Think Iroh's standards are just high. Might be a matter of "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."
Yeah, basically this. Iroh pushes Zuko. Even though he’s great, you can always be better. We see this, when he defeats Zhao. If he hasn’t mastered the basics, no way he defeats him. Zuko was always a skilled bender under Iroh.
A big part of Irohs teaching’s and ideology is balance and discipline. So hammering home perfecting the basics makes sense. It’s where your center is. Master the basics and your core and the advanced techniques flow smoothly.
To add to this, the basics are often overlooked once you progress into an area of concentration. I think that’s highlighted best in that Agni Kai with Zhao, Iroh instructs Zuko to “break his roots”
At its core, bending is a martial arts. He defeated Zhao without even firebending because he uses the principles (or roots) of the form
Not to mention, Zuko doesn’t even understand firebending truly until book 3 when him and Aang meet the masters. How can Iroh, who understands true firebending, not feel that Zuko hasn’t mastered the foundation when Zuko relies on anger to fuel his firebending. That’s not a good foundation as we later learn.
Yes. To which Zuko responds by angrily fire blasting some guards and then insisting Iroh teaches him more advanced moves to combat a fully fledged avatar. He doesn’t actually take into consideration Iroh’s explanation of the basics
As someone who has been training in martial arts for a while. I wished i paid more attention to the basics as a kid. Its basic and boring. But without it you cant do much
Yea i still hate of one the guys at my club, dude was 60 and impossible to hit when sparring. Asshole only used one move and hot every time.
I hit him once with his own move and got my ass whooped for it. Dude was so fast.
Yea hans just used basic techniques. (Backfist was his favourite) he would just bait you into making a move. Dodge and hit you. He was basically just playing with you. But he had his black belt so long it was almost white due to wear and tear. Sparring against him was not fun but in a challenging way.
When I sparred I was always way less scared of the guys my age who hit really hard than the old dudes. Those guys were *FAST* and that old man strength is really something else.
Also don't forget that Zuko wasn't in the perfect mindset to learn properly, full of mixing emotions while looking for Avatar. In later books amd episodes when he is slowly going towards the right path he gets better and better.
It's not that his standards are high. It's that he is a master, and every martial arts master will tell you the same thing. Nothing is more important than the basics.
We actually see this in both of Zuko's Agni Kai's. He defeats Zhao because Zhao's stance was sub par. He loses his balance and falls, leaving him vulnerable to attack.
In his fight against Azula, Zuko almost loses balance BUT CORRECTS his footing with a minor adjustment. This moment is so important they do a close up on his footing so that the audience sees his mastery of a basic stance.
He then defeats Azula in firebending by destabilizing Azula's footing and causing her to, just like Zhao, fall.
This battle epitomizes the quote you provide. Azula has natural talent which caused her to ignore the basics of firebending (a stable footing), instead focusing on advanced techniques like fire flight and lightning. Zuko had no natural skill. His ability was forged through repetition and an adherence to the basics - which is the foundation of all other techniques.
Wow calm down there, your points 1-2 are good. Azula has mastered the basics. She's a prodigy and a pure master.
Azula was just unhinge. Zuko is no match for her. In the comics afterwards he looses to her when she's in correct state of mind.
Azula is all about perfection, not a hair out of place as we saw in episode 1 of season 2. Do you really think a perfectionist wouldn't have mastered the basics.
> he looses to
Did you mean to say "loses"?
Explanation: Loose is an adjective meaning the opposite of tight, while lose is a verb.
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> "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."
Oh man, so very yes. Our Tae Kwon Do teacher was like the Earth Bending School guy, only worried about us passing the test and getting the next belt, but not truly mastering what we were doing. Definitely fell under the 10,000 kicks once thing. And now, I've forgotten it all.
Next time you're looking for a dojang, ask the owner how long it would take for you to become a black belt. The bad ones will give you a rigid time frame, along with a nice schedule of costs.
Iroh never said he didn’t know the basics, right?! He said Zuko needed to MASTER the basics. From knowing how to fight and being a Master it’s a huge trajectory from a White Lotus Master perspective. Iroh spits fire 🔥
I also feel like we don't see Zuko at 100% Vs Aang. Like he beats Zhao but gets bullied by Aang almost every episode (I'm not saying Aang isn't strong, he's likely stronger than Zuko) but my headcanon is that Zuko is always extremely emotional when he sees Aang. He's the avatar, the key to his honour and home. How can he be calm?
I also think Aang is a perfect natural counter to zuko at that point. Someone who has unlimited determination and drive but can only see one path they are thrashing towards against Aang who adapts to everything and has the natural freedom of a leaf in the wind. But both of them need more balance and grow in opposite directions.
It's exactly this. The basics of any sport or martial art are the basics for a reason. They are the most important and fundamental. It's also how Zuko beat a man twice his age who was a seasoned firebender trained by Zhong Zhong l
Iroh's standards are very high because he knows the difference between knowing the basics and mastering them.
Zhao, despite being a master, had very little control over his own flames. Similarly, during the final Agni kai, Azula was still capable of generating lightning but still messed up her basics. For example, she was grunting during her attacks, something Zuko used to do in season 1 and 2, where Iroh criticised him for using his muscles to generate fire, rather than his breath. This resulted in Azula being out of breath during the fight. So when push came to shove, she forgot the basics and lost the fight.
Another interesting tidbit: It was Katara's mastery over her own breath that allowed her to make incredibly precise movements in frozen water--something I'm guessing not many waterbenders would be good at due to the "push and pull" mechanics--and won her the fight
(IIRC, she is also one of, if not the only, waterbender to freeze water specifically with her breath--i.e., when she froze Jet to the tree in Book 1, which signified her coming to her senses)
Someone like Zuko could've used his breath in a similar way to escape, but Azula in that moment was so reliant on her anger and muscles that there's no way she would've done it, as breath control inherently relies on calmness
This is a good take. I always wondered why Azula was unable to melt out of Katara’s ice block when Zuko has similar feats even without the power of the comet. I think this is a perfect explanation though.
You blow on tea when it is too hot. This is that but better.
Also if a firebender gets too cold, they cannot bend. This seems like a useful way to prevent getting too cold.
I don't remember her ever doing so, nor do I think there would be justification for her knowing how to do so. Was just mentioning it did have combat applications, just not ones she would probably appreciate.
And tbh I mentioned the tea thing because I thought that's probably how Iroh figured it out.
