Tsu'tey

Tsu’tey te Rongloa Ateyo’itan (or Ateyitan)"Ateyitan" is said in the Avatar script and The Next Shadow. "Ateyo'itan" appears to be an unofficial assumption when it is unclear entirely how Na'vi naming conventions work. According to Paul Frommer: "I would suggest that we think of "Ateyitan" as a permitted or conventional shortening of "Ateyo'itan," although under what circumstances such shortenings occur isn't clear." was the Omatikaya clan's finest warrior, as well as an apprentice for being the next Olo'eyktan.Back of Gentle Giant Studios box After the death of the clan leader Eytukan, Tsu'tey was Olo'eyktan himself from August 20-22, 2154. Along with Jake Sully, Tsu'tey lead the Na'vi against the RDA forces in the Battle of Ayram Alusìng.
Tsu'tey was mortally wounded by a machine gunner during the battle after valiantly dispatching several RDA soldiers. He told a reluctant Jake he should become the next clan leader; although Jake was reluctant to lead, claiming he is not officer material, Tsu'tey reaffirmed his dying wish. Tsu'tey was granted a merciful death at his request by Jake.
==Biography==
===Early Life===
Tsu'tey was born in the Omatikaya clan, as the first son of Ateyo and Artsut, along with his younger brother Arvok. From a young age, Tsu'tey showed great skills and success in hunting and leadership during his training, and became favored by his parents over Arvok, although Tsu'tey was still close with his brother. He also knew of his parents' controlling nature and learned to ignore or rebel against it.
Tsu'tey was later chosen by the clan's Olo'eyktan, Eytukan, and the Tsahìk, Mo'at, to become the future mate of their oldest daughter, Sylwanin. Together, they were to succeed her parents as the leaders of the clan. Although their marriage was arranged, the two were truly in love.
=== School shooting ===
Tsu'tey was also one of the students in Grace Augustine's school which is where he learned English. Unfortunately, ten years after the school's opening, it was closed after Sylwanin and other students were shot to death inside by SecOps mercenaries. After Sylwanin's death, the role of tsahìk fell to Neytiri, whom Tsu'tey did not love. This incident instilled Tsu'tey with a sense of hatred and distrust of sky people, even toward his former mentor Grace. Tsu'tey later became the leader of the hunters in the clan.
===Later Life (Avatar: Tsu'tey's Path and Avatar)===
Two years later, shortly before meeting Jake Sully, Tsu'tey was meditating at the Tree of Souls with Eytukan, Mo'at, and Neytiri. After listening for the will of Eywa, Tsu'tey is dismissed by Eytukan and leaves to join his group of hunters, consisting of three older members, led by Takuk, and two less experienced ones, Ka'ani and Saeyla.
That night, Tsu'tey teaches Ka'ani and Saeyla that they must perform tsaheylu with Eywa before a hunt so that they will be remembered if they die. The next day, after night survival training, Tsu'tey and his apprentices scale a large tree. Although they feel proud of themselves, Tsu'tey orders them to do better and they climb an even taller tree.
Later that night, Tsu'tey and his students found and captured Jake Sully.Avatar: Tsu'tey's Path issue 1 At Neytiri's insistence, Jake was brought before Eytukan and Mo'at who, following an inspection, decided that Jake would be taught the Na'vi ways. Despite his students' reluctance and his own disapproval, Tsu'tey tells them to respect Eytukan's decision. Tsu'tey then travels to the Trees of Voices in an attempt to communicate with Sylwanin's spirit before Neytiri arrives. They discuss how much they miss Sylwanin and their worries about Jake. While Tsu'tey firmly believes that humans bring only death, Neytiri believes it is an opportunity to learn from him and teach humans another way to live beyond the damage they have already done to the Na'vi and Pandora.
The following day, Tsu'tey taught Saeyla and Ka'ani how to ride a direhorse, and Eytukan deemed them ready for Iknimaya, to Tsu'tey's skepticism. At dinner, the students and hunters discussed Jake's acceptance into the clan, and Tsu'tey remained firm that the sky people must be their enemy. He then traveled to the Tree of Voices again and communed with Sylwanin to ask for her advice on what to do now that so much had changed. Sylwanin told him that she was only a tsahìk-in-training and there were people wiser than her among the living whom Tsu'tey should seek council with. Saeyla and Ka'ani's Iknimaya took place the following day, and Jake joined them after Neytiri's insistence. While the new hunters celebrated at hometree, Tsu'tey and Neytiri talked at the Tree of Voices about Jake's Iknimaya. Neytiri informed Tsu'tey that Grace had been welcomed back into the village.
