If there is something you can do... then you must do it!
Ronal pleading for Kiri's aid, implied to have contractions.
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Ronal te Natsira Tan'ite[2] was the tsahìk of the Metkayina clan and mate of Tonowari. With her husband, she was the mother of the free-divers, Aonung, Tsireya and a newborn daughter named Pril. She also was the spiritual sister of the tulkun, Ro'a.
While Jake Sully, Neytiri and their children work with Ronal's family to learn the ways of the Metkayina, Ronal spent her time with Neytiri, instructing the Omatikayatsakarem on how to live in harmony with the ocean. When the RDA tracks the family, Ronal had fought to protect her clan on the battlefield.
Ronal was born as Ronal te Natsira Tan'ite, the daughter of Tan, in the Metkayina Clan. It is unknown if her parents were Olo'eyktan and Tsahik or she was chosen as the most promising girl in the clan to be the next Tsahik. As Tsakarem, she was learning how to interpret the will of Eywa and medical secrets. In some point of her life, she did her Iknimaya[citation needed], learned to ride a skimwing and received her first tolu on her forehead.[3] As a grown up, she mated with Tonowari, the future Olo'eyktan of the Metkayina Clan.
In 2155, Ronal gave birth to her firstborn son Aonung. Two years later, she gave birth to her daughter Tsireya. Her songcord had a shell about this moment. She and Tonowari were raising their children with love but also the strict discipline to prepare them to be good and competitive leaders. She was training her daughter to be the next Tsahik and were more concidering on training her than caring about family bonds, but she still loved her children. In some point in 2170, Ronal got pregnant again.
Accepting the Sully Family[]
Ronal hissing at Neytiri.
When the Sully family seeks refuge with the Metkayina clan, both Ronal and her mate make the difficult decision to provide it. She seems almost offended by their request for asylum. Unlike Tonowari, who values Jake Sully as Toruk Makto and a formidable warrior, Ronal is very apprehensive and particularly direct. She also criticizes the Sully children and makes Kiri uncomfortable when she shows her hands and Lo'ak's to the clan and claims they have "demon" blood. She and Neytiri initially don't get along because Ronal tries to undermine Jake's accomplishments, prompting Neytiri to defend him. Although still reluctant, Ronal finally agreed with her partner's decision to give the Sully family uturu.
Although rarely, Ronal accompanied and assisted the Sullys as they learned the ways of the Metkayina. Together with her daughter, Tsireya, she taught the children how to use gill mantles, and also showed Tuktirey how to pluck shellfish from the bottom of the sea. During this, Ronal witnessed Kiri's mysterious powers with the marine life and was impressed.
Ronal assisting a comatose Kiri.
Later when Kiri falls into a coma as a result of a seizure from connecting to the Spirit Tree, Ronal went to help her. However, seeing scientists Max Patel and Norm Spellman help her with specialized medical devices for it, she was disheartened and outraged, saying they do not need her help. Neytiri convinced her to help and ordered the scientists to get out and let her work since the scientists' methods were ineffective. Ronal helped Kiri wake up using her medical practices, thanks to which she regained consciousness.
Ronal angered at her daughter Tsireya.
When the tulkun returned to Awa'atlu, Ronal greeted her spiritual sister Ro'a happily. They exchanged memories of the last months, paying special attention to their children. Ro'a had had a son while away, while Ronal's pregnancy entered an advanced stage. After the migration, she learned of Lo'ak and the tulkun Payakan's friendship. Ronal became furious at her daughter for allowing Lo'ak to bond with the outcast.
Soon after, tulkun hunters operating near Awa'atlu, led by Mick Scoresby, organized a hunt and targeted Ro'a. When Ronal discovered the dead body of her spirit sister and her calf dead, she fell into despair. The death of her spiritual sister and her baby caused the Metkayina to plan to retaliate with weapons, which Jake tried to stop them from. However, when she learned from Jake that her children are in danger, Ronal prepared for battle. Tonowari tried to convince her to stay in the village due to her pregnancy, but she was determined to fight alongside the rest. With their warriors, they mounted their skimwings and set off to face the Sky People.
