This is a list of fictional characters featured in the Cosmic Era (CE) timeline of the Gundam anime metaseries. These characters appear in the Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny anime television series, as well as in the manga and OVA spinoffs. Both series focus on the raging conflict between Naturals and Coordinators, the former being regular humans and the latter being genetically-enhanced ones.
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED begins when the neutral space colony Heliopolis is attacked by ZAFT, a military organization composed of Coordinators. Coordinator Kira Yamato pilots the mobile suit GAT-X105 Strike to protect his friends on the Naturals' ship Archangel from potential enemies as they head towards Earth. Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny continues two years after Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and follows the teenager Shinn Asuka and his duties in ZAFT.
Kira Yamato (キラ・ヤマト) is a first-generation Coordinator, who lives on the neutral space colony Heliopolis to avoid war between the races of Coordinators and the Naturals, but such area ends involved in the war. Born as a Coordinator, Kira is the only person able to pilot the Strike mobile suit created by the Naturals, and is forced to pilot it into numerous battles to protect his friends. He is voiced in the Japanese series by Sōichirō Hoshi. In English, he is voiced by Matt Hill in the Ocean dub and by Max Mittelman in the NYAV dub.
Athrun Zala (アスラン・ザラ Asuran Zara) is a member from the military organization ZAFT. Participating in the war between Coordinators and Naturals, Athrun discovers that his childhood friend Kira Yamato became a member from the Naturals' military organization, the Earth Alliance, despite being a Coordinator. Across the series, Athrun encounters Kira various times, and after almost killing him, Athrun starts questioning his own motives to participate in the war. He is voiced in Japanese by Akira Ishida. In English, he is voiced by Sam Vincent in the Ocean dub and by Chris Hackney in the NYAV dub.