A scientist stays objective -- we can't be ruled by emotion. But I put ten years of my life into that school. They called me sa'nok. Mother. That kind of pain reaches back through the link.Grace regarding the school shooting.
Dr. Grace Augustine (Na'vi name: Kìreysì) [7] is a major supporting character in Avatar and the protagonist of the Avatar: Adapt or Die comic series. She was one of the original 20 avatar drivers.
Grace worked for the RDA as an xenobotanist and xenoanthropologist in charge of the Avatar Program. She was fascinated by the Na'vi and empathized with their plight. She was a legend to the scientific personnel as the author of a comprehensive book on Pandora's plants. She was responsible for bridging a peace with the Omatikaya clan and established a school where the clan could interact with humans up until its closure in 2152.
In 2154, she tutored Jake Sully on the Avatar Program. Having arrived on Pandora three decades before him, Grace was reluctant to accept him on her team due to his lack of training and qualifications for the program. Due to Jake's presence, relations with the Omatikaya clan improved and Grace was allowed back into the village.
After the Hometree was destroyed, Grace, Jake, and Norm Spellman escaped Hell's Gate in an effort to help the Na'vi, but not before Colonel Quaritch fatally wounded Grace while firing at the Samson that they were escaping in. Jake brought her human form to Mo'at at the Tree of Souls, in the hope that they could transfer her consciousness into her avatar form, but she was rendered too weak by her wounds and the transfer failed. Before she died, she told Jake that she was with Eywa.
Despite her death, her avatar gave birth to a daughter named Kiri, who was later adopted by Jake and Neytiri.
Biography[]
Arrival on Pandora[]
Grace was born sometime between 2097 to 2104, and she was a teenager during Pandora's early colonization.
She arrived on Pandora as a young woman in 2124, 30 years before Jake and Norm. Despite being in her early twenties at the time, Grace was considered to be a prodigy and a wunderkind, as she already was an experienced and respected botanist. She was eager to explore the plants of Pandora, eventually writing the book on the unique botany that she discovered. She was considered a living legend in the Terran scientific community, and her work developed Pandoran cures for Earth diseases. She also began to become intrigued by the wonder and wisdom of the Na'vi.[8]
Grace joined the Avatar Program and she co-wrote an avatar's owner manual with Dr. Richard Carter.[9] Around the year 2136,[10] Grace was given her own avatar.
Initial relations with the Na'vi (Avatar: Adapt or Die)[]
Grace seemed to always have sympathy toward the Na'vi and was at the forefront of establishing a peaceful relationship between the RDA and the local Omatikaya clan, eager to learn about the Na'vi and in turn, allow them to learn about humans so that the two races could coexist safely. Grace formed a friendship with Mo'at, the Tsahìk (spiritual leader) of the clan. Several years after her arrival on Pandora, Grace proposed the idea of a schoolhouse to Mo'at, where humans and Na'vi could interact and learn from each other. Mo'at was initially skeptical and discussed the idea with the Olo'eyktan of the clan, Eytukan, who was equally apprehensive of the idea.
Grace playing basketball with the children.
The two leaders decided to let the children of the clan, including their daughters, Neytiri and Sylwanin decide if they wanted the schoolhouse. The children requested to visit Hell's Gate, to which Grace obliged. She toured with the children around the base, teaching them how to play basketball and letting them observe the humans' mining operations. Grace was optimistic about their future together, and after returning to Hometree, the Omatikaya children agreed to the idea of a schoolhouse.
The following day, optimistic about their future together, Grace attempted to return to the Omatikaya's Hometree but was turned away by Mo'at. She learned that the children had fallen ill with a mysterious sickness since departing from their Samson escort and set out to do her own investigation. Parker Selfridge, however, offered that the sickness may solve the issue of the Na'vi's interference with the RDA's operations, which appalled Grace.
Grace disgusted by Selfridge's nonchalant attitude about the Na'vi suffering and dying.
Despite Parker's protests, Grace set out to deliver some samples and medicine to the Omatikaya, but her avatar began to fall ill as well. Grace found her, delirious and unconscious, and announced that they needed to seek out the help of Pandora's skilled botanists, the Tawkami clan, for help with the illness. Grace collapsed and was unlinked from her avatar shortly after arriving at the Tawkami clan, and one of the clan's botanists, Mireya, agreed to help Mo'at investigate a treatment for the illness. As Grace emerged from her link unit back at Hell's Gate, a scientist informed her that something had gone terribly wrong with the other avatars; they had light blotches on their backside, prompting Grace to call for a quarantine of the avatars. Grace theorized that the sickness could be the result of the avatars being deprived of something, rather than an overexposure.
Grace and the other scientists decided to search Hell's Gate for a possible cause for the illness. Although they were intercepted by Parker who was not pleased with them leaving the base, they left anyway. During a patrol, they found a concerning stream of black oily liquid, but Grace was not entirely convinced it caused the sickness. She and her pilot scanned the area from above in a Samson, revealing that the stream of black liquid had spread far into the jungle. Grace deduced what has caused the sickness: the toxic black liquid seeped into the water and was absorbed by plants and animals, infecting any Na'vi who consumed them.
Grace and Mo'at developing a cure.
Grace's team collected a sample of the black sludge and ran an experiment on it. Grace deduced that the goo was not just a toxin, rather it used up essential nutrients which the body cannot replace quickly enough. Now with the cause of the illness identified, Grace needed to find Mo'at and her unconscious avatar in the forest. She arrived at Hometree and was found by a furious Na'vi, who blamed Grace for the sickness, but he was dissuaded by Mo'at when she returned with Grace's avatar in tow. Mo'at trusted Grace to make a widespread cure and came with her to the lab of the humans. After helping to create a cure with Mo'at, the cure was delivered to the Na'vi, greatly improving relations between and humans and Na'vi, as well as Moat's faith in Grace.
