Sixteen years ago, James Cameron’s Avatar was released into the world. The passion project from the creator of The Terminator, True Lies, and Titanic, was put on ice for decades as the Oscar-winning filmmaker waited for the potential of visual effects to finally catch up to what he was dreaming. Patience proved to be a strong suit for Cameron in that regard, as Avatar would go on to become the highest-grossing movie of all time upon its release, earn nine Academy Award nominations (winning three), and kickstart the use of 3D technology once again at the movies.
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Ironically, time has proven to be somewhat of an enemy to Avatar in the long run, as extensive delays in the development and production of its sequel films resulted in them being released much, much later than originally planned. Avatar: The Way of Water didn’t premiere until December of 2022, thirteen years later. Time may have also made your mind forget some of the key details of the Avatar world, but with Avatar: Fire and Ash in theaters this week, there are some key pillars of the larger story that are worth remembering before we head into the third movie.
5) The Ending of The Way of Water
Avatar: Fire and Ash and Avatar: The Way of Water were initially conceived as one movie before James Cameron decided it was too big and they needed to be split. As a result, the two films build on each other in major ways, especially in the conclusion of the 2022 sequel.
It’s worth remembering not only the major casualty that occurred at the end of The Way of Water, that being Jake and Neytiri’s oldest son, Neteyam, but the larger circumstances of the final act. Having found refuge with the water-dwelling Metkayina clan, the Sullys befriend not only a new tribe of Na’vi but learn of the Tulkun, the whale-like creatures that live on Pandora, including the outcast Payakan. The humans on Pandora have a keen interest in the Tulkun as well, though, as they’ve discovered Amrita, a liquid found only in the brains of Tulkun, which can be used to stop the aging process in humans (essentially making it liquid gold on Earth).
Avatar: The Way of Water ended with not only tragedy but death, and a major confrontation years in the making as the Sully clan came face to face with perhaps their biggest enemy…
4) Everything About Miles Quaritch
Stephen Lang made his debut as Colonel Miles Quaritch in 2009’s Avatar, a gruff military leader charged with keeping the humans on Pandora safe while also carrying a major grudge against the Na’vi themselves. At the time Quaritch has major issues with the avatar program itself, putting humans in grown Na’vi bodies to try and make peace. As fans may recall, Quaritch and Jake Sully came to blows multiple times over the course of that film, in part because he believed that Sully was forming an allegiance with the Na’vi and turning against his fellow man. Quaritch is killed in the final battle of the first movie.
Avatar: The Way of Water does not take Quaritch off the board at all, though, instead giving him an upgrade in the form of Project Phoenix as a new Na’vi avatar body is born with his memories implanted into it. Quaritch continues his pursuit of Jake Sully in the sequel but also has a new twist thrown his way, the human son that he left behind on Pandora. Now a teen, and going by the name Spider, the young boy has been adopted by the Sullys, which just further’s Quaritch’s hate.
3) The Na’vi goddess, Eywa
A key component of Na’vi belief across the Avatar movies is the goddess Eywa, called the Great Mother, who they believe connects not only all the Na’vi but all life across all of Pandora. Eywa has never been seen in the film, as most deities in fiction aren’t, but her influence is shown across the films, such as when the tiny woodsprites of Pandora float down onto Neytiri’s arrow before she considers killing Jake Sully in the first film. The biggest proof of Eywa’s existence, however, is Kiri, the Na’vi character played by Sigourney Weaver in Avatar: The Way of Water. As fans may recall, Weaver’s human character Dr. Grace Augustine, died at The Tree of Souls in the first Avatar movie, with The Way of Water digging deeper into this moment and how it resulted in the birth of Kiri, who herself has major connections to Eywa.
2) Jake’s Standing on Pandora
In Avatar, Jake Sully not only becomes fully welcomed into the Omatikaya Clan but takes on a messianic stature on Pandora at large. After bonding with the giant banshee Toruk, Jake became known as Toruk Makto, something only been done a few times prior to Jake’s arrival on the planet. By becoming this reverent figurehead for other Na’vi on Pandora, Jake was able to unite many of the clans together to fight back against the humans in the first movie. It plays into Avatar: The Way of Water as well as Jake being Toruk Makto resulted in him becoming the leader of the Omatikaya Clan, a position he had to give up to keep his family safe from Quaritch’s pursuit.
1) The Whole Reason Humans Are on Pandora to Begin With
In Avatar, it’s revealed that not only is the Earth a polluted and dystopian hellhole but the reach of tech corporations has gone out into the stars. The RDA has targeted Pandora to mine it for its Unobtanium, a mineral that will help solve Earth’s energy crisis while also making them very, very rich. By the time Avatar: The Way of Water rolled around, the RDA’s plans had gotten bigger, not only targeting the Tulkun for their Amrita but also planning to completely terraform Pandora so that the human race could move to the planet completely. Needless to say, the stakes are high for all the humans.
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