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, Wan Shi Tong's Library did not remain in the human world for long in the series, as the Gaang's adventure there ended with the owl spirit pulling 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 Roleplaying Game expansion, Wan Shi Tong's Adventure Guide, fans finally have a chance to learn what He Who Knows Ten Thousand Things has been doing since he was last seen in the canon.
Wan Shi Tong's tensions with humanity were always fraught, and Korra's predecessor Aang proved to be the final straw during the stay of his great library in the human world. Although the ancient owl spirit tucked his library away in the Si Wong Desert where any humans willing to make the harsh journey could peruse his unparalleled wealth of knowledge, Wan Shi Tong did not like humans abusing that favor. When Aang and his friends used the library to seek out knowledge to benefit them in the Hundred Year War, the enraged spirit pulled his whole library into the sands, where it emerged in the Spirit World far from the prying eyes of humanity.
This is where Wan Shi Tong's Library remained during the Era of Korra, where it was revealed that the owl spirit formed an alliance with the Waterbender Unalaq after considering the villain a friend to spirit kind. Yet even that alliance proved treacherous for 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 fallout of the treachery. It was not until Avatar Legends released Wan Shi Tong's Adventure Guide that fans learned the ancient spirit's fate in the current canon.
The guidebook reveals that Unalaq's betrayal may have soured Wan Shi Tong's opinion of humanity. Korra's decision following Harmonic Convergence to maintain the pathways between the human world and the Spirit World was one he respected. The decision spurred the spirit into reexamining his beliefs, and out of the desire to give humans a second chance, he reopened humanity's access to the library for any who wanted to venture through the Spirit Portals to peruse it. That is not to say that he completely forgave humanity's past sins, however, and the harvesting of spirit vines for their energy that Kuvira's army performed disgusted him to no end.
Wan Shi Tong's motivation to reopen his library to humans was not entirely selfless, either. In a new age of unprecedented invention and progress, the owl spirit sought all the juicy new secrets that humankind 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 much that was new in the world that he did not know.
Korra's Era represents a new age for Wan Shi Tong and his library rife for further adventure. Be it Korra herself or a future Avatar, it seems that the stage is set for more visits to the great library, which are sure to test Wan Shi Tong's relations with humanity all the further. Avatar Legends did not just delve into Wan Shi Tong's future either, but also revealed more of his past in previous Eras that still proves rife for further exploration.
Perhaps Wan Shi Tong was even more forgiving of humanity in the earlier days of unknown Avatars, and it remains to be seen what the first offenses were that put him on his guard to the misuse of his knowledge. But be it in the past or the future, there are plenty more stories waiting to be written where Wan Shi Tong's Library is concerned.
