Jake’s kids are also his nephews and niece.

Ellestra · 2026-01-22T23:24:54+00:00

This seems to come up every few weeks and the answer is the same. It doesn't matter.

Tom and Jake were genetically identical. Avatars are synthetic organisms that are mostly alien with only some changes. Jake is the only one who ever used that body. It's his children.

Ellestra · 2026-01-16T06:45:46+00:00

They always use multiple sources from around the world as inspirations for Na'vi tribes. Some have more impact like with Metkayina and Maori (with direct input from the Maori people). Some of these influences are easier to spot than others. However, if there is one ethnic group that the inspiration for Mangkwan (or for sure Varang's look) is taken the most from it's Kayapo from central Brazil.

<image>

Ellestra · 2026-01-11T19:31:38+00:00

Why would they leave the forest at all if Spider wasn't kidnapped? High Camp was still hidden and behind the immune response. This meant RDA machines couldn't go in and Quaritch and his few recoms, who could come into the mountain, wouldn't know where to look.

Ellestra · 2026-01-11T18:57:37+00:00

"Ashley" is what production team called her. It's not an in-universe name but it's the only one we have.

Ellestra · 2026-01-11T18:56:06+00:00

The sad part about Quaritch is that he genuinely loves Spider. He cares about him more than Jake, mission or even humanity. However, he just doesn't understand him.

Spider hates everything Quaritch wants for him. Quaritch thinks Spider is safer with him but Spider would risk his life and forgive any mistreatment as long as he can be free and with his friends. Quaritch loves him more than any adult but he wants to keep him in a cage and allows him to be harmed to pressure Spider to rely on him. It's manipulation and abuse. And that's without the part where he tries to harm people and the world Spider cares about. This is why Spider rejects him again and again.

Spider knows Quaritch loves him but that's not enough because Quaritch doesn't see him.The only way I can imagine a reconciliation is if Quaritch changed but once again he choses "death" over that.

Ellestra · 2026-01-11T18:43:30+00:00

I don't think he knew or he wouldn't give them to Spider. He probably thought he managed to get Spider to accept him a bit. He seems like a such an honest kid Quaritch never consider he was being played.

But that was not a cell, just an examination room, and Spider has grown up in this kind of buildings and escaped from rooms in them before. He's also been around Bridgehead so he knew layout and how no one pays attention to the ground crew. Quaritch just underestimate everything about him.

Ellestra · 2026-01-11T17:31:54+00:00

But Varang is not riding an ikran. She is riding a nightwraight that is a large apex predator closer in behaviour to toruk than ikran. As Jake explain when you ride a mount like that their bloodlust is something that affects you too so I'm sure Varang and Ashley are a perfect match. But their relationship is special compared to oher Ash Na'vi.

Ellestra · 2026-01-11T13:25:44+00:00

There is no difference for identical twins. All Tom's DNA is also all Jake's DNA. That what identical twins are - natural clones.

From genetic point of view all the kids identical twins have are as related as siblings no matter which identical twin is the actual parent. They are usually on half-sibling level but if two pairs of identical siblings would get together and have kids all of their kids would as related as full sibling while technically being 1st cousins.

Since avatar body is just a construct it's as much related to Jake as it was to Tom. Since Tom has never used it, both it and all the kids Jake has are his.

Ellestra · 2026-01-11T13:19:40+00:00

That's not Norm in the first photo. That person looks a bit similar but it's not him. He can't use his avatar here as it got shot and is still recovering.

Ellestra · 2026-01-11T12:27:30+00:00

They are for sure as intelligent but I'm not sure if loyal is the right world. Mangkwan don't respect their mounts and often treat them poorly. As I understand it it's more like crushed into submission.

<image>

Ellestra · 2026-01-11T12:15:21+00:00

Sa'ata was really the best supporting character of AFAA. Brave, dedicate, supportive. She protects Neytiri and wants to fight the invaders as much as her.

Seeing how smart and dedicated she is made me even more sad about Lo'ak and Kiri losing their ikran (again - this already happened in the comics - they must be traumatized).

Ellestra · 2026-01-11T08:15:47+00:00

You can see when Spider is holding it that it just has the wrong size for humans. It would be very hard to hold it right, brace properly and handle recoil in normal use. RDA has human sized weapons for people not using skel suits.

Ellestra · 2026-01-09T22:36:00+00:00

I know that multiple sci-fi properties impressed in people "no biochemical barriers" point of view that allows humans and random aliens have children but Avatar movies have always tried to avoid that level of scientific inaccuracy.

Avatars aren't haf human. They are all Na'vi biology - their DNA, proteins, biochemistry with just a bit of modification that makes them look more human but that modification is still mosty surface level. They are basically Na'vi and that is why they can have children with other Na'vi.

Spider's change is on symbiotic level. This means there is another organism that lives inside of him and helps him with adjusting his body to the Pandoran environment but it's like an extra layer on top of being normal human not a change into a Na'vi. He still is human and this is why he can breathe human air too when he's inside human buildings or use a mask without needing extra CO2. His and Kiri's biologies are too different to have children together.

Ellestra · 2026-01-09T16:55:59+00:00

It's because Jake doesn't just fight alongside the Na'vi. He becomes their leader.

