Mild spoilers for those who haven’t finished the show:
I just watched part 2 of the 4-part series finale of the show. Prince Zuko tried to convince his Uncle Iroh to fight the Firelord, since Aang was missing, and Iroh was the only one who could defeat him. Iroh refuses, and says he isn’t so sure he could defeat Ozai.
Now, the only time we really got a chance to see Ozai fight was during Sozin’s comet, so he seemed to be insanely powerful. But I do think Iroh is selling himself short. He can redirect lightening, which is something I’m pretty sure Ozai can’t do. And I’d wager that Iroh is a better strategic thinker than Ozai.
Since Iroh got taught by the dragons, I would guess he is better overall but he probably doesn’t have the killer instinct for dueling. I bet Ozai has more hours at the gym working on methods to kill shot, while Iroh would be more defensive/utility/support.
I’m not sure that the comet would make a difference, since that’s supposed to be juicing up all firebenders. It’s not Ozai + comet vs. Iroh; it’s Ozai + comet vs. Iroh + comet. And Iroh certainly knows more firebending than Ozai does-- We never see Ozai doing anything all that special; he just does the ordinary firebending with a whole lot of power. Well, aside from lightning, which most firebenders can’t do, but it’s hardly unique, given that Azula and Iroh can also do it.
And age (or physical prowess in general) doesn’t seem to really hurt bending ability: Iroh is, despite his age, an amazing bender, and the two best earthbenders in the world are a 110-year-old man and an 11-year-old girl. If it somehow came down to punches, Ozai would have an advantage over Iroh, but I can’t see it getting to that point.
Ozai is supposedly the best of the best firebenders in the Fire Nation. However, I think Iroh could give him a run for his money, with the caveat that it would have to be under the correct circumstances. I don’t think Iroh would fare well in a duel with Ozai, especially since that seems to be his element. Iroh would probably do better against him on a battlefield where more is going on, or in some context would Iroh could get the jump or utilize tactics and trickery, since Ozai is more of a straight up fighter while Iroh is more of, well, a general.
Well, Iroh blasted down the inner wall of Ba Sing Se when the order of the white lotus took back the city. That seems as powerful or more so than anything Ozai is shown doing during the comet fire=party. So, sure, Iroh has a shot.
My reading of Iroh’s refusal to fight Ozai was he basically admitted he could do it, but that it would be the wrong way to end the war. He could have, but he didn’t want to, because then the root cause (an overly ambitious Fire Nation) would not be corrected.
That’s why I was thinking a sucker punch might work. I mean, Ozai is probably able to withstand that sort of thing under the comet if he’s aware, but one good shot of that when he’s distracted and I don’t think he’s getting out of there without some good burns.
I agree with a slight adjustment: Iroh was stating that it was irrelevant whether he could smack down Ozai or not, for the reasons you state above. He never said he could or couldn’t deliver that smack.
And that lighting strike that Zuko redirected back in Ozai’s kisser. But, yeah, we saw pretty much nothing indicating his royal smackitude. Heck, Ozai was either an off-camera voice or faceless silhouette until Zuko returned home in season 3.
I’m agreeing here. I believe Iroh is a much more subtle Bender than Ozai could ever hope to be, and (if prepared) could take Ozai. But to have the war ended by an internal power struggle in the Fire Nation would not restore any balance to the world.
Iroh never says he can or cannot. He just says it would be a bad plan. He apparently though it was possible, if not certain. Given what we saw Ozai doing alter on, he was clearly an absolute master and roaringly powerful even without the Comet.
Why not? I gathered that beating up Ozai in a duel would have made Iroh Firelord, thus putting him in a supreme position to make huge foreign policy changes. Recalling the military and offering reparations to former invaded nations etc. I rather got the sense he just plain didn’t want the burdens of overlordship of the fire nation.
That would still be the Fire Nation setting the terms, though. They needed to get beaten by someone other than the Fire Nation.
Compare Babylon 5, for instance: Officially, the humans won the war against the Mimbari, but since we didn’t actually defeat them, the dynamics of our relationship with them still had them in the dominant position.