Lo'ak

**Lo'ak te Suli Tsyeyk’itan** is the fourteen-year-old son of Jake Sully and Neytiri. His older brother is Neteyam and his younger sister is Tuktirey. He also has an adoptive sister named Kiri.

When the RDA returned to Pandora, Lo'ak wanted to fight alongside his parents but they dismissed the idea. When they were attacked by Miles Quaritch and the Recombinants, Lo'ak and his family fled to the Metkayina clan. He learned their ways, forming a close bond with Payakan and Tsireya. After his escape from the SeaDragon thanks to Payakan, Lo'ak lost Neteyam while saving Spider, but was still able to save his father's life.

## Background

Lo'ak was born as the second son of Jake and Neytiri a year after Neteyam. He is the only one of Jake and Neytiri's three biological children who has five fingers and faint eyebrows like an avatar.

### *Avatar: The High Ground*

While trying to tame his ikran, he has difficulty controlling the animal. Jake considers intervening but Neytiri stops him, explaining that the danger is supposed to be part of this. Lo'ak, however, gets accidentally thrown off a cliff and falls from a great height and loses consciousness. When he wakes up, he is eager to resume the failed attempt, but Jake states that he will return to it another day. On his next attempt, Lo'ak manages to tame another ikran, and the whole family takes a flight together. The clan later celebrates Lo'ak's accomplishment.

Lo'ak, Kiri, Tuk and Spider decide to secretly go exploring because they think a council meeting is going to take forever and they don't want to be bored. They visit the remains of the Pandoran War where they find a human skeleton in a Samson's cockpit. Lo'ak and Spider end up almost accidentally killing Kiri and Tuktirey when the Samson falls. Spider begins to run low on oxygen and the kids try to find their way back home. Meanwhile, Jake and Neytiri form a search party for the children. They eventually find the children. Jake blames Lo'ak, though Spider admits he also deserves some blame.

After the RDA announces their return to Pandora, Lo'ak is ordered to go to High Camp. Kiri comes across Tuk and Lo'ak, and the two later follow her when she decides to retrieve Spider. The siblings go get Spider who hears knocking on his bedroom window. They are soon found by Nash McCosker who says they can be useful, however, he traps Spider and the siblings in separate rooms. Spider manages to escape and free everyone. The family becomes involved in another chase and flees into the forest. After a series of events involving a crash landing into the ocean, the group is rescued by Norm Spellman.

### Encounter with the Recombinants (*Avatar: The Way of Water*)

To prevent the RDA from exploiting Pandora again, Jake leads an ongoing strategic guerrilla operation aimed at weakening RDA supply lines. In one of these missions, a raid on a maglev train, Jake's sons are assigned to act as spotters. Lo'ak, who is eager to prove himself, disobeys Jake's orders and tries to assist in the battle. However, when more RDA forces arrives in Kestrel gunships, Lo'ak is overwhelmed and Neteyam is wounded trying to protect him. Jake rescues and disciplines both his sons, warning them to not endanger their own safety for his sake by being reckless.

During a playful venture in the forest with Lo'ak, Tuk and Kiri, Spider recognizes that they are near the place where their father fought his father, and Lo'ak decides to explore it, knowing it is against Jake's rules. Unbeknownst to them, Quaritch and his 1st Recom squad are reconnoitering the same site. An observant Lo'ak spots the Recoms, and quickly radios his father to inform him of their location. However, a skirmish occurs, and the Recoms easily capture Jake's children. They identify the children as Jake's due to Lo'ak and Kiri having recessive human traits such as five fingers. Lo'ak also gives Quaritch the double finger. The children are saved by Jake and Neytiri, although Spider is captured.

### Living with the Metkayina clan

Knowing that Quaritch is hunting them down, the Sully family flies to coastal regions of the Metkayina clan searching for protection at Awa'atlu. While there, Lo'ak befriends the daughter of the tribal leaders, Tsireya, who teaches him how to ride an ilu and free-dive. While adapting to their new environment, Lo'ak gets into a fight with Ao'nung and his friend when they make crude comments about his and Kiri's mixed human lineage. Jake admonishes his son for his behavior. At Jake's insistence, Lo'ak returns to apologize to Ao'nung and his friends. However, they entice him to a trip to the Three Brothers Island chain, which is the hunting territory of a dangerous sea predator called an akula, and then leave him stranded as a revenge.

