- This article is about the character in the series. For the character in Netflix's live-action series, see Zhao.
| "I am a legend now! The Fire Nation will for generations tell stories about the great Zhao who darkened the moon! They will call me Zhao the Conqueror! Zhao the Moon Slayer! Zhao ... the Invincible!" |
| — Zhao suggesting epithets for himself after capturing the Moon Spirit.[1] |
Zhao was the leader of the Fire Nation Navy for a brief period in early 100 AG.[7] During his career, he held the ranks of lieutenant, captain, commander,[3] and finally admiral.[5] He was trained by Jeong Jeong to become a master firebender and, as one of the most powerful men in the Fire Nation, took it upon himself to capture Avatar Aang, thus becoming a rival of Prince Zuko.[5] Zhao was a major enemy of Team Avatar in most of the events leading up to his siege of the Northern Water Tribe, during which he killed the Moon Spirit at the Spirit Oasis. This resulted in his downfall by a vengeful Ocean Spirit,[1] who subsequently condemned Zhao to spend eternity in the Fog of Lost Souls in the Spirit World.[6]
History
Early life
Zhao was born into a relatively poor lower middle-class family on the Fire Islands. His parents generally worked hard despite their poor income, and they believed that anyone could make it in the world as long as they never gave up. The two were also convinced of the veracity of the Fire Nation's war-time propaganda. Zhao's parents ensured that Zhao and his siblings also adopted these convictions.[8]
Having taken his parents' teachings to heart, Zhao grew up to become hard-working and nationalistic. However, he was bullied by other children and also became deeply insecure. Ultimately, Zhao began to use the most extreme parts of the Fire Nation's propaganda to justify his own situation as well as any kind of cruelty he inflicted on others. He developed "an avaricious need to climb to the top of any pyramid". As he became a teenager, Zhao's strength grew and his difficult personality became increasingly problematic to all those around him. Fed up with his aggression and unable to control his behavior, his parents eventually threw him out of their house.[8]
Zhao quickly found a new place to belong at an institution for firebending training.[8] There, Zhao studied firebending under Jeong Jeong, but stayed under his tutelage only as long as necessary to learn destructive maneuvers.[9] To encourage his teacher, Zhao feigned interest in Jeong Jeong's less aggressive concepts. Once he was convinced that he had mastered the most powerful firebending techniques, the boy openly rejected his master's attempts to teach him discipline and left to join the Fire Nation military.[9][8] This lack of self-control, combined with a fiery temper, resulted in a tendency to make foolish mistakes when provoked.[10]
Early years in the military
Upon enlisting in the military, Zhao quickly realized that it was the ideal place to fulfill his wish to climb the social ladder. He initially became part of the Fire Army, and proved a good soldier by ruthlessly and happily carrying out any orders.[8] Nonetheless, Zhao usually undertook missions for the sole purpose of glorifying his name,[1][4] and always tried to find ways to exploit his orders to his own gain.[8]
As a junior lieutenant serving under General Shu in the Earth Kingdom, Zhao discovered a vast Spirit Library hidden underground,[1] and offered Wan Shi Tong the knowledge of Fire Nation war machines to gain entry.[11] Interested in learning the information it held, he searched through scroll after scroll for knowledge that could aid the Fire Nation in its efforts against the Avatar and Water Tribes, until he came across a detailed illustration with the words "moon" and "ocean".[1] It was there that he learned about the Moon and Ocean Spirits of the Water Tribe and where their mortal incarnations could be found. To prevent enemies of the Fire Nation from discovering this information,[12] Zhao and a few fellow soldiers burned down the section of the library pertaining to the Fire Nation.[11][12] After this incident, he became obsessed with his supposed destiny: to destroy the Ocean and Moon Spirits and end waterbending.[1]
After his mission in the Si Wong Desert, Zhao entered the Fire Navy.[11] For his loyal service to the military, Zhao was quickly promoted through the ranks and soon became the captain of his own ship.[4][8] Obsessed with his work, he rarely took breaks and spent every available minute on his ship, always seeking out new missions to advance his career.[13]
Around 90 AG, Zhao was assigned as second-in-command to an operation launched by Admiral Yueya against Jasmine Island. He was overjoyed to become part of this campaign. As Jasmine Island held a substantial waterbender population and the planned operation would take place on New Moon, it would allow him to test the moon-dependent weaknesses of waterbending about which he had learned at Wan Shi Tong's Library. Furthermore, Zhao quickly realized that Admiral Yueya held a personal grudge and intended to wage an unsanctioned campaign of annihilation against the islanders. The captain understood that he might exploit Yueya's unhinged nature to his own advantage.[14][15]
