Avatar: The Way of Water is almost upon us, and we're finally heading back to Pandora to see what new adventures James Cameron has conjured for the sequel. It’s been a while since the first Avatar came to theaters. Thirteen years, to be precise. That’s a long time to remember what happened in the first movie and which parts of Na’vi lore are relevant to understand The Way of Water. So, before we mount our Ikrans and fly to the theaters to watch The Way of Water, here’s everything you need to remember about 2009’s Avatar.
When and Where Does ‘Avatar’ Takes Place?
Avatar occurs in the middle of the 22nd century as humanity suffers from a dangerous energetic crisis. That’s why we begin to explore the rest of the universe, hoping to find resources to keep on the lights on our tiny blue planet. Avatar's main events happen in 2154, decades after space exploration leads humanity to Pandora, a lush Earth-like habitable moon in the Alpha Centauri System. Pandora has a complex ecosystem, and the local fauna and flora hide the secrets of many technological improvements. Most importantly, the planet possesses massive underground reserves of unobtanium, a miraculous metal key to human survival.
What Is Unobtanium?
Unobtanium is a special natural resource that works as a superconductor at room temperature. That means this metallic substance can be used to build powerful tools, resolve the energetic crisis, and advance human technology by centuries in just a short number of years - which makes it the most expensive substance in the universe. A single kilogram of unrefined unobtanium is worth more than $20 million back on Earth, and the value of this resource doubles after being refined. That explains why companies such as Resources Development Administration, or RDA, are after the substance.
What Is the Resources Development Administration?
The RDA is the largest single human non-governmental organization to explore space. The company's wealth is partly due to its monopoly over unobtanium extraction. While no one can confirm the rumors, it is said that the RDA funds terrorist groups to disrupt scientific research that could create synthetic unobtanium, which would throw a wrench at the company's profits. So, instead of working for the improvement of mankind, the RDA is only concerned with increasing its market value, which leads them to Pandora.
Pandora is the only place in the cosmos where humans found unobtanium. So, the RDA set a base there and began exploring Pandora's soil. Unfortunately, the moon’s inhabitants, the Na’vi, are not particularly happy with humans destroying their native land to feed their greed. That’s why they attack human settlements, bringing both species to the brink of war. The RDA tried to avoid this explosive situation by hiring ex-soldiers and mercenaries to enforce their law upon the natives. However, the RDA is supervised by the Interplanetary Commerce Administration, a group that monitors commercial relationships in space. They also granted the RDA the right to explore unobtanium as long as they minimize casualties to Pandora's natives. So, to avoid any sanctions due to their use of violence in Pandora, the RDA started the Avatar project, a supposedly peaceful way to get the unobtanium guarded by the Na’vi without disturbing the native people.
What Is the Avatar Project?
In the first phase of the Avatar project, Earth scientists developed artificial bodies by mixing human and Na’vi DNA. These bodies work just like any Na’vi body, with all their strengths and abilities. However, they lack a mind of their own. So, when plugged into the Avatar project, a researcher becomes a pilot of a Na’vi body, surviving in Pandora’s atmosphere without any mask and approaching Na’vi tribes without raising suspicion.
Each Avatar is built from the DNA of a specific human, and only humans sharing this DNA can pilot the Na’vi body. That’s why Jake (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic former Marine, gets sent to Pandora. Jake’s twin brother died before he could take his place in the Avatar program, and since it takes too long, and it’s too expensive just to build new Avatars from scratch, Jake is selected to take the place of his brother and pilot a Na’vi body of his own.
It takes some time for Jake to get the hang of piloting a different body, but he soon finds out that the Na’vi anatomy gives him more freedom than he's ever had. For starters, his Avatar has complete control of his legs. Then, Na’vi are taller, stronger, and more flexible than humans. Jake isn’t in Pandora to play around with an expensive toy, though, as he was sent there to infiltrate a Na’vi tribe that built their home on top of a massive unobtanium depository.
Who Are the Na’vi? What Is Eywa?
Officially, Jake is part of a research team led by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), whose goal is to study the Na’vi and create a friendly relationship with Pandora’s people. However, he’s soon enlisted by Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), a ruthless military leader who wants Jake to uncover the natives' weakness so that he can exploit it once the war begins. In return, Quartich promises Jake the expensive healthcare he needs to regain the use of his legs. After receiving his orders, Jake presents himself to a Na’vi tribe, asking them to train and learn as one of their own. Meanwhile, he reports everything he finds to Dr. Grace and Colonel Quaritch.
As the weeks pass, Jake starts to understand the Na’vi and their symbiotic connection to nature. While humans destroy everything they touch and try to bend nature to their will, the Na’vi see everything around them as a creation of Eywa, their deity. Eywa is the life force that runs through Pandora, flowing in a web of interconnected roots and organic wires. Pandora’s version of Gaia is alive and worshiped by the Na’vi, who respect every life form they encounter as children of Eywa. It’s a peaceful life based on harmony instead of domination, and the Na’vi culture begins to rub off on Jake.
Besides growing to admire the Na’vi and their culture, Jake also falls in love with a Na’vi warrior named Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña). Neytiri also develops feelings for Jake, showing him the secrets of the Na’vi and explaining how Eywa can keep their ancestors' souls alive. Since Eywa is a network capable of transmitting energy, some unique trees in Pandora can store information they copy from Na’vi minds, preserving their memories. In short, the entire moon of Pandora works like a supercomputer, probably due to the natural presence of unobtanium as a superconductor. It’s no wonder, then, that the Na’vi worship nature and stand against the humans who want to destroy it. And even more curious is that the Na'vi, as a species, evolved a unique braid they use to commune with Eywa and Pandora's fauna.
