Soldier boy (avatar the last airbender)

Source: Avatar Wiki

Hi there! While I don't think I’ve ever written anything for Avatar, I’ve watched the entire series, and I do recall this episode, so I will give this analysis a shot. :)

For those who haven’t seen it, these are the lyrics (video in link): 

Source: Avatar Wiki

I fully agree with you that there is a lot that can be done just by building a character’s backstory. That we never get a full-length narration of Iroh, but are able to understand his motives and beliefs as a rationale for his actions as the series progresses is a feat. 

Iroh himself is not one of the major characters of Avatar, and initially, we see that he’s a supporting character for Zuko; nonetheless, there is a lot of depth underneath his seemingly calm and relaxed exterior. And that’s related to his backstory. 

When we talk about the death of Lu Ten, Iroh’s son, it happens offscreen, not even within the canon present. And his death happens during the Siege of Ba Sing Se. We imagine a war zone, where Iroh himself was a distinguished general. And he was winning that battle. When we look at the first two four lines of the song, he talks about leaves and shells, and in both cases there is a sense of being lost in chaos and unable to control your own direction.

Recall that before he was the uncle he became, Iroh was slighted as next in line to the Fire Nation throne. He was a terrifying force on the battlefield. He fought dragons. The Siege was just a day in the life for him, and yet, the worst possible, most unexpected thing happened and his son was killed. Suddenly, he lost the will to fight; the celebrated war hero lost. He was no longer his father’s favoured heir. He stopped his life of fighting and began to urge others to do the same.

The soldier in war plans and tries everything to make sure his plan is a success, but at the end of the day, war is scary precisely because there is so much that cannot be controlled, and Iroh knows that firsthand. 

But Lu Ten wasn’t just one of his men, he was also his son. And that chaos extends into Iroh’s, and everyone else’s, personal lives. When leaves fall from the vine, they die because nothing nourishes them anymore. The shells that he sings about are qualified by the words “fragile” and “tiny,” and could be crushed by the surf any time. The act of living always puts one in a precarious situation. Death is always a looming possibility. 

In the episode, Iroh is going about his day when he meets person after person going about their own days. And the progression of meeting them could actually give us some insight into the relationship he had and wishes he had with his son.

The first person he meets is a little boy who is crying, and Iroh sings this same song to placate him. This sets up the mirroring for the scene at the end of the episode, with Iroh, much older, but signing to his son who will forever be young.

After that, he meets a group of children who break a window, and he tells them to answer for their mistake. This was the set path. Similarly, he was walking the road that was planned out for him, and his son was doing the same thing as nobility of the Fire Nation, a very military-centric nation. But confronted with the person they were supposed to talk to, Iroh instead tells them to run away because it’s not a battle they can win. It’s a comedic moment, but also one that shows what happened in the Siege. Iroh lost heart and didn’t have it in him to keep walking the path he was supposed to take. Additionally, he ran with those children, and it’s a nod to how he should have run with his son, run away from the conflict and the culture of war and violence that was hurting both of them.

From here we move from what happened to what might have been. Having run away from everything, his son may have felt disillusioned, and like he had lost his own honour in failing to take the “right” path that was set for him. In the episode, the next person Iroh meets is a man who attempts to rob him at knifepoint. Upon further probing, Iroh finds out this man is just someone confused and who has lost his way (”drifting”). He then tells the latter to become a masseuse, and the man replies that no one has ever believed in him before. When I was young, that scene was a bit silly but it shows a shift in direction from a life of violence to one of peace, the same life Iroh tries to exemplify now.

That would have been what he wanted for his son. To find meaning in life without hurting other people, to live in peace. The last stop Iroh has in the episode is at his son’s grave. And he says, “If only I could have helped you” before singing the song. To this day he still has regrets and hopes for what might have been. It’s actually rather significant that he pays Lu Ten a visit on his birthday. The last lines of the song, 

Show two things. The first is that he has visited his son again; they are home. And Lu Ten is now peaceful, which is what his father always wanted for him. The second is similar to what Vashawn felt the song evoked, that there will be another time when they are again reunited. 

It might not necessarily be in the “afterlife.” Avatar marries Asian cultures very well, and Iroh’s act of lighting incense had having his son’s portrait strikes a chord with Buddhism. Reincarnation is a possibility then. They could meet again in the next life. And while Iroh has accepted the finality of his son’s death, he hasn’t moved on from it. His coping comes from both living a life he hopes his son could have been proud of, and the thought that they may be reunited in the future.

While these ideas seem contradictory and paradoxical, they exist simultaneously in this man. And again, it’s testament to the depth of his character. 

I hope that this was the kind of analysis you were looking for! :) I hadn’t brought up Avatar in a really long time and I was happy to re-watch some scenes while writing this.