Painted Lady


 * This article is about the spirit. For the episode, see "The Painted Lady". For the person who disguised herself as the Painted Lady, see Katara.

"spirit"

- Thank you.

The Painted Lady, known for her kindness and healing abilities, was the benevolent spirit of the Jang Hui River. She watched over the river town of Jang Hui, though she was once forced to flee due to pollution. As was the case with many other spirits, only the spiritually enlightened could see her.

History
The Painted Lady watched over the river town of Jang Hui until the Fire Nation Army built a factory further down the river and began polluting it by discharging its waste. This event drove the Painted Lady away, leaving the villagers to fend for themselves.

When Avatar Aang and his friends came to the village of Jang Hui, Katara noticed that it desperately needed help. She disguised herself as the Painted Lady and brought food and medicine to the village, healed the sick, and, with Aang's help, destroyed the factory in an effort to cure the village permanently. As they prepared to leave, they saw a squad of Fire Nation soldiers heading toward the town on jet skis, and realized that the soldiers must have thought that the villagers had sabotaged the factory. Katara, determined to stop them, donned her Painted Lady disguise once more in order to defend the village. The soldiers started attacking the village, but a gust of wind blew their flames out. With help from Appa, Toph and Sokka providing frightening sound effects, Aang and Katara staged an encounter with the troops and successfully defeated and drove them away.

After Katara helped the villagers clean the river, the real Painted Lady returned. She revealed herself to Katara and thanked her.

Trivia



 * The Painted Lady's makeup somewhat resembled the makeup of the firebender seen in the pilot episode's opening.
 * Katara was the second character to take up the identity of a spirit; Zuko, as the Blue Spirit, was the first.
 * It was stated in "Avatar Extras" that the Painted Lady is a Water Spirit and that the Moon Spirit and Water Spirit are closely related. This would make her related to Princess Yue.
 * Her mysterious and ominous appearance is somewhat similar to Princess Yue's appearance as the Moon Spirit.