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James Cameron is known by the media as one of the best and most insane worldbuilders on earth. He almost single-handedly created the world of Pandora, including all the culture, music, history, clothing, biology, and so much more. Pandora is part of what inspired me to create a world of my own for my final project, and I would be overjoyed if I managed to achieve even 5% of what Cameron did with Pandora.
Despite the fact that Cameron's Pandora is a lot more complex than the other worldbuilding examples I am looking at, in the name of fairness I would like to ask the same three core questions as I have with the others. How does Pandora's culture and ecosystem function to its audience? How does it use those functions and intentions to inform its aesthetics? And how do those aesthetics and functions take inspiration from the real world, in order to appeal to its audience?
The Na'vi
The Na'vi
The people of Avatar, called the Na'vi, have been carefully constructed by Cameron to be intricate, lore-rich, and most importantly realistic. Given that the Na'vi are the main focus of both films, and make up the vast majority of the important characters, making their culture and history seem real is essential for the viewer's immersion. No stone has been left unturned when it comes to building their society, and this is very clear when you look at just how long the Na'vi's wiki page is.
Biology
Biology
The Na'vi not only have a complex social system and culture, but they also have a complex biological background. Every aspect of their biology links to their natural place on Pandora, as being hunter-gatherers, and wild forest-folk — they have larger eyes for night vision, their feet are optimised for gripping branches, they have tails like a monkey to aid with climbing, and stripes for camouflage. This all makes sense biologically, and not only is it plausible for a species that lives in the wild to have these traits, but it is in fact quite likely.
The anatomy and features of the Na'vi looks familiar to us in several ways; the wiki says “The Na'vi are overall humanoid in their anatomy, though they also possess feline features such as flat, bifurcated noses, large, round eyes, pointed ears that can move independently, and a long, prehensile tail used for gripping and balance.” You can see this in their features to the left, and many people have noted that the Na'vi share many features with cats. When it comes to creating an alien species, using cat-like features can help the audience to relate to their appearance. Cats are commonly associated not only with domestic life, but also with wildness and heightened senses — this matched with the Na'vi's personality of being wild and curious. The aesthetics of the Na'vi has been curated to look both alien and familiar, at the same time.
The biological aspects of the Na'vi are made more obvious in the second film, the Way of the Water. In this film, we are introduced to a subgroup of the Na'vi called the Metkayina Clan — these are water-dwelling Na'vi who appear to have adopted different physical features than the forest-dwelling Na'vi, in order to suit their environment. You can see they have larger arms and hands, and instead of a flexible monkey-like tail, they have almost evolved paddles. There are more subtle details as well, like the lighter colouration on their faces and stomachs being similar to sharks, and their upper torso and necks being more bulky, to help them swim better. All of these would have had real evolutionary advantages, which is clear if you look at real-life animals with these features.
I love this attention to detail, as it really shows how much work the creators put into trying to make the Na'vi feel real — their biology not only makes sense, but it looks pleasing, and relates to earthly creatures to help the viewer relate and comprehend the designs.
Religion
Religion
The Na'vi have a complex religion that is based around their ecosystem and planet. Their "goddess" is named Eywa, however there is actually a fair amount of proof in the movies the Eywa is not just a hypothetical. According to the wiki, "The rainforest of Pandora was proven to form a system with more connections than the human brain, with the roots of individual trees engaging in […] communication with each other, […] indicating that the entirety of the biosphere of Pandora possesses […] an 'awareness,' being capable of cognitive reactions." This indicates that the idea of Eywa is actually scientifically viable in the movies, and that Eywa is the planet of Pandora itself.
The Na'vi religion functions in the story to connect these alien characters with their planet; according to the wiki, Eywa has laws about not creating certain types of technology, not using metal, and not building houses. This keeps the Na'vi bound to being hunter-gatherers, and allows the worldbuilders to keep them feeling wild and free.
