Line #35 Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheLibrary


1	[[quoteright:333:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/avatar_library.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:333:The libary is discovered largely buried in the desert.]]
3
4	->''"Firebenders lose their bending during a solar eclipse!"''
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6	Each of the Gaang gets to pick a location for a mini-vacation. Katara's choice, the Misty Palms Oasis, is somewhat less cool than it was a hundred years ago, but they do meet a traveling historian, Professor Zei (Raphael Sbarge), who recognizes Aang as an Air Nomad. He (the scholar) is trying to find a legendary library out in the desert, one reportedly run by the great knowledge spirit Wan Shi Tong. Because of the extensive flying necessary to find it, and the less-than-solid nature of sand as a medium, Toph is essentially reduced to total blindness; she spends most of the episode in the shade of the building, trading good-natured grumbling with Appa.
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8	Inside the Library, Wan Shi Tong allows them a 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.
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10	Outside, Toph is having problems of her own. The local Sandbenders have arrived and are intent on capturing Appa. Blind, powerless, basically unable to do anything productive except fight against the (stone) Library's submerging, Toph is unable to prevent the Sandbenders from roping up the sky bison and dragging him away. At the mid-season cliffhanger, the Gaang are now stuck in the middle of a desert with no supplies or transportation.
11	----
12	!!Tropes:
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14	* AllAnimalsAreDogs: The FantasticFoxes beg for food and make sounds like dogs.
15	* AncientKeeper: Wan Shi Tong, the owlish guardian of the ancient library.
16	* AntiVillain: Wan Shi Tong goes against Team Avatar only because he does not want them abusing the knowledge of his library for their own benefit. He actually points out how countless others before them have come to his library seeking advantages against their enemies and he finally gets so sick of it he decides to sink his library to prevent it from being misused ever again. The most antagonistic thing he does in the episode is attack Team Avatar to prevent them from leaving, but even then that was after they abused his trust.
17	* BadassBoast:
18	** Wan Shi Tong gets a good one when he's cornered Katara, boasting how he knows all kinds of Waterbending techniques.
19	--->'''Wan Shi Tong:''' Your waterbending won't do much good here. I've studied Northern Water style, Southern Water style, even Foggy Swamp style!
20	** Sokka immediately gives one right back after smashing Wan Shi Tong over the head with a giant tome and knocking him down.
21	--->'''Sokka:''' That's called Sokka Style. Learn it!
22	* BadLiar: Sokka.
23	-->'''Wan Shi Tong:''' If you're going to lie to an all-knowing spirit being, you should at least put some effort into it.
24	* BreakTheHaughty: Toph, a few episodes ago, boasted about being able to carry her own weight. Not until this episode does she realize she's pretty much helpless in a fight on sand. Just to rub it in, this results in her being unable to prevent Appa's kidnapping, whom Aang angrily said to Toph a few episodes ago that the bison carries everyone's weight - including hers.
25	* CallBack:
26	** That library where Zhao learned about the Moon and Ocean Spirits' physical forms? It's Wan Shi Tong's.
27	** Katara is still carrying the waterbending scroll she "borrowed" from the pirates. She gives it to Wan Shi Tong.
28	** Aang still has the WantedPoster of him that he took as a souvenir in "The Deserter".
29	* CollapsingLair: Once Wan Shi Tong discovers that he has been lied to, he invokes this on his own library.
30	* ContinuityCreep: Season one was largely standalone episodes with a few minor ongoing plot threads. Season two introduced more continuity, until this episode begins a much tighter story arc that lasts the rest of the season.
31	* {{Depower}}: Sokka realizes, after typing a date into a giant sun dial, that "the darkest day in Firebender history" refers to ''literally'' the darkest day: when a solar eclipse occurred and Firebenders lost their bending. 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.
32	* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Sokka, of all people, gets this moment defending the Gaang from the berserk Wan Shi Tong.
33	-->'''Wan Shi Tong:''' Your Waterbending won't do you much good here. I've studied Northern Water style, Southern Water style, ''even'' Foggy Swamp style.\
34	''[Sokka drops from the ceiling and knocks Wan Shi Tong unconscious with a heavy book.]''\
35	'''Sokka''': ''That's'' called "[[MugglesDoItBetter Sokka Style.]]" '''''LEARN IT!'''''
36	* DitzyGenius: Professor Zei.
37	* 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 them.
38	* DownerEnding: The Gaang may have found out crucial info about the Fire Nation, but this is little consolation for the fact that they are in the middle of the desert with no supplies, no transportation, and no way to find the kidnapped Appa.
39	* ExorcistHead: Wan Shi Tong. Justified in that he's an owl-like spirit.
40	* FantasticFoxes: Wan Shi Tong's knowledge seekers. They are magical foxes who roam the world, seeking new books to add to his library.
41	* ForgotTheDisability: Growing bored with the search for the Library, Toph suddenly shouts that she sees it, causing the rest of them to look in her direction excitingly, only to remember that she is blind.
42	-->'''Toph:''' There it is!
43	-->'''The Gaang:''' (''all look out at the horizon, then turn to glare at Toph'')
44	-->'''Toph:''' ''That's'' what it will sound like when one of you ''spots'' it. (''gives them a dopey grin while waving her hand in front of her eyes'')
45	* GilliganCut: When Katara wants to go to the Misty Palms Oasis, Aang praises the place. Cut to the Gaang arriving and finding it largely dried out and deserted.
