Zuko

Zuko

Series	Avatar: The Last Airbender
Age	91 (16 in AtLA)
Birthday	Unknown
Sex	Male
Species	Human
Height	160 cm
Weight	Unknown
Alignment	Lawful Good

“	“I thought I had lost my honor, and that somehow my father could return it to me. But I know now that no one can give you your honor, it’s something you earn for yourself by choosing to do what’s right.”	„
	~ Zuko

Zuko is an antagonist turned protagonist from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Background[]

Long ago, the Fire Nation broke the peace enjoyed between the four Kingdoms by declaring war on all of them in the name of conquest. Driven by the destructive impulses of Fire Lord Ozai, the Nation’s armies sought to destroy all that had opposed them, no matter the cost, even to their own men. Such tactics brought out an individual who felt they were unnecessarily cruel, and from a surprising place at that: Zuko, the Crown Prince and Ozai’s eldest son, stepped up against such cruelty, and was immediately scolded by his father for speaking out of turn. As a result, Zuko was forced into an Agni Kai - a one-on-one duel - with his own father. However, he refused to fight back, resulting in Ozai permanently scarring Zuko’s face as punishment for his defiance.

Zuko’s relationship with his father defined his early years, as Ozai treated his son with nothing but contempt. His favor toward Zuko’s sister, Azula, deprived the Prince of a normal family life. The only outlet of love and compassion Zuko could find was from his mother, who disappeared one day, leaving Zuko alone. Thankfully, he would not be alone forever, as his uncle Iroh began to accompany him frequently after the loss of his own son. In fact, Iroh guided Zuko as a father figure, even following the Prince as he set off to find the Avatar. Ozai, banishing his son after their duel, gave his son the stipulation that Zuko could only return to the Fire Nation with his honor if he were to retrieve the next Avatar, who had been missing for years. This impossible task was meant to keep Zuko gone for good, but as fate would have it, the Avatar was alive, and Zuko happened to be nearby when Avatar Aang was awoken from his slumber.

While Zuko’s obsession with restoring his honor drove him to hunt Aang down, Iroh’s guidance slowly but surely worked to heal Zuko’s inner wounds. Throughout his journey, Zuko began to see more of the world and realized the wrongdoings of not just his father, but the Fire Nation as a whole. Seeds of doubt planted in Zuko began to bloom as he finally realized his destiny was to join Aang, not fight him, and opposed Ozai. Despite his newfound self-realization, earning the trust of Aang and his friends took time and effort, but Zuko persevered, growing to be close friends with Aang and his allies.

Ultimately, Zuko’s aid was crucial in teaching Aang Firebending. This allowed the Avatar to master all four elements and defeat Fire Lord Ozai, leaving the succession of Fire Lord to fall to the once disgraced prince. As Fire Lord, Zuko put to practice what he had learned from Aang, Iroh, and the rest of the people he’d met, working tirelessly to undo the carnage Ozai and his ancestors had wrought upon the world. In time, Zuko succeeded in this as well, becoming a beloved leader and bringing peace to the Fire Nation, eventually passing the title to his daughter, Izumi.

Powers & Abilities[]

