Mecha Character Profile: Char Aznable

People may think about an antagonist with evil minded or straight up causing chaos, destroying the world when it comes to mecha anime but some may realize that not all antagonists are like that but rather a complex ideology to plan and achieve an ultimate goal such as Char Aznable. Or rather, he is actually…

I. Background:
– Char Aznable is one of the main antagonists of Mobile Suit Gundam. He is actually the son of Zeon Zum Deikun – the philosopher who led to the creation of Principality of Zeon and Char’s true name was Casval Rem Deikun. Although destined to lead Zeon, a powerful family named the Zabi waged political war on Deikun and secretly overthrew and assassinated Zeon Deikun successfully, becoming the first leader of Zeon and forcing Casval and his sister to run away.

– Casval later encountered a boy his age named Char Aznable, and he stole Char’s place and hide his true identity in order to fool the Zabis. The assassins after Casval took the real Char’s life instead while Casval – as Char – headed to Zeon. Char promised himself to take revenge on every single one of the Zabi family members. Char is a very skilled mobile suit pilot, making his name one of the most feared by the Earth Federation as the Red Comet. Not only did he survived the One Year War but he also participated in various conflicts with a different names as well. He also made a rival during the One Year War – Amuro Ray. He faced off against Amuro Ray in his Gundam using various Zeon mobile suits but ultimately couldn’t defeat him. During a battle, his most trusted subordinate – Lalah Sune – lost her life taking a hit for Char. Char was extremely upset and vowed to take down Amuro and the Gundam at all cost. However, during the battle of A Baoa Qu, despite the Gundam being heavily damaged, Char couldn’t kill Amuro as the two engaged in melee combat. The OYW ended with the Federation’s victory.

– Char is very respected among the soldiers because of his charismatic behavior but little people know that secretly he is also a very cold-blooded man who can do anything to achieve his goal including killing his comrades or use someone even the ones that loved him. He is also a very lonely person deep inside because of how he did not receive enough affection from his family when he was younger because of politics and the deaths of his family.

– Because of Char’s fearsome reputation among the Earth Federation, he always had to hide himself after the One Year War under his another new name as Quatro Bajeena. While as Quatro he participated in the Gryps Conflict against the Titans alongside AEUG, he also met his old companion – Haman Karn during his journey to the asteroid Axis inside a newly formed Axis Zeon. After her death during the First Neo Zeon War, he took back the throne and became the leader of Zeon then waged a full-scale war against Earth with his plan to drop Axis on Earth. His plan failed after Amuro Ray confronted him on the falling Axis and used Nu Gundam’s power to push the Axis away, killing both himself and Char in the process.

II. Skills & Abilities:
– Char is an extremely skilled mobile suit pilot, his is most well known for piloting a mass-produced Zaku II Commander Type rampaging Earth Federation’s space fleets during the Battle of Loum. He is also a well respected leader among his men as a commander in his own unit, he also piloted other various mobile suits during One Year War and in different conflicts as well, such as the Z’Gok, Gelgoog and Zeong.

– Not only piloting but his skills as an infantryman is also very formidable. From using military weapons like firearms or explosives and even fencing, this can be proved when he is fighting against young Amuro Ray one to one and when he is outside of his mobile suit.

– Char is also a Newtype Spacenoid, he has telepathic abilities that are used to communicate with other Newtypes such as Amuro Ray or Lalah Sune – one of his companions. His Newtype skills also helped him become a very capable pilot when fighting too, he mastered this way before Amuro or the Earth Federation even fully believed the existence of Newtype.

– Although has strong leadership and capable fighting skills, Char is deeply fragile inside due to his rough childhood. Because his family lost everything to the Zabi family including their lives. Under his famous fake name he avenged his family by killing the entire Zabi family and took back his position as the true leader of Zeon. Even after all that – at his last moments before death with Amuro he implied that Lalah Sune could’ve acted as his mother that he never had enough time to spend with but Amuro killed her. This showed how lonely he felt in his life right until his very end. Despite having many female companions, he never truly loved them and mostly used them to further his agenda.

III. Gallery: