Fire Lord ☄ Zuko (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
deconflagration) wrote2011-10-04 09:59 pm
deconflagration) wrote2011-10-04 09:59 pm
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IC:
Character name: Zuko
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Timeline: Book 3, Chapter 17: The Ember Island Players
↳ Canon updated to the end of The Promise: Part 2
Age: 16~17
~*Magical*~ abilities and strengths: The series Avatar heavily focuses on benders who can manipulate one of the four elements (Water, Earth, Fire and Air) and "bend" it to their command. In Zuko's case, he is a Fire Bender and can create and manipulate fire. His ability to do so depends on if the sun is present, how intense it is and the state of affairs in his mind. Without a sun or if the sun is blocked, Zuko cannot create or manipulate fire at all. With a sun, his fire bending skills are intense. When his mind is heavily conflicted, his fire bending skills become negligible; present, but absolutely pitiful.
In addition to his natural gift to bend fire, Zuko is also highly skilled in the art of dual-wielding. He understands that the two broadswords are only half of a single whole substance and can use it for both offense and defense. So, if for whatever reason he can't firebend, he can resort to using his dual broadswords to take an enemy down.
How would they use their abilities?: Self-defense, the defense of others and possibly for other reasons like heating water.
Appearance: As Zuko is coming from near the end of book three, his appearance is different than it was in the beginning of the series. His hair, dark brown in color, is full and reaches past his nose. His eyes are golden, a trait of people from the Fire Nation. His clothing choices, when he's not forced to pretend he's a refugee in the Earth Kingdom, focuses on shades of reds; they also tend to be a robes over a shirt and a pair of pants. And, of course, what makes Zuko arguably the most identifiable person in the series is the huge burn mark on the left side of his face. That scar isn't going away any time soon.
Background/Personality: Zuko was the first born child of Ozai and Ursa and was grandson to Fire Lord Azulon, the leader of the Fire Nation. Two years after his birth, his sister Azula was born. Zuko was a fairly normal child with average abilities while in contrast, Azula was a highly gifted firebending prodigy. By the time Zuko had learned a few forms of proper firebending, Azula was miles ahead of him, having learned far more graceful forms of her own, producing much more fire, and in short beating her brother in every area possible.
Their father Ozai was fond of Azula and her abilities while at the same time was rather contemptuous toward Zuko. On the other hand, their mother Ursa was fond of Zuko and considered Azula and her manipulative personality "monstrous." Knowing that Ozai didn't love him as much as his sister, Zuko worked hard to outrank Azula however he could. It never really worked out.
Zuko put up with a lot of emotional abuse because of his sister. Azula would often tell him horrible lies (or occasionally blunt, horrific truths) and would sometimes play awful pranks on him. There were times when Zuko would imitate Azula's actions, like when she fed the turtle ducks by throwing a piece of bread as hard as she could at them, hard enough to make the poor things sink under water.
For the most part, he tried to avoid Azula, although their mother encouraged that they play together, if only for a short while a day. He had a mutual crush on one of Azula's friends, Mai, which continued into his teenage years. Iroh had spent 600 days away from the Fire Nation in an attempt to break down the great wall defending the Earth Kingdom's capital, Ba Sing Se. During that time away from home, Iroh sent Zuko a handsome knife with an inscription of "Never give up without a fight" and sent Azula a fine Earth Kingdom doll.
While still a child, Zuko had a fairly decent relationship with his paternal uncle Iroh. It was this pleasant relationship, along with the constant love of his mother, which enabled Zuko to maintain his honor later on in life. For while his family was full of traitors who lusted for war an destruction under the guise of "bettering the world," Zuko wanted peace. Azulon died when Zuko was roughly eleven-years-old. Instead of Iroh, the older of Azulon's two sons, becoming Fire Lord, it was Zuko's father who became Fire Lord instead. It was during that time in which Zuko's mother mysteriously disappeared—banished from the Fire Nation for even more mysterious "treasonous crimes."
When Zuko was around thirteen-years-old, a meeting in the War Room happened. All of the Fire Nation's greatest generals and admirals were there. Zuko, as Crown Prince and heir to the throne, wanted to participate. After all, it was he who would be on the throne someday; it was only fair to learn how it was done. The guards refused to allow him entrance, but his uncle Iroh allowed him inside as long as Zuko promised not to talk.
One of the generals proposed a plan which would most like guarantee victory at the price of sacrificing many able-bodied Fire Nation soldiers. Essentially, they were using a fresh platoon squad as bait while attacking with a far more experienced troop from the rear. Zuko broke his promise to his uncle and lectured the general about how wrong it was to sacrifice the very people fighting for a country they loved.
Feeling insulted, the general who proposed the plan challenged Zuko to an Agni Kai—a combination of martial arts and fire bending. Zuko gladly accepted, confident he would win. When the time came to challenge the general, Zuko turned to face his opponent, shocked to find that it wasn't the general but his father instead. Unable to fight his father out of love, Zuko dropped to his knees and begged for forgiveness. Fire Lord Ozai urged Zuko to fight him, saying it would be disrespectful otherwise. By insulting the general in the War Room, Zuko had also insulted his father. When Zuko still refused, Ozai, determined to teach his son respect, firebent right in his son's face, leaving the left side permanently disfigured. In addition to that, Ozai banished Zuko from the Fire Nation and gave him a mission: if Zuko wanted to return home with honor and to regain his father's love, he would have to find the Avatar, master of all four elements who disappeared a hundred years ago and was the only person capable of ruining the Fire Nation's plans.
Zuko accepted his fate. He acquired a Fire Nation naval ship and his own crew, then set out to find the Avatar. Iroh decided to accompany his nephew to look out for him and to help keep Zuko on the path of goodness.
For two and a half long years, Zuko searched for the Avatar with his uncle by his side. He never gave up because searching for the Avatar gave him hope, something Zuko desperately needed. He searched logical places first, places where the Avatar, being an Air Nomad, would likely be, then eventually moved his search elsewhere to remote locations.
Despite being a decently knowledgeable firebender, Iroh insisted on teaching Zuko the basics of firebending along their journey. While it irritated Zuko, it was very important for him; no one can progress with anything without a good foundation. So Iroh pounded the fact that firebending comes from the breath into Zuko's head and made sure Zuko practiced basic forms, to help Zuko keep and protect his root—essentially his balance and half of his ability to firebend—in battle.
One day, while at the South Pole, Zuko's luck finally changed. He found the Avatar! But finding the Avatar was only part of his goal; he needed apprehend him and bring him back to the Fire Nation. Sadly, the Avatar escaped from him. That didn't wet Zuko's hope, though. In fact, he was more determined than ever to catch the Avatar and regain his honor.
Eventually, Zuko wasn't alone in his search for the Avatar. General Zhao of the Fire Nation had learned that the Avatar was alive. Suddenly, Zuko's goal suddenly became a competition; a race to see who could kidnap the Avatar first. Zuko, insulted by Zhao's contemptuous attitude, challenged him to and Agni Kai. Because of Iroh's tutelage, Zuko won because he broke Zhao's root in battle. When given the same opportunity to burn and disfigure Zhao's face, Zuko declined. As a reward for not finishing him off, Zhao attacked Zuko while the latter's back was turned, only to be blocked by an angry Iroh. When Zuko marched back over to Zhao, ready to finish him, Iroh managed to convince Zuko not to taint his victory.
Time passed and Zhao and Zuko crossed paths many times, often getting in each other's way. At one point, Zuko took on the appearance of The Blue Spirit by wearing a blue mask and wearing a body suit which covered everything but his face. It is with this disguise that Zuko kidnapped the Avatar away from Zhao's possession, though his identity is found out by the Avatar. At another point, Zhao tried to kill Zuko via "accident," but Zuko miraculously survives. This incident brought Iroh and Zuko closer together, both as a team and as uncle and nephew.
As time passed, Zuko's crew grew upset with their Banished Prince. They were tired of the way Zuko was ordering them around and how he acted like the Avatar was more important than anything. Iroh sat the crew down and told them the story of how Zuko got his scar and how he was trying to regain honor. The crew was surprised and one even admitted he thought Zuko had gotten that scar in a training accident and not from his father. During a terrible storm the same night, Zuko, unaware that his uncle had told the crew anything, proved that he did care for his crew by saving one of their lives. Even though he was banished, he still maintained the attitude he had as a child: no one deserved to be sacrificed. The crew spotted the Avatar flying over their ship and instead of ordering pursuit, Zuko instead ordered the ship to safety.
Later on, several a few months after the discovery of the Avatar, Zuko and Iroh work to kidnap the Avatar before Zhao does once more. During the siege of the North Pole, which was populated with waterbenders and was attacked by the Fire Nation, Zuko took a different route while Iroh watched from afar and wished him luck, offering him advice on how to keep warm in the icy waters.
Zuko made his way to the Spirit Oasis of the North Pole where the Avatar just happened to be. After defeating Katara, one of the Avatar's friends in addition to being a waterbender, Zuko kidnapped the Avatar and escaped upward and into a blizzard. The Avatar, unable to move at all due to his mind being in the Spiritual World at the time, went along quietly.
The whole escaping into the blizzard thing was a terrible idea and something Iroh would later on lecture Zuko about on more than one occasion. While Zuko was very smart and did kidnap the Avatar, he had absolutely nowhere to go with him because he failed to think things through. Due to the blizzard, he eventually had to take himself and the Avatar to safety in a small cavern. While there, the Avatar regains consciousness and soon after tells Zuko that had things been different (ie Zuko not hunting him down) that they could have been friends. The Avatar's friends arrived shortly after that and easily defeated a rather exhausted Zuko.
Fire Lord Ozai heard of his son's failure and his brother's treachery and proceeded to entrust the task of capturing the Avatar to his daughter Azula. In the mean time, he also branded both his son and his brother Iroh as traitors to the Fire Nation.
Of course, he conveniently forgot to tell Zuko and Iroh of their new status.
Azula made her way to a Fire Nation colonial town where Zuko and Iroh were regrouping. As luck would have it, that day was the third anniversary of Zuko's scarring. Apparently, Azuka had come with wonderful news: Ozai missed his son and wanted him back. Zuko, overjoyed that his father missed him so much, willingly believed Azula's lie. Iroh was not convinced, but when Zuko threatened to leave with Azula whether Iroh came along or not, Iroh acquiesced.
When boarding the ship, Azula commanded the captain to point the ship toward "home." The idiot captain in return announced to everyone on the ship that they were taking the "captives" home. Azula got pissed and began to attack, but didn't expect to be blocked by—wait. So after Zuko and Iroh teamed up to fight the ship's crew, they ran away from the Fire Nation Colony. Near a river, they denounced their heritage as Fire Nation and, using the knife Iroh had given him as a child, cut off the buns in their hair—a mark of Fire Nation, to finalize it. Because this left Zuko's head bald save for a small square patch of hair, Zuko shaved it off and allowed his hair to grow out normally over the next few months.
From then on, Zuko and Iroh lived as fugitives.
Zuko had a rough time trying to survive as a fugitive. Iroh did as well, but he was far more jolly and optimistic about it. Zuko's fishing trips tended to yield a single, bite-sized fish. Iroh, on the other hand, wanted to make tea from the flowers and leaves in the forest. Upon experimenting with some flowers, Iroh mistook a poisonous flower for a tea herb and ended up with a horrible rash. Though Iroh announced he may die without sounding concerned, Zuko was concerned. They made their way to a small village and for the first time, Zuko was forced to mingle with Earth Kingdom people instead of threatening to kill them all.
One of the people who lived in the village took a liking to Iroh and Zuko especially and treated Iroh's rash for free. She then invited them to stay for dinner. Zuko and Iroh were appreciative, but when they left, Zuko stole the family's ostrich bird. When Iroh lectured Zuko, saying that the family had already been so kind and generous, Zuko says it wouldn't hurt them to be a bit more generous. Though Iroh clearly disagrees with Zuko, he allows Zuko to steal the mount and the two continue their journey.
They eventually ran out of money and Iroh resorted to singing and dancing for money while Zuko sat beside him, embarrassed. When a villager harasses Iroh in exchange for a gold piece coin, Zuko became furious. He donned the disguise of The Blue Spirit once again and began to steal from villagers, but never killed or harmed them too severely. Iroh became suspicious of all of this food Zuko had magically acquired, but Zuko keeps The Blue Spirit and his methods secret from his uncle. Iroh tried to subtly explain to Zuko that even if they could somehow capture the Avatar that nothing would change; Zuko would probably still remain the Banished Prince. He also pointed out that if it did somehow work out, it wouldn't be what Zuko wanted.
