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Izumi, Zuko's daughter, who was the current Fire Lord throughout the events of The Legend of Korra: who was her mother?

The only named candidates that I am aware of, based on those Zuko was romantically involved with during the events of Avatar: The Last Airbender, would be Mai, who was Zuko's girlfriend in the 3rd season (Book 3: Fire), or possibly Jin, who Zuko went on a date with under the false name "Lee" during the 2nd season (Book 2: Earth). Of course, the answer could also be neither of these two.

There has been speculation that, because Izumi's name translates to "fountain", this could reference either of the aforementioned two women, since Jin's date with "Lee" ended at a fountain, and it is revealed in the The Lost Adventures comic that a fountain was significant in Zuko and Mai's past. However, since this is all just speculation and theories, these are not at all credible.

Is there any canonical answer to who Fire Lord Izumi's mother was? Word of God answers are acceptable, but speculation or theories are not.

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    According to this discussion it was confirmed to be Mai at Emerald City Comic Con (video) but later in the thread people say it wasn't confirmed. Haven't watched the panel to find out though. – TheLethalCarrot Sep 17 '19 at 9:04
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    Michael Dante DiMartino was asked about Izumi before she was known in a 2014 Q&A, he said "You will get to meet her briefly in an upcoming episode. Her name is Firelord Izumi. Mother ????" – TheLethalCarrot Sep 17 '19 at 9:10
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    I've never watched or read anything to do with Avatar but from reading around everyone seems to pretty believe it is Mai it just isn't confirmed explicitly yet. Apparently Mai and Zuko also got back together 3 years after their break up. – TheLethalCarrot Sep 17 '19 at 9:21
  • @TheLethalCarrot Mai would have been my best guess, too, so that makes sense to me. I was just hoping for something official, but I understand that sometimes questions can't be answered if no canon info exists... – NathanS Sep 17 '19 at 9:38
  • As I said I have no familiarity with the work but from looking around I can't find anything explicit. Someone with more familiarity might be able to turn something up if it exists though. – TheLethalCarrot Sep 17 '19 at 9:39
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It is hinted but not proven, in the 2017 Emerald City ComiCon (by writer Gene Luen Yang, who has written for the Avatar Comics, that Zuko and Mai get back together 3 years later.

I say it is hinted but not proven because Gene directly states, "I had two characters break up, and I don't wanna say who because we're gonna get into that... it will be a temporary break-up... they got back together like 3 years later."

When doing a deeper reading into the comics, it will become known to everyone that there are two break-ups that happened: the one between Zuko and Mai (The Promise Part 2 (released in May 2012)) as well as the one between Mai and Kei Lo (Smoke and Shadow Part Three (released in April 2016)). These comics were both released prior to the 2017 Emerald City ComiCon, which took place in Mar 2, 2017 at 2 PM – Mar 5, 2017 at 5 PM PST. As such, Gene could have been referring to either of them.

This indicates a 50/50 chance that Mai is the mother of Izumi.

However, "Izumi" in Japanese translates to English as "fountain." Why is this familiar/relevant? Well, we learn in the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "Zuko Alone" that Azula was aware of Mai's crush on Zuko, and publicly revealed this when they played a game in which Azula set ablaze an apple that was on Mai's head, only for Zuko to save her and subsequently, both him and Mai fall into a fountain.

This indicates that the chance of Mai being the mother of Izumi is higher than 50%, as Zuko may have named his daughter after him and Mai's first physical contact with each other.

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