This screenshot motivational poster is dedicated to all of my Yue, Mai, and Ty Lee-loving friends, fellow artists, fans, and brethren. So, sit back, relax, and revel in how I believe Yue would make such a true best friend to Mai and Ty Lee. Moreover, even though there will be some Anti-Azula moments here, I am not completely against her as a character. In fact, I love her as a character and I believe she is truly fascinating as a complex antagonist. However, she does not really make a true friend to Mai and Ty Lee, even though she did display a few moments of friendship to Ty Lee in “The Beach”. With that said, let us get stated.
The princess of the Northern Water Tribe. A skilled markswoman. A talented circus acrobat. While these three young women bear differences in their personalities, their careers, and their perceptions of life, they do share one profound and meaningful facet. That is the prospect of an excellently long-lasting friendship. Additionally, Yue, Mai, and Ty Lee have played some of the biggest roles in my life growing up when I was a teenager totally hooked on Avatar: The Last Airbender because of its intricate world-building and, of course, its magnificently well-developed characters, especially where Yue’s class and nobility, Mai’s intellect and snark, and Ty Lee’s love of life helped me to become the person I am today.
Princess Yue is essentially the Anti-Azula. While Azula is cold-blooded, calculating, sadistic, cruel, ruthless, and most of all manipulative with a lot of emotional cracks inside which are masked by her seemingly perfect and accurate veneer, Yue is merciful, compassionate, emphatic, loving, poised, elegant, loyal, and bears a healthier perspective of the world around her. Ergo, Yue’s combination of elegant high class and human compassion make her an amazing antidote to Azula’s callousness, thus ensuring a stable friendship to occur between herself, Mai, and Ty Lee. Moreover, in terms of age, Yue is sixteen years old in stark comparison to Azula who is fourteen years old. Therefore, with her maturity and poise, Yue not only makes herself to be a great friend to Mai and Ty Lee, but also a surrogate older sister to both girls who are younger than her, thus making her a bit of a role model in Mai’s and Ty Lee’s lives and making Yue the mature beyond her years and dignified older sister, Mai the dry, sarcastic, intellectual middle sister, and Ty Lee the bubbly, fun-loving, optimistic youngest sister.
Yue would prove herself to be an excellent listener and would know what is best for both of her friends. In turn, Mai and Ty Lee would not be afraid to challenge Yue and her views, thus creating an interesting dynamic to occur between these young women. This would not be antagonistic, as all three of them can be able to vent out whatever frustrations they have in healthy, meaningful ways and help each other grow as people in more ways than one. It basically boils down to the fairness and diplomacy that occur within the group as well as giving each other a chance to shine by acknowledging each others’ strengths and helping each other through their trying times.
Yue and Mai do bear the common responsibilities of being members of the upper class in their respective societies and they do comprehend how much pressure there is trying to uphold those values, even though they can be rigid. Given Yue’s role as a princess and Mai who has a prison warden as an uncle and a politician as a father, both of them know fully well what it feels like to be in the societal confines and to have a lot of demands placed on them in their formative years. Therefore, Yue does want to become something a lot more but Mai tries to use apathy as a defense mechanism because of her boringly caged life. When both are brought together, they would realize they have a lot more in common than they think and would endeavor to share various secrets and be unafraid to simply be themselves towards each other, thus acknowledging their highs and lows and everything about them that makes them tick, laugh, and cry and have moments where they can discuss about anything and everything that is on their minds.
In terms of Ty Lee, Yue would do an outstanding job of being the supportive older sister figure in her life, while Ty Lee would bring sunshine and optimism to Yue’s luxurious yet gilded life. Growing up with six sisters who look exactly like Ty Lee did prove to be a challenge to her growing up, and Yue would understand how tough that is to set herself apart from them. Yue would always remind Ty Lee that she is unique because of her optimism and her passion and love for the performing arts, especially when it comes to performing all of those circus tricks. Additionally, Yue would be astounded at Ty Lee’s conscientiousness of chi blocking and would love to learn a few tips and tricks on how to use chi blocking as a means of self defense. When all is said and done, both young women would end up learning a whole lot from each other and will become eternally grateful doing so.
When it comes to arising conflicts, all three of them would solve it by talking to each other, addressing the problems, and finding healthier solutions together. They can constantly address the cracks in any problem and solve them in a healthy way.
Through it all, a greatly long-lasting friendship can be accomplished because of how well Yue, Mai, and Ty Lee would be able to work together.
In conclusion, Mai and Ty Lee truly did deserve a better best friend in the form of Yue. Something tells me that their friendship will be able to last a whole lot longer than one can expect and these three young women can be able to lead a life of boundless support and a truthfulness only few groups of friends can rival.
I hope you all enjoyed this and I will see you in the next submission. Take care and stay safe, everybody.
Yue, Mai, and Ty Lee from Avatar: The Last Airbender belong to Bryan Konietzko, Michael DiMartino, and Nickelodeon.
