Payakan

**Payakan** is a young tulkun who befriends Lo'ak, one of Jake Sully and Neytiri's children, after saving his life. After going against the tulkun way by killing the whalers who killed his mother, Payakan was outcast from the tulkuns and shunned by the Metkayina clan.

## Biography

### Early Life

When Payakan was young, his mother was killed by the Resources Development Administration's tulkun whalers. Payakan gathered a group of young tulkuns and their spirit Na'vi brothers and sisters and led a charge against the whalers, but tragically, most of the tulkuns and Na'vi were killed. According to the tulkun way, Payakan had caused their deaths, and thus he was outcast by the tulkuns and the Metkayina clan. He gained a fearful reputation amongst the Metkayina for being a killer.

### Meeting Lo'ak

In 2170, Payakan finds Lo'ak, the son of Jake Sully and Neytiri, at Three Brothers Rock after he was abandoned there by Ao'nung and his friends. Payakan saves Lo'ak from a pursuing akula that was about to kill him. Lo'ak awakens on Payakan's back and thanks him for saving his life, then notices an old, rusted harpoon stuck in Payakan's right fin. Lo'ak pulls it out, to which Payakan is grateful. Payakan playfully submerges Lo'ak under the water and offers him his fin, inviting him to play. Lo'ak grabs onto him and swims with him, eventually noticing that Payakan is missing one of his left fins and has a large scar over his eye. Lo'ak signs that he's sorry.

Payakan then takes Lo'ak back to the Metkayina clan village. Along the way, Lo'ak stargazes with him and points out the star that his father, Jake, comes from. Lo'ak eventually tells his siblings and friends about Payakan, and Tsireya, Ao'nung and Rotxo warn him about Payakan's history. Lo'ak, however, is unconvinced that Payakan is a violent killer, and leaves to find him again.

Lo'ak and Payakan play with each other and Lo'ak continues to be curious as to why Payakan is outcast. Payakan says it is too painful to talk about but decides to show Lo'ak. He opens his mouth for Lo'ak, who swims inside and connects with his internal neural queue, which allows him to see Payakan's memories. He witnesses Payakan's mother dying, him leading the charge against the RDA, and the death of the tulkuns and Na'vi. Tsireya watches on in amazement that Lo'ak has been chosen by a tulkun, but Lo'ak is later scolded by Tonowari and Ronal for doing so.

### Battling the Sea Dragon

After Mick Scoresby, by request of Miles Quaritch, leads a hunt against a pod of tulkuns, they tag Payakan with a tracking beacon as their next target. Lo'ak, unaware of this, rushes to find Payakan to warn him of the oncoming whalers. Lo'ak, along with his friends and siblings, struggle to pull the tracking device out of Payakan. They eventually succeed and swim away, but Lo'ak, Tsireya, and Tuktirey are captured and brought aboard the Sea Dragon.

Payakan swims after the Sea Dragon and is enraged to see Lo'ak and the others kidnapped. He stirs up sand with his head crest and then jumps out of the water, landing on the deck of the ship, crushing several human soldiers and Skel Suit drivers. He then escapes back into the water and is pursued by Mick Scoresby and his crew on the Matador. Mick tries to harpoon Payakan, but he maneuvers past it and is wrapped in the connecting cable of the harpoon. Payakan then wraps the Matador in the cord of the harpoon and pulls on it, nearly cleaving the ship in half. Mick Scoresby's arm is caught under the cable and is severed when Payakan makes his run to destroy the ship.

Payakan later returns to find Lo'ak and his father struggling to swim to the surface after escaping the sinking Sea Dragon, and he propels them upwards with his fin. The entire Sully family gather near, Payakan swims with Lo'ak around the spirit tree.