AVATAR: How They Found Zuko's Mother (Last Airbender Lore)

[Music] when avatar the last airbender concluded its run in july of 2008 one of the largest plot threads left unresolved was the fate of zuko's mother why did she leave was she even still alive a reunion between zuko and ursa was planned for the finale at one point and even made it to the storyboarding phase before being cut for unknown reasons still the show's creators brian konicko and michael dante dimartino eventually gave closure to fans producing a limited series of graphic novels aptly named the search with writer jin yang and artists at studio gurihiru published by darkhorse comics in 2013 so how did team avatar find zuko's mother before we get started i'd like to ask you to please like the video and subscribe for more in the future and ring the bell if you want to be one of the first to see when new videos go live with no exaggeration those are seriously the single best way you can help the channel because they make the youtube bots happy but with that out of the way let's get started shortly after the battle for yu dao avatar aang fire lord zuko and their friends attend a meeting in the city to iron out details to allow the fire nation colonists to live peacefully side by side with the earth kingdom citizens hang hopes that yu dao could be a prototype for a new sort of city with a new government one that unites peoples from all four nations an expert of ancient earth kingdom lore and political theory gives a lecture that the gang can barely pay attention to but a mention of family catches zuko's attention the earth kingdom philosopher explains family is in essence a small kingdom and the nation a large family by treating one's own family with dignity the ruler learns to govern with dignity this troubles zuko who has imprisoned his own father institutionalized his own sister and has made little effort to recover his mother from banishment eng notices how this bothers zuko so and tries to assuage his fears but too little avail zuko visits his father's prison where azula restrained in a straitjacket has been allowed to visit under guard from kyoshi warrior suki and tai li zuko attempts to bring the pair t despite suki's objections believing that he needs to treat his family well despite everything that they've done before he can extend them the offer azula grabs the tray with her teeth and pulls it away from zuko knocking him to the ground she begins to yell at zuko asking if he expected her to lap at the tea like some animal and despite zuko's objections tiley rushes to block azula's chi and incapacitate her before she can do anything else azula mocks her old friendship with tylie before demanding to know how she got to tylie and mai of how she made them lose their fear of azula tai li can't make any sense of what azul is saying but zuko orders both kiyoshi warriors from the room he helps azula back into her chair and apologizes knowing this was the first time azula and ozai were meeting in over a year and he had hoped that the tea may lend a bit more dignity to the occasion azula retorts that if zuko wants to grant the pair dignity allow them a conversation in private zuko acquiesces and gives them half an hour alone he tells suki entirely that azula is still his best chance to find his mother but tailey tells him that azula is still someone to be fearful of even if she is chi blocked and cannot firebend at the moment after azula and ozai talk zuko thinks the kiyoshin insists on escorting his sister back to the institution alone despite suki's objections tiley warns him to be careful for azula's chi will be unblocked soon zuko asks azula what she talked to their father about and she jokes that they commented on the weather and how poor the food was in the prison and at the nuthouse as she calls it zuko tells her that he isn't taking her back to the institution and has instead had her old room prepared at the palace though she will be guarded every minute of every day he wants her to be more comfortable azula wonders aloud if zuko has ever been chi blocked and comments how it makes your joints feel softer like melted wax and how it makes you feel more flexible than you ever thought possible she slips her hand out of the straitjacket and fires an electric shock at zuko knocking him away sheriff's off the straitjacket using fire blasts from zuko to burn away the chains binding her and escapes into the palace zuko gives chase finding a room with a hidden stairway behind a stone panel activated by heat within zuko finds one of ozai's numerous secret chambers decorated with trophies and spoils from the hundred year war zula is rifling through a chest filled with documents and she produces a series of letters that she claims were written by their mother she tells azuka that they are the only key to finding her and burns them before his eyes in a rage zuko demands to know what is wrong with the zula azula just tells him to ask her that while slipping another document under her belt she falls to her knees hands cradling her temples and ears and tells zuko that she wants to find their mother as much as he does believe it or not so she will tell zuko