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 is the head of the Anthropology Department at Ba Sing Se University. Professor Zei is a well-traveled, highly educated student of exotic cultures. His thirst for knowledge brings him to strange, remote, and often dangerous places. Zei is an eccentric man to whom knowledge is priceless. He gets very excited at the prospect of learning anything about history or the world around him. A map of his travels shows he's been everywhere in the world, except the Fire Nation. Even though he has 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. In "The Library", he meets Aang and his friends. He is initially very interested to meet a living Air Nomad, and befriends the group. He asks questions about the Air Nomads including their primary agricultural product. However Sokka quickly turns the conversation towards maps but when disappointed because Zei doesn't have a map of the Fire Nation, the Team discovers that the Professor had made several trips into the Si Wong Desert. When asked about this Zei tells them about the missing Library and his quest to find it. Sokka decides to help him search for it, believing that there might be information about the Fire Nation there. They decide to search for the desert from the sky.



After a few hours of searching, they discover the Library, mostly buried in sand. He enters the library, marveling at its architecture, along with Aang, Sokka and Katara. He easily passes Wan Shi Tong's test of knowledge and peruses the library along with the group. When Wan Shi Tong discovers the Avatar and his friends were planning against the Fire Nation using his information, he sinks his library under the belief that his knowledge should never be misused ever again. As he and the others try to escape, Zei tries desperately to grab as many books as he can to take; eventually, though, he simply declares that he would rather stay "for eternity" than lose his life's work, and the others are forced to leave without him.

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 could have been killed by Wan Shi Tong after The Library was completely buried due to his dislike of humans, or he could simply spare Zei as he definitely wouldn't be able to escape, not that escaping would be something Zei would consider. He might have decided that he was an exception among most humans as he had a benevolent nature and would not want to use its knowledge for war and violence. Another rumor that exists is that Zei ended up in the Spirit World as stated in the Avatar Commentaries.

Зей