Neytiri te Tskaha Mo'at'ite is a fictional character and one of the protagonists in the Avatar franchise, created by James Cameron.
After Jake is initiated into the clan, Neytiri becomes his teacher, introducing him to the Na’vi culture and helping him learn how to become part of the forest, eventually falling in love and mating with him.
Neytiri fights alongside Jake in the assault on the Tree of Souls, saves him from being killed by Colonel Miles Quaritch, and drives the RDA off of Pandora.
He later stated that after the film was turned down, he kept thinking about the idea of a blue skinned alien and decided to recycle it when developing Avatar in the early 1990s (which was then known as Project 880).
Since she was cast early in production, Saldaña helped screen-test actors auditioning for the part of Jake Sully, including eventual co-star Sam Worthington.
As she is about to kill the armed intruder with a bow, a woodsprite floats down and gently touches her arrowhead, telling her that the avatar is pure.
Amazed by what she just witnessed, Neytiri sees this as a good omen from Eywa and takes him to Hometree; the home of the Omaticaya Clan.
Upon arrival, Tsu'tey attacks Jake and attempts to kill him, but Neytiri stops him by explaining the sign she had received from Eywa.
She shows him how to move through the Pandoran jungle, make tsaheylu (a bond that allows him to ride direhorses and ikran), how to speak the Na'vi language, and teaches him hunting rituals.
She then helps Jake rally the other Na'vi clans to prepare for an impending attack from the RDA, who plan to strike and destroy the Tree of Souls.
During the subsequent battle, the Na'vi suffer heavy casualties, but are rescued when Pandoran wildlife unexpectedly join the attack and overwhelm the humans, which Neytiri interprets as Eywa's answer to Jake's prayer.
Aware of the danger Spider's knowledge of his whereabouts poses to their safety, Jake convinces Neytiri to exile their family from the Omaticaya and retreat to the Metkayina, and are reluctantly taken in by clan chief Tonowari.
Bringing Spider with him, Quaritch commandeers a whaling vessel which is hunting tulkuns to harvest their brain enzymes for anti-aging remedies.
After Quaritch and the whaling crew begin killing tulkuns in order to draw Jake out, Lo'ak, along with his siblings, Tsireya, Aonung, and Rotxo head off to warn Payakan.
Quaritch forces Jake to surrender, but upon seeing Lo'ak imperiled, Payakan attacks the whalers, triggering a fight that kills most of the crew and sinks the vessel.
Trapped inside the sinking vessel, Jake strangles Quaritch into unconsciousness and is rescued by Lo'ak and Payakan while Kiri saves Neytiri and Tuk.
After Neteyam's funeral, Jake informs Tonowari and Ronal of his decision to leave the Metkayina, but he instead identifies him as part of the clan and allows them to stay.
Neytiri returns a couple of days later after receiving news that the family of Tsu'tey had poisoned Jake with a knife, leaving him in a coma.
Years before the events of Avatar, Dr. Grace Augustine contacts the Omaticaya Clan and proposes the idea of a school where the Na'vi and humans could interact.
Mo'at and Eytukan agree and decide to open the school, but the latter gets suspicious after children including Neytiri who went to Hell's Gate begin developing symptoms of a mysterious illness.
Mo'at and Grace then begin a journey to visit the Tawkami Clan, Pandora's master botanists, hoping that they will have more knowledge of the sickness.