Ty Lee's relationships

This page is comprised of Ty Lee's relationships with other characters in the series. Due to her friendly, outgoing personality, she easily formed friendships. However, being a citizen of the Fire Nation, she made easy enemies with allies of the Avatar.

Relatives
"'Do you have any idea what my homelife was like, growing up with six sisters who looked exactly like me? It was like I didn't even have my own name!' - Ty Lee to Zuko in 'The Beach'."

Ty Lee tearfully revealed to Mai, Zuko, and Azula of her childhood experience, growing up with six identical sisters. She confessed her fear of being part of a matched set, admitting that being among her identical sisters caused a loss of individuality. Longing to be a distinct person, she escaped her homelife and joined the circus. While confessing this, she grew teary-eyed and expressed bitterness, a direct contrast to her normally bubbly personality, making it unlikely that she shared strong relationships with her sisters.

Mai
"'Come on, let's get out of here!' - Ty Lee to Mai after striking Azula in 'The Boiling Rock, Part 2'."

Despite their drastically differing personalities, with Ty Lee expressing an outgoing, friendly nature as opposed to Mai's stoic, more reserved manner, Mai was Ty Lee's best friend and vice versa. It is presumed that Ty Lee met Mai while enrolled at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. Even after partaking in a prank Azula devised to embarrass Mai, the two maintained a strong friendship, emphasizing the strength of their relationship. Ty Lee occasionally teased Mai for her crush on Zuko, a romance she in fact encouraged. Mai seemed to share a stronger relationship with Ty Lee than Azula, seeing how Mai often willingly defied Azula's ordered. After Ty Lee confessed the hardships of her childhood, Mai pointed out that she needed the affection of ten boyfriends because of her lack of childhood attention. Ty Lee and Mai ventured to the Boiling Rock with Azula. There, Mai went on to confront Zuko while Ty Lee followed Azula. After Mai betrayed Azula and saved Zuko, the Fire Nation princess questioned her reasons for her actions and prepared to duel Mai. Sensing her friend was in danger, Ty Lee unhesitatingly proceeded to block Azula's chi in order to save Mai, making it safe to presume her friendship with Mai was stronger than her fear of Azula. The two girls were imprisoned on Azula's orders, but were released after the end of the war. Ty Lee and Mai presumably remained friends after their release from prison.

Zuko
"'I know you.' - Ty Lee to Zuko in 'The Beach'."

Ty Lee appeared to have known Zuko since their early childhood. When she joined up with Azula and Mai, they followed Zuko and Iroh across the world in an attempt to capture them. She seemed to accept him without any objections upon his return from exile and even vacationed with him along with Mai and Azula to Ember Island. When tensions rose, Zuko called her a "circus freak" and berated her for her boundless optimism, causing her to grow emotional and prompting her to reveal her reasons for joining the circus. She pressured him, along with the others, into openly revealing his reasons behind his recent anger. Like her friends, Ty Lee sympathized with Zuko's inner turmoil and confusion. After she and Azula fled to another gondola during a battle with Zuko and his allies, leaving them for dead, she looked uneasy and concerned for Zuko who would have fallen to his death at that time had it not been for Mai's timely intervention. It can be presumed that Ty Lee and Zuko were on friendlier terms with each other now that the War was over.

Sokka
"'Is it just me, or was that guy kind of cute?' Ty Lee to Mai about Sokka in 'The Chase'."

Ty Lee and Sokka first met in Omashu during a prisoner exchange and naturally became enemies. When Ty Lee and her friends pursued the Avatar and his group through a forested area, she chose to battle Sokka. She easily disabled him using chi blocking, however, injured her hand after striking his skull. He and Katara were almost defeated, however, Appa disposed of Mai and Ty Lee, launching them into a nearby river using Airbending. Ty Lee later told Mai that Sokka was "kind of cute."

Ty Lee met Sokka again when they fought giving him a flirtatious look with Sokka replying with a smile and a friendly "hey".

Ty Lee called Sokka a "cutie" and approached him when he and Toph tried to hinder Azula's coup of Ba Sing Se. Slightly uncomfortable, he remarked that he was "kind of involved with Suki," who Ty Lee had previously but unknowingly encountered in an earlier engagement. She later smiled goofily at Sokka and attempted to block his chi. Sokka awkwardly dodged her punches across the floor with Ty Lee stating, "It's like we're dancing together." She disabled him when Azula ended the fight.

Ty Lee and Sokka met again when Sokka and Zuko were rescuing prisoners at the Boiling Rock, however, she was preoccupied with fighting Suki and thus had no time to acknowledge Sokka. She looked somewhat sad after the fight when it seemed that Sokka and company were going to fall to death because of the cables of their gondola being cut. Ty Lee and Sokka met again after Ty Lee was released from prison following the end of the War. At Zuko's coronation, she appeared before him, dressed as a Kyoshi Warrior. Sokka accused her of antagonistic motives, but Suki revealed that Ty Lee had joined her team after making up with them duirng their imprisonment. By this point, she had also reconciled with Suki, Sokka's current girlfriend.

Presumably, Ty Lee and Sokka continued being friends after the end of the War, but since he was in a relationship with fellow teammate, Suki, it is likely that Ty Lee respected this fact and moved on.

Katara
"'Ty Lee. She doesn't look dangerous, but she knows the human body and its weak points. It's like she takes you down from the inside.' - Katara to the gang in 'The Drill'."

Ty Lee and Katara had never properly interacted onscreen, however, they fought each other during a botched prisoner exchange. When Katara attempted to disable Mai using Waterbending, Ty Lee used chi blocking to disable Katara, rendering her defenseless. This nearly resulted in Katara's defeat at the hands of Mai. Although Katara escaped unharmed along with her friends, she developed knowledge of Ty Lee's skills, stating her ability to strip her of her bending power was frightening.

