One of the most obscure mysteries of the Avatarverse involves a particular symbol of power: the Firecrown.

The Mystery

Here’s the mystery: I’ve noticed essentially three types of Firecrowns: what I’m calling the “Imperal” Firecrown, worn by the Firelord (Sozin, Azulon, and Ozai), what I’m calling the “Lesser” Firecrown (worn by Ursa, Azula before Ozai’s ascension, and by Mai’s father as governor of New Ozai), and what I’m calling the “Royal” Firecrown (worn by Azula in Book II).

Pardon the cruddiness of the artwork.

The most basic significance of the Imperial Firecrown is obvious: “this is the firelord.” While it could have other symbolic meanings, we don’t know those meanings because we haven’t been told explicitly or implicitly. All we know is that no one other than the Firelord wears the Imperial Firecrown, and that the Imperial Firecrown passes on to the Firelord at his ascension: we saw Ozai’s coronation at the flashback in the end of “Zuko Alone.” (By the way, the statue of Ozai in New Ozai wears the Imperial Firecrown).

The basic significance of the other Firecrowns is not so clear. We don’t know much about them, but here some important facts to keep in mind:

• Ursa’s version of the Lesser Firecrown is especially large. And that’s before her husband was in line for the throne.
• Mai’s family is clearly very high in the aristocracy. Not only is Mai closely involved with the Royal Family, and not only did she go to the Royal Fire Academy for Girls, but her father is important enough to be sent to govern the newly conquered city of Omashu, the second most important city in the Earth Kingdom.
• Azula’s crown in “Zuko Alone” is identical to the one Mai’s father wears.

The mystery is this:

• What do the various crowns mean? What are they symbols of? Obviously they communicate power, but what does each form represent that the other forms don’t?
• Who gets what shape of crown, and why?
• Related mystery: what is the symbolic significance of the way Fire Nation males style their hair? It’s apparently significant, since Iroh and Zuko cut it off at the end of episode 2.1.

Plausible Theories

Here are the theories I’ve come up with. Even though Avatar is rooted in East Asian culture, I’m going to use illustrations from the Greco-Roman world, since much of my training is as a Romanist.

Theory #1—the Lesser/Royal Firecrowns are a symbol of the second or third highest elite. In Roman society, your clothing communicated your status. Your status dictated everything from the way you wore your toga to the types of jewelry you could wear to the color of your sandals. In the Avatarverse, then, the Imperial Firecrown would communicate the highest possible status: “this person is the elite of the elite, the Firelord himself.”

As for the Royal or Lesser Firecrowns? In a status as stratified as the Fire Nation, these types of crowns could function like the status-symbols of members of the Roman senatorial order, identifying people in the Fire Nation as members of the highest escheleons of society. Outside of the Firelord, males in the royal family don’t communicate status through the Firecrown, for whatever reason. Females in the royal family do, for whatever reason. Meanwhile, some other members of the aristocracy can achieve the high status symbol of the Lesser Firecrown, putting someone like Mai’s father at at least the same status as child-Azula.

If Fire Nation women are assumed to be of a lower status than men, then the picture is considerably more complicated. But let’s not go there.

Meanwhile, the particulars of the form (i.e. what I’ve shown in the above picture) communicate more specifics about status. Thus, Ursa seems to have a higher status than child-Azula or Mai’s father. And Azula seems to have a higher status with the Royal Crown than she did when she wore the Lesser Firecrown.

(On the other hand, the minor differences between forms could be just aesthetic.)

Theory #2—multiple meanings for the Firecrowns. Any cultural symbol can convey different meanings, depending on the context. In theory it’s possible that the Firecrown could communicate “this is a female member of the royal family” back in the Fire Nation and that it could communicate “this is an agent of imperium” abroad. In that case, Mai’s father would wear the crown because he is the representative of Ozai as he governs Omashu. He bears a lesser symbol of imperial power to communicate that fact (and I should note that there are parallels to this in the Roman Empire).

So, what are YOUR theories?