Post by KANE on Apr 30, 2012 15:05:50 GMT -5
*
you're like my sister. my father says she was born lucky. he says I was lucky to be born. I don't need luck, though. I've always had to struggle and fight - that's made me strong. it's made me who I am.[/center]
name;; Zuko
nickname/s;; Zuzu, Dumdum, Blue Spirit, Failure, Prince
age;; 16 (sixteen) years
race;; Fire Nation - Exile
powers;; Firebender, swordsman (dual dao swords), physically strong, stealthy, fast & agile, skilled at hand-to-hand combat
The Avatar must experience sadness... anger... and happiness.
By feeling all these emotions, it helps you understand how precious human life is....
By feeling all these emotions, it helps you understand how precious human life is....
apperance;; Zuko could best be described as a 'long and lean' person. At only 16 years old, he stands fairly tall at 5 feet 8 inches, while weighing in at 140 pounds. Though he is slightly on the higher side for "average" weight, he is built with lean muscle. The muscle that makes up the gist of his build isnt just for show. Zuko has a decent amount of power within him, and he has made sure it doesnt go to waste. Because of how he has trained his body, Zuko is quick, agile, silent, a force to be reckoned with in physical combat, and a brilliant war strategist (though not on par with Azula, brilliant in his own right).
He, unfortunately, is not necessarily blessed with being as physically attractive as other men in his generation (but is, oddly enough, still found to be handsome by females his age). He has straight, dark brown hair coating the top of his head. His amber eyes, coupled with his pale skin beneath his hair is typical of a person born to the Fire Nation. Normally, Zuko keeps his eyes narrowed in thought, making him appear stern. This is not the case, because a truly more fearsome or determined expression is only seen when he is angry or fighting. Someone could be considered lucky if they see how he can be when relaxed, and more carefree. However, even if his expression is relaxed, his left eye always remains narrowed, almost to a squint.
This constant squint is due to a severe burn he received about three years earlier. The entire left side of his face is marred by massive scar that starts after the bridge of his nose flattens to his cheekbone, and it spans outward to the middle of his forehead at its highest point, and dipping down below his cheekbone at the lowest. The scar has a ragged edge, stopping at his hairline in the pattern of a flame. The scar also covers his entire ear. If he could, he would cover this horrible mark up, but he has learned to accept it. Due to the severity of the injury, he no longer has an eyebrow or eyelashes on that side of his face, because his hair cannot grow on his scalp or face where he bears the savage burn, and his left eye is unable to shed many tears, often only enough to make his eye appear glassy...in rare cases a single, thin stream compared to his right. Also, the portion of the scar around his eye is darker than the rest of it. This burn often causes people to take pity on him, because they think it is a wound from the horrible war.
Prior to being labeled as Azula's target, Zuko often dressed in typical Fire Nation clothes. However, on the run, his clothes are looser, and more similar to those of other refugees. He and Iroh have taken to wearing these clothes to blend in more easily with the people surrounding them so they don't stick out.
personality;; Zuko's personality could most easily been described as 'complex'. Prime motivators in what he does is keeping his honor and dignity, which he sought for so long to restore after his troubling past. Through his struggles and the help of his Uncle Iroh, he has kept up a relentless search for the Avatar Aang, despite the fact he has been labeled as a traitor of the Fire Nation and is now on the run from his sister. His incredible determination is something that has kept him going and pulling him through the hardships he has begun to endure. When he gets wind of the Avatar in any way he always leaps at the opportunity to fight and attempt to capture him. He has proven himself to be resourceful, using others in one way or another to aid him in his search. He believes in hard work and never giving up, struggling and fighting for what one wants in order to gain it. He is rather bitter for his young age, this due to his personal circumstances and the fact that he was victimized in many ways by his sister, Azula, and father.
Zuko quietly harbors the childish belief that he is unlucky and the world is against him - the past events in his life have proved to support this statement, no matter how far-fetched it seems. To counter it, he has his unbreakable determination and iron-willed defiance. He is also clever but hot-headed, often letting his temper drive the things he does. He doesn't often stop to think things through, and actions like this have nearly killed him in the past, as it was at the North Pole. Despite his upbringing as a Prince in the Fire Nation, he does not sport obvious cruelty like his father and sister do. He does not like the idea of harming others when there is nothing to gain from it, however he does have a controlling attitude, as though there is a subtle belief that he should have some pull on the reins of the lives of those around him. He dislikes working with people he believes are lower than him, but he does not see them as tools. His tolerance of others has grown greatly due to watching how those less fortunate than him live in times of struggle, and that he has begun sharing the way of living with them. However, tolerance of his own mistakes has not lessened any because of his haunting past.
