Talk:Iroh/@comment-4662143-20111210061907

When do you all think that Iroh finally "changed" and became good? I mean obviously we know that he became good before he started to help Team Avatar, but does anyone think that they know when he stopped believing in the Fire Nation's war and felt that what Aang was doing was correct? I mean, at the end of Season 1, he specifically tells Zhao he's "no traitor" and throughout that season, helps Zuko chase after the Gaang. But simultaneously, he treats Yue with compassion; Zhao would probably have killed her on the spot or taken her hostage given her political position. Plus, even though Aang is right there, he doesn't make any attempt to catch him.

When they settle in Ba Sing Se, he cautions Zuko not to mess with what they've achieved by looking for the Avatar. By Lake Laogai he's pressuring Zuko to not capture Appa, thereby rejecting the idea of capturing Aang and thus rejecting the idea of returning home a hero, so his conviction that the Fire Nation's War was good must have ended before then.

The seemingly obvious choice is when Azula tried to capture them in The Avatar State episode, because they cut off their topknots after that. But it seems that Iroh is skeptical of Azula's intentions even before this, given that he says that he never knew Ozai to forgive anything. We might say that he never had any loyalty to the Fire Nation's War after his son died, but that wouldn't explain why he accompanied Zuko to find the Avatar. It could, however, be that Iroh, unable to exercise a "peaceful" influence over the Ozai, saw the good in Zuko, and accompanied him on the trip in an effort to change him, thereby eventually ensuring Zuko's ending the war upon assuming power. He also might have thought that finding the Avatar was impossible.

So what do you think?