Payakan is a young bull tulkun that has been labeled as an outcast by not only the Metkayina clan, but the larger tulkun community. Due to his actions in a past skirmish against the RDA, wherein multiple tulkun and reef Navi perished, Payakan was banished from his pod for partaking in a battle and leading to the deaths of his brothers and sisters. Years later, Payakan saves the life of Jake Sully and Neytiri’s son Lo’ak, and the two of them – boy and tulkun – forge and near-unbreakable bond of friendship.