There's a lot to love for Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender, and perhaps the most beloved aspect of the acclaimed series is its characterization. There is one iconic pair of characters in the series that demonstrates growth and complexity perhaps better than any others: Prince Zuko and Uncle Iroh (A.K.A. The Dragon of the West).
The odd couple is perfectly matched, with the elderly Iroh acting as a jovial comic foil to Zuko's fierce, brooding nature. The uncle-nephew duo goes through quite a few ups and downs and several transformations throughout the series, from disgraced Fire Nation fugitives to celebrated royals and back again.
"The Headband" (Season 3, Episode 2)
This will prove to be one of the most heartbreaking episodes for fans of Zuko and Iroh's usually unbreakable bond. After his betrayal of Katara and Iroh at the end of season two, Zuko has resumed his tenuous royal status in the Fire Nation. For his actions defending the Avatar, Iroh has been disgraced and imprisoned.
Zuko pays two visits to his uncle and attempts to apologize, rationalize, and even seek advice about his hunch that Aang is still alive, but, beyond a single tear, Iroh won't acknowledge him. Although they trade relatively few lines in this understated episode, the silence between the formerly close pair speaks volumes.
"The Waterbending Scroll" (Season 1, Episode 9)
Fans get to see Iroh at his silliest in this first-season episode, where he and Zuko's personalities clash to comic effect. The eccentric senior spends the entire episode concerned about a missing Pai Sho tile, even detouring Zuko's ship in order to dock at a town and search for a replacement.
As Zuko teams up with—and soon clashes against—local pirates who are after Katara for stealing a pricey scroll, the vast difference between his and Iroh's motivations become starkly visible. As Zuko's ship is stolen by pirates pursuing Team Avatar, the Prince is fuming while Iroh laughs and realizes his Pai Sho tile was up his sleeve the entire time. It's brilliant characterization that sets up the pair's entire arc for the rest of the series.
"Lake Laogai" (Season 2, Episode 17)
In this episode set in Ba Sing Se, ed as one of the show's most tragic for its depiction of Jet's death, Zuko finds himself approaching a spiritual crossroads, with his quest to capture the Avatar balanced by Iroh's assertions that he should seek peace and happiness.
While Iroh plans to open his own tea shop in the city's Inner Ring, Zuko discovers that Aang is in Ba Sing Se, and, against Iroh's advice, he readopts his Blue Spirit disguise in order to hunt him down. By the episode's end, Iroh convinces Zuko to ditch the alter ego (and the notion of pleasing his father), marking a significant, albeit temporary, end to Zuko's central quest.
"The Desert" (Season 2, Episode 11)
A huge change in Iroh's character occurs as his hip in the Order of the White Lotus is revealed. As it turns out, the revered Fire Nation general responsible for the legendary rupture of Ba Sing Se's outer wall has since become a Grand Lotus in the secret society dedicated to sharing knowledge and training the Avatar across national boundaries.
In "The Desert," Iroh convinces Zuko to stop off at the Misty Palms Oasis, where his status in the order is revealed and where his allies convince him the pair should find refuge as anonymous residents of Ba Sing Se. It's one of the first times that both Zuko, and viewers see that there's even more to Iroh than meets the eye.
"City of Walls and Secrets" (Season 2, Episode 14)
As disgraced of the Fire Nation royalty and with a bounty on their head, Zuko and Iroh begin a peaceful and undercover life in Ba Sing Se in this episode.
They manage to find work in a tea shop, and Iroh's brews become the talk of the town, but season one fan-favorite character Jet encounters them and sets off on a quest to prove that they're firebenders. It's a far cry from their first-season pursuit of the Avatar to see Zuko and Iroh enjoy a shred of normalcy, with talk of Aang and honor nowhere to be found. Not only is Iroh absolutely in his element, but a softer and altogether more pleasant side of Zuko emerges, as well.
"The Storm" (Season 1, Episode 12)
Zuko is truly humanized for the first time in the series in this storytelling-rich episode. When Zuko clashes with his crew aboard his Fire Nation ship while a symbolically loaded storm brews in the sky, Iroh endeavors to teach the disgruntled soldiers about the Prince's history.
Fans get a taste of Iroh's exceptional skills as an orator as he describes young Zuko's insubordination during a war council meeting that resulted in his father, Fire Lord Ozai, scarring his face with a blast of fire. This episode not only reveals details about Zuko's backstory, but it also provides a glimpse into the deep empathy that Iroh has for his disgraced nephew.
"The Guru" (S2E19)
The penultimate episode of season two finds Zuko and Iroh at one of their happiest moments until, to no one's surprise, Princess Azula cuts the good times short. Iroh has finally opened his own tea shop, the Jasmine Dragon, in Ba Sing Se, and, after nursing Zuko through an identity-crisis-cum-illness in the previous episode, he and his nephew are finally on the same page.
They're getting along like fans have never seen before, and Zuko has finally forgotten about his desire to catch the Avatar to regain his honor in the Fire Nation. Unfortunately, when Katara discovers their presence in Ba Sing Se, she inadvertently reports it to a disguised Azula, who, by the episode's end, has tricked her uncle and brother into serving tea at the royal palace.
"Sozin's Comet, Part 2: The Old Masters" (Season 3, Episode 19)
After nearly an entire season spent apart, Zuko and Iroh have an intensely emotional reunion in the second part of the show's four-part finale. After Zuko has trouble locating Aang, he enlists June to track down his uncle.
When Zuko finally finds Iroh with other of the White Lotus at a wilderness hideout, he sits by his uncle the entire night, feeling devastated by his own actions in the previous season. Ever a source of wisdom and grace, Iroh immediately and tearfully forgives Zuko, and viewers finally get to see the pair work together towards a truly noble cause: liberating the Fire Nation from Ozai and Azula's tyranny.
"The Crossroads of Destiny" (Season 2, Episode 20)
While Iroh escapes Azula's trap in the Ba Sing Se royal palace, Zuko challenges her to a duel but is captured and is thrown into crystal-filled catacombs alongside Katara.
Azula's claims that if he assists her in capturing Aang, he'll return to the Fire Nation a celebrated Prince. In one of Zuko and Iroh's most tragic moments, Zuko betrays his uncle and, to everyone's shock, sides with Azula. Although Zuko and Iroh have had their disagreements up to this point, this proves to be the major fracture in the relatives' usually strong relationship.
"Bitter Work" (Season 2, Episode 9)
It's one of Avatar's most memorable episodes that slyly suggests similarities in Zuko's and Aang's apparently different journeys. While Aang struggles to learn earthbending from Toph, Zuko reunites with Iroh after setting off on his own in "Avatar Day" and learns new firebending techniques from his uncle.
Most memorably, Iroh teaches Zuko how to redirect lightning, a skill completely unknown to viewers at this point. It's a pivotal moment replete with some of Iroh's sagest advice, and the lesson proves invaluable in later showdowns between Zuko and Azula—not to mention Iroh and Azula.
