Avatar: Fire And Ash's Best Scene Echoes A Lord Of The Rings Moment

The way of water has no beginning and no end — just like spoilers. This article discusses major plot details from "Avatar: Fire and Ash."

We often talk about the "Avatar" franchise as a spectacle, and for fair reason. James Cameron's sci-fi epic is a truly incredible achievement of visual effects wizardry, animation, and performance capture. Suffice it to say, this property more than deserved its spot in the famous cinema history montage from Damien Chazelle's "Babylon."

All talk of spectacle aside, though, we shouldn't underestimate this franchise's strong themes. Using the language of blockbuster cinema, the "Avatar" movies have managed to tell a four-quadrant story that speaks radically about the environment and the military industrial complex. As they've continued, they've even gone so far as to acknowledge that pacifism is useless when resisting an enemy that wants to annihilate you and, as such, that violence is actually necessary when fighting imperialism. Sure, their plots are quite simple and even derivative, but that's so audiences can buy into the complex and vast setting that Cameron and his team have built.

This is also what makes "Fire and Ash" such an important chapter in the larger "Avatar" saga. It's the movie that talks most overtly about the importance of active resistance and shows nature itself fighting back. Indeed, the film actually brings this idea to the forefront by having Pandora's Great Mother Eywa literally manifest in front of Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), allowing her to command alien octopi and slay a bunch of humans. We also see this in the movie's best scene, which echoes an iconic moment from Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

I'm referring, of course, to how the Tulkun swimming to war in "Fire and Ash" echoes the last march of the Ents in "The Two Towers."

"Avatar: Fire and Ash" continues the Tulkun hunting storyline from "The Way of Water," which involves the RDA killing these majestic space whales to extract a liquid from their glands that stops human aging. Unfortunately, the Tulkun have an ancient law that prohibits them from violence, as they strongly believe that will only bring more violence and death.

This means the Tulkun are completely defenseless and unable to respond as humanity starts hunting them ... at first. It's only when the "Avatar" franchise's real hero Payakan –  with some assistance from Lo'ak (Britain Dalton) — manages to convince the Tulkun Matriarch that their kind will be obliterated if they don't react that they finally change their ways. This, in turn, drives the Tulkun to join the war against the RDA in the climax of "Fire and Ash," culminating in an emotionally-charged and thrilling sequence where the Matriarch leads her fellow space whales into battle.

It's the way the Tulkan go from being extreme pacifists to engaging in a war they know they may lose (and could get them all killed) that recalls "The Two Towers." Specifically, this sequence brings to mind that film's Ent subplot, in which the ancient tree beings decide not to get involved in the war for Middle-earth, believing it simply isn't their fight. It's not until their leader Treebeard (voiced by John Rhys-Davies) witnesses the destruction of the forests near Isengard and the treachery of the wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee) that he rallies the Ents to war. Much like the Tulkun, it's only when war comes to their door that the Ents decide to get involved, even if it means marching to their doom.

As special and memorable as these scenes are, they also share a lot in common. They represent nature wanting nothing more than to be left alone, only to find itself in a fight for survival because industrialization ruins everything it touches. In "The Two Towers," the Ents are essentially retirees and widowers with no hope for the future, simply spending their time in whatever peace they can find as the world changes around them. It's not that they don't care about what happens to Middle-earth; they simply don't think there's much they can do, believing their role in the world has come to an end.

Likewise, the Tulkun are so strict about their moral code that they don't allow themselves to get involved in the world they live in. They're aware of the atrocities happening around them and may even realize they're on the chopping block as well. Be that as it may, their moral code prevents them from getting involved, even if their own lives depend on it. Payakan may've saved many lives, but by simply helping the Metkayina fight back in "The Way of Water," he is responsible for every Na'vi and human death.

With the last march of the Ents, "The Two Towers" examines how evil can run so deep that creation itself is forced to rise up against it. The Ents go from voting not to interfere to being willing to become extinct to defend what's left of the forests and avenge their fallen trees. There may be more Tulkun than Ents, but by rising up against the RDA they, too, decide to risk it all to fight evil.

"Avatar: Fire and Ash" is now playing in theaters.