Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2013 0:27:05 GMT
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The Basics
Name: Zuko Huŏshān
Nickname/Other names: Prince Zuko, The Blue Spirit, Zuzu, Lee, The Banished Prince
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Hometown: The Fire Nation Capital (Capital City), in the Fire Nation. (Formerly. Was exiled)
Canon: Avatar The Last Airbender
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The Outside and the In
Face Claim/PB
Chris Riggi
Appearance:
It is clear from the way he holds himself that he is royalty; or at least in command of all those below him. Zuko tends to walk with authority and brashness, ignoring who might be nearby and focusing solely on his own goals and what he needs to accomplish. He can seem very assertive in his movements and actions when someone else might be in his way, and there tends to be a hardened or determined look in his eyes that might spark with anger or fury at any moment. This is an expression that he seems to wear almost all the time, and very rarely does he ever show a calmer or lighter expression in his gaze.
In combat, Zuko is very agile in movement, though he tends to exert a lot of his force into his attacks and punches due to his rage, and may also excessively attack when not necessary. He has shown in the past though that he is highly skilled and trained in stealth, infiltration and espionage, and can have quick, ninja-like reflexes when he is level-headed enough to use them. He is also ambidextrous, as he can equally yield two Dual Dao swords in combat.
Zuko stands at around 5’5” in height, making him slightly taller than the average boys of his age. He is thin, but with a slight noticeable muscle build that is a result from his frequent firebending. His skin is slightly tanned, he has very dark medium-length brown hair, and his eyes are a clear amber-brown, or “hazel” in color. The most startling of his features, however, is a very large and distinct red and purple burn-mark scar that covers half of his face, right over his left eye. It is likely the first thing that anyone would notice about him, and it gives him a more terrifying appearance than he should have naturally. Clothing-wise, he often sticks to dark colored shirts and jeans, unless he chooses to wear red to display his Fire Nation heritage and allegiance. Zuko tends to look well kept now that he has the ability to, despite his casually clothed appearance and his hair is often styled and neat to avoid looking too messy and out of hand. He doesn’t go overboard with it and still keeps it looking natural, but being a prince means that he has to keep up a somewhat intimidating and good appearance to display to others.
Personality:
Having such a troubled and warring past, Zuko’s personality and mood reflects that of hot-headed anger and the fierce determination to achieve his goals, his main one being to restore his lost honor and reclaim his place among the Fire Nation family. The betrayal of his father and his exile have made him bitter, rash and aggressive, where there once used to be a compassionate and bright personality in its place. It is true that now that his only hope at normality lies in capturing the avatar, he goes to great lengths and put all of his focus and energy into accomplishing it, and is willing to push aside and fight anyone who might get in his way. His attitude tends to alienate those around him and keep them away, but at the cost that Zuko will end up alone in the end, which despite the way he acts, is not a situation that is particularly healthy for him or his outlook.
When alone, he tends to be brooding and silent, and when angered he is explosive and reckless. It is very difficult for him to keep a level head at times, and it certainly doesn’t take much to set him off. His uncle has told him that power does not always come from strength or muscle, but when Zuko has gone off, he relies on those aspects in his firebending and attacks more than anything else.
Despite this, Zuko has shown glimpses of being reasonable, and every now and then a small sliver of compassion seems to make its way through his angry exterior. He was willing to barter with Aang and spare attacking civilians if Aang submitted to come with him. Zuko would not needlessly attack civilians unless they interfered with him capturing the avatar, which they usually did by attacking him first. As a thrirteen year old boy, Zuko had been banished for taking the side of the untrained new recruits in the Fire Nation army, and had spoken out against their being used as bait for military tactics. He believed that no soldier should be brutally sacrificed like that for their country, and that by using them as bait was a sign of disrespect and betrayal to their lives and honor. Zuko displayed this once again by choosing to wait to capture the avatar after ensuring that his crew was safe, and at times he rescued his crewmates from attacks rather than letting them fall. He made the choice to rescue his uncle at one point, when he could have easily switched directions and captured the avatar for himself instead.
Zuko seems to struggle with finding out who he is, as well as finding people who don’t view him as a mistake or a monster. With all of the betrayals he has had between his father and family, he finds it hard to believe that anyone might care for him. The closest person he has had to him has been his uncle, who has almost taken the role of a fatherly figure to him and a source of guidance, whether or not Zuko always chooses to follow it. Iroh is probably one of the only people who can somewhat manage to talk sense into Zuko and sometimes keep him from doing something completely reckless.
