Zuko

This article is about the character; for the episode with a similar name, see Zuko Alone. "fire"

- I always thought this scar marked me; the mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever. But lately, I've realized I'm free to determine my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark.

Fire Lord Zuko is a skilled and powerful Firebender, born as a prince in the Fire Nation royal family. His story often paralleled that of the Avatar, Aang. Initially an antagonist, Zuko's life revolved around trying to capture the long-lost Avatar to end his banishment and to regain his honor as Crown Prince of the Fire Nation.

Zuko is easily recognized by the characteristic burn scar on the left side of his face given to him by his abusive father, Fire Lord Ozai shortly before his banishment. On his journey to capture the Avatar, he is assisted by his uncle Iroh in Firebending training.

With support from Iroh and after much internal struggle and turmoil, Zuko rejects the Fire Nation and joins the Avatar's group to become Aang's friend and Firebending teacher. While Aang defeats Zuko's father, Zuko, with the help of Katara, defeats his prodigious younger sister Princess Azula and takes his place as Fire Lord, and declares the end of the war and the start of an era of love and peace.

Background
Zuko is the first-born of Fire Lord Ozai and Princess Ursa. From an early age, Zuko is disdained by his father and is also the object of his sister Azula's manipulation, ridicule, and deception. Zuko's mother, however, loved him, and favored him over Azula.

When Zuko was about ten years old, his cousin, Lu Ten, died while away at war. Soon after, General Iroh, devastated by the loss of his only child, abandoned his two-year siege of the Earth Kingdom Capital City, Ba Sing Se. During an audience with Fire Lord Azulon, Ozai shows off Azula's prodigious Firebending skill and her knowledge of military strategy, both of which outstrip Zuko's. Azulon is unimpressed by all of these exercises and demands that Ursa and her children leave and Ozai be frank about his reasons for wanting the audience. Azula and Zuko eavesdrop on Ozai and Azulon's conversation as Ozai voices his desire to be made heir in place of Iroh, justifying this course of action by pointing out that not only has Iroh’s overwhelming grief and subsequent erratic behavior made the date of his return from war uncertain, but that Iroh no longer has any heirs to carry on his line. Azulon, however, is outraged and he declares angrily that Iroh has suffered enough, but Ozai’s suffering has only just begun.



Frightened, Zuko runs away while Azula stays to watch. Later, while Zuko is in his room trying to sleep, Azula comes in and mockingly tells him that Azulon's punishment for Ozai is that Ozai must kill Zuko, as the Fire Lord now wants his younger son to know what it feels like to lose a child. Ursa, hearing the commotion, comes in and drags Azula away, declaring that it is time that they talked, and Zuko, left behind, chants quietly to himself, "Azula always lies." Much later that night, Zuko is awakened once again, but this time by his mother. She tells a sleepy Zuko that everything that she has done, she did for him, and instructs him not to forget who he is no matter how much things may change. Zuko wakes up the next morning and immediately remembers what transpired the night before and runs frantically through the halls searching for his mother. He finds Azula, who blithely tells him that Azulon died last night and that their mother is missing. As she plays with Zuko's pearl dagger (a gift from Iroh), she mocks Zuko about the fact that their mother is not there to make her give it back. Eventually, Zuko finds Ozai in the gardens of the palace, and upon doing so demands to know where Ursa is. Ozai does not answer and Zuko hangs his head in sorrow. At Azulon’s funeral, the sage conducting the ceremony names Ozai the new Fire Lord, stating that Azulon's dying request was that he be succeeded by his second son.



Years later, Iroh allows a persistent, thirteen-year-old Zuko into a war council with Ozai and a group of his generals. Zuko ignores Iroh's instructions not to speak during the meeting when one general outlines a plan to sacrifice an entire division of new recruits in a diversionary maneuver. Zuko fiercely disagrees with this, seeing it as a betrayal of the recruits' patriotism. This insubordinate outburst is seen as a grave insult by the assembled party, and Ozai demands that Zuko participate in an Agni Kai. Zuko agrees, unaware that he will face his father and not the general whom he insulted. Upon turning to face his opponent, Zuko is immediately penitent and kneels, refusing to fight, and tearfully begs his father's forgiveness. Ozai declares Zuko’s refusal to fight him a sign of cowardice and yet another display of disrespect, and tells him that "[he] will learn respect, and suffering will be [his] teacher".

