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PERSONALITY
As Zuko is one of the main characters of the show, as well as a complex antagonist-turned-protagonist, his personality undergoes substantial changes from the first episode to the last, as he grows from a rash, conflicted boy into a much wiser young man. To understand Zuko’s ability to rise to the occasion and take on the mantle of Fire Lord at such a young age, it’s necessary to follow the emotional journey he makes from his first appearance to his last. Each step marks a progression and a fundamental change; that journey as a whole is as important an aspect of his personality as its individual elements.
ZUKO’S FATHER: Arguably the most important aspect of Zuko’s personality, and what drives the majority of his actions, is his massive daddy complex. It’s no coincidence that on the eve of the final battle with Fire Lord Ozai, Zuko lets loose with a major Freudian slip and calls him the ‘Father Lord.’ What’s sadder is that he doesn’t notice the mistake, though everyone else does.
To address those persistent daddy issues, it’s necessary to take a look at Zuko’s childhood growing up in the shadow of his prodigy sister’s accomplishments. Not only was Azula more naturally gifted than Zuko, she was also more naturally Machiavellian; from an early age, it was obvious she wasn’t thinking like your average little girl, and their own mother acknowledged the troubling nature of her many schemes and cruelties. Azula’s ability to show Zuko up was matched only by her keen instincts for knowing when it would be most beneficial to her-and detrimental to him-to do so. As a result, Zuko’s eagerness to please began to border on a desperation to live up to the standards set by his younger sister. Even though Zuko was the fire prince, the first child, supposed to be the chosen one, it had become clear to anyone with eyes-including their father-that Azula’s talents had outstripped Zuko’s own.
This would have been bad enough, if Zuko’s father’s attempt to betray his own brother hadn’t backfired hideously on their family. Ursa, the mother Zuko loved so much-and who gave Zuko so much love in return-ended up sacrificing her position in order to save her son, and Zuko was left behind, abandoned by the lone gentle, calming voice of love in his life. Perhaps, if Ursa hadn’t been forced to flee, the heightened competition between her two children might have been eased somewhat by her presence. Yet in her absence, Zuko was left with a cold, calculating ruler for a father-and Fire Lord Ozai blatantly preferred his cleverer daughter to his less ruthless son.
THE AGNI KAI: Zuko’s over-eagerness to please, especially when presented with Azula’s successes, has disastrous effects. Determined to prove himself worthy, Zuko convinces his uncle to let him sit in on a meeting in Ozai’s war chamber. Though Zuko promises not to speak, his concern-and, indeed, intelligence-inspire him to speak out against one of his father’s generals. This grave insult results in an Agni Kai, a firebending duel that Zuko readily agrees to; his willingness to participate despite his young age is another indication of his rash and thoughtless desperation to prove himself worthy. He believes he can win this battle, but, not as ruthless at heart as either his father or his sister, he isn’t prepared for the man he faces in the Agni Kai: not the general he insulted, but his father.
The Agni Kai is a prime example of how Zuko does not have a merciless heart, though later he does his best to harden himself in order to be just like his father-and all because of his failure to do so in the first place. Zuko is unable to fight his father-what young boy would be able to strike the winning blow against a man he loves and respects?-and not only does he lose the Agni Kai, he is also scarred for life. His face is terribly injured, his title and his rank stripped from him along with his skin and his position in the Fire Kingdom, and he is banished from home. The scar itself runs far deeper than just the visible wound, however, and is a permanent reminder of his failures as a son and as a prince. His thoughts on this incident are tumultuous, and he is too young and too wounded to view them yet with any sort of clarity.
LOST HONOR: The banishment is one of the main focal points of all Zuko’s actions and reactions in the series. After that single moment, he becomes obsessed with regaining his lost honor, a quest that he sublimates into the more tangible goal of finding and capturing the missing Avatar. He believes that he will be allowed to return to his rightful place at his father’s side if he is only able to achieve this one task-and so dedicates himself to it so thoroughly that all else is relegated to a distant second place. We first meet Zuko when his entire life revolves around the search for the Avatar. With no home to return to, no place he can consider his own, he has all the time in the world to dedicate himself to uncovering the Avatar’s hiding place.
Perhaps not unexpectedly, Zuko’s emotions are erratic and unpredictable during this period of his life, an outward reflection of the inner turmoil he’s experiencing. He’s managed to repress successfully any anger he feels at his father’s harsh and unjust actions, and instead redirects that anger elsewhere-at everyone in the immediate vicinity who crosses him while he’s in a bad mood, also known as ‘all the time.’ His treatment of underlings is abysmal, and even those close to him suffer the brunt of his wrath. The latter category includes his uncle, Iroh, who endeavors-albeit with mixed results-to guide Zuko into a less violent, less unforgiving manhood.
UNCLE IROH: Iroh is the only man alive patient enough and laid-back enough to tolerate Zuko for any extended period of time; that much is obvious from Zuko’s constantly botched and oftentimes disastrous interactions with anyone unlucky enough to be stationed with him. It’s clear that Zuko has no concept of how to talk to people, nor does he have any desire to. He keeps eye on the prize-the Avatar-and anything else that attempts to distract is merely that: a distraction. His relationship with his uncle, though they clearly have great affection for one another, is rocky at the best of times, as Zuko associates him with his current position. Iroh, too, has fallen out of favor with the Fire Nation, and he is a constant reminder of Zuko’s failures-both past and future. At this stage in his life, Zuko would never dream of being anything like his uncle. The man clearly has much to teach him in terms of firebending, but as a role model, he’s far too lazy and relaxed to be anyone of importance.
Zuko’s initially ambivalent feelings for-and reactions to-Iroh are revelatory of his inability to blame his father for his unhappiness with his current position. He still believes that earning his father’s respect is all the legitimization he’ll need in order to be happy once more, and he’s unable to recognize that Iroh is more of a father to him than his real father ever was.
