Yzak Joule

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Yzak Joule
Yzak Joule in Gundam SEED
Genetic type:	Coordinator
DOB:	August 8, CE 54
Age:	17 [GS] 19 [GSD]
Nationality:	PLANT [GS/GSD]
Allegiance:	ZAFT [GS/GSD] Terminal [GSD]
Rank:	Red Coat (ZAFT) [GS] White Coat (ZAFT) [GSD] Commander (ZAFT) [GSD]
Family:	Ezalia Joule (mother)
Height:	5'10 (175 cm) [GS] 5'11 (178 cm) [GSD]
Weight:	66 kg (145.2 lbs) [GS] 68kg (150 lbs) [GSD]
Blood type:	O
Hair Color:	Silver
Eye Color:	Blue
Mobile Suit:	GAT-X102 Duel [GS] ZGMF-1001/K Slash ZAKU Phantom [GSD] ZGMF-2000 GOUF Ignited [GSD]

Yzak Joule (イザーク・ジュール, Izāku Jūru^?) is a fictional character appearing in the Mobile Suit Gundam SEED anime series. He is voiced by Tomokazu Seki in the original Japanese version (Michael Adamthwaite in the English dub).

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Gundam SEED

Yzak Joule graduated at the top of his class from the ZAFT military academy, granting him the right to wear the red uniform of an elite ZAFT pilot. Upon his graduation, Yzak was assigned to the prestigious ZAFT Le Creuset special operations team. His mother, Ezalia Joule, was a member of the PLANT Supreme Council, as were the parents of the other elite pilots in the Le Creuset Team (except for Rusty Mackenzie, the ill-fated would-be pilot of the GAT-X105 Strike). Soon after his arrival, he was assigned to infiltrate the Orb space colony Heliopolis to capture the Earth Alliance's new prototype mobile weapons. Yzak managed to escape Heliopolis with the GAT-X102 Duel, and he became the Duel's permanent pilot after the destruction of the colony. Yzak, with the rest of the Le Creuset team, continued to harass the Archangel and Kira Yamato, pilot of the GAT-X105 Strike. In Gundam SEED, Yzak is characterized by his zealous loyalty to ZAFT and his commanding officer Rau Le Creuset, not unlike the fanatatical devotion Anavel Gato had for the Principality of Zeon and Gihren Zabi in Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory.

During one battle, Kira gave Yzak a scar across his face, which he chose to wear as a reminder of who gave it to him. However, it also drove him to murder, as witnessed in the next battle, the Battle of Orbit, when he mercilessly (and mistakenly) shot down a civilian shuttle while under the impression that there were retreating soldiers on board. This act had a traumatic effect on Kira; one of the shuttle's passengers happened to be a little girl named Elle, who had given him an origami flower as a token of her appreciation for his protection in earlier battles.

Each time Yzak fought against Kira, he was unable to defeat him; he later battled Kira again when he appeared with the stolen ZGMF-X10A Freedom at the Battle of JOSH-A. Despite the fact that Yzak had killed Elle in cold blood, Kira refrained from killing him in return; instead, Kira cut off the Duel's legs and kicked Yzak away to save him from the Cyclops System. Yzak later participated in the Battle of Porta Panama, in which he fought the Earth Alliance's new GAT-01 Strike Dagger for the first time. However, once ZAFT triggered a device that rendered all the Strike Daggers paralyzed, Yzak did not participate any further because his opponents were defenseless. He also expressed his disgust at the glee exhibited by his ZAFT comrades while firing on the disabled mobile suits. This probably was the start of his realization to the horror of the current ZAFT's fanaticism, even before he meets Dearka again (see below) and showing that, despite his arrogance and zealousness, he is not without honor and valor.

Yzak later found himself reunited with his old friend Dearka Elsman on the Mendel colony, where he initially accuses him of betraying the PLANTs. Dearka denied the accusation, saying he would never betray his own people; however, he also refused to fight in order to wipe out all the Naturals, a goal which Patrick Zala had openly confirmed earlier when confronted by his son Athrun, another former member of the Le Creuset Team who had also defected from ZAFT. Dearka also told Yzak all about Kira Yamato, the former Strike pilot whom he had been obsessing over, and explained that he is not really their enemy. Given the gravity of these revelations, Yzak had a hard time believing them and told Dearka that he was being deceived; in response, Dearka retorted, "Which one of us is really being deceived?"