After mulling over Iroh's speech, Zuko came to a conclusion. He later told his uncle they had nothing to gain by staying together anymore. Zuko took the ostrich horse and left his uncle in the village.
Zuko rode his stolen ostrich horse throughout the Earth Kingdom, the place that had always been marked "the enemy" in his mind, and tried to deal with life in general. While using the last of his money to buy two bags of feed (yes, he was that desperate), he came across a group of Earth Soldiers harassing the village. Zuko was annoyed that the soldiers were doing such a thing when they were supposed to be protecting the people. As such, he stood up to them, ready to fight them, but the soldiers backed off. A child named Lee thanked Zuko and invited him back to his home for a hot meal and a warm place to stay; Zuko gladly accepted.
Zuko spent the day helping Lee's family with chores while the entire time, Lee pestered him with questions like "What's your name?" "Where are you from?" "Where are you going?" "How did you get that scar?" Zuko did his best to evade the questions.
At night, when Zuko was asleep, Lee sneaked into the shed where Zuko is and stole his twin broadswords. Lee then went out to the field to practice with them. It wasn't long before Zuko was standing behind Lee. Instead of yelling at the little boy for stealing, Zuko instead taught him that the twin blades were part of a whole; you can't think of him as separate parts. With this information, Lee gets better at practicing with Zuko's swords.
The next day, Zuko prepared to leave when surprise, surprise, the same Earth Kingdom soldiers were back, this time to taunt and harass the family. As it turned out, Lee's older brother had been captured along with the rest of his battle battalion. The soldiers showed no remorse when giving this news. Lee's father decided to join the army to see if he could find his older son. When the family asked Zuko to stay longer, he declined, insisting that he had to move on. Instead, he secretly gave Lee the knife Iroh had given him many years ago, then proceeded to leave the village.
It wasn't long before Lee's mother ran up to Zuko and asked him to return. She explained that Lee threatened the soldiers (who came back again) with a knife and that she didn't even know where Lee had gotten the knife. Out of guilt and responsibility, Zuko returned to the family's farming house. Zuko challenged the cruel soldiers and fought them using his dual swords. Though as talented as he was, Zuko couldn't beat them with swords alone, especially when one of the soldiers was an Earthbender, which put Zuko at a disadvantage. Zuko remembered the last words his mother said to him, "Never forget who you are." Those words encouraged Zuko to drop his charade and firebend. His firebending won him the duel, but at a great price; the family he had been trying to protect was now terrified of him. Lee's mother refused to let Zuko anywhere near her son and Lee returned Zuko's dagger, shouting that he hated Zuko.
And so, Zuko left the farming house with his dagger after the harsh lesson that the people of the Earth Kingdom hate him just because he was from the Fire Nation. If they knew he was the prince of it, banished or not, Zuko knew they would hate him even more.
Some time later, Zuko came across his sister and the Avatar. It was a test of Zuko's loyalty to the Fire Nation as a whole and Zuko's loyalty to his uncle. By attacking the Avatar, he would be stomping all over the love and faith Iroh had in him. By attacking Azula, he was making his banishment from the Fire Nation even worse. Before he was even able to make his decision, Azula attacked him and the fight turned into a three-way brawl. Zuko was no match for his sister and Azula eventually knocked him out.
Iroh, who had been tracking his nephew the entire time, shakes Zuko out of unconsciousness. The Avatar was then joined by several of his friends, and Team Avatar along with Zuko and Iroh push Azula into a corner. Azula, mischievous as ever, surrendered. While the group was stunned, Azula launched a surprise lighting-based attack at Iroh. It hit home and brought him down hard. In retaliation, Team Avatar and Zuko launched their strongest attacks at Azula at the same time, but Azula blocked it and disappeared.
With the fight over, Zuko ran to his fallen uncle, desperately trying to think of what to do. Team Avatar hesitantly made their way over as well and Katara, the Waterbender Zuko defeated at the North Pole, offered to help with healing water. Zuko, angry and confused and worried all at once, closed out Katara's words and demanded that they leave him and his uncle alone. Team Avatar does so, but not without worried glances back.
Thankfully, Iroh survived the ordeal. Zuko bandaged his uncle up and made some tea to help make his uncle feel better. The tea was awful, as Iroh learned the hard way, and when Zuko poured him a second cup, Iroh sneakily tossed it out the window. Zuko explained to his uncle that Azula would be back and that if he was going to stand a chance then he needed to learn more advanced firebending. Zuko, knowing his uncle well, prepared himself for an argument. After all, Azula was family; it was wrong to risk killing your blood or anyone else for that matter. To his great surprise, Iroh agreed with Zuko with a firm "She's crazy and needs to go down" and agreed to teach him more advanced firebending techniques.
Iroh began Zuko's lesson with a pot of tea and explaining how to create lightning. The point was to use the energy all around you, both positive and negative. A Firebender was supposed to create an imbalance between the two energies by separating them, and then act as a guide for when the two energies came crashing back together. The act required a calm mind (hence the tea, Zuko imagined) and a humble attitude. Iroh demonstrated the movement and created electricity. When Zuko mimicked the movements, he didn't create anything. Despite that, Zuko continues forward and pushes his hand forward; instead of lightning, fire explodes in his face.
Zuko may have been humbled, but he certainly wasn't calm an free of turmoil.
So instead, Iroh chose to teach Zuko something slightly different, a technique Azula didn't know because he made it up himself. He began with a lesson on the four elements which irritated Zuko and reminded him of the Avatar. But Iroh insisted that learning about the four elements and the cultures of those who used them would make Zuko whole. The two of them practice waterbending moves, which were far more slower and more graceful than firebending. Iroh explained that waterbending dealt with the flow of energy; that one could turn an opponent's energy against them, something Iroh learned to do with lightning.
Confident that he was ready, Zuko asked Iroh to shoot lightning at him. Iroh refused; lightning was too dangerous. On the night of the storm when Zuko saved that crew member's life, not even Iroh had managed to properly redirect lightning without getting hurt. As luck would have it, a storm was brewing and Zuko decided if Iroh wouldn't give him lightning that he'd find his own lightning.
Zuko made his way to the highest ground available and begged for the lightning to strike at him. The world had always thrown everything at Zuko, so why not lightning? But as much as he begged, lightning refused to strike him. Emotionally upset, Zuko finally gave up.
Eventually, Zuko and his uncle continued on their journey. After making a pit stop for Iroh to have a group meeting with the White Lotus club, they made their way to Ba Sing Se. Iroh was excited, but also sad. He had spent 600 days trying to break into the impenetrable city. He would have been successful if his son, Lu Ten hadn't died and caused him so much grief that he gave up the war and returned home with his men. Zuko, on the other hand, thought his uncle was crazy for wanting to settle down in the capital of the Fire Nation's main enemy.
On the ship to Ba Sing Se, Zuko met a man named Jet who liked to take from the rich and give to the poor. When Jet asked for Zuko's help in acquiring food that wasn't rotten, Zuko agreed. Still, when the act was done and Zuko and the other refugees had delicious food, Zuko refused Jet's invitation to join his group on the grounds of them not wanting "someone like him" in their group. He was Fire Nation and he remembered how badly Lee and his family had treated him because of that; why take the chance again, especially when they were going to settle down? Besides, Zuko didn't particularly enjoy stealing all the time.
Once in Ba Sing Se, a tea peddler sold Iroh some cold, disappointing tea. Iroh remedied this by firebending the tea to make it hot. Jet saw the tea was suddenly hot, as did Zuko who smacked the tea out of his uncle's hands, calling the action stupid.
They took on jobs at a tea house, which Iroh immediately went about making changes to so that the tea and atmosphere was delicious. Zuko was frustrated and felt trapped in a prison. He wanted more out of life than to serve tea. While the two worked at the tea house, Jet made various attempts expose Zuko and Iroh as Firebenders but failed each time. Eventually, Jet challenged Zuko to a duel. Zuko accepted. Dai Li, Earth Kingdom special agents, broke up the fight. Because no one had ever seen Zuko or Iroh firebend apart from Jet, no one believed Jet's claim that they were Firebenders. The Dai Li hauled Jet off to jail.
A while later, Zuko noticed a girl who often came to the tea house gave him Looks all the time. Worried that she might be suspicious of him and his uncle, Zuko told Iroh about it, who laughed and told Zuko it was obvious the girl who only had a crush on him. Iroh asked the girl to introduce herself. She gave her name, Jin, and immediately asked if Zuko would like to go out. Before Zuko could decline, Iroh said yes for him. Thanks, Uncle. Thanks.
Iroh spent ten minutes slicking down Zuko's hair which Jin quickly ruffles back into place. The two have a very, very awkward date with exchanges like "What do you do for fun?" "Nothing." When asked why he wad been traveling, Zuko claimed to be from a traveling circus and that he was a juggler. When Jin asked him to juggle, he tried and it all fell on his head. Jin took Zuko to a fountain area, assuring Zuko it was beautiful when the lights were all lit. To her dismay, the lights weren't lit that night. Seeing how sad she was, Zuko asked Jin to close her eyes and not to peek. He lit the lamps with firebending then gave her permission to open her eyes. Jin was overjoyed. At the end of the date, she gave him a kiss, but Zuko only briefly returned it before practically running away. Iroh welcomed him home, but Zuko stormed into his room. When Iroh asked how the date had been, Zuko opened the door to his room a crack and said quietly and calmly that it had been nice.
Later, Zuko found a flier saying that a sky bison which belonged to the Avatar was lost. Zuko immediately formulated a plan to kidnap the sky bison and the Avatar. He made a bit of a deduction and, wearing his Blue Spirit getup, eventually found the sky bison. He was ready to steal it when his uncle approached from behind him. Iroh pretended not to know it was Zuko in the mask, though Iroh had known it was him for a long time, probably long before the rumors spread. Iroh pointed out to Zuko that once again he wasn't thinking things through. Sure, Zuko could steal the bison, but then what would he do? It was just like the North Pole when Zuko was forced to endure a blizzard. After he realized his uncle was right, Zuko freed the sky bison from its confinement and left with his uncle. Iroh convinced Zuko to do away with the identity of The Blue Spirit and Zuko dropped the mask into the water.
As Zuko soon found out, his decision to no longer pursue the Avatar put his mind and body in conflict. Upon returning home, he collapsed with a fever. While Iroh cared for him, Zuko suffered terrible hallucinations. The most notable of the hallucinations was of Azula and Iroh in the shape of dragons, giving him conflicting advice: stay loyal to the Fire Nation or choose his own path and regain his own honor.
Once Zuko's fever subsided, he became incredibly optimistic. He was happy to work in his uncle's new tea house and no longer minded the fact he had to live a quiet, peaceful life. Iroh's tea house was doing so well that he received an "invitation" to go to the Earth Kingdom Palace to get a reward. Zuko was cheerful and proud of his uncle. When they arrived at the Earth Kingdom Palace, they were surprised that it was a trap. Azula had gained control of the Earth Kingdom's Dai Li agents. Iroh and Zuko managed to fight most of them off. Instead of being smart and escaping with his uncle, Zuko chose to duel Azula on his own. The duel didn't never started; Azula ordered the Dai Li to arrest Zuko.
He was thrown into the Crystal Catacombs. To his surprise, he had company: Katara. To no one's surprise, Katara didn't trust Zuko. She angrily explained how the Fire Nation took her mother away; Zuko calmed her down by telling her that that was something they had in common. Zuko had been chasing the Avatar for so long that when Katara pictured the enemy, she said she pictured Zuko's face, making him feel self-conscious about his scar. Katara offered to try and heal his scar with the water from the Spiritual Oasis from the North Pole, but before she could do so, the Avatar and Iroh came bursting into the room. Fueled by anger and frustration, Zuko and Aang lashed out at each other and needed to be restrained by Iroh and Katara respectively.
Katara and the Avatar left and Iroh tried to dissuade Zuko from following. Azula decided to interrupt Iroh by ordering the Dai Li to encase Iroh in crystal. Just like in Zuko's hallucination, Azula and Iron gave conflicting advice. Regain his honor by hunting the Avatar for the Fire Nation or regain his own honor his own way, on his own path and for himself. Zuko chose the former.
Zuko caught up to the Avatar and he and his sister had a 2 vs 2 match with the Avatar and Katara. Azula dealt the Avatar a devastating blow. Iroh then arrived on the scene to block Zuko and Azula from doing any more damage. Katara used the Spirit Water once she was out of sight on the wound to revive the Avatar and managed to escape. Once they were gone, Iroh immediately stopped fighting and surrendered.
Zuko and Azula went to the Earth Kingdom Palace where Zuko admitted that he felt as if he betrayed Iroh. Azula reassured him that it was Iroh who betrayed him, but Zuko didn't seem so sure of that. Azula told her brother that on that day, Zuko restored his own honor, Avatar or no Avatar.
Iroh was taken back to the Fire Nation and put into prison while Zuko returned to the Fire Nation with his sister. Zuko was unsure as to how his father would react to him and even more unsure as to whether or not the Avatar survived. Much to his surprise, his father welcomed him quite warmly. His father congratulated him for delivering the the final blow to the Avatar. It was then that Zuko knew what his sister had planned—by giving all the credit to Zuko, if the Avatar survived, Zuko's glory would turn to shame. When Zuko confronts his sister about this, Azula acts as if Zuko's worrying too much and insists everything is fine. After all, not too long ago, Zuko admitted he thought the Avatar had been killed by Azula's attack. His paranoia led him to hire a man who would latter be known as Combustion Man to hunt down and kill the Avatar.
With no one else to turn to, Zuko turned to his uncle and visited him several times in prison. Iroh, saddened by Zuko straying from the path of goodness, did not help him, even after Zuko brought food to his uncle. Zuko, Azula and her friends were forced to go on a vacation at Ember Island while Fire Lord Ozai held a restricted meeting. Zuko tried several times to impress Mai, offering her a seashell because it was pretty and it reminded him of her and later, he bought her an ice cream which he accidentally spilled onto her leg.
When Zuko and the group were invited to a party on the island, Zuko became slightly paranoid and jealous whenever a man would talk to Mai. He exploded over the smallest things and in short had lost any semblance of a controlled temper he once had. Mai called him out on his behavior, but Zuko only redirected his anger toward her, saying it was better to be angry than to be like Mai and feel absolutely nothing. Frustrated, Mai informed Zuko that it was over between them.
Zuko left the party, though he was about to be thrown out anyway, and went to his family's old vacation home. The memories and familiar artifacts did nothing but depress him further. Azula found him and asked him to come with her down to the beach.
It was there where Zuko finally lost his temper even further. He admitted that he was mad. When Azula and her friends asked him who he was mad at or why, he said he didn't know. Finally, he screamed he was angry with himself because he didn't know right from wrong anymore. Azula called him pathetic, but Mai told Zuko she cared about him and kissed him.
One day, Zuko received a message scroll telling him he needed to learn about the demise of his great-grandfather. When he asked Azula about it, she told Zuko that their great-grandfather Sozin passed away peacefully in his sleep. Unconvinced, since the message said "demise" and not "death," Zuko did a bit more investigating and came across his great-grandfather Sozin's Final Testament. It was though that testament that he learned his great-grandfather Sozin who started the war had been friends with Avatar Roku, the Avatar previous to the current Avatar, Aang. He also learned that Avatar Roku had been his mother's grandfather, while Sozin had been his father's grandfather. Knowing the message must have come from his uncle, he confronted Iroh about it. Iroh explained he could choose Sozin's path, the path of destruction, or Avatar Roku's path, the path of balance. Iroh then gave Zuko a royal artifact, a hairpiece meant to be worn by the Crown Prince.
Zuko spent time mulling things over and also spent time with his now steady girlfriend Mai. Mai informed Zuko there was a meeting in the War Room that Azula would be attending. Since Zuko hadn't known about it, he assumed he hadn't been invited and began to feel gloomy again. Mai tried to cheer him up, but failed. As it turned out, he had been invited; his father even saved Zuko a seat at his right hand. During that meeting, Zuko learned of his father's attack to use Sozin's Comet to destroy the Earth Kingdom permanently. Unlike last time, Zuko was too afraid to speak out against this plan; he had already learned his lesson. Such inaction made Zuko feel like he wasn't himself and therefore not the person or son Ozai wanted.
Zuko decided that the path he needed to take was clear: he would join Team Avatar and help defeat his father and end the war. He left a note to Mai apologizing for leaving, then went to confront his father to tell him about his plans. Ozai was obviously not very happy. Zuko learned from his father that he had banished his wife Ursa for treasonous acts. Ozai told Zuko that Fire Lord Azulon had ordered Ozai to kill Zuko because Ozai had requested he be made Crown Prince instead of Iroh. Ursa stepped in and whatever actions she took resulted in Azulon's death, Zuko's survival, her own banishment and Ozai being made Fire Lord. Eventually, Ozai created lightning and shot it at Zuko, knowing it would most likely kill him, as Ozai felt banishment simply wasn't a steep enough penalty as he had learned by banishing his wife and his son. Thankfully, Zuko was able to redirect the lightning thanks to Iroh taking the time to teach him.
When he left to free his uncle from the prison, the guards told him Iroh had busted himself out. Disappointed, but glad his uncle was all right, Zuko made his way to track down Team Avatar so he could ask to join them.
Zuko located them at the Western Air Temple, which was ironically where he had begun his search for the Avatar three years ago. He practiced his introduction on a toad, which came out with stuttering and saying things that were unlikely to get them on his side, such as: "I have a lot of firebending experience, and I'm considered to be pretty good at it. Well, you've seen me... you know, when I was attacking you?"
When he finally gathered the courage to introduce himself to the group, only one person was willing to hear him out: Toph, the blind Earthbender who had taught the Avatar earthbending. The group chased Zuko away after he accidentally told them it was him who had hired Combustion Man. He left feeling defeated, but remained at the temple.
Later that night, Toph sought Zuko out, feeling that he had been sincere. She woke him and because she didn't reveal herself right away, Zuko firebended in an act of self-defense. This burned Toph's feet, essentially making her unable to see anything at all since she used her feet and earthbending to find her way around. Toph tried to escape, but Zuko chased after her, furiously apologizing and telling her it was a mistake, yet Toph got away and Zuko was left feeling more frustrated than ever.
Combustion Man came to say hello the next day. Zuko arrived just in time. He threatened not to pay Combustion Man if he kept attacking the Avatar; when that didn't work, Zuko offered double the money if he stopped. That didn't work either, so Zuko, along with Team Avatar, brought Combustion Man down together. This cemented the fact that Zuko was on their side and he was allowed to join their group, although some people like Katara only allowed him entrance grudgingly. Zuko couldn't blame Katara for feeling the way she did, especially after he played the part of a traitor in the Crystal Catacombs. Either way, they needed Zuko to teach the Avatar firebending and had no one else they could go to.
When Zuko does begin to train the Avatar, his firebending skills have gone kaput. Though he was performing the correct forms, the strongest fire he could make was a tiny flame. This encourages Zuko to go with Aang to the Sun Warriors' home to learn about the source of firebending. There, together with the Avatar, he learned that firebending's source is not anger and hate as the Fire Nation had been teaching, but rather energy and life. Because Zuko had been drained of his anger and hate with his decision to join the Avatar, that was why he could no longer produce strong firebending. However, with the new mindset of energy and life, he and the Avatar were able to produce powerful fire.
Zuko proves his changed attitude once again by accompanying Sokka, a non-bender and Katara's sister who was part of Team Avatar, to the Boiling Rock. That was where the worst criminals were and Zuko and Sokka hopped to find Sokka's father there as a war prisoner. Zuko was surprisingly patient the whole time and encouraged Sokka to think things through entirely, which didn't exactly happen. In the end, Zuko and Sokka returned to Team Avatar with Sokka and Katara's father as well as Sokka's girlfriend Suki who had been in the prison as well. It was also at the Boiling Rock that Zuko learned how deeply Mai loved him. Mai turned on Azula while Zuko and the others were making their escape because she loved Zuko more than she feared Azula.
Despite all of Zuko's acts of kindness, Katara was still unwilling to completely trust Zuko. Because Sokka was Katara's sister, Zuko went to him for advice and asked Sokka to tell him about how his and Katara's mother died. When Sokka told him what he remembered of the naval ships, Zuko knew who had killed Katara's mother. The Avatar told Katara that it was best to let her anger go and that violence wasn't the answer, but Katara and Zuko both ignored him. Together, Zuko and Katara made their way to find the man who killed Katara's mother. When the time came to end the man's life, Katara found she couldn't do it. Upon their return back to Team Avatar, Zuko admitted that the Avatar was right; Katara needed release, not violence or revenge.
Team Avatar had by then made their base on Ember Island in Zuko's old vacation home since no one would ever look there for them. There, they learned that a play was being put on by the Ember Island Performers called The Boy in the Iceberg. Apparently, the play was meant to be an accurate portrayal of Team Avatar's journey, but it was made by the Fire Nation so the Avatar was obviously not going to beat the Fire Lord.
The group watched and all but Toph had negative responses to the play. It was difficult for Zuko to watch the play because his portrayal was fairly accurate and it shoved all of the mistakes he had made in the past right back into his scarred face. It made him feel worse than he already did about betraying his uncle and made him realize that Iroh had been more of a father figure to Zuko than Ozai had ever been.
Toph talks alone with Zuko, telling him that Iroh really loved Zuko. She had had a few conversations with Iroh and told Zuko that the only thing Iroh would talk about was Zuko this and Zuko that. She said she found it annoying, but sweet. That cheered Zuko up a bit.
Then space.
Zuko starts out as a hot-headed banished prince who rarely thinks things all the way through and ends up as a cool, level-headed and honorable banished prince who only sometimes doesn't think things through. Throughout the entire series, Zuko maintains some semblance of honor; he consistently helps people who need it. However, if the situation called for it, Zuko stole from others to provide for himself and his uncle so they wouldn't die. As Zuko grew emotionally and matured, he provoked others more infrequently and always firmly stood his ground.
He still has somewhat of a temper by the end, but it only emerges when provoked or when the situation calls for it. He also retains a no-nonsense attitude the entire series. Also demonstrated throughout the entire series was Zuko's ability as a skilled strategist, where he was able to use nearly anything and any situation to his advantage. When he does find need to do crafty things like steal or breaking-and-entering, Zuko isn't the kind of person to leave behind evidence.
Honor-wise, in the end, Zuko feels he has finally made the choices that would make his uncle proud, though he made many mistakes along the way. Zuko is proud of the man he came to be but regretful of how long it took to become that man. He grew to be someone reliable and dependable, whose heart had become purer and longed for a bright future.
Despite of this, Zuko is still an awkward teenager. He isn't always great at getting his point across, especially when it's about something he's unfamiliar with (flirting and girls in general) or when he's trying to atone for his past mistakes (getting the Avatar and the group to allow him entrance so he can teach Firebending). However, when the time calls for it, Zuko can be quite the inspirational speaker, as seen at the end of the series when Zuko becomes Fire Lord.
tl;dr version of Zuko's life
Have you read up on how the game works?: No. But I can guess! I bet you can make money through missions, by stealing it or by starting a business! Oh, and I bet the Guide plug-in that allows characters to communicate with each other is called the FlamingFerret. That sounds like the perfect name for such a plug-in!
1st person sample: [ Video ]
Okay, everyone. Listen up!
[ Zuko's wearing a cute frilly apron (which he is not happy about wearing). He gestures to a wide variety of miniature ice sculptures in front of him. ]
Lee's Ice Sculpture Emporium is selling custom-made ice sculptures for anyone who wants them. The starting price is 1,200 Credits, which... okay, that's kind of expensive. But if you're going to spend money on something that'll melt in just a couple of hours, you—
[ Apparently Zuko's boss just whacked him upside the head. Oh, right. He's supposed to be selling them, not criticizing them. ]
—right. So, they're nice and the craftmanship is pretty exquisite.
[ He stares at them, at a loss for further description. They're made of ice and they're well-made; what more do you want from him?! ]
Well, just have a look for yourself.
[ Carefully picking one up and giving the cute Hula Skirt Girl Ice Sculpture a closeup. ]
As you can see, even if they only last for a few hours, they'll make a nice gift to—
[ Whacked again. Zuko groans and whirls around to his off-screen boss. ]
Cut it out! I already said they're nice! If they didn't melt so soon I'd probably get one for myself!