After learning of Grace's presence at hometree, Tsu'tey hid from her out of nervousness, but was eventually swayed into speaking to her by Atan. Grace was glad to see him, and asked if he remembered his English lessons, which he did, and demonstrated his English to Grace. He also called her sa'nok, meaning "mother", the term of affection that he and the other school students had used for Grace. He expresses his concern over Jake to Grace, and though she empathizes with him, she tells him that Jake may yet surprise them all.
Tsu'tey and the other hunters, including Neytiri and Jake, then participated in the Great Hunt. During the following celebration, Tsu'tey noticed the bond between Jake and Neytiri growing, and left in a hurry to the Tree of Souls. Saeyla followed him there and confessed her love for him, but Tsu'tey rejected her, yelling at her angrily and causing her to run back to the Hometree crying. 
As the sun rose, the hunters found Tsu'tey and they rode to the Tree of Voices to discover it had been destroyed by the humans and their bulldozers. After returning to hometree, Eytukan declared that Tsu'tey would lead a war party against the humans in retaliation. Jake and Neytiri interrupted and tried to call off the war party, and Tsu'tey realized that the two of them had mated. Tsu'tey became outraged and attacked Jake; Jake managed to subdue him, but, while trying to reveal his true mission to the Omatikaya, Colonel Quaritch disengaged Jake from his link chamber. As Jake's unconscious avatar fell to the ground, Tsu'tey attempted to kill Jake a second time while reminding the clan that Jake was a "demon in a false body". Neytiri defended Jake's avatar and forced Tsu'tey away from him.
=== Destruction of the Hometree ===
At night, Tsu'tey assisted the war party which set fire to the bulldozers and killed six RDA members. When Jake was re-linked with his avatar, he warned the Omatikaya of the RDA's intentions to retaliate by destroying Hometree, but when Jake confessed that he was originally a spy for the RDA and that he was aware of their planned assault, Eytukan ordered Tsu'tey and his warriors to bind Jake and Grace. Eytukan immediately gathered the Omatikaya warriors to defend their home.
When the RDA fleet arrived, Eytukan commanded Tsu'tey to attack from above with his warriors; however, before Tsu'tey and his hunters could carry out the attack, Hometree was engulfed in flames by the fleet's superior weaponry. During the destruction, Tsu'tey and his hunters barely managed to evade the flames, and Atan was caught in them and killed. Tsu'tey, who was now the clan leader following Eytukan's death, found Eytukan's body and he and his hunters helped carry it on Tsu'tey's ikran to be buried. Along the way, they found Mo'at and Tsu'tey bowed to her to express his condolences for Eytukan. The surviving Omatikaya journeyed to the Tree of Souls to seek help from Eywa. The whole clan gathered around the tree, in whose roots they bury Eytukan. Tsu'tey addressed the people as the new chief, offering a formal prayer over his predecessor's body. All the assembled Na'vi joined in singing the ritual song, but stopped when a large shadow fell over them, Jake Sully who had returned with the Great Leonopteryx.
===Assault on the Tree of Souls and Death===
Seeing Jake return and become the sixth Toruk Makto, a fearful Tsu'tey imagined the dream walker exclaiming that Neytiri, the Omatikaya clan, and his life are now his. Tsu'tey recalled times when he was continually at a loss for what to do, such as when his first mount died and when he held Sylwanin's body in his arms; now the same thought crossed his mind as he watched Jake reconcile with Neytiri. He clenched his fist angrily, ready for another fight, but as Jake approached, he bowed to him and asked for his help and Tsu'tey agreed to fly with him in the great battle against the RDA forces.
Before the battle, Tsu'tey helped try to save Grace, and during the transfer the spirits of Eytukan and Sylwanin appeared to him during his prayers. When the attempt to save Grace failed, Jake asked Tsu'tey to translate his words to the Omatikaya people and aided in rallying the Na'vi clans for war. He and Jake led more than 2,000 Na'vi warriors into battle. During the assault, Tsu'tey was fatally wounded when he boarded the Valkyrie shuttle in an attempt to halt its bombing run. Maiming or killing SecOps personnel single handedly, he was shot at point-blank range and fell from the shuttle to the forest below. He was able to survive the fall due to the Na'vi's strong carbon fiber bones, in addition to falling on a tall tree's many leaves.
thumb|250px|left|Tsu'tey passes his leadership onto Jake upon his death.
