#the event

shane's on a red carpet for some event or whatever and ilya whispers something in his ear and walks away. unbeknownst to either of them, the microphone catches just the faintest whisper of "—uffed to the headboard—" (or something else of equally freaked up nature) and shane, completely poker faced, just turns back to the slack-jawed interviewer with his usual media trained answer to whatever question he'd just been asked.

He is alone no longer as Spotlight, Crimson, and Scarlet come tumbling in. Grimm cannot bring himself to speak yet.

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚛 𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚊 𝚝𝚘𝚘𝚕 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜—𝚒𝚝’𝚜 𝚊 𝚖𝚊𝚙 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎. 𝙴𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚑 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜, 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚏𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚕𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚕𝚘𝚋𝚊𝚕 𝚘𝚋𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜.‎ ✿⡴

𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚜—𝚋𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚑𝚍𝚊𝚢𝚜, 𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚢𝚜, 𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚖𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜—𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚛𝚑𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚖, 𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚐𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚝, 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚝, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚞𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎.

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Dream Hunt analysis

To preface: I understand that it’s used to find one's “spirit animal,” but I think it’s also a vision for an impending event. Seeing as Jake basically saw Hometree getting destroyed during his.

I think this Dream Hunt provides more than just a “spirit animal” to Pumpkin. It also foreshadows what her life will be/has been. Also, I have not read any draft, or have any knowledge on the supposed “The Event.” I am not in the discord server. I will only be analyzing what has been written in the story. I know some future scenes/plots have been mentioned in asks, so I think some of my theories are incorrect because of that. However, in my defense, that has not been written yet, and could be subject to change.

I’m mostly analyzing this from the dream hunt itself. I know that Pumpkin has a conversation with Mo’at about it, in which they both have their own interpretations of it. Then Mo’at tells Neytiri about it, and there’s opinions there. Then Neytiri later reflects on THIS conversation and has more thoughts. So, therein my decision to just analyze the dream hunt. I could go further and pull reference from later parts in the story but I think that would be too long. Ok, let’s start.

The river: the first sentence states that Pumpkin is “walk[ing] along the edge of the river.” I believe the choice or words here already, are necessary to highlight. The river itself is called “the river” instead of ‘a river.’ The way in which the river is referred signifies its importance. But, what is the importance? Perhaps it is a river that has already been mentioned. IIs it the river her and her siblings travel to in chapter 6? Where they are found by a thanator and she distracts it as bait? Is it the river she and her friends jump into during The Storm in chapter 7? It is never stated if they are the same river or not. Could this be a river that has not been mentioned at the time of the Dream Hunt? Maybe it is the river that Neytiri, Jake, and Spider visit in AFAA? It’s not stated but i believe this river is of significance.

The direction in which the river is flowing is also not mentioned. Is Pumpkin walking upstream, or downstream? Is the river rushing rapidly, or a calm stream? Is the riverbank overflowing, or is it in the midst of a drought? Is the river flowing at all? I personally interpret Pumpkin as walking upstream, of a reasonably flowing river. Since she is able to somewhat see her reflection, mentioned later on.

Now what does the river represent? It could be many things. From the passage of time, changing emotions, the forest itself etc. In this context, I believe it represents Pumpkin’s lifecycle. The top of the river being her start, birth. The end; her death. It is not stated whether she is in proximity to the beginning or end of the river. This leads me to believe she is walking along the middle. Thus, despite being considered an adult for completing her dream hunt by the Omatikaya and “be[ing] born again,” she is in the middle of her life.

Since I believe she is walking upstream, her dream hunt/ subconscious uses her past in order to show her future/animal. I think she is walking upstream since her animal is the thanator and it is not mentioned nearly as much after her vision in comparison to her past. Her being in the middle of her life also shows her path isn’t necessarily long. She may not live long if she continues to make risky decisions that sacrifice her safety. She has a martyr complex, and even goes as far to tell Lo’ak in chapter 49 (on A03) that she “wouldn’t be able to handle it if all those years of training were for nothing…if I failed at the one thing I was taught to d[o]— so I step in front of you because I don't want to live with that kind of failure.” She’s willing to die for the sake of her family.

The environment: Pumpkin describes the environment around her as “washed of color, not dark, not empty, just… grey. The water moved without sound. The leaves did not stir. Even the air felt dull, heavy, as though it could no longer remember how to carry warmth.” I have 3 possible explanations as to why this is.

1: the RDA. In A:FOP, the environment surrounding RDA basses, outposts, and the likes are poisoned. The flora and fauna are polluted. At the time of the dream hunt, Pumpkin was already aware that the RDA were coming. She had been training with Jake, so the assumption is that she had the knowledge of how the RDA is poisonous (literally and figuratively). However, there is no mention of fog in the air, so I am not inclined to believe that is the cause of the grey.