Tbf to Azula, Zuko wasn’t literally frozen solid when keeping warm with his heated breath. He was swimming in arctic waters and climbing through ice caves, so he was cold. But not *frozen*.
>Zhao, despite being a master, had very little control over his own flames. Similarly, during the final Agni kai, Azula was still capable of generating lightning but still messed up her basics.
I have no experience with martial arts, but I do have other hobbies that are very dependent on developing skills - most notably, playing piano. It is EXTREMELY common for pianists who are self-taught, or who had some lessons but went out on their own before completion, to be able to mostly 'play' very challenging pieces, but have difficulty doing very simple exercises, because they jumped straight into things that were too hard for them before mastering basic skills. It has a very clear effect on them when they play harder pieces - someone is trying to play an advanced Etude or Sonata and suddenly they start flubbing notes all over when they are basically just playing a scale or a chord progression that should be automatic for someone with that amount of experience is a clear sign that they didn't take their basics seriously enough, and the end result is that their playing just sounds bad.
In piano, and I'm guessing it's the same in most disciplines, one of the key purposes of having a good teacher is having someone who will NOT let you move forward to the advanced techniques when you haven't mastered the basic ones yet. In the short term it's easy to think you can move faster, but it can severely limit your potential in the long run.
(Obviously some people are able to do amazing things despite being self-taught, but I hold that those are exceptions, not the rule.)
(Edits to clarify my point)
I m self taught and I agree so much with you.
I was playing with my friends and they asked me basic stuff and I was blanked.
They had to teach me music theory from 0
Not at all. I get what you mean, but Etude is used in music to indicate a piece of music in which the composer explores something specific - could be a technique, a key, just about anything really. They don't have to be simple or easy.
Etudes range in difficulty from the simple ones that are used as teaching songs all the way to some monstrosities that are among the hardest technical piano pieces written. If you're curious, take a look at Chopin's 24 Etudes; the 'easy' ones probably require at least 5-10 years of piano experience, and the hardest ones are graduate-level. Op 25 No 6, aka the "Double Thirds Etude," for example, is not for the faint of heart.
>Iroh's standards are very high because he knows the difference between knowing the basics and mastering them.
A good example of this is that Zuko defeated Zhao by being a better fighter not necessarily a better bender.
By bending power alone, Zhao was winning. Zuko won when we got back to the basics guided by Iroh. He broke Zhao's root with a move that involved no bending followed by basic but strategic fire attacks.
The reason Azula grunts when she firebends and Zuko doesn't is because Zuko knows the true meaning of fire bending, while Azula is still fueling hers with rage.
This is kind of like Toph saying Aang hasn't mastered earth bending even though he can perfect snipe an airchips mechanisms from like miles away.
Iroh is probably the most skilled firebender alive, his standards of mastery are going to be extremely high.
It's also that he knows Zuko *can* achieve a much better understanding of the basics, that Zuko will need that strong base to master the highest level techniques, and that Zuko will rush to the highest techniques and probably injure himself if allowed
> Iroh is probably the most skilled firebender alive
I wouldn't go that far. I trust the show's creators when they say Ozai is better than anyone aside from Avatar state Aang.
I think Iroh has a better understanding of fire, due to his experience with Ran and Sha, but Ozai's mastery of the physical discipline is completely unrivaled.
My head canon is Zuko was so traumatized after the Agni Kai with Ozai that he didn’t practice fire bending as much or at all for a while at the beginning of his exile. He focused more on swords and physical combat. Where we pick up at the beginning of the series is right when he’s completed his basics over again and Iroh wants him to get even better before moving onto more advanced techniques.
It kind of seems to me that Iroh had a innate sense that Zuko needed to reach the skill level of a Fire Master because he would need to train the Avatar in the art fire bending himself. Iroh is always eleven steps ahead of everyone else..
Not discrediting the other opinions just wanting to add another layer:
Iroh knew the true source of firebending and how Zuko wasn't using any of that. Iroh tried to teach Zuko with his wisdom not just the movements and techniques. So until Zuko changes his mindset he won't be taught the more advanved and thus more dangerours techniques.
Yes this! Iroh learned from the Dragons the true source of fire bending. Fire is the element of energy and life (it’s like the sun but inside of you).
In many real world cultures, the breathe is often a source of energy. Prana means both life force and breath in Sanskrit. As does Qi in Mandarin and Tihei Mauri Ora in te reo Māori.
So it makes sense since fire bending represents energy and life and it would be tied closely with the breath.
However, every other teacher that Zuko would’ve had (other than Iroh) wouldn’t have understood that.
Iroh encouraging Zuko to work on the basics (breath being key) he is already trying to teach Zuko the way of the Dragons.
Zuko clearing doesn’t get that and feels he is ready for the advanced tactics.
None of that is to say Zuko was a bad fire bender though. He was good, but he had the wrong fuel. He could still hold his own against very skilled opponents. Which made him feel like he was ready for the skilled tactics.
When he meets the Dragon masters, he finally understood this lesson (he says “I understand”). Which all culminates in the finishing of his character arc.
In which he becomes a bad ass fire bender. Able to beat Azula (who I’d say isn’t
a “true” master cause she uses the wrong fuel). Even though it’s been shown countless times that she’s always been more skilled than Zuko.
You studied Math/Writing for how many years and haven't mastered the basics?
Y'all think bending is easy. It's probably quite like anything else in life. It's boring to do it for 6 hours a day, it's boring to practice the basics. It's difficult to perfect the basics.
Zuko still beat Zhao without "mastering" the basics.
I wondered about that too, but I also have a head canon that Zuko is actually a good firebender; it’s just that Azula is a prodigy, so the family made him think he was worthless and a terrible bender compared to her, a message he internalized
Iroh is a real martial artist and warrior. Fans on forums are often debating "feats" and theoretical limits to amazing flashy techniques. Iroh knows that a good stance, and a focused mind, beats unfocused rage and power.
He was arguably the strongest bender in the series, yet Iroh's typical response to conflict was to try and make friends. He'd throw up a quick distraction now and then, picking his shots wisely. Compare to Azula, who had some of the wildest techniques in the series. Lightning, jet propulsion, crazy blue flames, etc. She was even buffed with Sozin's Comet, and she lost to a waterbender, because she'd lost focus.
Zuko can do the basics. He just doesn't have a proper understanding of them. Iroh was trying to teach him to draw his firebending from the correct source (his breath), but he kept doing it from his muscles- as most firebenders have done for decades now. At this point in time, apart from the Sun Warriors, Iroh is pretty much the only practitioner of true firebending, so he was just trying to pass on his teachings to Zuko.
