Water...
Earth...
Fire...
Air.
Long ago...
The four nations lived together in harmony.
Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.
Only the Avatar, master of all four elements could stop them.
But when the world needed him most
he vanished.
100 years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar
an airbender named Aang.
And although his airbending skills were great
he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone.
But I believe Aang can save the world.
I'm losing this war.
I'm letting the whole world down.
I should have seen this war coming, and prevented it.
For so long, I thought that if my dad accepted me, I'd be happy.
I'm back home now.
My dad talks to me.
Everything should be perfect, right?
I should be happy now, but I'm not.
Please, uncle, I'm so confused.
I need your help.
Forget it.
I'll solve this myself.
Waste away in here for all I care.
Aang, it's time you learned my history with Fire Lord Sozin.
You need to understand how the war began if you want to know how to end it.
Meet me on my home island on the day of the summer solstice.
Ok, Roku.
You need to know the story of your great-grandfather's demise.
It will reveal your own destiny.
There it is.
That's Roku's home.
But there's nothing here.
Yes, there is.
An entire village.
Hundreds of houses.
All completely buried in ash.
Wait.
I need to ask you something.
What do you remember about our great-grandfather's history?
Ah, Zuko.
It's so strange how your mind works.
Fire Lord Sozin began the war, of course.
He spent his early years secretly preparing for it
but he was as patient as he was clever.
He famously waited for the comet, later renamed Sozin's comet
and used its power to launch his full-scale invasion of the world.
In the end, he died a very old and successful man.
But how did he die?
Didn't you pay any attention in school, Zuko?
He died peacefully, in his sleep.
He was ancient.
What does it mean?
The fire sages keep the secret history in the dragon bone catacombs.
The final testament of Fire Lord Sozin.
Come, Aang.
Where are we going?
To visit my past.
Our shared past.
As I feel my own life dimming, I can't help but think
of a time when everything was so much brighter.
I remember my friend.
Looks like I win again, Roku.
Are you kidding?
The tree root did all the work.
Nice one, Sozin.
You were friends with Fire Lord Sozin?
Back then, he was just Prince Sozin, and he was my best friend.
Say something to her.
Uh...
Love is hard when you're young.
You don't have to tell me.
Don't worry.
It gets better.
Now come with me.
We have a party to attend.
Wait, whose party is it?
Sozin and I shared many things, including a birthday.
Did something happen to my father?
No, Prince Sozin.
We are not here for you.
We are here to announce the identity of the next Avatar.
It is our honor to serve you, Avatar Roku.
So the day came when my friend, Roku,
had to leave the Fire Nation and face his destiny as the Avatar.
He needed to travel the world so he could master the other elements.
Hey, why aren't you packed yet, all-powerful Avatar?
Come on, show me how it's done using all four kinds of bending.
I started packing, but then the fire sages told me
I won't need any worldly possessions anymore.
Oh.
It happened so fast.
Everything's gonna be different now.
Here.
I hope you're at least allowed to have this.
But this is a royal artifact.
It's supposed to be worn by the crown prince.
I want you to have it.
Do they have bathrooms in the spirit world?
As a matter of fact, they do not.
Hey, we're almost at the Southern air temple.
This was the first stop on my Avatar journey.
It was the place where I was trained to master airbending
and also where I met an old friend of yours, Monk Gyatso.
No way.
Hey, Gyatso, you want to see a new glider trick?
Ha-ha-ha, check this out.
He's air-surfing.
I can't believe I never thought of that.
That's amazing.
I can't believe you were friends with Monk Gyatso just like I was.
Some friendships are so strong, they can even transcend lifetimes.
After my years mastering airbending, I traveled to the northern water tribe.
Waterbending was especially challenging for me.
But in time, I mastered it as well.
I moved on to the Earth Kingdom.
My earthbending master, Sud, was uncompromising, stubborn, and blunt
and a lifelong friend.
It was bitter work, but the results were worth it.
Twelve long years passed before I saw my friend again.
When Roku returned, he was a fully realized Avatar, and I had changed as well.
Sozin, or should I say, Fire Lord.
Customarily, my subjects bow before greeting me, but you're the exception.
After all these years, he was still my best friend
and a few months later, he was my best man.
Roku, it's that girl who didn't even know you were alive.
Ta Min.
I was persistent.
