- Today's video is brought to you by Candid.
Hey, brother!
Guys, one of my favorite episodes of "Avatar"
is Sokka's Master.
It's the rare episode that focuses on the non-bending Sokka,
his trials to become a master swordsman,
forge his own sword, and find a way to stand out
as a warrior in a group of people
who can literally do elemental magic with martial arts.
It's just one of those episodes that elevates
the entire show and makes it so great,
because, like, it would be so easy
to just skate over this character development.
I mean, it's already the final season.
We already know Sokka really well.
And it's not like he's useless at all.
I mean, by now he's proven himself
to be a formidable warrior,
and more importantly, like a master strategist
who everyone turns to to come up with the plans.
- Where are you all looking at me?
- You're the idea guy.
- Plus, he's the funny one.
- And who keeps us laughing
with sarcastic comments all the time?
- And yet, he can't bend,
and there's just no getting around how useful bending is
in this show.
I mean, it is the super power we keep coming back for.
In fact, the entire first season of "Legend of Korra"
deals with this exact issue,
the feeling of inferiority of being a non-bender
in a bending world.
So it's totally natural for Sokka to feel left out,
which is why I'm so happy he gets this episode,
and even more importantly his sword,
because let's face it, it is a pretty awesome space sword.
I mean, I don't know if you noticed but it's black
and that makes it awesome.
I mean Ben surprise ordered black silverware
for the office the other day and it's awesome.
Like imagine this but a sword.
Or, you know what?
Better yet. Hold on.
I got it.
Imagine this but black.
Can you guys guess what this is from?
It's "Name of the Wind."
You should totally read it.
This thing is like no-joke sharp.
But the reason Sokka calls it his space sword,
and the reason it's black,
is because he forges it out of a meteorite
that falls earlier in the episode.
But let's talk about the meteorite,
because as much as I love this episode
and as much as I love that it ends up being the final thing
that gets turned into the sword,
it always just sort of felt super random to me.
Like how convenient that it just so happened
to fall earlier that episode.
Like you guys really went out of your way
to give the sword a cool gimmick, didn't ya?
- You've never not seen anything like this.
- But guess what?
It turns out the meteorite is not random at all,
and the backstory behind it will blow your mind
and probably break your heart a little bit.
Today, we discuss the space sword.
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So, how did Sokka end up with a black space sword?
Well, the story actually begins,
as I'm sure you were expecting,
way back in the early 1900s with this guy, Robert Peary.
Robert Peary was an American explorer
who was trying to be the first person
to ever reach the North Pole.
But what he's actually famous for
is *maybe* being the first person
to ever reach the North Pole.
See, technology wasn't quite as advanced back then.
They couldn't use like satellite tracking or anything,
and you can't even just use a compass and follow it north
because magnetic north is actually a different pole
from the actual North Pole.
Look at this, you guys.
We paid the science and the history budget this month,
which can only mean you can expect
some terrible math in the future,
but I think it was worth it.
But back to the North Pole.
Even if you managed to find it without technology,
it's hard to prove that you found it.
I mean, it's not like getting to the top of the mountain
where you were very clearly at the top of a mountain.
Or like very clearly being on the moon.
The North Pole was only a feature because we say so.
Otherwise it's just a spot
in the middle of an arctic wonderland.
But of course, by wonderland, I mean wasteland.
It is nothing but a deadly, cold, icy, windy wasteland.
I think I might've said wasteland one too many times
in that last sentence, but I really want to hammer it home.
It is...
You don't wanna go there.
Not only that, but the opportunity to go up there
and freeze your butt off in the middle of nowhere
while you search for a coordinate
that nobody's ever found before is extremely expensive,
so your opportunities are limited.
Which also means then you're just highly incentivized
to lie about succeeding because, again,
who's gonna prove you wrong?
Unrelated, I recently just got back from the Moon
and I took pictures and it was awesome.
Look.
Now, that being said, I'm not saying
that Robert Peary's plan was to lie
about finding the North Pole
or that he wasn't actually trying to find it,
but whether or not he did is still up for debate today.
He was actually credited with this accomplishment
for quite some time but modern day reviews of his journals
have resparked the debate, and we may not ever know.
Personally, I have trouble giving him
the benefit of the doubt,
but it has nothing to do with his journals
or his skills as an explorer,
but really just 'cause he's not a super great dude.
But don't worry, more on that right now.
At this point, I'm sure you're wondering,
"How does Sokka fit into all of this?"
But don't worry. I promise you, we are getting there.
See, seeking out the North Pole was not the only thing
Peary did whilst he was poking around the Arctic.
He was also interacting with the indigenous people
and was on another quest to discover the source
of their mysterious metal tools.
The people in question here are the Inughuits.
That's Inughuit, I-N-U-G-H-U-I-T,
which as far as I can tell is pronounced the same way,
but if you can correct me, please do so in the comments.
This particular group, though, is also known
as the Smith Sound Inughuit, or the Arctic Highlanders.
They're located in Greenland
and are notably the northernmost group
of Inughuit people in North America.
Now, you might be wondering why would any group of people
settle in what has to be a really harsh climate to live in?
But the answer to that mystery was actually solved
by another explorer by the name of John Ross.
Ross predated Peary by about 80 years.
He was a member of the British Navy
and had been sent on a mission to discover
the Northwest Passage, which would be a shorter trade route
between Europe and China.
But on his journey, he became the first European
in 500 years to encounter the Inughuits,
and he had the same question, "Why are you living here?"
And it turns out they had traveled to the region
centuries ago to take advantage of a unique source of iron.
The iron was used to make harpoons and knives
and other tools which were far more reliable
than the wood or bone or stones
they had been using before that.
