Mobile Suit Gundam’s Greatest Villain Is One Of Anime’s Greatest Heroes
The entire franchise of Mobile Suit Gundam is filled with complex characters, from Gundam Wing’s Heero Yuy to the more recent Suletta Mercury from Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, but none can quite match one of the originals, Char Aznable from Mobile Suit Gundam. Char, the villain of the very first Gundam series, could be described in many different ways: he is driven, intelligent, resourceful, and, in his own way, heroic. Sort of.
Char was such an iconic part of the franchise that in almost every new Gundam entry, there’s a “Char clone” character that’s meant to be as complex, deep, and conflicted as the original. What makes Char a fantastic villain is that he becomes a hero, and it feels like an evolution of the character and not something done to drum up interest in a new series. In fact, everything about the man is presented as a series of contrasts.
Char Starts As A Dangerous Villain
In Mobile Suit Gundam 0079, Char is first seen as a highly competent Mobile Suit pilot, often going toe-to-toe with Amuro Ray. Soon, Char decides to manipulate his young rival into killing off the Zabi family as the brilliant Zeon Lietuentanet executes his long-simmering plan for revenge. Going by what he does, he’s clearly a villain, but by digging a little deeper into his motivations, we get to see the entire complex picture.
A Goal To Elevate Humanity
A running theme throughout every Mobile Suit Gundam series is that war isn’t pretty, and Char is one of the first characters to be aware of this, using war to try and achieve his ultimate goal: taking down the Federation, whom he views as corrupt, which will then help usher humanity into a better era. If this sounds similar to Gundam Wing’s Treize, that’s because it is, with the main difference that Char is laser-focused on elevating the Principality of Zeon as a new beacon for humanity.
To the Federation, he’s a villain, but he loves his home country, of which he’s secretly part of the original Royal Family, to the point that he even joins with his former rival to take down the Titans.
Working With His Rivals
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, a sequel series to Mobile Suit Gundam 0079, puts Char alongside Amuro as they fight against the Titans, an elite squad hunting down the survivors of the Zeon war and brutally killing them. Using the alias “Quattro,” Casval Deikun ditches the name Char and becomes a trusted ally, refusing command of the fighting unit multiple times.
The Speech Of The Century
It’s under this guise that Char gives a speech about colonizing space and having humanity reach for the stars, which sums up his personal philosophy and motivation. Here’s a small sample: “Tell me why we must – at this turning point in our history – fight amongst ourselves, and further pollute the Earth? The Earth should be returned to its natural state, and all of humanity should make their home in space! Otherwise, Earth will no longer remain the blue planet.”
That doesn’t sound like the words of a villain, and it sounds like someone trying to save humanity the best way he knows how.
Lost His Guiding Lights
The problem throughout the early Gundam series featuring Char is that the man is so driven by his purpose that he ends up breaking. We see this for the first time in Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 when Lalah is killed, but it repeats in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam when Kamille, whom he teaches as Quattro and starts to see as a sort of adopted son, is mentally broken and driven insane. Without those two around to keep him in check, Char gives into his goal of Zeon overcoming the Federation, with disastrous results.
Char Wins
Consumed by his belief that humanity will only be free by escaping into space and casting off Earth, Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack is exactly what it sounds like one last assault against the Federation. Yet, as he reveals towards the end, Char had taken steps to help Amuro and ultimately causes his own downfall through the will of humanity being turned against Zeon. Which means…he did unite humanity.
You can see why Gundam is filled with Char clones, as the character is a sociopathic villain, but he wants to raise humanity and squash corruption. This duality makes him both an amazing villain and, as his time as Quattro proved, the hero that humanity needed during the Universal Century.
