About to watch the sequel to Avatar (2009) and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), but it’s been a while since you watched the last one? Here’s a quick refresher on the key takeaways, characters, and overall story to get you back up to speed.
**REFRESHERS CONTAIN SPOILERS**
Key Takeaways
- Set nearly two decades after the first film, Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) now have children–Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), and adopted daughter Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), who was born from Grace’s (also Sigourney Weaver) Avatar, still in a vegetative state. Quaritch’s (Stephen Lang) human son Spider (Jack Champion) has grown up with the children on Pandora. It’s implied Spider and Kiri share a mutual crush.
- The humans return, this time with the goal of turning Pandora into the new home for humans because Earth is becoming uninhabitable. They also revive Quaritch in the form of an Avatar imbued with his memory and personality.
- The Sullys relocate to the reef and take refuge among the sea clan.
- Kiri’s conception is a mystery, but she displays a unique connection to Ewya and is able to control some flora. She experiences a seizure while linked to Ewya through an underwater Spirit Tree. She is not supposed to connect to Ewya again for fear that it could kill her.
- Lo’ak befriends Payakan, an exiled tulcun who helps protect the family from the humans.
- Lo’ak also gains a love interest, Tsireya (Bailey Bass), daughter of the sea clan’s chief Tonowari (Cliff Curtis), and his pregnant wife Ronal (Kate Winslet), and brother to bully Aonung (Filip Geljo).
- During the final battle, Neteyam is killed by the humans and Quaritch. His body is given to the sea clan’s Spirit Tree, solidifying the Sully’s place among their clan.
- Quaritch forces Spider to go with him to find the Sullys. Over time, they develop a bond, which leads to Spider saving Quaritch’s life, although he refuses to join him afterward. Jake presumably believes Quaritch is dead.
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Major Characters
Jake and Neytiri
Since the first movie, Jake (Sam Worthington) has spent many years as the chief of the Omatikaya. He and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) now have two sons, Neteyam and Lo’ak, a daughter, Tuk, and adopted daughter, Kiri. When the humans return and almost kidnap the children, Jake decides to take his family to a different land in order to protect the remaining Omatikaya. They are able to convince the sea clan’s chief to let their family stay there.
They are found by Quaritch later, and again their children are in danger. Jake knows that Quaritch will never let them be, so he fights him with the intent to kill him. He chokes Quaritch out underwater and leaves him for dead.
Kiri
Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) is the biological daughter of Grace’s Avatar, who was adopted by the Sullys and raised as their daughter. No one knows who her father is. She is connected to Ewya in a unique way, feeling her presence and exhibiting control over some plantlife. When she connects with the underwater Spirit Tree, she briefly speaks with Grace (also Sigourney Weaver) but has a seizure before she can learn much. Barely surviving the experience, she is no longer supposed to connect to a Spirit Tree ever again for fear that it could kill her.
Lo’ak and Payakun
Jake and Neytiri’s second son, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), is a troublemaker. He’s always going where he’s not supposed to, often getting his older brother in trouble along with him. This leads him to meet an exiled tulcun (intelligent whale-like creature) named Payakan. Both share a mutual sense of being an outsider, and Payakan allows Lo’ak to bond with him in order to show him the truth about his past. When the humans and Quaritch make their final attack on the Sullys, Payakan joins the fight and helps defeat the enemy forces.
Quaritch and Spider
Spider (Jack Champion), the son of Quaritch (Stephen Lang), was a baby when the humans were sent home at the end of Avatar and too young to be put in a cryopod. He has been raised among the Na’vi and is close friends with the Sully kids, but although he never knew his father, he’s always hated that his dad was a villain. When his father returns in the form of a Na’vi clone, he is forced to work with him. At first, this new Quaritch tells him that although he has the original Quaritch’s memories, he’s not the same person, so technically, the two aren’t really related. However, as they spend more time together, they do feel a strained familial connection.
After Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) is killed, Quaritch threatens Kiri, but Neytiri in turn threatens Spider, saying “a son for a son.” Quaritch ultimately can’t allow harm to come to Spider and is convinced to release Kiri. Quaritch then fights Jake and is left for dead in the ocean, but Spider drags him to shore. Despite saving his life, Spider still chooses to leave Quaritch for the Sullys, thus fulfilling the “son for a son” in a different way.
