Char Aznable is an enigma wrapped in a mystery. Or he’s just a chaotic bisexual mess who loves doing revenge murders and avoiding dealing with his ‘feelings.’ These are his best betrayals that show us why he’s the original mecha problematic fave in Mobile Suit Gundam.
Spoilers for Mobile Suit Gundam (1979), Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam(1985), Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack (1988), and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2015).
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5. Garma Zabi
This is the one that started it all. Char’s decision to kill his military ‘buddy,’ the fascist fail-son, Garma Zabi, created one of the most memorable moments in the original Mobile Suit Gundam. Garma (the pretty boy, twink, heir to the Zabi family) became friends with Char in military school. While Garma was trying to prove to his peers that he was worthy of his own last name, Char was scheming, plotting, and doing crimes.
Char’s father, and short-lived leader of the newly formed and shorter-lived Republic of Zeon, was murdered by Garma’s Dad, Degwin Zabi. To avoid also being murdered, Char and his sister escape the quickly decaying republic and go into hiding. Years later, when Char returns from his exile, with some snazzy identity-hiding aviators, he pursues a friendship with Garma. But he knows that this friendship had an expiration date.
After multiple encounters with the Earth Federation’s White Base battleship, an experimental new Gundam mobile suit, and its talented psychic pilot Amuro Ray, Char realizes that he could use his new enemy to deal with an old foe. He proves that he got the nickname Red Comet for more than just his flamboyant Red Zaku. Char uses his quick-witted opportunism to lead Garma into the kill zone of the White Base.
The scene that follows is hilarious and grim. Char cackles as his trap is sprung. Garma’s dread creeps in as he realizes he’s about to die without any real idea why. And instead of explaining anything, Char made a biting joke about the ‘misfortune of his birth’ and laughed as Garma died with his failure.
4. Char Aznable
So, fun fact: Char’s name isn’t even Char. His real name is Casval Rem Deikun. He stole the name from another blonde guy with protagonist energy that he met while hiding from the murderous Zabi family. Casval needed to return home to get revenge and probably attempt to overthrow the government. But he knew there would likely be an attempt on his life if he returned to Zeon. So Casval took advantage of the original Char’s recent acceptance to the military academy and his uncanny ability to ‘twin’ with him.
Knowing there could be only one hot, morally dubious blonde murder boy in this franchise, the original Char had to go. Casval planted an antique gun in the original Char’s bag to get him thrown off his flight. Then he pitches an idea to do a twin swap in the airport so the original Char can buy a new ticket and get on the flight in Casval’s name.
Actually, the original Char used Casval’s other alias, Edouard Mass. But that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that Kycylia Zabi had her spies blow up the original Char’s plane, murdering him and allowing Casval to assume the identity of Char Aznable and take the next flight out to the military academy on Zeon.
3. Kycylia Zabi
The last few hours of Mobile Suit Gundam were pretty crazy for Kycylia. Degwin Zabi, her father and the leader of Zeon, was just about to end the One Year War, a bloody conflict that led to the death of half of the population. He realized his son, Gihren Zabi, was moving too much like Adolf (Gihren literally told him, “See for yourself how a Hiter follower fights this war”) and thought peace was preferable to the extermination of all human life on Earth.
But before Degwin could end the war, he caught a giant space laser, courtesy of Gihren. So Kycilia does what any smart fascist leader does after a political assassination. She visits Gihren, confirms he did it, and shoots him in the head. It was a wild day.
But this isn’t about Kycilia. It’s about Char. Char, who just finished a homoerotic, zero gravity sword fight with Amuro Ray. Yet, after some convincing from his sister Sayla, presses pause on his feud with Amuro for a decade or so only to grab a bazooka. He floats around the Zeon base in his pink space suit, looking for Kycilia’s new ship. When he finds the ship, he flutters up to the bridge window with his jet pack, gives the new leader of Zeon a quick salute, and then ends her reign with a smile.
His revenge is complete, and the Zabi family is dead. Well, mostly dead.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Gihren Zabi’s Death (Dub)
Gihrens Zabi’s Death from Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) English Dub
Bonus 1: That one guy at his military school
When someone figures out you’re a criminal and a terrorist hellbent on revenge, and instead of turning you in, they pledge loyalty to you, you could work with them. But if you are Char and find them annoying, you kill them. Because there is only room for one messy b—- in your life, and that’s you.
During another classic Char plot, where he manipulates Garma into starting an uprising at a military school against the Earth Federation, Char finds an opportunity for a plot within a scheme. He directs his simp (the simp has a name, it does not matter) into commandeering a federation tank. And then, like a chaotic discord server admin, Char controlled the communication channels and limited comms between his simp and the rest of his squads.
This led the rest of the squads to confuse the simp’s tank as an enemy. And unbeknownst to the other squads, they ended up killing his Char’s first simp. And no, you don’t get a name for this guy. He doesn’t get a number and he doesn’t get a name drop for your wiki searches.
2. Earth / Amuro Ray / The concept of growing as a person
Some characters see their past choices. Their failures and the consequences of their actions drive them to be better. Char could do that. Instead, he rejects the concept of being a better person and becomes even more chaotic.
Char’s father believed that mankind’s future is in space, and we must not only stop polluting our cradle of life but also emigrate to the stars. Char used that legacy to start a rebellion against the Earth Federation and unite many space colonies against them. But instead of preserving the planet, he threatens to drive Earth into a nuclear winter by hurling an asteroid at it.
Char could reach out to Amuro Ray and find an understanding with each other. The two shared a strong psychic connection based on the mutual trauma of their friend Lalah Sune’s death. Instead, Char slips into the role of space terrorist and flirts psychically with Amuro, daring him to pursue him and force him to stop.
Char walks a more interesting path than ‘self-reflection’ or ‘actualization.’ He becomes a villain, a leader, and a terrorist but without a true belief in the causes that animate him because Char doesn’t have to believe it as long as others do.
He doesn’t have solutions to problems and he doesn’t have ideas for a path forward to anything. He recognized that he was in a revenge story that ended when he blew off Kycylia’s head. Char is a symbol that is living past his expiration date, waiting to be a martyr for a cause that isn’t even his own.
1. No one, Actually
“I’ve never betrayed anyone in my entire life.” – Char Aznable
Char is a good friend.
He has never betrayed anyone in his entire life. I showed my sister, a yaoi fanatic, Gundam: The Origin, and she dropped it once she realized Char was just going to “kick and kill” instead of “fucking and sucking” his way to the top.
