Top 10 Unanswered Questions in Avatar The Way of Water

The film opens with a recap of its predecessor, which ended with the Na’vi sending most of the humans packing. Over a decade has passed in “Way of Water.” During that time, Jake and Neytiri started a family, living together in harmony. And then, everything changed when the Sky People attacked… again. It makes sense that the humans would come back. Sure, they lost one battle, but they still have more advanced technology than the Na’vi, who took virtually no measures to prevent their return. But why did the humans wait this long to retaliate? Why not immediately send reinforcements? Did the RDA just forget about the Na’vi and then one day somebody said, “Soooo… ya guys want to take another stab at invading Pandora?”

Remember Colonel Miles Quaritch? He’s back, in Na’vi form! While Neytiri killed the original Quaritch, Parker Selfridge explains that his memories and personality were uploaded to a thumb drive-like device. They were then transferred to a Na’vi Avatar called a Recombinant. Well, it makes more sense than Palpatine’s resurrection, but why doesn’t the RDA do this with all of the fallen soldiers? In the first film, Jake took his marine twin brother Tommy’s place in the Avatar Program. Why didn’t anyone think to download Tommy’s mind in case something happened to him? It’s also revealed that humans are hunting a rare substance that stops the aging process. Do they really need that when you can digitally store someone’s memory, though? You’ve basically cured death already!

Jake became the leader of the Omaticaya Clan, which has found a new Hometree. This plot point is elaborated on in the tie-in comic, “Avatar: The High Ground,” which reveals that Jake was against setting up a permanent residence in case the humans return. The humans indeed return in “Way of Water” with Quaritch gunning for the Sullys. Jake thus passes on his leadership duties, fleeing with his family. And, that’s pretty much the last we see of the Omaticaya. How do they adapt without Jake and Neytiri? Are the Omaticaya still vulnerable to the RDA or are they no longer a priority? Will the Sullys ever reunite with the Omaticaya? We wanna see them team up with the Metkayina Clan in the sequel.

In the first movie, humans arrive on Pandora because their world is dying. They seek to drain Pandora of its natural resources, namely a creatively-named mineral called unobtanium. Now that the Sky People have returned to Pandora, you’d think that mining for more unobtanium would be at the top of their to-do list. Yet, this valuable ​​compound doesn’t really factor into the plot. The RDA is more invested in helping Quaritch get revenge and tracking down the substance that halts aging, which can be found inside the Tulkun. Isn’t Earth still suffering from an energy crisis, however? Unless they found an alternative to unobtanium, shouldn’t that be the priority? Never aging sounds dandy, but what good is that if Earth is no longer inhabitable?

The original “Avatar” mainly sticks to Pandora’s jungles and skies where the Omaticaya Clan thrives. This sequel shifts the action to the reefs where water clans like the Metkayina live. Although they share similarities to the mainland Na'vi, the Metkayina have lighter blue skin, larger eyes, and tails made for water. The movies have touched upon other clans, but we haven’t seen much outside of green landscapes and watery wonderlands. Are these the only types of locales where Na'vi reside? It’s been said in other media that Pandora also has volcanoes, snow-covered poles, and deserts. With the sequels likely to explore new parts of Pandora, it’d be interesting to see if more Na'vi are out there and how they differ from clans we’ve seen already.

In addition to their Na'vi children, Jake and Neytiri look after Spider, a human raised on Pandora. It’s established early on that Spider is the son of Quaritch. Why didn’t Quaritch ever mention he had an infant son? Well, nobody ever said that he was a good father. The real question is, “Who was Spider’s mother?” Although this is glanced over in the film, the comics clarify that his mom is Paz Socorro, an RDA Scorpion pilot who became pregnant on Pandora. Spider is among the first humans born on the moon, but Paz died shortly after during the assault on the Tree of Souls. We know the movie was already 192 minutes, but it would’ve been nice to see Spider’s mom in a flashback.

Although Jake treats Spider like one of his own, Neytiri thinks he belongs with other humans. This is also given more focus in the comics with Neytiri trying to distance Spider from her family. During the film’s climax, Neytiri threatens to spill Spider’s blood unless Quaritch lets her family go. Quaritch relents and Neytiri frees Spider, but how far would she have gone? Was she bluffing or would the grief of losing her eldest child, Neteyam, have compelled Neytiri to take an eye for an eye? The Sullys don’t address the Tulkun in the room, although if we were Spider, we’d feel even more uncomfortable being around Neytiri now. Does Neytiri care about Spider at all or would she crush him like… well, a spider?

As far as Jake knows, Quaritch sank to a watery grave. Little does he realize that Spider stumbled across his father in the deep. Although he considers leaving him for dead, Spider decides to get Quaritch to safety and sends him on his way. Spider reunites with the Sullys, but it’s bound to eventually come out that he saved Jake’s mortal enemy. Having bonded with Spider, could Quaritch have a change of heart and switch sides? Maybe, although it could be the other way around. Spider is already on shaky terms with Neytiri, and if she finds out that he saved the man responsible for her firstborn’s death, she may drive him away. With nowhere else to go, Spider might accept Quaritch as his father.

Jake and Neytiri’s adopted daughter is unique in a few ways. At one point, she hooks up to an underwater hometree where she connects with her late biological mother, Dr. Grace Augustine. She experiences a seizure, however, and nearly dies. Kiri is revived with help from Kate Winslet’s Ronal, but if she ever hooks up to a tree again, it could kill her. Well, that sounds like a pretty important piece of information. Surely, it’ll tie into the rest of the plot somehow. Actually, that’s all we get. Kiri doesn’t try plugging into a tree again and we never learn why she reacted this way before. This is just one of a few plot points James Cameron seems to be setting up for future sequels.

Okay, not really, but in the “FernGully” sequel, a bunch of baby animals are kidnapped. In “The Way of Water,” all of Jake’s kids need to be rescued at one point. We’re onto you, Cameron.

The Omaticaya failed to transfer Grace’s consciousness into her Na’vi Avatar. However, Grace’s brain-dead Avatar gave birth to a daughter, Kiri. That’s just one reason why Kiri’s existence is considered a miracle. It’s a mystery to everyone who Kiri’s biological father is. Kiri almost gets an answer from Grace while hooked up to the tree, but she’s pulled out before we’re given any closure. It’s joked at one point that maybe she’s the spawn of Norm, but given her strong connection to Eywa, perhaps Kiri has no father. Perhaps her birth was divine intervention. Perhaps Kiri was brought into this world to provide a link between humans and Na’vi. Perhaps she’ll go from swimming in water to walking on water. Or maybe it was midi-chlorians.