Around strangers, Zuko seems particularly dismissive of them unless confronting them is necessary to help him in some way. He will normally aggressively push through a crowd if they are in his path, and isn't one for politeness in that aspect. Strangers will more than likely view him as dangerous and angry, if not intimidating from his appearance. No matter where he is and if people have heard of him, he still acts like he is deserved of some respect and attention due to his royal lineage and authority. When he gets to know someone, his attitude may change slightly and tone down a bit, but it will still exist in possibly a brooding form. It is a great challenge to get Zuko to even smile or lighten up, and even his uncle hadn't been able to accomplish it with his light-hearted jokes and stories.
Zuko is also known to challenge people, even though they may outmatch him in skill. It is part of his reckless hot-headed behavior that can get the best of him. Along with this, he doesn't particularly think out his plans to well. He may have an elaborate plan to break into a place and capture the avatar, but then finds out that he hasn't planned the escape route off hand. This is what led him to becoming stuck in a blizzard during the Siege of the Northern Water Tribe, and could have cost his life on numerous occasions.
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Right Up to that Key Moment
History:
Zuko was born as the son of Ozai and Ursa; members of the royal family in the Fire Nation Palace. Ozai’s father, Azulon, was the Fire Lord at the time, with Zuko’s uncle Iroh being the next in line for the throne. As a child, Zuko seemed carefree and compassionate, though he and is younger sister Azula fought often due to her bullying personality and manipulative ways. Zuko was very close to his mother, but his father never seemed impressed by him and showed more attention and pride in Azula than Zuko himself. Azula was also a firebending prodigy at a very young age, whereas Zuko struggled to even firebend the basics for several years.
Then one night, Zuko’s mother disappeared, and at the same time Azulon passed away. In his dying wishes, he left Ozai as the next heir instead of Iroh because of the recent loss of Iroh’s son. Unbeknownst to Zuko, Ozai had actually murdered Azulon and set the whole situation up so that he could become the next Fire Lord. At the same time, he had also threatening Ursa and forced her to leave the kingdom into private exile. Zuko never knew what happened to his mother, and it was a confusing mystery that he held with him ever since then.
At the age of thirteen years old, Zuko begged his uncle Iroh to let him attend one of his father’s private war meetings. As a young boy and a future heir to the throne, he was excited and eager to learn all that he could about his country so that he could become a good Fire Lord. Iroh agreed and let him accompany him, on the condition that Zuko would not speak during the meeting.
During the council session, the Fire Nation war general described their next plan of strategy; to use newly recruited and untrained Fire Nation soldiers as bait to be slaughtered by the Earth Kingdom, in order to open up plans of attack for more skilled Fire Nation soldiers.
Alarmed and shocked by this brutal tactic, Zuko jumped up to speak out against the general, arguing that the soldiers were all willing to fight for the Fire Lord and their country, and that by sacrificing them was an act of betrayal to the Fire Nation people. Angered by his opposing outburst during a meeting in which only the ranks had place to speak, the War General declared that Zuko had disrespected the Fire Nation. The punishment for such treachery was an Agni Kai; a brutal firebending duel between two people that could result in injury, if not death, in defeat. Prince Zuko agreed, noting how old the War General was, and thought that the challenge would be a less than difficult one to face. Only in the ring of the match, however, was he bewildered to realize that he would not be facing the War General. By speaking out, his challenge was not seen as disrespect to the War General, but to the Fire Lord himself. Zuko was forced to face his own father in an Agni-Kai.
Rather than fighting, Zuko fell on his knees and begged his father for mercy and apologized for his outburst. He did not realize that he had insulted his own father by his actions. Fire Lord Ozai, however, did not show any mercy or pity on his own son, and declared “suffering would be [his] teacher.” He attacked his son with a powerful fire blast while Zuko was on his knees, which later would permanently scar the left side of his face. Then, he exiled Prince Zuko from the Fire Kingdom and stripped him of his royal title and heritage. He told Zuko that the only way he could ever restore his honor and return to his rightful place among the throne was to find and capture the Avatar, who had been missing for over one hundred years. Until then, Zuko was no longer considered a son of his own.
Zuko spent the next three years traveling the kingdoms in a Fire Nation ship, accompanied by his banished uncle Iroh and a fleet of refugees and exiles. Zuko’s one goal was to find the avatar and capture him at all costs, so that he might return to his father and things would become normal again. Though unlikely, Zuko was convinced that by finding the avatar, his father would approve of him again and that his whole life would change for the better. It is due to this that Prince Zuko immediately became one of Avatar Aang’s first and major rivals.
