[[quoteright:333:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/avatar_toph_vision.png]]
[[caption-width-right:333:Aang sees a hallucination of a young girl he doesn't recognize.]]

->''"Time is an illusion and so is death."''

While flying, Aang and friends are attracted to a mysterious swamp and get separated from one another. They begin to see unique illusions in the swamp: Sokka sees Princess Yue, Katara sees her dead mother and Aang sees a mysterious girl. They are reunited and attacked by a swamp monster who turns out to be a wise man from a tribe of swamp waterbenders. He explains that all beings are connected, as the swamp is a single large tree, and the visions are of people they have met or will meet. Meanwhile Zuko, disgusted with having to live as a beggar, dons the mask of the Blue Spirit once again.
----
!!Tropes:

* AliceAllusion:
-->'''Aang:''' I heard laughing and I saw some girl in a fancy dress.
-->'''Sokka:''' Well, there must be a tea party here and we just didn't get our invitations!
* AssholeVictim: The guy who forces Iroh to [[BulletDancing sing and dance]] for a gold coin. While Zuko doesn't kill him, he at least jumps him and takes his swords.
* BulletDancing: One man wants Iroh to sing and dance for a gold piece. Iroh starts singing and the man swings his dual swords at the old man's feet to make him dance.
* ChekhovsGun: A very, very long (as in, 70 years long) one, but the swamp's mysterious nature is revealed more in Book 4 of ''WesternAnimation/LegendOfKorra'', when the swamp's spirit vines become a major plot point.
* ChekhovsGunman: While exploring the swamp, Aang has a brief vision of a barefooted girl petting a flying boar. She would return two episodes later as a major character: Toph Beifong, who becomes Aang's earthbending teacher for the remainder of the show.
* ContinuityNod: An elbow leech attaches to Sokka's elbow. In the [[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderReturnToOmashu previous episode]], a purple pentapus (or two) attached to his face.
-->"Why do things keep ''attaching'' to me?!"
* CuteButCacophonic: One of the inhabitants of the swamp is a fluffy white bird who emits an ear-splitting screech.
** This also applies to Momo to an extent. There's a scene where Momo is trying to get Appa to keep moving by blowing the Bison-whistle. This only irritates Appa into knocking him out with his tail to shut him up.
* TheDarknessGazesBack: There are eyes in the dark staring back at the gang making them realize they're NOT alone in the swamp.
* DiagonalCut: Katara delivers the final blow to the swamp monster by slashing its mask with a thin water stream. After a short delay. the creature's upper half falls apart.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Enforced. Unlike Katara and Sokka who get visions of dead loved ones, Aang's vision is of a girl he hasn't met yet. It's implied the swamp made him have this vision specifically so he can seek out that girl and get her to teach him Earthbending.
* EntitledBastard: Zuko is vocally unhappy with being a wanted beggar living on the street, complaining to his uncle that the people should be giving them whatever they want due to their status as royalty. Later, he reassumes his Blue Spirit alter-ego to steal not only essential supplies but also riches and valuable treasures.
-->'''Zuko''': This is humiliating! We're royalty! These people should be giving us whatever we want.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The Foggy Swamp Tribe is depicted as the Avatar world counterpart of stereotypical bayou-dwelling hillbillies from the DeepSouth. They also take some inspiration from various hill tribes from Southeast Asia.
* FireOfComfort: When it gets spooky at the swamp, Sokka suggests building a fire.
* FlatEarthAtheist: Sokka, to a hilarious extent. He sees a vision of Yue, fights a [[BuffySpeak giant tentacley vine monster]], and a tornado appears out of nowhere, and yet he's still convinced there's nothing strange about the swamp. When Aang points out he used the tree's connecting power to find Appa and Momo, Sokka shrugs it off as "avatar stuff".
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** The mask cart that passes Iroh and Zuko in the opening scene bears the Blue Spirit mask. At the end of the episode, Zuko reassumes his Blue Spirit alter-ego.
** The Foggy Swamp Tribe's unorthodox application of waterbending (bending the water within the plants) foreshadows [[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderThePuppetmaster darker applications of the art shown later]].
** The spirit vine that hits the bird at the end, and the swamp itself, which foreshadow a big revelation in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' about the Spirit World.
** While begging for money, Iroh sings a song about how great the girls from Ba Sing Se are, much to Zuko's irritation. Later, Iroh hooks Zuko up with a Ba Sing Se girl.
* GeniusLoci: The titular swamp, complete with WorldTree.
-->'''Katara:''' Something about this place feels... alive.
* HealingFactor: Subverted. The swamp monster appears to regrow its limbs, but it's just Huu replacing the severed organic matter with new vines.
* ImpendingDoomPOV: Some shots from the POV of the swamp monster observing the Gaang.
* InstantLeechJustFallInWater: Sokka falls in the water at one point, and gets a foot-long elbow leech stuck to him.
* MistakenFromBehind: A variation. While lost in the swamp, Katara has a vision of her dead mother facing away from her. Thinking the vision is real, Katara runs up, puts a hand on her mother's shoulder to spin her around...and suddenly it is not her mother at all, only a tall stump sticking out of the water.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: Zuko stealing the broadswords from the SOB who forced Iroh into BulletDancing.
* PickyPeopleEater: A variation, elbow leeches get their name from their uncanny tendency to latch onto people's elbows to suck blood.
* PsychologicalTormentZone: Katara and Sokka endure this. Katara thinks she sees her dead mother, only to sadly discover that it was an illusion. Sokka sees Yue out in an open area and hears her claim that [[ILetGwenStacyDie he didn't protect her]] before she fades away.
* RedOniBlueOni: The difference between the siblings is once again illustrated in their reactions to visions of their dead loved ones: Katara is saddened while Sokka is angered.
* SecurityCling: Aang and his friends cling to each other when they are stranded in the swamp and hear someone scream.
* SoftWater: The Gaang falls from great height into the swamp without taking any damage.
* StumblingUponTheLostWizard: A tornado sends our heroes tumbling into a vast swamp that is guarded by a waterbending guru whose spiritual wisdom and bending techniques are not seen anywhere else in the world. He starts as an antagonist, as with many examples of this trope, but as it becomes clear that the heroes mean the swamp no harm, he shares his insight into the magic of the swamp and connectedness of all things.
* SwampMonster: The gang encounter one made from vines, acting as a guardian of sorts. However it turns out this monster to have one of the Foggy Swamp's resident waterbenders inside controlling the vines.
* TearsOfJoy: Katara has them in her eyes when she runs towards the figure who looks like her mother from behind.
* TemptingFate: Sokka's statement "There's nothing magical happening here" is followed by the swamp monster attacking the group.
* TwoLinesNoWaiting: Zig-zagged. There is a separate subplot with Zuko and Iroh, but they're only seen at the beginning and end of the episode (and Iroh is seen only at the beginning). A more played straight version is the trio's fight with the swamp monster contrasted with Appa and Momo's flight from the local waterbenders.
* VineTentacles: The Gaang are attacked by what appears to be a giant plant monster, which entangles Sokka in its vines. However, the creature turns out to be just the product of a local waterbender using his power on the local flora.
* VocalDissonance: The little, poofy white bird that looks like a grumpy canary................and emits a screech that sounds like a woman being maliciously murdered.
* WorldTree: The entire swamp is one giant Banyan tree, with a central trunk the size of a mountain.
* TheWormThatWalks: Huu's swamp monster disguise is actually an amalgamation of plant matter that he shaped into a humanoid form with his waterbending.
----