Okay, I need to talk about the Toruk Makto reunion scene in Avatar, because I used to completely misread it.
When I was younger, I thought Neytiri was kind of shallow here. She chased Jake off, rejected him, we didn't even see her worry about him after that! When he could've been dead! And then he shows up with a fancy ride and a title, and suddenly she's willing to take him back. Cool. Very romantic. (I was being a hater.)
But I'm older now, and I get it. She isn't standing there impressed — she's standing there shellshocked. Because she's the one who taught him what Toruk Makto means: five riders in the entire recorded history of her people, her own ancestor among them, the beast that hunts the very Ikran they ride and bond with. She isn't looking at a guy with a fancy new ride. She's doing the math on how many times he should have died attempting this.
And there's only one thought going through her head: "Did this idiot seriously just risk his life to tame Toruk, just to get back with me?"
Think of it this way. Imagine your ex — the one you broke up with, the one who hurt you — dives to the bottom of the ocean to bring you back a pearl, because he knows you love them and he wants you back. Except the ocean floor is guarded by the thing most likely to eat him, and he can't even swim, and he didn't text you first. He just vanished, and then resurfaced holding it.
The sheer magnitude of it floors you.
That's the face she's making. It isn't "You got me a gift." It's "You went there — for me?"
Because the thing that wrecks you isn't the prize. It's the lengths. It's realizing that someone weighed their own life against losing you, and chose you.
She didn't fall for the title. She fell apart over the math.
When the sky people had came back, they had not only brought with them new machinery but also new fear. They brought fear to clans who once stood tall and fought back. Anyone who had lived through the first war against the sky people had also lived through seeing many deaths and losses. Many had lost their loved ones, they had lost their children, their spouses, and their parents. Now they are back, the Na’vi can only wonder who they would lose now.
However, they are reminded that they won the first war with Toruk Makto and they can win another one again.
Jake had let Toruk go once the humans had left the first time and he had believed that they would never come back. With the biggest threat to his life and wife gone, he allowed them both to have such a large family. He loved each child Eywa gave him and he knew that he would go to extreme lengths to keep each child alive and happy the moment he first laid eyes on them. There had been times where his children had been in danger with the other inhabitants of Pandora, but he had always been there to save them. Always.
So now that he knew that his children are under a gun, he felt his heart drop. He caught Neytiri’s eyes and saw the same fear in her that he felt. He had nearly lost both his sons just a day ago when he took them both out with the war party. He remembers telling them that they were spotters, and they must always, always keep themselves in distance to the fight.
He would not allow himself to imagine the ‘what if’s if he had not been able to get to them in time and save them both. As his wife told him that he was being too hard on them, he had turned and looked at all his kids gathered in their family tent with Neteyam as he got patched up. Jake watched as Lo’ak sat beside his older brother, telling Neteyam that he is a ‘mighty warrior’, to cheer his brother up after being scolded by his father. Jake watched as Kiri and Mo’at both bickered on which healing paste to use. Jake watched as Tuk and Y/n squabbled again in the corner of the tent only to stop when Neteyam would let out an ‘ow.’ He watched them and he could not ever allow himself to let them slip away and die.
He is a father, and a father protects.
So how is it that he let his kids be held at gunpoint, a gun that once threatened to kill him?
Neteyam claimed to know a shortcut and led his parents over to the old shack.
---
Y/n had just gotten back from hunting, and she began to skip over to her family tent. She knew that her father was not in the best mood yesterday because of Lo’ak’s recklessness and this morning he did not seem to be all that happy either. She knew it was only because he cared, it was only because he loved her and her siblings that made him be so hard on them. Though even she would admit, sometimes he does become a bit much when scolding. This is what lead her to convince the hunting party to hunt teylu instead. It’s a common fact that the olo’eyktan loves teylu and though they are not a big challenge to hunt, it still can be a difficulty to find enough to feed the entire clan.
Y/n looked inside her family tent but found no one. She knew her parents and Neteyam were going patrolling later today, but she had thought that they would have been back by now. Looking around and asking others, she did not get much information on their whereabouts. She had considered putting on her throat microphone but decided to wait a bit more in case they do come back, and she had been worrying over nothing.