The schoolhouse closure and Grace's exile[]
Grace showing Na'vi children an old book from her home planet, The Lorax by Dr. Seuss.
In 2142, the Na'vi agreed to the building of the schoolhouse where Grace taught English and human customs to the children. She taught both Neytiri and her older sister Sylwanin, the then Tsahìk-in-training of the Omatikaya clan. Grace was viewed in a maternal manner to the children, who called her "sa'nok", meaning "mother" in the Na'vi language.
Unfortunately, ten years after its opening, in 2152 the schoolhouse was closed and all humans (including avatars) were exiled from the Omatikaya clan's territory after a tragic shooting incident by SecOps mercenaries. In 2154, Grace explains to Jake Sully that Sylwanin had become angry about the clearcutting of the forest and stopping going to school. One day, she and several other young hunters set a bulldozer on fire and retreated to the school for protection. The troopers followed them and opened fire on the school while Grace and her students were inside, killing Sylwanin and the hunters; Grace was able to get most of the kids out.
As a result, the event caused Grace great guilt over their deaths, losing her school, and her exile from the Omatikaya clan - who decided that any interaction with humans at all (sadly including Grace as well) was too dangerous.
Arrival of the new avatar drivers[]
In 2154, the ISV Venture Star deployed shuttles to Pandora, carrying soldiers, technicians and new additions to the avatar team. Among these were Norm Spellman, an anthropologist, and Jake Sully, who was a stand-in for his twin brother, Tom Sully, who was killed by a mugger on Earth.
Grace was sharp with the newcomers, particularly so with Jake, whom she saw as incompetent and an attempt by the military to hijack her program. She made it clear that she was displeased and that she considered Jake's brother, Tom Sully, to have had skills far more valuable than those Jake had. Bringing Jake up-to-speed required a tremendous amount of effort on her part and that of Dr. Max Patel, the technical support officer.
3D Version: red/cyan, cross-eyedGrace in her avatar form.
Grace also made her feelings about RDA administrator, Parker Selfridge, abundantly clear for the benefit of her team. She not only disagreed with Selfridge's principles and agenda, but also his impatience and methods regarding negotiation or pacification of the native Na'vi.
Grace and Jake's first avatar encounter took place in the outdoor recreation area, shortly after Jake took control of his avatar for the first time. She tossed him some spartan fruit which he enjoyed.
First expedition with the new avatars[]
3D Version: red/cyan, cross-eyedGrace and Norm taking research samples.
Grace took Norm and Jake out on a routine expedition to gather samples of Pandoran plant life. She expressed anxieties about Jake's twitchy and overzealous soldier mentality. The team explored the abandoned school house where Grace taught young Na'vi English. Grace reminisced over how intelligent the children were and felt sad upon seeing the unused books scattered on the floor such as The Lorax. Norm asked Grace why the Na'vi don't return and she replied that they learned as much about humanity as they needed to. Jake noticed bullet holes and asked Grace what happened at the school, but she dodged the question.
It was while testing Norm's research and sampling abilities that Jake slipped away to examine the area further, which led to a freak encounter with a group of hammerhead titanothere followed by a prowling thanator. In the ensuing chaos, the thanator pursued Jake's avatar while Grace and Norm managed to escape back to their Samson. Jake was separated from the team when he jumped off a waterfall to escape the thanator.
Grace, Norm, Wainfleet, and Trudy searching for Jake.
By Grace's insistence, the team remained for as long as possible attempting a search and rescue. Although bitterly determined, Grace and the others had to call off the search and leave him behind due to Quaritch's order that there would be no night-time flights, which forced them to abandon their search until morning. Grace was convinced that Jake's avatar wouldn't survive the night.
The three months (Avatar and Avatar: Tsu'tey's Path)[]
When Jake woke up, much to the relief of the avatar team, Grace was astonished when Jake told her that he managed to infiltrate the Omatikaya clan and that Neytiri would be personally mentoring him. Grace, although apprehensive of Jake being chosen by the Omatikaya clan, assisted him with his training. After she learned from Max that Jake was giving information about the Na'vi to Miles Quaritch, she relocated the team to Site 26 in the Hallelujah Mountains, but continued to be friendly toward Jake.
Although Jake remarked that this was only because Grace needed a way back into the Omatikaya clan, she demonstrated genuine care for him, worrying over his eating habits and even carrying him to his bunk after he fell asleep in front of his video log camera. One night, Grace finally told Jake about the massacre at her school where many young Na'vi were killed by RDA soldiers, including Neytiri's sister Sylwanin and the pain it caused her. She warned Jake to try not to get too emotionally attached to his life as a Na'vi.
Grace and Tsu'tey reunite, remembering Sylwanin.
Due to Jake becoming a member of the clan, Grace was allowed to re-enter Hometree, much to the delight of some of her former Na'vi students, including Tsu'tey. Tsu'tey initially hid from her out of nervousness, but was eventually swayed into speaking to her by Atan. Grace was glad to see him, and asked if he remembered his English lessons, which he did, and demonstrated his English to Grace. He also called her sa'nok, meaning "mother", the term of affection that he and the other school students had used for Grace. He expresses his concern over Jake to Grace, and though she empathizes with him, she tells him that Jake may yet surprise them all.
