Avatar fandom on TikTok is scaring me so I am going to teach you all media literacy if it kills me.
I steadfastly believe that the Neytiri/Quaritch/Spider trio is the most interesting and layered character development JC has going for him rn. Ya’ll not having the basic human empathy to understand Spider or Neytiri’s povs is freaking me out.
First, Neytiri. Neytiri is someone who has lost half her family, half her clan, and the only home she’s ever known to an oppressive colonizing force. Quaritch is the physical representation of all that pain and loss. He had not only killed countless Na’vi, killed Grace, tried to destroy their connection to all of their ancestors, and is the person who destroyed her home and killed her father, he is also the person who almost killed Jake. He also in a way, represents Jake’s betrayal. We forget, but Jake did betray Neytiri. He stayed with the Omaticaya knowing what Quaritch and Parker Selfridge had planned for them, feeding them information about their home and their strengths, and she forgave him, but Na’vi mate for life and he didn’t disclose that vital information beforehand. Jake was working and spying directly for Quaritch. He represents that hurt. For her, Spider is like a ticking time bomb. He is around her kids and she can’t ever feel safe with this child, this human child of her worst enemy who has caused all of the worst things in her life, in her life and with her family. She tolerates him for her kids but that’s it. I think her mindset totally makes sense, and I really hope she’s able to see past his parentage and accept him!
Spider is a child. He is not responsible for the actions of his parents, obviously. He has spent his entire life being raised by people that really don’t want anything to do with him. He has been basically a burden his entire life. The scientists were forced to keep him because he was too young to send to Earth, and the Sully’s were not equipped (and did not really try) to take on a human child. They are basically his family, but they don’t treat him as such. Everything that happens with Quaritch is Stockholm syndrome times 10000. And the opposite for Quaritch, which is Lima syndrome. This kid has never had an adult show him care or affection, and now he’s getting it from a weird reanimated clone of his father in a kidapping/hostage situation. Quaritch’s first move is to take Spider from torture. He says you can come with me or you can be tortured. He conditions him from the get go, that’s bad stuff here is good stuff. Even more importantly, in Spider’s eyes he saves his life from Neytiri. I would LOVE to know later if she intended to kill him (pls check out my post on my opinion on the significance of the cut on his chest) but regardless, Spider thinks she did and that Quaritch saved him. Regardless of his motives and how bad of a person he is (irredeemably sorry Quaritch girlies), Spider can’t leave him to die. It’s such a hard decision for him, but he’s a kid and a good person. One who values life like all Na’vi are taught to. And he still leaves him to go back to the Sully’s, who have not bothered to even try to be concerned about him outside of the kids.
I’m not even gonna get too far into Quaritch, because I know there’s a lot of Quaritch stans out there now which does boggle my mind. But, as awful of a person as he is, he is a super super interesting character in this movie. In the first movie, he is a blatant representation of racism and colonialism in the worst sense, in a way that makes him a great villain but not a very layered character. He is a foil for Jake, showing us the worst of Jake in an outside antagonist. It’s easy to forget by AWOW that Jake used to have a similar mindset to Quaritch. Placing Quaritch in the body of those he fears and hates the most I think is a very fun twist. But what I really loved was his fear of Neytiri and how much that is highlighted in the film. The way he looks at her arrows is just spine chilling, and I can’t wait to see her kill him again because I can’t see it culminating any other way.
The other thing relating to this is Spider’s fear of Neytiri. Her mistrust and fear of him had been a block in his life basically since birth. Her kids love and accept him as a brother easily, and Jake keeps him at arms length for Neytiri (which is a whole Jake issue but we can get into Jake another time). Neytiri stands between Spider and the family he’s always wanted, and him seeing her fight and just backing up in fear before she grabs him is so good, just a great culmination of all events. What I’d love to see from it is Neytiri and Spider having to come to terms with their fear of the other in order to move on and create a family unit. A son for a son, right, Quaritch gets Neteyam killed so Neytiri, Quaritch’s biggest fear, gets what he wants right now, which is Spider.