Zuko discovered Aang while in the waters of the Southern Water Tribe. His first sign had been the beam of light that burst after Aang had broken out of a glacier of ice, and then he officially tracked him down after Aang triggered a signal flare from an old Fire Nation navy ship. He then ordered his crew to sail into the Southern Water Tribe so that he could capture the avatar. Aang then allowed Zuko to capture him, under the condition that they left the Southern Water Tribe and that no one would be hurt. Zuko saw sense in this, and as long as he had the avatar, he felt that he didn’t need to focus any more of his attention on the Southern Water Tribe.
The avatar escaped much quicker than the crew expected with his airbending abilities, and also with the assistance of Appa, Sokka and Katara. Infuriated that the avatar had escaped, Zuko and his crew began making it their sole objective to track him and follow him into the towns he stopped at, ultimately leading to battles between the avatar and the Banished Prince. Kiyoshi Island, for example, went up in flames after Zuko’s crew arrived there, though the avatar escaped from there as well. After Katara stole a waterbending scroll near a port, Zuko was able to negotiate with pirates and find her, taking her hostage in order to try to lure out the avatar. This plan failed as well, and so did all of the strategies the Prince Zuko came up with to try to capture Aang. He didn’t cease to give up though, because capturing the avatar was his only hope to restore his life and honor, so he held onto the task with fierce determination.
After the avatar was captured and tied up in a fort by General Zhao, Zuko went undercover as “The Blue Spirit,” wearing an all black suit and a blue mask in order to protect his identity. He did not want the avatar to fall into the wrong hands, and if Zhao had the avatar, then he knew that his chance at honor would be lost.
Zuko easily infiltrated the heavily guarded fort, took out a few guards and stealthily made his way into where the avatar was held. Once freeing him, the whole army realized what was going on and began to attack. Zuko managed to leave the fort by holding the avatar hostage, but was still shot from a distance and knocked out by a sharp shooting archer.
Later on, General Zhao put two and two together when he saw Zuko’s Dual Dao swords hanging on display on his ship; the same weapons the Blue Spirit had been using. He sent the pirates to kill Zuko in secret, and they planted a bomb in his ship that went off. Zuko made it out alive, though injured, and with his Uncle Iroh’s advice he remained hidden as a Fire Nation soldier so that General Zhao would not discover him.
During the Siege of the North, General Zhao began attacking the Northern Water Tribe in order to build up his reputation as well as target the avatar. Still under cover, Zuko single-handedly broke his way into the city of glaciers and snow by diving through a hole in the ice and swimming through a tunnel below the wall. Eventually he found avatar Aang lost in his avatar state, and captured him, but had to endure his way through a powerful blizzard before he managed to find a cave for shelter. Aang’s friends ended up stopping him and wanted to leave Zuko to die in the blizzard, but Aang saved him instead. Later on, Zuko faced General Zhao in combat, and Aang attacked Zhao in an avatar state water spirit form. Zuko tried to help in and offered his hand, but General Zhao pulled his hand back and refused, ultimately leading to his death in the waters.
After the battle, Zuko and his Uncle Iroh spent three days lost at sea on a piece of driftwood. They eventually were taken towards the Earth Kingdom and spent a few days recovering. It wasn’t too long before Zuko’s sister Azula arrived, telling Zuko that his father was sorry and wanted him back at home. Zuko believed her, but it turned out to be a trap and a lie Azula told to take them prisoner back to the Fire Nation, if not kill them first. Zuko and Iroh became refugees as they fled from Azula and the notice of the Earth Kingdom, since they were now being targeted and advertised as traitors and criminals of the Fire Lord.
Key Moment:
Zuko was taken while he and Iroh were new refugees in the Earth Kingdom and forced to beg for spare change in order to buy food.
(Beginning of Season 2)
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A Roleplaying Shift
RP Sample:
Zuko scowled and pushed up the brim of his straw hat as he followed his uncle down the dusty paths of Ba Sing Sei. He still couldn't get over the fact that they had to hide as refugees and beg for coins, when they should be able to get whatever they wanted just by being royalty. Begging was a disgrace, not to mention humiliating, and how could his uncle seem so happy to do so? If it were up to Zuko, they would never have to beg. He could just take whatever they needed, and then they could move on. It was not like these townspeople were using their coins for anything that was necessary or useful anyway.