She witnessed Jake becoming a full member of the clan in her avatar form and was clearly proud of him. However, the three months that Quaritch had allocated to Jake went by quickly and she, along with Jake, tried to convince the Na'vi to flee Hometree, but without success.
Destruction of the Hometree[]
Grace begs Mo'at not to harm Jake.
When the RDA gave them one last chance to convince the Omatikaya to relocate, they were bound by the clan after Jake revealed his true mission. Witnessing the carnage the RDA wrought on Hometree, Mo'at desperately pleaded with the two to save her people while setting them free. After the Hometree's destruction, Jake and Grace's link units were deactivated and their avatar forms tumbled lifelessly. Jake's avatar collapsed at the ashes of Hometree, but Grace's was brought to the Tree of Souls by the Omatikaya.
Escape from Hell's Gate and death[]
After being incarcerated by the RDA, Trudy Chacón and Max Patel freed the avatar team and they headed to Trudy's Samson to escape. However, Quaritch was alerted of the break-out, and without grabbing an exopack he raced outside of the command center onto an exterior catwalk overseeing the airfield and fired an Assault Rifle at them before resorting to his Wasp sidearm. Although the team managed to escape the compound, Grace suffered a bullet wound to the torso.
The Na'vi try to transfer Grace's consciousness permanently into her avatar body.
Jake attempted to help her live long enough to reach the Omatikaya clan at the Tree of Souls to seek Mo'at's help. After Jake entered his avatar form and managed to bond with and ride a toruk to the Tree of Souls to the amazement of the Na'vi, he sought their help to save Grace from dying. Grace was bewildered by the Tree of Souls, wishing she was in a better condition to still collect samples. In a trance-like state, the Na'vi and Mo'at prayed in the hope that Eywa would permanently transfer Grace's consciousness to her avatar body. Unfortunately, she died from her fatal wounds.
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Grace tells Jake she is with Eywa before dying.
Moments before she passed away, Grace told Jake that she was with Eywa. While Grace's consciousness did not successfully transfer to her avatar, the neural link created when the tendrils of the Tree of Souls interfaced with her human body allowed her full memories to be 'uploaded' into the 'organic computer' of Pandora's ecosystem: the Pandoran Neural Network.
Post-death (Avatar & Avatar: The Way of Water)[]
Later, Jake begged Eywa for help in the struggle against the RDA by asking Eywa to access Grace's memories, which would reveal how Earth's ecosystem had been destroyed by humans, a danger that Pandora now faced. Apparently, this was successful, as Eywa heard Jake's plea and sent Pandora's wildlife to help the Na'vi in the Battle of Ayram Alusìng.
Kiri visiting Grace's avatar.
One year after the battle, Grace's avatar, which was rendered brain-dead, gave birth to a girl named Kiri. However, the father, if any, remains unknown. Grace's avatar has since been incubated at the laboratory for over a decade. When Kiri is a teenager, she visits Grace's avatar in the biolab at High Camp and watches old video logs of Grace from her time at Site 26. Miles Socorro and Lo'ak speculate who Kiri's father is and joke that it could be Norm due to him and Grace having a lot of eye contact in the footage.
Kiri embracing Grace's spirit in her vision.
Later, when Kiri and her family flee to the Metkayina clan and connects to the Spirit Tree in the Cove of the Ancestors, Kiri sees a vision of her embracing Grace's spirit. Kiri attempts to ask Grace about why she is different from the other children and about her father's identity. Grace tries to answer but the vision is cut short, however, when the connection inexplicably causes Kiri to suffer from a seizure.
Personality and traits[]
When first introduced, Grace can be interpreted as having blunt, rude and standoffish behavior. She had a noticeable negative bias towards military members due to the RDA's actions. While Grace has a backbone, she also made condescending remarks to Jake about his intelligence, belittling the paraplegic young man. Although he traveled across the galaxy to assist her team, she refused to reciprocate his handshake at first meeting. Although she lacked the information Tom had died, when Jake told her, she immediately changed the topic to Jake's work experiences, instead of expressing her condolences. When Jake awakes in his human body after a potentially traumatic night surviving in the forest, Grace callously only lets around 20 seconds pass before asking Jake "Is the avatar safe?" when he is still disoriented and groaning.
Grace not seeing the bigger picture; she is a smoker damaging her own body and she is wrong about the RDA's involvement in the poisoning incident.
Grace can be interpreted as a bit naive and illusioned about corporations such as the RDA, not being able to see the bigger picture sometimes. When Mo'at pointed out humanity could have poisoned the Na'vi, Grace was immediately dismissive to the idea despite that this was later discovered to be the truth. However, Grace can't be faulted though, as she wasn't aware of the illegal dumping of the black sludge; she was correct that the illness wasn't intentional harm by the RDA - it wasn't a biochemical weapon, as the dumpings were instead done by a pair of RDA employees out of sheer ignorant disregard for proper disposal methods; Selfridge himself was unaware of these dumpings. Grace can also be viewed as being a "glass half empty" type of woman; Selfridge even commented on her cynical and ungrateful outlook on life, saying she should consider herself lucky that Jake wasn't "some oral hygienist or something." However, when in her avatar form, Grace seemed more enthusiastic about her work and more cheerful and kind instead of being irritable. Her human irritability though seems highly likely to stem from nicotine withdrawal symptoms after spending long amounts of time in a link unit, hence her immediate crankiness upon waking and demanding for her cigarette. She's seen to be pleasant otherwise with employees who work directly alongside her in her science department.
Grace studying a Lilypad Tree.
