Patrick Zala

Infobox animanga character
name = Patrick Zala
series = Mobile Suit Gundam SEED


caption =
first = "Gundam SEED" episode 7
last = "Gundam SEED" episode 50
creator =
voiced by = Kinryu Arimoto (Japanese)cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/seed/credits/index.html |title=Credits |accessdate=2008-08-02 |work=GundamOfficial |publisher=Bandai America Incorporated]
Andrew Kavadas (English)
alias =
age = 46cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/seed/characters/chara_patrick.html |title=Patrick Zala |accessdate=2008-08-02 |work=GundamOfficial |publisher=Bandai America Incorporated]
born =
death =
nationality = PLANT [GS] [cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/seed/characters/index.html |title=Characters |accessdate=2008-08-02 |work=GundamOfficial |publisher=Bandai America Incorporated]
relatives = Lenore Zala (wife, deceased)
Athrun Zala (son)
paux1 name = Genetic type
paux1 = Coordinator
divider = yes
aux1 name = Allegiance
aux1 = ZAFT [GS]
aux2 name = Rank
aux2 = National Defense Committee Chairman [GS]
PLANT Supreme Council Chairman [GS]

nihongo|Patrick Zala|パトリック・ザラ|Patorikku Zara is a fictional antagonist from the "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED" anime series, set in the Cosmic Era timeline of the "Gundam" metaseries.

Patrick Zala, father of Athrun Zala, is the National Defense Committee Chairman who is the radical faction leader of the PLANT Supreme Council. He lost his wife, Lenore Zala, in the Bloody Valentine Tragedy and blames all Naturals for her death.

Gundam SEED

His grief over the death of his wife, Lenore, made him a man driven by hatred and revenge. This makes him easily manipulated by ZAFT Commander Rau Le Creuset, whom Patrick believes to be his right-hand man. Instead, Le Creuset plans to destroy all of humanity, Naturals and Coordinators alike.

When Rau and Athrun return to the PLANTs for a hearing concerning the destruction of Heliopolis, Patrick Zala meets them in a shuttle on the way to the meeting. In an effort to prevent PLANT moderates' interference in the Archangel affair, he orders them to omit the fact that the Strike is being piloted by a Coordinator in their report to the Council.

Prior to a later council meeting, Patrick makes his genocidal intentions clear to PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Siegel Clyne. He asserts that the Naturals have no place in the present time and should be wiped out. In their absence, he reasons that Coordinators like himself should take their "rightful place" as masters of the universe. He dismisses Siegel's concerns about the lack of fertility in third generation Coordinators, believing that the PLANT scientists will find a solution.

His rise to power as the Chairman of PLANT gives him great military power, which he uses during Operation Spitbreak. After the operation ends in disaster, he becomes an increasingly paranoid and despotic leader. He has his closest friend Siegel Clyne assassinated, attempts to have Lacus Clyne killed, and later ruthlessly shoots his own son, Athrun, when he refuses to divulge the location of the missing mobile suits ZGMF-X10A Freedom and ZGMF-X09A Justice.

Patrick eventually has ZAFT build the GENESIS superweapon and uses it in an effort to destroy all Naturals. After revealing its destructive power, he delivers a speech in which he refers to Coordinators as "the new mankind." Patrick soon manages to destroy the Earth Alliance space fleet along with their lunar base at the Ptolemaeus Crater with GENESIS, effectively winning the battle. He then decides to fire on Earth, even though ZAFT's space fleet is still in the line of fire of GENESIS in hopes of destroying all Naturals.

ZAFT Commander Ray Yuki strongly objects to destroying all life on Earth, but is fatally shot by Patrick, who then continues as planned. Mortally wounded, Commander Yuki manages to shoot Patrick several times, thus sealing his fate.

As he lies dying in Athrun's arms, Patrick tells his son to fire GENESIS on Earth and make his vision of a Coordinators' world come true. Instead, Athrun self-destructs the Justice at GENESIS's power core to destroy the superweapon, vaporizing Patrick's corpse in the process.

Gundam SEED Destiny

Patrick Zala's legacy lives through a group of Coordinators who supports his genocidal policies, including ZAFT Green veteran Sato. In Cosmic Era 73, they carry out an attempt to exterminate the Naturals by dropping the Junius Seven space colony on Earth, an event which becomes known as "Operation Break the World" and ultimately leads to the outbreak of the Second Bloody Valentine War.

References