Ursa

"fire"

- Zuko, please, my love, listen to me. Everything I've done, I've done to protect you. Remember this, Zuko. No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are.

Ursa was the wife of Ozai, mother of Fire Lord Zuko and Princess Azula, and granddaughter of Avatar Roku and Ta Min. She was a kind and gentle mother to her two children, though Azula believed she favored Zuko over her. In reality, her marriage to Ozai was a forced one, as Ozai would cut her off from any ties to her previous life.

Upon learning that Fire Lord Azulon had ordered Ozai to murder Zuko, she ensured her son's life was spared. Subsequently, she was banished from the Fire Nation for treason.

History
Ursa was born to Rina and Jinzuk in the small Fire Nation town of Hira'a. From an early age she became close friends with a boy named Ikem. When she grew older the two began to date, and went into the acting business together. They both received large roles in "Love Amongst the Dragons", and on the day that Ursa was cast Ikem proposed to her. Ursa happily agreed, and looked forward to her life with Ikem.

However, on that very night, Fire Lord Azulon and Prince Ozai arrived in Hira'a, stating that they had been looking for a descendant of Roku's to marry Ozai since the Fire Sages had predicted it would yield a powerful bloodline. Ozai then proposed to Ursa, and she reluctantly agreed. Ikem made a desperate attempt to halt the carriage carrying Ursa away, but was confronted by soldiers. Ursa begged Ozai to spare him, and was allowed to convince Ikem to leave, knowing it was the only way to ensure his safety.

After their wedding, Ursa was informed by Ozai that she would never be allowed to return home, nor would her family and friends be allowed to visit her. Ursa was forced to bid her parents farewell, and then started her new life as a Princess of the Fire Nation. Following her marriage, Ursa gave birth to Zuko, then Azula. Even after the birth of her two children, she was unwilling to forget the loved ones from her old life. Ursa employed a palace servant, Elua, to pass secret notes to Ikem. However, Elua betrayed Ursa's trust and filed the notes away, on the orders of Prince Ozai.

On a family trip to Ember Island, Zuko nearly drowned in his attempt to assist a turtle crab. After Ozai rescued him, Ursa comforted Zuko by holding him while he recovered from his experience.



Shortly after the death of Lu Ten, Ozai asked his father, Fire Lord Azulon, to pass Iroh's birthright of the throne to him, since he considered Iroh to be unworthy for letting the death of his son get in the way of conquering Ba Sing Se. The 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 was not told what exactly this punishment was or if it was even carried out, though Azula, who had hidden behind curtains in the throne room to listen, told Zuko that it was to have him killed so that Ozai would know how it felt to lose his own firstborn son. By the next morning, Ursa had disappeared, Azulon was proclaimed dead, and Ozai was announced as his willed successor. Before her departure, Ursa woke Zuko to remind him of her true, strong motherly love and to tell him to always remember who he was, no matter how things seemed to change, just before pulling her hood over her head, and walking away into the shadows.



On the Day of Black Sun, Ozai finally shed some light on Ursa's mysterious departure to Zuko, and revealed that Azulon did indeed order him to kill Zuko. Ursa learned of this, and wanting nothing but to protect Zuko, she proposed a plan to Ozai, fully aware of the consequences, which she accepted. The specific details of the plan were not revealed, but it resulted in the death of Azulon, Ozai's ascension to the Fire Nation throne in Iroh's place, and Ursa's banishment from the Fire Nation for doing "vicious, treasonous things".

Zuko saw this story as hope that his mother was still alive. Before Azula's final fight against Zuko during Sozin's Comet, Ursa returned as a hallucination in her daughter's mirror. In a short, but very sad conversation, she claimed to love her, but this only served to further Azula's descent into insanity. After being crowned Fire Lord, Zuko sent out multiple search parties searching for his mother, even hiring June and her shirshu and confronting Ozai in prison, all to no success. Zuko asked Azula if she could coax the information out of their father, and she agreed.

Personality
One of Ursa's defining features was her strong motherly love and protectiveness of her only son; she may have been one of the only members of the Fire Nation Royal Family, along with Uncle Iroh and possibly his son Lu Ten, who really loved him. Her life was dedicated to protecting him.

Her relationship with her daughter Azula, however, was strained by the fact that the young princess was emotionally abusive toward everyone else in the family, especially her older brother, Zuko. She was forced to discipline Azula on a regular basis, but it was apparent to her that her daughter's cruelty was beyond a normal level. Azula believed that Ursa thought of her as a monster, which scarred the princess for the rest of her life and may have influenced some of her later behavior.

Because of their different personalities, Ozai and Ursa slowly grew apart. Their different personalities shaped the lives of their children, each of them favored by a different parent.

Appearances
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The Promise trilogy

 * The Promise Part 2 (flashback, no lines)
 * The Promise Part 3 (dream, vision)

The Search trilogy
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 * The Search Part 1

Trivia

 * She appeared in one of Zuko's nightmares, calling to her son for help.
 * While imprisoned together in the Crystal Catacombs of Old Ba Sing Se, Zuko disclosed information about his mother to Katara which eventually won him her trust.
 * It was also revealed that Azula harbored some resentment toward her mother for favoring Zuko. This resentment eventually aided in her mental collapse, as she could not reconcile her belief that Ursa hated her with the subconscious knowledge that her mother did love her.
 * Avatar Roku was Ursa's grandfather, making two of Zuko and Azula's great-grandfathers Fire Lord Sozin and Avatar Roku. Similarly, Ta Min, her grandmother, looked similar in appearance to her. Her relation to Avatar Roku also means that she and Aang were related spiritually.
 * Ursa never appeared in the present time of the television series. Her story was told in flashbacks.
 * During the 2008 San Diego Comic-con, it was announced that a reunion between Ursa and Zuko had been arranged, made into a storyboard by director Joaquim Dos Santos, but then dropped just before the finale was finished, as requested by show co-creator Michael Dante DiMartino for reasons unknown.
 * In the 2010 roundtable discussion with M. Night Shyamalan, one change he said he may make in the sequels of his is to reveal Ursa's fate.
 * In The Legend of Korra March 2011 interview, Christopher John Farley of Wall Street Journal asked the creators about Ursa's fate. Michael Dante DiMartino replied "That question will be answered in some way, but not necessarily in the show. That's all I'll say."
 * In 170 ASC, Jinora, who had read the adventures of Team Avatar, asked her grandmother what happened to Ursa. Katara began to answer that it was an incredible tale, but before she could go any further, she was interrupted by Ikki.