like a swarm of bats. Groups of riders peel off in different
directions.
CUT TO:
122.
EXT. CLAN GATHERING - NIGHT
JAKE and NEYTIRI stand before the gathered members of ANOTHER
CLAN. Jake speaks as she translates. We don’t hear the
words.
TRACK ACROSS the faces of the clana sea of eyes in
flickering fire-light.
JAKE (V.O.)
We rode out to the four winds. To the
horse clans of the plainto the ikran
people of the mountains. When Toruk
Macto called themthey came.
VARIOUS ANGLES -- SLOW MOTION as riders vault onto their
armored direhorses. Banshee riders raise spears and bows
spurring their mounts to leap skyward.
CUT TO:
EXT. WELL OF SOULS - DAWN
With a WHOOSH and the crack of mighty wingsJAKE RETURNS.
Jake and Neytiri alight from his legendary mount.
Around them HUNDREDS OF BANSHEES are landing. A gathering of
eagles.
FROM ABOVE we can see hundreds of Na’vi streaming down into
the Well of Souls and many hundreds more camped in the forest
above it.
DIREHORSE RIDERS are arriving along many trails.
BANSHEE RIDERS circle and swoopdarkening the sky above the
grotto.
JAKEstanding next to the Leonopteryxwatches his army
gathering.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMISSARY - DAY
It’s standing room only as all base personnel are crowded
into the dining hall. A portable 3D GRAPHICS PROJECTOR has
been set upand the lights are down. QUARITCH stands in
front of the display image -- a classic pre-mission briefing.
QUARITCH
Peopleyou are fighting for survival.
There’s an aboriginal horde out there
massing for an attack. First slide.
123.
The display shows an overhead image of the Well of Souls. It
looks like Woodstock in the jungle.
QUARITCH
These orbital images show the hostiles’
numbers have gone from a couple of
hundred to over two thousand in one day
and more are pouring in. By next week it
could be twenty thousand. Then they’ll be
overrunning our perimeter here. We can’t
wait. Our only security lies in pre-
emptive attack. We will fight terror
with terror.
TRACKING ACROSS the grim faces of the miners and troopers.
Fear transforming to hatred in their eyes.
QUARITCH
Next slide. This mountain stronghold is
supposedly protected by their deity.
When we destroy itwe will blast a
crater in their racial memory so deep
they won’t come within a thousand klicks
of this place.
CUT TO:
INT. ARMOR BAY - DAY
TROOPERS issue automatic weapons and magazines to a long line
of mine workers. The miners lock and load like the red-
blooded redneck NRA supporters they are.
BLASTING TECHS are setting radio-detonated primer charges
into two-ton stacks of EXPLOSIVE COMPOUND. The stacks are
band-strapped together on pallets.
TRACKING WITH SELFRIDGEstaring around him in growing dismay
as he walks through the full-scale mobilization.
He approaches Quaritchwho is barking orders amid a hive of
activity around the ampsuits.
SELFRIDGE
This thing is completely out of control!
Quaritch ignores himturning away to focus on ordnance
loading.
SELFRIDGE
Listen to me! I am not authorizing you to
turn the mine-workers local into a
freakin’ militia!
124.
QUARITCH
I declared threat condition red. That
puts all on-world assets under my
command.
SELFRIDGE
You think you can pull this palace coup
shit on me?! I can have your ass with
one call --
Quaritch grabs him and PINS him against the side of an
ampsuit.
QUARITCH
You’re a long way from Earth.
Selfridge is paralyzed. Physical force -- against him?
Quaritch releases him and walks away.
QUARITCH
(to his men)
Get him out of here.
Several troopers converge on Selfridge.
SELFRIDGE
You touch me you’re so fired.
He pushes through them and they escort him toward the door.
CUT TO:
INT. SHACK - DAY
HUMAN JAKENORM and TRUDY are gathered around the comms
monitortalking to MAX.
MAX
I don’t know how secure this channel is.
JAKE
Talk fast.
MAX
It’s crazy hereJake. It’s full
mobilization. They’re rigging the
shuttles as bombers. They’ve made up
these big pallets of mine explosives.
It’s for some kind of shock and awe
campaign.
TRUDY
Frickin’ daisycutters.
125.
NORM
Holy shit.
JAKE
(to Max)
Can you talk to Selfridge? Maybe we can
cut some kinda deal before this thing
goes all the way.
MAX
NoQuaritch has taken over. He’s
rolling and there’s no stopping him.
JAKE
When?
MAX
Oh six hundred tomorrow.
Jake takes that in.
JAKE
Thanks.
Max signs off.
NORM
We’re screwed.
TRUDY
You know he’s gonna commit those bombers
straight to the Well of Souls.
JAKE
That’s right. Because I gave it to him
on a plate.
TRUDY
We both did.
