Neytiri

Neytiri was born as Neytiri te Ts'kaha Mo'at'ite, daughter of Mo'at and Eytukan. She grew up learning through songs, as all Na'vi do, learning to love and celebrate their connection with Eywa (the Na'vi god) and all other life. She later learned to speak English from Grace Augustine's school, but it was closed down after an attack in 2152. During the confrontation, Neytiri saw her sister Sylwanin killed right in front of her, gunned down in the doorway. While Grace saved many of the other students, relations between the humans and the Na'vi grew tenser than ever. Sometime before the events of the film, Neytiri is betrothed to Tsu'tey, and they were expected to succeed Eytukan and Mo'at as the Olo'eyktan (Clan Leader) and Tsahik (Spiritual Leader) of the Omaticaya Clan.

One day while Neytiri is hunting in the woods, she spots Jake Sully's avatar and begins to stalk him. As she is about to kill the armed intruder with a bow, a woodsprite floats down and gently touches her arrowhead, telling her that the avatar is pure. She continues to follow the avatar because of this symbol. When the avatar is attacked by a pack of viperwolves, she protects him by fending off the creatures. Although Jake tries to thank her for saving her, she rejects him, as she wants nothing to do with the humans. Suddenly, dozens of woodsprites land on Jake. Amazed by what she just witnessed, Neytiri sees this as a good omen from Eywa and decides to take him to Hometree; the home of the Omaticaya clan.

Upon arrival, Tsu'tey attacks Jake and attempts to kill him, but Neytiri stops him explaining the sign she had received from Eywa. Jake is then taken to meet with Eytukan and Mo'at and they decide that they must study Jake, as he is the first Avatar who was a soldier and not a scientist. Much to her chagrin, Neytiri is tasked with teaching Jake the Na'vi ways.

Over the following three months, Neytiri teaches Jake the ways of the Na'vi. She shows him how move through the Pandoran jungle, make tsaheylu (a bond that allows him to ride direhorses and ikran), speak the Na'vi language, and hunting rituals. She also tells him Na'vi stories, including the story of the Toruk Makto, a mythical Na'vi warrior who was closely linked with Eywa and therefore able to make tsaheylu with the Toruk, a legendary Pandoran creature. During this time, she also falls in love with Jake and eventually, they mate.

After Jake reveals his true mission and explains that the RDA was coming to destroy Hometree, Neytiri furiously rejects him and allows Tsu'tey to bind and kill him. However, before the execution can happen, the RDA strikes, destroying Hometree and taking several Na'vi casualties, including Eytukan. Jake finds her and attempts to comfort her, but once again she rejects him and demands he go away and never come back.

Neytiri and the other surviving members of the Omaticaya Clan then seek refuge at the Tree of Souls, where they pray that Eywa will save them. Their prayers are answered when Jake returns, having made tsaheylu with the Toruk. Recognizing his close connection to Eywa, Neytiri forgives him and accepts him again. She then helps Jake rally the other Na'vi clans to prepare for an impending attack from the RDA, who plan to strike and destroy the Tree of Souls.

During the subsequent battle, the Na'vi suffer heavy casualties, but are rescued when Pandoran wildlife unexpectedly join the attack and overwhelm the humans, which Neytiri interprets as Eywa's answer to Jake's prayer. Jake destroys a makeshift bomber before it can reach the Tree of Souls; Quaritch, wearing an AMP suit, escapes from his own damaged aircraft, then later finds and breaks open the avatar link unit containing Jake's human body, exposing it to Pandora's poisonous atmosphere. Quaritch prepares to slit the throat of Jake's avatar, but Neytiri kills Quaritch and saves Jake from suffocation, seeing his human form for the first time.

With the exceptions of Jake, Norm and a select few others, all humans are expelled from Pandora and sent back to Earth. Neytiri watches over Jake as he is permanently transferred into his avatar with the aid of the Tree of Souls.

Neytiri briefly appears in this comic book series, which is set two weeks following the Na'vi's victory over the RDA. During this time, several clans were still struggling with the losses and damages they suffered during the battle, and Neytiri had volunteered to assist them in Jake's place; Jake remarked that the other clans would have more trust in her due to her being fully Na'vi. Before departing on her mission, she finds Jake at the gravesite of his human body; he was still suffering internal conflicts about his transition into his avatar body, and Neytiri takes note of this, remarking that it isn't healthy for him.

She would, however, be forced to return only a couple of days later after receiving news that an attempt had been made on Jake's life by the family of Tsu'tey. Thankfully Jake had survived and Neytiri finds him again back at the gravesite, where they embrace and the worried Neytiri questions him about what happened. He is dismissive of the situation and downplays the events, remarking that it's "just a scratch", but Neytiri is concerned and points out that Jake doesn't seem himself. He states that in fact he has never felt more like himself and finally leaves his human body behind.

The origins for Neytiri date back to the late 1970s, when James Cameron was preparing Xenogenesis, a short film intended to be used as a pitch for a feature length film that never happened. The film features a painting of a female blue skinned alien. He later stated that after the film was turned down, he kept thinking about the idea of a blue skinned alien and decided to recycle it when developing Avatar in the early 1990s (which was then known as Project 880).[2] Further inspiration for the look of Neytiri came from the description of a dream his mother had in which she saw a blue-skinned woman 12 feet (4 m) tall.[3] In earlier drafts of the screenplay, Neytiri was known as "Zuleika Te Kaha Polenoma".

In the 1990s, when Avatar began to be developed, Charisma Carpenter was set to play the role. But by the time the film had been greenlit in the 2006, Carpenter had become too old for the role and was thus not cast. Cameron then began a worldwide search for actresses to play the role, with Q'orianka Kilcher being considered and Emily Blunt auditioning for the role.[4][5][6] Eventually, Cameron cast Zoe Saldana in the role. Since she was cast early in production, Saldana helped screen-test actors auditioning for the part of Jake Sully, including eventual co-star Sam Worthington. [7]