History Characters / AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheFireNation

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** The Fire Nation royalty wanted to destroy the Avatar. But the first Avatar himself originated from the people who were the ancestors of the Fire Nations.
** In the original series, the Fire Nation is the dominantly villainous faction with its members making up the majority of the show's antagonists. Comes the [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra sequel series]], the Fire Nation ends up being the ''only'' faction that doesn't do anything villainous, and its members regularly offer aids to the protagonists. Somewhat justified by the fact that they underwent decades of rehabilitation from its imperialist past to ensure something like that can never happen again.

* TakeOverTheWorld: Fire Nation's main goal has been world domination [[spoiler:until after Ozai is defeated]].

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Cricket Leigh (original), Viviana Navarro (Latin American Spanish), Perla Liberatori (Italian), Tanya Kahana (German)

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/OliviaHack (original), Vanessa Silva (Latin American Spanish), Eleonora Reti (Italian), Julia Stoepel (German)

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/JasonIsaacs (original), John Knuckey and Carlos Carvajal (Latin American Spanish), Savero Indrio (Italian), Erich Rauker (German)

* VillainousLegacy: He's DraggedOffToHell at the end of Season 1, but his actions still result in Zuko and Iroh being branded traitors and spending Season 2 one the run and causes Zuko [[HeelRealization to see firsthand the damage his Nation has done to the world]]. He's also the reason Wan Shi Tong hates humans and sinks his library, thus causing Appa to be lost, which sets the Gaang's conflict in motion for the second half of Season 2.

* MythicalMotifs: Dragons, fitting given they were the original [[PlayingWithFire Firebenders]]. Even after they were hunted to near extinction over the course of the 100 Year War, they still featured prominently in decorations like in Zuko's room, Iroh's teapot, and several in the Fire Lords throne room. Before and after the war several individuals used some as [[AHorseOfADifferentColor mounts]] in the same vein as the Air Nomads did Sky Bisons.

* JerkassWoobie: Though he's quite smug and elitist, it's easy to feel somewhat sorry for him when Zuko, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee completely wreck and possibly burn down his house. What's worse is that he'll likely have to deal with the consequences when his father finds out.

* DumbassHasAPoint: When Azula wonders why many boys avoid her once she tries talking to them, Ty Lee points out that she would do something ''horrible'' to them, considering the former's AxCrazy and [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] tendencies. Ty Lee is proven correct when Azula tries and fails to flirt with Chan when she goes back to her usual ways after everything went so well.

* MoralityPet: Subverted. Ty Lee is the only person Azula shows a smidge real affection to. However, Azula's emotional manipulations and threats of physical harm still prevent them from developing a real and deep friendship, and Azula stays a villain.

* VillainessesWantHeroes: Downplayed; she flirts with Sokka quite a bit, but never tries to make him hers like many examples of the trope.

* AssassinOutclassin: [[PlayedForLaughs Played for Laughs]], as it didn't take much effort for Zhao to avoid Hahn's pathetic attempt at his life during the siege of the North Pole. All Zhao had to do was step to the side and let Hahn rush right past him.

* BigBadEnsemble: TheHeavy of the first season alongside Zuko. While he's nowhere near as persistent a threat as the prince, Zhao's the highest-ranking Fire Nation officer encountered in the season, and his invasion of the Northern Water Tribe is the central focus of the finale, making him a bigger existential threat.

* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: He never considered the environmental and spiritual consequences of killing the moon. [[spoiler:It's a vengeful Ocean Spirit, the soul-mate of the spirit of the moon, that comes to end him.]]

* FauxAffablyEvil: Acts politely to Zuko and Iroh when he's first introduced, but his manners towards the former quickly prove to be an act. Even when he attempts to act polite to Iroh, he still can't help but belittle him for his failure to take Ba Sing Se.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Zhao's slaying of the Moon Spirit -- [[AllForNothing which was revived shortly afterwards anyway]] -- pisses off the Ocean Spirit, which possesses Aang and wipes out the Fire Navy fleet, making the invasion of the Northern Water Tribe a failure. While this didn't severely impact the Fire Nation's ability to continue the war it was the biggest defeat the Fire Nation had possibly ever suffered in the Hundred Year War by that point and a huge strategic blow.

