Shinn Asuka

Shinn Asuka (シン・アスカ, Shinn Asuka^?) is the main protagonist of the first half of the anime Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. A Coordinator refugee from the Orb Union, he was a pilot aboard ZAFT's LHM-BB01 Minerva during the Second Alliance-PLANT War, initially piloting the ZGMF-X56S Impulse Gundam and then the ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundam. Reappearing as one of the main protagonists in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom, he is a pilot of Compass' LHM-BB03S Millennium, initially piloting the STTS-808 Immortal Justice Gundam and then the ZGMF/A-42S2 Destiny Gundam Spec II.

Personality & Character[]

Before the death of his entire family, Shinn was a cheerful and carefree person. He was especially close to his little sister, Mayu, willing to go the extra mile for her when she lost her cell phone. However, this immediately changed when Shinn became traumatized by witnessing his family’s deaths and seeing their mutilated corpses right before his eyes.

Since then, Shinn has become a short-tempered, impulsive, stubborn, and occasionally arrogant young man. On several occasions, Shinn has demonstrated to act on his personal feelings, despite his common sense, often putting him at odds with his superior officers. He has also been noted to be rather childish at times, displaying immaturity and a child-like excitement on rare occasions. His experiences from the first war, have left Shinn with a deep hatred for war and those who cause it; becoming visibly upset once the Second War begins.

Despite his shortcomings, Shinn has shown to be a kind and gentle person mainly to his two love interests, Stella Loussier and Lunamaria Hawke, both of whom he is fiercely protective of. Furthermore, Shinn is also very loyal to those he considers his friends and people he respects. He has also shown himself to be a highly determined individual who works hard to improve his skills and rarely, if ever, gives up. His family’s death has also left him with a dedication to protecting innocent lives so that they do not have to endure the same horrors he did.

Due to his past and his time during the war, Shinn developed a great deal of anger and hatred towards several major governments, organizations, and individuals. His anger and hatred at these factors have been demonstrated to be either positive or negative during varying moments of his life. Unfortunately, his anger and his desire to change the world for the better; left Shinn vulnerable to the manipulations of those he was loyal to: Rey Za Burrel and Gilbert Durandal. Following his defeat by Athrun Zala in the final battle of the Second Alliance-PLANT War, Shinn decided to visit the Orb memorial where he paid tribute to his family and met Kira Yamato. Accepting Kira’s offer to fight together, signified Shinn finally putting his hatred and anger behind him and finally making peace with the death of his family and Stella.

By C.E. 75, Shinn has matured as a person and has a more carefree and relaxed attitude like he did before his family’s death. Despite his calmer attitude, Shinn still shows occasions of being short-tempered and aggressive. He also carries a degree of guilt and shame for his actions from working with Durandal. Having been touched by Kira’s desire for them to fight together at Orb motivated Shinn to join Compass, developing a respect and admiration for Kira. However, because of Kira’s single-minded focus on doing everything by himself at the time, Shinn started to doubt if Kira even trusted him. His worries were ultimately cast aside when Kira tasked him with protecting the Millennium during the final battle against the Foundation, which Shinn happily accepted knowing that Kira could rely on him for anything.

In a small note in the Omake Quarters CDs, Shinn can be a rather picky eater as he refuses to eat eggplants or mushrooms and has a dislike for sour food.

Skills & Abilities[]

“	"That kid, the Impulse's pilot. He's focused and utterly determined. He just keeps improving."	”
—Mu La Flaga on Shinn's abilities after hearing of Kira's defeat. , Eve of Chaos

Shinn is a talented mobile suit pilot, who is noted to have a great drive and focus to better his piloting skills thus improving quickly as noted by Mu La Flaga and Athrun Zala. Shinn’s mobile suits, the Impulse and later the Destiny, possess capabilities that allow him to deal with any form of combat. Due to this, he is talented in close-range, medium-range, and long-range combat; however, he seems to favor close-range combat as his preference. Based on the combat data from the Impulse, Durandal notes that Shinn’s operational speed surpasses those of most pilots. His fighting style is similar to that of a one-man-army-type pilot being able to hold his own against the 3 Extended pilots and their stolen Gundams: forcing their retreat with assistance from Athrun, Rey, and Lunamaria. His progress during the second war improved his skills greatly and he was eventually able to defeat the legendary Freedom single-handedly.

Possessing the SEED factor, Shinn is able to access it, increasing his abilities even further. Eventually, Shinn learns to be able to enter SEED Mode by tapping into the anger and pain that stems from the loss of his family and later Stella. In SEED Mode, Shinn’s fighting style becomes highly aggressive and becomes a nigh-unstoppable force to just about any opponent, with only Kira and Athrun being the only exceptions. Despite his skills, Shinn is not without his weaknesses, as his flaw in combat seems to be his difficulty with mobile weapons as evidenced during his struggle against Neo Roanoke’s Exus and Kira Yamato’s Strike Freedom. Additionally, he has yet to learn the second method of entering SEED Mode.

By C.E. 75, Shinn shows signs of developing Newtype abilities as he is able to sense that Kira was endangered due to the Foundation's betrayal. During the final battle against the Foundation against the telepathic Black Knight Squad, by entering SEED Mode which he now seems to have improved control over, Shinn was able to pilot the Destiny Spec II on pure instinct allowing him to overwhelm and defeat 3 elite Black Knights by himself.

Aside from his abilities as a pilot, Shinn’s military training has given him skills in close combat and firearms. He is also a capable swordsman as demonstrated during his duel against Shura Serpentine.

Physical Aspects & Clothing[]

History[]

First Alliance-PLANT War[]

Battle of Orb[]

Shinn lived with his parents and his younger sister, Mayu, in the neutral country of Orb Union. When the Earth Alliance demanded that Orb, as a nation in Earth, aid in the efforts against the PLANTs, Shinn and Mayu were among the many that saw Uzumi Nara Athha's broadcast remaining firm in the principles that had built Orb and rejecting the Alliance's demands. In response, the Earth Alliance attacked Orb on June 15 and thus, he and his family tried to evacuate.^[1]

On the way to the harbor where the evacuation is happening, only Shinn survived when his family was caught in a crossfire between the GAT-X131 Calamity Gundam and the ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam. Shinn watched in horror of the death of his family and cried in anguish, though it is not clear which unit was responsible for the explosion that killed Shinn's family.^[2] Shinn blamed Orb’s rulers, the Athhas, for his family’s deaths; Orb soldier, Captain Todaka, then took care of Shinn and later sent him to the PLANTs, where he met Lunamaria Hawke and enrolled at the ZAFT military academy.^[3]

At the ZAFT Military Academy[]

On the day Siegel Clyne and some of his followers were executed due to Lacus's betrayal, Shinn, Meyrin, Lunamaria and Rey listened to Patrick Zala's speech at the military academy.^[4]

Second Alliance-PLANT War[]

Attack on Armory One[]

After graduation in C.E. 73, Shinn was assigned to pilot ZAFT's newest Second-Stage Gundam, the ZGMF-X56S Impulse Gundam, and is stationed aboard the battleship Minerva under the command of Talia Gladys along with former military academy classmates and friends Rey Za Burrel, Vino Dupre, Lunamaria Hawke, Meyrin Hawke, and Yolan Kent. In October of C.E. 73, Extended pilots of the Earth Alliance's special forces team, Phantom Pain - Sting Oakley, Stella Loussier, and Auel Neider - infiltrated Armory One and stole three of ZAFT's Second-Stage series mobile suits, the ZGMF-X24S Chaos Gundam, ZGMF-X88S Gaia Gundam, and ZGMF-X31S Abyss Gundam. Shinn was initially stationed within the LHM-BB01 Minerva and launched soon after the theft under orders from both Talia Gladys and Arthur Trine to recapture the units.^[5]

At first, Shinn rescued a damaged ZGMF-1000 ZAKU Warrior before engaging both the Chaos and Gaia single-handedly with his ZGMF-X56S/β Sword Impulse Gundam. When the Abyss joins the fray, the three Extendeds overpower him until the damaged ZAKU briefly intervenes by tackling the Abyss and saving Shinn before withdrawing. Rey and Lunamaria soon arrive to help Shinn recover the stolen units, but the Extendeds are able to blow a hole in the armory, and retreat back to the Mirage Colloid-cloaked Earth Alliance battleship Girty Lue dubbed "Bogey One" by the Minerva's crew. Initially, Shinn also exited Armory One to give chase, but was nearly captured by Neo Roanoke with his TS-MA4F Exus when the Impulse's power levels got low.

"Break The World" Incident[]

Eventually, Shinn and Rey are ordered to fall back to the Minerva. On board, Shinn is shocked to learn that Athrun, disguising himself as "Alex Dino", was the one piloting that damaged ZAKU Warrior that saved him from the Extendeds. He also is irritated to learn that Cagalli is on board as well, for he blames his family's deaths on her father, Uzumi Nara Athha, and he shows this readily in Cagalli's presence. In his first sortie after the Armory One Incident, Shinn departs with Lunamaria, Shawn and Dale in order to locate the stolen units. The group are ambushed with Shawn and Dale being killed quickly, leaving Shinn to face the Chaos and Abyss alone while Lunamaria is stuck against the Gaia. As the Minerva had successfully damaged Bogey One, the ship immediately calls back the stolen units and retreats. Upon return, Meyrin reveals that Athrun had saved the ship with a critical decision, but Shinn dismisses Athrun as "someone that just lives in Orb".