Y/n could never sit alone and do nothing. She isn’t one who knows how to enjoy her own company, she needs others around her. So sitting here alone to wait made her agitated even more. She sighed and got up to visit her grandmother’s tent. Y/n adored her grandmother or rather she adored annoying her grandmother. Either way, Mo’at could never say she disliked Y/n, she loved all her grandchildren equally. However, that does not mean she will not hesitate to give them a scolding if they push her buttons. Like one grandchild does.
“Hey Grandma!” Y/n called out.
No answer.
“grandMAAAAA”
Still no answer. So, then she took a deep breath.
“GRAN-”
“Who let a bloody screeching Ikran in?” Mo’at entered her tent to see Y/n standing there in the middle. “What is it? What do you want?” She had been carrying multiple pots with healing pastes in, each for a different type of injury. After putting the pots down, she sat down on a mat and patted the spot opposite her to tell Y/n to sit as well.
“Mom and dad and everyone else have gone out so I decided to spend time with my favorite grandma.”
“As if you have 10 other grandmas lined up outside so that you can pick me as your favorite.” Mo’at muttered. “So, they all went and left you here with me. Why?”
“Dunno.” Y/n had sat down, and her grandmother had given her a cup with water to drink from before getting a cup for herself. They both sat in a comfortable silence while they drank from their own cups.
“Tsk, look at your hair child, why don’t you braid it? You look just like your father when he first came here.”
“I’m not patient enough for that grandma, mom had tried to sit me down before, but it takes so long.” Y/n complained before finishing off her drink. Mo’at shook her head before she too finished the swallowed the last drop of water in her cup.
“Y/N?”
Mo’at and Y/n’s ears pricked up at the call. They recognised the voice that belonged to Neytiri and could hear the urgency and worry in her voice. Both grandmother and granddaughter shared a worried look before standing up to get out of the tent and meet the worried mother.
“Mom, I’m here.” Y/n walked up to her mother. Once she locked eyes with her she could see that Neytiri was trying her best to not look frightened but the worry lines between her brow made it even clearer. “What’s wrong?”
“Where were you?”
Y/n sees her dad gently push her siblings out of their family tent, pointing off into the distance and they all walked away.
“Was with Grandma, why?”
Neytiri sighed and closed her eyes in relief. She gave her daughter a kiss on her forehead before turning around to look at Jake who had called her into the tent. She left to go join him after patting Y/n’s shoulder.
Y/n watched in confusion as both her parents disappeared into the tent. Her mother had never even told her what happened. Looking to her right, she saw her brothers standing and quietly talking to each other. If her mother couldn’t answer her, then she wonders if it had been those two who got in trouble again.
“Neteyam, Lo’ak, what happened?” Y/n asked.
The two brothers shared a look before Lo’ak looked down at his feet.
“You tell her.” Lo’ak nudged Neteyam.
“Well, Lo’ak and the others went down to the old shack-”
“What!” Y/n’s outburst caused some of the other clan members to look their way. The three gave them an awkward smile before Neteyam tugged his sister closer to whisper.
“Keep your voice down.” He hissed.
“My bad, then what?”
Y/n saw Lo’ak’s ears flatten, probably because he knew what happened next.
“Then they saw human na’vi.”
“What?!” Again, others around the three gave them looks.
“Just let me finish and be quiet. They then were spotted by the human Na’vi.”
Y/n’s eyes grew and so did her mouth, just before she was to let out another ‘What!’, Neteyam had out his hand over her mouth.
“Quiet, remember,” He reminded her and only continued once she had nodded her head and pretended to zip her mouth shut. “They were then being held under their guns and used as bait to get Dad-”
“WHAT-”
“Y/n! Keep your voice-”
“No way. Lo’ak, you daredevil!” Y/n smirked at her younger brother, proud of how he managed to be under that situation and come back out alive. Lo’ak began fighting back a smile as his sister praised him.
“He had Tuk with him.” Neteyam added.
Y/n’s smile dropped, and she smacked the back of Lo’ak’s head. “Idiot.”
“Ow-”
“And the human na’vi took spider.”
Another smack.
“OW-”
She then pulled both of her brothers into a hug, though Lo’ak had been reckless once again, putting not only his life in danger but also his other sibling’s life in danger too, she was glad that they came back home alive.
