We meet the biggest mystery of Avatar: The Way of Water less than five minutes into the movie. That mystery is Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), a young Na’vi child who is the daughter of scientist Grace (also Weaver) from the first Avatar.
“But wait,” you may ask. “Didn’t Grace die in the first movie? I don’t remember her having a child.”
You would be right on both counts! Grace did, in fact, die, and she didn’t leave behind a child. However, she did leave behind her Na’vi avatar, which Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and their scientist friends keep in stasis. Out of nowhere, Grace (or at least her avatar) gives birth to Kiri, who Jake adopts and whose conception he describes as “a total mystery.” That’s a tulkun-sized underplaying of what appears to be Avatar‘s take on immaculate conception.
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Unless director James Cameron has been hiding hints about the Na’vi being able to reproduce asexually, we can only assume that someone impregnated Grace. The movie doesn’t specify whether this happened while Grace was still alive and her avatar somehow carried the baby to term, or whether Kiri’s birth clashes with normal Na’vi gestation periods. Truly, we are given zero information beyond the fact that this is weird. Oh, and that Kiri’s brothers joke that scientist Norm (Joel David Moore) is the father.
Does Avatar: The Way of Water reveal Kiri’s true father?
Credit: Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
No, it doesn’t. The film appears to be pushing the big reveal off until the next installment. However, Avatar: The Way of Water does hint at Kiri’s true parentage.
See, Kiri’s birth isn’t the only mysterious thing about her. Somehow, she is able to sense Eywa, the deity of the Na’vi also known as the Great Mother. This connection to Eywa manifests itself in strange powers, such as Kiri’s unconscious ability to draw the sacred woodsprites to herself, or the way grass moves in time with her breath while she sleeps. No one else in the film is able to do this, and the main thing separating Kiri from the rest of her family is her origin. Therefore, her powers likely stem from her parentage, whatever it may be.
Kiri’s other parent may not be a human or a Na’vi.
Credit: Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
Based on all the strangeness surrounding Kiri, it’s unlikely she has a human or Na’vi father. In fact, I doubt she has a father at all! I posit that Kiri’s other parent is none other than Eywa herself.
Think about it: When Grace died in Avatar, her last words to Jake were that she could see Eywa. This likely means that she’s joined the neural network that all living beings in Pandora share — it would also explain how she appeared to Kiri when she linked into the Tree of Souls.
So maybe Eywa sensed Grace when she entered the Pandoran neural network and realized that she’d left a perfectly good avatar body behind. Being a deity of life, it can’t have been too hard for Eywa to make a baby using some of her own spirit — or something along those lines, I’m not too sure of the details.
What I am 99 percent sure of is that Kiri is the daughter of Pandora’s main god and a product of seemingly immaculate conception. That can only mean one thing: Kiri is Pandora Jesus. Eywa’s spirit has imbued her with magical powers that will probably have a bigger role to play down the line. Until then, the exact details of Pandora Jesus’s role remain vague. Hopefully Eywa will claim her (potential) daughter some time soon!
Avatar: The Way of Water is now in theaters.