I get so giddy looking at life restorations of Tiktaalik. Look at this thing. A proper Wet Beast. God’s purest creation. A pioneer and an entrepreneur and the progenitor of all terrestrial vertebrates. Is it a fish? An amphibian? A reptile? Something else entirely? Tiktaalik isn’t going to tell you, it doesn’t owe you an explanation. Tiktaalik is just Tiktaalik. It eats bugs, it lives in the shallows, it likes long walks on the beaches and longer walks in the water.
Now that Avatar is getting popular because of the new movie, here is another post showcasing my character La'nayru : heir to the Tayrangi clan, daughter of Ikyeni
I've had her since 2021, and this isn't the first time I'm posting her either. I should really draw her more often.
series summary: with the death of quaritch, the sullys return to the forest. not wanting to make your mate part with his family for your sake, you decide to come with them. how will the return of his responsibilities as the future olo’eyktan affect your relationship?
BEFORE READING: characters are aged up 2 years! no explicit content! this follows the movie EXCEPT: it takes quaritch 1 1/2 years to find him and he dies in the final battle! that’s it!!! hope we all have fun (2.3k)
Coming to live with the Sullys in the forest was an easy decision to make.
In the 2 years that the family lived with your clan, you found yourself sharing lives with their eldest son. Giving him pieces of yourself and receiving bits of him back.
It started with tales from Ao’nung and Tsireya.
Words of admiration slipping Ao’nung’s lips in passing, Tsireya commending his ability to keep his siblings in check, and your mother’s warnings to stay away from the newcomers just in case they end up turning their backs on the clan.
You never really found the family all that interesting, always preferring to keep to familiar faces. Even when the children you look after talked in hushed voices, telling stories of the great Toruk Makto, or when your own best friend gushes about the family’s youngest son, or when you’re tending to your friend’s face after a fight with said family.
The only time a member of their family ever held your interest was when you caught the eldest son with his ikran.
And as if to make up for the lack of interest you’ve had with the family so far, you find yourself gaping in amazement at the sight of the majestic beast.
The things that change the world, according to Chaos theory, are the tiny things. A butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazonian jungle, and subsequently a storm ravages half of Europe.
Yoki–the name of his ikran–flaps her wings and a part of you blames it on her.
You stood in his vicinity a moment too long. He glances your way and a part of you finds it comically hilarious everytime you remember the moment. Was staying still really all it took for this much to change?
Did it really only take the briefest of moments for you to get involved with a family you were previously so uninterested in?
It was almost like a switch was flipped after that. Encounters with the family becoming a regular occurrence, how did it come to this? You always ask yourself. Was it your subconscious? Were you gravitating towards them? Did another butterfly flap its wings?
Later, when you’ve gotten significantly closer, he tells you that he isn’t that unlucky, that his nets didn’t break by chance, that his belongings didn’t just go missing, that his siblings didn’t just happen to be around your area looking for their brother.
“It’s not the universe’s doing, my love. I saw you, got captivated and was filled with the overwhelming need to always be near you,”
Many nights have been spent like this, you sharing your fascination with fate and him telling you he would have found another way to talk to you even if you walked away at that moment.
—
Falling in love with him means learning to love his family as he does.
It’s holding Tuk’s hands when the storm gets too bad, even when all you want to do is curl into a ball and gently rock yourself to sleep.
It’s awkwardly patting his younger brother’s back when he and Tsireya have a fight, comforting him, making sure he feels okay before you talk some sense into him.
It’s walking in the greener parts of Awa’atlu with Kiri, listening to her rambles as you walk to take her mind off her failed attempt at weaving again.
It’s his persistence when it comes to visiting your family. A kind smile on his face despite your mother’s hostility in the earlier days.
It’s taking care of the village’s children in your place when you’re feeling sick. Or guiding Tsireya and Ao’nung the other way when he knows you’re feeling overwhelmed and in need of space.
Life with him consists of nights telling stories of the lives the two of you followed before your souls decided they wanted to be one.
You decide you want to actively love him the night he talks about the weight of a title promised to him and his struggle with coming to terms with that promise being broken for his family’s safety.
Not sparing another moment, you tell him just that.
"Oel ngati kameie”
I see you.
You look into his eyes as he bares his soul to show you all that he is. The mighty warrior. The golden son. The boy that had to bear the weight of being the heir for seventeen years just for the promised title to leave him, whispering this is for your own good as it closes the door. The boy that wishes he could be more. The boy that aches for his father’s love.
