prince zuko got you all out here thinking every dark haired antagonist boy is gonna do right in the end when zuzu was the exception not the rule
I really wish it weren’t though? I think it’s really telling that a lot of people like redemption arcs because we want to see people be good despite their pasts. The fact that there are so little redemption arcs in media is very upsetting because it just sends the message that people can’t change which we know is not true. I absolutely don’t mean this for characters like Kylo Ren though lol
Redemption arcs are hard and Zuko’s was successful for a couple of reasons:
1) Zuko wasn’t the worst character in the Fire Nation. From really early on it was shown that, compared to Zhao, Azula, and other Fire Nation leaders, Zuko was consistently more noble. He tried to be a good person and do the right thing, even when doing so led to him suffering for his actions.
2) Zuko suffered for his mistakes. He suffered when he turned away from Iroh, he suffered when he betrayed Iroh, and he suffered even after his face turn. There were consequences for his mistakes; he didn’t get off scot free because his childhood was hard. He was still held accountable by the narrative and made to take responsibility for the wrongs he did.
3) Zuko made tangible amends to the people he hurt. He rescued Hakoda, helped Katara get closure, and became Aang’s firebending master. He put in work to make up for the things he did and rebuild bridges with his new allies.
Most redemption narratives fail because the guilty party is guilty of much greater crimes than failing to capture the hero, never works to make amends, and never suffers for their mistakes. You wanted to see Zuko redeem himself because he had the capacity, wanted to do the work, and paid dearly for his mistakes.
I could leave it at that, but really what I wanted to praise was the fact that they took him, possibly one of the smartest people in game, and gave him a learning disorder.
It’s honestly great, we see it all the time. He excels at chess, latin and herbalism(?), and I’m sure many other things, but he has a disorder. A freaking learning disorder, and they paired it with him.
It’s a perfect example that writers/artists are allowed to give their characters disorders, but not let it stop them. I honestly can’t express how much I love the fact that he is actually intelligent, but is just held back by him being on the autism spectrum.
It’s inspiring. Even the way they portrayed him having a mental disability was amazing! They didn’t focus it so heavy on the disorder that it’s all we thought of him. They made him human, gave him so much more than just “Hey, he’s an Autistic kid.”
He’s sweet, intelligent and genuinely concerned and loves his brother. They took him and made him so three dimensional and didn’t just slap him there because they could. I really could praise all the characters, too, but this is by far one of my favorite parts of the writing in this game.
Let me now turn my focus to another favorite minor
character of mine, Clara Whiting, who appears in episode 2.9, “Framed for
Murder”. The wonderful Jane Harber plays
Raymond’s assistant, who “looks after the props, script pages, everything
really”. Although at first glance she
seems a plain and unassuming sort of young woman, we soon learn that Clara is
intelligent, quick, and possesses a marvelous photographic memory.
AngelMihe 