Toa Lewa was a Toa of Air and one of the Toa Mata. He was gifted with the elemental power of air; wore a Kanohi Miru, the Great Mask of Levitation; and carried an axe through which he could channel his elemental power. Lewa and the other Toa Mata were a part of the legend of Mata Nui, a legend that the Turaga of Mata Nui often told to the Matoran during the millennium between the Great Cataclysm and the Toa Mata’s arrival. The legend itself was spawned by a mix of common Matoran legends, the past experiences of the Turaga as the Toa Metru, and Turaga Vakama’s visions.

The legend, as the Matoran of Mata Nui knew it, stated that the Great Beings sent the Great Spirit Mata Nui from the heavens into the world to care for all living things. Mata Nui brought with him the Matoran to the paradise that was the island of Mata Nui, named so in his honor. Mata Nui gave the Matoran the Three Virtues to live by: unity, duty, and destiny; and the Matoran lived happily under Mata Nui’s loving protection. Unfortunately, Mata Nui’s dark brother, the Makuta, had followed Mata Nui from paradise and coveted the world and all that his brother had. Makuta cast a spell over Mata Nui that caused him to fall into a deep slumber. Then, Makuta claimed the world as his own, bringing darkness and destruction everywhere. Fields withered away, sunlight grew cold, and the ancient values of the Matoran were eventually forgotten. However, all was not lost; for the Great Beings would send six mighty Toa to defeat Makuta and awaken Mata Nui once more; and one day, the Toa finally did appear.

Like his fellow Toa Mata, Lewa’s origin before coming to the island of Mata Nui is very mysterious. He probably came into being about 95,000 years before he arrived on the shores of Mata Nui. He had never been a Matoran prior to being a Toa, and it is possible that he and the other Toa Mata’s sole purpose was to serve as a failsafe for the Great Spirit Mata Nui should he ever have fallen into danger. As happens with every Toa, Lewa’s spirit star came into being, which rested in the sky above Mata Nui. Whatever island that Lewa and the rest of the Toa Mata came from, they were trained in the use of their powers as Toa: the use of their elemental powers, the use of Kanohi, and the ability to form Toa Kaita. A Matoran local of the island once described the place as the “world that feeds the world,” the “wellspring of flame that burns none but its bearer until nothing is left, not even ashes.” Some time later, on the same island, the Toa Mata willingly put themselves into transportation canisters that the local Matoran created especially for them to fall into a deep sleep and await a call to action.

The Toa Mata’s call came when the Great Cataclysm occurred and Mata Nui was cast into endless slumber. Their canisters were activated and rocketed up into the sky above Mata Nui to safely fall back down again into the ocean surrounding the island. Had their canisters been working properly, the Toa would have arrived on the shores of Mata Nui, made their way underground to Metru Nui, and found a way to defeat Makuta while he was still weakened and awaken Mata Nui. Unfortunately, an unintentional mechanical fault caused their canisters to malfunction. Instead of steering themselves toward the island of Mata Nui, the canisters floated freely in the ocean with the Toa inside of them for a thousand years. Due to their prolonged time sealed in the canisters, some of the Toa’s biological ligaments decayed over time, causing some of their mechanical parts to fall apart. Their memory faded during that time as well. All the while, on Mata Nui, Makuta harassed the Matoran for a thousand years with his Rahi beasts.

A thousand years after the Great Cataclysm, the adventurous Matoran Takua gathered the Toa stones from all over the island of Mata Nui and brought them together at the Kini-Nui. In doing this, he unwittingly sent a beacon to the Toa’s canisters that finally steered them toward the island. Lewa’s canister washed up on the shores of the Kanae Bay in Le-Wahi. The canister opened, and Lewa’s loose body pieces flew out onto the sandy beach. Lewa reassembled himself, his organic tissue regrowing once he fitted his mechanical parts back together. Once Lewa noticed his Kanohi Miru lying in the sand and put it on, he felt a surge of energy course through him that he had probably not felt for centuries. Just as the Matoran’s legends had foretold, Lewa remembered nothing except dreams of darkness and his own name.