He lets you take in all he is and basks in the love you shower him with.
“Nga yawne lu oer,” He says softly.
I love you.
It brings you so much joy when you realise that every fibre of your being believies him. It wasn’t like when your dad said it, obligation seeping into every vowel. Or when acquaintances say it after a favour granted.
It’s quite simple. You instantly believe him because it’s all you’ve known.
He says I love you and he doesn’t mean it as a thank you for loving me. He says I love you and means it as a promise.
It’s almost as if your soul was made aware of the love he has for you long before the words even left his lips, perhaps his was aware before he even had the thought.
It’s known for longer than the two of you have because your love bleeds into your subconscious and seeps into your actions.
It’s why your mother grew so fond of him. Why his siblings grew so attached to you so quickly.
Because two people can’t build lives together and expect people to not take notice.
—
You’re about to turn 19 when he tells you that his family is leaving.
First, you ask him if he’s going. The question leaves your lips and it feels like betrayal when he tells you, No, you are my mate. I will stay where you are near.
It feels like you’re betraying the boy that loves his family more than himself. You voice out your thoughts and all he can do is smile at you before he presses you to his chest, forcing you to listen to the beating of his heart. Do you hear that? It beats for you now. I love my family but they understand that you are who I value the most now.
It’s his way of telling you that he loves you enough to stay.
You ask Tsireya to accompany you to the cove of the ancestors that night. She doesn’t ask you questions, but she lets you cry on her shoulders, soft hands caressing your back in an attempt to soothe your sobs.
When you reach the shore, she holds you back and pulls you into a hug before you go to join Neteyam. I will miss you, sister. She whispers, wiping the stray tear quickly and flashing you a smile, removing all traces of her downcast expression.
You give her hand a squeeze before you part ways, your mind stuck on the tear that fell from her eye and the others that were threatening to fall before she wiped them clear.
You allow yourself to reminisce on simpler days. When you were younger and were yet to be tasked with the job of making choices and carrying the weight of them. Knocking over Ronal’s herbs and her children–you didn’t know it yet, but they would soon become your best friends–taking the blame for you (They don’t know this, but you told Ronal it was you that knocked them over the moment they turned their back).
Making the bond with your spirit sister.
Oh. You chide yourself. How could you forget about Sutì?
The tulkun was beyond ecstatic for you when you mentioned the boy, she didn’t say anything then but you’re so sure she could feel the love from your body language, she could always sense things like that. You know your sister would be happy for you, still, you make a mental note to ask Lo’ak if payakan could send a message from you.
When you finally reach where Neteyam is waiting for you, your thoughts are clouded. He takes notice of the expression you have on and kisses your temple. The simple act clears your thought, even for just a moment, it’s as if he were the god of the skies himself, swatting the dark clouds away.
Neteyam doesn’t catch your exchange with Tsireya so he doesn’t actually know what’s bothering you. But he’s loved you long enough to know that something is wrong. A part of him knows you’re considering it–going with his family– a part of him wishes for you to offer. He would never force you to leave your home, he knows how it feels to leave behind all you’ve known and he doesn’t want you to suffer the way he suffered.
So he calls himself selfish, you’re so selfish. He says it multiple times, holding your hands as he does, in hopes that the feeling goes away because never in a thousand lifetimes would he wish for you to hurt.
But when he goes to sleep that night, his heart curled up in front of him, a part of him still wishes.
—
When you tell him that you wish to come along, he argues against you.
A part of him cheers. He tries his best to shut it down.
He calmly recalls his struggles with adapting and explains how he doesn’t want to put you through that.
He wants you to argue back.
Neteyam shuts his eyes, overcome with guilt for simply wanting and the overwhelming desire to keep you happy.
You smile up at him, as if you were holding that part of him between your hands, the words that leave your lips immediately calms him down, “We both want this.”
He searches your eyes, looking for a hint of hesitance. When he spots it, he opens his mouth to speak but you interrupt him yet again.
“I am scared,” he cradles your face as you speak, “but I trust that you will make me happy wherever we are.”
Yes and I could make you happy here, you could make me happy here, he thinks.
But you don’t stop talking, “We could also be happy here, yes. But I do not have siblings like you do.”
He asks one more time with his eyes, you smile.
“Besides, mother and father already approved of my departure.”