The Minerva is ordered to aid the Joule Team with the demolition of a large wreckage of destroyed PLANT colony Junius Seven, which is on a collision course with Earth. This is caused by a rogue ZAFT force that supports the late Patrick Zala, and they soon attack the Joule Team that was trying to destroy the wreckage. The battle soon attracts the attention of Bogey One as well, causing them to also send out the stolen units to engage the ZAFT forces.

Despite these obstacles, the ZAFT forces are able to split the wreckage in half, but they continued with the destruction mission due to the size of the remaining chunks. As they are soon reaching Earth, Shinn is ordered to retreat to the Minerva, but he spots Athrun attempting to use one more meteor breaker before returning. Although Shinn helps Athrun, he asks Athrun why someone like him would remain in Orb. The pair are interrupted by a small group of terrorists, including their leader, Sato, who angrily calls for them to not forget the lives that were sacrificed and forgotten in the previous war. Shinn is briefly knocked out when one of the terrorists grabs the Impulse before self-detonating his unit, but Shinn recovers and rescues Athrun from Sato.

Due to the damage to his unit, Athrun is unable to keep up with Shinn during their descent to Earth, and the two free fall as they reach Earth's atmosphere. After finally re-stabilizing his unit, Shinn is able to locate Athrun and brings him back to the Minerva safely.

Ambush at Orb[]

After returning Cagalli and Athrun to Orb, the Minerva is stationed at Orb for repairs during this time Shinn goes to visit the place where his family died at Orb's memorial, now filled with flower fields. He briefly meets Kira Yamato and Lacus Clyne without knowing who they are. During this encounter, Kira notes that the flowers will likely wither due the nearby sea waves. In response, Shinn offers his analogy; that no matter how beautiful flowers may be, people will still keep destroying them.

The Minerva then leaves quickly because Orb is about to join the Earth Alliance Forces. Yuna Roma Seiran and his father Unato Ema Seiran plan to offer them to the Earth Alliance fleet waiting outside Orb territory, and Yuna deploys the Orb fleet to prevent the Minerva from reentering Orb. Because of an unexpected fight, Minerva is severely damaged and is also in a disadvantageous situation. With the Impulse, Shinn battles the massive mobile armor YMAF-X6BD Zamza-Zah deployed by the Earth Alliance Forces. However due to its new technology, the Impulse finds itself running out of energy. With rage and anger, thinking that he has to still avenge his family, Shinn awakens SEED Mode for the first time. Using SEED Mode, Shinn saves the Minerva and also destroys nearly every Earth Alliance ship. Shinn starts to be recognized by enemies and starts to become a ZAFT ace pilot.

Fight over the Indian Ocean and the Battle of Gulnahan[]

En route to the Black Sea, the Minerva is joined by Athrun Zala in his ZGMF-X23S Saviour Gundam. Athrun has re-enlisted into ZAFT as a member of FAITH, which surprises Shinn not knowing Athrun's previous decision to side with Orb. As they fly over the Indian Ocean, they are attacked by Phantom Pain again. Though he and Athrun engages the Earth Alliance's fleet in the air, Shinn becomes overeager in his pursuit of Neo's custom GAT-04 Windam and rushes out of position, leaving his allies to fend for themselves. While fighting the Gaia after its attempt to aid Neo, Shinn discovers that the Earth Alliance is forcing civilians to work on a secret military base. EA soldiers fire on civilians who are trying to escape, which causes Shinn to attack and kill the soldiers, and freeing the civilians instead of following orders. Afterwards, Athrun rewards him with a slap in the face for disobeying orders.

Athrun later talks with Shinn on the Minerva's deck, revealing that he learned of Shinn's past and his family's deaths. Athrun advises Shinn to never forget the true purpose of why he wields his power.

Later, Athrun assigns the key part in breaking through an Earth Alliance fortification at the Battle of Gulnahan to Shinn. Shinn is able to destroy the base's fixed positron cannon by flinging a damaged enemy mobile suit into the cannon before destroying it, and the cannon in the process. He and Athrun are later cheered on by the local civilians as thanks for their new freedom. When the Minerva arrives at Diocuia, Shinn meets chairman Gilbert Durandal, who awards him the Order of the Nebula medal and tells Shinn about the secret society Logos an organization that Durandal says is behind war. Shinn later comments that if there are enemies that fire upon them and cause chaos, they have no choice to fight back.

Meeting Stella Loussier and the Freedom[]

While stationed in Diocuia, Shinn saves Stella from drowning after she falls from a cliff into the water. Stella becomes frantic when Shinn yells at her for being careless, asking her "Are you trying to die, you twit?!" Stella panicked when Shinn accidentally said her block word, "die", Shinn tries to assure Stella that no one was going to hurt her, she became more scared. Stella yelled out to Shinn that she was scared to die.

He grabs her and gives her a hug, telling Stella that she won't die. He tells her that he will protect her. Stella, hearing the same thing that Neo had said, starts crying in Shinn's arms. To calm her, Shinn swears to protect her. They are stuck at the bottom of the cliff until a ZAFT boat arrives to rescue them. They become closer, but when Stella returns to Phantom Pain, her memories of Shinn are erased.

Following the addition of Heine Westenfluss and his ZGMF-X2000 GOUF Ignited, the Minerva is attacked by Phantom Pain and the Orb fleet commanded by Yuna Roma Seiran. The ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam, piloted by Kira Yamato, and the Archangel intervenes. Kira damages the Minerva, Impulse, the GOUF, and other mobile suits. Heine and his crippled GOUF are sliced in half by the Gaia when he unknowingly moves between it and the Freedom. Heine's death angers both Athrun and Shinn.

Discovery of the Lodonia Lab[]

While staying at Lodonia, Rey and Shinn are tasked with an undercover investigation of an abandoned Earth Alliance facility in the area. Although Shinn and Rey successfully enter and see a laboratory, Rey suddenly suffers from seizures and Shinn is forced to pull him out before reporting back to the Minerva. Shinn later returns, now accompanied by Arthur, Talia and Athrun, and the group soon learn of the true horrors of the laboratory. The group learn that they had reached the training ground for the Extended program, which captured children and forced them to undergo a rigorous military training regimen. Many were killed by these exercises, and those that failed to keep up were routinely tortured and drugged. In disbelief, Shinn angrily wonders why the Alliance would consider Coordinators to be abominations if they would stoop so low to gain ideal soldiers.

While they are making a report of their findings, Stella attacks by herself, but she is defeated by Shinn and Athrun and becomes a prisoner on the Minerva. Shinn is shocked when he learns that Stella is the Gaia's pilot and one of the Earth Alliance's Extendeds. While tied to a bed due to her violent behavior, she cries out for Neo, and Shinn again attempts to calm her, though she does not recall who he is. When waking up again, tired and less aggressive, she sees Shinn and recognizes him this time, indicating the erasing of her memory was not completely successful.

Battle of Crete[]

The Minerva heads for Gibraltar, but they are intercepted again by Phantom Pain and the Orb fleet commanded by Yuna Roma Seiran and Captain Todaka. The Archangel intervenes and Cagalli gives a speech in the hopes of getting the Orb forces to retreat, which angers Shinn, who fires at her. Kira destroys the missiles and attacks Shinn, causing Shinn goes into SEED Mode. While in this state, he sacrifices the Blast Silhouette to destroy the Abyss, killing its pilot, Auel, and decimates the Orb mobile suit force. Shinn then switches to the Sword Silhouette and directly engages the Orb fleet, sinking numerous ships. Captain Todaka, who is on board the Orb carrier Takemikazuchi, was unknowingly killed by Shinn when he destroys the ship's bridge. As Athrun, Rey, and Lunamaria's units all sustained damage, especially Athrun's Saviour getting damaged beyond repair, Shinn is left as the only pilot in the Minerva with a working unit after Crete.

Afterward, Shinn overhears his commander's discussion which concludes that the Extended prisoner Stella will die without the right medical treatment, and her body will be transported to a ZAFT science facility for dissection and testing to study the Extended program. Horrified, Shinn decides to return Stella to the Earth Alliance, and does so with Rey's help. Both are confined as punishment and risked execution, but are released on Gilbert Durandal's orders on account of their previous heroics. Athrun later scolds Shinn for returning Stella under the naïve belief that she will not simply be sent into another battle even in her current state.

Battle of Berlin[]

As many Eurasian nations began to show more sympathy and friendship towards the ZAFT forces, the Atlantic Federation decides to unleash the GFAS-X1 Destroy Gundam on Eurasia. The massive mobile suit decimates multiple cities in its path, obliterating all ZAFT attempts to resist the unit and save civilians. The Destroy eventually stops at Berlin, where it engages with the Archangel and the Freedom. The Minerva arrives after the battle had already started, and Shinn is sent out to fight the Destroy.

When Shinn cuts the Destroy's cockpit open, Neo in the Windam grabs the Impulse and tells Shinn that Stella is the pilot, causing Shinn to immediately stop his attacks. Shinn later defends Stella when the Freedom attempts to take advantage of Destroy's exposed cockpit, much to the surprise of everyone. Shinn soon reaches out to Stella to reassure her. His attempt pays off as Stella is able to finally calm herself down upon hearing Shinn. The Windam was then defeated by the Freedom. Unfortunately, an explosion in her cockpit snaps her back to reality and she becomes incredibly frightened by the Freedom appearing in her view, recognizing it as the unit that had defeated Neo.

