Mai | Lazy Afternoon

Mai is a major character in Avatar: The Last Airbender, known as Princess Azula's childhood friend, Ty Lee's best friend, and Zuko's love interest, who betrays Azula to help Zuko escape, ultimately choosing love over loyalty to the Fire Nation. She is a skilled fighter, using knives and shurikens, and is characterized by her stoic, apathetic demeanor, which hides a deeper emotional side, especially concerning Zuko.

Key aspects of Mai's character: Background: Daughter of a Fire Nation governor, she grew up privileged and was friends with Azula and Ty Lee. Skills: A deadly and precise fighter, specializing in throwing knives and stilettos, skills she developed out of boredom.

Personality: Appears gloomy, emotionless, and cynical, often bored with her life, but is fiercely loyal to those she loves, particularly Zuko.

Role in the series: Initially serves Azula in hunting the Avatar.

Betrays Azula at the Boiling Rock to save Zuko, declaring she loves him more than she fears Azula.

Helps Zuko and Team Avatar escape, leading to her and Ty Lee's imprisonment.

Later resumes her relationship with Zuko after his release.

Relationships: Her relationship with Zuko is central, evolving from a childhood crush to a complex romance that faces challenges, including Zuko's secrets.

Mai was the only daughter and eldest child of Ukano, the former governor of New Ozai, and his wife Michi. As one of the most privileged girls in the Fire Nation, she attended the Royal Fire Academy for Girls and became a friend of Princess Azula and Ty Lee at a young age. Mai was exceptionally proficient at throwing stilettos, a self-taught skill she developed out of boredom. Using small knives and spring-loaded stiletto holsters concealed in her robes, she was capable of besting numerous benders at once, despite not being a bender herself. During the last year of the Hundred Year War, she was recruited by Azula along with Ty Lee to capture the princess' brother and uncle, as well as the Avatar and his friends, therefore becoming one of Team Avatar's greatest foes. Upon Prince Zuko's return to the Fire Nation, Mai became his romantic partner.

Outside her deadly skills and high-ranking position, Mai outwardly resembled an impassive, apathetic, and bored teenager. A victim of her father's political aspirations since early childhood, she confessed she got anything she wanted from her parents so long as she was quiet, well-mannered, and perfectly behaved. This had a profound effect on her personality, as it was deeply ingrained in her to keep all of her feelings and emotions strongly hidden. She did, however, show happiness when in Zuko's presence, whom she loved deeply. The strength of her feelings toward Zuko led her to save him from Azula, whom Mai confronted, declaring that her love for Zuko outweighed her fear for Azula's retaliation.

As a result of the betrayal, Azula imprisoned Mai, along with Ty Lee, who stopped the princess from attacking her friend by blocking her chi. Both Mai and Ty Lee were released after Zuko defeated Azula with Katara's help and claimed the throne. Mai and Zuko restarted their relationship with a kiss before his coronation as the new Fire Lord, though she broke up with him a year later due to his unwillingness to confide in her, claiming he loved his secrets more than her. Regardless, she continued to support his rule, helping to put down uprisings and conspiracies instigated by her father under Azula's influence, as well as becoming a teacher at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls at his request.

Dark, brooding, and gloomy, Mai was usually bored by her circumstances and took little interest in anything around her. Her stoic exterior was often mistaken for a lack of emotion, but was really more self control and a great sense of discipline. This was due to the manner in which she was brought up by her politically-motivated father and her mother who supported his ambitions for years. Her seeming apathy tended to irritate others, such as when Zuko described her as "just a big blah", and when Ty Lee described Mai's aura as "dingy and gray". As a result of her calm attitude, Mai was not easily intimidated and she was one of the few people who did not openly showcase fear of Azula. Instead, she respected her great power, and initially stayed loyal to her due to feeling more important around Azula. For years, Azula gave Mai the feeling that her opinions mattered, something which she long lacked in interactions with her parents..