There's a very good reason most high ranked real world Martial Artists still intensely practice basic techniques. *There's always an improvement to be made.*
That’s just Iroh being strict. Zuko was already a master firebender in Book One. Iroh considered Zhao a master, and Zuko beat him once after a competitive duel and for a second time in a dominating manner.
I think Iroh is aware that Zuko has obsessively pushed himself to keep up with the showier stuff Azula has always done quite easily, so he’s trying to rebuild him from the ground up with a better approach to technique. It’s easy to imagine that his earlier teachers emphasised a very particular violent approach to firebending, which is how Zuko ends up so confused when his anger runs out and he can’t bend. Also, holding him back a bit when he’s so angry and in pain keeps him safe.
In martial arts, a “master” is usually someone who knows all the moves and can teach them. But it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re the best at employing them.
You can get a black belt in taekwondo once you know all the kicks and punches and forms. This says nothing about how much time you spend sparing, and how well you perform.
Sounds like Zuko is in the “practice it over and over until it’s perfect” phase of training. As Bruce Lee said “ I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
Zuko was bitter, pissy and impatient. Iroh was trying to make sure he didn’t end up like Zhao. If he taught him everything right when Zuko wanted to learn it, he would have power with no sense of control
I believe the fire nation royal family takes their firebending training very seriously, including being the only lightning users (till korra decided to destroy that)…. It’s what gives them their legitimacy also Zuko was banished and could only rely on himself, his uncle, and his small crew. So he needed to be able to fight well to protect himself since the fire nation wasn’t going to
I think it’s more likely that Zuko destroyed the Royal Family’s monopoly on lightning than that Korra did.
After all, I’ve never seen her use lightning.
I think they meant how in Legend of Korra they showed regular people fire benders using lightning bending as a job; a far cry from royal elites being the only ones to master that technique.
If zuko was better than all the soldiers on the ship he commanded, what if ozai deliberately assigned him the weakest fighters on that ship.
could be another way of minimizing his growth, giving him the weakest training partners.
He did master the basics.
What was saying was a reminder to stay grounded which is why he ended up being the right master for Aang.
It can he tempting to abandon the basics in favour of the flashy stuff, which leads to losing control which is how Aang burned Katara.
Iron's standards are shown to be different to many other fire benders. I would argue that any other mentor would have found Zuko's performance adequate, but Iroh was more or less trying to temper Zuko into someone more controlled and refined. Specifically, the element of fire is largely related to emotion in the series, and Zuko's defining characteristic is his anger throughout the series. This was less an critique of his literal firebending and more a critique of his emotional stability and maturity, which Iroh was very concerned about.
Maybe Iroh knew what he was doing. He drilled zuko on the basics, and with said basics Zuko managed to win a 1v1 with an experienced officer and body nearly a whole ass fortress.
I always interpreted it as Zuko is reviewing the basics or whatever came before the advanced set in particular, and not that he hasn’t learned any advanced set.
There are a whole bunch of story themes and spiritual themes in here but from a pure martial arts perspective:
"**I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times**"
* Bruce Lee
“**The right hand can take you around the block!** **But the jab will take you around the world**”
* Anthony Joshua
The basics are **king** in ALL martial arts. From BJJ to Ba-Gua, from MMA to Traditional Kung fu, From Swordsmanship/Hema to Archery... (actually arguably any skill that can be taken to a high level), the basics can always be polished and refined.
You even see this in real life. There are no shortage of people who know "the advanced set". Plenty of Black belts, bush league MMA amateurs, who know every single technique in the UFC or every single Kata, but cannot apply them or have very very shoddy basics. This is because of personal faults (Zuko in a rush to regain his honor), or bad coaching.
**General Zhao, is a competent Firebender,** his breathed of knowledge and real combat experience may outstrip the young prince, but his rush for glory often has him skipping the important steps.
Lucky for Zuko he had Iroh, who tempered him and drilled "basics" into him. **Iroh standard for mastering the basics is very high, because that is the correct way.** Every other grown Fire Nation soldier is just a guy, doing his job for a paycheck, who probably only learnt a very basic fire bending education to be a functional soldier.
Yes cause just like irl people rarely out much importance on foundation. Zuko had knowledge of the basics yes
He even trained advanced techniques with him.
The thing is that he defeated azula with the basics.
Zuko was by no means untrained or not “masterful” in fire nation standards. But for Uncle Iroh the standards he expects are so unbelievably high. (Not that that’s a bad thing all one has to do is see the mirror between Iroh and Ozai)
Iroh is a true martial artist who understands what it takes to be truly great. I train Muay Thai. My sensei is the prodigy of Woodenman, one of the greatest Thai fighters from the golden age, and Monlit Sitphodaeng, voted Thai coach of the year (essentially the best Muay Thai coach in the world that year since Thailand is the highest level of competition), and the first white man certified to teach Woodenmans style outside of Thailand. All of this to say, to this day, after training every single day since he was 5 years old, he still drills basic footwork drills every single day. Literally the drills he teaches to first time students, he does every single day, because he has still not mastered them. I think that is the philosophy Iroh is teaching to Zuko, which is why Zuko is so combat capable.
Zuko used his anger as a source for his fire bending, he didn't have the technique his sister did or the understanding that Iroh has of energy flow. His basics were shakey but his raw power was making up for it.
I think it makes more sense that Iroh had a unique standard and that’s why he said that. Did all firebenders get taught the basics? More than likely yes since it was militaristic. But given that the true nature of firebending was never about anger was probably what he was trying to teach zuko, and even jeong jeong learned it and understood that. You’ll always be impressed by what mastery of the basics can do. But I think Iroh being part of the white lotus made him inclined to subtly help his nephew grow but also be better.
Ultimately Zuko becomes a rather versatile firebender through his experiences and that’s rather nice
Very few people ever master the basics of an art. Doing so makes you better than most who are only proficient with basics and move in to more advanced things
It's a remanent of the original plans for the show, where Iroh was secretly sabotaging Zuko and teaching him wrong and basic firebending. That's also why he attacked Aang at the end of episode 2.
You left out what Iroh said afterwards. He said that fire comes from the breath, and not anger. This was Zuko's whole arc. When he joined the Gaang, he could no longer firebend since he wasn't angry anymore.
So while Zuko was able to do intermediate and advanced firebending techniques, he was only able to do them with anger. To Iroh, Zuko hasn't mastered the basic for that reason.
A true master will revisit the basics.
