Jake Sully

As a Marine, Jake was deployed to Venezuela to extract resources during the Resource Wars where he was paralyzed. At the age of 22, Jake left Earth to take over his murdered twin brother's RDA contract to be an avatar driver on the exomoon Pandora. He was assigned by RDA leaders Miles Quaritch and Parker Selfridge to infiltrate the Omatikaya clan of the Na'vi and, over the course of three months, convince them to leave their home. Instead, Jake mated with Neytiri and defected from the RDA after they toppled the clan's home and killed Na'vi in the process. Jake refused to accept the RDA's plans for Pandora, and he led a revolt against the RDA to protect the Na'vi from subjugation, expelling the company from the exomoon. Jake was given the leadership role from the current dying clan leader. Using the Tree of Souls, Jake's consciousness was permanently transferred into his avatar.

Years later, Jake and Neytiri are parents to three biological children (Neteyam, Lo'ak, and Tuktirey) and their adopted daughter Kiri. Upon the RDA's return and the onset of the Second Pandoran War, Jake became a major war leader of The Resistance. With the appearance of Recombinant soldiers, Jake renounces his leadership, leaving operations to Alma Cortez. Jake and his family fled from their hidden home to take safe refuge with a reef clan, learning their ways. After several months, the Recombinants and Quaritch's clone found Jake's family, and a skirmish killed Jake's eldest son Neteyam.

Later on, Jake encounters two new Na'vi clans and becomes involved in a conflict with Varang, the leader of the Mangkwan clan.

Jake was born on August 24, 2126 and raised on Earth. He grew up hearing about Pandora, a small moon orbiting the gas giant Polyphemus in the Alpha Centauri System and lived his childhood with his twin brother, Tommy. While Tommy was into studying, Jake was the more outgoing sibling. The brothers both enjoyed learning about myths and legends about heroes, with Jake being interested in Alexander the Great.

He joined the United States Marines Corps as a young adult for the hardship involved and a cause to fight for.[6] He was promoted to the rank of Corporal and became a Recon Marine assigned to the Marine Corps First Reconnaissance Battalion. During a deployment, he suffered a spinal injury in an unnamed "mean bush" war in Venezuela, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. While recovering in the VA hospital, he would often have strange recurring dreams of flying over a jungle, feeling free.

In the year 2148, Jake lived in a dilapidated cell-like single room apartment located in a polluted overpopulated city; remarking that simply buying a basic cup of coffee has become ridiculously expensive. Though corrective spinal technology existed to repair Jake's back injury, his VA benefits were not enough to pay for the surgery, resulting in him being relegated to using a wheelchair.

After a night of drinking, Jake started a bar fight with a man who struck a woman. The bouncers throw him out into their rainy alleyway and chuck his wheelchair at him. In response, Jake called them candy-ass bitches. While staring up at the sky filled with the holograms and watching an elevated mag-lev train pass by, he is approached by two RDA agents who confirm his identity. Although he told them to go away, they informed him that his identical twin brother, Tom, had been killed in a mugging, garnering Jake's interest.

At the municipal crematorium, Jake identifies his brother's body and laments how his brother died due to someone wanting paper in his wallet. The agents explain that Tom represented a sizable investment for their company, and with Jake's genome being identical to his, they offered Jake the opportunity to take over Tom's contract with a fresh start in a new world. With nothing left to lose, and not much else to live on Earth for, Jake agrees to take over his brother's contract.

In 2154, after five years, nine months, and twenty-two days of travel, Jake awakens from cryosleep aboard the ISV Venture Star as it orbited above Pandora. Along with the other new arrivals, Jake disembarked from a Valkyrie shuttle at Hell's Gate, where he had his first contact with Pandora's hostile climate. Upon landing, Jake and the other passengers are ordered to don their exopack masks, alerting them of Pandora's toxic and deadly atmosphere.

Being the last to enter the RDA facility, Jake listens to Colonel Miles Quaritch (the Chief of Security Operations) give all new arrivals a security briefing explaining the dangers of Pandora; stressing the biggest threat to their survival is every living creature outside of the perimeter fence, focusing on the indigenous population of humanoids called the Na'vi.

