The Character Arc That Changed Cinema 

Really it's Zuko's story. The show's title and protagonists were strategically chosen to avoid spoilers.

I also love how he really didn't just redeem himself on his own. He first needed to see the damage the fire nation was doing to the rest of the world, combined with his uncle's unconditional love and understanding. Having a great role model allowed Zukko to realize there is a path to redemption, and gave him a goal to aspire to. Seeing Iroh embrace Zukko when they reunite in the white lotus camp was the strongest emotional moment in the seires, highlighting how important the two are to each other.

The more I watch avatar, the more I realize just how good Zuko’s character arc is. Truly one of the most fleshed out, well written and amazing characters not just in animation, but in all of fiction.

wow i really like that sentiment about male characters saying sorry. its like its the bare minimum but society just expects that its not normal for men to express themselves, thus, saying sorry is seen as "enough" and "it must've taken a lot to do that. be grateful". ive heard this in my own life about my dad, because he never said sorry. one time i tried to take my dog off his leash to go inside but he ended up running the other way into the street instead. my dad screamed at me with the most anger id ever seen in my life, it was actually terrifying, because hes usually the "slowly boiling with rage" type of angry. i had been screamed at many times in my life but that is the one time that will always be seared into my memory because of how traumatic it was. i ran up to my room crying, but the key was that i witnessed our family friend, my dads college best friend who is also my "god father" wide eyed at the sight of what he just saw, opening his mouth to try to speak but i rushed upstairs too quickly to listen. and soon after, my dad came into my room, and for the first time ever, apologized to me. he sounded genuinely remorseful, and so i tried to forgive him. but one thing stuck out in my mind which was the fact that his best friend had witnessed it all happen. i began wondering if he only apologized because he felt pressure to do it. my dad has since gotten a little better at apologizing, but he still considers it a "personality trait" to be stubborn and never admit hes wrong. he even proudly states "im always right you know". my dads rage still gives me nightmares and he is also the reason i cannot drive because his road rage left me emotional scars that give me chronic panic attacks so it is very dangerous for me to be on the road. if only everyone could redeem themselves like zuko, the world would be a much better place.

I almost didn't watch this because I don't know anything about the airbender or who zuko is but this turned out to be such a good video and so much more interesting than if it had just been about the ark itself. So many "analysis" channels just recap things with a bit of commentary. You really did this topic justice and I love it! Thank you.

I actually feel bad for azula- unlike her brother she was so messed up but didn’t wish to acknowledge it

Great video! I also love how Zuko's path is characterized by suffering, difficulties and mistakes. No growth can be believable for a "bad guy" unless the process costs him much. And no one would blame Zuko for having it too easy in ATLA

Zuko is one of my favorite characters ever, he is the most genuine "good guys" in TV. He's not good because its a part of his personality, or because he was raised to be good, but at a young age he's clear minded enough to find his way to good and choose it no matter what happens. Its the purest kind of good that comes from a soul brave enough to express it. It makes him the most likable.

I really hope the Netflix live action version doesn't butcher this serious, ive seen both things that get me excited and things that worry me about the changes made in production.

Zuko does show positive emotion to iroh in season one, he picks iroh over aang when he gets captured by the earth soldiers and when iroh gives him a teary goodbye in the north even before he gets tell him he thinks of him as a son he immediately says "I know". For someone who has always suffered abuse that was his way of being affectionate. but watching his personality develop over time, become more verbally and physically affectionate, how he eventually helps all of the team will always be one of my favourite things about the show. And the quote "that's rough buddy" is something season 1 zuko never would have said.