Yet the farther Zuko travels, the more he realizes the scope of the Fire Nation’s aggression against the other tribes, and its impact against actual people. The more he sees, the less he can rely on what he previously thought to be certain. As his thwarted attempts to capture the Avatar infuriate him further, and Iroh’s laissez-faire attitude to each new defeat do nothing to improve his mood, Zuko’s reactions are a more adult version of a temper tantrum. Unable to confront the source of his anger just yet, Zuko becomes even more determined to succeed where other members of the Fire Nation have failed for the past hundred years. His insistence is bound up in his self-deprecation. The quest is a form of self-punishment, as though he has not yet suffered enough.
THE BLUE SPIRIT: Repression and refusal to deal with the weight of his own emotions keep Zuko’s anger at bay, but they take another form in order for him to vent them without actually confronting them: the Blue Spirit. An alter-ego that appears only in the shadows and at night, the Blue Spirit is Zuko’s hidden side, an identity that operates outside the laws and hierarchies Zuko is unable to admit he feels so constrained by-even to himself. The Blue Spirit, face hidden, acts on instinct. The Blue Spirit also saves the Avatar’s life, the first indication that Zuko might not be as dedicated to destroying Aang as he needs to be, in order to win back his father’s respect. Though he still desperately wants to capture the Avatar for himself, in order to further his own ends, he also begins to work against the Fire Nation legions, at times undoing what would have otherwise been Fire Nation victories. If he were really the nationalistic prince he believes at surface level he ought to be, he would not work at such cross-purposes with the good of his nation.
When Zuko rescues Aang from Commander Zhao under the guise of the Blue Spirit, it gives Aang the first glimpse into this struggle within Zuko-a struggle that defines who he is, and who he will one day be. Because of the mercy Zuko has shown him, Aang offers mercy in return. But Zuko is again unable to accept it because of its resemblance to pity and his aversion to assistance, his desire to prove himself on his own. Aang asks Zuko if he thinks it might have been possible-were their circumstances different-for the two of them to be friends, and the injured Zuko replies in true form: by attacking him. Once again, his inability to confront a truly emotionally complex question forces him to respond extremely, and physically. His immaturity at this point is matched only by his frustration; what he can sense is not something he can defeat, and he channels that anger into his firebending.
Zuko’s first real breakthrough comes at the end of season one, when he is forced once again to choose between cooperating with Commander Zhao, or acting against him as a renegade. For his own benefit-to capture the Avatar at all costs-Zuko chooses the latter. Yet his willingness to make sacrifices for personal gain is shown in stark contrast with the selfish and megalomaniacal behavior displayed by Commander Zhao. While Zuko believes he will stop at nothing in order to bring the Avatar back to his father, his single-mindedness is not in the same league of selfishness as Zhao’s. When faced with Zhao’s readiness to destroy an entire village, Zuko finds himself once again incapable of sacrificing everything. Just as he wasn’t strong enough-determined enough-to face off with his own father, he is not in the same league as Zhao. He won’t stop at nothing to get what he wants. There are some things he cannot bring himself to do. Acting as Zuko and not as the Blue Spirit, he assists in the defeat of Zhao, which proves a major blow against the Fire Nation forces.
DEFECTION: This is hardly the kind of behavior that would appeal to his father, nor will it endear him to those already convinced of his inability to be ruthless as his position demands. Once again, Zuko’s personal moral code is at odds with that which is expected of him; he knows what is expected, and nonetheless does not deliver. He is not, however, ready to cast aside his dreams of one day returning home, and when his sister Azula appears to tell him that their father is ready to welcome him back with open arms, Zuko is all too eager to accept what she says is true. For someone who has seen the worst the world has to offer-who has been maimed by his own father in an attempt to prove that people are in essence cruel and unforgiving-this reaction is painfully naïve. But that is exactly what Zuko is. Despite everything, how much he wants to believe something is true is directly related to whether or not he actually believes it. And that is exactly the kind of false hope Azula knows she can exploit.
When it becomes clear his sister has lied to him, and that he and Iroh are being taken back home as prisoners, Zuko is forced to face the truth-a truth that’s been glaringly obvious since day one. He’s been an outcast all this time, yet still utterly reliant on his status as prince. The contradiction of being dependant on those who do not want or respect him has been affecting him since his banishment, and Azula’s betrayal is a harsh wake-up call. Zuko takes the first step towards extracting himself from the oppressive weight of that far-reaching shadow. With Iroh at his side, the two cut off their hair, a metaphor for cutting themselves free of the Fire Nation. No longer skirting the line between true renegade while simultaneously remaining a member of the Fire Nation army, Zuko commits himself to living as an ordinary person.
And he’s laughably bad at it.
Once again, still struggling with his warring impulses, Zuko turns to the mask, and to hiding behind it. Enraged at the way he and his uncle are treated by those suddenly above them-worse than peasants, closer to beggars and scum-he becomes the Blue Spirit at night in order to provide enough for the two of them to get by. But he also becomes obsessed with the danger and sudden freedom to be transient, stealing far more than is necessary. Once again sensing that Zuko is headed down a dangerous path, Iroh reacts as any concerned parental figure would. Zuko’s response reveals that after his newfound “freedom,” he’s experiencing a second-or perhaps closer to a first, since he never had that opportunity-rebellious teenager phase.
This impulse compels Zuko to strike out on his own. This action is brash and impulsive; though Zuko believes he is doing the right thing, in practice, he’s hardly prepared for the realities of independence. This period marks the first time Zuko has truly been alone, though he may have felt as though he was before. The truth of the matter is, Zuko isn’t ready to be independent just yet, and now that he’s forced to be, he begins to realize just how much his uncle did for him-and how much the man meant to him emotionally, as well. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, as they say, and without Iroh to protect Zuko from the harsh realities all around him, his eyes are opened more fully to the far-reaching and oftentimes devastating effects the Fire Nation has had on so many people.
