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In 2009, there was one number-one-selling movie, and that wasAvatar. This sci-fi epic spun a tale we had already seen before, but in a universe that was new, exciting, colorful, and very deadly. Avatar did a lot of things right, and quite a few things wrong, but there’s no denying that it had some rather unique lore.
For example, the key hook of the plot of the first movie revolved around a mysterious element known as Unobtanium. Mined for its energy conduction it became the source of all the misery in the movie, it’s an odd mineral that’s worth looking into. So to help with that, here’s an explanation of what is Unobtanium in Avatar.
The Origins Of Unobtanium
Before diving right into the lore it’s worth taking a step back and looking atwhat Unobtanium is narratively. It’s basically amade-up MacGuffin elementthat, depending on the writer, can do whatever the script needs it to. For example, “Unobtanium” as a ‘plot element’first appeared for many in the movie The Core.
In that film, it was asuper dense alloy that got stronger the more heat and pressure was applied to it. In Avatar, James Cameron decided that his version of it was going to be analternate fuel source and a vital tech industry element for Earth. Humanity already stripped the planet of all its natural resources and was nowcolonizing and plundering another world for its resources.
Cameron has confirmed this himself, stating that Unobatanium is: “Whatever gets people up out of their cities to get on ships to go someplace and take stuff from other people that doesn’t belong to them”.
Though Unobtanium is a silly and unoriginal name, it could be worse. It could be called “Pretendium”, “Eludiam”, or “Star Metal” for those that enjoy a Conan The Barbarian reference.
What Is Unobtanium?
In real life,Unobtanium first appeared in the 1900s and was created by scientists who were researching superconductivity. At the time because of the lack of resources, knowledge, and the level of technology of the era, theydeemed their goal unobtainableand the element they needed to achieve Superconductivity “Unobtanium”. In that, itdidn’t exist or was impossible to find.
In the Avatar movie,Unobtanium is discovered when an unmanned survey ship flies near Pandoraand discovers a new element that isSuperconductive at room temperatureand doesn’t require vast amounts of power or overly complicated methods to achieve superconduction.
Superconductivity is when anelement contains no resistance to the flow of electrons and exerts a magnetic field. Basically, more power for less effort.
In the Avatar background lore,Unobtanium is used not only in power management, it’s used in avast array of machines, robotics, and other parts of Earth’s society. For example, the manufacturing of computer chips,running Maglev trains and containing the process of energy conversion in a Starships engine. So it gets around.
With such a high dependence on this mineral, it’s unsurprising why Earth’s various conglomerates and companies have their eyes set on Pandora and itsuntapped and untouched resource-rich environment.
Unobtanium Refinement
Though it’snever mentioned in the movie, in the Avatar game there’s a large wealth of information on Unobtanium, including the refinement process that’s worth mentioning.
For starters,the process of extracting Unobtanium is incredibly difficult and time-consuming. The mineral itself exerts astrong magnetic field and any tools used on it that were ferromagnetic, meaning they’re affected by magnetism, would become highly magnetized. This caused tools, machines, and intricate engines of drilling platforms to seize up and becomepermanently immobile and useless.
To counter this, expensive, exotic, andhard-to-come-by metals and composite materials have to be used to extract the mineral. Which of course skyrockets prices for drilling operations and causes them to dig up larger amounts anddo more environmental damage in order to turn a profit. There’s also the other problem that comes with using metal objects in a magnetic field, heat, and lots of it.
So equipment not properly protected would either becometoo hot to use, magnetize, or melt, or if you were really unlucky, all three at once. Because of this, extracting the mineral was very difficult. But the problems don’t end there, becausethe Human Body does not like magnetic fields either.
Humans can’t go anywhere near Unobtanium deposits becausethe intense magnetism disrupts the bioelectric mechanisms of the body, causing dysfunction in the nerves, muscles, and the brain for up to 1,000 feet or more.
The effects become stronger and more damaging the closer someone gets to a deposit. Miners would regularly experience severe symptoms such asparalysis, irregular breathing, heart problems, nausea, blackouts, and even death.
Because of this, themajority of mining operations are conducted remotely. This is why all of the engineering equipment seen operated by humans in the movie is done via a complex Remote Control Hub in their home base.
But when the RDA manages to get some raw Unobtanium,the Ore deposit is then heated to over 1,000 degrees centigrade. This process causes the collapse or release of the magnetic field around the rock andthe raw Ore is then carried back to the base, where it’s further refined intoeasily transportable metal sheets or cablingdepending on what it’s going to be used for.
Whilst the above information is from the official Avatar game,it’s been officially declared non-canon unfortunately.
Unobtanium In The Avatar Movie
Unobtainium’s appearance in the first Avatar movie is one of aplot device for the major conflictthroughout the movie. The RDA Corpo Crew wants it because just asmall amount of Unobtanium sells for a ridiculous exorbitant amount back on Earth.
However, it’s proving hard to find andthe biggest pocket discovered so far is buried deep under the Home Tree of the Na’vithat dwell within the forest. However, it’s implied that themining and resource drilling is happening in other parts of the planetas other Na’vi tribes rally to deal with the RDA.
To obtain the Unobtanium, Jake Sully goes undercover amongst the Na’Vi for the RDA. But if you’ve seen Dances With Wolves or any movie similar to this, you know it’s not long untilhe’s gone local and has turned on his former employers.
And thus amassive conflict occurs between the two factionsthat culminates in the tree being burned, the Na’vi made homeless but now given great motivation to rebel against the “Sky People”.
The planet rises up against the RDA, the Humans are sent packing and all is well. Until the sequel rolls around and everything starts to burn once again. Unfortunately,Unobtanium in the Avatar universe seems to have disappearedas there’s no mention of it in the sequel, instead, James Cameron decided to Hamfistedly focus on whale oil and whaling.
Hopefully, it reappears in more of the films in the franchise in the future, although knowing James Cameron he may move onto some otherheavy-handed metaphor for the industrialization of the environment, or a potential cycle back to Unobtanium.We simply don’t know, unfortunately.
