This article is about the character in the actual series. For the character in the film, see Yue.

"It gave me life. Maybe I can give it back."

— Yue talking about the Moon Spirit.[1]

Yue was a princess of the Northern Water Tribe, daughter of Chief Arnook, as well as one of the latter's advisors. After the death of Tui during the Siege of the North, she sacrificed her life to replace it and shared its position as the Moon Spirit.^[1]

History

Early life

Yue was born in Northern Water Tribe to Chief Arnook and his wife, the daughter of a tribal chieftain. She had an unknown illness as an infant, being still and quiet as though asleep, so her parents feared she would die. As her condition was critical and the tribe's healers, including Yagoda, could not cure her, Arnook prayed to the Moon Spirit in desperation and placed her in the tribe's Spirit Oasis. The Moon Spirit gifted her with part of its own life force, saving her life and turning her hair white as a side effect. Thus, her parents named her Yue, for the moon.

Sometime prior to Team Avatar's arrival at the Northern Water Tribe, it was arranged that Yue would marry a young, egotistical warrior named Hahn. He carved a betrothal necklace for her to mark their engagement,^[2] but she did not really love him and consented to the marriage only to stay in line with her people's customs.^[1] 

Meeting Team Avatar

Upon arriving at the Northern Water Tribe, Sokka was smitten with Yue, taken by her beauty at first sight. He first engaged in conversation with the young princess during the joint celebration of the Avatar Aang's arrival and her sixteenth birthday, in which she was seated along with her father and Master Pakku.^[2]

After he awkwardly flirted with her, Yue and Sokka soon began to arrange meetings.^[2] These included riding on Appa and taking walks together around the city. Although affection budded between the two, she was bound in an arranged marriage to Hahn, who had more love for her high status than toward her, boasting once to Sokka that "she [came] with the most perks". The two teenagers came to realize their love for each other, but she could not bear to continue their meetings because they conflicted so strongly with her responsibilities to her tribe. He eventually became angered when she insisted that being together was "wrong" and that it was her duty to marry Hahn for her people, to which he replied that she was not marrying her people.^[3]     

During Admiral Zhao's siege of the Northern Water Tribe, Sokka was ordered by Arnook to act as his daughter's bodyguard, noticing how their love persisted. Yue led Aang and Katara to the Spirits Oasis, helping him to enter the Spirit World.^[3] When Aang had been captured by Zuko, she accompanied Katara and Sokka as they tracked the two of them down on Appa.^[1]

Upon their return to the Spirit Oasis, Yue and Team Avatar were confronted by Zhao, who fatally struck the Moon Spirit's mortal form, leaving all waterbenders powerless without the moon's influence. Appearing on scene, Iroh saw that she had been touched by the Moon Spirit, which reminded her how her life was saved by Tui as a newborn. Once again acting dutifully to her tribe, Yue sacrificed herself to give back the life that the Moon had given her. This was against Sokka's wishes, but the young warrior did not stop her in the end. She placed her hands onto the fish, closed her eyes, and died in Sokka's arms. Yue's spirit appeared before Sokka and her father shortly after. She whispered and swore that she would always be with the former before the two shared a final kiss, then vanished completely.^[1]       

After death

Several times following her death, Yue's influence on Sokka became apparent: While in the Foggy Swamp under its spiritual influence, he hallucinated about her. Her hallucination angrily told him that he failed to protect her, reflecting the guilt he felt about her death.^[4] During his time in the Si Wong Desert, Sokka directly referred to the moon as Yue while in an intoxicated state brought about by drinking cactus juice.^[5] When Sokka and Suki nearly kissed while crossing the Serpent's Pass, a waning gibbous moon was visible in the background, alluding to Yue's presence. His memory of Yue's death prompted him to refuse the kiss, while acting overly protective of Suki.

After Aang was struck down by Princess Azula's lightning during the Coup of Ba Sing Se, Yue was able to provide more tangible assistance to Team Avatar: She took it upon herself to meet the Avatar in the Spirit World, informed him of the damage that had taken place to the Avatar Spirit and explained how to return to his body. She further instructed him to seek out the past four Avatars while avoiding Koh, the Face Stealer.^[6] Yue later appeared to Aang once more to encourage him not to lose hope and to continue fighting the war, as he had already saved the world once. She subsequently assisted him in forming a massive wave of water to ride toward the island where Roku's temple once stood, utilizing her powers as the Moon Spirit.^[7]

While looking for leads as to disappearances surrounding the full moon and in response to Toph's suggestion that the Moon Spirit might be harming people, Sokka reacted with anger and declared that the Moon Spirit was "a gentle, loving lady who rules the skies with compassion and lunar goodness", showing that he still cared deeply for Yue.^[8] While with Zuko on the way to the Boiling Rock, Sokka mentioned that "[his] first girlfriend turned into the moon."^[9] In one of the few accurate scenes from a play that parodied the Avatar's journey, the Yue character was presented as the only woman who had ever taken Sokka's mind off food, before floating away on a crescent moon prop. In the audience, he wept as Suki looked on in confusion, as she was never told the full story of Yue. Sokka shushed the Kyoshi Warrior while he still cried, showing that he still cared for Yue.^[10]

Personality

Yue was a remarkable kind, sweet, and gentle girl with a certain sense of humor. She offered hope to others even in crucial times, including a despaired Aang. Yue was courageous enough to sacrifice her own life to save the Moon Spirit, a feat that not only saved her tribe but possibly the world.