Ronal fighting on her skimwing.
Arriving at the Three Brother Rocks, they were stopped by Miles Quaritch, who ordered Jake to surrender, threatening to shoot his children and Tsireya. When Jake admitted that the entire conflict stemmed from his personal feud with the colonel, Ronal accused him of bringing the war to her clan. Jake humbly accepted her words, then set off alone for the SeaDragon. However, with Payakan's unexpected and arbitrary attack on the ship, the Metkayina enter the war. Ronal personally killed at least one tulkun hunter.
Neteyam's Funeral[]
Ronal at Neteyam's funeral.
After the battle ended, Ronal led the funeral with Tonowari and the rest of the clan for Jake's son Neteyam, who was killed in the battle. After the funeral, she did not protest when Tonowari decided to accept the Sully family as full members of the Metkayina clan.
Death[]
During the Battle at the Cove of the Ancestors, Ronal's heroic attacks lead to her being mortally wounded in the underwater battle when she got hit in the chest with an projectile from a rotary speargun. Neytiri rescues her from drowning and reluctantly turns away from returning to the fight herself in order to stand guard over Ronal while she gives birth in her final minutes of life. Neytiri promises the dying Ronal she will protect the newborn Pril.
After Death[]
When Kiri and Spider connect to the Spirit Tree, Ronal is amongst the Na'vi who greets them in the Spirit World. To Spider's shock and awe, Ronal leads a ceremony with Neytiri's father Eytukan welcoming the boy to the People.
Physical Appearance[]
Ronal in her outfit.
As a leader and spiritual guide, a person of high social status and considerable experience, Ronal wears extensive tattoos covering her forehead, temples, nose, chin, neck and abdomen. She wears the attributes appropriate to her title, including a skirt and headdress. Her skirt is unusually long and elaborate. It is made of braided strings and decorated with hand-dyed seagrass, shells and underwater flower petals. Ronal also wove her songcord into her skirt, which also happens to have either other songcords or songcord-like strings, showing her bond with her clan.[1] Ronal's colorful songcord includes, among other things, a seashell commemorating Tsireya's birth.
Her hair is secured above her forehead by a Dorado Verde leather ornament with a distinctive flat shell that falls over her forehead and indicates her title. Attached to this headband is a large shell containing a tsahìk knife which hangs at her neck. When necessary, she also carries a medical leather bag over her shoulder, containing herbs, skin-piercing spikes and vials of medical substances.
Ronal's everyday adornment includes a braided cord worn across her chest and shoulders, adorned with shells, beads and sea flower petals. Sometimes she swaps them for a slightly different cord, made of pearly leaves strung on a simple string. She also possesses a crystal knife.
For battle, Ronal removes most of her adornments, replacing it with simple loincloth and braided cord worn across her chest, reminiscent of the ritual ornament of Metkayina. She wears a armband adorned with iridescent shells. Like other members of her tribe, she fights with a spear.
Ronal also wears a garment dedicated to important ceremonies and rituals, such as funerals. This is an openwork woven cloak that rests on her shoulders and is fastened at the chest, interwoven with small shells.
Personality[]
Ronal body shaming Lo'ak in front of her entire clan.
Ronal had a wise and strong personality as a warrior which makes her clash with Neytiri. She greatly respected her husband Tonowari, trusting his decisions even if she disagreed with them. Ronal was described as being fiercely independent.[4]
Ronal was very faithful to traditions and the established order of life. She was skeptical of granting uturu to the Sullies as she believed they would not be able to adapt to life in the reef. Her conviction left little room for leniency. She was gravely disappointed in Tsireya for allowing Lo'ak to bond with Payakan.
She was far more cautious than her mate, being the most critical of welcoming the Sully family during their arrival. She did not look out for only her own family, but her community as a whole, hence why she was highly critical and suspicious about letting the Sully family stay. She was more forceful and protective, calling for war and the Sully family’s exile after Ro'a and her son were killed by the RDA.
Ronal looked down on the Sully children for their "demon" blood and possessed a hatred of humans in general. However, her attitude softened over time. Notably, it is Ronal who initiates and leads the ceremony welcoming Spider, a human, into the People rather than one of the other Na'vi present such as Eytukan.
