Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender (also known as Avatar: The Legend of Aang) is an animated cartoon created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko that aired on the Nickelodeon network for three seasons. Characters in the show have the ability to "bend" one of four elements: water, air, earth, or fire. Although initially geared towards a younger audience, Avatar has grown to appeal to people of all ages, as it has been nominated for and has won multiple awards.
The series focuses on the adventures of Aang, who has been frozen in a block of ice for 100 years. When he finally wakes up from his long slumber, he finds that he is the last airbender of his kind and that the rest of the airbenders have been wiped out in a strategized type of genocide initiated by the firebenders in an attempt to gain total domination over the world. As if that wasn't enough, he realized that he is the Avatar -- an individual who has the capacity to master all 4 elements and who is assigned the critical role in keeping peace within the four elemental nations -- all at the bright and cheery age of 12. Each of the three "books" (seasons) focuses on Aang's attempts to master the 3 remaining elements: water (Book 1), earth (Book 2), and fire (Book 3).
Prince Zuko
Zuko is like any normal teenage boy, except for the burn scar that covers his left eye and face, and the fact that he's the Crown Prince of a nation at war with the world. Zuko is the first born of Fire Lord Ozai and Fire Lady Ursa, and the older brother of Azula. Not as talented as his younger sister, Zuko always trained hard to prove himself as a capable heir and Firebender, and excels in using his dual Dao blades. As we first meet him, he has been exiled from the Fire Nation and placed into the care of his uncle, General Iroh, with the sole mission of capturing the Avatar. He is voiced throughout the series to great effect by Dante Basco (best known on screen as Rufio, from Hook).
In our opinion, Zuko is the most fascinating character in the Avatar-verse. He was originally conceived as a foil to Aang's hero, but essentially grew into his own flawed, developed and extremely likable character. There are so many aspects of Zuko's personality and growth throughout the series that we had to make three shrines! We hope that our tributes will give you current fans something interesting to read about our favourite anti-hero and hopefully convince a few of you Avatar first-timers to watch this amazing series.
