Mai (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Mai
File:Mai-Boiling Rock.png
Voiced by	Cricket Leigh
In-universe information
Gender	Female
Position	Antagonist
Nationality	Fire Nation

Mai is an impassive, bored, nearly emotionless young woman who, along with Ty Lee, at first accompanied Princess Azula on her quest to capture Zuko, Iroh, and the Avatar. Mai specializes in projecting blades, which she conceals in many parts of her clothing. She is a master of weaponry. Mai had a romantic relationship with Zuko. Recently, she betrayed Azula in order to save Zuko's life, and she and Ty Lee are now in the Boiling Rock prison.

Personality

As stated earlier Mai is a somewhat aloof individual. She rarely emotes anger, sadness, or even happiness and has been described as "that gloomy girl who sighs a lot". She cares little about the events of the world and often expresses hatred of it. Mai has little appreciation or fondness for for beauty or vivid colors for that matter. Her idea of a perfect world is a world in black and grey. Her somewhat gothic appearance underscores that fact. In one instance, she declared that she was "nauseous" of the primarily green-clad Kyoshi Warriors clothing. In another instance, on a date with Zuko, she revealed that she hated the orange color of the sunset. Zuko admitted that he found this unique, if somewhat odd, trait attractive. The few occasions where Mai shows any emotion is when Zuko is involved. (For instance, she revealed that she was heartbroken when Zuko left her to join the Avatar.)

Mai also does not like to get her hands dirty. When faced with the prospect of either swimming through a river of liquified rock-sludge or potentially facing Azula's wrath, Mai elected to not swim not caring how many bolts of lightning Azula would shoot at her. In another instance, she complained about having to clean up bear poop while taking care of the captured Earth King's pet bear.

Mai is not intimidated by anyone, not even Azula. In one instance she threw Azula a glare when the latter interrupted one of her dates with Zuko. Later on after letting Zuko escape (and in the process betraying Azula), Mai would flatly tell Azula that she cared more about Zuko than she cared about what Azula would do to her. She even squared up to battle Azula, even though she would have likely been overmatched.

Her personality developed from the external demand to be a quiet and obedient daughter for an ambitious politician.

Romance with Zuko

Mai had a longstanding (if not always romantic) relationship with Zuko. It was this relationship that would ultimately turn Mai against Azula. Even as little children, Mai had special feelings for Zuko. In a flashback of her earlier years, Mai blushes when she sees Zuko. Mai and Zuko's relationship comes to light much more once Zuko comes back into favor with the royal Fire family. The two of them date for a while, as well as discover more about each other (namely when they travel to a beach together) and jealousies and insecurities become and issue between them. Zuko was driven jealous to the point of violence when he noticed another boy just talking to Mai, and Mai is annoyed by Zuko's overprotective and irritable attitude when they are in public. Despite this, they grow very close, and Mai's uncle reveals to Zuko that she was heartbroken when he left her and ran away from the Fire Nation. Mai confronts Zuko at the Boiling Rock and demands from him why he left her, to which he explains that he wishes to save his country, and that he didn't want to involve her. Zuko is forced to tackle a guard and lock Mai in the cell in order to escape. Later, when Zuko is escaping with Sokka and the other prisoners, Mai attacks the guards attempting to stop the escape, thereby defecting from the Fire Nation. Zuko notices Mai fighting the guards and their eyes meet, but he is now too far away to go back. Azula arrives and demands to know what Mai is doing, to which Mai replies "You don't know people as well as you think you do, you miscaculated, I love Zuko more than I fear you." causing Azula to attack her. When Ty Lee thwarts Azula, she throws Ty Lee and Mai into prison, leaving a cliffhanger as to whether or not Zuko will rescue Mai in the final episode.

Abilities

Mai specializes in throwing weapons, generally electing to pin her opponents to the nearest object rather than to kill them. Her merciful streak does not blunt her effectiveness as she once soundly defeated Katara, a Waterbending Master, in an one-on-one battle. She has been seen using small arrows, daggers, and ninja shurikens in her battles. She's not only very accurate in throwing these weapons, but also very effective against certain benders (notably Katara). Her unarmed combat prowess remain unknown.