Atwow side of TikTok is VERY different from here. For example, they heavily loathe Spider. You cannot say a single good thing about him or defend him on there or you'll be torn to pieces in the comments by people who enjoy bullying a child, regardless of said child being fictional or not.
To those "fans" in particular: Do you honestly think what he did was bad? Sparing an unforgivable man's life? Plenty of heroes do that in media, and those are usually ADULTS.
You have to remember: Spider is not from Earth. He was born and raised on Pandora. He only knows balance, peace, and serenity. He's never once ever dealt with Reddit and the 10 Best Satisfying Revenge Stories that we have here on Earth. All he knows is Eywa and the balance of life.
From what I understand, Spider saw that Neteyam was dead and as a teenager, probably wanted this terrible night to be over. No more death. He saw Quaritch, still alive, and remembered this man protected him and saved him from literal TORTURE.
And besides that, Eywa is a protector of balance. I theorize that with Neteyam already dead, Quaritch needed to live to regain that balance. Eywa is not done yet with Quaritch, and I'm intrigued to see what she has in store for him. To be clear, I'm not defending Quaritch. I don't like Quaritch. He's unforgivable in my eyes.
But Spider? Fuck yes, I'm defending him because he is still a CHILD.
If I, someone born on Earth, were in Spider's place, I would've done A LOT worse, and it would've been intentional if I had been put through the same amount of pain and trauma he was put through. I would've been the quote below:
“A child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth” - African Proverb
Spider is nothing like that. If he were born on Earth, maybe he would've been, but he was born on Pandora. He loves his friends, the Na'vi, and was very clearly distressed whenever the Na'vi, his friends, and their homes were under threat. He begged and pleaded for the Recoms to spare the Ta'unui Clan and their village once they started to kill their ilu and set fire to their homes.
If he were anything like the proverb, I wouldn't blame him for going after all the adults who wronged him. Clan leaders, Na'vi, humans, Hell, especially his foster family. Every single one of those adults failed him, and here's a link to another post that highlights that. So yeah, if he wanted to go after them, I'd probably cheer him on.
I can't fathom hating Spider and defending Neytiri all in the same breath. You're allowed to defend both because both characters went through traumatic stuff (it's not a competition), and both characters had their reasons when it came to their choices.
Another note: I better not hear that these same "fans" decided to go after Jack Champion for his portrayal of Spider or I will lose my fucking mind. It's ACTING.
Tree of Souls painting by me, from a few months ago!
Me? A Proud Spider Apologist???
You think me stupid??? Foolish???
SPIDER HAS NOTHING TO APOLOGIZE FOR???
Why would I need to apologize for Spider when my son has done nothing wrong????
Spider will be, at least ever so slightly compared to other humans, respected. he protected the clan. the Na'vi.
Apologies for accidentally deleting your ask, anon! I’ve been mass-deleting a bunch of weird spam from bot accounts, and unfortunately, your message got caught in the crossfire. Whoever you are, here’s my answer:
Are you interested in a Solo Leveling and Avatar crossover? ;)
Short answer: YES!!!!!! I’m very interested in an Avatar/Solo Leveling crossover AU where Spider discovers a mysterious program that lets him level up and kick ass. That said, he wouldn’t be a carbon copy of Sung Jin-Woo (because that man is the GOAT), but Spider would still be a total badass in his own right. With his natural stamina, agility, and strength from years of running with Na'vi, he’d become seriously overpowered with every level-up. Maybe Eywa has her own version of dungeons that let him boost his stats, and over time, the kid bulks up and hits a growth spurt. Eventually, he wouldn’t need his breathing mask because his body would evolve and adapt to Pandora’s environment with each level gained.
-) Training in secret while balancing his everyday life.
-) “Dungeons” manifested by Eywa, such as corrupted forest areas, rogue wildlife, or sites that need purifying.
-) His power increases, and Spider encounters more RDA soldiers and begins sabotaging their operations using what he learns to ruin their plans using stealth, even going so far as to kill them. His first kill leaves him with nightmares and crippling guilt because this isn't what he wanted, but it's too late to turn back time. He has to protect his home.
-) Internal struggle over his identity, which involves Spider sometimes feeling a little detached from his humanity. Spider is still mostly the same (mostly), but he's colder and more serious to the point that his friends start to notice and jokingly compare him to a boring adult. Spider chuckles at that, but his smile doesn't quite reach his eyes, and his laughter is forced. He feels like he's pretending to be himself, and it's driving him crazy. Kiri, Lo'ak, Tuk, and even Neteyam are all just kids, while he feels...less and less like his age.
-) A dangerous dungeon triggers a major power boost but also reveals part of Eywa’s plan, hinting that she is preparing Spider for a larger threat and that Kiri is the key to ending it. He'll need to grow even stronger to protect her.
-) I don't see Quaritch surviving for too long in this au. The scene in Way of Water where the kids are being threatened by Quaritch and the Recoms will probably end with Spider allowing them to kidnap him so that he can be taken inside their base and just straight up slaughter everyone before they can interrogate him. Afterwards, Spider sifts through the gore and blood to steal all the information before setting everything on fire and cutting off his father's head to dump it on Jake Sully's doorstep with a note that says, "My debt has been paid in full. Best of luck to you, Mr. Sully. Goodbye." Dark? Yes. Traumatizing? Yes. But Spider has changed from that kind boy who would never harm a fly. Maybe he'll raise his father's spirit and the spirits of the recoms to serve him. Either way, he did his part and he travels Pandora to grow even stronger while occasionally popping up to help the Sullys out of some more craziness before fucking off again to do his own thing.
