Varang 🔥

My thoughts were inspired by @detective-twinkachu's au where Norm and Max hide Spider's lineage.

I love the idea of an AU where Norm finds baby Spider and immediately realizes this child will never know peace if anyone learns who his real father is. So, like Eddard Stark, he makes a painful decision: He erases every trace of Quaritch’s connection to the boy and keeps it secret. He gives the child a new name (seriously, Miles? Way to make it obvious, Paz), forges documents, and creates a solid cover story in case anyone asks questions. He can’t bring himself to tell anyone, not even his closest friends, the truth. Quaritch has made too many enemies and caused too much destruction for anyone to overlook the boy’s lineage. There's already been enough tragedy. And this child, little Julian, is the first human ever born on Pandora.

Norm even steals the only photo of Paz and hides it away where no one will ever find it. He hates lying. Hates secrets. But Hell’s Gate is built on them, and children should never have to suffer for their parents’ mistakes. So he decides: he’ll raise Julian as his nephew. He’ll raise him to be kind, brave, and good. Maybe, just maybe, when Julian turns nineteen, he’ll sit him down and explain everything. Or maybe he won’t. Maybe Julian should never know. Norm will carry this secret to his grave… unless Eywa herself decides to produce a blowhorn and inform the entire planet. No. He'll hold this secret.

On the desk beside Julian's forged documents was a faded photo of Paz Socorro. Pregnant. Glowing. Laughing. Holding her growing belly as she smiled for the camera. Norm’s throat closed up. Guilt and anger were warring in his chest like a storm. What would Trudy say about all this?

“I’m sorry, Socorro,” he whispered. “You were… a good mother. You didn’t deserve to fall in love with a monster, you didn't deserve to die for his craziness, you didn't deserve any of this. But your baby boy? He deserves better. He deserves everything. I'm sorry...I'm so sorry."

He picked up the photo, stared at it, then opened up his desk drawer and hid it beneath layers of unimportant documents. Hidden in plain sight until he could find a tiny box and bury the picture so deep that maybe Eywa herself will forget about it. This was for the best.

Then, he burned everything else.

Just some reflections on Tiri idk—

It’s tragic how Neytiri doesn’t actually have any way of expressing her trauma or PTSD. The few times she tries to bring up her thoughts and concerns and inner pain, in her own way, Jake either takes offense to it or tries consoling her, when it’s not what she needs. What she needs is to be heard, to process what happened and to be given validity for what she feels. She doesn’t get any of it, so Spider inadvertently becomes her tool for that; an outlet.

Neytiri needs Spider, because he is the only person she can express her trauma through without being dismissed or sounding crazy (in her own mind at least). He becomes a way for her to, more or less safely, express distrust and anger at humans, not for what they are, but for what they’ve done and the destruction they caused, as well as fear that it might happen again, which is a normal reaction to a deeply traumatic event.

What people miss when they feverishly defend Neytiri tho, is that this isn’t a healthy coping mechanism. Spider is a living, breathing individual and a child. He and Neytiri don’t stand on equal ground, and he doesn’t owe being the vessel for her emotions. The things he says in upset, or in that argument scene in high ground, might sound like Spider isn’t getting the bigger picture yet, but how can he, when both he and Neytiri have been blindsided by people who have the education to explain to them the complexity of their emotions and the scars left behind certain experiences?

Tiri is a victim of horrible events, and more so, of emotional neglect, but she also seems to have placed herself and Spider into a relationship where her anger and trauma is projected and managed directly through him. It seems to alleviate some of her anger, temporarily, but doesn’t actually remove it. She just keeps suffering, hence she’s not in the right for this.

(Image source — @/cappedseries)

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Anyway, might delete later if I’m wrong idk.

so I got into grad school today with my shitty 2.8 gpa and the moral of the story is reblog those good luck posts for the love of god

Au that Max and Norm totes hide who Spider's bio dad is. Like Max and Norm gets this mysterious abandoned baby's DNA test and it turns out he is the son of Colonel Quaritch and a pilot named Paz Socorro. Of course Norm is in complete disbelief, no way a murderer like Quaritch could produce an offspring like this cute kid???

Norm: Run the test again.

Max: I ran them three times!

Norm: No! How can that asshole make this!

(Que an adorable baby Spider cooing at Norm)

Norm knows as soon as Neytiri or any Navi, forget the humans that would hold a grudge against Quaritch, find out about Spider's parentage, this kids life is going to be hell. So both men decide to... not tell anyone who Spider's dad is. The kid looks nothing like Quaritch and takes mostly after his mother, with the big brown eyes and curly hair, except where the mother is brunette, the son is blonde. It takes Norm three hours later to find a semblance of a birth certificate in the rooms the baby was found, in a shoe box under the bed. The paper brings a smile to Norm's face.