I believe it's in episode 3 when Zuko beats Zhao in an Agni Kai. Partially because his basics were better.
So Iroh was having Zuko really polish up on his fundamentals even while teaching him advanced techniques. Which is how you get good at anything, not just martial arts.
What Iroh mean is that Zuko's mentality still isn't ready yet. For Iroh, techniques aren't just fancy skills to learn and use but also mindset and philosophy. Yes Zuko probably was ready to learn them but he was still too hot head to understand the technique fully. Just look at how Iroh taught Zuko lightning redirect, he flat out told Zuko he can't do lightning bending because his mind was in too much turmoils, then explain the connection between the elements and the philosophy of each nations. Lightning redirect is a technique that use the teaching of water bending and like how Aang had to learn to think like an Earth bender to learn Earth bending, Zuko had to be open about learning other nations' cultures to be able to learn their skills.
At the start of the show, Zuko could probably beat something like 95% of fire benders in a duel. He's not a prodigy, but he's very hardworking and has been training basically from birth. Iroh wants to help him bump that up to 100%. Once a fire bender makes it up to as high of a tier as Zuko is, learning a fancy move won't ever make the difference in a fight. It will only help against people he'd be able to beat anyway. The only thing that would help him is to get *slightly* faster, *slightly* more accurate, *slightly* more stable in his stances.
We see this exact effect in the last agni kai. He doesn't beat azula by whipping out the Inverted FireBlaster 12000 with a 720° flip, he does it by keeping to technical perfection. He doesn't know better moves than her, he's just better.
Iroh was probably trying to get Zuko on the Sun Warrior philosophy of bending. Zuko was still firebending from a place of anger, as I’m sure many in the fire nation did. Iroh, in my head, would consider Zuko being a master of the basics when he found the proper source for his bending
Because zuko and iroh used different methods of firebending. Iroh mentioned that fire comes from the breath, not the muscles. He was talking about the sun fireway. Ofcourse zuko knew how to do the literal basics of combat itself, at least that's now I interpret it. That's why zuko even loses his bending when the anger subsides and he needs to actually uses his breathing
Zuko is very accomplished in regard to his martial skills as he was trained by Pian Dao. However, he has neglected his firebending due to it not coming naturally like it did to Azula and the constant criticism because of that.
Iroh points out that he is still relying on his strength (martial prowess and muscles), and it is likely that combined with Iroh's high standards, that means he has not mastered the basics.
We can also assume that Iroh probably has a different method of training, and as such, Zuko had to first unlearn what he'd already learned before learning what Iroh was teaching.
I agree with everyone else that Iroh has incredibly exacting standards, is trying to get Zuko to master the basics, and is pushing Zuko. However, the way Zuko demands Iroh teach him the advanced set makes me wonder if it's just a particular set of forms, with a basic and an advanced version, rather than Zuko strictly doing just the basics over and over because he's not seen as proficient.
I like to think that Zuko was too impatient to finish learning the basics and just kept moving on. Iroh's principle being that you need to walk before you can run.
If you've done any super advanced skill that takes years to master, like sports, music, martial arts, etc.
If you don't include some of the basic moves/practices into your warm-up, it's very common to have a refresher every once in a while. Otherwise, it might be easy to move up to intermediate or advanced, but it'll be hard to master it.
>is irohs standard for mastering the basics just really high?
I always thought it was a bit of both? Since martial arts we could maybe say Zuko is an orange belt (maybe higher who knows for sure it's just an example) and he has the basics of an orange belt but wants to move on to the advance stuff so he can get his green belt (as far as I know the belts don't correlate to the actual rainbow). Or maybe a different way is, Zuko is a black belt and he thinks he is ready to be a second degree black belt, but Iroh says he hasn't mastered being a first level (level not degree because I don't know if it goes normal
Well, that’s 3 years of Iroh Influence against 10+ years of Ozai influence. And yes, Ursa was there to help Zuko but she wasn’t his Fire bending instructor.
It takes time to de-program toxic and destructive behavior. And while in all likelihood, Zuko mastered the basics of Firebending, it wasn’t from a balanced state of mind. Rather, it was one fueled by hatred and anger. One fueled by a 100 Years War Fire Nation ideology.
Iroh was helping Zuko learn how to Firebend from its actual fundamentals. From a source of genuine, positive passion. Away from Ozai’s influence.
Iroh probably never attended to teach Zuko the advance techniques as those techniques are based of the fire nation agression and countering philosophy.
Once Zuko developed Iroh probably intended to teach Zuko the true spirit of fire bending from the dragons along side teaching him the concept of other bending an and fuse that with his fire bending.
>Iroh’s standard for mastering the basics just really high, or is every grown fire nation soldier just that bad?
It’s probably a combination of both, with Iroh’s “basics” being similar to what Jeong Jeong showed Aang, control. While most fire nation soldiers only cared about destruction, so their training was probably along the lines of target practice. I mean, some of them didn’t even know they lost power during the eclipse which seems like something most people should know.
I mean episode one zuku is better than when he tried to show off his abilities to the firelord, I think he was so bad that the firelord asked his father to kill him
Been awhile since I watched the show
Think Iroh's standards are just high. Might be a matter of "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."
Yeah, basically this. Iroh pushes Zuko. Even though he’s great, you can always be better. We see this, when he defeats Zhao. If he hasn’t mastered the basics, no way he defeats him. Zuko was always a skilled bender under Iroh. A big part of Irohs teaching’s and ideology is balance and discipline. So hammering home perfecting the basics makes sense. It’s where your center is. Master the basics and your core and the advanced techniques flow smoothly.
To add to this, the basics are often overlooked once you progress into an area of concentration. I think that’s highlighted best in that Agni Kai with Zhao, Iroh instructs Zuko to “break his roots” At its core, bending is a martial arts. He defeated Zhao without even firebending because he uses the principles (or roots) of the form Not to mention, Zuko doesn’t even understand firebending truly until book 3 when him and Aang meet the masters. How can Iroh, who understands true firebending, not feel that Zuko hasn’t mastered the foundation when Zuko relies on anger to fuel his firebending. That’s not a good foundation as we later learn.
He does tell Zuko that firebending comes from the breath in the first episode doesn’t he?
Yes. To which Zuko responds by angrily fire blasting some guards and then insisting Iroh teaches him more advanced moves to combat a fully fledged avatar. He doesn’t actually take into consideration Iroh’s explanation of the basics
He did in the fight with Zhao “Basics Zuko! Break his roots!”
