Zuko Vs. Aang: 5 Ways The Hero Is Best Character in ATLA (& 5 Ways It's The Bad Boy)
Fans know and love Avatar: The Last Airbender for being a franchise full of interesting, well-written characters, and it’s not just the heroes that fans can’t get enough of. While Aang and Team Avatar are loved a lot by fans of the series, the antagonists like Zuko and Azula make the franchise much more watchable than it would have been with one-dimensional villains.
As far as Zuko goes, he’s considered to have one of the best villain to hero storylines from almost any major show. Because of this, fans often think of Zuko as often as they think of Aang when they hear the show mentioned. But, who is really the better character?
10 Zuko: He Was More Relatable To Most Audiences
Zuko is a bit older than Aang when the series takes place as he’s around 16 while Aang is only 12. So, while children who watched the show when it originally aired might have related more to Aang, most adults and teens watching the show found Zuko more interesting. He wasn’t exactly mature by any means, but he didn’t come across as a child like Aang did.
9 Aang: His Friendships Were Essential To The Story
Because Aang is the protagonist, so many of the other characters largely revolve around his story and his ultimate mission of defeating Firelord Ozai. This doesn’t mean that the other central characters aren’t given nuance or depth, but their relationships with Aang get a lot of exploration. Aang makes for a compelling hero because he is able to form so many lasting friendships, and he’s the type of person people believe in. Team Avatar will always be beloved by fans.
8 Zuko: His Family Relationships Were Fascinating
While The Last Airbender might place a big emphasis on the importance of friendships, there are also many family dynamics explored in the show. The series doesn’t shy away from some pretty difficult topics such as death and even abuse, and Zuko’s treatment at the hands of his father and other family members was truly awful. While the dynamics in the Fire Nation royal family are messed up, they make for great television.
7 Aang: Because Zuko Did A Lot Of Bad Things
Zuko does change majorly and ends up joining Team Avatar and doing everything he can to bring down his father, but he makes a lot of bad mistakes before then. To be fair, he’s very young and went through a lot of traumatic things, but it doesn’t change the fact that he hurt other people, too.
While Aang might not be completely perfect, he is a good person, and he doesn’t go around trying to hurt anyone or take over the world. So, as far as looking at harm overall, Aang is a better person and character.
6 Zuko: He Provided A Gateway Into The Story Of The Fire Nation
The world of The Last Airbender is full of interesting individuals as well as cultures. Each of the different bending nations is unique and has its own way of life. Zuko being the Fire Nation prince provides the perfect bridge into what the Fire Nation is doing and what kind of culture they’ve created there. The backstory on Zuko’s family is endlessly compelling to many fans and provides a lot of depth to the series.
5 Aang: Because He Was Such A Powerful Bender
As the Avatar, it’s no big surprise that Aang is going to have great bending skills. However, even given the fact he has the special ability to bend all of the elements, he’s also quite a prodigy given his young age. Seeing Aang learn each of the other three elements throughout the three seasons is delightful, and fans enjoyed seeing Aang become more and more powerful.
4 Zuko: His Redemption Storyline Is So Well Done
It’s difficult to talk about Zuko’s impact on the story without really focusing on his redemption arc. Of course, this doesn’t mean Zuko was perfect, but the way the show built up his change of heart was gradual and believable. He didn’t suddenly become good, but it was an incremental process as his eyes were opened to the truth.
While he might have seemed like a more straightforward villain in season one, fans kept watching as they saw Zuko become a refugee and saw him start to see that maybe the Fire Nation was wrong. This journey was one of the main things fans watched for.
3 Aang: He Stayed True To Himself Even When It Was Difficult
As the Avatar, Aang is tasked with restoring balance to the world, and it’s his job to maintain that balance as much as possible. However, each individual Avatar is different, and they have varying methods and approaches to the problems they face in their lifetimes. Overall, Aang is a gentle person who doesn’t delight in violence or death, and he is able to stay true to himself by taking Ozai’s bending away instead of killing him.
2 Zuko: His Character Arc Is More Compelling
Given that Aang is barely a pre-teen and also that he’s such a morally good character, he really does have compelling growth in the series as he becomes more powerful and more mature. However, his arc still can’t quite compare to Zuko’s. By the end of the series, fans truly believed that Zuko would make a better Firelord than anyone else in his family, and they were rooting for him completely.
1 Aang: Because He’s Motivated By Compassion And Peace
All of the characters on Team Avatar want to restore peace and equality to the world, but they all have different personalities and approaches to the fight. Aang, while he does get angry and is willing to protect others, is mostly motivated by his compassion and care for others and the living world. It’s refreshing to see a character, especially a male character, who has a lot of gentleness in this way.
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