Yue had a deep sense of loyalty and duty to her tribe. This is evident through her willingness to enter an arranged marriage with Hahn despite her affections for Sokka,^[3] and her choice to sacrifice her life to bring the Moon Spirit back. Her spiritual nature was influenced by her upbringing in the Northern Water Tribe and the circumstances of her birth and ill-health as a child.^[1][2][3]

Abilities

Waterbending

Although she did not possess any waterbending ability during her life, Yue took over the Moon Spirit's abilities and became a waterbender capable of Avatar-level techniques.^[1] She can generate massive tidal waves, enlarging Aang's own in order to safely carry him to shore.^[7]

Relationships

Main article: Yue's relationships

Relatives

Arnook				Unknown
		Yue

Appearances

Avatar: The Last Airbender Book One: Water (水) 118. "The Waterbending Master" 119. "The Siege of the North, Part 1" 120. "The Siege of the North, Part 2" Book Two: Earth (土) 204. "The Swamp" (vision) Escape from the Spirit World "Prelude" Book Three: Fire (火) 301. "The Awakening"

Trivia

Avatar Wiki has 23 images related to Yue.

• Yue's appearance as the Moon Spirit is very similar to that of Chang'e (嫦娥), the Goddess of the Moon in Chinese mythology.
• "Yue" (月) means "moon" in Mandarin Chinese.
• She was one of the few people belonging to the Water Tribe whose name did not have an "uh" sound.
• Yue was the only known person to have life given to them by a spirit.
• Despite her affinity for the spirits, she has shown to be unfamiliar with the Avatar's spiritual power, being visibly concerned Aang was in danger the moment he meditated into the Spirit World.^[3]
• After Zhao killed the Moon Spirit, everything turned gray except for her eyes which remained blue, showing the life force of Tui inside of her.^[1]
• Aside from the elderly, Yue was the only white-haired character in the series.
• When she became the Moon Spirit, her betrothal necklace vanished.
• There is a bay off the coast of Republic City which bears Yue's name.
• Yue is one of the only four characters shown as a newborn on either Avatar: The Last Airbender or The Legend of Korra. The others are Aang in a flashback, Hope, and Rohan.
• She was the first character whose death was shown on screen; the second was Aang, though he was revived soon after.
• Including Tui's death in "The Siege of the North, Part 2" and Aang's fatal injury sustained in "The Crossroads of Destiny", from which they both were resurrected shortly thereafter, she was the second of eight characters to have been observed dying or being murdered in the original series. In chronological order, the others were Tui, Chin, Jet, Aang, Roku, Fang, and Combustion Man.
  • She and Tui both died in the same episode, with Yue sacrificing herself to resurrect Tui.

Preceded by Unknown

Tribal Princess 84 AG - 100 AG

Succeeded by Unknown, eventually Eska

Preceded by Tui

Moon Spirit 100 AG - present

Succeeded by Incumbent

References

↑ Jump up to: 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Ehasz, Aaron (writer) & Filoni, Dave (director). (December 2, 2005). "The Siege of the North, Part 2". Avatar: The Last Airbender. Season 1. Episode 20. Nickelodeon. ↑ Jump up to: 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 DiMartino, Michael Dante (writer) & Volpe, Giancarlo (director). (November 18, 2005). "The Waterbending Master". Avatar: The Last Airbender. Season 1. Episode 18. Nickelodeon. ↑ Jump up to: 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Ehasz, Aaron (writer) & MacMullan, Lauren (director). (December 2, 2005). "The Siege of the North, Part 1". Avatar: The Last Airbender. Season 1. Episode 19. Nickelodeon. ↑ Hedrick, Tim (writer) & Volpe, Giancarlo (director). (April 14, 2006). "The Swamp". Avatar: The Last Airbender. Season 2. Episode 4. Nickelodeon. ↑ Hedrick, Tim (writer) & MacMullan, Lauren (director). (July 14, 2006). "The Desert". Avatar: The Last Airbender. Season 2. Episode 11. Nickelodeon. ↑ Escape from the Spirit World online game. ↑ Jump up to: 7.0 7.1 Ehasz, Aaron (writer) & Volpe, Giancarlo (director). (September 21, 2007). "The Awakening". Avatar: The Last Airbender. Season 3. Episode 1. Nickelodeon. ↑ DiMartino, Michael Dante, Hamilton, Joshua (writers) & Spaulding, Ethan (director). (September 15, 2006). "The Serpent's Pass". Avatar: The Last Airbender. Season 2. Episode 12. Nickelodeon. ↑ Chan, May (writer) & Dos Santos, Joaquim (director). (July 16, 2008). "The Boiling Rock, Part 1". Avatar: The Last Airbender. Season 3. Episode 14. Nickelodeon. ↑ Hedrick, Tim, Hamilton, Josh, O'Bryan, John (writers) & Volpe, Giancarlo (director). (July 18, 2008). "The Ember Island Players". Avatar: The Last Airbender. Season 3. Episode 17. Nickelodeon.

See also

• Yue in The Last Airbender