Jake met Norm Spellman, a xenoanthropologist (that arrived on the same rotation as Jake) who had trained alongside his brother for three years. Jake was later introduced by Dr. Max Patel to Dr. Grace Augustine, a legendary pioneering xenobotanist as well as the head of the Avatar Program. However, Grace was displeased with RDA administrator Parker Selfridge's decision to use Jake to replace his brother's avatar driver position, as not only was Jake not an able researcher that Grace needed, but she believed that Jake being a former Marine would be a "trigger-happy moron" who would compromise the cultural ambassador efforts of the Avatar Program to reconnect with the Na'vi. Quaritch, however, saw this as a valuable opportunity and decided to take advantage of Jake's military training, giving him the task of finding out all he can about the Na'vi, pretending to be in league with the avatar team, and reporting his findings to the RDA. In return, Quaritch told Jake that if he succeeds, he will see to it that Jake gets the surgery needed to regain the use of his legs.

Returning to the link room with Norm, Jake was prepped by Grace and Max to link with his avatar for the first time. When Jake first entered his avatar, he began to move about, trying to get a feel for his avatar. Realizing that he finally had the use of his legs for the first time in years, he immediately got up and starts trying to walk, much to the dismay and annoyance of the lab team. He was told to sit back down or he would be sedated, but he refused and headed for the exit. After escaping the ambient room, he ran through the Avatar Compound across the basketball court, past the obstacle course, and through the garden. He finally stopped in the garden near the longhouse, digging his toes into the soil and breathing in fresh air, enjoying the feeling of his legs and feet along with the freedom of not being paralyzed. Mere seconds later, he met Grace in her avatar form.

Grace took Norm and Jake (as security escort) on an expedition to retrieve samples of Pandoran flora. Trudy Chacón is their assigned Samson pilot for the expedition along with Lyle Wainfleet serving as additional non-avatar security (Jake and Lyle being door gunners during the flight). Jake, Grace, and Norm visited Grace's closed school. Upon seeing bullet holes in a wall, Jake asked Grace what happened, but she changed the subject and the three continued on with the expedition. While Grace and Norm study the signal transduction of tree roots, Jake wanders away, and while playing around with some nearby helicoradians, stumbles across a group of hammerhead titanotheres. One of the hammerhead titanotheres threatens to charge at Jake, but is repelled by an approaching thanator, the apex terrestrial predator of the region. The creature starts chasing Jake who runs for his life, having his backpack snatched from his back and losing his weapon in the process. He narrowly escapes death from the thanator by leaping from the top of a cliff into a river below. After failing to locate Jake, the avatar team is forced to abandon the search for him as night operations were deemed too dangerous by Quaritch.

As Jake travels through the forest of Pandora alone, a Na'vi named Neytiri discovers his presence and prepares to kill him with her bow. However, a woodsprite, a pure spirit from the Tree of Souls, lands on the tip of her arrow. Taking this as a sign from Eywa, the godlike spirit of the forest and deity of the Na'vi, she lets Jake live and continues to follow him until darkness falls. Jake creates a torch using a makeshift spear, his coat, and sap from the trees. When he lights his torch, he discovers he is surrounded by a pack of viperwolves. Jake fights until he is pinned, at which point Neytiri saves him, having to kill several viperwolves in Jake's defense.

Jake pursues Neytiri and tries to thank her for killing the viperwolves, which angers Neytiri. She tells him that the unnecessary killing of the creatures is not something to be grateful for. Jake asks Neytiri why she saved him. She replies that Jake has a strong heart and no fear. Jake follows her but she rejects him and was told to go back since he shouldn't be here at first, as he is one of the Sky People (the Na'vi term for humans) and cannot go with her. Suddenly, dozens of woodsprites appear and land on Jake's body. Neytiri, amazed, recognizes the woodsprites' actions as a sign and decides to take Jake to her village to allow Mo'at, the Omatikaya clan's Tsahìk (spiritual leader), to interpret the will of Eywa and decide what should be done with Jake.

When Jake and Neytiri arrive at Hometree, the massive tree that the Omatikaya clan lives in, Jake meets with Eytukan and Mo'at, the leaders of the clan and parents of Neytiri. Jake also meets with the finest warrior and leader of the Omatikaya clan's hunters, Tsu'tey, who is betrothed to Neytiri and chosen to one day become the future clan leader. Jake presents himself as a warrior with the intention to learn from them. Tsu'tey insists on killing Jake but Eytukan wishes to find out more about the warriors of the Sky People. Mo'at, as the spiritual leader, orders Neytiri to teach Jake how to be one of The People. Reluctantly, Neytiri submits to her mother's command and teaches Jake about the Na'vi culture and language.

