The consciousness transfer is a Na'vi ritual where a consciousness of a single being is transferred from one body to another.
The goal is to permanently transfer the spirit or consciousness of the individual that it is being practiced upon into a "comatose" or empty body by passing them through the "Eye of Eywa."
History[]
Ritual[]
The Omatikaya perform the ritual by joining an entire clan's queues into one of the neural link locations on Pandora (e.g. the Tree of Souls) and performing a Terran equivalent of a large-scale ritual chant presided over by the Tsahìk.
It is, by all means, a risky endeavor in that if the subject is very weak, it can result in death.
Transferred Avatars[]
The Omatikaya Clan attempted to save Dr. Grace Augustine in 2154, but she did not survive due to previously sustained life-threatening wounds by Colonel Miles Quaritch. Jake Sully went through the process three days later and successfully had his consciousness moved permanently into his avatar body.[1]
In the Games[]
Avatar: The Game[]
In James Cameron's Avatar: The Game, Sänume successfully performs the consciousness transfer on Able Ryder should the player choose to side with the Na'vi. Attempts to revive René Harper in the same fashion failed. Sänume was able to perform the ritual within her clan's Hometree.
Trivia[]
- In Project 880, consciousness transfer or "soul transfer" is described in detail by Grace Augustine, who, in the original script, was able to return in her Avatar body: "When I was dying, the trees stored... well, they stored my mind, my emotions, my memories... me. Then they downloaded it all to this body."
- There is a theory/speculation that those who are transferred in the ritual merely have their consciousness duplicated by Eywa, similar to a Soul Drive. It has been stated by Joshua Izzo that Eywa works like a read-only hard drive in relation to the Spirit Tree. This theory would mean the Jake who wakes up at the end of Avatar is simply a clone of the original's consciousness, and that the true Jake died in his human body.
- The ritual raises the possibility of immortality within the universe. For example, it is unknown what would happen if an elderly Jake had another younger avatar/Na'vi/Recombinant vessel, then attempted to transfer into it from his current body.
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
Title | Format | Release date | Details |
---|---|---|---|
Project 880 | Film script | Unreleased | Treatment rewritten into Avatar. |
James Cameron's Avatar: The Game | Video game | December 1st, 2009 | |
Avatar | Film | December 18th, 2009 |