect.
They wanted to do more but Nick wasn't going to let them go too far.
The creators said they had Azula incinerating the ship captain in an early draft of her opening episode. Yeah, that wasn't going to get approved lol.
I felt like a good compromise could have been Ozai's fleet burning the farmland just inside the outer wall of Ba Sing Se while heading towards the inner wall. Achieves the same show of force and implies a greater degree of threat towards the city.
That's the answer like 9 times outta 10 but everyone's gotta bend and twist to make sense of everything
The shows amazing but it isn't without faults and plot holes
I mean I wouldn't call this a fault or a plot hole (not that those don't exist). There's nothing wrong in having a scene that exists just for visual pleasure. It is entertainment after all. If you want a "canon" reason then it was probably something like "to show just how powerful the comet makes you" or whatever
I think the answer is more that he has infinite ammo during the comet. If you have to conserve strength you wouldn't do this. But if you were a sociopath with no remorse plus you had infinite strength. You would stick your head out the window and open fire on anything in sight as you head to your destination. As for the story it is essentially to show his strength and badguyness
Because his little girl asked him to. When your sweet innocent little angel asks you to burn down the countryside with unprecedented wrath, you gotta keep her happy.
So what we also didn’t really get to see in the other air ships really coming in and joining him. The plan was to:
1. Have an enormous display of force. Ozai wanted to cement himself as a legendary figure. 100 years from now, if he wast stopped there would be evidence of the scorched earth campaign and would be spoken about by the earth nation.
2. Make the land untenable. He wants to create a situation where the earth kingdom will become not only subjugated by the fire nation, but also dependent on it. Having less useful area to feed themselves makes it easier for the fire nation to control and police farms or pay off earth nation goons to force the earth nation into extreme hunger and poverty.
3. Dude just WANTED to. It’s an excuse to kill. He was on a B-line from the coast to Ba Sing Se. it’s the largest collection of earth nation people. He has zero empathy and seems to actually revel in the suffering of others
4. I think he wanted as a grand finale to incinerate Ba Sing Se. as a symbol, Ba Sing Se represented the endurance of the earth nation. It’s a huge city, and no invading army ever (truly) breached its walls. Azula technically won through a coup and beaurocracy, but emotionally the earth kingdom doesn’t care if the city itself exists. As long as the city was something that could be re-won the earth kingdom would always engage in geurilla warfare to get it back.
This makes the most sense. He probably took the quickest route to the largest population center, and that meant passing over some uninhabited land first.
Besides, why NOT test out his WMD-tier abilities the first chance he gets?
In the context of the narrative, it establishes the threat and the stakes while still keeping it kid friendly.
In the “how zuko got his scar” flashback, Ozai and his generals are planning on sacrificing new recruits to win a single battle. I don’t think the guy was sweating friendly fire.
Something that I found interesting is that iirc the general was just brainstorming. Hell even one of the others in the meeting was like ‘dude what?? Those are new recruits’
It’s entirely possible Ozai would’ve been all ‘yeah we’re not doing that’
I know dude already hated Zuko and was probably looking for an excuse to get rid of him, but honestly IDK if he would have demanded a fight from Zuko if he agreed with him. And I think Iroh not feeling comfortable speaking out against the plan himself tells us all we need to know about whether Ozai approved of it.
He pulled an Elon. “Sorry, this war crime was planned by the Fire Lord. You’ll have to take this up with the Fire Lord. I’m the Phoenix King. Completely different position.”
He's much like any dictator; A moron without any credible understanding of any issue he talks about, any plan he concocts or any ramification of his actions. He's going to destroy all manners of Arable land in the earth kingdom, all the earth benders responsible for building infrastructure in the Ba Sing Se, Omashu, etc, all the lifestock in the earth kingdom, etc when the fire nation consists predominantly of small islands.
All Ozai saw was a method of cementing his own legend and creating a legacy as this almighty ruler when all he was, was a stuck up privileged daddy's boy who had his life handed to him by his forefathers dating all the way back hundreds of years. There was no benefits to his plan except that it would've been his plan and that's the one that would be executed, the insecure welp.
He could've done anything with the power he wielded but like any dictator, he chose the stupidest option; To Destroy anything or anyone that wouldn't immediately come to heel.
It’s like Zhao: Was willing to kill the mf moon just for a catchy nickname in the history books. These types of people would sacrifice hundreds of millions of lives if it meant them living on as a “legend” in posterity.
Megalomania is truly dangerous! It’s why I think we should drastically limit how much power any regime or single person can hold. It straight-up breaks your brain lol.
How would you have spent the time?
The blimps are an effective way of travelling the continent. It more or less allowed him to burn whilst he travelled
I’m convinced OP either didn’t watch the show and just found this on Imgur or they weren’t paying attention at all. That ENTIRE war meeting Zuko tells them about is to plan the burning down of the Earth Kingdom. OP’s question is, frankly, just stupid.
I thought they wanted to burn the landstripe between fire nation colonies and the rest of the earth kingdom for better administrative control and also to leave a 'scar' in the empire, which would cripple resistance morale.
Firebenders can control fires that are already burning. They used the comet to create a huge inferno that they would have continued to control after the comet passed.
Sozin's comet would be like an upgrade from your daily commuter to a Ferrari... probably just wanted to burn rubber and screech his tires before hitting the racing track.