Despite her flaws, Grace was still quite intelligent, and was able to correctly deduce the truth about the Pandoran neural network using her own science, though she seemed to keep her theories to herself, concerned the RDA would metaphorically "crucify" her and think she's crazy. As a scientist, Grace had a skeptical nature, claiming she was not one to believe in fairy tales. Her primary concern was with her work. She demonstrated her dedication to the study of Pandora and the Na'vi early and often; this dedication often manifested itself as hostility towards Colonel Quaritch and Parker Selfridge, who did not share her enthusiasm. As a result of this hostility, it was considered by many outside the Avatar Program that Grace was little more than an introverted and lonely scientist who loved plants more than people.
Grace happy to be reunited with the Na'vi children.
Despite her somewhat aloof nature, Grace had a compassionate side and she appeared to be very fond of and close to her Na'vi students, who seemed to show the same feelings toward her; this was demonstrated when they dragged her unconscious avatar body to the Tree of Souls with them after the destruction of Hometree. Grace harbored great guilt for the school shooting deaths, commenting, "That kind of pain reaches back through the link." Ever since then, she became more emotionally distanced during her work on Pandora.
Grace's character's growth and arc revolves her around being able to tap into her seemingly repressed compassionate side that has been hardened due to the RDA's actions, and realize that she can not judge the hearts of all military men; a major theme of the Avatar series is that generalizing entire groups of people can be wrong.
She had two major conflicts. One of them is her not being hypocritical and admitting she can be wrong, and living in accordance and harmony with the values of her ideals. Grace wants other people to understand and empathize with the Na'vi, an example of her hypocrisy when it comes to her treatment of Jake and SecOps, and she learns how to meet people where they are better. Jake also points out her hypocritical ways; Grace was a smoker and she told Jake he needed to look after himself, causing him to take a cigarette from her mouth and say she can lecture him when she looks after her own body first.
Grace beginning to treat Jake with respect.
The other conflict is her inability to heal from her traumatic experiences and guilt as to what happened with Sylwanin, still feeling the pain of the incident two years later after being being ostracized from the clan. She views Jake as a second chance at redemption, and while Jake suspects she is only being nicer to him in order to try to find a way back into the clan, it becomes evident that Grace begins to view Jake less like a tool and more of a human being who deserves respect. Grace is able to grow a fondness for Jake and looked after his welfare, ensuring that his human body kept eating. Jake's accomplishments are able to give Grace a more optimistic view of human nature before her death.
Relationships[]
In the games[]
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora[]
Grace is sometimes mentioned by characters, and is also mentioned in a note in the game.
Avatar: The Game - PC, Xbox 360 & PS3 (non-canon)[]
Grace as she appears in The Game.
Grace makes appearances in Avatar: The Game for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 and is voiced by Sigourney Weaver. Her avatar model can also be found through datamining, despite it not appearing in this version, possibly hinting she would have appeared alongside René Harper, Jerome Epstein and Anson Langley. In this game, it is shown that Harper was originally in charge of the Avatar Program, and Grace took his role after his death.
She is shown at the very beginning greeting protagonist Able Ryder as they arrive in a Valkyrie shuttle en route to Hell's Gate, warning them about Pandora's many hazards. If the player allies with the RDA, she is shown at the very end, congratulating Ryder's victory against the Na'vi through the RDA's seizure of the Tree of Souls.
Grace warning Ryder that people may not be who they seem in a missable scene.
There is a hidden scene where Grace will talk to Ryder one more time. In the Command Tower where Dr. Monroe and Commander Falco are located, there is a large screen showing Earth. The OPS Halo Stations in front of the screen has the option to inspect, and Grace will appear on the screen. This begins a dialogue between Grace and Ryder. She will criticize Ryder for their fight with Harper and say things may look black and white, but that once Ryder starts to get used to it and focus, they will see things for what they really are. This can hint towards the option for Ryder to side with Na'vi for a last chance towards the end of the game. This will only work if Ryder sides with RDA, because joining the Na'vi will forever stop Ryder from entering Hell's Gate.
Another audio log on the screen from Grace can be heard after Grave's Bog: "Today Dr. Harper brought me to meet the leaders of the Tipani clan. This was my second visit. On my first visit, they'd refused to see me. Of all the clans we've contacted on Pandora, the Tipani are by far the most resistant to human interaction. Even avatars have been rejected. So around 10 years ago, we came up with a plan. We'd create avatars that combine human DNA with Tipani DNA. That's how Dr. Harper arrived on the program. He was our first guinea pig I guess you'd call him. To be honest, I was never 100% that this plan would work. It was too simple. But it did work. Harper's avatar was welcomed into the clan. So today, Harper brought me to meet the clan's Tsahik, a Na'vi called Sänume. She remembered my first visit, but it was clear that she had little interest in me. Harper, on the other hand, was treated as a near-equal. It amazes me that they're able to pick up on the subtle differences in our avatars. They must be deciphering patterns in the body pigmentation that we haven't even decoded yet."
Avatar: The Game - Wii & PSP (non-canon)[]
Grace telling Rai'uk not all humans are evil.
In the Wii/PSP edition of Avatar: The Game, Grace appears and is also voiced by Sigourney Weaver. In the time before Jake arrived on Pandora, Rai'uk of the Anurai clan was a Na'vi warrior who sought revenge on humans for destroying his village. In level 8, Rai'uk meets a young girl named Sylwanin (Neytiri's sister) from the Omatikaya clan who seeks his help because a "Metal Village" (RDA) is destroying her village. She tells him about the humans in Na'vi bodies called avatars who teach the Na'vi their ways, and Rai'uk agrees to meet her at one of the schools. At the school, Sylwanin introduces him to Grace Augustine in avatar form. Rai'uk criticizes Grace, calling her a 'false demon' who is trying to make his world into hers, but she calmly tells him that not all humans are the same and that she feels his pain. Rai'uk leaves, still vengeful, but pondering what Grace said and wondering if she is right. Rai'uk respects her after his visit.