2: the Mangkwan. I’m also less inclined to say it’s a result of them, but it’s possible. At this point in the story, there has been no mention of them. As of me writing this (chapter 49) they have not been mentioned directly (if my memory serves me correctly). Obviously, there will eventually be contact between Pumpkin and the Mangkwan. I’m not sure if this dream hunt is supposed to represent the first time the Sully kids confront them in the forest or a different event. I don’t know if Pumpkin will be with the kids, Jake, Neytiri, or on her own when the Mangkwan attack the wind traders. This is another phenomenon in A:FOP FTA where as the Mangkwan attack the Kinglor forest, it becomes destroyed. I honestly don’t believe this foreshadows meeting the Mangkwan as there is no mention of associations with them. Pumpkin also does not see smoke, flames, or ash in the air. She doesn’t smell anything (smoke, burning). She also doesn’t hear the water flowing or the forest in general, much less any fire cracking or Mangkwan adjacent sounds. She also does not hear any wildlife so this could mean that they have been killed/ drawn away by the Mangkwan (or RDA as mentioned previously).

3: lack of faith. Perhaps the forest being grayed out represents Pumpkins lack of faith in Eywa. She therefore doesn’t see the forest as this greater network and is shut out from its beauty, visually. This could be from a multitude of explanations. She could be like Jake, and have doubts in her faith after Neteyam dies. Or be set around the time of scorched earth (killing the 5k+ RDA), with her doubts stemming from her dishonor/disharmony.

Ultimately, the lack of “life” in the forest signifies…something. It could even represent a theory I discuss later regarding her eyes.I’m not as confident in a conclusion here as compared to the river and other things (if this stuff even matters in comparison to the thanator, which I will get to eventually).

Initial feelings: Pumpkin expresses feeling “Her chest ach[e] with absence.” This is the first physical description of any feeling. There is no prior mention of feeling a cold breeze or heat (from the fires of the Mangkwan that I DON’T BELIEVE THIS VISION FORESHADOWS). She continues to describe feeling something missing, and fails to name what.

It could be the loss of Nateyam. She could again, be like Jake (and Lo’ak) and dissociate as a result of his death. She then describes feeling anger. Again, this could be a result of the grief of losing Neteyam.

She then describes feeling anger. She could parallel Neytiri and be overcome with anger at the initial loss from losing him and go on a killing spree on the boat. However, I don’t think this foreshadows the exact moments after his death on the ship, since I think the environment would showcase the ocean or maybe even the metal of the ship. She also feels uncomfortable with the rage, but is perhaps exclusively motivated by it, or blinded by it. Since it’s described as “simmer[ing] low” I think her grief over Neteyam's death will start as dissociation and then turn to rage slowly. That’s assuming the dream hunt is using his death as a catalyst towards the supposed “event” everyone keeps talking about.

I’ve seen “the event” be referred to as a catalyst for something else? Which makes me think that it isn’t the end of the book, or if it is,it’s not the end of the whole story and there will be a sequel? I honestly don’t know.

Initial look into the river (blurred eyes): I think Pumpkin looks at herself to try and discover why she has the feelings she does. Instead she’s met with blurry eyes and blood that isn’t hers. Also, she never mentions looking away from the water and looking down at her body/hands to see if there’s blood on them, so I assume it’s only when she looks at the river she sees it? She says she looked closer for wounds, but I’m assuming that’s through her reflections in the water? Maybe I’m reading it wrong. Her blurry eyes I think of course represent her losing one of her eyes and only seeing blurry objects out of it.

BUT, the fact BOTH her eyes are blurry in the water perhaps foreshadows that “the event” will be her losing her other eye. Thus, being why the environment around her is greyed out in her vision. OR, it represents her losing her faith and she does not pass/look through the Eye of Eywa. OR, perhaps it has to do with Varang and Pumpkin meeting. (I want to talk about her faith/ Varang in a later part).

Leaving the river/ coming back: I think this represents the Sully family and herself leaving the Omatikaya and seeking refuge with the Metkiyina. But she comes back/ doesn't leave for long. Maybe this is “the event.” Her family and brother lay/stay with the Metkiyina while she returns to the Omatikaya (I don’t think this is the event, but her creating her own life away from her family is important, even if it means not seeing Jake all the time. Her relationship with her father is cute but it borders on codependent).

Maybe she is exiled (like Jake in the 1st movie) or puts herself in a self-imposed exile (like Lo’ak’s journey to find Payakan). But she eventually returns. This is also the only time she hears any sort of noise which is “heavy scraping against the earth.” It’s herself/ her claws that drag her back. Maybe it’s her guilt? The duty she feels bound to by her family (ie “sullys stuck together”)? Obviously the claw marks are the thanator.

The thanator: there’s a lot to say here, and I’m not sure where to start. The thanator is everywhere in Pumpkin's life up to this point. In chapter 5, when she goes far into the forest alone for the first time for the archers' thicket, and it lets her go. A warning to not be so careless with her own life. In chapter 6, she goes to a river and baits a thanator into chasing her, to save her siblings. Her self-sacrificing tendencies brush closer to death this time in order to save others. Again, during The Storm in chapter 7, she and her friends get chased into a river. In chapter 9, she almost becomes disabled in the same way Jake did because of the thanator attack. In chapter 14 her first hunt in a thanator. It only makes sense that her spirit animal is a thanator.

