‘Avatar: The Way of Water’: Is Jake human, Na’vi, or still switching between the two?

Avatar‘s legacy remains huge to this day, and the franchise keeps racking up fans, especially since its theatrical re-release. With its sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, almost here, long-standing questions about the story are making their way back to the forefront of the audience’s brains, rekindling their curiosity. As epic as Avatar‘s ending was, it left some food for thought, and one of the most prominent unanswered questions pertains to Jake Sully and his status post-Avatar. Will Jake be fully Na’vi in the upcoming sequel, or will he find a way back to his former self?

Is Jake a Na’vi now?

In the first Avatar movie, Jake almost dies after waking up in his human body due to the lack of oxygen in the Pandoran air. Luckily, Neytiri reaches him in time and provides him with an oxygen mask, but the point was made that if Jake were to go on living in Pandora, he could not do so without some sort of aid. Instead of wearing a mask for the rest of his life, the protagonist opts to become Na’vi. In the movie’s last scene, Jake’s consciousness is permanently transferred from his human body to his avatar. Thanks to this ritual procedure, Jake can now live as a true Na’vi, and his body is no longer considered an avatar.

Can Jake return to his human body?

Needless to say, we don’t have a clear-cut answer to this question, since it’s not explicitly shown what happens to Jake’s human body after the consciousness transfer. However, the movie seems to heavily imply that his old form is now dead. When the transfer is complete, Neytiri finally removes the oxygen mask from Jake’s human body and kisses his closed eyelids, as if paying respect or grieving the body. Since human bodies are not equipped to survive in the Pandoran atmosphere for more than four minutes without the mask, it’s safe to assume that the body died after the transfer, empty of consciousness.

Given that Avatar is a fantasy franchise, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for the human body to be preserved by the Na’vi or the Tree of Ages before it died, but it is difficult to imagine how. This, added to the fact that the transfer is supposed to be permanent, leads to the conclusion that Jake’s human body is no longer habitable, and he shall remain Na’vi for the rest of his days.

Hopefully, Avatar: The Way of Water will provide fans with an explicit answer and put doubt to rest once and for all. The movie’s theatrical release is set for Dec. 16.