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@@kemsat-n6h at first I thought you was talking to me. My book isn’t for kids but it is for young adults and adults. It’s called The wanted Ninja. I probably should make a page for it but it will be less Professional.
@@kemsat-n6h to answer your question after reading a little bit to myself my answer is yes. It’s a story about a dog because friends with a wolf. I really like his idea just don’t have any money for it yet.
I also love the fact that the character who said that quote wasn't human. Philosophies about morals and war are often connected with questions regarding the nature of humanity, so an "outsider" looking into the problems of human affairs just makes the quote eerie for me.
@@PaleMist because he was still trying to gain intelligence to use against other humans. And once knowledge is gained even if its used for a good reason it will eventually be used for evil.
The Library marked a turning point in the series. Before the main narrative was having Aang master all four elements before Sozins comet. After the Library, the narrative shifts to actually trying to end the war, which involves actual planning, preparation and execution, so there was that to consider. Its also where the show, to me at least, shifts in tone from light hearted and adventurous to a more dark and serious tone, with a lot higher stakes and some deep conflicting drama.
This episode is also a masterclass on suspense. The whole time they’re wandering through the library, it feels eerie, like Wan Shi Tong could be around any corner. And then when the library is being destroyed you’re on the edge of your seat between everyone trying to escape and Toph doing her best in an environment she can’t do much in. Easily an s tier episode
Something I noticed about owls is this: In western cultures, the symbolism of the owl is knowledge and wisdom, while in eastern cultures, the symbolism of the owl stresses the terror of the night. Wan-Shi-Tong represents both perfectly. He's also perfectly neutral (in a lawful way), preserving knowledge purely for its own sake. Too bad the Legend of Korra screwed him up...
@@alakazamlover4908 it literally shows how they done him dirty in the video, they made a wise knowledgeable being and turned him into a dishevelled version of his former self
In my western european country, owls are considered pretty stupid. Calling someone an 'owl chick' is telling them they're a blundering idiot. There's also a folk hero called owlmirror, who plays the archetype of the clever trickster fool, and the name explains perfectly what his thing is in these stories. So there's a triple meaning, you could say Wan Shi-Tong is also a representation of Dunning-Kruger effect.
Additional good things about the episode: it makes Sokka and Toph shine. Sokka does a lot of quick thinking: First, he reasons that the planetarium might be able to predict future eclipses. Then takes the risk to go back to the planetarium AFTER the Library starts sinking so they can get that intel. Despite the danger they're in, he sees how rare a resource the Library is and understands that if there's a time to take a risk, it's now. Then he narrows down the days they check for with some gloriously pragmatic strategic thinking - he's right, the days when an eclipse would even matter to them would be *before* Sozin's Comet. And all this after Wan Shi Tong dismissed his intelligence and how little he had to contribute to the library, joining yet another long line of powerful beings who underestimated Sokka. And they only have the time to do all that because Toph is using her earthbending to counteract the Library-sinking powers of a literal immortal spirit. It's a low moment for her because it means she has to let Appa get captured (and we see her anguish at that, too, despite the tough act she puts on most of the time!), but honestly, what a badass. There are very good reasons this show's writing still resonates so much with people.
This episode had one of the best toph moments too. Her losing to the sand benders was a devastating loss for her personally. As far as her bending goes she's never doubted it before, but not only had it failed her and make her doubt her skill for probably the first time ever, in losing this battle she let down her first ever friends, the kind she thought she'd never have.
Perhaps it was the first catalyst that led her to metal bending. The shame of her previous failure coupled with her utter helplessness (something I’m sure she works very hard to avoid) was occurring again as she was locked in the box. She pushed herself beyond what she knew she was capable of and this changed Toph forever. Even creating a school of bending, and a police force to protect people; a force which she even presided over personally. From this desert scene Toph began to grow less and less helpless to prove to everyone that she, in fact, was not helpless and that like anyone else she could find solutions to the obstacles that she faced, with or without help. She felt less sorry for herself and bolstered her headstrong nature to ultimately achieve a connectedness to earth that was unparalleled by anyone who wasn’t an avatar.
I think Toph did say she wasn't a fan of sand. It's noticeably more loose than typical earth, so she can't have an actual footing. And I believe she said the sand causes her "vision" to be fuzzy.
I especially love the fact that on the later episode, when they're doing a beach party on Ember Island and Toph made a Ba Sing Se sand sculpture. They hint us that Toph never forget this moment where she failed, she said "I've been working on my sand bending" like she knew that's her weakness and keep improving and that makes her a great bender!
@@NicholasAldric I honestly never made that connection. And if I recall correctly, she made the map very detailed; even getting it down to the streets and alleyways.
The line about “Do you think you are the first human to think their war is justified?” is just such amazing writing and delivery. I think it was the first time I ever heard violence framed that way and probably helped form my whole attitude towards violence. My favorite single episode of the whole series, although there is serious competition for that spot.
@@grantwalter2243 Even if your violence is justified, you must always ask yourself if it really is. We are fallible. People must be careful with radical action, even when it is necessary to do it.
@@grantwalter2243 a spirit like him definitely lacks any sense of human morality, as 10,000 years (metaphorically meaning infinity as some comments have revealed) can hold many, MANY genocides with the same, violent results. war and violence at the end of the day is war and violence. there’s even an entire culture strictly against violence (eastern air nomads, and aang still conflicts with himself from murdering the firelord). that’s not to say monk gyatso still murdered hundreds of firebenders before his demise, though when you reach into the depths of the series, witnessing the brainwashing, the ruthless dictatorship, and the heartlessness inflicted onto the Fire Nation’s soldiers, you realize still that they’re still human beings too. to an outsider, there’s no right or wrong side to this war. from his perspective, Sokka could be the equivalent to Jet; disregarding any life for the sake of ‘getting back’ at the Fire Nation. gaining an upper hand from Wan Shi Ton’s knowledge to begin another climactic, brutal battle against the Fire Nation looks exactly what it looks like.
What's cool about Wan-Shi Tong is: -In eastern cultures, the symbolism of the owl stresses the terror of the night, which is represented in his horrific rage in the climax -10.000 in some eastern cultures tends to be used as a shorthand for infinity. He calls himself omnicient.
Do you know if the "it requires 10000 hours to become a master at some skill" is also not meant literally, but more in the way of "in order to master a skill, you need to commit to it forever"? I don't know where that comes from or if it's related, but it'd make a lot of sense to me
@@FlorianWendelborn As my personal experience, you have to commit to something in order to be "just" good in it; Im programming since 10 years now (beginning as a child, going into courses, then studying and now working) and never felt like: oh yeah, now i know what im doing. It was always like: oh there's something new that i should read about. So i think you cannot be a master at any time, you're just good at it and it stays that way only if you keep on going. "Being a master" is just the product of the titles that you get along the way, however they can give a non expert an idea of your understanding but doesn't mean anything at all.
The Library and The Desert are the literal half point of the show. The Library ends the first half and The Desert begins the second half. Even just to say the events in The Library are important would be an understatement. The tone of the whole show shifts, the stakes are raised and Team Avatar takes up a more active involvement in the events of world. Suffice to say, both of these episodes are among the best in an entire series that is filled with great, poignant episodes.
appa getting kidnapped is a key moment. he carries them around the world, and without him, team avatar got severely handicapped. he's not just a convenient plot device that lets them go wherever. appa matters.
Yeah I definitely agree with the tone shift. The fact that it is their "only" favorable way of ending the war puts them in a situation that is sort of: "if we don't end the war that day we're fucked", which definitely set a more serious tone for the rest of the show.
No, no one could ever forget this two parter. All because of this one joke. The gang looking out across the Desert, depressed from their lack of finding anything. Toph: Here it is! Toph points out into the distance. The gang springs forward, life returning to their eyes as they stare out into the Horizon of where Toph was pointing only to see the same nothing. Toph : That’s what it’ll be like when one of you spots it. Sarcastically waving her hand in front of her face reminding both the gang and the audience that she’s blind.
Funny enough... that was actually the first time I saw Toph in the show (I don't know how but I missed out on the episodes when Toph joined the group until I happened to catch this episode during its debut)
She clearly needed more story-time sessions, her parents failed her again lol But seriously, people willing to read to you is great even if you can't see the book
this means that braille hasn't been invented yet, which i think is intentional writing. otherwise, there is no narrative excuse why toph wouldn't join them.
@@maggyfrog It's possible that a form of Braille had been invented, but Toph was never interested in being "lady-like" as her parents raised her. So even if she had read using some form of Braille, it's still well within her character to lack interest and even joke about not being able to read.
i love the fan theory that some air benders who where not at any of the temples during the fire nation raid did survive by seeking refuge with the sandbenders. they are both nomadic, and the sandbender dress would of helped hid their tattoos. it would also be very easy to hide airbending as sandbending
@@fishraposo7192 to my knowledge a good theory around that is that when air bender children are born and brought up far away from air nomad culture they just can't develop bending (related to the theory that Ty Lee's parent(s) were (an) airbender(s) or she's an airbender herself because her movements are very fluid and to me her personality seems very similar to that of young Aang) but messing with the spirit world changed that somehow and all the descendants of airbenders just started bending
It’s interesting how both Zhao and Team Avatar took information from the library and then failed to accomplish what they planned to do with it afterwards. Zhao killed the moon spirit but Yue took its place. Team Avatar couldn’t find Ozai and the adults were imprisoned.
I wonder how the owl would react to iroh. He is such a neutral character nearly all of the time. And someone who holds true to his principles so he wouldn't do anything to harm the library out of respect.
@@thehuntermikipl1170 he doesn't really fight one side or other, he will defend himself and his friends given the need to arrises, but theres only really 1 episode that he actively fights for a side. The rest of the series he just chills out.
@@francisbalfour1243 He was a member of white lotus, he strongly opposed killing moon spirit, he took part in recapturing ba sing se, and in the final attack on fire nation.
I love that the spiritual parts of the world was very limited. It allowed us to keep it as mystical and intriguing. Also the avatar still struggling to get along with certain spirits is great. It makes sense that even being the bridge, he faces conflicts on both plains, instead of all the spirits always loving him with no effort.
This episode was always the one that stuck with me. I’m blind so, of course. To all the people claiming that Toph is overpowered and “too perfect to be disabled,” I always bring this episode to their attention. Here she learned that she can’t do it all on her own, and that she had a lot to learn about Earthbending still. She had skill, yes, but here was the first time she encountered an obstacle that later on she worked to overcome. Without this episode, her metalbending in “the guru” would have seem overpowered, but she already experienced not being able to save Appa. As a blind person who had to learn most things on her own since always, “the library” is hard to watch, but it’s a great reminder that I’m still human, and I will fail. I don’t have to dwell on it. Thanks a lot for the video. Also, any book with the northern lights on the cover is a book I will eventually read.
@@notme3603 no problem, I get these type of comments all the time. There is audio description, but Avatar didn’t have it. :( it’s bad for the blind who have even less remaining vision than me. I can see colors and “big picture details.” So I recognize Toph because of her hair style and she wears green and pale yellow. I can’t see how they drew her eyes or if she she has something that shows she’s notoriously blind or not. To read comments I use a digital zoom as my magnifier and if I read books I use a screen reader.
