Jake was once a 22-year-old human paraplegic Marine veteran of Earth's Resource Wars who took over his murdered twin brother's RDA contract to be an avatar driver on the exomoon Pandora. He was assigned by RDA leaders Miles Quaritch and Parker Selfridge to infiltrate the Omatikaya clan of the Na'vi and, over the course of three months, convince them to leave their home. Instead, Jake mated with Neytiri and defected from the RDA after they toppled the clan's home and killed Na'vi in the process. Jake refused to accept the RDA's plans for Pandora, and he led a revolt against the RDA to protect the Na'vi from subjugation, expelling the company from the exomoon. Jake was given the leadership role from the current dying clan leader. Using the Tree of Souls, Jake's consciousness was permanently transferred into his avatar
Years later, Jake and Neytiri are parents to three biological children (Neteyam, Lo'ak, and Tuktirey) and their adopted daughter Kiri. Upon the RDA's return and the onset of the Second Pandoran War, Jake became a major war leader of The Resistance. With the appearance of Recombinant soldiers, Jake renounces his leadership, leaving operations to Alma Cortez. Jake and his family fled from their hidden home to take safe refuge with a reef clan, learning their ways. After several months, the Recombinants and Quaritch's clone found Jake's family, and a skirmish killed Jake's eldest son Neteyam
