North America Inc wrote:Yuzhou wrote:Yooo
To jump in on the lore-fest, I'll make my case.
Iroh was originally heir to the throne, obviously.
it boils down to Lu Ten's (probably spelled wrong) death.
Post death: No chance Iroh would take the throne, unless he was only doing so till Zuko was ready to ascend.
Pre-death is the only time you could argue he would become Firelord. The Iroh we know was not exactly the same man before his son died. He actively took part in the war, and was quite accomplished martially.
Sure, Iroh has always been a good man, and so you could easily make the case that he'd end the war... but the Iroh we know is a direct result of his son's death.
Also Lu Ten would be heir obviously, not Zuko.
So yes this makes my point, the only way for Iroh to become Fire Lord was before the death of his son. But if we have the alt-history being Lu-ten didn't die, then he would be more Azulon than the Iroh we know. So I can't see a real way for him to take the throne here.
So yes, I think the scenario outlines makes sense.
Well, I mean, we could see that Iroh was a good person before his son's death. He just wasn't the traveled wise sage we know him as.
Thus it would be possible for him to end the war had he become Firelord, you just need him to have a reason.
Also, just as a side note that's not really related to this alt-history:
If I remember correctly, Azulon in his younger years was describe as somewhat pleasant. We obviously saw bits of Sozin's humanity. As twisted as him starting the war was, his original goals were noble. He got worse and worse after his confrontation with Roku, though.
Ozai is deff the most insane and power-hungry Firelord out of the bunch.