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Avatars / Jake Sully / Dr. Grace Augustine / Norm Spellman

An Avatar (Na'vi name: unil-tìran-tokx translates "dream walk body") is a human mind transferred into a genetically engineered body of a human/Na'vi hybrid. Humans use this method because they cannot live on Pandora without breathing gear because the atmosphere is toxic, containing lethal levels of ammonia, methane and chlorine. Avatars mainly serve as means for communication with the aboriginal population. The RDA has been trying to bridge the cultural gap and improve relations with the Na'vi. However, this task has been difficult due to communication and negotiation issues. Avatars, therefore, serve important roles as mediators by relaying cultural information and demands to each party in a peaceful manner. The Na'vi refer to them as "Dream Walkers" or "Demons in a false body."

The Avatar Program scientists take DNA from a Na'vi and from a selected human volunteer. On Earth, in genetics labs, they create an in-vitro embryo, which is a genetic composite of the alien and human donor.

The recombinant embryo is grown in-vitro during the flight to Pandora, which takes 3 years (ship-time/ 5 years Earth time). In that time it reaches near adult size, since the locals mature fast.

When it is "born" (or more properly decanted) as a post-adolescent, it looks like a Na'vi, and can live comfortably on Pandora, but it has enough human neurophysiology to be used as an Avatar, or surrogate body. The human volunteer then becomes a Controller. Using Psionic Link technology, the human controller can remotely control the avatar body out in the wilds of Pandora. The controller receives all sensory input and provides all motor control to the body.

Essentially, the Controller lives through the Avatar, and is completely unaware of his own body while linked. Each Avatar is genetically keyed to its respective human controller. By communicating with the locals through Avatars, which appear less alien to them, the RDA has had some success teaching them English and basic skills.

The cost of each Avatar is roughly five billion dollars ($5,000,000,000).

Some known differences between the Avatars and Na'vi is that the Na'vi have four digits (three fingers and a thumb) on their hands and feet, whereas the Avatars, due to the influence of human DNA, have five. They also have eyebrows, which the Na'vi lack. Avatars display slightly more human-like body structures than the Na'vi. This is especially apparent when comparing the build of Jake Sully to that of the male Na'vi of the Omaticaya Clan; Jake's body structure is sturdier than those of the more willowy Na'vi. Additionally, the eyes of an Avatar are usually smaller and more human-like in contrast to the large, lemur-like eyes of the Na'vi. The nose of the Avatar is also different; it has a more pronounced central ridge, much like the human nose. The Na'vi nose, however, is much flatter and cat-like.

It is possible, using the unique biology of Pandora and assistance of the Na'vi, for a human to transfer his conscious mind permanently into an Avatar body. The method is first tried in an attempt to save the life of Avatar Program's lead scientist, Grace Augustine. However, the transfer fails due to her injuries. A second attempt is made on Jake Sully after he has led the Na'vi to victory against the RDA and driven them (with some exceptions) off Pandora. The movie concludes with his human body being exposed to the moon's atmosphere, and his Avatar body opening its eyes. This suggests that the transformation succeeds.

Jake Sully, (born August 24, 2126) , is a renegade Marine infantryman who defects to the Na'vi race. He is also one of the 20 known avatars and the sixth Toruk Makto.

Jake was part of the Avatar Program, in which humans remotely control Human/Na'vi hybrids to safely navigate the planet. He was originally assigned to gather intel that would help Colonel Quaritch discover a way to force the Na'vi to leave Hometree, or destroy it if necessary. The Na'vi occupation of Hometree was blocking the RDA's access to the very large deposit of Unobtanium, the entire reason for RDA's interest in Pandora, underneath the tree. After spending time with the Na'vi, Jake abandons his original mission and stops reporting to Quaritch. Jake learns the ways of the Na'vi hunters from Neytiri, and is eventually accepted into the Omaticaya clan. Soon after, he and Neytiri fall in love and mate before Eywa at the tree of voices. Seeing that the Na'vi will not leave, the RDA stages its attack on Hometree, for which Jake seeks revenge. When everything seems lost to the Na'vi, Jake is able to attain Tsahaylu with a Great Leonopteryx, becoming the sixth Toruk Makto. He plays a key role in the final battle, leading the Na'vi against the RDA offensive. The Na'vi then perform a ceremony in which they ask Eywa to place Jake's mind into his Avatar body permanently.


Dr. Grace Augustine is a xenobotanist in charge of the Avatar Program. She is a legend to the scientific personnel as the author of a comprehensive book of Pandora's plants. She helped Jake Sully on the Avatar program, until she died due to a gunshot wound inflicted by Quaritch.

Arriving on Pandora several years before Jake Sully, Dr Augustine was reluctant to accept him on her team due to his lack of training and qualifications for the program, but had no choice. When Sully was lost in the forest, she presumed his avatar dead but later found out that his avatar had been taken in by the Omaticaya Clan. Due to Jake's presence, in successive months relations with the clan improved and Augustine was allowed back into the village, until the Hometree was destroyed. Augustine, Sully, and Spellman escape Hell's Gate in an effort to help the Omaticaya, but not before Quaritch fatally wounds Grace with a well-placed shot. Jake brings her human form to Neytiri and Mo'at at the Tree of Souls, hoping they could transfer her consciousness into her avatar form, but she was rendered too weak by her wounds. Before she died at the foot of the Tree of Souls, she told Jake that she saw Eywa.


Norm Spellman is a main character in Avatar and a human anthropologist. Norm was born and raised on Earth and trained as a scientist. Before his first assignment on Pandora, he claimed to have studied the Na'vi language for 5 years, and had logged 520 hours of simulation time in preparation for bonding with his Avatar.

Norm, being a friend of the late Tom Sully, immediately introduced himself to Jake. Though they became close friends, he soon became somewhat envious of Jake, who after becoming lost in the forest was adopted by the Omaticaya clan of the Na'vi. Enjoying the contact this tutelage brought with the clan, Norm came to forgive him and acted as Jake's tutor (along with Dr. Grace and Neytiri) in the Na'vi culture. Norm watched the scene from the main link centre in Hell's Gate. When Selfridge ordered the cutting of Jake and Grace's psionic links he tried in vain to stop security from doing so, only to get himself, Jake and Grace imprisoned in the station brig, where they were rescued by Trudy Chacon and Max Patel. In the battle for Pandora, Norm fought alongside Jake and the Na'vi against the RDA. Whilst Jake led the air assault, Norm rode alongside the Na'vi cavalry. As the unarmored Na'vi were cut down by the RDA troops, his Avatar was shot in the chest and left shoulder. Back in his undamaged human body, suffering from shock but determined to help, he recovered enough to arm himself with a rifle and don an Exopack to rejoin the fray. When the RDA was driven from Pandora, he was one of the few humans allowed to stay. He chose to stay on Pandora after the movie's conclusion.

 

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