---
Kiri and Tuk had been listening in to their parents as they argued back and forth. The fabric of the tent was thick but there were gaps which allowed their voices, which were already raised, to trallevel to their ears easily.
Kiri had one ear pressed against the outside wall of the tent as she listened and in the corner of her eye, she saw the twins and Lo’ak walking towards her.
“Hurry.” She waved and urged them to get to her quicker. The three jogged towards her and joined in on eavesdropping.
“If the people harbour us, they will die. Do you understand? Look I’ve got nothing. I got no plan. But I can protect this family, that I can do.”
Y/n heard her father’s words and wondered what exactly he meant it. He said he will protect his family, from what she guesses, the humans. How would he protect them? She doesn’t know. Another war perhaps? However, he plans to protect them she knows it will not be easy. Especially if he had to work so hard to convince her mother.
---
An hour later, the kids of Toruk Makto had sat themselves down in a circle. Their parents had just told them that they would be getting ready to leave the forest as soon as possible. That was a lot to take in. To experience near death, to know your family could have died and then be taken out of your home to go who-knows-where. When Y/n woke up she had never thought that while she had been out hunting, her family were fighting for their lives.
All her life, Y/n had been told that she is the future of the clan along with her brother. She has spent so much time and effort in training to be the best future for her clan. All those cuts and bruises, all those restless nights worrying about whether she will be good enough would be for nothing? Everything she had ever done here in the forest, would mean nothing?
What about her friends? Everyone in the clan? She cares about them all and she has to leave them?
“I suppose it would be exciting to live somewhere else?” Neteyam spoke up. “We might go up to the mountains, the reef or the deserts-”
“I want to stay here.” Kiri interrupted him.
“We don’t really have a say in that.” Y/n reminded her. Though they may have passed their Iknimaya and have their own Ikrans, their parents have still treated them as children with a bit more freedom, still children, nonetheless. Even if they had treated them as adults, moving out from the forest was still something they had no say in since their dad was pretty set on doing it.
“We might come back, if the humans ever leave.” Neteyam tried to bring some sort of hope to the table.
“I wouldn’t count on that.” Y/n stood up to go sleep. Nothing was going to happen with them just sitting there so why not lay down and sleep.
Neteyam rolled his eyes. He was trying hard to cheer everyone up, why couldn’t Y/n see that.
“It’s okay bro, let's just sleep.” Lo’ak stood up too, going into the tent to go sleep.
Neteyam watched as Kiri got up and took Tuk with her and they too went to sleep. He wondered if any of them would get any sleep that night.
---
The next day, Y/n walked up to where her friends had gathered in a circle. They were waiting for her since today was meant to be one of her days off from training and she had told them days before that she would spend this day with them. Her steps felt heavy as got closer and closer to them. She really didn’t want to tell them that she would be moving away and will most likely never see them ever again.
“Y/n is here!” Zinat, the closest friend Y/n had called out. “Hey what’s wrong?”
“Um, well, me and my family are leaving the forest.”
“What? Y/n what do you mean?” All of her friends looked confused. How can one simply leave the forest and go where exactly?
“It’s because I broke your bow that one time right?” Akim asked. He was a kid who was a few years older than the twins but still hung out with them from time to time.
“It was you?! I literally blamed Lo’ak because I thought he did it.”
“Oh so... you didn’t know-”
“Shut up Akim, Y/n what do you mean you are leaving the forest? How can you just leave?” Zinat asked, pushing Akim away even though he was a foot taller than her.
“My father fears that the sky people are after my family and are willing to fight others to get to us. So he is going to take us away from here until the humans give up.” Y/n sighed. She really did not want to leave her home and her friends. She had been trying hard to keep her tears in but when she saw the sad looks her friends were giving her, the tears could not be held back any longer.
“Oh Y/n... come here.” Zinat was the first to pull her into a hug before Akim and the others joined in. They all shared one last group hug and tears before Y/n was called by her mother to finish packing before they leave the next day. Taking a deep breath, Y/n let go of her friends and gave them a small smile before turning around to head back into her family tent.
