With Gundam having been around for forty years now, it’s easy for fans to forget the franchise's origins. Everything began with a young boy named Amuro, who happened to be so exceptionally talented at piloting the newest mobile suit made by the Federation Forces, he gained the name White Devil when he was inside the Gundam.

RELATED: Mobile Suit Gundam: The 10 Worst Pilots In The Whole Franchise, Ranked

Why was Amuro so good at piloting? Unfortunately, thanks to his lack of presence in future series and simply having half the charisma as someone like Char, Amuro isn’t given the level of respect he deserves as the original protagonist. This list aims to correct that, giving ten things you didn’t know about Mobile Suit Gundam’s lead character.

10 DIED IN THE NOVELS

Amuro and Char from Mobile Suit Gundam 0079

Though Amuro ultimately wouldn’t get near what his long-time rival Char Aznable got in terms of focus, he made appearances throughout Zeta and in certain manga series until his last appearance in Char’s Counterattack, nearly fifteen years later in-universe.

In the original novelization of the series, things went completely differently. There, Amuro starts out working inside the Federation forces rather than being “drafted” because of his mastery of the mobile suit. With complete control, Tomino chose to have Amuro die in the final battle of A Baoa Qu, without actually getting to take down Char himself.

9 A KIND SOLDIER

Amuro Ray Gundam

One of the more purposeful aspects of Amuro is that he’s actually really nice. He’s frequently merciful to his opponents when they don’t pose a threat, and doing things like offering water to Zeon pilots and wanting them to change in general.

While he has no problems killing if he has to, it’s clear Amuro would prefer if they weren’t at odds. This is almost certainly intentional, as Tomino wants to show how war can alter kind souls, taking advantage of their compassion for their fellow humans.

8 TEENAGED ACE

Initially, the idea of being a Newtype wasn’t really there for Tomino. However, when Sunrise made Amuro into a teenager, this presented a problem for the creator. It didn’t make sense for a young teen to be capable of piloting a giant robot with no training and experience.

RELATED: 10 Mecha Anime To Watch If You Love Gundam

Thus, the creator made Amuro into a Newtype, something society would need on its path to the future. This worked out better than anyone might have thought, as the Newtype became a large part of the Zeon ethos.

7 PILOTED ZETA GUNDAM

Amuro was missing for a large part of the Gryps Conflict with the Titans, but when he finally got into action, it didn’t take long before he got with Karaba and took on some pretty important missions.

But what Z Gundam never showed was Karaba eventually acquiring multiples of the Kamille-designed Zeta Gundam. Amuro would go on to pilot the Zeta Plus, becoming a commander of a squadron in Karaba and battle against both the Titans and the Neo Zeon as they became a major threat in the aftermath of the Gryps Conflict.

6 HIS MOTHER DIDN'T WANT HIM TO BE A SOLDIER

We know that Amuro’s father designed the original Gundam model, but we rarely hear about his mother. It seems Tem Ray and his mom Kamaria (sometimes spelled Camaria) were separated, but Amuro meets his mother in a field hospital.

Though the two get to catch up on past events, Amuro is eventually forced to kill a Zeon soldier while hiding from him, leading his mother to become appalled because of the ease with which he’s capable of taking a life. Eventually, she even talks about being ashamed of being his mother, though the two manage to repair their relationship later.

5 DEFINES HIMSELF BY HIS GUNDAM

RX-78 Gundam

It’s easy to forget that Amuro is just a young boy when he’s dragged into the conflict between the Federation and Zeon. Though he’s an ace pilot who comes to be feared on the battlefield as the “White Devil,” Amuro is prone to behavior that isn’t altogether rational.

One of his biggest issues is the idea that people are trying to take the Gundam from him, even though he’s a better pilot than anyone shown in the series. During his time on White Base, Amuro comes to define his usefulness as his skill with the Gundam, resulting in what we often see during the series.

4 HAS ISSUES WITH THE FEDERATION

Amuro Zeta

Amuro’s relationship with the Earth’s Federation pretty much always remains rocky. To begin with, he never gets a high position in the army despite his years there and the fact that he was their second most valuable ace pilot in the One Year War conflict.

RELATED: Gundam Vs Gundam Build Fighters: Which One Is Better?

But on top of that, eventually, Amuro is placed on house arrest after the One Year War, watched over by Federation agents to make sure they’re always aware of what he’s doing. Ultimately, the reasoning behind both this and his lack of promotion is his status as a Newtype, something the Federation never trusted.

3 KILLED HIS FIRST LOVE

What’s Gundam without a bit of soap opera drama? The first woman Amuro ever loved (at least in the anime) was a young woman named Lalah Sune. Lalah was an artificial Newtype, but she was the first person Amuro was able to bond with over their shared powers.

Unfortunately, Lalah fell under the influence of Char Aznable, who sent her into battle frequently. Eventually, despite Amuro’s best efforts, she came in between the two of them in combat and Amuro wound up taking her life as he wanted to take out Char.

2 SHARES A VOICE WITH SETSUNA

Amuro Ray of Mobile Suit Gundam looking at viewer

In Gundam, the voice acting in America often changes quite frequently because the earliest series came out long before Gundam was as popular as it is today. Because of this, Amuro actually has multiple English voice actors: One for Zeta Gundam and one for Mobile Suit Gundam.

Brad Swaile, the person known for voicing Amuro in his own main series, is also the person who voiced Setsuna F. Seiei from Mobile Suit Gundam 00, as well as voicing Quatre Winner from Gundam Wing. This makes Swaile the only voice actor to have ever voiced the main protagonists in two different Gundam shows.

1 DESIGNED HIS OWN GUNDAM

Nu Gundam flying through space firing a gun

Over the years, Amuro became known for his talent as an ace pilot. However, he was first known for his skill at building, as he created his own Haro, as well as other items in his house.

After years of piloting someone else’s work in the RX-78 and the Zeta and even the Re-Gz, Amuro was finally able to design his own mobile suit in the v Gundam in Char’s Counterattack film.

NEXT: 10 Best Gundam Mangas to Read, Ranked