Ozai then burns Zuko (permanently scarring him), strips him of his birthright, and exiles him from his beloved homeland, declaring that he can only return if he is able to find and capture the Avatar, who disappeared one hundred years before. A fool's errand by all accounts (because if the Avatar had disappeared, there would be no point in searching for him), but one to which Zuko clings desperately as his only hope of regaining everything that he has lost.

Zuko would spend the next two years at sea, searching for the Avatar. He first searched the four Air Temples, beginning with the Western Air Temple, and he then scoured the world, searching even the most remote locations for his prize. Iroh accompanied Zuko during his exile, and the pair spent more than two years at sea with a small ship and crew searching for the Avatar. The crew were not royal guards or special forces, and may well have been banished themselves, or foolishly intent on serving under the popular General Iroh. They were often unhappy under Zuko but obeyed his orders. Iroh considered the search to be something of an extended vacation.

Personality
While initially the series' main antagonist, over time Zuko's development has shown him to be more of a bitter and complex young man than a truly evil character; he was initially more akin to a tragic villain in opposition to Aang. Zuko wanted, more than anything, to have his place as heir to the Fire Nation throne and his father's love. Zuko believed, or has perhaps forced himself to believe, that capturing the Avatar will make these wishes come true, which made him one of Aang's most determined enemies. This determination stands in contrast with other pursuers such as Zhao or Azula who are motivated mostly by cruelty or political ambition.



Zuko believes that a person becomes strong by having to struggle and fight for what they want. He also has expressed contrasting beliefs, in that he does not want to have good luck, because he feels he can control his own fate, but also believes that he is marked unlucky and that the world is against him. Zuko's reaction to this perception of the world always being set against him is defiance in the form of an iron will and inflexible determination. Zuko is clever, yet hot-headed, often letting his temper get the best of him. He rarely thinks his situations through, causing him to get in trouble numerous times, such as when he captured Aang at the North Pole and could only walk into a blizzard afterwards, or when he took the Sun Stone off its pedestal in the Sun Warriors' temple and fell into a trap. These traits are criticized by his uncle Iroh, and he appears to be trying to get more control of himself and think things through more towards the end of season three.

Zuko has many other numerous contradictory traits, beliefs, and behaviors. For example, he is domineering and controlling, a result of being raised as Fire Nation royalty, and disdains working with people that he believes are inferior to him. Despite this, he adamantly refuses to view people as expendable. It was Zuko's belief that it is wrong to sacrifice able-bodied and willing troops as a diversionary tactic which led to his exile when he voiced his opinion and angered his father. During his banishment, Zuko displayed much zeal in pursuing the Avatar, using whatever means he thought necessary to gain the upper hand. Although he has said that the capture of the Avatar is a greater concern to him than the safety of his crew or even himself, he shows compassion to those close to him, choosing to rescue Iroh when he was captured, rather than pursue Aang, and also risked his own life in order to save a member of his crew during a fierce storm. Towards the end of "The Storm", the crew spots Aang, but rather than chase the Avatar, Zuko orders the ship and crew to safety.



Because the prospect of returning home and being forgiven was Zuko's sole motivation, he is marked by abject despair at having lost his chance early in the second book. He finds himself in perhaps the most dire situation possible--being hunted by his sister, the ruthless and relentless Azula, while attempting to survive as a penniless fugitive in the Earth Kingdom. Zuko has nothing, something he cannot seem to accept. At first, Zuko lashes out and turns to robbery, even stealing from those who have been kind to him. After some time, however, partially in thanks to a talk from Iroh, Zuko gains a more reasonable outlook. Although theft is still necessary from time to time, he refuses to steal from already needy people, or people who have shown him kindness. He also defended an Earth Kingdom village against a group of thugs who terrorized its people after having been appointed to protect them. Zuko begins becoming more patient, kind, precise, and calculating; traits necessary to evade Azula's pursuit while staying incognito from local authorities. During "Lake Laogai", he even sets Aang's pet bison and primary mode of transportation, Appa, free from Dai Li captivity at Iroh's suggestion.

