Zei

"earth"

- I'm not leaving... I can't... I've spent too long trying to find this place... There's not another collection of knowledge like this on Earth... I could spend an eternity in here.

Professor Zei was the head of the Anthropology Department at Ba Sing Se University. Professor Zei was a well-traveled, highly educated student of exotic cultures. His thirst for knowledge brought him to strange, remote, and often dangerous places. Zei was an eccentric man to whom knowledge is priceless. He got very excited at the prospect of learning anything about history or the world around him. A map of his travels shows he had been everywhere in the world, except the Fire Nation. Even though he had discovered many lost civilizations over the years, he longed to find the "crown jewel" of ancient discoveries: Wan Shi Tong's library.

History
Zei attempted to find Wan Shi Tong's Library several times, but failed each time. Though he knew the library was somewhere in the uncrossable Si Wong Desert, he never managed to find it on his own. He met Aang and his friends. He was initially very interested to meet a living Air Nomad, and befriended the group. He asked questions about the Air Nomads including their primary agricultural product. However Sokka quickly turned the conversation towards maps but when disappointed because Zei didn't have a map of the Fire Nation, the Team discovered that the Professor had made several trips into the Si Wong Desert. When asked about this Zei told them about the missing Library and his quest to find it. Sokka decided to help him search for it, believing that there might be information about the Fire Nation there. They decided to search for the desert from the sky.

After a few hours of searching, they discovered the Library, mostly buried in sand. He entered the library, marveling at its architecture, along with Aang, Sokka and Katara. He easily passed Wan Shi Tong's test of knowledge and perused the library along with the group.



When Wan Shi Tong discovered the Avatar and his friends were planning against the Fire Nation using his information, he sank his library under the belief that his knowledge should never be misused ever again. As he and the others tried to escape, Zei tried desperately to grab as many books as he could to take; eventually, though, he simply declared that he would rather "spend an eternity" in the Library rather than lose his life's work, and the others were forced to leave without him.

Zei currently resides in the Spirit World. It is unknown whether or not he managed to get out of there.

Trivia

 * There are only three "zéi"s in Mandarin; one of which means "thief" (賊), which is in a way what an archaeologist is sometimes considered.
 * Professor Zei is mentioned in "City of Walls and Secrets" by one of the students the gang was interrogating.
 * Zei could be named after The Center for European Integration Studies also known as ZEI, which is a research institute at the University of Bonn.
 * Zei's voice actor, Raphael Sbarge, is better known for voicing Kaidan Alenko in the Mass Effect trilogy.