History Recap / AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheLibrary

* HeKnowsTooMuch: The owl plans to have the Gaang killed so they wouldn't disclose the information about the Fire Nation's weakness.

* CollapsingLair: Once Wan Shi Tong discovers that he has been lied to, he invokes this on his own library

-->'''Professor Zei:''' The spirits [[Film/JurassicPark spared no expense]] in designing this place.

-->'''Wan Shi Tong:''' Your waterbending won't do much good here. I've studied Northern Water style, Southern Water style, even Foggy Swamp style!

-->'''Sokka:''' That's called Sokka Style. Learn it!

''[[caption-width-right:333:The libary is discovered largely buried in the desert.]]''

Inside the Library, Wan Shi Tong allows them free run of the place, but only if they promise not to use any of his knowledge to hurt others. Sokka, unfortunately, comes across a scroll talking about "the darkest day in Fire Nation history," and becomes convinced that he has found a WeaksauceWeakness he and his friends can exploit. By utilizing the library's planetarium, he discovers the obvious pun behind the scroll: the "darkest day" of Fire Nation history was during a solar eclipse, when Firebenders lose the ability to bend. Of course, by now Wan Shi Tong has caught wind of what's going on, and he begins to submerge his Library beneath the sand for all eternity. Sokka, Katara, Aang and Momo flee, abandoning Professor Zei, who elects to stay and learn all he can.

** Aang still has the WantedPoster of him that he took as a souvenir in “The Deserter”.

* SunkenCity: Wan Shi Tong's library is almost fully covered in sand when the Gaang first see it with only the tallest tower still visible. At the end of the episode Wan Shi Tong sinks the library completely so humans will no longer be able to abuse its knowledge.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: When Wan Shi Tong catches Team Avatar going against their promise and finding information to use against the Fire Nation, Sokka tries to justify it by telling him they are the good guys and points out how the Fire Nation destroyed part of his own library. Wan Shi Tong however sees them as just as guilty as every other human who has come to his library and misused his knowledge for their own gain.
-->'''Wan Shi Tong:''' You think you're the first person to believe their war was justified?! Countless others before you have come here, seeking weapons or weaknesses or battle strategies!

-->'''Sokka''': ''That's'' called "Sokka Style." '''''LEARN IT!'''''

* IChooseToStay: Despite it meaning certain death, or at best, no way to return to the mortal world, Zei's love of knowledge is too great and he chooses to stay with the library as it goes under. [[spoiler: ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' later shows that indeed, he eventually died in the library.]]

* IChooseToStay: Despite it meaning certain death, or at best, no way to return to the mortal world, Zei's love of knowledge is too great and he chooses to stay with the library as it goes under.

-->'''Professor Zei:''' The exquisite mosaic handiwork of this tile-rendered avian symbol- Uh... Nice owl.

-->'''Professor Zei:''' The exquisite mosaic handiwork of this tile-rendered avian symbol-... nice... owl

* TheOwlKnowingOne: Wan Shi Tong, in case it wasn't obvious.

* DoubleMeaning: When Wan Shi Tong says that he is "taking his knowledge back", he means a) he plans to take the library to the spirit world so no human can ever access and potentially misuse the information stored, and b) he plans to trap Team Avatar so they can't share what they find, and that knowledge dies with him.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Wan Shi Tong goes has far as to sink the library with everyone in it. In his defense, the Gaang lied to him about what they want to use the knowledge for. Even if it's for the greater good, Wan claims that his library has never been used for anything besides turning the tide of conflict, and Aang's group was doing just that. Only Zei wants to find it for "knowledge's sake".

* MidSeasonTwist: There will be a solar eclipse in a few months that will DePower the Firebenders... and Appa is kidnapped.

* CollapsingLair: The Library.

* DoubleMeaning: When Wan Shi Tong says that he is "taking his knowledge back", he means a) he plans to take the library to the spirit world so no human can ever access and potentially misuse the information stored, and b) he plans to trap Team Avatar so they can't share what they find.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Wan Shi Tong goes has far as to sink the library with everyone in it. In his defense, the Gaang lied to him about what they one to use the knowledge for. Even if it's for the greater good, Wan claims that his library has never been used for anything besides turning the tide of conflict, and Aang's group was doing just that. Only Zei wants to find it for "knowledge's sake".

* {{Depower}}: Sokka realizes, after typing a date into a giant sun dial, that "the darkest day in Firebender history" revers to the day a solar eclipse occurred and concludes that Firebenders lose their bending on an eclipse. By typing all of the dates into the calendar before the arrival of Sozin's Comet he is able to find another eclipse that is due to occur in a few months.

* GilliganCut: When Katara wants to go to the Misty Palms Oasis, Aang praises the place. Cut to the Gaang arriving and finding the place largely dried out and deserted.

* VoiceOfTheLegion: Wan Shi Tong, the owl, speaks like this. And it is ''terrifying'' when he does so while going after the Gaang.

* OneWingedAngel: Wan Shi Tong initially looks like a regular owl when they meet him. But when he finds out what the group are doing, his form becomes much larger and menacing.

* SadisticChoice: Subverted. It looks like Toph has to choose between saving Appa from the sandbenders or stopping the library from sinking with the rest of the Gaang inside, but then you realize it's not really a "choice". She's ''blind'' in the sand, and her few attempts to attack the sandbenders are unaimed and don't hit anything. If she'd chosen to try to save Appa, she'd have failed, ''and'' the Gaang would've been buried with the library.

** On the journey to the library, Sokka is shown wearing his shirt as an improvised Bedouin-esque hood, akin to fictional depictions of UsefulNotes/TELawrence.

** On the journey to the library, Sokka is shown wearing his shirt as an improvised Bedouin-esque hood, akin to fictional depictions of Creator/TELawrence.