The Life of Zuko: Entire Timeline Explained (Childhood, Teenage Years, Adulthood, Fatherhood)

there are so many amazing characters in the avatar the last airbender world many of which i've made videos on but my favorite character in the series has to be zuko his redemption arc is just so well executed and the great thing is his story does not start and end with the three seasons of the show because we've gotten so much information on his life before and after the series ended as well as some stories that were not in the show but took place during that time in this video i'm going to put all of this together and explain the entire timeline of zuko tsuka was born to prince ozai and princess ursa he had a great relationship with his mother but a terrible one with his father who always looked down on him when he was born they were not sure if zuko was a bender or not as he did not have the spark in his eyes that firebenders tended to have and because of this ozai wanted to cast him away from the palace instead of admit that his son was not a bender ursa and the fire sages begged him not to do that however and oza gave him a chance sure enough zuko's bending ability eventually did come but ozar still despised his son zuko eventually became the older brother to his younger sister azula something that made his relationship with his father even worse as he always favored azula over him their family took vacations to ember island every summer and while there zuko's mother would take zuko and azula to see a play called love amongst dragons on one of their vacations to the island a three-year-old zuko saw a hawk attacking a turtle crab and he ran over to save it but when he had the turtle crab safely in his arms he realized that he was condemning the hawk to starve and he didn't know which creature to side with before he could make a decision a giant wave washed over him and carried him out into the ocean ozai dove in to save him and zuko spent the rest of the day in his mother's arms vomiting seawater though oza saved him this incident made him see his son's affinity for the weak something that he believed made zuko himself weak one night when zuko had a nightmare about everything in his room being on fire and azula just standing in the middle of the room laughing at him he went to his mother's room and she comforted him and tucked them back into bed another time when they were in the palace garden zuko told nezula for setting a bush on fire and when their mother turned away she set zuko's butt on fire as revenge their mother sent to zula to her room and then asuko if he was alright and he answered saying that he didn't understand why azula had to be so mean another time when zuko was walking with his mother through the palace azula made zuko play with her along with mei and tai lee and this led to zuko tackling mei and the two of them landing in a fountain only to be laughed at by azule and tai lee saying that the two of them were cute together zuko was close with his uncle ira while growing up but during most of his childhood ira the rightful heir to the throne was gone a lot of the time because he was out leading battles but airo did manage to send zuko gifts including a pearl dagger that said never give up without a fight something that zuko would cherish for years to come one night when the family was having dinner azula told their father about their training and how the teacher was a dummy and zuko corrected her saying that he was just telling her to do proper fire bending techniques this made ozai slam his fist on the table and scream at zuko saying that despite being a year younger azula had mastered 14 more firebending forms than he had and he then admitted to wanting to get rid of zuko when he was born for not having the spark in his eye he then finished it off telling zuko that azula was born lucky and he was lucky to be born urza stood up and made ozai back down and he stormed off leaving zuko feeling humiliated hurt and pathetic though zuko was not a prodigy firebender the way azula was he was an expert in swordsmanship and he had been taught by the greatest swordsman master in the fire nation pyondo he made zuko flawless when using his classic double sword combat despite this zuko was still forced to show his fire bending abilities in front of his grandfather azullah and after following a perfect azula he fell and was terribly embarrassed his mother came over and told him that she loved watching him however but azulam was not as forgiving he kicked everyone out and zuko and azula overheard their father asking azulan to make him firelord and not his brother airo this backfired and made azulen punish ozai by losing his firstborn just as airo did days earlier that night zuko's mother came and woke zuko up told him goodbye and said to never forget who he was she had struck a deal with osai to ensure zuko's safety and the next morning zuko ran to his father and asked where his mother was but he did not answer suka wouldn't find out what happened to his mother for many years and for the remainder of his childhood he didn't have his mother there to care for him just his evil father who hated and despised him and made his life hell the same night his mother disappeared zuko's grandfather died in his sleep mysteriously and ozai took his brother's place and became firelord making zuko suffering even worse when he was young zuko's mother would always tell zuko that whenever he was excited he would get a sparkle in his eye but this was something that he lost now that his mother was gone after his mother left zugo became even closer to