Zardusht Zaharov

Zardusht Zaharov is the son of King Yunan from the Arabian Nights fairy tale The Tale of the Wazir and the Sage Duban.

Info
Name: Zardusht Zaharov

Age: 14

Parent's Story: The Tale of the Wazir and the Sage Duban

Alignment: Rebel

Roommate: Levent Nardali

Secret Heart's Desire: To become a great scholar - and not be poisoned by a book.

My "Magic" Touch: I am a skilled reader of ancient texts.

Storybook Romance Status: I'm only fourteen. There's plenty of time to find the right girl.

"Oh Curses!" Moment: Being the young king that I am, I tend to worry about being forced to grow up and not have time for fun..

Favorite Subject: Storytelling 101. I always love a good story - don't you?

Least Favorite Subject: Kingdom Management. This class thends to make me nervous..

Best Friend Forever After: TBA

Appearance
Zardusht is of average height, with longish dark brown hair and brown eyes. He wears a long purple jacket over a yellow tunic and purple pants. He sometimes wears glasses.

Personality
Zardusht is a quiet, studious, somewhat insecure young man. He spends a lot of time reading books, especially old texts. Even so, he is a kid at heaert and loves to have fun. He feels like he's pressured to grow up and wants to have fun being a teenager.

Biography
Salam! I'm Zardusht Zaharov, also known as King Zardusht III. I'm the son of the late king Yunan. I rule over a kingdom in Zuman, located in Azerbaijan.

My father was a king who suffered from leprosy. He sought a cure for it. The sage Duban came to heal him - which he did. Yunan's wazir (vizier) grew jealous of Duban and convinced him that the sage was going to poison him. The king ordered Duban to be beheaded. Duban offered the king one of his books before losing his head. Duban's decapitated head continued to talk and told the king to open the book. The book turned out to be blank. The pages stuck together, and the king licked his fingers to try to open them. It turned out that Duban had poisoned them, and the poison eventually killed Yunan.

I was only four when I became king, so I never really got to know my father that well. I'm the youngest child - my older sisters are Aygul, Maral, and Parvin. But since I'm the only boy, I was crowned king in his place. You might think fourteen is too young to be a king, but there's plenty of young kings out there. My mother is acting as regent until I turn eighteen. After that I'll get to rule all by myself. Still, just because I have a regent doesn't mean I don't have any responsibilities/ I preside over special events and get to meet with other kings and queens.

I love reading books. I have a huge library located in my palace, with thousands of books - some of them hundreds of years old. The royal family of Zuman was always well-known for their fondness of literature. I spend much of my time reading books when I'm back at the palace. Sadly, I can't bring all these books to Ever After High, but I take a few of my favorites with me. I love telling stories and hearing stories, for my parent's story contains three stories within it. (The Arabian Nights are well-known for their stories within stories.)

Despite being king, I also like to have fun. I love computers, video games, swimming, gymnastics, climbing trees, and watching seals. (Yes, we have seals in the Caspian Sea. I even have a pet Caspian seal - his name's Aslan.) I feel like I'm still a kid and that I'm not quite ready for tons of responsibility. I always worry about being pressured to grow up and sometimes I try to act more grown-up than I am. When you're a king at fourteen, there's a lot more pressure to grow up. I'd prersonally rather have fun being a teenager than worry about adulthood.

Since I go to Ever After High, I have to know about the destiny conflict. After all, it's one of the driving forces behind the school. I side with the Rebels - I think my story is not something I'd want to live. I don't want to end up with leprosy, and furthermore I don't want to be poisoned at the end of my story. I want to survive and live through a long, eventful reign. I think that staying alive is important since I need to be there for my subjects.

Trivia

 * Zardusht's name can also be rendered Zərdüşt Zəhərov, using native Azeri spellings. He doesn't care which way you spell it.
 * Zardusht's surname is derived from the Azeri word zahar meaning "poison".