Avatar: The Game - iOS & Android (non-canon)[]
Grace meeting with Ryan and Sylwanin.
Grace made an appearance in the iOS/Android game near the end. After Ryan Lorenz had saved Sylwanin, Grace and Moran arrived in a Samson. They told him that he was in trouble and that they needed to go to the Tree of Souls. This was also the moment where Grace and Sylwanin met, or at least in this game, since this contradicts Grace knowing Sylwanin since she was a child in Adapt or Die. Sylwanin was impressed by Grace's knowledge of their customs.
Avatar: The Mobile Game (non-canon)[]
In the mobile game, Grace is in radio contact with Jake as he goes in his first mission. She also encouraged him to make contact with the natives, especially with Neytiri. Grace informed Jake of the explosives in Na'vi villages near the mining complex. Later when Jake searched for the captured Ni'awve clan leader, Tse'huk, he asked Grace to search for where the Na'vi prisoners were held. Grace found out that Neytiri also was captured and was held along with Tse'huk in an unobtanium mine. After Jake had reached the Sacred Soul of Pandora, Grace moved Jake's body to safe location, because Quaritch wanted to shoot Jake. Jake told Grace to keep his body safe and broke contact.
Avatar: Pandora Rising (non-canon)[]
Commander information[]
Grace was one of the controllable Commanders in Avatar: Pandora Rising before its cancellation. She was available to RDA players as a Scientist.
Biography[]
"Dr. Grace Augustine is not only the leading Xenobotanist and Xenoanthropologist on Pandora but also the head of the RDA Avatar Program. Of all the humans stationed on Pandora, she has the deepest connection with the Na'vi and does everything in her power to respect their ways and culture. Simultaneously, she must also balance the needs and desires of the RDA, who underwrite all of her scientific endeavors."
Gallery[]
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Trivia[]
Character appearance and creation[]
Grace's necklace.
- Grace's avatar appears to wear a necklace that Sylwanin wore while alive. Similarly, Kiri wears the same necklace that Grace's human form wore.
- As an avatar, Grace wears a Stanford shirt, suggesting she may have attended or taught at Stanford University in California, although it can also be seen as a reference to her actress, Sigourney Weaver, who attended Stanford.
- Grace's avatar resembles her human form far more than other avatars. Her avatar form lacks a typical, flat Na'vi nose and has facial structure and traits very similar to her human form.
- The Winston designers had the most difficulty incorporating Sigourney Weaver's features into their avatar design, partly due to the fact that her avatar was supposed to be eighteen years younger than Grace appears in her live-action scenes. Rather than go off current reference, the artists imported fifteen-year-old photographs of the actress. "To de-age Grace's avatar," said John Rosengrant, "we took pictures of Sigourney Weaver from Alien 3 [1992] and brought them into ZBrush. Then we started sculpting and pushing things around to create her avatar." Artists found that the avatar was not suitably recognizable as Sigourney Weaver once they added the broad Na'vi nose, because it was so at odds with Weaver's naturally slim, patrician nose. After exploring several options, the designers finally decided to give Grace's avatar a more human-size nose than her avatar colleagues, justified by the logic that the mix of human and Na'vi DNA could result in any number of different facial-feature combinations.[11]
- In James Cameron's original concept, Grace was named "Grace Shipley," (a possible reference to Sigourney Weaver's character named Ellen Ripley in the Alien films) while her role as head of the Avatar program was originally assumed by Dr. Brantley Giese, a character omitted from the final film. Also in the original scriptment, she survives the consciousness transfer and is reborn as a Na'vi.
- Human Grace has a tattoo centered on the ventral side of her right forearm. It can be briefly seen for only a few seconds here or there, such as near the beginning of the movie in deleted Scene 35A "Breakfast with the Scientists", the 'storytime' breakfast scene following Jake's first night at the Omatikaya Hometree, and later when Grace is dying at the Tree of Souls in her last moments as she reaches up for Jake.[12] It can also be partially viewed in some still photos of the character.
- It's difficult to tell what image the tattoo is of or supposed to represent, though the general shape may suggest it is of a tree with a large crown full of dense foliage like that of an oak tree or potentially a type of leaf.
- Production wise, the tattoo was temporary skin art / not a real tattoo belonging to Sigourney Weaver herself, as the actress isn't known to personally have any. Another well-known character of hers to have a tattoo was Ripley 8 in Alien: Resurrection. Similarly, yet slightly different, this number "8" tattoo was placed on the ventral side of her left forearm proximal to her elbow.
- The World of Avatar: A Visual Exploration claims Grace's avatar is 10 feet or 330 cm tall, which is the result of incorrect conversion. 10 feet actually converts to 304.8 cm, while 330 cm approximates to 10.83 feet. Even the smaller of both values makes Grace's avatar is taller than the recom avatar of Miles Quaritch, Jake Sully, Neytiri, and even Tonowari.
- Joshua Izzo later clarified both heights in the book should be considered an error, and Grace's avatar is closer to Neytiri's height.[13]
- Neytiri's height is 8' 7". Conjecture: Visually, Grace looks to be taller than Neytiri, closer/a little shorter to Jake's height at 8' 11". A median height between both known character's would be 8' 9", however this guesswork comparison is while Grace's avatar is seen wearing combat boots, which can add a couple inches to a person's height. Grace's avatar is briefly shown barefoot while at the Avatar Compound longhouse, however it's difficult to get an accurate height reference point in comparison to other avatars.