Javier Socorro

Born:2154 Pandora

Mother: Pasquella Marie Socorro

Father: N/A

Convenient. Most likely the jackass didn't want to be linked to the only woman who broke the rules of having a child on Pandora or Socorro knew Quaritch's enemies would come after the baby.

Norm and Max decide to erase all evidence of Quaritch from Javi's, Norm's name for the baby, life. The humans that were involved with the conception or birth of Javi are no longer on Pandora, so there is nobody to reveal his parentage. So it's easy for Norm to hit delete on everything about Spider.

Max: We tell absolutely no one of Javi's bio dad, got it? Take it to the grave.

Norm:Bet.

Mo'at, spying from the spirit tree: Bet

Eywa, herself: Bet.

Next with Jake and everyone else. It's not that Max and Norm do not tell Jake of the existence of a human baby on Pandora but just 'forget'.

It's not until Jake comes with a pregnant Neytiri on an unannounced visit, Max and Norm doing work with a white bassinet between them. Both him and Norm freeze when the two Na'vi spot the bassinet and immediately Neytiri is looking at it in alarm. Jake is the one who draws closer, stepping in front of Neytiri. This prompts Norm to hurriedly give an explanation of the presence of a human baby on Pandora, who his parents are (Paz Socorro and an aviation tech Norm knows is dead), and why they can't send the baby to earth. The kid won't survive the journey. Most likely, the kid will die in cryo-sleep. Jake asks more questions about the baby while Neytiri is staring at the baby for so long it puts Max on edge. Finally, the two Na'vi leave and the two scientists believe they are home free.

Until the next day, Jake and Neytiri are back with Jake wanting to hold Javi! Jokes that it's good practice for when the baby comes, even though Baby Spider can fit in the palm of Jake's hand, Neytiri herself just comments how small the child is. The two stay for four hours and both scientists are sweating buckets.

It gets better (or worst depending who you ask) when Neytiri becomes smitten with baby Spider!

Then suddenly Mo'at appears at Hell's Gate like.

Which almost gives Norm another aneurysm until Mo'at's like "chill bro, now give it here."

So in conclusion before I go on a long plot, Spider is given a better lease on life thanks to Norm and Max hiding Quaritch's identity from everyone. Yes, Spider would get slack for being a human but at least it isn't a 'sins of the father' type of hatred but just the mistrust of humans. Max and Norm at first are gonna raise Spider but then Jake and Neytiri fall in love with Spider and want to adopt him.

Jake and Neytiri:

Max and Norm:

The Wanderer AU

I just watched Avatar: The Way of Water and came up with this bittersweet time-traveling au where Spider chooses to go his own way and practice self-care instead of staying where he is not wanted.

Imagine.

Spider’s last memory is the cold bite of Neytiri’s blade against his throat, her amber eyes filled with fury and grief. Then—nothing.

Yet, death does not claim him.

Instead, he awakens beneath the bioluminescent embrace of the Tree of Souls, his body weightless, his soul adrift. Eywa’s presence is everywhere—vast, ancient, and sorrowful. She tells him that his life was taken before its time, that he has honored her ways, and that she has always loved him. Eywa wants him to live again. To see the world beyond the forests and accept her blessings. He was meant for more.

And so, she gives him a choice: fade into the great cycle, or return.

Spider wakes gasping, his lungs—his human lungs—filling with Pandora’s air as if he had been born to breathe it. His mask is gone, yet he does not choke. Beside him, a presence stirs—an ikran, its sleek form rippling with twilight hues, its golden eyes locking onto his. It was his. Bonded. A gift, not tamed but chosen. Eywa's final gift.

Spider does not return to Hell’s Gate. He does not return to the Omatikaya. He takes to the skies, his ikran, his brother, carrying him over endless oceans and floating mountains, through mist-laden valleys and deep, untouched jungles. Spider becomes a phantom, a whisper in the trees, a shadow glimpsed soaring across the moons of Pandora, a traveling hermit always quick to spin a tale or offer advice.

Stories spread—of a lone human who flies Eywa’s skies and walks her lands without fear, a human who rides the largest ikran ever seen and calls it "brother," a human whose love for Eywa was so strong that she blessed him. Some call him a myth. Others, a ghost. The Na'vi speak of him in hushed voices, wondering if he was a sign of Eywa’s favor or her weapon against the humans who seek to corrupt her world.

Spider never sought out a home, but wherever he went, Pandora embraced him. Not as a human. Not as a stray. But as himself—the human who chose Pandora, and whom Pandora chose in return.

Me, running out of Spider Socorro healing his trauma through found family fanfic after searching through 50 pages on ao3:

A fractured Sully family would add so much depth to the story, forcing each character to evolve beyond their chosen roles.

