After three years away, we return to Pandora for another action-packed adventure in Avatar: Fire and Ash – and this time, it's not just whale-hunting humans Jake Sully and co have to worry about. Still reeling from the death of their son, Neteyam, the fractured family find themselves defending their home from the murderous Ash people, or Mangkwan clan, led by the vindictive Varang in the latest sequel.
But why would Na'vi attack Na'vi? In Avatar: The Way of Water, we saw that Ronal and the other Reef People didn't exactly welcome the forest dwellers with open arms, but they grew to accept (and even care for) their unexpected new neighbors. So what's Varang's deal? We dive into all that below, so it goes without saying that there are major spoilers to follow!
With Varang still breathing at the end of Fire and Ash, and the possibility of two more Avatar movies still to come, there's probably a whole lot of backstory and lore director James Cameron has held back in case he needs it for the future. In short, the Mangkwan clan's motivations are admittedly vague in the flick. But we'll unpack all that we know so far, anyway, from mentions of Varang's traumatic childhood to her sinister team-up with the RDA's Colonel Miles Quaritch. Scroll on for more...
Who are the bad Na'vi in Avatar 3?
First introduced in Avatar: Fire and Ash, the Ash people – or Mangkwan clan, as they're more specifically known – hail from a village in the mountains that was destroyed by a volcanic eruption, along with their Hometree. The event killed many of their tribe and despite their desperate pleas to Na'vi goddess Eywa, no one came to their aid, which has left them disillusioned and vengeful, With that, they share an intense hatred for those who still worship and believe in the power of the Na'vi goddess. In a nutshell, the Sullys and Metkayina clan seriously rub them up the wrong way.
They were first mentioned in issue 4 of Dark Horse's 2021 comic-run Avatar: The Next Shadow. Like other Na-vi groups, they use wooden weapons, such as bows and arrows, and ride nightwraithes and banshees. Savage and violent in battle, they tend to cut off their opponents kurus as a way to sever their spiritual tie to Eywa, and highlight their disdain for her.
While it's not touched on in the film, Avatar: Fire and Ash's official companion book The Visual Dictionary reveals that Varang's mother, the clan's former leader (or tsahik) died in the blaze, which paved the way for Varang's twisted rise to power. "When she came of age, she took her mother's place as tsahik, displacing her older sister, who was tsahik-in-waiting," it reads. When she turned 15, Varang poisoned her oko'eyktan father, who she believed to be "a weak leader blinded by fear" and has been the clan's sole "messiah" ever since.
With no other option, the Ash people settled on their village's dust-covered ruins and now spend their days pirating and pillaging for resources. Following such an attack on a Wind Trader vessel in the film, Varang stumbles on the Sully family's guns and is instantly bewitched by their destructive capabilities. Later, she meets Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who promises her all the firearms she can get her hands on if her and her people help the RDA flush out the other Na'vi and capture "traitor" Jake Sully (Sam Worthington).
As Varang suggests to Quaritch in one of Fire and Ash's more psychedelic scenes, she's established some sort of personal, physical connection to fire over the years – and is seemingly less susceptible to its harmful properties. Her followers don't seem to share such connection, though they do perform powerful rituals involving fire.
Who plays Varang?
Game of Thrones actor Oona Chaplin brings Varang to life.
"I studied [Neytiri actor] Zoe [Saldaña] for the moves, because Zoe is Pandora for me," Chaplin previously explained to GamesRadar+. "I would go into the rehearsal room and kind of try and imitate the way that she moved, and then I'd think, because Zoe moves from the heart a lot, it's like, 'Okay, what happens when you close your heart?' Because I know Varang has suffered immense trauma, and so she doesn't trust the world like Neytiri does."
Avatar: Fire and Ash is in cinemas now. For more, check out our picks of the best sci-fi movies or our guide to the most exciting upcoming movies releasing in 2026.