46	* GreyAndGrayMorality: 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.
47	-->'''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!
48	* GreatBigLibraryOfEverything: The Library is legendary for its supply of books. Professor Zei says (as the library is withdrawing into the spirit world) that he could spend his life searching and never find a greater store of knowledge.
49	* HehHehYouSaidX: Aang and Sokka snicker when Professor Zei admires the library's buttresses.
50	* HeKnowsTooMuch: The owl plans to have the Gaang killed so they wouldn't disclose the information about the Fire Nation's weakness. He doesn't work for the Fire Nation, he just doesn't like humans using his library for military purposes.
51	* 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.
52	* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: While not seen again for the rest of the series, Wan Shi Tong and the library would appear again in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', with the owl still bitter as ever from the Gaang's deception.
53	* 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 hardly ever been used by humans for anything besides turning the tide of conflict, and Aang's group was doing just that. Only Zei wants to find it for, as Sokka put it, "knowledge's sake".
54	* LoadBearingHero: The only reason the Gaang even managed to escape Wan Shi Tong's library in time was because Toph was there to keep it from sinking too quickly.
55	* MidSeasonTwist: The Gaang learns there will be a solar eclipse in a few months that will DePower the Firebenders... and Appa is kidnapped.
56	* MythArc: Continued in this episode. Sokka discovers records of "the darkest day in Fire Nation history," leading him to discover that a solar eclipse is due at the end of the summer.
57	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Sokka loudly proclaims "the Fire Nation's going down!", not knowing that Wan Shi-Tong happens to be [[RightBehindMe right behind him]]. Rather than allowing his knowledge to once again be used to bring harm to others, the owl spirit decides to submerge the entire library permanently underground, and the Gaang just barely manages to escape.
58	* NowYouTellMe: Professor Zei mentions that the library might not exist after the Gaang has already ventured deep into the desert.
59	* OminousLatinChanting: While Aang is looking at the lion turtle scroll.
60	* OminousOwl: Wan Shi Tong switches, particularly when he finds out that the Gaang is planning on using the information they gained to invade the Fire Nation.
61	* OneWingedAngel: Wan Shi Tong initially looks like a regular barn owl (albeit with [[AmazingTechnicolorWildlife unnatural coloration for the species]]) when they meet him. But when he finds out what the group are doing, his form becomes much larger and more menacing.
62	* RedundantResearcher: Professor Zei.
63	* TheReveal: Firebenders lose their bending during solar eclipses and one is due to occur before the arrival of Sozin's Comet.
64	* 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 un-aimed 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.
65	* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness:
66	-->'''Professor Zei:''' My word! The exquisite mosaic handiwork of this tile-rendered avian symbol- Uh... Nice owl.
67	* ShoutOut:
68	** The scene where Wan Shi Tong pursues Katara around the library (including with her hiding behind a bookcase) is quite similar to the "raptors in the kitchen" scene in ''Film/JurassicPark''.
69	** The Sandbenders that appear are reminiscent of the [[Franchise/StarWars Tusken Raiders]].
70	** On the journey to the library, Sokka is shown wearing his shirt as an improvised hood, akin to [[Film/LawrenceOfArabia pop-culture depictions]] of [[UsefulNotes/TELawrence T.E. Lawrence]].
71	** This quote from Professor Zei while climbing into the Library.
72	--->'''Professor Zei:''' The spirits [[Film/JurassicPark spared no expense]] in designing this place.
73	* 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.
74	* TapOnTheHead: Sokka disables the (not so) mighty Wan Shi Tong with a large book.
75	* TheOwlKnowingOne: Wan Shi Tong is not only an actual owl [spirit], but wise and all-knowing. In fact, his name is translated from Chinese Mandarin to mean "He Who Knows Ten Thousand Things" or, in other cases, "Hall of Immeasurable Knowledge".
76	* TotalEclipseOfThePlot: We learn that a solar eclipse is conveniently up in a few months time before the arrival of Sozin's Comet. The Gaang decides to go to Ba Sing Se in order to tell the Earth King so they can mount an assault on the Fire Nation on this date.
77	* TheUnreveal: A lot of information about the Fire Nation (specifically what happened on the "darkest day in Firebender history", or a more current map) goes unrevealed as the Fire Nation already torched the part of the library containing that knowledge.
78	* UnusualEuphemism: "I've been training my arrow off." (But since it's Aang, it's an innocent ''double entendre''; what he ''means'' is that he's trained hard enough to wear off his arrow-shaped tattoo.)
79	* VerbalBackspace: While Toph is waiting outside the library with Appa, she explains to him how being in the desert makes it hard for her to "see" because the vibrations are distorted by the sand making it all look "fuzzy". Appa, who ''is'' fuzzy [[ImStandingRightHere makes a groan at that remark]], and Toph quickly says "not that there's anything wrong with fuzzy".
80	* VoiceOfTheLegion: Wan Shi Tong speaks like this. And it is ''terrifying'' when he does so while going after the Gaang.

Context Recap / AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheLibrary