Tom's Secret

[Terra Blue]

Here’s my story idea: it is revealed that Tom Sully’s death was actually a cover up for murder. He was killed because he discovered something Parker Selfridge was up to if diplomatic efforts with the Na'vi failed and he was on the verge of exposing it. It involves a re-engineered counter virus from Pandora. Tom packaged all the files up that he gathered, including samples of a vaccine that he stole (his eventual undoing) and, in the event of his death which he was sure was a possibility, directed it to be sent to Grace’s younger sister Nora, who is still on Earth.

Nora is a virologist and a biologist who has her own project back on Earth underway. She’s a pioneer of sorts, leading the way to healing Earth and making changes for the better. Nora’s not a fan of space travel but ends up going to Pandora in the guise of a scientific mission that was requested by Grace and ok’d by Selfridge. She and a team of other scientists get to Pandora several months after Avatar ends. They seek to warn Grace and the Na’vi and expose Selfridge and his posse. When they get there, they learn what has happened…and what Selfridge has already done.

I started writing the ideas down and it actually turned into more of a fusion of scenes and ideas. It’s primarily from Nora’s pov, at this point. I’m still working on broadening the storyline. It needs scenes involving Jake (such as his emotional reaction to finding out the truth about his brother’s death, his vengeance against Selfridge and perhaps the taming of that vengeance until provoked), Neytiri and the Na’vi, and the banished humans (they never left in my story). Right now, Nora’s character is just so dominant in my mind. I can’t seem to get out of her head!! Maybe given some more time I can write additional scenes and flesh out the storyline.

Anyway, it’s been a ton of fun thinking about Avatar storylines and reading others. Nice forum.

[Trailraven]

Counter proposal. Eywa, anticipating a future confrontation with humans planted a subroutine in Norm's avatar Na'vi DNA. Norm murders Tom thus allowing Eywa to substitue Jake (a trained recon marine) for Tom (scientist). A much more useful tool in the upcoming war.?

[Terra Blue]

I agree with others in another post that Ewya should remain more of a "global consciousness" vs a "being" that can manipulate at some level. I prefer the mystery of Ewya as well as allowing "free well" in the beings on Pandora.

In my storyline, Nora actually discovers this, that Ewya is not a tangible entity that she can return to Earth with and drop in the waters and soil and heal the planet that way. But she is enlightened from her experience on Pandora none the less. Much like Jake had a good heart, she does too and her efforts on Earth are not without reward in the end.

I see Tom's death as that unfortunate event that triggers awareness and enlightenment back on Earth.

[Hydra Makto]

That's a pretty interesting idea, but is Selfridge really that bad? Once in the second half of Avatar, we can see in a few quick shots of him that he's not entirely comfortable with plowing through the Na'Vi... You can tell he's reluctant to 'pull the trigger' and quite stressed about it once he gave Quaritch the 'OK.' He seems to kind of fight with himself about it so, would he really have this grand master plan set up?

[Terra Blue]

I think he’s rather cold, calculated, ruthless. Yes, there are some instances when Selfridge seems to think twice (is he thinking about the bottom line or is that compassion we see?) but there are too many other hints to his true character for me to not think he would stop at nothing. His demeanor with Grace and those around him is very condescending. He says things like "fly-bitten savages who live in a tree" and "These people have to learn that we don’t stop" and a few others. I don’t think Selfridge got where he was by waffling. At the end, he and Jake’s eyes meet. That struck me as foreshadowing his return to get what he came for. So that’s why I wrote him in that way.

[chawk1993]

That's really cool! I in my mind deep down, I think Tom is in Witness protection and nobody not even Jake knows. That's my view on it. Everybodys is different.

[Terra Blue]

I'm convinced Tom's dead. Truth be told, I'm writing it this way because I want to see Sam Worthington again without the avatar in the next movie and this is one way I think it could be done! Tom is in a video message to Nora. Grace returns in my story, too. Both Jake and Grace appear in videologs when Nora is on Pandora reviewing files. And I have a scene where Nora is invited to the Well of Souls and is certain Grace is there. It'll be interesting to see what JC does in the sequel.