Neytiri saw the dried tears around her daughters eyes. She didn’t want this anymore than Y/n did but she believed Jake had a point to moving out. She placed a comforting hand on the back of her daughters back and lead her back in the tent. When she looked back at her friends, she meet with their eyes, their eyes that were also filled with tears. The forest was all her children ever knew. The forest and its people. She almost feels as if she had failed as a mother to take it away from them.
---
Y/n watched while struggling to keep her tears in as her father’s title as olo’ekytan was taken away. She prayed to Ewya the other day to give her father another option, another idea other than leaving but her prayers had not been answered. Neteyam placed his hand on the back of her shoulder to move her along with her family as they walked through the parted crowd of the clan and towards their Ikrans to fly away. While walking through the crowd, Y/n had caught Zinat’s eyes and saw how here ears laid flat against her head, tears falling rolling down her cheeks as Akim held her close. He gave Y/n a nod as she walked past him.
When the family had gotten on their Ikran’s the children would constantly look behind them to see the trees of the forest grow smaller and smaller in size till all they would see in all four directions was the sea. Y/n could smell the salt as they flew over the water, when looking down she would occasionally see a brightly coloured fish swimming near the surface before it swims down deeper into the sea.
Though the environment around her was calming, the atmosphere between her family was anything but calm. Words were not said apart from Tuk’s ‘Are we there yet?’ but worry and stress could be seen on everyone’s faces. Y/n then caught Neteyam’s eye, she gave him a small smile before he nodded at Lo’ak and Kiri.
Lo’ak had his eyebrows crossed ever since they left, thinking how this all was his fault. They only had to move because he wanted to go see the old shack. They only had to leave because he believes he got himself and his siblings caught. What he did not realised was that his father would have made the decision to leave as soon as he had found out about the human na’vi whether it had been him who discovered them first or Lo’ak.
Kiri had let out a few sighs since they left the forest. Even though she loved flying on her Ikran, she would much rather not be flying over the sea and rather be flying over the familiar trees of her home.
The twins nodded at each other before the flew on either side of Kiri and Lo’ak.
“Betcha’ can’t do this!” Y/n dared before riding her Ikran while standing.
Kiri raised an eyebrow before smirking and standing up on her Ikran as well. Neteyam got up too and so did lo’ak, though he was a little shaky on his feet.
“Don’t look down.” Y/n advised.
“Can you do this?” Kiri asked while sitting back down and making her Ikran turn upside down and upright again.
Y/n shrugged her shoulders and did the same move smoother followed by Neteyam. Lo’ak managed to do it as well without falling off as he nearly did the last time he tried.
“What about thi-” Lo’ak began while getting ready to stand up again.
“Sit back down.” Jake’s voice seemed to have came out of nowhere as it caught the four off guard. He really couldn’t have his kids falling off their Ikrans right now and thankfully his kids listened to him. He heard Lo’ak’s ‘I’m sat’ which calmed his nerves for a while before Y/n ‘accidentally’ flew her Ikran a little too close to Kiri’s. Kiri looked at her in surprise since she knew her sister wasn’t that bad of a flyer. Y/n shrugged and smiled and Kiri caught on to what she was trying to do and then she too ‘accidentally’ flew her Ikran a little too close to Y/n’s.
“Girls, stop.” Jake told them off once he heard hushed giggled behind him. He did not mind them cheering each other up to lighten the mood but he just needed them to sit calmly till they all reach the reef and not fall off of their Ikrans.
In the distance, civilisation could be seen, the sun shone down on the water making it look as if the water were made out of glass. The na’vi that lived there looked up at the sky as the Sully’s flew their Ikrans over. Some would shout and others would dive into the water. Y/n looked down at them and noticed that the Na’vi that lived here looked a bit different. She watched as they all swam back to their mainland and gathered around for form a crowd.
They Sully’s landed their Ikrans on an open space of sand. When jumping down from her Ikran, Y/n noticed how soft and warm the sand felt under her feet. It was different to the touch of grass and rocks which she was used to. Looking up from the sand, she joined her family walking slowly towards the other Na’vi. Her father and Neteyam both walked with their arms spread to show that they had no weapons on them and mean to cause no harm.
Y/n never really had this many eyes on her at once before, much less eyes that belong to those that she has never met before. By now the crowd around them had become rather dense. She saw her brothers greet two boys that made their way through the crowds. They ignored her brother’s greetings and simply stared at them as if they were alien.
