You know what’s ironic? Zhao would have actually been a capable and terrifying villain had he not been an overconfident asshole hellbent on one-upping an angry banished teenager.
Zhao had everything. He had inside intel from Zuko’s crew, so he was one of the first people in the fire nation that knew the avatar was back, plus he probably had the crew describe what the avatar looked like. This gave him a major head start. Zhao had budget and a high position in the army, AND the firelord had him in his good graces. In fact the firelord WANTED him to succeed over his banished son. Zhao could have absolutely captured Aang by the end of the first season had he just been a bit more strategic about it.
But Zhao’s ego got in the way. His overconfidence and the fact that he doesn’t learn are what eventually lead to his downfall. His ambitions screwed him over every single time. And his ambitions weren’t to make a difference for the fire nation, his ambitions were entirely selfish, he basically just wanted to go down in history as an important figure.