Stella soon begins preparing to fire the Destroy's chest cannons before the Freedom intervenes; stabbing the cannons before they can fire. This causes a chain reaction that eventually puts Destroy down. Finding Stella in the remains of the unit, Shinn tearfully listens as Stella simply says that she loves him, and that he swore to protect her. Filled with grief, Shinn immediately takes her body and flies away from the battlefield.

Operation Angel Down - The Impulse takes down the legendary Freedom[]

After Shinn lays Stella's corpse to rest in a lake, he becomes intent on absolutely destroying the Freedom to avenge Stella. Shinn admits to Rey and Athrun that the Freedom is perhaps the strongest mobile suit in existence and its pilot is exceptional. Shinn practices computerized battle simulations between his Impulse and the Freedom. While researching the Freedom, Rey points out the critical flaw of the Freedom's pilot refusing to immediately attack another unit's cockpit, and how the Impulse can overcome this issue with its various replaceable component parts.

During this period of time, Chairman Durandal presents a speech around the entire world about the organization Logos and claims that by destroying them the war will end, and Shinn easily agrees, later when the Minerva is ordered to subdue the Archangel in the mission code-named "Operation Angel Down", Shinn gets his opportunity for revenge. After receiving the message that Archangel won't surrender, Shinn is finally allowed to launch and face the Freedom.

Shinn initially blocks the Freedom's attempts to return to the Archangel in order to force the unit into a dogfight. Shinn first tosses the Impulse's shield towards the Freedom before shooting the shield mid-air, damaging the Freedom's shoulder armor. When he closes in for a melee, the Freedom proceeds to destroy the Impulse's main camera, Shinn immediately detaches the damaged Chest Flyer and sends it flying towards the Freedom before destroying the Chest Flyer. The explosion causes the Freedom to freefall crash into the mountains, where Shinn, by now having received a new replacement for the lost part, gives chase. At this point, the Freedom attempts to slash through the Impulse's torso, but Shinn reads the maneuver and detaches and detonates the Impulse's Leg Flyer, damaging the Freedom's wings. Shinn is later able to also destroy the Freedom's beam rifle during its attempt to rejoin the Archangel as it proceeds to dive in the sea ahead.

While trying to get back to the Archangel, the Freedom gets distracted by Shinn as he flings one of Sword Silhouette's beam boomerangs to knock it out of position while grabbing an Excalibur sword from it. As the Archangel gets caught by the Minerva's Tannhäuser positron blaster cannon shot, the worried Kira gets out of balance long enough for Shinn to charge straight for the kill, impaling the Freedom's torso right through its shield. An explosion soon engulfs both units as the damaged Impulse is left battered, but victorious. Shinn then shed tears, thinking that he finally avenged Stella's death.

When Shinn returns to the Minerva after destroying the Freedom, his comrades cheer him. Shinn tells Athrun that he defeated Freedom and killed its pilot, avenging the Saviour’s defeat. Furious by Shinn's rejoicing at the apparent death of his bestfriend Kira, a distraught Athrun punches Shinn in the face. Athrun adds that Shinn killed Kira but Kira never wanted to kill him. Rey counters that destroying Freedom and the Archangel was a direct order from ZAFT's headquarters, that all of them, including Athrun, were obligated to obey.

Athrun's Defection[]

PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Gilbert Durandal presents Shinn and Athrun with ZAFT's two newest top of the line mobile suits, the ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundam and the ZGMF-X666S Legend Gundam. While Athrun opted to return to his room after being shown his unit, Shinn opted to remain within the Destiny's hangar to continue tuning the unit to his personal specs. Midway through, he is pulled away when an alarm is suddenly triggered within the base. Shinn is later contacted by Rey, immediately asking him to launch on the Destiny to hunt down a traitor, with Rey needing to use the Legend to help Shinn.

While giving chase to the traitor, Shinn is shocked to learn that traitor was actually Athrun. The pair are eventually able to catch up to Athrun's stolen GOUF Ignited, and Shinn immediately demands for Athrun to surrender himself, but Athrun responds that Shinn shouldn't believe the seemingly honorable intentions of the Chairman. Rey soon barges in, claiming this to be one of Athrun's tricks, and warns Shinn not to listen to the deserter. While the three are fighting, Chairman Durandal contacts Rey and Shinn, asking the former if he had seen Meyrin near Athrun. Rey confirms this, and asks for authorization to outright shoot down the GOUF, something that Chairman Durandal agrees to. Upon hearing this, Athrun pleas to at least allow Meyrin to safely escape, but Rey vehemently denies, declaring her to be an accomplice and traitor like Athrun. Rey then asks Shinn if he would allow the enemies of the Chairman's peace to slip away, and shouts for Shinn to honor his previous statement of fighting their foes.

Confused and unable to think properly or who to believe, Shinn finally enters SEED mode and angrily lashes out at Athrun for betraying them at a critical time. Shinn eventually proceeds to drive the Destiny's Arondight beam sword through Athrun's GOUF and sending it plummeting into the sea. Having finally regained his composure, a somber Shinn returns back to Gibraltar to report to Chairman Durandal.

Shinn's return to Minerva with the Destiny is not met with an ovation, but with the pained expressions of his friends for having killed Meyrin. Upon encountering Lunamaria at a hallway, he apologizes to Lunamaria and finally breaks down in tears when she begins crying. Shinn would remain guilty for shooting down Athrun and Meyrin though he feels this action was necessary to achieve the Chairman's goal of peace.

Because he had been given the Destiny, Lunamaria would replace him as the Impulse's pilot.

Battle of Heaven's Base - Operation Ragnarök[]

After some comforting by Chairman Durandal, Shinn prepares for the assault against Logos' Heaven's Base headquarters in Iceland. In the Minerva mobile suit hangar just prior to "Operation Ragnarök", he encourages Lunamaria about her first sortie with the Impulse, and they console each other about Athrun and Meyrin's deaths. Both blame Logos for the apparent betrayal by Athrun and Meyrin. Shinn kisses Lunamaria and promises to protect her.^[6]

The initial battle goes awry as Logos launch a pre-emptive strike on the defecting Alliance fleet with five Destroy units. When ZAFT's descent pods begin arriving, they are swiftly wiped out by the base's surprise Nibelung weapon. Heavily angered by this, Shinn launches with Lunamaria and Rey. Fueled by his anger towards Logos, Shinn enters SEED Mode and engages the Destroys, immediately destroying two of the units and single-handedly turning the tide of the battle. Seeing the vigor of Shinn, the remaining ZAFT fleet begin pushing forward just as Rey and Lunamaria defeat a third Destroy. By the battle's conclusion, Shinn then dispatches the final two Destroy as Heaven's Base is finally overrun.^[6]

ZAFT's invasion of Orb - Operation Fury[]

ZAFT forces occupy Heaven's Base, arresting many Logos members. However, when Shinn learns that Lord Djibril managed to escape, and is rumored to be hiding in Orb, he becomes furious and vows to hunt Djibril down no matter what.

Shinn has nightmares about Stella's suffering, his fights against the Freedom, the killing of Athrun and Meyrin, and the battles against Logos. Rey tells Shinn that he did the right thing because they were all ZAFT's enemies. The PLANT Supreme Council awards a second Order of the Nebula medal to Shinn for his performance in Operation Ragnarök and Durandal appoints both Shinn and Rey to FAITH. After confirmation that the Seirans (the rulers of Orb at the time) are providing sanctuary to Lord Djibril, ZAFT initiates "Operation Fury", a full-scale assault on Orb in order to capture Lord Djibril.

Using the privileges as a member of FAITH, Shinn launches alone from Minerva in his Destiny, determined to be the one to destroy Orb, and engages the ORB-01 Akatsuki Gundam after identifying it as the commander unit. Though he is easily able to gain the advantage against the Akatsuki upon finding its weakness, Shinn's beam boomerangs are destroyed by the descending ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom Gundam.

Shocked to see the reemergence of the legendary Gundam he defeated, Shinn engaged it in battle. At one point, Shinn managed to get close with the new Freedom with the Arondight beam sword, but the Strike Freedom shielded itself and fired its railguns to destroy the sword, enraging Shinn as he realized that the Strike Freedom could've ended it right there. Shinn then enters SEED mode and forces the Strike Freedom into the defensive. Despite this, the Strike Freedom's constant running takes its toll on the Destiny's energy supply, and Shinn is called to return by Rey when the Destiny's power level finally falters.

Once his unit is finally resupplied, Shinn departs with Rey to engage the Strike Freedom together. To his surprise, a still-wounded Athrun arrives in the ZGMF-X19A ∞ Justice Gundam to stop the Destiny's shot towards the Strike Freedom. Shinn once more was shocked to see Athrun alive, knowing that he managed to destroy the escaping GOUF Ignited in the middle of the ocean. Athrun once again attempts to reason with Shinn, asking him if the peace that they desired would come from destroying Orb, and asking Shinn why he chose to wield his power. Rey once again intervenes, declaring that Athrun couldn't stay dead and warns Shinn not to be deceived. In response to Rey's attack on Athrun, the Strike Freedom moves to engage Rey's Legend, with Athrun blocking Shinn from helping.

