jcavatarheadcanons

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A subtler detail that showcases the unfairness of human society in Avatar 1 is Quaritch’s and Jake’s conversation when they meet one on one for the first time. Until that point, the movie establishes that Jake is dirt poor in spite of giving his spine in a war zone. An abandoned war veteran.

Meanwhile Miles goes on to explain the origin of his scars and whether he should pretty up his face when he rotates home. The old man ends up deciding, with a smirk, that he’ll keep the face scarring as a status symbol, which shows us that not only is Quaritch uber privileged, he’s also filthy rich. He looks a young man dead in the eye, a man who will forever live in poverty because of his disability, thrown to the curb, about whether he should dunk his money into a plastic surgery purely for cosmetic reasons. He’s so far up his ass he can’t even recognise that this casual show of wealth might be inappropriate with this particular person.

We are very lucky that Miles from A1 didn’t raise Spider.

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thinking about them again

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Thoughts and Predictions about the Mangkwan Clan.

With Avatar: Fire and Ash coming out in December and not having any trailer's yet I wanted to share some of my thoughts and predictions surrounding the new Mangkwan Clan, or Ash People.

This is probably my favorite part of concept art from D3. It's terrifying, the fiery background and the hooded figures surrounding Varang. Varang herself wearing a manic smile and a necklace of kuru is so unsettling.

The necklace of kuru is so interesting to me. Kuru (or neural queue) are incredibly important in Na'vi society. It is a way to connect to the world around them and to their ancestors.

In the original script there is a scene where Lyle Wainfleet finds an injured Tsu'tey on the forest floor. Picking Tsu'tey up by the queue he cuts it off and it's brutal.

Now, this is only concept art and the neural queue necklace might now actually be in the final film. But I still wonder how Varang got them. The worst possibility is that she cut them off her opponents in battle, or something along those lines. The less horrible thing I can think of is that the queue are cut off from the deceased so their spirits won't connect to Eywa.

New creature! After ATWOW introduced so many new animals it'll be interesting to see what direction they will be taken.

According to the Wiki these things are called 'Nightwraith' and are a flying mount, much like an Ikran.

If you look you can see the Varang does have her queue connected to her mount. She is bonded with it, but I wonder if it is to the degree of an Ikran and it's rider.

Something I just noticed is that the background characters are weilding very obviously human weapons, not the typically bows and arrows. Pretty sure one has a rocket launcher?

This wouldn't be the first time we see Na'vi using human weapons. Characters like Jake do it all the time. But with the Mangkwan's lore I wonder how this will be portrayed.

Once again we can see the Mangkwan Na'vi with human weapons here. One of the three rules of Eywa is not using metal. With the Mangkwan being a Clan that has renounced Eywa it makes sense, but I wonder how they got these weapons.

I also noticed that the Mangkwan Na'vi have queue's, like Varang.

The most obvious thing it Quaritch. He's being escorted by Mangkwan warriors, seemingly to Varang.

I've seen people theorize that they will team up, possibly romantically, as a parralel to Jake and Neytiri.

The arcithecture of the Mangkwan is also interesting, lots of sharp points and red accents we haven't really seen before. The camp also seems to be beneath a Hometree-like structure. Possibly this same tree from this other piece of concept art.

The wiki mentions that that the Mangkwan used to be very similar to the Omatikaya, but their way of life was destroyed by a volcano that wiped out their village and destroyed their Hometree. This has left the Mangkwan survivors resentful and angry towards Eywa.

Something I'm very excited for is to see Neytiri interact with the Mangkwan and Varang. Neytiri is a very emotional character and we see her fly into a blind rage after Neteyam's death. I want her to reflect, to see herself in the Mangkwan and be horrified. Or maybe she'll empathize with them, defend their actions, join them even.

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Can Quaritch be Redeemed?

Since ATWOW introduced us to the idea of a recombinant, or recom. These are genetic hybrids of na'vi and human DNA, similar to an avatar. Where the two differ though is that there is no neural link. Recoms are given the memories from their human lives. Costume designer Deborah L. Scott says "they're like the Special Forces" in The Art of Avatar: The Way of Water.

