Ursa

Jen Cohn

History
Princess Ursa is the wife of Ozai and mother of Prince Zuko and Princess Azula. She has only appeared in flashbacks in the episode "Zuko Alone" and a feverish dream of Zuko in "The Earth King", although not much is known about her. It is shown that she is very protective of her son Zuko and may be one of the only members of the Fire Nation royal family (along with Uncle Iroh) who loves him. Shortly after the death of Iroh's son, Lu Ten, her husband Ozai asked his father, the Fire Lord Azulon, to pass Iroh's birthright to the throne to him. Ozai considered Iroh an unworthy quitter who let the death of his son get in his way of conquering Ba Sing Se. This dishonorable request only infuriated Azulon, who declared that Ozai would be fittingly punished for venturing to betray his own brother in his time of sadness. It is unknown what exactly this punishment was or if it was even carried out, though Azula told Zuko that it was to have him killed so that Ozai knew how it felt to lose his own first-born son. By the next morning, Ursa had disappeared, Azulon was proclaimed dead, and Ozai was announced as his willed successor. It is unknown what part Ursa had in these scandalous events, but it is almost certain that she played a major role in protecting Zuko. In Ursa's final appearance in the flashbacks, she wakes Zuko before her departure to remind him of her love and to tell him to always remember who he was, no matter how things seemed to change.

Trivia

 * "Ursa" is Latin for bear, which is likely a reference to how protective she is of Zuko.