FAMILY: Family itself is extremely important to Zuko, due to his troubled relationship with his own family. After being rejected by his birth father, then temporarily rejecting his surrogate father, Iroh, Zuko gravitates (albeit unwittingly) to another surrogate family in the Earth Kingdom. He slips into the empty place left by the family’s eldest son, who has been taken away from home by the war with the Fire Nation. Though Zuko attempts outwardly to distance himself from these people, his internal desire to belong to a family unit once more draws him closer, until he is emotionally involved enough to protect this family at the risk of his own safety. This incident is indicative of his loneliness and continued desperation to be loved as a brother, and as a son. But it is also indicative-though he is unable to come to terms with this just yet-that he will not be able to do so in the Earth Kingdom, or at least not as long as this war lasts. Zuko is brave enough to use firebending to protect the family’s younger son, but only as a last-ditch effort. He knows that once he reveals who he is, the entire family will loathe him for his association with the Fire Nation behind their woes. Despite that, there is a moment of hope-revelatory of his continued naivety-that the boy he saves will still accept him. But, like all Zuko’s moments of hope to this point, they prove unrealistic, and Zuko is left alone again, struggling even more with what he’s been taught about the Fire Nation, and what he’s seen with his own two eyes.
THE TWO DRAGONS: Struggle continues to dominate Zuko’s emotions, and after reuniting with Iroh and casting away the Blue Spirit identity, this struggle finds a new physical outlet in the form of a fever. Zuko is literally at war with himself, and if he cannot confront his emotions head on, he will be consumed by them. The two factions-the two halves of himself-are represented by two dragons, one blue and one red; the red dragon represents Iroh, the possibility in Zuko’s future for peace and acceptance, while the blue dragon is Azula, the anger and violence that has consumed so many of Zuko’s ancestors before him. Zuko’s fever dream marks a point of major self-revelation, as he searches through his past for the means to reconcile these dichotomous halves. He finds the answers in memories of his mother, herself representative of the blue dragon. Remembering kindness and goodness in his past allows him to come to terms with his own gentleness, rather than rejecting it outright the way his father and sister have both done. When Zuko awakens from the dream, he believes himself ready to accept his new lot in life, as divorced as possible from his status as Fire Prince.
Yet it soon becomes apparent Zuko has gone too far in the opposite direction. Rather than doing all he can to rush back home, he has now done all he can to run away from it. And one can only run for so long before the past catches up to the present. Though Zuko is truly happy in his tranquility for a short time-glad to start a new life with Iroh, smiling openly at last, and arguably releasing a great deal of his anger-this ‘revelation’ is merely one more example of how unprepared Zuko is to mend himself. There is a lack of honesty and self-awareness in this change that once again shows Zuko is operating only on a surface level. He’s momentarily confronted his demons, but he hasn’t won the war with them.
This is the reason why, when faced once again with a polarizing decision-listen to Katara and join the Avatar, or listen to Azula and return to the Fire Nation-Zuko’s old instincts win out over his new ones. The new ones simply aren’t strong enough yet, and the roots don’t run deep. Though he believed he was ready to start a new life, he was only fooling himself. The flimsy structure collapses, and Zuko returns to reclaim that honor for which his pride is still so hungry. He also returns without his uncle, at the cost of their relationship.
HOMECOMING: And so Zuko has everything he’s wanted since the first episode. His princehood has been reinstated, banishment revoked; he is the firstborn son, in his father’s tenuous favor once again. He even manages to get involved with his childhood crush, Mai; she becomes one of the best things that has ever happened to him, and part of his affection for her is born of their mutual feelings of isolation from the rest of the world. Yet, even with all this, life is not what Zuko wished for at all. Mai’s apathy and Zuko’s continued anger cause the two young lovers to clash, and that anger-the blue dragon-comes to rule Zuko’s emotions. The only difficulty is, he doesn’t know whom to direct his anger at.
Zuko now treads the awkward line between childhood and adulthood; he is no longer a boy, but not yet a man. After so much time out in the world, forced to come to his own conclusions and decide on his own truths, what he’s asked to swallow back home begins to wear him down. So, too, does the stifling lifestyle of a fire prince: being carried around in a palanquin, constantly shadowed by servants, drives Zuko mad. All his feelings at this point come to an explosive head during “The Beach,” when Zuko admits-to his friends and to himself-that he’s angry, angry enough to cause the beach fire in front of him to explode with the uncontrolled force of his emotions. When pressed on why he’s so angry, Zuko does the usual: he avoids answering outright, partially because he’s still unable to articulate what it is he truly feels, and what it is he truly wants. He now has everything he thought he was fighting for, and yet he’s still unsatisfied. The goal has been reached, but the results are lacking.
When forced to reply who it is he’s so angry with, Zuko runs through the list of possible suspects; he wonders if he blames, like any normal child would, the parental figures in his life: his mother for abandoning him; his father for scarring him; his uncle for refusing to make things easy. Finally, Zuko is able to assess what’s really wrong. He’s mad at himself-for having so many questions in the first place, perhaps, but especially for choosing the wrong answers. He recognizes that he came so close to discovering who he really was, someone he might not even hate, and almost immediately chickened out, as though he were afraid of the repercussions. Zuko’s anger, along with the flames in front of him, die down, as he has at last faced the source of his rage.
