History Characters / GundamCharAznable

* UnbuiltTrope: Char may have spawnedhis own archetype, but his portrayal in the original anime more resembles a deconstruction of it. Instead of being an excellent long-term schemer, Char is an opportunist who is mostly able to advance his goals through a combination of simply biding his time for the right moment and luck. His quest for revenge is built upon his belief that [[spoiler:the Zabis killed his father]], something which is disputed and never confirmed, and he technically only partially succeeds at it, with both his kills being rather pointless since Garma viewed him as a friend and Kycilia wouldn't have survived anyway]]. His LackOfEmpathy also repeatedly proves a hindrance to his goals by causing him to alienate potential allies, and he's only able to put up a caring face for so long before it starts to slip. By the end, Char has bungled his way between several different factions, and only steps up as the villain in ''Char's Counterattack'' because he has little else to live for other than his rivalry with Amuro.

* CharClone: [[TropeNamer The original himself]]; accept no substitutes.

* {{Expy}}: It's rather ironic given the [[CharClone number of expies]] he's spawned, but Char himself was actually based on a villain from one of Tomino's earlier works -- Prince Sharkin from ''Anime/BraveRaideen''.

* RedplicaBaron: Char is based partially on the Red Baron himself, Manfred von Richthofen. Both are aces famous for their striking red vehicles. For extension, a character who's a CharClone is an expy of an expy of the Red Baron.

* UnbuiltTrope: Char may have spawned [[CharClone his own archetype]], but his portrayal in the original anime more resembles a deconstruction of it. Instead of being an excellent long-term schemer, Char is an opportunist who is mostly able to advance his goals through a combination of simply biding his time for the right moment and luck. His quest for revenge is built upon his belief that [[spoiler:the Zabis killed his father]], something which is disputed and never confirmed, and he technically only partially succeeds at it, with both his kills being rather pointless since Garma viewed him as a friend and Kycilia wouldn't have survived anyway]]. His LackOfEmpathy also repeatedly proves a hindrance to his goals by causing him to alienate potential allies, and he's only able to put up a caring face for so long before it starts to slip. By the end, Char has bungled his way between several different factions, and only steps up as the villain in ''Char's Counterattack'' because he has little else to live for other than his rivalry with Amuro.

* CharClone: [[MemeticMutation He IS A CHAR]], launching a FountainOfExpies.

* CharClone: He ''[[TropeMaker is]]'' Char. On a more serious note, this is the third, final, and darkest, of Char's major personas, and the one that [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Rau Le Creuset]], [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny Gilbert Durandal]], end-of-series [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Zechs Merquise]], and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamTheWitchFromMercury Prospera Mercury]] draw on the most heavily.

* CharClone: While he is the original Char, the Quattro personality has become a subtype of the classic Char Clone. He's a blonde ace, favors red suits, and has a main rivalry like classic Char, but he swaps out the mask for shades, pilots a gold mech, and is more of an antihero. A number of future Char Clones borrow elements from Quattro's persona rather than classic Char.

* PeterPanParody: It's subtle, but Char is about as close to Peter Pan as one can get while still being in a "realistic" story. Friend to all children? Check. Innocently sociopathic? Check. Switches sides between the good and bad guys? Check. Unable to grow up, at least emotionally? ''Double check''. And just like Peter, his eternal quest for a mother-figure is doomed to failure because the whole point of a parental figure is to nurture their child to grow up - and Char, being in denial about his own immaturity until practically the end, remains forever emotionally stunted. For better or worse, his {{Expies}} generally haven't adopted this aspect of his character wholesale.

* NeverFoundTheBody: [[spoiler:Following Axis Shock, when the Sazabi's cockpit is recovered there is no sign of his body. He appears to have AscendedToAHigherPlane when his Psychoframe reacted with Amuro's, causing them both to be turned into pure psychic energy. His remaining memories and consciousness then were used to create [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn Full Frontal]].]]

* PeterPanParody: It's subtle, but Char is about as close to Peter Pan as one can get while still being in a "realistic" story. Friend to all children? Check. Innocently sociopathic? Check. Switches sides between the good and bad guys? Check. Unable to grow up, at least emotionally? ''Double check''. And just like Peter, his eternal quest for a mother-figure is doomed to failure because the whole point of a parental figure is to nurture their child to grow up - and Char, being in denial about his own immaturity until practically the end, remains forever emotionally stunted.

* CharClone: He ''[[TropeMaker is]]'' Char. On a more serious note, this is the third, final, and darkest, of Char's major personas, and the one that [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Rau Le Creuset]], [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny Rey Za Burrel]], end-of-series [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Zechs Merquise]], and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamTheWitchFromMercury Prospera Mercury]] draw on the most heavily.

* CharClone: He ''[[TropeMaker is]]'' Char. On a more serious note, this is the third, final, and darkest, of Char's major personas, and the one that [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Rau Le Creuset]], [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny Rey Za Burrel]], and end-of-series [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Zechs Merquise]] draw on the most heavily.
* ColonyDrop: His master plan.

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: Finally runs out here, and following another climactic defeat at Amuro's hands at that. [[spoiler:The Axis Shock ''finally'' rids the Universal Century of Char once and for all.. or at least, [[CloningBlues the real Char.]]]]

* [[{{Bishonen}} Biseinen]]: At 33, he's too old to be bishonen, but he's definitely more of a pretty boy than he was earlier in the series.

