Why the Toa Mata?

[The Legendary TNT]

Ok, so there are a few adventure books between Voyage of Fear and Web of the Visorak that I never read, so if my questions get answered in those, that's why I don't know them.

 

1. How did the Toa Metru know about the Toa Mata? I should assume Whenua read stuff about them in the Archives, so that isn't really a hard question, but I might be wrong?

 

2. What made the the Turaga think tell legends of that toa team only? Yeah, Vakama told legends of Lhii, but that isn't the same as prophecies of heroic toa (whom the Turaga never met, mind you) falling from the heavens.

 

3. How did they know what the toa would look like before they came? Again, I should think it would be part of the Archive information, but how could remember the last detail of what they look like, seeing as how, they don't appear as what the Toa Metru imagined to be toa.

 

4. How influential were the Toa Mata in Metru Nui? No one ever mentions them or the prophecies that they will fall from the sky at all in the 2004 saga or anything I've read of the Toa-Dark Hunter War or Kanohi Dragon Attack. However, they were idolized in Mata Nui. What gives?

 

5. If the Toa Stones were made to create new toa:

a. How did they work in the beam from Kini Nui (the one that launched Takua in the air, giving him amnesia on Ta-Wahi beach) to reactivate the Toa Canisters?

b. How did the Turaga know that would summon the Toa?

c. Why didn't they do that about 1000 years before?

d. Why didn't the first one Takua find turn him into Takanuva?

 

6. Why the Toa Mata specifically? For all they know, a destined Matoran could stumble on a Toa Stone, become a Toa, and the Turaga would be like, "Oh. Well, you're not Tahu, Kapura, so this is a bit awkward. Want to go find some masks?" Which brings me to my next question.

 

7. If the search for the Kanohi was meant to be tests for the Toa, then the Turaga had to expect that a toa would rise from their own people. So why bother with all this emphasis on the Mata if they weren't even expecting the Mata? And if they were expecting the Mata, why hide the masks? It's paradoxical!

 

Ok, I think I'm done with my list of demands questions for now.

[The 1st Shadow]

I'll do my best to answer these.

 

1. Probably from Vakama's visions.

 

2. Vakama again.

 

3. Initially, it was stated that there are two "standard" shapes for Toa in the MU--The Mata design, and the Metru design. I like to think that the former model (Toa 1.0, from the Great Beings' perspective) came first, and so is more likely to be associated with the Toa created by Artakha following the GB's design.

 

4. No one really cared then because the Mata were meant as a failsafe if anything went wrong with Mata Nui. Since there was nothing wrong before the Great Cataclysm, there was no need to talk about them.

 

5. A. No idea.

B. Again, no idea.
C. Well, someone would still have to retrieve the stones, and if it was a destined Matoran, then they should be tested. Finding the stones was Takua's first test.

D. Because while he was destined to transform into a Toa, he was not destined to transform YET. It was too early, and the circumstances were not right. Coming into contact with a Toa-powered object does not just turn a Matoran into a Toa. Remember Legends of Metru Nui? The soon-to-beToa Metru didn't transform when they touched the stones, but only when they placed the stones in the Suva at the Great Temple did anything happen. It's all based on circumstance and timing.

 

6. See answer to 5D, since it's basically the same question.

 

7. Even if it wasn't a Matoran that transformed, we need to remember that the Mata were basically asleep since Mata Nui was first activated. If I've been resting for a while, I need to stretch when I get up, and move around a bit to get my muscles properly working. Same with everyone. Same with the Toa. The search for the Kanohi was a test of their skills, a way for them to exercise their bodies and minds.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Edited June 6, 2014 by ~The 1st Shadow~

[bonesiii]

Agreed with 1st Shadow about the others -- to this one specifically:

5. If the Toa Stones were made to create new toa:

a. How did they work in the beam from Kini Nui (the one that launched Takua in the air, giving him amnesia on Ta-Wahi beach) to reactivate the Toa Canisters?

b. How did the Turaga know that would summon the Toa?

c. Why didn't they do that about 1000 years before?

d. Why didn't the first one Takua find turn him into Takanuva?

Greg confirmed that they thought the Toa Stones would make six new Toa. They didn't really understand the math of Toa Energy (which makes sense, because there was clearly some multiplication going on -- that would be confusing). Vakama likely saw the Toa Mata in his visions and assumed six Matoran from the island would eventually find the Toa Stones and become them.

 

To how it worked -- they're Toa Canisters, and they locked onto a signal of Toa Energy -- makes sense, no? Probably a safeguard the Av-Matoran builders put into it -- "in case of malfunction, head toward other Toa." And since detecting Toa from a distance might be tricky, it could be easier to detect a transformation event which probably would give off a lot of TE as radiation (not a lot percentagewise, but enough to detect from afar, methinks). But that's a theory as to the why -- all we know for sure is that it's just how it's designed, to "swim" toward such a signal. The Turaga didn't know this, however.

 

As for the timing, I could say a lot on that but I'm out of time for now. Later. Short answer: destiny, the sickness of Mata Nui, and Makuta's plans could all be factors.

 

Edit: Oh, and as for why the stones didn't transform Takua, see the other post I just made in another S&T topic... (And in addition to that, if "being ready" is a factor, he wasn't yet.)

Edited June 6, 2014 by bonesiii

[Friend of Fire]

5. If the Toa Stones were made to create new toa:

a. How did they work in the beam from Kini Nui (the one that launched Takua in the air, giving him amnesia on Ta-Wahi beach) to reactivate the Toa Canisters?

b. How did the Turaga know that would summon the Toa?

c. Why didn't they do that about 1000 years before?

 

5A) Here's my theory: It was Kini-Nui. It was designed by the Great Beings when they designed Mata Nui. The temple was meant as a passage between the planet where Mata Nui was and the MU. It, along with the Great Telescope, would always appear whenever Mata Nui landed somewhere. The GB planed for everything. So, if the Toa Canisters got shot out of the universe, they would need a way to get back. Kini-Nui would be this way, possibly sending out a signal to attract the canisters. But, as we all know, not everything the GB make works properly, and an added supply of Toa Energy was probably needed to actually make it work. Hence the six Toa Stones needing to be place at Kini-Nui. Takua flying towards the beach and getting amnesia was most likely a side effect of the system rebooting.

 

5B&C) Vakama probably didn't find out about it until Takua started recovering the lost stones. I highly doubt that Makuta knew they would summon the Toa Mata, and just wanted to prevent new Toa from arising one day. He steals the stones, Vakama freaks out and possibly gets a vision saying the stones need to go to Kini-Nui to summon the Toa Mata.

That's one possibility, another could be that Vakama knew it had to be a Matoran who placed the stones, and not just any Matoran, a Matoran of Light. (Whether Vakama knew that part could be debated.) So, knowing the stones needed to be placed by a Matoran would have prevented the Turaga from doing it 1000 years before, as they hid the stones before they returned to Metru Nui to rescue the sleeping Matoran.