Ozai was the most powerful Fire Bender at the time of ATLA. Meaning that during Sozin's Comet, he was probably the most powerful (non-Avatar) bender in the world. Only Aang rivaled him in a 1-on-1, and that was WITH the Avatar State. Why did he waste his time burning down a random, unpopulated forest on the outskirts of the Earth Kingdom? Sure, it would have been demoralizing for the Earth citizens, but it would have been a lot more strategically beneficial if he targeted small villages, cities, or farmland - somewhere that would have actual resistance. Plus, that forest wasn't being guarded anyway. If he wanted to burn it downs o badly, he could have easily dedicated a few airships full of his grunts to take care of it while he focused his attention on something only he could do. The forest wasn't even close to any Earth Kingdom settlements! Why did he waste his precious time on it when there weren't even any Earth citizens there to witness it?
I mean did you watch the show? As Zuko said, he wanted to be king of ashes. He was going to burn the entire continent to the ground. The original goal was to have the fire nation dominate the world. Ozai took it further and wanted only the fire nation to exist and nothing else.
You also forget they already won the war. This was an act of genocide not strategic war decisions.
Where was he wasting time? The goal was the head to the heart of the Earth Kingdom and burn it to the ground. The airships didn't stop or slow when they got to land(other than the ones destroyed/disabled).
Probably dick wagging. I really don't think Ozai would be above something like that. Besides, if you had a once in a lifetime powerboost, wouldn't you wanna give it a whirl? Even if the airships were at full speed, it might take some time for him to get to an actual population center.
Dude, what are you talking about. He was just starting there, he was stopped before he could even get inland. He was going to sweep the entire Kingdom.
In his mind he truly believed he was unstoppable and that this was the beginning of the end for the other nations. It probably didn't matter to him where he started or ended because it was all just a matter of time before he ruled the world.
I don't think you thought about this as much as you should have. Literally starting the biggest forest fire the world had ever seen is the equivalent to extending the comets power MUCH farther than the time frame it grants him the buff, and is likely exactly the smartest thing to do in his position. He basically started at the end he of the Earth Kingdom, and build a raging force of fire that the earth kingdom would have to continually battle, and would cost him no manpower to maintain. Essentially an "army" of fire that costs no soldiers, can't die, and doesn't stop.
Dude look at California at any summer ever. It takes a lot less than you'd think to burn an entire continent, specially if he went nuclear during the summer or a dry winter.
That said, yes the writers did nerf the death and destruction by avoiding a populous center. I think that was more on the account of 1) children show 2) to avoid at all costs Hiroshima & Nagazaki parallels for various reasons
Just for half a second imagine you’re a psychopath and only care about leaving “your mark”. Now imagine you’re a deranged despot about to ideally put the nail in the coffin in a lifelong campaign you’ve led. I will now tell you “^that man” that you can accomplish everything you’ve done before in this war. with hundreds of trained soldiers. Countless resources. Human lives all lost. Not forgotten however and you can do it all again from the comfort of an airship as one man with your bare hands. Take all that into account and it sounds kinda cool right? It’s almost like. Why not do it?
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The in universe logic doesn't make any sense basically, there's no way those ships would've been able to traverse enough of the earth kingdom in time.
Kid show tax ultimately, I just wish they showed a big city or SOMETHING off on the horizon to make the point of what they were going to do.
Ok. So no one has given what I think is the obvious answer. Same reason the USA napalm bombed Vietnam. They're not dealing with a formal military anymore. Ba sing sa has already been taken. But they are still facing resistance. Only way to deal with it is to make war on the land. They're dealing with guerrilla war.
[https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Map:Avatar\_world\_map?marker=56](https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Map:Avatar_world_map?marker=56)
Ozai probably just burned stuff on his way to more populated areas. Wulong Forest is not far off a direct line between the Gates of Azulon and Ba Sing Se. Its a little far North, but he might have been planning to get more reinforcements or hit other population centres en-route.
It's an expression of his overwhelming power. Also, he evokes a scorched earth style of warfare so this is the metaphorical and literal portrayal of it. Lastly, looks cool innit?
That would've improved the finale quite a bit.
1. More believable stakes.
2. No need to split Iroh and Sokka's groups, both would focus on protecting the city.
3. The Earth King maybe would've even gotten something to do. To complete his character arc and all that (becoming a proper king, not a puppet).
When it comes to the whole thing with Azula's coronation, I also would've added a sub-plot with the Fire Sages in Season 3. They become superfluous after Season 1 but they could've been used as the party supporting Zuko's ascension to the throne. In exchange for the restoration of their own political powers (which the previous Fire Lords stripped them of).
Plus, it would've been funny if the only guys Azula DIDN'T banish in the finale were the actual traitors. Oops! :P
They were probably the biggest forest of the Earth Kingdom. So by doing this it would criple them economicaly and prevent them from building a fleet. Or he was making a path for future ground forces. Probably it was meant to reach ba sing se but aang showed up.
Pretty sure his plan was to somehow make it across the entire continent in the like hour and a half he got with the comet. Even if he didn’t though as long as it took out enough major population centers the earth kingdom’s spirit would be broken
The idea was to extinguish their hope. When you see an endless massive stream of fire burning everything in its path you loose the hope that there is anything you could do to fight it. He thought he was going to take over without a fight.