- In Avatar: The Way of Water, Grace's avatar looks to be more than just a foot (12") taller than her daughter Kiri, who at 14-years-old is 7' 7", however, again Grace's avatar would be wearing combat boots. Also, this moment can be an unreliable measure as the scene occurred in a spirit realm in which mental representations (i.e. Grace's human height and surroundings) can and were seen to be depicted differently compared to reality.
- Joshua Izzo later clarified both heights in the book should be considered an error, and Grace's avatar is closer to Neytiri's height.[13]
- Jodie Foster was considered for the role before Sigourney Weaver signed on.
Avatar[]
- In the pre-release script of Avatar, Grace calls Mo'at the "Queen Bitch" which suggests Grace resents Mo'at somewhat for being exiled from the clan. This greatly contrasts Adapt or Die which depicts them as being allies.
- There are some foreshadowing lines regarding Grace in the film, for example:
- Grace, looking at a display showing the Tree of Souls: "I would die to get samples there." - She does, in fact, die there.
- Grace to Miles Quaritch: "Or what, Ranger Rick? You gonna shoot me?" Quaritch: "I can do that." - Quaritch ends up mortally wounding her with his sidearm during the Avatar team's escape from Hell's Gate.
- Grace's smoking has been one of the criticisms thrown at Avatar by some anti-smoking organizations, who said that Grace set a bad example for young children who might see the film, despite that it is rated PG-13 for multiple reasons. James Cameron argued that Grace smoking was not an endorsement of smoking, and was meant to depict it as negative, specifically as a way of representing Grace's neglect and lack of care for her human body.[14] [15]
- Sigourney Weaver did not actually smoke on set, however, as she is not a smoker. She acted out the motions of smoking with a toothpick [16] and the cigarette was added in digitally in post-production, which can be observed in some deleted scenes from the film.[17]
- At Hell's Gate, Grace's preferred Link Unit is number 4. At Site 26, her designated link unit is number 2. After being shot, Grace is transported laying down on this unit as half of the Link Shack is relocated and placed near the Tree of Souls. Not long later, this unit is smashed by Miles Quaritch in his AMP as he searches for Jake Sully's human body during the film's end fight. (Had Grace not previously been shot and died, instead alive and actively using the link unit, she most certainly would have likely been heavily injured from blunt force trauma / impaled by interior parts of the machine resulting from the impact - potentially dying from those sustained injuries instead.) Fifteen years later, as the first Recombinant squad investigate the site, one of the Recoms Zdinarsik checks out the shack's interior, temporarily opening the lid of the damaged unit.
- According to the RDA video logs, Grace (as Augustine, G.) is listed as the P.I. (program instructor) overseeing researcher Sully, J.; her ID# 013 SGQ 023.
- At Site 26, after Jake does a 16-hour link, Grace heats up a packaged meal for Jake. She's been taking care of his nutritional needs for his neglected human body. Seeing his continued weight loss, she voices her concern as his boss and as someone who might even consider being a friend someday, giving his head a quick caress.[15] Later, when Grace is dying, as Jake begs Tsu'tey and Mo'at for help, he calls her "my friend".[12]
- An interesting parallel, in Avatar, Grace is called "Buttercup" by Miles Quaritch in deleted extended scenes titled 164-172 "The Challenge" as Quaritch invades Site 26. In response to being cuffed and physically forced out of Site 26, Grace yells at Quaritch "You tin pot dictator!". In Avatar: The Way of Water, during the attack on the SeaDragon, Grace's daughter Kiri is snatched out of the ocean by Recom Wainfleet on his banshee and dropped on the deck. As he apprehands her and forces her to walk across the deck, he calls her "Buttercup". Kiri retorts by saying "I'm not your buttercup, perv!" and is then quickly handcuffed to a rail. Human Lyle Wainfleet was present during the Site 26 raid fifteen years earlier and heard Quaritch call her mother "Buttercup".
- It's unknown if Recom Wainfleet actively recognized Kiri as being biologically related to Grace, or if he was under the assumption of Kiri being truly one of Jake Sully and Neytiri's half-breed offspring - a biological sibling to Lo'ak. Either way, it's a nice callback / 'history repeats itself' moment by the script writers; where both mother and daughter share a similar experience of being called "Buttercup" by a Marine right before they are handcuffed and forced to go somewhere they don't want to.
Avatar: The Way of Water[]
- The Way of Water begins with Jake saying, "The forests of Pandora hold many dangers. But the most dangerous thing about Pandora is that you may grow to love her too much." This is a reference to a quote said by Grace in James Cameron's Avatar: An Activist Survival Guide, though it is written, "There are many dangers on Pandora, and one of the subtlest is that you may come to love it too much."
- Kiri addresses Grace as "Ma"; seen greeting her softly twice with "Hi, Ma" - once to Grace's avatar floating inside an Amnio Tank located in High Camp's avatar biolab, and again when meeting Grace's spirit after connecting to the Spirit Tree located in the Metkayina Clan's Cove of the Ancestors.
- According to the information labels seen on the monitor screen, the video Kiri is watching of Grace at the High Camp biolab is log entry #351. The timestamp is LST: 20:09:44. It was recorded at Site 26 in the year 2154 during the three months Grace spent at the location during Avatar. The specific month and day are unknown.
- After spending 30 or so years on Pandora, this number of log entries averages to 11.7 logs per year (an entry every 31.2 days) so practically once a month. This is a stark contrast compared to Jake making a daily log entry, where in the three months after his arrival, at the end of the movie his last log entry was #98. Had Grace made a daily log, by the time she died, she would have made over 10,950 log entries.