PLEASE DO NOT TAKE ANYTHING I JUST POSTED SERIOUSLY! This is me just theorizing what might happen in Avatar 3, 4, and 5.

Lo’ak’s Hero’s Journey: Lo’ak has always struggled in the shadow of his father and older brother, feeling like a disappointment because he can't measure up to them. If he embarks on a hero’s journey, he could finally reach his full potential. Perhaps by the end, he could surpass Jake, not by being a better warrior, but by being a leader who understands both humans and Na’vi on a deeper level. He becomes less hot-headed and more diplomatic while embodying certain traits of his grandparents and is guided by Neyteyam's memory.

Kiri’s Spiritual Journey: Kiri’s connection to Eywa is stronger than anything we’ve seen before—almost godlike. I love the idea of her becoming a Jesus-like figure, growing in power but also struggling with the burden of it. What if she learns how to become one with Eywa in ways even the Na’vi don’t understand? Maybe she's Eywa herself. But the more powerful she grows, the more enemies she racks up because there might be some Na'vi who reject Eywa and others who won't take too kindly to Kiri's ascension because of her demon blood, which could spark a religious war that the RDA uses to get the Na'vi to fight among themselves. Even better, Kiri could slowly become more and more detached from the physical world and would rely on Spider to keep her grounded because she's closest to him.

Spider’s Journey of Self-Discovery: Spider’s arc is especially interesting because he’s torn between two worlds. He’s spent his whole life being treated as an outsider by both species, and maybe the third movie puts him in a position where he decides what he wants. His journey wouldn’t be about proving himself to others anymore—it would be about making peace with who he is. Also, if he does breathe the toxic air of Pandora because of Kiri, he could be the poster boy for humans back on Earth, desperate to settle on Pandora and believing that they can because of Spider, sparking huge repercussions for both sides. Spider may also learn to stop allowing others to define his path or he's given the chance to become an avatar, but ultimately rejects it because he loves himself for who he is.

Tuk’s Forced Maturity: Tuk, the youngest, would have the most tragic arc if she were left behind. With her family scattered in the wind, she would have to grow up quickly, learning that childhood is a luxury in times of war. Maybe she becomes an apprentice to someone unexpected—an elder, a rogue warrior, or even a human scientist who teaches her things no one else knows. She could become a bridge between the old ways and the future, embodying the lessons her family failed to learn before. Maybe she stays with Tonowari and his family, adopting their ways fully because they're all she has left.

Neytiri’s Crusade and Healing: Neytiri, consumed by grief and rage, would either become the new leader of the Ash Clan or go return to the forests without her family so that she can prepare her people for the next war. The Ash Clan is rumored (and confirmed) to be more brutal and warlike, and Neytiri, who has lost so much, would see them as a means to finally drive out the humans once and for all. But war is never clean. Maybe she starts to lose herself, becoming the very thing she hated—merciless, driven by vengeance rather than love. In the end, she realizes that this path doesn’t bring her peace. Maybe she goes on a journey of healing and confronts her trauma, which leads her to reconnect with Eywa and make peace with Spider, where the two come to an understanding as equals rather than family. But more importantly, she makes peace with herself and rises like a phoenix from the ashes, guided by the spirits and memories of her family. I firmly believe that independence from Jake and going her own way for a bit will help her heal. (I am praying that she has a deep and satisfying arc because if anyone deserves peace, it's her.)

Jake Disappearing and Haunting the Narrative: Having Jake disappear rather than be a central figure in the fourth movie would be fascinating. Maybe he goes off on a mysterious mission, searching for something that could turn the tide of the war. Or maybe he’s presumed dead, leaving only his legacy behind. The Sullys would feel his absence like a ghost haunting them, each one dealing with it in their own way. And if he returns, it would be as a changed man or Na'vi—someone who takes a step back to allow the new generation to step forward.

calling it now. Spider is gonna "prove himself" in the next film, and the Haters are gonna realize their arguments on hating him are baseless. and half of them are gonna become fans and repeat what we've been saying for years like they're Einstein s d I'm already ready to crash out over it.

been seeing theories posted places that have been said for years that are just straight up common sense by people who previously despised him before the trailer leaks came out.

the next couple years are gonna be rough for us true Spider fans

It's craaaazy how opinions on Spider vary so much depending on what site you're on

I guess the reason I hate the amount of Quaritch thirst, as someone who has many villain/”problematic” faves, is because he’s too real. There are real people out there like him, who are in power like him, and who would do and have done what he’s done.

Miles Quaritch could be a very real person we see in our world. Someone who happily watches the mass destruction and death of a people he deems inferior (people who are also clearly an allegory for real indigenous people). Someone who torches villages and destroys lives because he can. There are real people like that, and that what makes him a compelling villain. It’s also what makes me hate him, and want to see him dead (and major props to Stephen Lang for being able to make me feel that, he’s an amazing actor).