What's the Deal with the Na'vi Braids?
While the Na'vi worship Eywa and create folkloric tales to understand the entity's powers, there is a scientific explanation for how Pandora's version of Gaia works. All the life forms of the moon are connected because their memories, thoughts, feelings, and impulses get stored and transmitted through the roots and branches of the local flora. The brain of any living creature is formed by millions of neurons that constantly fire electricity around. So, everything we are as people could be reduced to electric signals. Since the superconductor properties of Pandora's soil rubbed off its flora and fauna, the Na'vi evolved in a way that allowed them to access information stored in animals and plants.
The Na'vi braid is a remarkable organ that works like an optic cable, connecting one being to another and letting information flow between them. Through their braid, the Na'vi can upload their memories into Eywa's network, living forever as an echo their friends and family can access anytime. While the culture of the Na'vi talks about the souls of ancestors guiding the younger generations, we could better understand the process if we think their braid allows them to make a copy of their identities into the planet, which works just like a virtual repository. The Na'vi braid also allows them to tame the wildlife in Pandora. It's through the braid that Na'vi keep control of the pa'li, or direhorses, creatures they use to ride long distances and battle their enemies. The braid is also essential to tame a flying ikran, the mountain banshees, a dragon-like creature every Na'vi must ride if they want to be seen as adults by the tribe.
What Are Ikrans? And What Is the Toruk Makto?
As a final rite of passage before being considered part of the tribe, every Na’vi needs to tame their own ikran, a dangerous flying creature that becomes the warrior’s mount. Pandora is home to many vicious animals like the Ikran. Even so, no animal is as dangerous as the Toruk, a flying creature that preys on the Ikran. In Na’vi culture, a warrior who can tame the Toruk becomes Toruk Makto, a leader whose bravery is a badge of authority, allowing them to unite all the Na’vi tribes in a single army. Few Na'vi were brave enough to try to tame the Toruk, but every member of the tribe has their own Ikran to fly around. It's no different for Jake, who's forced to tame an Ikran before he can be accepted as a member of the tribe.
After months among the Na’vi, Jake is convinced that the native people of Pandora are right to be hostile to humans and that Earthlings should just leave the moon. Unfortunately, it’s too late, as Colonel Quaritch uses the information Jake has acquired to plan a brutal attack that destroys his Na’vi tribe’s home. After the humans destroy the tree where Jake’s tribe used to live, he risks his life to tame the Toruk and becomes Toruk Makto himself. By riding the mighty Toruk, Jake ensures every Na’vi will listen to him. With this power, Jake flies to distant corners of Pandora, summoning warriors from many tribes and asking the native people of the moon to stand against humanity. Jake leads Pandora’s armies against the humans, but unfortunately, Colonel Quaritch’s weapons are too advanced, and the Na’vi begin to lose the battle. However, Eywa sends reinforcements, as all the animals on the moon unite to attack humans. Nature is alive in Pandora and comes to the rescue of Toruk Makto and the Na’vi. This surprising development allows the Na’vi to win the war and send the RDA back to Earth, never to return to Pandora.
What Happened to All the Main Characters in ‘Avatar’?
By the end of Avatar, Jake decides to transfer his consciousness to his Na’vi body permanently, becoming part of Pandora forever. He begins to build a life with Neytiri, which explains why Avatar: The Way of Water takes place in the future, following their children's adventures. It's a happy ending for the former Marine, who found a new home and family light-years away from Earth. Doctors Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore) and Max Patel (Dileep Rao), Jake's friends and allies from the Avatar program, also remain on the moon after the RDA personnel is expelled, helping to build a healthy relationship between humans and Na'vi.
However, the Na’vi victory didn’t come without a cost, as Dr. Grace is fatally wounded during the battle against humanity. Eywa cannot save the doctor’s body, but her mind gets transferred into the Tree of Life, where it will remain for eternity. In other words, the Na'vi allowed Dr. Grace, in her Avatar body, to access the living database of Eywa, uploading a copy of herself and being granted eternal life in Pandora. Trudy Chacón (Michelle Rodriguez), the pilot who betrayed Colonel Quaritch in the final battle, didn't even get a chance to become part of Pandora. Not only did Trudy not have an Avatar body, but she died in an explosion that completely destroyed her body. The price of peace was high, but at least Jake and the Na'vi also imposed severe casualties on the RDA.
On the RDA side of things, Colonel Quaritch is killed in action during the final duel against Jake and the Na’vi, but he’ll come back to Avatar: The Way of Water as a Recombinant. The Recombinants are Avatars embedded with the memories of a human driver, a new weapon developed by humanity to try to take control over Pandora. So, while Jake wins a battle in Avatar that allows Pandora to remain in peace for many years, humanity is a plague, and Quaritch will soon be back to restart the war.
The RDA's return was announced by Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) at the end of Avatar. Parker was in charge of the RDA's base of operation in Pandora, and despite not liking Quaritch's violent solutions, he still set the Colonel loose to maintain the company's profits. After the fiasco in Pandora, Parker probably lost his job at RDA. So, since he was kicked out of Pandora with the rest of the RDA personnel, it's unlikely we'll see him in The Way of Water.
Avatar: The Way of Water premieres in theaters on December 16th.