"Uncle, how far are we going to go?" Zuko said in a frustrated tone that came out more like a growl than a question. "We can't just wander around this old, filthy city for hours, we should be searching for the avatar! He could be all the way across the Earth Kingdom by now!"
Before he could hear a response however, the city walls began to blur and suddenly vanish. Zuko instantly took an attack pose; his stance shifted to evenly distribute his weight and his arms were held up as he prepared to firebend. Something was going on, and it must be a trap! Maybe Azula had sent some troops to ambush them along the trail.
Zuko's amber eyes shifted as he quickly scanned his new surroundings. Where there had once been old, crumbling buildings and walls made out of earth were now rows of odd structures. They looked like houses, but none that Zuko had seen with their sturdier materials and bright colors. The dusty road and paths had vanished and left him standing on a narrow hardened path surrounded by short, neatly trimmed grass. He didn't have time to take in the change of scenery, however, as his eyes instantly locked on the strange figures in front of him. Two adult men, dressed in black outfits. He couldn't tell if they were Fire Nation soldiers or earth benders, as they weren't dressed in any particular color of allegiance. Whoever they were, it didn't matter, because it was clear to Zuko that they were the ones who had brought him into this trap.
"Where's my uncle?" Zuko demanded as he raised his fist, pointing towards the men. "Where have you taken him? Tell me NOW!" His voice had escalated into a furious shouting and he eyed them accusingly. If they thought that they could sneak up and ambush him, they were wrong! He would show them how powerful his firebending could be, and how much they had underestimated him.
"Your uncle is not around yet, I'm afraid. And just so we're clear, you are…?" One of the black suited man spoke up, looking unphased by the boy's enraged shouting and threatening stance. In fact, he probably knew who the boy was all along, as he seemed a little too prepared and calm for this reaction.
"You know very well who I am! I'm Prince Zuko, son of Fire Lord Ozai and the rightful heir to the throne!" Zuko snapped in response. Of course they had already known that, or they wouldn't have planned the attack on him in the first place! It didn't matter that they knew now, because he wasn't going to let them capture him without a fight.
"YAH!" Zuko suddenly shifted forward to aggressively punch the air in front of the suited man's face. It had enough energy to send a forceful blast of heated fire right at him.
That is, if fire had appeared at all.
Zuko looked puzzled as he stood with his fist held up in front of the man, who was clearly not singed or even remotely smoldering. Dismissing it, he tried again, this time aiming a powerful side kick in his direction. Nothing… not even a fleck of ash could be seen in the air.
"YAAAHHHH!" In a mad frenzy, Zuko advanced forward and started lashing out with all of the firebending attacks and stances he knew, directing his anger at both of the men each time he struck. At this point he didn't even care what moves they combatted him with, just as long as he could overtake them with the force of his blows.
"Prince Zuko, your firebending has no use here." The first suited man replied as he calmly walked backwards to avoid the advancing blows and punches. "There is no need for anger. We were just here to invite you to stay at Tenebrae while you are so far from home."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY FIREBENDING HAS NO USE? I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT HAS NO USE!" Zuko remarked as he continued to lash out, this time aiming closer to the man's face. If he couldn't firebend due to whatever trick the ambushers had pulled, maybe he could at least punch him straight in the jaw and wipe the unnervingly calm look off his face.
"Prince Zuko, I'm going to have to advise you to calm down, or we will have to use force against you. Now, we don't want to do that, so I ask that you please resist attacking my partner and reconsider our invitation." The second suited man finally spoke up. "Whether you like it or not, you are now here in Tenebrae. We will try everything we can to find your uncle and bring you back to where you came from. It was not our doing that you were brought here, but maybe if you stop attacking us long enough, you can come to enjoy it."
"ENJOY IT?!" Zuko lashed out at the suited man one more time before spinning around to face the second, "What is there to enjoy here? I'm supposed to be hunting the avatar, not wasting my time in this place!" He missed the man as he evaded and punched a nearby mailbox, causing it to dent in and then topple off of its post and into the grass.
The suited man looked down at the mailbox with a frown of disapproval, as if calculating the work needed to replace it. "Yes, well, why don't we show you what there is to enjoy here? The sooner we get you settled, the better it will be for everyone," He cast a glance at his partner before nodding a quick urge for them to move forward.
Member Name: Vivienna
Member Age: 20
Other Characters: Fluttershy Woods
Tell us a Little About Yourself!:
Already did. XD I don't feel like repeating myself.