Back at Hell's Gate, Jake reports to Selfridge and Quaritch on information about the natives. Impressed, Quaritch claims that he wished that he "had ten more like you (Jake)". Grace becomes aware of their interest in Jake's information and arranges for the avatar team to be transferred to a remote camp in the floating Hallelujah Mountains in order to continue their program without military involvement. Jake knows that Grace disapproves of Quaritch and Selfridge's interference and that is why she moved the team. Jake continues to check in remotely with Quaritch over the next three months, though check ins become less and less frequent.

It is during this time that Jake receives instruction. He is taught the Na'vi language by Norm and Neytiri, taught how to walk and hunt silently. Jake's relationship with Grace also improves and the two become friends. Jake and Neytiri's relationship grows and an attraction develops. Following a successful hunt in which Jake makes his first clean kill after stalking a hexapede and performing a ritual, Neytiri, greatly impressed, tells Jake that he is ready to choose his own banshee (ikran).

At the end of the three months, Jake reports back to Quaritch as ordered. The Colonel informs Jake that his assignment is over and he is to be transferred immediately back to Earth to receive his promised surgery to restore the use of his legs. However, Jake is now more concerned with the welfare of the Omatikaya and especially the welfare of Neytiri, whom he has fallen in love with, than his desire to walk again. He is now reluctant and wary of his fellow humans trying to exploit the moon's resources. He convinces Quaritch to give him more time in order to convince the clan to relocate peacefully. He tells the Colonel that once he completes that night's ceremony, he will be made part of The People (an honor never granted to an avatar before) and that they will trust him. That night, Jake undergoes the ceremony where Eytukan makes him one of their own and forever a part of The People, with Grace and Neytiri proudly looking on.

Neytiri takes Jake to one of the clan's most sacred places, the Tree of Voices, a holy place where he can connect to the trees and hear the voices of all the spirits of deceased Na'vi. Neytiri tells Jake that now that he is one of the Omatikaya people, he can carve his bow from the wood of Hometree and he can choose a mate, and suggests a few different Na'vi women. Jake tells her that he has chosen her but Neytiri must also choose him. She informs him that she already has and becomes his mate. Once they are mated to each other, they are mated for life. After Jake returns to his human body, he realizes the predicament he put himself in.

After spending the night with Jake, Neytiri is awakened by a huge bulldozer. She watches it destroy the Trees of Voices. Neytiri tries to wake Jake, but he is in his human body preparing to enter his avatar. Neytiri drags his avatar body while pleading with him to wake up. When Jake finally awakens, he tries to stop the bulldozer by standing in front of it. It stops momentarily but starts up again when Parker orders the driver to keep going. When it starts again, Jake grabs a rock, climbs to the top of the bulldozer and smashes the array of cameras, disabling the vehicle and narrowly avoiding the gunfire from the patrols. When the Tree of Voices was completely destroyed by the RDA, Jake lead her to safety as she was sobbing openly for the destruction that the RDA had caused, he eventually punched a tree in return.

Jake and Neytiri return to Hometree, where Eytukan and Tsu'tey are preparing a war party to avenge the loss of the sacred trees. Jake is confronted by Tsu'tey when he realizes that Jake and Neytiri have mated. Tsu'tey attacks Jake in a fit of rage, attempting to kill him. Jake is able to subdue him and is about to explain his original mission to the Omatikaya, but before he can, Jake and Grace's avatars collapse when they are suddenly sent back to their human bodies by Quaritch, who learned from the Hell Truck's video log that it was Jake who destroyed the cameras. Tsu'tey angrily reminds the clan that Jake is one of the Sky People, but Neytiri stops him from killing Jake's avatar.

