I love Avatar: The Last Airbender and, although I don’t think it’ll be as good as the first, I’m looking forward to watch the sequel, called The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra, promised to start at some point next year.
My favorite character from The Last Airbender? Zuko, by far.
He has an incredible arc during the three seasons of the show.
First, he is the villain. A bad guy trying to capture the Avatar to redeem his reputation before his father. During the second season, he is a fugitive, trying to fit in, but he can’t let go of the past, nor can he imagine the future. He is changing, but not much. And finally, at the third season, he realizes he is a good guy at heart and helps Aang (the Avatar) to defeat his evil father.
Yay for Zuko!
But the cool stuff is during the many episodes of each season. We see Zuko making others suffer, we see him witty and snappy, angry, hurting anyone who dared to cross his path. We see him learning and struggling with that. We see him helping others. We see the hate and anger confined inside of him, the way he wants to blow up and take everyone with him. Then we see him changing, learning to control his anger. Zuko makes new friends, finds out what really matters …
I love that he is so not perfect. I even love his scar. He wouldn’t be the Zuko we know without it.
Another thing I love about him is his girlfriend, Mai.
Mai is kinda of a brat, very spoiled and cold. But, IMO, she is important to the story. Through flashback, we learn Mai is Zuko’s love interest and that they sorta dated when he was a prince.
During the first, second and half of third season, Mai is banded with Azula, another villain of the story and Zuko’s sister. She is an awesome fighter.
At some point, Azula is about to get Zuko (and, more important, the Avatar), but Mai helps them escape. She chooses love over duty, love over her freaky friend. And I love that!
In the end, Zuko becomes Fire Nation King and Mai becomes his queen.
Great, great characters. Great, great character arc.
Roman, from the Georgina Kincaid series by Richelle Mead (first book here), reminds me of Zuko.
He begins as a villain, on a killing spree, but then falls in love and realizes he can change. And his development continues throughout the series.
Gotta love the bad-turned-good boys =)
Don’t you want to write about them too?
Cheers,
