"I have no children or husband. They are dead to me and you will join them if anybody stands in my way."

— Ursa coldly disowning her son, daughter, and husband during her coronation.

Ursa was the former ruler of the during the last five years of the , reigning as from 95 to 100 . She was the second child and only daughter of Fire Lord Azulon and Ilah, the younger sister of Iroh, aunt of Lu Ten, wife to Ozai, the sire of and Princess , and the maternal/paternal grandfather of and . Ursa was a dominant master and, prior to the end of the war, was believed to be the most powerful firebender in the .

She is the main antagonist of . Ursa is a skilled actress and strategist, as well as a master herbalist and manipulator, using Ozai's knowledge of poisonous plants, she had him make a tonic and poisoned her father, not long after the murder of her nephew, and had herself crowned Fire Lord. Over the course of the series, Ursa slowly delved into insanity, believing that she had to be perfect and rule the whole world just to be noticed. This stemmed from a hidden jealousy and resentment that she had towards her older brother because she was always the second one while Iroh was loved and noticed by everyone. Growing up, Ursa harbored deep mental instabilities and slowly started to succumb to a mental illness, due to Azulon loving Iroh more than her.

After Iroh's only son, and her only nephew, Lu Ten, was murdered during his 600 day siege of Ba Sing Se, Ursa seized her chance and usurped her older brother's birthright to the throne in a scheme that resulted in her father's death and the banishment of her husband and children.

Her rule saw a mass buildup of industry and significant technological advancements, but Ursa cared nothing for how her people were suffering, using the war for her own greedy ends. Like her grandfather, Sozin, before her, Ursa sought to conquer the other nations and become the supreme ruler of the world just to be noticed and acknowledge as the more superior firebender. To do this, she planned to utilize to burn down the , similar to how her grandfather used the comet and killed the Air Nomads, renouncing the title of Fire Lord and declaring herself the Phoenix Queen, ruler of the world. Before her plans could come to full fruition, she was defeated by her ex-husband, , and his allies, who used to remove her firebending abilities permanently.

Drenched, burned, bruised, stripped of her bending, and battered, Ursa glared hatefully at her ex-family and their allies before letting out a heart-wrenching fiery roar and breaking down in harsh sobs, coughs, and shrieks, earning looks of shock and pity. Her tears were tainted with blood, and despite her crimes during the war, Ozai, Katara, and Bato refused to let her suffer this way, so they healed her to the best of their abilities, put her in a coma, and had her institutionalized on a nearby island to recover before serving the rest of her life in prison.

After the end of the war and the renouncement of the monarchy, Ursa was sentenced to life in prison for several war crimes once she recovered and awoke from her coma. To this day, 14 years after the war, she still remains in a coma

History

Early Life

Youth and engagement

Ursa was born to Fire Lord Azulon and his wife Ilah, and according to her older brother Iroh, she displayed a difficult temperament from the moment "she could crawl". When Ursa was a baby, a portrait was painted of her while she was playing on a beach. As she grew up, Ursa became increasingly stubborn, impatient, and ambitious.

As a result, Ursa's relationship with Iroh was always rather strained, and the two were highly competitive, regularly fighting about the pettiest matters such as a game of Pai Sho. Regardless, many dismissed Ursa's aggression as simple temper tantrums by an emotional youth. Her behavior and later views on family were influenced by the fact that Azulon favored Iroh over her, leaving the teenager emotionally scarred, hurt, and resentful.

This caused her to feel jealousy and resentment towards her older brother, and thought that if she tried to go through with her grandfather's goals to end the world, everyone would finally notice her and acknowledge her worth. Eventually, Ursa and her father sought to add Avatar Roku's lineage to the royal family, as the Fire Sages predicted that doing so would yield a more powerful bloodline. The two traveled to Hira'a and tracked down Ozai, the grandson of the past Avatar. After a short introduction by her father, Ursa proposed to Ozai, with the threat that she would return and burn the village, and to keep his people safe, he agreed. However, when they prepared to travel back to the capital city, a commoner blocked their way, demanding to release Ozai.

Azulon ordered their bodyguards to deal with her, but after a short struggle, Ozai pleaded with Ursa to call off her soldiers' attack, securing the woman's safety, and let him talk to the woman to get her to go home. After being called "My Love" by her future husband, the princess complied to the request. After the woman was told off, the group continued their journey back to the capital.

Reign as Fire Lord (95 AG- 100 AG)

Coronation

About eight years before Aang was found in the iceberg, Ursa's older brother Iroh began the six-hundred-day Siege of Ba Sing Se, the Earth Kingdom capital, which ended when Iroh's only son, Lu Ten, was murdered in battle. This led Ursa to request that her father, Fire Lord Azulon, revoke Iroh's birthright as crown prince, allowing Ursa to inherit the throne instead of Iroh. Ursa explained that without an heir, the line of Fire Lords would end with Iroh, while Ursa still had two children.

