Eywa

**Eywa**, also known as the **All-Mother** or **Great Mother**, is the biological sentient guiding force of life and only deity of Pandora and the Na'vi. The Na'vi believe that Eywa acts to keep the ecosystem of Pandora in perfect equilibrium and that all things return to Eywa upon their death. She connects all life together, both plants and animals, like a network. Due to being a biological entity, Eywa is not omniscient and she cannot see what lies out of her own ecosystem. She requires the Na'vi to communicate with her in order to help her understand the events on Pandora.*[citation needed]*

Pandora's forests are Eywa's "brain" with every tree being comparable to a single brain cell. All lifeforms on Pandora are considered part of Eywa's ecosystem, with Eywa even having an immune system that is able to detect humans akin to viruses and/or parasites and can launch countermeasures by sending Pandoran wildlife to fight them. To avoid this, Recombinants are vital to the RDA because Eywa is unable to distinguish their DNA from the Na'vi, preventing the wildlife from attacking them as part of the response. Eywa's response seems to be able to distinguish humans by their intentions as she spares Jake Sully's human allies that rebelled against the Resources Development Administration (RDA).

## In Na'vi mythology

The Na'vi all share certain key values even across clans, including their belief in a globally distributed consciousness of Pandora known to them as Eywa. It is also believed that all creatures have two forms: a body, and a spiritual counterpart or soul (*vitra*). At the end of one's life, the Na'vi believe that the souls of the dead return to Pandora's consciousness before being reborn as living matter in an eternal cycle of death and rebirth. In this way, the Na'vi believe that all energy is temporary and only borrowed by each living creature and that one day, it will return to Eywa.

The Na'vi view all living things as a single connected system to be respected and cared for. However, they revere certain trees and plants as especially sacred - as places where Eywa herself is believed to reside, such as the Tree of Souls. Animals, including the Na'vi, have free will and are not, strictly speaking, a part of Eywa - in the same sense that a child is not a part of their mother but does owe life to her.

The Na'vi seek to live in perpetual harmony with their world. Their oneness with Eywa provides them with a sense of certainty, selfless values, and pure motives. This can be interpreted as childish naiveté to humans, some of whom hope to prey on the Na'vi's perceived innocence. However, faith and optimism have proved strong enough to lead the Na'vi through many hard times throughout their history.

Unlike some religions from Earth, the Na'vi do not view Eywa as an all-powerful, world-creating deity. They also do not believe there are any other gods, spirits, or demons associated with non-living forces of the world, such as mountains, rivers, or volcanoes. The Na'vi know that natural disasters, disease, and all other natural phenomena are not the work of Eywa, but rather, are uncontrollable, worldly forces. Eywa acts only as a defender and guide of life, who helps, protects, and guides the Na'vi against such life-threatening assaults of nature.

According to the Three Laws of Eywa, Eywa instructed the Na'vi to protect the environment, with one of the laws being that they should not use the metals of the ground; this gives a reason as to why the Na'vi oppose unobtanium mining.

### Spiritual practices

Although they do not worship Eywa in the conventional sense, Na'vi celebrate, pray to, and give thanks to Eywa in many of their cultural practices.

In times of great need, Na'vi clan members gather at the Tree of Souls and all unanimously connect their queues to the tree; through this, they all experience a simultaneous connection to each other, a condition of profound emotional power. According to the tsahìk, this connection enables clan members to better "see" each other and amplifies any message they have to Eywa. This is the strongest statement of purpose the Na'vi can make, and is vital to important processes such as the consciousness transfer.

The Na'vi also pray at sites like the Tree of Voices and upload their memories and consciousness to Eywa prior to any great act. These sites also allow the Na'vi to access the Pandoran Neural Network and the wealth of memories, information, and consciousnesses along with it, and even commune with deceased friends and family. Some Na'vi frequently upload information to the network, such as their hopes, dreams, and memories, while others only do so occasionally. The Tree of Voices' strong connection to Eywa ensures that all pledges or vows made there are eternally binding.

## Relationships

### Tsahìk

The Tsahìk, the spiritual leader of each Na'vi clan, is entrusted with communing with Eywa, interpreting her will, and guiding the clan accordingly.

### Kiri

Kiri is a Na'vi born from the avatar of Grace Augustine. Grace died during her consciousness transfer, although claimed she was one with Eywa. Kiri's origins are currently unclear, especially as to why Kiri is able to harness Eywa's powers. Kiri feels an intense deep connection with Eywa, and it is shown she can channel Eywa in order to manipulate nature to her advantage.

## Similar human deities

Eywa has been compared to a number of mythological figures and deities, such as Gaia (Gaea), Mother Earth, Mother Nature, the Triple Goddess, or God by those trying to explain the relationship between Eywa and the Na'vi. The Gaia hypothesis follows on that the entire biosphere acts like a single organism or at least a complex system (soft Gaia), or that the Earth is consciously manipulating the biosphere in order to make conditions more favorable to life (hard Gaia). Other comparable figures and entities include:

* Jörð in Norse mythology, the personification of the Earth, similar to the Native Americans' religious views of the planet being one living entity.
* Her title 'All-Mother' resembles that of the Norse god-king Odin, the All-Father.
* More poetically, Eywa's embodiment as plant life may be a reference to Yggdrasil, The Tree of Life, a holy embodiment in Norse mythology. Yggdrasil is a tree, said to be the root of all life, sent to keep the natural order of life on Earth. It balances the three worlds: the god's world, man's world and the underworld.
* The Maori earth goddess, Papatuanuku, who is believed to be the living embodiment of the earth and gave birth to all living creatures, including people. Maori also have strong, spiritual ties to the land, similar to the Na'vi.
* Eywa’s name is an anagram of the Yoruba goddess Yewa whose name comes from Yeye Awa which means “Our Mother”. This meaning ties into Eywa’s role as a mother goddess.
* The theological concept of universal selfhood, of a unified "flow of the universe" and natural world is present in Buddhist and Taoist philosophy.

## Trivia

* There have been a rise of cosmic horror theories regarding Eywa, including that Eywa is Pandora itself, that Eywa manipulated Jake into falling in love with Neytiri and fighting for the Na'vi, that Eywa is a fungus, and that Eywa was created by a technological race and may be an alien itself.
* James Cameron has stated that Eywa is visually represented by the color indigo, as well as anything sacred to the Na'vi.
* Mo'at says Grace must pass through the "eye" of Eywa in order to survive. This metaphor is easier to comprehend in a deleted scene which show that the Tree of Souls resembles an eye from above.
* There is a similar ancient Celtic word *deiwa* (pronounced *dey-wa*) meaning "goddess".
* Several fictional mythologies from other planets or fantasy settings are similar to Eywa, such as the Mother Jungle from the planet Ithor in the *Star Wars* Expanded Universe or Yavanna from J.R.R Tolkien's "The Silmarillion", who created all life, plant and animal, in the shaping of the world and works to protect the life of the world. In Alan Dean Fosters "Midworld" books, "Emfol" is also a jungle hive intelligence to which the native inhabitants who live in a "Home Tree" can connect mentally. It is also threatened by human mining operations.