Mai

Mai is a cold, calm, and reserved young woman, and a longtime friend of Azula and Ty Lee, with whom she attended the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. She is described by nick.com as a depressed-looking goth teen, seemingly bored with everything. She is an extremely skilled warrior in the art of Shuriken-jutsu, her primary weapon being small, fletched stilettos that are spring-loaded in holsters on her wrists and ankles. She also employs a variety of other throwing weapons with deadly accuracy and has proven herself capable of besting a powerful bender despite not being a bender herself.

She is Zuko's love interest during the series.

History


During flashbacks in "Zuko Alone", she is shown, about nine-years-old, sitting off by herself, disinterested, as Ty Lee and Azula play together. However, she does show marked interest in Zuko, turning away shyly and blushing when he walks by with his mother. Azula notices this and takes Mai's obvious crush as a cue to humiliate both Zuko and Mai by orchestrating a situation where in they end up falling into a fountain on top of each other.

Book 2: Earth


During series present-time, Mai resides in the newly-conquered city of Omashu with her Mother, younger brother Tom Tom, and her Father, the Fire Nation-appointed governor of the city-state. Mai describes Omashu as "unbearably bleak" to her mother and complains of how bored she is, stating that she is even more bored than she was back in the Fire Nation. However, soon after, Azula arrives in the city, with Ty Lee in tow, to recruit Mai to assist her on a special mission. Desperate to get out of Omashu, Mai agrees to this immediately even though she has not been told what that mission is. Before leaving, however, Azula appoints Mai, in lieu of the governor, to oversee a pre-arranged hostage trade: King Bumi for Tom Tom, her baby brother, who wandered out of the city with a group of fleeing citizens and was subsequently assumed "kidnapped" by the resistance. However, right before Mai begins the transaction, Azula interrupts, coyly suggesting that trading a powerful Earthbender king for a two-year-old is strategically unwise. After a measured pause, Mai agrees and declares the deal off, thus initiating a fight between the two sides. Then, as Mai, Azula, and Ty Lee are leaving the city, Mai confirms, impassively, that their mission is to "track down" the now-fugitive Zuko and Iroh. Azula notes that they also now have a third target (Aang) and Ty Lee pointedly states that it will be "interesting" for Mai to see Zuko again, in response to which Mai turns away and indulges in a rare smile.



Mai, Azula, and Ty Lee track Aang and his companions. Once Aang splits from Katara and Sokka, Azula sends Mai and Ty Lee to face those two while she chases down Aang. Mai and Ty Lee defeat the siblings rather easily (much in part thanks to the siblings' lack of sleep), but are caught off-guard by an airblast from Appa and sent flying into a nearby river.



When a Fire Nation drill is heading towards Ba Sing Se, Mai is shown being very bored sitting around in the control room. When a group of elite earthbenders attempts to stop the drill, Azula sends Mai and Ty Lee to face them, which elicits approval from Mai as it is something to do. However, when Azula sends Mai and Ty Lee after Sokka and Katara who were caught trying to sabotage the drill from the inside, Mai refuses to chase them into the slurry pipeline, stating that despite how much lightning this act of defiance might cause Azula to throw at her, she will not go into that "wall sludge juice"—which gives the impression Mai is not scared of the Princess. Later, Aang destroys the drill by causing the slurry pipeline to back up and then explode, thus covering everyone in the general vicinity in slurry. After this, a completely pristine Mai leans out of a hatch and dryly announces to the sludge-drenched Ty Lee and Azula: "We lost."



In "Appa's Lost Days," Mai has a minor role and her only action is assisting Azula attack Suki and other Kyoshi Warriors stating that their colors were making her nauseous. After the three girls defeat the Kyoshi Warriors, Mai, Azula, and Ty Lee dress up as them to sneak into Ba Sing Se.