his uncle ibro as he had just lost his son and zuku had just lost his mother and the two bonded over this filling the hole in their hearts the two of them were now missing zuko also made a connection with mei and realizing that they both liked each other they began to hang out a lot together one day zuko tried to enter a war meeting but he was denied by the guards however his uncle ira allowed him to enter and during the meeting zuko spoke out of term to a general after his outburst his father became angry and said that zuko's defiance of the genre was an act of complete disrespect and that the only way to settle this was in agni kai zuko said he was not afraid of the general but he had misunderstood when he stepped into the fight he faced his father instead and zuko refused to fight him he went down on his hands and knees and cried pleading with his father oza showed zuko no mercy and burned his face so badly that zuko had a permanent scar on his left eye for the rest of his life this scar was now what defines zuko in his own mind and everyone else's mind throughout all of the fire nation after the duel his father told him that he had shown shameful weakness and he banished zuko the only way he could come home was if he captured the avatar who had been missing for 100 years making this a task that was nearly impossible he was forced to leave life as he knew it leaving his family sister and even mei airo decided to go with his nephew to watch over him however and he continued zuko's fire bending training and just kept him company with his fresh burn wound sugo along with ira went to the western air temple hoping to find the avatar there there he talked down to his uncle calling him lazy when ira was only trying to help but he eventually realized that he was wrong for this zuko came to the realization that his uncle cared for him more than anyone and though ira pushed his button sometimes zuko always appreciated and loved having his uncle with him zuko checked the rest of the air temples as the avatar would be an airbender and after having no luck there they scoured the world looking in even the most remote locations while searching around the south pole zuko saw a light shoot into the air and he eventually tracked this to the southern water tribe where he met the avatar for the first time and he was shocked to find out that he was just a kid named aang zugo took aang on his ship but when aang went into the avatar stage he escaped despite zuko's constant efforts later on when general zhao began talking down to zuko zuko challenged him to an agnikai and zuko beat him however he did not kill him which zhao saw his weakness and when zuko had his back turned xiao tried to get a cheap shot on him but airo stopped him and said that zuko was more honorable than him something that meant a lot to zuko zuko later tracked aang to kiyoshi island but again eng got away this time with the help of the kiyoshi warriors there were several more times when zuko came close to capturing the avatar once even going head-to-head with zhao to do it but again and again ang got away one day zuko ship got caught in a storm and zuko risked his life to save a member of his crew which also proved his worth to the rest of the crew who disliked him before that one day when zuko was about to give up on finding the avatar he came up with a plan to wear a mask and use his swordsmanship and he became the blue spirit giving him new life he used this disguise to rescue aang from zhao and he was forced to work together with aang to escape later on zuko came up with an elaborate plan and faked his own death making zhao think that he actually killed him he then snuck into the northern water trap during zhao's attack and zuko was finally successful in capturing aang however he had nowhere to go in the snowstorm and when team avatar arrived he was knocked out luckily for him though eng decided to save him while back in the northern water tribe isuko had a rematch with zhao but during their fight zhao was taken by the water spirit zuko tried to save him but zhao refused to let zuko do so zuko and ira escaped and when his uncle asked why he wasn't trying to capture the avatar zuko said he was tired and he rested one day azula met zuko and airo and told zuko that he was now welcome to come back home however it turned out to be a trap and both zuko and iro discovered that they were prisoners not guests they fought back and escaped and they were forced to go on the run cutting their hair and beginning their new life however zuko eventually decided to go on his own path and he left his uncle though little did he know he was being followed by ira the whole time during his time on his own he saw a wife and a husband cooking food and he planned to steal it but despite being starving when he realized the woman was pregnant he decided not to showing a softer side to zuko this led him to an earth kingdom town where he met a kid named lee zuko met lee's family and helped him by doing labor in return for food and shelter and during the night he taught lee how to use his swords after zuko left lee's mother chased after him because lee had been kidnapped and zouka went to fight the men off he fought well until he was knocked to the ground and when he awoke he firebended beat the men and proudly told the crowd that he was prince of the fire nation this led to one person calling him out and saying that he was banished and disgraced and zuko slightly humiliated tried to give lee the knife that airo had given him but lee screamed at him saying that he hated zuko and zuko was forced to leave