These traits would become dominant after Zuko's fever dreams and hallucinations in "The Earth King", as afterwards he displayed a more optimistic attitude towards life and the world. However, Azula successfully tapped into and manipulated Zuko's desire for the love and approval of his father, and convinced him to betray Iroh and become her ally in "The Crossroads of Destiny". Although Zuko continued to insist that he had truly changed, he afterwards seems conflicted about his choices, and is uncomfortable with his betrayal of Iroh, who is a father figure to him.

After his return to the Fire Nation, Zuko thinks he has everything he ever wanted: a position of honor, respect, and his father's love. However, he still feels angry and confused. He feels that his triumph is nothing like he imagined. In The Beach, Zuko's temper goes out of control; he becomes suspicious of Mai, and gets into fights with several people. Later, he states that he is angry with himself, saying he doesn't know right from wrong. In "The Avatar and the Fire Lord", Zuko receives a letter, telling him that his great-grandfather's death would reveal his destiny. Zuko finds Sozin's last testament, and learns of his secret history with Avatar Roku. He comes to his uncle, demanding to know the meaning of the message. Iroh tells him that Avatar Roku is his mother's grandfather, and that Zuko's inner conflict is due to the good and evil natures that he inherited from Roku and Sozin respectively. Iroh then gives Zuko an ancient crown, worn only by the crowned prince of the Fire Nation.



In "Nightmares and Daydreams" he became upset when he wasn't informed of a war meeting in which his sister was invited, and shown happiness when a servant later came and asked Zuko to head to the war room, as Ozai would not start the meeting without him. Much later, he told Mai that he found himself unhappy, even when his father treated him as the perfect son. He says that during the meeting, he had acted the perfect prince, the son his father always wanted, but he was not being himself.

During the events of Day of Black Sun, Zuko comes to realize that it is his duty as the heir to the Fire Nation throne, to restore peace to the world by joining the Avatar and fighting the tyranny of his father's (and forefathers') regime. Here is where we see Zuko's zeal and resolve resurface, albeit in an entirely different direction. He resolves to confront his father and his many evils. He reveals in his discourse that his banishment has made him a firsthand witness to the misery and pain the Fire Nation has inflicted on the World in their imperialist rampage. He has discovered that the sharing of the Fire Nation's greatness has nothing to do with the war - that it is only fired by a ruthless desire for power and swears to his father that he will do everything in his power to see that he is defeated. He then attempts to free his uncle from prison, but when Iroh escapes himself, Zuko follows Aang and the others as they flee to the Western Air Temple.

While at the Western Air Temple, Zuko shows a complete change in personality. After a flashback of his banishment, he is shown being regretful about his former disrespect and ruthlessness. He even, for the first time, begins to show a comical side to his personality. This is shown when he practices a speech to say to the Avatar to a frog. After questioning what Iroh and Azula would do in his situation, he tries to impersonate them. He later admits his wrongdoings to Team Avatar, and apologizes for the things he did to them. When, out of resentment, his request to join the group is initially rejected, he humbles himself, offering himself up as a prisoner. This is in stark contrast with the proud young man who is shown at the beginning of the series.

Rather than trying to capture the Avatar for the Fire Nation's benefit, Zuko attempts to join him to end his nation's tyranny. While he used to attack Aang whenever they met, he instead defends him from the assassin that he hired to kill the Avatar. He has also come to realize that his father could never restore to him his honor, and that he has to restore it himself. Zuko is even very happy when the Avatar finally accepts him as his Firebending teacher and group member. Though Zuko still has some issues to work through, he is far more composed and receptive. Since coming to terms with his own true feelings he has become a much more laid-back and empathic person. After joining the group he smiles a lot more than usual, even when jokes are made at his expense, and during the Series Finale, he seems to be very happy as the Fire Lord as he has a break in his uncle's tea shop.

Firebending
Throughout the series, Zuko has shown himself to be a highly skilled Firebender, and his skill has grown as the series has progressed.

As a child he could only create small bursts of flame, but by the time he was thirteen he was confident enough in his abilities to readily accept a challenge of Agni Kai, (he refused to fight, however, when he found out his challenger was his father).