@@DalCecilRuno I dont know quite how to write down my thoughs but just relativly recently i learned that beeing blind does not have the meaning of "no vision" but rather very impared vision that can differ a lot. A example of what a "blind" person can achieve is Master Chef winner Christine Hà who has neuromyelitis optica. On the note of Toph beeing blind it was explained to the viewer that she is blind while showing White surrounding the eye,with i would say lighter grey for the eye with a darker spot in the middel. But since she is able to navigate with her earth bending i enjoy the "comedic" moment the show is having when people FORGET that the blind girl cant see. "THERE IT IS!....thats what it would sound like if someone of you spots it!" *Waves hand in front of face with a smile* Or when she is certain she can place the posters of appa just like everyone else....just to place it the wrong way.
@@marxel4444 I laughed so hard the first time I experienced that scene when she says “there it is!” and everyone turns. That is something I would do for fun. 🤣
i specifically remember when this episode premiered, this and the episode after were advertised as a big one hour special and was hyped up for a couple weeks before hand so it felt like it was going to be a huge thing. it lived up to the hype for sure
For me the library was the first episode of Avatar I ever saw by chance. So I will always remember it as impressive. Eben without further context you can't help but root very hard for team Avatar to escape the super creepy owl and to mourn with them over their loss of Appa.
I think the archaeologist staying in the library is so beautiful. I don’t know if it already exists but I’d love to see a story about him turning into a spirit or guardian of the library because that’s probably what happened
I've always wondered how the hell Zhao managed to get out of there with his skin intact after torching part of the library. Also, I always assumed that Unalaq just lied to him and that he didn't realize that he was trying to become a dark avatar.
Wan Shi Tong probably didn't want to risk Zhao burning anything else, so he likely just left a route to the exit clear and herded Zhao in that direction.
My brothers and I got the comics that continue the series like a decade ago and we watch it together every year or two. It's actually a little weird that it's become so popular again. I'm a little annoyed by things like how this video was titled. It's not at all an underrated episode. If anyone made a top ten episodes list, I would be shocked if this wasn't there.
I like The Legend of Korra, but damn, season 2 was such a mess. About The Library, my head canon is that although the Professor Zei died, Wan Shi Tong made his spirit into one of the fox helper due to his love of knowledge.
The sad thing is season 2 started off strong with the civil war plot and the corrupt spirits. It was a legitimately interesting story that was ruined by the good and evil magic carpets and Unalok wanting to become a dark Avatar. (If the spirits were just the balancing forces of peace and chaos and the season demonstrated the need for both, it could have worked. It could have showed the necessity of chaos and the danger that lies in peace without that balancing force, but instead, it locked away evil chaos carpet without any regard to what that would do to the balance of the world and let good peace carpet run around without any consequence. Season 2 had so much potential that was wasted on a stupid plot twist).
@@tabithaalphess2115 I agree with your statement. Season 2, if anything, had a lot of potential that was wasted. I think Unalaq should not have been a straight up villain, just a man who, unlike his brother, is more in touch with spirits but maybe less so with humanity, who tries to teach humans to co-exist with spirits, and wants Korra's help in doing so. But maybe when he tries to force the South Pole to live this way too. After all, the season started with the South Pole having this weird celebration of spirits, but in such a materialistic, superficial way, the groundworks for that season's theme were already laid out. Then, when Korra resists Unalaq's attempts to "convert" the South Pole, Unalaq, out of desparation, goes to the opposite of Korra's avatar spirit Raava, who is a spirit of order but also stagnation: Vaatu, not an evil spirit, but a spirit of Chaos, Change. But Vaatu being such a capricious, fickle being, doesn't take the fusion with Unalaq well, and both become unable to operate correctly. And here's where something interesting might happen: Raava changed when she fused with the first avatar Wan, she became less rigid, less authoritarian and less self-righteous. Simularly, Vaatu can become more stable, more even minded, but still an agent of change when that is necessary. I don't know what that would have meant for the future series, that maybe there are 2 avatars who need to co-operate. It certainly makes things interesting to think about.
After Korra’s connection to the other avatars was severed, that would’ve been the perfect time to bring back Wan Shi Tong’s library. I’m 100% positive that his library has autobiographies of every Avatar that’s ever lived. Plus, now that the library is in the Spirit world, you could technically sneak into the library through meditation. Honestly would’ve been cool to see that
@@rickyricardo69 Plus, I think that would’ve been a better time to introduce the threat of season 3. Have Korra and Genora reading old Avatar books, and then they start to notice a trend in a few of her past lives…a dark presence reoccurring or something. But this is presuming that the Zaheer is not the villain. Either way, the library could’ve been there for so much more stuff
@@kostajovanovic3711 Of all the characters to get wrong, Wan She Tong's should be least likely because he doesn't show up much. Yet somehow they managed to ruin him in Korra.
Honestly the thing I hate most about his complete character change in season 2 was how they also just casually drop that oh, that old professor guy is dead now. And they play it off just like a joke?? Like man, his ending in the original episode was really good! An odd mix of melancholy and heartwarming. He decides he wants to stay there even if it means he can never see other humans again, because all the knowledge here is his greatest dream and he can't bear to leave. And it's ambiguous because we have no clue what his fate is, we don't know how the owl spirit will react to him, whether he will believe the professor earnestly just wants to stay and isn't like other humans, or what her the bad experience he just had with Aang and co has caused him to become even more distrusting and he's just gonna kill him. And not knowing the answer either way makes it extra resonant, we may never know if our heroes's actions inadvertantly caused this innocent dotty old dude to die a horrible death, but even in the best case scenario they caused him to spend the rest of his life never seeing his friends and family again and we don't know if the knowledge of the library was truly enough to make up for it or if he regretted his choice years later. Heck, we don't even know if cos of how the spirit world worked, would he even age and die at all here? Did he get a literally eternal fate? But nah, just destroy all that intrigue and moral complexity in an instant, owlboy just killed him five seconds after the episode ended. Poor Dumbass Professor Dude. And seriously, the owl spirit got character assassinated at the same time! Went from a badass genius morally ambiguous figure to the kind of mustache twirling dick dastardly level self sabotaging idiot who'd kill a completely innocent heckin Book Himbo, yet let actual goddamn villains just waltz in and out unharmed. Absolute fuckin mess!
You're definitely right that the original episode is really good, and really slept on! It took seeing a worse sequel to it to make me really realise how morally deep the original was. I would absolutely love to see a rewrite of his second appearance where he retains his original characterization and everyone has to use true intelligence to escape from him with the info they need, not goddamn radio jokes... And idk, either write creatively to never show what happened to the professor and preserve the moral ambiguity, or create some sort of resolution to his story that's equally as thought-provoking. Personally I always headcanoned that the owl did indeed allow him to stay, but that he was cursed for remaining in the temple after the time limit and became a spirit himself. It was my thought that maybe the fox spirits all used to be other humans like him, ones that disobeyed the owl's rules but didn't steal anything from the library and proved they had a pure soul and genuine appreciation of knowledge for knowledge's sake. So in return they're punished with a spirit curse instead of outright killed. And it could be a melancholy and effective sequel to have the korra cast meet a fox spirit who asks how much time has passed, talking about how he regrets his decision and wants to go home. Of course, this interaction would mean nothing to the cast of this sequel, but to people who'd seen the original episode it would hit really hard! And might get new viewers interested in seeking out the original episode to learn more about what happened.
@@Bunni89 i would change that headcanon a little. those nerds-turned-foxes genuinely like being turned into spirit knowledge seekers. the fox is only a physical form, so their spirit is still their original ones. they find that because their entire passion is knowledge, the human form no longer means anything to them and they essentially transcend the need to be human, making them eventually graduate into a spirit knowledge seeker that just happens to have the physical form of a fox.
the worst thing for me about the butchery of wan shi tong's character in tlok is they turned his behavior into that of any other cringe human. he essentially became the human that he canonically loathed in atla. the utter betrayal to his character is immeasurable.
@@maggyfrog Yeah he really does just come off as like.. now he's just a joke on a type of elitist regular human person you could find in real life. Feels like bratty commentary on someone the writers disliked IRL or something, at the consequence of losing an interesting character and a morally ambiguous fate for the poor professor guy 😩
@@maggyfrog I was going for more of an ambiguous thing. Like from what we see of the professor he absolutely would indeed willingly choose and absolutely adore becoming a cool spirit fox and reading books for eternity. But by just adding the note that they gradually forget their past lives over time we'd never know how many of them chose this and how many were trapped here and wish they could go back. Even they themselves might not know how they used to feel about it, or whether they've changed entirely over the centuries. It'd be good for keeping the moral ambiguity of the original ending while also offering a possibility for "goofy professor guy gets a 100% happy ending actually".
Won shi tong is such a badass character. I believe this is the only spirit the whole gang directly interacts with in the whole show and my god does this spirit have a commanding presence. Every character is on edge near this guy and best of all, he gives genuine insight about humanity and the world every person can think about. He’s so memorable and interesting to watch.
I always felt like the amount of pure dedication The Professor shows to just the knowledge would allow him to become some sort of spirit. That him saying he could spend an eternity hints at him living on in some way.
My favourite episode. Wan Shi Tong is a very wise and interesting spirit with a deep message for the viewer. Even as a child, I could understand his resentment against humanity. When Katara tries to fight him off and he says that iconic line: "Your waterbending won't do you much good here. I've studied northern water style, southern water style, even foggy swamp style." This spirit is a THREAT.. but it wasn't shown. I wish i could have seen him actually use bending, and to have seen him more. Fantasically done episode.
It would have been interesting to see someone who has studied every water bending style come across a water bender. See where he moves, right because the north likes to go left, left because the south likes to go right, or advance because the swamp likes to stay in their place.
That final act in the episode nearly homages Indiana Jones. Only that the archeologist wasn't a villain. Just an idealist living and dying by his dreams.
You sound like Belloq lol, who himself is represented in your last sentence. He had no real intention to help the Nazis achieve their goal, he was simply an idealist living and dying by his dreams
Im convinced there was a way to get the knowledge without angering the bird. Explain that you are not seeking to destroy, you're seeking to restore. Both the order of the world and the contents of the library. Aang is an inexperienced avatar with a very real deadline. But more tan that, he doesn't kill. There is no desire for destruction, he's trying to prevent destruction.
That’s still justification for war. Wan Shi Tong’s gripe is the misuse of knowledge, not necessarily destruction. Plus, a scholar, especially an immortal historian like Wan Shi Tong. Could, and should, make the argument that the pieces should lie where they fall. The Fire Nation started the war, they’re winning the war, even though he has the knowledge to turn the tides of the war. It’s not up to him to interfere. Wether humanity would be better off or not. If the other nations want to win, then the idea would be for them to do it on their own. Wether or not the Fire Nation wins or loses, new knowledge will still come about. What is lost and forgotten cannot be recovered. So Wan Shi Tong really doesn’t have a horse in this race at all.
I personally love The Library, but I don't find it underrated at all. I find The Fortune Teller to be by far the most underrated Avatar episode, and the perfect town-semi-filler episode. It's well written, has a cohesive and focused episode arc which advances a specific subplot (the romance), it has great character interactions (showing a deep understanding of each of them and their dynamics), it's funny as hell, and it low-key has some of the best animation in the whole show. It's great and honestly one of my favorite episodes in the whole show.
@@orangeslash1667 That's another good filler episode. It's not really filler because Aang and everyone in the team must be as nervous as him but try to relax either way. To top it all off this is the episode before the day of the black sun arc comes to its two-parter climax.
i always wanted to visit a library like this. somewhere in the in-between where you’re there and you’re not, with books potentially never seen by human eyes. i also think it’s one of the greatest episodes, just by how unique it was and because of what happened to Appa and future episode set-up.
I always saw Wan's library like our real world the Great Alexandria Library. I can only imagine how grandeur it was before burning, I think it took 7 times to actually fully burn down too.
