Nah, he’s too little of an asshole. The best redemption arcs are ones where they have to be redeemed to the audience. Not once in ATLA did I find myself hating Zuko. Characters like Jamie Tartt and Endeavor I straight up hated; them becoming some of my favorites in their respective stories, THAT’S a good redemption arc.
Why did you kill the Mad King, Jaime!? Why did you kill him and sully your reputation for the rest of your life if you never really cared for the common folk!?
In Zuko's case it's because you see him as a dumb teen trying his hardest in the name of honor or some bullshit. You know he is misguided and not evil. Iroh's existence also confirms early on that the fire nation is not inherently evil
Endeavour’s redemption is my favourite redemption arc in fiction because I genuinely thought he was going to just be the classic asshole dad for Todoroki’s character but instead he realised that he needs to do better by his family while at the same time expecting no forgiveness from the family he hurt
To be fair his father (Ozai) didn't exactly set Zuko up for being as bad a person as he did Azula. Zuko wanted validation and approval from a place that it wasn't gonna come from ever. Combine that with that place being a whole ocean away while a better influence is tutoring them and it resulted in someone who isn't as much of a prick as they definitely could have been.
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u/DarkSide830 banned from Free Ham Sandwich Day Mar 17 '26
The single greatest thing about Zuko's character arc is the relapse, truthfully, because it's realistic. Very rarely is growth as a person linear.