Wan Shi Tong

FULL NAME

Wan Shi Tong

ALIAS

He Who Knows Ten Thousand Things

ORIGIN

Avatar: The Last Airbender

OCCUPATION

Spirit of Knowledge

POWERS / SKILLS

Nearly unlimited intelligence
Flight
Sharp beak and talons
Immortality
Great strength
Speed

HOBBY

Taking care of his library
Seeking more knowledge

GOALS

Keep his library "safe" from any humans, who may abuse the knowledge within
Learn all about humanity and understand humans more clearly

CRIMES

Attempted murder
Treason
Death Threats
Abuse of Power

TYPE OF VILLAIN

Omniscient Misanthrope

Wan Shi Tong, which is translated as He Who Knows Ten Thousand Things, is the Spirit of Knowledge and an influential figure in the world of Avatar: the Last Airbender. He is the main antagonist of the Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 episode "The Library" and a supporting antagonist in The Legend of Korra Season 2 episode "A New Spiritual Age". Despite his noble position, he is cynical, xenophobic, and hostile towards the Avatar and their allies, thus making him a villain, despite his honest desire to preserve the knowledge he has accumulated and protect it from those who abuses his knowledge for their own purposes.

Wan Shi Tong first appears in the second season Avatar: The Last Airbender in the episode "The Library". He oversees perhaps the greatest library in the world, but does not allow humans to enter based on the cynical belief that all humans who seek knowledge simply do so to gain some kind of advantage over an enemy. Though Aang and his friends are initially able to convince him otherwise, Sokka goes out of his way to locate a means to stop the Fire Nation, which enrages Wan Shi Tong. Despite Aang and his friend's pleas that the Fire Nation must be stopped, Wan Shi Tong tells them that countless humans before them came to his library, seeking knowledge or weapons to defeat their enemies, while believing that their wars were "justified". Fed up with being lied to, he decides to finish burying his library under the desert sands "so that no one will abuse his knowledge again".

Wan Shi Tong is known as the Spirit of Knowledge, making him debatably one of the most intelligent beings of all times. And being a spirit makes him immortal. He can fly, and has razor sharp talons and beak. He also has some signs of shape-shifting, as seen when he's attacking Aang and his friends. His neck is elongated, gains feathers shaped like horns, and his body becomes longer and more sleek, making it easier for him to maneuver in tight corners.

He also attempts to kill Team Avatar on the grounds that they "know too much". Fortunately though, Aang and his friends manages to escape in time, but Professor Zei, who had spent his entire life looking for the library, chooses to stay.

He is leery of a visiting Jinora when she shows up asking for information on the Spirit Portals and swiftly sells her out to Unalaq after finding out she's both the granddaughter of Avatar Aang, and friends with the next Avatar Korra, implying that he still bears a grudge against the Avatar for abusing the knowledge in his library. He has also come to believe that Unalaq is more of a "true" ally to the Spirits than the Avatar. Jinora protested, proclaiming that Vaatu could destroy the world, but Unalaq denied this and kidnapped Jinora, with the help of her spirit friend "Furry Foot", who had turned dark. Wan Shi Tong was later shocked when Unalaq revealed his true plans, as he had not anticipated the extent of the imbalance Unalaq sought to inflict upon the world, most likely Wan Shi Tong regreted his decision in trusting Unalaq.

After Harmonic Convergence, the spirits were free to wander the world. Wan Shi Tong began to reexamine his beliefs about humans, since Avatar Korra allowed the sprits to enter the human world. Despite still being wary about humans, he opened his library again and humans were allowed to enter.

The reason why Wan Shi Tong hates humans from entering his library is most likely explained in the episode "The Siege of the North, Part 1". Years ago, Wan Shi Tong let Zhao in his library, resulting in him learning about the location water and moon spirits; Tui and La and burning part of his library. At the very least, he uses this as an example to illustrate his point.