Zuko is a main antagonist, later tritagonist, of Avatar the Last Airbender.
He was voiced by Dante Basco.
What Makes Him a Shonen Rival?[]
- Anti-Heroic/Anti-Villainous: While he has done both good and evil, Zuko has shown that he is neither incorruptible nor irredeemable from time to time.
- Honorable: Due to being banished and forced to restore his honor after the fateful Agni Kai that gave him that scar, Zuko displays a high code of honor.
- Tragic: He has a tragic backstory of his mother leaving him, his father abusing him and preferring his sister over him, and being banished and scarred at thirteen.
- Intelligent: Zuko shows a notable amount of knowledge in Fire Nation affairs across the show.
- Jerkish: Even after his redemption, Zuko has quite a few moments of rudeness such as sarcastically saying if Ozai looked at his photos as a baby, he will turn good again after Aang suggested “gluebending”
- Pursues a Big-End Goal: Zuko had capturing Aang as his No. 1 priority in Book 1.
- Cynical: Zuko is easily the most distrustful of Team Avatar, notably showing a lot of support toward the idea of killing his father, although it was completely justified as he was an irredeemable monster.
- Pessimistic: Zuko is often shown to be pessimistic, given his past trauma.
- Irritable: While he becomes calmer as the serious progresses, Zuko still occassionally has outbursts of anger over small reasons.
- Persistent: Zuko is extremely determined to restore his honor.
- Redemption Arc: Zuko goes through a highly stretched out redemption arc of first starting to show signs of good in Book 2, then becoming bad again, then becoming good once and for all in Book 3.
- Is A Serious Threat/Villain: He is Team Avatar’s main threat in Book 1 and many actions he performs make it clear he is the main villain.
- Short-Tempered: Zuko is arguably the most wrathful of Team Avatar, most famously exploding into a moment of rage at the beach.
- Spiky Hair/Unnatural Hairstyle: Zuko has short spiky hair throughout Book 2 and 3, and has a unusually long top-knot in Book 1.
- Born into Privilege: While by no means did it make his childhood happy and positive, Zuko, being a prince, was essentially handed everything at birth.
- Perpetual Frowner: Zuko pretty much is often seen frowning throughout Part 1 and only begin to take up smiling as he begins to live the life of a fugitive with his uncle Iroh during Part II. Even then, he still smiles the least out of Team Avatar.
- Is a Mentor: After redeeming himself, Zuko taught Aang firebending.
- Wears Red: Like the Fire Nation as a whole, Zuko has a red motif and usually wears red.
- Is a Token Evil Teammate: Compared to the idealistic and light-hearted ideals of the rest of Team Avatar, Zuko has a realistic, serious, and even downright lethal approach toward things.
- Is an Edgelord: Zuko is extremely brooding, rarely smiles for most of the time, and sometimes takes jokes seriously.
- Is a Tsundere: Zuko possesses a hard surface but deep down he holds a lot of compassion for people.
External Links[]
- Zuko on the Villains Wiki
- Zuko on the Heroes Wiki
- Zuko on the Avatar Wiki
- Zuko on the Inconsistently Admirable Wiki
- Zuko on the Villainous Benchmark Wiki
- Zuko on the Shonen Heroes Wiki
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