Who are the Great beings?

[The Skakdi Chronicler]

Lately I was wondering Who or what the great beings are. Of course most Bionicle fans have the same question go through there minds every day, so I wondered what other people thought about the great beings?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                            

[Banana Gunz]

To be honest, I don't think anyone knows for sure. Not even Greg probably completely knows, so all we can do is speculate.

 

In Sahmad's Tale, Annona said he sensed their "coming", so the Great Beings could be from another world, though it is somewhat implied that thier genius-ness was caused by him, so it is questionable whether or not the GB's were so smart before that experience.

 

I sometimes wonder if they are humans, or at least purely organic beings who modeled the Glatorian/Agori after themselves. But this theory is so open that it is built on practically nothing, so I dunno. They could've been like religious prophets flying on a spaceship and trying to spread their teachings of the Three Virtues.

 

If the Bionicle serials had kept on going, who knows, we could've gotten an answer, but alas things didn't work out that way.

[The Skakdi Chronicler]

To be honest, I don't think anyone knows for sure. Not even Greg probably completely knows, so all we can do is speculate.

 

In Sahmad's Tale, Annona said he sensed their "coming", so the Great Beings could be from another world, though it is somewhat implied that thier genius-ness was caused by him, so it is questionable whether or not the GB's were so smart before that experience.

 

I sometimes wonder if they are humans, or at least purely organic beings who modeled the Glatorian/Agori after themselves. But this theory is so open that it is built on practically nothing, so I dunno. They could've been like religious prophets flying on a spaceship and trying to spread their teachings of the Three Virtues.

 

If the Bionicle serials had kept on going, who knows, we could've gotten an answer, but alas things didn't work out that way.

I agree with the idea of humans. I think they are probably humans in the deep future or something

[Chro]

They're confirmed to not be humans

[toa kopaka4372]

The 'GBs are humans' theory has existed for as long as I can remember, but is almost certainly false as Greg has confirmed time and time again that humans don't exist in the BIONICLE universe. He even ruled out their existence in alternate realities since nothing would ever take place that would lead to the appearance of humans.

 

As for who they are, no one knows. We didn't even get an actual picture of them until BIONICLE's last set year, and even then it was nothing more than a few cloaked beings, with no look at the bodies themselves. We know they're about as tall as Toa and have no real powers, so they're just super geniuses, but their origins and the like, no idea. At least we actually got some Great Being characters (like Angonce) before BIONICLE ended.

 

As for me, I rather like that we don't know. Even close to 14 years after they were first mentioned, we still know next to nothing about them. It was one of the few mysteries that BIONICLE never answered, and I like that.

[bonesiii]

What Greg has said that he leans toward (but has NOT established definitely) is that they are essentially Glatorian, but with a strong interest in science. (And we do know they were altered by their contact with Annona to be even more creative.) We do know they're humanoid, as are Glatorian, so that would make a lot of sense.

[toa kopaka4372]

What Greg has said that he leans toward (but has NOT established definitely) is that they are essentially Glatorian, but with a strong interest in science. (And we do know they were altered by their contact with Annona to be even more creative.) We do know they're humanoid, as are Glatorian, so that would make a lot of sense.

The question that brings up is where they came from. Canon seems to imply that they 'arrived' on Spherus Magna from somewhere else

[Sumiki]

What is interesting (and what led me to believe that they were human before I learned that Greg confirmed the opposite) is that Greg was asked "who created the Great Beings" and he answered "I can't discuss religion."
 
Contextually, I've always taken it to mean that the Great Beings were something else entirely, as far above Glatorian as Glatorian are above Agori.

[bonesiii]

Canon seems to imply that they 'arrived' on Spherus Magna from somewhere else

Not really -- it implies they didn't use to be, and then came to be, and Annona chose to act against them (which backfired). The actual wording was:

 

"I existed before your Great Beings were born," said the creature. "I sensed their coming and wondered if they might pose some threat to me."

Notice the bit about being born.