Eventually driven to defeat Athrun, Shinn goes into SEED Mode and knocks Athrun back with the swing of Destiny's Arondight sword. When he charges for Athrun again, Athrun also enters SEED Mode and slices off Destiny's sword-wielding arm. In concurrence with their battle, a suspicious shuttle from the Orb homeland had launched bound for space, followed by the destruction of ZAFT's flagship, St. Helens. Having lost both the battle and their purpose to remain, Captain Gladys orders all remaining forces, including Shinn and Rey, to retreat.

He is later unhappy to watch Cagalli's broadcast from Orb, denouncing Chairman Durandal's decision to attack Orb even if meant getting Lord Djibril. In response, Meer's "Lacus" interrupts Cagalli's broadcast, claiming that the very fact that Orb would not hand over such a despicable man like Djibril made them at fault for only lengthening the chaos. To everyone's surprise, Cagalli returns to interrupt, this time accompanied by a second Lacus, claiming to be the genuine one. The Lacus with Cagalli voices her inability to trust Chairman Durandal due to the many faces he wears to please the public to suit his hidden agendas. At the same time, she expresses her distaste for Lord Djibril, declaring Orb's previous desire for peace, and refusal to participate any further in conflicts between ZAFT and Logos.

A surprised Shinn and Lunamaria soon consult Rey, who dismisses the second Lacus as the fake, and chooses to focus on Athrun's survival. Lunamaria wonders if Meyrin had survived as well and Rey states that she is likely on the Archangel. This conversation upsets Shinn.

Battle of Daedalus[]

Later, Lord Djibril unleashes the Requiem superweapon and destroyed some of the PLANTs, both Shinn and Rey blame Kira and Athrun for their interference, Rey in particular blames Lunamaria for her failure to shoot down Djibril, however, Shinn quickly defends her.

The Minerva is ordered to attack the Requiem and EA's Daedalus lunar base. Shinn is concerned for Lunamaria's safety for she has been given the mission to destroy the Requiem's controls but she convinces him to believe in her. Shinn in the Destiny and Rey in the Legend act as decoys and cripple the defenses of the lunar stronghold. Lunamaria in the Blast Impulse is able to break through Requiem's shaft and destroys the Requiem's firing controls. At the same time, Shinn was able to sink many docked Girty-Lue battleships to prevent any avenue escape, while Rey successfully killed Lord Djibril in another attempt to flee. Afterwards, their comrades cheer them and Shinn and Lunamaria embrace.

With Djibril eliminated, Chairman Durandal unveils his ultimate solution to war - the "Destiny Plan". Chairman Durandal, as an expert geneticist, will act as the overseer and assign roles to individuals according to their genetic makeup. Everyone will then be governed by their genetic "destiny" and not by their individuality. According to Chairman Durandal, the ultimate goal is to make wars obsolete and to direct humanity to the path of evolution.

Battle of Messiah[]

For the Destiny Plan to become a reality, Chairman Durandal has to defeat any nation with the capability and the resolve to challenge him. Before the battle, Durandal calls Shinn and Rey to meet in person at his mobile space fortress Messiah. When they arrive, Durandal tells Shinn about his goals and that the ones they are fighting now are remnants of Logos, however, Durandal is lying to Shinn when the ones they are fighting are actual Orb forces. Shinn hesitates about putting his full support behind the Destiny Plan. After some convincing arguments from Rey, Shinn agrees. After all the pain Shinn has endured and wanting an end to the war, the Destiny Plan is the only answer to humanity's problems that makes sense to him.

Though the Strike Freedom and Athrun had successfully destroyed the first of Requiem's relay stations, another was soon being moved into position for it to fire on Orb. In order to stall for more time until Requiem fully recharges, Shinn and Rey are sent out to engage Athrun and the Strike Freedom. Unfortunately, the enemy forces soon catch on to their attempt to stall, and Athrun and the Archangel choose to abandon their current engagement to focus on reaching Requiem. To counter this, Rey has Shinn accompany the Minerva in giving chase.

During his attempt to get to Requiem, Athrun is attacked by Lunamaria, and he is forced to retaliate by destroying the Force Impulse's arm and leg. Seeing Athrun fighting Lunamaria, an enraged Shinn attacks Athrun, then goes into SEED Mode. Despite this setback, Athrun and the ∞ Justice quickly gains the advantage, eliminating both of Destiny's beam boomerangs and destroying its sword. Despite all of this, Athrun tries to talk with both Shinn and Lunamaria, warning them that even if they do succeed with the Destiny Plan, it will never bring back those that have already died.

In the HD Remaster and Final Plus, Shinn defends his decision by shouting that the world needed to change to stop conflicts from erupting, and that the Destiny Plan is the only solution. Athrun soon replies that the Plan would kill off their future, and he once again asks Shinn if he intended to use his power in such a manner.

After realizing the terrible mistakes being made by both Shinn and herself, as she witnesses the heated argument between Shinn and Athrun, Lunamaria interposes herself between the two, begging them to stop fighting, which has Shinn hallucinate visions of Mayu, Stella, and the Freedom bewilderingly. As Shinn charges madly and blindly at a shocked Lunamaria for the kill, Athrun goes into SEED Mode as well, saves Lunamaria from Shinn, and cripples the Destiny, sending it plummeting onto the Moon's surface.

While he's unconscious, Shinn has a vision of Stella, in which she tells him that she's finally got her past and thus very happy, and bidden him to see each other in the future, providing comfort to Shinn. Shinn soon wakes up lying in Lunamaria's lap, and she informs him that Requiem was destroyed and Orb was not fired upon. This is soon followed by Messiah being put down by the combined efforts of the Strike Freedom and the Eternal. Shinn soon bursts into tears for his failure and remains with Lunamaria on the Moon as they watch Messiah finally collapse. After Messiah's destruction, the Eternal opens talks for diplomacy with Gondwana and the ZAFT forces as Chairman Durandal was dead and they no longer carried any superweapons left.

While seeing the many signal flares of the ships, Shinn immediately reflects over Athrun's statement of knowing what to wield his power for, and immediately sheds tears at finally realizing what Athrun had truly meant. The pair are later rescued by Athrun and the ∞ Justice from the Moon's surface during his return back to the Eternal.

Post Second Alliance-PLANT War[]

Later, Shinn paid tribute to his deceased family at the memorial in Orb alongside Athrun, Meyrin and Lunamaria. By this time, the memorial's flower fields were ravaged by the conflicts and many flowers had been destroyed. Shinn immediately reveals that he had always hated the memorial for seemingly attempting to put a cover over those that were killed, but he had always kept a special place in mind for it. After seeing that its flowers were literally destroyed, Shinn vents his true unhappiness of seeing it in such a dilapidated state.

The group is soon joined by Kira and Lacus, who were also making their own offerings to the memorial. Shortly after, Athrun formally introduces Kira to Shinn as the pilot of Freedom, leaving Shinn stunned, fully knowing what he did to the Freedom. Kira then offers a handshake, bearing no grudge for the incident, as he didn't know that Shinn was the pilot that defeated the Freedom. As Shinn accepts this gesture and attempts to muster a response or apology for Kira, Kira answers Shinn's previous analogy: that no matter how many times people will destroy the flowers, they will always be able to plant flowers again. Kira then asks for Shinn's help in the future, an offer that Shinn tearfully accepts.

Afterwards Shinn and Lunamaria smile at each other and leave together. In Gundam SEED Destiny: Special Edition, Shinn is seen along with Lunamaria, Kira, Athrun, Meyrin, and the three ZGMF-XX09T DOM Trooper pilots going to meet with Lacus - who is accompanied by Yzak Joule, Dearka Elsman, Shiho Hahnenfuss, and Arthur Trine - before she enters the PLANT Supreme Council chambers. Shinn is not wearing the FAITH pin insignia in this scene.

Foundation Conflict[]

In C.E. 75, a year after the end of the Second Alliance-PLANT War, Shinn has joined the peacemaking group Compass alongside Lunamaria and former ZAFT academy mate Agnes Giebenrath and serves under Kira's Yamato Team onboard the new Super Minerva-class battleship LHM-BB03S Millennium. As the second best mobile suit pilot in the organization, he is given the sister unit of the STTS-909 Rising Freedom Gundam, the STTS-808 Immortal Justice Gundam. With the mobile suit, Shinn would regularly sortie with his teammates to interfere and disband any rising conflicts, most particularly against the remnants of Blue Cosmos. In one such attack in Aldrin City, Shinn notices the conflict within Kira as he witnessed the latter disabling every mobile suit in the conflict, after the factions refused to listen. Confiding with Lunamaria, he wishes that Kira would trust him and the squad more as he sensed the distance between them, only for Agnes to interrupt and got ridiculed with his actions within ZAFT.

With the Millennium, Shinn would then travel to the Kingdom of Foundation's capital Ishtaria to meet its leader Queen Aura Maha Khyber, Prime Minister Orphee Lam Tao, and the elite Black Knight Squad. After showing respect to the Foundation royalty, Shinn was seen enjoying the feast during the night's ball.

