Avatar: The Last Airbender is still one of the most beloved and cherished series ever produced by Nickelodeon. It's been thirteen years since the first episode aired, and we still remember it so fondly, despite it only having aired for 3 years.

Since then, two graphic novel trilogies and four seasons of The Legend Of Korra have expanded the story even further. The history of Aang and his companions has been elaborated from their childhoods, past their adolescence, to their old age and beyond. We've even seen the world itself transform from a classical mythological civilization to a modern industrialized utopia, which is a super cool look at the mythos of the series.

Even today, these characters speak to both new and older generations of Avatar fans. The personal struggles and triumphs each of them has faced are what speak to fans most of all. Almost everyone can find at least one character they can relate to, and that embodies or characterizes a part of them. Watching those characters face their personal problems and even just interacting together is what made watching the show such a pleasure, for all fans.

Today we're taking a look at Ty Lee, the bubbly and girlish companion of Mai and Princess Azula.  Here are 20 awesome facts about the acrobatic Fire Nation warrior that even some of you longtime fans might not know.

20 A Matched Set

One of the things that bothered Ty Lee the most growing up was being one of seven nearly identical siblings, as shown in this work by Rhymeswithmonth. Her sisters' names are Ty Lin, Ty Lat, Ty Lao, Ty Liu, Ty Lum, and Ty Woo. They were born into a prominent fire nation family that could afford to care for so many children and give each of them the chance to pursue their desires.

As a rule, the sisters agreed to stay out of each other's hobbies and pursuits.

This way, none of them had to feel like their identities were tied together, and they could each have their own unique personality. Unfortunately, this didn't work as planned and Tai Lee still felt herself stifled within her family. It wouldn't be until she became a teenager that she would find a way of standing out and making herself happy.

19 The Finest Education

As the daughter of a noble family, Ty Lee was sent to the Royal Fire Academy For Girls. It was here where she met her greatest childhood friends, the somber Mai and the Firelord's daughter Princess Azula. The three of them were so inseparable in school that Mai and Ty Lee were even invited into the palace to play with Azula.

Even while they were children, Azula always asserted her dominance over Mai and Ty Lee.

In several flashbacks from the original series, it's shown how much Ty Lee feared Azula, but also how much she respected her. Even after Azula shoves and teases her, she's still willing to follow along with any scheme Azula might come up with. This dynamic would continue for years to come.

18 An Escape?

By the time she was 14 years of age, Ty Lee had abandoned the life that she'd known. She ran away from her home and family to become an acrobat in the circus. It was a new life for her, a way to showcase her talents and escape her destiny as part of a matched set of siblings.

In her own words, Ty Lee had never been happier and her aura had never been pinker.

Unfortunately, her career as an entertainer didn't last very long. As soon as Azula needed her, there wasn't anything she could do to resist her demands. While Ty Lee was performing, the princess ordered her safety net to be set on fire and released every wild animal the circus had into the ring. After that, Ty Lee would remark that the universe had been giving her some strong hints that it was time for a career change.

17 Passing On The Gift

By the end of the 100-year war, Ty Lee managed to make a new group of friends. She and the Kyoshi warriors met while prisoners of the fire nation together. After their release, the Kyoshi warriors decided to let her join their order in exchange for learning the secrets of chi blocking.

One of the techniques that made Ty Lee such a successful fighter was her ability to black her opponent's chi. By precisely striking pressure points on the body, she could keep her opponents from bending, and even paralyze them temporarily. For a group like the Kyoshi Warriors, such a skill would definitely come in handy. The already dangerous martial artists now have one more trick up the sleeves of their heavily-armored kimonos.

16 A Face Like No Other

Ty Lee stands out from her fire nation peers in more than just a few ways. She's quirky, cheerful, friendly to most people, and she's very much in touch with her emotions. Another thing that makes her unique as a fire nation native is her facial features.

In the entire series, she's the only person born in the fire nation not to have gold eyes or black hair.

If you hadn't noticed by now, gold eyes are one of the principal defining traits of the fire nation people. Nearly every firebender or fire nation citizen shares this physical trait. It was even one of the main reasons Katara was able to identify Azula when she was in disguise. Only Ty Lee could've passed for anything other than a fire nation girl.

She's also the only character in the series to have eyes of violet.

15 An American Anime Girl

The people of Avatar: The Last Airbender are inspired by a number of real-world nationalities and cultures. This includes the inspiration behind the fighting styles of various characters, the languages and customs or the four nations, and even the individual personalities.

According to one of the Avatar Extras, Ty Lee's personality was inspired by typical "valley girls" of California. Essentially she's feminine, fun-loving, and just a bit superficial as well. Of all the fire nation characters, she's definitely the most American-inspired. Given that the anime was made in America, it's no surprise that at least one character retained some of that cultural identity.

The Avatar Extras were fun tidbits of information that ran alongside the show during the Avatar Extras event on Nickelodeon. Joshua Hamilton and Katie Matilla wrote facts for every episode of the series.

