My vote goes to the Earth King. You have to realize, the main reason he doesn't seem to know anything is that Long Feng has come up with excuse after excuse to keep him isolated in the palace and unable to see what is going on in Ba Sing Se.

Plus, Ozai seems more of the harsh dictator type. He was perfectly fine with sending an entire division of fire nation soldiers to their deaths, just as a diversion to make things easier for the better-trained soldiers. You'd think that if he gave a damn about his people, he'd demand that his generals come up with a better plan. After all it's entirely possible that the one well-trained division could have accomplished its goal without help just by dividing into two seperate armies; one acting as a diversion while the other flanked the Earth Kingdom army they were battling; then the two could attack from both sides and possibly emerge victorious.

For anyone curious as to how this would work, read up on the American Civil War. Robert E. Lee was incredibly fond of dividing his forces; and on numerous occasions defeated an enemy force that vastly outnumbered his own using this very tactic.

So all in all, Ozai doesn't seem to care about his people. He simply wants power. The Earth King on the other hand, shows far more humility and compassion to his subjects. So I believe he would be a far better leader than Ozai.

I like the Earth King but I agree with Zarah, the Fire Lord knows what is going on and sorry, but the Earth King seems like a whimp. He has so many guards I'm doubting his power. The Fire Lord has a huge battle planned out so he know's what he would do. But the Earth King is just figuring out there is a war that has been going on for 100 YEARS! He needs to get with what's going on. The Earth Kingdom is strong and powerful, but so is the Fire Nation. So since the Earth King agrees with Aang and Sokka on what to do, maybe he can read up on it and now they can be stronger.

There seems to be disagreement as to what it is that makes someone a great leader. Consider, however, that if it is just knowledge/power/charisma, then Hitler should be considered a great leader. The Fire Lord may have those same qualities, but he, like Hitler, does not have the necessary moral compass. Fire Lord Ozai doesn't just have an ambivalent attitude towards his people, allowing them to fail or succeed on their own merits, he oppresses them. The Earth King cares about his people, while the Fire Lord only uses them for his own selfish gains.

My vote is for the Earth King. Now that his naivete has been broken, he will have both heart and knowledge.

Copper for your thoughts.

Akailen is absolutely right.

by leadership you have to consider what they are exactly leading towards. Hilter was intending on getting world domination and extreme power. Did he do that? YEAH. He did that so well we eventually had to have USA, British, France, and several small countries band together to stop him. Then Japan and everyone stepped in to help.

Anyway.

My thoughts When i think of a leader i think of a fair, honest, and friendly person who cares for the people. That goes to the earth king.

When it came to knowledge and how to get the job done, then the fire lord ozai gets my vote. He knows how to accomplish his goals and successfully. Really what they should have done though. Is withdraw all forces from the offense and wait for the comet then create an overwhelming strike against all the nations at one time. If all the nations are under attack then there's going to be at least a high casualty and victory rate since the avatar can't move from one nation to the next quickly enough to prevent the attacks.

Ok sorry! Didn't mean to hit a nerve! What I meant by leader is a person that takes control over an obsticle wheather it be a country or a simple project, for everyone has a leader it's just the person that takes control or sets the guideline in a person's actions. So I'll change it from leader to ruler! Since they both rule a country, nation, whatever.

Okay can we please not compare the firelord to hitler! He si not really that evil, now that I come to think of it what is the point of the war? Why are they still at war, OMG they never answered this question wow i just realized all of this.

Definetely the Firelord, he is a great leader, the royal family breeds great leaders in the firenation. Just look at how powerful they have been, they have been untouchable for 100 years of war. Kudos for the fire nation bitches!! yea boiii

Uh Takano, perhaps I'm wrong, but Japan lost the war for hitler. America was going to stay out of the war because of the many casualties of WW1. But when the japanese bombed pearl harbor without Hitler's "OK", America jumped right in. Hitler wanted to save us for last. But he couldnt because japan made a stupid move. So the next time you see a japanese, thank them for saving you from Nazi rule (though it was unintentional . The man was an ingenious tactition. He gave his soldiers caffeine pills so that they could march for days without stopping. And he could move them fast. What do you do when your enemy can reach you in two days when it would usually take a week. So think about it, comparing Ozai to hitler is like saying that you admit to Ozai's genius.



fireprodigy seems to be the first to comment on the fact that these leaders came to power by their birthright (at least thats what i assume regarding the earth king, and ozai stole iroh's birthright).

anyway, yall are stupid. You all seem to be saying, "The Earth King WOULD be a great leader, except Long Feng kept him isolated. Long Feng was running the show. A good leader would have seen that he had someone telling him what to do, not continue to allow it. As to quote Toph, "He's your puppet!"

Ozai was a genius. He was smart enough to steal his brothers birthright. Granted, he killed his father in the process, but that is not the point. TO me, a leader gets the job done. Do yall remember the episode, "The Deserter"? The people of the town hated the earth kingdom, not Ozai. If Ozai was as horrid of a ruler as you seem to make him, then the people would hate him and talk about him the way people talk about Bush.

There was something else I was gonna say, but I cant remember.

Edit: Oh yeah, now I remember. You people need to realize that in real life, people dont say we're the bad guys and they're the good guys. its all about your perspective, and from the people of the fire nation, ozai is awesome. all thats left is ba sing se and the fire nation will rule the world. the earth kingdom is no different. they wish to defeat the fire nation. compassion does not always make a great leader. it can easily cloud ones judgement.

Ozai is the better leader. End of story. How is he bad? Explain it to me in a manner I have not addressed. For every foolish thing Ozai has done, the earth king has done nothing. NOTHING!

props Xia-di, the earth king should be cast on the show laguna beach, that is how clueless he is.. Although Laguna is a pretty good show!

[glow=blue,2,300]Taed edit: You have been asked to keep posts over 200 characters. Please bear this in mind in the future.[/glow]

Roosevelt was in bed with the British long before Pearl Harbor. The attack merely hastened what was already going to happen. And Hitler attacked the Soviet Union on his own, a huge tactical mistake.



That is precisely the point. There is a word for a person like that and it is not great, it is evil.



Regardless of the crimes they commit and the evil they do to accomplish it? You have just proven my point that some have the opinion that being a great leader is only about conquest, military strategy, power. I think a great leader needs more than that.



No they wouldn't. The Fire Lord banishes and/or executes all dissenters.



I couldn't agree more, which is precisely the problem, and why 6 million people were murdered by a madman while the majority of the German people looked the other way. You are also right in saying that compassion does not always make for a great leader. Indeed, compassion on its own does not. Without compassion, however, you have the monster that we have been discussing. It is one thing to enter a war in defense of your country and have the grim resolve to win it, it is quite another to be the agressor who oppresses both their citizens and those they conquer.



Verywell then, I will change my vote to NEITHER being a great leader. The Fire Lord due to his oppression, the Earth King due to his cluelessness. However, the Earth King has now had the veil of cluelessness removed so he has the potential to be the greater ruler. Ozai does not have this in his favor unless he suddenly goes through a metamorphosis as Zuko is doing...

Copper for your thoughts.

So, you think ol' Adolph was a genious, eh? Well, let's look at a few things, shall we?

For one, he FORBID any of the Panzer divisions in Europe to move without his permission. The man also had a habit of sleeping in, which did not help matters any. In fact, one of the main reasons D-Day worked out so well for us was that none of the Panzer divisions stationed in the area were permitted to move until around midday, when Hitler woke up. By then, we controlled the skies; and they were all but annihilated.

Thanks Hitler! By being an egotistical madman, you refused to let your commanders do their jobs, and let a lot of our guys live!

Mistake number two: he understood the importance of controlling the Soviet Union before Winter. He screwed up by not giving the men winter clothing, citing that he was certain they could accomplish the job in time and they wouldn't need winter uniforms. If that weren't bad enough, the assault ground to a hault when he demanded that a large number of his forces stay to encircle a Russian division in the middle of nowhere, even though they posed no significant threat and the decision only served to waste valuable time and resources by engaging them in combat.

Third huge mistake: he wrote off the Americans as a threat. At the start of the war, he stated he wasn't worried about the United States because the people were "too busy dancing the jitterbug" to fight.

Yeah, because as we all know: when something needed blowing up, the US has always been too busy [/sarcasm].

Fourth mistake: the day after Pearl Harbor, Adolf Hitler declared war on the United States. We still don't know what the hell brought this on. Yes Japan was part of the Axis Powers, but he didn't commit his forces to helping them in China or elsewhere in Asia, so why in the world did he feel it wise to declare war on the US?

The parallels between Hitler and Ozai are definitely there, but one thing Ozai has going for him is that he's not stupid enough to try micromanaging like Hitler did. He's still just as oppressing though, and as powerhungry. He also achieved ultimate power through the same means; killing those who possessed it and claiming it through a right of succession (and a little lying).

Also, citing that a leader would know when he was being lied to by his advisors isn't as accurate as you apparently wish it was. Stop and think for a moment: the Earth King is running a city as large as Ba Sing Se. Possibly hundreds of millions of people live there, and the city itself is enormous. He would NEED advisors, and since he doesn't have time to go out and walk around the entire city on a daily basis; he would naturally listen to what they tell him. So when you have them conspiring against him, it's all but impossible to detect anything wrong unless an outside source shows up (and when they're being prevented from gaining an audience; things are even harder to spot).

Deception is something that can work on everyone, no matter how intelligent or powerful they might be. It only requires the proper planning and execution to work.

Also, since you obviously forgot, the Earth King is no longer doing nothing. He's already agreed to consult with his generals about Sokka's plan, and this is less than a day after finding out about Long Feng's conspiracy. Seems like a very productive start to me.