The Earth King
Template:Infobox Avatar: The Last Airbender episode
"The Earth King" is an episode from the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender, which airs on Nickelodeon. It is the eighteenth episode of the second season of the series.
The kids battle Long Feng and the Dai Li when they attempt to show the Earth King the vast conspiracy taking place in his city. Zuko becomes seriously ill and has feverish dreams as he faces a spiritual crisis.
Episode Synopsis
Template:Spoilers After the events of "Lake Laogai," Aang and his friends are on a small island recovering, and debate what to do. Katara and Toph both want to leave where as Sokka and Aang want to stay to warn the Earth King. Ultimately deciding that they must inform the Earth King about the war and Long Feng's conspiracy, they ride Appa back to Ba Sing Se and manage to get into the palace, tearing their way through the Royal Guards despite a strong defense. When they finally get into the Earth King's throne room, they finally discover the King, along with Long Feng and Dai Li agents. They attempt to inform the King about the war, of which he knows nothing, and Long Feng's conspiracy, but have difficulty due to the King's trust of his advisor, Long Feng.
Long Feng denies all the charges brought against him, even claiming that he had never seen Appa before. However, Aang exposes a toothmark on his leg(from when Appa threw him halfway across the lake). Long Feng claims it's a birth mark, but Aang then produces Appa to compare the mark. The group then takes the King (who has never left the palace before) to Lake Laogai, but the base has been scuttled; they then take him to the outer wall to see the remains of The Drill, with the Fire Nation emblem on it as proof of the war. Despite Long Feng's claims, the King orders the Dai Li to arrest Long Feng, though they do so only reluctantly. He also agrees to support Sokka's plan to invade the Fire Nation on the day of the solar eclipse, which Sokka referred to as the Day of Black Sun.
Meanwhile, after Zuko and Iroh return to their apartment, Zuko collapses with a terrible fever. Iroh informs him that because letting Appa go went so strongly against his own view of himself that his mind was suffering, but that in the end he would emerge as the person (the "beautiful prince," as Iroh said) he was truly meant to be. Zuko dreams and hallucinates, and in the process sees himself as the Fire Lord. Two dragons, one blue, the other red, coil around his throne and whisper advice to him. The blue dragon, speaking in Azula's voice, tries to persuade "Fire Lord" Zuko to rest, while the red dragon, in Iroh's voice, tells him to stand up to the blue. sees images of his vanished mother and dreams that he wakes up with the markings of an Airbender.
The Earth King's top generals, the Council of Five, raid Long Feng's office and discover files about every person in Ba Sing Se, including Aang and his friends. Included is the note from Guru Pathik, telling Aang that he can teach him information about his powers, and even how to control the Avatar State; a letter from Toph's mother, saying she is in the city and wants to meet her; and an intelligence report giving the location of Water Tribe warriors led by Hakoda, Sokka and Katara's father. Elated by this news, the group decides to split up -- Sokka will see their father, Aang will go the Eastern Air Temple, and Toph and Katara will stay in the city, Toph to meet her mother and Katara to guard the Earth King. Before Aang and Sokka leave on Appa Aang makes an attempt to tell Katara how he feels (as indicated by the blush he gets halfway through) which is interrupted by Sokka just before he finishes, also the Earth King receives word that a group of Kyoshi warriors will be arriving, and on the gang's advice, the King says he will welcome them as honored guests. Katara also kisses Aang on the cheek before they leave. The two boys muse on how things are finally going good for them.
As the episode ends, several things are starting to go quite badly. In prison, a Dai Li agent delivers Long Feng his meal, but also the reassurance that the organization retains loyalty to him, and not the King; Toph goes to meet her mother, but it turns out to be a trap set up by Master Yu and Xin Fu. Afterwards, the Kyoshi Warriors approach the Earth King, but unknown to him, they are actually Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee in disguise.
Notes
- In "Appa's Lost Days," the Sandbenders were shown discarding Sokka's blue-balled club when ransacking the saddle. However, here, Sokka is shown using it along with his machete while entering the earth king's palace, but when he gets to the earth king's throne room he only has his machete.
- Aang was able to remove the stone handcuffs with Earthbending when he was arrested by the Dai Li. This explains why the Dai Li used metal handcuffs against Long Feng.
- When Zuko awoke from a nightmare, his scar seemed to bring him comfort. This is because he was awaking from a dream in which his head had been replaced with Aang's.
- It is confirmed by Iroh that Zuko did release Appa from imprisonment in the previous episode.
- Though still credited, Iroh's voice constantly changes back and forth between Mako's voice and the person heard briefly in Tales of Ba Sing Se.
- In this episode, Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai are seen wearing Kyoshi warrior costumes. When we last saw the Kyoshi warriors in Appa's Lost Days they were fighting Azula and her gang. What happened to them is still unknown.
- Aang refers to the group as "the family", showing just how close they are to him.
- Toph has been abducted by Xin Fu and Master Yu and is trapped within a metal coffin.