Conversely, Zhao quickly began to butt heads with another captain assigned to the operation: Prince Lu Ten. The two had utterly opposing personalities, though they were still willing to work to together for the mission's sake.[14][16] After arriving at Jasmine Island, Yueya assigned Zhao to lead the initial amphibious assault on the island's main settlement. The attack was carried out at night, with the captain and his subordinates sneaking into the port. They then planted explosive barrels in the market square, toppling the Monument to Peace and letting the statue fall down onto the island's council chambers and the nearby homes of the council members. In this attack, Zhao's troops killed two of the island's leaders and caused immediate chaos. They then began to set fire to the entire settlement and the nearby fields, while other Fire Nation troops also landed.[16][17]
To test his theories on the New Moon's effect, Zhao observed how well the local waterbenders reacted to their burning homes.[17] Zhao was soon confronted by Jasmine Island's armed troops, the "protectors", though he had little interest in putting himself into harm's way.[18] Ultimately, Zhao greatly contributed to the immense destruction caused by the Fire Nation invasion, an event later dubbed "The Devastation" by the Jasmine Islanders.[18][19] Before long, however, Yueya's plans derailed due to the efforts of the Jasmine Island protectors as well as Prince Lu Ten who intervened on the locals' side.[19] As the admiral's operation had not been fully sanctioned, she was disgraced, with Zhao cleverly exploiting the campaign's results to advance his own career.[20]
Later on, Zhao won a decisive victory against an Earth Kingdom vessel, and the Fire Lord rewarded Zhao by promoting him to commander of a Fire Navy fleet. However, Zhao's sneaky and ambitious nature caused some people to wonder whether this promotion was honorably earned.[4] Obsessed with his perceived destiny and greatness,[1][4] Zhao began to work out plans for the conquest of all nations.[21]
Zhao was one of the witnesses to the Agni Kai between Zuko and Fire Lord Ozai during which Zuko was burned badly and subsequently banished from the Fire Nation. His relish in seeing Zuko suffer showed just how cruel Zhao really was.[22]
A bitter rivalry
In late 99 AG, Zhao was commanding Ketu Harbor,[23] a Fire Nation naval base, when Zuko docked his ship and asked for repairs to the damage caused by his battle with the Avatar. Zuko initially told Zhao that the damage was caused by crashing into an Earth Kingdom ship, but Zhao sensed that he was hiding something. He invited a reluctant Zuko and a jolly Iroh to drink tea in his office. However, he secretly had the banished prince's crew interrogated. After the questioning revealed Zuko's encounter with the Avatar, Zhao had Zuko and Iroh confined in his office. He said that the task of capturing the Avatar was too important to entrust to a teenager, and announced his own intentions to capture the Avatar himself. The ambitious commander and wayward prince began a verbal argument, which ended in Zuko challenging Zhao to an Agni Kai.[3]
The two parties rested until the evening, with the commander confident that he could easily defeat the prince.[3][23] At the beginning of their Agni Kai, Zhao initially had the upper hand, easily parrying the youngster's attacks and launching powerful attacks of his own. However, just as the commander seemed on the verge of victory, Zuko managed to break his stance. Pressing his advantage, Zuko aggressively attacked Zhao, until he had the older man lying on his back. Zuko struggled for a moment with the idea of killing him. Zhao urged him to attack, but Zuko fired a small fire blast at the ground beside his head as a warning, an act which caused Zhao to label him a coward. As Zuko was walking away from the battle, an enraged Zhao attempted to attack with Zuko's back turned, but was stopped by Iroh. Iroh said that Zhao's behavior in defeat was disgraceful and dishonorable. This event sparked a bitter rivalry between Zuko and Zhao.[3]
Soon after the prince's departure, Zhao also left Katu Harbor[23] to take command of the Fire Navy blockade in the Mo Ce Sea.[24] He took most of the troops stationed at Ketu Harbor with him, leaving the base nearly defenseless, much to the chagrin of his successor. At one point, Zhao returned to Ketu Harbor for a visit, having heard that the local troops had organized a tournament. The commander wanted to test the mettle of the so-called "Heroes of Ketu Harbor", a group of soldiers who had greatly improved the struggling base's situation and bested all their opponents in the tournament. To his shock, he too was defeated by the troops, with the base's garrison celebrating the triumph of the humble soldiers over their arrogant ex-leader.[23]
Shortly before the winter solstice of 99 AG, the Avatar and his friends tried to cross into Fire Nation territory to reach the Crescent Island Fire Temple. Accordingly, they ran into the blockade commanded by Zhao. The commander ordered his ships to open fire upon the Avatar with no concern for hitting Zuko's ship, which was in pursuit of the Avatar at the time. Aang managed to pass the blockade, and presuming Zuko knew Aang's destination, Zhao allowed Zuko to pass the blockade and continue pursuing the Avatar.