what the letters contained on one condition she wants to come along to find her aang katara and saka arrive at the fire nation palace and are greeted warmly by iro zuko enters and asks where toth is and saka explains that she had to stay behind at her academy because of an influx of new students after the battle of udall the gang asks why zuko has summoned them and he tells them that he has obtained new information about his mother ursa she was from a small town called hira'a and he is going to the village to search for her ira will oversee the nation while zuko is gone but katara wonders why zuko wants them to come along azula appears behind zuko and the gang launch into action with katara sending eyeshards toward her and preparing a spinning sphere and saka raising his boomerang azula easily dodges katara's eye shards and laughs at the boomerang but tsuki and tailey appear behind azula before the violence can escalate any further zuko explains that she is helping them find ursa and that she is going to join them in the search unbound and with dignity though initially skeptical and rightfully so iro talks the gang down saying that finding ursa may bring peace of mind to both zuko and zula aang agrees to help because zuko is their friend and tries to make small talk with the zulu before they leave though she rebuffs the attempts katara is still worried about bringing her along and zuko agrees telling her that one of them needs to have their attention on azula at all times so that she doesn't try anything katara agrees and if it comes to it it'll be four against one as they depart ira laments that he ever aspire to be the fire lord there are far too many weapons in the palace and not enough tea he declares that his first order as interim firelord is to establish a national tea appreciation day in the sky azula asks the gang which one of them she approached first and how she managed to convince them to ruin azula's life before any of them had even met her katara is confused and zuko tells azula that enough is enough zulu responds that she was just making small talk the gang approaches hira as the sun sets but zuko suggests that they make camp and head into town the next morning he doesn't want to show up in the middle of the night like bandits aang is suddenly overcome with a spiritual presence and he looks over oppa's side spotting a giant wolf spirit running across the island azzulli uses this as a distraction stepping onto the side of oppa's saddle she thanks the gang for getting her to hira and tells zuko that she'll give their mother his regards she leaps over the edge and end gives chase with his glider zula burns a hole in it angering aang as it had been a gift the avatar crashes into the island while azula lands gracefully darting into the wilderness and across a stream a voice calls to her from the water telling azula that she is only hurting herself azula looks at her reflection in the water but sees only ursa staring back the princess chastises her mother for pretending to care about her for telling zuko to lock her up and conspiring to topple her since she was an infant azula believes that ursa saw raw power within her and that power scared her that she thinks her daughter is a monster zula becomes further and further enraged pulling the document she stole from ozai's collection from her boot claiming that it is evidence that will allow her to take the throne and all the power that ursa wanted to rob from her but she can't do that with ursa haunting her and conspiring to defeat her so azula is going to find her mother and end her irsa simply tells azula that she loves her and she screams in agony ursa has turned even azula's own mind against her the princess hurls a lightning bolt at the reflection but zuko catches up to her in time to hear azula talking to herself he pleads with azula to keep their deal but azula prepares to attack him only for katara to freeze her arms in place with water pulled from the stream the others catch up but ang feels the spirit's displeased presence to everyone's shock it appears behind saka attacking him though saka dodges it they notice that it has markings on its chest resembling a face and katara points out that the face is similar to the one that aang has been making aang attempts to calm the wolf spirit apologizing for disturbing it while attempting to capture azula the group attacks though it appears to have little to no effect it even eats zuko's fire and burps it back up the wolf's spirit attacks again but appa intervenes protecting the gang the beasts swipe at each other before appa knocks the spirit back with his tail eng again tries to reason with the spirit but the spirit vomits out a stream of glowing moth wasps all with faces on their wings which surrounds the group the creatures swarm the gang making it difficult to breathe but aang warns them against hurting the spirits they don't know if it might make things worse azula tells her to free her so she can help conceding that she shouldn't have run away and that they need to trust each other zuko frees azula and she generates an orb of lightning that draws all over the spirits including the wolf away later