The most infamous recom is that of Colonel Miles Quaritch, the former 'big bad' from the first movie. In the fandom I have seen the idea of Quaritches redemption floating around and being debated.

To answer if Quaritch can be redeemed we have to look at his characterization in the first movie.

He was the Colonel of the RDA's SecOps (Security Operations) and a former Marine. He views Pandora as a dangerous and, frankly, he has good reason to believe this. He has a trio of claw scars on the side of his face (likely from a viperwolf) which he got his first day on Pandora. He has seen countless men and women die on Pandora, from the nature around them and the na'vi.

Obviously I do not think Quaritches hatred for the Na'vi is valid. He describes them as 'savage' and is violent with the Pandoran natives. Something we have to understand about Quaritch, and most antagonists, is that he does not see himself as the villain.

Something I think we forget about Quaritch is that he is loyal. He is loyal to his soldiers. He is loyal to the RDA. He is loyal to Earth and loyal to humanity. Keep in mind, the Earth of 2154 is a dying wasteland and the RDA -in their minds- is trying to save humanity.

Quaritch sees the ecosystem of Pandora and the Na'vi as a threat to humanity. To him, the survival of humanity is more important than the destruction of Pandora and the slaughter of the Na'vi.

He has no respect for the Avatar Program, Grace Augustine or her research. Their views on Pandora and the Na'vi are so starkly different and they are both very stubborn people.

When Jake Sully arrives on Pandora as a member of the Avatar Program Quaritch sees an opportunity. Jake is a fellow Marine, someone Quaritch views as likeminded. Quaritch offers to pay for Jake's spinal surgery in return for information about the Na'vi. Quaritch has genuine respect for Jake as a solider and a fellow Marine. So when Jake doesn't report to him for two weeks he grows suspicious. When Jake destroys the RDA bulldozer at the Tree of Voices Quaritch sees this as a betrayal.

Unlike the audience, Quaritch does not see Jake's progressive understanding and loyalty to the Na'vi and their way of life. All he sees is Jake betraying humanity to get some 'local tail'.

Let me make something clear, Quaritch is not an innocent man. He is responsible for countless Na'vi deaths, especially during the destruction of Hometree. It is Quaritch who orders the fire on Hometree, refering to the Na'vi as 'dumb bastard' and comparing them to roaches. He shows no remorse when Hometree falls, praising his soilder's and even commenting that they should throw a party.

Something I don't see discussed much is that Quaritch kills Grace. He fatally shoots her while she and the others are trying to escape Hell's Gate. An argument could be made that Quaritch didn't mean to kill Grace. But he was blindly shooting in a moment of impulse. He wasn't even wearing an Exopack, barging out and holding his breath.

Of course, the movie comes to an end with Quaritch killed by Neytiri and left to rot in the forest.

Now, in Avatar: The Way of Water we are reintroduced to Quaritch as a recombinant solider. He has all his memories, up to the final battle. He remembers killing Grace and destroying Hometree.

I think where people's view of Quaritch begins to change is with his son, Miles "Spider" Socorro.

When Recom Quaritch first meets Spider, he seems almost curious. Quaritch most likely never knew Spider before he died, since Spider was born the same year Quaritch died. Quaritch goes on to capture Spider and brings him back to the RDA.

From this point on, Quaritch seems to bond with Spider in a way we haven't seen from the character before. During Spider's interrogation it's Quaritch who turns of the torture device and asks to personally talk to Spider.

Now, this scene is very interesting to me. Quaritch is many things, but he isn't a liar. He knows Spider he wasn't a good father and that, technically, he and Spider aren't connected. He knows Spider won't betray the Sully's. I think Quaritch genuinely does care about Spider, that his motivation's are not purely selfish.

Through the rest of the movie Quaritch and Spider share these small moments that, understandably, have endeared the audience to Quaritch. The perception of Quaritch has shifted.

There are two other defining moments that really redefine the character of Miles Quaritch.

The first is when Quaritch and the other Recoms are interrigaing the other Ocean Clans for information about Jakes whereabouts.

From the first Avatar movie, we know Quaritch does not hesitate to kill Na'vi and does not feel remorse. The Quaritch we know from the first movie would have killed the Tsahik without question. But Spider protests, distressed and angry, and Quaritch doesn't. He does order the others to burn the village down, a cruel and violent act, but he doesn't go as far as we've seen before.