At the beginning of the series he is still learning the basics from Iroh, and is skilled enough to momentarily knock Aang off his ship, and is only defeated when Aang goes into the Avatar State. By episode 3, he utilizes what he has been taught to defeat Zhao, who is older, more experienced and a master Firebender. Throughout Book One, he demonstrates his skill many times; he defeats multiple foes both in "The Warriors of Kyoshi" and in "Winter Solstice Part 1: The Spirit World". Later on in Book One, Zuko's skill grows. During "Bato of the Water Tribe" he fares well in a duel against Aang, being able to deliver multiple fire blasts for a sustained period without tiring, and is only defeated when he is paralyzed by June's confused Shirshu. In "The Waterbending Master", he creates a shield of fire in order to protect himself from a massive explosion on his ship. During the Book One finale he fights Katara while the moon is full. Zuko not only holds his own against her, but at one point briefly gains the upper hand until the sunrise, when he easily defeats her with one fire-blast. He also lands a decisive victory in a rematch against Zhao.

During the course of Book 2, Zuko's Firebending becomes much more advanced and powerful. In "The Avatar State", he is unable to land any blows against Azula, and is defeated rather easily. He fares somewhat better during "The Chase"; in a three-way battle with Azula and Aang, he trades several fire blasts with his sister and keeps the Avatar on the defensive. As Book Two progresses, he learns more advanced Firebending techniques from Iroh. He becomes more efficient and refined as a result of this. During a battle with the Rough Rhinos, he sends a small bolt of fire through Vachir's bow, breaking the string. He also demonstrates the ability to fire multiple small blasts through two fingers, rather than his whole fist, during "Tales of Ba Sing Se". During the Season Two finale, he demonstrates how far his prowess has grown. His fire blasts have become more powerful, and he is shown charging his attacks before releasing them, creating enormous blasts of fire. He also demonstrates the ability to create two long whips of fire. He is able to battle evenly with Aang, even though Aang had been skillfully using both Airbending and Earthbending. Later, after switching opponents with Azula, he battles evenly with Katara, who had long since been declared a Master and who had had the upper-hand against Azula.

Little was seen of Zuko's Firebending in the first half of Book 3; however, Zuko is confident enough in his abilities that he offers to teach Aang. In "The Western Air Temple" he utilizes a wall of flame to stop a combustion attack, and is capable of dodging many of Toph's rocks which she hurls at him. Later, in "The Firebending Masters", Zuko temporarily loses his ability to Firebend due to his corresponding lack of rage, which had formerly been the source of his power while he was pursuing the Avatar. However, after viewing the multi-colored flames of the two dragons, he finds a new source of power in reverence for fire's power as a source of life and energy. He also learns "The Dancing Dragon", an ancient Firebending form that he performs alongside Aang. Learning this form appears to have influenced his style of Firebending to be more fluid, creating a more dance-like form as opposed to the rigid, militaristic forms commonly used by Fire Nation soldiers. His difference in style and skill is demonstrated in the conclusion of "The Boiling Rock, Part 2", where he briefly battles against Azula alongside Sokka. During the fight, he deflects many of Azula's fire-blasts with only his arms or his own fire, and trades fire balls with her. In "The Southern Raiders", Zuko faced Azula again and dueled her, apparently evenly, for several minutes. He fires several large, powerful fire blasts, and deflects many of her attacks. In "Sozin's Comet, Part 1: The Phoenix King" Zuko attacked Aang with powerful fire blasts, in order to make him fight back. When he chased him into a house, Zuko created several lashes of fire, used them to envelop his surroundings, then augmented the fire to take the shape of the hallway Aang was running through. With the power of Sozin's comet, Zuko's Firebending was tremendously enhanced. During "Sozin's Comet, Part 3: Into The Inferno" he fought Azula one final time in an Agni Kai, unleashing extremely powerful sheets of flame. This time Zuko held the upper hand, exchanging and blocking attacks with Azula without visible strain while Azula was pushed towards exhaustion, although it is unclear how much of this was due to Azula's mental instability at the time. He displayed several incredibly powerful techniques. He was able to block an enormous stream of fire with a short fire-blast, which spread to take the shape of a wall and split apart the stream. He unleashed an enormous charged-blast, which Azula was unable to block, forcing her to dodge. He propelled himself into the air, charged his fire, then sent down a fire attack as he came down. His final attack consisted of a fire tornado that he created with his feet while spinning which knocked Azula off her feet.