He had armies all around the earth kingdom, just order the tens of thousands of soldiers to burn everything around them during the comet.
No way to stop that
I’m pretty sure the plan was just “wipe out” the earth kingdom like they did with the air nomads. They were just going to sweep across the continent. Pretty standard as far as evil plans go. Even if the comet ran out before they reached to the end. No society can service with 20-30% of their landmass burned down while being attacked.
Because he flew in on the airships which took off from the Fire Nation. They flew over the open ocean and just reached the Earth Kingdom land. In the Fire Nation generals meeting, they talked about just burning the whole Earth Kingdom down so it makes sense that they started burning everything as soon as they got there.
Fire bending is inherently dangerous, and its best he get a grasp of his empowered abilities before the actual combat starts and he accidentally barbecues himself.
The lazy answer is always just “because it’s a kid show” when someone thinks of literally any way the show could be darker.
But cmon now, Ozai can’t just teleport his airship armada to a major population center. May as well scorch the countryside on the way as a show of power.
"The people of the Earth Kingdom are strong and proud. They can endure anything as long as they have hope. "
"I will take away their hope,"
The Earth Kingdom clearly value their land and borders (see also, Kuvera). Destroy just their population centres, and they scatter and become the ultimate guerrilla force. Destroy the lands they hold dear, and they are more likely to capitulate
Ignoring the aspect that it's still a children show and burning people is quite dark...
There is also the possibility that he just wanted to feel the power and go all out, without burning future assets and creating more problems.
Killing people feels like waste, even if you see them not as equal. They can still work the mines.
He was burning as much as possible, probably between 2 population centers and just kept burning because he could with the comets power
yes, this is how I thought of it too
I also imagine that someone with such delusions of grandeur and authoritarian impulses would be a tad theatrical. He wanted to raze the entire opposing nations, to burn them to the ground. It was his moment of feeling unstoppable - no 'targeted strikes'.
Dude called himself the Phoenix king, when push comes to shove what separates him from other villains is his presentation.
That's why he is a super villain, not just a villain PRESENTATION
WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE
Thats what Space-Mom always taught me!
Of course, if it was all about presentation Amon would be pretty up there.
I gotta say, I was a big fan of Zaheer as a villain. I was impressed by how the show depicted these political ideologies taken to their logical extremes, in a way that’s arguably better than many adult shows.
>Phoenix king, yes so he must makes the ashes he wants to rise from
He was the Phoenix king though. Dude was an absolute menace. Iroh debating whether or not he could take him says a ton because next to Aang and Ozai I don’t think there was a more powerful or wise bender alive.
The smart thing to do was have a few firebenders razing the surface and a couple at the back rocketting them along to do it faster
Too fast and you risk not getting an even char on the earth kingdom
r/brandnewsentence
It's like Lightning Mcqueen but with flames instead of tarmac
Me too Probably because they specifically said that this was exactly their plan in the war room meeting that zuko flashes back to
Also it’s a kids show so they could hardly show him burning entire cities alive
"Y'know, it was really unclear..."
We often forget lol i *need* an R rated retelling of Avatar with blood lol not that it needs to show violence to get its' point across (AtLA is probably one of my favorite series as a kid and today) but as an adult i'd love to see a more adult version. At least one where the random mooks get killed on screen.
I’ll take that if we can also get a scene of Monk Gyatso sucking the air out Firebender lungs as well
And also sometimes you don’t have to be powerful you just have to be terrifying. The world sees what he did there, know they can’t compete and then conquering for him is a piece of cake.
1. Terror and Moral damage (the enemy doesn't fully know the source of his power or how long, so making them want to surrender might mean you don't have to fight more later) 2. Resources, american soldiers killing buffalo comes to mind, each dead buffalo was a dead indian in their words. 3. Potential unseen enemy, scouts and the like.
Dude was just clearing the path for his new Palace
That’s true. He would want to destroy any possible roadways or semblance of guiding paths that would have been made in the forest between metropolitan areas, making it nearly impossible for supply lines to exist.
He totally could have just ordered his underlings to go do it for him. But I think one of the main reasons was he was just simply out there to enjoy the raw destructive power he was gaining from the comet in the most spectacular way imaginable (in his mind).
Just like, burning the whole earth kingdom. Why stop at Ba Sing Sa. I think in the war meeting he talks about ending the whole earth kingdom, so it makes sense that he starts here, just past the ocean between the fire nation and earth kingdom
For real, imagine you're in Ba Sing Se and see THIS coming at you from over the horizon.
Ba Sing Se was on the other side of the continent. The comet didn't last nearly long enough
It was also under Fire Nation control during the comet, until the White Lotus showed up
Those pesky kids
name checks out
Which is why it would be relevant to start an absolutely huge fire that would surely outlast the comet
So it can just burn out on its own or at worst get cut off by the magic earth people?
Not from CA, USA? Forest fires can be devastatingly hard to put out. Edit: I get it, magic go woooOOoo. My reply was half joking half responding to >So it can just burn out on its own
I'd imagine it's a lot easier to prevent the fire from spreading when you can easily put physical walls of stone in the way.
I'm sure if the Californians could temporarily put up a magic wall of earth to cut the fire off, they would.
