Little about Scoresby's early life is known, other than that he used to be a big game hunter back on Earth.[2]
At some point, Scoresby joined the RDA and its Cetacean Operations (Cet-Ops) Division, which operates on the oceans of Pandora. He is contracted by Frances Ardmore[3] and is tasked with with hunting tulkun, massive marine creatures reminiscent to whales from Earth, to extract amrita, a yellow liquid which can stop human aging, from their brains. As amrita has become extremely valuable on Earth, its extraction pays for most of the RDA's colonization efforts on Pandora.
At one point in the past, a tulkun named Payakan led a group of other tulkun and his Na'vi spirit brothers against the SeaDragon after his mother was killed. However, the whalers, including Scoresby, nearly annihilated them all, leaving Payakan as the only survivor. Following this, both the Na'vi and the tulkuns banished Payakan for going against the peaceful way of his species.
After they boarded the SeaDragon, Scoresby assists Recom Quaritch and his recombinant squad, along with Spider, in their efforts to hunt down Jake Sully. He, along with Dr. Ian Garvin, escort the squad to a village of the Ta'unui clan. The village refuses to give up information on Jake under Tonowari's orders and their marui are burned down. Scoresby and Garvin then inform Quaritch about the close bond between the Metkayina clan and the tulkun and Quaritch decides on using a tulkun hunt to draw Jake out of hiding.
Scoresby harvesting Ro'a's amrita.
Scoresby takes Quaritch with him on a Matador to ambush a pod of tulkun, while Spider stays behind on the SeaDragon with Dr. Garvin. Scoresby singles out a mother tulkun, who happens to be Ronal's spirit sister Ro'a, and her calf. He chases them down, ultimately killing both mother and calf. The mother tulkun's amrita is then harvested aboard the SeaDragon. Scoresby then shows Quaritch and Spider how they extract amrita from the female. Once they collect it, Quaritch requests the tracking devices be left on the carcass so Jake would know who killed her. Sure enough, the Metkayina are horrified upon discovering the dead tulkun and her calf, especially Ronal.
Eventually, the whalers track Payakan, resulting in Lo'ak, Tsireya, and Tuktirey being captured when they try to rescue him. On his Matador, Scoresby waits with his harpoon intact as the Awa'atlu village approach. Just as Jake prepares to surrender himself, Payakan leaps from the water and slams down on the SeaDragon. Scoresby has the Matador turn around and fires his harpoon at the tulkun, only for Payakan to deflect the harpoon off his head crest and further damage the SeaDragon.
Scoresby flies into the water with his severed arm.
During the clash, Scoresby tries to hit Payakan with another harpoon, only for Payakan to dodge it and snag the cord. He then leaps above the Matador, which gets the cord caught on the stern of the Matador, and, after pulling both cord and ship into rocks with immense force, cleaving the ship in half with the cord while pinning Scoresby by his right arm against the harpoon gun as the rest of his men, apparently including Garvin as well, abandon ship. The men do not attempt to help Scoresby as they are unaware of his distress. Scoresby is unable to free himself due to Payakan's immense force and his arm is cleaved off. Mick's body, along with his severed arm, are thrown into the ocean but he managed to survive.
Avatar: Fire and Ash[]
Scoresby will appear but his role is currently unknown.
Personality[]
Mick Scoresby is impatient and constantly pushing his men to do better, to the point of lambasting them at times. He is blunt and speaks his mind, which may make him seem impolite such as when he calls Quaritch an asshole upon meeting him. He is also shown he can be cheeky with a sense of humor, such as when he jokes about breaking the amrita vial to Garvin.
He is motivated solely by his paycheck from the RDA and enjoyment of hunting tulkun. Although Garvin insists that the tulkun are sentient creatures, Scoresby is dismissive of this fact and either does not fully believe it or is simply apathetic to it. When he carries out a hunt on a tulkun, Scoresby shows no emotion about killing, besides targeting the mothers and their young. He calls the tulkun a magnificent beast, allowing itself to be killed without even defending itself.
Trivia[]
Scoresby: "Lights out, little guy."
Scoresby being rescued onto a boat.
In a deleted scene, it is shown Scoresby killed Ro'a's calf with a harpoon after killing his mother.
In a deleted scene, Scoresby and Garvin are seen being rescued out of the water, with Scoresby grunting in pain as he tries to stop the bleeding from his stump.
Payakan severing one of Scoresby's arms parallels Payakan's own fin being severed by tulkun whalers.