The Basics
Name: Zuko Huŏshān
Nickname/Other names: Prince Zuko, The Blue Spirit, Zuzu, Lee, The Banished Prince
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Hometown: The Fire Nation Capital (Capital City), in the Fire Nation. (Formerly. Was exiled)
Canon: Avatar The Last Airbender
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The Outside and the In
Face Claim/PB
Chris Riggi
Appearance:
It is clear from the way he holds himself that he is royalty; or at least in command of all those below him. Zuko tends to walk with authority and brashness, ignoring who might be nearby and focusing solely on his own goals and what he needs to accomplish. He can seem very assertive in his movements and actions when someone else might be in his way, and there tends to be a hardened or determined look in his eyes that might spark with anger or fury at any moment. This is an expression that he seems to wear almost all the time, and very rarely does he ever show a calmer or lighter expression in his gaze.
In combat, Zuko is very agile in movement, though he tends to exert a lot of his force into his attacks and punches due to his rage, and may also excessively attack when not necessary. He has shown in the past though that he is highly skilled and trained in stealth, infiltration and espionage, and can have quick, ninja-like reflexes when he is level-headed enough to use them. He is also ambidextrous, as he can equally yield two Dual Dao swords in combat.
Zuko stands at around 5’5” in height, making him slightly taller than the average boys of his age. He is thin, but with a slight noticeable muscle build that is a result from his frequent firebending. His skin is slightly tanned, he has very dark medium-length brown hair, and his eyes are a clear amber-brown, or “hazel” in color. The most startling of his features, however, is a very large and distinct red and purple burn-mark scar that covers half of his face, right over his left eye. It is likely the first thing that anyone would notice about him, and it gives him a more terrifying appearance than he should have naturally. Clothing-wise, he often sticks to dark colored shirts and jeans, unless he chooses to wear red to display his Fire Nation heritage and allegiance. Zuko tends to look well kept now that he has the ability to, despite his casually clothed appearance and his hair is often styled and neat to avoid looking too messy and out of hand. He doesn’t go overboard with it and still keeps it looking natural, but being a prince means that he has to keep up a somewhat intimidating and good appearance to display to others.
Personality:
Having such a troubled and warring past, Zuko’s personality and mood reflects that of hot-headed anger and the fierce determination to achieve his goals, his main one being to restore his lost honor and reclaim his place among the Fire Nation family. The betrayal of his father and his exile have made him bitter, rash and aggressive, where there once used to be a compassionate and bright personality in its place. It is true that now that his only hope at normality lies in capturing the avatar, he goes to great lengths and put all of his focus and energy into accomplishing it, and is willing to push aside and fight anyone who might get in his way. His attitude tends to alienate those around him and keep them away, but at the cost that Zuko will end up alone in the end, which despite the way he acts, is not a situation that is particularly healthy for him or his outlook.
When alone, he tends to be brooding and silent, and when angered he is explosive and reckless. It is very difficult for him to keep a level head at times, and it certainly doesn’t take much to set him off. His uncle has told him that power does not always come from strength or muscle, but when Zuko has gone off, he relies on those aspects in his firebending and attacks more than anything else.
Despite this, Zuko has shown glimpses of being reasonable, and every now and then a small sliver of compassion seems to make its way through his angry exterior. He was willing to barter with Aang and spare attacking civilians if Aang submitted to come with him. Zuko would not needlessly attack civilians unless they interfered with him capturing the avatar, which they usually did by attacking him first. As a thrirteen year old boy, Zuko had been banished for taking the side of the untrained new recruits in the Fire Nation army, and had spoken out against their being used as bait for military tactics. He believed that no soldier should be brutally sacrificed like that for their country, and that by using them as bait was a sign of disrespect and betrayal to their lives and honor. Zuko displayed this once again by choosing to wait to capture the avatar after ensuring that his crew was safe, and at times he rescued his crewmates from attacks rather than letting them fall. He made the choice to rescue his uncle at one point, when he could have easily switched directions and captured the avatar for himself instead.
Zuko seems to struggle with finding out who he is, as well as finding people who don’t view him as a mistake or a monster. With all of the betrayals he has had between his father and family, he finds it hard to believe that anyone might care for him. The closest person he has had to him has been his uncle, who has almost taken the role of a fatherly figure to him and a source of guidance, whether or not Zuko always chooses to follow it. Iroh is probably one of the only people who can somewhat manage to talk sense into Zuko and sometimes keep him from doing something completely reckless.