During a joint Compass, Foundation, and Eurasian operation to find and capture the standing Blue Cosmos leader Michael in Eldore, Shinn launches in the Immortal Justice with Kira and Agnes, together with the Archangel as the lead ship. A Foundation-initiated ambush towards Kira and the Rising Freedom prompted Shinn to give chase to provide backup to his commander, but the Black Knight Squad's NOG-M4F Rud-ro.A units prevent the Immortal Justice from doing so and engage him in a skirmish. Upon seeing that the beam rifle shots just get absorbed by the Rud-ro.A's Femto Technology Armor, Shinn tries close-range combat, but to no avail as he gets overpowered by the Black Knight pilots. Noticing that the Archangel was burning in the Eldoran valley after crash-landing, the distracted Shinn was defeated by Griffin Arbalest in his Rud-ro.A "Emerald" as it took advantage of the out-of-focus Shinn and slices the Immortal Justice by the waist. Shinn survived after getting rescued by teammate Hilda Harken in her damaged ZGMF-2027/A GYAN Strom.

After escaping the nuclear blast that totaled the legendary warship Archangel and the remains of the Rising Freedom and the Immortal Justice, Shinn and Hilda meets up with fellow surviving Compass comrades in the secret underwater base in Akatsuki Island back at Orb. During their meeting there, Shinn realized that the Black Knights are the ones who influenced Kira' mind and vision that led to the ambush. As tensions rise between Kira and Athrun, Shinn tries to defend Kira from Athrun, but gets accidentally punched by both. Hilda suppresses any more action from Shinn as she tells him that the friends need to sort it out by themselves. After the two bestfriends reconnect and decide to rescue Lacus from Foundation's captivity, Shinn reasons out that they have no means to do it since they have no ship nor mobile suits to work with. Erica Simmons then showed Shinn and the rest the newest mobile suits secretly stored in the secret underwater hangar, including his personal Gundam, the ZGMF/A-42S2 Destiny Gundam Spec II. Amazed with happiness to see his beloved machine again, Shinn gets confident enough to say that the Black Knights can not win, especially with the Destiny now at his disposal.

Shinn, with the rest of the Compass survivors, travels to Onogoro Island at Orb where the Millennium is currently docked. They hijack the Millennium and board the ship. Shinn then stealthily locates Lunamaria, where he sneaks up behind her to try and subdue her at gunpoint. Luna then displays her academy training when she flipped the advantage to her and stole Shinn's gun. To prevent any escalation, Shinn quickly unmasks and identifies himself, to Luna's surprise, which is followed by Shinn getting slapped.

Now aboard the Millennium, Shinn and the ship's Corps launch from Orb to battle Foundation and its forces in space, and they narrowly avoid death from a shot coming from Requiem, now rebuilt by Foundation. In the middle of countering a Foundation full-scale attack, now-Millennium captain Murrue orders the mobile suits to sortie. Shinn activates Destiny Spec II's Variable Phase Shift Armor, now with a grayer tint to honor his fallen comrade Rey, before taking off. The Black Knight Squad was notified that the Millennium has sent out its machines, and the four Rud-ro.As sortie to face the updated Destiny, deeming it an old machine that can be a practice ground for their DINN-R and GINN-R grunt suits.

As Lunamaria's ZGMF-56E2/γ Blast Impulse Gundam Spec II and Hilda in Luna's former ZGMF-2025/F GELGOOG Menace engage the grunt suits while also defending the Millennium, Shinn advances towards Foundation's ships and wreaks havoc with the Destiny Spec II's high-energy long-range beam cannon. Not long after, Hilda informs Shinn and Luna that the Black Knights are coming, leading Shinn to equip the Arondight beam sword for himself, and telling Luna to switch to the Sword Silhouette, since ranged beams will not work against the Black Knight's machines.

With full mastery over the Destiny Spec II's weapons and controls, Shinn immediately showed dominance over the four Rud-ro.As. The Black Knight pilots also quickly noticed the huge improvement of the former Immortal Justice pilot as they get forced into the defensive, before attempting to mess with Shinn's mind and vision. Failing to subdue Shinn because of him not thinking at all but only using his combat instincts, the Black Knights continue to get outmaneuvered and outsped by Shinn in the Destiny Spec II.

During the course of the battle against Foundation, Luna sees that her ZGMF-56E2/β Sword Impulse Gundam Spec II has drained its battery, notifying Shinn, who hurriedly meets her switching to the ZGMF-56E2/α Force Impulse Gundam Spec II in the middle of the battlefield. Shinn fully-recharges Luna's machine with Destiny Spec II's built in Deuterion Beam Energy Transfer System within seconds, just in time for both the Destiny and the Impulse to evade enemy fire.

Resuming their fight with the Destiny Spec II, the four Black Knights decided to gang up on Shinn in a coordinated melee attack, dubbed the "Synchro-Attack", attempting to utilize their hyper-vectoring to overwhelm the Destiny Spec II. Black Knight Griffin Arbalest then attempted to send Shinn's mind into darkness, not knowing that Stella's spirit lives on within Shinn's dark past to protect him. Stella rebounds the Black Knights' attempt to mess Shinn with her more terrifying one, scaring and shocking the Knights. Shinn then launches a high-speed illusionary attack, utilizing Destiny Spec II's Mirage Colloid system to create a lot of physical afterimages of the mobile suit, to overwhelm the Rud-ro.As. Hilda had hidden herself within one of Destiny Spec II's afterimages and appeared right in front of Redelard Tradoll's Rud-ro.A "Garnet" and destroyed it with the GELGOOG Menace's beam halberd. Redelard's death puts the remaining three in shock and fear as Shinn charges in to finish them. Shinn then displays all of Destiny Spec II's weapons in full display while maximizing his machine's full potential, leading to its inner frame glowing red because of heat. He destroys Liu Shenqiang's Rud-ro.A "Spinel" first with a direct Arondight beam sword thrust into the cockpit. Shinn would fling the Flash-Edge 2 beam boomerangs to distract Griffin Arbalest's Rud-ro.A "Emerald" and blasted its high-energy long-range beam cannon directly into the cockpit in close range. Shinn would then finish off Daniel Harper's Rud-ro.A "Sapphire" by using the Palma Fiocina palm beam cannon and blow out the cockpit, finally taking revenge of his earlier defeat against the Black Knight Squad.

After his victory over the Black Knights, Shinn then proceeds to go to Requiem to destroy it. Mu La Flaga in the damaged ORB-01 Akatsuki Gundam meets up with him and delivers the A-GXQ754/V2 Zeus Silhouette to its intended machine, the Destiny Spec II. After equipping the Silhouette, Shinn then is assisted with Luna and Athrun in the METEOR-equipped Force Impulse Spec II and the ∞ Justice Type II, respectively, to helped decimate the defending forces surrounding Requiem. Shinn then positions the Destiny Spec II right in front of Requiem's mouth and destroys it for good with a powerful singular shot from Zeus Silhouette's linear beam cannon.

Shinn in the Destiny Spec II was then seen accompanying Lunamaria in the Force Impulse Spec II as she offers to rescue the stranded Agnes from the Moon surface, looking on the two as Luna does to Agnes what Athrun did to both him and Luna at the end of the Battle of Messiah a year ago.

Gundam SEED Destiny: The Edge[]

In Gundam SEED Destiny: The Edge, Shinn's relationship with Athrun is expanded. Although it is still a harsh relationship, he is more respectful to Athrun at times. During the Junius Seven colony drop, when Cagalli unintentionally hurts Athrun's feelings, Shinn reminds her that one of the terrorists had invoked the ideals of Patrick Zala as their reason for carrying out the drop. He then says that Athrun is too pitiful if Cagalli comforts him with mere empty words. Athrun also has a somewhat greater role acting as his mentor, reminding him before the Battle of Gulnahan that he is ZAFT's trump card. Athrun also scolds him when he throws tantrums at the briefing.

In the manga, it is shown that following the retreat of the Alliance-Orb fleet at Crete, Shinn was the one who submerged to retrieve Athrun in the Saviour's surviving cockpit. During Operation Fury, Shinn is able to defeat Athrun instead, as Athrun's wounds prevent him from fully using the ∞ Justice properly. During the Battle of Messiah, the pair's battle near Requiem is significantly different as Athrun takes his METEOR with him, but Shinn is able to cut off one of its beam blades, and forces Athrun to abandon it as they continue to fight.

Shinn is able to gain the advantage thanks to the Destiny's superior speed, but Athrun sacrifices the Justice's right arm to escape their fight and charge into Requiem. Though Shinn gives chase, Athrun is able to snag the Destiny's "Arondight" Beam Sword and sends both it and the Justice's Fatum-01 subflyer into Requiem's core to destroy it. When Shinn attempts to attack a stunned Athrun, Lunamaria intervenes, and, much like the anime, Shinn attempts to attack her anyway, causing Athrun to defeat Shinn in the same manner.

Gundam SEED Character Theatre[]

Shinn, alongside Rey and Lunamaria, is one of the central characters for the last two episodes of the Theatre, where the trio are sent on absurd missions by Gilbert Durandal. For their first mission, they are given the task of destroying Kira and Athrun's friendship. To do this, they travel back to the past of Kira and Athrun's youth with the intention of destroying Birdy, the symbol of Kira and Athrun's friendship.

While they do return to the past and find Kira and Birdy, it turns out that Birdy was built on a gigantic scale, and Birdy overwhelms both Lunamaria and Rey (parodying Freedom's pose during the opening of SEED). Shinn, however enters SEED mode, and proceeds to destroy Birdy (parodying the moment he shot down the GOUF Ignited). Shortly after Birdy's destruction, Athrun arrives, and Meyrin reports that the get-along energy of Kira and Athrun was now decreasing. Believing that their mission was complete, Shinn and the rest return back to their time. Unknown to them, however, Kira and Athrun quickly reconcile, and Athrun promises to build another Birdy, causing their get-along energy to spike beyond the level of control of Meyrin's computer. Once the trio return, they find Meyrin, who reports that their friendship was now stronger. Gilbert then reprimands the trio for their failure, but soon texts them another mission: to destroy Kira's relationship with Lacus.