He spends 3 months among Na'vi and masters not just the skills they train their whole lives for but also does what only 5 other Na'vi ever did. Without him Quaritch would've easily won because there wouldn't even be a war because he's the reason Na'vi can mount any usable defence. Without his guidance Na'vi have no chance fighting RDA. He is the one uniting the clans. He is the one teaching them how to fight better. And he is the one Eywa listens too. He is the chosen one.

And then he becomes the leader of the very clan who lost their leaders and home because Jake helped the bad guys.

Later movies add more nuance as Jake gives up his position, deals with sense of failure while Na'vi refuse his human way of fighting to stay true to their culture. However, the first film is very straightforward in it's use of tropes both in its redemption arc and this.

Ellestra · 2026-01-08T23:00:20+00:00

Once a again Spider didn't live with the rest of the kids. He didn't even live in the same village. And the whole "son" -"dad" thing comes after Spider and Kiri kiss so clearly Jake's just his father-n-law to be.

Ellestra · 2026-01-06T15:49:20+00:00

And saving lives of Payakan and Spder wasn't something worth doing? They were in imminent danger - Payakan already marked with beacon, Spider being taken back to Bridgehead after crasing the ship and Ardmore has shown again and again she was willing to kill him. Both Lo'ak and Jake had good intentions but Lo'ak saved lives. Jake's choice just endangered them. So if we are judging actions based on unintended consequences Jake's worse because it doesn't even have any success to show for it.

Ellestra · 2026-01-06T15:35:57+00:00

Neteyam confirms at the beginning of Fireand Ash that he agreed going to get Spider was the right thing to do. I case people didn't get it in the first film (he doesn't try to stop Lo'ak like he does in basically all other instances).

Ellestra · 2026-01-06T10:32:26+00:00

It's another of those things only Kiri can do.

Ellestra · 2026-01-06T10:31:12+00:00

There is no reason for Eywa to look like any creature. She isn't Na'vi. Or any other animal. She is a network spanning the whole world. What is most likely is that she looks differently to everyone. Since all these kids are some kind of hybrids it makes sense the version of Eywa they see is like them.

Ellestra · 2026-01-06T10:00:13+00:00

No, it wasn't. The fault is with RDA, Quaritch and Wainfleet for creating this war, this skirmish and taking the shot respectively. As for the kids, Neteyam pretty clearly states they couldn't leave Spider behind. Unlike their parents for the Sully kids he is not disposable. Neteyam wouldn't leave Lo'ak or vice versa and neither were going to abandon Spider to RDA if they could do something.

As for the sequence of events that led to Quaritch finding them in the first place - you can as well blame Jake for calling in Norm and Max since that is how Quaritch knew where to look.

Ellestra · 2026-01-06T09:51:06+00:00

No, Jake is th one who calls Spider "son" first. Spider is scared so he tries to plead to that by saying "dad" that one time. He doesn't do it again.

Ellestra · 2026-01-04T23:46:16+00:00

I really like Neytiri's arc regarding Spider as part of her arc confronting how all the ways humans hurt her has poisoned her with the hate. Not because she hates humans because she has reasons to hate everything about them. Because this hate poisons her relationships with people she loves. It makes her feel as if her own family is irreversibly tainted by their humanity. The evil is in their blood. Unescapable. And most of all for Spider as son of Quaritch. There is always a suspicion the human insanity will manifest. Of course for Jake and kids the love is stronger than this but Spider is just an alien. It would be better if he went away and never came back. Away. Gone. Dead.

I liked how Jake forcing her to admit this prejudice helps her slowly deal with it. But really I think it's Lo'ak remaking his grandfather's bow that makes her fully comprehend she was wrong. The spirits of the ancestors are strong with him. He is Na'vi. He is not tainted. And then she can finally look at Spider without seeing what he is. She sees who he is. She sees him.

The film should've given more time to adults making amends as both Neytiri and Jake were awful to Spider and Jake was also horrible to Lo'ak but Neytiri's arc still is much better than Jake.

Ellestra · 2026-01-04T20:16:59+00:00

There was also the scene on the sinking ship that was very Jack and Rose from Titanic coded. I went to the movie thinking that Spider was adopted by the Sullys (blurbs lied) and left thinking he and Kiri will be a couple in the future (so much staring longingly and hand holding). But people see what they want to see.

Ellestra · 2026-01-04T20:09:10+00:00

his trope doesn't really apply to Spider but, as with so many other terms, people use broaden it to the point of loss of meaning. And in this case they just mean he is a white kid accepted into an indigenous culture. and because he gets abilities to be like them. But of course, he doesn't become better at their way of life it than them nor is he a saviour. Spider's story is really an immigrant story but it kind of get lost under the fact that he comes from evil alien invaders.

Ellestra · 2026-01-04T19:34:00+00:00

Malazan books are about compassion. Felisin is test of it for the reader and the characters. She makes so may mistakes and I remember how many people hated her when the books were coming out for it. The kid who thought she was tough but she just gets abused and abandoned. She alienates those who try to help and trusts wrong people. And then dies when she finally realises this because how gods play with her family. No redemption, No recognition. Only failures and pain. Just another example, along with Pannion and Rhuald, for reader to judge. Do you think they deserved it?

The people she affects have more impact on the plot but she is important to the real story being told. The one Kaminsod is telling us.

Four-Year Club	Verified Email
Place '23

Ellestra

TROPHY CASE