Full Summary
The Na’vi have had almost two decades of peace since the humans left. During this time, Jake and Neytiri raise four kids, Neteyam, Lo’ak, Tuk, and adopted daughter Kiri, biological daughter of Grace’s Avatar. Her mother is in a vegetative state and no one knows who her father is. They are also close friends with Spider, the son of Quaritch, who was a baby when most of the humans were sent home and left on Pandora.
The humans return and intend to make Pandora the new home for humans. They revive Quaritch and his main troops as Avatars imbued with their memories and personalities and send them to track down Jake. They find Jake’s kids and Spider and almost capture them, but all except Spider escape. Spider is then forced to work with the invaders to find the Sullys, though Quaritch acknowledges they aren’t technically related since he is a clone of Spider’s father.
Jake fears for the safety of his children and of the Omatikaya for as long as they stay, so he convinces Neytiri to relocate their family to the reef, where they believe they will be hidden from Quaritch. The sea clan’s chief, Tonowari, and his pregnant wife Ronal are at first reluctant to let them stay, wanting to avoid the war and concerned the forest Na’vi will be unable to be useful in this different environment, but Jake convinces them that he’s done with war and can be adaptable. Tonowari charges his children, Aonung and Tsireya, to teach the Sully children how to swim better while he teaches Jake how to bond with a warrior’s mount.
Although Tsireya likes the new family, Aonung is not as impressed and ends up in a fight with Lo’ak. In an attempt to make peace, the boys venture outside of the reef together, but Aonung ditches Lo’ak to fend for himself. Lo’ak is almost killed by a shark-like creature but is saved at the last moment by a tulcun instead. He can tell the tulcun is intelligent, and they swim together for the rest of the day. When he returns to camp and tells of the tulcun he’s met, the sea clan realize he is Payakan, who was exiled by the other tulcun for killing. Tulcuns view killing as unforgivable, no matter what. Lo’ak believes Payakan is better than that and seeks him out the next day. Payakan allows Lo’ak to bond with him, and he learns that Payakan’s mother was killed by human poachers, so Payakan led an attack against them and got many tulcun and Na’vi killed. In the tulcuns’ eyes, this still makes Payakan a killer.
Kiri has been showing signs of a special connection to the wildlife. Her abilities grow even more noticeable in the water. She confides in Jake that she can feel Ewya’s presence. She goes with the other children to the reef clan’s Spirit Tree, which is underwater, and has a vision of Grace. However, when she asks Grace about her father, the vision is ripped away, and she suffers a seizure. Jake is forced to call Norm (Joel David Moore), one of the humans on their side, to provide medical help, unaware that this would alert Quaritch that they are somewhere among the sea clan. Norm is able to save Kiri, but he warns Jake that she shouldn’t connect to a Spirit Tree ever again, especially underwater, or she could die. He believes she is epileptic, and that is why she supposedly felt Ewya’s presence.
Many more tulcun arrive, and each has bonded with a specific Na’vi. Quaritch, trying to narrow down where the Sullys are, works with poachers to kill Ronal’s bonded tulcun in order to spur the Sullys into attacking. The reef clan want to attack, but Jake tells them it’s a trick and to warn the tulcun about tracking devices. Lo’ak goes to warn Payakan and realizes he has a tracker. He works with the rest of the children to remove it, but Quaritch and the humans still find them.
A battle breaks out between Quaritch, leading the humans, and the Sullys, leading the reef clan. Payakan joins the fight, destroying the human ship and killing the lead poacher. Neteyam is fatally shot, fueling more rage from his parents towards Quaritch. As the ship starts to sink, Quaritch grabs Kiri and threatens to kill her, but Neytiri grabs Spider and threatens him in turn, saying, “A son for a son.” Despite his former words to Spider, Quaritch releases Kiri to save him. Quaritch and Jake fight underwater, and Jake chokes him out, leaving him for dead. Spider happens across Quaritch and pulls him out of the water, saving his life but leaving him for the Sullys.
With the battle over, the family still must get out of the ship. Tuk and Neytiri are trapped inside, while Jake and Lo’ak are similarly trapped in a different part of the ship. Lo’ak teaches Jake the techniques he learned from Tsireya to hold his breath longer in order to get him out of the ship, while Kiri directs glowing plants through the water to guide the way for the women.
Once everyone is safe, Neteyam is laid to rest with the Spirit Tree, and Tonowari says this makes the Sullys officially a part of the reef clan now. Jake and Neytiri connect to the tree, so they can say a proper goodbye to Neteyam.
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