Dai Li



The Dai Li are the secret police of Ba Sing Se (previously under the command of Long Feng), who work to weed out political dissidents.

Origin


The Dai Li were created several centuries ago by Avatar Kyoshi to preserve the cultural heritage of Ba Sing Se, in response to a peasant uprising against the government of the 46th Earth King. She currently regrets having created the Dai Li, as she had no idea how corrupt they would become at the time.

History
Selectively picked at a young age, the members of the Dai Li-- known as agents-- are elite officers of Ba Sing Se under the control of Long Feng. Since talking about the war with the Fire Nation is against the law in Ba Sing Se, the Dai Li keep a close watch on all refugees and new immigrants to the city, removing anyone who dares to break the code of silence.

They employ skilled Earthbenders as a secret police group, who wear gloves made apparently out of earthen materials in order to dexterously Earthbend on the go. However, the Dai Li are apparently a little overdependent on their gloves, as in Lake Laogai, they rarely bend regular earth and they quickly are defeated because of this. Still, most are competent earthbenders, as shown by the two agents who guarded Azula during the invasion. It is unknown how quickly they can create new stone gloves. The Dai Li are also adept at using Earthbending to cling to sheer rock surfaces, such as walls or ceilings. They conceal chained metal cuffs within their sleeves, which they use to snare and hold prisoners, particularly other Earthbenders so as to inhibit their bending. They appear to use hypnosis to persuade rebels and uprisers (such as Jet) that there is no war within the walls of Ba Sing Se. Most of Ba Sing Se's citizens seem to fear them and want nothing to do with them, knowing that nothing but trouble can arise from meddling in any of their affairs.





In the events of the Season 2 finale, the Dai Li abandon Long Feng and pledge loyalty to Azula. She also points out that, while Earthbenders, the Dai Li possess "a killer instinct that's so Firebender." During the season 3 premiere, it is revealed that the Dai Li were ordered by Azula to destroy Ba Sing Se's Outer Wall, paving the way for a Fire Nation invasion of the entire city.

After she returned to the Fire Nation, Azula apparently kept her command over the Dai Li, as in the "Day of Black Sun", when attacked by Sokka, Toph, and Aang in the Fire Lord's secret bunker, but being powerless to bend due to the eclipse, she is aided by Dai Li Agents, stating that when she left Ba Sing Se she "brought home some souvenirs." However, these agents are easily defeated by the gang, but not before wasting a large portion of their eclipse time.

During the Season 3 Finale, Azula decides to banish the Dai Li for the minor mistake of taking five minutes to appear before her. At this point Azula was descending into insanity and no longer trusted others after Mai and Ty Lee's betrayel.

Trivia

 * The Dai Li first appear in "City of Walls and Secrets".
 * They appear to be modeled after the government agents of Qing Dynasty China, generally known as the Dai Li (in Cantonese) (Chinese:大内; Pinyin: dà nèi)-- which literally means "Greater-Inner", and refers to those who serve in the Greater Inner Sanctum of the Forbidden City.
 * The Dai Li may have been based on various "secret polices" in other works of fiction, such as the Thought Police from 1984 or the Fingermen from V for Vendetta. They can also be based on such non-fictional secret police such as the Gestapo.
 * The Dai Li are named after Chiang Kai-Shek's general of secret police (1897-1946).
 * Dai Li is the name of the Chinese leader of the intelligence department of China.