that night as the rest of the gang sleeps saka questions the wisdom of letting azula sleep with her hands unbound he notices that katara did not use a blanket despite how cold it is and he covers her up zuko asks him why the two are so close despite the fact that they bicker and she often hits saka with snowballs saka explains simply that she was his sister and that he just doesn't mind getting the short end of the stick when they bicker suko notices that azula is also shivering and approaches to cover her with a blanket as he tucks her in he discovers the document hidden in her boot it's a letter from ursa to a man named kim naming zuko as their son the next morning a vision of ursa wakes azula begging her to give up her quest for the throne her destiny lies elsewhere zula disagrees charging a lightning bolt and declaring that the throne is her destiny because she has found proof that it is rightfully hers she fires the lightning at ursa but hesitates waking up and grabbing katara's arm instead after a brief confusion azula notices that the letter is gone and demands to know where zuko's gone too on a nearby cliff zuko shows aang the letter believing that it explains why ozai would banish zuko without a second thought and questions why the fire lord wouldn't have gotten rid of zuko permanently but zuko tells the avatar that he was about to firelord zulon ordered ozai to kill zuko he was disappointed in ozai for trying to usurp airo as heir to the throne after the death of liu tin airo's son zuko speculates that his mother must have intervened in some way before her banishment this new information gives zuko a sense of hope but it concerns aang they don't know what this means for the throne and who is now the rightful firelord zula appears from the forest behind them wondering if she told zuko to steal the letter and demanding that it be given back to her zuko tells the avatar to run back to camp and check in on katara and saka while he deals with azula they battle briefly with azula knocking zuko to the dirt before grabbing the letter back zuko uses this as a distraction grabbing her leg and throwing her to the ground in his place he takes her by the collar and screams asking her why she has been so malignant toward him for their entire lives why did their relationship have to be like this she asked zuko if it was her plan all along if she told zuko about the letter and is now whispering in his ear telling him to throw a zula off the cliff and keep her from her birthright before she realizes that zuko had the letter all night and didn't burn it the pair calmed down and dazula wonders if zuko is actually on her side back at their camp aang and katara are putting out several fires that azula started earlier zuko and azula appear from the forest and the fire lord explains that the pair came to an understanding saka chides him it seems that they've come to an understanding 12 times already and that they keep misunderstanding each other before too long still they all mount apa and head towards hira ah outside of the village the gang don fire nation disguises with zuko wearing a hood and aang wearing a headband they don't want to get mobbed if anyone recognizes them though katara gently tells aang that the headband hid his identity a lot better when he had hair the center of town is crowded despite hira being a small village and as the gang approaches they realize that a play is being put on zuko recognizes it as love amongst dragons one of the characters is wearing the mask that he used as the blue spirit years earlier zuko and azula reminisce about how their mother used to take them to see the ember island players perform the play and how they would reenact their favorite scenes on the beach afterwards after the play concludes the gang began asking around about ursa before being approached by a man named noren director of the hira acting troupe he overheard them asking about ursa and claims that she was once an actor in his troop noren invites the gang to his home a quieter place where they can talk away from the crowds there they meet noren's family his wife noriko and daughter kiyii kiyi show zuko and azula her doll which she has also named kiki because it is such a good name it could be used twice saka explains that the gang are drama historians and felt it was time for the hiroa acting troupe to get the recognition they deserve they then asked the couple about ursa but noren says she was taken years ago rumored to have been married into the royal family zuko hesitantly asks about a kim and noren says that he was ursus boyfriend before she was forced to leave no one knows exactly what's happened to him but it's believed he ran into the forgetful valley a forest outside of town where the heartbroken go to forget their lives noriko vaguely remembers hearing that ursa once returned to the village to find a kim and that she followed him into the forgetful valley but noren doesn't believe anyone on the island has seen or heard from ursa since she left the capital city the gang thanked norin and noriko for their hospitality and ki asks zuko to come visit again someday as they leave hang privately apologizes to zuko