Importance of Eywa

I also missed class last week so I am not sure what scenes or things from the film were discussed.

I wanted to talk about something that I noticed right away when watching this movie recently.

Right now I am taking a Bible Context and Interpretation class here at the U, and we are discussing the bible and of course God. I learned that in the bible there is a name the people call God, this name is Yahweh also spelled YHWH. The deity, guiding force, spirit, mother nature or god of Pandora in the Avatar film is called Eywa. I don't know why I thought it was so odd that the letters in both of these names (Yahweh and Eywa) were so similar. If you drop the H's in Yahweh, you have the four letters that spell Eywa. Maybe odd isn't the right word but I found this to be a very interesting comparison in a way. That is why I wanted to focus on talking about Eywa and it's importance in Avatar.

As for a specific scene of moment in the film from Avatar, there are many that include Eywa. In a way after you as a watcher of the film could go back and say that every aspect and scene of Pandora and it's people include Eywa. For the requirements of this post I will however choose a couple.

Woodsprites-- A Sign From Eywa

A woodsprite (the small little white puffy creature) rests on Neytiri's bow when she is about to kill Jake. This presence of the woodsprite landing on her bow along signals that Jake is pure, and should not be killed even though he is categorized as a danger to her people. Knowing that Jake is a pure spirit Neytiri then follows him. When Jake is attacked by a pack of wolflike creatures she helps fight them off. She very upset at the end of the short lived battle, because she has killed three of these wolflike animals. She tells Jake that he is like a little Baby and he doesn't know what he is doing. It seems that she is almost questioning the sign from the woodsprite, ultimately the sign from Eywa, because Jake is so incompetent and cannot even get through the forest with out coming into danger and that he cannot have some special importance like her deity informed her of. I do not feel that Neytiri fully believes that Jake is good until later in the scene when many woodsprites land all over him. This is what seems to be a re-enforcing sign from Eywa to Neytiri telling her that Jake is important.

In religion people are to have faith in their god, whom ever their god may be. They are to promise in their god, and trust that things happen for a reason and etc. This is what Neytiri is doing. The sign of the woodsprites was a way to signify that Jake is good and should not be harmed. Neytiri has no idea why this is, she just has to trust in Eywa- her god- the one who sent the message.

Eywa's Help in Battle

At the end of the film when there is war between the Na'vi and the Sky People the Na'vi are losing in the battle and all seems lost. Then the Pandora wildlife appears and joins in the fight. Now before the fight even began Jake asks for Eywa's help and guidance because he did not know what to do and how to beat the Sky People in battle. This scene symbolizes that Eywa and essentially God is there when all hope is gone. That God will in a way be there to save and or back up the believers. This thought held by many people is the perfect example of what happens in this scene in Avatar. The Na'vi people are losing terribly, and Eywa saves them.

Now like I said earlier these are just a couple of examples throughout the film that deal with Eywa. I think that overall Avatar is trying to show that there is a greater power than us (humans, people, animals) out there. James Cameron created another world, a world where the ones lived and breathed there knew that they were not all powerful or that their own existence was not the most important thing. I believe that Avatar was so successful as a story and a film because it ties everything together. What I mean by that is that everything is connected in Pandora. There is peace, and the world is happy and in a way perfect. We do not have that here on Earth, in our world. It seems that there is a challenge with everything and that there will never be total happiness.