Avatar: The Last Airbender offers much for fans of great animation, mystical storytelling, and heartfelt character development. With its amazing world-building, strong character arcs, and unique blend of western animation with anime-type vibes, this series is a staple for many. The series tells the story of Avatar Aang being found after a 100-year hiatus when the world is in desperate need of a savior. Surrounded by new-found friends, Aang sets off to complete his Avatar training in hopes of gaining the power to put an end to the Fire Nation’s reign of tyranny. Zuko is a character we meet very quickly in the show’s first episode, introduced as a brooding, anger-filled antagonist to the story. We had no idea of the tragic past and unjust circumstances that the banished Prince had been subjected to.
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A very complicated character, Zuko would be known as one of Aang’s greatest threats, as well as one of the most crucial members of Team Avatar towards the series’ end. For the majority of his life, Zuko struggled with opposing ideals within himself: the inheritably goodhearted intentions bestowed upon him by his mother, and the undying fury, anger, and rage attributed to his father, Fire Lord Ozai. Zuko had possibly the greatest, and most complete character development out of anyone in the entire series, as well as being a relatable fan-favorite character despite him being of royal origin. Through all of his battles, with the wisdom of his Uncle Iroh and the resilience that made him so dangerous, Zuko dug his way out of the darkness and flourished in the light of his true destiny.
Zuko’s Traumatic Early Life
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Since his childhood, Zuko had been subjected to the neglect and blatant abuse at the hands of his father, as well as torment and harassment from his arrogant sister, Azula. From Azula’s daily bickering and pestering to his Agni Kai match against his father, in which he was scarred and exiled from the Fire Nation, young Zuko endured more than the average prince. In addition to his sister constantly trying to make Zuko’s life a living hell, Ozai did something quite unprecedented. Fire Lord Ozai had his wife and Zuko’s mother, Ursa, abducted, put under some sort of mind control, and shipped out of the nation to live a new life. The truth of his mother’s disappearance was discovered by Zuko after the events of the series, when he went to his father’s jail cell looking for answers to the long-standing mystery of his mother’s banishment.
Possibly the most foul and ironically dishonorable thing to happen to a young Prince Zuko is the premise of his new-found life’s mission following his banishment. Zuko was instructed by his father to set off on a quest with seemingly no end, to scour the world for the long-absent Avatar and either capture or eliminate him, for only then would he be permitted to return to the Fire Nation with his honor. This mission is increasingly wrong when you consider the context: the Avatar has been missing for 100 years, and it was widely assumed that he would never return. This banishment was clearly an exile with no preconceived chance of returning. Fire Lord Ozai is a scoundrel for many reasons, but this takes the cake as the top reason.
Regardless of the odds of locating, let alone capturing or eliminating the Avatar, Prince Zuko set off with a measly one-ship fleet, accompanied by a lackluster crew and a perceived past-his-prime, tea-loving uncle. Zuko was brainwashed in a way; he couldn’t see through all the signs that his family (minus his mother and uncle Iroh) didn’t want anything to do with him and looked at him as a burden to their tyrannical legacy. Even after all the distress at the hands of Azula, the misuse at the hands of his father, and having little to nothing to go back to in the Fire Nation, Zuko worked tirelessly on tracking the Avatar to restore his honor and be allowed back into his appalling royal family.
Quest for Acceptance and his Battle of Destinies
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As stated in the previous paragraphs, Zuko has been in a desperate search for acceptance on a quest to fulfill his “destiny,” a destiny that had been instilled in him through unfortunate circumstances and a vile nation fueled by dominance. The fragile psyche of Zuko had been used for years by his father and sister; his mind dominated and his future written for him. That is, until later in the series, when Zuko sees his destiny plain and simple; help the Avatar master firebending and put an end to his father’s reign. Until Zuko grasps his true divine decree, and eventually becomes the Fire Lord, until his future daughter, Izumi, takes the mantel during The Legend of Korra series, he does many things that indirectly hurt his future.
