Athrun Zala; the conflicted soldier

Athrun is Kira's childhood best friend who, after leaving the Moon for PLANTs, joined ZAFT following the massacre of Junius Seven, Bloody Valentine, which took the life of his mother. He comes face to face with Kira when he was on a mission to steal one of the five Gundams (GAT-X303 Aegis) Orb was building for the Earth Alliance. After seeing Kira again, Athrun is determined to bring him to their side, as Kira is a Coordinator and should fight with them, not against them. Convincing his commander Raww Le Klueze that he will talk Kira into joining ZAFT, but that he will shoot to kill if Kira refuses, Athrun sets out to persuade Kira to leave the Earth Alliance and the Archangel.

After many fruitless attempts, Athrun is forced to fight Kira everytime their ships come in contact with one anther. As they kill each other's comrades, the strain becomes too much when Kira kills Athrun's closest comrade, Nicol Amarfi. Athrun retaliates by killing one of Kira's friends, and once the deed was done, both of them fight to the death, destroying each other's Gundams. Athrun self destructs his Gundam on Kira, later believing his old friend to be dead. After Lacus Clyne, who was Athrun's fiancée, confronts Athrun about his attempt to kill Kira and challenges his reason for fighting the war, Athrun takes the new Gundam his father gives him, the ZGMF-X09A Justice, and sets off to find out for himself what this war means to him.

Along the way of his journey, Athrun meets Cagalli Yula Athha, a friend of Kira's, and through her gets to know the enemy side on a personal level. After his major battle with Kira, Cagalli laments in anger at the thought of Athrun killing Kira for revenge, and how an eye for an eye gets no where. Later, after taking the ZGMF-X09A Justice, Athrun finds Kira once again and decides to fight with Kira, on his own and for his own beliefs.

Technical Data

Age: 16 (SEED) & 18 (SEED DESTINY)
Birthday: October 29th
Mobile Suits: GAT-X303 Aegis, ZGMF-X09A Justice, ZGMF-1000 ZAKU Warrior, ZGMF-X23S Saviour, ZGMF-2000 GOUF Ignited, ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice
Voiced by: Ishida Akira (Japanese)