There isn't a day that goes by I don't mourn the loss of our friends, our families... the warriors I sent to their deaths.
The First Pandoran War, also known as the War of Pandora, the RDA-Na'vi Conflict, and the Time of Great Sorrow, was a devastating large-scale confrontation between the human miners of the Resources Development Administration (RDA) and the indigenous Na'vi clans from all across Pandora.
The war concluded on August 23, 2154 with the Battle of Ayram Alusìng, and the expulsion of most human colonists from Pandora. However, the Second Pandoran War would begin in 2168.
History[]
Prelude[]
Conflicts between RDA and the Na'vi natives started sometime after the former's arrival on Pandora. Initially, relations with the two sides started out peaceful with the RDA studying Pandora and building a schoolhouse to educate Na'vi children and strengthen diplomatic ties. However, several of the organization's practices, such as mining for a mineral known as unobtanium, were against Na'vi culture and harmful to the environment. This led to tensions forming, though the two groups continued with relatively peaceful interactions.
An attack done by Sec-Ops soldiers on the schoolhouse after a group of Na'vi children set a bulldozer on fire dealt a severe blow to interspecies relations. The event resulted in the death of Sylwanin, child of the Omatikaya clan leader Eytukan. Following this, relations between the two factions became resentful with further conflicts occurring until both were on the verge of an all out war.
Before this, Sec-Ops forces under the command of John Mercer attacked the Sarentu Clan during their annual moot with the aim of acquiring children to carry out The Ambassador Program. They abducted nine children and eliminated the clan. The details of this misdeed were hidden by Mercer from the RDA and other Na'vi clans, who remained unaware of it.
Destruction of the Hometree[]
The RDA firing on Hometree.
The RDA's eventual attack on the Omatikaya clan's Hometree brought the conflict to a flash point. The Hometree resided directly on top of one of largest deposits of unobtanium. And so, the RDA needed the clan to move in order to get at it.
In a final diplomatic attempt to have the Omatikaya clan move peacefully and allow for the extraction of the unobtanium from beneath Hometree, the RDA enlisted an avatar driver named Jake Sully to serve as an ambassador and negotiator. However, this ended in failure when Jake Sully revealed the clan would never be willing to move. In response to this, the RDA shifted to more forceful methods to achieve their goals. Meanwhile, the Omatikaya were enraged by the destruction of the Tree of Voices and responded with violent attacks and the killing of RDA members.
Eventually, the RDA sent a detachment of Scorpion Gunships led by Quaritch, using the Dragon Assault Ship as his flagship, to force the Omatikaya to evacuate Hometree. The attack started with tear-gas and then shifted to lethal force when the clan ineffectively retaliated. The RDA destroyed Hometree using incendiary missiles which caused it to collapse, killing a large number of Na'vi, including Eytukan.
Reemergence of Toruk Makto[]
Jake gathering the clans for war.
After the events at Hometree, Jake Sully, along with scientists Norm Spellman and Grace Augustine, were incarcerated at the RDA headquarters at Hell's Gate. They escaped with the help of marine pilot Trudy Chacón and Dr. Max Patel, who organized an undercover escape using an unguarded Samson transport. During the escape, Dr. Augustine was shot by Quaritch. The crew were able to steal the avatar uplink from the Hallelujah Mountains and regroup with the Omatikaya. Using the uplink, Jake returned to his avatar and successfully completed tsaheylu with the infamous toruk, becoming the sixth Toruk Makto. Jake asks the Omatikaya to help Grace recover from her bullet wound, but she later dies during an attempted Consciousness Transfer, further fueling the animosity between the two factions. Through his grief, Jake asks the gathered Omatikaya people to reach out to the surrounding clans, as Toruk Makto calls to them. Inspired by his words, the Na'vi once again trusted Jake, and followed him "to the four winds" to unite all the Na'vi tribes against the RDA.
The RDA Response[]
Aware of the Na'vi's rapid increase in numbers, Quaritch decided to execute a preemptive strike against the Na'vi at the holy site known Tree of Souls to "blast a crater in their racial memory so deep that they won't come within a thousand klicks of [the Tree of Souls] ever again." The RDA planned to destroy the Tree of Souls which would inflict long-lasting fear and intergenerational trauma on the Na'vi and in turn, silence the growing uprising. The RDA outfitted the Valkyrie shuttle with palettes full of high explosives and set out with every aircraft in their arsenal while Jake prayed to Eywa for a favorable outcome in the battle ahead.
Skirmish of the Hallelujah Mountains[]
RDA Scorpions firing on Na'vi troops.
The RDA proceeded completely unopposed through the Hallelujah Mountains and into Pandora's infamous Flux Vortex, scrambling the feeds from the RDA's electronic detection and navigation equipment. A ground contingent of AMP suits and standard infantry started noticing readings of movement up ahead, although the air force had yet to notice the enemy. As the shuttle approached the stone arches marking the entrance to the Tree of Souls, several hundred banshee mounted warriors descended onto the formation. Jake Sully accounted for the first RDA casualties when his Toruk grabbed onto a Scorpion gunship and sent it out of control into a nearby cliff face. At this point, the primary strategy of the Na'vi was to fire arrows directly into the cockpits of the enemy aircraft, making use of their banshees' speed, a perpendicular angle of attack, and close range to overcome the reinforced glass. Meanwhile on the ground, a large group of Direhorse-mounted Na'vi approached the advancing infantry head on with less effect.
