What Really Goes on in the Red Star?

[Akavakaku]

Reading "The Powers That Be", it's clear that we still don't understand everything that goes on in the Red Star. So I'm going to pick it apart and try to make some sense of the parts that are still confusing.

 

“I had not thought of the star in so long,” Gaardus continued. “Not since the death of the Nynrah. The star was why I stayed in the Nynrah’s village for so long after my escape. Now I wonder if what I was waiting for was up there, not down among the land and water.”

 

So we can infer that when the Nyrah were killed, Gaardus knew they would be going to the Red Star. But his second comment is strange. It seems that when he escaped, he already knew of the Red Star. Did he die before his transformation, and somehow remember the Red Star? Or did the procedure kill him? If so, how did he go straight back to the village after he was revived? Did he just teleport home after being revived and relocated? And the big question: why did the Red Star motivate him to stay in his village? And what was he waiting for? 

 

Pohatu looked down the hallway. Three small beings clad in purple and black armor were moving toward them. Something about them seemed vaguely familiar, like Pohatu had heard them described before, but he couldn’t remember when. As soon as they saw the two Toa and their winged companion, they seemed to grow very alarmed.

“What are you doing here?” one of the beings asked. “You need to go back. You should be gone by now.”

“No,” said another. “Don’t you remember what happened the last time? They wouldn’t go back and we had to --”

The third interrupted, pointing at Gaardus. “That one has been here before. He was the last. He must know why no one can go now.”

“But look at them!” said the first to speak. “It must be working again, or how could they be here like that?”

The others paused, as if acknowledging their friend had a point. The one who had remembered Gaardus nodded, saying, “Very well. But if it doesn’t work, do we need to end them like the other ones?”

All three little beings produced wicked looking hand weapons. “Naturally,” said the first. “How else are we to make things right?”

 

Here many of the implications are things we already understand. The Kestora are familiar to Pohatu because Takanuva encountered them in another universe and evidently told him about them. They see the live visitors loitering in their hall and want them sent back. But the sendback failed long ago. Gaardus was the last sent back, and they blame him.

The next comment is bizarre, though. What must be working again? The sendback is the only thing we know is broken. Must the sendback be working for revived beings to be wandering the Star? Or did the sendup also break? If it did, it must have been after Mavrah's sendup only 1000 years ago.

After that... so apparently they destroy those that can't return. Great.

 

“We are the Kestora,” said one of the purple and black beings. “We are the ones who keep this place operating. But it has not been operating, not for a very long time. And it is his fault,” he added, pointing at Gaardus.

 

“I said – oh, never mind, you know what I said,” Pohatu chuckled. “Now what’s all this about coming and going? What is this, some kind of a transport hub?”

“In a sense,” said one of the Kestora.

“Yes, you might say that,” said the second.

“Or you might not,” the third interjected. “Anyway, the three of you need to be going. You got what you came here for, time to leave.”

 

This is all stuff we understand. What a relief!

 

“Now, listen. Where is it we are supposed to be going?”

“Back to Mata Nui, of course,” said one of the Kestora, as if he we speaking to a child. “Back where you belong.”

“Mata Nui is so much junk in the Bara Magna desert by now,” said Pohatu. “You guys must not get out much.”

“If that’s true, then we can’t send them back,” said the first Kestora. “There is nowhere to send them back to.”

“Well, they can’t stay here,” said the second firmly. “We have too many as it is.”

“We could keep them,” suggested the third. “Maybe a dissection would tell us why they can’t go back. Of course, we tried that before, and all we wound up with was a mess … a lot of messes, actually … but maybe this time --”

 

So we learn that there are too many revived dead on the Red Star. Why? Didn't the Kestora destroy some? Do they have a limit on how many they can destroy? Are any at all too many? 

So this is apparently why they destroyed those that can't be sent back: for answers. It explains why they haven't destroyed everyone. Dissections take time.

 

 Kopaka triggered his Akaku Nuva, piercing the walls around him with x-ray vision. In one direction, there was nothing to see but outer space. In the other, he saw things – a lot of things – he could have lived without seeing. When he spoke, his voice was raw.

“We need to move,” said Kopaka. “Now.”

“What’s the matter?”

“You don’t want to know. Grab my hand. We’re finding a way out of this.”

The sounds were coming closer now. Some sounded like rodents skittering, others like bodies being dragged across a metal floor. At one point, they saw a lighted corridor up ahead, but as they approached, the lights went off there too. Worse, the noises were starting to come from up ahead as well as behind.

 

Okay, there are lots and lots of unpleasant things I can imagine crawling around the Red Star. But it seems from the manipulation of the lighting that the Kestora are using them deliberately as a security measure.

 

“It’s not safe out there,” their rescuer said. “But then you probably figured that out. A lot of very unhappy people up here, you know.”

 

And what exactly does Mavrah mean, 'out there?' Do he and others stick to hiding places in the Red Star? 

 

Lots of questions here, any attempts to answer them would be welcome.

[ALVIS]

On Gaardus, my theory is thus: He hunted down and killed all the Nynrah Ghosts who had made him like this, only to find that they were later resurrected and reappeared in the village. Because of this, he stayed there a long while, killing them over and over again, until eventually, they killed him. At around this point, the sendback broke (I like to think Gaardus did it intentionally, to stop the Ghosts coming back, but that's evidently going against canon). Gaardus probably killed them for the last time shortly thereafter, trapping them in the Red Star. They may have been the first victims of dissection.

