[OOC] The Wake application
Personal Information
Name: Stefan
Age: 21
Personal LJ: dragoon1940
Email / AIM / MSN: dragoon1940@gmail.com / dragoon1940
Character Information
Character Name: Zuko, Crown Prince of the Fire Nation
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Source: http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Prince_Zuko
Character History: Zuko was born approximately sixteen years ago to Princess Ursa and Prince Ozai of the Fire Nation. His early childhood was normal and a rather comfortable one, as he was royalty and thus treated like it. Despite this, he was still expected to receive an education and learn how to Firebend (a task with which he struggled slightly). His younger sister, Azula, was a Firebending prodigy, not to mention a fantastically fast learner and tended to surpass him in that area. He and Azula didn’t get along very well - Azula tended to be cruel and devious, mocking Zuko when she had the chance.
His relatively idyllic life would come to an end, however. At the age of ten, his cousin Lu Ten was killed during a battle outside of the walls of the great Earth Kingdom city of Ba Sing Se. His uncle (Lu Ten’s father) Iroh, a famed general and known as the Dragon of the West, was devastated and called off the siege of the city to return to the Fire Nation. Ozai, seeing a chance to advance his position, demanded that Azulon, the current Fire Lord, name Ozai as his heir instead of Iroh. Angrily, Azulon refused and ordered Ozai to kill Zuko so that he would know the pain of losing a child.
Ursa intervened. She woke Zuko up that night and told him that she loved him, that she had done everything for him and that he should remember who he was. Then, she vanished. The next morning, it was announced that Azulon had died and that on his deathbed, he named Ozai as his heir. Ursa had vanished.
Zuko spent the rest of his childhood preparing for a future as Fire Lord and eventually ended up under the wing of his Uncle Iroh. At age thirteen, against his uncle’s advice, he barged into a war meeting between OZai and his generals. Despite Iroh’s advice to remain silent, Zuko spoke up to denounce a plan that would sacrifice a whole division of new recruits. Ozai, feeling insulted, ordered Zuko to undertake an Agni Kai (ritual duel). Zuko, in the belief he would be fighting one of the generals, accepted. However, when the time came, he found himself facing his father. Unable to bring himself to fight, Zuko begged forgiveness. Callously, Ozai taught Zuko a “lesson in respect” and badly burned the left side of his face, permanently scarring him. He stripped Zuko of his birthright and exiled him from the Fire Nation. Zuko would only be allowed to return if he could find the Avatar, who had vanished one hundred years before. A fool’s errand.
Zuko spent the next three years combing the world for the Avatar, mentored and accompanied by his uncle and a small crew aboard an older Fire Nation ship. Finally, while once more combing the South Pole, they discovered something. The Avatar had finally shown himself - a twelve year-old Airbender named Aang, who had been frozen in ice for the last one hundred years. Zuko tried - and failed - to capture him. However, this would only be the start of an epic chase. As Aang and his friends fled, Zuko left in hot pursuit.
Soon after, while getting repairs for his ship, Zuko encountered Admiral Zhao, also of the Fire Nation. The two developed an intense rivalry and hatred for one another, as both sought to capture the Avatar. Zuko challenged and successfully beat Zhao in an Agni Kai. Zuko once again set out to capture the Avatar. Despite intense pursuit, Zuko was unable to apprehend the Avatar during an encounter on Kyoshi Island.
Zuko encountered Aang several more times in the course of his pursuit; each time, the Avatar eluded him. At one point, Zuko took on the persona of the Blue Spirit, using a mask and black clothing to infiltrate a Fire Nation stockade and free Aang - with the intention of capturing him himself. This persona would come in handy again later.
Zuko’s crew was conscripted by Zhao for an attack on the North Pole, where Aang had gone to learn waterbending. Shortly afterward, Zhao attempted to assassinate the young prince with explosives. Thanks to his Firebending skills, he survived and stowed away on the invasion fleet. At the North Pole, he managed to infiltrate the Northern Water Tribe’s city and kidnap Aang - however, he was eventually forced to take shelter from a blizzard and Aang was rescued.
Zuko returned to the Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom, still determined to hunt down the Avatar after the defeat of the Fire Nation at the North Pole. He and Iroh were nearly tricked by his sister, Azula, but managed to flee before they could be imprisoned. Exiled and now wanted by the Fire Nation, they traveled together for a short time before they separated for a time. Zuko wandered the Earth Kingdom on his own, learning more and more that the Fire Nation was not the benevolent country he had thought it was. He discovered that many viewed the Fire Nation as destructive invaders.
After a time, he finally reunited with his uncle. After attempting to learn hwo to redirect lightning, the pair set off for the Earth Kingdom city of Ba Sing Se. Along the way he made friends with a boy named Jet (who was in fact an Earth Kingdom resistance fighter). Once in Ba Sing Se, he and his uncle managed to set up a successful tea business. For a time Zuko was at peace - perhaps he could spend his days there. Everything fell apart when Azula, along with Mai and Ty Lee, infiltrated the city and through a series of orchestrations and with the assistance of the secret police known as the Dai Lee, seized control of the city for the Fire Nation.