Lewa swung on vines through the jungle trees of Le-Wahi. Lewa traveled far inland until he found the village of Le-Koro, where Turaga Matau and the Le-Matoran lived. He was welcomed as the Toa come to save them; and Matau told Lewa of their situation: how Makuta had been using the Rahi to harass the Matoran for centuries, and how Makuta had cast the Great Spirit Mata Nui into endless sleep. The Turaga informed Lewa that, in order to gain the strength needed to defeat Makuta, he and the other Toa needed to go on a quest for the Kanohi masks of power that were hidden all over Mata Nui. Additional to his Kanohi Miru, Lewa would have to collect five other Great Kanohi – Hau, Kakama, Pakari, Akaku, Kaukau; and retrieve five Noble Kanohi – Huna, Komau, Ruru, Matatu, and Rau – that had been stolen by the Rahi.

Lewa set out from his village to find the other Toa. All six Toa met each other at the bottom of Mount Ihu. Lewa advocated the idea of the Toa going their separate ways to find the Kanohi masks of power. After a heated discussion, the Toa decided to split up during their quest for the masks rather than working together as a team, much to Lewa’s satisfaction. The Toa then got a first taste of Makuta’s own power when he sent a brief combination of hail, lightning, and an earth tremor against them to disrupt the meeting.

Lewa departed from the meeting with Gali. They were traveling through the jungle when Lewa saved Gali from an “angry” pool of water under the power of Makuta. Despite this close encounter, Lewa and Gali parted ways. Lewa went back to Le-Koro, where Matau told him of the location of a Kanohi Kakama. Lewa was annoyed to find out that the mask was on the bottom of a large pool of water in a Le-Wahi cavern. Lewa reached the spot after defeating a Nui-Jaga, but was almost drowned by seaweed that was under Makuta’s power upon his first attempt to swim to the mask. Lewa retrieved the mask, however, and prepared for the journey back to Le-Koro. Just like the other Great Kanohi masks that he would collect during his quest, Lewa’s Kakama was teleported back to the Le-Suva, able to be summoned back and forth for his use at any time. Lewa was swinging through the trees when he was ambushed by a Nui-Rama and had his Kanohi knocked off. Lewa then fell to the ground toward the jaws of a Muaka only to save himself by grabbing a vine. Onua then came to his rescue when he pulled the Muaka into the earth. Despite Onua’s efforts, however, Lewa was captured and had an infected Kanohi mask put on his face that made him a servant of Makuta.

Lewa was taken to a Nui-Rama hive elsewhere in Le-Wahi where Turaga Matau, Taipu, and many of the Le-Matoran were being held captive. After Takua, Kongu, and the Kahu Patrol launched an attack on the Rahi hive that resulted in their own capture, Onua dug himself into the hive to rescue Lewa. Onua fought Lewa and ended the battle when he knocked Lewa’s infected mask off and freed him from Makuta’s influence. Lewa and Onua then helped the Turaga and all of the Matoran escape from the hive and return to Le-Koro.

Lewa and Onua later met up with Pohatu. After the Toa realized they all had limited success in finding the Kanohi masks alone, Onua called a meeting near his landing site. Onua sent Lewa to bring Kopaka back from his quest, which led him to the Lava Lagoon in Ta-Wahi. Kopaka’s task was about to turn deadly when Lewa saved him from falling into the Lava flow. Lewa took Kopaka back to Onua’s meeting without fail. The rest of the Toa returned from all over the island to discuss their situation. After a great battle against the Rahi and Makuta’s power over the island, this meeting ended in one unanimous decision: the Toa would work together as a team.