The akula attacks Lo'ak, and he nearly drowns, but is saved at the last moment by a tulkun named Payakan, an intelligent and pacifistic cetacean species whom the Metkayina consider their spiritual family. A grateful Lo'ak removes a human-made steel tag from one of the tulkun's fins, and notices that he is missing his fin on the other side. He spends time with the tulkun and learns that he is able to communicate with it; eventually they become friends.

Back at Awa'atlu, Lo'ak returns to the village that night. Tonowari asks Ao'nung to apologize to Lo'ak for taking him beyond the reef. However, Lo'ak decides to take the blame for breaking the rules, which wins Ao'nung's friendship and respect. Together, the group of children learn and explore Awa'atlu's aquatic shores and its beautiful ecosystem. Lo'ak tells Tsireya and the others about the tulkun who saved him, only to be warned that he is Payakan, a tulkun who was cast out for murder, which Lo'ak refuses to believe.

Lo'ak, determined to find the reason why Payakan became an outcast, returns to the Three Brothers and mentally links with Payakan via his queue. He learns that the tulkun was driven out by his pod because he went against the pacifist ways of his species and attacked the RDA whalers who had killed his mother. Lo'ak feels great pity and empathy for Payakan after this revelation, as the rebellious Lo'ak also feels like an outcast among his family, and that he lives in Neteyam's shadow.

Lo'ak returns to the village where Ronal chastises Tsireya for allowing Lo'ak to bond with the outcast. Tonowari also scolds Lo'ak, saying he should know better. Lo'ak instead replies that Payakan saved his life and that he does not truly know him. Tonowari demands everyone sit down and explains the Tulkun Way and why Payakan is outcasted. Lo'ak instead speaks out against this, saying Tonowari is wrong. An upset Jake grabs Lo'ak and takes him away. Later, Tsireya tells Lo'ak how proud she is of him for bonding with a tulkun. Lo'ak defends Payakan to her, though she replies that by the Tulkun Way, Payakan bears the deaths. Tsireya insists they try to convince Tonowari, but Lo'ak refuses, saying neither of their fathers understand them. Tsireya tells Lo'ak "I see you" and insists he is part of their clan.

## Personality

Lo'ak is a generally kind boy, although he has inherited his father's stubborn and reckless nature. Unlike his older brother, Lo'ak greatly values his independence, often disobeying his father’s orders in an attempt to prove his value to him, but this often backfires. This is a point of conflict with Neteyam, who often takes the blame for his recklessness. Despite this, Lo'ak does not hesitate to take charge in chaos, thinking quickly when threatened alone by a underwater beast, and guiding his father out of a sinking ship.

Lo'ak is the black sheep of the Sully family. Growing up, he has never really felt truly as being part of his own family and clan. He became self-conscious because he resembles a human, having five fingers instead of four as well as eyebrows. This has made him somewhat of an outcast with the Na'vi since many have viewed him as being more human than Na'vi.

## Relationships

### Family

#### Jake Sully

Neteyam is viewed as the "golden child" who can do no wrong, making Lo'ak desperate to win Jake's approval. Unfortunately, Lo'ak's frequent attempts to help out only backfire, despite his good intentions, making Jake view Lo'ak as incompetent. Jake tries to force a strict and disciplinary parenting style on Lo'ak, such as grounding him from ikran flying for a month when Neteyam almost dies, and also has Lo'ak address him as "sir" in a military fashion, despite that Lo'ak does not really care about being a warrior or fighting for a community he does not even feel connected to in the first place.

Jake shows very little compassion towards Lo'ak, and seems more concerned about Lo'ak's failures instead of his earnest attempts to help. At one point, Jake bluntly tells Lo'ak that he has brought shame unto their family. Jake's constant attitude makes Lo'ak believe his father will never understand him, serving only to push the two away. After Neteyam dies, Jake refuses to take Lo'ak on the mission to save Kiri and Tuk, telling him he's "done enough." Lo'ak defies Jake's order to stay put and eventually saves his father's life in the sinking SeaDragon.

The two survive and Jake tells Lo'ak "I see you", suggesting the development of a healthier and more positive relationship in the future. Lo'ak's saving of his father's life, despite the order defiance, helps Jake to see the value of taking risks instead of running away or staying put, and how it can save people's lives.

