Avatar Legends released the Wan Shi Tong Adventure Guide, which reveals what the spirit has been up to since he was last seen in The Legend of Korra.
avatar the last airbender introduced Wan Shi Tong, the ancient owl spirit whose vast library provided the greatest collection of knowledge in the human world. However, the Library of Wan Shi Tong did not remain in the human world for long in the series, as Gaang’s adventure there ended with the spirit of the owl dragging the entire structure into the Spirit World, where it remained in the legend of korra.
But times change, and with the release of Avatar Legends: The RPG expansion, Wan Shi Tong Adventure Guidefans finally get a chance to find out what He Who Knows Ten Thousand Things has been up to since he was last seen in canon.
Wan Shi Tong’s tensions with humanity were always strained, and Korra’s predecessor Aang proved to be the last straw during his great library’s sojourn in the human world. Although the ancient spirit of the owl hid his library in the desert of Si Wong, where any human willing to make the hard journey could peruse his unrivaled wealth of knowledge, Wan Shi Tong did not like humans abusing that library. favor. When Aang and his friends used the library to seek knowledge that would benefit them in the Hundred Year War, the enraged spirit dragged his entire library into the arena, where it emerged into the Spirit World, away from the prying eyes of Aang. The humanity.
This is where the Library of Wan Shi Tong remained during the Age of Korra, where it was revealed that the spirit of the owl formed an alliance with the waterbender Unalaq after deeming the villain a friend of the spirit. However, even that alliance proved treacherous to Wan Shi Tong, as Unalaq’s true motivations turned out to be the accumulation of power for his own benefit. However, the series never revisited Wan Shi Tong or dealt with the aftermath of the betrayal. It wasn’t until avatar legends published Wan Shi Tong Adventure Guide that fans learned the fate of the ancient spirit in the current canon.
The guide reveals that Unalaq’s betrayal may have soured Wan Shi Tong’s opinion of humanity. Korra’s decision after Harmonic Convergence to maintain the paths between the human world and the Spirit World was something he respected. The decision spurred the spirit to reexamine his beliefs and, wishing to give humans a second chance, he reopened humanity’s access to the library to anyone who wanted to venture through the Spirit Portals to examine it. However, that is not to say that he completely forgave humanity’s past sins, and the harvesting of spirit vines to gain energy from him that Kuvira’s army performed greatly displeased him.
Wan Shi Tong’s motivation for reopening his library to humans wasn’t entirely selfless either. In a new age of unprecedented invention and progress, the owl spirit sought out all the juicy new secrets humanity had to offer. Inventions like the radio puzzled and fascinated him, and it would be hard to be proclaimed He Who Knows Ten Thousand Things if there were so many new things in the world that he didn’t know.
Korra’s era represents a new era for Wan Shi Tong and his adventure-filled library. Whether it’s Korra herself or a future Avatar, it seems the stage is set for more visits to the great library, sure to test Wan Shi Tong’s relationships with humanity even more. avatar legends not only did it delve into Wan Shi Tong’s future, but it also revealed more of his past in previous Ages that is still plenty for further exploration.
Perhaps Wan Shi Tong was even more lenient with humanity in the early days of the unknown Avatars, and it remains to be seen what were the first offenses that put him on guard against the misuse of his knowledge. But whether in the past or in the future, there are many more stories waiting to be written when it comes to the Wan Shi Tong Library.
About the Author