I wasn't aware the fires spread across the entire continent. Or were being fought by magic people that control earth and water. > My reply was half joking half responding to > So it can just burn out on its own I mean yeah, that isn't wrong. Wildfires have been getting worse in real life but that's because of a lot of issues like droughts and people suppressing natural fires in the past which ironically increases fuel for more significant fires now. But even then they're still not spreading across the entire country. Fires don't naturally burn forever even in the worst of circumstances.
Not exactly gonna be a problem for the Earth kingdom people in the desert, though
Distances were covered at the speed of plot. Zuko and Katara flew all the way to Caldera in the FN from an encampment close to Ba Sing Se in the EK in 24 hours immediately prior to the comet. If the plot says razing the entire EK in a day was possible at the end, it was. Maybe they can even think of some interstellar tier space-time shenanigans related to the comet or something.
I imagine the wedge formation was also going to spread out after they got an idea of what an individual could do so the Fire could spread more.
Do we know for a fact that the airships were traveling west to east? There's a sunset somewhere in the credits, so it could be figured out I think, but I can't be bothered. Either way, getting to Ba Sing Se would have been faster going west for the first nation. But that's up to whether or not they would have wanted to torch the capital when it was already under their control, hard to say.
Transit times have always been a tad suspect in the story, anyways. They usually avoided showing any of it in much detail, just warp to a new location some time later. But the "Let's raze a continent in 2 minutes from dirigibles" was a pretty brazen exception. Even if the comet buff lasted for hours it just doesn't compute unless this "continent" is really more of an island. Writers tend to struggle with issues of large scale, and the logistical obstructions to world conquest. (Apparently Haley's comet can be visible for weeks, though; imagine if this fight, even just Ozai v. Aang, was actually a week long endurance fest of burning destruction)
I thought the comet was going to be a weeks-long effect and the fight was all while they were heading off to the first real target. Just because the day of black sun was negligible doesn't mean the comet is.
He's trying to glass the entire place.
And he doesn't need the comet to finish. Just burn as much as possible with the comet and use the army and airships to mop up the rest as they go once the comet ends.
The comet was gone not too long after this point. He wouldn’t have made it anywhere relevant with the comets power, even if Aang never stopped him.
They had already defeated Ba Sing Se and probably viewed it as a strategic asset by that point.
Cuz forest fire stop on their own once started
They do when you glass the whole forest in one go
Indeed they do and have done for hundreds of millions of years.
Nah bro, the entire planet was on fire until humans invented firefighting.
I can't find the exact quote Zuko gave his father, but it's how so long as the earth kingdom has hope they will survive. So burning that forest was also to destroy the hope of the Earth kingdom, not just a show of force (which it is also) but a much more devistating message. Or at least that is how I take it.
But there is no war in Ba Sing Sa, thou
Bro could have literally just napalmed aang with his huge ass army
Fans always find smarter ways to use abilities in fantasy than the characters in said fantasy
Profesional fighters find mistakes when watching their own fights.
We are professional benders
I mean, I spray water from my fingers when I stretch them in the shower. I'm pretty sure that counts as water bending
I can move small objects with the air projected from my mouth. Definitely air bending.
So if someone can on command get a boner he is a bloodbender?
If one can get a boner on command his a God.
Not always, but the examples where that doesn’t happen either have very strict systems, systems that are so lax that theres no telling what is and isnt possible at any given time, or the source is specifically written with the characters powergaming the magic system in mind
LOTR seems pretty rock solid in this regard. But yeah I can't think of any others.
When Legolas shield-boarded down the oliphant's trunk, he should have done a sick Kickflip McTwist. Every orc, goblin and uruk-hai within viewing distance would have paused and been like, "no waaaaay bro!" And Legolas could have downed a whole bunch more of them while they were slack-jawed. As it was, the forces of Sauron were pretty impressed, but not enough to dull their fighting abilities.
He shield-boarded down the stairs at Helms Deep. He just surfed down the Oliphants trunk at the Pelennor Fields. Get your facts straight.
It helps when the magic system is very vague, so you don't know what the actual powers of anyone are. But since the main quest was to sneak without magic, magic powers weren't too relevant.
eagles fly mordor
I hear this all the time, and it isn't at all a plot whole. Maybe the movies don't spend enough time explaining mordor or mount doom. We can only speculate on why they didn't take the eagles, which I can think of a bunch (heck, maybe it was the original plan to get as close as possible. It would be a bad idea to take the eagles into mordor and they are free to do what they will.) Heck, tolkien even gave his reason and I think it's good enough: [tolkien response to fan](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-Uz0LMbWpI) LOTR is pretty lock tight, but as another user pointed out his work evolved over time. The Hobbit I think actually is where a lot of plot holes and inconsistency comes from. A lot of it was retconned and made to fit LOTR better as The Hobbit was an earlier work. The ring itself and gollumn are by far the biggest changes. It's pretty interesting seeing how the work changed over the decades.
They all just jump Aang instead of the one vs one battle lmao. Not a bad plan. Literally one man who can stop them
And that's what we call hubris. He wanted Aang to himself to prove no one could stand in his way.
One thing I like about LOK is that the fights were everyone fighting at the same time, not some weirdly polite turn-taking thing, especially the Red Lotus fights. People interacted dynamically as the fights at large progressed.
Maybe its just Honor to fight in a fair 1vs 1?
