How Can We Be Forgiven? A ‘Zuko’ Case Study From ‘ATLA’
There is no shortage of incredible villains in film and television. One could even argue that they usually take the spotlight in their stories as they are the most fun or the most intriguing (Joker, Hades, Hannibal, etc.).
But what makes a great villain?
Of course there is no God given formula to create the perfect antagonist, and as we saw in just a couple of examples, they can widely vary in terms of character, theme, method, etc.
In this essay, we are gonna take a look at one character who managed to be a great antagonist, and also have one of the best redemption arcs seen on T.V.:
The Fire Prince Zuko, from the Avatar series.
The Last Airbender Antagonist
Quick recap for those who haven’t seen the series or just don’t remember
(HUGE Spoiler warning ahead)
Zuko is the son of the Fire Lord Ozai, a ruthless dictator who has set out to conquer each of the other 3 elemental nations in the world: Air, Water and Earth.
Zuko was banished by his own father for being “weak”. And the only way to regain his honor is to capture the Avatar, the only person who can master all four elements and bring peace to the four nations.
Now let’s see what makes Zuko, a great antagonist for the story of Avatar Aang.
What we need to know from our antagonists
One of the things many writers seem to struggle with, is the unfounded belief that their villain must have a backstory in order to be compelling. While that is not necessarily true, it does make for great storytelling.
However with this in mind, some people think they can just throw a tragedy in the villains past, therefore justifying every action they make from then on. A bullied kid who lost his mommy in a car accident becoming the most evil mass murderer doesn’t make a coherent character, its just over simplistic.
Going back to Zuko. Being the fire prince, the most prosperous nation who keeps conquering and winning battles by the day, has seemingly everything going great for him. When he objects on sending his own men as bait on a suicide mission, his father challenges him to a duel for showing weakness.
When he refuses to participate in said duel, not only is he banished and dishonored, his own father burns him as punishment, leaving a huge scar on the left side of his face.
However, this information is not just thrown as exposition for the audience with no relevance plot wise. We learn this after several episodes when the the crew members of Zuko’s ship complain about the apparent lack of interest from their captain on their well being.
Because he hears this, Zuko’s uncle Iroh, tells this story to the crew, and moments later when Zuko is sailing a storm and closing in on the avatar, he gives up the pursuit to rescue one of his men from falling to the sea.
Consequently, the backstory is given both to the audience and the supporting characters when we need to hear it, not just for the sake of knowing it.
This is key when crafting your villain. You must show what the character values, and how far he is willing to go in order to attain his goals. At first it may seem like Zuko is willing to do anything to get the avatar, but we are shown that he wouldn’t sacrifice the lives of his crew members.
This also illustrates the deeper motivations behind his actions. He wants the avatar, due to the fact that he wants to regain his honor, as he says on dozens of occasions, but this quest for “honor” is really just about acceptance and validation from the people around him. So although misguided, we know there is nobility within him.
Anyways, he is still the bad guy, so lets keep exploring the character’s psyche and the elements that make him interesting.
There Are No Great Heroes Without Great Villains
In every story, the motives of the antagonist and protagonist must be in conflict in either one of two ways:
-The villain wants to stop your hero from achieving his goal (Javert, The White Witch, Davy Jones)
-The villain has his own goal that will result in the defeat of the hero (Thanos, Voldemort, Jafar)
In Avatar, we get both…in a way. Zuko has his own goal, to capture the Avatar Aang, in doing so, our hero would be defeated. But he also wants to stop the Avatar from mastering the elements and helping to put an end on the war and conquest of the Fire Nation.
However this second goal is only in service of what he believes to be a noble cause, hence, the “Lie Your Character Believes” comes into play. For those who don’t know, the lie your character believes is a term in writing that states a misconception the character has about himself, the world, or both, and the character must struggle and face the lie, in order to grow and have a compelling arc.
Zuko’s Wants And Needs Clashing
This goes along the line which divides what the character wants, versus what the character needs. Wants can change, as we see at first he wants to capture the Avatar, then he wants to help him, but the need stays the same. Zuko needs to realize that what he considers honor, is nothing but a tool his father uses against him, and that the war he has been promoting brings nothing but suffering. In realizing this, he is no longer the antagonist; but we are getting ahead of ourselves so lets look back at other elements that constitute his character.
It is hard to properly set up a villain without dissecting the relationship it has with the hero, so in order to make this relationship (and in consequence, the characters) compelling, there must be a strong thematic opposition between them. There is at least one key element that sets them on completely different sides of the argument. Some examples are:
George Bailey (Love and Family) — Mr. Potter (Greed)
Batman (Categorical Imperatives) vs Joker (Nihilism)
The Avengers (Deontological Ethics) vs Thanos (Utilitarism)
Jean Valjean (Mercy) vs Javert (Law)
So when our story begins, Zuko and Aang have a very different set of values and motivations, however, little by little, our antagonist starts to face his lie, and has some missteps along the way, like any human being would, but comes to term with the truth and starts to enact it.
Redemption
It is important to make an emphasis on how Zuko doesn’t change overnight. Even with a clear and strong motivation, hardly any convincing character would shift their entire value system and worldview just like that. This is better illustrated by a pretty simple graphic made by YouTuber HelloFutureMe:
As you can see, to make a natural progression from evil to a good character, he must struggle to make that transition credible to the audience AND the rest of the characters within the story. When Zuko makes his big shift towards good, Aang and his friends don’t buy it, and we feel sorry for him and perhaps think they are being too hard on our renewed character. He is good now, why don’t they give him a break?
However, making our protagonists immediately accept Zuko would make for very poor screenwriting and would have left audiences unsatisfied. It wouldn’t feel real. This is why Aang and more specifically Katara, give him a really hard time for several episodes before they can finally trust him.
Redemption doesn’t mean just becoming good, however hard it might be. The very definition of the word redemption means to earn forgiveness, and to do so, the character must pay a toll.
For more awesome examples of redemption arcs, check our recommendations!
A great example of a redeemed character is the worldwide beloved Tony Stark. At first, he has every classic villain characteristic. He is a narcissistic millionaire who sells weapons of mass destruction, and has no regards for other than himself.
So he pays a heavy price.
He has to carry a car battery that powers an electromagnet to his chest so pieces of shrapnel from his own weapons don’t pierce his heart. He is tortured and slaved and realizes the consequences of his actions, and from that moment on he lives for redemption, all the way to sacrificing his life in the epic conclusion of the infinity saga.
Final Thoughts
Zuko earns his redemption because he is constantly paying for what he’s done. He is beaten down by the people who have been oppressed by the fire nation, and after he gets what he apparently wanted all along, (his honor and his father’s respect) he realizes he feels nothing but bitterness and disappointment.
This is why it is so satisfying to watch him shift his value system.
This is why, Zuko is one of the best villains, in one of the best animated series.
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