“Look at their tail.” The smaller one pointed at Neteyams tail. They both laughed to themselves. Their skin had a much lighter shade of blue compared to Y/n’s family. Their arms and tails were thicker and bigger in size too with smaller ears. If only it had been them coming to the forest, then it would have been them who were ‘alien’.
Y/n immediately decided then and there that she did not like them both at all. Her face fell into a scowl and she held back a hiss. Moving her eyes to the taller boy, she met his eyes and that stupid smirk of his. He looked her up and down, she did the same, both settling on looking at each other in disgust before a young girl came and told them both off for their words. Y/n decided that she liked that girl. At least she knew how to behave with people that she has just met. After all, doesn’t the first impression last the longest?
Y/n had been so distracted by glaring at the tall boy that she had not even realised when a women came around inspecting each one of her family members. She only turned her head to look at the women when she came around to her and grabbed her right hand. The hand that had an extra finger.
“These children aren’t even real Na’vi!” She help up Y/n’s hand for entire clan to see. By the looks of the woman, Y/n guessed that she was a healer or probably the Tsahik from her bold actions. Her clothes certainly were extravagant, she also had black designs on her face and body like some of the other adults here, perhaps she was their Tsahik.
“Yes we are.” Kiri spoke up.
Ignoring Kiri, the Tsahik continued speaking. “They have demon blood in them!”
Y/n rolled her eyes and tugged her hand out of the Tsahik’s grasp. Well obviously she had ‘demon blood’ in her, her father used to be a human but it is not like Y/n herself was going to turn into a bloodthirsty human and go on a killing spree. Jake stepped forward and showed the Tsahik his hand, making it obvious to point out that he also had an extra finger.
“See here, I was born with the sky people and now I’m Na’vi. You can adapt. We can all adapt.” Jake was not only talking to the Tsahik but also the rest of the clan. Y/n watched as some members of the clan whispered amongst themselves. They looked back and forth from different members of her family and Y/n couldn’t understand them. So what if her family looked different. At the end of the day they were all Na’vi just like her family.
“My husband was Toruk Makto.” Neytiri told the Tsahik and the Olo’eyktan, though it was mostly aimed at the Tsahik. “He led the clans to victory against the sky people.”
“This you call victory? Hiding amongst strangers?” The Tsahik argued back.
The tall boy from earlier snorted. Y/n went to glare at him again but he had already begun to move towards the Tsahik and Olo’eyktan before she could even turn her head. After further negotiation, or rather pleading, the Metkayina clan finally let the Sully family stay.
“My son Ao’nung and daughter Tsireya will teach your kids the way of water.” The Olo’eyktan announced. Y/n watched as he pointed his hand towards the tall boy and the nicer young girl. So then the fish boy was the Olo’eyktan’s son? Great, that probably means that Y/n would have to befriend the bastard, it made her grind her teeth just thinking about it. She’d rather drown than befriend the boy that openly disrespected her family.
Ao’nung, the tall boy, looked back at the Sully kids, one in particular with annoyance as his father announced that he would be the one to babysit them. They were forest people and forest people belong in the forest, not in the water. Their thin arms and legs would have no strength when in the water. Whatsmore, they seem to be acting much mightier than one would expect when it was them begging for a place to stay. Like that girl, he had exchanged no words with her yet the moment he laid eyes on her she was already picturing throwing a spear through his head. Which is too bad, she has a pretty face but a nasty personality. There would be no way that she and her family would be able to keep up with him.
If only he could send them back where they came from.
I posted this previously, but this is the better, more expanded take with my moodboards!
A theory on redemption, and the standard even Nor can't argue with
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora — From the Ashes × the films
Heads up: this one's a theory, not a close-reading. It mixes the From the Ashes DLC continuity with the films, and the back half is speculation about where the game might go. Strong opinions, openly held. Disagree with me.
I know I'll have a load of people disagreeing with me on this. But here it is: Jake and Neytiri would absolutely not have agreed with what happened to Alma — even if they knew everything that happened at TAP.
And the reason is simple, once you see it.
Alma is a mirror of who Jake used to be.
