I often see posts from people claiming Lo’ak is exactly like Jake and he’s Jake’s mini-me and it’s not that I disagree with this, exactly, but I disagree with the evidence people use on why they’re similar.
I would argue that Lo’ak’s “hot” anger and impulsiveness is exactly like Neytiri, not Jake.
Jake is shown throughout both films to be calm and even-tempered, with him not taking the bait even when Grace insults him to his face. It’s implied that his training as a marine has taught him to see even the most high-stress situations as problems to be solved rationally. It’s through this line of thinking that he’s able to humble himself enough to appeal to Tonowari, or see taming Toruk as just another challenge to undertake rather than a glory/honor to chase. He pushes away his emotions until after a fight and knows when to retreat.
Neytiri, on the other hand, is as quick to take up Ronal’s challenge as Lo’ak is quick to take up Aonung’s. Remember the scene in Avatar 1 where Neytiri is so incensed over Seze’s death that she’s willing to rush into certain death just to kill even one more sky person? Jake is frantically trying to get her to make a tactical retreat but she wants to push forward.
Across all of The Way of Water, Jake is holding Neytiri back from taking her revenge or taking out her anger in each fight. She gets just as impulsive and reckless as Lo’ak - we can see this in several sequences during the fighting, from when Jake has to cover her because she becomes exposed and Quaritch chases her tail, to the final battle sequence where she kills Z-Dog, where she stops her with an arrow to the hip while she kills someone else, knowing Z-Dog could still shoot her. She becomes completely taken over by the rush of the battle. She loses control of her anger to the extent that she breaks her father’s bow.
In the same vein, it’s Lo’ak’s and Payakan’s joint anger that leads to the rush on the boat in which Neteyam is killed (in my opinion, had Payakan intervened with Jake already on the ship, the fight would have gone much differently and much more quickly.) When all of the children are untied and have the opportunity to escape, it’s Lo’ak’s desire to re-enter the fight that leads to Neteyam’s death (remember, the ship is sinking and once the non-recon humans escorting Spider are in the water, they’re easy pickings).
tangentwithtanner
origamiaround
stormborns
blakekathryn
germansingergirl
pixelskylines
