Jake Sully, when he first showed up on Pandora, was cocky and got himself into all sorts of trouble, but did he have to be so hard on his son, Lo’ak? The short answer is, yes, he needs to be. However, there is a longer, more complex answer to this too.
It is no secret that of Jake and Neytiri’s two sons, Lo’ak is the most like his father. He’s stubborn, reckless, and impulsive. No shocker there as Neteyam is more of the rule follower, while Kiri, despite being adopted, is the oddball, and Tuk is the perfect combination of her parents.
Jake Is More Like Lo’ak Than He Cares To Admit
If we look at Jake in the first Avatar film, he only arrives on Pandora after he is called in after his brother, Tom, is killed. Given the Sully twins share genetics as identical twins, Jake can operate the Avatar body created for Tom.
From the get-go, Jake gets himself into all sorts of trouble. He almost gets eaten. Grace Augustine doesn’t like him because he’s a former marine; the list goes on. Jake was essentially an alien on an alien world, surrounded by people he had zero in common with. Over time, things change as he becomes Grace’s key to getting back in with the Omaticaya clan. She’d been exiled her years ago after her school was closed due to the RDA killing several of her students, including Sylwanin, Neytiri’s sister.
As Jake and Neytiri begin falling for each other, the situation becomes more difficult because of where Jake’s loyalties lie. This is where mistakes were made on a colossal scale.
Like Father, Like Son
In the years that followed, Jake sees that Lo’ak is more like him and is terrified that his son will become like him. Hence why he is harder on him than on his other kids, however, Neytiri can see how Jake is on their son and has to call him out on various occasions.
Jake, as stubborn as Lo’ak is, doesn’t listen until Neteyam is killed. He flat-out blames Lo’ak for not saving his brother. However, Lo’ak was put in an impossible situation. He could either save Spider or Lo’ak, he couldn’t save both. Spider was in closer proximity to Lo’ak than Neteyam was.
However, sometime after everything has calmed down, Jake apologises to Lo’ak for blaming him for Neteyam’s death.
Another aspect that probably terrified Jake was how much Lo’ak resembled him physically. Of his three biological children, Lo’ak has more human physical traits. He has ten fingers, toes, and eyebrows where Neteyam and Tuk resemble their mother and appear more Na’vi.
In conclusion, Jake feared Lo’ak being more like he was and tried to distance himself by criticising him at every chance. It’s not the right thing to do. But for Jake, having one of his children be like him was the last thing he wanted.