Something i notice is the economic way they use zukos arc to accomplish multiple functions throughout the story. He begins antogonistic while also being a perspective character for the firenation showing the audience the progress team avatar needs to make in order to stand a chance at stopping firelord Ozai. practically we also see him as a solution to many of the problems the avatar finds himself in as hes a more manageable evil then some of the other antagonists they face. basically offering the avatar a way of getting out of things he wasnt ready to overcome yet. As he becomes more human and empathetic he functions as a way showing what an outsider experiences living in a war torn world. he shows the pleights that everyone else is going through because of his familys actions. he also shows us the dangers of being alone in this world and how much the characters will need to trust each other if they hope to succeed. Then finally we works as a window into the ideology behind firebending and enabling aang to progress on both the stated goal of mastering the elements and the internal goal of reconciling his wrath and a sense of justice. if the writers had chosen an "easy" way out these parts of the story and these perspectives would have either been lost entirely or would have been fragmented amongst multiple character lessening their effectiveness. As much as its a masterful redemption arc, its also a masterful use of hiding exposition and worldbuilding in character.

The redeeming sacrifice is one of the most used solution to a villain/antagonist (hell, even a friendly character that's important to the main story) that outlives their purpose in the yakuza series that it's not even funny anymore. I really wish they knew another way to make a character redeem for their actions without randomly killing them. That makes cases like Zuko all the more wonderful and satisfying. Already great video.

I just rewatched all of ATLA just to re-experience Zuko's redemption arc, finished the last episode 30 min ago and this video came out literally yesterday?! Anyway I think you nailed why it's such a satisfying journey to witness. It also makes him by far the most interesting and well developed character imo

New soak video the day is good

Avatar the last air bender… so awesome. Can’t believe it came out so many years ago. (Getting old…lol)

11:39 this is one of the things that really sold me on zutara as a couple. unlike aang, who is judgmental and condescending to katara, zuko is empathetic and accepting, and lets katara decide for herself what she needs in order to get closure and process her trauma. the writers tried really hard to make zuko look like the bad guy, a toxic friend who brings out the worst in katara, but honestly he only did and said exactly what i hoped he would and what i would've done and said in his shoes. "the southern raiders" was written to destroy the argument for zutara, but it only made it exponentially stronger.

❤👏🏾Fantastic use of the concept of the deuteragonist. One of the best examples of symbolism is that Zuko is a descendant of the previous avatar, Roku. Iroh’s reveal and line about how that struggle and turmoil in him is the product the struggle between Roku and Sozin gives yet another layer and foil to his connection to Avatar Aang.

Great Video about a great series. Zuko definitely one awesome character. I remember when the series first aired on german tv and i watched the first few episodes out of boredom, i got hooked on the episode when he chooses not to further chase Aang for now, in fabour of keeping his ships crew alive. Kinda foreshadowing, that he isnt the big bad evil he kinda shows to be. I might've been young back then, but i could appreciate this type of character.

Its great to see you again going at it on the things you are passionate about

great analysis as always! hard agree no redemption arc hits as hard as zuko's

So good to see you back at it on this channel. This was masterfully done.

This is such a well-made video, and I LOVED your whole analysis. Looking forward to seeing more of your content! :)

18:46 That having been said, I do appreciate the moments where Zuko still has emotional highs or his temper flares up but not the degree it was before & he manages to calm down & (unlike before) talk things through, meaning he doesn’t lose core aspects of his personality that we grew to love & this honestly feels how a person would organically grow. This also happens with Catra from She-Ra - another character similar to Zuko whose creation honestly feels very inspired by him.

Really nice video, i watched it for the first time about a year never saw all the layers to it :)

absolutely amazing. So glad you made a video around Avatar

💖😭💖 Such a great story and such a great breakdown of why. Thanks for this!

I’ve been rewatching!! It’s so good!!

Thank you for doing this video essay ✨

Great video!! Thank you for making it

i always liked zuko most the entire time even before his redemption began

I love Zuko he’s my favourite character in the show and I just love his redemption arc is the best one I’ve seen besides Scrooge from a Christmas carol and took me a few episodes to start liking him and to get used to him and by the end of the he was my favourite character

Might watch this series again now thanks svb :) great insight by the way

Just found your channel but looking forward to future videos and I'm going to check out older ones honestly think this channel deserves more views and subs this video is pretty great and very comprehensive (and I agree zukos redemption ark is a great one)

Amazing video man, thank you so much. Love your takes. That reunion scene with Zuko and Iroh still hits a little too close to home lol