Throughout Avatar: The Last Airbender, Zuko teetered between what he believed he needed to accomplish, with the end goal of acceptance by his father, and the lessons his uncle Iroh attempted to instill in him, the fact that he needed to be driven by his own desires to actively shape his own destiny. During a period when Zuko and his uncle were labeled as traitors to the Fire Nation, a step-down from the title of banished they had held previously, Zuko and his uncle became even closer as they lived among the people of the Earth Kingdom. Attempting to wake Zuko up from the unending nightmare of his “life’s calling,” successfully doing so to an extent, Iroh offered advice and often tea-related wisdom to his nephew, which ended up serving them well. Though Iroh’s teaching struck a cord with Zuko, helping him realize his destiny wasn’t as cut and dry as he once thought, as well as delivering revelations to Zuko, the outcast prince decided to step away from life with his uncle to hopefully find his own path and clarity.
Unfortunately for Zuko, before he could figure out his true destiny, he would suffer more misfortunes, failures, and deterrents. A conflicted Zuko would not only fail at capturing Aang and eliminating his team early in the series, but would be humiliated by them on a number of occasions. Even when Zuko had Aang in his grasp, Team Avatar either prevailed or Zuko was in a spot that offered a major conflict of interest; therefore, his mission was never successfully completed. Even when Zuko assisted Azula in injuring Aang, in the midst of a near complete change of heart from outcast to reassured rebel, and Zuko was granted a return to the Fire Nation with his honor reinstated, he felt a nagging pull away from the Fire Nation. Even though he got what he thought he always wanted, the conflict within him raged on as his empathy and deeply held kind nature battled his pride and constructed notions of his rightful place.
Becoming the Great Fire Lord of a Changing Nation in a New World
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The road to Zuko’s becoming the Fire Lord wouldn’t be one that he, or anyone in the nation, for that matter, expected. After assimilating back into Fire Nation society, vacationing with his sister, and hiring an assassin (a.k.a. Combustion Man) to finish the job of eliminating Team Avatar, Zuko has an epiphany and a major change of heart. He realizes his faults and flaws throughout his entire life, and instead of holding direct resentment towards his sister and father, or continuing his quest for acceptance, he understands why the odds have been stacked against him his entire life. The universe had him treated in such a manner and thought of by his father as such a failure for one reason only; he was the man who was meant to train the Avatar in firebending.
At first, Zuko had a hard time accepting this fact and his fate, but he recalled his uncle’s teachings and knew this was to be his true destiny. Throughout the series, Aang had no luck with finding a suitable master to teach him firebending, for most firebenders were affiliated with the evil Fire Nation or in exile and wouldn’t train Aang. While this wasn’t exactly common knowledge for Zuko, there were two things he knew for certain: he needed to find Team Avatar to stop the Combustion Man (easier said than done), and offer his services to Aang as a firebending teacher.
After tracking down Team Avatar, and through a lot of convincing and reconciling, the team accepted Zuko into their ranks as a member of Team Avatar. While on Team Avatar, Zuko learned more about himself, how to be a team player, and what it means to have a family that cares about one another. During his time in Team Avatar, before the final battles of the 100-year war, Zuko teaches Aang firebending techniques (including lightning redirection), and goes on side missions with Aang and Katara, respectively (building chemistry and friendship), proving himself as an extremely valuable member of the family. Even through the doubt and uncertainty that cloud Aang’s mind before the day of reckoning known as Sozin’s Comet, Zuko and the rest of Team Avatar do their best to reassure Aang and help him get the courage to do what is needed to be done versus Fire Lord Ozai.
During the final episodes of the series, with the war coming to an end and amazing battles taking place, Zuko takes on Azula in what’s dubbed as the final Agni Kai, while Aang fights Fire Lord Ozai, who is extremely powered up thanks to Sozin’s Comet. The fight between Azula and Zuko is stunning, intimate, and incredibly meaningful; in fact, Zuko appears in many of the series’ best fights. After Zuko and Katara finally get the best of Azula and imprison her in a small iceberg and then restrain her with a chain, while Aang battles and eventually subdues Phoenix King Ozai, electing to take his bending rather than kill him, the war comes to an end and peace prevails. Zuko is given the honor of becoming the next Fire Lord, and with the Avatar by his side, he vows to do what is right in the name of peace and prosperity. If Zuko never realized he was in control of his own destiny with the guidance of his uncle, through all the hell he went through during his life, Aang may not have put an end to the tyranny of Fire Lord Ozai, and peace may have never been achieved.