14 A Voice Of Many Talents

The person behind Ty Lee's cheerful and bubbly voice is none other than the actress Olivia Hack. Her voice is heard on 10 episodes of the series as Ty Lee and as a few uncredited side characters as well.

As a voice actress, Olivia is known for a pretty wide range of roles.

She was the voice of Roberta on the Nickelodeon show Hey Arnold!, Harriet in The Rugrats All Grown Up, and Gabrielle from The Kids From Room 402. She's also made appearances in several video games and most notably played Cindy Brady in The Brady Bunch films of the nineties.

While Olivia and Ty Lee are from two completely different worlds, they do seem to share a certain optimistic mentality. Both are talented and career driven professionals with a positive vibe to keep them going.

13 Found In Translation

The success of Avatar: The Last Airbender is such that it has been translated into nearly 30 different languages to date. Many of these translations were done with full professional vocal dubs, but many many more were sub-titled. One such example is the Vietnamese version of the show. It was subbed with quite a few name changes, including for Ty Lee.

In the Vietnamese sub, Ty Lee's name was given with the characters for "Calm" and "Beautiful".

There are times when translations can be difficult. With any language, there are meanings and contexts that just can't be replicated so easily in another. In times like these, it may be appropriate to exchange a word or name for something new. With Ty Lee, calm and beautiful isn't a bad choice, as in this piece by Takeru-Art. If she could've chosen herself, I'm not sure of anything else that would've made her happier.

12 A Prisoner Somewhere Else

For Ty Lee and Mai, the Boiling Rock was the end of their friendship with Princess Azula. After assisting Zuko and Sokka in their escape, Mai had become the principal target of Azula's rage. Rather than letting the princess take her anger out on a friend, Ty Lee intervened, and as a consequence, she was arrested.

What you may not have known is that Ty Lee and Mai were not held as prisoners at the Boiling Rock.

As we know, Ty Lee met and joined the Kyoshi Warriors while she was being held captive. They couldn't have met in the Boiling Rock because Suki was the only Kyoshi Warrior to be held there. This leaves the location of her and Mai's captivity a mystery, but it's worth knowing that Ty Lee didn't have to endure the harsh conditions of the fire nation's most notorious prison.

11 School Time Crushes

Romance can be a difficult and complicated matter in your school days. That's a lesson the characters of Avatar learned well in the special "School Time Shipping" short. The big dance is coming up and everyone is in disarray as to who they're going to go with. Huru is one of suitors competing for Katara's affections, but it didn't turn out quite how he expected.

Rather than bringing Huru closer to Katara, his efforts managed to capture the attention of Ty Lee.

Upon being turned down, Ty Lee steps in to imply that, unlike Katara, she likes sensitive guys. Huru promptly knocks the head of Katara off of his earth-bent statue and replaces it with the head of Ty Lee.

This is the one and only time that anything has been suggested between these two. Ty Lee has had other romantic interests over the course of the series, so possibilities are still in the air.

10 From Across The World

There are a number of anime and martial arts-inspired series that have taken influence from real life practices. The idea of Chi blocking has been used in a multitude of different ways and is directly related to ancient martial arts practices. Chi is the body's natural energy that powers our physical, mental, and emotional actions.

Blocking Chi is effectively a means of paralyzing an opponent's ability to act.

Ty Lee is a most accomplished user of this technique in combat. She shares this trait with a number of characters across the world of anime including the members of the Hyuga clan in Naruto. The Hyuga clan possess the ability to see the Chakra flows of their opponents, making them even more effective in blocking those energies.

This makes Ty Lee and Hyuga students of the same discipline, across anime worlds.

9 Princess Azula's Only Regret

The relationship between Ty Lee and Azula was always a complicated one. It was obvious from the first time we saw them together how close they were. Even so, it can't be denied that Azula deliberately used fear to intimidate her friend into doing what she wanted. Eventually, Ty Lee would betray the princess for the sake of their friend Mai.

Their friendship would be over, but it's likely that Ty Lee still felt compassion for Azula in some way.

In the post-show comic series, Ty Lee and Azula met again for the first time since their falling out. The former princess attempts to strike her brother Zuko, but Ty Lee intervenes. After being immobilized, Azula questions what could've made Ty Lee overcome her fear for her. In an unprecedented moment of humility, Azula actually apologizes to Ty Lee for using her the way she did.

It's the one and only time we know of where Azula apologized to another person.

8 An Expressive Outfit

It should come as no surprise that pink is Ty Lee's favorite color. She's never missed the chance to remind us how she feels about it, and that's without mentioning her love of everything cute and whimsical. This isn't some trivial fact about her though, it's a deliberate representation of her personality.

The creators of the show thought out every aspect of their character's various aspects. They deliberately designed Ty Lee's outfit to express her personality.

Pink isn't just her favorite color, it's the color of her aura and of her mentality as well.

Details in a character's appearance are a subtle and important way of understanding who those characters are. It's that kind of attention that makes the characters of Avatar stand out so vividly in the hearts of fans.