Your statement completely breaks his resolve, tears falling from his eyes before you could reach out to wipe them.
“I love you,” he holds you in his arms, “I promise I’ll make you happy.”
You smile, content in his arms, “I know you will.”
—
“This isn’t a goodbye, I will see you again,” The words leave your mouth but even you aren’t sure how much you believe it.
You talked to Jake, Toruk Makto. Asking him questions that were answered with honesty. He says he isn’t sure. Because even with his nemesis dead, the sky people were still in Pandora.
“Your family isn’t safe here,” you remember saying, observing his face as you spoke, “yet you gave your son the option to stay,” he stopped sharpening his spear, “why is that?”
Jake paused before he continued sharpening the spear, as if to collect his thoughts.
“He begged me,” Jake took in the shocked expression you have on and simply smiled, “I am a father, but I also know what it is like to love another,” he stood to put the spear away, “I don’t want my son to suffer like that.”
You’re shaken out of the memory by your best friend cutting off your circulation, “Ao’nung! Skxawng you’re going to kill me.”
You take in his tear stained face and let out an exaggerated gasp in an attempt to lighten the mood. You know it works when the corners of his lips lift and he shoves you playfully.
When his sister approaches to hug you, his face gets serious yet again. “If you’re ever unhappy there, you’ll always have a home here, never forget that.”
His serious demeanour has you and Tsireya laughing, “How are they supposed to do that skxawng? The ocean would eat them alive before they make it home.”
At Tsireya’s comment, he takes up an exaggerated thinking stance, going on for a moment before he nods to yourself, “Don’t be unhappy.”
You laugh at his resolve but he hushes you, “You can be unhappy once you get an ikran,” your eyes soften at his surprising thoughtfulness, “just so you can go home.”
Your trio disperses when a horn is sounded, signalling your departure. Tsireya and Ao’nung share a look before they tackle you, giving you one last squeeze before you move towards the centre of the crowd where the Sullys stand.
Neteyam reaches over and you join him, waving goodbye to everyone you recognise in the crowd.
Tuk rushes over to you and you lift her up, “I can’t wait to show you the forest!” She grins and you find yourself mirroring her expression.
Neteyam takes Tuk from your arms, allowing you a few more seconds of goodbye.
You catch Ronal and Tonowari’s gaze and smile at their gesture.
Oel ngati kameie. You gesture back.
Once you’ve hopped on the ikran, you catch their gaze again. This time, you catch yourself signing, thank you.
For protecting my home.
For giving me Tsireya and Ao’nung.
Ronal tears up at the gesture and you find yourself mirroring her.
Once you’re in the air, Neteyam lets his ikran fall back a bit. He holds you and you finally allow the tears to fall.
(A/N: and!! that’s it for the prologue!! had this idea 2 hours ago and knew i immediately had to start the intro because!!! i cannot wait to write the drama bit lmfao. as always!! reblogs and replies are appreciated! i hope you enjoy the series because i certainly had fun writing)
The Russia and Ukraine Issue is serious and people should know about it
For fuck's sake. Do not talk about the Ukrainian military's positions. The Ukrainian Government has requested as follows:
SO KEEP THAT IN MIND.
There are some numbers for Ukrainian and Belarusian refugees. I'll drop a copied text from a discord server I'm in.
"these numbers are for people in belarus and ukraine that are illegal in poland (for example, using a tourist visa and staying there permanently counts as illegal, but this is only one example) however need to stay inside of poland for their own safety. these numbers will grant you a temporary visa so you do not get deported back into ukraine or belarus.
+48518218305
+48734477773
this number is for ukrainians that wish to escape to poland. you will have people tell you more information about which border stop is best to go to and what you would need to bring.
+48 47 721 75 75
you will not need a visa and only need a password. it is best to call first and then reach the border, so you have more information and understanding of what to do.
stay safe."
These are genuine and official numbers, do NOT use or share any other number without being absolutely sure that they're genuine.
If you know any Ukrainian people, give them proper support. If you are a Ukrainian person, we stand beside you. Do not lose hope, these are dark times. They will pass eventually.