Side note: In the first movie, when Eywa hears Jake’s ask for help, she sends the animals of the forest to fight back. We’ve seen the scene where a thanator submits to Neytiri, and lets her make tsaheylu. Could Pumpkin eventually let Neytiri see everything she went through? Her thought behind every action she took? Could it be Neytiri that brings Pumpkin back to her faith? Despite the grief that comes with the thanator, we see it and both Pumpkin will find there is a time when it knows to rein it in. I think this is evidenced by Pumpkin’s first encounter in chapter five when the forest (and the thanator) let her go.

There is never a mention of a physical thanator again after this as of Chapter 49. I checked. The Dream Hunt itself was mentioned during the "scorched earth” arc less than five times. I think Pumpkin’s first hunt being a thanator is mentioned more than any of it (by Lo’ak, enviously of course). It’s also used in typical ways of Na’vi saying (comparing something to a thanator, “poking the thanator,” instead of “poking the bear”). By “becoming” and “walking” the path of the thanator it drove away any physical manifestations of the actual animal (LOL).

The body (and Pumpkin vs Varang): So, the most poignant answer as to who the body is, is Varang. However, I WANT this to be a red herring so bad. I think alternatively, the body could represent Pumpkin’s past self. The body is dragged through the river, which parallels the scene in AFAA where Neytiri is washing the Mangkwan paint off in the river. Maybe Pumpkin is also there, and helps Neytiri save Jake (and Spider). But I have seen author allude to Pumpkin being captured alongside Jake in tumblr asks so…probabaly not. But, this would explain why there is Mangkwan paint. Or, perhaps it’s a different scene on its own, inspired by Neytiri’s change of heart. But, the body has a description of “ritual cuts,” which I can’t imagine Pumpkin having, so it’s most likely Varang or some other Mangkwan.

I think Pumpkin and Varang could have their own interesting connections. They both make deathly decisions based on their traumas. Both do dishonorable acts for what they believe to be for the greater good. Pumpkin killed 5226 RDA (I still can’t figure out if this number has any significance or not) and Varang killed her family/rejected Eywa to lead her people. Pumpkin might view Varang as what she could become if she lets her grief/hate/revenge guide her.

Pumpkin losing her eye and Varang having the eye tattoo must have some sort of connection? If Pumpkin cannot see through the Eye of Eywa (losing her faith) then maybe she will see through Varang’s eye (tattoo). Maybe “the event” is Pumpkin almost joining Varang due to her doubt in Eywa. HOWEVER, I don’t think Pumpkin would join Varang, since she teams up with the RDA. Maybe there’s an initial consideration of a sort of “I see you” through their similar doubt/trauma. Varange could utilize the “strong heart” phrase against her (Neytiri’s always refers to Pumpkin as “her heart”). Varange might see the insecurity Pumpkin has with her relationship with her mom. But, I think Pumpkin would ultimately see through Varang’s manipulation. Sure, Varang is powerful amongst her clan as the sole leader, and is quick to sacrifice her people for her own sake. Varang fears death (see her reaction to Neytiri breaking in and Kiri’s confrontation). Pumpkin does not. She talks about it with Lo’ak how despite getting shot in the head, she’s pretty much willing to do it again for her family’s sake. Or, god forbid there is the risk of getting captured again.

In the end I almost think meeting Varang would cause Pumpkin to lose any doubt she has in Eywa. Seeing who Varang is as a result of trauma would cause Pumpkin to restore her own faith. Also, if she learn’s/ see’s what Kiri is and is capable of, that would restore her faith.

The feelings (reprise): Pumpkin talks about a craving for blood and feeling hollow. She again, is angry. The feelings are described as being wrong, but she could understand where they come from. It scares her, and ultimately is a path I don’t think she wants to follow, but now feels obligated to. Jake trained her with intentions of teaching her how to defend herself. While Pumpkin did learn marine combat skills, she also developed a martyr complex. That’s part of the reason why despite her being an adult and starting her own life, she doesn’t. She’s waiting for the right moment to sacrifice herself. Dying is easy, living is harder (ok Hamilton, I’m going crazy at this point I am reaching so hard).

In defense of the thanator: the general consensus is that the thanator is a violent animal, whose only purpose is to crave blood. That it is a necessary evil in the cycle of life on Pandora. It is the the top of the (land) food chain. Where there is the humble hexapede, grazing on leaves, the bloodthirsty beast that is the thanator will attack. Don’t forget their deranged counterparts, the feral thanator’s. Their kuru cut, beaten, and starved. Somehow more bloodthirsty than their initial states. Is that what is to become of Pumpkin?

I don’t think so. As I said before, the thanator knows when to open its heart and be vulnerable. It’s not a monster, it’s an animal in nature. Some Na’vi clans view it as their token animal and respect it. So’lek mention in A:FOP FTA that thanator’s even enjoy music. They have a connection to the forest. Neytiri is able to bond and tame “the beast.” It probably has it’s own culture and customs. It is merely a product of its environment, such as Pumpkin. It is still a child of Eywa.

Anyway this is all (for now).