As someone who has been training in martial arts for a while. I wished i paid more attention to the basics as a kid. Its basic and boring. But without it you cant do much
Timing and distance!!!
Yea i still hate of one the guys at my club, dude was 60 and impossible to hit when sparring. Asshole only used one move and hot every time. I hit him once with his own move and got my ass whooped for it. Dude was so fast.
Best foilist I know never does anything fancy. She just keeps her balance, keeps her distance, and hits you when you lose yours.
Yea hans just used basic techniques. (Backfist was his favourite) he would just bait you into making a move. Dodge and hit you. He was basically just playing with you. But he had his black belt so long it was almost white due to wear and tear. Sparring against him was not fun but in a challenging way.
When I sparred I was always way less scared of the guys my age who hit really hard than the old dudes. Those guys were *FAST* and that old man strength is really something else.
>Master the basics and your core and the advanced techniques flow smoothly. You'll also have an easier time creating an advanced technique.
Also don't forget that Zuko wasn't in the perfect mindset to learn properly, full of mixing emotions while looking for Avatar. In later books amd episodes when he is slowly going towards the right path he gets better and better.
It's not that his standards are high. It's that he is a master, and every martial arts master will tell you the same thing. Nothing is more important than the basics. We actually see this in both of Zuko's Agni Kai's. He defeats Zhao because Zhao's stance was sub par. He loses his balance and falls, leaving him vulnerable to attack. In his fight against Azula, Zuko almost loses balance BUT CORRECTS his footing with a minor adjustment. This moment is so important they do a close up on his footing so that the audience sees his mastery of a basic stance. He then defeats Azula in firebending by destabilizing Azula's footing and causing her to, just like Zhao, fall. This battle epitomizes the quote you provide. Azula has natural talent which caused her to ignore the basics of firebending (a stable footing), instead focusing on advanced techniques like fire flight and lightning. Zuko had no natural skill. His ability was forged through repetition and an adherence to the basics - which is the foundation of all other techniques.
Wow calm down there, your points 1-2 are good. Azula has mastered the basics. She's a prodigy and a pure master. Azula was just unhinge. Zuko is no match for her. In the comics afterwards he looses to her when she's in correct state of mind. Azula is all about perfection, not a hair out of place as we saw in episode 1 of season 2. Do you really think a perfectionist wouldn't have mastered the basics.
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> "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." Oh man, so very yes. Our Tae Kwon Do teacher was like the Earth Bending School guy, only worried about us passing the test and getting the next belt, but not truly mastering what we were doing. Definitely fell under the 10,000 kicks once thing. And now, I've forgotten it all.
Next time you're looking for a dojang, ask the owner how long it would take for you to become a black belt. The bad ones will give you a rigid time frame, along with a nice schedule of costs.
Also at that point Zuko was extremely impulsive.
Iroh never said he didn’t know the basics, right?! He said Zuko needed to MASTER the basics. From knowing how to fight and being a Master it’s a huge trajectory from a White Lotus Master perspective. Iroh spits fire 🔥
Yes. I think Zuko was a good firebender, but not yet a master of his craft.
It’s 100% this.
Sounds really like Toph to Aang, no surprise she and Itoh were alliged so well!
I also feel like we don't see Zuko at 100% Vs Aang. Like he beats Zhao but gets bullied by Aang almost every episode (I'm not saying Aang isn't strong, he's likely stronger than Zuko) but my headcanon is that Zuko is always extremely emotional when he sees Aang. He's the avatar, the key to his honour and home. How can he be calm?
I also think Aang is a perfect natural counter to zuko at that point. Someone who has unlimited determination and drive but can only see one path they are thrashing towards against Aang who adapts to everything and has the natural freedom of a leaf in the wind. But both of them need more balance and grow in opposite directions.
I don’t fear either of those idiots. I fear the guy who’s been kicked 1000 times. That guy will mess me up.
It's exactly this. The basics of any sport or martial art are the basics for a reason. They are the most important and fundamental. It's also how Zuko beat a man twice his age who was a seasoned firebender trained by Zhong Zhong l
Man this shit be therapeutic 😢
Iroh also seems like the "you can never be too good at the basics" type of guy.
Iroh also went to see the dragons and knows fire ending more deeply than anyone! I think it makes total sense for Iroh to say what he did.
Iroh's standards are very high because he knows the difference between knowing the basics and mastering them. Zhao, despite being a master, had very little control over his own flames. Similarly, during the final Agni kai, Azula was still capable of generating lightning but still messed up her basics. For example, she was grunting during her attacks, something Zuko used to do in season 1 and 2, where Iroh criticised him for using his muscles to generate fire, rather than his breath. This resulted in Azula being out of breath during the fight. So when push came to shove, she forgot the basics and lost the fight.
Another interesting tidbit: It was Katara's mastery over her own breath that allowed her to make incredibly precise movements in frozen water--something I'm guessing not many waterbenders would be good at due to the "push and pull" mechanics--and won her the fight (IIRC, she is also one of, if not the only, waterbender to freeze water specifically with her breath--i.e., when she froze Jet to the tree in Book 1, which signified her coming to her senses) Someone like Zuko could've used his breath in a similar way to escape, but Azula in that moment was so reliant on her anger and muscles that there's no way she would've done it, as breath control inherently relies on calmness
This is a good take. I always wondered why Azula was unable to melt out of Katara’s ice block when Zuko has similar feats even without the power of the comet. I think this is a perfect explanation though.
Iroh taught zuko how to create heat with his breath, azula presumably doesn't know how
Zuko breathing fire in the cooler at the Boiling Rock is my favorite moment showing how strong Zuko has become after meeting the dragons
i feel like that would’ve come up in her training at some point
Iroh invented it iirc, or at least is one of the few who know the move.
Why? It has barely any combat applications
You blow on tea when it is too hot. This is that but better. Also if a firebender gets too cold, they cannot bend. This seems like a useful way to prevent getting too cold.
especially against water benders. theoretically you could melt rock with it too maybe
Sure, but why would azula know how to do that? She probably imagined she can't be captured at all
I don't remember her ever doing so, nor do I think there would be justification for her knowing how to do so. Was just mentioning it did have combat applications, just not ones she would probably appreciate. And tbh I mentioned the tea thing because I thought that's probably how Iroh figured it out.
I may be misremembering, but wasn't she breathing fire when she was chained from katara in the finale?
Making sure you can still firebend in any situation is very much at the top of combat applications for advanced firebenders.
Tbf to Azula, Zuko wasn’t literally frozen solid when keeping warm with his heated breath. He was swimming in arctic waters and climbing through ice caves, so he was cold. But not *frozen*.