[ Speaking of melting, the ice sculpture Zuko had been holding has melted. Silly Firebender. ]
3rd person sample:
A year ago, he had been an angry, confused boy who lost his temper at the slightest problem. It took many mistakes and failures to get where he was today, but he was proud of the man he was now. This was the path his uncle had been talking about; choosing his own destiny instead of having his destiny chosen for him. Even though it had only been a few weeks since he had made the firm decision to leave the Fire Nation and help the Avatar defeat his father, his misplaced anger had already left him.
There were things he was still bitter about, such as his father's treatment of himself and his mother, but Zuko knew it would fade with time and training. Knowing that the bitterness would eventually ease and disappear made getting through each day a little easier and he was thankful his uncle had taught him such great wisdom.
But if only he could thank his uncle.
While Zuko was sure of nearly everything else about himself, the one thing he remained unsure of was how his uncle would treat him if they ever saw each other again. Zuko knew he had disappointed him; surely his uncle would be angry with him, maybe even furious. His uncle had played the part of a father far better than the Fire Lord ever had, and in return, Zuko had betrayed him so terribly. In a way, Zuko felt he was just as bad as his own father in that regard.
At the first opportunity, Zuko would drop to his knees and beg for his uncle's forgiveness. Although he knew his uncle was a kind, forgiving man, the fact that he had loved Zuko so much only to be betrayed by him... If he and his uncle switched places, Zuko would find it difficult to forgive his uncle. He felt as if he wasn't worthy of his uncle's forgiveness, but even so he hoped he would be able to earn that forgiveness in due time.
With a deep breath, Zuko pulled himself away from such thoughts. That was another thing he had to work on: letting such depressing thoughts cloud his mind. As important as finding his uncle was, allowing those negative thoughts to take refuge in his mind wouldn't help anyone. He didn't want to allow those thoughts to tear him down and knock back his progress on the path to becoming a better man.
Questions?: SO MANY QUESTIONS. How would Zuko's Firebending work on the Thor? It relies on the sun, which is a star, but there are stars all over and... /THROWS HANDS UP IN AIR. What would you rather have me do? Not let him firebend (or be unable to do it well?) while on the Thor or...? I guess because the stars are so far away (please do not crash into a star, Thor) that he could... smokebend instead? No fire, but all the fail firebending. But Zuko can also get energy for his firebending from heat sources (like volcanoes or... a space heater?)
OKAY BASICALLY JUST TELL ME WHAT TO DO WITH ZUKO'S BENDING WHILE THE THOR TRAVELS IN SPACE.
Did you put your characters name and fandom in the subject: Ja.
Name: Raserei Hojo
Are you over 16?: Yup
Personal LJ:
winterhorseEmail: lucaviitzaru [at] gmail [dot] com
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Other contact: AIM: WintryHorse
Characters already in the game:
halcyonism, stumblelies and speechactsHow did you find us?: I followed the yellow bricked road
IC:
Character name: Zuko
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Timeline: Book 3, Chapter 17: The Ember Island Players
↳ Canon updated to the end of The Promise: Part 2
Age: 16~17
~*Magical*~ abilities and strengths: The series Avatar heavily focuses on benders who can manipulate one of the four elements (Water, Earth, Fire and Air) and "bend" it to their command. In Zuko's case, he is a Fire Bender and can create and manipulate fire. His ability to do so depends on if the sun is present, how intense it is and the state of affairs in his mind. Without a sun or if the sun is blocked, Zuko cannot create or manipulate fire at all. With a sun, his fire bending skills are intense. When his mind is heavily conflicted, his fire bending skills become negligible; present, but absolutely pitiful.
In addition to his natural gift to bend fire, Zuko is also highly skilled in the art of dual-wielding. He understands that the two broadswords are only half of a single whole substance and can use it for both offense and defense. So, if for whatever reason he can't firebend, he can resort to using his dual broadswords to take an enemy down.
How would they use their abilities?: Self-defense, the defense of others and possibly for other reasons like heating water.
Appearance: As Zuko is coming from near the end of book three, his appearance is different than it was in the beginning of the series. His hair, dark brown in color, is full and reaches past his nose. His eyes are golden, a trait of people from the Fire Nation. His clothing choices, when he's not forced to pretend he's a refugee in the Earth Kingdom, focuses on shades of reds; they also tend to be a robes over a shirt and a pair of pants. And, of course, what makes Zuko arguably the most identifiable person in the series is the huge burn mark on the left side of his face. That scar isn't going away any time soon.
Background/Personality: Zuko was the first born child of Ozai and Ursa and was grandson to Fire Lord Azulon, the leader of the Fire Nation. Two years after his birth, his sister Azula was born. Zuko was a fairly normal child with average abilities while in contrast, Azula was a highly gifted firebending prodigy. By the time Zuko had learned a few forms of proper firebending, Azula was miles ahead of him, having learned far more graceful forms of her own, producing much more fire, and in short beating her brother in every area possible.
Their father Ozai was fond of Azula and her abilities while at the same time was rather contemptuous toward Zuko. On the other hand, their mother Ursa was fond of Zuko and considered Azula and her manipulative personality "monstrous." Knowing that Ozai didn't love him as much as his sister, Zuko worked hard to outrank Azula however he could. It never really worked out.
Zuko put up with a lot of emotional abuse because of his sister. Azula would often tell him horrible lies (or occasionally blunt, horrific truths) and would sometimes play awful pranks on him. There were times when Zuko would imitate Azula's actions, like when she fed the turtle ducks by throwing a piece of bread as hard as she could at them, hard enough to make the poor things sink under water.
For the most part, he tried to avoid Azula, although their mother encouraged that they play together, if only for a short while a day. He had a mutual crush on one of Azula's friends, Mai, which continued into his teenage years. Iroh had spent 600 days away from the Fire Nation in an attempt to break down the great wall defending the Earth Kingdom's capital, Ba Sing Se. During that time away from home, Iroh sent Zuko a handsome knife with an inscription of "Never give up without a fight" and sent Azula a fine Earth Kingdom doll.
While still a child, Zuko had a fairly decent relationship with his paternal uncle Iroh. It was this pleasant relationship, along with the constant love of his mother, which enabled Zuko to maintain his honor later on in life. For while his family was full of traitors who lusted for war an destruction under the guise of "bettering the world," Zuko wanted peace. Azulon died when Zuko was roughly eleven-years-old. Instead of Iroh, the older of Azulon's two sons, becoming Fire Lord, it was Zuko's father who became Fire Lord instead. It was during that time in which Zuko's mother mysteriously disappeared—banished from the Fire Nation for even more mysterious "treasonous crimes."
When Zuko was around thirteen-years-old, a meeting in the War Room happened. All of the Fire Nation's greatest generals and admirals were there. Zuko, as Crown Prince and heir to the throne, wanted to participate. After all, it was he who would be on the throne someday; it was only fair to learn how it was done. The guards refused to allow him entrance, but his uncle Iroh allowed him inside as long as Zuko promised not to talk.
One of the generals proposed a plan which would most like guarantee victory at the price of sacrificing many able-bodied Fire Nation soldiers. Essentially, they were using a fresh platoon squad as bait while attacking with a far more experienced troop from the rear. Zuko broke his promise to his uncle and lectured the general about how wrong it was to sacrifice the very people fighting for a country they loved.
Feeling insulted, the general who proposed the plan challenged Zuko to an Agni Kai—a combination of martial arts and fire bending. Zuko gladly accepted, confident he would win. When the time came to challenge the general, Zuko turned to face his opponent, shocked to find that it wasn't the general but his father instead. Unable to fight his father out of love, Zuko dropped to his knees and begged for forgiveness. Fire Lord Ozai urged Zuko to fight him, saying it would be disrespectful otherwise. By insulting the general in the War Room, Zuko had also insulted his father. When Zuko still refused, Ozai, determined to teach his son respect, firebent right in his son's face, leaving the left side permanently disfigured. In addition to that, Ozai banished Zuko from the Fire Nation and gave him a mission: if Zuko wanted to return home with honor and to regain his father's love, he would have to find the Avatar, master of all four elements who disappeared a hundred years ago and was the only person capable of ruining the Fire Nation's plans.
Zuko accepted his fate. He acquired a Fire Nation naval ship and his own crew, then set out to find the Avatar. Iroh decided to accompany his nephew to look out for him and to help keep Zuko on the path of goodness.
For two and a half long years, Zuko searched for the Avatar with his uncle by his side. He never gave up because searching for the Avatar gave him hope, something Zuko desperately needed. He searched logical places first, places where the Avatar, being an Air Nomad, would likely be, then eventually moved his search elsewhere to remote locations.
Despite being a decently knowledgeable firebender, Iroh insisted on teaching Zuko the basics of firebending along their journey. While it irritated Zuko, it was very important for him; no one can progress with anything without a good foundation. So Iroh pounded the fact that firebending comes from the breath into Zuko's head and made sure Zuko practiced basic forms, to help Zuko keep and protect his root—essentially his balance and half of his ability to firebend—in battle.
One day, while at the South Pole, Zuko's luck finally changed. He found the Avatar! But finding the Avatar was only part of his goal; he needed apprehend him and bring him back to the Fire Nation. Sadly, the Avatar escaped from him. That didn't wet Zuko's hope, though. In fact, he was more determined than ever to catch the Avatar and regain his honor.
Eventually, Zuko wasn't alone in his search for the Avatar. General Zhao of the Fire Nation had learned that the Avatar was alive. Suddenly, Zuko's goal suddenly became a competition; a race to see who could kidnap the Avatar first. Zuko, insulted by Zhao's contemptuous attitude, challenged him to and Agni Kai. Because of Iroh's tutelage, Zuko won because he broke Zhao's root in battle. When given the same opportunity to burn and disfigure Zhao's face, Zuko declined. As a reward for not finishing him off, Zhao attacked Zuko while the latter's back was turned, only to be blocked by an angry Iroh. When Zuko marched back over to Zhao, ready to finish him, Iroh managed to convince Zuko not to taint his victory.
Time passed and Zhao and Zuko crossed paths many times, often getting in each other's way. At one point, Zuko took on the appearance of The Blue Spirit by wearing a blue mask and wearing a body suit which covered everything but his face. It is with this disguise that Zuko kidnapped the Avatar away from Zhao's possession, though his identity is found out by the Avatar. At another point, Zhao tried to kill Zuko via "accident," but Zuko miraculously survives. This incident brought Iroh and Zuko closer together, both as a team and as uncle and nephew.
As time passed, Zuko's crew grew upset with their Banished Prince. They were tired of the way Zuko was ordering them around and how he acted like the Avatar was more important than anything. Iroh sat the crew down and told them the story of how Zuko got his scar and how he was trying to regain honor. The crew was surprised and one even admitted he thought Zuko had gotten that scar in a training accident and not from his father. During a terrible storm the same night, Zuko, unaware that his uncle had told the crew anything, proved that he did care for his crew by saving one of their lives. Even though he was banished, he still maintained the attitude he had as a child: no one deserved to be sacrificed. The crew spotted the Avatar flying over their ship and instead of ordering pursuit, Zuko instead ordered the ship to safety.
Later on, several a few months after the discovery of the Avatar, Zuko and Iroh work to kidnap the Avatar before Zhao does once more. During the siege of the North Pole, which was populated with waterbenders and was attacked by the Fire Nation, Zuko took a different route while Iroh watched from afar and wished him luck, offering him advice on how to keep warm in the icy waters.
Zuko made his way to the Spirit Oasis of the North Pole where the Avatar just happened to be. After defeating Katara, one of the Avatar's friends in addition to being a waterbender, Zuko kidnapped the Avatar and escaped upward and into a blizzard. The Avatar, unable to move at all due to his mind being in the Spiritual World at the time, went along quietly.
The whole escaping into the blizzard thing was a terrible idea and something Iroh would later on lecture Zuko about on more than one occasion. While Zuko was very smart and did kidnap the Avatar, he had absolutely nowhere to go with him because he failed to think things through. Due to the blizzard, he eventually had to take himself and the Avatar to safety in a small cavern. While there, the Avatar regains consciousness and soon after tells Zuko that had things been different (ie Zuko not hunting him down) that they could have been friends. The Avatar's friends arrived shortly after that and easily defeated a rather exhausted Zuko.