Zuko, after a torturous decision process, accepted an offer from Azula to return home - something he thought he desired - and turned against the Avatar and his friends once more. However, he still felt guilty - especially for letting down Uncle Iroh. On the return to the Fire Nation, he and Mai kindled a relationship. They had strong feelings for one another and grew close.
Despite Zuko’s return, he felt uneasy. Nothing was as he imagined it would be. Despite having his father’s approval, he still felt wrong and out of place. After weeks, he finally admitted to his friends and sister that he was angry at himself and he wasn’t sure why. Eventually he reached a decision - he would join the Avatar and help him restore balance to the world. On the Day of Black Sun, during a solar eclipse, he informed his father of his decision. Furious, Ozai tried to strike him down with lightning. Zuko redirected it successfully and then vanished from the Fire Nation.
He tracked the Avatar to the Western Air Temple and despite some initial difficulties, succeeded at joining the group. There was some hostility from Katara, who felt personally betrayed and antagonized by Zuko after their earlier encounters, but he managed to fit in. Zuko accompanied Aang to the ruins of the ancient Sun Warrior civilization, where they discovered that dragons still lived and learned the inner truth behind Firebending. Shortly afterward he and Sokka successfully infiltrated the Boiling Rock, a maximum security Fire Nation prison, and freed Suki (Sokka’s girlfriend and warrior in her own right) and Hadoka (Sokka’s father). Zuko also encountered Mai again, who felt betrayed after Zuko had fled the Fire Nation. Despite exchanging angry words, Mai put her life on the line to save Zuko’s.
It is from roughly this point that Zuko “wakes”.
Character Personality:
Zuko is still a young man learning to deal with life and his own fiery temper. At heart, he is a good person. He has a strong moral compass and he generally does what he believes is right. Somewhat self-sacrificing, he will put the interests of his nation or friends before his own. He used to be concerned with his own honor and how others perceived that honor. However, he has since realized that he makes his own honor and that no one can take that from him.
He has a temper which tends to flare out of control. Hwoever, he has and is learning to control it. Although he still has angry outbursts, they are more often than not merely words rather than full blown firebending or table-flipping. He has become calmer, more centered. Which isn’t saying much, but still. This also means he tends to get frustrated when something doesn’t work out as planned.
Zuko is also a bit socially awkward. He grew up leading a sheltered life and did not meet many new people outside of a small ring of nobility and royalty. He has trouble determining the best thing to do in a social situation or figuring out what would be the most appropriate thing to do. He has a tendency to be awkward (if polite). This also means that he has a hard time talking to other people about what might be bothering him and lends itself to brooding.
Despite shortcomings, he’s stubborn and tenacious. He’ll refuse to give up in the face of adversity , although sometimes this means he’s still trying long after it would’ve been the sensible thing to throw in the towel. Thus, he’ll keep trying. And trying. And trying. And trying. This ties into his an intense sense of loyalty, both to his country and to his friends. When he left the Fire Nation to assist the Avatar, he believed that he was doing not just the best thing for himself, but also for his nation.
Powers:
Samples
First person:
Uh, hello? This thing is working, isn’t it? Uh, anyway. Zuko here. I have a question, actually. This is so stupid. I don’t know why I’m even- Anyway! Uh, I found this… round… pastry thing. I think they’re kind of like tarts, but they don’t actually have any fruit in them. They’re just… sweet, I guess. And the middle is missing. What’s it called?
Third Person:
Breathe in. Breathe out. Feel the heat build in deep down in your belly and let it flow through, focus it out through your arms and push-a sheet of flame leapt from Zuko’s hand and dissipated into the air. The Fire Nation Prince stepped back into his guard stance and let out another breathe, his whole body relaxing. He’d been at this for at least an hour now, simply going through the movements, training himself for that day in the near future when he would have to face his sister and the Avatar would have to face his father. Zuko paused and fell out of his stance, looking up into the blue sky overhead, squinting against the bright sunlight. He and the rest of the Avatar’s group had been hiding out on the Island for the last few days, preparing for the end. This was his destiny and he couldn’t let himself down. He couldn’t let Aang down.
Or the world. His nation was depending on him (whether they realized it or not) to bring peace back to them and their homes, to ensure that no more of their fathers, brothers, and husbands would die or have to spend time so far from home.
However, his train of (gloomy) thought was interrupted by a spray of water. Spluttering and indignant he turned on his heel to see the rest of the Avatar’s group - Aang, Katara, Toph, Sokka - laughing from the water.
“Come on, Zuko. You’ve been up there brooding for the last hour. Join the fun!”
Zuko spluttered for a moment longer, trying to get out something about the upcoming fight and how this was far too serious for them to be playing around in the water right now. Then he got hit by another water-bended wave of water and he was well and truly soaked. With a sigh of defeat, he began shrugging out of his wet shirt. He managed a grin as he trotted down towards the water. Maybe he did deserve just a little bit of relaxation.