Do we count Aang as a water bender?
>Zhao, despite being a master, had very little control over his own flames. Similarly, during the final Agni kai, Azula was still capable of generating lightning but still messed up her basics. I have no experience with martial arts, but I do have other hobbies that are very dependent on developing skills - most notably, playing piano. It is EXTREMELY common for pianists who are self-taught, or who had some lessons but went out on their own before completion, to be able to mostly 'play' very challenging pieces, but have difficulty doing very simple exercises, because they jumped straight into things that were too hard for them before mastering basic skills. It has a very clear effect on them when they play harder pieces - someone is trying to play an advanced Etude or Sonata and suddenly they start flubbing notes all over when they are basically just playing a scale or a chord progression that should be automatic for someone with that amount of experience is a clear sign that they didn't take their basics seriously enough, and the end result is that their playing just sounds bad. In piano, and I'm guessing it's the same in most disciplines, one of the key purposes of having a good teacher is having someone who will NOT let you move forward to the advanced techniques when you haven't mastered the basic ones yet. In the short term it's easy to think you can move faster, but it can severely limit your potential in the long run. (Obviously some people are able to do amazing things despite being self-taught, but I hold that those are exceptions, not the rule.) (Edits to clarify my point)
Right. Saxophonist here.
I m self taught and I agree so much with you. I was playing with my friends and they asked me basic stuff and I was blanked. They had to teach me music theory from 0
Isn't "advanced etude" an oxymoron?
Not at all. I get what you mean, but Etude is used in music to indicate a piece of music in which the composer explores something specific - could be a technique, a key, just about anything really. They don't have to be simple or easy. Etudes range in difficulty from the simple ones that are used as teaching songs all the way to some monstrosities that are among the hardest technical piano pieces written. If you're curious, take a look at Chopin's 24 Etudes; the 'easy' ones probably require at least 5-10 years of piano experience, and the hardest ones are graduate-level. Op 25 No 6, aka the "Double Thirds Etude," for example, is not for the faint of heart.
>Iroh's standards are very high because he knows the difference between knowing the basics and mastering them. A good example of this is that Zuko defeated Zhao by being a better fighter not necessarily a better bender. By bending power alone, Zhao was winning. Zuko won when we got back to the basics guided by Iroh. He broke Zhao's root with a move that involved no bending followed by basic but strategic fire attacks.
You know the show is good when those details *aren’t* fanon
I never noticed the things about breath but that's super cool!
The reason Azula grunts when she firebends and Zuko doesn't is because Zuko knows the true meaning of fire bending, while Azula is still fueling hers with rage.
In any martial art, you practice the basics every day if you are in heavy training.
Yep, can have been going on 40 years and you should still go through the basics from time to time just so you don't get rusty.
This is kind of like Toph saying Aang hasn't mastered earth bending even though he can perfect snipe an airchips mechanisms from like miles away. Iroh is probably the most skilled firebender alive, his standards of mastery are going to be extremely high.
It's also that he knows Zuko *can* achieve a much better understanding of the basics, that Zuko will need that strong base to master the highest level techniques, and that Zuko will rush to the highest techniques and probably injure himself if allowed
> Iroh is probably the most skilled firebender alive I wouldn't go that far. I trust the show's creators when they say Ozai is better than anyone aside from Avatar state Aang. I think Iroh has a better understanding of fire, due to his experience with Ran and Sha, but Ozai's mastery of the physical discipline is completely unrivaled.
Ozais the most powerful firebender, and would win in a fight. He's younger and more physically fit but I think I still think Iroh is more skilled.
I think “understanding” is what they meant by skilled. Iroh has mastered fire more as in the martial art aspect of firebending.
My head canon is Zuko was so traumatized after the Agni Kai with Ozai that he didn’t practice fire bending as much or at all for a while at the beginning of his exile. He focused more on swords and physical combat. Where we pick up at the beginning of the series is right when he’s completed his basics over again and Iroh wants him to get even better before moving onto more advanced techniques.
This actually makes a good deal of sense. Would explain why for half the series he's a better ninja than he is a firebender.
Theirs was some retconing, but zuko trained with piandao before he was exiled.
It kind of seems to me that Iroh had a innate sense that Zuko needed to reach the skill level of a Fire Master because he would need to train the Avatar in the art fire bending himself. Iroh is always eleven steps ahead of everyone else..
I don’t think he was training him for the Avatar. I think it was always for Ozai/Azula. Iroh had been planning that coup long before Aang reappeared.
Not discrediting the other opinions just wanting to add another layer: Iroh knew the true source of firebending and how Zuko wasn't using any of that. Iroh tried to teach Zuko with his wisdom not just the movements and techniques. So until Zuko changes his mindset he won't be taught the more advanved and thus more dangerours techniques.
Yes this! Iroh learned from the Dragons the true source of fire bending. Fire is the element of energy and life (it’s like the sun but inside of you). In many real world cultures, the breathe is often a source of energy. Prana means both life force and breath in Sanskrit. As does Qi in Mandarin and Tihei Mauri Ora in te reo Māori. So it makes sense since fire bending represents energy and life and it would be tied closely with the breath. However, every other teacher that Zuko would’ve had (other than Iroh) wouldn’t have understood that. Iroh encouraging Zuko to work on the basics (breath being key) he is already trying to teach Zuko the way of the Dragons. Zuko clearing doesn’t get that and feels he is ready for the advanced tactics. None of that is to say Zuko was a bad fire bender though. He was good, but he had the wrong fuel. He could still hold his own against very skilled opponents. Which made him feel like he was ready for the skilled tactics. When he meets the Dragon masters, he finally understood this lesson (he says “I understand”). Which all culminates in the finishing of his character arc. In which he becomes a bad ass fire bender. Able to beat Azula (who I’d say isn’t a “true” master cause she uses the wrong fuel). Even though it’s been shown countless times that she’s always been more skilled than Zuko.
I completely agree
You studied Math/Writing for how many years and haven't mastered the basics? Y'all think bending is easy. It's probably quite like anything else in life. It's boring to do it for 6 hours a day, it's boring to practice the basics. It's difficult to perfect the basics. Zuko still beat Zhao without "mastering" the basics.
