It’s time for another adventure on Pandora, as James Cameron’s Avatar series continues with the release of Avatar: Fire and Ash. The third movie in the epic sci-fi franchise follows the 2009 release of Avatar and 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water, and if it’s been a while since you last engaged with this world, you might be surprised by how weird the lore of this series gets.
So, since the new film doesn’t include a “Previously on…” recap, and it’s been 16 years since the first movie premiered, here’s a FAQ meant to answer all the burning questions a person might ask before seeing Fire and Ash. This includes how a paralyzed Marine found himself on an alien planet in the first place, the basics of Na’vi biology, and why exactly Sigourney Weaver plays a teenager in the sequels.
[Editor’s note: The following (obviously) contains spoilers for Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water.]
Let’s start with the basics. What exactly is an avatar?
Way before James Cameron had ever won an Oscar, the term avatar (derived from a Sanskrit word) was commonly used to refer to a player character featured in a video game: Basically, the gamer’s surrogate in the game world.
The Avatar movies are about video games?
Pretty far from it, but there’s definitely an inspiration point there. And some of the CGI action in the later movies does bear a resemblance to video game cut scenes. There are also, of course, tie-in video games, so you can play an avatar of an Avatar in Avatar.
So what are the movies about?
The first Avatar film begins in the year 2154, when paraplegic Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) leaves the planet Earth for an alien world known as Pandora.
Does living on Earth suck in 2154?
We actually have yet to see Earth depicted in any of the Avatar movies (beyond some deleted scenes from the first one) but yeah, in Cameron’s future it turns out that treating the planet like a garbage can for decades has left it nearly unhabitable. Hence the human race’s interest in colonizing worlds like Pandora.
The specific reason Jake gets to go to Pandora is that his identical twin brother Tommy was a scientist involved with the whole colonizing-Pandora thing. As part of that, Tommy had been cloned to create a — you guessed it — Avatar, made from a combination of human DNA as well as Na’vi DNA.
And the Na’vi are…
Pandora’s equivalent to humans, except they’re (mostly) blue, much taller and stronger, and live in harmony with the planet and its fellow creatures. The resemblance they might bear to Indigenous cultures on Earth does not feel like a coincidence.
You still haven’t really explained what Avatars are.
In this particular context, Avatars largely resemble Na’vi, and were created so that humans could interact directly with the locals, in the hope of collaborating with them on those colonization efforts. An Avatar’s big advantage is that humans are unable to breathe Pandora’s air naturally — going outside requires a respirator unless you’re eager to choke to death. Na’vi don’t have that problem.
Avatars “largely” resemble Na’vi? What’s the big difference?
Avatars (and other clones of a similar nature) have four fingers and a thumb on each hand, while Na’vi have three fingers and a thumb. It is subtle enough that I personally never noticed this until seeing the first movie again during its 2022 IMAX rerelease. It comes up a bit more in the sequels.
So how does the whole Avatar thing work?
Humans control their Avatars through a remote neural link, waking up back at home base whenever their Avatar goes to sleep or if they’re disconnected for some other reason. Avatars cost a lot of money to create, and can only be controlled by the person cloned from their DNA. So after Tommy Sully was unexpectedly killed, the Resources Development Administration (the mega-corporation behind all this) enlisted Jake in Tommy’s place.
You said Jake was a Marine. They’re not expecting him to do science, right?
Nope! While the other scientists on this mission — led by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) — are hoping to form a peaceful alliance, military leader Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) wants Jake to infiltrate the Na’vi people as a warrior. “I need you to learn about these savages, gain their trust. Find out how I can force their cooperation, or hit ’em hard if they don’t,” he says in a super-chill way.
You mentioned that Jake is a paraplegic. Guessing his Avatar isn’t?
Correct, and Jake is understandably thrilled about the opportunity to walk and run again. Quaritch also promises Jake that if their mission is a success, he’ll see about getting Jake the necessary surgery to fix his human spine. So, even more incentive for Jake to connect with the Na’vi.
How does he end up doing that?
Well, the short version is that he does something stupid, nearly gets himself killed by some of the local fauna, and gets saved by Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), the daughter of the local clan leader. Neytiri thinks he’s an idiot, but reluctantly agrees to show him the ropes of Pandora.
Guessing these two crazy kids fall in love?
Congratulations, you nailed it. Jake also falls in love with Pandora’s natural splendor, and to skip to the end of this two-hour-and-42-minute-long movie, ends up leading a Na’vi rebellion against the human colonizers. Jake is joined by some human allies, including the aforementioned Dr. Grace Augustine and a few of the other scientists, and sadly the battle’s casualties include Grace. However, the unwelcome human forces do get forced off the planet, leaving Pandora in relative peace. And Jake’s free to commit fully to the Na’vi way of life.