The three proceed to spy on Kira and Lacus, though Lunamaria is quickly taken out by a massive nosebleed after she sees Kira and Lacus kissing. Rey then attempts to interfere by loading multiple bottles of hot sauce on Lacus' cooking, only for it to put Kira into SEED mode and cause him to enter an eating frenzy. With both attempts failing, Shinn decides to ruin Lacus' concert (Where he parodies his final lines before impaling Freedom). Shinn manages to steal her outfit, however, he hears Kira approaching from the opposite side of a hall. With little choice, Shinn puts the costume on himself and pretends to be Lacus, telling Kira that he simply has a cold and that his voice was naturally off as a result. Rey (as a ghost) hands Shinn special voice changing pills which will give him the same voice as Lacus. Shinn decides to ruin Lacus' performance.

Pulling out an anti-ship sword, Shinn proceeds to use Lacus' voice, but with an ultra-violent performance, destroying multiple props and the stage as he sings, but this backfires as the audience actually enjoys what he is doing. With little choice, Shinn pushes himself to sing as many songs as it takes to ruin Lacus' performance. After singing 100 songs, Shinn is able to escape, but Lacus' relationship with Kira only strengthens further. In the end, the second mission also ends in failure.

Relationships[]

Orb Union[]

Perhaps the most conflicted relationship that Shinn has is with his homeland of Orb. Before his family’s demise, Shinn seem to deeply enjoy living in Orb and enjoyed the peace he and his family had despite the first war that was happening at the time. After his family’s death, although Shinn probably did blame the Earth Alliance for their attack on Orb, he mostly blamed Orb and by extension the Athhas for failing to protect his family and other innocent civilians believing that Orb had failed to live up to the country’s ideals. Since then, Shinn left Orb to go to the PLANTs and intentionally thought he would never go back to Orb again. Two years after leaving Orb, Shinn inadvertently returned to it with the Minerva following the Junius Seven incident. During this time he expressed a desire to go ashore and visit the memorial built for the lives lost during the first war, in which he was brought to tears.

When Orb joined the Earth Alliance to avoid war with them in the future, Shinn was disgusted by this action as Orb was nearly destroyed by them in the previous war. Although he proclaimed he would treat Orb as an enemy and destroy it if it became necessary, at the time there seemed to be no resolve in his words. However as the second war continued and Orb participated in many attacks against the Minerva, joining Logos, and even offering shelter to a Lord Djibril, a mass murderer, caused Shinn to lose what little faith he had in his former country and now saw Orb as an enemy to the world. After the end of the second war, Shinn returned to the Orb memorial once again to pay tribute to his family and admits that despite all his hatred for Orb he could never truly forget about it. Shinn returned to Orb again with Lunamaria to celebrate the end of the war and to further help put his hatred for the country behind him.^[7][8]

Lunamaria Hawke[]

Prior to his romance with her, Shinn and Lunamaria had a personal and professional friendship with each other extending back to their time in the ZAFT training academy with Shinn affectionately calling her by her nickname “Luna” something only her sister Meyrin seems to do. Despite their friendship, Shinn and Lunamaria are occasionally annoyed by each other’s respective attitudes. Perhaps the most defining moment in their friendship, is when Shinn was ordered to kill Athrun and Luna’s sister Meyrin after they branded as traitors. After returning to the Minerva, Shinn immediately confesses to the one who executed them rather than hide it from Lunamaria. Confused and upset after her sister’s death, Lunamaria immediately broke down into tears with Shinn immediately comforting her in an act of guilt and compassion. Since then, rather than blame Shinn for following his orders Lunamaria instead chooses to blame Logos and reluctantly Athrun for Meyrin’s apparent death.

Since this incident Lunamaria and Shinn continued to be a source of comfort to one another and in process inadvertently began a romantic relationship. Although their relationship has been rather difficult to manage due to Rey’s criticism and Meyrin’s apparent death and return, Shinn and Lunamaria continue to comfort and support each other both on and off the battlefield. At the end of the second war, Lunamaria accompanies Shinn to his homeland of Orb to pay tribute to his family and eventually leave together showing that despite all the conflict and pain that was unintentionally caused by Shinn, they are still together and now seem happy. Lunamaria though notes at Meyrin at times how frustrated she is because Shinn doesn't explicitly say he loves her and how platonic their relationship can be.

Rey Za Burrel[]

Due to his calm and collected attitude, Rey often acts as the voice of reason for Shinn both on and off the battlefield. Like Lunamaria, Shinn has a personal and professional friendship since their time at the ZAFT training academy. Despite disagreeing with Shinn’s occasionally harsh and rude attitude, Rey does seem value his friendship with Shinn as he finds Shinn’s reasons for hating Orb justifiable and helped Shinn rescue Stella Loussier (albeit for his own personal issues). Despite their friendship, Rey was manipulating Shinn in order to use his skills as a pilot to achieve the Chairman Durandal’s Destiny Plan. Rey’s reason for this manipulation is due to the fact that he has a shorter lifespan because he is a clone, thus Rey wants to mold Shinn into the protector of the Chairman’s ideal world because Rey himself cannot do so. Rey has gone to great lengths to assure his desired role for Shinn as he has been pivotal in Shinn’s decisions such as the attempted execution of Athrun and Meyrin, branding Athrun as a traitor, and revealing his status as a clone to Shinn when he was having doubts about the Destiny Plan. Placing his judgment above all others including his own, Shinn completely trusts Rey but is unaware of the full detail of the facts or manipulations that Rey has told him. After the Second War ended with Rey and Chairman Durandal’s death, Shinn seems to have become aware of their manipulations but it is currently unknown how Shinn views Rey at this point. It was revealed that the grayer coloration of the Destiny Gundam Spec II in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM is to honor Rey.

Stella Loussier[]

Shinn first encountered Stella near the ocean while he stationed his motorcycle nearby a cliff, however at the time he is unaware that he encountered Stella during the Armory Once incident and several times on the battlefield while she piloted the mobile suit, Gaia. After saving her from being drowned, Shinn accidently spoke Stella’s trigger word and causing her to become frightened and aggressive. Believing that she was a traumatized war victim; he decided to comfort her by saying that he would protect her. Due to the Extended’s memory programming, Stella memories of Shinn are always erased but miraculously every time she meets him she begins to remember. During her captivity on the Minerva, she and Shinn grow closer during his constant visits and it grew to the point that he would break several military laws to bring her back to Neo Roanoke to assure that she wouldn’t die. During the Battle of Berlin, they encounter each other for the final time and Shinn finds Stella as she lays dying, remembering Shinn once again she declared her love for him as she died afterwards. After Stella’s death, Shinn in grief and anguish decided to avenge her death against the Freedom despite all the destruction Stella caused in Berlin. After being defeated by Athrun during the final battle of the war, Shinn had a vision or hallucination of Stella where she told him that she was content with her life and that she will meet him again. These words bring a great deal of comfort to Shinn allowing him to finally move on from her tragic death. Stella would then return in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM to protect Shinn from the mind-altering abilities of the Black Knight Squad by projecting her more terrifying side to the enemy, keeping Shinn from being subdued.

Gilbert Durandal[]

Shinn has a great deal of respect for Chairman Durandal due to his ideals, peace, and bringing those responsible for starting the current war to justice. However like his friend Rey, Durandal is manipulating Shinn and only sees Shinn as a soldier whose incredible talents and abilities as mobile suit pilot can be used for his own personal agenda. Durandal’s interest in Shinn prior to the conflict, Durandal as a genetics expert was aware that Shinn possessed the SEED factor and commissioned the Impulse to him in hopes that he could defeat Kira Yamato. His manipulations continue later on as he grants Shinn ZAFT’s latest mobile suit the Destiny and make him a member of the FAITH special forces. After making the Destiny Plan clear to the entire world, Shinn begins to have doubts about the plan but is convinced by Rey to trust the Chairman’s plan. After the Second War ended with Rey and Chairman Durandal’s death, Shinn seems to have become aware of their manipulations but it is currently unknown how Shinn views the Chairman at this point.

Athrun Zala[]

Athrun is perhaps Shinn’s second most complicated relationship besides that of the Orb Union. Originally, Shinn came to respect Athrun as a mobile suit pilot after witnessing his skills in combat but wondered why a man with his skills would work as a simple bodyguard for the Orb Union. After Athrun joined ZAFT as a member of FAITH and officially become Shinn’s commander, Shinn found it difficult to follow orders from the man who until recently was a bodyguard for the Orb Union. Athrun himself also respects Shinn’s talents as pilot and sees great potential in him however he often worries and criticizes Shinn for his anger and succumbing to his own personal feelings too often. Thus he often acts as Shinn’s unofficial yet unwanted mentor, often disciplining Shinn and advising him against some of his current actions so that Shinn will not make some of same mistakes that Athrun made himself; although Athrun is often harsh and demanding to Shinn due to his own personal issues.

