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Prince Zuko

Name: Prince Zuko

Journal: [honorinflames]

Race: Human

Age: 17

Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Loss: Memories of Mai

Played by: Redpyre

Room: ???

Arrived in Paradisa: August 13 2010

Temporary Losses: none yet

There is very little middle ground when it comes to Zuko. At most times, he is either in the midst of a rage, or glowering quietly in a corner. Either silent or roaring, with very rare moments of anything in between, and abrupt switches between his gears. Without outside guidance-- his uncle Iroh being the most powerful example --it's unlikely that he would ever learn how to temper his extremes and find any semblance of balance. As it is, balance is still a rare commodity in Zuko's world. He doesn't understand it, doesn't know how to find it on his own, and it leaves him vulnerable.

At first--and probably also second and third--glance, he comes off as being utterly singleminded. With his undying dedication to finding the Avatar and restoring his honor, his thoughts don't seem to go very deep. Just a snarling teenage monster, consumed with the shallow drive of pursuit. Zuko is actually a very complicated boy however, with a capacity for compassion and greatness...but, more often than not, this rarely makes it to the surface. It gets overridden by his drives and his outbursts as he latches onto anything that makes sense, and then chases it until something breaks. Being rejected by his father and banished from his home has left him without anything to stand on; it has broken the foundation of the world he understands. The confusion and insecurity goes bone deep now, leaving him clinging to anything semi-stable with a rabid sort of determination. He is sure that he's right, because it would leave him with nothing if he's wrong.

Though he is skilled and driven as a leader, commanding and conquering, trained by masters in all the things a Prince of the Fire Nation is expected to be trained in... he was almost completely starved of a normal teenage life, and this has left him awkward in simple social situations. He has no hobbies, he doesn't know how to enjoy the little things, he doesn't know how to just relax and be a kid. He doesn't see the point in socializing with people who aren't going to further his agenda in some way... though, he can't isolate himself forever when he's stuck in the same castle-shaped cage as they are.

It takes pure patience to really work with him, which is why Iroh is one of the only people who has ever managed it. Though he is very intelligent, he acts before he thinks. Though he has alot of heart, it's usually only used to fuel his anger, and give others a target to wound. Though he continually seeks to better himself, his myriad of insecurities keep from him opening himself enough for real change to come easily.

Before his arrival in Paradisa, he managed to step so far out of his usual destructive patterns because of one selfless act, that he fell ill. The turmoil of having to come to terms with this change was so great that he was overcome with fever and vivid hallucinating dreams, leaving Iroh to wait for him on the other side, waiting for his nephew to wake as a changed man. ...But Zuko never made it to the other side. In the middle of this all-important inner battle, as he is sucked into the void... he wakes to find himself in a magical Castle. Though the wheels of good have been set in motion, he was never able to complete that metamorphic process, and so it leaves him still self-defeating, frustrated, and immensely confused.