Mask of Time's Purpose in Prophesy of Heroes(?)

[Votuko]

I've noticed a few people now talk about the Prophesy as if what happened was that the Mask of Time sped up the planetary alignment to summon the Toa early. I'm really not sure how they can be so sure that is what happened, for several reasons.

 

1) The alignment does not happen directly after the Mask is used. The Protectors do not even know when it will happen. This is the opposite of what you would expect if the MoT was speeding the planets up.

2) If the MoT were speeding up the planets to bring the alignment earlier, wouldn't it have to be shooting its energy beam the whole time up to the alignment? Instead, the Mask is only needed briefly then is put back in its vault.

3) If it were the alignment itself that summons the Toa, rather than the MoT's energy beam (which is being claimed speeds up the planets), then the alignment would have to be ridiculously rare for it not to have happened in the previous thousands of years and accidentally summoned the Toa early. Probabilistically, that also means it would be likely that the MoT must advance time by several more millennia to find an alignment, which is over-the-top and would be visible as streaks of planets covering the whole sky.

 

The way I see it is the Mask of Time is used to send a signal that releases (or unlocks, changes to a different orbit, whatever) the Toa comets, so that as soon as the next planetary alignment happens (by natural means), they fall to Okoto. (This interpretation is closer to the summoning of the Mata in 2001, which is likely what the Prophesy draws inspiration from.)

The Protectors have to wait for the Prophesy to take effect, precisely because they cannot control when an alignment happens.

And if you are one of the people who would say "the Mask of Time releases the Toa comets and speeds up the planetary alignment by an amount unknown to the Protectors", then you are definitely on the wrong side of Occam's Razor.

 

Whaddya think?

[Lyichir]

Actually, the way I saw it was that they used the Mask of Time, not to speed up the planets, but rather to slow down time on Okoto, allowing the rest of time to advance more quickly around it.

 

Occam's Razor doesn't even apply. We don't know what the Mask of Time does, but it's not a huge logical leap that it does something related to time, rather than some sort of signal-sending power or anything like that. The G1 Mask of Time, in particular, could slow down time around the user, though it would also slow down the user themselves—in other words, the exact effect that would be necessary to "freeze" Okoto in time until the planetary alignment was nigh. It doesn't seem to be a huge stretch that a seemingly legendary mask like that could have that kind of power, or that six distinct characters working together would be able to unlock that power even if a single wearer might not.

 

The other issues you raise all rely on the assumption that the visual representation in the animations is not scientifically accurate, and that this is some sort of grave error. But that assumes that the animators actually cared whether or not it was scientifically accurate, or whether they simply followed the script, which may have only said that the Protectors would use the mask to bring about a planetary alignment and summon the Toa.

 

Your own theory has a gaping flaw in it as well. If the Protectors only needed to use the Mask of Time to summon the Toa, and no amount of waiting was necessary prior to performing the ritual, then why exactly would they wait so many generations before performing the ritual in the first place? We know from the chapter book that the Protectors who performed the ritual were the current generation, rather than the generation immediately following the Great Cataclysm. Why not send that signal ahead of time, to ensure that the Toa were sent as soon as the next planetary alignment took place? The timing only makes sense if the ritual were performed out of desperation—as if the Toa would not arrive in time to stop the Skull Spiders otherwise.

Edited September 24, 2015 by Lyichir

[MrSciFiGuy]

I'm just assuming the "timeless heroes" are out there in a sort of statis, continually falling as actual comets, and the MoT unfroze them and they continued their journey to Okoto.

[Lyichir]

I'm just assuming the "timeless heroes" are out there in a sort of statis, continually falling as actual comets, and the MoT unfroze them and they continued their journey to Okoto.

That's definitely an interesting theory, and one I hadn't heard before!

[fishers64]

Maybe the "timeless heroes" exist outside of time, and the Mask of Time pulls them into time to have an adventure. That would be weird, but possible. 

