Noa

“Can ape and human live together?”

―Noa^[src]

Noa is the protagonist of the 2024 20th Century Studios film Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. He is a young ape from a post-apocalyptic era where humanity was decimated three hundred years ago. After his clan is captured by tyrannical apes, Noa embarks on an adventure into the unknown to rescue his kin, learning more about what the world was like long ago.

Background[]

After the ALZ-113 virus infected humanity, humans would lose the ability to speak and common sense while apes evolved to slowly take their place as the dominant intelligent species. Over the centuries, the apes would split into several scattered clans, including the Eagle Clan, where Noa was born from the Eagle Clan leader Koro his mate Dar.

Personality[]

Noa is a humble, friendly, and openly honest monkey, a quality recognized by his father. Although wise by nature, Noa has a certain tendency to take risks when needed, usually motivated by the need for perfection. He often puts himself first for his close friends, such as Anaya and Soona, for whom he has feelings. Since the eagle Sun disliked him, Noa maintained a low opinion of him throughout the adventure, until the two eventually formed an unexpected bond of understanding. Loyal to his clan, Noa greatly respected traditions and was never quick to disregard them, but after being separated from his clan and having to travel and learn more about the world, his traditionalist nature became more down-to-earth, leading him to see that the ape's rule was not good.

Following the Coastal Apes' assault, Noa felt guilty about his clan's fate, as well as his father's death, since he had unwittingly guided the enemy to the village, making it his mission to bring his camp back. A skeptical nature also emerged in Noa, as he misunderstood Raka's adulation of the past and did not view the empire Proximus wanted to build on the foundations of humanity with a positive eye. Among his insecurities, the greatest was directed at humans, whom Noa saw as nothing more than primitive animals until he met Mae and learned that there were still talking humans. He sensed that Mae was no ordinary person, but quickly became suspicious of her and her motives after discovering her true nature, as well as learning how humans treated apes in the past. Despite this distrust, Noa was willing to partner with Mae to stop Proximus' madness. Upon becoming the new leader of the Eagle Clan, Noa prioritized the safety of his village through his newly acquired knowledge.

After Mae's actions nearly led to the death of his clan, Noa's distrust of humans deepened, seeing them as nothing more than selfish beings bent on possessing everything, a view that puts him at odds with Mae's motivations to restore humanity's place on Earth. Out of respect for Raka's ideals, Noa hoped that apes and humans could live together, though he wasn't entirely convinced of it himself. He would also part ways with Mae on neutral terms, hoping she wouldn't forget that they had once been friends.

Physical appearance[]

Noa is a medium-sized chimpanzee with black fur and gray eyes. He usually carries a few items used for eagle training.

Appearance[]

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes[]

As their clan's passage ceremony approaches, Noa, Soona, and Anaya roam the ruins of Los Angeles in search of eagle nests to collect eggs. At the first nest, Noa leaves the honor to Soona and Anaya because she was born before him, but quickly finds another nest even higher up. No sooner does he take an egg than the mother eagle attacks him, knocking him off the ruined building, but he manages to grab onto a hanging piece. The trio is about to ride home when they discover a young girl, an echo as the apes call her kind, nearby, having stolen Noa's blanket. The three apes chase the human to an old abandoned subway tunnel leading to a valley where the apes were forbidden to go, leading them to abandon the chase after retrieving the blanket.

Back in the village, Noa shows her egg to her mother, Dar, then goes to see her father, Koro, to whom he shows the blanket stained with the human's blood. Concerned by the presence of echoes coming from the valley, Koro sends the tracker Oda to investigate. That evening, while repairing his mother's fish rack, Noa hears a noise in the storeroom. While investigating, he finds the girl from earlier, but she escapes, breaking Noa's egg in the commotion. Worried about missing the sunrise ceremony, Noa returns to the ruins to look for another egg.

In the alley, he hears a fight between apes, and upon going to investigate, he comes across two dead apes. A mortally wounded Oda warns him before succumbing that more are coming. Noa hides in time as foreign ape riders wearing masks come to inspect the area, searching for the young girl. Unfortunately, Noa's horse wanders out into the open, allowing the leader gorilla, Sylva, to scare it into returning to the Eagle Clan village, giving them his location. By the time Noa returns, his village is on fire, and the inhabitants are being captured one by one. After failing to free Anaya and Dar, Noa rushes to the eagle tower to help his father free the eagles. Sylva confronts them and dominates the fight, beating Koro and knocking Noa off his feet, who subsequently crashes into a burning house.

In the morning, Noa wakes up amidst ashes and scorched wood. The village destroyed, he finds one of the electric batons left by the outsiders, as well as his father's body, devastating it. With Koro buried, Noa vows to find the clan and bring him back here. On horseback, he enters the valley that opens onto another part of Los Angeles. Having found his mother's blanket, the bad weather forces him to take shelter for the night. Near the fire, he is not reassured, especially because of the presence of something nearby that he cannot see. The next day, he meets Sun, one of the clan's eagles, and tries to tame him, but this fails since Sun has always been hostile towards Noa, causing the ape to growl at the eagle.

Further on, smoke rising from the ground intrigues Noa until he falls through a window in the roof of Los Angeles Airport and ends up hanging by a vine. Falling back to land, he encounters an orangutan, Raka, who initially mistakes him for one of the masked apes, who had also recently massacred his village, until Noa explains that he is not one of them. Raka then shows Noa some books, explains why the orangutans were working, and also tells her about Caesar, a name Noa heard from the masked apes during the attack. Raka explains that their enemy merely took Caesar's name and distorted his words, while also telling her that the Order of Caesar, to which Raka belongs, strives to honor Caesar's legacy. Their conversation turns to the echoes, which Raka reveals are actually humans, a species that once lived side by side with the apes and for whom Caesar cared deeply.