Certain plot points in the movies are spurred on by the Na'vi religion, such as the scene where Neytiri spares Jake, due to a woodsprite landing on her arrow; this is considered a sign from Eywa by Neytiri, and so she chooses to spare Jake. Many viewers speculate whether Jake coming to Pandora and falling in love with Neytiri was all a setup by Eywa, and that she's a lot more sentient than she appears.
This type of worship — that is, the worship of the ecosystem itself — is mirrored in the real-world pagan and Wicca beliefs seen in a lot of Celtic, Slavic, and Nordic backgrounds. The worship of the cycles of nature can be found in festivals such as the solstices, and the worship of “mother nature” can be found in cultures across the world (think Gaia of Greek mythology, or Jord of Norse mythology).
The fact that Eywa is an actual canonical being, at least to some extent, in the lore of Pandora is also a fairly common belief seen in pagan culture. The idea that the earth has its own plans, and is some form of sentient creature in itself is not uncommon, however the extent we see it with regard to the Na'vi is quite extreme.
Animal Life
Animal Life
As well as creating a believable human-like culture for the world of Pandora, Cameron also went out of his way to create an extremely intricate biological ecosystem for his alien planet. There are a plethora of different animals that inhabit the rainforest and seas of Pandora, and they all have purposes, derive their aesthetics from those purposes, and base their aesthetics/functions on real-life animals.
Leonopteryx
Leonopteryx
This is a very important animal in the plot of the first film; the leonopteryx is according to its wiki page “is a species of large flying animal native to Pandora, and is the apex aerial predator of the Pandoran sky”. It has a wingspan of 25–30 metres, and the Na'vi call it toruk, meaning “the last shadow”, the idea being that the beast casts a shadow over you, that being the last shadow you ever see. Needless to say, this creature has a formidable reputation among the Pandoran population.
The aesthetics of this creature are mostly informed by its real-life parallels; the word “leonopteryx” translates from the Greek words “leon” meaning lion, and “pteryx” meaning wing. Its colour palette is clearly based off a lion — this makes sense, based on its reputation on Pandora of being the apex predator of its region. Furthermore, the word end of its name, “pteryx” can be most commonly recognised in the archaeopteryx, an avian dinosaur some consider to be the first bird.
All the creature's aesthetics, as well as the leonopteryx's role in the Pandoran ecosystem, informs how it looks. The large wings, the orange colour scheme, the intimidating head crest, are all things you can see in its lion and dinosaur influences.
Viperwolf
Viperwolf
The viperwolf is, according to its wiki page, “a hyena/wolf-like carnivore that has 6 legs, a lean, powerful torso and has evolved to travel swiftly over long distances in search of prey.” They are pack animals who specialise in stalking their prey, and are seen as a dangerous part of the Pandoran wildlife. They play a similar role to that of real-life wolves in their ecosystem, and visually you can see how they look similar. This creature's colouration looks very similar to the Na'vi — whether this is simply a coincidence or is meant to link them biologically, I'm not sure — however this iridescent blue helps them to look alien, and blend in with a lot of the blue shrubbery and plant life of Pandora.
The name of “viperwolf” is of course meant to not only allude to its role in the story, but also its aesthetics and physical traits. The general appearance of this creature looks like a wolf; lean muscles and low-down head. Plus, its pack behaviour and nocturnal stalking is clearly meant to allude to this. The other part of its name, “viper”, is mostly meant to refer not only to its quick, stealthy way of killing its prey, but also its exposed teeth. Some species of viper, notably the white-lipped island pit viper, are bright blue, just like the viperwolf. Both of these influences explain various different aspects of this creature's appearance.
Environments
Environments
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The environment design in these movies is genuinely gorgeous — what makes this even better is that the lore and worldbuilding behind many of these environments is intricate enough that even in an environment where it seems impossible, it is explained by the science of this world.