Fire Lord Ozai heard of his son's failure and his brother's treachery and proceeded to entrust the task of capturing the Avatar to his daughter Azula. In the mean time, he also branded both his son and his brother Iroh as traitors to the Fire Nation.
Of course, he conveniently forgot to tell Zuko and Iroh of their new status.
Azula made her way to a Fire Nation colonial town where Zuko and Iroh were regrouping. As luck would have it, that day was the third anniversary of Zuko's scarring. Apparently, Azuka had come with wonderful news: Ozai missed his son and wanted him back. Zuko, overjoyed that his father missed him so much, willingly believed Azula's lie. Iroh was not convinced, but when Zuko threatened to leave with Azula whether Iroh came along or not, Iroh acquiesced.
When boarding the ship, Azula commanded the captain to point the ship toward "home." The idiot captain in return announced to everyone on the ship that they were taking the "captives" home. Azula got pissed and began to attack, but didn't expect to be blocked by—wait. So after Zuko and Iroh teamed up to fight the ship's crew, they ran away from the Fire Nation Colony. Near a river, they denounced their heritage as Fire Nation and, using the knife Iroh had given him as a child, cut off the buns in their hair—a mark of Fire Nation, to finalize it. Because this left Zuko's head bald save for a small square patch of hair, Zuko shaved it off and allowed his hair to grow out normally over the next few months.
From then on, Zuko and Iroh lived as fugitives.
Zuko had a rough time trying to survive as a fugitive. Iroh did as well, but he was far more jolly and optimistic about it. Zuko's fishing trips tended to yield a single, bite-sized fish. Iroh, on the other hand, wanted to make tea from the flowers and leaves in the forest. Upon experimenting with some flowers, Iroh mistook a poisonous flower for a tea herb and ended up with a horrible rash. Though Iroh announced he may die without sounding concerned, Zuko was concerned. They made their way to a small village and for the first time, Zuko was forced to mingle with Earth Kingdom people instead of threatening to kill them all.
One of the people who lived in the village took a liking to Iroh and Zuko especially and treated Iroh's rash for free. She then invited them to stay for dinner. Zuko and Iroh were appreciative, but when they left, Zuko stole the family's ostrich bird. When Iroh lectured Zuko, saying that the family had already been so kind and generous, Zuko says it wouldn't hurt them to be a bit more generous. Though Iroh clearly disagrees with Zuko, he allows Zuko to steal the mount and the two continue their journey.
They eventually ran out of money and Iroh resorted to singing and dancing for money while Zuko sat beside him, embarrassed. When a villager harasses Iroh in exchange for a gold piece coin, Zuko became furious. He donned the disguise of The Blue Spirit once again and began to steal from villagers, but never killed or harmed them too severely. Iroh became suspicious of all of this food Zuko had magically acquired, but Zuko keeps The Blue Spirit and his methods secret from his uncle. Iroh tried to subtly explain to Zuko that even if they could somehow capture the Avatar that nothing would change; Zuko would probably still remain the Banished Prince. He also pointed out that if it did somehow work out, it wouldn't be what Zuko wanted.
After mulling over Iroh's speech, Zuko came to a conclusion. He later told his uncle they had nothing to gain by staying together anymore. Zuko took the ostrich horse and left his uncle in the village.
Zuko rode his stolen ostrich horse throughout the Earth Kingdom, the place that had always been marked "the enemy" in his mind, and tried to deal with life in general. While using the last of his money to buy two bags of feed (yes, he was that desperate), he came across a group of Earth Soldiers harassing the village. Zuko was annoyed that the soldiers were doing such a thing when they were supposed to be protecting the people. As such, he stood up to them, ready to fight them, but the soldiers backed off. A child named Lee thanked Zuko and invited him back to his home for a hot meal and a warm place to stay; Zuko gladly accepted.
Zuko spent the day helping Lee's family with chores while the entire time, Lee pestered him with questions like "What's your name?" "Where are you from?" "Where are you going?" "How did you get that scar?" Zuko did his best to evade the questions.
At night, when Zuko was asleep, Lee sneaked into the shed where Zuko is and stole his twin broadswords. Lee then went out to the field to practice with them. It wasn't long before Zuko was standing behind Lee. Instead of yelling at the little boy for stealing, Zuko instead taught him that the twin blades were part of a whole; you can't think of him as separate parts. With this information, Lee gets better at practicing with Zuko's swords.
The next day, Zuko prepared to leave when surprise, surprise, the same Earth Kingdom soldiers were back, this time to taunt and harass the family. As it turned out, Lee's older brother had been captured along with the rest of his battle battalion. The soldiers showed no remorse when giving this news. Lee's father decided to join the army to see if he could find his older son. When the family asked Zuko to stay longer, he declined, insisting that he had to move on. Instead, he secretly gave Lee the knife Iroh had given him many years ago, then proceeded to leave the village.
It wasn't long before Lee's mother ran up to Zuko and asked him to return. She explained that Lee threatened the soldiers (who came back again) with a knife and that she didn't even know where Lee had gotten the knife. Out of guilt and responsibility, Zuko returned to the family's farming house. Zuko challenged the cruel soldiers and fought them using his dual swords. Though as talented as he was, Zuko couldn't beat them with swords alone, especially when one of the soldiers was an Earthbender, which put Zuko at a disadvantage. Zuko remembered the last words his mother said to him, "Never forget who you are." Those words encouraged Zuko to drop his charade and firebend. His firebending won him the duel, but at a great price; the family he had been trying to protect was now terrified of him. Lee's mother refused to let Zuko anywhere near her son and Lee returned Zuko's dagger, shouting that he hated Zuko.
And so, Zuko left the farming house with his dagger after the harsh lesson that the people of the Earth Kingdom hate him just because he was from the Fire Nation. If they knew he was the prince of it, banished or not, Zuko knew they would hate him even more.
Some time later, Zuko came across his sister and the Avatar. It was a test of Zuko's loyalty to the Fire Nation as a whole and Zuko's loyalty to his uncle. By attacking the Avatar, he would be stomping all over the love and faith Iroh had in him. By attacking Azula, he was making his banishment from the Fire Nation even worse. Before he was even able to make his decision, Azula attacked him and the fight turned into a three-way brawl. Zuko was no match for his sister and Azula eventually knocked him out.
Iroh, who had been tracking his nephew the entire time, shakes Zuko out of unconsciousness. The Avatar was then joined by several of his friends, and Team Avatar along with Zuko and Iroh push Azula into a corner. Azula, mischievous as ever, surrendered. While the group was stunned, Azula launched a surprise lighting-based attack at Iroh. It hit home and brought him down hard. In retaliation, Team Avatar and Zuko launched their strongest attacks at Azula at the same time, but Azula blocked it and disappeared.
With the fight over, Zuko ran to his fallen uncle, desperately trying to think of what to do. Team Avatar hesitantly made their way over as well and Katara, the Waterbender Zuko defeated at the North Pole, offered to help with healing water. Zuko, angry and confused and worried all at once, closed out Katara's words and demanded that they leave him and his uncle alone. Team Avatar does so, but not without worried glances back.
Thankfully, Iroh survived the ordeal. Zuko bandaged his uncle up and made some tea to help make his uncle feel better. The tea was awful, as Iroh learned the hard way, and when Zuko poured him a second cup, Iroh sneakily tossed it out the window. Zuko explained to his uncle that Azula would be back and that if he was going to stand a chance then he needed to learn more advanced firebending. Zuko, knowing his uncle well, prepared himself for an argument. After all, Azula was family; it was wrong to risk killing your blood or anyone else for that matter. To his great surprise, Iroh agreed with Zuko with a firm "She's crazy and needs to go down" and agreed to teach him more advanced firebending techniques.
Iroh began Zuko's lesson with a pot of tea and explaining how to create lightning. The point was to use the energy all around you, both positive and negative. A Firebender was supposed to create an imbalance between the two energies by separating them, and then act as a guide for when the two energies came crashing back together. The act required a calm mind (hence the tea, Zuko imagined) and a humble attitude. Iroh demonstrated the movement and created electricity. When Zuko mimicked the movements, he didn't create anything. Despite that, Zuko continues forward and pushes his hand forward; instead of lightning, fire explodes in his face.
Zuko may have been humbled, but he certainly wasn't calm an free of turmoil.
So instead, Iroh chose to teach Zuko something slightly different, a technique Azula didn't know because he made it up himself. He began with a lesson on the four elements which irritated Zuko and reminded him of the Avatar. But Iroh insisted that learning about the four elements and the cultures of those who used them would make Zuko whole. The two of them practice waterbending moves, which were far more slower and more graceful than firebending. Iroh explained that waterbending dealt with the flow of energy; that one could turn an opponent's energy against them, something Iroh learned to do with lightning.
Confident that he was ready, Zuko asked Iroh to shoot lightning at him. Iroh refused; lightning was too dangerous. On the night of the storm when Zuko saved that crew member's life, not even Iroh had managed to properly redirect lightning without getting hurt. As luck would have it, a storm was brewing and Zuko decided if Iroh wouldn't give him lightning that he'd find his own lightning.
Zuko made his way to the highest ground available and begged for the lightning to strike at him. The world had always thrown everything at Zuko, so why not lightning? But as much as he begged, lightning refused to strike him. Emotionally upset, Zuko finally gave up.
Eventually, Zuko and his uncle continued on their journey. After making a pit stop for Iroh to have a group meeting with the White Lotus club, they made their way to Ba Sing Se. Iroh was excited, but also sad. He had spent 600 days trying to break into the impenetrable city. He would have been successful if his son, Lu Ten hadn't died and caused him so much grief that he gave up the war and returned home with his men. Zuko, on the other hand, thought his uncle was crazy for wanting to settle down in the capital of the Fire Nation's main enemy.
On the ship to Ba Sing Se, Zuko met a man named Jet who liked to take from the rich and give to the poor. When Jet asked for Zuko's help in acquiring food that wasn't rotten, Zuko agreed. Still, when the act was done and Zuko and the other refugees had delicious food, Zuko refused Jet's invitation to join his group on the grounds of them not wanting "someone like him" in their group. He was Fire Nation and he remembered how badly Lee and his family had treated him because of that; why take the chance again, especially when they were going to settle down? Besides, Zuko didn't particularly enjoy stealing all the time.
Once in Ba Sing Se, a tea peddler sold Iroh some cold, disappointing tea. Iroh remedied this by firebending the tea to make it hot. Jet saw the tea was suddenly hot, as did Zuko who smacked the tea out of his uncle's hands, calling the action stupid.
They took on jobs at a tea house, which Iroh immediately went about making changes to so that the tea and atmosphere was delicious. Zuko was frustrated and felt trapped in a prison. He wanted more out of life than to serve tea. While the two worked at the tea house, Jet made various attempts expose Zuko and Iroh as Firebenders but failed each time. Eventually, Jet challenged Zuko to a duel. Zuko accepted. Dai Li, Earth Kingdom special agents, broke up the fight. Because no one had ever seen Zuko or Iroh firebend apart from Jet, no one believed Jet's claim that they were Firebenders. The Dai Li hauled Jet off to jail.
A while later, Zuko noticed a girl who often came to the tea house gave him Looks all the time. Worried that she might be suspicious of him and his uncle, Zuko told Iroh about it, who laughed and told Zuko it was obvious the girl who only had a crush on him. Iroh asked the girl to introduce herself. She gave her name, Jin, and immediately asked if Zuko would like to go out. Before Zuko could decline, Iroh said yes for him. Thanks, Uncle. Thanks.
Iroh spent ten minutes slicking down Zuko's hair which Jin quickly ruffles back into place. The two have a very, very awkward date with exchanges like "What do you do for fun?" "Nothing." When asked why he wad been traveling, Zuko claimed to be from a traveling circus and that he was a juggler. When Jin asked him to juggle, he tried and it all fell on his head. Jin took Zuko to a fountain area, assuring Zuko it was beautiful when the lights were all lit. To her dismay, the lights weren't lit that night. Seeing how sad she was, Zuko asked Jin to close her eyes and not to peek. He lit the lamps with firebending then gave her permission to open her eyes. Jin was overjoyed. At the end of the date, she gave him a kiss, but Zuko only briefly returned it before practically running away. Iroh welcomed him home, but Zuko stormed into his room. When Iroh asked how the date had been, Zuko opened the door to his room a crack and said quietly and calmly that it had been nice.
