Prince Zuko of Avatar: The Last Airbender lost his mother when he was a young kid; she is thought to be dead, but the tie-in comics reveal the reason behind her disappearance and provide insight into Zuko’s mother’s whereabouts. Ursa, Zuko’s mother, is descended from Roku, the Fire Nation Avatar who came before Aang.
It is only revealed in Avatar: The Last Airbender that she struck a deal to save Zuko’s life when his father was about to kill him. Zuko’s mother was subsequently banished from the Fire Nation.
In the climax of Avatar: The Last Airbender, the youthful Fire Prince approaches his jailed father and demands to know all the details about Zuko’s mother’s true fate.
Fortunately, Gene Luen Yang and showrunners Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino of Avatar: The Last Airbender have produced sequel comics that take place in the days following Avatar Aang’s victory over Fire Lord Ozai.
The Search, a narrative arc in the Avatar: The Last Airbender comics, follows Zuko on his search to learn the truth about his mother’s disappearance and possibly even to locate her again.
The Reason for Zuko’s Mother’s Exile
Ursa, Zuko’s mother, was a Fire Princess for a long time and gave birth to Prince Ozai’s two children, Azula and Zuko. Lu Ten, the sole son of Uncle Iroh, was the children’s cousin who was killed in combat when they were very small.
The children heard Ozai pleading with his father Azulon to give him the throne birthright rather than Iroh, as Iroh had renounced his General responsibilities out of sorrow. Azulon gave Ozai the command to assassinate Zuko as retaliation for his imprudence because he wanted Ozai to experience the same sorrow that Iroh had after losing his eldest son.
When Zuko’s mother learned of this scheme, she struck a bargain with Ozai: she would utilize her herbal knowledge to create an odourless, colourless poison, allowing Ozai to succeed him as Fire Lord and killing Azulon while sparing Zuko’s life.
Ozai, Zuko’s father, approved of the murder scheme under the proviso that Ursa would depart the Fire Nation immediately upon Azulon’s death and never return, to prevent her from using the same poison on Ozai. In addition, Ozai vowed to hunt down and kill all of Ursa’s children should she attempt to take them with her.
Ursa was distraught and had to part from her kids. Following their escape from the Fire Nation Palace, Zuko’s mother went back to her birth village. She met Noren there, who turned out to be Ikem, her first love. To avoid Ozai’s wrath, Ikem had begged a spirit known as the Mother of Faces to alter his appearance.
In Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Search, Ursa decided to strike a similar bargain with the Mother of Faces to start over. But when the Mother of Faces sensed Ursa’s anguish, she offered something more: a new mind that would erase all of Ursa’s memories of her time spent as Ozai’s wife.
After making the painful decision to let go of her kids and the entirety of her previous life, Ursa was granted a new name and appearance: Noriko. For many years, she and Noren coexisted together, and they produced a daughter named Kiyi, who was half-sister to Zuko and Azula.