The second scene is the climactic final confrontation on the sinking SeaDragon. You all know what I'm talking about.

This scene shows Quaritch taking Kiri hostage and Neytiri -in a grief-induced, manic rage- does the same with Spider.

I believe that in this scene Quaritch does not actually intend to kill Kiri. He is using her as leverage against Jake, but Neytiri is fully willing to take Spiders life here.

*For those of you who have not seen the original extended-cut of this scene, this is completely possible. Neytiri actually puts the knife back up to Spiders throat after Kiri is released. She has to be talked down by Jake so she doesn't kill Spider. I can't find any good clips of this scene but it is usually called "Parents from Hell" and you can find it easily online.

At first, Quaritch says he doesn't care and refuses to back down. Once Quaritch realizes that Spider is in genuine danger though he gives up and releases Kiri. He looks at Neytiri for a moment and he almost looks worried.

He cares about Spider and I think that this is that father/son bond that really makes people think about a Quaritch redemption.

Personally, I don't really have any strong feelings about Quaritches possible redemption. I don't want Quaritch to go full 'good guy' on the Sully's side. I really can't see Quaritch and the Sully family (especially Neytiri) being anything but reluctant allies against a bigger threat.

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Neytiri’s Fatal Flaw and Her Future Arc.

I was watching the deleted/original cut of the scene with Neytiri holding Spider hostage which — first off, incredible scene by the way like holy shit — but it made me think about how perfectly it served for Neytiri’s character.

Someone might’ve already talked about this already, but what I don’t think a lot of people realize is that this scene serves as the payoff for earlier Neytiri-related scenes as well as a starting point for her arc going forward.

If you haven’t watched the scene, here, it’s a far more impactful version of an already hard hitting scene and I’m going to treat it as what “really” happened in the story for the sake of analysis.

The first moment I’m focusing on is this one where Neytiri goes to pick up her bow after killing a few RDA grunts, only to find that the bow is now broken and unusable.

There’s a running theme in these two movies that I’ve seen people point out and that’s how Neytiri keeps losing things that are precious to her, whether they be people, places, or objects.

In the first movie, she loses a lot including but not limited to the Hometree, the Tree of Voices, her older sister, Tsu’tey, her Ikran, and her father. When her father dies, he grants her the Ceremonial Bow and that’s what she ends up using to fight in all subsequent battles.

In the second movie, she thankfully doesn’t lose as much, but she’s still forced to leave her home and her first born son is killed in the heat of battle, rough times all around.

You’ll note that I didn’t include losing her precious bow on the list of things she lost and that’s because she didn’t lose the bow, she broke it.

All the other losses I’ve described are caused by the RDA, but this one isn’t. Instead of her bow being broken by another grunt in the heat of the battle, she’s the one who breaks it by swinging it haphazardly at her enemies.

I may not know all that much about archery or making weapons, but I’m almost certain that bows aren’t designed to be used like that, which is why her bow broke the way that it did.

And it cannot be understated how important this bow must be to Neytiri. I mentioned before that it was given to her by her late father, making it an important connection to her family already, but it’s also made from the wood of Hometree. So not only is it a connection to her family, it’s a connection to her people and the home that was stolen from them.

All that and she still broke it, not because she didn’t cherish the bow, but because she just couldn’t control her anger enough to handle it properly.

And that’s what I feel Neytiri’s fatal flaw is, as well as what her arc will be primarily focusing on in the upcoming movies — Neytiri’s anger and hatred leads to blind rage, and she becomes liable to hurt those she cares about.

For the record, I am not making the claim that Neytiri’s flaw is that she gets angry. Being outraged by death and destruction, hating those who bring about injustice, these aren’t flaws and aren’t things she should be vilified for. What is a flaw is how she uses her anger, or rather how it uses her.