the town zuko was later reunited with ira after azula injured their uncle when airo awoke zuko had iro show him how to redirect lightning and zuko later found himself in a lightning storm and he yelled to the skies while crying saying that he could now shoot whatever life threw at him back the lightning being a metaphor for this zuko and iro eventually decided to go to bossing sei and while there zuko helped ira run the tea shop he had started one day iro encouraged zuko to go on a date with a girl named jyn during the date jyn took zuko to her favorite fountain and when it wasn't lit zuko lit it with fire bending behind her back which made jin super happy the two then kissed but zuko pulled away saying that it was complicated and he ran off when he returned home he told his uncle that he had a good time but all he could think about was mae who he realized he missed terribly zuko went back to his old ways when he found out that the avatar was in the city and he eventually found himself in lake laogai wearing his blue spirit mask again he was then confronted by his uncle who yelled at him talking some sense into him ira told him to find his own destiny not a destiny that someone else forced him to do he told him to look inward and ask who he was and what he wanted zuko realized that his uncle was right and he started a new path by freeing appa aang's bison and he threw the blue spirit mask to the bottom of the lake doing this sent zuko into a sickly state however as his decisions were in such conflict with the image that he had of himself that he was now at war with his own mind and body something that was called a metamorphosis he came out of this metamorphosis happier than he had been in years something that made his uncle very happy as well and did wonders to the relationship zuko and ira were lured in by azulla and as they ran to escape zuko decided he had to face azula and told his uncle to go on zuko was captured and was held with katara and the two bonded over losing their mothers this made kotara sympathize with zuko and she was about to use spirit water to see if it could heal a scar but iro aang and toff came in before they got the chance eventually zuko had to choose who to side with and during a huge battle he ended up siding with azula something that disappointed his uncle greatly and undid the metamorphosis he had just gone through making all of the happiness he had gained from it vanish ira was locked up in bossing sei and one day when zuko was walking past his cell he heard two fire nation guards say that ira was a good man and this made zuko yell at them saying that he was a traitor to the fire nation more to convince himself that he had made the right choice than to punish the guards when he visited azulla she told zuko that they were going home and zuko said that she could go without him to make him want to come home azula and ty lee put together a date for mae and zuko hoping that mae would persuade him to come home when zuko and may arrived they realized they were set up but not wanting the food to go to waste they decided to have dinner together when zuko found out that azula was in the bushes he yelled at her and he and mei decided to leave instead taking a walk through the city while doing this however they ran into jyn the girl that zuko had gone on a date with and she asked him who mei was which zuko responded to saying that she was a knife thrower part of the circus he came from a lie he had told her to cover up his fire nation identity during their date may told jan that she could show her push zuko next to the fountain put a fish on his head and threw an icicle through the fish then she let jin try and this knocks do go into the fountain in may referencing the time zuko tackled her into the fountain said that they were now even zuko yelled at her afterward but as she laughed he said that she was finally enjoying herself and he told her that he missed this side of her the two then kissed ending the night perfectly the next morning zuko walked maid to the ship taking her home and when she asked if he was coming with them the combination of her asking and him seeing iro and someone asking if he'd make it home alive zuko decided to go home to be with may and to ensure that ira was alright zuko came back home to the fire nation and after azula had told their father that he had killed the avatar zuko went along with it this made his father more welcoming and made him want zugo in war meetings by his side a feeling that zuko had never felt before with his father however coming home led to more turmoil especially with ira locked up and zuko feeling guilty he wasn't sure if he had made the right choice or not one good thing about zuko coming home however was that he was reunited with may and the two began to date again zuko mei azula and tai li took a beach trip to ember island where zuko and azula would go as kids and they all hung out on the beach that night they went to the ember island arcade and zuko one may a stuffed animal but she refused to take it azula then called them over to play a game and zuko and azula got super competitive zuko got so into it that he burned the game down with fire bending and the gang walked off as it caught up in flames while in the island zuko got into a fight with mae and after storming off he found old pictures and artwork from his childhood seeing this along with the three girls encouraging him to let his feelings out zuko finally realized that his turmoil stemmed from his anger with himself things were made even more clear for zuko when iro told him that his great-grandfather