Avatar:History of Sozin (66 BG)
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| History |
| Early life (82 BG - 67 AG) Lambak Island conflict (66 BG) Reign (58 BG - 20 AG) |
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| Sozin in the Netflix live-action series |
The life of Sozin, Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, changed significantly in 66 BG. In this year, his only true friend Roku was revealed to be the Avatar, causing the latter to leave the Fire Islands. From this point onwards, Sozin was left socially isolated, with only followers and no true comrades. He subsequently immersed himself more and more into unusual projects to increase his standing in his father Taiso's eyes and to boost the Fire Nation's might. In the process, he caused a conflict surrounding a mysterious island allegedly holding great powers.
Sixteenth birthday and Roku's departure
Just as in previous years, Sozin opted to celebrate his sixteenth birthday in 66 BG alongside his best friend, Roku. The two shared the same birthday. A great party was prepared, and the prince as well as his friend presented themselves to a crowd of upper-class Fire Nation citizens at the Fire Nation Royal Palace. As they descended a stairway, however, Roku became distracted when he noticed Ta Min in the crowd. He stumbled, only for Sozin to easily grab him and restore his balance. The prince laughed about the incident until noticing the unexpected arrival of a group of Fire Sages. Worried, Sozin asked the older men whether something had happened to his father, but the sages responded that they had come to announce the identity of the new Avatar, namely Roku. Just like everyone else present, Sozin quickly bowed to his friend.[1][2]
Soon after the announcement of Roku's Avatarhood, Fire Lord Taiso requested Sozin's presence. The older man declared that he was disappointed that his son was not the Avatar, but also told Sozin to start manipulating his friendship with Roku to the Fire Nation's benefit. Though Sozin had great misgivings about the idea, he did not openly protest against his father's plan. The prince then joined the great party at the Royal Palace gardens which celebrated Roku's new status as the recognized Avatar. At this point, it was evening. As he wandered around, Sozin mused how much he despised parties as he was always forced to keep up a false image and pretend to enjoy himself regardless of his true feelings. Even as he happily greeted guests and took refreshments, the prince felt miserable, as he knew that Roku had to leave on his Avatar journey; thus, he would lose his only true friend.[2]
At an ancient mountain gingko, Sozin discovered Roku in an awkward conversation with a clan head who tried to couple Roku with his young daughter, much to the displeasure of both the girl as well the Avatar. Sozin joined the conversation, falsely claiming that the Fire Lord wanted to talk to Roku. Thus, the two friends managed to excuse themselves, and retreated from the party to the rooftop of a nearby building to watch the upcoming fireworks. There, the two started some friendly bickering before engaging in a mock duel. Once again, Roku lost his footing, whereupon Sozin grabbed him and saved him from falling. Afterward, Sozin tried to ease Roku's doubts about his future as the Avatar; the prince eventually recommended that Roku should do the same as he did: Put up a confident façade, even when feeling afraid and insecure. They then rejoined the party.[2]
Not long after, Sozin came by to talk with Roku before the latter's official departure. The prince was told by Roku that the Fire Sages told him to bring nothing, as the Avatar did not need material goods. By this statement, Sozin gave him a gift: the headpiece worn by the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, hoping that he was at least allowed to have that.[1] In reality, Taiso had ordered Sozin to gift the headpiece to constantly remind Roku of his "true loyalties". The prince internally tried to justify this manipulation by telling himself that he genuinely meant what he had previously told his friend on the roof at the party. At the official ceremony where the Fire Nation elite said goodbye to Roku, Sozin secretly felt absolutely miserable and cursed "the Fire Sages who spoke the unwelcome announcement, [...] the Air Nomads for requiring Roku to move to their temple, [and] a world that provided such friends only to snatch them away".[2]
Coping with Roku's absence
The loss of contact with Roku caused Sozin to become socially isolated to some degree; from this time onward, he had no more friends, only subordinates. Sozin channeled his frustration into a growing obsession with his research projects and his plans.[2][3]
