Just Because They Don't Like Him As A Character - Tumblr Posts

I think there's another major aspect to Zuko's redemption that I rarely see explicitly recognized in meta or repeated in other works.

A lot of people talk about how the story of Zuko's scar engenders sympathy for Zuko in the audience early on. While this is true, it also serves another very important narrative purpose: the story of Zuko's scar explains how Zuko became the teenager we see in S1, obsessed with regaining his honor through a single-minded focus on capturing the Avatar (even to the point of technically committing treason by freeing Aang from Zhao, because it has to be Zuko who captures Aang); beyond that, however, the story also sets Zuko up as someone who is inherently compassionate.

The audience can root for Zuko even in S1, because we see that there is a compassionate kid buried under the hurt that his father caused, a kid who believed in plenty of propaganda but who ultimately wanted to do the right thing and who cared deeply about other people.

Well before Zuko is ever "redeemed" in the narrative, we are shown both how he came to be his S1 self and who he is capable of being when he is at his best. This means we know what Zuko values at his core, how those values got twisted into something selfish and cruel, and many pieces of what Zuko will need to learn/face in order to grow and realize the potential of becoming his best self.

Then throughout the rest of the show, we see Zuko learning and facing those things, culminating in Zuko's eventual decision to turn against Ozai and join the Gaang. Even then, we see that his journey isn't fully complete just because he has made the choice to be good. He still has to make apologies to the Gaang and show his willingness to do good, first through selflessly aiding the people he had hurt the most personally in completing their own individual quests, in order to complete his own redemption arc within the show.

When Zuko apologized to uncle Iroh in the tent cause he was so ashamed of his actions and what he’d done to the only person who unconditionally believed in his ability to do good >>>>>