Mai is next seen where she has apparently been ordered to guard the Earth King's pet bear, Bosco, but does not care enough about her assignment to attempt to stop Sokka, Toph, and the Earth King from retrieving the pet. She was so bored and restless from her duty that she let Toph, Sokka and The Earth King escape with the bear.

Book 3: Fire
In "Going Home Again," a comic featured within the second All-Avatar Nick Mag Presents edition, Mai and Zuko are set up on a dinner date by Azula in plan to persuade a reluctant Zuko to return home, playing off their childhood crushes on each other. However, the two catch on to the setup and decide to take a walk around Ba Sing Se. Soon after, they run into Jin, who immediately recognizes "Lee" and questions who his companion is. Thinking quickly, Zuko sheepishly claims that Mai is a friend from the circus, the knife thrower. Mai appears to join in on the charade and decides to give a demonstration. After moving Zuko in front of a fountain and placing a fish from a seafood stand they had passed earlier on top of his head, she targets and precisely pierces the fish with an icicle. Mai then persuades Jin to give it a try. Zuko is just barely able to avoid being impaled by the sharp piece of ice, falling backwards into the fountain in the process. Leaning over the drenched prince, Mai wryly states that now they're "even."

As he chases her down an alley, Zuko exclaims that she could have gotten him killed, but Mai merely laughs it off. Zuko stops to point out that she finally seems to be enjoying herself, going on to say that he had missed seeing this side of her. Mai admits that a lot has changed since the days when she "used to throw mud in his face", but that not everything has changed; she proves this by kissing him softly. The next day, the two of them arrive at the ship to leave for the Fire Nation together.



Mai is next seen having a brief moment with Zuko on the ship voyage home, where he expresses nervousness about how much things will have changed and whether or not he will be forgiven and welcomed. She humorously replies that she hadn't asked for his life story, then tells him not to worry and kisses him briefly before departing once more. Later, when Azula sees Zuko moping, she comments that he's acting like Mai, then amends that, claiming that Mai had been unusually cheerful lately.

Later, Zuko and Mai are having a romantic picnic on an ocean side cliff and enjoying an orange sunset together, Mai hates the color and tells Zuko so which only makes him chuckle and state how beautiful she is when she hates the world, Mai tells Zuko she doesn't hate him and he tells her the same and they kiss. Their moment is interrupted by Azula, who wishes to speak with Zuko alone. The two try to ignore her until Azula tells Mai to go help Ty Lee who apparently needs help untangling her braid. Mai complies but glares softly at Azula as she passes.



Her relationship with Zuko goes through a rocky period during a trip to Ember Island; Zuko becomes increasingly short-tempered and tactless around her, growing frustrated when shiny shells and ice cream fail to impress her and protective when Ruon-Jian takes interest in her. When he shoves Ruin-Jian across a room, Mai reprimands him for being "impatient, hot-headed, and angry." He responds by saying that she has no passion for anything; stung by this, Mai softly says that their relationship is over and wordlessly watches him storm outside. She remains cold toward him on when he joins her, Ty Lee, and Azula around a campfire for a discussion. When Zuko yells at Ty Lee, Mai tells him to leave her alone; he persists, however, and Ty Lee finally breaks the story of her childhood out to them. Considering her words, Mai theorizes that Ty Lee needs "ten boyfriends" because she wants to make up for the attention she missed as a child, Ty Lee angrily asks for Mai's story, saying that all she sees with Mai is a "dingy, pasty, gray" aura. Mai dismisses the idea of auras and sarcastically apologizes to Zuko for not being as "high-strung and crazy" as the others. Zuko says that he would like it if she didn't keep her emotions bottled up; Mai explains to everyone how her mother's control and her father's political career meant that she couldn't stand out as she wanted to as a child. Azula summarizes this, saying that a controlling mother was why Mai was afraid of caring about anything and couldn't express herself; Mai finally snaps and screams at Azula to leave her alone. When Zuko moves to calm her down, she angrily refuses him again, and says that him not having an easy life is no excuse for the anger he's been showing. She and the other girls pressure Zuko, asking who it is who he is angry at. When he admits that he is angry at himself and confused about what is right and what is wrong, Mai sees him once again as the Zuko she loved. Moving to comfort him, saying that he was one thing she cared about; Mai kisses him again, reaffirming their relationship.