The Hallelujah Mountains
The Hallelujah Mountains
This environment is a prevalent one in the films, and is in my opinion one of the most interesting environments in Pandora. The wiki discusses the site as the following; “These floating islands circulate slowly in the magnetic currents like icebergs at sea, scraping against each other and the towering mesa-like mountains of the region.” These mountains are home to many species, such as the mountain banshees and the leonopteryx. The Na'vi we see in the film also inhabit the hallelujah mountains, and this is how we as the viewer are introduced to them.
These floating mountains actually have some fascinating lore behind them — the main driving plot point of the first film is the Pandorian element “unobtainium”. This is a superconductor worth millions, so the humans who have come to Pandora are looking to harvest it. Because of the resource being a superconductor, these islands are able to float because of the Meissner Effect, which you can see in real-life magnetic superconductors. This is a unique way of connecting these islands with real-world science, and means that fascinatingly, this kind of phenomenon is absolutely possible in the real world. This incredible explanation allows these islands to be aesthetically pleasing, and absolutely possible.
The Tree of Voices
The Tree of Voices
This site is very important for the Na'vi religion; according to the wiki, “The Tree of Voices […] contains the “memories” of the rainforest's plants and animals, all stored in Eywa's neutral network. When a Na'vi connects to the tree, Eywa can sense what they hope to see and respond accordingly. Prior to any great act, a Na'vi will visit the tree to entrust their memories to Eywa.” As you can imagine, this means that the site is incredibly significant for the Na'vi culture and religion, as it allows them to communicate with Eywa. The Tree of Voices is also where children are infatuated into a Clan, and where two Na'vi go to mate and bond for life, so they might do it before Eywa herself.
Having a site which connects the Na'vi to Eywa is very interesting, and gives the Na'vi religion more of a basis to go off. Furthermore, the Tree of Voices has a very whimsical and alien aesthetic to it, whilst still looking very natural and grounded at the same time.
There aren't really any real-world equivalents of this type of thing, however the tree itself resembles a sort of weeping willow, or perhaps even the tendrils of a jellyfish. Either way, it looks magical and unearthly, which is the whole point. In some cases, even though having sites that connect to real-world logic or phenomena can aid the viewer in relating to the world, having completely alien aspects can also help a lot with immersion and investment in a completely alien ecosystem.
Primary Research
Primary Research
Similar to what I did with my Subnautica primary research, I will be pretending like I am a part of the production team for this franchise, and have been asked to make content for the world of Pandora. As well as making a creature design, which is what I did for Subnautica, I will also be primarily using the more in-depth research I did about the Na'vi culture to design a new clan of the Na'vi. Similar to how the Omatokaya and the Metkayina Clans differ physically as we see them in the movies, I would like to design a new type of jungle-dwelling Na'vi — they live in a similar climate to the real-life Middle East and Indian subcontinent.
For references, I pulled in a bunch of pictures of traditional Indian clothing, jewellery, and piercings, as I think that these would all be a staple of a jungle-dwelling civilization on Pandora. As well as designing a new type of Na'vi clan, I would love to design a brand new Pandorian creature as a mount for these people — it will mostly be based off animals that are native to the Indian subcontinent such as tigers, deer, and pangolins.
With all of these different influences pulled together, I would like to start blocking out how this clan will look.
I began by blocking out some basic shapes, first for the Na'vi themselves. There were a few elements of the moodboard that I liked and wanted to include in these concepts; for example, there was a recurring theme of draped fabric and two-piece outfits. I wanted to include various hints to evolutionary adaptations, such as a longer tail or arms, to help them in their rainforest environment.
As for their mount, I really love this hunched-over design, as it emulates the proportions of a pangolin, with other fun aspects of the other animals it's based upon. I almost forgot their queues, however, I ended up forgetting to put these on their final concept.
blueconcepts sped.mp4
blueconcepts sped2.mp4These concepts are a lot rougher than my Subnautica one, however, I'm not used to illustrating humans in this style yet. I made them a more greenish tone, to match with their forest environment, and I gave them these darker stripes similar to a tiger's. This matches well with the colour of red for their fabric.
As for the mount, I think the concept is a little rough, however the main idea came through.
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