Abilities[]
Ronal riding a skimwing underwater.
As the tsahìk of the clan, Ronal was responsible for spiritually instructing and leading their ceremonies. However, she also assisted in other areas, whether it be fighting, gathering or cooking. Despite being pregnant, she did not let this stop her from entering the battlefield and doing whatever she could to help protect her family and clan. In addition, she had keen knowledge in traditional Na'vi medicine. Her expertise was displayed after Kiri's seizure as she performs a ritual, resulting in Kiri gaining her consciousness back, which humans with well-developed technology failed to do.
Tonowari is the olo’eyktan of the Metkayina and Ronal's mate.
Ronal has deep respect for her husband and she trusts his decisions even if she disagrees with them. Tonowari is a loving companion and tries to prevent Ronal from participating in the battle while pregnant. Together they raise their children with great discipline, expecting the best of them. It is still unknown what Tonowari's reaction was when he learned of her death.
Their mother-son relationship is not explored deeply. It is certain that Ronal cares for her son, but she is also visibly strict with him, being harsh on Aonung for endangering Lo'ak's life. It is still unknown what her eldest son's reaction was when he learned of her death.
Other than a serious conversation with Lo'ak, during which Ronal berated her daughter Tsireya for letting him bond with the outcast, the mother-daughter relationship was not explored further. Tsireya can be seen assisting Ronal with medical procedures. Ronal is a strict mother. When the children were attacked by the RDA, Ronal rushed into battle with no hesitation, despite her pregnancy. Upon hearing that Tsireya had been captured, Ronal hisses and showed signs of distress and concern for her daughter. It is still unknown what her younger daughter's reaction was when she learned of her death.
Because her moment with her youngest child is short, Ronal's relationship with Pril was not explored further. At the pregnancy time, Ronal was often gently rubbing her belly and at meeting with Ro'a she told her that her baby is strong. She wasn't afraid to go to war towards Sky People, even though she was pregnant. In the second war, Ronal again hadn't hesitated to go to battle. That decision costed her life. She was severely hurt. In that moment she went into childbirth. With help of Neytiri, she gave birth to a baby girl. Because she was already severely hurt, her childbirth had exhausted her. Ronal gave her last breath to her youngest daughter. In her last moments she asked Neytiri to protect her child. It shows that she deeply loved her baby daughter. She also smiled lovingly at her and hugged her for the last time before she died.
Ronal devastated by the slaughter of Ro'a and her calf.
Ro'a was Ronal's spirit sister.
According to Ronal, Ro'a was a composer of songs and that the two sang together. Ro’a had also waited many mating cycles to have her calf. Ronal was loving towards her Spirit Sister and was very happy for her when she had her son. When Ro'a and her son were was killed by the Sky People, Ronal was left devastated, eager to avenge their deaths.
The relationship between Ronal and Neytiri was tense since both have strong and similar personalities. Neytiri was offended by Ronal touching her children, and was exasperated by Ronal's claim that her children have "demon" blood. When Ronal began criticizing Jake, Neytiri defended him and began listing his merits, pointing out Jake was Toruk Makto and that he helped save her people.
Over time, however, both found a thread of understanding, derived mainly from the common title of tsahìk (Neytiri would inherit it in the future). According to Avatar: The Way of Water: The Visual Dictionary, Ronal was instructing Neytiri how to live harmoniously with the ocean. Later on, when the scientists from High Camp came to help Kiri, Ronal felt she wasn't needed, but Neytiri reminded her, "You are tsahìk!". This convinced Ronal to help Kiri, and Neytiri told the scientists to get out so that Ronal could perform her medicine. After Ro'a's death, Neytiri felt sincerely sorry for her as Neytiri knew what it was like to lose Seze. Ronal eventually helps Neytiri hold a funeral for Neteyam. Neytiri later delivers the dying Ronal's child and promises to protect her. Ronal thanks Neytiri for her efforts and entrusted her daughter, Pril to her.
