The Three Brothers are towering karst-like rock structures in a rounded formation and close proximity to one another. Together, they elicit a distinct profile. At their center is an underwater kelp bed that tracks their shoreline. The deepest area of water around them is approximately 100 feet.[1]
Avatar: The Way of Water[]
Lo'ak travels to the Three Brothers with Aonung and a few other Metkayina boys to hunt. On the backs of the ilu, they arrive at the Three Brothers where they tell Lo'ak to hunt a fish and then secretly retreat as Aonung played a trick on him. It turns out that these waters are inhabited by akulas. One specimen, having smelled the blood of a hunted fish, tries to hunt down and eat Lo'ak. He hides among a formation of underwater kelp, but when he can no longer stay underwater and is about to be killed, a tulkun comes to his rescue by crushing and killing the hunting beast. Lo'ak thanks him for saving him and befriends Payakan, who turns out to be a tulkun outcast and inhabits only the waters adjacent to the rocks.
Some time later, on the trail of Payakan, captain Mick Scoresby's SeaDragon arrives at this place, from which Lo'ak and the other children who accompany him are forced to flee. Also under the Three Brothers, a battle takes place between the recombinants and the Metkayina Clan, during which the SeaDragon is destroyed and several of its crew, the recombinants, and Neteyam are killed.
Trivia[]
Tri Brata in Eastern Russia
- It is called the Three Sisters in the original script.
- Multiple rock formations with the same or a similar name exist in real life:
- Три Брата, Russian for "three brothers", are three rocks located at the entrance to Avacha Bay in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Eastern Russia.
- Three Brothers is a rock formation in the Yosemite National Park in the USA. It is named after the capture of the three sons of Chief Tenaya near the base of the Three Brothers.[2]
- Trite Bratya (Three Brothers) is a rock formation in the Bulgarian town Aytos that resembles the form of three human figures.
- The Three Sisters are a rock formation in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia and a popular tourist attraction.[3]
- The Three Brothers can be interpreted as being symbolic of three brothers who have appeared in the story so far although this is not confirmed:
- The first brother can be seen as Tom Sully, the second brother can be seen as Neteyam, and the third brother can be seen as Aonung. This has led to a fan theory Aonung will die in a future Avatar film.
- One take is that the meaning of the rocks are about three brothers who are all connected, in this case being Neteyam, Lo'ak and Payakan. One of the core major themes in The Way of Water is about how "family" goes beyond biological, and even species (hence Kiri and Miles Socorro). Lo'ak tells Neteyam regarding Payakan, "He's my brother!"
- One take is that the three brothers are Neteyam, Lo'ak and Spider. At the end of the story, Jake says "A son for a son" suggesting Spider is now part of the family.
- A final take is that the three rocks symbolize Lo'ak, Spider and Payakan at the end, and represents how while Lo'ak lost Neteyam by a gunshot, he still has two other brothers: Payakan and Spider.
- As a result of the different interpretations, it is somewhat ironic and fitting that this area is the showdown for a major conflict between various brothers, such as brothers trying to find out who their real brothers and family are. It is the site where Lo'ak meets and later goes to rescue his "spirit brother" Payakan, where Neteyam saves Lo'ak on the ship, where Lo'ak loses his brother Neteyam, where Payakan saves Lo'ak, and where Spider is apparently accepted into the Sully family and gains Lo'ak and Neteyam as brothers.