I personally think Arbiter's redemption arc in the Halo trilogy is similar and on par with Zuko's. If you really think about it, they're more similar than you think. In their beginnings, they both received their mark of shame for their failures. Arbiter getting his burned on his body from Tartarus, chieftain of the brutes, and Zuko getting his burned on his eye from his father. Zuko then becomes devoted to getting his honor back by hunting the Avatar, and Thel Vadam(Arbiter) becomes the new arbiter in order to get his honor and respect back. When Arbiter kills the Elite heretic leader after he and 343 guilty spark told him the lies that the prophets were spewing, he begins to question his loyalty to the Covenant, and when Zuko finally got his father's respect after thinking he killed Aang after being told by Azula, he starts to question his loyalty to the fire nation and after betraying his Uncle. When Tartarus betrays Arbiter, it is similar to when Azula found Zuko and his Uncle to tell them that his father wants them to come back to the Fire Nation, but instead being told accidentally by her men that they were actually going to be prisoners. After the encounter with the Flood Gravemind along with Master Chief, he confronts Tartarus at the hall to activate the next Halo ring. He tells them the truth about what Halo really is, and I think it's similar to when Zuko reunited with his Uncle in an emotional moment. The 2 lines really resonated with me on how similar they are being: "Tartarus, the prophets have betrayed us." And "I was sad because I thought you lost your way." Arbiter is broken inside because his role in the covenant was all for a lie he didn't want to believe, and Iroh was sad inside because he thought he lost Zuko to help him become the man he wanted him to be. If you also think about it, Tartarus and Azula have some similar traits. The we're both jealous of their rivals. Tartarus hated Thel Vadam(Arbiter) because Brutes and Elites hated each other while also being jealous, and Azula was jealous because of Zuko getting more love from his mother when they were younger. They were both tools being used for a cause. Tartarus sadly didn't want to believe what he was doing was for a lie and had to fight Arbiter, and Zuko and Azula had one final Agni Kai battle to finish it once and for all to become Fire lord. Then once their arcs came to an end, Zuko became the Fire Lord and brought the war to an end, and Arbiter killed the last prophet and after his fellow Elites made peace with the humans and returned to their home planet. And those are why I think these 2 redemption arcs are similar to each other.

Another awesome video SVB! I hope you are doing better.

Great video! ❤Zuko is a fantastic example of real redemption and his arc is the hands down the model writers should look to when they want to redeem a character.

So excited to see another video here ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Great video!

One of the greatest anime show, 3 commons tropes, the great analysis: this video has everything to pop off!

Came from the Overwatch channel and I loved the video! I'm a big ATLA fan and I'd love to hear some insights on Korra series aswell. That one was rather controversial on release but it ended up growing on me even though I believe it could've been better with a bit more "villain" development.

His redemption arc is almost biblical. It's so good. Its what draws my back to the show. I've watched it so many times and will never get sick of it

Really enjoyed this video, well done! Be interested in your views on other characters in the series !

Zuko is without a doubt one of best characters I've ever seen in Film/TV. He frequently makes mistakes until he puts in the work to redeem himself. It's a true human experience. Whenever I feel I'm in a spiritually low point, I try to remember Zuko's arc to pick myself back up. How many characters can do that?

Zuko is the secondary protagonist

I just started watching you, and man I like your voice XD

Holy shit he was yapping on passengers for so long I forgot this was about zukos redemption arc

Great analysis! When I watched Passenger I thought to myself: "Am I the only one finding this scenario still a bit weird/creepy?" This channel deserves much more attention! :) If you still like suggestions, I would like to see an analysis of Patrick Bateman (I know, I know, American Psycho is pretty old and I don't know your target audience... However, I feel like he is the most misunderstood character until today. There are so many tiktok clips and YT shorts about him as a role model with his discipline, success and "sIgMa-EnErgY". And it seems like everyone missed the fact that he is a satirical flawed figure. For example, he puts so much effort into his appearance yet nobody can remember his name because all his colleagues are all as empty inside and look the same. He is so insecure about his business card that he almost has a nervous breakdown because of some minimal design difference. He does not even do anything at his job aside from reading "magazines" and listening to music and yet he talks about success, prestige and hard work. He is completely desperate for attention and recognition but nothing he does has any positive impact or negative consequences... not even murdering people. It is so baffling to me that kids today (and even old people) admire Patrick Bateman even though he is obviously such a comically flawed pathetic character.

