One Of James Cameron's Favorite Avatar Scenes Is Also The Franchise's Most Tragic

This post contains spoilers for "Avatar: The Way of Water" and "Avatar: Fire and Ash."

James Cameron's "Avatar: The Way of Water" ends with a tragedy. After the Na'vi and the Resources Development Administration (RDA) colonists clash, Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) dies while attempting to rescue Spider (Jack Champion). While his brother Lo'ak (Britain Dalton) and Spider make it to safety, Neteyam is hit with a bullet and dies in front of his parents. This intense loss haunts "Avatar: Fire and Ash," Cameron's epic continuation of the saga, which raises the stakes for the Na'vi while plunging Pandora into further chaos. Per IGN, Cameron found it challenging to film Neteyam's death due to its emotional nature, but it still emerged as his favorite scene from "Way of Water:"

"It was a scene we all dreaded. We knew it was coming; everybody was prepared in their minds. But Sam [Worthington] and Zoe [Saldaña] as parents, they were young and single when we did the first 'Avatar', and they'd been through some of the trials and tribulations of parenthood by the time we got to the second and third films. It always brings me to the edge of tears, even though I've seen the movie a thousand times. Zoe's heart-wrenching scream juxtaposed in the same moment with Jake's stoicism. He doesn't know how to grieve, he doesn't know how to let it out. He's already processing the situation in a protective mode for the other characters."

As Cameron points out, the juxtaposition between Jake and Neytiri's approach to grief is significant, as it fleshes out their respective arcs in "Fire and Ash." While Jake dons yet another layer of rugged stoicism to deal with his feelings, Neytiri lashes out, externalizing her emotions and spiraling out of control.

"Fire and Ash" feels as sweeping and operatic as "Way of Water," but it is also a more gutwrenching entry where the Sullys are almost torn apart due to grief (and the intervention of the ruthless Mangkwan Clan, who join forces with the RDA at one point). Neytiri becomes openly resentful of Spider, as she holds him indirectly responsible for Neteyam's demise, and begins to harbor hatred for all Sky people. Her position is more complicated than it seems, as the human colonizers are worthy of her disdain for treating her homeland like an experimental sandbox and slaughtering her people. Jake's identity is a problematic anomaly, something which Neytiri struggles to come to terms with after grief-fueled rage consumes her.

On the flipside, Jake internalizes his grief, but his tough-love approach towards Lo'ak puts a strain on their relationship. All of these major emotional beats occur in tandem with bombastic fights that take place amid visually gorgeous scenery, elevating the film beyond its sci-fi roots peppered with action elements. Cameron circles back to the Neteyam scene in "Way of Water" while stating how all of his "Avatar" movies are more than standard genre offerings:

"I'm always proud of that scene. And it's not what people think of when they think of an 'Avatar' movie, but they should. When people think of an 'Avatar' movie, they think of it as a kind of sprawling science fiction epic with beautiful scenery and lots of action and adventure [...] And I like to say that the films are about dynamic range. There's beauty and wonder, there's fear, chaos, action, and heartwrenching, emotional moments."

It's hard to disagree, as both "Way of Water" and "Fire and Ash" are more than skin-deep visual spectacles.