In this very moment, no matter your country, your ethnicity, your religion, your political views, your sexuality or whatever. Put it aside. Stand beside Ukraine. Innocent people have died and Chernobyl has been seized by Russian forces. Putin wants Zelenskiy and his family dead. We are experiencing the harsh reality of war again. As someone who's country has only recently recovered from a war. 50 years! My mother experienced it! My grandfather fought it! I know the pain of Ukraine. And I assure you, I Stand With Ukraine.
(as for the tags, I'm using my most popular and used tags to get the message across. If you get mad because of it, seek professional help)
I hope that everyone who was hurt through religion , finds comfort , And safety . Whether that be in a new religion , finding peace in an old religion , or fining peace in a lack of religion .
People who shit on the avatar franchise for no other reason than hating something popular gives me the same ick as people who thought it was cool to hate on twilight. Even if it is trash, it is objectively more embarrassing to make hating a popular piece of media your entire personality 🤭
all these posts that are like *flips hair* hi newbiesss tehee welcome to Tumblr….. we’re not like the Other Social Media Sites 😝😘 and then proceed to unironically describe tumblr like the shangri la of social media where we all live laugh reblog and have long ebony black hair and flip off preps as if every fucking day on here for the last ten years hasn’t been a bloody trial with innumerable casualties like we don’t weekly see the most hilarious drama and indescribable dysfunctionality. you’re all like acclimated deep sea organisms enticing soft photic zone invertebrates to come down. they’re going to fucking die.
I have the same problem 😪 I've been playing for around seven years yet zombies, skeletons, and especially creepers scare me! I usually just run away from creepers and lead them in the opposite direction of an important build, same with zombies but I lure them into the sunlight. I just run away from skeletons or use a shield^
it's just hitting me that in Goblet of Fire, when neville is having a breakdown over watching the cruciatus curse, he's watching it being performed by one of the people who tortured his parents and no one knew it
let’s put the pitchforks down for a second. snape bad snape mean snape death eater blah blah blah.
sure, neville’s boggart takes snape’s form.
but hermione’s takes the form of mcgonagall. lupin’s is the full moon. ron’s is a spider. harry’s is a dementor.
why do i mention these?
hermione isn’t scared of mcgonagall. she’s scared of what mcgonagall’s saying: that she failed her exams and is going to be expelled. for hermione, a muggle-born, expulsion would mean losing every magical thing she’s ever known- her friends, her educational progress, her future- it’s a much bigger fear than just not wanting a teacher to have a go at her work.
lupin isn’t literally scared of the full moon. he’s scared of what he becomes under it, scared of the pain and of the risk posed to himself and to others. once again, this boggart represents a life-changing fear, much deeper than the surface-level interpretation suggests.
i mention ron because oh my god. he nearly died in magic chess two years ago; his little sister was kidnapped and almost killed by the dark lord last year; his best friend is actively being hunted by a mass murderer at this moment in time; he, harry, and hermione risk their lives on a daily basis. and you’re telling me his worst fear is a giant spider? to me, it takes this form because it seems to be a very long-running fear for ron (when first boarding the hogwarts express in TPS, ron recoils at the sight of lee jordan’s tarantula’s leg, so he already has this deep fear by the age of 11). the rest of the class have similarly strange boggarts, such as the blood-stained mummy, the single eyeball, and the disembodied hand- the kind of stuff you see in kids’ horror (eg. for the hand, think thing from the addam’s family): not really threatening, just unnatural. this seems to point to the idea that a person’s “worst” fear can also be defined as their longest-held fear, regardless of severity. it is equally possible that you simply can’t definitively measure a fear.
and then there’s harry. lupin literally says that his boggart suggests that what he fears most is fear itself. not having his soul sucked and becoming irreversibly catatonic, but being vulnerable and scared when there’s such pressure on him to be the saviour. so that’s canon confirmation that boggarts are not literal.
then why does neville’s boggart take the form of snape?
easy.