"Sorry is enough" basically explains Bakugou and how I saw his 'redemption' from my hero academia. I get Bakugou changed a lot. But saying sorry doesn't undo the trauma and pain he put Izuku, his so-called childhood best friend, through and the suffering he caused towards everyone else. He's a bully and a spoiled brat. Sure, it took a lot for him to admit he was wrong, but that just says how proud and prideful he is. If it takes the world falling into a villain/hero war for you to apologize for ten years of abuse and suicide baiting that's not showing how much he's changed, but just that he's a prideful person whose been raised to believe that he was always right and if anyone disagreed they should expect an explosion to the face and happened to have one time he broke through that bratty exterior. Zuko was similar, but his redemption was better because team avatar didn't forgive Zuko until after MULTIPLE times he had proven to be on their side.

I love Zuko so much the whole time I was watching the show even in season one I just felt so sorry for him because all he wanted was to be loved and honored by his nation and family! It pisses me off to no end when his father had burned his eye and banished him like wtf 😳! Thank goodness that Zuko has his amazing uncle iroh who showed him how to be loved and how to help him find his way! Zuko will always be my favorite character of all time!!!!!!! 😊🥰❤️

Excellent video

Love your work SVB the last airbender is fantastic and love to see your thoughts on it

As a kid you’re so conditioned to the good guy bad guy trope. When someone like Zuko breaks that binary its a really confusing experience but it rly teaches you a lot.

great vid

I haven't even watched it yet and I agreeeeeee (After watching:) Loved it. This is exactly the arguments I make too, I feel so listened to u.u

14:20 Barney: The Julie Mendoza Diagonal. She played jumprope with that line.

Great video

9:38 damn he looks so good here

Zuko would have been perfect if he ended up with Jin. Edit:this analysis was amazing! I will be binging your content!

This has been on my watch later list since it first came out - absolutely worth it. Beautifully meaningful, does the exceptional show AtLA justice. Have you been watching The Dragon Prince?

this is great, made me wonder if im a good person or .. not? :) you say good people learn from their mistakes, but sometime we take a long time to learn it, like zuko did. what he always a good person? when did he become a good person? how many mistakes can we make and still be good? its probably a bit reductionist, and i wonder if its valuable putting these labels on people. great video, thanks!

Zuko is a goat and was the only reason I was even interested in the show to begin with.

I like how he didnt just turn into another charecter. I've seen that before, and it get's annoying. He's still stubborn, tunnel-visioned, determined, and curagious. But these traits have evolved.

A great video on a topic that's already been doscussed often, but your comparisons and the use of tropes was really good and new. As a big watcher of video essays, I felt like you repeated yourself at points. It's a good structure, but if you crossreference points you already made, you could cut that down by a few sentences, generally the audience watches rather attentive in this genre.

Never watched Avatar but it's SVB content so I will watch :)

To me Zuko always had a great character arc, but watching videos like these make me appreciate it more

TLA was definitely a story about Zuko, he was the hero that saved the world, he ended the hundred year war and brought the fire nation back into a united world, yea Aang was instrumental in achieving these goals but Zuko was the key to making it a reality.

"That's rough buddy."

16:00 I understand that very well. There are some idiots who don't get this. They expect things but aren't changing.

I’ve seen the show like 20 times through and still will always love the redemption arc zuko has

I don't think there is a redemption arc in fiction quite like Zuko's. I mean I love Arthur Morgan and Joel Miller but damn Zuko was done just so perfectly.

For the redeeming sacrifice thing, Darth Vader could have been used as the example.

