>>103317273It strikes me that Iroh was always open minded to some degree; it's possible that his opting to spare the dragons was a major turning point in his personal development. It at least seems consistent with how he learned all sorts of crazy shit from watching others and immersing himself with knowledge from other cultures, but as a sort of personal enrichment oppose to what Zhao did with what he learned.
He's willing to lie about the dragons because it's a harmless lie in terms of his nation's security and also helps an isolationist culture with no stake or threat to the war be left alone. He views that as an everybody wins situation. Even though he is (still at this point) dutiful to the Fire Nation he's not going to overtly fuck up the balance of the world itself; sparing the last dragons hints towards something he later prioritizes over the Nation. He balked at letting Zhao kill the fish after all.
Then Bah Sing Se happens and he realizes what a sham the war effort is on top of being stricken with great personal loss. Unless the comics said otherwise, it can be assumed at this point he got involved with White Lotus since he probably couldn't have joined while leading the war effort. Though I'm not sure what he was doing for the group's benefit until he exiled himself along with Zuko, but I digress.
Anyway, as the show is consistent with showing that a parent's behavior directly influences their children (for better or worse, good and bad behavior,) and Iroh was a decent-ish guy. I can only assume Lu Ten was *something* close to Zuko pre-scarring. A loyalist to the Fire Nation, probably brave and steadfast if Iroh's song was meant to say something personal about his son. It would fit in with why Iroh later tries to take Zuko under his wing when Ozai clearly isn't; he wants to help Zuko become a better person, and possibly as a chance to redeem himself as he learned some important wisdom too late.