Around strangers, Zuko seems particularly dismissive of them unless confronting them is necessary to help him in some way. He will normally aggressively push through a crowd if they are in his path, and isn't one for politeness in that aspect. Strangers will more than likely view him as dangerous and angry, if not intimidating from his appearance. No matter where he is and if people have heard of him, he still acts like he is deserved of some respect and attention due to his royal lineage and authority. When he gets to know someone, his attitude may change slightly and tone down a bit, but it will still exist in possibly a brooding form. It is a great challenge to get Zuko to even smile or lighten up, and even his uncle hadn't been able to accomplish it with his light-hearted jokes and stories.
Zuko is also known to challenge people, even though they may outmatch him in skill. It is part of his reckless hot-headed behavior that can get the best of him. Along with this, he doesn't particularly think out his plans to well. He may have an elaborate plan to break into a place and capture the avatar, but then finds out that he hasn't planned the escape route off hand. This is what led him to becoming stuck in a blizzard during the Siege of the Northern Water Tribe, and could have cost his life on numerous occasions.
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Right Up to that Key Moment
History:
Zuko was born as the son of Ozai and Ursa; members of the royal family in the Fire Nation Palace. Ozai’s father, Azulon, was the Fire Lord at the time, with Zuko’s uncle Iroh being the next in line for the throne. As a child, Zuko seemed carefree and compassionate, though he and is younger sister Azula fought often due to her bullying personality and manipulative ways. Zuko was very close to his mother, but his father never seemed impressed by him and showed more attention and pride in Azula than Zuko himself. Azula was also a firebending prodigy at a very young age, whereas Zuko struggled to even firebend the basics for several years.
Then one night, Zuko’s mother disappeared, and at the same time Azulon passed away. In his dying wishes, he left Ozai as the next heir instead of Iroh because of the recent loss of Iroh’s son. Unbeknownst to Zuko, Ozai had actually murdered Azulon and set the whole situation up so that he could become the next Fire Lord. At the same time, he had also threatening Ursa and forced her to leave the kingdom into private exile. Zuko never knew what happened to his mother, and it was a confusing mystery that he held with him ever since then.
At the age of thirteen years old, Zuko begged his uncle Iroh to let him attend one of his father’s private war meetings. As a young boy and a future heir to the throne, he was excited and eager to learn all that he could about his country so that he could become a good Fire Lord. Iroh agreed and let him accompany him, on the condition that Zuko would not speak during the meeting.
During the council session, the Fire Nation war general described their next plan of strategy; to use newly recruited and untrained Fire Nation soldiers as bait to be slaughtered by the Earth Kingdom, in order to open up plans of attack for more skilled Fire Nation soldiers.
Alarmed and shocked by this brutal tactic, Zuko jumped up to speak out against the general, arguing that the soldiers were all willing to fight for the Fire Lord and their country, and that by sacrificing them was an act of betrayal to the Fire Nation people. Angered by his opposing outburst during a meeting in which only the ranks had place to speak, the War General declared that Zuko had disrespected the Fire Nation. The punishment for such treachery was an Agni Kai; a brutal firebending duel between two people that could result in injury, if not death, in defeat. Prince Zuko agreed, noting how old the War General was, and thought that the challenge would be a less than difficult one to face. Only in the ring of the match, however, was he bewildered to realize that he would not be facing the War General. By speaking out, his challenge was not seen as disrespect to the War General, but to the Fire Lord himself. Zuko was forced to face his own father in an Agni-Kai.
Rather than fighting, Zuko fell on his knees and begged his father for mercy and apologized for his outburst. He did not realize that he had insulted his own father by his actions. Fire Lord Ozai, however, did not show any mercy or pity on his own son, and declared “suffering would be [his] teacher.” He attacked his son with a powerful fire blast while Zuko was on his knees, which later would permanently scar the left side of his face. Then, he exiled Prince Zuko from the Fire Kingdom and stripped him of his royal title and heritage. He told Zuko that the only way he could ever restore his honor and return to his rightful place among the throne was to find and capture the Avatar, who had been missing for over one hundred years. Until then, Zuko was no longer considered a son of his own.
Zuko spent the next three years traveling the kingdoms in a Fire Nation ship, accompanied by his banished uncle Iroh and a fleet of refugees and exiles. Zuko’s one goal was to find the avatar and capture him at all costs, so that he might return to his father and things would become normal again. Though unlikely, Zuko was convinced that by finding the avatar, his father would approve of him again and that his whole life would change for the better. It is due to this that Prince Zuko immediately became one of Avatar Aang’s first and major rivals.