[Votuko]

@Lyichir

 

Occam's Razor does apply, because something has to release the Toa comets so that they are ready to come down to Okoto during the next alignment. Otherwise they would have fallen at the very first alignment after being put in the comets. The only thing we have seen that could plausibly perform that task is the energy beam created by the Mask of Time during the Prophesy.

 

What you are suggesting is that on top of that function, the Mask of Time also slows down Okoto so that the alignment happens sooner. But that is unnecessary, seeing as alignments must happen regularly anyway. All you have to do is wait. Hence, Occam's Razor suggests that is what the Protectors did.

(This is also what happens in the book, which is where my timings come from; not the animations. The Protectors have to wait weeks after the ritual is performed before the alignment happens.)

 

I'm not sure I understand the "gaping flaw" in my theory that you point out, either. The ritual was performed in desperation; the Skull Spiders had recently started attacking. Why would you want to summon the Toa when they weren't needed? Wouldn't it defeat whatever point there was to putting them in Space in the first place if you are just going to call them back straight away? (And that "gaping flaw" applies to your theory too, because if you are speeding up the alignments you could also call the Toa early for whatever reason it is you want to do that.)

[Lyichir]

@Lyichir

 

Occam's Razor does apply, because something has to release the Toa comets so that they are ready to come down to Okoto during the next alignment. Otherwise they would have fallen at the very first alignment after being put in the comets. The only thing we have seen that could plausibly perform that task is the energy beam created by the Mask of Time during the Prophesy.

 

What you are suggesting is that on top of that function, the Mask of Time also slows down Okoto so that the alignment happens sooner. But that is unnecessary, seeing as alignments must happen regularly anyway. All you have to do is wait. Hence, Occam's Razor suggests that is what the Protectors did.

(This is also what happens in the book, which is where my timings come from; not the animations. The Protectors have to wait weeks after the ritual is performed before the alignment happens.)

 

I'm not sure I understand the "gaping flaw" in my theory that you point out, either. The ritual was performed in desperation; the Skull Spiders had recently started attacking. Why would you want to summon the Toa when they weren't needed? Wouldn't it defeat whatever point there was to putting them in Space in the first place if you are just going to call them back straight away? (And that "gaping flaw" applies to your theory too, because if you are speeding up the alignments you could also call the Toa early for whatever reason it is you want to do that.)

Yes, something has to release the Toa comets during the next alignment. But why would you assume that that planetary alignment had occurred before, or even if it had, that the prophecy applied then? We don't know anything about the planets that the Toa seemingly came from—they could well have their own civilizations. Heck, we don't know where the prophecy comes from in the first place—perhaps it was foretold BY the stars, sending the message from those planets to Okoto that heroes would arrive in due time. EDIT: My brother just reminded me that Ekimu was the one who told the prophecy in his sleep—which still means that it's entirely possible that it only referred to the next planetary alignment, as opposed to every planetary alignment. Assuming that the "energy beam" is the only factor in play just because it's the only one we've seen yet is short-sighted, considering the classic Bionicle's fondness for multi-year mysteries.

 

Another possibility exists, as well—if the timeframe of the alignments is widespread enough, perhaps it could and did apply before. We don't know anything about Okoto's history beyond a short period before the Great Cataclysm. Perhaps centuries or millennia beforehand, another planetary alignment had signaled the arrival of an entirely separate group of heroes. Who's to say that the "prophecy" isn't based on a direct observation of a previous event?

 

What I'm suggesting is that the ONLY function of the Mask of Time (or at least, the only function utilized in the ritual) was the freezing of Okoto until the alignment—no "releasing" function is necessary. Sure, you could wait for the alignment—but if said alignments are centuries apart, and you need heroes NOW, hurrying it along is probably a good move. Note that Kivoda explicitly states in the book that the Protectors "united at the Temple of Time and hastened your arrival" (emphasis mine). Not "summoned" or "signaled". "Hastened" implies that the Toa's arrival would indeed have come even if not for the ritual, but that they may well have arrived too late. The weeks-long wait itself is not a contradiction, either, since even after the alignment, you have to allow time for the Toa comets to arrive from the planets in question.

