The reactivities of different 3-imino-functionalized indoles with rare-earth-metal amides [(Me 3 Si) 2 N] 3 RE(μ-Cl)Li(THF) 3 were studied to reveal unexpected substituent effects on C−H bond activation pathways, leading to the formation of unusual rare-earth-metal complexes. The reactions of 3-(tert-butylimino)indole with [(Me 3 Si) 2 N] 3 RE(μ-Cl)Li(THF) 3 produced tetranuclear rare-earth-metal complexes {[η 1 :(μ 2 -η 1 :η 1 ):η 1 -3-(tBuNCH)C 8 H 4 N]RE 2 (μ 2 -Cl) 2 (THF)[N(SiMe 3 ) 2 ]-(η 1 :η 1 -[μ-η 5 :η 2 -3-(tBuNCH)C 8 H 5 N] 2 Li)} 2 (RE = Ho (1a), Er (1b)), incorporating a unique indolyl-1,2-dianion through sp 2 C−H activation bonded with the central metal in η 1 :(μ 2 -η 1 :η 1 ) mode. The reactions of 3-(phenylimino)indole with [(Me 3 Si) 2 N] 3 RE(μ-Cl)Li(THF) 3 afforded novel binuclear complexes formulated as {3-[PhNCH(CH 2 SiMe 2 )N(SiMe 3 )]-C 8 H 5 NRE(THF)(μ 2 -Cl)Li(THF) 2 } 2 (RE = Y (2a), Sm (2b), Dy (2c), Yb (2d)) through an unexpected sp 3 C−H bond activation with subsequent C−C bond coupling reactions. Treatment of 3-(2-methylphenylimino)indole or 3-(4methylphenylimino)indole with [(Me 3 Si) 2 N] 3 Yb(μ-Cl)Li(THF) 3 generated the corresponding dinuclear rare-earth-metal amido complexes {3-[(2-MePh)NCH(CH 2 SiMe 2 )N(SiMe 3 )]C 8 H 5 NYb(THF)(μ 2 -Cl)Li(THF) 2 } 2 (3) and {3-[(4-MePh)NCH-(CH 2 SiMe 2 )N(SiMe 3 )]C 8 H 5 NYb(THF)(μ 2 -Cl)Li(THF) 2 } 2 (4), following the same pathway for the formation of complexes 2a−d. Treatment of 3-(4-tert-butylphenylimino)indole with [(Me 3 Si) 2 N] 3 RE(μ-Cl)Li(THF) 3 afforded new hexanuclear rareearth-metal complexes {3-[(4-t Bu-Ph)NHCH(CH 2 SiMe 2 )N(SiMe 3 )]C 8 H 5 NREN(SiMe 3 ) 2 } 6 (RE = Dy (5a), Ho (5b), Er (5c)) via sp 3 C−H bond activation followed by C−C bond coupling reactions. In contrast, under the same conditions as those for the preparation of 5, the reaction with the corresponding yttrium complex provided the new heterohexayttrium complex {3-[(4-tBu-Ph)NCH(CH 2 SiMe 2 )N(SiMe 3 )]C 8 H 5 NYN(SiMe 3 ) 2 Li(THF)} 6 ( 6), having a 4-tBu-anilido moiety. All of these complexes were fully characterized by elemental analysis, spectroscopic methods, and X-ray structure analysis. Plausible pathways for the formation of these different rare-earth-metal complexes were proposed.