Zhao (The Last Airbender)

NOTE: This article is about Zhao from the live-action movie, as his original animated TV series and Netflix live-action TV series incarnations weren't voted as Pure Evil, but as Near Pure Evil, and thus only information about his movie incarnation's info and crimes should be placed here.

Pure Evil
Full Name	Zhao
Alias	Admiral Zhao The Admiral
Origin	The Last Airbender
Allies	Fire Lord Ozai Azula Fire Nation armada Zuko Iroh (both formerly)
Powers / Skills	Firebending abilities Highly skilled strategic leader Enhanced strength
Goals	Kill the Moon Spirit (temporarily succeeded, but then failed after Yue managed to revive the spirit by the cost of her own life). Serve Fire Lord Ozai and help the Fire Nation conquer all other nations. Capture and defeat the Avatar (all failed).
Moral Event Horizon	Trying to kill Zuko in an agni kai. Temporarily killing the Moon Spirit Tui, despite being warned it would bring imbalance to the world. Attempting to wipe out the Northern Water Tribe.
Kill Count	Hundreds Thousands (attempted)
Worst Crimes	Attempted genocide Mass murder War crimes Terrorism Attempted Assisted World Domination Kidnapping Conspiracy
Type of Villain	Egotistical Warlord

“	Do not worry about the moon's power, General Iroh. Because your brother, Fire Lord Ozai, and I have decided it is in our best interests to kill the Moon Spirit.	„
	~ Zhao to Iroh

Zhao is the main antagonist of the 2010 film The Last Airbender, based on Book 1: Air of the 2005-2008 series Avatar: The Last Airbender.

He is an arrogant Fire Nation admiral who desires to make himself a legend by killing the Moon Spirit and annihilate the Northern Water Tribe. He is also the rival of Ozai's son, Prince Zuko.

He was portrayed by Aasif Mandvi.

What Makes Him Pure Evil?

• He seeked to wipe out the entire Northern Water Tribe to place his name in history books.
• He captured Aang and intended to imprison him for life so the Avatar won't get reincarnated.
• When he had a mere hunch of Zuko being the Blue Spirit and was explicitly told by Ozai to not act on his suspicions and leave Zuko be, Zhao disobeyed his orders and tried to have Zuko killed to settle his pride, before subtly mocking Iroh on the loss of his nephew and his son previously in Ba Sing Se.
• Upon seeing Ozai's idea as clever, Zhao murdered the Moon Spirit to depower the waterbenders, callously disregarding Iroh's worry on how such an act will harm the world, while proclaiming himself as a god.
  • This act led to him mortally wounding the Tribe's ruler, Princess Yue, who gave up her life to revive the spirit.
• With the Moon Spirit killed, Zhao had his infantry begin murdering the population, killing a hundred people in a brief moment of time while having the entire city be firebombed, which also endangered the lives of his soldiers as well, if it meant destroying the tribe.
• He attempted to kill Zuko even after the latter refused to duel him just out of feeling his ego was bruised by such an act.
• He wrathfully attacked and tried to kill the four waterbender masters, who found him, only for them to easily defeat him with their powers and kill Zhao by drowning him to his death, thus making the evil warlord meet violent, but well-deserved comeuppance.
• Due to the film only being able to adapt Book 1, none of the villains that outrank him in the original series were ever adapted, so the film version of Zhao still qualifies. He also lacks the sole redeeming aspect of the 2024 Netflix version.

Trivia

• The live-action movie version is Pure Evil, while his original animated incarnation and Netflix live-action incarnation were both voted as Near Pure Evil, for the following reasons:
  • The former fails the heinous standard to Ozai and other more major villains, while the latter has some honor for refusing to kill the Ocean Spirit.

External Links

• Zhao on the Villains Wiki.