This video is actually super helpful from a writing advice perspective. It's ok to have coincidences in your story as long as they are well balanced so as to not feel cheap to the audience.
As someone who spent a great deal of time and their childhood and also currently in libraries, the library of Wan Shi Tong sounds amazing to me... Unlimited knowledge, so long as it is used for good.
@@SamLemont it could also be like hei bai who can change his appearance based on his current state. wan shi tong probably has a few other physical forms he could transform into that makes sense when transforming from an owl. like, probably not a monkey or a cat, but something avian so that turning into an avian dragon is still a meaningful lore that doesn't seem too random.
My ONLY gripe with this episode is Sokka not even trying to say the Fire Nation didn’t just kill the air nomads but destroyed their temples and by extension the knowledge of air bender traditions and wisdom and arts, and how they almost did that to the SOUTHERN WATER TRIBE to the point that he grew up thinking his sister’s water bending was magic. They were even suppressing and kidnapping known earth benders which if not for Aang and the end of the war would have resulted in huge patches of the earth kingdom being ignorant and unknowledgeable of earth bending. And, I know this happened later in the series but we even see the Fire Nation spreading false information throughout the school system to justify and whitewash the war. The Fire Nation is not only destroying knowledge, they’re also warping and distorting what they don’t destroy to fit their lies. Hell, the war ITSELF was the reason for the technological leaps we see starting with Aang’s time and leading into Korra. The war perpetuated the discovery of new knowledge and inventions that even Wan Shi Tong’s Foxes couldn’t properly find out how they worked evidenced when schooled him on radio
Wan Shi Tong has said himself that he doesn't care about human politics, that isn't why he exists; he exists for the sole purpose of collecting, recording, and learning. He dislikes humans for using knowledge for their own hubris, a direct violation of Wan Shi Tong's very existence.
@@colt9836 the problem with that viewpoint is that what Sokka and the others were there to accomplish wasn't about their own hubris at all. Also knowledge is meant to be used not merely amassed. Knowledge is not simply meant to be attained but to be used. And how one uses that knowledge should of no business or concern to the knowledge spirit. As acting on the knowledge one has in no way abuses that knowledge.
@@clintonsharpe9242 Wan Shi Tong's gripe with the use of knowledge for war is due to Admiral Jow burning a section of the library, regardless of his status as the knowledge spirit
Personally, The Library is why Book 2 is my favorite (well, and Toph). As TV becomes more and more serialized, The Library is the first episode that pops into my mind when I make the argument that standalone episodes can still be important to long form storytelling. They are also more memorable than just blurs of entries that's part of a larger, movie-like narrative. Plus, I think Wan Shi Tong as a character is a pretty genius creation. The Library overall is so distinct and unforgettable. Like a lot of that second season. (I love Book 2 so much)
I agree. The library was the first episode of Avatar I ever watched without any context. I couldn't help but root hard for them to escape the creepy owl. And them loosing Appa hit hard even without further context.
I find this episode very eerie and memorable just imagine you're just chilling in the library looking for a book and all of a sudden wan shi tong chases you if he suspects you're plotting something? If he can't kill you then he'll definitely use the library itself to drown you in the sand never escaping the library
Wan Shi Tong has his own rules and his own values. Human life is not something he values. Knowledge, wisdom is what he values so obviously trying to talk to him about right and wrong isn't going to end well. And just because he's a spirit doesn't mean he's all powerful, Admiral Zhao absolutely got away with burning more than just a book.
What an AMAZING video. FINALLY someone understands this episode, and feels the way I did about it. I, too, absolutely loved that last line from the professor. A man who knows what he wants, and is willing to die for it. He's my favorite sub-character for that reason alone. Great video.
It’s a damn shame they lost a library filled with Treasures and Knowledge for an event that failed. Although at least Zuko was given time to confront his father, and leads to my favorite arc of the franchise “The boiling rock.”
@@picklerick9259 just found a slight continuity error. The general said that the library was underground, but it was him destroying part of it that caused won shi tong to sink it in the first place?
dude i love your editing style. overlaying cutouts and text on the footage and splicing together clips so that the dialogue complements your own narration is so cool. also instantly shows how well you know the show what a nice, refreshing video👍
When I was younger it made me realize the ambiguity of good. I thought the owl was in the right and the avatar wrong for lying. I was young and when talking about it with anyone else i always sided with the owl. This was another way i realized things are messy and need to be seen from different angles. It had a huge impact on my beliefs and emotional development.
This episode is VERY underrated. Rewatching the show multiple times has made me realize that this episode is when the whole show shifts in tone and becomes more mature. I thought as a kid that Wong Xi Tong, “He Who Knows 10,000 Things” and Won Xi Tong’s Library was based off a real mythology. Which goes to show the masterful storytelling of ATLA.
I respect Wan Shi Tong a lot. In the end the very behavior he came to hate most from humans, greed, is what spurred Sokka to steal from him. His violent reaction was incredibly understandable I mean imagine the place you've spent thousands of years overseeing is suddenly being robbed by a bunch of "well meaning" young kids. Would you not be absolutely livid too?
I remember when I was a child I had the idea of a secret library hidden underground in the desert and I didn't remember where that idea came from. That idea stayed with me, although I forgot where it came from.
I always adored the spirit world in Avatar, all my favourite episodes are those in which the spirit world plays a big part. Like the Winter solstice, The Library, Siege of the North. Spirits are so strange & ominous, but they still have a moral compass, it's just vastly different then those of mortals. Koh the Face Stealer gave Aang vital information he needed to save the Northern water tribe yet it's easily forgettable just because of how creepy he is.
I LOVE THIS EPISODE and the whole concept of searching unknown knowledge in the desert it actually reminds me of my favorite genshin impact arc, the sumeru's arc, where one of the lines that stood up to me was "the god of wisdom's enemy is wisdom itself and the oasis of knowledge is a mirage in the desert of ignorance"
With each subsequent video I find that I’m enjoying your work more and more. Short or long, comedic or serious, I love the work that’s being done here. Great work Cardinal.
I always felt like The Library was one of the best - to put in in a very generalized way - "Adventure" episodes of the series. Most of the highly considered episodes you mentioned in the video focus a lot on characters, reveals, and backstory. All of which are amazing, of course. But The Library as a concoction of other things that you lay out in this video that solidifies it as one of the best in the series. This makes sense because it is, quite literally, the exact middle of the entire series.
Ngl i thought him not knowing how the radio worked was pretty funny. I remember in ATLA wondering if the foxes could bring him bad information, like he knows 10,000 things cuz he learns, not like he just knows everything the moments its made. I kinda like the idea one of the foxes fucked up and brought him someones personal notes on how they thought it worked. But the voice was horrible for some reason in korra
I always loved this episode, mainly because of the awesome setting, but also because it sets up the "we've gotta find appa" side story that happens over the next couple episodes
As a 2005 kid i completely agree with you. I always had a special spot for this episode. The huge library where everything about the avatar universe is collected and a big ass owl chasing our heroes was for me the most frightening thing.
Woah, rewatched this series a couple times, but I'd always been wrapped up thinking about the comet that I never considered how much the information detour was a double nut punch to their progress. That's an amazing point you made that really elevates this episode further for me. Most of the time before I'd be distracted thinking about how water benders were weaker during eclipse and stronger at night and full moons, fire benders are boosted during the day and comets, always had me pondering what multipliers could exist for earth & air benders.
@@j.a.b.nijenhuis8124 no matter where you are, during winter, nights are longer than days. Spending less time with the sun and spending more time with the moon (the original waterbender, as it pushes and pulls the tides) enhances waterbending.
Genuinely one of my favourite UA-camrs. I'm not even big into xenofiction, but I know an upload from you is going to be quality. When it's Avatar it's just that much better.
I had a love/hate relationship with this episode, I LOVE the idea of the location. Honestly the only thing I hate about it, is that on rewatch, I know what's going on outside of the library with appa and do it ruins the wonder
Yeah no this episode is pretty well rated. From what I've seen from many people say they really love this episode. I mean this episode kicks off Appa being lost, gives us the first tease of what could be the endgame battle, Introduces a fan favorite character, and has some pretty good humor. Honestly nothing but praise for this one back when I was kid watching the show all the way till now.
Thanks for this breakdown….it’s one of my favorite episodes, I’ve probably seen it dozens of times over the years….yet, you highlighted things I didn’t even notice to appreciate! Truly an epic episode.
Man, I always loved this episode. When I was young just because owl looked cool, the views etc. After I grew up a little and manage to understand message concluded in this episode. This Spirit doesn't trust people since he got so many bad experiences, when people lied and try to use knowledge to take adventage of other people. I was even wondering if he knew who avatars were and that this kid looks like someone that might be connected with them so he just let Aang get there. Once again, his trust for people was disrespected (Spirit actually acted like he knew, he will be betrayed from the beginning), even if Aang wanted to make good use of this knowledge. This Owl was right, but in this episode at some point he looks like a villain. This episode was very philosophical. He didn't want to take part in human things, conflicts and consents. Rules wasn't respected by visitors so he took everything he had underground. I liked everything in that episode, maybe beside the fact that Appa has been stolen.
I find it interesting that Zhao was still alive in LOK s2, via the fog spirit, but the professor was long dead. Wan Shi Tong really just let the professor die. Didn't even preserve him for his knowledge.
Loved the video and your take on the episode. However I personally think the most underrated episode is The Swamp to be completely honest. It's one of the lowest rated episodes on imdb and that episode literally made me see the world differently with the philosophy of how everything is connected. I think that message is beautiful and important. Also the foreshadowing of Toph, Katara and Sokka both being confronted by their past and learning about vinebending.. No way is that episode filler compared to the likes of The Great Divide.
oh definitely one of the most metal episodes. i still have fan theories about the scholar who died along with the library. i like to think that he became a spirit roaming the halls of the sunken library, and slowly befriended wan shi tong.... they could have done an entire 4 episode spin off of a story like that. maybe his animal spirit form is a smaller owl, that grows with age. eventually replacing wan shi tong after millennia
and i also, sadly, do not like what the legend of korra did to the avatar world etc. there are many many areas where i think it ruined the world. not surprised they ruined wan shi tong too, and missed so many cool potentials.
It's almost weird how much depth each character and how much humor and wisdom each episode has. The best part is seeing people make videos like these because they can't keep it in themselves how good the show is. Really it's a show beyond any other. Like it's not just cause of childhood, it's a picked show from the childhood which I elevate beyond others because of the personal impact it had on me.
I really don't get when people say that spirits can't be understood. Every spirit has pretty human motivations so far. I have heard the exact speech about " humans wars all being the same" over and over again from so many people that it just makes him seem more human. Hell, I used to think the same way, though the only reason I thought that way was depression. He thinks that way from pure ignorance. No war has EVER had as much destruction as this one, and the fire nation's plan to literally burn the earth kingdom up would have completely changed the world itself. Even just the spirit toll would be great. Any spirit landmarks like a spiritual forest would be completely burned through the continent. They already killed the dragons and a moon god for spirit's sake. If he honestly thinks this war is the same as any others, then he doesn't have an "unknowable mind". He has an ignorant mind that refuses to actually learn outside what he is interested in. The exact same as many human minds. I am just saying, a human could love knowledge and be just as dismissive of people fighting a war. The only difference between him and a human is physical at that point. "All wars are the same" Reminds me of the WWI generals I learned about that refused to change tactics even when machine guns were introduced. They just kept telling troops to charge and needlessly sending them to their deaths because that is just how they thought war was done. War had changed, war had completely changed, and we had to learn that. This spirit never had the chance to learn the difference before he locked himself away because Aang stopped the fire nation from completely wiping away large portions of a continent. Did he ever learn that the fire nation killed a moon spirit? He only learns from books the spirit foxes bring him so that actually would explain the "little man" conversation. Though I agree completely that good and evil spirits shouldn't exist. That just ruins so much.