7 An Outsider

Ty Lee was always looking for a place where she belonged. She'd been happy in the circus but, thanks to Azula, she couldn't stay there. After being sent to prison, she might have lost her identity or given up on finding her place. Luckily for her, she was fortunate enough to meet the Kyoshi warriors and be welcomed as one of their own.

For a girl like Ty Lee, joining the Kyoshi warriors is a pretty big deal.

After Sokka, she's only the 2nd outsider to join the group, and she is also the first person from the Fire Nation to ever join. The Kyoshi warriors are a close few who normally only allow women from the island of Kyoshi to join their ranks. Rarely do they interact with outsiders, but the 100-year war changed the behavior of many such groups. Now they and Ty Lee both have a new perception of life to share with each other.

6 Some Things Never Change

Ty Lee may have stood up to Azula eventually but she lived for years under the princesse's influence. It's true that Ty Lee did genuinely care about Azula and that she looked up to her a lot, but that doesn't change the fact that she was afraid of her too. In the post-show comic book trilogy The Search, we learn even more about how Ty Lee really feels.

After confronting Azula in her cell, Ty Lee admits to Zuko that she never really stopped fearing her.

Even though she intervened to keep Azula from attacking Mai and Zuko, she was still afraid of what might happen to her.

Azula always used fear to keep her friends in line. For Ty Lee, it was a life-changing moment when she finally stood up to the person she most feared and respected.

5 Together Again!

Another important event in Ty Lee's life was also revealed in the post-show comic series. After a day feeling out of sorts, she decides to take a break from her Kyoshi warrior duties and attend the circus with Toph. There, she just so happens to find every one of her sisters working exactly as she did years before!

Every one of Ty Lee's sisters had become an acrobat.

It bothered Ty Lee at first that her sisters all followed so closely in her footsteps. She had always been afraid of blending in too much with siblings, being one of a matched set. She eventually learned that it isn't always a bad thing to be a part of something bigger. The sisters made up and said their goodbyes, and Ty Lee re-joined the Kyoshi warriors, secure in the knowledge that she could always take off her makeup and be an individual.

4 Good With Animals

Even while disguising herself as part of a highly deceptive mission to infiltrate the earth kingdom and overthrow its king, Ty Lee still manages to have fun. She and Mai were forced to spend an uncomfortable amount of time looking after the Earth king's bear Bosco. Making the best of the situation, Ty Lee managed to entertain the bear with her acrobatics and even attempted to teach him a few moves.

Unfortunately, it seems that Bosco never managed to learn how to walk on his hands quite as good as Ty Lee.

You have to give her credit for trying though. She could have been annoyed at the situation like Mai, but she managed to make the experience a positive one for herself.  If only she'd had more time, then maybe she and Bosco could have performed together.

3 Feelings For The Enemy

Ty Lee never let a rivalry or a total was between nations get in the way of her personal life. She has always seen the human side of her opponents, no matter what the circumstances are. From the first time she and Sokka fought each other, she thought of him as cute. During their battle to overtake the Earth kingdom, she even teased Sokka by suggesting their fight was more like a dance.

Being flirty, it seems, is just another part of Ty Lee's perky personality.

Ty Lee and Sokka never blossomed into a romance. After princess Yuai turned into the moon, Sokka only ever had eyes for Suki. It isn't known who Ty Lee ended up with, or if she ended up with anyone at all. There are however plenty of fan-made fantasies of Ty Lee with a number of other characters. It seems Avatar is another series the fans love to expand upon in their own way.

2 An Unwitting Mastermind

Before their plan to infiltrate the Earth kingdom in disguise, the fire nation girls attempted to drill through the walls of Ba Sing Se. They drove to the city in a massive drilling contraption that the earthbenders were powerless to destroy. It may have been a success if it weren't for the clever perception of team Avatar.

She may not have known it, but Ty Lee actually inspired the plan to take the drill down.

Team Avatar remembered the way she had immobilized them before, how she had attacked their pressure points. Using that knowledge, the gang targeted the drill's weak points precisely and were able to bring it down with one crushing blow. She may not have intended it, but Ty Lee gave her enemies a useful lesson by demonstrating her talents.

1 A Knowing Look

Was this a foreshadowing of things to come?

It was one of the most glorified moments in the fire nation's history of conquest. Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee ambushed the Kyoshi warriors and stole their uniforms. Under this disguise, they managed to infiltrate the Earth Kingdom capital and even gained the trust of the earth king himself.

The Earth Kingdom fell to the Fire Nation shortly after the clever subterfuge.

During their audience with the Earth king, Azula mentions how unfortunate it is that you can't always trust those closest to you. As she says this, Mai and Ty Lee can be seen exchanging a sneaky glance with one another. Could it have been knowing look about their mission? Or perhaps a knowing look about how their relationship with Azula would end?

It's a subtle moment, but one that speaks loudly to the dynamics of the group itself.