for blowing up at him that morning over the line of succession he had not even considered how zuko must be feeling about the whole affair still the avatar thinks it best to leave the past in the past and to burn the letter but zuko tells him that he's already given it back to azula he says that they'll figure everything else out later including where and who he's supposed to be and questions this zuko's rule represents a new era of peace and that he has to remain firelord regardless of his parentage for the good of the world as azula and katara bicker saka asks how much longer they're going to have to stay together but zuko tells them they have one more place to check the forgetful valley once they arrive the gang realizes there is no clear path forward so azula carves one using fire bending to the shock of the others ang senses the presence of spirits that contort his face and saka points out that there are face patterns all over the flora and fauna aang chases down a flutterbat with a design similar to the face he is making and discovers a perfectly circular pool of water the avatar is overcome with tranquility saying that it reminds him of the pool at the northern water tribe despite eng's plea for the others to be respectful of the water azula once again sees ursa in the reflection and shoots a lightning bolt into the pool the others attempt to pacify zula but the forest around the gang seems to come to life and attack them shooting flower throwing stars their way katara notices one of them shatter off of saka's club and realizes that someone has bent the water in the plants to attack them vines begin to snake within the group holding a few of them down but katara uses her water-bending talents to deflect them calling out whoever is attacking them two people emerge from the forest identifying themselves as the siblings misu and rafa of the northern water tribe katara asks what the pair are doing in a secluded fire nation forest and misu explains that her brother was attacked and horribly disfigured when they were younger the injury left rafa between life and death he cannot do much of anything anymore even eat the most talented healers in the north could do nothing for him so misu began studying ways to help eventually she came across an ancient fire nation legend that spoke of a spirit that would visit and grant people new faces she's made it her life's mission to find the spirit and to heal rafa sneaking into the fire nation during the hundred year war and learning to defend themselves by water bending the plants in the forest misu explains that to get to the spirit they must find a wolf spirit with the markings of a face on its chest and follow it to one of four pools in the forest whichever pool the wolf drinks from the face spirit is said to appear the siblings have never seemed to be at the right pool when the wolf comes to drink and to lament that they've likely missed their chance tonight aang stands up and approaches the water determined to help using his abilities as the avatar zula believing this to be a waste of time gets up and leaves the group to continue the search for ursa zuko follows and tells her to come back but azula mocks him wondering if helping people like misu and rafa is why he doesn't want to be the fire lord anymore before zuko can interject azula flies into a rage believing that ursa sent misu and rafa to slow her down she returns to the pool and attacks them though zuko manages to stand in her way in the spirit world eng encounters a flutterbat spirit that guides him to the wolf ang tries to direct the wolf to the pool where misu and rafa are waiting but it runs off the avatar manages to catch its fur as it sprints through the forest and it takes him to the matronly spirit of the forgotten valley the mother of faces in the material world zuko redirects azula's lightning harmlessly into the air he attempts to reason with his sister but she rants about how their mother has convinced me so and rafa to stop her and chide zuko for being so naive zuko concedes that he has been naive and tells the gang to take azula down as the battle starts misu begs them to stop as the avatar tries to bring the spirit forward but aang suddenly awakens and tells them all to stop as the mother of faces rises from the pool she tells them she has never strayed from the pool chosen for her by her wolf and that she has done so only in deference to the avatar she only grants a single favor every time she visits the forest so they must make their choice zuko defers to misu allowing her to step forward and request a new face for rafa but azula bursts ahead of her chastising zuko for his weakness before misu can complete her request azula talks over her asking for the whereabouts of ursa the mother of faces remembers ursa but she was confused why a woman so beautiful would request a new face to test her sincerity the mother of faces offered her a new face that was plain and a chance to wipe away her memories ursa accepted and became a new woman named noriko zuko realizes that azula is gone and he rushes to follow her to rescue noriko but misu stops him she shows him a shortcut back to the village and zuko