[TarukMakto]

I'm convinced Tom's dead. Truth be told, I'm writing it this way because I want to see Sam Worthington again without the avatar in the next movie and this is one way I think it could be done! Tom is in a video message to Nora. Grace returns in my story, too. Both Jake and Grace appear in videologs when Nora is on Pandora reviewing files. And I have a scene where Nora is invited to the Well of Souls and is certain Grace is there. It'll be interesting to see what JC does in the sequel.

Its got potential to be an interesting part of a larger story.

[Terra Blue]

I would love to hear from you creative writers out there. I do need a larger storyline to mesh into mine. I started this from the idea of adding a new character which turned out to be Grace's sister. But there's the whole storyline of Jake, Neytiri and the Na'vi to weave into. I think it could be done. Conflict is inevitable as I'm using Selfridge and the RDA who are still lurking out there in a higher orbit waiting for the "virus" to sicken enough Na'vi into relenting. I envision Jake and Selfridge squaring off some how. I welcome constructive ideas.

*****

Nora is Grace Augustine’s younger sister and a scientist, as well. A virologist and biologist, Nora was once employed with the RDA and knew Parker Selfridge. She grew to dislike him and his ways. She was a chief virologist and helped facilitate the distribution of Pandora’s counter cold viruses on Earth. She was one of the few that understood completely the structure of the counter virus and how it worked.

Nora’s relationship with her sister was strained. She and Grace had a falling out during her tenure at the RDA. She regretted it later since she’s sure further access to Grace’s research (not just her book) would have proven invaluable to her project back on Earth. The falling out was a culmination of many things but neither saw eye to eye. Nora wanted Grace to stay on Earth and help carry out her vision of restoring its environment, a very large task. But Grace wanted Nora to stay with the RDA, work with her and the Na’vi, help establish her school and study Pandora. They had even created an avatar for Nora. Nora didn’t know it, and Grace was furious when Nora quit because of how expensive it is to create an avatar. Grace decided to keep it in a "living" storage cryo facility back on earth in case Nora had a change of heart. Despite their disagreements, Grace left an open invitation for her to come to Pandora. Nora was somewhat bitter from the fallout, feeling that Grace was turning her back on Earth. But Grace was entrenched with the Avatar Program and her dealings on Pandora and in love with the Na’vi, something Nora didn’t fully understand (yet). Ultimately, Nora’s revulsion of Selfridge, and people like him at the RDA, made her quit. She left to embark on her own venture called the Terra Healing Project.

Nora had a brief but intense relationship with Jake’s brother Tom. They went their separate ways when he hooked up with the Avatar project. Neither of them ever spoke of their relationship to Jake or Grace.

Nora’s personal challenge: she’s claustrophobic. She has hid it expertly from all but her fiancé and a couple of close friends but must face it bravely, ultimately. Had been in private therapy to try to deal with it. Grace used to chide her about it.

After Nora left the RDA and got out from under Selfridge’s thumb, she saw a news report, a leaked report it turns out and rather vague, about avatars in Pandoran lab conditions on Earth who took ill. Some died, some survived. While it’s not unusual for avatars to not take, these were well beyond that stage, fully functioning avatars. It seemed some of the information was cloaked in secrecy (as usual, due to the enormous costs) and speculation as to what caused their deaths was running wild but the word "virus" caught her attention. Nora shook her head. "Impossible" she whispers to herself. She tried to shake the story, but something about it didn’t sit well with her. Knowing what she knows about the counter virus, avatars, the Navi and Pandora, it didn’t seem possible. She soon gets wrapped up in her own project details and doesn’t think much about after that.

*****

[jeffro_jones]

I definitely think that there is room in the story for Tom to take up a role. It is kind of weird (but poetic) that somebody who is relatively irrelevant is killed and does not take part in the story any more.

Yes it explains why an ex-marine who is relatively dumb (by science standards) would ever be invited to the avatar program, and it does add some comic relief and character development in how Grace acts and feels toward Jake, but I think that that development was after the fact, not to explain why. If Gordon Freeman can be both a physicist and action hero, then it really was not necessary to explain why an ex-marine was chosen for the program. It could even have been that Jake took one of the 'hired gun' jobs on Pandora and Tom could have died there and he himself could have asked Jake to take his place as he was dying... and so on.

My point is that Tom probably does provide Mr Cameron a tie in to whatever sort of back history he may want or need for a2. It's not even so 'soap-opera'y as many of the possible story lines that I have read here.