8 Things To Remember About The Avatar Movies Before Watching Fire & Ash

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After a 16-year wait, the world is returning to Pandora with Avatar: Fire and Ash. This is the third film in James Cameron’s hugely popular Avatar series, following Avatar: The Way of Water, which came out three years ago. With the first two movies earning over $5.2 billion worldwide, a significant number of people have already seen these films in theaters.

It’s easy to forget details after so much time! With over six hours of story already told in the Avatar films, you might need a reminder before watching Avatar: Fire and Ash. This recap covers the main characters, plot points, and important details to get you ready for the next movie.

The Main Characters In The Avatar Franchise

The Avatar movies center on Jake Sully, a former Marine who uses a Na’vi avatar body to explore the alien world of Pandora. After becoming paralyzed, Jake transferred his consciousness into this avatar, allowing him to fully immerse himself in the Na’vi’s home and experience life on Pandora.

Jake has a large family that’s central to the story. He’s married to Neytiri (played by Zoe Saldaña), and together they have three biological children: Neteyam (who sadly passed away), Lo’ak, and Tuktirey. They also adopted a daughter named Kiri.

Stephen Lang’s character, Miles Quaritch, is a central villain throughout the Avatar series. In The Way of Water, he returns as a Na’vi, but still remembers his past life and continues his pursuit of revenge against Jake.

The Different Na’vi Clans In Avatar

The Na’vi people are originally from the world of Pandora, and over many years, different groups, called clans, have formed across its large lands. The first Avatar movie centers on the Omatikaya clan, who live in the rainforest. By the end of the 2009 film, Jake Sully becomes their leader, and Neytiri becomes the clan’s spiritual leader. The Omatikaya consider the Toruk, a powerful flying creature, to be sacred.

In The Way of Water, we meet the Metkayina, a Na’vi clan who are deeply connected to the ocean. Led by Ronal and Tonowari, they are the largest of many reef-dwelling clans on Pandora and provide a safe haven for the Sully family. The Metkayina share a special bond with the Tulkun, enormous whale-like creatures they consider sacred.

The story of Fire and Ash also introduces the Ash People, also called the Mangkwan clan. Led by Varang, they are a group of Na’vi who have turned away from the beliefs of Eywa after a volcanic eruption destroyed their home, making them more antagonistic.

What Is Eywa

On Pandora, all living things are linked to a powerful, central force called Eywa – sometimes referred to as the All-Mother or Great Mother. Eywa essentially connects every plant and animal on the planet through a vast network of neural connections. This allows memories to be shared between the living, and even keeps the memories of those who have passed on alive within the network.

The Na’vi people worship Eywa, a powerful deity connected to sacred places like the Tree of Souls. They perform rituals hoping to earn Eywa’s favor. Though not always successful, Eywa has demonstrated the ability to connect all living things on Pandora, share consciousness, and is aware of everything happening on the planet.

What Happened In The First Avatar

The first Avatar film tells the story of Jake Sully’s arrival on the alien world of Pandora. He joins the Avatar Program and connects with the Na’vi people, specifically the Omatikaya clan. As Jake learns their way of life, he begins to side with the Na’vi and fights against the human corporation, the RDA, which is determined to mine Pandora’s valuable mineral, unobtanium.

The Resources Development Administration (RDA) destroys the Omatikaya clan’s sacred Hometree, which sits atop a valuable deposit of unobtanium. Jake and the Omatikaya then fight to save the Tree of Souls, and in a climactic battle, Neytiri defeats and kills Colonel Quaritch to protect Jake.

Though Grace dies before the process is finished, her mind merges with Eywa, the Na’vi’s spiritual network, through the Tree of Souls. Jake, having found a home and meaning with the Na’vi, successfully transfers his consciousness into an avatar body. Following the Na’vi’s request, most of the humans depart from Pandora.

What Happened In Avatar: The Way Of Water

As a huge fan of the first Avatar, I was thrilled to see Jake and Neytiri back, along with their family, in The Way of Water. The story picks up years later and sees them continuing to fight the RDA, who’ve come back to Pandora with even more destructive plans. It’s basically another battle for the fate of their world, and it was amazing to see how their family dealt with the renewed conflict.

Quaritch returns as a digitally recreated version of himself, inhabiting a Na’vi-human hybrid body. He then captures Spider, his biological son, and uses the boy to hunt down Jake Sully and his family after they go into hiding.

Jake and his family are welcomed by the Metkayina clan, where Lo’ak forms a connection with the clan leader’s daughter, Tsireya, and a tulkun outcast named Payakan. However, Quaritch eventually tracks them down while pursuing the tulkun, which sparks a large-scale conflict. This war pits the RDA forces under Quaritch against Jake’s family, the Metkayina clan, and Payakan, who joins the fight to help.

The movie Avatar: The Way of Water concludes after Neteyam’s passing, bringing the Sully family back together. Meanwhile, Quaritch escapes, having been rescued by Spider.

Kiri’s Mysterious Creation

A major question raised in The Way of Water centers around Kiri, who is Grace’s biological daughter through her avatar. The film doesn’t explain how she was conceived, especially since Grace didn’t have a romantic relationship in the first movie. In fact, the movie emphasizes that no one actually knows how she was created.

Kiri has always shared a unique connection with Eywa. Like the powerful entity itself, she can influence other living things. However, seeking information about her father hasn’t been easy – when she asked her mother in the spirit realm, it almost cost her life.

Even if we don’t find out who Kiri’s father is in Fire and Ash, the movie will definitely explore this mystery further and reveal more about what makes Grace’s daughter unique.

Quaritch Is Spider’s Father

A key relationship explored in Fire and Ash will be how Quaritch and Spider interact and change. The Way of Water established that Spider is actually Quaritch’s son, and a comic book revealed the identity of Spider’s mother.

Although they initially act like they dislike each other and try to downplay their father-son connection, a real bond develops between them in The Way of Water. Quaritch sacrifices his chance to capture Kiri to save Spider, and Spider later repays the favor by rescuing his father from drowning.

The complex bond between Spider and Quaritch, developed throughout the story as a father-son relationship, will be a key element in the upcoming book, Fire and Ash. Although they ultimately parted ways, their connection remains important.

Why Humans Are On Pandora

Throughout the Avatar films, humans’ involvement with Pandora has been a developing story. Initially, the RDA corporation came to the planet hoping to find resources to help solve Earth’s problems. They first focused on mining unobtanium, but that effort ended when they departed at the end of the first movie.

Upon returning to Pandora, humans focused on two main goals. First, they aimed to establish a new colony to make the planet habitable for long-term human life. Second, they sought to gather amrita, a golden fluid found within tulkun, believed to grant humans immortality by halting the aging process.

The Na’vi fought back against the RDA to prevent them from achieving these objectives. These conflicts remain central to the story of Avatar: Fire and Ash, as the RDA continues to operate with the support of Quaritch and his native allies, including the Mangkwan clan.

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2025-12-17 16:34