RECONCILIATION: Having at last admitted to himself what has been bothering him all this time, Zuko is finally able to swallow his pride in order to move forward-something that Iroh was attempting to teach him to do during the course of their journey. Yet, until this point, Zuko was too juvenile to do anything but cling to his pride, and a childish concept of honor that had no deeper meaning than a title and a pat on the back from his father. Now that Zuko is able to understand what true honor means, he recognizes that being accepted by his father will force him to be no more than a puppet, parroting what he’s told, ignoring everything he’s seen on his travels, and, most of all, not thinking for himself. This is no longer acceptable to Zuko, and even if it means courting a second banishment, he is finally strong enough to accept that-as long as he knows what he’s doing is right, he no longer needs validation from a father capable of injuring his only son. Even more difficult to someone as stubborn and proud as Zuko is confronting the physical embodiment of all his failures: the Avatar. But Zuko believes helping the Avatar is the right thing to do, and doing the right thing is more important to him than his choices in the past. A previous Zuko would never have been able to offer the Avatar his services, but this new Zuko has practically been reborn. He was able to confront himself. Now, he must confront his enemy.
But Zuko has little to no experience with people his own age. He agonizes over even the simplest of social interactions, and it’s especially difficult because he’s walking straight into enemy forces just to say hello. Once-enemy forces, in any case. Zuko’s insecurities are made painfully obvious as he practices his introductions alone in the woods; his high standards for his own performance are mingled with a more universal social anxiety. Zuko is every awkward teenager in this moment, acting his age for the first time in a long time. One is reminded that Zuko is just a teenager struggling to find his place in the world; without all the firebending and the royal pressure, without the crazy sister and megalomaniacal father, Zuko’s desire to fit in while at the same time remaining true to himself is something every teenager struggles with on the path to adulthood.
ADULTHOOD: It is only when Zuko relinquishes his anger and his deep-seated desire to prove himself at any cost that he is finally able to mature. Yet without his anger, Zuko finds that most of what fueled his firebending has disappeared. Rather than striking out on his own, as he would have earlier, he works with the Avatar in order to regain those powers-another important step in the right direction. However, Zuko isn’t perfect (or perfectly zen) at this point by any means, and he and Aang get into predictable arguments that are childish and petty on both sides. During this new struggle, the two dragons reappear, once again representing the yin and yang shift and imbalance that has dominated Zuko’s character arc to this point. This time, they are external rather than fully internalized-suggesting that those feelings Zuko once repressed are something he can now face head-on. Though Zuko does tackle the problem vis-à-vis a firebending move he learns earlier in that episode, it is not the same as his usual reaction: physical response to emotional turmoil. Rather, he is mending the rift between the two sides of him by cooperating with the Avatar. The dragons’ dance represents another step toward letting go of his previous, wrong-headed goals, and toward personal achievement. They represent balance.
Zuko’s personality has undergone a major shift by the time the group must fight Fire Lord Ozai. Though this point is when he lets the whole “father lord” thing slip, his ability to articulate his enemy-albeit subconsciously-represents the ability to accept the truth. He knows that he must fight his father, and he is willing to do it. Even more important is that he knows before he heads into battle that, if they are to win, he will have to take his rightful place on the Fire Nation throne. Zuko is the heir, after all.
In some ways, Zuko has come full circle. The difference is that the two halves of the circle are now mended. He has reached this conclusion after a long period of internal struggle, and has come out peaceful (still cranky, but peaceful) and whole. He understands life’s injustices, and finally, fully admits that his father was wrong to injure him. He is also prepared to do whatever it takes to bring justice back to the tribes. Essentially, Zuko has healed himself, though the process was long and arduous; and it is precisely this healed state that is contrasted with Azula’s descent into madness during their final battle.
After all Zuko’s insecurities where his sister is involved, this battle is inevitable. It is also reminiscent of the fever dream-Azula is the blue dragon, while Zuko has finally become the red dragon, the voice of reason. Whether or not he would have been able to defeat her before her altered state is unimportant. Azula has fallen prey to the expectations of others and to her own impossibly high standards, to the pressures she so eagerly courted, and though Zuko might have been headed down that same path at one point, his ability to change course makes him a stronger fighter. Rather than being fueled by rage, his firebending comes from a place of inner balance. Rather than being torn apart by insecurities, Zuko is centered and focused. The shift in his personality has made him a stronger fighter than ever before. He has also moved past that naivety that once plagued him-the inability to fight a member of his own family-in order to do whatever it takes to help the Avatar save the world. Though not yet a full adult nor a perfect young man, Zuko is willingly and ably bearing burdens far beyond his years.
FIRE LORD ZUKO: In the end, Zuko has managed to conquer his demons, throwing away the compulsion to hide behind a mask in order to act on his own instincts. He has grown past the phase of blindly dutiful son, then rebellious teenager, and past the need to make himself happy simply by adhering to the standards of others. The power that was once so appealing to him has not only been defeated in others-his sister and his father-but it has undergone a metamorphosis within himself, as well. He has also come to realize that the love his uncle gave him was far more legitimately paternal than his father’s ever was, and to accept his new family as his ‘real’ one. Though happiness was previously a distant concept to him, he is now seen laughing with his friends, being tender with his uncle, showing what his father would have deemed signs of “weakness,” but without punishing himself for it. Once afraid that he would be forced to see things in only black and white-either he would be weak or he would be strong-this new inner balance makes Zuko far stronger than his father ever was. If Zuko is characterized by anything, it is his determination in the face of adversity. But even that determination has transformed; no longer stubborn and prideful, his focus is now turned to the good of the people.
Only one loose end remains: Zuko’s mother. And that is because his memories of her are those of love and happiness, rather than hurt and betrayal. Zuko’s quest to find his mother shows that he is willing to delve into the past in order to heal the present. Most importantly, Zuko has forged his own path. Rather than falling into line with those before them, he has been brave enough to accept struggle and defeat, and turn his personal losses into personal victory. Like any teenage boy, it’s been difficult finding out who he is, and aspects of himself are far from perfect. But he is strong now-in a true sense of the word. He has found inner strength. And nothing else in the future is going to be as hard as being a teenager, anyway.
