Thank-you Foxflash! I couldn’t agree more! Yue was a wonderful character, I don’t think I’ve ever been so effected by a character in such a small length of time. She did wonderful things for Sokka’s character too. He had a bittersweetness and sense that he had failed, which really helped him become more than just comic relief.
Yue’s strength really reminds me of women of the past’s strength. She had a lot of circumstances weighted against her, but she used what power was offered to her and she wasn’t afraid to use it, although it would largely help the bigger picture and even be damaging to her.
I think one of the reasons Katara is such a popular character. Is because her strength as a woman is more easily recognizable to many young women watching ATLA today. She tough and can hold her own, and stands on equal footing with her male counter parts, and if she doesn’t, we’ll know she cross about it! Yue’s strength is just as potent, but it’s more quiet and works within the system she was born to. Yue was a kind and brave person, who I think would have made her sacrifice regardless of many things. At the same time I wonder if it was part of the reason to she came to the decision so quickly and with such determination, was due to her understanding of the choices and nature of women’s power in her time and cultural place.
All ATLA fans are totally welcome to their own feelings on characters, and I can see, how on first glance Yue might appear to be a Mary Sue. This is just some food for thought on one of the most complex character and plot moves of the story. I thought in the past about writing a full blown essay on Princess Yue, but I still haven’t done it. Maybe I should? There’s a lot to talk about there :D
Hayley ^_^
#i dare anyone tell me yue wasn’t a warrior in her own right #just look at her face in this gif #she sacrificed herself for her people willingly and without hesitation
she was just a little Mary Sue
is it because she’s pretty? is because she’s a princess? is it because sokka loved her? what are you basing this on? she is the daughter of a leader who has resisted war for 100 years. she knows her responsibilities to her people. she even tried to stop herself from seeing sokka, even though she desperately wanted to, to keep her engagement and her family’s honor intact. in three episodes, she was shown to be a kind person who was in a position she didn’t like, but had to accept because that’s what she was born to do. this is what the spirit gave her life for. she is a leader. she is a martyr. she may not have thrown daggers or bended fire, but she did what she could for the people she loved. and not just the people she loved. the loss of the moon would have completely damaged both the spirit world and the four nations. she had to clean up the actions of one rash general trying desperately to climb into power. the war would have ended right there, at the battle of the northern water tribe, if she had not sacrificed herself. she realized that her lifeforce was only borrowed, that she had a debt to the spirits and a duty to the world to do what was right. she could have easily run away. no one wanted her to die. no one was forcing her to give herself up. she did not even need to be asked. she knows that there is something bigger than her, even bigger than her tribe, at stake and she walked into her death bravely. how many people would make that ultimate sacrifice? in three episodes, we were shown the single bravest character in all of atla. sorry that she couldn’t stick around to fit whatever standards you have for characters, she was too busy sacrificing herself saving the world to travel around the world with the gaang and have fun adventures.