When they are brought back to Hell's Gate, Grace tells an unbelieving Parker that the trees and plant life make up a huge network like the synapses of a human brain, and that the Na'vi can access all the information within this network, and so the trees must not be destroyed. After some extensive persuasion, Jake and Grace are allowed by Parker to return to their avatars for one hour to try and get the Na'vi to evacuate. Jake and Grace beg the clan to leave because the Sky People was coming to destroy Hometree, but when Jake reveals his mission which he was sent by the RDA to learning the ways of the Na'vi, and that he knew that the RDA would attack if they don't leave their home, the clan became outraged by this. Neytiri, heartbroken at Jake's revelation, loses faith in Jake, denounced his betrayal and furiously rejects him by saying that he will never be part of the people both in the Na'vi language and in English. Eytukan orders them to be bound and prepares the Omatikaya warriors for the defense of the Hometree.

A large strike force led by Quaritch drives the Na'vi from their home with gas and incendiary rounds, consuming Hometree in flames. A desperate Mo'at releases Jake and Grace from their bindings and pleads with them to save her clan. As the Na'vi begin to flee, Quaritch orders his strike team to switch to high-explosive missiles and to open fire on the roots of Hometree, causing it to collapse onto many of the fleeing Na'vi. Eytukan, who was evacuating the Na'vi that were still inside the burning Hometree, is impaled by a piece of wood sent flying by the rocket explosions. Neytiri finds him, and Eytukan gives her his bow, telling her to defend the clan before succumbing to his wound. Jake finds them and tried to comfort a devastated Neytiri, but she angrily rejects him again by demanding him to go away. She pushed him back, yelled at him to never return before continued weeping and she leaves with the surviving Omatikaya.

While leaving the ruins of Hometree, Jake and Grace are forcefully returned to their real bodies and placed under arrest for treason along with Norm, who assaulted one of the marines who was trying to disable the Link Units. Trudy and Dr. Max Patel rescue the avatar team from prison. Before they get outside, Jake asks Dr. Patel to stay behind and be his man on the inside. Trudy hijacks her Samson and flies them to safety, but not before being fired upon by Quaritch. He fails in stopping the avatar team from escaping, but shoots Grace in the stomach. The team flies the camp container holding the avatar link units from Site 26 into hiding near the Tree of Souls, where the remaining Omatikaya have fled to safety.

Jake returns to his avatar form at the ruins of Hometree. His banshee finds him amidst the ashes and Jake decides that the only way to regain the trust of the Na'vi and save Grace is to "take it to a whole new level". They fly at high altitude until they find the great leonopteryx, at which point Jake leaps from his ikran onto the back of the leonopteryx and bonds with it, becoming the sixth Toruk Makto. After bonding with the creature, he persuades it to form a temporary partnership with him to save Pandora. They confront an RDA soldier in a Scorpion Gunship before heading out to find the Omatikaya clan.[7] To the initial panic and astonishment of the Na'vi, he lands at the Tree of Souls, where the amazed Omatikaya people, including Tsu'tey, recognize him as Toruk Makto. When Neytiri sees him, she knows who Jake has sided with, and is grateful to see him return. Jake reaffirms his love for her and says "I see you", a Na'vi greeting.

After earning the respect of Tsu'tey, now the clan leader, who agrees to help him stop the Sky People, Jake then makes a plea to Mo’at to save Grace from dying. The Na'vi attempt to place Grace's spirit within her avatar body permanently, but her wounds are too great and she passes on. Before she passes, she tells Jake that she can see Eywa and that she is with her now. Having earned back the clan's trust, Jake asks for Tsu'tey's permission to speak and that it would honor him if he could translate his words into Na'vi. Jake encourages them to fight back against the Sky People.

Jake rallies the Omatikaya clan, and they ride with him as he flies out to gather all the clans for a final attack, just as the previous Toruk Makto did. Jake later makes tsaheylu with the Tree of Souls and asks Eywa to look into Grace's memories and see how humans destroyed Earth, and to intervene to keep them from destroying Pandora as well. Neytiri overhears him and tells him that Eywa does not take sides, she only maintains the balance of life on Pandora.