Although the Na'vi had taken advantage of the element of surprise and managed to destroy several enemy units, Quaritch eventually ordered the RDA to break formation and the battle soon turned to favor the humans and their superior technology. Even though Trudy managed to cause some damage to the enemy in her own Samson, which had been suitably decorated with Na'vi war paint, she was quickly shot down and killed by Quaritch's Dragon gunship. At this point, the Na'vi sustained heavy casualties, including Tsu'tey, who attempted a direct assault on the Valkyrie shuttle, and Seze, Neytiri's banshee. The RDA soon regained control of the fight and were subsequently allowed to regroup and resume their bombing run of the Tree of Souls.
Titanotheres sent to aid Na'vi ground forces.
As Jake slowly came to realize that his counterattack had failed and Neytiri prepared for one final, suicidal attempt to attack the advancing enemy ground forces despite Jake's order to hold her fire, much of the native wildlife suddenly organized against the human invaders. Dozens of hammerhead titanotheres and sturmbeest charged at the advancing army. This stampede made short work of the advancing ground forces and quickly caused a retreat, which was pursued by packs of viperwolves. Meanwhile several thousand wild banshees descended on what was left of Quaritch's air force, easily destroying the remainder of the Scorpion gunships. Under the cover of this new assault, Jake single-handedly raided the Valkyrie shuttle, disabling one of its starboard engines by tossing a hand grenade into the intake. As he escaped on the back of his toruk, the shuttle lost control and careened into the nearby mountainside, losing its entire starboard side wing and crashing into the valley below, detonating the explosives carried on board well clear of the Tree of Souls.
A similar tactic with the Dragon Assault Ship failed, as Quaritch saw him coming and took evasive action. The grenade that was meant for the engine intake detonated inside an air vent, breaching the hull and forcing the crew inside to don exopacks. Despite Quaritch's effort to shake Jake off the ship, Jake managed to separate a hellfire missile from its coupling and send it into the front starboard lift-fan, causing the aircraft to lose control and explode in mid air. While this signaled the end of the battle and the RDA's attempt to destroy the Tree of Souls, Quaritch successfully managed to escape in one of the unused AMP suits, landing clear of the Dragon's burning wreckage shortly before it crashes.
The Final Skirmish[]
Jake managed to fall clear of the explosion and slowed his descent by using the oversized foliage found on the trees of Pandora. Quaritch, however, now marching through the woods in an AMP suit, managed to locate the avatar uplink capsule that Trudy and the scientists had previously stolen. Before he could destroy it, Neytiri attacked him from behind on the back of a thanator and managed to destroy his GAU-90 before Quaritch dispatched the thanator with an AMP suit knife, leaving Neytiri pinned under it. Before he could return his attention to the uplink station, Jake cut him off and attacked, destroying Quaritch's knife and breaching the glass canopy of the AMP suit. Quaritch was able to jettison the damaged canopy and don an emergency exopack, and he then attacked the uplink station, breaching one of its reinforced glass windows and destroying an empty uplink. Jake attacked Quaritch again from behind, losing his own knife in the struggle. Due to his human body, from within the link station, being poisoned by the Pandoran air, Jake began having difficulty maintaining his connection with his avatar.
Neytiri protecting Jake's body from Quaritch.
Taking advantage of Jake's incapacitation, Quaritch lifted Jake by his queue, retrieved Jake's knife, and prepared to slit his throat. Neytiri, who had just managed to free herself from beneath the deceased thanator, finally dispatched Colonel Quaritch with two arrows to his chest. Jake, unable to maintain his uplink to his avatar, awoke in the breached uplink station and unsuccessfully attempted to don an emergency exopack, losing consciousness before he could retrieve it from its housing. Neytiri managed to piece together what was going on, and placed the exopack over Jake's face, allowing him to get enough oxygen to regain consciousness.
Aftermath[]
The humans boarding a Valkyrie.
After the Pandoran War, the leadership of the Omatikaya was passed onto Jake by Tsu'tey, who was dying from the gunshot wounds he sustained in the battle. With the RDA assault thwarted, the Na'vi moved against Hell's Gate itself. The RDA's TAP facility was evacuated in order to reinforce Hell's Gate,[1] but it came to naught, as the facility was taken over by the Na'vi and human defectors. Some humans were allowed to stay behind. This included Jake, Norm, Max, and some of the other scientists and RDA defectors such as Alma Cortez and Hajir Beshara.
Parker Selfridge, before being escorted onto a shuttle back to Earth, warns Jake that the conflict is not over. Neytiri reacts aggressively, but Jake calms her and motions wordlessly for Selfridge to move on.
Jake later elects to undergo a Na'vi ritual to transfer his consciousness permanently into his avatar, thus becoming one of the Na'vi forever.
Second Pandoran War[]
- Main article: Second Pandoran War
Fourteen years later in 2168, the RDA, led by Frances Ardmore, would later return to Pandora to colonize it and make it humanity's new home, as Earth was dying. She oversaw the reclaiming of Hell's Gate and the construction of their permanent base, Bridgehead.
Trivia[]
- In James Cameron's Avatar: The Game (non-canon), the war is shown as beginning at least around 2152.
References[]
| Wars and conflicts on Pandora | ||
|---|---|---|
| First Pandoran War | Destruction of the Hometree (2154) · Battle of Ayram Alusìng (2154) | |
| Second Pandoran War | Battle of the ISV Venture Star (2168) · Colonization of the Western Frontier (2169) · Skirmish at the Three Brothers (2170) · War of the Wetlands (canonicity unknown) | |
| Non-canon | Battle of Vayaha Village (2152) | |