This is the heart of it. Alma worked for the enemy. So did Jake. Before he was ever fully Na'vi — before the bond, before Toruk Makto, before any of it — Jake Sully was a man inside the machine, sent in to serve the people destroying Pandora. His entire arc is the story of a collaborator who turned.
So when Jake looks at Alma, he is not looking at an irredeemable enemy. He's looking at himself, earlier in the story. He, of all people, knows that the person who once wore the enemy's uniform can become something else entirely. He didn't just witness that kind of redemption — he lived it. There is no character on Pandora better positioned to vouch for Alma's, because vouching for her is, in a sense, vouching for the validity of his own.
That's the analysis I'll stand on: Jake would have seen himself in Alma, and he would have argued for her.
And here's where it gets genuinely interesting — Jake is everything Nor hates.
If Nor and the rest of the Sarentu ever actually met Jake, I think they'd be forced to reconsider their grievances on the spot — because Jake is, physically and theologically, the embodiment of nearly everything Nor stands against.
Think about it. Jake uses guns. He uses bombs. He has five fingers, not four — he is part human, marked in his very body as an outsider. He speaks English as fluently as he speaks Na'vi. By the standards Nor uses to measure purity and belonging, Jake should be unacceptable. And yet Jake is Toruk Makto. He is Olo'eyktan. He is the single most legendary living figure of Na'vi resistance.
But the physical and cultural objections are the ones Nor could, with enough effort, explain away — dismiss Jake as a tolerated anomaly, an impure outsider the People simply put up with. What he can't explain away is the theology.
Because by the Na'vi's own beliefs, Eywa chose Jake. Eywa made him Toruk Makto — a thing that has happened five times in recorded history. And Eywa gave him a Na'vi body: accepted his consciousness, let him be reborn through the Tree of Souls as one of the People. That is not the People tolerating an outsider. That is Eywa Herself reaching down and declaring him hers.
So Nor's purity standard doesn't just collide with Jake. It collides with his own god. To reject Jake, Nor would have to argue that Eywa was wrong — that She chose incorrectly, that the goddess at the center of his entire worldview made a mistake. And the instant he says that, he isn't defending the faith anymore. He's contradicting it. Jake forces Nor into an impossible position: either Eywa's judgment is sound and Jake belongs, or Jake doesn't belong and Eywa is fallible. There is no version where Nor gets to keep both his hatred and his devotion.
That's the contradiction I'd love to watch land. Jake is living proof that the things Nor despises — human origin, foreign weapons, a foot in both worlds — are not disqualifying in the eyes of the one authority Nor cannot question. Meeting Jake wouldn't just challenge the Sarentu's principles. It would make them choose between their grievances and their goddess.
Where I think the game could go from here (speculation now — buckle up).
Everything below is me guessing, not reading. But I think there are threads the game has deliberately left live.
Now that Alma is dead — along with several key members of the resistance — I can't help wondering what happens on Jake's side of things. Alma was a contact on the western front. At some point, surely, Jake notices the silence. He wonders what's become of one of his key communications out there. That's a thread I'd love to see the game pick up: the consequences of TAP rippling outward to the people who were counting on those contacts.
And then there's the truth itself. What happens to the rest of the Sarentu when Ri'nela finally tells them what Nor did? I have a hard time believing Tamtey and Teylan take that quietly. They clearly cared about the people who died. Learning that Nor played a key part in that death isn't the kind of thing that gets absorbed without fracture. The fallout among the Sarentu themselves — once the truth is out — feels like the most charged unresolved tension the game's left sitting there.
I genuinely don't know what they'll do with it. But those are the threads I'll be watching.
Mangkwan Neytiri
Eywa's most faithful daughter, remade in fire and ash. What does devotion look like when it's forged in the Ash clan instead of the forest — the same fierce heart, the same unbreakable will, turned to a harder faith. She was never going to be gentle. She was only ever going to be fire.
─── · ─ ·𖥸· ─ · ───
Thank you to everyone who voted. The other three — Neytiri's rage, a tribute to Sa'ata, and the Wind Traders — aren't going anywhere; I'll make my way to them in time. 💙
In the meantime, follow my Ko-Fi for new polls, you can also download the individual panels there as well!