When love is real, it finds a way
and being the Avatar doesn't hurt your chances with the ladies, either.
On wedding days, we look to the future with optimism and joy.
I had my own vision for a brighter future.
Excuse me.
May I borrow him for a moment?
It's not very traditional, but ok.
What's on your mind?
I've been thinking hard about the state of the world lately.
Sozin, it's my wedding.
Have a cookie.
Dance with someone.
Lighten up.
I know, I know, but just hear me out.
Right from the start, I was destined to be Fire Lord
and although we didn't always know it, you were destined to be the Avatar.
It's an amazing stroke of fate we know each other so well, isn't it?
Together, we could do anything.
Yeah, we could.
Our nation is enjoying an unprecedented time of peace and wealth.
Our people are happy, and we're so fortunate in so many ways.
Where are you going with this?
I've been thinking.
We should share this prosperity with the rest of the world.
In our hands is the most successful empire in history.
It's time we expanded it.
No, the four nations
are meant just that - four.
Roku, you haven't even stopped to consider the possibilities.
There are no possibilities.
This is the last I want to hear about this.
That was my first real test as the Avatar.
Unfortunately, it was many years before I learned that Sozin
had gone ahead with his plan, despite my warning.
I've seen the colony, Sozin.
How dare you occupy Earth Kingdom territory.
How dare you, a citizen of the Fire Nation, address your Fire Lord this way?
Your loyalty is to our nation first.
Anything less makes you a traitor.
Don't do this, Sozin.
Don't challenge me.
It will only end badly.
It's over.
I'm sparing you, Sozin.
I'm letting you go in the name of our past friendship.
But I warn you, even a single step out of line will result in your permanent end.
Sozin and I didn't speak or see each other
for 25 years after our battle.
I spent most of my spare time here at my home.
Let's go.
Roku's island was 100 miles away.
But I could still feel it rumbling
and see the black plume of smoke.
I had never seen anything like this catastrophe.
This is amazing, Roku.
You're battling a volcano, and you're winning.
Unfortunately, my success didn't last, Aang.
There was no way I could do it all.
Battling the elements was hard enough
I had to do it while I could barely breathe.
The poisonous, volcanic gasses were overwhelming.
It's all right, Fang.
Get out of here, I'm fine.
Need a hand, old friend?
Sozin?
There's not a moment to waste.
Don't breathe the toxic gas.
It's... too much.
Please...
Without you, all my plans are suddenly possible.
I have a vision for the future, Roku.
Who's, wait, that's me, isn't it?
Make sense of our past, Aang.
And you will bring peace and restore balance in the world.
Roku?
Roku...
With Roku gone, and the great comet returning
the timing was perfect to change the world.
I knew the next Avatar would be born an air nomad
so I wiped out the air temples.
But somehow, the new Avatar eluded me.
I wasted the remainder of my life searching in vain.
I know he's hiding out there somewhere
the Fire Nation's greatest threat.
The last airbender.
That can't be it, where's the rest of it?
You sent this, didn't you?
I found the secret history.
Which, by the way, should be renamed "the history most people already know."
The note said that I needed to know about my great-grandfather's death
but he was still alive in the end.
No, he wasn't.
What are you talking about?
You have more than one great-grandfather, Prince Zuko.
Sozin was your father's grandfather.
Your mother's grandfather was Avatar Roku.
Why are you telling me this?
Because understanding the struggle between your two great-grandfathers
can help you better understand the battle within yourself.
Evil and good are always at war inside you, Zuko
it is your nature, your legacy.
But there is a bright side.
What happened generations ago can be resolved now.
By you.
Because of your legacy, you alone can cleanse the sins of our family
and the Fire Nation.
Born in you, along with all this strife
is the power to restore balance to the world.
This is a royal artifact.
It's supposed to be worn by the crown prince.
You mean, after all Roku and Sozin went through together
even after Roku showed him mercy, Sozin betrayed him like that?
It's like these people are born bad.
No, that's wrong.
I don't think that was the point of what Roku showed me at all.
Then what was the point?
Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Sozin was, right?
If anything, their story proves anyone's capable of great good and great evil.
Everyone, even the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation
have to be treated like they're worth giving a chance.
And I also think it was about friendships.
Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?
I don't see why not.
Well, scientifically speaking, there's no way to prove that...
oh, Sokka, just hold hands.