Phoenix King


 * This article is about a political position. For the episode with a similar name, see "Sozin's Comet, Part 1: The Phoenix King". For the person who held this position, see Ozai.

"fire"

- Fire Lord Ozai is no more. Just as the world will be reborn in fire, I shall be reborn as the supreme ruler of the world. From this moment on, I will be known as the Phoenix King!



The Phoenix King was a title created by Fire Lord Ozai. He intended it to be the title of the supreme ruler of the entire world after the Fire Nation won the War; the title would also allow Azula to become Fire Lord and look after the Fire Nation. This title was only held for one or two days. Following the defeat of Ozai, the position of Phoenix King ceased to exist.

Phoenix Kings

 * Ozai

Real world connection
The phoenix (Ancient Greek: Φοῖνιξ or Φοίνικς /pʰojniks/) or benu is a mythical sacred firebird which originated in Egypt in ancient mythologies, and it was later integrated into Phoenician, Greek, Arabian, Indian, Persian, Roman, and Chinese mythologies, among others. It is a mythical bird with a tail of beautiful gold and red plumage (or purple and blue, by some sources). It has a 500 to 1,000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of myrrh twigs that it then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again. In Chinese mythology, the phoenix, also known as fenghuang, is one of the four Sacred Creatures (the other three being the dragon, the tiger and the turtle). It was also associated with Yin (symbol of femininity, the moon, the earth), as opposed to the dragon, which represented Yang (masculinity, the sun, the sky). The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self. In some stories, the new phoenix embalms the ashes of its old self in an egg made of myrrh and deposits it in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis (sun city in Greek). The bird was also said to regenerate when hurt or wounded by a foe, thus being almost immortal and invincible — it is also said that it can heal a person with a tear from its eyes and make them temporarily immune to death. The phoenix is a symbol of fire and divinity. Ozai stated himself that when he would no longer be the Fire Lord, he would be reborn as the Phoenix King, the Supreme Ruler of the world, through the fires he would set in the Earth Kingdom.

Trivia

 * It was originally thought - or said - that the title/rank Ozai invented was "Phoenix Lord", but as confirmed by the episode title, "Sozin's Comet, Part 1: The Phoenix King", it is actually "Phoenix King".
 * "Phoenix" is also the English-language name given to the most important bird in Chinese mythology, the Fenghuang, with its own set of characteristics and symbolic meanings.
 * In more modern, Chinese mythology, the phoenix is the symbol for a woman, whereas a dragon was the symbol for a man, but in ancient mythologies, the Feng was male, whereas the Huang was female, thus not necessarily marking the bird as feminine.
 * In China, Fenghuang ("鳳凰") is a mythical bird superficially similar to the phoenix. It is the most-respected legendary creature, second only to the dragon, and is largely used to represent the empress and females. The phoenix is the leader of birds. In Japan, the phoenix is called hō-ō(kanji:"鳳凰") or fushichō (不死鳥 ?): "Immortal Bird".