Doctor Max Patel is a civilian scientist on Pandora who is currently part of The Resistance.
Before the Battle of Ayram Alusìng, he was in charge of overseeing the process of synchronizing the minds of humans with their avatar bodies as well as providing technical advice and support to the avatar team. He became the inside man for the RDA defects, and was one the few humans allowed to stay on Pandora after the Pandoran War.
After the war, he became the chief scientist at High Camp and one of the leading experts on Pandoran research. No longer able to use the RDA's resources, Max and his staff conduct their independent research.
Max met Jake and Norm the day they arrived on Pandora. He explained what an avatar was and showed them their respective avatars. Later, Max accompanies Jake and Norm to the control room, where they meet Grace Augustine for the first time. In response to Norm’s enthusiastic description to his future boss, Max notes, not without a grin, that Grace simply loves plants more than people. During a short dialogue, noticing that Grace's attention has switched to Norm, Max reminds her of Jake's existence, and after a small conflict breaks out, he tells Jake that work will begin tomorrow at eight o'clock in the morning, and asks Jake to look smarter next time.
Max concerned by Jake's excitement.
He was in charge of linking Jake's mind into his avatar for the first time, and was impressed by Jake's brain. When Jake woke up in his avatar form, Max asked him to settle down, as he wasn't used to his avatar body. However, Jake disobeyed him and ran out of the building.
Max was also the one who told Grace that Jake was giving information about the Na'vi to both Colonel Quaritch and Parker Selfridge, causing Grace's team to relocate to Site 26.
The Release of the Avatar Team[]
Max contacts the avatar team in Site 26 and warns them about the attack.
Max and Trudy Chacón helped the avatar team to escape after they were arrested, but as they fled, Jake told Max to stay behind in order to provide them with intelligence, saying he needed someone on the inside he could trust.
Max stayed in Hell's Gate and later told Jake, Norm, and Trudy that Quaritch had taken over and that the RDA were planning an attack on the Tree of Souls.
After the battle, Max was one of the few humans chosen to stay on Pandora. During the banishment of the RDA employees to the Valkyrie, when Parker Selfridge walked towards Jake's group, Max aims his gun at Parker, showing Max's willingness to protect his allies even if it means offending Parker and the RDA.
Two weeks later, Max was summoned by Katherine Hale and sent to the Tree of Souls to check on Jake who had been poisoned by Ateyo and Artsut. Seeing that Jake is still alive, Max explains that it could be thanks to the human DNA in his avatar; he is 100% Na'vi, just not physically. Mo'at informs the humans that the only way to save Jake is to find a special flower that can be used as an antidote, although it grows in a cave with an entrance that is too small for the Na'vi to enter, so Mo'at requests that Hale and her team retrieve it.
When the RDA returned to Pandora with new resources in 2168, the Omatikaya clan relocated to a camp located deep in the Hallelujah Mountains. In the same place, the Hell's Gate rebels set up their base, including Max and Norm.
Max and Norm trying to help Kiri.
When the Sully family left the forest and went to the lands of the Metkayina clan, Max and the others remained in the Hallelujah Mountains, but maintained contact. After Kiri's epileptic seizure, Jake asks his friends to come over with medical supplies. Max and Norm flew to the coastal town of the Metkayina clan, Awa'atlu, aboard the Samson. Despite their efforts, Ronal and Neytiri interrupted them, wanting to heal Kiri with traditional Na'vi methods which worked. Max along with Norm also warned Jake that Kiri should not connect with the Spirit Tree again for the rest of her life because if she has seizures underwater again, it could kill her.
Personality and Traits[]
Max is a kind-hearted man and very loyal to his friends. Jake said that Max is one of the few humans on Pandora that he could trust and asked him to be his inside man to help Jake find out what to expect from the RDA in the final battle.
He is a clever scientist and was in charge of overseeing the process of transferring a human's mind into an avatar body. Max is quite cautious, asking Jake to settle down after being transferred into his new body, because Jake hadn't yet adapted to the body and Max didn't want him to accidentally injure himself or anyone else.
Max is said to have an avoidant personality when it comes to conflict, preferring not to get involved in messy corporate conflicts. It is also said that he dislikes heavy moralizing about the role of scientists on Pandora.[2]
Max Patel is a hard-working science technician, the "worker drone" type who serves as the lifeblood to any cubicle-based corporate circulatory system. He has a mild disposition and a gentle sense of humor, but he doesn't seem to get himself involved in corporate conflicts or heavy moralizing about the jobs of scientists on Pandora. He served as Grace's right hand and was in charge of the link units.
Trivia[]
A CGI model of Max giving the middle finger.
In the Avatar script, his surname is Cullimore instead of Patel.
In the Avatar script, Max and the Avatar Program scientists attacked the Hell's Gate Operations Center while the Battle of Ayram Alusìng was taking place. After giving Selfridge the middle finger, Max, using a Slash Cutter, smashed through the side of the building, allowing a group of armed avatars to enter and capture the RDA personnel inside, including Parker Selfridge.[3] An unfinished version of this scene is included as a deleted scene in the Extended Collector's Edition.
„Tomorrow, here, 0800, try and use big words.“- To Jake Sully.
„Jake, listen to me, you're not used to your avatar body!“- Max warning Jake to slow down.
„Jake, it's crazy here. It’s full mobilization. They’re rigging the shuttle as a bomber. They’ve made up these big pallets of mine explosives. It’s for some kind of shock and awe campaign.“- Max telling Jake, Norm and Trudy about Quaritch's operation.
