Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Siege of the North (2)

The Siege of the North (2)
Season 1, Episode 20
Airdate	December 2, 2005
Production Number	1x20
Written by	Aaron Ehasz
Directed by	Dave Filoni
← 1x19 The Siege of the North (1)	2x01 → The Avatar State
Avatar: The Last Airbender — Season One

The Siege of the North (2) is the twentieth episode of the first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the twentieth episode overall.

Guest Stars: Jason Isaacs (Zhao), Erik Todd Dellums (Koh), Jon Polito (Chief Arnook), Victor Brandt (Master Pakku), Johanna Braddy (Princess Yue), Ben Diskin (Hahn), James Garrett (Avatar Roku), Mark Hamill (Fire Lord Ozai)

Plot Overview

As Aang's body is carried away from the city by Zuko, his mind wanders the strange maze of the spirit world, searching for information about the spirits of the ocean and the moon, who disappeared and hid in the physical realm long ago. Avatar Roku leads him to an ancient and malignant spirit named Koh- also know as the Face Stealer, against whose power the only defense is showing absolutely no emotion. Koh taunts the Avatar with faces he's stolen in the past, trying to force a reaction out of him, but gives up a clue that leads Aang to the ocean and moon spirits' true identity. Aang returns to the spirit oasis, but his missing body calls out to him and he awakens in a cave Zuko took shelter in. Sokka, Katara, and Yue catch up and subdue Zuko. Aang insists on bringing the bound Zuko with them, saving him from death by exposure. On the way back to the city, Yue tells the story of how the moon spirit saved her life as an infant, in response to her father's prayers.

The Fire Nation's ships have reached the coast of the Water Tribe territory, and their tank battalions are making short work of the walls and defenders. Zhao reveals his ace in the hole to Iroh- he knows how to find the incarnation of the moon spirit, and kill it, shattering the power of waterbending itself. As night falls, the rising moon grants the waterbenders power to resist the invasion more strongly, but Zhao and his commandos sneak into the spirit oasis. As Zhao seizes the moon spirit, the real moon in the sky turns blood-red, and all over the city waterbenders lose their powers. The Avatar - and Iroh - warn Zhao that the moon is an essential part of the balance of the world, and not to be tampered with. Zhao nearly backs down, but in one rash moment smites the spirit with a fire blast. Overhead, the moon winks out.

Iroh attacks Zhao's personal guard, but the man himself escapes in the confusion. Aang again meditates and makes contact with the spirit of the ocean, waking its immense power and setting off to avenge its mate. Zuko catchs up with and confronts Zhao, defeating him in single combat for the second time, as the ocean spirit lays waste to the Fire Nation fleet.

Yue realizes that as the moon spirit once gave her life, she can return it, and to Sokka's anguish sacrifices her own life to resurrect the spirit. Her own body fades away, and her spirit form shares one final kiss with Sokka before rising into the sky, where the moon shines brightly once more. The ocean spirit ends his rampage and deposits Aang on the outskirts of the city before hunting down and absorbing Zhao, who in the end resigns himself to the consequences of his folly.

In the aftermath, Master Pakku announces his intention to travel south, to help rebuild the southern tribe. Zuko and Iroh leave the city secretly, on a makeshift raft. Fire Lord Ozai responds to Zhao's and Zuko's failures by ordering Zuko's sister Azula to seek out the Avatar.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• The faces Koh wears during his talk with Aang include several different men and women, animals such as an owl and a baboon, and the mask of a demon. Koh also gives us a good bit of information about the Avatar's past. He refers to an incident about "eight or nine hundred years ago", when an incarnation of the Avatar tried to kill him, as vengeance for stealing his beloved's face.

Characters

• Iroh has decided that there are some things more important than Fire Nation victory, a view that Zuko seems to be increasingly open to as well. A mention is also made of Iroh's "journey to the spirit world"; although this is not elaborated on, Iroh has always seemed to be more in tune with such things than other characters, even to the extent of being able to see Aang traveling as a wandering spirit in |Winter Solstice: The Spirit World (1).
• This is not the first time Sokka has lost someone he loved- his mother was killed in a Fire Nation attack, and his failure to protect Yue will haunt him. But his attitudes towards women have been sculpted by his experiences into something much more mature than his behavior in The Warriors of Kyoshi.
• Azula has appeared on the show once before: She was seen in the audience during Zuko's duel with his father three years ago. She did not speak and was not identified at the time, but seemed to take a sadistic pleasure in her brother's suffering.

Referbacks

• The Ha Bai, who guides Aang from Koh's cave back to the portal to the physical world, first appeared as a rampaging monster Aang calmed in Winter Solstice: The Spirit World (1).
• Hahn's "plan" to break the Fire Nation attack, briefly mocked by Sokka in the previous episode, turns out to consist of infiltrating the fleet, charging at Zhao with a spear and getting unceremoniously dumped overboard.

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