While Roku began his airbending training, Sozin increased his research of ancient stories, particularly those relating to great and strange powers such as immortality, combustionbending, and others. In particular, he became obsessed with the tale of Ashō, an ancient travel writer who had claimed that he had discovered a hidden island near the Fire Nation. This island was allegedly inhabited by benders who possessed immense skills, freely teaching them to anyone interested. After searching for months, the prince eventually discovered a map reportedly penned by Ashō himself, showing the island's location. He then asked his father for a Fire Navy ship to test whether Ashō's tales were rooted in truth and could be used to the Fire Nation's benefit. Much to his frustration, Taiso angrily rejected his son's request, declaring him a "fool" for merely entertaining the idea that Ashō could have told the truth. After negatively comparing his son's intelligence and mindset with the one of his sister Zeisan, the Fire Lord dismissed Sozin from his presence and ordered him to never speak of the island again, and to spend more time studying proper subjects for a future Fire Lord. He also told the prince to write another letter to Roku, and to not come before him again without a response from him.[3]
Around this period, Sozin was also approached by the father of Ta Min who proposed that the young prince could marry his daughter. As he had no romantic interest in Ta Min and knew that his best friend was in love with the noblewoman, Sozin did not agree to the proposal. Instead, he approached Ta Min directly, offering her a deal: He would officially sponsor her career as a diplomat, thus allow her to avoid her father's unwelcome marriage plans as well as pursue her dream career in international relations. In return, Ta Min would work as an agent for the prince, carrying out missions for him. She agreed to this exchange and thus became one of his followers.[4]
Searching for Ashō's mysterious island
Though officially complying with Taiso's orders to drop all interest in Ashō's island, Sozin decided to secretly continue his research. He thus organized an undercover expedition, consisting of himself and two allies: Dalisay and Kozaru. The former was his sister Zeisan's ex-girlfriend and tutor whom the prince had recruited because she was a brilliant mind. In contrast, Kozaru was not much of a thinker, but a very effective and ruthless firebending fighter. Though Sozin considered both loyal to some extent, he held no illusions about their feelings; Kozaru was a mercenary and Dalisay was too subservient to authority to become a real friend. The prince then disguised himself as "Lee" and hired a pirate captain to bring his team to the alleged location of the island.[3]
On the journey to the island, Sozin tested Dalisay with Pai Sho games. He introduced deliberate faults into his playstyle, knowing that the scholar would notice them. Much to the prince's disappointment, Dalisay refused to exploit the mistakes and deliberately played badly to allow her superior to win. Sozin thus considered his assumption confirmed that Dalisay was ultimately a toady. Eventually, the pirate ship entered a dense mist near the location marked on Ashō's map, and after passing it indeed found a landmass. Sozin, Dalisay, and Kozaru used a rowboat to land and then travelled into the island's interior, seeking the village with the great benders.[3]
After hours of walking through the island's dense forest, the trio rested before being by two wild moo-sows bursting through the nearby undergrowth. The animals were followed by two disheveled soldiers. Dalisay and Kozaru immediately attacked the men and a battle broke out. Though Sozin initially wanted to ask everyone to stop fighting, one soldier attacked him with earthbending, whereupon the prince joined the clash. Initially assuming that the two soldiers might be natives, Sozin soon realized that their bending was no more powerful than average. After a hard duel, the prince mortally wounded one soldier, and asked them man where their village was located. Confused, the soldier responded that they were Earth Kingdom natives before dying. At this point, the young man realized in shock that he had killed someone as well as that the island had already been discovered by someone else. Soon after, Kozaru and Dalisay dragged the corpse of the other soldier to Sozin's location. Kozaru complimented him for killing his opponent, causing Sozin to snap out of his shock.[3]
After composing himself and putting on a confident face, the prince and his allies debated the situation. Based on the soldiers' poor state, they mistakenly concluded that the two had belonged to a minor Earth Kingdom military outpost in the island. Sozin concluded that the soldiers were evidently unaware of the island's true worth, but had to be removed nevertheless. He could not risk an open confrontation, however, as this would alert Fire Lord Taiso or cause an international war. Thus, Sozin decided to return to the pirate ship and ask for Roku's help in the matter, though without telling him everything, noting the irony in his acting in accordance with his father's advice despite not wanting to do so.[3][4]
Conspiring to provoke Roku's intervention