Firebending: Through manipulation of his own body’s chi, Zuko has the natural ability to bend the fire within him. He can manipulate this fire essentially however he wants, though there are some martial arts roots that are in place (namely the “Dancing Dragon” style that originated firebending). Unlike other bending styles, firebending doesn’t need a nearby source of its element to function, as the user is just manipulating their body’s natural energy and letting it out as fire. With heavy, thorough movements, it only takes two steps for a firebender to let out a ferocious flame. Firebenders get their energy from the sun, and without the sun they are completely helpless. However, if the sun is in full view, or another object comes through that emanates flames (i.e. a comet), their power either gets replenished or gets amplified. It’s worth noting that, while Zuko’s firebending was originally fueled by rage, he has since learned the true nature of the style and incorporated it into his fighting style, as evidenced with his fight against Azula.
- Fireballs: The most basic ability for a Firebender involves launching a fireball at his opponent from long range. Zuko can fire one large fireball or shoot out rapid fireballs as shown with his fight against Aang in the Crystal Catacombs.
- Firestream: Another common ability for Firebenders, they can shoot continuous streams of fire from their fingertips, fists, palms, or legs. This ability works like a flame-thrower, to the extent that Fire Nation soldiers use this ability to burn entire villages.
- Fireblocking: Typically used for defense, this ability allows a firebender to defuse and extinguish an oncoming blast of fire from another firebender using a quick kick, jab, or any other defensive maneuver, allowing him to stop attacks.
- Fireshield: Zuko can create a shield of fire around himself in order to protect himself from attacks. He first used this ability when his ship was about to explode, saving himself but sustaining injuries. His fire shield can also be used to block lightning as well as Combustion Man’s Combustion Blast though it pushed Zuko back significantly.
- Fire Daggers: By condensing flames into the shape of a dagger, Zuko can create pseudo weaponry if he is ever without his swords. Zuko’s Fire Daggers are strong enough to match Azula (whose flame is hotter).
- Ring of Flame: By doing spin kicks or sweep arms, Firebenders can create circles of fire in front of them in order to block attacks or throw the fire circle at the enemy. Zuko can use his feet to create an expanding ring and successfully knocks Azula down during their Comet-Enhanced Agni Kai.
- Fire Whips: A straightforward application of Firebending, the Fire Whips make for mid-long range attacks and can repeatedly clash with similar water constructs.
- Tornado of Flames: Zuko utilized this technique to nullify an oncoming attack from three other Firebenders. By bending flames, he can combine them to create a twister (that is similar to Dragon’s fire) that can either protect him or be used to consume his opponent.
- Fire Bomb: Used as a short-range attack, a firebender can create a flame at the end of a limb and thrust the flame down creating an explosive fire expansion.
- Intertwined Fire Stream: An advanced move based on the basic fire stream. The firebender directs two powerful streams of fire at his opponent, causing the two streams to intertwine, causing a huge, kite-shaped stream of fire that has more power than the single stream. Zuko used this advanced technique in the Crystal Catacombs, and then again in his Agni Kai with Azula.
- Body Propulsion: Utilizing a constant stream of fire, Zuko can create flames under his feet in order to propel himself to new heights. Azula demonstrated this technique first, and Zuko later learned it for himself, using it both in his final Agni Kai and when he lifted the Earth King up to safety.
- Lightning Redirection: Through Iroh’s studying under waterbenders, he developed a technique to counter the deadliest firebending technique ever created - lightning bending. Through manipulating the lightning through your body’s chi, and guiding it along the path of one arm to the other, Zuko may redirect lightning back at whoever cast it on him. While it’s shown he cannot lightning bend like his father, sister and uncle, he can redirect lightning no problem. Except if he gets caught off guard, since messing up this technique could lead to instant death, since the lightning can pass by your heart on it’s way to the other arm.
- Fire Manipulation: While Zuko will most often bend his own fire, he does have the ability to manipulate other flames. He can manipulate other fire sources to increase their radius as well as their intensity as shown through the Beach Episode where he made the Campfire increase its flame intensity as well as decrease it’s flame intensity. He also has the ability to snuff out other fire (though there is likely a limit to how much fire he can snuff out).
- Heat Manipulation: Zuko is capable of manipulating the heat from within his body. In order to save himself he manipulated the body heat in his own hands to make it hot enough to melt Ice. He can also warm himself to help him against the cold. :
Swordsmanship: Zuko was trained by the extremely skilled Swordsmaster Piandao (who would go on to train Sokka - who is another member of Team Avatar). Zuko uses two dao blades in order to overwhelm and overpower his opponents. Zuko would primarily use his swords during his infiltration of a Fire Nation base. He was shown to be capable of taking out several Fire Nation Guards without having to resort to firebending, and could even slice apart rocks hurled from Earthbenders. He also fought fellow swordsmen Sokka and Jet to a win and a draw respectively. Considering one was trained by his former master and the other was shown to be extremely skilled in his dual hook blade use, this is rather impressive considering swords are not Zuko’s main method of attack.
Martial Arts Combat: As explained by the show’s creators - the fighting style of the Fire Nation is based around a Chinese Martial Art known as Northern Shaolin Kung Fu. In a general sense, Northern Shaolin focuses on close range techniques and counter attacks - using a person’s own momentum and fighting style against them which embodies Zuko’s fight against General Zhao to a tee. Zuko generally uses Northern Shaolin Kung Fu, focusing on using slow but strong attacks, combined with his athletic ability. Zuko can fight closely using taints that almost seem invented and can adapt to any situation, moving with a lot of agility and flexibility. He is extremely skilled with this fighting style - being able to defeat several Earth Kingdom Soldiers as well defeat General Zhao - one of the strongest generals in the Fire Nation.
Infiltration Techniques: As the Blue Spirit, Zuko displayed heavy use of Ninja Style techniques in order to infiltrate a heavily armed fortress full of Fire Nation Guards. He was easily able to get into the base and retrieve the Avatar, only getting caught while escaping the fortress.
Tracking Techniques: Zuko is a skilled tracker, being able to track the Avatar who had an airborne ride in Appa - all across the world.
Leadership: Zuko eventually became a great leader as he managed to maintain peace in the Fire Nation for 67 years. Zuko was able to fix the broken connection between the Fire Nation and Water/Earth Nations as well as helped create Republic City.