on his mother's side was avatar roku and he realized that he was on the wrong side on the day of the black sun something that took firebending away for a short amount of time during an eclipse zuko faced his father and finally stood up to him when the eclipse ended oza shot lightning at zuko but he shot it right back just as iro had taught him to do and zuko escaped tried to free his uncle only to realize that iro had escaped on his own and he then followed team avatar to the western air temple he confronted the team and said that he wanted to join them and teach aang firebending and though they were skeptical zuko proved his worth by helping fight off combustion man and they allowed him to join their team he took a journey with many of the members of the team first with aang to confront the fire bending masters two dragons named ran and shaw which gave zuko was bending back with a new purpose of fire vending and allowed him to help teach aang when they began their training zuko told aang that he didn't think there were any dragons left and aang said that there were lots of dragons around a hundred years ago and he told zuko a story about how he had tried to find one before he was frozen in the ice zuko also went on a journey with saka and he helped him break his father and girlfriend tsuki out of the boiling rock a prison where he saw mei again for the first time since he left the fire nation without saying goodbye something that broke her heart as they were escaping zuko realized that may forgave him as he watched her give herself up to ensure their escape something that led to her being locked up but she clearly thought it was worth it to protect zuko zuko then helped katara track down the man who had killed her mother and all three of these strips help zuko connect with and become closer to everyone on the team one day saka challenged zuko to a sword fight as both of them were trained by pyondo but zuko said he was too advanced for saka and he recommended he try to fight someone else seeing saka's face however zuko agreed to the fight and he completely destroyed him over and over again zuko held his sword down at saka and told him to give up but saka said that this coming from the guy who unsuccessfully haunted aang for three years didn't mean much this made zuko angry and when saka charts at him again zuko knocked stock a sword away however saga took out his boomerang and hit zuko in the back of the head with it eng told saka afterwards though that zuko still won zuko was terrified to face his uncle again after letting him down so miserably but when he finally got the chance to do so he apologized and was beyond happy that his uncle forgave him for everything later on while an attempt with his uncle they felt earthquakes and zuko went to find the rest of team avatar who were missing when he found them he discovered team avatar watching toff and boomi fight and zuko was exasperated when they realized that the only way to stop them was to physically stop it zuko led a team of benders and old masters to put a stop to it tsuko ibro and pyondo stopped tough while the others stopped boomi and afterwards zuko told both toff and boomi to act their own age when sozen's comet arrived zuko and katara went to the fire nation to make sure azula would not become firelord when they got there azula challenged him to an agnikai to decide who would be firelord and when zuko began to beat her azula cheated by going after katara zuko jumped in front of her however to save her and was pretty badly hurt after kotara took azula down she healed zuko as the war came to an end zugo was reunited with mae after she was released and zuko and ang worked together to bring the world into a new and peaceful era zuko became firelord and one of the first things that he did was to go see his father who was locked up and asked what happened to his mother another thing that zuko did as firelord was begin the removal of the fire nation colonies in the earth kingdom and he did this through the harmony restoration movement specifically to remove yu dao the first of the fire nation colonies he met with the earth king to do this and said that he had to write his father's wrongs he then put a lot of pressure on aang and made aang promise that if he begins to turn into his father then aang would end him about a year later zuko woke up in the middle of the night to an attacker the daughter of the mayor review dao and she was angry that zuko was making them leave their home when he confronted the mayor he was called a coward which infuriated him but the mayor forced him to see that yudah wasn't actually bad and had fire nation and earth kingdom people living and thriving together after seeing this zukul got rid of the harmony restoration movement and refused to give yu-dow back to the earth kingdom when katara and eng showed up to question him on this zugo grabbed kotaro which led to himself and ang getting into a fight but luckily it was quickly stopped by katara when zuko came back from yu dao he was confronted by mei who was once again angry at him for leaving without telling her she forgave him though and said that she could tell he wasn't sleeping so she hired the kiyoshi warriors to guard him at night zuko once again woke up in the middle of the night but this time it was to visit his father again this was something that zuko did quite often and the visits offered nothing but bad advice pain and more confusion for zuko one day when zuko was in his throne he was confronted by mei who asked him about visiting his father something that tsuki had seen and told her