Later, Zuko found a flier saying that a sky bison which belonged to the Avatar was lost. Zuko immediately formulated a plan to kidnap the sky bison and the Avatar. He made a bit of a deduction and, wearing his Blue Spirit getup, eventually found the sky bison. He was ready to steal it when his uncle approached from behind him. Iroh pretended not to know it was Zuko in the mask, though Iroh had known it was him for a long time, probably long before the rumors spread. Iroh pointed out to Zuko that once again he wasn't thinking things through. Sure, Zuko could steal the bison, but then what would he do? It was just like the North Pole when Zuko was forced to endure a blizzard. After he realized his uncle was right, Zuko freed the sky bison from its confinement and left with his uncle. Iroh convinced Zuko to do away with the identity of The Blue Spirit and Zuko dropped the mask into the water.
As Zuko soon found out, his decision to no longer pursue the Avatar put his mind and body in conflict. Upon returning home, he collapsed with a fever. While Iroh cared for him, Zuko suffered terrible hallucinations. The most notable of the hallucinations was of Azula and Iroh in the shape of dragons, giving him conflicting advice: stay loyal to the Fire Nation or choose his own path and regain his own honor.
Once Zuko's fever subsided, he became incredibly optimistic. He was happy to work in his uncle's new tea house and no longer minded the fact he had to live a quiet, peaceful life. Iroh's tea house was doing so well that he received an "invitation" to go to the Earth Kingdom Palace to get a reward. Zuko was cheerful and proud of his uncle. When they arrived at the Earth Kingdom Palace, they were surprised that it was a trap. Azula had gained control of the Earth Kingdom's Dai Li agents. Iroh and Zuko managed to fight most of them off. Instead of being smart and escaping with his uncle, Zuko chose to duel Azula on his own. The duel didn't never started; Azula ordered the Dai Li to arrest Zuko.
He was thrown into the Crystal Catacombs. To his surprise, he had company: Katara. To no one's surprise, Katara didn't trust Zuko. She angrily explained how the Fire Nation took her mother away; Zuko calmed her down by telling her that that was something they had in common. Zuko had been chasing the Avatar for so long that when Katara pictured the enemy, she said she pictured Zuko's face, making him feel self-conscious about his scar. Katara offered to try and heal his scar with the water from the Spiritual Oasis from the North Pole, but before she could do so, the Avatar and Iroh came bursting into the room. Fueled by anger and frustration, Zuko and Aang lashed out at each other and needed to be restrained by Iroh and Katara respectively.
Katara and the Avatar left and Iroh tried to dissuade Zuko from following. Azula decided to interrupt Iroh by ordering the Dai Li to encase Iroh in crystal. Just like in Zuko's hallucination, Azula and Iron gave conflicting advice. Regain his honor by hunting the Avatar for the Fire Nation or regain his own honor his own way, on his own path and for himself. Zuko chose the former.
Zuko caught up to the Avatar and he and his sister had a 2 vs 2 match with the Avatar and Katara. Azula dealt the Avatar a devastating blow. Iroh then arrived on the scene to block Zuko and Azula from doing any more damage. Katara used the Spirit Water once she was out of sight on the wound to revive the Avatar and managed to escape. Once they were gone, Iroh immediately stopped fighting and surrendered.
Zuko and Azula went to the Earth Kingdom Palace where Zuko admitted that he felt as if he betrayed Iroh. Azula reassured him that it was Iroh who betrayed him, but Zuko didn't seem so sure of that. Azula told her brother that on that day, Zuko restored his own honor, Avatar or no Avatar.
Iroh was taken back to the Fire Nation and put into prison while Zuko returned to the Fire Nation with his sister. Zuko was unsure as to how his father would react to him and even more unsure as to whether or not the Avatar survived. Much to his surprise, his father welcomed him quite warmly. His father congratulated him for delivering the the final blow to the Avatar. It was then that Zuko knew what his sister had planned—by giving all the credit to Zuko, if the Avatar survived, Zuko's glory would turn to shame. When Zuko confronts his sister about this, Azula acts as if Zuko's worrying too much and insists everything is fine. After all, not too long ago, Zuko admitted he thought the Avatar had been killed by Azula's attack. His paranoia led him to hire a man who would latter be known as Combustion Man to hunt down and kill the Avatar.
With no one else to turn to, Zuko turned to his uncle and visited him several times in prison. Iroh, saddened by Zuko straying from the path of goodness, did not help him, even after Zuko brought food to his uncle. Zuko, Azula and her friends were forced to go on a vacation at Ember Island while Fire Lord Ozai held a restricted meeting. Zuko tried several times to impress Mai, offering her a seashell because it was pretty and it reminded him of her and later, he bought her an ice cream which he accidentally spilled onto her leg.
When Zuko and the group were invited to a party on the island, Zuko became slightly paranoid and jealous whenever a man would talk to Mai. He exploded over the smallest things and in short had lost any semblance of a controlled temper he once had. Mai called him out on his behavior, but Zuko only redirected his anger toward her, saying it was better to be angry than to be like Mai and feel absolutely nothing. Frustrated, Mai informed Zuko that it was over between them.
Zuko left the party, though he was about to be thrown out anyway, and went to his family's old vacation home. The memories and familiar artifacts did nothing but depress him further. Azula found him and asked him to come with her down to the beach.
It was there where Zuko finally lost his temper even further. He admitted that he was mad. When Azula and her friends asked him who he was mad at or why, he said he didn't know. Finally, he screamed he was angry with himself because he didn't know right from wrong anymore. Azula called him pathetic, but Mai told Zuko she cared about him and kissed him.
One day, Zuko received a message scroll telling him he needed to learn about the demise of his great-grandfather. When he asked Azula about it, she told Zuko that their great-grandfather Sozin passed away peacefully in his sleep. Unconvinced, since the message said "demise" and not "death," Zuko did a bit more investigating and came across his great-grandfather Sozin's Final Testament. It was though that testament that he learned his great-grandfather Sozin who started the war had been friends with Avatar Roku, the Avatar previous to the current Avatar, Aang. He also learned that Avatar Roku had been his mother's grandfather, while Sozin had been his father's grandfather. Knowing the message must have come from his uncle, he confronted Iroh about it. Iroh explained he could choose Sozin's path, the path of destruction, or Avatar Roku's path, the path of balance. Iroh then gave Zuko a royal artifact, a hairpiece meant to be worn by the Crown Prince.
Zuko spent time mulling things over and also spent time with his now steady girlfriend Mai. Mai informed Zuko there was a meeting in the War Room that Azula would be attending. Since Zuko hadn't known about it, he assumed he hadn't been invited and began to feel gloomy again. Mai tried to cheer him up, but failed. As it turned out, he had been invited; his father even saved Zuko a seat at his right hand. During that meeting, Zuko learned of his father's attack to use Sozin's Comet to destroy the Earth Kingdom permanently. Unlike last time, Zuko was too afraid to speak out against this plan; he had already learned his lesson. Such inaction made Zuko feel like he wasn't himself and therefore not the person or son Ozai wanted.
Zuko decided that the path he needed to take was clear: he would join Team Avatar and help defeat his father and end the war. He left a note to Mai apologizing for leaving, then went to confront his father to tell him about his plans. Ozai was obviously not very happy. Zuko learned from his father that he had banished his wife Ursa for treasonous acts. Ozai told Zuko that Fire Lord Azulon had ordered Ozai to kill Zuko because Ozai had requested he be made Crown Prince instead of Iroh. Ursa stepped in and whatever actions she took resulted in Azulon's death, Zuko's survival, her own banishment and Ozai being made Fire Lord. Eventually, Ozai created lightning and shot it at Zuko, knowing it would most likely kill him, as Ozai felt banishment simply wasn't a steep enough penalty as he had learned by banishing his wife and his son. Thankfully, Zuko was able to redirect the lightning thanks to Iroh taking the time to teach him.
When he left to free his uncle from the prison, the guards told him Iroh had busted himself out. Disappointed, but glad his uncle was all right, Zuko made his way to track down Team Avatar so he could ask to join them.
Zuko located them at the Western Air Temple, which was ironically where he had begun his search for the Avatar three years ago. He practiced his introduction on a toad, which came out with stuttering and saying things that were unlikely to get them on his side, such as: "I have a lot of firebending experience, and I'm considered to be pretty good at it. Well, you've seen me... you know, when I was attacking you?"
When he finally gathered the courage to introduce himself to the group, only one person was willing to hear him out: Toph, the blind Earthbender who had taught the Avatar earthbending. The group chased Zuko away after he accidentally told them it was him who had hired Combustion Man. He left feeling defeated, but remained at the temple.
Later that night, Toph sought Zuko out, feeling that he had been sincere. She woke him and because she didn't reveal herself right away, Zuko firebended in an act of self-defense. This burned Toph's feet, essentially making her unable to see anything at all since she used her feet and earthbending to find her way around. Toph tried to escape, but Zuko chased after her, furiously apologizing and telling her it was a mistake, yet Toph got away and Zuko was left feeling more frustrated than ever.
Combustion Man came to say hello the next day. Zuko arrived just in time. He threatened not to pay Combustion Man if he kept attacking the Avatar; when that didn't work, Zuko offered double the money if he stopped. That didn't work either, so Zuko, along with Team Avatar, brought Combustion Man down together. This cemented the fact that Zuko was on their side and he was allowed to join their group, although some people like Katara only allowed him entrance grudgingly. Zuko couldn't blame Katara for feeling the way she did, especially after he played the part of a traitor in the Crystal Catacombs. Either way, they needed Zuko to teach the Avatar firebending and had no one else they could go to.
When Zuko does begin to train the Avatar, his firebending skills have gone kaput. Though he was performing the correct forms, the strongest fire he could make was a tiny flame. This encourages Zuko to go with Aang to the Sun Warriors' home to learn about the source of firebending. There, together with the Avatar, he learned that firebending's source is not anger and hate as the Fire Nation had been teaching, but rather energy and life. Because Zuko had been drained of his anger and hate with his decision to join the Avatar, that was why he could no longer produce strong firebending. However, with the new mindset of energy and life, he and the Avatar were able to produce powerful fire.
Zuko proves his changed attitude once again by accompanying Sokka, a non-bender and Katara's sister who was part of Team Avatar, to the Boiling Rock. That was where the worst criminals were and Zuko and Sokka hopped to find Sokka's father there as a war prisoner. Zuko was surprisingly patient the whole time and encouraged Sokka to think things through entirely, which didn't exactly happen. In the end, Zuko and Sokka returned to Team Avatar with Sokka and Katara's father as well as Sokka's girlfriend Suki who had been in the prison as well. It was also at the Boiling Rock that Zuko learned how deeply Mai loved him. Mai turned on Azula while Zuko and the others were making their escape because she loved Zuko more than she feared Azula.
Despite all of Zuko's acts of kindness, Katara was still unwilling to completely trust Zuko. Because Sokka was Katara's sister, Zuko went to him for advice and asked Sokka to tell him about how his and Katara's mother died. When Sokka told him what he remembered of the naval ships, Zuko knew who had killed Katara's mother. The Avatar told Katara that it was best to let her anger go and that violence wasn't the answer, but Katara and Zuko both ignored him. Together, Zuko and Katara made their way to find the man who killed Katara's mother. When the time came to end the man's life, Katara found she couldn't do it. Upon their return back to Team Avatar, Zuko admitted that the Avatar was right; Katara needed release, not violence or revenge.
Team Avatar had by then made their base on Ember Island in Zuko's old vacation home since no one would ever look there for them. There, they learned that a play was being put on by the Ember Island Performers called The Boy in the Iceberg. Apparently, the play was meant to be an accurate portrayal of Team Avatar's journey, but it was made by the Fire Nation so the Avatar was obviously not going to beat the Fire Lord.
The group watched and all but Toph had negative responses to the play. It was difficult for Zuko to watch the play because his portrayal was fairly accurate and it shoved all of the mistakes he had made in the past right back into his scarred face. It made him feel worse than he already did about betraying his uncle and made him realize that Iroh had been more of a father figure to Zuko than Ozai had ever been.
Toph talks alone with Zuko, telling him that Iroh really loved Zuko. She had had a few conversations with Iroh and told Zuko that the only thing Iroh would talk about was Zuko this and Zuko that. She said she found it annoying, but sweet. That cheered Zuko up a bit.
Then space.