In "Zuko Alone", he used his Firebending in conjunction with his broadswords. He has also demonstrated use of Fire Daggers and limited use of Breath of Fire.

During his training with Iroh he attempted to learn how to create lightning. However, because of his inner turmoil, he was unable to achieve the required peace of mind, and his attempts to produce lightning would only explode in his face. Instead, Iroh taught him how to absorb and redirect lightning. He later employed this technique against his father during Day of Black Sun and against Azula to protect Katara in Sozin's Comet, Part 3: Into The Inferno. In the latter engagement Zuko redirected the blast despite not being in the proper stance as he had jumped into the lightning's path, but failed to redirect all of the lightning as he was forced to hold it in while he was in the air. Though Zuko seems to have overcome his inner turmoil, he was not shown creating lightning for the remainder of the series.

Other Skills


In addition to his Firebending, Zuko is a master of his dual Dao blades, a skill he picked up during his years at sea. He would use his Dao swords whenever he was in his Blue Spirit disguise, unable to Firebend, or when he needed to fight but also needed to conceal his Firebending. During "The Blue Spirit", he was able to defeat multiple foes using only his swords. He also dueled evenly with Jet and his dual hook swords in "City of Walls and Secrets", until the fight was broken up by the Dai Li and Jet was arrested. During "Zuko Alone" Zuko defeated several Earth Kingdom soldiers with his Dao swords and minimum effort, only resorting to Firebending when faced with a powerful Earthbender; even then he was able to hold off the Earthbender's attacks for several moments with only his blades. His skill was such that his father, Fire Lord Ozai, opted not to face against him during an eclipse, while neither of them could Firebend.

Zuko is physically very strong, fast and agile. He is capable of great physical feats, such as running across walls, and climbing very quickly. He is apparently skilled in unarmed combat, able to break apart oncoming spears with his hands and legs, and disarm, subdue or defeat opponents. As shown in "The Avatar Returns", "The Blue Spirit", "The Siege of the North, Part 1", "Lake Laogai" "The Avatar and the Fire Lord" and "The Southern Raiders", Zuko is skilled at infiltration, and can sneak into heavily-defended fortresses. He is also skilled at stealth, and can conceal himself effectively for long periods of time. All of these skills would serve him while he was disguised as the Blue Spirit. Zuko was also a skilled tracker, able to track the airborne Avatar all across the world. Zuko is also a gifted Tsungi Horn player, although it is apparently not his favorite instrument.



While not as naturally adept at strategy and academics as his sister, Zuko is quite intelligent. Throughout the series, he has demonstrated himself to be a skilled strategist, able to exploit any situation to his advantage. In "Winter Solstice Part 2: Avatar Roku", Zuko used his ship's damages as a smokescreen to conceal his movements from Zhao. He was also able to form alliances with people with special skills, such as June, and use them to his advantage. However, he had a hot-headed nature that caused him to not always think his actions through. For example, he could exploit advantages in the Northern Water Tribe, and get into the Spirit Oasis to capture Aang, but he didn't figure a way back out which caused him to almost freeze to death. Zuko began to think things out more towards the end of the series, and he started to plan things out and think ahead to solve problems more often. When he and Aang needed to get in a specific room in the Sun Warrior ruins, Zuko was able to outsmart the Celestial Calendar, as it would only allow the room to open during a solstice. This intelligence may come to serve him as he rules the Fire Nation.

Name
In "The Desert", considered a traitor, Zuko's name was listed on a Fire Nation wanted poster as "祖寇" (zǔ kòu), which translate as 'ancestors robber". Later, in "The Tales of Ba Sing Se", his name is written as "蘇科" (sū kè) on his segment's title card, which translates as 'resurrected rule.' In "The Avatar and the Fire Lord", the word Sū is also used for his great grandfather Sozin's name on the boxes which held the diary scrolls. 'Fire Lord Sozin' is written as 烈火君蘇進 (liè huǒ jūn sū jìn). Sozin or Sū Jìn translates as 'resurrection enters'.