There is also the fact that Zhao most likely came in and specifically asked for the knowledge to win a war. Or made his intentions clear. So it was more Zhao toasting the ENTIRE firenation section that made the spirit paranoid. Since he assumed that after team avatar had found what they needed they'll do much the same. It had nothing to do with the fact they were fighting a war so much as the last guy who came in there doing so destroyed thousands of years of work.
@@spacehitler4537 We don't know for sure that Zhao specifically asked for the knowledge to win a war. He could have said his real reason after burning a lot of scrolls. He would have to be pretty dumb to mention he is attacking the nation the spirit lives in. Wan Shi Tong wouldn't usually care, but the army marching above him turning his foxes to ash might annoy him. Also, If Wan Shi Tong really didn't care about them doing that for a war and just about his books, then he would not have said, "do you think you are the first to think your war is justified?" Plus, when he destroyed large walls/ bookshelves trying to attack people who are clearly trying to escape and not destroy anything in his library. If he just cared about the books, he took the path that lead to most books being destroyed.
An odd thing about spirits is that they don't seem to care when unrelated spirits die. The Avatar himself uses his place as the bridge between the human and spirit worlds to his advantage a few times, but Yangchen, the Air Nomad avatar before Aang, apparently made a lot of promises to various spirits and then did not deliver. The Avatar after her could not appease the spirits she wronged and ended up having to outright kill a decent many of these spirits to save human lives. Then later, Roku and Aang have good relations with a decent many spirits using their "bridge between worlds" card, and LoK did whatever they did with spirits. The spirits have their one niche that they care about, and that's it. That's what they base their entire understanding of what right and wrong is. Sometimes it's something understandable like a love for their spirit mom, but even then, I just described Koh's motivation for stealing faces with even so much as a hint of emotion.
@@rpgincorporated8302 That is no different than any human mind. Every person does exactly that with what they know. In several places in ancient times any "intoxicant" was considered unholy. So when someone was found with coffee they were put to death. Literally trapped in a bag and thrown into a river To us it seems insane to us, but we come from a modern world with more information to work on. More perspectives to help ground us. The spirits just have the exact same temperament of uneducated humans in a low technology world. They can't get a bigger perspective so they just, focus on what they know. They get stuck with old ideas the same as any human raised that way. Honestly I hope they study spirits more in future series. What happens when a spirit lives along side human society long enough to have a completely different view then its ancestors. Many belief systems have spirits of technology or even just living items with their own spirits. It makes sense a spirit of a factory could exist exactly the same as the spirit of a forest. How would a spirit focused on something entirely human made interact with old nature spirits. Either way, it seems like they all have normal human motivates that can be understood. Even the most "unknowable" spirit seems to have logic on par with humans when we were killing coffee drinkers. The face stealer's mother said out right that he is just trying to get back at her. That is his motivation. She said it clearly. He literally has the temperament of a child breaking the things his mother makes to get back at her. Their is nothing unknowable about him. They explain every spirit's motivation so clearly that I honestly just see them as elves in any other fantasy world. They are magic and live longer, but with a human mind. Flaws and all.
I would argue that his non interference doesn't come from ignorance, in fact I think it comes from the opposite. He's been around for God knows how long, as seen and learned things that humanity has long since forgotten and been there for their highest achievements and most terrible atrocities. While the genocide of the air nomads and the 100 year war is probably the worst thing in living memory, we do have to keep in mind that that's only from the human's frame of reference. The sands of time wear down on everything and who's to say Won Shi Tong hasn't seen equal or greater tragedies throughout his millennia of existence.
It always makes me happy to see another video by you, always so much good content with a just the right amount of comedy. Hopefully your book arrives soon I got it in preorder. Very excited to give it a read!
I disagree that Mr. Owl is particularly bright beyond his collection of knowledge, because of how he was unable to see the Avatar's role in the war. The Avatar is the bridge between the spirits and humans and is also responsible for maintaining balance in the world, which also has implications for the spirits. Mr. Owl, if he were wise, should have been able to deduce Aang's duty and his need for guidance in order to restore the balance that the fire nation was destroying, the consequences of which would likely reverberate into the spirit world. Because of this lapse in judgment, I only see Mr. Owl strictly as a spirit of knowledge but not wisdom - he knows many things but is unable to apply knowledge or even use existing knowledge to build new knowledge as humans do. This is also why I'm fine with LoK showing that Mr. Owl can fall victim to misinformation since he is not equipped to perform proper research.
To put it in D&D terms, he has everything in Intelligence but has a low Wisdom score. You can read and be very knowledgable, yet not have the wisdom to use any of it. Applying knowledge to wisdom is an extra step he isn't willing to take because he doesn't really care to.
Literally my favorite episode even as a kid. Toph struggling outside to save oppa or them, the way everything looked in the library, the godly owl looming over the whole episode. Sht was amazing
OMG this was the very first episode I ever watched. I remember sneaking into my grandparents room and watching their TV (we didn't have cable) and watching this episode. Became so obsessed with the little knowledge of the show and running around for weeks pretending to be an air bender
Wow, so I am rewatching this show and just finished this episode. I see it as a good point to stop for the day and I check UA-cam and this is the first thing I see. And yes this is a fantastic episode, one of my favorites.
The Library, a phrase that brings terror to a great many science fiction and fantasy fans alike, both because of winding hallways and an unstoppable force within said corridors.
I think you have perfected your video essay formula, just enough comedic bits thrown in between the very serious analysis to elevate the entertainment value without making it feel too unbalanced. Also that ad transition was amazing.
I was so lucky to be around when this first aired. I’ll never forget all the promo commercials and hype around it. Glad it ended up being something I can come back to 18 years later
The Anthropologist is the only character seeking knowledge for its own sake so it’s more natural for his to stay in this Library world instead of returning to the usual one. The Owl would probably spare him as well for this very reason.
I just found your channel with this video being recommended and I had to sub bc of how good it is! I love your perfect blend of insightful analysis and witty humor.
19:06 That's actually a really dumb criticism of the prequels. Anakin did not turn on a dime and killed those kids because it was his destiny to turn to the Dark side. In fact, it's the opposite. Anakin's destiny was to destroy the Sith and bring Balance, but because of both his own flaws, and the failings of the Jedi, he chose to join the Sith instead. Anakin was already struggling with the Dark side, by the beggining of the film, shown when he killed Dooku in cold blood. This was worsened by his fear of losing Padmé, and the Council acting in a very un-Jedi like manner, all which culminated in Windu trying to kill Palpatine (Anakin's one chance of saving Padmé), with the exact same justification of "He's too dangerous to be left alive.", that Palpatine himself used to rest Anakin's consiousness after killing Dooku.
plus he hadn't slept in a week do to violent nightmares of padme's death in addition to arguments with jedi and the fact that the one time anakin tries despratley to follow the jedi way a master mace windu a man he has feuded complained and argued with for years says fuck the rules and tries to murder what anakin sees as a helpless old man cause it was convenient for him to say nothing of palpatine being anakins father figure so when push came to shove he dis armed mace and went on the purge partially due to inertia I would like to bring up to the younglings wasn't when he truly fell it was when he slaughtered the separtists council cause he enjoyed that one
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Thanks for sharing your book sounds interesting. My favorite animal is wolf so I definitely should love it.
Is your book kid friendly? Like could I read it to a 6 year old?
@@kemsat-n6h at first I thought you was talking to me. My book isn’t for kids but it is for young adults and adults. It’s called The wanted Ninja. I probably should make a page for it but it will be less Professional.
@@kemsat-n6h to answer your question after reading a little bit to myself my answer is yes. It’s a story about a dog because friends with a wolf. I really like his idea just don’t have any money for it yet.
My book is intended for adults, so I probably don't think it would be suitable for children under the age of 12 or so.
“You think your the first person to believe their war was justified?” One of my favorite quotes. Really makes you you think.
Yessss mine too!
I never got that; Sokka was trying to gain information because he wanted to end the war; why would he think that the war was justified?
@@PaleMist Ok.
I also love the fact that the character who said that quote wasn't human. Philosophies about morals and war are often connected with questions regarding the nature of humanity, so an "outsider" looking into the problems of human affairs just makes the quote eerie for me.
@@PaleMist because he was still trying to gain intelligence to use against other humans. And once knowledge is gained even if its used for a good reason it will eventually be used for evil.
The Library marked a turning point in the series. Before the main narrative was having Aang master all four elements before Sozins comet. After the Library, the narrative shifts to actually trying to end the war, which involves actual planning, preparation and execution, so there was that to consider. Its also where the show, to me at least, shifts in tone from light hearted and adventurous to a more dark and serious tone, with a lot higher stakes and some deep conflicting drama.
Great point and agreed. After this the show really grew up.
exactly
Especially when you add in the appa climax at the end and aang’s reaction
Exactly, I have no idea how this UA-camr decided this episode is "underrated"
@@Inebriated_Goat because how often do you heart it mentioned among people’s favorite parts/episodes?
This episode is also a masterclass on suspense. The whole time they’re wandering through the library, it feels eerie, like Wan Shi Tong could be around any corner. And then when the library is being destroyed you’re on the edge of your seat between everyone trying to escape and Toph doing her best in an environment she can’t do much in. Easily an s tier episode
yessss
And you’re worried about Apa!!!!
Something I noticed about owls is this: In western cultures, the symbolism of the owl is knowledge and wisdom, while in eastern cultures, the symbolism of the owl stresses the terror of the night. Wan-Shi-Tong represents both perfectly. He's also perfectly neutral (in a lawful way), preserving knowledge purely for its own sake. Too bad the Legend of Korra screwed him up...
It's funny because owls really aren't that smart irl, some cultures characterize them as derpy jocks basically.
In Arab culture, they resemble bad luck and misfortune.
im scared to ask what Korra did to him
@@alakazamlover4908 it literally shows how they done him dirty in the video, they made a wise knowledgeable being and turned him into a dishevelled version of his former self
In my western european country, owls are considered pretty stupid. Calling someone an 'owl chick' is telling them they're a blundering idiot. There's also a folk hero called owlmirror, who plays the archetype of the clever trickster fool, and the name explains perfectly what his thing is in these stories. So there's a triple meaning, you could say Wan Shi-Tong is also a representation of Dunning-Kruger effect.
Additional good things about the episode: it makes Sokka and Toph shine.
Sokka does a lot of quick thinking: First, he reasons that the planetarium might be able to predict future eclipses. Then takes the risk to go back to the planetarium AFTER the Library starts sinking so they can get that intel. Despite the danger they're in, he sees how rare a resource the Library is and understands that if there's a time to take a risk, it's now. Then he narrows down the days they check for with some gloriously pragmatic strategic thinking - he's right, the days when an eclipse would even matter to them would be *before* Sozin's Comet. And all this after Wan Shi Tong dismissed his intelligence and how little he had to contribute to the library, joining yet another long line of powerful beings who underestimated Sokka.
And they only have the time to do all that because Toph is using her earthbending to counteract the Library-sinking powers of a literal immortal spirit. It's a low moment for her because it means she has to let Appa get captured (and we see her anguish at that, too, despite the tough act she puts on most of the time!), but honestly, what a badass.
There are very good reasons this show's writing still resonates so much with people.
This episode had one of the best toph moments too. Her losing to the sand benders was a devastating loss for her personally. As far as her bending goes she's never doubted it before, but not only had it failed her and make her doubt her skill for probably the first time ever, in losing this battle she let down her first ever friends, the kind she thought she'd never have.
Perhaps it was the first catalyst that led her to metal bending. The shame of her previous failure coupled with her utter helplessness (something I’m sure she works very hard to avoid) was occurring again as she was locked in the box. She pushed herself beyond what she knew she was capable of and this changed Toph forever.
Even creating a school of bending, and a police force to protect people; a force which she even presided over personally. From this desert scene Toph began to grow less and less helpless to prove to everyone that she, in fact, was not helpless and that like anyone else she could find solutions to the obstacles that she faced, with or without help. She felt less sorry for herself and bolstered her headstrong nature to ultimately achieve a connectedness to earth that was unparalleled by anyone who wasn’t an avatar.
I think Toph did say she wasn't a fan of sand. It's noticeably more loose than typical earth, so she can't have an actual footing. And I believe she said the sand causes her "vision" to be fuzzy.
I especially love the fact that on the later episode, when they're doing a beach party on Ember Island and Toph made a Ba Sing Se sand sculpture. They hint us that Toph never forget this moment where she failed, she said "I've been working on my sand bending" like she knew that's her weakness and keep improving and that makes her a great bender!
@@NicholasAldric I honestly never made that connection. And if I recall correctly, she made the map very detailed; even getting it down to the streets and alleyways.
@@SaiyanGamer95 Aang comments that she even makes a model of the Earth King and Bosco.
The line about “Do you think you are the first human to think their war is justified?” is just such amazing writing and delivery. I think it was the first time I ever heard violence framed that way and probably helped form my whole attitude towards violence.
My favorite single episode of the whole series, although there is serious competition for that spot.
Except, it was justified
@@grantwalter2243 Even if your violence is justified, you must always ask yourself if it really is. We are fallible. People must be careful with radical action, even when it is necessary to do it.
@@GynxShinx sometimes you gotta fight to survive
@@grantwalter2243 a spirit like him definitely lacks any sense of human morality, as 10,000 years (metaphorically meaning infinity as some comments have revealed) can hold many, MANY genocides with the same, violent results.
war and violence at the end of the day is war and violence. there’s even an entire culture strictly against violence (eastern air nomads, and aang still conflicts with himself from murdering the firelord).
that’s not to say monk gyatso still murdered hundreds of firebenders before his demise, though when you reach into the depths of the series, witnessing the brainwashing, the ruthless dictatorship, and the heartlessness inflicted onto the Fire Nation’s soldiers, you realize still that they’re still human beings too. to an outsider, there’s no right or wrong side to this war. from his perspective, Sokka could be the equivalent to Jet; disregarding any life for the sake of ‘getting back’ at the Fire Nation. gaining an upper hand from Wan Shi Ton’s knowledge to begin another climactic, brutal battle against the Fire Nation looks exactly what it looks like.
Your mom has amazing writing and delivery.
What's cool about Wan-Shi Tong is:
-In eastern cultures, the symbolism of the owl stresses the terror of the night, which is represented in his horrific rage in the climax
-10.000 in some eastern cultures tends to be used as a shorthand for infinity. He calls himself omnicient.
Interesting. I like how they had the western view of owls being wise and knowledgeable as well at the beginning of the episode. Cool fusion
Do you know if the "it requires 10000 hours to become a master at some skill" is also not meant literally, but more in the way of "in order to master a skill, you need to commit to it forever"?
I don't know where that comes from or if it's related, but it'd make a lot of sense to me
Also, "wanshitong" is the Chinese word for "know-it-all", as in an obnoxious person who claims to have knowledge on many subjects.
One like for not starting with "fun fact"
@@FlorianWendelborn
As my personal experience, you have to commit to something in order to be "just" good in it;
Im programming since 10 years now (beginning as a child, going into courses, then studying and now working) and never felt like: oh yeah, now i know what im doing.
It was always like: oh there's something new that i should read about.
So i think you cannot be a master at any time, you're just good at it and it stays that way only if you keep on going.
"Being a master" is just the product of the titles that you get along the way, however they can give a non expert an idea of your understanding but doesn't mean anything at all.
The Library and The Desert are the literal half point of the show. The Library ends the first half and The Desert begins the second half. Even just to say the events in The Library are important would be an understatement. The tone of the whole show shifts, the stakes are raised and Team Avatar takes up a more active involvement in the events of world. Suffice to say, both of these episodes are among the best in an entire series that is filled with great, poignant episodes.
appa getting kidnapped is a key moment. he carries them around the world, and without him, team avatar got severely handicapped. he's not just a convenient plot device that lets them go wherever. appa matters.
yeah i’ve always subconsciously felt a shift after the library episode
Yeah I definitely agree with the tone shift. The fact that it is their "only" favorable way of ending the war puts them in a situation that is sort of: "if we don't end the war that day we're fucked", which definitely set a more serious tone for the rest of the show.
A wise owl that can transform into a snaking dinosaur with complete knowledge of all bending skills. Truly an optional boss.
No, no one could ever forget this two parter. All because of this one joke.
The gang looking out across the Desert, depressed from their lack of finding anything.
Toph: Here it is!
Toph points out into the distance. The gang springs forward, life returning to their eyes as they stare out into the Horizon of where Toph was pointing only to see the same nothing.
Toph : That’s what it’ll be like when one of you spots it.
Sarcastically waving her hand in front of her face reminding both the gang and the audience that she’s blind.
Funny enough... that was actually the first time I saw Toph in the show (I don't know how but I missed out on the episodes when Toph joined the group until I happened to catch this episode during its debut)
@@HolyDruid7 Cool, for me it was Bitter Work.
@@CrashCubeZeroOne and she's the only one who couldve made that joke without it being considered unethical.
@@reffa2858 how would de joke be unethical?
@@AhmedHassan-sp1mx an able-bodied person making a joke about a disabled person would be viewed poorly....
"You've got something against libraries?"
"I've held books before, and I gotta tell you, they don't exactly do it for me"
I imagine she'd enjoy hitting someone with a particularly hefty book, but other than that, not much use to her.
She clearly needed more story-time sessions, her parents failed her again lol
But seriously, people willing to read to you is great even if you can't see the book
" Let me know if they have something you could listen to "
this means that braille hasn't been invented yet, which i think is intentional writing. otherwise, there is no narrative excuse why toph wouldn't join them.
@@maggyfrog It's possible that a form of Braille had been invented, but Toph was never interested in being "lady-like" as her parents raised her. So even if she had read using some form of Braille, it's still well within her character to lack interest and even joke about not being able to read.
i love the fan theory that some air benders who where not at any of the temples during the fire nation raid did survive by seeking refuge with the sandbenders. they are both nomadic, and the sandbender dress would of helped hid their tattoos. it would also be very easy to hide airbending as sandbending
I'm honestly fine with that headcanon. It would also make the return of the airbenders later more natural
@@fishraposo7192 to my knowledge a good theory around that is that when air bender children are born and brought up far away from air nomad culture they just can't develop bending (related to the theory that Ty Lee's parent(s) were (an) airbender(s) or she's an airbender herself because her movements are very fluid and to me her personality seems very similar to that of young Aang) but messing with the spirit world changed that somehow and all the descendants of airbenders just started bending
would have
"would of" means nothing
Dumb theory considering that even in LOK pure airbenders still are practically non existent.
@@anamap actually it's an idiom that means "would've"
It’s interesting how both Zhao and Team Avatar took information from the library and then failed to accomplish what they planned to do with it afterwards. Zhao killed the moon spirit but Yue took its place. Team Avatar couldn’t find Ozai and the adults were imprisoned.
I wonder how the owl would react to iroh. He is such a neutral character nearly all of the time. And someone who holds true to his principles so he wouldn't do anything to harm the library out of respect.
As I think of it, didn't Iroh have a knowledge seeker with him in the spirit world?
@@_jpg yeah one of his friends was a spirit fox, not sure if all foxes were seekers though
Wdym neutral?
@@thehuntermikipl1170 he doesn't really fight one side or other, he will defend himself and his friends given the need to arrises, but theres only really 1 episode that he actively fights for a side. The rest of the series he just chills out.
@@francisbalfour1243 He was a member of white lotus, he strongly opposed killing moon spirit, he took part in recapturing ba sing se, and in the final attack on fire nation.
I love that the spiritual parts of the world was very limited. It allowed us to keep it as mystical and intriguing. Also the avatar still struggling to get along with certain spirits is great. It makes sense that even being the bridge, he faces conflicts on both plains, instead of all the spirits always loving him with no effort.
Honestly, that just leaves me wanting more.
@@pn2294Better to be left wanting more than wanting less!
@@pn2294The iceberg is a double edged sword
This episode was always the one that stuck with me. I’m blind so, of course. To all the people claiming that Toph is overpowered and “too perfect to be disabled,” I always bring this episode to their attention. Here she learned that she can’t do it all on her own, and that she had a lot to learn about Earthbending still. She had skill, yes, but here was the first time she encountered an obstacle that later on she worked to overcome. Without this episode, her metalbending in “the guru” would have seem overpowered, but she already experienced not being able to save Appa.
As a blind person who had to learn most things on her own since always, “the library” is hard to watch, but it’s a great reminder that I’m still human, and I will fail. I don’t have to dwell on it.
Thanks a lot for the video. Also, any book with the northern lights on the cover is a book I will eventually read.
How are you typing this if you're blind.
I don’t wanna be rude but did you just hear the show or you used some kind of narration format?
@@notme3603 no problem, I get these type of comments all the time. There is audio description, but Avatar didn’t have it. :( it’s bad for the blind who have even less remaining vision than me.
I can see colors and “big picture details.” So I recognize Toph because of her hair style and she wears green and pale yellow. I can’t see how they drew her eyes or if she she has something that shows she’s notoriously blind or not.
To read comments I use a digital zoom as my magnifier and if I read books I use a screen reader.
@@DalCecilRuno I dont know quite how to write down my thoughs but just relativly recently i learned that beeing blind does not have the meaning of "no vision" but rather very impared vision that can differ a lot.
A example of what a "blind" person can achieve is Master Chef winner Christine Hà who has neuromyelitis optica.
On the note of Toph beeing blind it was explained to the viewer that she is blind while showing White surrounding the eye,with i would say lighter grey for the eye with a darker spot in the middel.
But since she is able to navigate with her earth bending i enjoy the "comedic" moment the show is having when people FORGET that the blind girl cant see.
"THERE IT IS!....thats what it would sound like if someone of you spots it!" *Waves hand in front of face with a smile*
Or when she is certain she can place the posters of appa just like everyone else....just to place it the wrong way.
@@marxel4444 I laughed so hard the first time I experienced that scene when she says “there it is!” and everyone turns. That is something I would do for fun. 🤣
As a kid while the show was actually airing I never watched the whole series in order, but for some reason the library always stuck in my head
I feel like they played this episode super often, as well as serpents pass
i specifically remember when this episode premiered, this and the episode after were advertised as a big one hour special and was hyped up for a couple weeks before hand so it felt like it was going to be a huge thing. it lived up to the hype for sure
For me the library was the first episode of Avatar I ever saw by chance. So I will always remember it as impressive.
Eben without further context you can't help but root very hard for team Avatar to escape the super creepy owl and to mourn with them over their loss of Appa.
@@DrazticMeasures4 ❤❤😮😮
I think the archaeologist staying in the library is so beautiful. I don’t know if it already exists but I’d love to see a story about him turning into a spirit or guardian of the library because that’s probably what happened
I've always wondered how the hell Zhao managed to get out of there with his skin intact after torching part of the library. Also, I always assumed that Unalaq just lied to him and that he didn't realize that he was trying to become a dark avatar.