Equipment[]

Shuangdao: These Dual Broadswords are two swords forged with metal. Due to the Chinese Inspiration of the Fire Nation as well as their overall design, it is all but certain that these swords are based on Shuangdao. Shuangdao are two twin chinese broadswords that have a wide blade and have curved in the middle of the blade, allowing for greater chopping power.

Feats[]

Strength[]

Broke steel handcuffs
Should be comparable to base Aang, who stopped a wave of lava from destroying a village (1.3 kilotons of TNT)
Created an explosion in an early duel with Aang
In a similar fashion, created an explosion in a collision with Azula
Should be comparable to Toph, who lifted up a collapsing mine and slowed the sinking of Wan Shi Tong's library (367 tons of TNT)
Can contend with Azula, who kicked a volleyball hard enough to create a small crater in the sand
Blasts through Aang’s air shield, which can block attacks from four firebenders
Launched a fireball that shattered a large crystal structure
With the non-standard Sozin’s Comet buff, Zuko likely scales to Iroh, who blew a hole in the surrounding wall of Ba Sing Se (2.4 kilotons of TNT).

Speed[]

Intercepted Azula’s lightning (Mach 299)
Reacted to and redirected Ozai’s lightning (Mach 756.94)
Fast enough to slice rocks mid-air before they struck him
Quickly scaled a 2 story building.
Flew Earth King Kuei up a vertical cliff.
Outran a collapsing temple and a tide of shattering ice
Has dodged swords and swatted arrows out of the air from behind him
Reacted to the explosion that blew up his Fire Nation ship, erecting a shield at the last second
Dodged Sokka’s godly, immeasurable speed Boomerang

Durability[]

Shields protected him from an explosion inside his Fire Nation ship
Managed to survive swimming in ATLA's equivalent of the Arctic Ocean for an extended period of time.
Survived 3 weeks without sustenance.
Survived a blast from Combustion Man.
Survived getting hit in the middle of the chest by lightning
Blocked Azula’s lightning with his Fire shield
Can easily block attacks from other Firebenders
Survives a blast from the colliding impact of his and Azula’s strikes
Is more or less fine after taking a flail to the face
Survives getting launched into the air for a duration of 5 seconds

Skill[]

Defeated Commander Zhao who is an experienced warrior in the Fire Nation Army
Eventually matched his sister Azula in combat, who is typically much stronger than him.
Fought on par with Toph, Katara, and base form Aang for much of their time against each other and together
Successfully infiltrated the North Pole and managed to capture the Avatar
Defeated Katara during the Invasion of the North
Infiltrated Pohaui Stronghold without firebending.
Rescued Aang from capture and eventually became his Firebending teacher
Ultimately broke away from Ozai’s influence, realizing his true destiny as part of the Avatar’s team
Matched the skilled swordsman Jet in a duel
After Ozai’s defeat, became the next Fire Lord
Ushered in an era of peace for the Fire Nation, undoing much of the global damage his father and ancestors had done
Defeated the Red Lotus

Weaknesses[]

Most of Zuko’s weaknesses mainly pertain to the weaknesses of Firebenders as a whole. Extreme cold temperatures or the heavy presence of elements that counter fire (like a rainstorm or other massive amounts of water and wind) reduces his ability to bend fire, and losing confidence in himself (aka losing his “inner fire”) can weaken it further.
In addition, the sheer aggression of Firebending makes it ill-suited to defensive tactics, often leaving the user vulnerable or otherwise drained of energy, which harms their ability to keep up a prolonged fight.
Lastly, while Zuko has grown past this by the time of Korra, he was incredibly impulsive and reckless as a youth, even in his early years as Fire Lord. This has frequently left him in vulnerable or disadvantageous positions, often requiring aid either from Iroh, Aang, or his other associates.