Despite only having two movies under its belt, the Avatar universe is already a vast one, with some incredibly intricate lore baked into its DNA. Avatar and its sequel Avatar: The Way of Water both contain countless throwaway lines that hearken back to historical events the audience hasn't seen, continuing to expand upon the world of Pandora and its Na'vi inhabitants. One of the most vital areas of lore for the Avatar universe is Eywa, the Na'vi's chosen deity, and the sentient life force that runs through the entirety of Pandora. Eywa is at the very heart of the Avatar franchise, and the upcoming Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora needs to focus on it.
Announced all the way back in 2017, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has been in development for almost six years at this point, and aside from one trailer, fans still haven't been shown anything about it. All that fans know is that the game will see players take on the role of a Na'vi in the western frontier of Pandora, and that it'll be an open-world adventure game developed by Ubisoft. While the plot of Frontiers of Pandora is still completely unknown, it's imperative that it focuses on the Na'vi's connection with Eywa, which is seemingly playing a major role in the Avatar movie series.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Should Let Players Use Eywa's Abilities
Mentioned throughout the first Avatar movie, Eywa is a living deity, but not quite in the same way as humans would think. Rather than take the form of a humanoid god, Eywa is a network of trees, plants, and wildlife that stretches across the entirety of Pandora. Sigourney Weaver's character Doctor Grace Augustine describes Pandora in the first Avatar movie as a collection of roots, acting like neural pathways that all connect to each other like one big brain. So while the Na'vi see Eywa as an all-knowing deity, it's actually much closer to a planet-sized sentient being, though its motivations and abilities are kept a mystery, at least for now.
Eywa plays a fairly pivotal role in the plot of the first Avatar movie, with it sending a Woodsprite to Neytiri to stop her from shooting Jake Sully. And in Avatar: The Way of Water, Jake and Neytiri's adopted daughter Kiri is clearly exhibiting some kind of god-like powers, likely fueled by Eywa. Some fans have even theorized that Kiri is the embodiment of Eywa itself. Regardless, it's clear that Eywa will continue to play a major role in the Avatar franchise, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora can't just ignore it.
Regardless of tribe or faction, all Na'vi worship Eywa, and much of their life, from hunting to flying, revolves around the deity and how they think it wants them to act. If the player's taking on the role of a Na'vi warrior in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, then it's simply impossible to not mention Eywa throughout its story. But Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora shouldn't just make reference to Eywa; it should give fans a deep-dive on the mysterious entity and explore it through the eyes of a Na'vi. By doing this, Frontiers of Pandora can act as the perfect accompaniment to the upcoming Avatar movie sequels, priming fans for Eywa's presumed role in the rest of the story.
If Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora wanted to really treat fans of the franchise, then it could even have the player-character being granted temporary abilities by Eywa itself. These powers could be similar to Kiri's in Avatar: The Way of Water, allowing the player to manipulate their surroundings and control nearby wildlife. This could be used to great effect during gameplay, letting the player call in assistance from creatures like Thanators or sense enemies approaching from miles away via the interconnected network of foliage between them.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is currently in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.