* StarterVillain: Zhao is significantly more powerful and skilled than the average Firebender, but severly hampered by a lack of discipline and restraint. And he is a genuinely exceptional tactician, but hampered by his own ego and arrogance. And while he has the vast resources of the Fire Nation at his disposal, he also lacks any sort of serious personal connection to the Gaang. All of this serves to make him a credible threat to the heroes while still leaving room for later villains to be more effective by virtue of surpassing Zhao in one area or the other.

* TheBadGuyWins: In "The Northern Air Temple". His attack on the temple is repelled but he suceeded in getting his hands on the prototype war balloon. This allowed the Fire Nation to develop the airships seen in Season 3.

* EvilGenius: Responsible for overseeing the Fire Nation's military technology.

* GoodBehaviorPoints: In "Suki, Alone", a villainous one, he awards Biyu for betraying Suki and her fellow prisoners by giving her privileges like better food, a new uniform and a fancy room.

* OhCrap: When he learns that Azula and Ty Lee are at the Boiling Rock.

* BadBoss: Will throw his own men overboard if they prove an inconvenience. The next sentence, where he asks the next guard to find someone he hadn't thrown overboard, indicates that this is a habit of his.

* PragmaticVillainy: Even if the song predicting doom is the reason he gives for not following Team Avatar and the nomads into the Cave of Two Lovers, the idea to just seal them in is a pretty good one since taking tanks into a cave isn't the best idea. In his first appearance he immediately blocks Team Avatar's only escape route when they accidentally stumble into his units camp.

* AlliterativeName: The '''R'''ough '''R'''hinos

* PlayingWithFire: Colonel Mongke is the only firebender in the group.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: None of them show up again after Zhao conscripts them for his invasion of the North Pole. Presuembly, they were either killed during the battle or by the vengeful Ocean Spirit.

** At first glance a not-too-bright thug; he proves himself to be good at understanding other people and turns the Warden's firebending attack back on him, hinting at a waterbending-informed understanding of the art similar to Iroh's rather than the "burn it all down" style of his countrymen.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Pissing off the Ocean Spirit got his own fleet annihilated.

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: She's the Girly Girl when you pair her up with Azula; she's much more gentle-natured and affectionate than Azula's relentlessly brutal aggressiveness.

* PsychoForHire: His main method of attack/murder is projecting blasts that cause whatever they hit to [[StuffBlowingUp explode]], and he doggedly chases Team Avatar all the way to the Western Air Temple to do the job. In his final episode, Zuko, having undergone a HeelFaceTurn, confronts him during his latest assault and first threatens not to pay, and then offers to pay him double, if he backs off. In response, the Combustion Man attacks ''him'' before turning back to the Gaang.

* TaughtToHate: The Fire Nation school curriculum forbids students from dancing, encourages bullying behavior, and teaches a sanitized version of the Hundred Year War that depicts the [[BlatantLies Fire Lord Sozin bringing prosperity to the world and fighting the evil Air Nation's army]]. As the Gaang finds out, Fire Nation children of their age are actually nice and friendly. It's only through the curriculum that they grow up to be hateful, imperialistic soldiers.

** On a broader level, they are also somewhat unique amongst the other nations, in that they have a fully centralized power system and government. This contrasts with the Earth Kingdom (which is a confederation of separate states and kings under the largely symbolic authority of the Earth King) the Water Tribes (which are entirely separate entities with their own leadership and laws) and the Air Nomads (who had no leadership outside of a council of monks at each major temple). The Fire Nation is the only nation to have a single, codified set of laws, a centralized bureaucracy, and a combined military under a monarch who rules autocratically.

* AmbiguousCriminalHistory: We never learn what he did to get thrown in the highest security prison in the world. He claims to have been framed.

[[caption-width-right:212:''"[[{{Victoryisboring}} Victory is boring.]]"'']]

--->'''Mai:''' I thought when Ty Lee and I finally caught you guys, it would be more exciting. Oh well, victory is boring.

