Trudy Chacón

Captain Trudy Chacón was an ex-Marine pilot serving the RDA on Pandora under Sec-Ops' aviator wing. She piloted a designated Samson rotorcraft for transportation and battle missions, and her dedicated task on Pandora was flying sorties for the Avatar Program's science teams.
In 2154, Trudy defected during the First Pandoran War after witnessing Sec-Ops cruelly use incendiary rounds while the Na'vi were protecting the Omatikaya clan Hometree. She assisted Jake Sully and Grace Augustine during the Battle of Ayram Alusìng, but lost her life when Colonel Miles Quaritch shot a missile at Samson 16.
==Biography==
===Meeting Jake Sully===
Trudy met Jake Sully shortly after his arrival at Hell's Gate in 2154. She met him in the cafeteria, as she had been requested by Colonel Quaritch to bring him to the army bay. In the hangar, she showed him her ship.
She later flew him, along with scientists Dr. Grace Augustine and Dr. Norm Spellman, on an expedition deep into a Pandoran forest. Trudy stayed behind with Lyle Wainfleet to guard the Samson and, when Jake was missing, she helped search for him. They were forced to abandon the search for Jake's avatar as Colonel Quaritch had deemed night operations too dangerous.
Trudy also flew the trio to a temporary science outpost in the Hallelujah Mountains, known as Site 26, when Dr. Augustine wanted to continue her research away from Hell's Gate and military personnel.
When the RDA attacked the Hometree, Trudy was contemplating shooting at the Na'vi's home, but ultimately refused to join in the assault, saying, "I didn't sign up for this shit!" which effectively switched her allegiance in the conflict and broke out of combat formation to return to base just after the first salvo, confusing and angering Wainfleet.
She was able to rescue Jake, Norm, and Grace from the cell they were being held in with the help of Dr. Max Patel. After they escaped from Hell's Gate, she airlifted their link container at Site 26 away from the RDA's reach and to a site near the Tree of Souls.
===Battle of Ayram Alusìng and death===
Trudy assisted Jake and the Na'vi during their final stand against the RDA armada, which had mobilized once more to attack the Omatikaya clan's most sacred ground, the Tree of Souls. Piloting her Samson, which had been painted in Na'vi war paint and named "Rogue One", she engaged Colonel Quaritch's Dragon Gunship in order to distract him from his pursuit of Jake astride his toruk.
Quaritch then turned the Dragon's formidable firepower on Trudy's Samson, and despite being able to inflict minor damage on the more powerful gunship, Trudy was easily outgunned. The Dragon knocked out one of the Samson's engines, sending it into an uncontrollable spin. Trudy tried frantically to disable the engine after being struck but didn't have much luck. The Dragon finished off the critically damaged Samson with a missile, killing Trudy in the explosion.
==Personality and traits==
As a pilot for the RDA, Trudy was supposed to be loyal to Colonel Quaritch. While never stated, it is hinted that she had experience working for military or paramilitary organizations. Although she worked for the security force, she tended to get along better with scientists on the Avatar Program.https://www.avatar.com/pandorapedia/trudy-chac-n
At first, Trudy never seemed to give her job much thought, working for a corporation actively oppressing the Na'vi, but she was still nonetheless a cog in the RDA's system. During the destruction of Hometree, Trudy was finally conflicted about her following own morals when ordered to help their air strike, as refusing could put her career at risk. Trudy eventually grew a rebellious personality and eventually turned against him and the rest of the RDA. 
Trudy was a strong-minded woman and refused to let others push her around, instead following her own conscience. Trudy played a vital role in banishing the RDA from Pandora. She was very loyal to her friends and freed Jake, Grace and Norm from prison, and later saved Jake from the Dragon Gunship during the final battle. Trudy was also very brave, fearlessly facing up against the larger and more powerful Dragon Gunship during the final battle to help Jake evade it, though her bravery cost her her life.
Trudy acted affectionately towards her Samson, nicknaming it "Rogue One" and sometimes calling it her "baby".
==Abilities==
Trudy was a skilled pilot and flew a Samson aircraft, which she affectionately called her "baby" or "Rogue One". She piloted her Samson during the attack on the Tree of Souls, managing to inflict some damage on Colonel Quaritch's powerful Dragon Assault Ship before being overwhelmed and shot down. She knows how to operate various VTOL (Vertical Take-off and Landing) vehicles, as well as deal with electronic navigation. She also has training with on-board armaments and CARB weapons systems.Back of 2009 action figure box
==Relationships==
===Jake Sully===
Trudy first met Jake when she told him that Colonel Quaritch wanted to speak with him. She took a liking to him and was assigned to fly him, Grace and Norm into the forest. Later, she flew them to the Hallelujah mountains. Trudy was very loyal to Jake and freed him, Grace and Norm from imprisonment. During the final battle, Trudy died helping Jake escape Quaritch's gunship.