In the end, Yzak chose to aid the Three Ships Alliance during the Second Battle of Jachin Due after seeing the destructive capabilities of ZAFT's GENESIS weapon and realizing what Dearka said before about ZAFT could be true. When Shani Andras attempted to kill Cagalli Yula Athha, Yzak blocked the shot with the Duel's shield; Dearka then combined his guns and fired at Shani, which caused considerable damage to Shani's GAT-X252 Forbidden. Yzak then rushed in and was fired on by Shani, but he ejected his Assault Shroud armor and let it get hit to make it seem like his Gundam was destroyed; he then rushed in with dual beam sabers and sliced off the Forbidden's arms before cutting into the cockpit, killing Shani. Later, when the GAT-X103 Buster was severely damaged by the ZGMF-X13A Providence's DRAGOONs, Yzak rushed in to save Dearka, only for both pilots to be attacked by an insane Clotho Buer, the last of the three Extendeds and the pilot of the GAT-X370 Raider; Yzak took the Buster's cannon and used it to destroy the Raider, killing Clotho in the process. (In Gundam SEED: Special Edition, however, Dearka killed Clotho instead of Yzak; this is currently the scenario that is considered canon.)

It took the entire series for Yzak to realize that his hatred for Naturals and his desire for revenge against Kira Yamato had caused him to blindly serve ZAFT's radical extremists.

Near the end of the Bloody Valentine War, Yzak was promoted and given command of his own special forces unit; after the war, Yzak served in his mother's place as a temporary member of the PLANT Supreme Council. Following this, he was promoted to white uniform status and reformed the Joule Team; joining him were his former comrade and friend Dearka Elsman as well as Shiho Hahnenfuss, a highly intelligent test pilot and fellow redcoat that Yzak had befriended earlier on in the war. These two friends appear to be the senior officers of the Joule Team.

[edit] Gundam SEED Destiny

Before the Second Bloody Valentine War began, Yzak, Dearka and other ZAFT "war criminals" from the first Bloody Valentine War were put on trial. Yzak should have been executed for his actions during the Battle of Orbit (he himself says so later on when Athrun returns to the PLANTs); however, thanks to PLANT Chairman Gilbert Durandal's defending speech, he continued to serve as a commander. The Joule Team was involved in the unsuccessful attempt to prevent the Junius Seven colony drop, as well as the pursuit of the next-generation Gundams stolen from ZAFT, during which many of his subordinates were killed. During this battle, however, Yzak shows he is still an effective soldier, albeit more level-headed. Rather than kill Auel and Sting as he surely would have done during the first war, Yzak simply holds them off by damaging their mobile suits just as Kira Yamato did to him during Operation Spitbreak.

Later when Athrun Zala pays a visit to the PLANTs shortly after the Second Bloody Valentine War began, Yzak and Dearka are called from the frontlines to provide escort service. The three of them pay tribute to their fallen comrades from the first war - Nicol Amalfi, Rusty Mackenzie, and Miguel Aiman. Then Yzak asks Athrun to return to ZAFT and promises to help arrange things.

As a commander, Yzak was initially assigned a blue-colored ZGMF-1001 ZAKU Phantom, which he had outfitted with the optional Slash armament pack (fitting his hand-to-hand combat style); later, he switched to a white-colored ZGMF-X2000 GOUF Ignited. He also had command of the Nazca class destroyers Voltaire and Rousseau, and possibly the Gondwana class carrier Gondwana as well. In addition, he had his scar removed after the war, presumably symbolizing the end of his grudge against Kira. Later during the Second Bloody Valentine War, he led the attack on one of the Requiem relay stations during the attempted firing of the weapon on Aprilus One.

It should be noted that Yzak did not immediately side with the Archangel; at first, he went after Athrun, once again feeling his leadership position threatened. Dearka intervened, however, and convinced him to focus on the battle. As the Archangel and Eternal entered battle with the Messiah, Yzak ordered his forces to guard the Eternal, under the logic that he would be guarding a ZAFT ship. He was last seen escorting Lacus Clyne into the PLANT Supreme Council room in Final Plus.

Unlike the colors of the Commander-type pilot uniform (first seen worn by Rau; his protege Rey Za Burrel's only bears the same colors but is not such), Yzak's commander's pilot uniform is white and black instead of white and purple. It is possible that Yzak's suit is in fact the standard color scheme for commanders while Rau's is just custom colored, explaining why Rey has the same colors on his suit, even if he is not a commander.