Surveying the Na'vi with satellites, Quaritch learns that other clans have converged with the Omatikaya at the Tree of Souls and decides to destroy them and their holy ground to put an end to their defiance once and for all. A huge military fleet commandeered by Quaritch approaches the Tree of Souls, using the Valkyrie shuttle as a makeshift bomber and mining explosives as "daisy cutter" munitions to destroy the tree. Thousands of Na'vi warriors led by Jake and Tsu'tey take to the skies and attack the fleet, while Norm rides with the cavalry on the ground. The Na'vi forces on the ground are easily defeated by human infantry and their powerful AMP suits and suffer heavy losses. In the skies, a massive air battle ensues between the human air fleet and Na'vi hunters riding banshees. The Na'vi inflict some casualties on the humans with their initial strike, managing to take down several human gunships. However, the humans' superior firepower sees them inflict heavier casualties on the Na'vi, and they look to resume their bombing run.

Quaritch, flying in his Dragon Gunship, notices Jake's toruk and gives chase. Before Quaritch manages to shoot him down, Trudy dives in with her Samson and strafes the Dragon. Quaritch turns his attention to her, which allows Jake to escape. Trudy fights back, but her Samson is no match for Quaritch's gunship, and she is shot down and killed. Tsu'tey boards the Valkyrie in the hope of preventing it from dropping its payload, but ends up being shot.

Stumbling upon the camp containing the avatar link units by chance, Quaritch attempts to destroy Jake's human body, but before he can do so, Neytiri and her thanator attack him, successfully destroying the GAU-90 cannon for Quaritch's AMP suit. However, Quaritch overpowers and kills the thanator with his AMP suit knife. As he prepares to kill Neytiri, pinned under the thanator's body, Jake arrives to challenge him. The two fight fiercely in close quarters. Jake uses the rifle bayonet for the GAU-90 to fend off the blows of Quaritch's AMP suit. Jake manages to break the AMP suit knife and destroys the AMP's glass canopy, but Quaritch puts on an exopack. The Colonel taunts Jake, asking him how it feels to betray his own race, before turning and attacking the avatar link unit with the suit. Jake manages to fend off Quaritch before he can fully break open the camp, but a window is broken, which allows Pandoran air into the link units. His human body struggling, Jake is easy prey for Quaritch, who is preparing to slit Jake's throat with his own knife when Neytiri kills Quaritch with two shots from her father's bow, saving her mate from death.

She then tries to wake Jake's avatar, to no avail, while Jake struggles inside the link unit to grab an emergency rebreather. Finally remembering that he is a human, she rushes into the link unit and places an exopack on Jake's now-unconscious human body, saving him again. As Jake wakes up, he says "I See you" to Neytiri and gently strokes her cheek. Neytiri repeats it back to him; the greeting now takes on new meaning as she is seeing and talking to Jake's human body for the first time.

After reconnecting to his avatar, Jake and Neytiri are brought to Tsu'tey, mortally wounded, by a group of surviving Na'vi warriors. Tsu'tey passes leadership of the Omatikaya clan to Jake and requests that he end his suffering. Jake is reluctant, but is assured by Tsu'tey that he will be remembered, as Toruk Makto will be his last shadow, and honors Jake by calling him a brother. Jake remorsefully euthanizes Tsu'tey and recites a prayer for him.

Having put an end to the RDA's occupation of Pandora, Jake makes his last log entry on August 24, 2154, explaining that the humans were sent back to Earth by the Na'vi, except for a few (the scientists of the avatar program), and that he has decided to stay in his avatar form permanently. Returning to the Tree of Souls, he undergoes the consciousness transfer from his human body to his avatar body, and awakens to a new life as a Na'vi, marking August 24 as his "birthday", the day where he truly becomes a Na'vi, a part of The People.

After years of peace, Jake has settled down with Neytiri and raised a family with three biological children, Neteyam, Lo'ak and Tuktirey and an adoptive daughter Kiri born to Grace's avatar. A human boy named Miles Socorro, always called by his nickname Spider, preferred to spend much of his time with the Sully children. Jake describes him like a stray cat who follows the family around. While Jake seemed to accept him, Neytiri, however, believed he should be among his own kind, because he is also the son of Colonel Quaritch.

Jake mentions that not a single day has passed without him in grief over the losses and the deaths that happened during the battle over Hometree and the Tree of Souls, and he feels that those tragic times almost feel as if they happened to someone completely different. Jake also now sports much thicker dreadlocks, making his hairstyle resemble Neytiri's more. Jake has always feared that the RDA will return to Pandora because of Earth's dying resources, viewing their temporary absence as only a matter of time. Almost a decade later since the humans were forced to leave Pandora, they have begun to return with an armada of heavily armed starships.