He tracked Zuko's boat to the temple and, because he had been forbidden from re-entering Fire Nation territory, arrested Zuko along with the Avatar's companions. Aang was within a sealed chamber at the time, and Zhao waited for the Avatar to leave the main chamber to arrest him as well. However, due to Aang's contact with his past life and the spiritual power of the winter solstice, Zhao instead found himself confronted by Avatar Roku; Roku freed the prisoners and began destroying the island. Zhao managed to escape, but with no prince or Avatar, he attempted to save face by declaring all of the Fire Sages as traitors, despite their protests that only Shyu helped the Avatar.[24]
Promotion to admiral
Later, Zhao requested that Shinu, a colonel of a Fire Nation fortress in the Earth Kingdom, use the legendary Yuyan Archers to help capture the Avatar. Zhao insisted Shinu was wasting their talents in using them as security guards, but Shinu scoffed that Zhao's hunt for the Avatar was nothing more than a vanity project. However, a message arrived from the Fire Lord promoting Zhao to admiral. Now outranking the colonel, Zhao made his request an order.[5]
Zhao began to use his position to hinder his rival Zuko by blockading the port they were anchored at. Zuko's desperation to return home grew as Zhao's far greater resources gave him an advantage in capturing the Avatar. The Yuyan Archers successfully captured Aang and brought him to the fortress. Confident that the Avatar was defeated, Zhao gave a speech to the soldiers of the fortress forecasting the ultimate Fire Nation victory. Unbeknownst to him, a blue-masked warrior infiltrated the fortress and freed the Avatar. Together, they fought past the guards and escaped to the last gate, where the soldiers managed to corner the two combatants. Zhao ordered the Avatar captured alive, as otherwise he would simply reincarnate and trouble the Fire Nation in a new life, when the Blue Spirit held Aang hostage at sword point. Zhao was forced to give the order to let them pass through the gate. However, he had a Yuyan Archer knock out the thief from long range. Unfortunately for him, Aang escaped, taking the masked warrior with him.[5]
Reunion
After hearing intelligence reports of the Avatar being seen in a Fire Nation colonial village during a festival, he began searching the nearby rivers. There he confronted his old firebending master Jeong Jeong and proclaimed that living in the wild had reduced his old master to a savage. Jeong Jeong retorted saying that it was Zhao who had embraced savagery, using only the unrestrained destructive side of firebending and ignoring the discipline needed to control it. Jeong Jeong warned Zhao not to confront the Avatar, but Zhao ignored these warnings, arrogantly stating that he could defeat a child. Aang was surprised to learn that Zhao was Jeong Jeong's student, and he used what he learned about Zhao's temper to continually egg the admiral on until Zhao was tricked into destroying a convoy of his own ships, proving his own lack of restraint and focus was against him. Aang managed to escape once again, leaving Zhao brooding over his failings.[9]
Second attempt to capture the Avatar
Zhao eventually found his way to a small Earth Kingdom village on his way up to the North. This town was near one of several traps made by Fire Lord Sozin in order to lure in any surviving Air Nomads who did not die in his genocide. Here, Zhao found a relic merchant and made a deal with him: if he gave an Air Nomad necklace to the Avatar when he passed through and got him interested in going into the mountains and the Air Nomad traps, Zhao would let the merchant take whatever he wanted from the traps. The merchant agreed and, upon the arrival of Aang and his friends, managed to successfully get the young Air Nomad into a mountain cave. There, Zhao and his soldiers revealed themselves and captured Aang. However, Aang put up a fight and Zhao was forced to defend himself. However, the Avatar had the advantage, as he knew how to work the Air Nomad relics, and defeated Zhao with a dorje before fleeing.[25]
Siege of the North and downfall
