If you're an Avatar: The Last Airbender fan and have a keen ear and a penchant for heart-wrenching, melancholy moments, you might have heard a devastating musical callback in the live-action Netflix series.
In episode 4, "Into the Dark," the show takes a beat to focus on the cruel impact of war. It's here we learn of the tragic loss suffered by Uncle Iroh (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee), whose son Lu Ten died in battle. It's also the moment when the Netflix series pays homage to the original animated series with a song called "Leaves from the Vine." This was the first piece of music that was licensed for use from the original animated series, specifically for the scene described below.
In the Netflix series, there's a confrontation in the woods beyond Omashu between a captive General Iroh and an Earth Kingdom captain, whose 19-year-old brother was killed in action during the Fire Nation's siege of the city of Ba Sing Se. As he's confronted with his country's impact and lectured on loss, Iroh simply sits and absorbs the captain's hate. However, Iroh's experience with loss runs deeper than this captain knows, having lost his own son Lu Ten, a Fire Nation soldier, during the very same siege. Destroyed by his son's death, Iroh abandoned the siege.
Following this face-off, Iroh has a flashback to Lu Ten's funeral. His nephew, Prince Zuko (Dallas James Liu), pays him a great kindness when he hands Lu Ten's medal, which had been gifted to Zuko by his cousin, back to Iroh for strength. It's a moment that bonds Zuko and Iroh deeply, and one that exemplifies their entire relationship.
To amplify this moment, the score — composed by Takeshi Furukawa and performed by the Synchron Stage Orchestra and Choir — becomes an orchestral version of the song "Leaves from the Vine," as the camera moves toward the grieving Iroh. It's adapted from a song performed by Mako Iwamatsu, who voiced Iroh in the first two animated seasons of Avatar before his death in 2006.
The song is from the episode "Tales of Ba Sing Se" in Season 2, which is one of the best episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Iroh sings "Leaves from the Vine" as he marks his late son's birthday by erecting a temporary memorial for him on a hill above the city where he died. Iroh tearfully sings to a portrait of Lu Ten this tale of a young soldier returning from battle — a fate his son would not share.
Leaves from the vine
Falling so slow
Like fragile, tiny shells
Drifting in the foam
Little soldier boy
Come marching home
Brave soldier boy
Comes marching home
It's not the first time we've heard it in the episode; Iroh sings it earlier to comfort a young boy crying in the street with his mother during a sweet, paternal moment. But when Iroh sings it for his own son, alone, it's a raw, melancholy moment, and one of the most poignant of the whole series.
Adapting Iroh's lament as a subtle moment in the Netflix series score not only elevates the tragedy of the funeral scene, but it also invites fans to revisit a memory we may have forgotten. "Leaves from the Vine" left me inconsolable when I heard it in the animated series, and its presence in the adaptation is an authentic, thoughtful inclusion. But more than anything, the moment serves to solidify Iroh's protective, paternal bond with Zuko, whose own relationship with his father is combustible at best, abusive at worst. Now all they have is each other.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is now streaming on Netflix.