Zuko discovered Aang while in the waters of the Southern Water Tribe. His first sign had been the beam of light that burst after Aang had broken out of a glacier of ice, and then he officially tracked him down after Aang triggered a signal flare from an old Fire Nation navy ship. He then ordered his crew to sail into the Southern Water Tribe so that he could capture the avatar. Aang then allowed Zuko to capture him, under the condition that they left the Southern Water Tribe and that no one would be hurt. Zuko saw sense in this, and as long as he had the avatar, he felt that he didn’t need to focus any more of his attention on the Southern Water Tribe.
The avatar escaped much quicker than the crew expected with his airbending abilities, and also with the assistance of Appa, Sokka and Katara. Infuriated that the avatar had escaped, Zuko and his crew began making it their sole objective to track him and follow him into the towns he stopped at, ultimately leading to battles between the avatar and the Banished Prince. Kiyoshi Island, for example, went up in flames after Zuko’s crew arrived there, though the avatar escaped from there as well. After Katara stole a waterbending scroll near a port, Zuko was able to negotiate with pirates and find her, taking her hostage in order to try to lure out the avatar. This plan failed as well, and so did all of the strategies the Prince Zuko came up with to try to capture Aang. He didn’t cease to give up though, because capturing the avatar was his only hope to restore his life and honor, so he held onto the task with fierce determination.
After the avatar was captured and tied up in a fort by General Zhao, Zuko went undercover as “The Blue Spirit,” wearing an all black suit and a blue mask in order to protect his identity. He did not want the avatar to fall into the wrong hands, and if Zhao had the avatar, then he knew that his chance at honor would be lost.
Zuko easily infiltrated the heavily guarded fort, took out a few guards and stealthily made his way into where the avatar was held. Once freeing him, the whole army realized what was going on and began to attack. Zuko managed to leave the fort by holding the avatar hostage, but was still shot from a distance and knocked out by a sharp shooting archer.
Later on, General Zhao put two and two together when he saw Zuko’s Dual Dao swords hanging on display on his ship; the same weapons the Blue Spirit had been using. He sent the pirates to kill Zuko in secret, and they planted a bomb in his ship that went off. Zuko made it out alive, though injured, and with his Uncle Iroh’s advice he remained hidden as a Fire Nation soldier so that General Zhao would not discover him.
During the Siege of the North, General Zhao began attacking the Northern Water Tribe in order to build up his reputation as well as target the avatar. Still under cover, Zuko single-handedly broke his way into the city of glaciers and snow by diving through a hole in the ice and swimming through a tunnel below the wall. Eventually he found avatar Aang lost in his avatar state, and captured him, but had to endure his way through a powerful blizzard before he managed to find a cave for shelter. Aang’s friends ended up stopping him and wanted to leave Zuko to die in the blizzard, but Aang saved him instead. Later on, Zuko faced General Zhao in combat, and Aang attacked Zhao in an avatar state water spirit form. Zuko tried to help in and offered his hand, but General Zhao pulled his hand back and refused, ultimately leading to his death in the waters.
After the battle, Zuko and his Uncle Iroh spent three days lost at sea on a piece of driftwood. They eventually were taken towards the Earth Kingdom and spent a few days recovering. It wasn’t too long before Zuko’s sister Azula arrived, telling Zuko that his father was sorry and wanted him back at home. Zuko believed her, but it turned out to be a trap and a lie Azula told to take them prisoner back to the Fire Nation, if not kill them first. Zuko and Iroh became refugees as they fled from Azula and the notice of the Earth Kingdom, since they were now being targeted and advertised as traitors and criminals of the Fire Lord.
Key Moment:
Zuko was taken while he and Iroh were new refugees in the Earth Kingdom and forced to beg for spare change in order to buy food.
(Beginning of Season 2)
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A Roleplaying Shift
RP Sample:
Zuko scowled and pushed up the brim of his straw hat as he followed his uncle down the dusty paths of Ba Sing Sei. He still couldn't get over the fact that they had to hide as refugees and beg for coins, when they should be able to get whatever they wanted just by being royalty. Begging was a disgrace, not to mention humiliating, and how could his uncle seem so happy to do so? If it were up to Zuko, they would never have to beg. He could just take whatever they needed, and then they could move on. It was not like these townspeople were using their coins for anything that was necessary or useful anyway.