Nevertheless, Mai had always disliked Azula's manipulations, ruthless behavior, and callous disregard for others, though she did not dare to strongly oppose the princess' actions. Like Zuko, Mai was opposed to the idea of needless killing and unnecessary violence; and more often than not, she chose to disable foes rather than outright kill them during battle. She generally achieved this by using her weapons to pin their clothes, usually the sleeves, to a vertical surface. Having disdained the nationalistic and often hateful teachings of her alma mater, the Royal Fire Academy for Girls, Mai held a cynical view of the Fire Nation's imperialism during her youth. She did not display any bigotry toward people of other nations, attitudes that were characteristic of much of the Fire Nation nobility. As a result, she was an easy convert to the Fire Nation's reforms after Zuko's accession of the throne, viewing them as means to avoid future suffering and work toward a better future.

Despite her stoic nature, Mai's strong relationship with Zuko tended to bring out her more passionate side. Azula took note of Mai's "strangely good mood" since Zuko's return to the Fire Nation. When Azula started toying with the couple and mocked her boyfriend, Mai soothed him by assuring him that, even though she had trouble showing it, she did love him. She also expressed deep concern when he fretted over his father and the war meetings, and tried to make him feel more comfortable. She was devastated by his sudden departure from the Fire Nation and consequently harbored some resentment toward him, as evidenced by her bitter confrontation with him in his prison cell at the Boiling Rock. Despite her hurt, however, she retained a great affection for Zuko, aiding his escape from the prison and, in the process, betraying her loyalty to Azula; she later affirmed to the princess that she loved Zuko more than she feared the latter. Unwilling to hold a grudge, Mai happily reunited with Zuko after the Hundred Year War ended.

Following the War's end, Mai began to develop something of a nurturing streak, becoming more openly affectionate of her little brother Tom-Tom and eventually finding her calling as a teacher at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. Mai's previous differences in opinion with traditional Fire Nation nobility of the time would also become much more prevalent post-war, as she was one of the staunchest supporters of the reforms Zuko wished to implement as Fire Lord, openly opining that the less of the Fire Nation's war era traditions remained, the better. In particular, she worked hard to welcome her students equally regardless of their socioeconomic status, ensure the true history of the Hundred Year War would be taught to them, and forbid the custom of Agni Kai duels as a means of settling disputes. She attributed the previous era's traditions with the Fire Nation's loss, as well as the failure of individuals such as Azula. As a teacher, Mai took a hands-on and improvisational approach to the job, such as allowing her students to catch bugs outdoors while teaching them about nature. She encouraged her students' curiosity, kindness, and respect that was not based on fear of retribution, but instead on the common humanity that all peoples share. Though she continued practicing her knife-throwing skills, she refused to take her weapons onto school grounds.

Mai was a master markswoman, able to skillfully hit targets from a distance. This skill, also known as "stilettos", involved shuriken knives and hand arrows, a skill that apparently started with her throwing knives at her bedroom wall out of boredom. Though she was most often seen using knives and daggers, she could also shoot arrows from the holsters on her wrists and ankles. She had a deadly accuracy with these weapons and used them to pin her opponents down, even if she or the target was moving, which also helped against benders as they primarily needed their hands and arms to be free to bend. Her expert marksmanship gave her enough strength to defeat powerful benders and multiple opponents. While Mai usually pinned her opponents down with her stilettos, she was willing to throw them in a way that would cause severe, and possibly fatal, injuries, such as when she attacked Aang and Katara, and Toph.

Mai's excellent reflexes, speed, and agility, enabled her to incapacitate several prison guards without killing or injuring them. She proved to be quite nimble; on several occasions she was able to leap across long distances and over high obstacles with little effort. She was also shown to be able to slide across surfaces on her side. When attacking the guards on the Boiling Rock, she was able to attack and dodge by throwing a knife and diving onto her side, gliding across the metal surface in one fluid motion. In addition to her shurikens and the arrow-like darts in her sleeve and ankle holsters, Mai was also proficient with a three-pronged, retractable sai dagger which she used for close combat.

Mai was a skilled teacher, taking to the job of teaching children with an ease that surprised her. She had a talent for encouraging expression, curiosity, and both critical and independent thinking in her students, all things she lacked the chance to practice much of in her youth.