While living in the Earth Kingdom In Book 2, Zuko goes by the alias 'Lee'.

Azula often refers to him as "Zu-Zu".

Relationships

 * See "Zuko's Relationships"

Relatives
See Fire Nation Royal Family Tree
 * Ursa (mother)
 * Ozai (father)
 * Azula (younger sister)
 * Iroh (uncle)
 * Lu Ten (cousin)
 * Azulon (paternal grandfather)
 * Ilah (paternal grandmother)
 * Roku (maternal great grandfather)
 * Ta Min (maternal great grandmother)
 * Sozin (paternal great grandfather)
 * Aang (spiritual reincarnation of Roku, his great grandfather)

Trivia

 * By the end of the series, Zuko does not say Toph, Momo, or Suki's names out loud. He says Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Appa's names.
 * By the end of the series, Zuko's Firebending skills have grown to the point he can defeat Azula, who is a Firebending prodigy, indicating that he may have the potential to become a Firebending Master in the future.
 * Zuko has successfully used his uncle's lightning diverting technique two times, the first against his father and the second to block the bolt Azula shot at Katara.
 * Zuko has above average abilities that help him to survive certain situations. In "The Waterbending Master" with "Avatar Extras" bonus commentary, when the pirates infiltrate Zuko's ship, one of the commentary bubbles says that Zuko has above average hearing abilities, waking up when he hears one of the pirates opening a rusty door. In "The Siege of the North, Part 1" with "Avatar Extras" bonus commentary, when swimming through the under water tunnels one of the commentary bubbles said that Zuko can hold his breath for an unusually long amount of time.
 * According to Katara in "The Crossroads of Destiny" when she thought of the enemy she always saw Zuko's face.
 * Due to his scar Zuko is permanently unable to open his left eye all the way, and is always shown squinting in that eye, even when the other is wide open. It is also notable that he only has one eyebrow. It is unknown if his eyesight was actually restricted by the injury.
 * Zuko can cry out of both eyes, even his scarred one, though it seems the scarred one produces less tears.
 * Zuko cannot grow hair around his scar.
 * Zuko is easily accepted by people in the Earth Kingdom as most people who see him believe (technically correctly) he got his scar fighting against Firebenders. Ex: Smellerbee: "You don't even know the guy", Jet: "I know he didn't get that scar fighting a waterbender".
 * Zuko is a playable character in the "Avatar Legends of the Arena" online game, he is unlocked through the use of a "Secret Code". Aside from his appearance and name he is played just like any other character.
 * In the Pilot episode it's shown that Zuko was originally supposed to have a pet Hawk, but it didn't make it into the show. His pet Hawk did make it into the show as a Messenger Hawk Sokka bought in "The Runaway", though it was only in that episode having flown off with a message and was never seen again.
 * While Zuko is a fierce warrior he is shown multiple times in the series to be skilled and highly trained in stealth, infiltration, and spying (all of which correlate with the art of Ninjutsu). In "The Blue Spirit" Zuko single handedly breaks into the a heavily fortified Fire Nation Fortress. He is shown as being skilled, not leaving any traces of his presence, or leave any hints that it's him. He's shown these skills in "The Blue Spirit", "Lake Laogai", "The Avatar and the Fire Lord", "The Southern Raiders" and "The Serpent's Pass".
 * Of any character Zuko's hair seems to grow the fastest.
 * Zuko's voice actor, Dante Basco, has previously worked with Mae Whitman, Katara's voice actor, when they provided the voices for Jake and Rose respectively in American Dragon: Jake Long. In that show, Rose served as Jake's love interest.
 * Zuko has taken part in all three Agni Kai shown in the series.
 * Azula occasionally calls Zuko "dum-dum."
 * The name "Zuko" could be derived from a Filipino (particularly Visayan) word "Suko" with unstressed first syllable meaning "madness" or "angry". This derivation corresponds to Zuko's ill-tempered personality portrayed in Book One, Two and initially Three. Also, the word "Suko" means surrender.
 * According to the "Avatar: Extras" bonus in "The Cave of Two Lovers", Zuko's story throughout the series is similar to that of the Buddha.