Na'vi Divorce? and other mating rituals discussion! (PG-13)

[tirea kaya'evengä]

I think most of the answers are about the Divorce part, so I just wanted to add my opinion about re-mating after a possible seperation or death. I don't think it would happen. The Na'vi seem to have a really, really strong relationship bond which I think is much stronger than humans have, so assuming this is true I very much doubt that if a partner died the other would go on to mate again. Because the dead na'vi returns back to Eywa (is this right?), it would probably be seen as still being really disrespectful towards them, and I doubt that they could bring themselves to mate again anyway.

[Txur’Itan]

I think most of the answers are about the Divorce part, so I just wanted to add my opinion about re-mating after a possible seperation or death. I don't think it would happen. The Na'vi seem to have a really, really strong relationship bond which I think is much stronger than humans have, so assuming this is true I very much doubt that if a partner died the other would go on to mate again. Because the dead na'vi returns back to Eywa (is this right?), it would probably be seen as still being really disrespectful towards them, and I doubt that they could bring themselves to mate again anyway.

Spoiler: Slightly off-topic Relationships after death thought

That brings up an interesting thought to what happens with all of the bulldozed relatives' trees of the Omatikaya?  Does that end the connections?  Does this add a layer of complications on how the Na'vi deal with their relationships after a mate has died?  What about those who died under the felled hometree, they would not have been ritualistically connected with Eywa, and could potentially have not been uploaded for connection with their survivors after death.

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

The bond is conveyed as being strong, or intended to be strong, but sometimes reality throws what people feel under the bus a few times, and a relationship ends for one reason or another.  We just don't know what happens after a mate dies, and we have no evidence that they never split up while both parties are alive.

So we are likely to speculate until the end of the third movie...

[Zefanaya]

This is when I wish I had access to project 880. I still think that it is possible for a separation (emotions are a powerful thing). As for the destroyed trees of voices I think that they are sort of like a portal or a modem to the pandora wide Eywa (if you will), and that it all go's back to The Tree if Souls, so as it is very sad that the trees were destroyed I don't think they actually lost any spirits.

Eywa ngahu

I think most of the answers are about the Divorce part, so I just wanted to add my opinion about re-mating after a possible seperation or death. I don't think it would happen. The Na'vi seem to have a really, really strong relationship bond which I think is much stronger than humans have, so assuming this is true I very much doubt that if a partner died the other would go on to mate again. Because the dead na'vi returns back to Eywa (is this right?), it would probably be seen as still being really disrespectful towards them, and I doubt that they could bring themselves to mate again anyway.

Spoiler: Slightly off-topic Relationships after death thought

That brings up an interesting thought to what happens with all of the bulldozed relatives' trees of the Omatikaya?  Does that end the connections?  Does this add a layer of complications on how the Na'vi deal with their relationships after a mate has died?  What about those who died under the felled hometree, they would not have been ritualistically connected with Eywa, and could potentially have not been uploaded for connection with their survivors after death.

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

The bond is conveyed as being strong, or intended to be strong, but sometimes reality throws what people feel under the bus a few times, and a relationship ends for one reason or another.  We just don't know what happens after a mate dies, and we have no evidence that they never split up while both parties are alive.

So we are likely to speculate until the end of the third movie...

[Carborundum]

Careful there, I think you're mixing the words Tribe and Clan.

Tribe and Clan are not words that can be used interchangeably. The Omatikaya is a Tribe, meaning a group of people who unite and live together and are made up of many different families. A Clan on the other hand is just one large extended family. For example, my name is Kristi Boes and I am part of the "Boes" Clan.

So the name Rongloa could refer to his Clan name, which would just mean what family he was from not necessarily what Tribe he was from.  Though we currently don't know enough about name structure to know for sure.

While I agree that these are the de facto definitions of clan vs. tribe, they are used somewhat differently in the movie. On several occasions the Omatikaya are refered to as a clan ("I had what she [Grace] needed: I way back in with the clan [Omatikaya]"). During Jake's little pep-talk to the homeless Omatikaya he says "tell the other clans to come", and they then ride out to "the horse clans of the plain". Also, Eytukan's/Tsu'tey's/Jake's title is olo'eyktan, meaning clan leader. So in the context of Avatar, I think "clan" really does mean tribe.

[Zefanaya]

Well I would agree, but it could also mean all the families for example you said in Jakes pep talk "ride out to all the clans" and his VO "the horse clans of the plains", it could mean all the families so in short the tribes. Na'vi is a different language though we have translated it, grammar and syntax are different, all the rules rare different, just like in English words are interchangeable and some arn't well Na'vi would have it's own set of interchangeable and non-interchangeable words.

Eywa ngahu.