about he told mae that he loved her but this wasn't enough to fix all the lies that he had told her and she broke up with him zuko stupidly ordered her to come back but mei refused to turn around suki then admitted to telling may and she told him that she was really worried about him before he could process this however he was told that the earth king and his army were moving toward yuu dao and zuko headed there as well backed up by his own fire nation army ready for war doing this made aang realize that he might have to fulfill the promise he had made to zuko to end him during the huge battle eng went into the avatar stage split the ground in two to separate the two armies and azuko fell into the hole and grabbed him and saved him luckily before aang had to fulfill the promise something that he was most likely not going to do anyway zuko realized that he had let his father get into his head and he came to the realization that he himself would have made the right decisions had it not been for his father zuko then passed out and aang brought him to ira's tea shop in boston say suka once again went through a metamorphosis just as he had done a few years earlier zuko was passed out for four days and when he awoke he was a better person aang then told zuko that they were going to have to have negotiations with the earth king over what to do with udall zuko went to the meeting and afterwards he thought back to his talks with his father and the one thing he had not told him about the thing that made zuko go down there in the first place where his mother was he recruited his sister azula to help find her but this proved difficult as she was clinically insane and was a patient at the fire nation's insane asylum after getting around he recruited team avatar minus toff and suki and together they journeyed to find his mother they had many hiccups including azula trying to run away that night zuko watched asaku was a good brother and put a blanket over katara but when zuko tried to do this for azula he found a letter that said he was not ozai's son this changed zuko's thinking and he realized that he might not have been the heir to the throne later on zuko once again got into a fight with azulla and he asked her why the relationship had to be like this but he put her down as they arrived to an understanding to keep things peaceful eventually the gang met noriko and her family including her daughter ki yi who zuko was really good with they eventually found the mother of faces and azula asked where their mother was and the spirit told them that noriko was ursa zugo ran to her house and he told her that he was her son however she did not remember as the mother of faces had not only taken her face but her old memories as well azula then burst in and went after their mother but zuko put a stop to it azula ran off and told zuko that even when he was strong he was weak zuko and his mother chased after her but they were stopped by the mother of faces who restored ursus memories and after all these years zuko finally had his mother back on top of that he also had another sister kigi ursa apologized to zuko and he forgave her he then asked her about the letter that said he wasn't ozai's son and she explained that the letter wasn't real and that he was in fact the son of ozai on the way back to the fire nation zuko promised his mother that he would protect her family especially ki yi and when he got word from suki of danger he changed the plans to ensure their protection zuku was reunited with iro and himself along with ursa and her family boarded a submarine while iro took zuko's place as a decoy however despite their planning they were still ambushed and zuko along with suki fought many of them off but when they were outnumbered meg and the other kiyoshi warriors came to the raid zuko fought side by side with mei and it was the first time that they had seen each other since their breakup zuko then showed his power and sent the thugs running ensuring ursa on her family's protection zuko led ursa and her family in the palace and said that they would stay there while back in the fire nation mei's little brother tom tom was kidnapped by what appeared to be spirits called the kimura kage and zuko came as soon as he heard saying that he could help zuko was later talked down to by mae's father saying that it was his fault that the spirits were terrorizing them zuko along with aang mei and much to zuko's distress mei's new boyfriend all went down to the catacombs to learn more about the kimura kage spirits and while down there zukul got very jealous of mei and her new boyfriend zuko and mae had a moment of their own however and it was clear that they both still had feelings for each other however may snapped at him saying that he had to move on when they returned to the fire nation kiyi was kidnapped and zugo along with tsuki and ang tried desperately to get her but the spirits were too fast and too strong however when zuko was almost hit by lightning he knew that these were no spirits but his sister azula azula got a direct hit on zuko sending him flying back and azula escaped with kiyi mei comforted zuko when she heard the news which made zuko feel much better when he was with mae mae saw her boyfriend being arrested and initially zuko went head to head with him but then he realized that he had to let him go and he was forced to watch jealously as the two hugged each other zuko along with mei mei's boyfriend and aang went to face azula and her disciples and azula used mae's boyfriend to make him stand down which zuko almost did not do but ultimately he