Trivia[]
Cliff Curtis mentioned in an interview that Kate Winslet took part in a haka and performed a whole song in Na'vi. However, this may have been scraped as it did not occur in Fire and Ash.[5]
In the original script, Neytiri is greatly offended by Ronal touching her children without their consent, finding Ronal's behavior extremely rude.
Ronal smiles very little in the The Way of Water. She is only seen doing so when greeting Ro'a, her Spirit Sister.
Ronal's pregnancy can be seen throughout the film. She barely has a belly when first introduced, but is heavily pregnant during later scenes, as The Way of Water is set across several months.
Kate Winslet was impressed upon hearing that Ronal would be a fierce pregnant Na'vi because she felt pregnant women are often not represented enough in media despite that many women will become pregnant throughout their lives, and even if they are represented, they are often portrayed as being merely passive baby carriers who do little to nothing to impact the story.[6] In The Way of Water, Ronal saves Kiri's life and helps out on the battlefield.
Ronal's decision to fight while pregnant has received a divided reception among viewers; some feel it is reckless and endangers her baby's life. Others feel her decision is important for the clan's strength and morale, pointing out that the RDA could have executed her and the Metkayina if the clan lost. Nonetheless, this can be seen as an example of the film exploring complex morality and the idea how there is not always a clear right or wrong choice.
In the early script, it is mentioned pregnant Na'vi give birth to babies in pods which nourish the baby after birth. While it is unclear if this is still canon, this may have factored into Ronal's decision. As long as she was not hit in the abdomen, it is possible that if Ronal died, her child could be removed from her body and survive in its pod which could act as an incubator.
Ronal had an additional line near the end of The Way of Water that did not make it into the film for unknown reasons, with even the CGI for this moment being complete. When Tonowari accepts Jake Sully as a Metkayina, she was originally supposed to say, "Now you must stand with us." [7]
In the original script, when Neytiri successfully hunts, there is a line showing Neytiri's attitude towards Ronal: "Serve that up for dinner, reef bitch."
In the original script, Ronal tries to frame Kiri's seizure as evidence Eywa has turned her back on the Sully family. This may have been removed because it can easily be seen as a low blow towards a family with one of its members in a coma, and making Ronal too unlikable would make viewers sympathize with her less when Ro'a is killed.
During the filming of The Way of Water, Kate Winslet beat (by one minute) Tom Cruise's record of six minutes underwater.[8]
Ronal is a Swiss company manufacturing aluminum alloy wheels for cars as well as bathroom furniture.
„This you call victory? Hiding among strangers? It seems Eywa has turned her back on you, "chosen one".“- To Neytiri and then Jake.
„I see that I am not needed here.“- Viewing Norm and Max trying to heal Kiri.
„You allowed this! You allowed him to bond with the outcast!“- Ronal chastises Tsireya after finding out about Payakan and Lo'ak.
„Sister, I see you.“- Ronal greets her spirit sister.
„Your son is beautiful.“- Ronal to Ro'a.
„She waited many breeding cycles to have this calf. The clan was so happy for her. What is this, Tonowari? What is this?!“- Ronal horrified by Ro'a's death.
„Leave? You live among us and you learn nothing!“- When Jake says the tulkun should leave.
„You brought this upon us! YOU!“- At battle, when Jake says the RDA is after him.
„Your daughter. Your half-blood daughter. With no Training.... Hold him.... Has done what no Tsahik could do.“- Ronal expressing disbelief at Kiri's abilities while dressing Neyitiri's wound.
„I am Tsahik!“- To Neytiri when she suggests she questions the will of Eywa.
„I tell you to rest. You do not rest. Then blame my herbs. Hold still. Stupid woman!“- Ronal when Neytiri tells her that her herbs aren't healing her.
„I am dying. I am dying. But first I will push out this baby.“- Ronal as she goes into labor after being fatally hit during the battle.
„Thank you, Neytiri. Thank you.“- To Neytiri for helping her in labor.
„She....She is Pril. Be strong.“- Ronal names her newborn daughter.
„You will protect her?“- Requesting Neytiri to protect Pril as she dies.
„You are one of us now.“- Ronal to Spider in the Spirit Tree.