After the two put their kids to sleep, Jake and Neytiri go on a night date, riding their ikrans across the floating mountains. As they rest on the ground, Jake looks up and sees a massive light in the sky, making him along with Neytiri realize that the RDA is back much to their horror.

Jake leads a guerrilla operation against a Mag-Lev transporting resources to the new Bridgehead base, destroying the railway. Jake had assigned his sons as lookouts. Lo'ak, however, wanted to engage in direct combat, disobeying orders with Neteyam who tried to stop him. A kestrel gunship appeared and began attacking them, with Neteyam missing and Jake initially fearing that his son was dead, but eventually found him slightly injured. Jake helps Neteyam out of the battlefield, and after returning to the High Camp, he berates his sons for both disobeying his orders and endangering their safety. He then punishes Lo'ak for a month without flying.

That night, while tending to his own wounds, Neytiri calmly reminds Jake to be not too hard on his sons, to which Jake expresses his fear of losing them and his need to be strict on them. Meanwhile, the attack on the RDA supply lines does not sit well with Ardmore, and she sends a squad called Recombinants, led by Miles Quaritch (reborn as Recom with the memories of the Colonel himself) on a search-to-kill mission. at Jake for his interference, betrayal and for terrorism.

A few days later, Jake was called by Lo'ak about suspicious armed blue people at the abandoned Site 26. Jake orders Lo'ak, his sisters and Spider to leave quickly and quietly. Jake, Neytiri and Neteyam fly on their ikrans to rescue the children. After a brief fight, the Sully family manages to escape, but Spider is kidnapped. Aware of Quaritch’s return to life and the danger Spider's knowledge poses to their safety, and also to avoid further persecution of the Omatikaya clan, Jake tries to convince Neytiri to banish themselves and retreat to the Metkayina clan's waterworld.

This results in an argument with Neytiri who refuses to leave her clan, saying that the forest is all the children know, and she herself cannot leave her people since her father entrusted her with protecting the clan. Jake explains that the children are in mortal danger, especially since Spider was captured by Quaritch and may end up giving their location away, as well as the latter being in the area and already had their children literally under the edge of his knife. Jake convinces her leaving the clan will keep their immediate family safer, feeling their children's safety should be prioritized over the war. Although devastated, Neytiri finally accepts the idea. Jake gives up his position as Olo'eyktan and hands leadership of the clan over to his trusted ally Tarsem, a young but wise Na'vi.

After migrating across the sea to the reef clan, Jake asks uturu from the clan leader, Tonowari. However, his mate Ronal is incredibly skeptical, even criticizing his cowardice, causing Neytiri to defend Jake as the one who helped resist the Sky People. Jake's request ends up being accepted, though Tonowari insists they learn sea life and pull their own weight. He assigns his children Aonung and Tsireya to train the Sully children. The family gets their own marui and Jake calls everyone in for a family chat. He asks the children to be respectful, not to cause trouble, and to diligently learn the customs. Tuktirey breaks down in tears and says she wants to go home, to which Jake says this is their home now.

During the tutoring, Tonowari teaches Jake how to ride a skimwing, a mount resembling a large flying-fish that can dive underwater or flit just above the surface. Tonowari offered Jake to ride an ilu, fearing he wouldn't be able to cope with such a difficult animal to tame, but Jake insisted on the skimwing. When he first rides the creature, he fails on the first try, but manages to finally ride one.

When they discover the corpse of Ro'a, Ronal's spiritual sister, murdered by tulkun hunters, Jake discovers a tracking device embedded in her body. Jake immediately realizes that Quaritch has tracked down his hideout and is looking for him in the archipelago, and that the device must lead the Colonel to him. Tonowari convenes a council of war in which he urges revenge on the Sky People, to which the clansmen react approvingly. Jake tries to talk them out of this idea by convincing them not to attack humans. He shows them the red device, explains how it works, and asks them to persuade their tulkuns to run as far away from the village as possible instead of attacking them, and to call him if they find any tulkuns with tracking tags, as it is a death sentence and the Metkayina accept his suggestion.

