ZAGR

"No lord (of humans) shall be without his lady."

ZAGR (short for Zim And Gaz Romance) is the shipping of Zim (an Irken male) and Gazlene (a human female and the daughter of Professor Membrane). There are many instances where Gaz shows at least a minimal if fleeting interest in Zim, even if it is not romantic it may indicate slightly less loathing than she attributes to the rest of the world.

Gaz and Zim had some interaction in the series, and Gaz seemed not to care about Zim being an extraterrestrial.

However, even though their interactions throughout the produced episodes are very limited, they do have some things in common: namely, their mutual hatred of Dib, and their mutual desire to cause him great pain in various forms (though they have never succeeded in killing him to date). They even have a loathing for Earth itself, primarily due to the naivete of pretty much everyone on the planet except for themselves. Also, both Zim and Gaz have a penchant for being melodramatic and both have a love for destruction. Both can also be very determined in getting whatever it is they want, and can be rather stubborn. They also share common interests, such as a surprisingly high tolerance for GIR and his hyperactivity, as well as eating similar foods and having similar pastimes. In the director's commentary, it was once referenced that Gaz may be Zim's potential love interest (but this has been confirmed non-canon). However, that earlier "statement" is not not altogether accurate. Jhonen strongly detests ZADR and said Tak & Zim will always be enemies, thus no confirmation of ZATR.

In the episode Bloaty's Pizza Hog, Zim showed that he was condescending toward Gaz: when he cuts the power to the teleporters, Zim referred to her as "Little Gaz," reflecting the fact that his people judge others by height.

Invader Zim TV series[]

In Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom, right after Dib throws a muffin at Zim's head, she is visibly shocked at what has happened, calling it "horrible" and turning her head away, looking visibly disgusted. However, after Zim hysterically runs out of the cafeteria, she says that Zim's hysteria during his escape was "kinda funny".

In The Voting of the Doomed, Gaz casts her ballot for Willy when the skool election day arrives. But when the monitors were sensing ZIM's popularity level, Gaz's meter was blinking green, meaning that she would have voted for Zim instead. (Miss Bitters actually mentions this herself when explaining how the indicators work, saying that this means that someone may find interest in what the other candidate has to say.) Additionally, after he gives his 'salted nuts' speech, Gaz cheers along with the other kids but is not seen wearing a brain monitor.

In the unmade episode Ten Minutes to Doom, Gaz only grudgingly helps Zim to retrieve his PAK from Dib. Note that, despite the fact that Zim will die without his PAK, she only decides to help him when he tricks her into thinking Dib also stole her Game Slave 2. Later in the episode, after Gaz saves Zim's life unknowingly, upon discovering that Zim was the one who actually stole it (in an attempt to convince her to save his life of course), Gaz chases after him with the likely intent of verbally or physically abusing him.

Even though they don't interact much in the show, they do have some things in common: namely their mutual hatred of Dib, and desire to cause him great pain. They even have a loathing for Earth itself. Also, both Zim and Gaz have a penchant for being melodramatic and both have a love for destruction. Both can also be very determined and can be rather stubborn. They also share common interests, such as a love of piggies, eating similar foods and a surprisingly high tolerance for GIR and his hyperactivity.

In the original pilot, Gaz seemed to show a bit more interest in Zim than she does in the main series. She smiles at him when he is about to chew beans, and looks down at him when he is in pain from the allergic reaction.

In NanoZIM, Gaz beat up Zim in what she thought was a online video game. It is notable that she recognized Zim's voice. However, his voice is pretty easy to distinguish, and she's probably used to hearing it considering all the fighting between Zim and Dib.

In Dark Harvest, Gaz didn't get upset that Zim took her organs, likely only because she was still able to play her Game Slave, and was 'in the zone'.

In The Wettening, Zim held Gaz above his head to protect himself from the rain (completely ignoring the umbrella that was in her hand). Gaz would have beaten him up if Dib didn't intervene with his puddle splash. And, as Dib splashes Zim, Gaz seems to be upset since Dib got her wet again.

In Planet Jackers, Gaz didn't seem to care that Zim was in her house, but rather was annoyed about Dib yelling about it.

In Bloaty's Pizza Hog, Dib asked Gaz if she even cares that Zim's trying to destroy mankind, but she flatly stated how "he is so bad at it." It should also be noted that this episode demonstrates how Zim underestimates Gaz's abilities, and her determination to rescue her brother. This is proven when Zim triumphantly told Gaz he expected to be amused by her "pitiful" attempts to get Dib out of an "impenetrable" containment tank that Zim made himself. This would have impressed Gaz except there was one small problem. Gaz promptly kicked the tank lightly, causing the entire thing to shatter and flood the room.