Okay, this has gotten long and out of hand, but you get my drift! Does this plot make sense? Absolutely not! Still, I've been a mega fan of Solo-Level since it first came out, and the anime SLAPS. Spider would have his reasons for obsessively leveling up, and it starts off with him wanting to protect his home and friends...and then his desires slowly start to shift outside of just acting like an attack dog.
Anyway, hope this answers your question, anon!
I need Spider to make friends outside of the Sullys. It feels like we only ever see one side of him because he's always around Neytiri's children and can never truly be himself without raising suspicions or anger. Making new friends beyond the Sully inner circle would give him the freedom to be unapologetically himself, and Kiri would start to notice just how bright and mischievous he really is. Spider is still a teenager, and I want him to act more like one: childish, bratty, sullen, and explorative, the way all teenagers are supposed to be.
Recently I went on a kick of rewatching old sci-fi movies, including the James Cameron ones of course, and I noticed an interesting little pattern in JC's storytelling:
In Terminator 2 we have our protagonist Sarah Connor. In the first movie she was almost killed by the first terminator, so in the second movie, when she meets the new terminator, she's understandably distrustful of it even though her son, John, trusts it. However, the new terminator proves itself to be loyal to John, so she realizes she doesn't have to be distrustful and even comes to rely on it in the end.
Then in Alien 2 we have Ellen Ripley. In the first movie, Ripley was almost killed because of the android Rook, so in the second movie, when she meets a new android, Bishop, she's understandably distrustful of him even though the other human characters trust him. Just like the new terminator, Bishop proves himself to be loyal, and Ripley realizes she can trust him and they become friends by the end (and stay friends for the rest of their lives because I like to pretend Alien 3 didn't happen 😭)
Now we have the Avatar sequels and Neytiri. In the first Avatar, Neytiri was almost killed by Quaritch, so in the second movie, when she's around his son, she's extremely distrustful even though her family members trust Spider... hmm I wonder how James Cameron is going to resolve that conflict? 🤔
Obviously, Neytiri/Spider's relationship is more complicated and ugly than Ripley/Bishop and Sarah Connor/the second Terminator, but the story beats are still lining up the same. We don't know the conclusion to Neytiri and Spider's relationship conflict just yet, but looking at James Cameron's other works, I think he may be setting up to follow the same pattern as Alien 2 and Terminator 2.
Having a main protagonist realize she was wrong about someone and change her views on them is a story beat James Cameron seems to enjoy writing, and it's one that works really well. Giving a character flaws and having them grow and change is what creates compelling character arcs!
Avatar co-writer Amanda Silver even commented on the narrative purpose of Neytiri disliking Spider in an interview: "Neytiri is a fully fleshed-out character. She’s got flaws. So it’s okay to let her have flaws, we think. And that’s where Jim was coming from."
All this is to say that no, we are not going to see Neytiri murder Spider in Avatar 3 like many young fans hope, that would be a horribly depressing conclusion for her character arc; to never be challenged on her biases and never have to reflect on her views and grow. I for one am really excited to see how James Cameron and co resolve their conflict since their relationship has a lot more bad blood than the other two examples did!
We got our first official look Peylak, olo’eyktan of the Wind Traders who are known as the Tlalim clan!!
@cyren-myadd @nilnether Oh, both are delicious ideas! Spider gets closure that, despite having fought on the wrong side of the war, his mother loved him very much, and that, through hell and high water, she will always be with him. Maybe being dead gives Paz a clear understanding of Eywa, and that human souls can be embraced by the Great Mother. Paz latches onto Spider and follows him wherever he goes. She's a voice in his ear, a lullaby in the dark, eyes on the back of his head, always watching his back and warning him of unseen dangers.
Also, Spider meeting the real Quaritch's soul would be a horror movie all on its own because the man died bitter and hateful, unable to move on and still rejecting the will of Eywa even in death. Even better if his father's cruel spirit goes out of its way to attack Spider, scratching and clawing at him until Spider escapes, leaving behind the howling spectre. As for Neteyam, I can definitely see a situation where Spider willingly leaves with the Scientists back to Hell's Gate.
Everyone just assumes that Spider is only going back because he wants to be with his own kind, but Spider is on a mission, and it's to bring his brother's spirit back home where he belongs. He finally puts Neteyam to rest, and after a long and deep heart-to-heart with his brother, Spider feels more at peace than he has in years. He does not return to the reefs, but travels all over Pandora, helping more wayward spirits with his mother's spirit coming along for the ride.
Maybe Neteyam visits him in his dreams, where they catch up on all the years they've lost.
Imagine Spider having the gift to commune with the spirits of the dead, Na'vi, and humans. Spirits are everywhere in the forest (more appeared after the great battle) — watching him practice his archery, guiding him back to Hell's Gate in the dark, and whispering stories to him. Some are peaceful and content, while others are restless, especially those who died violently or don't know they're even dead.
Naturally, Spider keeps this to himself because he's afraid of being further ostracized. Instead, he decides to see this gift as a good thing because at least he has friends to talk to. He doesn't care if Lo'ak thinks he's weird for talking to himself or staring off into space. Spider sees fallen Na’vi warriors from the past, human researchers and soldiers who died on Pandora, and even little children who perished when the Tree of Souls was destroyed. They sometimes speak to him, asking for his company or to listen to their stories.
Maybe it's not healthy to spend hours alone with just the dead for company, maybe it's not normal that he prefers sleeping outside in the company of spirits then with the living back at Hell's Gate, and maybe he made a mistake venturing off alone to live in isolation because he's found more belonging with the dead then with the living.
Watching Quaritch brutalize the ta'unui idk how anyone can like this man