* LackOfEmpathy: Char is good at many things. Seeing other people as more than occupants of the same space or expendable tools is not one of them. Gets dramatically worse after his first few episodes.

* LackOfEmpathy: Downplayed. As he points out to Kamille, just because he's older doesn't mean that he necessarily knows anything about emotions. He's better than he used to be, but that's not saying much. A lot of the things "Quattro" says make more sense when you realize that he's a man without empathy trying to act like he has any.

* LackOfEmpathy: Worse than ever. He's more or less replaced his already inept ability to care about other people's feelings with Zeonic ideology and spacenoid rhetoric.

* DubPronunciationChange: In Japanese his name is pronounced like the French pronunciation of "Char"[[note]] although "aa" is standard transliteration for "ar", anyway, so "Shaa"[[/note]], as in Aznavour; however all English dubs use a hard R, as if it were short for "Charlotte".

* DubPronunciationChange: His name is pronounced in the Japanese version as "Sha", reflecting his French namesake. Most English dubs pronounce it as a homophone for "char".

* BecomingTheMask: Played straight as far as Kamille is concerned, as however limited his empathy he is, he goes out of his way to teach Kamille, give him advice, and reassure him when the need arises. [[spoiler:But ultimately, Char, who ''tries'' to become a better person as Quattro Bajeena but due to a combination of his struggling with a LackOfEmpathy in spite of his best efforts, and most people acknowledging him 'only' as Char and forcing him into a role of leadership he didn't want, and becoming disillusioned with the idea of Earthnoids and spacenoids coexisting peacefully, Char abandons the AEUG at the end of the series.]]

* DubPronunciationChange: His name is pronounced in the Japanese version as "Sha", reflecting his French namesake. Most English dubs pronounce it as a homophone for "char".

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Some earlier foreign releases, like the 90s translation of [[Literature/MobileSuitGundam the series novelization]], directly transliterate his first name from Japanese to "Sha".

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: His name is pronounced as "Shar", there's no C sound in it. Justified since, like "Charlotte", it stems from the original French pronunciation.

* MistakenForPedophile: When Gyunei is trying to drive away Quess, he mentions rumors Char has [[{{Ephebophile}} romantically pursued multiple teenage girls]] to [[ReplacementGoldfish use as a substitute for Lalah]]. In reality, Char has no interest in Quess, he's just using her crush to manipulate her. Bizarrely, he even says he wanted Lalah as a ''mother'' figure.

* InformedAbility: He's constantly hyped for destroying 5 ships at the Battle of Loum with just his Zaku II, but in the series, his only onscreen mobile suit kill is a single RedShirt GM at Jaburo. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] when it comes to the battle at A Baoa Qu, where he manages to down at least two ships in the Zeong. And it should be noted that Char survives multiple encounters with Amuro and the Gundam when other Zeon officers either die in their first battles against the White Devil or survive one only to die in the next.

* MistakenForPedophile: When Gyunei is trying to drive away Quess, he mentions rumors Char has [[{{Ephebophile}} romantically pursued multiple teenage girls]] to [[ReplacementGoldfish use as a substitute for Lalah]]. In reality, Char has interest in Quess, he's just using her crush to manipulate her. Bizarrely, he even says he wanted Lalah as a ''mother'' figure.

* {{Ephebophile}}: According to rumor in-universe.

* CharacterShilling: Happens a lot, but never to the point of InformedAttribute - he's still [[TheRedBaron the Red Comet]]. [[spoiler:Read: IJustWantToBeNormal below for the reasons to why.]]

* AnAxeToGrind: Notable for being the melee weapon of his first and last mobile suits. The Zaku II was armed with a heat-hawk and the Sazabi was armed with a beam-tomahawk.

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Don't work with him. Don't trust him. It almost never ends well.

* FreudianExcuse: In ''Mobile Suit Gundam'', his sister remembers him as "kind" [[UsedToBeASweetKid and can barely believe what he's become]]. Due to the unrelenting pursuit of revenge against those he sees as responsible for the deaths of his parents, he's mainly characterized by his varying degrees of callousness and myopic behavior that allows for very limited consideration of others.

* KarmaHoudini: Though he loses to Amuro in the end and ultimately his side loses the war, Char [[TheBadGuyWins completes his objective]] of [[spoiler:the assured death of the Zabi family heads]] and gets to leave the conflict with only his pride shaken and a scar on his face. This has both good consequences, and ''very bad'' as the timeline progresses.

* TheSociopath: Char has the limited emotional affect, LackOfEmpathy, [[BloodKnight need for stimulation]], consummate lying and manipulation abilities, lack of shame or fear, ChronicBackstabbingDisorder, and a highly, highly questionable conscience. Murdering Garma, who considered him his best friend is enough to prove all of this. Over the course of his franchise appearances, he checks all the boxes.

* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Char's entire motivation is vengeance upon [[spoiler:the Zabi family for the assumed assassination of his father]], and he treats his subordinates [[BenevolentBoss well enough.]] Too bad he'll kill anyone and do anything to get his way to his goals, and personally [[ItsPersonal pisses off Amuro]] for their differences. He ends up nearly bordering on AntiVillain compared to the likes of [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Gihren]] and some of the more deranged and monstrous Zeon commanders out there, but doesn't reach it due to his own crimes and KickTheDog moments, Garma in particular.