The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse


 * This article is about an episode, for the event, see Day of Black Sun. For the battle, see Invasion of the Fire Nation.

Writer: Aaron Ehasz

Director: Joaquim Dos Santos

Guest Stars: Carlos Alazraqui (Tho, Due), Rene Auberjonois (The Mechanist), William H. Bassett (Huu), Michael Dow (Haru), Mick Foley (The Boulder), Kevin Michael Richardson (Tyro, The Hippo), André Sogliuzzo (Hakoda), Richard McGonagle (Bato), Kristoffer Tabori (War Minister Qin)

Overview
''Sokka and Toph attempt to help Aang find the Fire Lord in time for the eclipse, but Azula stalls them and the eclipse passes before they can find him. Meanwhile, Zuko confronts his father and vows to help Aang defeat him. Ozai attempts to kill his son with lightning, but Zuko redirects it and escapes. Iroh frees himself from jail and disappears. Aang and the younger children are forced to abandon the invasion force. Aang takes them to the Western Air Temple for safety as Zuko follows on an air balloon.''

Synopsis
Aang rejoins the invasion force and reveals that the whole city has been abandoned. Sokka concludes that the Fire Lord must have expected the invasion and is hiding likely in a secret underground bunker. After some deliberation, they agree to continue with the invasion: the invasion force will continue towards the palace while Aang, Toph, and Sokka search for the Fire Lord.

With the help of Toph's ability to see underground, she locates the secret bunker inside a nearby volcano. They pass through tunnels of gas and lava until they reach the metal bunker, which Toph opens using Metalbending. They corner a Fire Nation noble and he tells them where the Fire Lord's chamber is. As the eclipse begins, Aang blasts open the door of the chamber, and to their great surprise, find Azula waiting for them instead. Azula reveals she has known about the invasion for months and isn't surprised to find Aang alive. Meanwhile, Zuko enters the chamber where his father is hiding.



Zuko approaches Ozai and explains he is there to tell the truth. In amusement that Zuko chose the moment of an eclipse to face him, Ozai dismisses his guards. Zuko explains that it was Azula who supposedly killed the Avatar in Ba Sing Se, not him. Ozai wonders why she would lie, and Zuko reveals the Avatar is still alive and leading the invasion. Outraged upon hearing this news, Ozai orders his son to leave. However, Zuko refuses to leave and ignores his father's orders. Ozai threatens Zuko for his disobedience, but Zuko pulls out his swords and demands that Ozai sit and listen.

Azula refuses to tell Aang, Sokka, and Toph her father's location. Toph's lie-detecting ability proves ineffective on Azula, an expert liar. Two Dai Li agents Azula brought back from Ba Sing Se drop from the ceiling, and use Earthbending to protect her as Aang and Toph attack. The invasion forces start to take the capital city as all the Firebenders are surrendering at the loss of their power.

Zuko tells his father that all he had ever wanted was for Ozai to love him, and that he had spent his days in exile trying to please his father. He angrily berates Ozai for cruelly challenging Zuko to a duel when he was only a child, and then banishing him from the Fire Nation for simply speaking out of turn. Ozai claims the act was to teach Zuko respect, but Zuko retorts it was cruel and wrong. He reveals his beliefs that the Fire Nation is doing wrong in the world, and that they lie to themselves into thinking they are benefactors spreading their greatness to other nations. Zuko explains the Fire Nation has a responsibility to bring about an era of peace if the world is to survive. Ozai laughs and mocks Zuko, realizing that his older brother must have influenced him. Zuko proudly agrees.



Aang, Sokka, and Toph continue to fight Azula and her Dai Li agents, both of whom they eventually incapacitate. Though powerless, Azula proves far too agile for Aang or the others to take down. Sokka stops Aang and Toph from pursuing Azula any further, realizing she is just baiting them into wasting all their remaining time. As they attempt to leave, Azula taunts Sokka by hinting that she has captured, imprisoned, and possibly tortured Suki, which enrages Sokka into rushing at her. Azula prepares to stab him with a concealed dagger, but Toph senses her movement, promptly disarming her and pinning her against the wall with a rock. Sokka seizes Azula and demands she tell him where Suki is.