Mai and Zuko are on much better terms in the weeks that followed. Mai has learned to express herself more often and Zuko often visits her in her house, which is across from the Palace. Zuko asks her what she would from the world if she could have anything she wanted when she wanted, and she said that it would be a fruit tart with rose petals on top. Zuko eagerly requests a tart from his servants, and they go on to discuss the advantages of being royalty, and its downsides. Mai suddenly mentions a war meeting that Azula got invited to, assuming that Zuko was also going, but he wasn't invited. Zuko was annoyed that his father would invite Azula to the meeting as opposed to his true heir, despite the fact that Azula assured him that he was wanted there. Mai tries to cheer up Zuko by suggesting that he boss around some servants or that they have some more fruit tarts, to no avail. The next day, they are hanging out again when a servant comes in to say that Zuko is expected at the meeting. This cheers up Zuko and Mai a great deal. When the meeting ends, Mai is happy to hear that Zuko was allowed to sit by his father's right side, but he tells her that even though he acted like the son his father wanted, he was not being himself. It is clear to her that he has more on his mind.

Mai is not seen during the "Day of Black Sun", but Zuko leaves her a message in her bedroom, stating that he was leaving to join the Avatar. Zuko is clearly upset that he must leave her. At the Boiling Rock, we learn that the warden is Mai's uncle, who tells Zuko that he "broke his niece's heart" when he left her. When the two meet, Mai is clearly upset, and argues with Zuko on the motives he left. When a riot starts, a guard arrives with orders from the warden to protect her. Zuko takes advantage of this moment and locks both inside the room. Later, during the escape, the guards are about to cut the line from the gondola, but are stopped by Mai. After the others flee, Azula confronts Mai, who says that her love for Zuko is greater than her fear of Azula. When Azula is about to attack her, Ty Lee intervenes, striking Azula down. The guards seize them and Azula tells to lock them away.

Personality
Dark, brooding and gloomy, Mai has been described as the Avatar version of a "Goth". She is usually bored by whatever situation she is in, and takes little interest in anything around her. Her "aura" is described by Ty Lee as "dingy and grey". It is heavily implied in "The Beach" that this is due to her controlled upbringing by her politically-motivated parents. Her apparent disinterest in anything enjoyable tends to irritate others, such as when Zuko describes her as "just a big blah".

However, it appears that her relationship with Zuko tends to bring out her more passionate traits. When Zuko returns to the Fire Nation, Azula tells him that Mai has been in a strangely good mood. Later, in "Nightmares and Daydreams", she is shown genuinely enjoying spending time with Zuko, and both of them are shown ordering the palace servants around. In "The Boiling Rock, Part 2", she confronts Zuko about leaving her, saying that he broke her heart. After the confrontation, she saves Zuko from the prison guards cutting the line, and tells Azula that she loves Zuko more than she fears her.

Abilities
Mai is a master of knives and hand arrows, called "stilettos", a skill that apparently started with her throwing knives at her bedroom wall. She is deadly accurate with these weapons, and uses them to pin her opponents to walls. Her skill is great enough to defeat powerful benders and multiple opponents

Trivia

 * The name Mai (明—pronounced identically to the English, "May") means "brightness" in Japanese, which is very likely an ironic statement on the part of the creators. Mai is also the Cantonese pronunciation of Mèi (袂) and means "sleeve of a robe", which is where she hides her weapons.


 * Another possible translation of her name, in Chinese, is 梅, which means a plum or a prune.

Relatives

 * New Ozai Governor (father)
 * Governor's Wife (mother)
 * Tom-Tom (younger brother)
 * The Warden (Uncle)