After watching Netflix Avatar I knew it was my parental duty to make sure my kids saw the REAL Avatar all the way through, or as my son calls it now, the "Real REAL Avatar." And I realized once again how much I adore the fire temple episode. For one express reason.
Everyone's all chained up, Zuko included, and they're all about to get their faces burnt off (One of these four knows exactly what that feels like and isn't thrilled about going through that again.)
But this terrifying being is coming straight at them.
Dude look at that thing! No one's walking out of this!
These guys sure as heck are gonna feel it.
...team Avatar is fine. Not a scratch on them. The fire is hot enough to disintegrate their chains yet none of them get so much as an ember in their face.
And you know who else doesn't get hurt at all?
Zuko doesn't get hurt in the least. His chains disintegrate and he takes his less than graceful leave.
We know Aang doesn't like to hurt people, and Zhao doesn't get killed or anything. But the dude still gets fire in his face and as far as Aang is concerned, Zuko is no different than Zhao and should have received the same treatment. Except Aang isn't the one in charge and Roku knows exactly who Zuko is and who he's meant to be.