Jake spells it out pretty cleanly in a scene that happened a while ago. When Tonowari told Jake and Neytiri about the destruction the RDA was causing to the nearby villages, they immediately connect it back to Quaritch. Neytiri describes how they have to finish off Quaritch — “we have to hunt this demon, trap him, kill him” — and this is what Jake says in response to that idea:

“We gotta be smart…”

He’s not dismissing the idea of doing something, he’s just cautioning her on how they go about doing it. That’s the crux of Neytiri’s most prevalent flaw, it isn’t her becoming angered at the injustice she and her people face, it’s her not being smart about how she acts on it.

The last two moments I’d like to draw attention to are the one where one of Quartich’s lackey calls Neytiri a “wild animal” and the one where she actually acts like one.

For the record, Lyle and Quaritch are in the wrong for likening Neytiri to an animal and dehumanizing her in the process, especially when the reason they insulted her was because she was acting violent in the video where she was protecting her husband. However, it’s undeniable that during the fight on the Sea Dragon, Neytiri is the most violent and rage filled we’ve ever seen her.

It’s particularly noticeable right before she realizes she broke her bow, which is definitely not a coincidence I’ll tell you that much.

She screams in the guys face and stabs him over and over and over again, after which she gets up and starts growling, searching for anything else that moves. It’s not a stretch to say that, in this moment, she’s acting almost like a bloodthirsty animal hungry for vengeance, not too dissimilar from the wild animal the recoms painted her as.

And all of this, her accidentally breaking her father’s bow, being asked to be smart about it all, acting like a wild animal, it all comes to a head in the moment where she uses Spider’s life as leverage to save Kiri’s. It starts off good when she makes Quaritch let Kiri go, but when Kiri is freed from Quaritch’s grasp and she can turn her attention to the man himself…

…she puts the blade back against Spider’s neck and utters those infamous lines:

“A son for a son.”

I’ve seen a lot of people comment on how “powerful” of a scene this is, and while I agree that it’s a powerful storytelling moment and extremely important to Neytiri’s character, I think a lot of people miss the fact that this isn’t an admirable moment of a mother’s rage, but a scary and dark moment where Neytiri is about to fall to Quaritch’s lows.

Because if Neytiri had actually gone through with this decision, then she would’ve done the same thing to her family that she did with her bow — destroy it. What’s important to note about Neytiri’s hatred towards Spider is that; while it’s understandable considering all the trauma she went through at the hands of his father and the RDA, she’s the only one in her family that feels this way towards him.

For one thing, Spider is both Lo’ak and Kiri’s best friend and they know how much Spider hates being Quaritch’s son, there’s no way that they’d just accept Neytiri after she killed their best friend. We don’t get much development on Spider’s relationship with Tuk or Neteyam, but we see Spider protect Tuk, tease Neteyam, and cry during Neteyam’s death, so they must be friends on some level.

And finally Jake. Admittedly, Jake is pretty lukewarm towards Spider throughout the entire movie, but I’d argue that’s him keeping a respectful distance because of him wanting to side with his wife and not any malice Jake genuinely holds towards Spider himself. We even see him checking over Spider at the end of the movie like he does with Lo’ak and Neteyam.

As much as Jake unconditionally loves Neytiri, I cannot see a world where he’s able to look at her the same way if she killed an innocent child.

And I do mean innocent, because at this point in time Spider’s only “crimes” are being human(not his choice) and being Quaritch’s son(also not his choice). Even if Neytiri’s feelings towards him are understandable and valid, her actions at this point are not justifiable and Jake knows it.

That’s not even mentioning how she hisses at Kiri during this scene, she’s not acting with her family’s best interest in mind, she’s acting on pure rage.

If she had gone through with it and killed Spider, Kiri and Lo’ak would hate her, Tuk wouldn’t be able to look at her the same way again, and Jake probably would’ve left her. She truly did come a hair’s width away from destroying something precious to her once again.

Now let’s talk about Spider for a minute because he’s crucial to all of this, as Neytiri’s hatred for humans extends to her hatred of him.

We already know that, to the Na’vi, “I see you” is considered a respectful greeting, but it’s also a show of great understanding between two people; it’s why Jake’s two pivotal emotional moments at the end of the movies are him telling a loved one “I see you,” it’s because he’s come to understand them as a person beyond what he initially thought.