Following Athrun’s defeat at the hands of the Freedom, Shinn began to lose respect for him because he knew that Athrun was beginning to have doubts about the war and with him. Their relationship dissolved even further following Shinn releasing Stella Loussier to Earth Alliance and Shinn apparently destroying the Freedom and Kira Yamato, Athrun’s closest friend. After being branded a traitor by Chairman Durandal and Rey Za Burrel, Athrun fled ZAFT with Meyrin Hawke; Shinn was then ordered to kill them and although Athrun survived this encounter, he continued to try and persuade Shinn of the Chairman and Rey’s ideals, however, Shinn’s trust and influence in both of them proved to be greater than his in Athrun’s. Now believing that Athrun is a traitor, Shinn views him as an enemy, and during the second war’s final battle, Athrun realized that Shinn could not be persuaded due to his own anger and his faith in the Chairman and Rey and eventually defeated him. Shinn was eventually rescued by Athrun after his defeat, knowing that Shinn’s entire actions are not entirely his fault and Shinn realizing the manipulations he was under, they preceded to make peace with each other. Athrun eventually accompanied Shinn to the Orb memorial where he introduced to Freedom pilot Kira Yamato, with Shinn officially joining them as an ally and a friend.

By C.E. 75, they appeared to be on better terms with each other.^[9] The relationship between the two isn't fully perfect though, as during Athrun and Kira's fight, Shinn angrily tries to hold Athrun back from his team commander Kira, but fails and gets punched by both.

Kira Yamato[]

While Shinn and Kira unintentionally met each other at the Orb memorial, they were unaware of each other’s identities. Although they shared similar feelings about death and destruction, their ideals seem to be vastly opposite as Kira wishes to rebuild from the destruction, Shinn seems to want to destroy those who cause the destruction. While typically knowing each other as enemies in their mobile suits, Shinn personally disliked Kira due to his methods of intervention and began to truly hate Kira for killing Stella Loussier. By the end of the second war, Kira and Shinn meet again at the Orb memorial, finally knowing who the pilot of the Freedom was, thanks to Athrun introducing Kira to him. Shinn was stunned and felt guilty for all the action he took against Kira. Nonetheless, Kira showed no ill feelings toward Shinn and offered him to fight with him and Athrun as an ally and a friend; an offering that Shinn tearfully and humbly accepted.

After joining Compass and being assigned under Kira's command in the Yamato Team, the two remained on good terms with each other. Shinn saw Kira more as a friend and a superior which he treated with all respect unlike Athrun, as he saw that Kira had passed through many trials and tribulations like he did. His respect for Kira was so great that he even acted without hesitation when someone disrespected Kira or when he was in danger.

In multiple scenarios where they interact after being formally introduced to one another, Shinn treats Kira with more respect than Athrun, often including the "-san" honorific.^[7][8]

Quotes[]

Quote:Shinn Asuka

Gallery[]

Character Designs[]

Anime[]

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED[]

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny[]

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom[]

Illustrations & Artwork[]

Manga[]

Games[]

Notes & Trivia[]

• Like Kira, Shinn has only been seen piloting Gundams rather than any other Mobile Suit.
• Shinn along with Kou Uraki and Sven Cal Bayang are the only three protagonists to be defeated in the end in their Gundam storylines. With Shinn being soundly defeated at the Battle of Messiah, Kou being unable to prevent Operation Stardust, and Sven outmaneuvered by Selene McGriff.
• Shinn seems to have forgotten or does not even know that Freedom was involved in the death of his family members two years before he joined ZAFT. Instead of indicating anger or surprise, Shinn looks puzzled in his first meeting with Freedom as a ZAFT pilot as if he's just seen it for the first time, when the Freedom intervened in the war between ZAFT and Orb forces.
• The death of Shinn's family is similar to death of Fraw Bow's family; both families die because of a wayward shot from Mobile Suit's weapon while fleeing on a highway, with Shinn and Fraw being the only survivors.
• Shinn's name may be a reference to Kenichi Suzumura's role in Macross Zero, where the main character was named Shinn Kudou and was an orphaned refugee.
• In the first Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny game, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny: Battle Assault (GBA), Shinn has no SEED Factor animation in his awaken mode. This is due to the game being released before episode 12, Blood in the Water, aired. The only characters with Seed Factor in the game are Kira Yamato, Athrun Zala, and Cagalli Yula Athha.
• On August 8, 2011, Shinn's voice actor, Kenichi Suzumura, got married to Maaya Sakamoto, none other than Lunamaria Hawke's voice actress.
• Shinn, along with his family, makes a cameo appearance in episode 36, Decisive Fire, of the HD Remaster version of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. He was seen again briefly in episode 39, Trembling World, at the ZAFT military academy along with Lunamaria, Meyrin and Rey Za Burrel.
• The names of the swords of Shinn's two mobile suits may reflect Shinn's status in the series. The Sword Impulse's weapon, deemed "Excalibur" (King Arthur's sword), reflected him as a hero. The Destiny's weapon, deemed "Arondight" (Sir Lancelot's sword), showed him falling into an anti-hero classification. Evidenced by the fact that Lancelot in Arthurian lore was once a hero that became an enemy.
• Coincidentally, Shinn bears a very similar name to the protagonist of Ultraman Dyna, Shin Asuka. Also, the titular hero's Flash-type's color scheme is also similar to the Gundams' traditional white, blue, and red, and his Type Change ability parallels that of Impulse Gundam's VPS armor.
  • Amusingly enough, the actor for Dyna's Shinn Asuka (Takeshi Tsuruno) mentioned the RX-78-2 Gundam as his favorite Mobile Suit in an interview.
• Shinn looks very similar to Kazuki Makabe, the protagonist of Fafner: Dead Aggressor. This is because both series share the same character designer.
• Kenichi Suzumura also voices Wilfrid Kijima in Gundam Build Fighters Try.
• In Super Robot Wars V, Shinn gets a color-themed nom de guerre in a similar vein to The Red Comet and Blue Giant; the character Rosalie from Fukuda and Sunrise's other mecha anime, CROSS ANGE Rondo of Angel and Dragon calls him "The ZAFT Blue Lightning" based on the most prominent color on his ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundam.Super Robot Taisen V - Walkthrough - Scenario 16 (Arzenal Route - Chitose) ［Bonds Renewed］
  • On a more humorous note, while Athrun finds the ladies of the same series to be attracted to him, Shinn has a much more negative opinion shortly after meeting them, referring to the Norma as "the island of terrible women", which may be a reference to how the characterization of many female characters early in that show rubbed viewers the wrong way.
• Shinn's knowledge of Mu being Neo has repeatedly been zigzagged throughout his various appearances. In SD Gundam G Generation series, Shinn is able to instantly recognize Mu as Neo. In the Omake Quarters, Shinn can tell Mu's voice is familiar but is unable to point out why.
• Though he has never actually equipped the Destiny Silhouette, Shinn uses it in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Battle Destiny's Another Arc Mission, "Indestructible Impulse". He calls for a new Silhouette pack after every defeat (Force, Sword, Blast and Destiny) with a voiced line, getting noticeably impatient (not to mention angry) with each equipment change.
• In Gundam SEED DESTINY Suit CD Vol. 3, Shinn and Athrun are invited by Mu La Flaga to go drinking as a celebration. Despite their initial reluctance, Shinn and Athrun cave in to Mu's offers for them to drink alcohol. Upon initially meeting Mu, Shinn instantly thinks to himself that the commander sounds incredibly familiar, only to completely dismiss the idea by shouting that they've never met before. When Mu attempts to clear the atmosphere of any awkwardness, Shinn and Athrun deny being friends, noting that it isn't as if they got along particularly well or hated each other specifically. Athrun later points out that he felt that Shinn was more of a brat when they first met, while Shinn felt that Athrun was just a former red uniform that found his way to Orb and somehow got promoted to FAITH. The topic soon finds its way to their relationship with girls. Before it can go further, Mu departs to answer a call from Murrue Ramius. While Mu is gone, it soon appears that the Shinn starts an emotional talk with drunk Athrun, thanking him, but it nearly becomes mistaken for a love confession. As the two talk further Athrun begins ranting about Kira and Lacus, this eventually leads a confused Shinn to ask why Athrun would talk about Kira and Lacus when he also had Meyrin. Shinn soon takes to opportunity to jab Athrun by pointing out that he had at least succeeded in starting his own relationship and asking why Athrun would need two girls. Shinn rates Kira, who has become his boss, as a sweet and good person, but Athrun advises Shinn, saying Kira is a relentless man when angry. Shinn, then pointed out "like the incident with Saviour?" Athrun admits hesitatingly. Shinn pointed that as expected for childhood friend, Athrun knows Kira well. But Shinn, became his usual self whenever he talks to Athrun, pointed out despite them being childhood friend, Athrun's suits was destroyed twice by Kira, never won agains Him. and pointing out that Shinn won Kira once. Shinn pointed out that Athrun has the nerve to be all high mighty, and asking whether Athrun's words are truly right. Athrun got heated up, By the time Mu returns, the two enter a heated argument that causes them to leave early, forcing Mu to pay for the entire meal on his own.
• In Gundam SEED DESTINY Suit CD Vol. 6's Suit Mini-Drama "Academy Advancement Exam", Shinn is depicted as a student who isn't too fond of academics, but can do very well if he puts his all into it. At first, he doubts that knowing the theories behind MS Piloting will help them in the long run and believes that practical experience is best. Despite this, he still borrows note copies from Lunamaria (who copied from Rey's notes only select portions that she believes will appear in the exams). The results were awful as expected and on top of that, all three of them were called out for having almost the same answers for the free essay part (since the notes were mainly Rey's personal observations of piloting theories aside from the information gleaned from lectures). Determined to get himself out of this rut, Shinn studies hard and gets a better score in the make-up exam, beating even Rey.
• Shinn Asuka is one of the main characters that didn't make a voiced appearance in the Message from GUNDAM "BEYOND" PSA.
• Shinn is featured in the Extreme Vs. series as the pilot for both the Destiny, and the Impulse and its silhouettes. Coincidentally, both units have a "powered down" variant, with the what-if Heine custom Destiny and the Lunamaria Impulse.
• To obtain the "SEED Mode" variant of the Shinn Asuka AI Pilot in Gundam Breaker Mobile, players must build it from event blueprints during a limited time when it is available as a build project. This is resource-intensive process, as each part requires a combination of twelve total Material which can only be obtained by rolling the current gacha capsules on specific weeks to get the number of necessary material for the part. it would take at least twelve rolls over four weeks to craft the AI.