 

I'm not saying your theory is impossible. But it is less logical, since it assumes the Mask of Time's function was not related to the flow of time, as opposed to my theory which would work even if the Mask's only powers were those it had in G1. And beyond that, I just don't take kindly to your bizarre insistence that Occam's Razor rules out my theory as if it were any less plausible than your own. The tone of this conversation would be much different if you had just presented your own theory on its own merits instead of trying to tear down mine.

Edited September 25, 2015 by Lyichir

[Votuko]

I apologise if you misinterpreted my tone; my battery was running out when I posted so I didn't give the usual number of proof-reads.

I don't wish to "tear down" your theory; I made this thread because I saw others asserting your theory as fact, despite that not necessarily being the case. And I like the discussion.

 

You suggest the days waiting was after the alignment. But after the Prophesy is completed, Korgot says:

"[...] we do all that we can to defend our tribes as we wait for the stars to align."

So the alignment happens later than the Prophesy is performed. Why is this, if the Mask of Time can bring the alignment forward many years as you suggest?

 

My second point is this:

Blinking his eyes, Nilkuu said, "Did it work?"

"The Prophecy must work," said the Protector of Fire.

Surely, if time had been manipulated so that suddenly it was almost an alignment, Narmoto could just respond "Of course it worked; look at how the six giant planets are now in completely different places. (Nilkuu you Kohlii head... )" Something as major as the six planets completely shifting locations in the sky would have at least got a comment from one of the Protectors.

 

Regarding the "hastened your arrival" quote, I couldn't find that in the book, however that doesn't really matter. In British English, at least, that phrase basically means "made you arrive, with speed being an important consideration". It doesn't necessarily mean "made you arrive faster than you would have done", because the phrase is a remnant of archaic word structure and doesn't really follow modern rules. (Possibly Shakespearean?)

 

Lastly, my theory's link to time is at least as "logical" as yours; I just didn't want to speculate the specifics. But at a guess, I would say the Toa (comets) were in some sort of time stasis before being "unlocked" by the Mask. Something along those lines seems sensible to stop the Toa decaying like in G1, or from experiencing their thousands of years of solitary confinement...

[FallenCor]

I'm just assuming the "timeless heroes" are out there in a sort of statis, continually falling as actual comets, and the MoT unfroze them and they continued their journey to Okoto.

 

I like this idea!

 

To add to this, what if the MoT's range was only enough to reach the first of the six planets (moons? Red Star clones?), which in turn would relay the signal/power to the next planet and so on, unlocking each Toa from stasis as it went. The planetary alignment could have been the only way to get all six simultaneously. Use the mask too soon or too late and half the team could miss the Bat-signal. 

 

Clearly the Skull baddies chose the wrong year to start causing trouble.

[Jobber]

Maybe the "timeless heroes" exist outside of time, and the Mask of Time pulls them into time to have an adventure. That would be weird, but possible.

 

It also wouldn't be impossible for the MoT to have rhe ability to "pluck" the Toa out of different timelines. Time itself isn't as 3-dimensional as people make it out to be.

 

We just don't know the extent of the masks capabilities.

[Lyichir]

 

Maybe the "timeless heroes" exist outside of time, and the Mask of Time pulls them into time to have an adventure. That would be weird, but possible.

It also wouldn't be impossible for the MoT to have rhe ability to "pluck" the Toa out of different timelines. Time itself isn't as 3-dimensional as people make it out to be.

 

We just don't know the extent of the masks capabilities.

 

It's certainly possible that the mask could do that. But it wouldn't make any sense to claim that it did. The Toa were prophesied to arrive to save Okoto long before the mask was used. And while we may not know the exact terms of the prophecy, I seriously doubt that it said "heroes won't ever arrive unless you kidnap them from other timelines".

Edited September 28, 2015 by Lyichir