thanks her before apologizing she tells zuko that he was kind to them but now he needs to go save his family saka catches up with him telling him that he is going to need help to take down azula ang moves to follow as well but katara points to misu who was water bending an attempt to keep the mother of faces in the material world she begs the mother to stay and help rapha before she departs but misu has greatly offended the spirit who disappears from the material world aang dives into the pool after her pleading for her to return in the water eng discovers strange fish and plants but pushes on explaining misu and rafa's plight he's attacked by crabs with faces carved in their shells but he quickly incapacitates them the avatar chides the mother of faces for being so cruel and turning her back on misu and rafa causing a geyser to burst from the mouth of a rock-carved face that pushes aang back from the pool the mother of faces surfaces again furiously describing how she's fashioned faces with all of her heart for centuries but humans trample into the forest demanding new faces from her as if they were her master she feels insulted when mortals sew beneath her ask her for new faces to replace the original ones she crafted with such care and she is disappointed that the avatar supposedly the best the humans have to offer is as selfish and short-sighted as to defile her sacred waters and test her patience demanding that they leave a forest zuko and saka arrive at nornan noriko's home but azula is nowhere to be seen misu's shortcut worked zuko asks saka to keep an eye out for azula before knocking on the door noran answers and he tells zuko that he had a feeling that the fire lord would return kiki begs zuko to join them for dinner and noren invites him inside zuko asks if they eat dinner together every night which noriko affirms even though sometimes noren is late because of the acting troupe zuko begins to ask noriko something but quickly interrupts himself instead asking if she is happy she says yes she is right where she belongs zuko smiles and gets up to leave apologizing for disturbing them but noran stops him knowing that this moment was going to come sooner or later he asks zuko to tell noriko who he is and why he's there and zuko tells them that he is the lord of the fire nation and noriko's son in the forest aang and katara protect misu and rafa trying their best not to harm any of the spirits and tells them that they need to get out of there but misu refuses she isn't leaving until rafa gets the help he needs a spirit begins to attack misu and aang blows it away with a gust of air loosening rafa's mask from his face or rather where his face should be the avatar recognizes this as the work of ko the face dealer a spirit he once encountered the mother of faces quiets the forest and tells the humans that ko is her son estranged since the beginning of time legends say he misses his mother so much that he spent all of history stealing faces she asks the avatar how he knows him and aang tells her that he stole the face of someone he loved in a past life despite this the past avatar spared ko the mother is silent for a moment before reaching out to rafa and curling her hand around his head it begins to glow and when she releases him rafa's face has been restored the avatar thanks her for being so generous and apologizes for asking for more than one favor earlier he knows that humans can be ungrateful for what they are given but he is happy that the mother's gifts have been able to restore two relationships that day at the homestead noran tells zuko that he recognized him in the crowd because of his scar and apologizes for not telling him the whole truth he'd hoped to tell zuko enough to satisfy his curiosity but also protect the life he had built with ursa noren explains what happened to noriko how she used to be a princess with two children and how her face and her memories were changed by a spirit in the forgotten valley noren also tells them all that he also once had a different face and name in truth he is a chem versus love from her youth zuko was stunned telling them all that this is where he belongs with his mother his sister and his father akhem begins to tell zuko that that's not possible but as interrupted as azula and saka come crashing through the roof in battle azula questions noriko demanding if she had a new daughter because azula turned out to be such a monster saka distracts azula drawing her attention away from his boomerang which strikes her in the back of the head allowing akem and kiyi to escape the building noriko however is still cornered into recovering azula pinser against the wall she demands an answer for all of her imagined crimes questioning her about how ursa has tried to take azula down since the moment she was born noriko is confused but cradles azula's cheek telling her that if what she says is true she's sorry she didn't love her enough azula is caught off guard taken aback long enough for zuko to intervene and push her away from noriko they spar in the home destroying much of the furniture and catching parts of the building on fire azula begins to charge a lightning bolt but the