I just watched the movie Lone Survivor, which is a movie I enjoyed and recommend.
At the very end, it mentions something called "Pashtunwali" (
Wikipedia article), a 2,000-year-old ethical code that the tribal Pashtun people follow. It emphasizes things like hospitality towards visitors, bravery, loyalty, protection of the weak, among other things. Codes like this developed in many places where survival could mean relying on the generosity of strangers, for example, if you were lost in a desert and dying of thirst, your only hope may be a stranger with water to give you.
It got me to thinking, what would the Na'vi's values be? Would they have a code like this, and if so, what would it be? Since Pandora is a very dangerous world, I can imagine that they would. Given their connection to Eywa and how Neytiri reacts to Jake the night she meets him, they would almost definitely value respecting nature and not killing without necessity.
I especially like this (from the Wikipedia article):
Quote:
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It is considered to be the personal responsibility of every Pashtun to discover and rediscover Pashtunwali's essence and meaning.
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If you went to sleep tonight and woke up tomorrow born a Na'vi, what would your values be? What sorts of things would you do (or refrain from doing) to uphold them and why?