I'm very happy to assume that I'm not the only person with 3 - 7 TV Tropes tabs open on my poor phone all day, every day, for some light reading :D

And it's not to say that zuko doesn't have an apology/acceptance moment. He has one with Uncle Iroh. The difference is Uncle iroh knows zuko's internal struggle with morality and zuko recognizes the quick acceptance and even questions its validity for his wrong doings towards his uncle

Gaara(naruto) is similar, him and Zuko are the only two that do this that i can think of off top. However, Zuko really is the Gold standard.

I am glad he redeemed himself

Zuko made me appreciate the element of fire. He represents it so well compared to his sister and father

Zuko starts off as a character who’s only out for himself. It’s kill or be killed because he was raised to see the world. This way his father can manipulate him and he will always live in fear that if he does not prove himself he will be replaced. It’s scary because Zuko has all the potential to become a ruler as or more cruel and tyrannical than his father. However he is shown genuine love and affection from his uncle and this allows him to decide for himself what he will become

I was 41yo when I watched avatar. I made big mistakes that costed me a lot, almost ruining my life. I saw myself in Zuko, and his journey and Iroh's words were my guide. That's why I cannot stand Korra.

Soak >>>

I'd liked the movie Passengers, manly because I am a Chris Pratt fan and so I had no big Problem to forgive him his failures But I think your are right. Neutral seen he is a big asshole and he’s personality did not change in the whole movie. On the Other hand Sheldon has Asperger and so it is mostly impossible for him to behave better or friendlier, so I think it was not the best example you took...

19:38

Zuko’s story is literally the prodigal son story from the Bible.

This channel name makes me think of mormon kids soaking it up

SVB is that you

Havnt seen the movie passengers but the thing is based on beard growth he has been alone for a few years. It's enough to drive anyone crazy. Probably still a shit film but I can at least get where he is coming from. See Red Dwarf for a more comedic take on the same idea. Zukos arc WAS the show.

Good video but I disagrees it’s the best in TV and film history. Maybe best in kid’s cartoon.

Don’t have to explain why to me. The show was basically about him.

Heyo svb

You never really identified with Chris Pratt and the agony he felt.

Glad I don't need to watch passengers lol. Anyways, isn't Sheldon supposed have autism and from watching the show, doesn't he grow by the end of the show.

Itachi walks in 🤦🏻‍♂️

Seriously history is simple make a simple method realistic that's it

Bro, why do you Gotta make that come off as creepy? The dude was just lonely Jesus.

Well people love the redeeming sacrifice so much, they keep christianity around. Except there, god sacrifices himself to himself to forgive himself his own mistakes. Not very fulfilling. I prefer ATLA's morality.

What you seem to view as Chris Pratt being creepy was meant to show how much he was struggling with his situation. Complete and utter isolation for a full year, knowing that it’ll be for the rest of his life, would make it very easy to become transfixed by the idea of a person. He battles with it, trying everything he can to sate that need for human interaction. He didn’t grow a grizzly beard just to change things up, it’s scientifically proven anyone would be broken by that. It’s a moral grey area, the movie even outlines it as such thanks to Laurence Fishburne’s character. It’s by no means a perfect story, but to reduce the character to “creepy stalker” throws out any potential takeaway and makes actually fitting uses of the phrase less condemning. Loved your vid about anime/europe and intend to watch a lot more of your stuff (great voice btw!), but really hope you take another look at this

aye i think reducing chris pratt to creepy stalker isnt fair. Isolation would make anyone make a similar choice.

The Sorry Trope- that's why I can't stand House MD or Sherlock. Asshat is not a character trait.

sry, but this egomaniac creeper plot is incredibly BS - I came here for zuko - not some 4th grade story writing turned into a movie

Never get tired of hearing your voice. I can see how watching Zuko's journey can give you solace after what happened. Even though you were far from the villain of that incident. Zuko's humble nature towards the end can be a good reminder of how to overcome these things. Pride is not the opposite or shame, but rather its source. Humility is the antidote. You are loved and appriciated, SVB. 🤍🤎❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