NORM
If he takes out the Well of Souls -- it’s
over. It’s their main line to Eywato
their ancestors -- it’ll destroy them.
JAKE
Then I guess we better stop him.
Jake looks like he’s about to collapse. He’s gaunteyes
deeply shadowedhands shaking.
TRUDY
You need to get some rack.
126.
He grabs a packet of freeze-dried crystals and pours them
directly into his mouthchewing them up.
JAKE
Gonna have to settle for coffee.
CUT TO:
EXT. BATTLE CAMP - DUSK
TRACKING through the warrior camp above the Well of Souls.
Hundreds of hunters from many clans prepare their weapons.
Hunters paint the wings of their banshees like war ponies.
DIREHORSES are painted and ornamented with totemic streamers.
The Na’vi paint and pierce themselves. Dance. Bathe in the
smoke of cleansing herbs -- RITUAL PURIFICATION. HUGE DRUMS
are beaten. A dark primeval energy. They are psyching
themselves up for battle.
JAKE (V.O.)
I was a warrior who dreamed he could
bring peace. But there was only one
thing I was ever really good at. Ooh-rah.
TIME CUT -- JakeNeytiri a group of banshee riders squat
around an animal skin on which he has drawn the silhouette of
a Scorpion gunship -- like a hunt totem.
JAKE
(Na’vi/subtitled)
Strike here and here.
Jake splats red dye at the centers of the circles symbolizing
the rotors. The Na’vi absorb the lesson eagerlylike kids.
He sees TRUDY approaching and breaks off. Neytiri stays with
the hunterstalking about what they’ve learned.
TRUDY
(low)
You know our chances suck.
JAKE
Yeah.
TRUDY
Going up against gunships with bows and
arrows...
JAKE
What’s your point?
127.
TRUDY
(nodding)
Right.
She taps his fist and walks away toward her SAMSON.
CUT TO:
EXT. WELL OF SOULS - NIGHT
The cook-fires of the battle camp FLICKER like a
constellation around the edge of the Well of Souls as --
JAKE slips down into the darkenedempty amphitheater.
He moves to the MOTHER TREE -- gnarledancientMAJESTIC.
The roots spread in all directionslike the center of the
world.
Jake steps forward. The willow-like tendrils SWAY toward
himmoving in a breeze that isn’t there.
JAKE
I’ve never done this in my life.
He squats at the base of the tree.
JAKE
And I’m probably just talking to a tree
right now. But if you’re there -- I need
to give you a heads up.
He looks up into the tree. The hanging tendrils undulate
softly. It’s easy to imagine a presence.
JAKE
If Grace is there with you -- look in her
memories -- she can show you the world we
come from. There’s no green there. They
killed their Motherand they’re gonna do
the same thing here.
FROM UP IN THE TREElooking down. WOODSPRITES float in
silencemoving around aimlessly.
JAKE
More Sky People are gonna come. They’re
gonna come like a rain that never ends --
Neytiri approaches silently behind himlistening.
JAKE
-- until they’ve covered the world.
Unless we stop them.
128.
(MORE)
Lookyou chose me for somethin’. And
I’ll stand and fightyou know I will.
But I could use a little help here.
Jake senses Neytiri and turns.
NEYTIRI
Our Great Mother does not take sides.
She protects only the balance of life.
She comes to himintertwining her long fingers with his.
JAKE
It was worth a try.
They lean inforeheads touchingbodies pressed together.
Holding each other -- in thisthe last moment of peace.
CUT TO:
TIGHT ON a turbine as it starts to turn. Its RISING WHINE
carries over --
A SERIES OF RHYTHMIC CUTS:
MAGAZINES are slammed into automatic weapons. AMMO BELTS are
fed into rotary cannons. MISSILES are attached to gunship
stub-wings.
TIGHT ON BLUE HANDS sharpening wooden arrows. Stringing
bows. Cinching direhorse harnesses.
TROOPERS DROP into ampsuit cockpits. PILOTS close gunship
canopies. TROOPERS run up shuttle ramps.
LONG LENS STACKtight and abstract on gunships as they rise
in a swarm amid boiling turbine exhaust and blasting rotor
wash.
EXT. RAINFOREST/ AERIAL - DAWN
WIDE SHOT -- TILTROTORS fill the sky. Deadly armored beetles.
The DRAGON leads the formationflanked by SCORPIONS. Behind
that is a wave of SAMSONSand lastthe two enormous
VALKYRIE shuttlespacked with troops and ampsuits.
INSIDE THE DRAGONQuaritch surveys his armada as they skim
over the tree tops.
THEY SWEEP toward the Hallelujah mountains in a thundering
wave.
129.
JAKE (cont'd)
EXT. MOUNTAINS/ AERIAL - DAWN
SQUADRONS OF BANSHEES darken the sky in wavesled by a
single GREAT LEONOPTERYX. Jake sits astride his mount
flanked by Neytiri and Tsu’tey on their banshees.
