B3an

A heart’s a heavy burden.

When a man starts explaining a concept you already told him you understand, instead of saying “I know” over and over until you die, try one of these:

Ok, which aspect is confusing you?

It seems like you have the basics down; Would you like me to recommend some good articles so you can get a more nuanced understanding?

If a predator misses target number one they’ll just go for target 2. If you shame them out of the bar they’ll never come back.

And there is a solid chance of a collective asswhoopin, or an actual arrest for attempted rape.

Let’s present the facts before I present the actual theory:

We know that Iroh is fairly old, definitely older than Ozai as indicated both by his hair color and the fact that he’s the first-born son and should have been the heir to the throne.

Speaking of that throne, the Fire Nation royal family looks like this:

Sozin —> Azulon (Father of Ozai/Iroh) —> Ozai and Iroh —> Zuko and Azula

Meaning that Sozin, the man who started the war, is only two generations ahead of Iroh. He’s Iroh’s grandfather.

We also know that Sozin was in his eighties the first time the comet came around. I’m just saying — he was old. So it stands to reason that his son, Azulon, would have been an adult during this time. Meaning it’s entirely possible that his wife could have been old enough to give birth to Iroh during this time.

Now that would make Iroh 100 years old during the series which seems completely insane but remember something important: People grow to insanely old ages in Avatar!

Proof:

Kyoshi: Died at 150

Bumi: Is 112 and still a badass

Sozin: Died at 102

Guru Pathik: His age is unknown but he was a Gyatso’s friend/confidant so he has to be over 100.

We also know that Iroh was fit both physically, mentally, and spiritually so yeah this guy could have definitely been 100 years old during the series.

Okay so we’ve established the fact that Iroh could have theoretically been born 100 years before the series began. Who cares? 

I do. Because I don’t just think that he was born roughly 100 years before the series began. I think that Iroh was born during a very specific moment.

And before I outright state the theory, I want to remind you all of the most important factor here: The World of Avatar is centered around the theme of reincarnation.

So hear me out:

Nobody likes thinking about what happened during the Fire Nation’s invasions of the Air Temples (unless you’re @tashiandnima​ in which case you write an entire amazing comic about it; seriously go read it). But as painful as it is, we have to think about the invasion for this theory.

We know that there was one fateful day when a comet shot across the sky and Sozin used the resulting power to send his armies to the Air Temples in order to wipe the airbenders out. So just imagine that. 

Imagine the monks all fighting to the best of their ability (they’re pacifists after all; they didn’t have an army).

Imagine Gyatso taking down dozens of soldiers but eventually being killed himself.

And imagine, hundreds of miles away, at that exact moment, Prince Azulon’s son is born.

Yep.

My theory is that

This kind, spiritual, and lovable teacher/father-figure:

Was reincarnated into this kind, spiritual, and lovable teacher/father-figure:

(Hey, Bryke originally wanted Gyatso to be reincarnated into Momo and I frankly think this does his character a lot more justice.)

Which suddenly puts a whole new spin on this scene:

1) We don’t want to talk to you.

2) We don’t want to pause our music to talk to you.

3) We don’t even talk to each other on the phone — why would we want to talk to you?

But the biggest reason is A TRAIL. If I e-mail you back, you can see what was said in the future. You can’t tell me I forgot to tell you something because it’s right there. You can’t tell me I “never reached out” because we can both SEE it. I don’t have to trust your recollection.

And, in a group inbox, you can see who has been responded to. I got forwarded a voicemail from my supervisor (through e-mail! imagine that!) asking me to call some lady back for clarification. So I did, against my will of course…and she said somebody had called her yesterday.

Who? When? What did y’all talk about? Is follow-up necessary?

Phone calls back and forth only work in a workflow where the standard procedure is to *log* phone calls in a shared system with a brief summary of what was discussed. Otherwise, y’all need to let us e-mail. It’s not just about a generation gap. It’s also about efficiency.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. Any feedback can be proffered via e-mail.

EDIT