I want to take a moment to appreciate the three ways Ozai was defeated AtLA's finale and how they were all more symbolic and beautiful than the last
The first time Ozai is defeated is when Aang redirects his lightning. Lightning is considered to be the ultimate form of firebending, requiring supreme precision and focus. It's the perfect thing to deal the final blow to the Avatar, the one being who could put a stop to his plan.
But of course Aang catches it. Using a technique that was developed by Iroh, the brother Ozai stole the throne from. Taught to him by Zuko, the son he abused. From a certain point of view it can also be seen as revenge from Ursa. If Ozai never had Azulon take her away to be his wife, he would never risen to the throne in Iroh's stead, Iroh would never go on the journey that would result in the technique being developed. Zuko wouldn't even be born to teach Aang the technique, or guide him to the Sun Warriors to learn firebending.
But at the last moment Aang misses on purpose, the only thing that comes between Ozai and death is Aang's personal choice. Even though the fight continues, in a way Ozai has already lost. In this way Aang avenges the family Ozai mistreated (unless you count Azula, but that's another fight for another day)
The second time Ozai is defeated is when Aang is in the Avatar state. While Ozai is not the one who started the war, of the three firelords who rules during it Ozai is arguably the one who caused the most harm. The southern raids and the subsequent imprisonment and eventual genocide of the southern waterbenders (and as we all know, one very unlucky nonbender woman), the death of the moon spirit and princess Yue, the fall of Omashu the ancestral home of earthbending named for the lovers who founded the art renamed to "New Ozai" by Azula, the fall of Ba Sing Se the last place in the world someone can be reliably safe from the war, the near total destruction of the earth kingdom that would have not only left 2/3s of the whole damn planet damn near uninhabitable and commiting a genocide along the way, that all happened JUST in the span of Ozai's reign. Ozai is the embodiment of the war more than Azulon or even Sozin was.
so it's only fitting that he is the one who reveives ultimate judgement for the war
the Avatar is old, so old humanity doesn't even remember a time they weren't around, that is for the Lion turtles and spirits to know. in that time they have been peacekeepers, and the war may just be the worst thing that's ever happened to the world, an example of what it would be like without the avatar. So it only makes sense that every single avatar be present for Ozai's execution.
the method? a strike wielding all four elements at once. The war has hurt everybody. The air nomads went extinct, the water tribes experienced genocide and an attack on their very faith. The earth kingdom had the stability of daily life torn out from under them again and again, and were likely the one of the four that suffered the most civilian and possibly military casualties during combat. The fire nation wasn't safe either. The citizens had to live in a pressure cooker of expectations where might makes right and blind nationality consumed every inch of life, and there was nothing left for community or love. Just the simple act of dancing with your peers is shameful and asking the wrong questions can be dangerous, even if you're royalty. 100 years of pain, misery, and death, for nothing, absolutely nothing. Their living passionate style of bending was warped into something hateful, something evil. Mothers could only watch as the regime turned their sons and daughters into monsters.
It's only fair that each nation symbolically gets to be there at the very end.
But once again Aang spares him at the last moment. There was no way Ozai could have stopped this, he has no agent in his survival, all that stood between him and death is once again Aang's mercy. He has been defeated a second time, and in this way Aang has avenged the world.
The third and final time Aang defeats Ozai is of course by taking away his firebending.
Ozai is a raging narcissist, he values his own power and prestige over everything else. Over the lives of others, the safety of his nation, and even the wellbeing of his own children. Everyone else exists to serve him, and anyone who isn't useful can just die or go away. Frankly the only thing keeping him from implementing a eugenics program in the fire nation and its colonies is the show's content rating.
Ozai's ability to firebend is a major source of pride for him, and is a way he uses to assert both his physical and political dominance. By taking that away Aang pretty much cuts off his ego's fuel source.
Ozai and Aang also peddle very opposing philosophies. Ozai believes that the weak don't deserve to live, and Aang believes all life is sacred. By killing Ozai Aang would sacrifice his own beliefs, and by extension the beliefs of his people, his family. Aang is the last airbender, it's literally the name of the show. Previous air avatars could set their upbringing aside to do what needed to be done because the survival of their culture didn't rely on them. Even if he ever tried to revive the air nomads (and he did) there would always be that one kill, that one exception looming over him every time he preached pacifism.
Killing Ozai would also prove his superiority complex in a way. Ozai made it his life's goal to stomp over as many people just because he can, and in his mind it was good, it was his birthright. If he died facing a more powerful opponent that belief would never be challenged in his mind, nor in the minds of others who also hold that belief.
The whole point of the show is that compassion and understanding is the best way to solve conflict. And asserting your ideals through force is evil. Every single villain in AtLA always tries to force others to conform to their ideas. Azula with her friends, Long Feng with the Dai Lee in Ba Sing Se, those weird feuding tribes in the Great Divide, Hama is... Hama. Even Pakku doesn't hesitate to potentially doom the entire world by refusing to teach Aang waterbending because he refuses to be misogynistic to his girlfriend, and Toph's parents ironically let their ableism blind them to how much their daughter is suffering.
Aang had literally everything ripped away from him, and the last thing he had from the time before the iceberg is Appa, and the ideals that were taught to him by his family the air nomads. But he had to fight to hold onto them both almost every single step of his entire journey. But he did it, and now he gets to shove it in Ozai's face. Specifically the forehead and heart too.
In this way Aang avenges himself
and to top it all off he gets defeated a secret 4th time when after he loses his bending he immediately starts getting dunked on by a 15 year old nonbender water tribe boy who doesn't even have the decency to be from the cooler classier northern one (even worse, water is considered to be the opposite of fire) with the laziest insult possible and he literally can't do anything but weakly go "nuh uh"
the day I stop glazing Avatar the Last Airbender and it's perfect writing is the day I die
thank you so much for reading this far if you did have a cookie🍪
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