fire lord warns her not to try it they both know he can redirect lightning still azula persists firing a lightning bolt at zuko but he does redirect it back at her knocking her into some furniture defeated azula pleads with zuko to let her continue if she does they will both be free him of a throne he never wanted and her of the nagging voices in her head zuko refuses and confused zula questions why he didn't just throw her off the cliff and be rid of her it would have been so easy and no one would have blamed him she thinks he didn't because he wants her to live and take the throne from him but zuka rebuffs her claiming that in some way he has always known that taking the burden of the throne was his destiny despite everything that has happened between them despite how broken their relationship has been for as long as either of them can remember zuko loves azula because they're family zula tears welling in her eyes cannot accept this and tells him to shut up as she launches a firebolt straight at him she drops the letter as she crashes through a wall escaping into the forest hazuka pleads with her to return so that they can help her at this zulu stops for only a moment telling zuko even when you're strong you're weak as the princess disappears into the night noriko catches zuko's attention and points to the horizon the mother of faces has risen up from the forest along with aang oppa and the others and is headed straight towards them the mother asks noriko if she wishes to return to whom she once was to remember her old life her old love and her old pain zuko tells noriko that she has such a beautiful life here and that she shouldn't but without hesitation noriko tells the mother that she wishes to remember the mother of faces reaches out telling noriko to hold still the next morning aang katara and saka discuss azula and how she left the letter behind saka thinks it was an accident but aang believes she did it intentionally even if it was subconscious misu and rafa depart for the water tribe while saka and ursa talk outside the ruins of her home she tells zuko that she owes him the same apology she gave azula she is sorry she didn't love him enough because how could any mother forget her son he forgives her and produces the letter giving it to her but also affirming that the throne is his destiny she reads it over and tells zuko that what was written within isn't true she wrote it to see if ozai was intercepting her letters and would confront her about it he did and she told ozai that she wanted to hurt him and that it was only wishful thinking that zuko wasn't his son from that day forward ozai granted her wish abusing zuko as if he wasn't his own blood despite how ozai treated zuko he is still the former fire lord's son zuko is conflicted by this but tells his mother that he feels as if things are the way they're meant to be ursa tells zuka that there's so much she wishes to tell him about ozai about a kim about hira ah and her life and their family zuko stops her and tells her to start from the beginning he wants to know everything about her the pair start with what exactly happened to ursa in the first place a story told through the b-plot of this graphic novel i've already covered the backstory there so you can watch my video about what happened to ursa to find out more the search finally resolved one of the largest questions left unanswered by the finale of the avatar animated series and was a fascinating step forward for zuko and azula as characters it also gave more context for why ozai treated his son so poorly in both zuko's struggle to achieve greatness as a firebender and as punishment of an abuser for something that he had no control over i have to say i also adore that the writers did not make ursa into a perfect person she made mistakes and regrets her decision to discard the memories of her children in a moment of weakness that is the sort of thoughtful plotting fans of the avatar universe have come to expect are there other questions about avatar that you want answered or stories that you'd like explained let me know down in the comments and while you're down there please remember to like this if you liked it and subscribe for more lore videos in the future you can also ring the bell so you're the first to know whenever new videos get uploaded again that is the single best way you can help this channel grow and it lets me share my love of storytelling with you all the more as always thank you so much for watching and i'll see you next time [Music]

Channel: Full Motion Videos

Views: 68,233

Keywords: Avatar, The Last Airbender, avatar the last airbender, Zuko, Zuko's Mother, Zuko's Mom, Azula, nickelodeon, last airbender, firebender, Ursa, lore, The Search, The Search avatar, Aang, Ozai, ozai vs zuko, team avatar, full motion videos, avatar lore, last airbender lore, last airbender comic books, last airbender the search, avatar the search, what happened to zuko's mother, atla, the search atla, what happened to zuko's mom, search zuko's mom, dykm, didyouknowmovies, completionist, furst

Id: 7OhI1dlJZBY

Length: 30min 40sec (1840 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 31 2021