If you can fall for a lie from a devious looking dude like Unalaq then you're not a wise spirit of knowledge lol
Wan Shi Tong probably didn't want to risk Zhao burning anything else, so he likely just left a route to the exit clear and herded Zhao in that direction.
@@dmgroberts5471so he wanted to trap team avatar, because he didn’t trust them, yet also trusted them enough to not damage his books?
@@jamesbizs They wanted to gain knowledge, not to destroy it.
I assume that Wan Shi Tong tried to save the books and scrolls while Zhao just ran.
I feel like everyone is rediscovering their love for this show at the same time
I think its because at some points in our life, we begin to look back from where we came from.
@@esbeng.s.a9761 no, it is an echo from hype from news about Netflix series.
Started during 2020
My brothers and I got the comics that continue the series like a decade ago and we watch it together every year or two. It's actually a little weird that it's become so popular again. I'm a little annoyed by things like how this video was titled. It's not at all an underrated episode. If anyone made a top ten episodes list, I would be shocked if this wasn't there.
I just feel it needs more media focused around it. It’s such a interesting potential universe
I like The Legend of Korra, but damn, season 2 was such a mess.
About The Library, my head canon is that although the Professor Zei died, Wan Shi Tong made his spirit into one of the fox helper due to his love of knowledge.
That head cannon lives in my mind rent free. I was hoping a fox with glasses would approach jinora.
ew furry
As a massive fan of Korra , i have to agree man. Book 2 is (imo) easily the worst out of both series
The sad thing is season 2 started off strong with the civil war plot and the corrupt spirits. It was a legitimately interesting story that was ruined by the good and evil magic carpets and Unalok wanting to become a dark Avatar. (If the spirits were just the balancing forces of peace and chaos and the season demonstrated the need for both, it could have worked. It could have showed the necessity of chaos and the danger that lies in peace without that balancing force, but instead, it locked away evil chaos carpet without any regard to what that would do to the balance of the world and let good peace carpet run around without any consequence. Season 2 had so much potential that was wasted on a stupid plot twist).
@@tabithaalphess2115 I agree with your statement. Season 2, if anything, had a lot of potential that was wasted. I think Unalaq should not have been a straight up villain, just a man who, unlike his brother, is more in touch with spirits but maybe less so with humanity, who tries to teach humans to co-exist with spirits, and wants Korra's help in doing so. But maybe when he tries to force the South Pole to live this way too. After all, the season started with the South Pole having this weird celebration of spirits, but in such a materialistic, superficial way, the groundworks for that season's theme were already laid out.
Then, when Korra resists Unalaq's attempts to "convert" the South Pole, Unalaq, out of desparation, goes to the opposite of Korra's avatar spirit Raava, who is a spirit of order but also stagnation: Vaatu, not an evil spirit, but a spirit of Chaos, Change.
But Vaatu being such a capricious, fickle being, doesn't take the fusion with Unalaq well, and both become unable to operate correctly.
And here's where something interesting might happen: Raava changed when she fused with the first avatar Wan, she became less rigid, less authoritarian and less self-righteous. Simularly, Vaatu can become more stable, more even minded, but still an agent of change when that is necessary.
I don't know what that would have meant for the future series, that maybe there are 2 avatars who need to co-operate. It certainly makes things interesting to think about.
After Korra’s connection to the other avatars was severed, that would’ve been the perfect time to bring back Wan Shi Tong’s library. I’m 100% positive that his library has autobiographies of every Avatar that’s ever lived. Plus, now that the library is in the Spirit world, you could technically sneak into the library through meditation. Honestly would’ve been cool to see that
that is actually very brilliant. i never wouldve thought of that
Kora's vasted potential, what a shock
@@rickyricardo69 Plus, I think that would’ve been a better time to introduce the threat of season 3. Have Korra and Genora reading old Avatar books, and then they start to notice a trend in a few of her past lives…a dark presence reoccurring or something. But this is presuming that the Zaheer is not the villain. Either way, the library could’ve been there for so much more stuff
@@kostajovanovic3711 Of all the characters to get wrong, Wan She Tong's should be least likely because he doesn't show up much. Yet somehow they managed to ruin him in Korra.
@@orangeslash1667 how did they ruin him?
Honestly the thing I hate most about his complete character change in season 2 was how they also just casually drop that oh, that old professor guy is dead now. And they play it off just like a joke??
Like man, his ending in the original episode was really good! An odd mix of melancholy and heartwarming. He decides he wants to stay there even if it means he can never see other humans again, because all the knowledge here is his greatest dream and he can't bear to leave. And it's ambiguous because we have no clue what his fate is, we don't know how the owl spirit will react to him, whether he will believe the professor earnestly just wants to stay and isn't like other humans, or what her the bad experience he just had with Aang and co has caused him to become even more distrusting and he's just gonna kill him. And not knowing the answer either way makes it extra resonant, we may never know if our heroes's actions inadvertantly caused this innocent dotty old dude to die a horrible death, but even in the best case scenario they caused him to spend the rest of his life never seeing his friends and family again and we don't know if the knowledge of the library was truly enough to make up for it or if he regretted his choice years later. Heck, we don't even know if cos of how the spirit world worked, would he even age and die at all here? Did he get a literally eternal fate?
But nah, just destroy all that intrigue and moral complexity in an instant, owlboy just killed him five seconds after the episode ended. Poor Dumbass Professor Dude. And seriously, the owl spirit got character assassinated at the same time! Went from a badass genius morally ambiguous figure to the kind of mustache twirling dick dastardly level self sabotaging idiot who'd kill a completely innocent heckin Book Himbo, yet let actual goddamn villains just waltz in and out unharmed.
Absolute fuckin mess!
You're definitely right that the original episode is really good, and really slept on! It took seeing a worse sequel to it to make me really realise how morally deep the original was. I would absolutely love to see a rewrite of his second appearance where he retains his original characterization and everyone has to use true intelligence to escape from him with the info they need, not goddamn radio jokes...
And idk, either write creatively to never show what happened to the professor and preserve the moral ambiguity, or create some sort of resolution to his story that's equally as thought-provoking. Personally I always headcanoned that the owl did indeed allow him to stay, but that he was cursed for remaining in the temple after the time limit and became a spirit himself. It was my thought that maybe the fox spirits all used to be other humans like him, ones that disobeyed the owl's rules but didn't steal anything from the library and proved they had a pure soul and genuine appreciation of knowledge for knowledge's sake. So in return they're punished with a spirit curse instead of outright killed. And it could be a melancholy and effective sequel to have the korra cast meet a fox spirit who asks how much time has passed, talking about how he regrets his decision and wants to go home.
Of course, this interaction would mean nothing to the cast of this sequel, but to people who'd seen the original episode it would hit really hard! And might get new viewers interested in seeking out the original episode to learn more about what happened.
@@Bunni89
i would change that headcanon a little. those nerds-turned-foxes genuinely like being turned into spirit knowledge seekers. the fox is only a physical form, so their spirit is still their original ones. they find that because their entire passion is knowledge, the human form no longer means anything to them and they essentially transcend the need to be human, making them eventually graduate into a spirit knowledge seeker that just happens to have the physical form of a fox.
the worst thing for me about the butchery of wan shi tong's character in tlok is they turned his behavior into that of any other cringe human. he essentially became the human that he canonically loathed in atla. the utter betrayal to his character is immeasurable.
@@maggyfrog Yeah he really does just come off as like.. now he's just a joke on a type of elitist regular human person you could find in real life. Feels like bratty commentary on someone the writers disliked IRL or something, at the consequence of losing an interesting character and a morally ambiguous fate for the poor professor guy 😩
@@maggyfrog I was going for more of an ambiguous thing. Like from what we see of the professor he absolutely would indeed willingly choose and absolutely adore becoming a cool spirit fox and reading books for eternity. But by just adding the note that they gradually forget their past lives over time we'd never know how many of them chose this and how many were trapped here and wish they could go back. Even they themselves might not know how they used to feel about it, or whether they've changed entirely over the centuries. It'd be good for keeping the moral ambiguity of the original ending while also offering a possibility for "goofy professor guy gets a 100% happy ending actually".
Won shi tong is such a badass character. I believe this is the only spirit the whole gang directly interacts with in the whole show and my god does this spirit have a commanding presence. Every character is on edge near this guy and best of all, he gives genuine insight about humanity and the world every person can think about. He’s so memorable and interesting to watch.
I always felt like the amount of pure dedication The Professor shows to just the knowledge would allow him to become some sort of spirit. That him saying he could spend an eternity hints at him living on in some way.
My favourite episode. Wan Shi Tong is a very wise and interesting spirit with a deep message for the viewer. Even as a child, I could understand his resentment against humanity. When Katara tries to fight him off and he says that iconic line:
"Your waterbending won't do you much good here. I've studied northern water style, southern water style, even foggy swamp style."
This spirit is a THREAT.. but it wasn't shown.
I wish i could have seen him actually use bending, and to have seen him more. Fantasically done episode.
I don’t think he was implying he could bend. Just that he could react properly to bending. I believe only humans and some specific animals can bend.
But he wasn't expecting an attack from above.
It would have been interesting to see someone who has studied every water bending style come across a water bender. See where he moves, right because the north likes to go left, left because the south likes to go right, or advance because the swamp likes to stay in their place.
He did some pretty cool air and sand bending by sinking the library deeper into the sands, though.
@@SapphireSolstice67O he definitely was an animal who could, in some form.
That final act in the episode nearly homages Indiana Jones. Only that the archeologist wasn't a villain. Just an idealist living and dying by his dreams.
You sound like Belloq lol, who himself is represented in your last sentence. He had no real intention to help the Nazis achieve their goal, he was simply an idealist living and dying by his dreams
the "he who knows ten thousand things" moment was one of the coolest things I had ever experienced.
I would like to spend my vacation, AT THE LIBRARY!!!
Im convinced there was a way to get the knowledge without angering the bird. Explain that you are not seeking to destroy, you're seeking to restore. Both the order of the world and the contents of the library.
Aang is an inexperienced avatar with a very real deadline. But more tan that, he doesn't kill. There is no desire for destruction, he's trying to prevent destruction.
That’s still justification for war. Wan Shi Tong’s gripe is the misuse of knowledge, not necessarily destruction.
Plus, a scholar, especially an immortal historian like Wan Shi Tong. Could, and should, make the argument that the pieces should lie where they fall. The Fire Nation started the war, they’re winning the war, even though he has the knowledge to turn the tides of the war. It’s not up to him to interfere. Wether humanity would be better off or not. If the other nations want to win, then the idea would be for them to do it on their own.
Wether or not the Fire Nation wins or loses, new knowledge will still come about. What is lost and forgotten cannot be recovered. So Wan Shi Tong really doesn’t have a horse in this race at all.
"The Bird" 😂😂
Some more respect for thr Spirit who knows 10 000 things!!
@@rickkcir2151 I still wish they would have tried to reason with the owl.
This episode was terrifying to me as a child. I remember it so vividly
I personally love The Library, but I don't find it underrated at all. I find The Fortune Teller to be by far the most underrated Avatar episode, and the perfect town-semi-filler episode. It's well written, has a cohesive and focused episode arc which advances a specific subplot (the romance), it has great character interactions (showing a deep understanding of each of them and their dynamics), it's funny as hell, and it low-key has some of the best animation in the whole show. It's great and honestly one of my favorite episodes in the whole show.