Later, Zim also showed outright condescension toward Gaz: when he cuts the power to the teleporters, Zim referred to her as "Little Gaz," reflecting the fact that his people judge others by height.

Despite Zim's demeaning views of his nemesis' sister, Gaz proved herself to be more than superior to the maniacal Irken during her escape from Zim's Space Station. During said escape, Gaz showed off her prodigious piloting skills, and was even shown to be capable of flying literally cockpit-to-cockpit with Zim's ship, even sparing him a smirk and wave in the process.

In Rise of the Zitboy, Zim tried to hypnotize Gaz with Pustulio, but she was reading a book and didn't pay much heed to Zim's presence. However, after asking if she was sure she didn't feel compelled to gaze upon Pustulio and being answered with a threatening growl from Gaz, he acquiesced to her wishes and leaves her be whilst beckoning the others to follow him.

In Tak: The Hideous New Girl, Gaz claims that Zim's voice is "making her sick" (because the two were bickering), and then sprays him with soda (however, it should also be noted she then sprayed Dib when he tried to thank her). Later when Zim takes her and Dib to his base, he threatens to "melt Gaz's face off or something" if she touches anything. Of course, this was an off-handed threat and he never did it.

In Gaz, Taster of Pork, Zim refused to help fix Gaz's ailment, though the fact that Dib was asking for the assistance probably had a lot to do with this. Later in the episode, Gaz tells the Shadowhog how she knows that Zim is an alien, but how she also believes he is too dumb to take over the Earth.

In Future Dib, when Zim is controlling the Dib Robot-Spy, he says "Of course, my scary sister. I obey.", while clasping his hands and smiling sweetly. What's interesting is that his creation doesn't repeat these movements, instead opting to place a hand over his heart as if promising something, due to him controlling said robot-spy.

In Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom, right after Dib throws a muffin at Zim's head, she is visibly shocked at what has happened, calling it "horrible" and turning her head away, looking visibly disgusted. However, after Zim hysterically runs out of the cafeteria, she says that Zim's hysteria during his escape was "kinda funny".

In Parent Teacher Night, after Zim tapped the bottom of Dib's cup up to splash punch into his face she chuckles, and when Dib pours punch onto Zim's head she holds in gales of laughter.

Invader Zim 2015 Comic Book Series[]

Gaz's apathy towards Zim's goals are still apparent, starting in issue 1 where upon seeing him after so long, merely acknowledges his appearance. Also in issue one, Zim melodramatically accuses a bush as Gaz, apparently expecting her. This possibly means he acknowledges her existence in general as well, and as being a potential threat to his mission.

Issue 11 marks the first ever interaction between Gaz and Zim in the comics. (although the issue being a one shot by a guest artist may technically qualify it as non-canon) This is in which Zim yells angrily at Dib for being unaffected by the the robot cat, not turning "hideous". Gaz then engages in some light banter with Zim by stating Dib has always been such. This scene however may also be interpreted as Gaz responding to Zim's statement to no one in particular, since neither Zim or Dib respond to her.

Issue 16 provides the most insight to the dynamic of the two in the comics, as they both are in constant communication throughout the plot. Gaz is first seen insinuating she has become nihilistic after beating every game on earth, but is not able to further develop her ideas once Zim crashes in her room to ask what scares Dib. She nonchalantly turns him down, and in Zim fashion, is strapped to an oversized information sucking "brain wrencher". To Zim's astonishment, Gaz is unaffected by the machine and says, "I don't really feel like having my brain wrenched today." Zim struggles to respond, and Gaz strikes a deal with Zim: in exchange for sending her to other planets (namely Arcadikon) to play games, she'd provide information regarding Dib's fears. Gaz's attitude towards Zim are consistently negative throughout the issue, clearly demonstrating her only motivation is to play games, and by treating her alignment with Zim as a means to an end. At one point she charges him to solve his problems himself, but Zim, as stubborn as Gaz, uses GIR's appetite for anything (which includes her tickets) as blackmail. As a running gag, Zim never addresses Gaz by her name, calling her first "human purple", and "Gus" throughout the comic, which she never bothers to correct.