Appearances[]

References[]

This article is part of Project: SEED

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Cosmic Era characters
Earth Alliance / OMNI Enforcer / Phantom Pain / Blue Cosmos / Logos
Archangel's Captain | Archangel's Doctor | Balsam Arend | Sai Argyle | Flay Allster | George Allster | Shani Andras | Bruno Azrael | Muruta Azrael | Natarle Badgiruel | Biddulph | Emilio Bloderick | Clotho Buer | Kuzzey Buskirk | Sven Cal Bayang | Sven Cal Bayang's Father | Sven Cal Bayang's Mother | Dalida Lolaha Chandra II | Morgan Chevalier | Koopman | Joseph Copeland | Shams Couza | Derleth | Lord Djibril | Xist Elwes | Mu La Flaga | Gail | Gerard Garcia | Celestine Groht | Duane Halberton | Edward Harrelson | Miriallia Haw | Hoffman | Mudie Holcroft | Jane Houston | Sars Sehm Ilia | Rena Imelia | Joaquin | Tolle Koenig | Lucs Kohler | Vanfeldt Ria Lindsay | Ile De Llorar | Ian Lee | Stella Loussier | Marseille III-class Captain | Matias | Matisse | Lally McWilliams | Miller | Duncan Luis Mockelberg | Kojiro Murdoch | Waid Rabby Nadaga | Auel Neider | Auel Neider's Mother | Graham Nelleis | Arnold Neumann | Sting Oakley | Romero Pal | Murrue Ramius | Reyes | Alwin Ritter | Rize | Neo Roanoke | Orga Sabnak | Dana Snip | William Sutherland | Three Socius | Jackie Tonomura | Adam Vermilyea | Kira Yamato
PLANT / ZAFT
Fredrik Ades | Miguel Aiman | Aisha | Nicol Amalfi | Romina Amalfi | Yuri Amalfi | Shinn Asuka | Madd Aves | Rey Za Burrel | Meer Campbell | Eileen Canaver | Alan Clarzec | Lacus Clyne | Siegel Clyne | Mikhail Coast | Martin DaCosta | Vino Dupre | Gilbert Durandal | Dearka Elsman | Tad Elsman | Henri Eugenie | Fred | Talia Gladys | William Gladys | Glasgow | Herman Gould | Leons Graves | Ash Gray | Hadat | Hans | Hilda Harken | Lunamaria Hawke | Meyrin Hawke | Shiho Hahnenfuss | Burt Heim | Courtney Heironimus | Parnel Jesek | Ezalia Joule | Yzak Joule | Ali Kasim | Yolan Kent | Kirkwood | Neu Kazaefsky | Olor Kudenbru | Alec Lad | Eduardo Lee | Louise Leitner | Bernadette Leroux | Rau Le Creuset | Rusty Mackenzie | Isaac Mau | Jeremy Maxwell | Matthew | Maylam | Marco Morassim | Ricardo Orff | Rin | Joachim Ruddle | Sarah | Sato | Takao Schreiber | Mars Simeon | Riika Sheder | Mare Strode | Suu | King Takeda | Arthur Trine | Gud Vair | Joppe Von Arafas | Herbert Von Reinhard | Andrew Waltfeld | Heine Westenfluss | Orson White | Willard | Abbey Windsor | Rudolf Wittgenstein | Chen Jian Yi | Kira Yamato | Rinna Sera Yasaka | Malik Yardbirds | Ray Yuki | Athrun Zala | Lenore Zala | Patrick Zala | Zelman
Orb Union / Orb National Defense Force / Orb Disaster Relief Team
Amagi | Sai Argyle | Sai Argyle's Father | Sai Argyle's Mother | Mayu Asuka | Mr. Asuka | Mrs. Asuka | Cagalli Yula Athha | Uzumi Nara Athha | Baba | Kuzzey Buskirk | Kuzzey Buskirk's Father | Kuzzey Buskirk's Mother | Asagi Caldwell | Dalida Lolaha Chandra II | Lacus Clyne | Elle | Mu La Flaga | Go | Miriallia Haw | Miriallia Haw's Father | Miriallia Haw's Mother | Barry Ho | Gard Dell Hokuha | Homura | Tatsumi Hori | Ikeya | Sars Sehm Ilia | Miyabi Oto Kiou | Umito Mitsu Kiou | Ledonir Kisaka | Tolle Koenig | Tolle Koenig's Father | Tolle Koenig's Mother | Mayura Labatt | Vanfeldt Ria Lindsay | Tatsuki Mashima | Toyah Mashima | Merna | Kojiro Murdoch | Waid Rabby Nadaga | Arnold Neumann | Nishizawa | Takito Haya Oshidari | Murrue Ramius | Rondo Gina Sahaku | Rondo Mina Sahaku | Hoskin Gira Sakato | Unato Ema Seiran | Yuna Roma Seiran | Erica Simmons | Ryuta Simmons | Soga | Ernest Sudo | Ken Norland Suse | Tilling | Todaka | Andrew Waltfeld | Lath Winslet | Juri Wu Nien | Caridad Yamato | Haruma Yamato | Kira Yamato | Athrun Zala
Three Ships Alliance / Clyne Faction
Amagi | Archangel's Doctor | Sai Argyle | Shinn Asuka | Cagalli Yula Athha | Asagi Caldwell | Jean Carry | Dalida Lolaha Chandra II | Lacus Clyne | Siegel Clyne | Martin DaCosta | Dearka Elsman | Mu La Flaga | Go | Hilda Harken | Miriallia Haw | Lunamaria Hawke | Meyrin Hawke | Albert Heinlein | Barry Ho | Ikeya | Yzak Joule | Ledonir Kisaka | Alexei Konoe | Mayura Labatt | Kojiro Murdoch | Arnold Neumann | Nishizawa | Murrue Ramius | Mars Simeon | Erica Simmons | Arthur Trine | Herbert Von Reinhard | Andrew Waltfeld | Abbey Windsor | Juri Wu Nien | Kira Yamato | Athrun Zala
Compass
Shinn Asuka | Dalida Lolaha Chandra II | Lacus Clyne | Mu La Flaga | Agnes Giebenrath | Hilda Harken | Lunamaria Hawke | Albert Heinlein | Alexei Konoe | Kojiro Murdoch | Arnold Neumann | Murrue Ramius | Herbert Von Reinhard | Mars Simeon | Arthur Trine | Abbey Windsor | Kira Yamato
Foundation / Black Knight Squad
Griffin Arbalest | Daniel Harper | Aura Maha Khyber | Shura Serpentine | Liu Shenqiang | Orphee Lam Tao | Ingrid Tradoll | Redelard Tradoll
Independent/Neutral Entities
Junk Guild 8 | Liam Garfield | Lowe Guele | The Professor | Yoon Sefan | Kisato Yamabuki
Serpent Tail Kazahana Azure | Loretta Azure | Elijah Kiel | Gai Murakumo | Lukas O'Donnell | Reed Weller
Desert Dawn Sahib Ashman | Cagalli Yula Athha | Ahmed el Hosn | Ledonir Kisaka
Librarian Works ND HE | Kaite Madigan | Prayer Reverie | Rondo Gina Sahaku | Finis Socius | Lily Thevalley | Gud Vair | Goud Veia
Mars Ergnes Brahe | Nahe Herschel | Deago Lowell | Setona Winters
Deep Space Survey and Development Organization Sven Cal Bayang | Edmond Du Clos | Sol Ryuune L'ange | Selene McGriff
Anti-factice Valentina Binon | Joel Jeanmaire-Giraud | Ken Norland Suse
Others Conille Almeta | Anstan | Yaru Ashman | Elisa Azana | Muruta Azrael's Mother | Birdy | Blue | Al Da Flaga | Ahmed el Hosn's Mother | Sinisto Garfield | George Glenn | Navy Haro | Red Haro | Ulen Hibiki | Via Hibiki | Al-Jairi | Jessica | Kenaf Luchini | Reverend Malchio | Misha | Un'no | Trojan Noiret | Okapi | Canard Pars | Mr. Pink | Meriol Pistis | Jess Rabble | Prayer Reverie | Sato | Shamsedin | Valerio Valeri | Elsa Weiss