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During Zuko's days back to the Fire Nation's capital city (and Iroh's imprisonment), Zuko finds a scroll telling him the location of a "Secret History" about his great grandfather's demise. Eventually we find out that it was Iroh the one who sent the scroll.

Iroh was imprisoned.

Of course he could break out anytime he wanted, but the time it takes to find a scroll, write on it, put it in front of Zuko's bedroom, and come back to the prison, is bound to be enough for anyone to notice that something's off.

So maybe someone else delivered the scroll on Iroh's command? I suppose that he had some allies (White Lotus members?), but I can't remember anything about that.

So the question is, how did Iroh manage to get that scroll in front of Zuko's bedroom while imprisoned?

Edit

Also consider that Iroh had a royal artefact hidden in a hole in the wall, which he later gives to Zuko. Where did he get it from?

Saturn
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    I have nothing to back this up, but there is a canon example of at least one sympathetic guard (the one he told to take the day off). I just assumed that she, or someone similar had decided to help him. – phantom42 Jun 13 '13 at 02:18
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    @phantom42: I had thought of her too, but since I don't have much background info on her I'm not sure if she'd be willing to help that much. – Saturn Jun 13 '13 at 02:55
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    @DVK: He's badass and you know it >:) – Saturn Jun 13 '13 at 02:55
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    @Omega - frankly, I don't know ANYTHING about the universe other than the movie was criticized for some percieved "wrong" racial casting and that there are X-benders who can do stuff. I was merely editing out over-enthusiastic expressions to make the question look more solemn and professional. We are a serious site. No funny business here! – DVK-on-Ahch-To Jun 13 '13 at 03:04
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    @DVK: Well, just keep in mind that the movie is a huge spit on the actual series and must never be mentioned. – Saturn Jun 13 '13 at 03:57
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    @Omega - yeah, I see a lot of that attitude in the universes I am active in. I even fully participate in it where fully deserved (e.g. Starship Troopers). – DVK-on-Ahch-To Jun 13 '13 at 04:06
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    What are you talking about? There was no live action Avater: The Last Airbender movie - just like there was only one Highlander movie. – phantom42 Jun 13 '13 at 10:55
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    Any answer to this will be conjecture, as the show itself doesn't supply an answer, and I suspect that it is too minor a point for the show staff ever to have commented on. I would assume that he used some White Lotus connection, as he is one of their Grand Masters, but that is still just conjecture. – evilsoup Jun 13 '13 at 16:28

7 Answers7

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Iroh was a suave and well-connected guy [see: entire series]. He probably just asked a friend to do it. As you mentioned, he had allies in the White Lotus, who were quite sly and tended to be conveniently placed. Then there's his female guard, who he seemed to have developed a rapport with. Any of them could have reasonably had or gotten access to Zuko's quarters on Iroh's behalf. There don't seem to be any solid clues in the episode as to how it actually wound up there, but after all it was just a letter delivery.

In the real world, prisoners - even political prisoners like Iroh - tend to have access to correspondence with the outside world. Think of Nelson Mandela, or the Apostle Paul. It's not much of a stretch to assume that Iroh was simply allowed to write letters, and asked someone he trusted to deliver it for him.

Travis Christian
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It couldn’t have been Bumi because Bumi was still a prisoner in Omashu until the Day of Black Sun when he finally escaped. More than likely, he just had someone deliver the note to him.

user129599
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I’m pretty sure it was the lady guard because yes it would make sense for Sokka’s master to deliver it since he is in the white lotus and is in the fire nation, but how would he know that Iroh needed to deliver a letter to Zuko? Iroh had no way to tell Sokka’s master about the letter, so I definitely think it was the lady guard.

user134704
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I was thinking it could be either sokka’s master because he’s part of the white lotus and lives in the fire nation, or it was king bumi who was also a member of the white lotus, had the same crouched stature of the cloaked figure, had the same weighted footsteps, and Bumi could have been hiding in plain sight under the protection of the white lotus.

Leah Driver
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    Hi, welcome to SF&F. Do you have any evidence for this or is it just your personal theory? – DavidW May 07 '20 at 02:50
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    Master Pakku was a bit high-profile to be running errands for Iroh. I don't recall if the incident where a hundred firebenders came to arrest him and he sent them all back in boxes was canon or just an extra, but he was clearly a notorious man with a big fancy house; he couldn't just pop off to a secure prison whenever he felt like it. – Cadence May 07 '20 at 07:58
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I don't think Piandao, Pakku or Bumi could've brought the scroll, because they were all too busy with their own things. Bumi was imprisoned, Pakku was probably at the North Pole, and if he wasn't he'd be too busy with other stuff. Same goes for Piandao. The female guard also isn't a very good option; in the episodes where she was shown, she and Iroh didn't have such a good relationship that she would break into the royal palace for him (sorry for my bad English). I personally think it was one of the sages (maybe a brother or cousin of the young sage from Roku's island in S1); they literally lived a few blocks apart from Zuko, and he would have decent motives. Other than that, he also posessed the right information; he knew where the secret scroll from Sozin was.

LogicDictates
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Ayoub
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    So how did Iroh get the scroll to this hypothetical sage then? Isn't that the same problem as getting the scroll to Zuko? – DavidW Apr 18 '21 at 22:30
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I think it was that fire sage from season one. The one who helped aang contact roku for the first time. Pretty sure that guy was never caught after rogu destroyed the temple and he is a fire sage so of course he would know what information the fire sages kept in the dragon bone catacombs.

Mariah
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It has to be an earth bender because Zuko didn't find anything strange after he opened the door. And everything was in tact [2:11]. Or it could be the Fire Sages, who work underground. There is so many things to wonder about ATLA, lol.

Zimiboomboom
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