What's surprising nonetheless is how easily they communicate and are able to work together. It should be reminded that Zim in both the show and comics struggles to communicate with humans without insulting them or going on a rant, and Gaz usually find a way to quickly avoid confrontation. In the issue, their exchange of ideas/updates on Dib are cohesive without much argument (or rather blowing out of proportion) and are able to scare Dib... of course at the expense of Zim being caught in the fear siphon's explosion. A prominent example of their odd dynamic is shown in page 16. Both Gaz and Zim talk to one another in a friendly manner when they sadistically mock Jerd Kerkin's inability to tell a scary story to Dib, which marks the first time they've ever agreed on anything. Zim then calls his relationship with Gaz into question by asking her why they never talk, hinting he's enjoyed their team up so far. Despite clearly being able to hold a friendly conversation with him, Gaz establishes her feelings towards Zim by saying, "Because I hate you Zim. I hate you so much." Zim, still with an earnest smile on his face, replies, "I hate you more, you know." Fans have interpreted the panel as a comedic take on the foe romance subtext trope since Zim's positive attitude and seemingly romantically structured response contradicts the genuine hate. Although likely, it probably isn't the case. Regardless of this verbal exchange, issue 16 has shown that both zim and Gaz, for the first time, are able to work with another character effectively and successfully. There's even a sliver of them being on good terms with one another, which is astounding given their egotistical, stubborn, and violent characteristics which have prohibited them from working well with anyone else.

In Issue 21, an accident with one of Zim's machines causes him and Gaz to switch bodies with each other. One consequence of this is that they start expressing aspects of each other's personalities - Zim becomes apathetic and obsessed with gaming, much to his own disgust, while Gaz gains Zim's drive to conquer Earth. She bets Zim that she could do a better job of it than him, with the loser to be banished to the moon. Zim smugly agrees, thinking that Gaz can't win, but in a matter of days she has the leaders of the world begging her to take over. While initially impressed, he accuses her of stealing his ideas from his “scheming diary”. Zim quickly becomes jealous and confronts Gaz about their agreement. Gaz in a villainous fashion, reveals her plan was to steal Zim’s identity. Shortly after Gaz assumes control of the world, her first order is to banish Zim to the moon. But given the nature of the comics, it's likely temporarily.

Theory[]

There is no prominent evidence of ZAGR in the series, considering their limited interaction, not even the vague glances and moments that fans often turn into evidence for a pairing. It is likely that the pairing itself sprang only from this off-handed director's comment, but actually ZAGR fics have been written before then, such as "Gaz's Evil Plan" by Toni Ferraro^[1] and "First Date" by Kelly Marie ^[2]. Both were written before the DVDs came out. Melissa Fahn, the voice of Gaz, has also confirmed in the DVD commentary for The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever that "Gaz actually CAN love; she just thinks she's better than everyone else" (possibly those who annoy her), hence her rotten attitude around not just Zim, but nearly everyone around her (Melissa admitted this after everyone else jumped on Jhonen's comment about Gaz's hatred fixing Tak's ship).^[3]

Eric Trueheart has stated there were actually no plans for the finale titled "Invader Dib", but Jhonen mentioned something about this at InvaderCon possibly as a joke.

If a romantic relationship between Zim and Gaz did exist in the show, it could have provided an awkward, if not conflicting dynamic between Zim, Gaz and Dib; while Gaz could have been Zim's love interest, she would also still be Dib's little sister. Being caught between these opposing sides, Gaz would have likely been used by the boys in order to get information on each other. This of course, would only serve to annoy Gaz and would get either one or both beaten up by her. ^[4]

Basically, Zim And Gaz Romance comes down to their shared loathing for the human race, and specifically Dib, along with as their common interests and Zim's interactions with her father. Also, in Tak: The Hideous New Girl, upon discovering Tak is Irken, Zim's research into human affection is compromised, leaving room for more accurate future research, and thus it might be plausible that in that scenario, he would use the humans closest (and most familiar) to him, namely Gaz. The problem is not in that the pairing could not exist, but rather in the fact that it is occasionally written badly, too quickly, or out of character.

Stories related to ZAGR[]

Restless - By: Invader Gia
Hidden Feelings - By: Invader Gia
Her - By: Invader Gia
Attention - By: Invader Gia
Emotions - By: Invader Gia
Secret Revealed - By: Invader Gia
Christmas Teachings - By: Invader Gia
Movie Night - By: Invader Gia
Invader Zim: The Mysterious Love of Doom! - by: Invader Gia
Falling - By: Invader Gia
Courage - By: Invader Gia
One-Shots (#3) - By: Invader Gia
The Most Bestest Christmas Ever! - By Conker's Bad Fur Day
ZAGR - By: Megatoon27 and Angie Y.

Spoofs related to ZAGR[]

Me (IZ version) - By Angie Y.