 

The problem with this theory is that Greg has suggested the revived beings aren't necessarily sent back to the exact spot where they died. But why wouldn't they be? Most beings in the MU lived where they lived for a reason, because they were serving a function that had to be performed in that particular place. But I digress. Greg's thinking often diverges from mine and goes down roads I do not understand.

[LordofBionicles]

Maybe what happened to some bengs inside the Red Star is the same that happends with the Mask of Undeath which revives you but after every time it does you turn more into a zombie-like being, maybe many beings died so many times that now they are crazy and obey the Kestora, that's why they were after Kopaka and Pohatu.

[bonesiii]

The next comment is bizarre, though. What must be working again? The sendback is the only thing we know is broken.

This can be blamed either on the Kestora's apparent insanity, and/or that this scene may have been written before Greg thought through the details. By the time of the Mavrah reveal, he must have realized the Bringup had to still be working. But the former excuse still works, so the line can still work in the canon (they could have momentarily confused one teleporter for another).

 

Or did the sendup also break? If it did, it must have been after Mavrah's sendup only 1000 years ago.

It's quite possible that broke too, but I'm not aware of a Greg quote confirming it. One did seem to imply it as mentioned in the official topic, but it wasn't clear.

 

So we learn that there are too many revived dead on the Red Star. Why? Didn't the Kestora destroy some? Do they have a limit on how many they can destroy?

They're not all powerful. They probably murdered and dissected the ones that they happened to catch who were weak enough to take down, but others with more power, number, strategy, etc. may have eluded them.

 

But it seems from the manipulation of the lighting that the Kestora are using them deliberately as a security measure.

Good catch -- I don't recall that being pointed out before.

 

And what exactly does Mavrah mean, 'out there?' Do he and others stick to hiding places in the Red Star?

Clearly -- or they'd be dead.

 

The problem with this theory is that Greg has suggested the revived beings aren't necessarily sent back to the exact spot where they died. But why wouldn't they be? Most beings in the MU lived where they lived for a reason, because they were serving a function that had to be performed in that particular place. But I digress. Greg's thinking often diverges from mine and goes down roads I do not understand.

Because if something killed them at that spot, it's more likely there than elsewhere that they'd just get killed again. Inefficient. Especially because in the Great Beings' design, the only time a Matoran/etc. should get killed is if they wander somewhere they're not supposed to be, like the various special machinery the Rahi were made to frighten them away from.

More to the point, there's an easy way to get back where you belong -- travel.

 

Later on, when evil came up, I suspect some who were revived were captured and enslaved, preventing them from traveling home (possibly Lesovikk's team, for example), if they happened to be sent to a bad neighborhood. But others might be free to return to their home.

 

Maybe what happened to some bengs inside the Red Star is the same that happends with the Mask of Undeath which revives you but after every time it does you turn more into a zombie-like being

That's not how the Mask of Undeath works; it just animates your body for a while. It doesn't revive you, and there's no progressive change of multiple events. You get animated, the body continues to pursue your goal for as long as it had energy charged up for, and then returns to unmoving death when the energy runs out. The Red Star actually revives you by repairing damage or making a new body and downloading the consciousness into it from the old. But the basic point you're making is possible for the RS, so far as we know.

 

Still, I suspect it's something more involved than that, since we didn't see the "zombies" appearing in the MU as far as we know; their state sounds like it's part of being trapped up there, not part of being revived many times.

[Akavakaku]

Let's see if now we can answer some previous mysteries.

 

“I had not thought of the star in so long,” Gaardus continued. “Not since the death of the Nynrah. The star was why I stayed in the Nynrah’s village for so long after my escape. Now I wonder if what I was waiting for was up there, not down among the land and water.”

 

Still have no idea what the second and third sentences mean.

 

“But look at them!” said the first to speak. “It must be working again, or how could they be here like that?”

The others paused, as if acknowledging their friend had a point. The one who had remembered Gaardus nodded, saying, “Very well. But if it doesn’t work, do we need to end them like the other ones?”

All three little beings produced wicked looking hand weapons. “Naturally,” said the first. “How else are we to make things right?”

 

I'm willing to write off the mystery as Kestora confusion. Makes it sound like they don't normally see beings wandering the star, though.

 

“Now, listen. Where is it we are supposed to be going?”

“Back to Mata Nui, of course,” said one of the Kestora, as if he we speaking to a child. “Back where you belong.”

“Mata Nui is so much junk in the Bara Magna desert by now,” said Pohatu. “You guys must not get out much.”

“If that’s true, then we can’t send them back,” said the first Kestora. “There is nowhere to send them back to.”

“Well, they can’t stay here,” said the second firmly. “We have too many as it is.”

“We could keep them,” suggested the third. “Maybe a dissection would tell us why they can’t go back. Of course, we tried that before, and all we wound up with was a mess … a lot of messes, actually … but maybe this time --”

 

Okay, so they dissect those that fail to return. Presumably it takes time, and is far too complex and difficult to do for every single arrival, so the arrivals build up much faster than they can be destroyed.

 

“It’s not safe out there,” their rescuer said. “But then you probably figured that out. A lot of very unhappy people up here, you know.”

 

If there are Toa and stronger beings on the star, why do the Kestora and their defenses pose a threat? Surely they could impose order on the Kestora with their much greater power. I'd infer from this that the Kestora have ways of keeping visitors under their control, and it's only small beings like Matoran that can hide from them for long.

Edited July 10, 2014 by Akavakaku