===Norm Spellman===
Trudy and Norm seemed to have a mutual fondness for each other and often joked during their flights. Shortly before the final battle for the Tree of Souls, they both agreed that they were likely no match for Quaritch's forces though they stood by Jake and the Na'vi regardless.
Trudy and Norm's relationship became romantic at some point.The World of Avatar: A Visual Exploration
===Lyle Wainfleet===
Lyle Wainfleet was a door gunner on Trudy's Samson and they appeared to have a comradely relationship. However, during the destruction of the Hometree, their relationship changed as Lyle was eager to join the assault but Trudy could not bring herself to fire upon the Omatikaya's home and returned to base. While she defected to the Na'vi's side, Wainfleet joined Quaritch's forces in the Battle of Ayram Alusìng.
==In the Games==
=== PC, Xbox 360 & PS3 ===
Trudy appears in James Cameron's Avatar: The Game, although she only appears in the game if the player chooses to side with the RDA, rather than fight for the Na'vi. Trudy was working for the RDA at least two years before Jake's arrival, and was introduced to Lance Corporal Able Ryder during a mission in the Needle Hills. Commander Karl Falco assigned her as a pilot for the duration of his mission to search for the Well of Souls. Trudy gave Ryder advice before he went into battle and had a few brief conversations with him.
=== Avatar: Pandora Rising ===
Trudy Chacon is a veteran transport pilot, now working for the RDA transporting cargo and personnel. She's one of the few pilots who can handle the electromagnetic interference in the Pandoran skies as if she had flown through them her entire life. Trudy has an appreciation for the goals of the SciOps division and has a great rapport with the scientists in the Avatar Program.
==Trivia==
*Trudy's Samson has been found in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. It is likely that this is simply an easter egg.
*In the original script (Project 880), Trudy had the same name and also played the role of pilot.
**For example, during the big hunt, Trudy drove a Samson with Dr. Brantley Giese and Marcia de Los Santos over the sturmbeest herd to film the hunt, and even tried to send the Samson after Josh and Zuleika, who flew over the sturmbeest, but they couldn't cope and had to retreat. During the battle for the Well of Souls, Trudy drove another Samson which she stole, with Marcia on board they filmed a live feed of the battle and broadcast it to the base. Trudy survives and after the battle together with Marcia they reunited with Josh to make their last transmission to the humans on Earth and then they hugged him together, who have decided to return to Earth, as Trudy doesn't see a place for herself on Pandora and headed to the shuttle.
*Norm being romantically linked to Trudy was more evident in early versions of Avatar. While nothing suggests this in the final film, some deleted scenes in the Extended Collector's Edition do reveal this. The feelings seem to begin in a scene when Trudy invites Norm to feel the ship's control stick, and they realize they are touching hands. The two later have sex in the Hallelujah Mountains (Norm's attitude improves). Trudy was also supposed to say, "Norm, I love you." as her final words. In the final movie, they are instead, "Sorry, Jake."
*In a more recent version of the script, Trudy mentions she saw a great leonopteryx take out a gunship and eat the crew like peanuts.
*Trudy has more of a role in the film's deleted scenes. The Extended version features her first meeting with Jake. The deleted scenes include a sex scene with Norm. Another one features Trudy with the Na'vi; as Jake paints her Samson, Trudy tells the Na'vi the main weakness of the RDA ships with a translator by her side.
*Her confrontation with Quaritch is reminiscent of Chinese art portraying the Dragon vs. Tiger; Quaritch flying a Dragon Gunship (he also has a dragon painted on the side of his ship) and Trudy having a tiger painted on her Samson.
*Interestingly, the film showed no clear consequences for her returning to base during the RDA's assault on the Hometree, though there is a possibility she was reprimanded off-screen.
*Her surname was revealed to be written with the diacritic as Chacón in 2022 in The World of Avatar: A Visual Exploration. This was re-affirmed on the Avatar site. This is the common way the surname is written. Prior to this, it was only mentioned as Chacon.
*James Cameron regretted killing off Trudy so early in the film series because he feels she has amazing integrity.https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/james-cameron-regretted-writing-off-michelle-rodriguez-avatar.html/
*When James Cameron floated the idea of bringing back Trudy in the Avatar sequels, Michelle Rodriguez denied the idea, saying Trudy heroically died as a martyr and that she feels her characters have been brought back from the dead enough times already. She also wonders if the movie industry can't fathom the idea of a woman dying single, saying, "I don't understand, it's so weird. I guess they don't know what to do with the girl who doesn't have a boyfriend."https://variety.com/2023/film/news/michelle-rodriguez-refuses-avatar-sequels-james-cameron-pitch-1235568993/
** Michelle Rodriguez made this comment before it became common knowledge Norm and Trudy are still canonically a couple due to The World of Avatar guidebook.
== Memorable Quotes==
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== References==
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