One of Avatar: The Way of Water‘s flashbacks ignores a key Omatikaya ritual, highlighting a crucial detail in Jake’s characterization. Serving as a natural continuation to the first Avatar‘s love story, Avatar: The Way of Water centers on how Jake embraces the Na’vi life and learns the responsibilities and anxieties that come with parenthood. Even before the action of Avatar 2 sets in, the movie emphasizes how, despite rising in ranks and becoming the Omatikaya clan leader, Jake remains grounded by finding joy in a family of his own. These underlying familial themes become all the more poignant when Jake loses Neteyam during his clash against Avatar 2‘s villain, Colonel Quaritch.
A scene that perfectly captures the essence of Jake’s emotional bond with his son, Neteyam, is presented as a flashback, wherein the father-son duo can be seen fishing. As Neteyam proudly catches a fish and flaunts it, it becomes evident that he wishes to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a warrior like him someday. Considering how this scene unfolds from the perspective of a grieving father, the flashback is already inherently meaningful. However, it has one important detail that seems to add even more narrative depth to its portrayal of Jake’s relationship with his family.
Avatar: Way Of Water Forgot The Omatikaya Hunting Ritual
In the first Avatar, Neytiri whispers a prayer over a dead viperwolf after killing it to save Jake. Her little ritual establishes that after killing a creature, the Omatikaya always express gratitude and humility by committing the creature’s spirit to Eywa. Since Jake does not follow this hunting ritual in Avatar: The Way of Water‘s flashback after his son kills a fish, it seems like the James Cameron sequel either forgot about the spiritual practice or intentionally removed it to reveal a subtle element of Jake’s personality within the context of the Omatikaya.
READ: Dream Job (2021) – Nollywood Movie
Was The Omission A Deliberate Hint That Jake Is Still Too Human?
The omission of the ritual likely hints that a part of Jake Sully is still human, even though he has become well-accustomed to the ways of Avatar‘s Omatikaya clan. Since Jake has spent more than half his life as a human, it would not make sense for him to shed all of his ingrained human habits and beliefs so readily. His human experiences, especially the ones in the Marine corps, also paved the way for him to become a Na’vi. Hence, it is likely that he willingly holds onto some of the human elements of his personality and perhaps wishes to take his time to adopt Omatikaya rituals.
The exclusion of the ritual could also be Avatar: The Way of Water‘s way of affirming that Quaritch’s evil actions do not represent the entire human race. After experiencing both worlds, Jake understands this better than anyone else. He respects his human origins and wants his children to inherit a lot more than his human Avatar’s five fingers. Owing to this, he teaches Omatikaya rituals and virtues to his kids in Avatar: The Way of Water, but he also allows them to embrace the human side of their heritage by giving them the freedom to follow the beliefs and customs they naturally feel drawn to.