Zuko starts out as a hot-headed banished prince who rarely thinks things all the way through and ends up as a cool, level-headed and honorable banished prince who only sometimes doesn't think things through. Throughout the entire series, Zuko maintains some semblance of honor; he consistently helps people who need it. However, if the situation called for it, Zuko stole from others to provide for himself and his uncle so they wouldn't die. As Zuko grew emotionally and matured, he provoked others more infrequently and always firmly stood his ground.
He still has somewhat of a temper by the end, but it only emerges when provoked or when the situation calls for it. He also retains a no-nonsense attitude the entire series. Also demonstrated throughout the entire series was Zuko's ability as a skilled strategist, where he was able to use nearly anything and any situation to his advantage. When he does find need to do crafty things like steal or breaking-and-entering, Zuko isn't the kind of person to leave behind evidence.
Honor-wise, in the end, Zuko feels he has finally made the choices that would make his uncle proud, though he made many mistakes along the way. Zuko is proud of the man he came to be but regretful of how long it took to become that man. He grew to be someone reliable and dependable, whose heart had become purer and longed for a bright future.
Despite of this, Zuko is still an awkward teenager. He isn't always great at getting his point across, especially when it's about something he's unfamiliar with (flirting and girls in general) or when he's trying to atone for his past mistakes (getting the Avatar and the group to allow him entrance so he can teach Firebending). However, when the time calls for it, Zuko can be quite the inspirational speaker, as seen at the end of the series when Zuko becomes Fire Lord.
tl;dr version of Zuko's life
Have you read up on how the game works?: No. But I can guess! I bet you can make money through missions, by stealing it or by starting a business! Oh, and I bet the Guide plug-in that allows characters to communicate with each other is called the FlamingFerret. That sounds like the perfect name for such a plug-in!
1st person sample: [ Video ]
Okay, everyone. Listen up!
[ Zuko's wearing a cute frilly apron (which he is not happy about wearing). He gestures to a wide variety of miniature ice sculptures in front of him. ]
Lee's Ice Sculpture Emporium is selling custom-made ice sculptures for anyone who wants them. The starting price is 1,200 Credits, which... okay, that's kind of expensive. But if you're going to spend money on something that'll melt in just a couple of hours, you—
[ Apparently Zuko's boss just whacked him upside the head. Oh, right. He's supposed to be selling them, not criticizing them. ]
—right. So, they're nice and the craftmanship is pretty exquisite.
[ He stares at them, at a loss for further description. They're made of ice and they're well-made; what more do you want from him?! ]
Well, just have a look for yourself.
[ Carefully picking one up and giving the cute Hula Skirt Girl Ice Sculpture a closeup. ]
As you can see, even if they only last for a few hours, they'll make a nice gift to—
[ Whacked again. Zuko groans and whirls around to his off-screen boss. ]
Cut it out! I already said they're nice! If they didn't melt so soon I'd probably get one for myself!
[ Speaking of melting, the ice sculpture Zuko had been holding has melted. Silly Firebender. ]
3rd person sample:
A year ago, he had been an angry, confused boy who lost his temper at the slightest problem. It took many mistakes and failures to get where he was today, but he was proud of the man he was now. This was the path his uncle had been talking about; choosing his own destiny instead of having his destiny chosen for him. Even though it had only been a few weeks since he had made the firm decision to leave the Fire Nation and help the Avatar defeat his father, his misplaced anger had already left him.
There were things he was still bitter about, such as his father's treatment of himself and his mother, but Zuko knew it would fade with time and training. Knowing that the bitterness would eventually ease and disappear made getting through each day a little easier and he was thankful his uncle had taught him such great wisdom.
But if only he could thank his uncle.
While Zuko was sure of nearly everything else about himself, the one thing he remained unsure of was how his uncle would treat him if they ever saw each other again. Zuko knew he had disappointed him; surely his uncle would be angry with him, maybe even furious. His uncle had played the part of a father far better than the Fire Lord ever had, and in return, Zuko had betrayed him so terribly. In a way, Zuko felt he was just as bad as his own father in that regard.
At the first opportunity, Zuko would drop to his knees and beg for his uncle's forgiveness. Although he knew his uncle was a kind, forgiving man, the fact that he had loved Zuko so much only to be betrayed by him... If he and his uncle switched places, Zuko would find it difficult to forgive his uncle. He felt as if he wasn't worthy of his uncle's forgiveness, but even so he hoped he would be able to earn that forgiveness in due time.
With a deep breath, Zuko pulled himself away from such thoughts. That was another thing he had to work on: letting such depressing thoughts cloud his mind. As important as finding his uncle was, allowing those negative thoughts to take refuge in his mind wouldn't help anyone. He didn't want to allow those thoughts to tear him down and knock back his progress on the path to becoming a better man.
Questions?: SO MANY QUESTIONS. How would Zuko's Firebending work on the Thor? It relies on the sun, which is a star, but there are stars all over and... /THROWS HANDS UP IN AIR. What would you rather have me do? Not let him firebend (or be unable to do it well?) while on the Thor or...? I guess because the stars are so far away (please do not crash into a star, Thor) that he could... smokebend instead? No fire, but all the fail firebending. But Zuko can also get energy for his firebending from heat sources (like volcanoes or... a space heater?)
OKAY BASICALLY JUST TELL ME WHAT TO DO WITH ZUKO'S BENDING WHILE THE THOR TRAVELS IN SPACE.
Did you put your characters name and fandom in the subject: Ja.
CANON UPDATE SUCCINCT
Name: Hojo
Email: lucaviitzaru [at] gmail [dot] com
Other contact: AIM: WintryHorse |
IC:
Character name: Zuko
Character journal:
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Timeline: End of The Promise: Part 2.
Updates: Zuko's original canon point was the end of episode 57, The Ember Island Players.
Episode 58: The Phoenix King
The date of Sozin's Comet's arrival is rapidly approaching. Instead of training to take down the Fire Lord before or on this day, Team Avatar (minus Zuko and Aang) is lounging around on the beach of Ember Island having a beach party. Zuko diligently trains Aang, who is eager to take a break and join said beach party. Suddenly, Zuko attacks Aang with his firebending, forcing Aang to flee. Eventually, Aang has enough and blows Zuko away (literally) with airbending. When confronted by Team Avatar, Zuko says he's not crazy; they are. They then proceed to tell Zuko that they were planning on taking down Fire Lord Ozai after the comet had passed because the Firebenders would just be too strong for them to take during the comet. Zuko sets them straight with a harsh reality check.
Team Avatar has a training montage and at night, they think about how to take down the Fire Lord. Everyone, Zuko included, seems adamant about killing the Fire Lord, but Aang doesn't agree.
Aang vanishes in the middle of night and Zuko, who's had three years of practice hunting the Avatar, is charged with being the one to find him again. Team Avatar scours Ember Island but find no sign of him except for footprints leading into the ocean, which doesn't help. Zuko, realizing he can't find Aang, leads Team Avatar to someone who can: June from the Earth Kingdom.
Episode 59: The Old Masters
Team Avatar meets with June. She, with the use of her scent tracking Shirshu, tries tracking Aang's scent to find him. It doesn't work and June tells them that Aang is "nowhere." Since they have no idea where Aang is or how to find him, Zuko decides they'll need to rely on the next best person to take down the Fire Lord—the Fire Lord's brother and Zuko's uncle, Iroh. Using a sandal of his uncle's that Zuko kept for fifty-three episodes, the Shirshu leads Team Avatar the the outskirts of the Earth Kingdom's capital Ba Sing Se, where the Order of the White Lotus is camped out.
Team Avatar finds out that Iroh, whom Zuko has not seen for weeks (and who was in prison for a month or two thanks to Zuko betraying him) is a Grand Master Lotus of the group. The Order directs Zuko to Iroh's tent so he can reunite with his uncle, but Zuko lacks the courage to go in and instead sits outside the tent, ashamed of what he's done. After a pep talk from Katara, Zuko manages to find the courage to face his uncle.
When the dawn finally comes and Iroh wakes up, he doesn't face Zuko, much like he refused to face his nephew in prison. Zuko quietly begins an apology, admitting that he knows his uncle might not be happy to see him. In tears, he admits that he is sorry for betraying his uncle and that he's ashamed of it. Before Zuko can get much else out, Iroh pulls him into a firm hug, crying as well. The two have a warm, touching reunion.
Around noon the same day, Team Avatar and Iroh sit in a circle and decide what to do with Fire Lord Ozai. Zuko shows just how humble he's become and asks if Iroh would take his rightful place on the throne after Ozai is defeated. This is a big change from books 1 and 2, where Zuko was so adamant about the future throne belonging to himself, despite the fact that Ozai stole it from Iroh. (Un)surprisingly, Iroh declines the throne, saying that someone new must take it; an idealist with a pure heart and unquestionable honor. Zuko accepts the task of restoring honor to the Fire Nation.
Iroh then tells him that Zuko must go to the Fire Nation so that when the Fire Lord does fall, Zuko will be there to assume the throne and restore peace and order. Of course, Zuko's sister Azula will be there waiting for him and ready to fight if necessary. Zuko says he can handle Azula—another big step. Until recently, Zuko had been LEAGUES behind his sister in terms of ability, but over the course of the series he became on even footing with her. He says he can handle Azula, but Iroh insists that he doesn't go alone. Trusting his uncle, Zuko agrees and asks Katara to come with him. Before everyone leaves, Iroh gives them a few encouraging words: "Today, destiny is our friend. I know it."
Meanwhile, Ozai prepares to leave with his airship fleet, just as Sozin's Comet brushes up against the atmosphere, turning the sky red.
Episode 60: Into the Inferno
Katara and Zuko ride Appa back to the Fire Nation. Katara takes his silence as worry, but Zuko clarifies that it's not Azula he's worried about; it's Aang. The two arrive at the palace just in the middle of Azula's coronation as Fire Lord. Since Ozai is on his way to burn the Earth Kingdom to a crisp, he's taken the title Phoenix King and allowed the Fire Sages to crown his daughter Fire Lord. Zuko jumps off Appa and interrupts, telling his sister that she won't become Fire Lord that day; he will. Azula laughs at her brother, finding it incredibly hilarious that Zuko has the audacity to think such a thing.
Azula challenges Zuko to an Agni Kai, just the two of them. To Katara's surprise, Zuko accepts, despite knowing the fact that Azula suggested it to separate Zuko and Katara so that the fight would be easier. Zuko insists that he can win; Azula is slipping and he knows it. Furthermore, it was pragmatic; no one else would be hurt. Katara finally nods in agreement and the Agni Kai between Zuko and Azula begins.
It's a humble Agni Kai with only Katara and the Fire Sages for an audience; everyone else had been banished by Azula. Azula takes the first strike and Zuko evenly counters it with fire of his own. With the comet looming overhead, both of their firebending skills are amplified. Azula, who was usually calm and calculating, is uncharacteristically outright aggressive. There's no order to her madness, literally. By now, however, Zuko has taken to staying on the defense until he finds an opportunity to counter and counter hard.
Eventually, Zuko remembers his basics of Firebending and strikes Azula just right to knock her off balance. She falls, but the duel isn't over yet; she hasn't given up. Zuko tries to goad his sister into shooting lightning at him because now he knows how to redirect it. Azula is more than happy to agree, at least until Katara makes her way onto the battlefield. Azula changes her plans, sending her lighting not at Zuko, but at Katara. Zuko is too far away to properly redirect it, so he abandons the Agni Kai in favor of leaping in front of Katara. Without being firmly rooted to the ground, redirecting lightning properly is impossible and his twisted form in the air prevents him from creating a proper path for the lightning. He falls to the ground, electrified, but manages to redirect most of the lightning anyway; what didn't redirect severely burned his chest, just under his heart.
Seriously injured, Zuko tries to stand again, but fails. This is the first time that Zuko has been incapable of getting up after a serious blow while still conscious. Katara tries to rush toward him to heal him with her waterbending, but Azula stops her in her tracks by shooting lightning at her. With her brother defeated, Azula laughs madly and rushes toward Katara.
Episode 61: Avatar Aang
By now, Zuko has masterfully rolled over facedown, since that's all he can do. He tries getting up again and Katara tries rushing to heal him once more. Unsurprisingly, Azula stops her, this time with her trademark blue fire followed up by lightning, forcing Katara to run. Zuko has no choice but to helplessly watch Azula and Katara resume the Agni Kai. Eventually, Katara detains Azula and rushes over to Zuko so she can finally heal him. She rolls him onto his back and heals (though not completely) the wound on his chest. Zuko, his voice weak, quietly thanks Katara, who insists she should be the one to thank him.
