Despite only having two movies under its belt, theAvataruniverse is already a vast one, with some incredibly intricate lore baked into its DNA.Avatarandits sequelAvatar: The Way of Waterboth contain countless throwaway lines that hearken back to historical events the audience hasn’t seen, continuing to expand upon the world of Pandora and its Na’vi inhabitants. One of the most vital areas of lore for theAvataruniverse is Eywa, the Na’vi’s chosen deity, and the sentient life force that runs through the entirety of Pandora. Eywa is at the very heart of theAvatarfranchise, and the upcomingAvatar: Frontiers of Pandoraneeds to focus on it.
Announced all the way back in 2017,Avatar: Frontiers of Pandorahas been in development for almost six yearsat this point, and aside from one trailer, fans still haven’t been shown anything about it. All that fans know is that the game will see players take on the role of a Na’vi in the western frontier of Pandora, and that it’ll be an open-world adventure game developed by Ubisoft. While the plot ofFrontiers of Pandorais still completely unknown, it’s imperative that it focuses on the Na’vi’s connection with Eywa, which is seemingly playing a major role in theAvatarmovie series.
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Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Should Let Players Use Eywa’s Abilities
Mentioned throughout the firstAvatarmovie, Eywa is a living deity, but not quite in the same way as humans would think. Rather than take the form of a humanoid god, Eywa is a network of trees, plants, and wildlife that stretches across the entirety of Pandora.Sigourney Weaver’s character Doctor Grace Augustinedescribes Pandora in the firstAvatarmovie as a collection of roots, acting like neural pathways that all connect to each other like one big brain. So while the Na’vi see Eywa as an all-knowing deity, it’s actually much closer to a planet-sized sentient being, though its motivations and abilities are kept a mystery, at least for now.
Eywa plays a fairly pivotal role in the plot of the firstAvatarmovie, with it sending a Woodsprite to Neytiri to stop her from shooting Jake Sully. And inAvatar: The Way of Water,Jake and Neytiri’s adopted daughter Kiriis clearly exhibiting some kind of god-like powers, likely fueled by Eywa. Some fans have even theorized that Kiri is the embodiment of Eywa itself. Regardless, it’s clear that Eywa will continue to play a major role in theAvatarfranchise, andAvatar: Frontiers of Pandoracan’t just ignore it.
Regardless of tribe or faction,all Na’vi worship Eywa, and much of their life, from hunting to flying, revolves around the deity and how they think it wants them to act. If the player’s taking on the role of a Na’vi warrior inAvatar: Frontiers of Pandora, then it’s simply impossible to not mention Eywa throughout its story. ButAvatar: Frontiers of Pandorashouldn’t just make reference to Eywa; it should give fans a deep-dive on the mysterious entity and explore it through the eyes of a Na’vi. By doing this,Frontiers of Pandoracan act as the perfect accompaniment to the upcomingAvatarmovie sequels, priming fans for Eywa’s presumed role in the rest of the story.
IfAvatar: Frontiers of Pandorawanted to really treat fans of the franchise, then it could even have the player-character being granted temporary abilities by Eywa itself. These powers could be similar to Kiri’s inAvatar: The Way of Water, allowing the player to manipulate their surroundings and control nearby wildlife. This could be used to great effect during gameplay, letting the player call in assistance from creatures like Thanators or sense enemies approaching from miles away via the interconnected network of foliage between them.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandorais currently in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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