The Compass
Fun fact: Originally Chinese compasses (invented 400 BC) did not point North, but South.
Showing posts tagged season two
Koh-Interrupted
Ever noticed how that chick doesn’t have eyes?
The night sky in the episode “The Waterbending Master” matches the star map Katara has in the episode “The Desert”. They even adjusted it for season change.
Amazing continuity is amazing!
Scroll - Translation
EDITED BECAUSE JIN’S AN IDIOT:
The half-burned scroll Sokka rescues from the Spirit Library reads:
培治龍年七月九日
烈火國最黑暗的一天
(missing first part of a name)Pei Zhi Era, Year of the Dragon, seventh month, ninth day. The Fire Nation’s darkest day.
The first character ‘培 to cultivate’, seems out of place and does not make any sense in reference to the rest of the sentence. My best guess is that, since the scroll is partially burned, there are characters missing before it, and that it is the last part of the name of the ruler/Fire Lord.Traditionally the name would be mentioned before the date.Pei Zhi (Cultivate Reign) is the name of the era. I had not looked closely at the calender when I wrote this.
Scroll - Translation
EDITED BECAUSE JIN’S AN IDIOT:
The half-burned scroll Sokka rescues from the Spirit Library reads:
培治龍年七月九日
烈火國最黑暗的一天
(missing first part of a name) Pei Zhi Era, Year of the Dragon, seventh month, ninth day. The Fire Nation’s darkest day.
The first character ‘培 to cultivate’, seems out of place and does not make any sense in reference to the rest of the sentence. My best guess is that, since the scroll is partially burned, there are characters missing before it, and that it is the last part of the name of the ruler/Fire Lord.Traditionally the name would be mentioned before the date.
Pei Zhi (cultivate Reign) is the name of the era. I had not looked closely at the calender when I wrote this.
Sorry kid, Zuko doesn’t hold hands.
… did Sokka just take that book back?
The title of the book Sokka is holding is 子白 “child white”
As far as I Know, and I’ve also asked people who know more than me, this is not the title of a real book, or a recognizable phrase. My best guess, unless one of you knows better, is an injoke.Someone suggested it to be random characters, but honestly ATLA has never done that before.
Oddly enough, though, when I googled the term, I got A LOT of cabbage pictures.
Spirit Library - Design
The outside of the Spirit Library, as seen on Prof. Zei’s drawing, resembles the Taj Mahal in India, but that is were the resembles ends. For one the Taj Mahal is a tomb, not a library, second, the interior of the Taj Mahal, consists of stunning floral mosaics and not owl carvings.
The inside, while not resembling any actual building as far as I know, does have several Chinese architectural elements.
The cloud pattern on the dome is called the ‘pattern of the mushroom of immortality’ i.e. the lingzhi mushroom. It is widely used in Chinese designs and you may have seen it on fabric patterns. It is the same pattern we see prominently in Aunt Wu’s village.
The pillars show the Chinese way of interlocking beams for support i.e. the corbel wood bracket supports (“Dougong”)
Image sources: One, two , three, four, five, six
Tip of the hat to heroin-e for pointing out the Taj Mahal imagery.