The Performances of the Actors

[Hawnuyu atìtse'a]

He pulled through alright, but as far as him being in avatar sequels? Not likely. And omängum fra'uti, very good interpretation of the triple life. However, no matter which side he chose, the movie would have on two endings. Jake goes for scientists (non aggressors), he is powerless to stop Quaritch, na'vi lose. He goes for military, aids Quaritch, na'vi still lose. He goes for Omatikaya, stops quaritch, Navi win. So I'd say the deciding factor of the na'vi's fate is quaritch, as he eventually will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

[Txepa-utral Atxkxe]

**Warning** **Warning**
Wall of text inc!  Masks on!
**Warning** **Warning**

Jake's position is a little more complex than just traitor...

He was there for what was initially a science position, but since he had none of the science training of his brother, he was assigned as protection.

Then it gets a little fuzzy...  He's part of the Avatar program, which is Grace's department, so technically that's where he reports...  But as protection he's also part of security, which falls squarely in Quaritch's camp...  Being a marine and not a scientist, he feels more of a connection to Quaritch, so that feels more "right" to him, and he falls in line with the orders.

So he originally betrayed the scientists by reporting to Quaritch, even if it was very transparent and they all knew it was happening.

But wait, there's more!  Selfridge is in charge of the entire operation, so Grace and Quaritch fall under him, and he was the one who assigned Jake to Grace's team...  And while they don't say it, he was probably also the one that directed Quaritch's side job for Jake, though possibly only in a passive role of listening to Quaritch give an idea and approving it.

So now he's torn between doing what he's supposed to be doing, and... doing what he's supposed to be doing.

If he had just stayed as security escort, it would have probably been as Quaritch said, a whole lot simpler.  But then through his restlessness surrounded by the unknown, his childish behavior landed him in a spot where his role changed.

Now instead of the double life, he was playing a triple life.  And both the sides of his previous double life approved of the triple life; Grace because it gave the scientists an "in" back into the Omitakaya, and Quaritch because it gave him inside intel that would have otherwise been difficult or impossible to get.  In his leading the triple life, he starts to become confused...  He starts to forget who he is, and get lost in who he is being.  As he says in his log, he feels like his Na'vi life is the real one, and the other a dream.

So when the excrement hit the air agitation device, his hand was forced.  Of course Quaritch was planning there to be an attack all along.  Selfridge was prepared for it, though he didn't really understand the full implications of that.  The scientists were of course opposed to the plan and wanted to stop it, even if they knew they were powerless, but they had an outsider point of view.  Jake, on the other hand, was in deep with the Omitakaya at that point, and they were of course opposed from a much closer to home point of view.

No matter what Jake did, at that point, he would be a traitor to at least one of his three lives.  By that time, even after just three months, he was in deep with the clan, and spending nearly every waking hour in his avatar.  But not only in his avatar, but in his avatar in a completely different life.  This is in stark contrast to Grace and Norm.  To them, the avatar was just an extension of themselves; they continued to be the same person, just 9 feet tall and blue.  But Jake was somebody else.  And he played that role lone enough he started to believe it.

So he was a traitor.  He was using a position given to him against those who gave it to him.  He was, as they say, biting the hand that feeds him.  But, he probably didn't see it that way.  By that point, his mindset was that he WAS Omitakaya.  He spent so long going through the motions that he became them, so when Quaritch asked him how it felt to betray his own race...  He probably didn't feel like he was; in his mind he was being loyal to his clan and leading them to drive off the invaders.  His final log paints this pretty clearly.  He doesn't refer to the RDA folk as "the humans" or "the RDA" or anything like that.  To him at that point, they are just aliens who invaded the planet.

Of course the catalyst in all this is Neytiri.  On the surface, just a piece of blue tail for him to chase, but deeper than that, it was someone for him to connect with the clan.  Someone who, in the end, made him feel like he belonged (Even if he didn't notice how patronizing she was being by that point).  If she hadn't become so close and connected with him, he would never have gotten "lost in the woods", tail or no.

I'm not disagreeing with you at all. I think you're absolutely right. The only thing is though, even if there was no other option, he still is by definition a traitor. The same way that if I had to lie to save someone's life it still makes me a liar by definition. But I completely agree with your position.