In the Time Before Time...

[rednas3636]

I was reciting turaga vakama's monologe in the shower (what else) and suddenly thought: what does that mean the time before time? Is it the time before the Great Cataclysm?

But in WOS, Nuju says that Keetongu has been hidden since the time before time, like he's been missing for a week or so 

[Granberia Doragoon]

Mabey the time before time refers to the time when the Great Beings were around, still building the Mata Nui robot.

[Owlexander]

Perhaps it means during the Time Slip?

[Bfahome]

To be fair to Nuju if they're living in a time before time then he has no good way of knowing how long Keetongu was hidden.

 

You know, since time didn't exist and stuff.

[GSR]

This probably fits better over in S&T - moving...!

[CarumEsSarene]

It's a unit of time. 10,000 years.

[The 1st Shadow]

I believe it's just a general expression to convey a sense of "in a time long before the time we are currently in." It's just a fancy way of saying "history."

[CarumEsSarene]

I believe it's just a general expression to convey a sense of "in a time long before the time we are currently in." It's just a fancy way of saying "history."

And can still mean a unit of time.

 

In America we call a moment a short while. Whereas a moment is an actual unit of time for 9 minutes.

[The 1st Shadow]

 

I believe it's just a general expression to convey a sense of "in a time long before the time we are currently in." It's just a fancy way of saying "history."

And can still mean a unit of time.

 

In America we call a moment a short while. Whereas a moment is an actual unit of time for 9 minutes.

 

Can, but the context it's most often used in usually makes it sound like their version of "Once upon a time," rather than a specific unit of measurement. 

[Lyichir]

I think I'd seen a theory somewhere that "the time before time" literally means "before Vakama forged the Kanohi Vahi" (or in other words, before Makuta's betrayal in Legends of Metru Nui). Logically, it doesn't make a lot of sense (why use that event in particular as a chronological milestone?), but canonically, I think it works out—from what I can recall, the phrase was never uttered at any time before that point, nor was it ever used to refer to events after that point.

 

More realistically, that phrase was probably just chosen because it sounds cool. It's more original than the generic "long, long ago", and helped to give the Turaga's tales an air of legend and mystery.

[bonesiii]

A few standard answers:

 

1) Well, "the Before Time" (which is a different thing) means clearly the time before the great memory loss (shortly after the Great Cataclysm). In that case, "before" is just the label used for that era, like we could say "the War Time came before the Peace time", and then comparatively say "the time before the peace time."

 

2) "The time before time" may be a version of the above, that just drops the identifier for the current time too, so it means "the era before this era."

 

3) Probably most likely is that both versions carry a connotation of "before your memories" so it's something more than just a shortened version of a generalized time indicator -- in this case it means something obviously tied to them. And it could even be a carryover from a saying in the past meaning something more like "before most people today remember" (since some MU inhabitants did die and get replaced). The Mata Nui islanders (namely the Turaga) would then be repurposing it in a slightly more literal way.

 

4) And then the "before Vahi forging" idea, but there seems to be no connection between these two things in-story or as far as I recall in out-story revelations.

 

 

A while back I had the impression that "the Before Time" may be used more, but I might have that backwards due to evil memory.

[fishers64]

I always thought it was a thing like "a long time ago in a galaxy far far away" - my best recollection of it is from the Mask of Light trailer. There's definitely some places where it's used in promotional media as a device like that.  

 

I thought it was supposed to refer to the time before the Mata Nui Matoran lost their memories in-story. Like in the Legend of Mata Nui in front of Hapka's books, that was what it really meant, while also sounding legendary and all that. 

Edited May 28, 2015 by fishers64

[TheSkeletonMan939]

It's time for another fan canonization poll to determine this for sure.

 

That's how we solve all of our problems now.

Edited May 29, 2015 by TheSkeletonMan939

[The Hip Historian Iaredios]

 

Usually "Time Before Time" relates to events that transpired before the current age or time period, but the origin comes from the following (going off of memory, please, in case of any mistakes, no hit!):

 

'In the Time Before Time, the Great Beings created the Matoran, and the Matoran living in darkness which led to Mata Nui being sent down from The Heavens/Paradise by the Great Beings to guide the Matoran with the 'light' of the three virtues. Mata Nui's brother, The Makuta, had become jealous of the honors the Matoran gave to Mata Nui, and cast a spell that put him into a deep slumber'.

 

The Time Before Time in this instance (the most common affiliation for this term) means before the completion of the Matoran Universe during the reign of Tren Krom and before the creation of Mata Nui (the birth/anointing of Mata Nui and the MU's completion marks the beginning of time for the Matoran), and you might have guessed that Paradise is what the Matoran saw as Spherus Magna (obviously oblivious of the chaos happening elsewhere). Whn Vakama tells in in MoL, he inserts a modern-day reference ("...and in gratitude, we named our island home Mata-Nui, after the Great Spirit himself"), giving a reason why something is the way it currently is based on these historical facts.

 

The next part, Vakama jumps ahead in time due to relevance in the story by going from the 'Time Before Time' to the Great Cataclysm and talking about The Makuta's betrayal. Talking about the League of Six Kingdoms or that one time Dume did that one thing or another to the ignorant Matoran and Toa Karda/Mata/Nuva is not relevant to them or the story being told, at that moment.

 

When Nuju used this for the Last Keetongu he was probably referencing this well known mythological tale to add to dramatic effect, similar to how many people on Earth will reference their holy text to describe something while not making a literal connection (people nowadays also do this with popular culture).

[RahiSpeak]

Easiest and most consistent way of looking at it: "The Time before [your] Time".

[Grungemeister]

Maybe it's a general term for prehistory? If "time" means a date or event, then the "time before time" would mean a time before things were recorded and you could say "in this year something happened".

[Nidhiki of the Shadows]

I think I'd seen a theory somewhere that "the time before time" literally means "before Vakama forged the Kanohi Vahi" (or in other words, before Makuta's betrayal in Legends of Metru Nui). 

I've never thought of it that way, but that actually makes a lot of sense.

 

-NotS