Avatar: Fire and Ash is now in theaters, and it would be an understatement to say that James Cameron’s third chapter in the Avatar saga takes some very big swings. Fire and Ash goes deeper than ever before into the spiritual core of the planet Pandora, and the deity, Eywa, which fuels all life there. When James Cameron released Avatar: The Way of Water, fans were somewhat befuddled by the story of Kiri, the “daughter” born from scientist Grace Augustine’s (Sigourney Weaver) Na’vi avatar body. That story was never truly finished in the sequel film, leaving a massive dangling thread for Fire and Ash to tie off.
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Below you’ll find a SPOILER-FILLED breakdown of how Avatar: Fire and Ash settles the issue of Kiri’s origin story – and her fate on Pandora.
Daughter of Eywa
The confusion with Kiri’s origin came from trying (and failing) to explain how the young girl was born, and why her deeper connection to Eywa exists. Grace Augustine’s spirit was accepted into the Tree of Souls to reside with the spirits of the Na’vi people, so when the empty vessel of her Na’vi avatar got pregnant, no one could explain why. The Way of Water revealed that Kiri has a profound spiritual connection to Eywa, akin to that of a prophet or a priestess. However, the connection was too powerful for Kiri, and nearly killed her – especially when she’s submerged in water.
In Fire and Ash, Kiri is maturing quickly, but still cannot seem to master her heightened connection to Eywa. Throughout the film, this struggle is represented by Kiri fighting an uphill battle through a metaphysical wilderness, trying to reach a brilliant light ahead in the distance, which is meant to be Eywa.
Things shift drastically when Kiri demonstrates the power to commune with Eywa in a way that transforms her human friend (brother?) Spider’s entire physiology (including growing a neural queue), so that his human body can survive on Pandora. Kiri can no longer ignore the mystery of her true origin any longer, and forces Neytiri and Jake (and Neytiri’s mother, Mo’at) to tell her the truth: she is the literal child of Eywa.
But that revelation still doesn’t explain why Eywa is blocking Kiri from accessing the Tree of Souls…
Kiri’s Spiritual Powers Explained
There are two main reveals about Kiri in Avatar: Fire and Ash. During the final battle for Pandora, Kiri must make the high-stakes gamble of connecting to the Metkayina’s underwater tree and risk her life connecting with Eywa. The other Sully kids (Spider, Tuk) join the connection and help Kiri up that wilderness hill to meet with Eywa’s light: the result is Kiri gaining the power to connect to Eywa and every living thing on Pandora – a power she uses to summon the entire ecosystem of wildlife to rise and fight against the RDA invaders in their Na’vi allies from the Fire Tribe.
Kiri’s power doesn’t end at altering Spider’s body and summoning the animals: the Fire Tribe priestess Varang (Oona Chaplin) has her own special ability to use her Tsaheylu bonding connector to bend other Na’vi to her will. However, in the final battle, Kiri has a neural queue showdown with Varang, overpowering the mad priestess with the will of Eywa. The moment plays to a much deeper thematic subtext in Fire and Ash, which pits those who abandon their faith and humanity due to tragedy (the Fire Tribe), vs. those who lean harder into their faith and compassion in the moments of great pain and adversity (the Sully Family). In that context, Kiri ends the film as the Jesus archetype Cameron clearly intended her to be.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is now playing in theaters and IMAX. Discuss the film and the franchise with us on the ComicBook Forum!
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