Crown Prince headpiece

"fire"

- ...this is a royal artifact. It's supposed to be worn by the Crown Prince.



The Crown Prince headpiece is an ancient royal artifact of the Fire Nation designed for the Crown Prince to wear. The crown boasts two prongs, one on each side, as opposed to the Fire Lord's five-pronged headpiece, which faces the front; in further contrast, this headpiece goes around the top-knot, while the Fire Lord's goes through it.

History
The headpiece was passed down through the generations until it was inherited by Prince Sozin, who gave it to his friend, Avatar Roku, as a gesture of friendship. Roku kept it and wore it for the rest of his life as a reminder of this friendship.

Sometime after Roku's death, the headpiece came into the possession of Sozin's grandson, Iroh. Roku was not wearing the headpiece when he died, as it fell off his bedside table during his frantic escape from his home with his wife, Ta Min. It is unknown how Iroh recovered the headpiece, as it was buried with the rest of the village in a volcanic eruption. Iroh passed down the headpiece to his nephew, Prince Zuko, after the latter discovered he was Avatar Roku's great-grandson.

Avatar Roku always donned the headpiece when he talked to Avatar Aang or manifested in the physical world through Aang, although he did not wear it when he died.

Trivia

 * The idea of a headpiece worn by the crown prince is likely influenced by a similar custom during Han Dynasty of China. When the emperor chooses one of his sons to be his heir, the emperor would personally clasp the headpiece around the heir's topknot, and fix it in place with the appropriate hair-stick. The process is shown in accurate detail when Roku did this to his own hair upon receiving the headpiece.