#### Neytiri

Although their interaction is not shown in detail, Neytiri does love Lo'ak and feels disheartened by Jake's harsh treatment towards their child. When Lo'ak almost dies during his ikran training, Neytiri rushes to embrace him. He was also seen calling out to her as he was worried about her and his sister after they were stuck inside the sinking SeaDragon.

#### Neteyam

While the brothers get along well, Neteyam and Lo'ak share a typical sibling rivalry, with Lo'ak often feeling overshadowed by Neteyam. Due to Lo'ak's reckless behavior, Neteyam often takes the blame for the mess his younger brother's causes. Lo'ak harbored a bit of jealousy towards his older brother because he always seemed to win Jake's approval. As the older brother, Neteyam was highly protective of Lo'ak and sympathized with his failed Iknimaya attempts, as well as the fact that Lo'ak had five fingers and eyebrows, making him look more like a human. He also often saved him when Lo'ak encountered SecOps soldiers in the woods or got lost on the way back to the village.

#### Kiri

The two were shown to have a typical sibling rivalry as they were seen fighting over toys as children, and only stopped after their dad put a stop to it. The two grew closer with age and became similar in their feeling of being different while their cases are different. Lo’ak felt different due to his human-like biology and Jake's disapproval of him, while Kiri wanted to know why she is in tune with nature and who her biological dad is.

#### Tuktirey

The two of them have a good relationship, though while he seems to be protective of her, he also seems to get her into trouble. He likes to tease her, as seen where he mimicked her for threatening to tell their mom that she would not let her come along.

### Friends and Allies

#### Spider

The two seemed to have a good relationship as they played together a lot when they were younger. They are seen together many times along the film; they seem to have a pretty good relationship as teenagers, with both usually making jokes or commenting about their surroundings, for example, when Kiri, Tuk, Spider and Lo'ak were spying on the SecOps in the 'old shack', with Spider telling Lo'ak that the place was in fact, where Quaritch and Jake fought years ago. He is the one that insisted in saving Spider during the Skirmish at the Three Brothers events. He (alongside his brother Neteyam) risked their lives during the rescue. Though they succeeded, Neteyam got shot in the process by RDA soldiers, succumbing to his wounds moments later. After the battle, the surviving brothers are embraced by their father, Jake.

#### Tsireya

Tsireya is the daughter of Tonowari, who takes an immediate liking to Lo'ak when he comes to the Metkayina Clan. Tsireya is one of the few people who feels like a true friend of Lo'ak, and or could become more. The two developed a friendship during their freediving sessions together. Because she was training to be the next Tsahìk, Tsireya often imparted wisdom to Lo'ak, such as telling him not to be afraid of the ocean and to see it as another home. This helped ground Lo'ak during his feelings of inadequacy and disconnection from the environment around him.

Tsireya was also very proud of Lo'ak's progress, especially when he was able to bond with a tulkun. Tsireya sympathized with Lo'ak when he felt all alone, trying to convince him that he truly deserved a place among her clan. For Lo'ak, however, the meaning was deeper because of his feelings of isolation, because she made him feel that he truly deserved a place in the world. At the end, Lo'ak can be seen comforting her as they gaze at Neteyam.

#### Payakan

Lo'ak forms a close bond with the tulkun Payakan after he saves his life of an akula. Lo'ak and Payakan are both viewed as outcasts in their respective societies. Lo'ak communicates with Payakan using a unique form of sign language between them. Although their friendship was seen as forbidden, during the battle the two proved not only their worth, but also the power of their friendship, prompting Payakan to protect Lo'ak and throw himself into the ship, thus helping the Metkayina clan kill to the tulkun hunters.

#### Naruto Uzumaki

Lo'ak respects Naruto as Hokage and often has conversations with him.

#### Hinata "Anata" Uzumaki

Lo'ak admires her soft and calm personality and is very close with her

#### Boruto Uzumaki

Lo'ak acts as the big brother figure towards Boruto and often defends him this is seen when Aonung bullies Boruto for his hair

#### Himawari Uzumaki

Lo'ak acts as the big brother figure towards Himawari and often defends her

#### Kawaki

Though initially rivals at first, the two later became close friends like brothers

#### Kisame Hoshigaki

Lo'ak was at first intimidated at Kisame's height and appearance, but Kisame and his family warmed up to Lo'ak and became close friends