Chapter 8

## The Last Airbender

**Chapter 8** is titled - "The Last Airbender".

## Summary

Over tea in his tent, Commander Zhao outlines the Fire Nation's plan for conquering the Earth Kingdom to Zuko and Iroh. When Zuko voices his bitter skepticism of the plan, calling his father a fool for believing the Earth Kingdom will capitulate quickly, Zhao inquires about the prince's search for the Avatar, to which Zuko replies that he has, thus far, been unsuccessful. The commander remarks he did not expect anything different, but he persists in his pursuit of information from Zuko, unsatisfied by his answer. After a brief, heated exchange, the prince rises and attempts to leave, only to be detained by Zhao's guards at the entrance to the tent. One of Zhao's soldiers walks in and reports that he interrogated Zuko's crew and found out that the latter had the Avatar, but let him escape. Smiling smugly, the commander asks the defeated prince to explain how his ship was damaged again. Returning to Aang, Katara and Sokka the air temple sanctuary is filled with hundreds of statues. While Sokka, still hungry, is thoroughly disappointed at the lack of food, Katara and Aang notice a pattern in the line of the statues: they are arranged in the Avatar Cycle: air, water, earth, and fire. Putting two and two together, Katara realizes that they are statues of previous incarnations of the Avatar, Aang's past lives. Aang singles out the last statue in the line and gazes into the statue's eyes, going into a kind of trance. A gentle shake from Katara breaks him out of it, at which point Aang recognizes that the statue depicts Avatar Roku, the Avatar immediately preceding him. Sokka recognizes Roku as a firebender by his robes and top-knot, citing this as the reason he did not trust Aang when they had first met.

Suddenly, the three of them hear a humming noise from the entrance, an indication that someone else is nearby; the noise causes the group to take cover behind the statues. Preparing to fight a firebender, Sokka jumps out, trying to catch the intruder off-guard; when Aang and Katara peer out from behind their statues, they find themselves looking down on a solitary lemur. Upon this discovery, a slight conflict of interests arises: Sokka, still focused on his hunger, wants to eat the lemur for dinner; Aang, on the other hand, wants to keep the lemur as a pet. This prompts a race to see who can be the first to catch the lemur. Katara stays behind in the temple sanctuary while Aang and Sokka run after the lemur, each trying to trip up the other. The lemur flies out from the window, and Aang, determined to catch the animal, jumps off the temple balcony after it. After landing on the ground below, Aang pursues the lemur toward the tattered ruin of a tent. Poking his head inside the tent, Aang, to his horror, finds a number of Fire Nation soldiers' bodies scattered in the snow; walking farther inside, he finds the skeleton of Monk Gyatso. Seeing his former master and father figure's skeleton, he breaks down, falling to his knees in tears. An unfortunately naive Sokka, still searching for the lemur, finally catches up to Aang and playfully asks whether Aang caught the lemur; when he sees Aang on the ground, he goes on to say that he did not actually intend on eating the animal. Only then does he notice the skeletons all around them and understand why Aang is upset. Sokka tries to comfort Aang, but the latter, overcome by emotion, suddenly enters the Avatar State, the sudden glow of Aang's tattoos and eyes causing Sokka to gasp and reel away from him in fright.