Honor

I'll admit: when starting Avatar, I wasn't expecting much out of a children's cartoon. I certainly didn't expect to love Zuko's character that much when he was first introduced, either -- for one thing, his frenzied quest for the Avatar (and his hair!) made me laugh outright. In fact, upon his appearance in the first episode of the series, my reaction went something like this:

Me: Hahahaha what a loser. He's basically bald with a 2 foot long ponytail in the middle of his head. Hahahaha.

I later learned that this is one instance where first impressions aren't everything; you certainly can't judge a character based on how he looks on the outside (no matter how ridiculous he may seem!). My fascination with Zuko started early on when I realized the depth of his character: inside a sometimes whiny (come on, you can't deny that), angry, and stubborn banished prince lies a passionate, misunderstood, and complicated young man trying to prove himself to his father. Zuko is so interesting to me because he is more than the "bad boy" stereotype -- with him, it's hard to tell if he's truly "good" or "evil" up until the later half of Book 3.

He struggles with his inner demons in a fight to find who he truly is, and I think that's something we can all relate to. I find he's the most human of the characters, and I think that it's pretty awesome that we get to see him grow up and learn from his mistakes in the series. Hopefully I've successfully conveyed my appreciation for his character!