Athrun Zala

Originally a close friend of Kira Yamato, he later became Kira's rival during the First Alliance-PLANT War, where he participated in the Gundam extortion plan at Heliopolis. He became the pilot of the GAT-X303 Aegis Gundam and waged a fierce fight against Kira. In the later stages of the war, they would return to being friends, as well as being comrades opposed to both the Earth Alliance and ZAFT.

Personality and Character

As seen and even mentioned by Lacus Clyne herself, Athrun is described as a quiet, reserved, and often a benevolent individual. Athrun is shown to have a firm belief that if soldiers follow their orders then eventually the war will end with success. While good at following orders, Athrun has trouble acting as a team leader due to his compassionate outlook in life. In Destiny, Athrun's personality and ideals does not change much, but he does mature in some respects, especially when he rejoins ZAFT at the personal behest of Gilbert Durandal to command and become part of the ZAFT forces as a field commander aboard the Minerva. Due to his status as a hero to the PLANT colonies and ZAFT ace pilot, he somehow instinctively portrays a very professional aura and doesn't hesitate when giving orders that can come off as being harsh or demanding. Despite the former's particular distaste of being ordered around, Athrun still manages to act as a mentor to his young subordinates, such as Shinn Asuka and Lunamaria Hawke.

However, Athrun does have two major flaws, both of which often plague him in both SEED and Destiny. His perseverance to find himself and discern the truth of the moment amidst the chaos in both wars waged in both SEED and Destiny eventually eclipses that flaw. His second flaw is a by-product of his first flaw as his indecisiveness comes off as being labeled as a traitor to either side of the war, much to his frustration and denial. After his defection to Terminal, Athrun seems to regain a sense of what he is fighting for, but it is not clearly portrayed if he has resolved this personal issue.

Skills and Abilities

Before becoming a full-fledged pilot, Athrun had underwent training at the ZAFT military academy. It was there that he showed natural talent as a soldier, ranking 1st in mobile suit piloting, hand-to-hand combat, and knife-fighting, even going as far as to beat the renowned knife-fighting instructor "Fred of the Knife". With his natural experience as a pilot and high scores at the academy, it's very surprising that Kira Yamato was able to match him with skill

alone. His fighting style is not visibly limited in style, his mobile suits, GAT-X303 Aegis Gundam, the ZGMF-X09A Justice Gundam and later the ZGMF-X19A ∞ Justice Gundam, are all well-rounded mobile suits that are always equiped with sufficient firepower and a minimum of two beam sabers. Although his style is typically well-rounded, he can also pilot mobile suits with more basic ability, and therefore less strategic uses, such as the ZGMF-1000/M Blaze ZAKU Warrior.

Athrun is also pretty skilled in robotics, as evidenced by his creation of Kira's Birdy and Lacus's Haros.

Athrun's resolve in battle is often profound. He debates "truth", "war" and even the real difference between "right" and "wrong" on the battlefield. These thoughts never cloud his mind in the sense that they hinder his abilities. However, his anger or desire for revenge often make him act in a way that he later regrets. His only weakness as a pilot is his good nature, which leaves him troubled when faced with having to kill Kira, his best friend. Ultimately, his "perfect solider" mentality and his father's expectations blind him to what he truly wants.

History

Athrun was born in December City of the PLANTs on October 29, CE 55. In C.E. 61, Patrick Zala sent Athrun to attend a preparatory school at the lunar city of Copernicus with his mother. There, he met Kira Yamato and the two become close friends. In C.E. 68, Patrick called Athrun back from Copernicus City. Just before he left, Athrun built a robotic pet bird, Birdy (Torii (which means bird) in the Japanese version), and gave it to Kira as a parting gift.

After returning to the PLANTs, Athrun found that his father had arranged an engagement for him to PLANT pop idol Lacus Clyne. Athrun built her Mr. Pink, a pink ball-shaped robotic pet-companion , which she liked very much. In response, he built her a large number of them, which she named based on their colors.

On February 21, C.E. 70, Athrun enrolled in the ZAFT military following his mother's death seven days earlier during the Bloody Valentine tragedy, which was caused by the Earth Alliance. Among the Le Creuset Team members led by Rau Le Creuset, he became friends with Nicol Amalfi and Rusty Mackenzie, and he was the only member whose views on Naturals differ from his parent's. During his time at the ZAFT Military Academy, Athrun was first in almost all of his classes and was the top graduate, just above Yzak Joule. This may account for some of Yzak's hostilities toward Athrun.