The space whales are the best part of Avatar: The Way of Water

The Way of Water: AvatarTakes audiences back to Pandora’s magnificent alien world, spending more time there than in the original 2009. Avatar Exploration and characters simply hanging out. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), his family and friends, take off for the open seas. It’s no secret at this point that director James Cameron LovingThe ocean. This new movie features long scenes that take you on a tour through this exotic sea with all its coral reefs, and all of the creatures living therein. All kinds of lifeforms are possible, including snappy flying fish steeds or fairy-like jellyfish with underwater breathing. But the underwater creatures that are by far the stars of the movie are the space whales — the tulkun!

[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for Avatar: The Way of Water.]

Image courtesy of 20th Century Studios

They look very similar to regular whales except that their maws and fins are larger, more colorful, and have four eyes. These are large, heartfelt ones. And oh, also, apparently they’re sentient, intelligent, and capable of communicating with the Na’vi. They are my favorite.

We first meet the tulkun when an outcast whale saves rebellious Na’vi teenager Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) from being alien-shark bait. Up until this point, we have no idea that the Na’vi can directly communicate with these whale creatures. They can communicate with Pandora’s life via their connect-the brain psychic vibe checks, but they are able to do this on a whole new level. Lo’ak communicates with the tulkun via sign language, and the whale Respond.

More specifically, Lo’ak asks Payakan (that is the whale’s name, because, yes, they have names) what happened to Payakan’s severed fin. But the tulkun said that this story was too horrible to share. He doesn’t speak Na’vi — he makes melodic whale noises, with a subtitled translation in that signature Papyrus-esque Avatar font. This makes the experience even more enjoyable. There’s just something so damn endearing about seeing nonhuman beings — animals, aliens, or robots — communicate through noises or beeps, and the people on screen being able to understand them still. It’s called the R2-D2 Effect.

Lo’ak and Payakan’s bond isn’t unique to the reef Na’vi culture. The tulkun and Na’vi are so intertwined that they form deep, spiritual bonds with one another. When the tulkun pods return from migration, it turns into a big event where all the Na’vi swim out and reconnect with their spirit siblings. They exchange stories and update each other.

Image courtesy of 20th Century Studios

“The conceit is that the tulkun culture and the Na’vi culture are joined together with music, with singing, with dance,” Cameron explains in the film’s production notes. “The Metkayina [the reef-dwelling Na’vi clan]For example, they might have tattoo designs on the tulkun to tell their family history. Adult tulkun who have gone through their coming-of-age ceremony have tattooed bodies and tattooed fins, just as the Metkayina, as teenagers, get their first tattoos as well.”

In the movie, we learn from the whale-hunting humans that the tulkun are even more intelligent than humans, and that they’re capable of art and reason. The fluid that keeps them from getting old makes them heroic heroes. They’re strong, gentle, wise creatures that we need to protect, and I love them very much.

Their strong senses of ethics make the tulkun more appealing. Payakan was exiled by his pod for leading a group of young tulkun that ambushed the human hunters who had killed his mother. Though he didn’t directly kill the tulkun who followed him, they died in the attempt, and his pod still deems him responsible. Exiled, he has to live with both his guilt as well as their judgement. That’s why he and Lo’ak bond — Lo’ak similarly feels like an outcast for not meeting his father’s expectations.

Image from 20th Century Studios

It’s a common trope that a misfit child connects with an misunderstood creature. But there’s an extra oomph here because (1) it’s a whale, a creature that’s more elusive, rare, and powerful than a horse; (2) it’s an alien whale; and (3) it’s a super-intelligent alien whale capable of holding up its end of a conversation. You can combine Free WillyWith How to train your dragon and toss it in the middle of the ocean on a distant planet, and you get something a little bit close to the wonder that is Lo’ak and Payakan’s relationship. The entire friendship bolsters Lo’ak’s arc, and it’s just truly sublime.

Many good things can be said aboutThe Way of Water: t Avatar. It is beautiful! The new Na’vi clan! It’s all about the tight action scenes The entire last act, which is basically James Cameron saying, “What if I re-created the scenes from my movie Titanic where the boat is sinking, except this time everyone is a blue alien, and also they’re fighting to the death?” But the absolute best part is the tulkun, which not only flesh out this new watery world the Sully family finds themselves in, but also help highlight the coming-of-age narrative. Connecting with misunderstood, mystical animals is what says “growing up” and “finding yourself.”

In any medium, tragic backstories or complex emotional stories can be appealing. Characters connecting with each other over their complicated backstories is an important part of movies. One of these characters happens to happen be a space whale. Any story in which space-whale society has a backstory that involves revenge, isolation and healing is worth reading.

The Way of Water: AvatarIt is now in theatres