The Na’vi are the only known species outside of Earth to have human-like intelligence. Although their society is essentially Neolithic, they have developed a vibrant, complex culture based on a profound spiritual connection to their world and its natural order, to one another, and to the deity they call Eywa. At the center of Na’vi philosophy is meoauniaea, which translates to ‘harmony with the natural world’ or ‘living as a child of the Great Mother’. The Three Laws of Eywa, which all Na’vi live by, encompass the idea of meoauniaea.
The Na’vi are superb artisans who celebrate the interconnectedness of nature through storytelling, song, dance, and crafts. They are highly social creatures with complex personal, family, and community relationship dynamics. Na’vi are monogamous, mating for life. Strong social bonds determine the selection of mated pairs, and often social roles within the community are associated with the pairings.
For the Omatikaya, the most prominent example of this is that the Olo’eyktan (Clan Leader) is always paired with the Tsahìk (Shamanic Matriarch). Social roles are not necessarily determined by gender. Females are known to be active hunters and clan leaders, while males often choose to focus on child rearing or crafts, such as weaving. Each task is valued by the community and shared with the next generation. The arts are of vital importance in Na’vi culture, with everyone encouraged, even socially required, to be active in music, singing, ceramics, weaving, and dance.
The Na’vi are generally not aggressive with each other, and have many strategies for conflict resolution, both within and between clans. However, they are extremely fierce when provoked beyond the limits of these social limiters. War among clans is not unknown, especially when habitat changes rapidly, driving one clan into another’s territory, which can be triggered by stressors such as flooding, volcanism, etc. Na’vi warfare is characterized by fierce fighting followed by immediate interactions to resolve conflict through bargaining and negotiation. Often religious ceremonies are involved in this, where the ancestors and Eywa are petitioned.
Na’vi warfare has never been observed to cause the unwarranted destruction of populations, as that is not the goal. The goal is to define the severity of the conflict and the worthiness of the combatants, relative to each other. Some researchers have gone so far as to call Na’vi warfare ‘ritualistic’, but this is controversial.
Soon after the humans arrived on Pandora conflicts between the two races arose due to the RDA’s destruction of the Pandoran environment. For the Na’vi, the RDA’s activities, centered around the mining of unobtanium, violated the Three Laws of Eywa which forbid such destruction. Interactions grew significantly more aggressive in the years leading up to 2154. Sporadic low-level conflicts resulted in fatalities among both Na’vi and humans, increasing as human activities in the Eastern Australis region continued to expand. Despite attempts to protect Indigenous rights on Pandora by NGOs and governments on Earth, the Na’vi refused to engage in any negotiation or dialogue regarding treaty protection, believing that Eywa offers all the protection that they need, and that any agreement with the Sawtute who do not ‘See’ was pointless.