That is one of my favorite comedic episodes - Sokka especially gets so many great moments in The Fortuneteller.
@@CardinalWest I think the best funny episode is where Aang is under so much pressure to save the world, he kinda goes insane.🤣
@@orangeslash1667 That's another good filler episode. It's not really filler because Aang and everyone in the team must be as nervous as him but try to relax either way. To top it all off this is the episode before the day of the black sun arc comes to its two-parter climax.
@@noelaguirrechavez4462 Yes
Wow, sometimes, I forget what a poweful bender that kid is...
What did you say??
Nothing, just that Aang is powerful bender
I suppose he is...
i always wanted to visit a library like this. somewhere in the in-between where you’re there and you’re not, with books potentially never seen by human eyes. i also think it’s one of the greatest episodes, just by how unique it was and because of what happened to Appa and future episode set-up.
I always saw Wan's library like our real world the Great Alexandria Library. I can only imagine how grandeur it was before burning, I think it took 7 times to actually fully burn down too.
This video is actually super helpful from a writing advice perspective. It's ok to have coincidences in your story as long as they are well balanced so as to not feel cheap to the audience.
As someone who spent a great deal of time and their childhood and also currently in libraries, the library of Wan Shi Tong sounds amazing to me... Unlimited knowledge, so long as it is used for good.
I always liked how Wan Shi Tong just casually transforms into that dragon creature when he is about to fight the group.
Birds=Dinosaurs=Dragons I guess
It might be an homage to Spirited Away, with No-Face chasing after Chihiro.
@@SamLemont
it could also be like hei bai who can change his appearance based on his current state. wan shi tong probably has a few other physical forms he could transform into that makes sense when transforming from an owl. like, probably not a monkey or a cat, but something avian so that turning into an avian dragon is still a meaningful lore that doesn't seem too random.
All i cared about in this episode was Appa getting kidnapped 😭 I was crying and Toph being blamed when she did what she could and had to.
Me too🥺😭Aang was being so unreasonable because of his anger which is justified but Toph,she had no choice 😢she couldn't even bend sand that well yet
@@effielishiashe didn’t SEE how hard she tried or what she did. All he saw was his best friend gone. The last of his kind.
Especially when if it wasn’t for Toph, they would all be dead.
In the desert, the air is extremely dry. Therefore, books will be safe for a long-long time. It's cool that they thought of such a small detail!
My ONLY gripe with this episode is Sokka not even trying to say the Fire Nation didn’t just kill the air nomads but destroyed their temples and by extension the knowledge of air bender traditions and wisdom and arts, and how they almost did that to the SOUTHERN WATER TRIBE to the point that he grew up thinking his sister’s water bending was magic. They were even suppressing and kidnapping known earth benders which if not for Aang and the end of the war would have resulted in huge patches of the earth kingdom being ignorant and unknowledgeable of earth bending.
And, I know this happened later in the series but we even see the Fire Nation spreading false information throughout the school system to justify and whitewash the war. The Fire Nation is not only destroying knowledge, they’re also warping and distorting what they don’t destroy to fit their lies.
Hell, the war ITSELF was the reason for the technological leaps we see starting with Aang’s time and leading into Korra. The war perpetuated the discovery of new knowledge and inventions that even Wan Shi Tong’s Foxes couldn’t properly find out how they worked evidenced when schooled him on radio
Ok he should've known how radios worked
That wasn't so much the Fire Nation as the officials that were higher up and closer to the Fire Lords.
Wan Shi Tong has said himself that he doesn't care about human politics, that isn't why he exists; he exists for the sole purpose of collecting, recording, and learning. He dislikes humans for using knowledge for their own hubris, a direct violation of Wan Shi Tong's very existence.
@@colt9836 the problem with that viewpoint is that what Sokka and the others were there to accomplish wasn't about their own hubris at all. Also knowledge is meant to be used not merely amassed. Knowledge is not simply meant to be attained but to be used. And how one uses that knowledge should of no business or concern to the knowledge spirit. As acting on the knowledge one has in no way abuses that knowledge.
@@clintonsharpe9242 Wan Shi Tong's gripe with the use of knowledge for war is due to Admiral Jow burning a section of the library, regardless of his status as the knowledge spirit
Personally, The Library is why Book 2 is my favorite (well, and Toph). As TV becomes more and more serialized, The Library is the first episode that pops into my mind when I make the argument that standalone episodes can still be important to long form storytelling. They are also more memorable than just blurs of entries that's part of a larger, movie-like narrative. Plus, I think Wan Shi Tong as a character is a pretty genius creation. The Library overall is so distinct and unforgettable. Like a lot of that second season. (I love Book 2 so much)
I agree. The library was the first episode of Avatar I ever watched without any context. I couldn't help but root hard for them to escape the creepy owl. And them loosing Appa hit hard even without further context.
I find this episode very eerie and memorable just imagine you're just chilling in the library looking for a book and all of a sudden wan shi tong chases you if he suspects you're plotting something? If he can't kill you then he'll definitely use the library itself to drown you in the sand never escaping the library
Wan Shi Tong has his own rules and his own values. Human life is not something he values. Knowledge, wisdom is what he values so obviously trying to talk to him about right and wrong isn't going to end well.
And just because he's a spirit doesn't mean he's all powerful, Admiral Zhao absolutely got away with burning more than just a book.
I would have loved to see Uncle Iroh speak with the spirit owl!
What an AMAZING video. FINALLY someone understands this episode, and feels the way I did about it. I, too, absolutely loved that last line from the professor. A man who knows what he wants, and is willing to die for it. He's my favorite sub-character for that reason alone. Great video.
It’s a damn shame they lost a library filled with Treasures and Knowledge for an event that failed. Although at least Zuko was given time to confront his father, and leads to my favorite arc of the franchise “The boiling rock.”
The library is actually my fave episode in the whole show, and I had no idea it was underrated
its not, is just to get you to click on the video
Yeah, the title is bullshit. I mean who didn't absolutely LOVE this episode?
@@picklerick9259 just found a slight continuity error. The general said that the library was underground, but it was him destroying part of it that caused won shi tong to sink it in the first place?
dude i love your editing style. overlaying cutouts and text on the footage and splicing together clips so that the dialogue complements your own narration is so cool. also instantly shows how well you know the show
what a nice, refreshing video👍
When I was younger it made me realize the ambiguity of good. I thought the owl was in the right and the avatar wrong for lying. I was young and when talking about it with anyone else i always sided with the owl. This was another way i realized things are messy and need to be seen from different angles. It had a huge impact on my beliefs and emotional development.
as a lifelong fan of The Princess Diaries films, the fact that Hector Elizondo voices Wan Shi Tong also makes this episode very epic
This episode is VERY underrated. Rewatching the show multiple times has made me realize that this episode is when the whole show shifts in tone and becomes more mature. I thought as a kid that Wong Xi Tong, “He Who Knows 10,000 Things” and Won Xi Tong’s Library was based off a real mythology. Which goes to show the masterful storytelling of ATLA.
I respect Wan Shi Tong a lot. In the end the very behavior he came to hate most from humans, greed, is what spurred Sokka to steal from him. His violent reaction was incredibly understandable I mean imagine the place you've spent thousands of years overseeing is suddenly being robbed by a bunch of "well meaning" young kids. Would you not be absolutely livid too?
I remember when I was a child I had the idea of a secret library hidden underground in the desert and I didn't remember where that idea came from. That idea stayed with me, although I forgot where it came from.
I always adored the spirit world in Avatar, all my favourite episodes are those in which the spirit world plays a big part.
Like the Winter solstice, The Library, Siege of the North. Spirits are so strange & ominous, but they still have a moral compass, it's just vastly different then those of mortals. Koh the Face Stealer gave Aang vital information he needed to save the Northern water tribe yet it's easily forgettable just because of how creepy he is.
I LOVE THIS EPISODE and the whole concept of searching unknown knowledge in the desert
it actually reminds me of my favorite genshin impact arc, the sumeru's arc, where one of the lines that stood up to me was "the god of wisdom's enemy is wisdom itself and the oasis of knowledge is a mirage in the desert of ignorance"
DUDE HOW DO YOU ONLY HAVE 60k?!?! You deserve way more! Keep up the good work you make great videos!
I didn't realise how much I liked "The Library" episode before I watched this video 😀
With each subsequent video I find that I’m enjoying your work more and more. Short or long, comedic or serious, I love the work that’s being done here. Great work Cardinal.
I always felt like The Library was one of the best - to put in in a very generalized way - "Adventure" episodes of the series. Most of the highly considered episodes you mentioned in the video focus a lot on characters, reveals, and backstory. All of which are amazing, of course. But The Library as a concoction of other things that you lay out in this video that solidifies it as one of the best in the series. This makes sense because it is, quite literally, the exact middle of the entire series.
Ngl i thought him not knowing how the radio worked was pretty funny. I remember in ATLA wondering if the foxes could bring him bad information, like he knows 10,000 things cuz he learns, not like he just knows everything the moments its made. I kinda like the idea one of the foxes fucked up and brought him someones personal notes on how they thought it worked. But the voice was horrible for some reason in korra
I swear I just realized that the spirit of knowledge shares a voice actor with Captain Tosen from bleach.
I always loved this episode, mainly because of the awesome setting, but also because it sets up the "we've gotta find appa" side story that happens over the next couple episodes
wan shi tong is the most underrated character in the show
Here for the avatar stuff! Great video, hopefully this blows up so more people can see. Thank you for making these :)
As a 2005 kid i completely agree with you. I always had a special spot for this episode. The huge library where everything about the avatar universe is collected and a big ass owl chasing our heroes was for me the most frightening thing.
I was born in 05 too, Avatar is one the greatest shows of all time.
This episode, and this entire Arc stayed with me throughout my childhood. It’s one of the first things I remember when I think of avatar
Woah, rewatched this series a couple times, but I'd always been wrapped up thinking about the comet that I never considered how much the information detour was a double nut punch to their progress. That's an amazing point you made that really elevates this episode further for me.
Most of the time before I'd be distracted thinking about how water benders were weaker during eclipse and stronger at night and full moons, fire benders are boosted during the day and comets, always had me pondering what multipliers could exist for earth & air benders.
@@j.a.b.nijenhuis8124 no matter where you are, during winter, nights are longer than days. Spending less time with the sun and spending more time with the moon (the original waterbender, as it pushes and pulls the tides) enhances waterbending.
Genuinely one of my favourite UA-camrs. I'm not even big into xenofiction, but I know an upload from you is going to be quality. When it's Avatar it's just that much better.
Wan Shi Tong always scared the frick outta me, even in the Burning Earth DS game where he charges you as you escape the library
That owl unironically gave me nightmares when I watched this series as a kid.
The fact that professor Zei spent his last days there (just reading) and Wong shi tong allowed it always resonated with me 😊
I had a love/hate relationship with this episode, I LOVE the idea of the location. Honestly the only thing I hate about it, is that on rewatch, I know what's going on outside of the library with appa and do it ruins the wonder
Yeah no this episode is pretty well rated. From what I've seen from many people say they really love this episode. I mean this episode kicks off Appa being lost, gives us the first tease of what could be the endgame battle, Introduces a fan favorite character, and has some pretty good humor. Honestly nothing but praise for this one back when I was kid watching the show all the way till now.
Thanks for this breakdown….it’s one of my favorite episodes, I’ve probably seen it dozens of times over the years….yet, you highlighted things I didn’t even notice to appreciate! Truly an epic episode.
I'm just surpised you didn't mention the Library of Alexandria, which is the inspiration for this episode.
This video reminded me that I need to return a library book. Thanks!