What to expect from the typical ZAGR fanfic[]

A ZAGR fanfic can be anything from an angsty drama to a sappy love story, and while there is the rare fic where the author manages to keep them in-character (such as "Gaz's Evil Plan" and 'Hypnosis Can Be A wonderful Thing), the bulk of them will ditch proper characterization in favor of cutesy romance and (sometimes) altered backstories of the two characters. As well as this, while some fics may actually be believable and offer some originality, most ZAGR fics will have any one (or more) of the following plot points and/or characteristics:

Common ZAGR Storylines (Fan based, non-canon)[]

After learning that his mission is a lie, Zim will either turn to Gaz for help, or she will find out herself and feel sorry for him. They may end up teaming up to either overthrow/destroy/reform the Irken Empire (with a possibility of banishing and/or killing the Tallest for revenge), or to take over the Earth and/or Irk to rule it on their own.

Zim and Gaz will work together to take over Earth, to stop Dib, or take over Irk; Zim is generally the one who will instigate the alliance, and Gaz may initially be reluctant.

After conquering Earth (or Irk, or possibly even both), Zim will make Gaz either his slave or his Queen/Empress. Zim becoming Tallest may be featured, and the more passionate stories involve Gaz becoming Zim's wife and co-regent.

Upon joining forces to defeat a common enemy, Zim and Gaz will eventually realize they have feelings for each other.

Zim turns to Gaz to learn about human affection, due to his failed attempt with Tak.

Zim and Gaz decide to start dating to annoy Dib. It will typically start out as a joke, until either one or both discover that they actually do love the other.

Common ZAGR characteristics[]

Gaz will be portrayed at a legal (or near-legal) age, typically 13 to 21, rather than 10-12 years of age (as confirmed by Jhonen Vasquez himself). Being a general rule, few diverge from this, and many of these stories take place after the events of the series.
Typically due to the excuse of 'lower gravity on Earth' or, by proxy, some other method, Zim will usually be portrayed as having grown taller. He will almost always be taller than Gaz, and may range anywhere from being near the height of the Tallests to exceeding their height completely.

Zim will often use the term 'love-pig' (from Tak: The Hideous New Girl) and "Little Gaz" (from Bloaty's Pizza Hog) as terms of endearment for Gazlene; more recent ones even have him using her full first name.

If the fact that Zim is allergic to Earth liquids and foods hasn't been forgotten entirely, more often than not, he will have built up an immunity (this actually occurs in the episode Zim Eats Waffles).

Alternatively, if Zim is still allergic, it will be played up, and Gaz may either rescue him or feel sorry for him.

Clothes and the like will be changed; emo/goth is the most common, particularly in Gaz's case, even though Jhonen has explicitly stated that Gaz's style of dress is fairly normal. (Personality may or may not be shifted to accommodate the new style.)

Zim and Gaz will often be placed in the same class, despite the fact that Gaz is supposed to be a grade lower.

Zim will always be portrayed as male, and Gaz will almost always birth their offspring, in different ways depending on the story. (Key points of biology will generally be ignored.)

Irken antennae may be referred to as an erogenous zone. Some fan arts by JackFreak1994 and others depict this, but canonically it was never made clear what the antennae were exactly meant to do.

Irken skin may be described as much softer and smoother to the touch than human skin, and may also be physically flawless.

Zim will be smarter, less arrogant and less insane, and oftentimes less prone to ranting and raving (and using his catchphrases). He may also be nicer and calmer, and would treat Gaz (and any children they might have, and possibly even GIR and his future subjects), with a lot of love, doting and respect. However, if Zim still is arrogant, it would be subverted somewhat in some fics to more resemble pride. (Jhonen has stated in the commentaries that by the time that the Christmas episode happens, Zim has already developed a soft spot for Earth, so he is slowly suppressing his arrogance.)
- Depending on the story or song, Zim jokingly calls Gaz 'his property', usually as his means of being affectionate with her. He will also, in a teasing manner, say that she should cater to the whims of her Irken husband as soon as they are married, though again he does so in a joking manner. (A boyfriend-girlfriend relationship or a all-out marriage without mutual submission is often subject to a power struggle and constant anger, abuse and stress).

Gaz will typically be similarly portrayed with a more sympathetic or caring nature, particularly towards Zim, GIR, their children or, if they rule Earth and/or Irk, their subjects.

The relationship between the two will almost never be called into question by other characters. If it is, it will typically be called out by Dib (or perhaps the Tallest and/or Control Brains), and their 'forbidden love' will probably be a central theme, much like Romeo and Juliet.

Dib will almost always be firmly set against them being together. He will normally accentuate this with excessive complaining, or attempts to break them up. (He may also become overly violent and/or prone to fits of rage.)