The Toa turned to the Ta-Matoran for the location of the next hidden Kanohi mask to find. The Ta-Matoran told the Toa that Tahu’s Kanohi Miru was beneath the waves of the shoreline just south of Po-Koro. With this in mind, the Toa traveled to this location as a group, although they still wasted much time on petty disagreements. Lewa kept on getting distracted and wandering away from the group, which also slowed the group down. When they arrived, the Toa who already possessed the Kanohi Kaukau – Onua, Kopaka, and Gali – went underwater to retrieve the mask while Lewa, Pohatu, and Tahu guarded the beach. The Toa underwater encountered a Tarakava from which they removed its infected mask. The Toa retrieved Tahu’s Miru and returned to the surface successful.

Along with the other Toa, Lewa found more Great Kanohi as well as Noble Kanohi, which he would return to Turaga Matau when he had the chance. As Lewa collected more and more Kanohi, he gained more and more abilities from the Great and Noble Masks. After the Toa collected several more Kanohi with significant success, they split off into two groups to find Pohatu’s two last Great Kanohi. Lewa, Pohatu, and Kopaka went to Po-Wahi; and Tahu, Onua, and Gali went to Le-Wahi. Lewa voluntarily used his own Kanohi Miru to retrieve Pohatu’s Miru from halfway down the highest bluff in Po-Wahi.

The Toa’s quest for the masks finally ended in the drifts of lower Mount Ihu where they found Tahu’s Kaukau. After the Toa had collected all of the Great and Noble Kanohi and had for the most part freed the Rahi from Makuta’s control, they were uncertain of what to do next. They had heard rumors of Gold Kanohi, and both Kopaka and Gali had had brief, mysterious visions of the Toa Kaita and of a massive temple in the center of the island. The Toa, having each collected all six of their necessary Great Masks, returned to their Koro. When Lewa visited the Le-Suva in Le-Koro, where his Great Masks were kept, and placed his own mask on it, his six Great Kanohi formed a single Gold Kanohi in the shape of his Kanohi Miru.

Armed with his new Gold Kanohi, which gave him the powers of the six Great Kanohi he had collected, Lewa journeyed with the other Toa to the Kini-Nui. It was there that they met the Chronicler’s Company, who agreed to defend the Kini-Nui from the Rahi while the Toa were facing Makuta. The Toa then unlocked an underground passageway to Mangaia, Makuta’s underground lair, through the Kini-Nui with the Makoki stones. The Toa traveled through this tunnel down to Makuta’s realm. When, on their way to Makuta, the Toa encountered the Manas – Makuta’s two most powerful Rahi guardians – they could not find a way to defeat them until they merged their beings together to form two powerful Toa Kaita. Lewa merged with Kopaka and Gali to form Toa Kaita Wairuha. The Toa Kaita were able to defeat the Manas and move on toward Makuta’s inner lair.

Once the Toa Kaita reached Makuta’s inner lair, they split apart once again into the six Toa. It was there that the Toa faced the Shadow Toa – dark essences of themselves given independent life by Makuta. The Toa were evenly matched against their Shadow Toa counterparts. The Toa, faced with essentially fighting themselves, still managed to triumph by acknowledging that the darkness was a part of them, just as it was a part of all beings. This realization enabled the Toa to reabsorb the Shadow Toa back into their bodies, ending their threat.

With the Shadow Toa defeated, the Toa faced the Makuta himself. Makuta revealed only a small part of his true form to the Toa, at first taking on the appearance of a pitted, scarred, infected Matoran. Then, after greeting the Toa, he transformed into a mass of tentacles that quickly beat back the Toa. Even with their mask powers, the Toa were rapidly caught up in an intense battle that did not seem to press on in their favor. It was only when the Toa used their elemental powers together against Makuta’s being that they were able to defeat him. Makuta, beaten, mysteriously disappeared. After their great fight, the Toa started back up to the surface of Mata Nui victorious. The Toa, it seemed, had saved the island of Mata Nui and its Matoran at last.