As Zuko is one of the main characters of the show, as well as a complex antagonist-turned-protagonist, his personality undergoes substantial changes from the first episode to the last, as he grows from a rash, conflicted boy into a much wiser young man. To understand Zuko’s ability to rise to the occasion and take on the mantle of Fire Lord at such a young age, it’s necessary to follow the emotional journey he makes from his first appearance to his last. Each step marks a progression and a fundamental change; that journey as a whole is as important an aspect of his personality as its individual elements.
ZUKO’S FATHER: Arguably the most important aspect of Zuko’s personality, and what drives the majority of his actions, is his massive daddy complex. It’s no coincidence that on the eve of the final battle with Fire Lord Ozai, Zuko lets loose with a major Freudian slip and calls him the ‘Father Lord.’ What’s sadder is that he doesn’t notice the mistake, though everyone else does.
To address those persistent daddy issues, it’s necessary to take a look at Zuko’s childhood growing up in the shadow of his prodigy sister’s accomplishments. Not only was Azula more naturally gifted than Zuko, she was also more naturally Machiavellian; from an early age, it was obvious she wasn’t thinking like your average little girl, and their own mother acknowledged the troubling nature of her many schemes and cruelties. Azula’s ability to show Zuko up was matched only by her keen instincts for knowing when it would be most beneficial to her-and detrimental to him-to do so. As a result, Zuko’s eagerness to please began to border on a desperation to live up to the standards set by his younger sister. Even though Zuko was the fire prince, the first child, supposed to be the chosen one, it had become clear to anyone with eyes-including their father-that Azula’s talents had outstripped Zuko’s own.
This would have been bad enough, if Zuko’s father’s attempt to betray his own brother hadn’t backfired hideously on their family. Ursa, the mother Zuko loved so much-and who gave Zuko so much love in return-ended up sacrificing her position in order to save her son, and Zuko was left behind, abandoned by the lone gentle, calming voice of love in his life. Perhaps, if Ursa hadn’t been forced to flee, the heightened competition between her two children might have been eased somewhat by her presence. Yet in her absence, Zuko was left with a cold, calculating ruler for a father-and Fire Lord Ozai blatantly preferred his cleverer daughter to his less ruthless son.
THE AGNI KAI: Zuko’s over-eagerness to please, especially when presented with Azula’s successes, has disastrous effects. Determined to prove himself worthy, Zuko convinces his uncle to let him sit in on a meeting in Ozai’s war chamber. Though Zuko promises not to speak, his concern-and, indeed, intelligence-inspire him to speak out against one of his father’s generals. This grave insult results in an Agni Kai, a firebending duel that Zuko readily agrees to; his willingness to participate despite his young age is another indication of his rash and thoughtless desperation to prove himself worthy. He believes he can win this battle, but, not as ruthless at heart as either his father or his sister, he isn’t prepared for the man he faces in the Agni Kai: not the general he insulted, but his father.
The Agni Kai is a prime example of how Zuko does not have a merciless heart, though later he does his best to harden himself in order to be just like his father-and all because of his failure to do so in the first place. Zuko is unable to fight his father-what young boy would be able to strike the winning blow against a man he loves and respects?-and not only does he lose the Agni Kai, he is also scarred for life. His face is terribly injured, his title and his rank stripped from him along with his skin and his position in the Fire Kingdom, and he is banished from home. The scar itself runs far deeper than just the visible wound, however, and is a permanent reminder of his failures as a son and as a prince. His thoughts on this incident are tumultuous, and he is too young and too wounded to view them yet with any sort of clarity.
LOST HONOR: The banishment is one of the main focal points of all Zuko’s actions and reactions in the series. After that single moment, he becomes obsessed with regaining his lost honor, a quest that he sublimates into the more tangible goal of finding and capturing the missing Avatar. He believes that he will be allowed to return to his rightful place at his father’s side if he is only able to achieve this one task-and so dedicates himself to it so thoroughly that all else is relegated to a distant second place. We first meet Zuko when his entire life revolves around the search for the Avatar. With no home to return to, no place he can consider his own, he has all the time in the world to dedicate himself to uncovering the Avatar’s hiding place.
Perhaps not unexpectedly, Zuko’s emotions are erratic and unpredictable during this period of his life, an outward reflection of the inner turmoil he’s experiencing. He’s managed to repress successfully any anger he feels at his father’s harsh and unjust actions, and instead redirects that anger elsewhere-at everyone in the immediate vicinity who crosses him while he’s in a bad mood, also known as ‘all the time.’ His treatment of underlings is abysmal, and even those close to him suffer the brunt of his wrath. The latter category includes his uncle, Iroh, who endeavors-albeit with mixed results-to guide Zuko into a less violent, less unforgiving manhood.
UNCLE IROH: Iroh is the only man alive patient enough and laid-back enough to tolerate Zuko for any extended period of time; that much is obvious from Zuko’s constantly botched and oftentimes disastrous interactions with anyone unlucky enough to be stationed with him. It’s clear that Zuko has no concept of how to talk to people, nor does he have any desire to. He keeps eye on the prize-the Avatar-and anything else that attempts to distract is merely that: a distraction. His relationship with his uncle, though they clearly have great affection for one another, is rocky at the best of times, as Zuko associates him with his current position. Iroh, too, has fallen out of favor with the Fire Nation, and he is a constant reminder of Zuko’s failures-both past and future. At this stage in his life, Zuko would never dream of being anything like his uncle. The man clearly has much to teach him in terms of firebending, but as a role model, he’s far too lazy and relaxed to be anyone of importance.
Zuko’s initially ambivalent feelings for-and reactions to-Iroh are revelatory of his inability to blame his father for his unhappiness with his current position. He still believes that earning his father’s respect is all the legitimization he’ll need in order to be happy once more, and he’s unable to recognize that Iroh is more of a father to him than his real father ever was.