On the run, he is often perceived as a withdrawn, though easily tempered individual. He often pushes people away when they attempt to reach out to him, believing that standing on his own without the help of others will continue to make him stronger.
However, in the short time he split from Iroh, he turned to desperate, more criminal measures to sustain himself such as robbery. Despite these actions, Zuko does have a functioning moral compass in his body - he has slipped away from stealing from those that have been kind to him, or are in more need of resources than he is at the time. He also stepped up to defend citizens of an Earth Kingdom village against the soldiers that were supposed to defend the town.
Although he will not admit it, he can actually be a caring and protective individual. His uncle, Iroh, is more of a father figure in his life than Ozai is. Although there is a slight inkling in the back of his mind suggesting this, Zuko has pushed it aside, and more often than not does not see Iroh as such a figure. The hardships of living a life on the run and incognito have begun slowly transforming him into a more patient, kind, precise, calculating, and less hot-tempered individual. Just don't piss him off.
family;;
- Aang, Avatar (spiritual re-incarnation of Roku)
- Azula, Princess (sister)
- Azulon, Fire Lord (grandfather ;; deceased)
- Iroh (uncle)
- Lu Ten (cousin ;; deceased)
- Ozai, Fire Lord (father)
- Roku, Avatar (great-grandfather ;; deceased)
- Sozin, Fire Lord (great-grandfather ;; deceased)
- Ursa, Princess (mother)
history;; Zuko is the first-born of Fire Lord Ozai and Princess Ursa. From an early age, he was disdained by his father and the object of his sister Azula's manipulation, ridicule and deception. His mother, however, loved and favored him over her. At some point in his childhood, Piandao trained him in the dual dao swords.
When Zuko was about eleven years old, his cousin, Lu Ten, died while away at war. General Iroh, devastated by the loss of his only child, abandoned his 600-day siege of the Earth Kingdom capital city, Ba Sing Se. During an audience with Fire Lord Azulon, Ozai showed off Azula's prodigious firebending skill and knowledge of military strategy, both outstripping Zuko's. Azulon was unimpressed by these exercises and demanded Ursa and her children leave and Ozai be frank about his reasons for wanting the audience. Azula and Zuko eavesdropped on their conversation as Ozai voiced his desire to be made heir in Iroh's place, justifying this course of action by pointing out that Iroh’s overwhelming grief and subsequent erratic behavior made the date of his return from war uncertain and he had no remaining heirs to carry on his line. Azulon, however, was outraged and declared angrily that Iroh had suffered enough, but Ozai’s suffering had just begun.
Frightened, Zuko ran away while Azula stayed to watch. Later, he was in his room trying to sleep when she came in and mockingly told him that Azulon's punishment for Ozai is that he must kill Zuko, as he wanted him to know what it felt like to lose a child. Ursa, hearing the commotion, came in and took Azula away, declaring it was time that they talked. Zuko, left behind, chanted quietly to himself, "Azula always lies." Later, he was awakened again, but this time by his mother. She told her sleepy son everything that she had done, she did for him, and instructed him not to forget who he was no matter how much things may change. The next morning, he immediately remembered what transpired the night before and ran frantically through the halls searching for his mother. He found Azula, who blithely told him Azulon died the previous night and their mother was missing. As she played with his pearl dagger (a gift from his Uncle Iroh), she mocked him and noted their mother was not there to make her give it back. Eventually, he found Ozai in the gardens of the palace and demanded to know where Ursa was. Ozai did not answer and he hung his head in sorrow. At Azulon’s funeral, the sage conducting the ceremony named Ozai the new Fire Lord upon Azulon's dying request.
Years later, Iroh allowed a persistent, thirteen-year-old Zuko into a war council with Ozai and some of his generals. He ignored Iroh's instructions not to speak during the meeting when one general outlined a plan to sacrifice an entire division of new recruits in a diversionary maneuver. He fiercely disagreed with this, seeing it as a betrayal of the recruits' patriotism. The insubordinate outburst was seen as a grave insult and Ozai demanded that he participate in an Agni Kai. He agreed, unaware he would face his father, not the general he insulted. Upon turning to face his opponent, he was immediately penitent and knelt, refusing to fight, and tearfully begged for his father's forgiveness. Ozai declared his refusal a sign of cowardice and another display of disrespect, and told him he will learn respect, and suffering will be his teacher.
Two and a half years after his banishment, Zuko's travels would lead him to the South Pole. One day on his warship, he witnessed a column of bright light, and he eagerly told his skeptical uncle, Iroh that the light must have been caused by the Avatar; in fact, he was correct, as Aang had just been freed from the iceberg. The banished prince ordered the course be set for the source of the light, determined to capture the Avatar.
After entering the Southern Water Tribe, Zuko quickly made his first capture of Avatar Aang. However, this started a long series of triumphs and failures of the Prince's actions in order to capture the Avatar. From disguising himself as the Blue Spirit and crossing in to the late Admiral Zhao's territory in order to capture the prize they both sought for himself, to even dealing with pirates (which he later made enemies with) to assist his actions, Zuko was incredibly hellbent on capturing the Avatar, believing Aang's capture to be the only way he is capable of restoring his honor and birthright in the eyes of his father, Fire Lord Ozai.
The first main brush Zuko had with Zhao resulted in an Agni Kai, which Zuko won. Initially, the duel was spurred by Zhao confidently goading Zuko in to losing his temper, knowing what would set the Prince off. Zhao declared him no more than a failure and disgrace to the Fire Nation, and that he had the scar to prove it. Zuko angrily demanded if Zhao wanted one to match, initiating the challenge. Though the Agni Kai seemed to be working on Zhao's favor, remembering his Uncle's words and Firebending basics, Zuko regained an upper hand, defeating Zhao and knocking him over, poised to deliver a strike that would burn Zhao's face. Zhao expected Zuko to strike him once more, to mark his victory, but Zuko released a fire blast past Zhao’s face instead after a moment of contemplation. Though he would never admit it, Zuko wouldn't want even his bitter enemies to endure something similar to what he experienced. Instead, Zuko left Zhao, remarking that he "won't hold back" the next time Zhao got in his way.
Over the series of chases for the Avatar, any encounters with Zhao were merely brushes in comparison to their first, as well as last encounter at the North Pole. There, the Prince came the closest to capturing the Avatar than he had in a long while, but at the same time the farthest. His rash actions nearly killed him, and is only alive to this day thanks to Aang's kind heart. After regaining consciousness from Katara's previous attacks, he stealthily freed himself shortly after Zhao killed the moon spirit and set off after him, where he finally caught up to the Admiral, enraged with the man for more reason than one - the primary reason being Zhao tried to have him killed. They dueled for the first time since their Agni Kai, and Zuko defeated the man. Moments after, the Ocean Spirit reached up and began pulling Zhao to his death. After a moment of shock and conflict within himself, Zuko offered help that the Admiral refused. Zuko is the only person to have witnessed Zhao's death.
A short while later, Iroh and Zuko traveled to a nearby Fire Nation colony where they were met by Azula. Zuko was hostile towards his younger sister, being in a particularly bad mood due to it being the third year of his banishment, but the animosity was temporarily quelled by an easily-delivered lie which Zuko believed (he is still disappointed in himself for falling for it). Upon boarding the boat they were to be transported on, he and Iroh found they were actually to be prisoners and made a fast escape. The duo ran into the forest until they came far enough away. They sat by a stream, and Zuko pulled out his dagger Iroh had given him years earlier. He cut off his top-knot as a symbol of severance from his family and the Fire Nation, and gave the dagger to his uncle, who did the same. The two ran off into the countryside as fugitives.
Iroh and Zuko soon had trouble living off the land. Iroh mistakenly ingested a deadly plant, and they were forced to seek aid from a young Earth Kingdom herbalist named Song. Song tried to reach out to Zuko repeatedly, but he rebuffed her. However, when she displayed her own burn scars caused by the Fire Nation, he seemed taken aback and dismayed. As she asked him if his father was involved in the War, he only replied: "Yes, he is." Despite this, as Zuko and Iroh departed, Zuko stole Song's ostrich horse, despite Iroh's protests.
The two grew more desperate and Zuko fumed as Iroh was forced to panhandle for money. After watching Iroh being harassed by a local, Zuko once again donned the guise of the Blue Spirit and turned to stealing from local merchants. Iroh, worried about Zuko, had a talk with him about his suspicious acquisitions and his honor. However when he went further and pointed out that capturing the Avatar at this point would likely not improve their situation or return Zuko to his "rightful place" in the Fire Nation, Zuko pulled away from Iroh and walked off. When he returned, he declared that, after reflection, he decided that they no longer had anything to gain by traveling together and parted ways with Iroh.
Zuko wandered through the Earth Kingdom, passing through forbidding and uninhabited areas. Despite his worsening hunger and lack of supplies, he decided not to rob a young couple when he noticed that the woman was pregnant. Eventually, he stumbled upon a small town that was regularly harassed by a troop of unscrupulous Earth Kingdom soldiers. Zuko stood up to those soldiers, impressing a young boy named Lee, who invited Zuko back to his family's farm for food and shelter. He spent the day helping with chores, and thinking of his own, far less happy childhood. Zuko acted as something of a substitute brother for Lee, whose older brother was off in the war, even giving Lee a quick lesson in how to use dual broadswords when Lee's curiosity prompted him to take them. As Zuko was preparing to leave, the Earth Kingdom soldiers rode to the house and gave the news that Lee's older brother's battalion had been captured. Lee's father decided to join the army to try to get his son back. Lee asked Zuko to stay and take care of them, but Zuko declined. Before leaving, Zuko gave Lee the dagger that he received from Iroh as a boy.
After Zuko left town, Lee's mother came to him, telling him how the soldiers had come back after her husband left to harass the family and took Lee away when he threatened them with the dagger. Having no one else to turn to, she asked Zuko to save him. Zuko denounced the soldiers as common bullies and defeated most of them easily, but the ringleader was an earthbender and Zuko was unable to beat him using only his broadswords. After recalling his mother's last words to him before her disappearance, to "never forget who you are", Zuko firebent to save himself and announced his identity proudly to the town. He retrieved his dagger from the beaten ringleader and tried to give the knife to Lee, but Lee declined and claimed his hatred for Zuko due to his former alliance with the Fire Nation. Despite what he had done for them, the townspeople rejected Zuko because of his identity and he departed, alone, with his dagger.
Zuko found the trail of Azula's tank, who was in turn relentlessly hunting and harrying Aang and company, and began following it. He managed to track Azula into a deserted town where she and Aang were about to face off. He rode in the middle of them, took a fighting stance and warned his sister to leave Aang's capture to him. She told him that she was not going anywhere and took a stance herself. Aang took his own stance, and the three of them stood off, waiting for one to make the first attack. Eventually, Azula fired at Zuko and he was knocked over, despite him creating a fire shield at the last second. When she proceeded to attack Aang, three-way battle ensued.
Azula dominated the fight by launching many powerful attacks and keeping Aang and Zuko on the defensive. Zuko traded several fire attacks with her, and pursued her into a building, where she finally landed a knock-out blow to Zuko. After several minutes, Iroh, who had been following Zuko and watching over his nephew from afar, shook Zuko out of unconsciousness. The two of them joined Aang and his friends, who had joined him earlier. All six cornered Azula, who feigned surrender, only to attack and badly wound Iroh in a moment of distraction. Zuko, Aang, Katara and Toph each launched an elemental attack, but Azula created a spinning wall of fire and disappeared. Zuko ran to his wounded uncle and was grief-stricken. When Aang and his companions tried to approach, Zuko angrily demanded that they left. Katara tried to offer help, but Zuko launched a fire blast at them. They ran away, leaving Zuko to tend his uncle's injuries.
Zuko took Iroh to a small shack at the edge of the town, to tend to his wound. He remains here, patiently waiting by his uncle's side for him to wake from his injured slumber.
Aang, our actions always have an effect,
sometimes positive, sometimes negative... and sometimes not for many lifetimes.
sometimes positive, sometimes negative... and sometimes not for many lifetimes.
your name[/b];; kane
contact/s[/b];; skype: ikazuchi-denkou
codeword[/b];; admin edit
credit to redhatter.
[/size][/blockquote]
[/style]
[/style]