When the Toa reached the surface, they did not hear the sounds of peace but the sounds of turmoil all over the island’s landscape. They found a Ta-Matoran near the Kini-Nui who repeated one word over and over: Bohrok. The Toa used their Kanohi to speed their way to Ta-Koro to investigate, where they found mysterious creatures attacking the village. As it turned out, these new creatures were swarms of Pahrak and Kohrak. Lewa jumped into battle only to be frozen by a Kohrak. Once freed, Lewa was able to combine his powers with Gali to create a storm to drive away these creatures; but the Toa had just faced Mata Nui’s newest threat: the Bohrok swarms.

As the Toa stood around a single fallen Pahrak, Turaga Vakama told the Toa the legend of the Bohrok, which was yet another prophecy spawned by his visions. This legend stated that the Bohrok had slept a seemingly endless sleep for thousands of years. When they wakened, they would rampage throughout Mata Nui and devastate the island. The weakness of any Bohrok, however, was its Krana – a purely organic creature within the Bohrok’s head plate that guided the Bohrok on its mission and gave it extra power. Even the mightiest of Bohrok would be rendered helpless if parted from its Krana.

Turaga Vakama told the Toa of a new mission: to gather the eight Krana breeds from each of the six Bohrok swarms – a total of forty-eight Krana to collect. The Toa took a Krana Xa from the fallen Pahrak. As leader, Tahu ordered the other Toa to return to their Koro to make sure their villages were safe and to start on their mission to gather the Krana.

Lewa arrived at Le-Koro to find a horrifying reality. Le-Koro had already been attacked by the Bohrok; and Turaga Matau and all of the Le-Matoran (save Kongu and Tamaru) had had Krana affixed to their faces, which, when worn, could steal the mind. Lewa, not daring to fight against his own villagers, allowed them to overcome him and place a telepathic Krana Za on his own face.

A week had passed when Onua grew truly concerned about Lewa, the only Toa who had not been heard from since he left Ta-Koro for his own village. Onua gathered a group of Matoran-piloted Boxor vehicles to follow him and went to Le-Wahi to check on Lewa. Onua soon found a party of Lehvak Va carrying Lewa’s gold Kanohi mask, which troubled him even more. It was not long before Lewa, under the Bohrok swarm’s influence, ambushed the worried Toa of Earth. Onua, facing a Lewa who was not himself yet again, was unsure how he could ever defeat the Toa of Air. Instead of fighting him directly, Onua stood in front of his friend, not defending himself. He reached out to the Lewa behind the Krana, trusting him to let his will win over that of the Bohrok swarm’s. With Onua’s new motivation, Lewa ripped the Krana Za off of his face himself. Onua gave Lewa’s mask back to him as a group of Lehvak charged them, which the Boxor vehicles were able to defeat.

When Lewa had undergone the experience of wearing a Krana, Lewa’s mind had been filled with thoughts that were not his own. Lewa, therefore, had a better idea than any of the other Toa or the Turaga of what the Bohrok were really up to. The Toa of Air even became able to understand communication among the Bohrok. Lewa, however, was troubled by the thought that the swarm still might have had some influence over him.

Lewa traveled up the foothills of the Mangai Volcano with Onua, where the two met up with Tahu; Pohatu; Gali; and Kopaka, who had discovered the entrance to the Bohrok nest. When the Toa summed up the Krana they had collected, they realized that they had gathered all they needed. At Lewa’s suggestion, the Toa wasted no time in traveling with their Krana to the entrance of the underground Bohrok nests. The Toa descended into the tunnel, trying their best to avoid exiting Bohrok and fighting past them when they could not. Tahu showed that he was uneasy about Lewa’s encounter with the Krana, suspecting that he might still be influenced by the Bohrok. After the Toa traveled into the tunnel for some distance, Tahu descended down an opening in the floor that sealed itself shut once he was inside the Tahnok nest below. Meanwhile, a slab of stone suddenly came down and sealed the tunnel ahead of the Toa waiting up above. The five Toa then faced a surge of lava flowing down the tunnel they had come just down through. Desperate to escape, Onua and Pohatu worked on shattering the stone slab while Kopaka tried to slow the lava flow. Despite all of Onua and Pohatu’s strength, they could not produce even a scratch in the stone. It was Lewa, calling upon his knowledge of the Bohrok, who realized that the stone slab was an illusion. Once the Toa stopped believing that the stone was actually there, it dematerialized. The five Toa escaped from the tunnel and met up with Tahu once again when he burst through the floor, having heated the air in the Tahnok nest until the air pressure blew the nest apart.