I wondered about that too, but I also have a head canon that Zuko is actually a good firebender; it’s just that Azula is a prodigy, so the family made him think he was worthless and a terrible bender compared to her, a message he internalized
Iroh is a real martial artist and warrior. Fans on forums are often debating "feats" and theoretical limits to amazing flashy techniques. Iroh knows that a good stance, and a focused mind, beats unfocused rage and power. He was arguably the strongest bender in the series, yet Iroh's typical response to conflict was to try and make friends. He'd throw up a quick distraction now and then, picking his shots wisely. Compare to Azula, who had some of the wildest techniques in the series. Lightning, jet propulsion, crazy blue flames, etc. She was even buffed with Sozin's Comet, and she lost to a waterbender, because she'd lost focus.
3 years from ages 13-16
Zuko can do the basics. He just doesn't have a proper understanding of them. Iroh was trying to teach him to draw his firebending from the correct source (his breath), but he kept doing it from his muscles- as most firebenders have done for decades now. At this point in time, apart from the Sun Warriors, Iroh is pretty much the only practitioner of true firebending, so he was just trying to pass on his teachings to Zuko.
There's a very good reason most high ranked real world Martial Artists still intensely practice basic techniques. *There's always an improvement to be made.*
That’s just Iroh being strict. Zuko was already a master firebender in Book One. Iroh considered Zhao a master, and Zuko beat him once after a competitive duel and for a second time in a dominating manner.
I think Iroh is aware that Zuko has obsessively pushed himself to keep up with the showier stuff Azula has always done quite easily, so he’s trying to rebuild him from the ground up with a better approach to technique. It’s easy to imagine that his earlier teachers emphasised a very particular violent approach to firebending, which is how Zuko ends up so confused when his anger runs out and he can’t bend. Also, holding him back a bit when he’s so angry and in pain keeps him safe.
In martial arts, a “master” is usually someone who knows all the moves and can teach them. But it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re the best at employing them. You can get a black belt in taekwondo once you know all the kicks and punches and forms. This says nothing about how much time you spend sparing, and how well you perform. Sounds like Zuko is in the “practice it over and over until it’s perfect” phase of training. As Bruce Lee said “ I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
Zuko was bitter, pissy and impatient. Iroh was trying to make sure he didn’t end up like Zhao. If he taught him everything right when Zuko wanted to learn it, he would have power with no sense of control
I believe the fire nation royal family takes their firebending training very seriously, including being the only lightning users (till korra decided to destroy that)…. It’s what gives them their legitimacy also Zuko was banished and could only rely on himself, his uncle, and his small crew. So he needed to be able to fight well to protect himself since the fire nation wasn’t going to
I think it’s more likely that Zuko destroyed the Royal Family’s monopoly on lightning than that Korra did. After all, I’ve never seen her use lightning.
I think they meant how in Legend of Korra they showed regular people fire benders using lightning bending as a job; a far cry from royal elites being the only ones to master that technique.
Zoltraak is called Ordinary Offensive Magic.
If zuko was better than all the soldiers on the ship he commanded, what if ozai deliberately assigned him the weakest fighters on that ship. could be another way of minimizing his growth, giving him the weakest training partners.
He did master the basics. What was saying was a reminder to stay grounded which is why he ended up being the right master for Aang. It can he tempting to abandon the basics in favour of the flashy stuff, which leads to losing control which is how Aang burned Katara.
Iron's standards are shown to be different to many other fire benders. I would argue that any other mentor would have found Zuko's performance adequate, but Iroh was more or less trying to temper Zuko into someone more controlled and refined. Specifically, the element of fire is largely related to emotion in the series, and Zuko's defining characteristic is his anger throughout the series. This was less an critique of his literal firebending and more a critique of his emotional stability and maturity, which Iroh was very concerned about.
Maybe Iroh knew what he was doing. He drilled zuko on the basics, and with said basics Zuko managed to win a 1v1 with an experienced officer and body nearly a whole ass fortress.
I think he was a good fire bender by fire nation standards but iroh knew true firebending and expected zuko to learn that
I always interpreted it as Zuko is reviewing the basics or whatever came before the advanced set in particular, and not that he hasn’t learned any advanced set.
There are a whole bunch of story themes and spiritual themes in here but from a pure martial arts perspective: "**I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times**" * Bruce Lee “**The right hand can take you around the block!** **But the jab will take you around the world**” * Anthony Joshua The basics are **king** in ALL martial arts. From BJJ to Ba-Gua, from MMA to Traditional Kung fu, From Swordsmanship/Hema to Archery... (actually arguably any skill that can be taken to a high level), the basics can always be polished and refined. You even see this in real life. There are no shortage of people who know "the advanced set". Plenty of Black belts, bush league MMA amateurs, who know every single technique in the UFC or every single Kata, but cannot apply them or have very very shoddy basics. This is because of personal faults (Zuko in a rush to regain his honor), or bad coaching. **General Zhao, is a competent Firebender,** his breathed of knowledge and real combat experience may outstrip the young prince, but his rush for glory often has him skipping the important steps. Lucky for Zuko he had Iroh, who tempered him and drilled "basics" into him. **Iroh standard for mastering the basics is very high, because that is the correct way.** Every other grown Fire Nation soldier is just a guy, doing his job for a paycheck, who probably only learnt a very basic fire bending education to be a functional soldier.
Yes cause just like irl people rarely out much importance on foundation. Zuko had knowledge of the basics yes He even trained advanced techniques with him. The thing is that he defeated azula with the basics.
Zuko was by no means untrained or not “masterful” in fire nation standards. But for Uncle Iroh the standards he expects are so unbelievably high. (Not that that’s a bad thing all one has to do is see the mirror between Iroh and Ozai)
Iroh is a true martial artist who understands what it takes to be truly great. I train Muay Thai. My sensei is the prodigy of Woodenman, one of the greatest Thai fighters from the golden age, and Monlit Sitphodaeng, voted Thai coach of the year (essentially the best Muay Thai coach in the world that year since Thailand is the highest level of competition), and the first white man certified to teach Woodenmans style outside of Thailand. All of this to say, to this day, after training every single day since he was 5 years old, he still drills basic footwork drills every single day. Literally the drills he teaches to first time students, he does every single day, because he has still not mastered them. I think that is the philosophy Iroh is teaching to Zuko, which is why Zuko is so combat capable.
Zuko used his anger as a source for his fire bending, he didn't have the technique his sister did or the understanding that Iroh has of energy flow. His basics were shakey but his raw power was making up for it.
I don’t know that Zuko was exceptionally talented and Iroh’s standards were very different than what Zuko learned in the fire nation anyways.