In contrast, Neytiri does not see Spider, her eyes are shut. Instead of seeing Spider as a person, all she sees is just another human who ought to be with his own kind, a demon. And this is honestly fine, Neytiri isn’t Spider’s mother or caretaker so she’s not obligated to try and understand him as anything deeper than her enemies child and her own children’s best friend.

However, because Neytiri refuses to see Spider as anything other than another human, she lets this hatred for him and his heritage fester until she feels comfortable to threaten his life and see him as a means to an end. And that, no matter how much one may argue it’s understandable from her perspective, leads to dire consequences.

Namely, Spider’s choice to save Quaritch.

Now, before anyone yells at me let me clarify — I am not saying that Neytiri is responsible for Spider’s choice, nor is she responsible for any harm Quaritch will cause in the upcoming movies. However, it’s undeniable that her actions influenced Spider’s decision, whether directly or indirectly.

When Neytiri threatened Spider’s life, Quaritch initially plays off the fact that he’s technically not his son, citing that they aren’t even the same species. But when Neytiri pushes even further, he breaks and shows that he does actually care about Spider, willing to let go of his hostage in order to protect him.

This is big for Spider as his only major desire is to have a family, specifically a parental figure who genuinely cared about him as he is. I’d even go as far as to say that this moment probably proved to Spider that Quaritch cares about him as more than just a mean’s to an end. He’d already helped Quaritch bond with an Ikran and find the Sully family(against his will), he had nothing else to offer but Quaritch still wanted him alive.

This, along with the months they spent together, are what pushed Spider to make his decision at the end of the movie, a decision he was explicitly conflicted about.

And this came about from Neytiri’s decision. I know a lot of people would argue that Neytiri had to do this because it was the only way to save her daughter, and I’ll agree that there weren’t many options for her. But this wasn’t a tactical move she was making, she wasn’t bluffing or putting on a show to force Quaritch’s hand, she was explicitly going to kill Spider just to make Quaritch hurt in the same way she was hurting.

Also, if we want to nitpick we could also say that the months Quaritch and Spider spent together also came about as a result of her actions. When they’re running away from the Recoms, Spider is the only one who falls to the ground and Neytiri doesn’t even think to try and go get him.

“B-But there’s no way Neytiri would’ve been able to save him and get away! She has her own children to worry about!” I hear you typing in the notes of this post, and to that I say you’ve got a point.

However, the fact that Neytiri doesn’t even consider going down to rescue him, doesn’t look over the branch and hesitate before making the difficult decision to prioritize Kiri and feel bad about it later shows that her reasoning is solidly NOT rooted in him being one of her kids or not.

She doesn’t even try, and because of that Quaritch and Spider end up forming the basis for a solid bond.

TLDR; Neytiri’s fatal flaw is that she allows her anger and hatred to cloud her better judgment and control her, leading to a destructive attitude that can ultimately hurt the people she loves and make things worse for her.

Now, what does this have to do with her arc going forward?

At this point, I’m pretty sure everyone has heard at least a little bit about the next movie, Avatar Fire and Ash. I’ve seen people theorizing that the fire tribe will be joining forces with the RDA, that they don’t believe in Eywa, and that Neytiri will have to infiltrate the tribe in order to rescue her children.

I’m not certain whether any of this is true, but what I am certain of is that — if these concept arts hold water by the time the movie is released — then the fire tribe we’ll be encountering in the third movie is going to be an extremely violent community, likely one that puts emphasis on anger and hatred.

And if the rumors are true and Neytiri really is going to be infiltrating them, then Neytiri’s flaws might be able to inform what narrative role the Ash People and Varaang in particular will have in the third movie.

I’ve already explained how in depth how her flaw is how she allows her anger to take control of her and close her vision; she’s volatile like lava and burns hot like fire, becoming liable to burn everything and everyone around her.

From that perspective, she seems more suited to be a fire Na’vi rather than a forest or reef one, no? The choice to take us to a volcanic, fire steeped region isn’t just James Cameron checking off the boxes like “oh we did forest and water, fire next!” its him taking us to a we might find uncomfortably befitting of our worst traits.

And that’s basically what I think Neytiri will have to face upon encountering the Ash People — they are the embodiment of all her flaws put on display.