After the battle had ended in victory for the Na'vi, he was found bleeding heavily by a group of surviving Na'vi warriors who brought Jake and Neytiri to him. Tsu'tey, knowing that his death was imminent, passed on leadership of the Omatikaya clan to Jake before making him draw his knife and demanding that he end his suffering. Jake refused, but Tsu'tey proudly reassured him that he would be remembered because Jake, as Toruk Makto, would be his last shadow. He showed his respect for Jake by calling him a brother. Reluctantly, Jake granted Tsu'tey his last request and mercifully killed him. Jake then recited a prayer for Tsu'tey, wishing his spirit to become one with Eywa as Neytiri and the other warriors looked on in grief.
===Post-Death (Avatar: Tsu'tey's Path and Avatar: The Next Shadow)===
After his death, Tsu'tey's spirit enters the Pandoran Neural Network, where he is greeted by Sylwanin to help him in his passing.
Two weeks later, after Jake is poisoned by Tsu'tey's parents, Ateyo and Artsut, he falls unconscious and enters the neural network through the Tree of Souls. There, Tsu'tey appeared to torment him, although this was an apparent manifestation from Jake's guilt. Later, the real Tsu'tey, along with Eytukan's spirit, appeared to comfort and advise him on his situation.
Tsu'tey told Jake that his love with Neytiri is genuine, and asked him if he could forgive himself. After examining Jake's wound, Tsu'tey is confident that his parents were behind the plot, and that his younger brother Arvok had been coerced into participating. Tsu'tey reminisces about his relationship with his parents, stating that he had to learn to overcome their controlling nature. He tells Jake that despite their cruel methods, his parents only have the best interests of the Omatikaya clan at heart. He calls on Jake to punish them for their crimes but reminds him that he can be merciful in doing so. Jake asks Tsu'tey how he was able to lead so easily, though Tsu'tey admits he was not torn by two worlds like Jake was and did not have to struggle with his identity; instead, Tsu'tey asks Jake how he manages. 
The two, in their out of body experience, jump from the floating mountains and Tsu'tey tells Jake their lives are as fleeting as raindrops rolling off leaves, and that people must do the best with the cards they are dealt with in life, especially with the finite time they have, and then they must pass on so the next generation can make their own mistakes. Tsu'tey tells Jake a time of great pain will be coming, and that to be whole, Jake must accept his own flaws and find strength in them. Jake tells Tsu'tey he will try to live up to his faith in him, though Tsu'tey says he already has, and Jake returns to the world of the living.
=== Legacy (Avatar: The Way of Water) ===
Years after his death and the Pandoran War, Tsu'tey became a legend respected by the Na'vi as a warrior who gave his life to protect his people and the planet. Neteyam in particular wore a woven choker stylized after Tsu'tey's. Jake also honored Tsu'tey's wish for him to lead the clan, although Jake gave up the position to Tarsem after a decade-and-a-half.
==Personality and traits==
At first, Tsu'tey appeared to be an arrogant, aggressive and sometimes merciless warrior who made no attempt to hide his resentment for people that he disliked, most notably Jake Sully. He frequently sneered at Jake when he made mistakes during his lessons. Tsu'tey was jealous of Jake and Neytiri's growing affection for one another. When he realized that Jake and Neytiri had mated, he was furious and attacked Jake, intending to kill him, but Jake easily defeated Tsu'tey thanks to his skills as a former marine recon.
However, Tsu'tey eventually realized that he was not destined to become Neytiri's mate and finally let go of his grudge against Jake. When the latter became Toruk Makto, having a newfound respect for him, Tsu'tey smiled proudly at Jake when translating his words to the clan prior to the great battle. While dying, he admitted to Jake that he thought of him as a brother and that his proudest accomplishment was fighting side by side with Jake. Tsu'tey also once said he did not think the Sky People could be brave, a belief that changed due to Jake.James Cameron's Avatar: The Na'vi Quest
Regardless of his seemingly aggressive nature, Tsu'tey was loyal and protective to his clan and a courageous warrior. However, his bravery eventually cost him his life when he boarded the Valkyrie shuttle, taking several of the RDA soldiers down in the process. Even when fatally wounded, Tsu'tey was more concerned about the safety of the clan than his own injuries.
Despite his exterior, Tsu'tey also seemed to have a softer side. He appeared both enraged and devastated when the Trees of Voices were destroyed. When Neytiri told the clan that she and Jake had mated, Tsu'tey looked shocked and heartbroken. He also looked concerned when Jake revealed that Grace was dying and appeared sorrowful when she passed on.