- Speculation: Based on the presumed average frequency of when Grace makes a log entry, plus the topic of her current research results showing signs of a "global response" an "awareness" (which continuity wise matches with what she told Parker Selfridge about what they/she thought they knew about the trees being a global network uploading and downloading data/memories before he ignorantly laughed in her face), log entry #351 may very well have been the very last log entry Grace ever made before dying.
Grace's memory can recognize Kiri as her daughter.
- It is peculiar that the Grace seen in Kiri's vision is aware Kiri is her daughter, because Joshua Izzo has stated that Eywa works like a read-only hard drive, even pointing out that the deceased need to be reminded they have died over and over again every visit. Kiri and Grace both seem to have a special relationship with Eywa that seems to overcome this limitation.
- In The Way of Water, Kiri embraces a taller human Grace in her vision, however, Kiri is much taller than human Grace in reality (Kiri at age 14-years-old is 7' 7" while human Grace is 5' 11" - a difference of 1 foot 8 inches. For comparison, human Grace in actuality would be the same size as Spider, just 1 inch shorter than him, as Spider is 6' 0" at age 16-years-old.). This can be explained due to them meeting in a non-corporeal mental world and how Kiri mentally envisions her mother as being taller.
- Grace's height goes through a 3-phase subtle conversion process from between being represented as human, to an intermediate human, and then as an avatar. When Kiri meets Grace, as she silently approaches Grace's spirit who's sitting in her chair looking through a microscope, human Grace is normal sized, even after Grace becomes aware of Kiri's presence, turns and greets her. When Grace stands, her size has now instantly proportionally increased to make human Grace a lot larger, now bigger than Kiri. As the scene setting transitions from a biolab to the central ground level of the Omatikaya Hometree (with 'natural' tree trunk column archways designed aesthetically similar to that of a church), Grace now in her avatar form is even taller by several inches (having now leaned down into the hug), before standing up straight at her full supposed avatar height.
- Jake's songcord has a white button from Grace's lab coat as part of it, representing how much her death affected him.
Other[]
- Grace's favorite Pandoran animal is the fan lizard.[18]
- Strangely, in the RDA route for Avatar: The Game, she congratulates Ryder Masterson on defeating the Na'vi rather than despising them for it.
- Sigourney Weaver reprised her role in a Saturday Night Live skit called "Avatar Sex Gone Wild".
Memorable quotes[]
Avatar: The Game[]
- „Those things are not who we are. Yes, they are in us... but they are in you, as well. Learn how to live together in harmony with this beautiful world. How to SEE beyond our differences. How to SEE beyond this exterior, beyond this body.“ - Grace to Rai'uk.
- „I SEE your pain, I do. It is the same pain that I would feel if you hurt someone I loved. It is the same pain any being would feel if they had to live what I SEE you have lived.“ - Grace to Rai'uk.
- „You're Dr. Harper's problem. You disappoint him, and that becomes my problem. So I got three words for you: Don't screw up.“ - Grace to Ryder.
- „File away fantasies of a tropical vacation. If you go cowboy like the rest of these jarheads, you'll be dead inside 2 weeks. I guarantee this planet is the most hostile world you've ever seen. But you keep an open mind, and she'll reward you in ways you can't imagine.“ - Grace to Ryder.
- „I've worked for René Harper for nearly 10 years. Who the hell are you? Some new recruit having a bad day. You have no idea what he's been through.“ - Grace to Ryder.
- „You know, things can seem pretty black and white when you first get here. But be careful. It's a bit like walking into a dark room. It takes time for your eyes to adjust, and then you start to see things as they really are.“ - Grace to Ryder.
Avatar[]
- „Who's got my goddamned cigarette? Guys! What's wrong with this picture?“ - Coming out of her link unit.
- „I mean, they're just pissing on us without even the courtesy of calling it rain.“ - To Jake upon first meeting.
- „Parker, you know, I used to think it was benign neglect, but now I see that you're intentionally screwing me.“ - Arguing with Parker Selfridge.
- „So you just figured you come out here, to the most hostile environment known to man, with no training of any kind, and see how it went?“ - To Jake.
- „Run, definitely run!“ - Shouting to Jake when he sees the thanator.
- „For reasons I cannot fathom, the Omatikaya have chosen you. God help us all.“ - To Jake.
- „Yeah, that tends to happen when you use machine guns on them.“ - To Selfridge when he complains relations with the Na'vi are worsening.
- „Don't make me force-feed a cripple.“ - Ordering Jake to eat food in his human body.
- „Oh, shit!“ - When the Omatikaya discover that Jake and Neytiri mated.
- „Or what, Ranger Rick? You gonna shoot me?“ - To Quaritch when he tells Grace to shut her pie hole.
- „The wealth of this world isn't in the ground, it's all around us.“ - Explaining to Selfridge the importance of Pandora.
- „There are families in there. There are children. Babies! Are you gonna kill children?!“ - Grace trying to persuade Parker to delay the Hometree strike.
- „Crap... this is gonna ruin my whole day.“ - After being shot by Miles Quaritch.
- „I need to take some samples.“ - At the Tree of Souls, shortly before her death.
- „I'm with her, Jake... she's real.“ - Moments before her passing.
Avatar: The Way of Water[]
- „Maybe I'm just losing it out here, but I'm seeing real evidence of a systemic response on a global level. I can't... I won't use the term "intelligence." It's, um... maybe "awareness" is a better word. It's like the entire biosphere of Pandora is aware and capable of this cognitive response. Oh, crap, I can't say that. They'll crucify me.“ - In her video log.