Upon returning to the Fire Nation, Sozin told Ta Min about the island and the Earth Kingdom's supposed attempt to illegally occupy it, though he said nothing about the island's true nature, claiming only that it was Fire Nation territory. Knowing that Roku was being trained in airbending at the Southern Air Temple, Sozin instructed Ta Min to travel there and inform the Avatar of what the prince had told her regarding the island and the Earth Kingdom, and pass on a request from Sozin for Roku to travel to the island and peacefully convince the Earth Kingdom presence there to leave. He assumed that Roku's friendship with him and crush on Ta Min would be sufficient to convince the Avatar to accept the request.[4]
To Sozin's shock and disappointment however, Ta Min sent him a message that Roku had ultimately refused to intervene in the island dispute. Feeling betrayed, but determined to enforce his wishes one way or another, Sozin had Kozaru arrange a fake assassination attempt on Roku, allegedly ordered by Earth King Jialun, concluding that such a thing would make Roku willing to involve himself with the island dispute. Kozaru subsequently hired an earthbending criminal to attack Roku;[5] the supposed assassin staged an assault on Roku and Ta Min, claiming to be acting on the Earth King's orders before attempting to bury them alive with earthbending. The two of them survived the attempt on their lives with help from Gyatso, one of the monks at the temple, and Roku subsequently changed his mind with regards to Sozin's request.[6]
While waiting for Ta Min's report on the result of the fake assassination, Sozin traveled to the Misty Palms Oasis with Kozaru and Dalisay, intending to travel into the Si Wong Desert and search for Wan Shi Tong's Library while Roku secured the island. Taiso, who believed the library did not exist and had earlier refused to give Sozin permission to carry out such a search, sent him messages urging him to return to the Fire Nation before he could embarrass himself or the Royal Family, but Sozin disregarded these. After getting Ta Min's report and learning that the criminal Kozaru had hired had nearly killed Roku and Ta Min, Sozin arranged for him to be paid less than what he had offered the man, claiming he had done a poor job.[5]
The Spirit Library
Some time after getting Ta Min's report, Sozin hired a pair of sandbenders from the Si Wong Tribes to take him, Kozaru and Dalisay to Wan Shi Tong's Library on their sand-sailer. At some point during the journey, he came to believe the sandbenders intended to rob him and his companions; when one of the sandbenders informed him that they would be briefly stopping at a rock formation up ahead, he guessed that there were other sandbenders waiting there to launch an ambush, since he would have arranged things similarly.
After getting off the sand-sailer and walking into the formation with Dalisay and the two sandbenders, he heard footsteps and lashed out in their direction with two fire whips, revealing what appeared to be four more sandbenders wielding blades. He and Dalisay briefly attacked the group, before discovering that they had merely been waiting to offer Sozin's group tea and refreshments. Though he felt guilty about the misunderstanding and the injuries the sandbenders had suffered, he did not show such feelings, and chided the sandbenders who had bought his group here for not telling them about their friends.[7]
Despite these events, the sandbenders continued to take Sozin and his companions toward the library, with the group arriving there the next morning. Sozin grinned at the sight of the library's towers, the only parts of it not yet buried beneath the desert sands, and entertained himself with the thought of how Taiso would react when his son returned with the library's knowledge and the confirmation of its existence. He paid the sandbenders twice what he owed them, a means of apologizing for the previous day's incident without admitting fault on his part, and instructed Kozaru and Dalisay to remain with them in case they tried to leave and strand them in the desert. However, in truth, the command was Sozin's way of keeping the two women from entering the library with him, since he did not trust them - Dalisay in particular - and wanted to keep the library's knowledge to himself. Dalisay started to protest, but Sozin cut her off with a glare and headed toward the library.[7]
Trivia
- Sozin later wrote an autobiographical account in which he included parts of this time period.[1]
- Some moments of this time period were shown to Aang by Roku as part of a spirit vision.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Avatar: The Last Airbender, Book 1, Episode 306
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Template:Cite Roku
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Template:Cite Roku
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Template:Cite Roku
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Template:Cite Roku
- ↑ Template:Cite Roku
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Template:Cite Roku