r/ATLA • u/JustAPerson_YesOrNo "Hello, it's Zuko here" • May 25 '25

Question What ATLA take make you like this?

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Posting here bc mods are (not) mean

589 Upvotes

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19

u/boxdynomite3 May 26 '25

So many people keep denying Iroh being a war criminal these days

8

u/OneAndOnlyLobster May 26 '25

To be fair, they don't have the Geneva Conventions, and we don't know enough specifics about Iroh's past to be absolutely sure.

Sokka is, though, on screen, from The Northern Air Temple onwards, if we apply real world standards.

2

u/SatisfactionEast9815 May 29 '25

Wait, what did Sokka do?

2

u/OneAndOnlyLobster May 29 '25

In that episode specifically, he flew the war balloon with the FN insignia over FN lines despite being an enemy combattant to them. Using military insignias in this manner (to sneak over enemy lines undetected and attack them) has been a war crime since the concept of war crimes was first laid out. He didn't mean to do it at first (although we don't know if the Mechanist was aware, as an adult, that this would happen, and was letting Sokka kind of figure it out) but he sure took advantage once the pieces fell into place in his mind. Irl war crime conventions don't really care if you "meant" it or not, either.

2

u/Whitehawk26 May 28 '25

I still don't get this. What are the war crimes he committed? Participating in war =/= war crimes

1

u/YesWomansLand1 May 28 '25

Bait used to be believable.

1

u/Ainka_VGC May 27 '25

P much what lobster said, we aren’t given enough to actually say Iroh was a war criminal though it’s nor a crazy leap to believe. A person watching AtLA and not coming to that conclusion is p reasonable too because it’s just a solid head cannon.