- „My beautiful daughter. I'm so happy to see you. But you look troubled. Shh... shh... my sweet girl. It'll be okay. Shhh... What is it, baby?“ - To Kiri.
- „Oh, my darling...“ - Before her meeting with Kiri ends.
Appearances[]
| Title | Format | Release date | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Cameron's Avatar: An Activist Survival Guide | Book | December 1st, 2009 | Mentioned only. |
| James Cameron's Avatar: The Game (PC, Xbox 360, PS3) | Video game | December 1st, 2009 | |
| James Cameron's Avatar: The Game (Wii/PSP) | Video game | December 1st, 2009 | |
| Avatar: The Mobile Game | Video game | December 2nd, 2009 | |
| James Cameron's Avatar: The Game (iOS/Android) | Video game | December 15th, 2009 | |
| Avatar | Film | December 18th, 2009 | Portrayed by actress Sigourney Weaver. |
| Avatar: Tsu'tey's Path | Comic book | January 16th, 2019 | Page #: 39, 47-50, 65, 69, 72-73, 81-86, 103, 113, 115-117. |
| Avatar: Pandora Rising | Video game | October 18th, 2019 | |
| Avatar: Adapt or Die | Comic book | May 11th, 2022 | Page #: 1, 7-12, 16-21, 27-28, 33-34, 37-39, 44-52, 59-126, 129-130. |
| Avatar: The Way of Water | Film | December 16th, 2022 | Portrayed by actress Sigourney Weaver. |
| Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora | Video game | December 7th, 2023 | Mentioned only by two NPCs.[19] [20] |
References[]
- ↑ Avatar: Collector's Edition. Deleted scenes 164-172 "The Challenge". An extended version of Miles Quaritch and his retrieval squad invading Site 26 is seen. As Quaritch orders the Marines to apprehend Jake Sully, Grace Augustine, and Norm Spellman, he says to Grace: "Hey Buttercup, I'll see you back at the hacienda. We'll have a chat." He then quickly orders the Marine to "cuff her".
- ↑ It is possible she may have been 51-years-old at death because her birthday may have been during the three months. It is also unclear if her age in the script includes a one-way cryosleep to Pandora which would add another 6 years.
- ↑ Avatar script: "DR. GRACE AUGUSTINE sits up in her link, stretching and cracking her neck after a long session. She's fifty, with a strong face and fiercely intelligent eyes."
- ↑ Avatar script: "In human years she would be about 35".
- ↑ It's unknown how fast or slow Grace's avatar body has aged since being reinstated in an Amnio Tank, if at all.
- ↑ Actual avatar height unknown. Due to a conversion error, Grace's avatar was incorrectly listed as 10' tall. Joshua Izzo claims that Grace's avatar is closer to Neytiri's height; Neytiri is 8' 7".
- ↑ Avatar: The Way of Water: The Visual Dictionary page 18
- ↑ The World of Avatar: A Visual Exploration
- ↑ Avatar: Reckoning book texture
- ↑ https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/behind-the-scenes-of-avatar-part-two
- ↑ The making of Avatar, page 103.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 YouTube - Grace's transference ceremony at the Tree of Souls
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Avatar/comments/18rmk2s/which_avatar_books_are_actually_lore_accurate/
- ↑ https://www.slashfilm.com/831493/sigourney-weavers-avatar-character-sparked-a-surprising-controversy/
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 YouTube - Grace tells Jake about the school shooting
- ↑ Avatar deleted scenes 36A-37 "You're in My World Now"
- ↑ https://www.thegeektwins.com/2019/01/25-mind-blowing-facts-about-james.html
- ↑ James Cameron's Avatar: An Activist Survival Guide
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/FrontiersOfPandora/comments/1e5zoay/dr_grace_augustine_mentioned/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/FrontiersOfPandora/comments/1dwxna2/resistance_members_make_mention_of_kiri/
| Characters from the films | ||
|---|---|---|
| Introduced in Avatar | Humans: Na'vi: | |
| Introduced in Avatar: The Way of Water | Humans: Miles Socorro • Frances Ardmore • Mick Scoresby • Ian Garvin • Charles Stringer • Ward • Dorman • Jocelyn • Davis • Neytiri's Victim
Na'vi:
| |
| Introduced in Avatar: Fire and Ash | Humans: Na'vi: | |
| Known avatars | ||
|---|---|---|
| Avatars from 2154 and before | Alma Cortez · Basketball Avatar (male) · Basketball Avatar (female) · Blonde avatar driver · Grace Augustine · Jake Sully (shared with Tom Sully) · Norm Spellman · Unnamed male avatar | |
| Recombinants (post-2154) | Brown · Ja · Lopez · Lyle Wainfleet · Mansk · Miles Quaritch · Prager · Sean Fike · Walker · Warren · Zdinarsik · Zhang | |
| Reckoning (2170s) | Ashley Sloane · Cynthia · Eaton Roberts · Joe Santos · John · Kim Greene · Lily Reese · Moore · Nathan Gomez · Niya Hassan · Phil Bennet · Polina Sidorova · Raven · Raven's Father · Raven's Mother · Reid · Ruby Carr · Simona Costello · Titus McMahon · Trinity Harper · Victor Rogers · Vince Anderson · Will Murphy · Wolfe · Zeke Hodge | |
| Distant future | Jaclyn Ogden | |
| Non-canonical | Able Ryder · Anson Langley · Conrad Olson · Gregorius · Jerome Epstein · Molly Ossman · Moran · René Harper · Ryan Lorenz · Ryder Masterson · Zane Madaki | |