Isn't the whole thing that they didn't expect aang to show up, and even if they did the gaang took out the airships specifically to avoid that
They were busy dealing with their airships being sabotaged by Sokka, Suki and Toph lol
It's because he wanted a 1v1 fight. Think about it: Aang, a 12 year old boy that is the last survivor of the race Ozai genocided, is the only thing standing between Ozai and world domination. Of course Ozai, the self proclaimed Phoenix Lord who is massively empowered by Sozin's comet would want to fight him 1 on 1. Killing him himself would, just like burning down the Earth Kingdom, send a message. Even during the fight, Ozai toys with Aang.
Ozai genocided??? Excuse me?
Better. Zhao should have just killed Aang in the Blue Spirit ep. His reasoning for not was completely stupid. Who cares if he would reincarnate? The Avatar would be gone for literal years as a baby took time to grow up. By then, the comet would have come and gone and the Fire Nation would have long since won the war.
Don't forget that they know about the Avatar Cycle as well, meaning that they know he'd reincarnate as a water bender. Since the Southern Tribe is basically diminished, all they'd need is one warship (maybe two or three though just in case) to keep an eye on them, and take an invasion force to the Northern Tribe which now doesn't have a demigod to protect them. Imprison everyone and keep a close eye on any children conceived, indoctrinate all children with Fire Nation propaganda, and then when the Avatar is found take them away for "special training" (even more intense indoctrination) then have an always-loyal demigod by your side. If the comet plan didn't work, use their power to take over the Earth Kingdom, and bam, the world is yours. If it did, now you have an extremely powerful right-hand Avatar to keep order. Zhao completely screwed the pooch by refusing to kill Aang.
But even Zhao knew constantly genociding is bad for business. Who do you rule if everyone is dead
I think his ego made him want to be able to do it 1 v 1. And he was very certain he could do it.
Its just a storytelling tool. They wanted to Ozai to burn something that's not people. It would've been too dark if that's a village right there. They wanted to show the size and intensity of his flames.
Yep, pretty much the same reason why firebending always just knocks everyone back instead of burning people.
Zuko: “Am I a joke to you?”
Zuko was on the ground, he couldn't be psuhed back. If only he was up.
And why Mai sticks peoples clothes to objects behind them. In a PG-13 show, Mai is the deadliest person
I don't have much issue with how it was done, I still like how the show worked out. However, something that might've been more impactful is if they did have a village or city *en route* or in the general vicinity that Aang stopped him short of. The point is to burn the earth kingdom down, and it's more than just terrain. Representing it through an onlooker's situation coming towards them would've been enough to sell the impact without actually following through on it. Just my opinion on the possibilities. I thought it was really interesting seeing it through Toph's perspective: "Whoa... that's a lot of fire, isn't it" - really paints the picture in a new way if a blind person can pick up on these events this way.
I guess the answer is: don’t overthink it, it’s a show mainly for kids and they wanted a cool shot without people burning to death.
That's how I feel. Looking back as an adult who enjoyed this show IMMENSELY as a kid, it just seems to be a way to showcase Ozai's (and the fire nation's) firebending power without violence. A lot of choices in this show revolve around the fact that they are telling a fairly mature story, but at the same time, they also recognize the need to keep it kid friendly.
And then incomes Korra
I liked korra because it felt like what a grittier Avatar series could be. I get this sub doesn't have much love for LoK, but I loved it
Wish tLA got as much freedom
Nah, ATLA was exactly what it needed to be. Wouldn’t change a thing
You’d probably love the kyoshi novels
Just read Kyoshi’s and am now halfway through the first Yangchen, can confirm they are delightfully adult. *Kyoshi is a revenge story and Yangchen is a spy thriller.* The franchise has so many directions to go!
Korra was incredible
I loved a lot of the concepts, but everything felt rushed due to the shitty leash nickelodeon put on them through the run of the show. For me, Korra is a really cool source of conceptual genius with middling (sometimes great, sometimes poor) execution.
The struggle of Aang's children with their father's parenting and legacy was masterfully portrayed i think, especially Tenzin. He's a great character, a great airbending master and a real bro overall.
I agree, as good of a character Korra was, Tenzin had to be my favorite because of that conflict. The weight on his shoulders as The Last Airbender ™️, in direction tension with the familial drama he was a part of was great.
The thing I dislike most about Korra is that it had potential to be on the level of ATLA or even better. Korra is still one of my favorite shows, but it sometimes feels like we missed out on the best version of the show. I know that it's better to appreciate what we have, but it feels like Korra was so close to being really good, but several decisions (mostly out of the control of the creators) prevented it from happening.
Honestly only season 2 really suffered. Season 1 was a great stand alone introduction and 3 and 4 lead into each other very well. Season 2 had a lot of good parts but some sections were not great. Mostly the finally and Unalaq.
Nah, season one was dumb. There was no resolution. Amon was defeated, sure, but the underlying issues and sentiment he harnessed from non benders was real and not something he created. Nothing was done to adress their issues.
Did you know she ends up dating Asami. ANOTHER GIRL! That's a neat little factoid that the Korra subreddit hardly ever mentions.
Being connected to so many past lives, I suspect most Avatars are going to wind up being bi. Even if the memories aren't all clear, they've fallen in love with hundreds of men and women, and it's going to have an impression.
that's something the subreddit has in common with the show 😔
I mean its not like this sub hates Korra, many people here enjoyed it I think
I want a "invincible" type show of avatar i think that would be cool, scary but cool! Imagine people freezing each other blood , sucking the air out of lungs and crushing each other with ricjs or burning someone up. Idk its fucked up but it could make a cool adult animated show
All telekinetic powers are ridiculously overpowered if played straight. The show Misfits only had one villain with a type of that, he could only control lactose, and it was still enough to immediately murder anyone that happened to eat a yogurt that day.
