Location from Avatar: The Last Airbender by Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko
A vast, merciless desert in the central Earth Kingdom — home to sandbenders, giant buzzard wasps, and the buried entrance to Wan Shi Tong's Library.
The Si Wong Desert is the largest desert in the Avatar world and one of the most hostile environments outside the Spirit World. Navigation is nearly impossible — dunes shift constantly, landmarks vanish, and the heat drives travelers mad. The sandbender tribes survive here by reading the sand and sailing across it on wooden skiffs propelled by their specialized earthbending. It was here that Team Avatar's most desperate hours unfolded: while Aang and the others were trapped inside Wan Shi Tong's sinking library, sandbenders stole Appa, sending Aang into a grief-fueled Avatar State rage. The desert nearly killed the group — dehydration, cactus-juice hallucinations, and buzzard wasp attacks pushed them to their limits. Beneath the sand, the library continues to sink, pulled down by an angry spirit.
An endless expanse of rolling sand dunes under a bleached white sky. Heat shimmers distort the horizon. Towering rock formations jut from the sand at intervals. Sand-sailers — wooden craft propelled by sandbending — skim across the dunes. Giant buzzard wasps circle overhead. The buried spire of the library pokes from the sand like a bone.
Also known as: Si Wong, the Great Desert, sandbender desert