Jake soon hears from Lo'ak's communicator that the children are in danger out in the ocean, prompting the entire clan to take offenses against the RDA. Jake, Neytiri and the Metkayina clan arrive at the Three Brothers on their skimwings to confront the RDA fleet, seeing the kids cuffed to the deck railing. Before the battle, Quaritch contacts Jake by radio and gives him an ultimatum to surrender or risk having his children killed. Ronal admonishes Jake for being the reason that the battle has reached the Metkayina. Realizing that the battle was always between himself and Quaritch, Jake decides to surrender to avoid further bloodshed on Pandora. However, seeing his friend Lo'ak imperiled, Payakan slams onto the ship, giving the clan a chance to attack. Jake manages to destroy two of the boats, exploding one and causing the other to violently run aground.

After much of the fighting, the SeaDragon is left to crash and sink. Neteyam loses his life after being shot. Grief-stricken, Jake decides to face Quaritch once and for all, when the latter radios to reveal that he has recaptured Tuk and Kiri. Jake and Neytiri stealthily climb to the top deck of the SeaDragon with Spider.

Jake uses a grenade to detonate the crashed Seawasp, killing many of the remaining RDA troops and evacuees. In the chaos, Jake and Neytiri attack the survivors on the top deck, killing Recoms Prager and Zdinarsik before working their way down to the moon pool where Tuk and Kiri are held.

Wainfleet commands Recom Mansk and the remaining soldiers on the lower deck, but Jake beats both Recombinants unconscious and knocks Wainfleet into the sea. Jake cuts off Kiri and Tuk's cuffs before engaging Quaritch in a fistfight that ends with the Recom snatching Kiri at knifepoint. However, Neytiri intercedes, similarly holding Spider at knifepoint. At first, Quaritch claims his son is inconsequential, but he ultimately releases Kiri when Neytiri cuts Spider's chest. Quaritch and Jake resume fighting, and Jake gets the upper hand. Jake strangles Quaritch into unconsciousness and is almost drowned himself. However, he is rescued by Lo'ak who teaches him the way of water, and the two are helped by Payakan. The family embraces in the ocean and Jake tells Lo'ak he sees him.

In the aftermath, Jake and his family sorrowfully conduct Neteyam's funeral according to Metkayina customs and lay his body to rest in the Cove of the Ancestors where it is absorbed by the Spirit Tree. Jake then proceeds to inform Tonowari and Ronal of his decision to leave the reef and move far away. Tonowari, however, respectfully identifies him as part of the Metkayina clan and welcomes his family to stay. Humbled, Jake vows that he and his family will defend Awa'atlu, their new home.

Jake retrieving guns upsets Tonowari and Ronal who comment he is not following the Na'vi Way. They implore him to give up his guns, but he refuses. While Neytiri and Jake are in their marui, Jake and Neytiri have a tense conversation in which Jake loses faith in Eywa. Neytiri tells him her faith is all she has left, but Jake reminds her she has her family.

When the Tlalim clan arrives at Awa'atlu, there is an agreement between Peylak and Jake for the convoy to only transport Spider. Jake's presence, however, causes a political disturbance, as his history of being Toruk Makto makes it seem like the Windtraders are picking a side in the war. Jake attempts to mitigate the situation by offering to be an outrider to protect the convoy on their travels. Peylak gives in and the clan departs.

On the way, the trading ships convoy are ambushed by a new, aggressive Na'vi clan, the Mangkwan clan, also called the Ash People, led by Varang. They set fire to the ships causing them to crash to the ground. The ash people loot the ship and sadistically kill all of the survivors. Jake, Neytiri and the children are separated. Jake is held hostage by Quaritch and Wainfleet, and they venture to find Spider. Jake and Quaritch witness Varang's clan threaten the children. Kiri winds up saving the group, and Jake tries to convince Quaritch to understand Pandora's beauty and life, and to motivate the RDA to change its ways. Eventually, Jake is found by his allies from High Camp, while Quaritch sneaks off.

Jake returns to Awa'atlu. However, the Mangkwan clan and Quaritch also arrive. Jake surrenders himself to avoid war and is arrested by the RDA. He is taken to Bridgehead to face execution, and placed in a large class cage in front of humans who take videos and images of him, having branded him a traitor to the human race. Quaritch enters the cage to talk to Jake and tells him that Varang wants Jake's heart, but Jake will be executed via a firing squad instead.