Later, still chafing from his Agni Kai defeat, Zhao discovered that Zuko was the vigilante thief known as the Blue Spirit. Determined to eliminate further interference, he ordered a group of pirates to engineer an assassination attempt on Prince Zuko, which successfully destroyed his ship but, unbeknownst to Zhao, failed to actually kill the prince. Afterward, he led a large invasion force to the North Pole. He intended to besiege the city of Agna Qel'a, for the dual purposes of capturing the Avatar and destroying the Northern Water Tribe, with Iroh as his military consultant.[26] Fully aware that the waterbenders drew their powers from the moon at night, Zhao attacked during the day, capitalizing on the weakened state of the waterbenders.[2]
On the second day of the siege, Zhao's forces managed to penetrate the Agna Qel'a's walls. However, Iroh reminded Zhao that if the Water Tribe was not subdued by the rise of the full moon, the waterbenders would be unstoppable. Watching his forces pushing forward, Zhao simply answered that he was planning to remove the moon as a factor, which disturbed the former general. Zhao and Iroh were briefly interrupted by a disguised Hahn, but the admiral simply grabbed the charging warrior and threw him overboard. Continuing, Zhao explained to Iroh how years prior he had stumbled upon the secret of the Moon Spirit's mortal form in an underground library while serving as a young officer in the Earth Kingdom. Iroh argued with the self-confident admiral, believing that the spirits were not to be trifled with. Nevertheless, Zhao condescendingly said that he had heard of Iroh's journey into the Spirit World and that the Moon and Ocean Spirits would pay the consequences for giving up their immortality.
Having gained this knowledge about the Ocean and Moon Spirits, he used the assault of his troops as a distraction while he led his men to the Spirit Oasis and captured Tui, the Moon Spirit. This caused both the moon and the sky to turn red, while the waterbending warriors lost their bending abilities. The admiral began to applaud his efforts to fulfill his destiny, knowing that his army was about to secure the city and he was going to be a hero for the Fire Nation. However, Team Avatar and Iroh confronted Zhao and forced him to release the spirit, though, outraged about the idea of being defeated, Zhao suddenly killed the spirit with a fire blast, thus erasing the moon from the sky and negating all waterbending abilities. Iroh attacked Zhao's team in retaliation, causing him to flee from the scene and Iroh's wrath. The slaying of the Moon aroused the anger of La, the Ocean Spirit, who merged with Aang's Avatar Spirit and used incredibly powerful waterbending together to vanquish most, if not all, of Zhao's fleet.[1]
Meanwhile, Zhao made an attempt to escape but was confronted by Zuko, who sought revenge for Zhao's attempt to murder him. As they fought, Zhao quickly deduced that Zuko was the Blue Spirit who freed Aang from his clutches, thus making him a traitor to the Fire Nation. He then mocked Zuko, telling him that he should have accepted that he was a failure and a disgrace, and that he would have lived if he did. Zhao fought the prince until he was ultimately overwhelmed by Zuko's superior skills. After getting knocked down, he looked up and saw that the moon had reappeared in the sky after Princess Yue's sacrifice. As Zhao stared up in disbelief, he was then grabbed by the Ocean Spirit, which began to pull him into the water in revenge for killing its comrade in the first place. Zuko attempted to save Zhao by reaching out his hand, but prideful as he was, Zhao decided he would rather die than accept help from his sworn enemy. Thus, he declined Zuko's help as he was pulled underwater where he ultimately drowned.[1]
The Fog of Lost Souls
After his body perished,[27] Zhao's spirit was imprisoned within the Fog of Lost Souls (likely La put him there as punishment for his crimes against the spirits). There, he spiraled into insanity, reveling in his self-proclaimed achievements for over seventy years after his defeat at the Siege of the North.