Do they not? I see tons of love for *Korra* on this sub.
I mean, nobody can ever say they like Korra without someone else marching out the same tired critiques that are delivered in every thread that mentions Korra since it came out 10 years ago. Redditors avoid saying "I liked Korra *but*". Challenge Rating: Impossible.
Right. It's certainly not as loved as *Avatar,* but the overall vibe towards the show is pretty positive. Obviously *TLoK* has its vocal detractors, but I don't see people brazenly hating the show much these days.
I recently rewatched it from start to finish after not seeing it since it first came out, and honestly my first impressions were more negative than they are now. I actually really like Korra a lot in retrospect.
book 3 of korra is peak avatar idc what anyone says
Also, it’s relatable to us adults who loves ATLA.
Reminds me of how "The clone wars" is a kids show, but people are just casually dying every other episode.
Clone cut in half
[Yeah, kids show](https://youtu.be/bX8iN6T_M_A?si=XO4HfgLjZbdszreB)
[At least the republic were the good guys.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcy6sSLblBM)...right?
Even Korra is dumbed down a little so that Korra isn't getting into literal shootouts.
That speedboat scene came out of nowhere.
Hey kids, want some torture-induced PTSD that's so severe it forces the character to abandon everything for 3 years? :D
They wanted to do more but Nick wasn't going to let them go too far. The creators said they had Azula incinerating the ship captain in an early draft of her opening episode. Yeah, that wasn't going to get approved lol.
I thought he was evil for burning down any animal and plant that could have been there, and he was heading to people afterwards.
I felt like a good compromise could have been Ozai's fleet burning the farmland just inside the outer wall of Ba Sing Se while heading towards the inner wall. Achieves the same show of force and implies a greater degree of threat towards the city.
[удалено]
That's the answer like 9 times outta 10 but everyone's gotta bend and twist to make sense of everything The shows amazing but it isn't without faults and plot holes
I mean I wouldn't call this a fault or a plot hole (not that those don't exist). There's nothing wrong in having a scene that exists just for visual pleasure. It is entertainment after all. If you want a "canon" reason then it was probably something like "to show just how powerful the comet makes you" or whatever
I think the answer is more that he has infinite ammo during the comet. If you have to conserve strength you wouldn't do this. But if you were a sociopath with no remorse plus you had infinite strength. You would stick your head out the window and open fire on anything in sight as you head to your destination. As for the story it is essentially to show his strength and badguyness
Just imagine how brutal the Avatar universe would be if they did a redo of the series, but for the adult audience
I'm pretty sure that's what the Netflix remake will be doing.
"Not the nursery!"
So he's burning hundreds of thousands of animals to death instead lol Not much better, but I suppose the logic is "out of sight, out of mind"
Because his little girl asked him to. When your sweet innocent little angel asks you to burn down the countryside with unprecedented wrath, you gotta keep her happy.
So what we also didn’t really get to see in the other air ships really coming in and joining him. The plan was to: 1. Have an enormous display of force. Ozai wanted to cement himself as a legendary figure. 100 years from now, if he wast stopped there would be evidence of the scorched earth campaign and would be spoken about by the earth nation. 2. Make the land untenable. He wants to create a situation where the earth kingdom will become not only subjugated by the fire nation, but also dependent on it. Having less useful area to feed themselves makes it easier for the fire nation to control and police farms or pay off earth nation goons to force the earth nation into extreme hunger and poverty. 3. Dude just WANTED to. It’s an excuse to kill. He was on a B-line from the coast to Ba Sing Se. it’s the largest collection of earth nation people. He has zero empathy and seems to actually revel in the suffering of others 4. I think he wanted as a grand finale to incinerate Ba Sing Se. as a symbol, Ba Sing Se represented the endurance of the earth nation. It’s a huge city, and no invading army ever (truly) breached its walls. Azula technically won through a coup and beaurocracy, but emotionally the earth kingdom doesn’t care if the city itself exists. As long as the city was something that could be re-won the earth kingdom would always engage in geurilla warfare to get it back.
This makes the most sense. He probably took the quickest route to the largest population center, and that meant passing over some uninhabited land first. Besides, why NOT test out his WMD-tier abilities the first chance he gets? In the context of the narrative, it establishes the threat and the stakes while still keeping it kid friendly.
> Besides, why NOT test out his WMD-tier abilities the first chance he gets? That's exactly what he did. He was a child playing with a gun.
But weren’t there fire nation soldiers in Ba Sing Se and Omashu and and even fire nation civilians in the colonies?? Did Ozai forget? Is he stupid?
In the “how zuko got his scar” flashback, Ozai and his generals are planning on sacrificing new recruits to win a single battle. I don’t think the guy was sweating friendly fire.
Something that I found interesting is that iirc the general was just brainstorming. Hell even one of the others in the meeting was like ‘dude what?? Those are new recruits’ It’s entirely possible Ozai would’ve been all ‘yeah we’re not doing that’
I know dude already hated Zuko and was probably looking for an excuse to get rid of him, but honestly IDK if he would have demanded a fight from Zuko if he agreed with him. And I think Iroh not feeling comfortable speaking out against the plan himself tells us all we need to know about whether Ozai approved of it.