* DefectorFromDecadence: Mostly out of necessity, but he does technically betray his country by helping Zuko and not exposing the Avatar. Given the treatment he's faced at the hand of Fire Nation authorities though, he's probably not too broken up about it.
** The Boiling Rock is reserved for [=POWs=], political dissidents and traitors, and criminals too dangerous to put anywhere else. Discounting the first, there's a 50/50 chance he already betrayed the Fire Nation.

* HiddenDepths: At first glance a not-too-bright thug; he proves himself to be good at understanding other people and turns the Warden's firebending attack back on him, hinting at a waterbending-informed understanding of the art similar to Iroh's rather than the "burn it all down" style of his countrymen.

* CosmicMotifs: The Sun, being the source of all [[PlayingWithFire Firebending]] and the Sun Warriors state that an 'inner sun' is needed to fuel their FIrebending.
* DarkIsEvil: Their uniforms are [[BlackAndRedAndEvilAllOver red and black in colour]] (with some having [[CoolHelmet helmets with skull masks]]), dark coloured war machines and armour for their [[HorseOfADifferentColor komodo-rhino's]], and their [[PlayingWithFire Firebending]] is explicitly stated to be fueled by [[ThePowerOfHate rage and hatred]]. All on top of being the most prominent antagonists throughout the show.

* GoldCOloredSuperiority: Amber eyes are common amongst it's citizens, and gold accents are typically used in their clothes and some of their war machines. They're also the most militarily advanced nation in the world by the time of the original series.

* {{Jerkass}}: Even the Boiling Rock Warden had some good qualities (such as loving his neice Mai and VillainousValor) compared to him.

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: After Ozai is defeated and Zuko takes his place on the throne, the Fire Nation has since been reformed to a more heroic stance]].

* LovingAShadow: She loves the Zuko from before his banishment and doesn't know how to deal with him after his RedemptionQuest, with Zuko flat out telling her: "I knew you wouldn't understand" when she believes he is betraying the Fire Nation. Their relationship is vitriolic but they try to work things out. [[spoiler: They break up again in the comics, but Mai's obsession with Zuko is evident even to Kei Lo.]]

* MoralMyopia: Mai is completely uninterested in anything that doesn't [[ItsAllAboutMe effect her directly]].

* AlasPoorVillain: Katara will never forgive Yon Rha for murdering her mother, but she realizes that he's too pitiful and pathetic to even warrant her vengance. She almost feels disappointed by this revelation since she really wants to kill him as the evil man she once remembered.

* AffablyEvil: She works for Azula, but is still cheerful and polite towards Team Avatar, even while she's kicking their butts.

** On a broader level, they are also somewhat unique amongst the other nations, in that whereas the Earth Kingdom is a loose federation of separate states and kings under the largely symbolic authority of the Earth King, the Water Tribes are entirely separate entities with their own leadership and laws, and the Air Nomads had no leadership outside of a council of monks at each major temple, the Fire Nation has a fully centralized power system. They have a single, codified set of laws, a single bureaucracy, and a single combined military under a single monarch who rules autocratically.

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Serena Williams[[note]]Yes, the famous tennis player[[/note]]

%%* {{Jerkass}}

** To Azula in almost ''every'' way. Both were the more prominent members of the Fire Nation and are the ones who succeeded in conquering Ba Sing Se. In a way, they are feared in battle by many of their opponents due to their combat skills (Firebending for Azula, Chi-Blocking for Ty Lee). But while Azula is an AxCrazy {{Jerkass}} who is serious most of the time and has NoSocialSkills, Ty Lee is a straight up NiceGirl who has a more kind nature and is able to attract a lot of dudes and befriend her former enemies.
** She also is this to Suki. Both are relative BadassNormal’s who hold their own without the need for bending, have been flirtatious to Sokka and are members of the [[spoiler:Kyoshi Warriors]]. What differs both of them is that Suki is an OfficialCouple with Sokka, weilds fans as weapons, the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors and is assertive and straightforward. Ty Lee on the other hand has a VillainousCrush on Sokka, doesn’t weild a weapon (tho she does have chi-blocking), a [[CoDragons Co-Dragon]] to Azula’s group (which eventually turns into TheLancer for the [[spoiler:Kyoshi Warriors]]), and is naive and silly.