Yet the farther Zuko travels, the more he realizes the scope of the Fire Nation’s aggression against the other tribes, and its impact against actual people. The more he sees, the less he can rely on what he previously thought to be certain. As his thwarted attempts to capture the Avatar infuriate him further, and Iroh’s laissez-faire attitude to each new defeat do nothing to improve his mood, Zuko’s reactions are a more adult version of a temper tantrum. Unable to confront the source of his anger just yet, Zuko becomes even more determined to succeed where other members of the Fire Nation have failed for the past hundred years. His insistence is bound up in his self-deprecation. The quest is a form of self-punishment, as though he has not yet suffered enough.
THE BLUE SPIRIT: Repression and refusal to deal with the weight of his own emotions keep Zuko’s anger at bay, but they take another form in order for him to vent them without actually confronting them: the Blue Spirit. An alter-ego that appears only in the shadows and at night, the Blue Spirit is Zuko’s hidden side, an identity that operates outside the laws and hierarchies Zuko is unable to admit he feels so constrained by-even to himself. The Blue Spirit, face hidden, acts on instinct. The Blue Spirit also saves the Avatar’s life, the first indication that Zuko might not be as dedicated to destroying Aang as he needs to be, in order to win back his father’s respect. Though he still desperately wants to capture the Avatar for himself, in order to further his own ends, he also begins to work against the Fire Nation legions, at times undoing what would have otherwise been Fire Nation victories. If he were really the nationalistic prince he believes at surface level he ought to be, he would not work at such cross-purposes with the good of his nation.
When Zuko rescues Aang from Commander Zhao under the guise of the Blue Spirit, it gives Aang the first glimpse into this struggle within Zuko-a struggle that defines who he is, and who he will one day be. Because of the mercy Zuko has shown him, Aang offers mercy in return. But Zuko is again unable to accept it because of its resemblance to pity and his aversion to assistance, his desire to prove himself on his own. Aang asks Zuko if he thinks it might have been possible-were their circumstances different-for the two of them to be friends, and the injured Zuko replies in true form: by attacking him. Once again, his inability to confront a truly emotionally complex question forces him to respond extremely, and physically. His immaturity at this point is matched only by his frustration; what he can sense is not something he can defeat, and he channels that anger into his firebending.
Zuko’s first real breakthrough comes at the end of season one, when he is forced once again to choose between cooperating with Commander Zhao, or acting against him as a renegade. For his own benefit-to capture the Avatar at all costs-Zuko chooses the latter. Yet his willingness to make sacrifices for personal gain is shown in stark contrast with the selfish and megalomaniacal behavior displayed by Commander Zhao. While Zuko believes he will stop at nothing in order to bring the Avatar back to his father, his single-mindedness is not in the same league of selfishness as Zhao’s. When faced with Zhao’s readiness to destroy an entire village, Zuko finds himself once again incapable of sacrificing everything. Just as he wasn’t strong enough-determined enough-to face off with his own father, he is not in the same league as Zhao. He won’t stop at nothing to get what he wants. There are some things he cannot bring himself to do. Acting as Zuko and not as the Blue Spirit, he assists in the defeat of Zhao, which proves a major blow against the Fire Nation forces.
DEFECTION: This is hardly the kind of behavior that would appeal to his father, nor will it endear him to those already convinced of his inability to be ruthless as his position demands. Once again, Zuko’s personal moral code is at odds with that which is expected of him; he knows what is expected, and nonetheless does not deliver. He is not, however, ready to cast aside his dreams of one day returning home, and when his sister Azula appears to tell him that their father is ready to welcome him back with open arms, Zuko is all too eager to accept what she says is true. For someone who has seen the worst the world has to offer-who has been maimed by his own father in an attempt to prove that people are in essence cruel and unforgiving-this reaction is painfully naïve. But that is exactly what Zuko is. Despite everything, how much he wants to believe something is true is directly related to whether or not he actually believes it. And that is exactly the kind of false hope Azula knows she can exploit.
When it becomes clear his sister has lied to him, and that he and Iroh are being taken back home as prisoners, Zuko is forced to face the truth-a truth that’s been glaringly obvious since day one. He’s been an outcast all this time, yet still utterly reliant on his status as prince. The contradiction of being dependant on those who do not want or respect him has been affecting him since his banishment, and Azula’s betrayal is a harsh wake-up call. Zuko takes the first step towards extracting himself from the oppressive weight of that far-reaching shadow. With Iroh at his side, the two cut off their hair, a metaphor for cutting themselves free of the Fire Nation. No longer skirting the line between true renegade while simultaneously remaining a member of the Fire Nation army, Zuko commits himself to living as an ordinary person.
And he’s laughably bad at it.
Once again, still struggling with his warring impulses, Zuko turns to the mask, and to hiding behind it. Enraged at the way he and his uncle are treated by those suddenly above them-worse than peasants, closer to beggars and scum-he becomes the Blue Spirit at night in order to provide enough for the two of them to get by. But he also becomes obsessed with the danger and sudden freedom to be transient, stealing far more than is necessary. Once again sensing that Zuko is headed down a dangerous path, Iroh reacts as any concerned parental figure would. Zuko’s response reveals that after his newfound “freedom,” he’s experiencing a second-or perhaps closer to a first, since he never had that opportunity-rebellious teenager phase.
This impulse compels Zuko to strike out on his own. This action is brash and impulsive; though Zuko believes he is doing the right thing, in practice, he’s hardly prepared for the realities of independence. This period marks the first time Zuko has truly been alone, though he may have felt as though he was before. The truth of the matter is, Zuko isn’t ready to be independent just yet, and now that he’s forced to be, he begins to realize just how much his uncle did for him-and how much the man meant to him emotionally, as well. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, as they say, and without Iroh to protect Zuko from the harsh realities all around him, his eyes are opened more fully to the far-reaching and oftentimes devastating effects the Fire Nation has had on so many people.
