An App For A Song

[uncle_iroh]

Warning, herein those braves souls who read further shall find much angst, as well of mentions of war, grief, and that which both leave. One shall also find spoilers for Avatar The Last Airbender. (Though not LoK.)

You have been warned. If you are proceeding further, please first fortify yourself with a mug of tea and a few deep breaths. And remember, power comes from the breath. As does life.

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Iroh | Avatar The Last Airbender | Reserved

[uncle_iroh]

Player: Chicklet
Age: Adult
Contact: Message my journals or ChickletLARP
Current Characters: Ni/A

Character: Iroh
Canon: Avatar the Last Airbender. Canon point is between when he broke out of the Fire Lord's prison but before he reached the White Lotus camp.
Age: Unknown. He's old enough that he had an adult son.


Background Information: Wiki, anything listed for Avatar of Korra can be disregarded as his canon point is before that series began.

Personality:

Iroh's personality at canon point is dramatically different than it was when he still believed in the war, when his son was alive. Now instead of trying to win for the glory of the Fire Nation at all costs, he realized that the people he once fought alongside needed to be stopped. His brother and niece had to be stopped. And if at all possible... his nephew needed to be saved.

During most of the series we see Iroh's personality as quirky wise old man. But it is hard to tell what is truly at the depth of him, which moments are true. Because he has had so many conflicting truths over his life. But the warrior, the general within himself, wasn't gone as it seemed. After Lu Ten's death, Iroh seemed to everyone to have lost the stomach for war, to have lost his nerve and his will to fight.

And he played into that. He played up being the lazy old man who just wanted to play pai sho and drink tea and eat good foods. While certainly much of that is clearly true, it is far from the whole of his truth. It isn't that being imprisoned as a traitor snapped him back into the mindset of a fighter. Because we see it when he was captured by the Earth Nation while he was bathing. We see it in when he has to fight alongside Zuko. He hides that part of himself, but it is clearly there.

We constantly see Iroh acting, pretending. When he isn the prison he pretends to be beaten, defeated. An old man who has given up the will to fight. He played that role when he was captured other times as well. The general never went away.

But when he was free to make his own choices for himself, after the war ended (after his canon point, but important for understanding him) he did choose a peaceful life. He chose to open a tea shop. The laziness and seeming lack of caring was gone, but the kind avuncular nature he showed so often while Zuko was in exile remained.

Was the general finally gone? Probably not. At his core, some part of Iroh will probably always be read to fight, will always see tactical answers to any given problem, will probably always think about how to win any fight.

But with all that, he also chooses not to fight whenever the choice is offered. He prefers to advice and bid for peace. That makes playing up the lazy and tired old man role easy.

Whatever role he is playing however, he is a far sharper old man than he lets on. He misses little. He is really good at reading people and uses that to his advantage.

One thing that seems core to him, since it existed in pretty much every phase of his life is that he has an open mind when it comes to learning. He isn't just willing to accept that other nations - even enemies - might have some interesting insights, he actively seeks them out. Even when he was actively acting as a general in the Fire Nation army, he sought to learn all he could about the Bending and cultures and ways of thinking of the other nations. Not just to find weaknesses - if that was the case, he hardly needed to study records of the all but extinct air nomads - but because he knew there was actual wisdom there. And there was.

By combining disciplines and lessons from all parts of the world he created new techniques and arts. Things like breathing fire and redirecting lightning came from not limiting himself to what was taught in the Fire Nation but stretching himself and seeking new ways of thinking.

When his nephew Zuko was exiled, Iroh took on a new role. Or rather, took on a role he'd set aside for the war while his son was young. Father. He wasn't Zuko's father, but despite that he was a better father figure to Zuko than his brother ever had been. He did his best to be there for Zuko, to guide and support him, even when the boy seemed utterly unwilling to listen. At times he might have almost despaired that it was too late, except that he had been older when he had changed. And he still saw a flame of good in Zuko. He knew the boy could learn that his honor was not a thing he could be given as a reward from his cruel father, but that it was a flame within that grew when it was nurtured.

It broke his heart whenever he and Zuko had one of their larger arguments - the small ones were just like bad weather, and taken much the same. There were arguments where Zuko turned his back on Iroh to rejoin his father and sister time and time again. It hurt, so much, to think that Zuko still could not see past his desperation for external approval. But he always believed that Zuko would come to see the truth some day. He trusted and believed in Zuko without fail. Even when Zuko was at his cruelest, Iroh knew that there was good in him.

When Iroh broke out of the cell, not trying to find Zuko was probably one of the hardest things he had ever had to do. But he trusted they'd find each other again. That he'd be able to see Zuko find himself and his own way.

Iroh is a character who shoulders a lot of regrets, who has learned a lot of hard lessons. Whatever role he plays, whatever is at his core... when he honestly has the chance to do so without hurting anyone, he chooses peace. Pai Sho, music, tea, good food, friends, found family. He enjoys playing the wise old man, and meeting all sorts of interesting new people and helping them work through their problems; helping them find their own flames within.



Abilities & Inventory:
Abilities: Iroh is a master Fire Bender with a number of unique skills even among Fire Benders. He knows how to fight with lightning but chooses not to. He knows how to redirect lightning without taking damage to his heart. He knows how to breathe fire in the right circumstances. He also uses his Bending to do little things like warming up his tea.

For non-bending abilities:
Iroh is a brilliant tactician, good at reading people and situations, and an able teacher. He is exemplary at fighting and strategy when he has to be.

Items: He wouldn't have much. Just what he could grab when he was escaping. Knowing him, he probably grabbed his Pai Sho tiles, especially a few extra white lotuses. Basic clothing - probably taken from a guard. A small amount of food and a water skin filled with tea probably. (He was given tea not long before he broke out, after all.) Really not much of value at all.



Suitability & Plans:
I was enabled in by the person apping Zuko and the Azula player. So while I had ben interested in this game for a while, it is Iroh specifically for them. But given that, when I read through everything, I realized that there is something he will want to do for sure that he cannot do yet in canon. And once he sees Zuko here, he will feel free to pursue it, potentially. Starting his tea shop. It will also help one of his secondary goals - learning the way peoples from all sorts of new places think. And even if he does accept this is all a dream... well dreams can inspire. One can learn much from their dreams if they just listen to what their minds are telling them.

If he winds up trying to help Azula or trying to stop her will depend a lot on their early interactions and OOC discussion with Azula's player. But wile he wouldn't go in thinking he could find good in Azula... he would want to. Even if he wouldn't feel he could trust her when she showed any. Not for a long time. That would be a rough and rocky road. The last time I played Iroh (not carrying over the CR, though a lot of the players from that game are playing the same characters here) Zuko and Azula had already had a lot of time to work things out before he arrived. With him and Zuko arriving at the same time, this would be a whole new dynamic to explore.


How will the character fit in?

Iroh loves meeting new people and learning about them. A great way to spark any conversation is genuine interest in the other person and what they have to say. Also he seems like a harmless old man, even though he is anything but harmless when he needs to be. It is easier to get people to open up to someone who seems unable to hurt them. I think he'll fit in fairly well, and he is already having some interesting threads on the TDM. Though given the masquerade I am honestly not sure how he will follow up on much of it.



Test Drive Sample: Sample TDM Tada!

Questions: Is there anything you want me to change to make this more fun for the mod team? (Like something specific for him to have when he arrives, or a different canon point?)