Katara helps Zuko to his feet, and together they walk over to Azula who by now is firebending with her mouth, screaming and crying with smoke pouring out of her nose and ears. Even though they've won, it doesn't feel like a victory to Zuko. Not once does he look pleased at the state of his sister.
Meanwhile, Aang defeats Ozai and takes his ability to bend fire away.
A while later, Zuko is dressing in the palace with his chest bandaged up. From the entryway, Mai suddenly asks if he needs some help getting dressed. Zuko rushes over to her half-dressed, happy that she's okay and out of prison. Mai helps him dress and Zuko asks if this means Mai doesn't hate him anymore. Mai declares that it means she actually sort of likes him and they exchange a romantic kiss. She then threatens Zuko, saying that he better never break up with her again before embracing Zuko warmly.
Zuko, dressed up in his new Fire Lord robes, meets with Aang before his coronation. Zuko expresses his disbelief that a year ago, his purpose in life was hunting Aang down but now they're friends. Aang agrees and expresses disbelief that a year ago, he was trapped in an iceberg. They embrace and both of them make their way out to the waiting crowd, which for the first time in over a hundred years has Fire Nation citizens together shoulder to shoulder with Water Tribe citizens and Earth Kingdom citizens.
The crowd cheers as Zuko approaches. Humble and modest, Zuko declares that the real hero is the Avatar. Zuko makes a speech—a speech that lacks his usual stumblings—about how today, the war is finally over. He announces that he promised his uncle that he would restore the honor of the Fire Nation and that he will. Together with Aang, he will create an era of love and peace.
Zuko kneels down as a Fire Sage approaches with the Fire Lord's crown. He crowns Zuko as the new Fire Lord and the crowd erupts in cheers.
CANON UPDATE SUCCINCT 2
Zuko makes his way to a prison tower where his father is now being kept. After their initial greeting, Zuko leans forward and demands to know where his mother is, but Ozai only smirks and casually suggests that Zuko ought to bring him tea so they can discuss how to be a good Fire Lord, then mocks Zuko, saying that maybe the subject of his mother will come up. Zuko, wise to his father's antics, declares he doesn't need to deal with this and promptly leaves, but not before Ozai gives a quick speech. Being Fire Lord has all sorts of pressures he knows Zuko isn't ready to handle; Ozai is the only one available to Zuko with the experience of being Fire Lord.
Later, Zuko and Earth King Kuei determine how best to bring healing to the world. They decide the best thing to do is to remove the Fire Nation colonies from the Earth Kingdom. Aang points out that doing so, while a good idea, will disrupt many lives and that someone should be there to oversee it; someone whose job it is to keep peace: Aang. They call this movement the Harmony Restoration Movement.
While riding home on Appa, a celebration begins in the Earth Kingdom when the Harmony Restoration Movement is announced. Fireworks are shot off and everyone has a generally good time. Except Zuko. Zuko never has a good time. Zuko, his face serious as always, tells Aang that he visited his father in prison the other day. He tells Aang he has a favor to ask: that if he ever sees Zuko turning into his father, Aang will end him. He admits that the throne comes with a lot of pressures and that he needs a safety net. Aang refuses, but Zuko pulls the Friend Card and makes Aang promise to kill him if he ever "goes bad."
One year later, everything has gone downhill. Five attempts have been made on Zuko's life and they've driven him to absolute paranoia with a heavy dose of insomnia. Tonight, he says he can feel that someone's there, trying to assassinate him. For once, his paranoia turns out to be correct. A young woman named Kori tries to kill him but he apprehends her. She claims that she is the daughter of the mayor of Yu Dao, one of the oldest Fire Nation colonies. She tells him that the Harmony Restoration Movement is destroying homes and lives.
So the next day, Zuko goes to Yu Dao to check out the situation. He learns of life there and how deeply integrated the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom citizens have become. Some have married and had children; most work together. In short, it's become something other than "Fire Nation land" or "Earth Kingdom land." After his visit, Zuko officially withdraws his support from the Harmony Restoration Movement without telling Aang.
Protesters soon show up at Yu Dao, angry that Zuko has gone back on his word. Aang shows up soon after and makes his way into the city with Katara, intending to talk some sense into Zuko. Aang is met by Zuko's guards who tell him that Zuko has forbidden anyone from entering or leaving the city. Aang remains peaceful, while continuing to insist that he needs to speak with Zuko and the guards attack. With Katara's help, he defeats them. With one guard left, Katara moves to get him out of the way, but Zuko shows up and grabs her wrist.
Katara shouts that Zuko's hurting her wrist and Zuko reminds her she just hurt an entire group of his guards. Zuko won't let go of Katara until she agrees to stop hurting his people, but Aang's had enough. He offensively airbends at Zuko who retaliates with firebending of his own. This pushes Aang over the edge, who enters the Avatar State, ready to kill Zuko. Katara talks Aang down out of the Avatar State and Zuko agrees that Katara is right and he and Aang both need to calm down and talk. Aang, angry, yells that talking is what he'd wanted to do in the first place.
Zuko walks Katara and Aang through Yu Dao, showing how the Earth Kingom citizens have integrated with the Fire Nation citizens. The union between the two nations there enabled great metalwork to be done, thus making Yu Dao one of the richest cities in the world. Katara points out that it doesn't seem equal; the Fire Nation citizen seem to be above the Earth Kingdom citizens.
Aang quickly grows tired of the history lesson and says that by continuing to betray the Harmony Restoration Movement, Zuko's going to end up starting a war. Zuko assures Aang that his original intention was to personally enforce the removal of Yu Dao, but then the mayor's wife asked him to stay and see their way of life, so he did. When Aang and Zuko can't reach an agreement, Katara then suggests they arrange a meeting with Earth King Kuei and asks both of them to attend. Aang and Zuko agree.
Zuko leaves Yu Dao and returns home. Mai, unhappy that Zuko left suddenly without telling her, greets him. She points out that Zuko's clearly having problems but not sharing, and Zuko apologizes, saying it won't happen again. Mai then says she can tell he hasn't been sleeping well lately and pulls him to the next room. It turns out Mai arranged for the Kyoshi Warriors to guard him since he and Mai both felt he needed real security.
Zuko's uneasy sleep continues and finally, he decides he can't take it anymore. The Kyoshi Warriors insist he try going back to sleep, but Zuko says he's going to get a drink of water and that the walk will do him good. He then proceeds to make his way to the prison his father is being kept. Ironically, he brought tea.
Zuko sits humbly across from his father, pours a cup of tea and passes it to Ozai. He then finally admits that he needs Ozai's help.
The Promise: Part 2
Ozai begins their talk by reminding Zuko of the family vacations their family used to take to Ember Island. On one of them, Zuko saved a turtle-crab from being eaten by a hawk. Then, Zuko had seen how hungry the hawk looked and felt indecisive. Before he could reach decision, a wave swept him out to the ocean. Ozai dove in to save him. Whether either Zuko or Ozai know it or not, that story is a perfect parallel to what Zuko is experiencing now.
Zuko, failing to understand the point of that story, tells his father he came to ask for advice about how Ozai was able to sleep peacefully in spite of the pressures of the throne. Ozai assures Zuko he just told him how, but when Zuko insists he didn't, Ozai declares he's tired and that their discussion will continue tomorrow... and that Zuko should bring more tea.
Zuko allows his father to order him around and leaves, his posture one of defeat.
The next day, Zuko returns wearing his Fire Lord robes and brings his father more tea. Zuko stayed up all night thinking about his father's words and figured out that in Ozai's story, he'd been overwhelmed because he couldn't decide which side to take. He then declares he should have sided with the hawk who, like the Fire Nation, had earned its meal.
Zuko continues, saying that he's done that. He's putting the Fire Nation first unlike when he first took the throne, yet he still can't sleep.
Ozai tells him he's only partially right; that Zuko's sleeplessness does come from his inability to choose sides, but that he was wrong about the hawk. Zuko is completely baffled, wondering why his father would want him to side with the weaker of the two. Ozai clarifies further saying it was right because Zuko decided. He is the Fire Lord; what Zuko chooses is, by definition, right.
Zuko vehemently disagrees, saying that right and wrong are bigger than him, his father or even Aang. Ozai then changes the subject about the meeting he, Katara, Aang and the Earth King were planning. He mocks Zuko, calling him naive for believing that the Earth King will be reasonable. Ozai says that if Zuko is truly the Fire Lord, then he will defend the people of Yu Dao ferociously, not because they're his people but because they are an expression of Zuko's will.
Zuko refuses, insisting that waiting is the best course of action. He says that Aang is his friend, has often been right through this whole ordeal and that he trusts Aang. Ozai asks Zuko if he trusts Aang more than he trusts himself, but Zuko doesn't respond.
Ozai, however, declares that Zuko sickens him. Zuko finally stands up for himself and makes an attempt to remind Ozai of his place in jail as the ex-Fire Lord, but Ozai shouts at Zuko for him to leave his presence.
Zuko obliges and Suki sees Zuko leaving the prison.
Later, Zuko is in his throne room tending to the fire. He decides that a huge intimidating fire isn't him and puts it out, only to find Mai behind the smoke, unhappy as ever. Mai tells him that she knows he's been secretly meeting with Ozai. When Zuko asks where she heard that, she says it doesn't matter because it wasn't from him. Zuko admits that he's been screwing up a lot lately and admits that he loves Mai. Unfortunately, Mai doesn't care. She's fed up with Zuko and realizes that Zuko must love his secrets more than her.
Mai leaves and Zuko loses it for a second, stooping so low as to order her back. Mai doesn't listen and suddenly Suki appears behind him, apologizing. She'd asked Mai to talk to him about his father but it backfired, then proceeds to tell Zuko how worried she and the others are about him.
They're interrupted by General Mak, who received a message from the spies Zuko sent to the Earth Kingdom. Zuko's suspicions are confirmed: the Earth King's army is marching toward Yu Dao. Zuko, shocked, quietly admits that his father was right.
Having no choice, Zuko immediately leaves to board his warship, hoping to get to Yu Dao before the Earth King.
3rd person sample:
He felt like he was losing his mind. For the past few days, he hadn't been able to sleep for more than an hour or two at a time and no matter what he did, he just couldn't find peace. This feeling was worse than the one he'd felt in the Earth Kingdom last year. Back when he was a refugee, he hadn't known what he wanted in life. He let other people make decisions for him, feeling like it was pointless to try making them on his own. After all, everyone had more experience than him. People like his uncle, father and sister were great people with power and loyal followers. Something about them made people want to follow them, but it wasn't the case with him.
Was he doing the same thing now? Allowing other people to make his decisions for him? His father kept telling him that not only was his affinity to the weak a weakness itself, but so was his indecisiveness. So far, his father had been right about everything: the colonists, Yu Dao, the Earth King. Was being indecisive such a complete crime? Wasn't it better to think everything through instead of blindly rushing headfirst into a situation or making an uninformed decision?
How did his father do this? How did his father sleep so well at night? Even if he'd been a tyrannical leader, his people still liked him; apart from the war, his father had actually been a good Fire Lord.
Did that mean the few decisions he was reaching were all the wrong ones? He never thought being the Fire Lord would be an easy task, but he never thought it would be this hard, either. It was one thing to expect pressures, but to have people trying to assassinate you? To have absolutely no one on your side? It was like everyone thought he was a worse Fire Lord than Ozai—Ozai, who had done so many terrible things in life that Zuko had lost count. Even the daughter of the Mayor of Yu Dao was against him—she fully supported Ozai's regime, in which the Earth Kingdom would have been burned to the ground, the very place where she lived.
What was he supposed to do? Who was he supposed turn to? All he had was his father and as much as Zuko disliked him, he was the only person in the world with actual experience being Fire Lord.
Zuko sighed. He was buckling under the stress of being Fire Lord. Then there was that paranoia—well, he didn't consider it paranoia, others did. He could feel it, though. That feeling of someone watching him from the shadows. He was tired of these assassins. Six in a year. This would be the seventh—but he wasn't going to give up. He promised his uncle that he would restore honor to the Fire Nation and he would, no matter what he had to do.
Anything else worth mentioning: Nah. He's a bit less sane, got to be Fire Lord, has a second scar now and has a dumb hair cut.