FAMILY: Family itself is extremely important to Zuko, due to his troubled relationship with his own family. After being rejected by his birth father, then temporarily rejecting his surrogate father, Iroh, Zuko gravitates (albeit unwittingly) to another surrogate family in the Earth Kingdom. He slips into the empty place left by the family’s eldest son, who has been taken away from home by the war with the Fire Nation. Though Zuko attempts outwardly to distance himself from these people, his internal desire to belong to a family unit once more draws him closer, until he is emotionally involved enough to protect this family at the risk of his own safety. This incident is indicative of his loneliness and continued desperation to be loved as a brother, and as a son. But it is also indicative-though he is unable to come to terms with this just yet-that he will not be able to do so in the Earth Kingdom, or at least not as long as this war lasts. Zuko is brave enough to use firebending to protect the family’s younger son, but only as a last-ditch effort. He knows that once he reveals who he is, the entire family will loathe him for his association with the Fire Nation behind their woes. Despite that, there is a moment of hope-revelatory of his continued naivety-that the boy he saves will still accept him. But, like all Zuko’s moments of hope to this point, they prove unrealistic, and Zuko is left alone again, struggling even more with what he’s been taught about the Fire Nation, and what he’s seen with his own two eyes.
THE TWO DRAGONS: Struggle continues to dominate Zuko’s emotions, and after reuniting with Iroh and casting away the Blue Spirit identity, this struggle finds a new physical outlet in the form of a fever. Zuko is literally at war with himself, and if he cannot confront his emotions head on, he will be consumed by them. The two factions-the two halves of himself-are represented by two dragons, one blue and one red; the red dragon represents Iroh, the possibility in Zuko’s future for peace and acceptance, while the blue dragon is Azula, the anger and violence that has consumed so many of Zuko’s ancestors before him. Zuko’s fever dream marks a point of major self-revelation, as he searches through his past for the means to reconcile these dichotomous halves. He finds the answers in memories of his mother, herself representative of the blue dragon. Remembering kindness and goodness in his past allows him to come to terms with his own gentleness, rather than rejecting it outright the way his father and sister have both done. When Zuko awakens from the dream, he believes himself ready to accept his new lot in life, as divorced as possible from his status as Fire Prince.
Yet it soon becomes apparent Zuko has gone too far in the opposite direction. Rather than doing all he can to rush back home, he has now done all he can to run away from it. And one can only run for so long before the past catches up to the present. Though Zuko is truly happy in his tranquility for a short time-glad to start a new life with Iroh, smiling openly at last, and arguably releasing a great deal of his anger-this ‘revelation’ is merely one more example of how unprepared Zuko is to mend himself. There is a lack of honesty and self-awareness in this change that once again shows Zuko is operating only on a surface level. He’s momentarily confronted his demons, but he hasn’t won the war with them.
This is the reason why, when faced once again with a polarizing decision-listen to Katara and join the Avatar, or listen to Azula and return to the Fire Nation-Zuko’s old instincts win out over his new ones. The new ones simply aren’t strong enough yet, and the roots don’t run deep. Though he believed he was ready to start a new life, he was only fooling himself. The flimsy structure collapses, and Zuko returns to reclaim that honor for which his pride is still so hungry. He also returns without his uncle, at the cost of their relationship.
HOMECOMING: And so Zuko has everything he’s wanted since the first episode. His princehood has been reinstated, banishment revoked; he is the firstborn son, in his father’s tenuous favor once again. He even manages to get involved with his childhood crush, Mai; she becomes one of the best things that has ever happened to him, and part of his affection for her is born of their mutual feelings of isolation from the rest of the world. Yet, even with all this, life is not what Zuko wished for at all. Mai’s apathy and Zuko’s continued anger cause the two young lovers to clash, and that anger-the blue dragon-comes to rule Zuko’s emotions. The only difficulty is, he doesn’t know whom to direct his anger at.
Zuko now treads the awkward line between childhood and adulthood; he is no longer a boy, but not yet a man. After so much time out in the world, forced to come to his own conclusions and decide on his own truths, what he’s asked to swallow back home begins to wear him down. So, too, does the stifling lifestyle of a fire prince: being carried around in a palanquin, constantly shadowed by servants, drives Zuko mad. All his feelings at this point come to an explosive head during “The Beach,” when Zuko admits-to his friends and to himself-that he’s angry, angry enough to cause the beach fire in front of him to explode with the uncontrolled force of his emotions. When pressed on why he’s so angry, Zuko does the usual: he avoids answering outright, partially because he’s still unable to articulate what it is he truly feels, and what it is he truly wants. He now has everything he thought he was fighting for, and yet he’s still unsatisfied. The goal has been reached, but the results are lacking.
When forced to reply who it is he’s so angry with, Zuko runs through the list of possible suspects; he wonders if he blames, like any normal child would, the parental figures in his life: his mother for abandoning him; his father for scarring him; his uncle for refusing to make things easy. Finally, Zuko is able to assess what’s really wrong. He’s mad at himself-for having so many questions in the first place, perhaps, but especially for choosing the wrong answers. He recognizes that he came so close to discovering who he really was, someone he might not even hate, and almost immediately chickened out, as though he were afraid of the repercussions. Zuko’s anger, along with the flames in front of him, die down, as he has at last faced the source of his rage.