Zuko now realizes that his uncle Iroh was more of a father to him than Ozai had ever been. He plans to free Iroh from his prison and beg for his forgiveness. After Ozai continues to mock him, Zuko openly states his intention to join the Avatar and help him stop the Fire Nation. Ozai wonders why Zuko would go through such trouble, seeing that the Fire Lord lay powerless before him. Zuko puts his swords away and states he knows his own destiny now, that Aang's destiny alone is to take Ozai. As Zuko departs the chamber, Ozai tries to bait him into staying longer with knowledge of what happened to his mother six years ago.

Zuko demands to know what happened, and Ozai reveals the circumstances regarding the disappearance of Princess Ursa. When Ozai mocked the death of Iroh's son, Fire Lord Azulon ordered Ozai to kill Zuko as punishment so that Ozai would feel the loss of a child too. However, Ursa swore to protect Zuko at any cost, and came up with a plan to which Ozai agreed. Ozai implies that Ursa arranged Azulon's death so Zuko would be spared and Ozai would become Fire Lord. As a result, Ursa was banished for her treason. Zuko realizes his mother may still be alive.



Ozai threatenly states that banishment is far too merciful for treason, that Zuko's punishment for betraying the Fire Nation will be far worse. Sensing the end of the eclipse, Ozai lashes out and shoots a powerful bolt of lightning at his son. Zuko catches the lightning and redirects it back towards Ozai, causing an explosion which blasts the Fire Lord into the wall. Zuko quickly escapes the chamber as Ozai seeths with rage.

Meanwhile, Azula realizes she has regained her Firebending and escapes from Sokka and the others. She reveals her father's location, believing he could take them now that the eclipse is over. Sokka feels ashamed for wasting their time, but Aang thinks he could still face the Fire Lord without the eclipse. Sokka and Toph don't think it's a good idea and convince him to retreat.



Aang, Sokka, and Toph return to the battle site, as fleets of hot air balloons and zeppelins emerge from behind the palace and attempt to attack the invasion force. Zuko attempts to free Iroh from prison, but discovers that Iroh has already busted out from his cell and is long gone, leaving behind dazed and unconscious guards.

The airships obliterate the submarines, thus making the invasion team's escape impossible. Hakoda tells Aang and the younger fighters to flee while the adults remain behind to be taken as prisoners. After saying their good-byes, the rest of the gang, along with Haru, Teo, and The Duke, get onto Appa; as they rise into the air, Aang states that the Western Air Temple will be a safe place for them to stay for a while. Azula watches from one of the airships as the group escapes, but she chooses not to pursue them, confident that they will have to return someday.

Zuko is seen following Appa on a hot air balloon, with a look of determination on his face.

Series Continuity

 * During the original airing of this episode, the title card for this episode read Chapter Ten. On subsequent airings of this episode, the name was changed to the more appropriate Chapter Eleven.
 * When Zuko is walking away from Ozai after his confrontation, only half of his face is shown (the not scarred side). This bears a very close resemblance to when Zuko entered the war meeting in "Nightmares and Daydreams", where it showed the scarred side of Zuko's face. So during the eclipse when he betrayed his father and made the right decision, the good side was shown, and when Zuko was still loyal to his father just before the meeting, the scarred side was shown.
 * In this episode, the last part of Zuko's dream, shown in "The Earth King", is fulfilled when Zuko accepts his benevolence and proclaims it. In his dream Zuko sees himself resembling an Airbender. The Air Nomads firmly believed in peace, and now Zuko has expressed his desire to bring peace to the world.
 * Toph interrogates Azula and adds that she can tell if she's lying. This "lie-detector" ability was revealed in Lake Laogai. Unfortunately, Azula appears immune to it, able to lie without any sort of bodily reaction.
 * In Zuko Alone we learn the story of Zuko's childhood, specifically about the disappearance of Zuko's Mother, Ursa. In this episode we learn that she may still be alive and she was exiled for unknown reasons.
 * The war balloon (the smaller Fire airships) in this episode were copied from the war balloon built by the Mechanist and improved by Sokka that was captured by the Fire soldiers at the end of "The Northern Air Temple".
 * The crest on Hakoda's uniform is the same on Princess Yue's engagement necklace.
 * In Chapter 13 of Book One, "The Blue Spirit", it is shown that Aang can run really fast, "faster than wind." This is also shown in Chapter 13 of Book 2, "The Drill". However, in Part 2 of The Day Of Black Sun, Aang cannot keep up with Azula despite his running abilities, though this may be because he was concentrating on avoiding the attacking Dai Li agents.
 * In Sozin's Comet, Part 2: The Old Masters, Bumi asks if they did anything interesting on the day of the eclipse, and Zuko and Sokka say they didn't.