The floor gave way under the Toa, sending them falling into a large chamber below. The Toa used their mask powers to cushion their fall and landed safely. They noticed special niches in the ground specialized for the Krana they carried, so they placed in them the Krana they had worked so hard to collect. Once the Toa did this, the ground shook, causing six doors in the walls of the chamber to crumble. The doorways revealed six entrances, and each Toa went into his own passageway. Lewa’s foreign memories from the Krana were haunting him at this point, informing him of what the Toa were about to find. The Toa discovered Exo-Toa armor in the new chambers, which gave them more power than ever before.

Coming back to the larger chamber and occupying the suit of Exo-Toa armor, Lewa encountered Gahdok – one of the Bahrag, twin queens of the Bohrok swarms. Kopaka helped Lewa drive Gahdok back into the larger chamber as Tahu drove Cahdok into the area as well. The Toa quickly surrounded the Bahrag and drove them into the center of the chamber as a strategic move. However, the Bahrag’s symbiosis allowed them to grow more powerful as they came closer together. When the Toa attacked the Bahrag with the new weapons of the Exo-Toa, they had no effect. Despite the new power that the Exo-Toa gave the Toa, their battle with the Bahrag did not seem to be in their favor. Lewa was half-frozen by Gahdok. Most of the other Toa were promptly overcome, and they found themselves once again fighting a battle that did not seem to move along in their favor. After a close call against Gahdok, Tahu finally reasoned that the only hope to win the fight was to get out of the Exo-Toa, which hindered the use of the Toa’s elemental and Kanohi powers. After he ordered the Toa to shed their Exo-Toa armor, the Toa attacked the Bahrag as one, this time combining their elemental powers in a single beam against the Bahrag. This beam of the Toa’s six elemental blasts combined created a barred cage of indestructible solid protodermis around the Bahrag, imprisoning them. Because of this, the Bahrag’s mental link was cut off from the Krana, and in turn cut off from the Bohrok. The Bohrok all over Mata Nui ceased their rampages at once, and the Toa had saved Mata Nui once again.

Immediately after the Bahrag’s defeat, the Toa were drawn into tubes in the floor of the chamber that were filled with energized protodermis. As destiny would have it, the Toa were transformed by the substance into something more powerful than any other Toa had ever been, with greater elemental powers, stronger Kanohi masks, and shiny new armor. No longer were they Toa Mata. Forever after, they would be known as the Toa Nuva. Lewa became known as Lewa Nuva.

Throughout his existence, Toa Lewa possessed the elemental power of air, which basically allowed him to create and manipulate the air and wind by using elemental energy. Lewa could also absorb elemental air energy from his surroundings to replenish it in himself. Lewa carried an axe for a Toa tool that he used to channel his elemental air power. Before he received his gold Kanohi, Lewa favored to wear his Kanohi Miru, which he had possessed even before the time he arrived on Mata Nui. He preferred to be among the treetops, as he was somewhat clumsy on flat land. Lewa was extremely competent with aerial activities, highly energetic, and very acrobatic. This caused him to be overly talkative and easily distracted from what the other Toa were saying. Lewa could also be incredibly impulsive, which often got him into considerable danger. Lewa was known to base many of his decisions merely on hunches – which, much to the other Toa Mata’s surprise, often turned out to be correct. Lewa, though, could always be counted on to jump into a fight first, protecting the other Toa Mata before himself.