Warning: This article contains spoilers for Avatar: The Way of Water. Read at your own risk!
Whose Heartbeat Is Kiri Hearing in Avatar: The Way of Water?
Sigourney Weaver is returning in the most unusual fashion in Avatar: The Way of Water as she not only appears as Dr. Grace in some scenes but she also plays Kiri, the daughter of Dr. Grace who was adopted by Jake Sully and Neytiri to be part of their family. It is not a secret from Kiri that her mother is Dr. Grace and Avatar: The Way of Water reveals that Dr. Grace is preserved in a chamber in her Na’vi form. Surprisingly, Dr. Grace was pregnant and her preservation led to the birth of Kiri. See, Kiri is not like any other Na’vi kids nor the children of Jake Sully and Neytiri. She knows herself that she is quite uncanny, different than the others, and she continuously asks why because that made her feel like an outcast that other children bully her for that.
READ MORE: Zoe Saldaña Says Avatar 2 Opens Up About Neytiri Struggling With Her Identity
In a scene where she had a heart-to-heart talk with her dad, Jake Sully, Kiri explains that she could heart a heartbeat, and when Jake asked whose heartbeat is it, Kiri answered that it is Eywa. When Kiri explored the seas of the Metkayina clan, she immediately felt a connection with the creatures, even to the point that she could control them at will, whether for protection or just for the feeling of it. She surprises everyone with what she could do. Tsireya brought Kiri and her siblings to the spirit tree of the Metkayina clan and there, when she connected to it, she met her mother whom she kept asking who her father is. As her connection blurred, she had a seizure and needed medical attention. The connection of Kiri to Eywa is not a surprise. In Avatar, before Dr. Grace died, she said she could see the Great Mother, and afterwards, with Kiri seeing her upon connecting to the spirit tree confirms that Dr. Grace joined Eywa and the Na’vi ancestors despite being human. While her parentage remains unknown, one thing is confirmed: Kiri is, somehow, connected to Eywa in a deeper perspective, unlike any other Na’vi. A theory is that there is some kind of “immaculate conception,” considering that Dr. Grace’s Na’vi form was the one that got pregnant and bore a child. Kiri could be Eywa’s child, born through Dr. Grace’s Na’vi form, and that could easily explain why she got abilities unlike any other, even to the point of hearing Eywa’s heartbeat. Kiri’s abilities may be a story yet to be told in the future Avatar films. See her as she surprises everyone in Avatar: The Way of Water, now in theaters worldwide.