Returning to his horse, Noa chases away the young girl who was prowling around. Intrigued that this human has followed Noa from her village, Raka decides to join the journey. On the road, Noa tells Raka more about her clan, including their tradition of raising eagles and how unworthy Noa feels to replace his late father as eagle master. That night by the fire, the young girl approaches the apes and, seeing that she is starving, Raka gives her some apples before convincing Noa to give him his mother's blanket out of pity so that she doesn't die of cold. After Raka is nicknamed the human "Nova," Noa asks him why Caesar cared so much for humans, to which Raka reveals that Caesar was raised by a human, which helped shape him into the strong and compassionate leader of the apes spoken of in legend. That same night, Noa wanders through the Griffith Observatory and finally arrives in the telescope room. Upon inspecting the strange object, he is quickly amazed at its use for observing the stars. Nova, who had followed him, appears fascinated by the telescope and reacts to it instinctively, intriguing Noa.

The next day, the trio stumbles upon a herd of humans drinking at the pond with zebras. Noa subsequently decides to continue alone, preferring that Raka and Nova remain with the humans to educate them in the ways of Caesar. No sooner has Noa left than the masked apes attack the herd. Noa desperately searches for Raka and Nova in the bushes when he suddenly hears Nova screaming his name. He then saves her from Sylva in time before escaping with Raka.

In safety, Nova reveals to Raka that Nova spoke to him, but the orangutan only believes him once the young girl says her real name is Mae and that she knows where Noa's clan is. Dismayed, the two apes learn more about Mae, including where they are going, as well as the existence of other humans who can speak. Because she hasn't been honest from the start, Nova becomes more suspicious of Mae. The next day, the trio crosses a bridge where they are ambushed by Sylva, Lightning, and their henchmen. Noa and Mae are captured, while Raka appears to drown in the river.

With their hands bound, the chimpanzee and the human are taken to the ship graveyard serving as colonies for the enemy apes. Sylva takes Mae aside, while Lightning unties Noa, mockingly saying he's home. Noa soon discovers the entire Coastal Ape Colony before being reunited with Soona. He then finds his mother, who already knows of Koro's fate. A call ensues for all the apes to gather for a speech by the colony leader, Proximus Caesar, a zealous bonobo obsessed with the contents of a human treasure trove behind the blast doors of an old bunker built into the cliff. After yet another failure to open the bunker, Noa speaks with Soona, who reveals that the clan has submitted to Proximus, as required by law.

Noa is then summoned to Proximus's table, where he meets Mae and another intelligent human named Trevathan. Proximus soon recounts his obsession with human knowledge, which he is sure to gain if he can enter the bunker and allow the apes to undergo a powerful evolution. This explains his interest in Noa, since he traveled with Mae, who also knew about the bunker. However, Noa admits that Mae didn't tell him anything. Proximus then asserts that he only wants to protect the kingdom he supposedly built for the apes from human deceit.

By dusk, Noa is discouraged, the Eagle Clan no longer hesitating. When Sun arrives, Noa expresses her frustration at her failure to bring the Clan home because they now belong to Proximus, but Noa ultimately rejects the law, leading Sun to finally bond with him. That evening, Noa visits Mae, wanting to know everything she's been hiding from her and promising to help her if she tells the truth. Mae says she's searching the bunker for what she calls a "special book" that could help humans regain their lost intelligence, while also revealing that the apes were once primitives and humanity was dominant. She also turns out to know a way in.

With a plan in motion, Noa and Mae recruit Soona and Anaya. They begin by planting gunpowder in the dam, but are surprised by Trevathan, who plans to tell Proximus everything, forcing Mae to choke him to death. The quartet then goes behind the cliff, which they climb to access an opening through some old ventilation ducts. Inside the complex, the group moves with flaming torches until Mae turns the power back on and goes searching on her own. Meanwhile, the three apes explore an abandoned classroom, captivated by the objects left behind by humans. Looking through a children's book about the zoo, they anxiously discover images of their ancestors locked in cages.

With Mae having obtained what she was looking for, the group activates the blast doors, only to find Proximus already waiting for them with his apes. Disappointed by Noa's alliance with Mae, the vile bonobo has Lightning threaten Soona's life, armed with a knife, to force Noa to reveal Mae's plans. Mae kills Lightning with a gun she had also retrieved, but panicking because she feared Proximus would steal the knowledge, she blew up the dam while fleeing. Noa and his clan rushed into the bunker and climbed as high as possible to avoid drowning. Sylva chased Noa, but the young chimpanzee tricked the gorilla into getting trapped in some pipes where he drowned. Returning to the surface with the clan, Noa was savagely beaten by an angry Proximus, but thanks to her mastery of eagle song, Noa commanded Sun and the other eagles to attack Proximus, who fell off the cliff as a result.

The reformed eagle clan returned to Los Angeles and began rebuilding the village. Now the new leader of the clan, Noa received a visit from Mae, who came to say goodbye. Because of what she did, Noa harbors a real distrust of humans and their ambitions, leading him to argue with Mae. However, Noa questions whether apes and humans are truly capable of living side by side, to which Mae replies that she doesn't know. Before leaving, he gives her the Order of Caesar necklace that Raka had given him earlier, wanting her to keep it as a reminder of what's important. That evening, Noa takes Soona to the observatory to show her the telescope.

Trivia[]

Noa's name is a take on Noah. The Hebrew origin meaning comfort or consolation. This is most likely a reference to his calm demeanor.
Noa was originally supposed to be a descendant of Caesar, but the idea was changed during the film's development.

Noa

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