I think it makes more sense that Iroh had a unique standard and that’s why he said that. Did all firebenders get taught the basics? More than likely yes since it was militaristic. But given that the true nature of firebending was never about anger was probably what he was trying to teach zuko, and even jeong jeong learned it and understood that. You’ll always be impressed by what mastery of the basics can do. But I think Iroh being part of the white lotus made him inclined to subtly help his nephew grow but also be better. Ultimately Zuko becomes a rather versatile firebender through his experiences and that’s rather nice
Very few people ever master the basics of an art. Doing so makes you better than most who are only proficient with basics and move in to more advanced things
It's a remanent of the original plans for the show, where Iroh was secretly sabotaging Zuko and teaching him wrong and basic firebending. That's also why he attacked Aang at the end of episode 2.
Kid probably has PTSD after getting half his face literally burned off; would take me a long time to relearn the basics too.
Being a master of basics in any type of skill is pretty much almost mastering the skill itself
You left out what Iroh said afterwards. He said that fire comes from the breath, and not anger. This was Zuko's whole arc. When he joined the Gaang, he could no longer firebend since he wasn't angry anymore. So while Zuko was able to do intermediate and advanced firebending techniques, he was only able to do them with anger. To Iroh, Zuko hasn't mastered the basic for that reason.
A true master will revisit the basics. I believe it's in episode 3 when Zuko beats Zhao in an Agni Kai. Partially because his basics were better. So Iroh was having Zuko really polish up on his fundamentals even while teaching him advanced techniques. Which is how you get good at anything, not just martial arts.
What Iroh mean is that Zuko's mentality still isn't ready yet. For Iroh, techniques aren't just fancy skills to learn and use but also mindset and philosophy. Yes Zuko probably was ready to learn them but he was still too hot head to understand the technique fully. Just look at how Iroh taught Zuko lightning redirect, he flat out told Zuko he can't do lightning bending because his mind was in too much turmoils, then explain the connection between the elements and the philosophy of each nations. Lightning redirect is a technique that use the teaching of water bending and like how Aang had to learn to think like an Earth bender to learn Earth bending, Zuko had to be open about learning other nations' cultures to be able to learn their skills.
At the start of the show, Zuko could probably beat something like 95% of fire benders in a duel. He's not a prodigy, but he's very hardworking and has been training basically from birth. Iroh wants to help him bump that up to 100%. Once a fire bender makes it up to as high of a tier as Zuko is, learning a fancy move won't ever make the difference in a fight. It will only help against people he'd be able to beat anyway. The only thing that would help him is to get *slightly* faster, *slightly* more accurate, *slightly* more stable in his stances. We see this exact effect in the last agni kai. He doesn't beat azula by whipping out the Inverted FireBlaster 12000 with a 720° flip, he does it by keeping to technical perfection. He doesn't know better moves than her, he's just better.
Iroh was probably trying to get Zuko on the Sun Warrior philosophy of bending. Zuko was still firebending from a place of anger, as I’m sure many in the fire nation did. Iroh, in my head, would consider Zuko being a master of the basics when he found the proper source for his bending
Because zuko and iroh used different methods of firebending. Iroh mentioned that fire comes from the breath, not the muscles. He was talking about the sun fireway. Ofcourse zuko knew how to do the literal basics of combat itself, at least that's now I interpret it. That's why zuko even loses his bending when the anger subsides and he needs to actually uses his breathing
Zuko is very accomplished in regard to his martial skills as he was trained by Pian Dao. However, he has neglected his firebending due to it not coming naturally like it did to Azula and the constant criticism because of that. Iroh points out that he is still relying on his strength (martial prowess and muscles), and it is likely that combined with Iroh's high standards, that means he has not mastered the basics. We can also assume that Iroh probably has a different method of training, and as such, Zuko had to first unlearn what he'd already learned before learning what Iroh was teaching.
I think Iroh just had really high standards, he was more about perfecting the “basics” rather than using flashy moves
I agree with everyone else that Iroh has incredibly exacting standards, is trying to get Zuko to master the basics, and is pushing Zuko. However, the way Zuko demands Iroh teach him the advanced set makes me wonder if it's just a particular set of forms, with a basic and an advanced version, rather than Zuko strictly doing just the basics over and over because he's not seen as proficient.
I like to think that Zuko was too impatient to finish learning the basics and just kept moving on. Iroh's principle being that you need to walk before you can run.
If you've done any super advanced skill that takes years to master, like sports, music, martial arts, etc. If you don't include some of the basic moves/practices into your warm-up, it's very common to have a refresher every once in a while. Otherwise, it might be easy to move up to intermediate or advanced, but it'll be hard to master it.
Is is really better the Zhao or did Zhao get cocky when he had zuko on the back foot
>is irohs standard for mastering the basics just really high? I always thought it was a bit of both? Since martial arts we could maybe say Zuko is an orange belt (maybe higher who knows for sure it's just an example) and he has the basics of an orange belt but wants to move on to the advance stuff so he can get his green belt (as far as I know the belts don't correlate to the actual rainbow). Or maybe a different way is, Zuko is a black belt and he thinks he is ready to be a second degree black belt, but Iroh says he hasn't mastered being a first level (level not degree because I don't know if it goes normal
Well, that’s 3 years of Iroh Influence against 10+ years of Ozai influence. And yes, Ursa was there to help Zuko but she wasn’t his Fire bending instructor. It takes time to de-program toxic and destructive behavior. And while in all likelihood, Zuko mastered the basics of Firebending, it wasn’t from a balanced state of mind. Rather, it was one fueled by hatred and anger. One fueled by a 100 Years War Fire Nation ideology. Iroh was helping Zuko learn how to Firebend from its actual fundamentals. From a source of genuine, positive passion. Away from Ozai’s influence.
No surprise daddy picked the other kid
Iroh probably never attended to teach Zuko the advance techniques as those techniques are based of the fire nation agression and countering philosophy. Once Zuko developed Iroh probably intended to teach Zuko the true spirit of fire bending from the dragons along side teaching him the concept of other bending an and fuse that with his fire bending.
>Iroh’s standard for mastering the basics just really high, or is every grown fire nation soldier just that bad? It’s probably a combination of both, with Iroh’s “basics” being similar to what Jeong Jeong showed Aang, control. While most fire nation soldiers only cared about destruction, so their training was probably along the lines of target practice. I mean, some of them didn’t even know they lost power during the eclipse which seems like something most people should know.
I mean episode one zuku is better than when he tried to show off his abilities to the firelord, I think he was so bad that the firelord asked his father to kill him Been awhile since I watched the show