Uphill struggle, blood, sweat, and tears

If we know anything it's that Zuko never gives up.

As a kid, Zuko had to deal with a prodigy little sister, his own mediocre firebending abilities, and a father who never loved him. As a teenager, Zuko is disturbingly devoted to one thing only: finding and capturing the Avatar. To catch Aang, he's willing to run Fire Nation blockades (S01E08, "Avatar Roku: Winter Solstice, Part 2"), ninja his way into a high security prison (S01E13, "The Blue Spirit"), enlist the help of a morally ambiguous bounty hunter (S01E15, "Bato of the Water Tribe"), pretend to be dead and sneak aboard Zhao's ship (S01E18, "The Waterbending Master"), and swim through massive amounts of freezing cold North Pole water, not to mention weathering a blizzard (S01E19-20, "The Siege of the North, Part 1-2"). Zuko is hardcore like whoa, and he Does Not Give Up. Ever. Even Sokka mentions that Team Avatar need not worry about a kidnapped Aang dying in the blizzard, since Zuko's going to get them through it no matter what. And keep in mind this is from Sokka, who pretty much hates Zuko's guts at this point.

Where does Zuko's tenacity come from? A lot of it has to do with just trying to survive his childhood. Surrounded by manipulative, secretive, immoral people, Zuko basically had to fend for himself, particularly after his mother disappeared. Constantly failing in his father's eyes and earning nothing but contempt from Azula, Zuko's spent his most formative years being hated and ridiculed by just about everyone. It's only natural, then, that he's built up this (somewhat misguided) single-mindedness and determination. If he doesn't keep going, there's really nothing left for him.

Even as Zuko's priorities begin to change, he still relies on grim perseverance to get him through things. Knowing he will have to take his sister out, Zuko devotes himself to working with Iroh to learn to bend lightning (S02E09, "Bitter Work"). Though he's probably terrified to face his father, Zuko stands his ground and tells Ozai that Aang is still alive, and Zuko is going to help him and fix things in the Fire Nation (S03E11, "The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse"). And, though Team Avatar makes his defection to good seriously (and deservedly) difficult, Zuko goes through the paces of proving himself to everyone, especially Katara, who is the last to truly trust him (S03E16, "The Southern Raiders").

While his perseverance certainly gets him into loads of trouble, the fact that Zuko is so crazy determined actually serves him well in the end. You just know as Firelord he's not going to stop until the Fire Nation is back where it needs to be.


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