Avatar: The Last Airbender is undoubtedly one of the best Western animated TV shows of all time. Besides amazing animation and atmosphere, Avatar presented us with complex and layered characters that are part of academic analysis today. One of them was Zuko, the show’s antagonist who turned antihero and ultimately became one of the fascinating characters in cartoon history. The fans greatly discussed his life after the series, and we saw him again in the sequel Legend of Korra after many years. This article will discuss who Zuko married in Avatar and speculate on potential partners.
According to Legend of Korra, it seems that Zuko married Mai. Time-skip between Avatar and Korra was approximately seventy years, and the sequel showed Zuko still alive, acting as a consultant to his daughter, now Fire Lord, Izumi. Zuko’s daughter looks quite similar to Mai, Zuko’s romantic interest in Avatar: The Last Airbender. They broke up during the series but got together again at the end. Post-series comics show Zuko and Mai still together but ending their relationship, and since then, Zuko’s endgame has never been outrightly revealed.
We will discuss this topic more by analyzing Zuko’s relationships with other characters in the series and conclude this article with newfound information. If you are interested in this Avatar: The Last Airbender topic, stay with us until the end.
Zuko’s relationships in Avatar: The Last Airbender
Before we answer this question, let’s talk about Zuko’s character first. Zuko is the son of Fire Lord Ozai, the most notorious person the Four Nations have seen in centuries. His reign was marked by dictatorship and violence, which made Fire Nation the feared enemy of the rest of the Avatar World.
Zuko wasn’t the only child – his younger sister Azula showed signs of mental instability from a young age, which resulted in her being hostile towards her older brother. From a young age, Zuko was under a lot of pressure, which made him do things to impress his uninterested father, despite his heart “not being in it.”
Zuko always sought his father’s attention and approval, but Ozai never cared. Only his mother, Ursa, and Uncle Iroh were people who Zuko could rely on and seek support. The years of verbal torture Ozai put his son under continued into Zuko’s teenage years, affecting people around him.
When the news of Avatar’s appearance after hundred years reached Fire Lord Ozai, Zuko decided to step up and bring Avatar to his father to finally prove to him that he is worthy of being his son.
As we know, that didn’t end up well because Zuko finally realized that Ozai’s approval doesn’t mean anything to him and that his Uncle Iroh is the one he needs. We get one of the best cartoon episodes of all time called Zuko Alone, and our antihero finally connects with Team Avatar. His relationships with other members were platonic, but one member stuck out from the rest – Katara.
This statement was true in many ways, even before Zuko joined Team Avatar. In the first book, Zuko is actively searching for Aang across the Four Nations, and he sees an opportunity and captures Katara, who is looking for her tribal necklace. Katara refuses to cooperate with Zuko, who later hires a bounty hunter called June. After Katara escapes, June teases Zuko that his girlfriend dumped him and that she is too pretty for him. This moment was the first hint of Zuko, and Katara hinted at least having chemistry.
Fast forward to book two, where Zuko and Katara are imprisoned in a crystal cave under Earth’s King Palace in Ba Sing Se. At first, Katara yells at Zuko, who shows her empathy and tells her that he lost his mother like her because of war.
Moreover, Zuko tells Katara that he thought his scar would make him different from others, but in the end, he realizes that he doesn’t need it to realize his destiny. Katara offers to heal his scar, and the duo shares an intimate moment until Iroh and Aang break them out of the cave. Zuko eventually joins Azula in capturing Aang, which disappoints Katara greatly.
Book three brought Zuko to Team Avatar; boy, was Katara against him joining. After tough circumstances in which Zuko supported Katara, she hugged him and welcomed him to the team. The duo continued to work well together and were teased by other people again, which they both embarrassingly denied.
In the end, Zuko saved Katara’s life during the battle against Azula, which badly injured him and prompted Katara to thank him. Zuko and Katara always had chemistry, which many fans recognized from the start, but Katara ended up with Aang in the end. Despite not canon, Zuko’s and Katara’s relationship definitely needs mentioning.
Zuko had a brief relationship with a girl from Ba Sing Se named Jin.
During Iroh and Zuko’s hiding in Ba Sing Se, the duo started working in a local tea shop. One day, a girl named Jin comes around for tea and returns to the shop daily. At first, Zuko thinks she knows they are firebenders, but Iroh quickly recognizes that the girl has a crush on Zuko.
Jin asks Zuko out, which Iroh accepts on behalf of the young man. Zuko is nervous, but in the end, he has a great time on a date with Jin and even shares a kiss with her. After that, Iroh and Zuko depart Ba Sing Se, and the young firebender sees Jin one more time in the future when he is already in a relationship with Mai – Jin doesn’t seem to mind them being together.
Zuko and Mai were together and broke up in the Avatar series, but they genuinely cared for each other.
Lastly, we have Mai, Azula’s friend and daughter of Fire Nation politicians. Mai is a great example of a privileged child that was bored most of her life. She met Azula and Ty Lee at Royal Academy for Girls and stayed best friends. The trio joined the hunt for Avatar, and when Zuko returned to Fire Nation, Mai and Zuko started dating. Their relationship seemed fine until the vacation on Ember Island, when they briefly broke up but made up pretty quickly.
When Zuko has a change of heart and has to leave train Aang in fire bending, he leaves Mai a note telling her he is sorry for everything. The duo meets again in prison at the Boiling Rock, where Mai confronts Zuko and tells him he hurt her deeply.
After Azula finds out what happened, she attacks Team Avatar, but Mai betrays her and tells her that she loves Zuko more than she fears her. Team Avatar survives the epic prison break, and Zuko and Mai don’t meet again until the end of the Hundred Year War.
After Fire Lord Ozai is defeated and Zuko takes over as the next Fire Lord, Mai and Zuko renew their relationship.
Comics and books see the couple still together but post-Avatar series, but they eventually break up, with Mai finding a new boyfriend. It was never outright said if Mai and Zuko got together once again, but one hint in Legend of Korra suggests that one of these women could’ve married Zuko.
Who did Zuko marry in Avatar?
Avatar: The Last Airbender, comics, and books suggest that Mai and Zuko have genuine feelings for each other, but they always break up. However, the sequel to the original series, Legend of Korra, is set seventy years later, where only a few members of the old Team Avatar are still alive – Toph, Katara, and Zuko. The latter is still included in Fire Nation politics by being an advisor to his daughter, current Fire Lord, Izumi.
Now, this is where it gets interesting. We know that Legend of Korra mainly focuses on her as Avatar and her group of friends, which means that Zuko, Katara, and Toph come to the show for one story arc. Fire Lord Izumi is seen once in Legend of Korra, specifically in book four of the show, and boy, does she look like Mai.
We never got a confirmation that Mai is Izumi’s daughter or mention of her name in the series. Moreover, Zuko never mentioned his spouse, which made fans speculate. I think there isn’t much to speculate about because Izumi clearly resembles Mai – the shape of her face, eyes… even her height.
Despite Avatar and Legend of Korra showrunners Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino never outright telling us who Zuko married in the end, we can confidently assume that Mai probably married Zuko and died sometime before the beginning of Legend of Korra.