Tsu'tey had high standards for the young hunters he trained, with the command "do better" serving as a motto. While he took this training seriously, he was less focused during meditation exercises with Eytukan, Mo'at, and Neytiri, showing a playful side by swatting Neytiri with his tail.
==Abilities==
Tsu'tey was generally considered to be the Omatikaya clan's finest warrior and was a master of the bow as well as a skilled opponent in close combat, an experienced cavalry leader, and a precise hunter. Tsu'tey made a brave attempt to stop the Valkyrie shuttle from dropping its payload in the battle for the Tree of Souls, killing or incapacitating several RDA soldiers with his bow and bare hands before being shot down. He also lead the war party against the RDA following the destruction of the Trees of Voices, managing to burn the bulldozers and kill the squad of troopers. Despite this, he was shown to have been defeated or at least unable to land a powerful blow when combating Jake.
Tsu'tey was a skilled direhorse rider. He was also an excellent flyer, skillfully riding an ikran during a sturmbeest hunt in which he made a clean kill, successfully escaping Hometree's destruction on the back of an ikran, and expertly steering his mount during the battle with the RDA. His almost outstanding aerodynamic affinity makes him one of the most adept flyers in the clan.
==Relationships==
* See Tsu'tey/Relationships.
== Avatar: Pandora Rising ==
As the successor to the Olo'eyktan title, Tsu'tey is one of the proudest and noblest Omatikaya warriors the clan has ever known. Betrothed to Neytiri, Tsu'tey's world was shaken to its core when Jake Sully arrived on Pandora. Though initially at odds with Jake, he soon came to trust Jake, eventually fighting alongside the now legendary Toruk Makto at the battle of the Hallelujah Mountains.
==Trivia==
*Tsu'tey is the main character in the Avatar: Tsu'tey's Path comic, and it is from his point of view that the events of the first film are presented. It reveals, for example, that Tsu'tey had dark thoughts that Jake planned on killing him by cutting off his head and taking Neytiri away.
*Jake can be seen wearing Tsu'tey's neck piece near the end of Avatar.
*In chapter three of James Cameron's Avatar: The Na'vi Quest, it bluntly mentions Tsu'tey has a face that would scare a child.
*The content in which Tsu'tey falls to the forest floor and later passes his leadership onto Jake before his death was cut from the theatrical release. However, it was restored in the extended re-release and was later featured in the Extended Collector's Edition.
*In the script, after falling from the Valkyrie shuttle, a mortally wounded Tsu'tey is found by Lyle Wainfleet, who taunts him over the importance of the Na'vi queue before proceeding to cut off Tsu'tey's queue, causing him agonizing pain.Avatar Script, page 136
*Tsu'tey's name was originally "Tsu Te Rongloa", which was supposed to mean "eats the heart."Avatar Scripment by James Cameron His role was generally the same as in the film: he accompanied Josh Sully to Iknimaya, participated in the Great Hunt, and was enraged when he discovered that Josh and Zuleika had become a couple. During the battle for the Well of Souls, Tsu Te, riding a leonopteryx, fell under the "Dragon's" shots and collapsed in the forest, but his fate was not specified.
*A variation of Tsu'tey's armor is available in James Cameron's Avatar: The Game, and is considered exclusive content.
*There is a small portion of his right ear that is noticeably missing, although the cause of this is unknown.
*While Quaritch has a line which foreshadows Grace's death ("I could do that."), Tsu'tey says, "We will strike them in the heart!" which foreshadows Quaritch's death, who is killed via arrows to the chest.
*In 2021, a clip of Tsu'tey falling off during the final battle of Avatar became the popular "blue guy falling" Internet meme due to the very serious music and singing and Tsu'tey's complete loss of control, with people making captions of different situations, even reversing the video or flipping it to make it look like Tsu'tey is floating into the sky for comedic effect. Here is an example of the meme.
*Tsu'tey may return in Avatar 3 as Laz Alonso returned to set.
==Memorable Quotes==
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
==Appearances==
(1 film)
*Avatar (First appearance) - Laz Alonso
(1 game)
*Avatar: Pandora Rising
(2 comics)
*Avatar: Tsu'tey's Path
*Avatar: The Next Shadow
==References==
de:Tsu'tey
fr:Tsu’tey
nl:Tsu'Tey
pl:Tsu'Tey
ru:Тсу’тей
Category:Avatar
Category:Na'vi
Category:Deceased
Category:Characters
Category:Clan Leaders
Category:Featured Articles
Category:Avatar: Pandora Rising
Category:Comics Characters