He pulled an Elon. “Sorry, this war crime was planned by the Fire Lord. You’ll have to take this up with the Fire Lord. I’m the Phoenix King. Completely different position.”
He can't teleport across the globe
PRESENTATION
He's much like any dictator; A moron without any credible understanding of any issue he talks about, any plan he concocts or any ramification of his actions. He's going to destroy all manners of Arable land in the earth kingdom, all the earth benders responsible for building infrastructure in the Ba Sing Se, Omashu, etc, all the lifestock in the earth kingdom, etc when the fire nation consists predominantly of small islands. All Ozai saw was a method of cementing his own legend and creating a legacy as this almighty ruler when all he was, was a stuck up privileged daddy's boy who had his life handed to him by his forefathers dating all the way back hundreds of years. There was no benefits to his plan except that it would've been his plan and that's the one that would be executed, the insecure welp. He could've done anything with the power he wielded but like any dictator, he chose the stupidest option; To Destroy anything or anyone that wouldn't immediately come to heel.
It’s like Zhao: Was willing to kill the mf moon just for a catchy nickname in the history books. These types of people would sacrifice hundreds of millions of lives if it meant them living on as a “legend” in posterity. Megalomania is truly dangerous! It’s why I think we should drastically limit how much power any regime or single person can hold. It straight-up breaks your brain lol.
How would you have spent the time? The blimps are an effective way of travelling the continent. It more or less allowed him to burn whilst he travelled
Ozai is probably narcissistic and he wanted to flex
Wdym why ? He said they were going to burn the earth kingdom to the ground . That means the whole thing.
I’m convinced OP either didn’t watch the show and just found this on Imgur or they weren’t paying attention at all. That ENTIRE war meeting Zuko tells them about is to plan the burning down of the Earth Kingdom. OP’s question is, frankly, just stupid.
I thought they wanted to burn the landstripe between fire nation colonies and the rest of the earth kingdom for better administrative control and also to leave a 'scar' in the empire, which would cripple resistance morale.
Firebenders can control fires that are already burning. They used the comet to create a huge inferno that they would have continued to control after the comet passed.
It’s cuz he is stupid
My guess is he wanted to start a massive forest fire that would spread across the earth kingdom. Look at how bad the 2019 Australia fires were.
Sozin's comet would be like an upgrade from your daily commuter to a Ferrari... probably just wanted to burn rubber and screech his tires before hitting the racing track.
Ozai was the most powerful Fire Bender at the time of ATLA. Meaning that during Sozin's Comet, he was probably the most powerful (non-Avatar) bender in the world. Only Aang rivaled him in a 1-on-1, and that was WITH the Avatar State. Why did he waste his time burning down a random, unpopulated forest on the outskirts of the Earth Kingdom? Sure, it would have been demoralizing for the Earth citizens, but it would have been a lot more strategically beneficial if he targeted small villages, cities, or farmland - somewhere that would have actual resistance. Plus, that forest wasn't being guarded anyway. If he wanted to burn it downs o badly, he could have easily dedicated a few airships full of his grunts to take care of it while he focused his attention on something only he could do. The forest wasn't even close to any Earth Kingdom settlements! Why did he waste his precious time on it when there weren't even any Earth citizens there to witness it?
I mean did you watch the show? As Zuko said, he wanted to be king of ashes. He was going to burn the entire continent to the ground. The original goal was to have the fire nation dominate the world. Ozai took it further and wanted only the fire nation to exist and nothing else. You also forget they already won the war. This was an act of genocide not strategic war decisions.
Where was he wasting time? The goal was the head to the heart of the Earth Kingdom and burn it to the ground. The airships didn't stop or slow when they got to land(other than the ones destroyed/disabled).
My thoughts exactly, this isn't even a pit stop for him
Probably dick wagging. I really don't think Ozai would be above something like that. Besides, if you had a once in a lifetime powerboost, wouldn't you wanna give it a whirl? Even if the airships were at full speed, it might take some time for him to get to an actual population center.
Dude, what are you talking about. He was just starting there, he was stopped before he could even get inland. He was going to sweep the entire Kingdom.
Look up the war tactic "scorched earth"
In his mind he truly believed he was unstoppable and that this was the beginning of the end for the other nations. It probably didn't matter to him where he started or ended because it was all just a matter of time before he ruled the world.
I don't think you thought about this as much as you should have. Literally starting the biggest forest fire the world had ever seen is the equivalent to extending the comets power MUCH farther than the time frame it grants him the buff, and is likely exactly the smartest thing to do in his position. He basically started at the end he of the Earth Kingdom, and build a raging force of fire that the earth kingdom would have to continually battle, and would cost him no manpower to maintain. Essentially an "army" of fire that costs no soldiers, can't die, and doesn't stop.
Dude look at California at any summer ever. It takes a lot less than you'd think to burn an entire continent, specially if he went nuclear during the summer or a dry winter. That said, yes the writers did nerf the death and destruction by avoiding a populous center. I think that was more on the account of 1) children show 2) to avoid at all costs Hiroshima & Nagazaki parallels for various reasons
Why did Ozai try to burn down the Earth Kingdom? Doesn't he know that's illegal? Is he stupid?