EXT. MOUNTAINS - DAWN
THE DRAGON DESCENDS on final approach to a large clearing --
the LZ. The Samsons flair and touch downdisgorging troops
while the gunships hover protectively.
THE VALKYRIES blast the ground with their powerful lift jets.
They land. The ramps drop. Troopers pour outweapons
leveledadvancing in a cordon.
UP ANGLE as AMPSUITS descend from the Dragon on cables.
Their massive feet smash downand they march forward
leading the army into the forest.
LYLE WAINFLEETwalking point in his hydraulic suitscans
his cockpit screens. He sees movement on the FLIR display --
ghostly THERMAL SIGNATURES.
WAINFLEET
Contact. Two hundred meters.
A chilling SOUND echoes through the forest -- the ululating
WAR CRIES of untold Na’vi. The trooperslook around
spooked. They can’t tell where the sound is coming from.
Then they feel it -- the GROUND ITSELF SHAKING. They grip
their weaponsbracing themselves as --
THREE HUNDRED NA’VI HORSEMEN charge through the forest at a
full galloptheir hooves POUNDING the earth. It is an
awesome sight.
NORM SPELLMAN rides with the Na’vi hunterscarrying an
assault rifle.
THE NA’VI CHARGE thunders toward the human line. The hunters
raise their bows as --
THE AMPSUITS raise their GAU-90’s.
ON THE THERMAL IMAGERS target-cursors track the ghost riders.
QUARITCH
Fire for effect.
The entire line of troopers opens fire. TRACERS riddle the
jungleblasting foliage into confetti.
130.
CHARGING DIREHORSES crash downflipping over. Riders are
flung off. The withering fire continuesand the ranks are
decimated as --
RIDERS LAUNCH their arrows at a full gallop. A few hit their
marks among the troopers. NORM FIRES his AR on full auto.
TWO CHARGING DIREHORSES have a heavy log slung between them
like a battering ram. At a full gallop they hit an ampsuit
FLIPPING IT onto its back with a blown-out canopy. Victory
is short lived as the two riders are cut down.
NORM’S HORSE is hit by tracer fire. He is flung off as the
creature cartwheels. He hits hardscrambling for cover as --
A WARRIOR HURLS his spear a moment before his horse is cut
down. It SLAMS through an ampsuit’s canopy but --
THE MERCILESS FIRE continues. Horses rear and collapse.
Riders pivot their mounts to flee and --
THE THERMAL SCREENS show the remaining ghost riders
scattering.
LYLE signals and the line advancesfiring sporadically at
moving targets.
OVERHEADNA’VI HUNTERS stream through the treesrunning
along the branches.
As the troopers advance into bow rangethe NA’VI open fire
and --
TROOPERS SPROUT ARROWS in throatlegsmasks -- the targets
Jake taught thembut --
THE FIRING LINE aims upwardtracking the THERMAL TARGETS.
TRACERS rip through the foliage and --
NA’VI FALL while others retreat as bark and wood is blasted
off the limbs beneath their feet.
NORM sprints frantically through the woodsshouting into his
HANDSET --
NORM
Jake! Jake! We’re falling back!
SURVIVING NA’VI flee the horrific onslaught. It is a total
rout.
IN THE DRAGONQuaritch catches glimpses of the figures
streaming through the forest below.
131.
QUARITCH
Blue teamswitch forties. Fire at will.
Led by the Dragonthe gunships FIRE streamers of 40mm
ROCKETS ahead of them. The jungle EXPLODES with HE bursts.
Circular SHOCK WAVES flash outward through the jungle --
STROBOSCOPIC GLIMPSES of terrified horses rearingNa’vi
leapingas the jungle rocks with the concussive onslaught.
HUNTERS LOOK UP as a dark shape hovers overhead. The
downblast of the VALKYRIE’S lift jets shreds the forest.
INSIDE THE SHUTTLE’S cargo baya row of DAISYCUTTERS are
lined up. Troopers roll the first pallet down the ramp.
THE PALLET falls into the jungle below and --
BA-WHOOOOOM! -- an enormous high-explosive blast rips a huge
hole in the forest. A white concussion wave flashes out
across the ground for hundreds of meters in all directions.
AT GROUND LEVEL it is an apocalypse. Running Na’vi are
blasted out of existence by fire and shock waves.
IN THE CARGO BAY the troopers WHOOP and high-five.
TROOPERS
Yeah baby! Get some!
GROUND TROOPS ADVANCEfiring flamethrowersAR’s and GAU-
90’s.
EXT. FLOATING MOUNTAINS - AERIAL
Quaritch’s fleet flies into the shadow of the Mountain of
Truth.
QUARITCH