realized he had to zuko and azula then had a rematch and fought one-on-one azula got the upper hand and was on top of zuko but to zuko's surprise she got up and told him that her plan of turning zuko into ozai had worked as he was ruling very ruthlessly zuko yelled that she was wrong but azula then disappeared in a flash of smoke and as she left she left him with the parting word saying accepted it's who you are zuko went on to prove her wrong however and he gave a speech saying that he had not been the best ruler in the last few weeks but he told everyone that he was going to do better zuko as well as the earth king later went to a meeting in the southern water tribe to negotiate a few things with saka and katara's father the new leader of the tribe when they arrived there were protesters and zuko realized that they were protesting them zuko was very happy to be reunited with saka and he gave him a hug but then said that maybe they should get away from all the hostility with the protests during negotiations zuko said that they could count on the fire nation and helping the south grateful for a chance to help them rebuild they were interrupted by the resistance however and zuko tried to help fight them off but they managed to kidnap the earth king zuko went along with saka's plan to get him back but while on a bridge that stretched over two mountains it was broken and zuko and a few others had to hold on for dear life zuko ended up saving the earth king and got him to safety and the others took care of the rest zuko was then part of a feast with people from all different nations eating and socializing in harmony zuko fighting to keep yuzao a fire nation capital in the earth kingdom was a big factor in the creation of the united republic of nations and its capital republic city zuko with the help of vang made the united republic a prosperous and safe country where benders and non-benders of all nations could live together peacefully zuko would later go on to have a daughter named azumi and later on would have a grandson named iro zuko and ang remained lifelong friends with aang oftentimes turning to zuko for advice and zuko in return would always trust the avatar's instincts zuko went on to adopt a dragon named druk and he trained the dragon to be loyal to him zuko also helped tenzin saka and tonrok deal with sahir and his gang of criminals and they locked them up in prisons created by the white lotus zuko remained firelord for many years but he eventually passed the responsibility down to his daughter azumi and he chose to leave the fire nation capital and live on ember island where his family used to go on vacation he went on to become an ambassador for world peace and he took on part of the responsibility to ensure the avatar safety when zuko learned of zaheer and his allies escape years after their original capture he went to the northern water tribe where the last member of zahir's gang still resided and he waited for their inevitable attack when they did show up zuko tried to fight them off with a surprising amount of strength but he was soon knocked down and was forced to watch them escape he was later reunited with avatar kora who he had not seen since she was very little but they then got bad news that sahir had killed the earthqueen finding out that zaheer was going after the nation's leaders zuko knew he needed to protect his daughter azumi who was still the fire lord before leaving however cory asked dukko's advice on what eng would do in the situation and zugo responded with some very helpful advice cory then mentioned that she had talked with his uncle ira in the spirit world and zuko was in disbelief suga wanted to ask so many questions but they were cut off when mako interrupted them zuko then went to protect his daughter and after sahir was taken down zuko paid his respects to an injured kora in republic city after korea left though zuko voiced his concerns about a world without the avatar and a world where the red lotus sahir's grew might still be out there a little while later zuko was present when genoa received her airbending tattoos zuko's journey is one that had so many complicated points and stops each one defining the man he would eventually become his rough childhood toughened him his mission to find the avatar challenged him in ways he never thought possible his time on the run with his uncle humbled him his return to the fire nation and his father gave him clairvoyance and made him realize what he was meant to do his time with team avatar gave him new purpose his time as firelord taught him many lessons and his fatherhood gave him the chance to pass all his wisdom down to his own blood it's probably the most complicated character arc in the series and breaking the timeline i just went over down it's probably one of the best thank you so much for watching guys you can follow 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Channel: MovieFlame

Views: 4,061,295

Keywords: Movie Review, TV Show review, Harry Potter, Superhero, Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Disney, Hunger Games, avatar, avatar the last airbender, the last airbender, iroh, azula, ozai, sozin, aang, sokka, katara, toph, suki, izumi, daughter, zuko's daughter, old man, adult, older, zuko older, beifong, mai, ty lee, lee, jin, family, family tree, zuko family tree, fire nation, air nomads, water tribe, earth kingdom, fire bending, firebending, bending, waterbending, earthbending, airbending, hakoda, ursa, kiyi, sister

Id: wOxQtfNH81M

Length: 29min 56sec (1796 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 05 2020