 

And Greg has said at least that he sees them as natives (although I forget off the top of my head if he ever made that certain). However, it's certainly possible they originally lived in a different part of Spherus Magna, not the one with the tribes we saw in 2009 plot (especially if they went back there later).

[toa kopaka4372]

Hm...that does indeed seem to imply that they are native to SM, but possibly a different portion of it, which is possibly where they've been hiding the whole time since the Shattering.

 

Still, Annona's wording makes it sound like the Great Beings were something else other than Glatorian. If he sensed their birth, or 'coming', as he describes it, then that implies they were not just a different type of Glatorian or something similar, but rather an entire separate, distinct group. If they were special from the beginning, enough that Annona worried about them, then they were probably a special kind of species. And that also brings up the question of what brought about their 'coming'... Of course, you could also interpret this as the GBs coming about due to some cause after initially being normal inhabitants, which opens up more doors. There's a lot if ways to interpret Annona's words, which is why in the end we simply do not know enough now to ever figure out who, or what, the GBs were.

[Adventurer]

What Greg has said that he leans toward (but has NOT established definitely) is that they are essentially Glatorian, but with a strong interest in science. (And we do know they were altered by their contact with Annona to be even more creative.) We do know they're humanoid, as are Glatorian, so that would make a lot of sense.

 

Maybe Great Beings are not human, but bonesiii is a Great Being then?

 

Have we come to the point yet of wondering who made the Great Beings/where they come from? If they are Glatorian or similar in that respect it seems a natural question.

[NorikSigma]

It's the general assumption among the fan-base the the GBs are somewhat like the Glatorian: Organic but inclined to science.

 

And Greg's quote on religion, I suppose

1)He was making up a reason to not discuss the mysterious Great Beings.(geddit, because they're like the religion figures of the Matoran.

 

Or

 

2)He might have thought they were humans at first, then later thought better of it or Lego said it wasn't.

 

I think they were a bunch of crazy scientist space travellers who found their perfect IRL Minecraft world to experiment in.

 

And then whoops Core War. Stupid AI.

[bohrokmaster]

@toa kopaka 4372 But it gave us an ideal of great imagination. BIONICLE has given me inspiration about the Great Beings and their origin. And I think (in my mind) they were the relatives of the Glatorian. Who somehow got their powers by luck, after Annona (I think) tried to feed them (on their dreams).

 

@Adventurer I wouldn't say The Great Beings created themselves first.  I think they would start out as ordinary inhabitants with the Glatorian and the Agori. And they somehow gain magical powers from Annona (by accident, of course ) to have the unlimited imagination and complex science? The Bionicle storyline would reference to the creativity of ordinary lego builders who has creativity and imagination? In my mind, I always thought Bionicle would have technology, sci-fi and magic rolled into one.

Edited August 4, 2014 by bohrokmaster

[ALVIS]

I just want to point out, for the purposes of discussion, that Annona is female, as confirmed by Greg. I've seen at least two people use "him" to refer to her, and that's simply incorrect.

[Boidoh]

No, Greg considers Annona to be female.

Just as Sahmad considers Annona to be male.

[toa kopaka4372]

No, Greg considers Annona to be female.

Just as Sahmad considers Annona to be male.

I think Greg's opinion carries more weight than Sahmad's, though.

[Boidoh]

Greg's and Sahmad's opinions are of the same worth, because he wrote Sahmad's Tale.

He never said Annona was female, he said he considers Annona female.

I asked Greg why is it he wrote in Sahmad's Tale that Annona was a 'he', and he considers Annona a 'she'. Greg's said because Sahmad considers Annona male, he doesn't.

[bonesiii]

She's female. Greg saying he "considers" something to be something is a canon decision, that's not the same as leaning toward something. And that was just one quote, there's also the undeniable:
 

I have a question about Annona.

What's its gender? Does it even have one specifically?

Female.

 

(Why would you want to deny it anyways?) And they're not the same -- Sahmad is a character who had no way to know. Greg does know.

[Dorkpool]

I thought of the Great Beings as Agori sized beings that are quite intelligent. Not physically imposing, but powerful nonetheless.