"Uncle, how far are we going to go?" Zuko said in a frustrated tone that came out more like a growl than a question. "We can't just wander around this old, filthy city for hours, we should be searching for the avatar! He could be all the way across the Earth Kingdom by now!"
Before he could hear a response however, the city walls began to blur and suddenly vanish. Zuko instantly took an attack pose; his stance shifted to evenly distribute his weight and his arms were held up as he prepared to firebend. Something was going on, and it must be a trap! Maybe Azula had sent some troops to ambush them along the trail.
Zuko's amber eyes shifted as he quickly scanned his new surroundings. Where there had once been old, crumbling buildings and walls made out of earth were now rows of odd structures. They looked like houses, but none that Zuko had seen with their sturdier materials and bright colors. The dusty road and paths had vanished and left him standing on a narrow hardened path surrounded by short, neatly trimmed grass. He didn't have time to take in the change of scenery, however, as his eyes instantly locked on the strange figures in front of him. Two adult men, dressed in black outfits. He couldn't tell if they were Fire Nation soldiers or earth benders, as they weren't dressed in any particular color of allegiance. Whoever they were, it didn't matter, because it was clear to Zuko that they were the ones who had brought him into this trap.
"Where's my uncle?" Zuko demanded as he raised his fist, pointing towards the men. "Where have you taken him? Tell me NOW!" His voice had escalated into a furious shouting and he eyed them accusingly. If they thought that they could sneak up and ambush him, they were wrong! He would show them how powerful his firebending could be, and how much they had underestimated him.
"Your uncle is not around yet, I'm afraid. And just so we're clear, you are…?" One of the black suited man spoke up, looking unphased by the boy's enraged shouting and threatening stance. In fact, he probably knew who the boy was all along, as he seemed a little too prepared and calm for this reaction.
"You know very well who I am! I'm Prince Zuko, son of Fire Lord Ozai and the rightful heir to the throne!" Zuko snapped in response. Of course they had already known that, or they wouldn't have planned the attack on him in the first place! It didn't matter that they knew now, because he wasn't going to let them capture him without a fight.
"YAH!" Zuko suddenly shifted forward to aggressively punch the air in front of the suited man's face. It had enough energy to send a forceful blast of heated fire right at him.
That is, if fire had appeared at all.
Zuko looked puzzled as he stood with his fist held up in front of the man, who was clearly not singed or even remotely smoldering. Dismissing it, he tried again, this time aiming a powerful side kick in his direction. Nothing… not even a fleck of ash could be seen in the air.
"YAAAHHHH!" In a mad frenzy, Zuko advanced forward and started lashing out with all of the firebending attacks and stances he knew, directing his anger at both of the men each time he struck. At this point he didn't even care what moves they combatted him with, just as long as he could overtake them with the force of his blows.
"Prince Zuko, your firebending has no use here." The first suited man replied as he calmly walked backwards to avoid the advancing blows and punches. "There is no need for anger. We were just here to invite you to stay at Tenebrae while you are so far from home."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY FIREBENDING HAS NO USE? I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT HAS NO USE!" Zuko remarked as he continued to lash out, this time aiming closer to the man's face. If he couldn't firebend due to whatever trick the ambushers had pulled, maybe he could at least punch him straight in the jaw and wipe the unnervingly calm look off his face.
"Prince Zuko, I'm going to have to advise you to calm down, or we will have to use force against you. Now, we don't want to do that, so I ask that you please resist attacking my partner and reconsider our invitation." The second suited man finally spoke up. "Whether you like it or not, you are now here in Tenebrae. We will try everything we can to find your uncle and bring you back to where you came from. It was not our doing that you were brought here, but maybe if you stop attacking us long enough, you can come to enjoy it."
"ENJOY IT?!" Zuko lashed out at the suited man one more time before spinning around to face the second, "What is there to enjoy here? I'm supposed to be hunting the avatar, not wasting my time in this place!" He missed the man as he evaded and punched a nearby mailbox, causing it to dent in and then topple off of its post and into the grass.
The suited man looked down at the mailbox with a frown of disapproval, as if calculating the work needed to replace it. "Yes, well, why don't we show you what there is to enjoy here? The sooner we get you settled, the better it will be for everyone," He cast a glance at his partner before nodding a quick urge for them to move forward.
Member Name: Vivienna
Member Age: 20
Other Characters: Fluttershy Woods
Tell us a Little About Yourself!:
Already did. XD I don't feel like repeating myself.