RECONCILIATION: Having at last admitted to himself what has been bothering him all this time, Zuko is finally able to swallow his pride in order to move forward-something that Iroh was attempting to teach him to do during the course of their journey. Yet, until this point, Zuko was too juvenile to do anything but cling to his pride, and a childish concept of honor that had no deeper meaning than a title and a pat on the back from his father. Now that Zuko is able to understand what true honor means, he recognizes that being accepted by his father will force him to be no more than a puppet, parroting what he’s told, ignoring everything he’s seen on his travels, and, most of all, not thinking for himself. This is no longer acceptable to Zuko, and even if it means courting a second banishment, he is finally strong enough to accept that-as long as he knows what he’s doing is right, he no longer needs validation from a father capable of injuring his only son. Even more difficult to someone as stubborn and proud as Zuko is confronting the physical embodiment of all his failures: the Avatar. But Zuko believes helping the Avatar is the right thing to do, and doing the right thing is more important to him than his choices in the past. A previous Zuko would never have been able to offer the Avatar his services, but this new Zuko has practically been reborn. He was able to confront himself. Now, he must confront his enemy.
But Zuko has little to no experience with people his own age. He agonizes over even the simplest of social interactions, and it’s especially difficult because he’s walking straight into enemy forces just to say hello. Once-enemy forces, in any case. Zuko’s insecurities are made painfully obvious as he practices his introductions alone in the woods; his high standards for his own performance are mingled with a more universal social anxiety. Zuko is every awkward teenager in this moment, acting his age for the first time in a long time. One is reminded that Zuko is just a teenager struggling to find his place in the world; without all the firebending and the royal pressure, without the crazy sister and megalomaniacal father, Zuko’s desire to fit in while at the same time remaining true to himself is something every teenager struggles with on the path to adulthood.
ADULTHOOD: It is only when Zuko relinquishes his anger and his deep-seated desire to prove himself at any cost that he is finally able to mature. Yet without his anger, Zuko finds that most of what fueled his firebending has disappeared. Rather than striking out on his own, as he would have earlier, he works with the Avatar in order to regain those powers-another important step in the right direction. However, Zuko isn’t perfect (or perfectly zen) at this point by any means, and he and Aang get into predictable arguments that are childish and petty on both sides. During this new struggle, the two dragons reappear, once again representing the yin and yang shift and imbalance that has dominated Zuko’s character arc to this point. This time, they are external rather than fully internalized-suggesting that those feelings Zuko once repressed are something he can now face head-on. Though Zuko does tackle the problem vis-à-vis a firebending move he learns earlier in that episode, it is not the same as his usual reaction: physical response to emotional turmoil. Rather, he is mending the rift between the two sides of him by cooperating with the Avatar. The dragons’ dance represents another step toward letting go of his previous, wrong-headed goals, and toward personal achievement. They represent balance.
Zuko’s personality has undergone a major shift by the time the group must fight Fire Lord Ozai. Though this point is when he lets the whole “father lord” thing slip, his ability to articulate his enemy-albeit subconsciously-represents the ability to accept the truth. He knows that he must fight his father, and he is willing to do it. Even more important is that he knows before he heads into battle that, if they are to win, he will have to take his rightful place on the Fire Nation throne. Zuko is the heir, after all.
In some ways, Zuko has come full circle. The difference is that the two halves of the circle are now mended. He has reached this conclusion after a long period of internal struggle, and has come out peaceful (still cranky, but peaceful) and whole. He understands life’s injustices, and finally, fully admits that his father was wrong to injure him. He is also prepared to do whatever it takes to bring justice back to the tribes. Essentially, Zuko has healed himself, though the process was long and arduous; and it is precisely this healed state that is contrasted with Azula’s descent into madness during their final battle.
After all Zuko’s insecurities where his sister is involved, this battle is inevitable. It is also reminiscent of the fever dream-Azula is the blue dragon, while Zuko has finally become the red dragon, the voice of reason. Whether or not he would have been able to defeat her before her altered state is unimportant. Azula has fallen prey to the expectations of others and to her own impossibly high standards, to the pressures she so eagerly courted, and though Zuko might have been headed down that same path at one point, his ability to change course makes him a stronger fighter. Rather than being fueled by rage, his firebending comes from a place of inner balance. Rather than being torn apart by insecurities, Zuko is centered and focused. The shift in his personality has made him a stronger fighter than ever before. He has also moved past that naivety that once plagued him-the inability to fight a member of his own family-in order to do whatever it takes to help the Avatar save the world. Though not yet a full adult nor a perfect young man, Zuko is willingly and ably bearing burdens far beyond his years.
FIRE LORD ZUKO: In the end, Zuko has managed to conquer his demons, throwing away the compulsion to hide behind a mask in order to act on his own instincts. He has grown past the phase of blindly dutiful son, then rebellious teenager, and past the need to make himself happy simply by adhering to the standards of others. The power that was once so appealing to him has not only been defeated in others-his sister and his father-but it has undergone a metamorphosis within himself, as well. He has also come to realize that the love his uncle gave him was far more legitimately paternal than his father’s ever was, and to accept his new family as his ‘real’ one. Though happiness was previously a distant concept to him, he is now seen laughing with his friends, being tender with his uncle, showing what his father would have deemed signs of “weakness,” but without punishing himself for it. Once afraid that he would be forced to see things in only black and white-either he would be weak or he would be strong-this new inner balance makes Zuko far stronger than his father ever was. If Zuko is characterized by anything, it is his determination in the face of adversity. But even that determination has transformed; no longer stubborn and prideful, his focus is now turned to the good of the people.
Only one loose end remains: Zuko’s mother. And that is because his memories of her are those of love and happiness, rather than hurt and betrayal. Zuko’s quest to find his mother shows that he is willing to delve into the past in order to heal the present. Most importantly, Zuko has forged his own path. Rather than falling into line with those before them, he has been brave enough to accept struggle and defeat, and turn his personal losses into personal victory. Like any teenage boy, it’s been difficult finding out who he is, and aspects of himself are far from perfect. But he is strong now-in a true sense of the word. He has found inner strength. And nothing else in the future is going to be as hard as being a teenager, anyway.