History Characters / AvatarTheLastAirbenderZuko

** Even eight-year-old Zuko gets in on the action.

** A few years later, Ozai was fully prepared and willing [[OffingTheOffspring to murder his eight-year-old son in his sleep]] as a way to compensate for a mistake he made. Again, Zuko's death was only prevented by [[MamaBear his mother's intervention]] - and this time, Ursa was banished as a result, leaving Zuko alone with his father. Five years after this, Zuko is brutally scarred by his father and exiled [[SnipeHunt to find the century-missing, all-powerful Avatar.]] He eventually returns home, only to leave again - but not before his father mocks him and tries to shoot him full of lightning, marking the third time Ozai attempted OffingTheOffspring.

[[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTeamAvatar Team Avatar]] ([[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderAvatarAang Avatar Aang]], '''Prince Zuko''', [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderKatara Katara]], [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderSokka Sokka]], [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTophBeifong Toph Beifong]]) | [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderMentors Mentors]] | [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderAllies Allies]] | [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheFireNation Fire Nation]] | [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheFireNationRoyalFamily Fire Nation Royal Family]] ([[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderPrincessAzula Princess Azula]]) | [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheEmberIslandPlayers The Ember Island Players]] | [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderOtherCharacters Other]] | [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderComicCharacters Comics]]-]]]]]

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/DanteBasco (teenager), Elijah Runcorn (child) (English)[[labelnote:Click to see other languages]]Pablo Ausensi (teenager) and Ariel Seisdedos (child) (Latin American Spanish); Creator/AlexisTomassian (French); Sebastian Schultz (German); Creator/StefanoCrescentini (Italian); Leszek Zduń (Polish), Ofer Shechter (Hebrew season 1), Liron Lev (Hebrew seasons 2-3); Reginaldo Primo (Brazilian Portuguese)[[/labelnote]], Creator/BruceDavison (''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''), Creator/StephenFu (''VideoGame/{{Smite}}''), Creator/VincentTong (''VideoGame/NickelodeonKartRacers 3: Slime Speedway'')

* TooProudForLowlyWork: Zuko regards virtually everything other than being treated as royalty (despite being exiled) is beneath him. He [[{{Subverted}} later accepts a job as a waiter in his uncle's tea house]].

* TragicHero: Zuko also spends most of Season 2 and late Season 1 struggling with integrity and sense of right and wrong - until he [[spoiler: succeeds in getting his honor back, discovers that he really didn't want it after all, and sets out to join the Gaang.]]

* StockShonenRival: Zuko is all but one in name. Considering the heavy {{animesque}} nature of the series, Zuko fits quite a bit, his character arc resembling that of the archetype's (specifically of the PrivilegedRival type) in all but name. Introduced as an older, more aloof, stronger, more pessimistic {{foil}} and antagonist who wants to capture the inexperienced, cheerful protagonist and (somewhat) StockShonenHero Aang. Over the course of the series he learns to become less angry and [[TookALevelInKindness nicer]]. He is a [[PlayingWithFire firebender]] who normally wears red clothes and has black hair, later adding [[BifurcatedWeapon dual swords]] to his arsenal. Zuko is the prince of the Fire Nation and son of the Fire Lord, however he was [[TheExile exiled]] and now desires to capture the Avatar so he can return home with honor. He has a DarkAndTroubledPast due to having an emotionally distant and {{abusive|parents}} dad, a cruel and unloving little sister, his mother [[MissingMom running off]], and being a WhiteSheep in his BigScrewedUpFamily. Despite his angry demeanor and spending most of the series being a PerpetualFrowner, it is really an act that wears off over the series. He becomes TheAtoner after his HeelFaceTurn and joins Aang and his friends.

* StockShonenRival: Zuko is all but one in name. His characterization and character development resembles that of the archetype's (specifically of the PrivilegedRival type), however he is not officially Aang's rival. He starts out as a standard stronger, more pessimistic {{foil}} to the inexperienced, cheerful protagonist and undergoes a HeelFaceTurn later on. Zuko also has the common black hair and fire powers.

* ReformedButNotTamed: [[spoiler:After joining Team Avatar he is still a grouchy AntiHero which is similar to how he was in Season 2. The difference is that now he believes his father has to be stopped.]]

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/DanteBasco (teenager), Elijah Runcorn (child) (English)[[labelnote:Click to see other languages]]Pablo Ausensi (teenager) and Ariel Seisdedos (child) (Latin American Spanish); Creator/AlexisTomassian (French); Sebastian Schultz (German); Creator/StefanoCrescentini (Italian); Leszek Zduń (Polish), Ofer Shechter (Hebrew season 1), Liron Lev (Hebrew seasons 2-3)[[/labelnote]], Creator/BruceDavison (''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''), Creator/StephenFu (''VideoGame/{{Smite}}''), Creator/VincentTong (''VideoGame/NickelodeonKartRacers 3: Slime Speedway'')

[[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTeamAvatar Team Avatar]] ([[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderAvatarAang Avatar Aang]], '''Prince Zuko''', [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderKatara Katara]], [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderSokka Sokka]], [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTophBeifong Toph Beifong]]) | [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderMentors Mentors]] | [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderAllies Allies]] ([[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderGeneralIroh General Iroh]]) | [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheFireNation Fire Nation]] | [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheFireNationRoyalFamily Fire Nation Royal Family]] ([[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderFireLordOzai Fire Lord Ozai]], [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderPrincessAzula Princess Azula]]) | [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheEmberIslandPlayers The Ember Island Players]] | [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderOtherCharacters Other]] | [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderComicCharacters Comics]]-]]]]]

* BreakTheCutie: As a three-year-old, Zuko was the sweet kind of kid who would rescue a crab-turtle from a sea hawk - and then regret the decision once he realized that the hawk would starve to death if it didn't get something to eat. Fast forward a few years, and between his father's physical and verbal abuse, his mother's disappearance, and his younger sister's constant burning and taunting, Zuko is a lot less innocent, and begins to develop shades of [[RoyalBrat brattiness]], [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior violence]] (e.g., threatening his sister with a knife in "Zuko Alone"), and slight mental issues. Fast forward a few years after that, after half his face is seared off by his father and he's sent on a [[SnipeHunt wild goose chase]], Zuko descends fully into said [[RoyalBrat bratiness]], [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior violence]], and a full-fledged mental issues, to the point of developing shades of a type C PsychopathicManchild, being [[NoSocialSkills incapable of even basic social interaction]], obsessive, overemotional, and even suffering a sort of mental breakdown in "Bitter Work".

* MommasBoy: He and his mother Ursa adored each other. [[spoiler:Asking what happened to her is his second-to-last line in the original series.]]