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atla-annotated:

Zuko’s Ancestors: Remaining Portraits

-I will call them Fire Lord Left and Fire Lord Right, since they have no canon names-

Timeline:

Fire Lord Left > Fire Lord Right > Sozin > Azulon > Ozai > Zuko> Honoria

Image source: One, two

Fire Lord Left

He is blessing the world with fire, but not, if Sozin is to be believed, in Ozai’s way. Remember how Sozin claimed the Fire Nation was prosperous in/before his time, economically and culturally.

What is more interesting about that portrait are the flowers. I cannot decide if they are supposed to lotus or peonies.

As discussed many times before, lotus stands for enlightenment and that would fit well with what Sozin said. The bud of the flower could well be a lotus, but if you take a closer look at the leaves, they do not match. Lotuses have big, round, single leaves, the flower depicted does not, it’s leaves are small and branch off.

Which lead me to think it might well be a different auspicious flower: The peony.

When stylized the lotus bud and the peony bud can look rather similar, but when you compare the leaves, you will note that the ones of the peony look more similar to the ones shown on the portrait than the lotus leaves.

Now, what would it mean if said flowers were peonies:

The tree peony or mudan (牡丹) signifies the third month of the lunar calendar and symbolizes longevity, loyalty, happiness and eternal beauty.
Because of the way it sometimes grows as doubles, the peony appears to the Chinese like strings of cash coins and thus has come to symbolize prosperity and wealth.
For this reason, another name for the peony is fuguihua (富贵花) which means “flower of wealth and honor”.

Longevity, loyalty, happiness, honor and wealth. All of these do fit well with what we know from Sozin about the past.

Here comes the funny part, though. The peony also has a distinct meaning in fengshui.

(The peony is) One of the most sensual flowers with a delicious scent, the peony has long been used in feng shui as a cure for love & romance. This especially applies to a couple of pink peonies.The symbol of peony is often considered a metaphor for female beauty.

The flowers we see are in fact in couples, and pink. Which makes me wonder if the artist tried to imply that Fire Lord Left was very much in touch with his feminine side. After all, it seems to run in the family, isn’t that so, Phoenix* King Ozai…

*Phoenixes are female, dragons are male

Fire Lord Right

The interesting thing about Fire Lord Right is how he is holding both, the flames of the Fire Nation and the Sun, Moon and Stars of the Watertribes.

The hand holding the Sun, Moon and Stars, is shown in the mudra of blessing, which implies a benevolent, close relationship with at least one of the Watertribes, this, in combination with the clouds is making me wonder if this implies a marriage.

Further, Fire Lord Right is standing on clouds:

Clouds, sometimes referred to as “auspicious clouds” (xiangyun 祥云), represent the heavens and also “good luck” because the Chinese word for cloud (yun 云) is pronounced the same as yun (运) meaning “luck” or “fortune”.
Its form often resembles the auspicious shape of the lingzhi “fungus of immortality”.
The cloud is a commonly seen design and when repeated in a pattern symbolizes never-ending fortune.