Varaang specifically may work as her narrative foil, a literal funhouse version of her at her worst(from my perspective the concept art of Varaang actually looks a lot like Neytiri, so that’s interesting).

I also think it’s important to note that Neytiri is absolutely going to find out that Spider saved Quaritch in the third movie, or at least it’s incredibly likely if the Ash People really will be working with Quaritch. That means that her hatred for him and her need for revenge will come back into play, this isn’t over.

But this time things will be different, because in between Neytiri learning of Spider’s betrayal she will also get especially close to the Ash People and find that she is uncomfortably similar to them at her worst. Before she does something she might regret, Neytiri will be forced to ask herself some important questions:

Is revenge really worth it? Is this the kind of person she wants to be? If Jake wasn’t there that night, would she have the blood of a child on her hands? Will she hurt other people she loves because of her anger?

These questions are ones she likely never wanted to ask herself, but they’re necessary because she’s starting right in the face of people who didn’t.

Hopefully, she finds that the answer is no.

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Yo Jake a hypocrite for yelling at his kids for not following the rules when this motherfucker ran away the fist time he transferred into his Avatar body/walked away from Grace and Norm to explore and then gets attacked by a thanator

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headcanon of the day

the sully kids use the term “spider sized” whenever they describe something tiny and it deeply confuses the metkayina. (it’ll just slip out and they’ll remember him and get all sad ☹️)

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Neytiri and her Ikran

Neytiri's new Ikran is never named, but I like to think it is called Tsìlpey which translates to hope.

Like Neytiri, Tsìlpey lost her soul sibling in the battle against the RDA. She became despondent, hiding in the shadows of the rookery and watching na'vi come and go.

It took Neytiri years of mourning to finally bond with another banshee. Around the time Lo'ak was born, Neytiri made her way back to the rookery and found Tsìlpey. Q

It wasn't like an Ikneymaya, with the two fighting for dominance. It was not a battle, but a moment of understanding in which both Ikran and rider felt the others greif. They both let go of their sorrow, not forgetting it, but moving past it and beginning anew.

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Not a headcanon but I was reading the High Ground comic and figured I would share some of my favorite panels.

I might post more of these, since Tumblr only lets you upload ten pictures :(

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Neytiri and Ronal

While their first meeting was tense, Neytiri and Ronal have a deep respect for one another. They each respect the other as a warrior, tsahik (or tsakrhem) and mother.

Like the rest of her family, Ronal helped teach Neytiri the ways of the Metkayina. She taught Neytiri about the ocean, how to live alongside it and thrive.

Ronal would also teach Neytiri about diffrent healing methods of the Metkayina. While Neytiri was never technically a tsahik, Ronal figured it would be beneficial to teach her.

They only grew closer after the death of Ro'a, Ronals spirit sister and her calf. Neytiri knows what it's like to lose a spirit sister and tells Ronal about Seze and maybe even her biological sister Sylwanin.

Ronal helped with preparations for Neyteyams funeral, not only as a Tsahik and clan member, but also as a friend.

This Headcan was heavily inspired by this paragraph I found on the Avatar Wiki. Its from one of the visual guides.

These are my personal headcanons, but they're also based on canon material.

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Spider Headcanons

Spider has a secret songcord he made, it's fairly short and only Kiri knows about it

He used to braid his hair to resemble a na'vi queue

He's actually really freaking smart, considering he was raised by scientists. He specifically took a shine to botany thanks to Kiri.

A bit more of an unhinged headcanon, but Spider would be a Warrior Cats kid. His favorite character is Brambleclaw.

There have been a few close calls when it comes to his rebreather

He was immensely jealous when Lo'ak and Kiri hit their growth spurts

This kid will NOT wear pants or a shirt, he discovered na'vi fashion and never looked back. Norm stopped trying to get him in clothes years ago.

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Headcanon #1 (AKA the headcanon that inspired this blog)

Jake sees a lot of himself in Lo'ak but he also sees Tom in Neteyam. Both were responsible and mature. Tom was a scientist working on the Avatar project and Neteyam was a trusted warrior for the Omatikaya, and later, the Metkayina.

Watching Neteyam die was like losing his brother all over again.