When Aang's children Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin entered the fog in search of Tenzin's daughter, Jinora, Zhao grappled Tenzin, whom he mistook for an adult Aang, in hope of regaining his glory by capturing the Avatar. Finding Zhao to be delusional, the other siblings wrestled and knocked him away and the three left him behind in the fog. Not having the presence of mind to chase after them, Zhao demanded that "Aang" face him in combat and proclaimed that he would defeat him.[6]
Personality
Zhao was a highly ambitious, power-hungry narcissist, noted for his arrogance and bad temper. While serving as a loyal member of the Fire Nation, his every action was ultimately only to serve his own rise in status. His more straightforward villainous nature stood in sharp contrast to that of the conflicted Prince Zuko; while Zuko desired to capture the Avatar to restore his honor and earn the love of his father, Zhao was not motivated by higher ideals and acted only in his own interest, considered simply a "vanity project" by some; in this way, he was similar to Princess Azula.
Although repeatedly deceptive and cunning, Zhao was rather egotistical and selfish, bordering on narcissistic, implying a deep-seated self-worship, as all of his actions seemed to fulfill purposes of grandiosity or overwhelming display: his hate-driven, uncontrollable firebending, his explosive temper, his betrayal of Fire Nation comrades, his disproportionate attack on the Northern Water Tribe, and most starkly, his unquenchable obsession with the removal of the Moon Spirit. In particular, Zhao rationalized his theft – and later, murder – of the Moon Spirit as "destiny", and relished over stealing it, ecstatically proclaiming himself as a "legend", even suggesting several epithets that the people would call him in the future for his accomplishment: "Zhao the Conqueror", "Zhao the Moon Slayer", and "Zhao the Invincible".[1]
This arrogance was ultimately realized in his final act, as his refusal to accept Zuko's helping hand[1] led to his imprisonment in the Fog of Lost Souls, where he descended into madness, continuing to mutter his self-made titles and mistaking Tenzin for Aang.[6]
Abilities
Firebending
Zhao was a skilled firebending master. During his time studying under Jeong Jeong, Zhao was one of the master's best students, but ultimately his greatest failure, as he entirely disregarded Jeong Jeong's teachings that the heart of firebending was controlling and limiting the dangerous destructive power of fire. He only focused on learning the destructive techniques, which not only allowed him to develop very strong moves, but also allowed a quite adept defense, made him easily overcome by his emotions and would steadily lose control in a prolonged battle. Aang easily exploited this to taunt him and dodge his blasts with agility, which accidentally ended in Zhao burning three of his own riverboats.[9]
When he dueled with Prince Zuko, he easily blocked Zuko's relatively strong attacks and then swiftly dominated the duel, forcing Zuko back with each attack he fired before he finally overpowered Zuko with a single large blast of fire from his feet, with only Zuko's sudden breaking of his footing causing Zhao to lose.[3] When fighting Aang, he fired many larger than normal blasts of fire without any strain and having to charge.[9] Shortly before his "death", he was able to fight Zuko's dramatically improved skills on almost equal terms, able to deflect most of Zuko's attacks and trade fire blasts with him. Despite this, he was hit several times and overwhelmed, knocking him to the ground in defeat, until a vengeful La interrupted their duel and trapped him in the Spirit World.[1][6]
Other skills
Despite his rash and brutish personality, Zhao was an intelligent man and skilled military strategist.[28] He was well known for being talented enough to quickly rise to the ranks until eventually becoming the commander of an entire fleet. Despite his failure to capture the Avatar, Zhao's successes were prominent enough that he eventually managed to secure a promotion to admiral. He was cunningly adept in tapping into human resources, as he displayed when he easily managed to ally himself with a merchant to lure Aang into a trap in exchange for him having all the Air Nomad artifacts in the cave,[25] bribe pirates with an entire box of riches to stage a nearly successful attempt on Zuko's life and garner great support from many Fire Nation soldiers with patriotic speeches.