Uncle Iroh from Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the most universally beloved characters in all of animation. His devotion to Prince Zuko, as well as his inexhaustible wisdom and genuine desire to make the world a better place, endeared him to many fans. He's the character anyone would least expect to have a problematic history -- but apart from Ba Sing Se, Uncle Iroh has at least one other skeleton in his closet.
In Book 1, Chapter 15, "Bato of The Water Tribe," Zuko received a strange visitor aboard his ship. A bounty hunter, June, was tracking a stowaway by scent and her pet shirshu had traced him there. She tore up a section of Zuko's ship in pursuit of her quarry and captured him immediately after he was located. Despite a valiant effort to escape, a single sting from her shirshu paralyzed him completely. After explaining her actions to Zuko, June sped off on her way; meanwhile, Uncle Iroh made no efforts to hide how fascinated he was by her.
At this point in The Last Airbender, Zuko was still in pursuit of Aang, Katara and Sokka. Never one to waste an opportunity, he sought June out and offered her a deal: if she captured the Avatar on his behalf, he'd consider the damage to his ship repaired. Naturally, June refused -- she'd never had any intention of reimbursing Zuko -- but changed her mind once Iroh brought up a counteroffer involving gold. After brief negotiations, the trio set out in search of the Avatar.
Locating Aang proved to be trickier than they expected. June's shirshu was tracking Katara through her mother's necklace that Zuko had retrieved but, as they soon found out, she and Sokka had recently split up from Aang and were traveling alone. Sokka and Katara were captured easily, but the commotion they caused in search of Aang tipped him off to the danger. Zuko and his crew set off with renewed vigor -- with no idea that they were walking into a trap.
When they found Aang, a fierce battle ensued until Katara took the shirshu out of commission. She used waterbending to drench it in a large amount of perfume, disrupting its sense of smell and effectively blinding it. Confused, the shirshu lashed out with its tongue wildly, paralyzing anyone who happened to be within its reach. It snagged both Zuko and June, so the two had no option but to lay down and wait for the poison's effect to dissipate.
It wasn't until Aang and his crew had escaped on Appa that Zuko noticed his uncle lying down next to June in a slight embrace. When Zuko pointed out that he never noticed his uncle get stung, Iroh motioned for him to be quiet and lay back down quietly, drawing an indignant look from June. Nothing any more inappropriate happens, but that moment was more than enough to raise a few eyebrows among Avatar fans. After pining for June since they'd met, Iroh finally made his move at the worst possible instance -- when she was paralyzed and couldn't consent to his touch or otherwise.