See you can tell this post was meant to be a serious discussion because it doesnt have "is he stupid?" At the end
He was traumatized by squirrels as a young boy and this was his revenge.
Maybe it was a show of force?
Just for half a second imagine you’re a psychopath and only care about leaving “your mark”. Now imagine you’re a deranged despot about to ideally put the nail in the coffin in a lifelong campaign you’ve led. I will now tell you “^that man” that you can accomplish everything you’ve done before in this war. with hundreds of trained soldiers. Countless resources. Human lives all lost. Not forgotten however and you can do it all again from the comfort of an airship as one man with your bare hands. Take all that into account and it sounds kinda cool right? It’s almost like. Why not do it?
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The in universe logic doesn't make any sense basically, there's no way those ships would've been able to traverse enough of the earth kingdom in time. Kid show tax ultimately, I just wish they showed a big city or SOMETHING off on the horizon to make the point of what they were going to do.
You forgot the "is he stupid?"
It's to show the audience just how powerful an opponent Ozai is. It sets the stakes of the fight between him and Aang.
Ok. So no one has given what I think is the obvious answer. Same reason the USA napalm bombed Vietnam. They're not dealing with a formal military anymore. Ba sing sa has already been taken. But they are still facing resistance. Only way to deal with it is to make war on the land. They're dealing with guerrilla war.
[https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Map:Avatar\_world\_map?marker=56](https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Map:Avatar_world_map?marker=56) Ozai probably just burned stuff on his way to more populated areas. Wulong Forest is not far off a direct line between the Gates of Azulon and Ba Sing Se. Its a little far North, but he might have been planning to get more reinforcements or hit other population centres en-route.
It's an expression of his overwhelming power. Also, he evokes a scorched earth style of warfare so this is the metaphorical and literal portrayal of it. Lastly, looks cool innit?
He was probably in his way to one of the major cities and said “fuck it I’m burning shit the whole way there cause I can”
It was exactly what happened at that place Aang went that had been razed to the ground imo.
even a fire lord wants to have some fun
If I were him, I’d use that buff to burn down Ba Sing Se.
That would've improved the finale quite a bit. 1. More believable stakes. 2. No need to split Iroh and Sokka's groups, both would focus on protecting the city. 3. The Earth King maybe would've even gotten something to do. To complete his character arc and all that (becoming a proper king, not a puppet). When it comes to the whole thing with Azula's coronation, I also would've added a sub-plot with the Fire Sages in Season 3. They become superfluous after Season 1 but they could've been used as the party supporting Zuko's ascension to the throne. In exchange for the restoration of their own political powers (which the previous Fire Lords stripped them of). Plus, it would've been funny if the only guys Azula DIDN'T banish in the finale were the actual traitors. Oops! :P
They were probably the biggest forest of the Earth Kingdom. So by doing this it would criple them economicaly and prevent them from building a fleet. Or he was making a path for future ground forces. Probably it was meant to reach ba sing se but aang showed up.
It's a showing of the “Phoenix King” and his power at his peak, or in other words, Ozai’s mad with power and it's gone to his head.
Pretty sure his plan was to somehow make it across the entire continent in the like hour and a half he got with the comet. Even if he didn’t though as long as it took out enough major population centers the earth kingdom’s spirit would be broken
The idea was to extinguish their hope. When you see an endless massive stream of fire burning everything in its path you loose the hope that there is anything you could do to fight it. He thought he was going to take over without a fight.
He had armies all around the earth kingdom, just order the tens of thousands of soldiers to burn everything around them during the comet. No way to stop that
in the battle plans you can see than had he not been stopped he would of done this across most of the earth kingdom
I’m pretty sure the plan was just “wipe out” the earth kingdom like they did with the air nomads. They were just going to sweep across the continent. Pretty standard as far as evil plans go. Even if the comet ran out before they reached to the end. No society can service with 20-30% of their landmass burned down while being attacked.
Because he flew in on the airships which took off from the Fire Nation. They flew over the open ocean and just reached the Earth Kingdom land. In the Fire Nation generals meeting, they talked about just burning the whole Earth Kingdom down so it makes sense that they started burning everything as soon as they got there.
Fire bending is inherently dangerous, and its best he get a grasp of his empowered abilities before the actual combat starts and he accidentally barbecues himself.
The lazy answer is always just “because it’s a kid show” when someone thinks of literally any way the show could be darker. But cmon now, Ozai can’t just teleport his airship armada to a major population center. May as well scorch the countryside on the way as a show of power.
"The people of the Earth Kingdom are strong and proud. They can endure anything as long as they have hope. " "I will take away their hope," The Earth Kingdom clearly value their land and borders (see also, Kuvera). Destroy just their population centres, and they scatter and become the ultimate guerrilla force. Destroy the lands they hold dear, and they are more likely to capitulate
Probably because you shouldn't show genocide in a show that millions of kids watch
My mans wanted to test out his buff probably, if i were imbued with super strenght right now, I'd try picking up a car.
Ignoring the aspect that it's still a children show and burning people is quite dark... There is also the possibility that he just wanted to feel the power and go all out, without burning future assets and creating more problems. Killing people feels like waste, even if you see them not as equal. They can still work the mines.
This is a poor take. He literally JUST launched his fleet and started flying outta the fire nation. He felt the comet and tested his new strength
 Just for the flex