[5] He also displayed his ability to muster large forces and use deceptive means to overtake the enemy in Siege of the North, as he first took the advantage of his knowledge of Waterbending being weaker at day to effectively fight and eventually breach the Northern Water Tribe's walls, after which he proceeded to use the assault of his troops as a distraction to successfully capture and kill the Moon Spirit, which would have won the battle had Aang not fused with the Ocean Spirit to decimate his forces.[26][2] His knowledge of common tactics also benefited him greatly; Zhao discerned Zuko's strategy to use a smoke-screen to throw him off his trail.[24] Zhao made use of the highly skilled Yuyan Archers to capture the Avatar, demonstrating his mastery of allocated efficiency.[5]
Zhao also displayed himself to be fairly agile and fast, as he could easily dodge Zuko's attacks in their first duel before starting to fight back, and even when his footing was broken, he still dodged most of Zuko's attacks before ultimately being defeated.[3] His reflexes and strength were also remarkable and he displayed noteworthy unarmed fighting skill, able to easily deflect spears thrown at him by Lin Yee with a single hand,[9] and effortlessly parry Hahn's assassination attempt and throw him to the oceans in return.[1] In his final fight with Zuko, he proved able to keep up with him in close-quarters combat when they both used firebending, countering, and trading blows with him reasonably evenly, before ultimately being overwhelmed by Zuko's improvement.[1]
Relationships
- Main article: Zhao's relationships
Appearances
Avatar: The Last AirbenderBook One: Water (水)
Book Two: Earth (土)
Avatar comicsBook One: Water (水)
The Legend of KorraBook Two: Spirits (神靈)
Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying GameAvatar games |
Trivia
- In an interview on IGN, Michael Dante DiMartino said that the character of Zhao was originally inspired by Jason Isaacs' performance as a villain in The Patriot. DiMartino asked his casting director, Maryanne Dacey, to get "someone like" Isaacs for the role, and she managed to get the actual person.[29]
- In another IGN interview, Isaacs said that he was told when recording the role to "be yourself, but be your American self".
- The "Avatar Extras" bonus commentary for "The Siege of the North, Part 2" stated that "Zhao has a pretty messed up destiny", namely killing the Moon Spirit.
- "Avatar Extras" also claims the following to be true in relation to Zhao:
- He was well known for his bad balance.
- After receiving his promotion to admiral, he stayed up all night to celebrate it.
- He hated snow.
- Zhao served as the secondary villain in Book One, a role similar to that of Long Feng and Combustion Man in Book Two and Book Three, respectively.
- Zhao's series of promotions, from Captain to Commander to Admiral, was somewhat backward. In traditional naval ranking, it should go from Commander to Captain to Admiral. The rank of Commander can be interpreted to resemble the real-world ranks of Commodore and Rear Admiral, since Zhao commanded multiple ships, such as the Fire Navy blockade.
- Even after he was promoted to admiral, the credits still listed him as "Commander Zhao". This remained so even in The Legend of Korra, eight years after his final speaking appearance in the original series. However, this was corrected on the credits of the DVD release of "The Siege of the North, Part 2".
- Despite his major role in Book One, Zhao was never shown on-screen afterward except for "The Library" and was not directly mentioned again until "The Western Air Temple".
- In The Last Airbender, he was not taken by the Ocean Spirit, but killed by a group of Water Tribe warriors.
- Zhao shares his name with the ancient state of Zhao from the Warring States period of China. Notably, the state of Zhao was well known for its cruel but also cunning and successful generals as well as its aggressive expansionism, traits Admiral Zhao also possesses. The state of Zhao also began as rather weak and insignificant but eventually rose to become one of the mightiest states in China, just as Zhao began his career as a mere soldier and later progressed to become an admiral and military leader in the Fire Nation.
- Zhao also shares a name with Chinese general Zhao Kuangyin, the military leader responsible for the foundation of the Song Dynasty. Kuangyin was immensely interested in procuring books and knowledge from conquered lands rather than actual territory, similar to how Zhao craved knowledge from the scrolls of Wan Shi Tong's Library.