And I bet you can guess
what the mysterious source of iron was?
Yes, a meteorite.
Three of them, actually.
Or one that broke apart anyway.
And all though they actually told Ross where it was,
bad weather and stormy seas kept him
from ever investigating the matter,
but he did include the information in his logs
and guessed that the source must be a meteorite.
Which I have to say, really good guess.
Now, even though he turned out to be right,
it was only a guess.
And at the time, natural history museums
were extremely interested in meteorites, so the hunt was on.
This is just the sort of thing
an explorer who needs to prove himself
so that he can fund his attempts to find the North Pole
can latch onto.
And so, Robert Peary enters the fray.
And yes, he finds them, but not just outright.
He actually asks some of the Inughuit people where they are.
And one of them agrees to show him in exchange for,
at least according to one source, a gun.
Great.
Even so, it's still a 10-day journey
to find the meteorites, but they do find them.
And then Peary takes them.
Well, I say take, but let me be clear.
They are extremely heavy and this was a three-year process.
The three meteorites, though, are named respectively
the Dog, the Woman, and the Tent.
Of the three, the Tent was the largest one,
although it got renamed by Peary to Ahnighito,
after his daughter's middle name.
It took him a while to get that one,
but on his first journey, he did manage to bring back
the three-ton Woman.
Getting the other two took a little bit more doing.
As I said, it took three years.
The Tent actually weighs 34-tons,
and they actually had to build a small railroad to move it.
And bear in mind as this is happening
that the Inughuit people moved to this region
specifically because of the meteorites.
I mean, the meteorites advanced them
from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.
But hey, at least Peary was able to sell them
to the American Museum of Natural History
for a cool 40,000, where they are actually still on display.
Like, you can actually go see them.
I say that like I'm surprised.
Like, of course they're still on display.
It's a 34-ton rock.
How are you gonna move it?
The point is losing the meteorite is a really big deal
to the Inughuits
because it was their greatest natural resource.
Is natural resource the right word?
Extraterrestrial resource?
I guess that's right. Right?
It's a space rock and they were using it.
And the meteorites are not all he took.
He also asked six of the Inughuit people
to come back with him to America to be studied.
And in exchange for this, he told them he'd bring them back
in a one year's time with guns and tools and grand gifts,
which doesn't sound like a super fair trade to me
but six Inughuit people did come back with him
on the boat to New York.
And when they got there, they actually remained on the boat
for another 10 days while 20,000 people paid 25 cents each
to come look at not just the meteorites, but the people.
Yep.
After that, they were moved to the museum itself
where they lived in the cellar.
And eight months later,
four of them had died due to tuberculosis.
I warned you it might be heartbreaking.
We're not even there yet, 'cause yeah, it gets worse.
One of the guys who died was the father
of one of the survivors, a young boy named Minik.
Minik was then adopted by a staff member of the museum,
a guy named William Wallace.
And despite being an orphan in a brand new country
that he was extremely unfamiliar with,
things seemed like maybe they were starting
to look up for Minik, until he learned
that the museum had faked his father's funeral.
By which I mean they had in fact not buried his body,
but instead a log wrapped in a cloth wearing a mask.
And his actual bones ended up in their collection,
which they refused to give back to Minik upon request.
Ugh, this is seriously like one of the saddest stories
I've ever heard.
In case you're wondering though,
Minik does eventually make it back to Greenland,
but it's not for like another 12 years
since his original departure.
Also, I probably don't have to tell you this,
but Peary did not actually deliver on his promise
to bring back the gifts a year later.
Honestly, it's like a really sad and nuanced story.
If you wanna read more about the whole thing
and get all the details,
I've included links to all of our sources
in the description down below.
It is seriously quite the rabbit hole.
But for now let's shift gears back to "Avatar"
and Sokka's sword.
The Water Tribe in "Avatar,"
as I'm sure you're probably aware,
is broadly based on Inughuit culture.
And Sokka's sword is pretty obviously inspired
by this exact story, except in reverse.
In real life, the technologically advanced Robert Peary
arrived in Greenland and promised riches and weapons,
and then stole the meteorite from the indigenous people.
In "Avatar" however, it is Team Avatar,
who is one-half members of the Southern Water Tribe,
who are secretly hiding out
in the more technologically advanced Fire Nation.
And it is them who steal the meteorite
and then later turn it into a weapon
to help defeat the Fire Nation.
Ah, it's just like so extremely poetic
and such an excellent explanation
for the meteorite in "Avatar."
At the end of the episode,
Sokka reveals to his master Piandao
that he is not actually of the Fire Nation.
And Piandao, in turn, reveals that he already knew this.
He knows that Sokka is from the Water Tribe.
- You might wanna think of a better Fire Nation cover name.
Try Lee. There's a million Lees.
- He explains that he decided to teach him anyway, because-
- The way of the sword doesn't belong to any one nation.
- Just because Piandao lives in and grew up
in the Fire Nation does not mean that his knowledge
belongs to them,
which I feel like is also really similar
to the meteorite itself.
Like, it fell from space and landed on Earth.
And the Inughuit people used it,
but they never claimed it was theirs.
Robert Peary, on the other hand, does claim it as his.
He literally takes it and sells it to profit himself.
And yeah, now you can go see it in person,
but was it worth the cost of it being there?
Which is honestly probably just a good question to ask
for any given thing in a museum
because I have a feeling this story isn't totally unique,
although it might be the heaviest one,
physically and emotionally.
Anyway, guys, thanks so much for watching today's video.
Don't forget to hit that Like button if you haven't already,
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so you don't miss any future "Avatar" content from us.
If you want to know the real reason Azula's fire is blue,
you can check out this video right here.
But Ben, until next time,
I will see you in another life, brother.