Azulon became furious, refusing to betray his firstborn child's right to the throne. As punishment, Azulon ordered Ursa to kill her own son, Zuko, so she would understand Iroh's pain. But, what Azulon didn't know was that Ozai, Zuko, and Azula were terrified of Ursa and the abuse she inflicted on them.

Ursa retreated to her own chambers to wait for Zuko to fall asleep. Having learned of the order from the eavesdropping Azula, Ozai pleaded with her to spare Zuko's life, but Ursa countered that she had no choice, since it would be treason to refuse the Fire Lord's command.

As a last resort to save Zuko, Ozai offered Ursa what she desired most in exchange for Zuko's life: the throne. He would concoct an untraceable color- and odorless poison and turn it over to Ursa on the grounds that their children would not be harmed. Ursa agreed and shortly thereafter, Ozai made the poison and turned it over to her, and she snuck into Azulon's room that same night to end her father's life with it.

The next morning, Azulon was found dead in his bed. His cremation took place a little later, and while Ursa, Ozai, and their two children were present, the Fire Sages announced Azulon's alleged dying wish; that Ursa would be his successor.

The High Sage subsequently crowned the former princess Fire Lord the following day, whereupon those present hailed her as their new ruler and bowed to her. The night following Azulon's death, Ursa subsequently banished Ozai, Azula, and Zuko from the Fire Nation capital and ordered them that they were not to return unless they had the Avatar in chains. But before they left, Ursa inflicted several stab wounds on Ozai as a parting gift.

New plans

Despite familial ties, Ozai bore the brunt of his wife's cruelty in order to protect Zuko and Azula. Six years prior to Aang's discovery at the South Pole, she subsequently exiled Zuko, Ozai, and Azula from the Fire Nation, under orders not to return until they had done the impossible: capture the long-lost Avatar, who had been missing for nearly a hundred years.

This was meant to be an easy way of getting rid of them, as all previous Fire Lords failed to find the Avatar.

With word being that the Avatar has been under her nose all along in the form of her husband, Ozai. Ursa became more aggressive in her pursuit of victory.

Distrusting her family's competence, she promoted Zuko's rival Zhao from Commander to Admiral to increase his chances of capturing the Avatar. Admiral Zhao was thwarted in his mission by Ursa's brother Iroh, who committed treason in an effort to stop Zhao from killing the Water Tribe's patron Moon Spirit. Ursa expressed distaste at what she saw as her brother's treachery and son's failure by giving her best soldier, Bellatrix, the task of hunting down her ex-husband, son, and daughter.

Winter 99 AG

Shortly after Zhao's failed siege on the Northern Water Tribe and failed murder of the Moon Spirit, Bellatrix was summoned by Ursa to his throne room. As she knelt before Fire Lord Ursa, she commented that Ozai was a failure and Iroh, along with Zuko and Azula were traitors. Ursa charged her with a mission: to find and capture her husband, son, daughter, and brother.

Spring 100 AG

Summer 100 AG

As she prepared for her coronation, Ursa began to crack under the pressures of her subjects' betrayal and acceding to the supreme throne, and her mental health began to deteriorate and decay. She became suspicious of her servants and began to banish them from the nation, along with her personal advisors Lilo and Lola, her personal Dai Li agents, and the Royal Procession. While attempting to cut her hair for the coronation, Ursa saw a hallucination of her deceased mother, Illah.

Ursa told her mother coldly and resentfully, "[You] think I'm not your daughter, both you and father favored Iroh over me and left me behind!". Illah tried to placate her daughter by replying, "[I] think you're confused.". Just before the High Sage was to crown Ursa as Phoenix Queen, Zuko and Katara along with Ozai, Sokka, Yue, Suki, and Toph arrived at the palace. Ursa challenged Ozai to a Comet-Enhanced Agni Kai, to which he agreed, noticing her imbalanced mental state.

During their fight, Ursa's attacks were wild, emotional, and reckless, albeit still powerful, while Ozai's attacks were calculated, calm and controlled, and eventually, he gained the upper hand. When he began to overpower her, Ursa, responding to his taunt to use lightning, directed her attack toward Katara.

However, Zuko intercepted her attack and was able to create a dome of green, purple, and golden flames around him and the others. Ursa then attempted to defeat her son, but the firebender trapped them both in amber, a new form Zuko invented, and chained her to the floor by taking advantage of her mental decay.

Seeing herself defeated as Fire Lord and usurped as Phoenix Queen, Ursa let out a loud fiery roar before breaking down, sobbing, coughing, and shrieking while the group just stared at her in shock before sending pitying looks at her direction.

Unable to see Ursa like this, Ozai walked towards his ex-wife and whispered, "[I] did love you at one point, Ursa. But that flame has long since been extinguished, and you have no one else to blame but yourself." before knocking her unconscious by hitting a pressure point.