| NOTE: This article is about the animated TV series incarnation of Zhao, as his live action counterpart was voted Pure Evil, and his Netflix counterpart's article can be found here. Thus, only information on the animated TV series incarnation should be put here. |
| “ | 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. |
Admiral Zhao (formerly known as Commander Zhao), often referred to as Zhao, is the main antagonist of Book One: Water of the Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender and a minor antagonist in Book Two: Spirits of its 2012 sequel series The Legend of Korra.
He was a former student of Jeong Jeong, a deserted Fire Nation Navy admiral, where he taught him Firebending with restraint; however, he left as Zhao enjoyed the destructiveness of firebending and was tired of learning with restraint. He then joined the Fire Nation Navy and became a respected sailor, rising up the ranks. He then became an admiral just like his master and wants to help Fire Lord Ozai to conquer the entire world and also kill the Avatar since he serves as a big threat to the Fire Nation. He is also the arch-nemesis of Prince Zuko.
He was voiced by Jason Isaacs, who also voiced The Judge in Netflix's Castlevania.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
- When he learned about the location of the mortal bodies of the Moon spirit, he vandalized the library he got it from by burning the section of the library.
- This in turn made Wan Shi Tong misanthropic towards humans and fueled the conflict between him and Team Avatar.
- He took sadistic pleasure watching Ozai burn his son, Zuko's face.
- While his line to Zuko on how his father doesn't even want him when meeting him was correct, he said this in a taunting way while taunting him about how he will capture and kill the Avatar in Ozai's favour.
- Despite wanting Ozai's favor, this was merely so he can have high military rank and more power, not out of actual care or insecurity.
- He also shares much of the Fire Nation's racism and thirst to conquer other areas.
- He tried to attack Zuko when his back was turned after Zuko defeated him in the Agni Kai, to which Iroh called him out for his cowardliness when he stops him.
- He let Team Avatar and Zuko pass the blockade so he could capture them all.
- He would arrest all five Fire Sages on the claims of treason, even though only one, Shyu, helped Team Avatar, just to save face when he failed to capture Aang and Zuko.
- He succeeded in capturing the Avatar Aang, a young boy of the physical age of 12, and put him in tortuous conditions.
- When he was captured, he taunted Aang about being the only Airbender left and let him know that he would keep him alive "just barely", implying he intended to torture him to near death.
- He tried to kill his old master, Jeong Jeong after cutting off apprenticeship to Jeong Jeong simply because he got bored of it.
- He conspired with a merchant to capture Aang.
- He bribed some pirates to kill Zuko, who was about 16 years old at that time, while recruiting all of his loyal men on his assault of the North.
- He tried to eradicate all Waterbenders and conquer the Northern Water Tribes, noting how it will be a replication of what fate befallen the Airbenders in the beginning of the war.
- He crippled the Northern Water Tribes' defenses during his attack.
- He killed the Moon Spirit, Tui, despite Iroh warning him that it can bring imbalance to the world, which can cause harm to the Fire Nation and its empire, multiple times.
- This also led to the death of Princess Yue as she sacrificed her life to revive Tui, which got him to be deservedly killed by La, who took Zhao’s spirit to be trapped in the Fog of Lost Souls where he was driven to insanity as a fitting punishment for willingly throwing the world out of balance.
- He tried to attack and kill Tenzin when he confused him for Avatar Aang, his father.
- Unlike many villains in the franchise, Zhao has no honor, no redeeming qualities, has a clear moral agency and is taken pretty seriously by his most depraved outing in the first season finale.
- While his duel with Aang is considered comedic, it is only so on Aang's end and done specifically to enrage him enough to take out his own ships rather than seeing Zhao as a joke, thus it cannot detract from the threat level he poses.
- While his fate of losing his mind in the Fog of Lost Souls is horrific, the amount of evil deeds he committed make his fate well-deserved.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- He ultimately fails the Heinous Standards to Ozai and Unalaq, as the consequences of Zhao killing the Moon Spirit are not specific enough on what damage it could cause, with Iroh's only warnings being "great harm will be done" and "even the Fire Nation won't be safe", meaning he relies on Fridge Horror to stand out alongside them. However, given how unique it is to kill the Moon Spirit and how this action even gave warnings from Iroh, this is a minor prevention.
Trivia[]
- He is one of three Avatar: The Last Airbender villains from the Fire Nation to be Near Pure Evil, along with Sozin and Azulon.
- He is also the first NPE antagonist in the Avatar franchise.
- Interestingly (and ironically), unlike both Sozin and Azulon (who are Fire Lords themselves), his NPE status is never reasoned with any redeeming quality, not even partly.
- His 2024 Netflix counterpart is also considered Near Pure Evil, but for different reasons. While he does not fail the Heinous Standards, unlike his animated counterpart, he has moral standards.
- Only the original Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series and the 2024 Netflix live-action versions of Zhao qualify as Near Pure Evil, as the 2010 live-action film adaptation of Zhao actually qualifies as Pure Evil due to M. Night Shyamalan's film not getting any sequels as originally planned and instead only adapting Book 1, resulting in Zhao being more vile and standing out much easily due to lacking the only redeeming trait of the Netflix version and the absence of several of the worst show's villains that do not exist in that continuity.
External Links[]
- Zhao on the Villains Wiki
- Zhao on the Avatar Wiki
- Zhao on the Entertainingly Detestable Wiki
[]
 Near Pure Evils
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Animated Shows The Legend of Korra Live-Action Show Novels Comic Books See Also | ||