earlier that day, snape had been his usual vindictive self, and fed neville’s shrinking solution to trevor the toad (and, by the way, i truly don’t think trevor would have died even without hermione’s intervention- snape’s perfectly capable of any antidote, and he wouldn’t kill a student’s pet. not only would that probably end worse for him than it would for neville, but what would he even gain from that? it was a mean but empty threat / incredibly misguided attempt to motivate neville to improve). and it was a potions lesson, neville’s worst subject by far, with a teacher who doesn’t bother to soften the blow when criticising his students. when they came to DADA, snape was already sitting in the staff room, and made a snide comment about neville to lupin. all this to say, snape was very much on neville’s mind during the boggart lesson. coming back to the idea that fear cannot be measured, it may be that a boggart mimics whatever you fear the most at that moment in time. harry’s first thought is that his boggart would be voldemort, until he remembers the dementors. perhaps, if the lesson had happened after a recent encounter with voldemort, the boggart would have taken that form.
i also want to point out trevor’s significance. trevor was a present from neville’s great uncle algie- the same great uncle algie that pushed him off the end of blackpool pier, and who dropped him out of a window when he was eight, to try and scare some signs of magic out of him (i mean the fact that neville’s boggart isn’t algie is proof enough for me that severity is not a measurement applied to boggarts). trevor was a reward for neville after his first signs of accidental magic saved his life during the window incident. trevor literally represents neville’s ability to perform magic at all, and, during that potions lesson, he thought his magical incompetence was going to bring harm to a beloved pet with such striking symbolism to him.
so, much like hermione, neville fears not being good enough at magic and, by extension, at school. both are terrified of the scale of those consequences. it makes sense, then, that the two strictest people who rate their magical abilities everyday are the physical manifestations of these fears.
add to this that neville feels like a complete disappointment to his parents, war heroes, and it’s no wonder he takes criticism so badly (not just from snape, although granted he’s the meanest).
which brings me to his parents:
they were tortured INTO INSANITY. people often use this fact to exaggerate how awful snape must have been and how he must have acted even worse towards neville than we, the readers, know. but why on earth would the boggart turn into bellatrix? for one, neville doesn’t want his peers to know about his parents, so he’s not going to say that bellatrix is his worst fear. for another, neville doesn’t even know what bellatrix looks like yet, so the boggart cannot take the form- and it would be pointless to try. additionally, i don’t think he is scared of bellatrix at this point. traumatised by her actions? yes. but she’s been in azkaban since before neville could eat solid food, so, to him, she isn’t currently a threat.
“Er- yes, said Neville nervously. “But I don’t want the boggart to turn into her* either.”
*augusta longbottom, neville’s gran.
the reason the boggart takes snape’s form is because neville is constantly self-conscious about his lack of magical skills, a source of extreme risk and insecurity since he was a kid, and, during the DADA lesson, the wound from potions earlier is still fresh. snape is one of the most critical people in neville’s life- the other being his gran. the only thing the two have in common (apart from looking great in a green dress) is their attitudes towards and criticisms of neville’s magical aptitude. the quote above shows neville becoming nervous at the idea of an augusta boggart, suggesting that, in neville’s mind, the two are equally scary and equally possible candidates- and neville’s mind is all that matters, because it’s his fear.
in conclusion:
neville’s worst fear is being an unworthy son to his highly-talented and heroic parents
we know this because he considered both snape and augusta as equal possibilities, and this is the only real common denominator between the two
given the day he’s had, and the fact that this is the third year in a row that he is living with snape longer than he lives with his gran, it’s no wonder snape comes to mind first
i’m going to say it again. snape was the physical manifestation at the time because he was the most recent person to stoke neville’s fear. that’s not me saying that snape is actually super nice to his students and it was all just a misunderstanding. i’m just stating the fact that severus snape himself is not neville’s worst fear. that is not how boggarts work.
I keep seeing ads for Avatar 2 everywhere, and -- WHY did they give Jake dreadlocks. Why. NONE of the na'vi had dreadlocks in the first movie, it's not like it's a thing that shows he's, idk, fully submerged in their culture or whatever; dreadlocks werent a thing in Avatar 1, why does he suddenly have dreadlocks, why did they choose to give the white guy in a hollow indigenous body piloted by his whiteass conciousness dreadlocks, I can't get past it, why are we being subjected to this
i think the number one craziest thing about this whole "avatar 2" business has been how there is apparently a fanbase for the first movie. thousands of people apparently loved this movie, and for ten whole years they just never said anything about it or made it known to the wider world. there isn't any avatar fandom or active discussion for TEN YEARS, and then they just suddenly appear from the shadows to defend it online, like an army of sleeper agents woken up by the code phrase "no cultural impact"
