Character Profile: Wufei Chang

The loner of the group, Wufei Chang walks his own path in search of honor and meaning. He was part of the Dragon clan, but married into the Long Clan, which is a clan of Chinese warriors who were banished to a remote colony in L5. It was an arranged marriage, and his wife, Meiran Long, whom he married at the age of fourteen, was and wanted to be a warrior. She called herself Nataku after the Chinese warrioress, and died protecting their colony. Meiran died in his arms during an attack on his colony.

Wufei was a scholar who had little interest in fighting even though he had martial arts training. His colony, L5, was self-destructed during the war so that Oz would be unable to use them against Wufei. Wufei blamed Treize for the destruction of his colony and his wife's death, which is one of the primary reasons that he sought Treize out to kill him.

Wufei flies the Gundam Shenlong (who he personally named Nataku in memory of his late wife, as she was the reason why he agreed to fight for peace) like a noble warrior going into battle. He despises weakness and longs for a good fight. Besides being a mobile suit pilot, he's also skilled in kung fu. Wufei's seemingly invincible confidence, however, is shattered in his attempt to assassinate Treize. He lost a sword fight with him, and it left him bitter. He felt himself unworthy of piloting Shenlong until he encountered rebels led by Sally Po. Seeing strength in them and cowardice in the mobile suits, he found a new reason to fight.

But throughout the conflict, Wufei seems confused. He's trying to figure out his own reason for living. All he sees is the fight and the bloodbath that results. Men die all around him. Destruction lies in his wake. Even his home colony chooses to destroy itself to avoid being made a tool of the war. Wufei can't see beyond the fight, and this lack of insight confuses and sometimes scares him, causing him to be rash and irrational. The confusion grows after he manages to kill Treize in a mobile suit duel. Until he can clarify his own purpose for fighting, Wufei can't stop fighting.

The Shenlong (Dragon God) Gundam, built by Doctor O and presented to the Long clan, is built to fight Asian style. A beam glaive is its main close-range weapon, but its most noticeable feature is the Dragon Fang. It is an extendible arm weapon that can both bite and shoot fire. Wufei combines both abilities to create the lethal Dragon Fang Fire. As the fight grows more intense, though, Wufei reaches his limit and allows himself and the Shenlong to be captured by OZ. The Gundam creators then conspire under OZ's nose to renovate it and turn it loose. The result is Altron (the name is derived from the Chinese er-to long - "two-headed dragon"). The beam glaive is replaced with a twin beam trident, and there is now a Dragon Fang on each arm. It also carries two high-energy beam cannons based on the Vayate's cannon.

After finally killing Treize, Wufei is furious with Treize for allowing himself to be killed, as Wufei was tricked into killing him. It is because of Treize's death that Wufei questions himself and the concept of peace. It is in Treize's memory that Wufei joins Treize's daughter, Mariemaya, when she tried to 'complete her fathers work' during the Endless Waltz movie. Wufei was invited by Doctor Sally Po to become a Preventors Agent after the Mariemaya incident.