Man, I always loved this episode. When I was young just because owl looked cool, the views etc. After I grew up a little and manage to understand message concluded in this episode. This Spirit doesn't trust people since he got so many bad experiences, when people lied and try to use knowledge to take adventage of other people. I was even wondering if he knew who avatars were and that this kid looks like someone that might be connected with them so he just let Aang get there. Once again, his trust for people was disrespected (Spirit actually acted like he knew, he will be betrayed from the beginning), even if Aang wanted to make good use of this knowledge. This Owl was right, but in this episode at some point he looks like a villain. This episode was very philosophical. He didn't want to take part in human things, conflicts and consents. Rules wasn't respected by visitors so he took everything he had underground. I liked everything in that episode, maybe beside the fact that Appa has been stolen.
I find it interesting that Zhao was still alive in LOK s2, via the fog spirit, but the professor was long dead. Wan Shi Tong really just let the professor die. Didn't even preserve him for his knowledge.
Loved the video and your take on the episode. However I personally think the most underrated episode is The Swamp to be completely honest. It's one of the lowest rated episodes on imdb and that episode literally made me see the world differently with the philosophy of how everything is connected. I think that message is beautiful and important. Also the foreshadowing of Toph, Katara and Sokka both being confronted by their past and learning about vinebending.. No way is that episode filler compared to the likes of The Great Divide.
oh definitely one of the most metal episodes. i still have fan theories about the scholar who died along with the library. i like to think that he became a spirit roaming the halls of the sunken library, and slowly befriended wan shi tong.... they could have done an entire 4 episode spin off of a story like that. maybe his animal spirit form is a smaller owl, that grows with age. eventually replacing wan shi tong after millennia
and i also, sadly, do not like what the legend of korra did to the avatar world etc. there are many many areas where i think it ruined the world. not surprised they ruined wan shi tong too, and missed so many cool potentials.
It's almost weird how much depth each character and how much humor and wisdom each episode has. The best part is seeing people make videos like these because they can't keep it in themselves how good the show is. Really it's a show beyond any other.
Like it's not just cause of childhood, it's a picked show from the childhood which I elevate beyond others because of the personal impact it had on me.
I really don't get when people say that spirits can't be understood. Every spirit has pretty human motivations so far. I have heard the exact speech about " humans wars all being the same" over and over again from so many people that it just makes him seem more human. Hell, I used to think the same way, though the only reason I thought that way was depression. He thinks that way from pure ignorance. No war has EVER had as much destruction as this one, and the fire nation's plan to literally burn the earth kingdom up would have completely changed the world itself. Even just the spirit toll would be great. Any spirit landmarks like a spiritual forest would be completely burned through the continent. They already killed the dragons and a moon god for spirit's sake. If he honestly thinks this war is the same as any others, then he doesn't have an "unknowable mind". He has an ignorant mind that refuses to actually learn outside what he is interested in. The exact same as many human minds. I am just saying, a human could love knowledge and be just as dismissive of people fighting a war. The only difference between him and a human is physical at that point.
"All wars are the same" Reminds me of the WWI generals I learned about that refused to change tactics even when machine guns were introduced. They just kept telling troops to charge and needlessly sending them to their deaths because that is just how they thought war was done. War had changed, war had completely changed, and we had to learn that. This spirit never had the chance to learn the difference before he locked himself away because Aang stopped the fire nation from completely wiping away large portions of a continent. Did he ever learn that the fire nation killed a moon spirit? He only learns from books the spirit foxes bring him so that actually would explain the "little man" conversation.
Though I agree completely that good and evil spirits shouldn't exist. That just ruins so much.
There is also the fact that Zhao most likely came in and specifically asked for the knowledge to win a war. Or made his intentions clear. So it was more Zhao toasting the ENTIRE firenation section that made the spirit paranoid. Since he assumed that after team avatar had found what they needed they'll do much the same. It had nothing to do with the fact they were fighting a war so much as the last guy who came in there doing so destroyed thousands of years of work.
@@spacehitler4537
We don't know for sure that Zhao specifically asked for the knowledge to win a war. He could have said his real reason after burning a lot of scrolls. He would have to be pretty dumb to mention he is attacking the nation the spirit lives in. Wan Shi Tong wouldn't usually care, but the army marching above him turning his foxes to ash might annoy him.
Also, If Wan Shi Tong really didn't care about them doing that for a war and just about his books, then he would not have said, "do you think you are the first to think your war is justified?"
Plus, when he destroyed large walls/ bookshelves trying to attack people who are clearly trying to escape and not destroy anything in his library. If he just cared about the books, he took the path that lead to most books being destroyed.
An odd thing about spirits is that they don't seem to care when unrelated spirits die. The Avatar himself uses his place as the bridge between the human and spirit worlds to his advantage a few times, but Yangchen, the Air Nomad avatar before Aang, apparently made a lot of promises to various spirits and then did not deliver. The Avatar after her could not appease the spirits she wronged and ended up having to outright kill a decent many of these spirits to save human lives.
Then later, Roku and Aang have good relations with a decent many spirits using their "bridge between worlds" card, and LoK did whatever they did with spirits.
The spirits have their one niche that they care about, and that's it. That's what they base their entire understanding of what right and wrong is. Sometimes it's something understandable like a love for their spirit mom, but even then, I just described Koh's motivation for stealing faces with even so much as a hint of emotion.
@@rpgincorporated8302
That is no different than any human mind. Every person does exactly that with what they know. In several places in ancient times any "intoxicant" was considered unholy. So when someone was found with coffee they were put to death. Literally trapped in a bag and thrown into a river
To us it seems insane to us, but we come from a modern world with more information to work on. More perspectives to help ground us. The spirits just have the exact same temperament of uneducated humans in a low technology world. They can't get a bigger perspective so they just, focus on what they know. They get stuck with old ideas the same as any human raised that way.
Honestly I hope they study spirits more in future series. What happens when a spirit lives along side human society long enough to have a completely different view then its ancestors.
Many belief systems have spirits of technology or even just living items with their own spirits. It makes sense a spirit of a factory could exist exactly the same as the spirit of a forest. How would a spirit focused on something entirely human made interact with old nature spirits.
Either way, it seems like they all have normal human motivates that can be understood. Even the most "unknowable" spirit seems to have logic on par with humans when we were killing coffee drinkers. The face stealer's mother said out right that he is just trying to get back at her. That is his motivation. She said it clearly. He literally has the temperament of a child breaking the things his mother makes to get back at her. Their is nothing unknowable about him.
They explain every spirit's motivation so clearly that I honestly just see them as elves in any other fantasy world. They are magic and live longer, but with a human mind. Flaws and all.
I would argue that his non interference doesn't come from ignorance, in fact I think it comes from the opposite. He's been around for God knows how long, as seen and learned things that humanity has long since forgotten and been there for their highest achievements and most terrible atrocities. While the genocide of the air nomads and the 100 year war is probably the worst thing in living memory, we do have to keep in mind that that's only from the human's frame of reference. The sands of time wear down on everything and who's to say Won Shi Tong hasn't seen equal or greater tragedies throughout his millennia of existence.
It always makes me happy to see another video by you, always so much good content with a just the right amount of comedy.
Hopefully your book arrives soon I got it in preorder. Very excited to give it a read!
I disagree that Mr. Owl is particularly bright beyond his collection of knowledge, because of how he was unable to see the Avatar's role in the war. The Avatar is the bridge between the spirits and humans and is also responsible for maintaining balance in the world, which also has implications for the spirits. Mr. Owl, if he were wise, should have been able to deduce Aang's duty and his need for guidance in order to restore the balance that the fire nation was destroying, the consequences of which would likely reverberate into the spirit world. Because of this lapse in judgment, I only see Mr. Owl strictly as a spirit of knowledge but not wisdom - he knows many things but is unable to apply knowledge or even use existing knowledge to build new knowledge as humans do. This is also why I'm fine with LoK showing that Mr. Owl can fall victim to misinformation since he is not equipped to perform proper research.
Damm I never saw it over that perspective
This actually make legend of korra version seems a little manageable
To put it in D&D terms, he has everything in Intelligence but has a low Wisdom score. You can read and be very knowledgable, yet not have the wisdom to use any of it. Applying knowledge to wisdom is an extra step he isn't willing to take because he doesn't really care to.
"And now im going to protect what i love"
Has lived in my head rent free all these years
Literally my favorite episode even as a kid. Toph struggling outside to save oppa or them, the way everything looked in the library, the godly owl looming over the whole episode. Sht was amazing
Another avatar video by Cardinal. Definitely look forward to watching this. :)
I don’t personally know anyone who underrates this episode…
Lol exactly this is one of the best episodes in season 2
Lmao right? I'll be honest, I clicked because I was like "uh what? This isn't underrated at all"
I think its more undertalked, not many people talk about it.
@@Thatglasseskun I think it's because it's not likely going to appear on any top list for most people, even still there's nothing wrong with it.
OMG this was the very first episode I ever watched. I remember sneaking into my grandparents room and watching their TV (we didn't have cable) and watching this episode. Became so obsessed with the little knowledge of the show and running around for weeks pretending to be an air bender
i love the foxes "handsome little creatures"
Wan Shi Tong is both a character and concept that I enjoy
Wow, so I am rewatching this show and just finished this episode. I see it as a good point to stop for the day and I check UA-cam and this is the first thing I see.
And yes this is a fantastic episode, one of my favorites.
The Library, a phrase that brings terror to a great many science fiction and fantasy fans alike, both because of winding hallways and an unstoppable force within said corridors.
I think you have perfected your video essay formula, just enough comedic bits thrown in between the very serious analysis to elevate the entertainment value without making it feel too unbalanced. Also that ad transition was amazing.
I was so lucky to be around when this first aired. I’ll never forget all the promo commercials and hype around it. Glad it ended up being something I can come back to 18 years later
The Anthropologist is the only character seeking knowledge for its own sake so it’s more natural for his to stay in this Library world instead of returning to the usual one. The Owl would probably spare him as well for this very reason.
I just found your channel with this video being recommended and I had to sub bc of how good it is! I love your perfect blend of insightful analysis and witty humor.
absolutely amazing dissection of this episode. thank you
19:06 That's actually a really dumb criticism of the prequels. Anakin did not turn on a dime and killed those kids because it was his destiny to turn to the Dark side.
In fact, it's the opposite. Anakin's destiny was to destroy the Sith and bring Balance, but because of both his own flaws, and the failings of the Jedi, he chose to join the Sith instead.
Anakin was already struggling with the Dark side, by the beggining of the film, shown when he killed Dooku in cold blood. This was worsened by his fear of losing Padmé, and the Council acting in a very un-Jedi like manner, all which culminated in Windu trying to kill Palpatine (Anakin's one chance of saving Padmé), with the exact same justification of "He's too dangerous to be left alive.", that Palpatine himself used to rest Anakin's consiousness after killing Dooku.
I was just about to comment something similar. Might still do because I have some additions.
No matter which corners of the internet someone decides to criticize Star Wars in, they’re never safe🤣.
plus he hadn't slept in a week do to violent nightmares of padme's death in addition to arguments with jedi and the fact that the one time anakin tries despratley to follow the jedi way a master mace windu a man he has feuded complained and argued with for years says fuck the rules and tries to murder what anakin sees as a helpless old man cause it was convenient for him to say nothing of palpatine being anakins father figure so when push came to shove he dis armed mace and went on the purge partially due to inertia I would like to bring up to the younglings wasn't when he truly fell it was when he slaughtered the separtists council cause he enjoyed that one
Appa's Lost Days is by far one of the most heartbreaking episodes 😢