Avatar The Last Airbender – 10 Saddest Things About Zuko

Avatar: The Last Airbender – 10 Saddest Things About Zuko

Zuko’s growth throughout Avatar: The Last Airbender is underpinned by traumatic occurrences that he didn’t deserve and make up a sometimes sad story.

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Avatar: The Last Airbender might be an animated show meant for children, but it appealed to so many fans of all ages. Given that the series deals with many complex themes and heavy subjects, it’s not surprising that many adults have loved the series. While many of the more violent or disturbing elements of the story are handled to be more age-appropriate, some of the characters go through some really traumatic things.

Most of the young protagonists, and even the younger villains, have been through a lot of tragedy, and Zuko is no exception. While he starts out as an antagonist, he gets a redemption arc and becomes rather heroic. And, he also goes through some pretty disturbing things before he’s even an adult.

10 Because he didn’t know how to handle all of his emotions

Given the many things that happened to Zuko when he was just a kid, it’s not surprising that he didn’t have a lot of emotional control. He wasn’t raised by people, except for his mother, who promoted healthy emotions, and he was taught that any kind of weakness needed to be stamped out. As he gets older, he doesn’t know how to handle all of the anger and pain he feels even when others like Toph try to help him.

9 He grew up in an environment of fear

While this list will go into more specifics about the things Zuko was put through as a child, it’s still worth pointing out that overall he lived in a toxic and abusive household. There definitely seems to be severe mental illness combined with a family culture of fear and violence in the Fire Nation royal family. It’s not a place where a child could feel safe unless they assimilated into the ideology, like Azula.

8 He believed Fire Nation propaganda

While this isn’t exclusive to Zuko, it is an interesting thing to think about. Zuko himself realizes that he was lied to and fed propaganda after spending time as a refugee in Ba Sing Se. He starts to see the truth of the world and how the Fire Nation is actually feared and hated around the world. This is a difficult lesson for him to learn, but it’s also key for him to finally leave his family behind.

7 He had to figure out how to handle the guilt he carried

After Zuko finally decides to embrace the good side of himself, he still isn’t suddenly happy and well-adjusted. He finally realizes the weight of all his actions and the pain that he himself has caused. He feels a lot of guilt and shame for the things he’s done, including how he betrayed Uncle Iroh.

While feeling these feelings was necessary for him to heal and become a better person, he did have a lot of things he had to forgive himself for, and this wouldn’t have been an easy thing to do.

6 Azula was always degrading him

While Zuko was treated poorly by his grandfather and especially his father, his relationship with his sister was also fraught. Even though Azula was younger than him, she was seen as the prodigy and stronger than Zuko ever was. She definitely took this to heart herself and turned around and treated Zuko badly, too. She was always putting him down and mocking him, and it was just one other relationship where Zuko was made to feel less than.

5 He was too traumatized to see that Iroh really loved him

Without Iroh in his life, Zuko would have been really alone with no one who truly cared for him, at least after his mother, Ursa, left. Iroh was always doing his best to be there for Zuko and keep him safe, and he was always slowly showing him a different way of life than what Zuko knew from his upbringing. However, because Zuko was already so traumatized, he couldn’t even accept this love, and he also treated Iroh badly.

4 Azula wanted to kill Zuko

While Azula and Zuko’s relationship was never good by any means, it just got worse as they got older. Azula was always willing to do whatever Ozai told her, and she treated Zuko by the example Ozai had set.

Azula tries to trick Zuko and Iroh and capture them at the end of the first season. And, then, after Zuko leaves the Fire Nation again to help Aang, Azula has no guilt or issues with possibly killing her own brother.

3 His mother had to leave to save his life

While Zuko’s childhood is pretty horrific in many ways, he did have a mother who loved him. Ursa, who is actually the granddaughter of Avatar Roku, wasn’t evil or cruel like her husband and his family. Zuko clearly took after his mother, and she provided some emotional support and stability in his life. However, she had to leave him without explaining why in order to save his life. This entire story is messed up and shows how cruel Ozai was to his own wife and how all he wanted was power.

2 Ozai physically harmed him and banished him

The two worst and saddest things about Zuko have to do with Ozai and how he treated his own son. While we don’t know exactly how Ozai treated him in general, there is the impression that he disliked Zuko for being weak. And, then, when Zuko did something as little as speaking out of turn as just a pre-teen, Ozai challenged him to an Agni Kai. He burned his son’s face beyond repair and then banished him from the kingdom and gave him an impossible task.

1 His father was going to kill him as instructed by his grandfather

While burning Zuko and banishing him is truly awful, this is slightly worse. First of all, the fact that Azulon, Zuko’s grandfather, decided to punish Ozai by making him murder Zuko is so disturbing. And, it’s even more disturbing that Ozai was going to go through with it. If it wasn’t for Ursa murdering Azulon so Ozai could ascend to the throne, Zuko would probably have been killed by his own father.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/avatar-the-last-airbender-saddest-things-about-zuko/

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