Katara and Ty Lee fought with each other on several occasions afterwards, including when Azula and her friends chased the group, following Appa's fur trail, and when the Fire Nation drill prepared to penetrate the walls of Ba Sing Se. However, in the latter engagement, Katara successfully fought off Ty Lee by bending the drill's liquefied slurry, thus trapping her, and angrily called her a "circus freak". In her disguise as a Kyoshi Warrior at the Palace in Ba Sing Se, Ty Lee overwhelmed Katara, using chi blocking, resulting in Katara's capture.

Katara and Ty Lee never fought again after that engagement. After Ty Lee betrayed Azula and was imprisoned, she had a change of heart and befriended the Kyoshi Warriors in prison, as shown when she announced her acception into the team to the group after the War ended. It is safe to presume that the girls became friends when the War ended.

Aang
"'You're right, Azula! It is the Avatar!' - Ty Lee in 'The Drill'."

Hailing from the Fire Nation, Ty Lee was a natural enemy of the Avatar throughout most of the series. When she first encountered Aang during Team Avatar's sabotage of the Fire Nation drill, she attempted to attack him only for him to quickly deflect her through the use of Airbending. They met again when she announced her official acceptance into the Kyoshi Warriors. Although they never formally interacted in the series, the two presumably became friends after the War.

Kyoshi Warriors
"'We’re going to be best friends forever!' - Ty Lee in 'Sozin's Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang'."

Ty Lee and the Kyoshi Warriors were natural enemies during the War. They first encountered each other in a forest where the warriors had nursed a currently lost Appa back to health. With the aid of her friends, Ty Lee defeated the warriors using chi blocking. She taunted them by saying, "You're not prettier than we are!" After the battle, she and her friends stole some of their uniforms to infiltrate and capture Ba Sing Se.

Ty Lee later fought the warriors' leader, Suki, when the latter was escaping the Boiling Rock along with Sokka and Zuko. However, due to Suki's past experience, Ty Lee failed to disable her.

After teaming up with Mai and betraying Azula after the battle, Ty Lee was imprisoned along with the captive Kyoshi Warriors. While together, the girls bonded with each other with the warriors forgiving Ty Lee for her past actions. After she taught them a few lessons on chi blocking, they invited her to join their group to which she gladly accepted.

After the War ended, Ty Lee and her new team were released from prison where she made up with her former enemy, Suki. Ty Lee became the only outsider, other than Sokka, to join the Kyoshi Warriors. She stated at Zuko's coronation as Fire Lord they were going to be best friends forever. Ty Lee was presumably on Kyoshi Island with them at the end of the show while the others were in Ba Sing Se.

Bosco
"'It's easy. You just walk on your front paws instead of your rear ones, like this.' - Ty Lee teaching Bosco how to hand-stand in 'The Crossroads of Destiny'."

Ty Lee was shown teaching Bosco how to perform a hand-stand. The bear was amused when Toph encased Ty Lee's hands and feet using Earthbending. Her friendly nature towards Bosco may be due to past experiences working or performing with animals in the circus where she once performed.

Azula
"'Gosh, you're so confident. I really admire that about you.' - Ty Lee in 'The Guru'."

Azula and Ty Lee had a somewhat complicated relationship due to their contrastable personalities; while Azula was mean-spirited, a great strategist, intimidating and socially inept, Ty Lee was warmhearted, friendly and highly social. Although Ty Lee seemed to enjoy the princess's company when they were younger, many of her actions seemed to be based out of fear of Azula as she grew older. Ty Lee met Azula in the Royal Fire Academy for Girls along with Mai. They were once shown in a flashback as younger children. When Ty Lee ousted Azula in performing a series of cartwheels and somersaults, Azula pushed her down in retaliation and laughed, much to her dismay. Soon, however, the two happily teamed up to play a prank on Mai and Zuko. When Azula came to recruit her for a mission to capture Zuko and Iroh (and soon after, Aang), Ty Lee initially declined, stating she enjoyed living at the Fire Nation circus. When Azula nonchalantly stated she would be attending Ty Lee's performance later that evening, Ty Lee expressed notable uneasiness, nearly faulting when performing an acrobatic stance. She quickly abandoned her peaceful life after Azula intimidated her by endangering her life during the circus performance.

While Ty Lee regarded Azula as a friend, it is apparent that she formulated a fear of the princess and was hesitant to disobey her. She seemed to have more respect for Azula, however, as opposed to Mai. When Azula ordered them to follow the Avatar's friends, she continued the pursuit, even jumping into a canal of slurry which Mai refused to approach. She looked up to the princess to a certain degree, openly admiring her confidence.



Ty Lee seemed to care about Azula's opinions of her and other matters, emphasized when she immediately began crying after Azula insulted her. Azula seemed to care about her friend's feelings to a certain degree, expressing genuine remorse for her actions. However, when Zuko called Ty Lee a "circus freak", Azula laughed coldly which contrasted this statement. Ty Lee ventured to the Boiling Rock prison with Azula and fought alongside her until Azula discovered that Mai helped Zuko escape. When Mai was captured, Azula prepared to strike her down out of rage. However, Ty Lee chose to block Azula's chi to save Mai. Azula had them locked away with Ty Lee giving her one last look of defiance before she was taken away.

Like Mai, Ty Lee seemed to have little respect and sympathy for Azula. She did not mention Azula after the War ended, instead choosing to move on and befriend the Kyoshi Warriors, whom she promptly joined. It is unknown if she felt sorry for Azula's traumatic defeat. However, given her sweet disposition, she was more likely to express sympathy than Mai.