Who wrote the list of missions for the Toa Nuva?

[Toa of Italy]

This is something I've been wondering about for a while now. In the epilogue of the Prisoners of the Pit, we see the Toa Nuva travel to Metru Nui, instructed by Axonn and Botar to retrieve the list of tasks that they are to carry out to prepare the universe for Mata Nui's Reawakening. The items of the list are:

 

 

1. Release the Bohrok swarms on Mata Nui.
2. Retrieve the Staff of Artakha.
3. Retrieve the Heart of the Visorak.
4. Quell a series of active volcanoes in a chain of Southern Islands, including the island of Artidax.
5. Look through the Great Telescope on Mata Nui and record the Red Star's location.

(quoted from BS01)

 

But who wrote this list? BS01 says it was the Great Beings. At first, this seems reasonable enough. Since the Great Beings created the Great Spirit Robot, they would know what needed to be done to reactivate it fully and would write down instructions to do so. In addition, the list is in the form of a parchment scroll, rather than a carving, which points to it having originated outside the Matoran Universe.

 

However, when we start to analyse the tasks themselves, the picture grows less clear:

1. OK, this is easy. The Bohrok swarms were meant to clear the island camouflaging the robot's head, in preparation for its awakening. The Great Beings themselves designed this mechanism, so it is reasonable that they would want it reactivated, having probably predicted that, with the Great Spirit incapacitated, the signal to awaken the swarms would not be sent spontaneously. The only issue here is how the Great Beings could be sure that, should Mata Nui be attacked, he would crash onto a planet, resulting in the formation of the camouflage island.
2. The Staff of Artakha was capable of repairing the damage made to the universe by Mata Nui's fall. It was therefore sensible to place it as an item of the list. But the list was written by the Great Beings, whereas the staff was made by Artakha, as the name suggests. Still, this isn't too difficult to solve. I see three possible answers: one, the staff was made by the Great Beings on the island of Artakha, hence the name; two, the staff was made by Artakha in collaboration with the Great Beings (we know this collaboration existed when Helryx and the Toa Mata were created, so it is possible that it might extend to this as well); three, the staff was made by Artakha after the Great Beings left, following their instructions. The staff was then placed in the Onu-Metru Archives (from where the Dark Hunters would later steal it), waiting to be used.
3. This is the item of the list that is most incomprehensible. How could anything regarding the Visorak be written on the list? The Visorak, and presumably the Heart of the Visorak as well, most certainly did not exist when the Great Beings were building the universe. We know that Makuta Chirox created them later, on the island that was home to Tobduk's species. Since the first thing Chirox did with them was commit genocide on Tobduk's species, I think we can rule out that the Visorak were part of the Great Beings' design. In addition, the Brotherhood began using the Visorak as an army only much later, when their takeover of the Matoran Universe truly got underway. So why should the Great Beings be so interested in eliminating the spiders? I honestly can't find an answer to this one.
4. This is the second most difficult item to explain. The only reason we were ever given for Kopaka and Tahu capping the volcanic eruptions in the Southern Islands was to save Miserix, who was trapped underneath one such volcano. This makes no sense at all. For a start, how did the Great Beings know that one day Miserix (who, as matter of fact, was created by Mata Nui, not by them) would find himself in that situation? Two, why should they be so interested in saving him? In addition, Miserix was trapped on Artidax for thousands of years. Weren't the volcanic eruptions a threat to him before? Why wait all that time to stop them? My solution is that Miserix's presence was mere coincidence. The volcanic eruptions might have been a result of damage to the Great Spirit Robot, or perhaps a mechanism designed to activate in the event of damage to the robot, to act as a pressure valve of sorts to blow off energy that couldn't be efficiently distributed. In view of getting the robot back up running, they would need turning off.
5. This is a bit easier to explain, since we know the Red Star aided the robot in takeoff (though, again, one wonders how the Great Beings knew the robot would crash on a planet if damaged). Still, Gali says the mission was to take note of the Red Star's movements. But where did these notes go? Did she write them down somewhere? Did she give them to the Order of Mata Nui? Or was it the telescope itself (which was a part of the Great Spirit Robot) that actually recorded the information? I think this latter explanation is the most likely.

Your thoughts on this (particularly on items 3 and 4)? The only explanation I can give for the Heart of the Visorak being mentioned is that it was an item that was later added by the Order, or that the list wasn't actually written by the Great Beings, but by the Order itself, following their instructions; the organization would have then added one (or two) more items of its own. Even if this is true, the Order's reasoning remains a bit strange. Given that the Toa Nuva were tasked with reawakening the Great Spirit, why use them for missions that had nothing to do with that (retrieving the Heart of the Visorak, saving Miserix)? I welcome any ideas.

[Wiriamu]

It does pose a dilemma. Alternatively, I could see Velika having made the list prior to his time in Karzahni. You also bring to mind another issue: how did the Order know where Miserix was?

[CyclonatorZ]

My guess is that, yes, it was intended to have been written by natives of the MU, possibly even the Order - but Greg forgot and retconned it to be the Great Beings in a Q&A session on the lego.com message boards, accidentally creating yet another continuity error in the process.

[SPIRIT]

3. Devil's advocate: what if the spiders were named after the Heart rather than the reverse?  The Heart of the Visorak could just have been a pre-existing power source that was important to the full functioning of the Great Spirit Robot that the Makuta figured out could be used to create or control giant spiders that mutate their prey.  Realistically, I'm pretty sure Greg just forgot.

 

4. Your analysis is always how I interpreted things with the volcanoes -- just a coincidence.  Although I'm sure it may have also been related to Greg wanting to milk the most out of using the name "Artidax" before moving on to Bara Magna.

[Toa Imrukii]

The way I see it, is that considering that the Great Beings were very cautious, overly so, that they very well could have made the list. Additionally it could have been made by the order in conjunction with the Great Beings, or by members who would later be associated with the order, such as Artakha and Tobduk.

 

As for the Visorak, the Heart of the Visorak, and the Island itself. If the island was somehow named Visorak before the creation of the Visorak Rahi, that 'The Heart of the Visorak' is probably a slightly corrupted name of the original name of the object, possibly being called 'The Heart of Visorak.' if the island had a key roll in reawakening the great spirit robot, as seemingly so is the case. I do have a question though, what affect did the heart have on the actual Visorak Rahi? I honestly do not recall, for I did not read much of the books.

 

As for the Volcanoes of the southern islands, with them being pressure valves of sorts makes enough sense to me.

[TERIDAX941]

I do have a question though, what affect did the heart have on the actual Visorak Rahi? I honestly do not recall, for I did not read much of the books.

 

When placed on the ground it compelled every single Visorak to be summoned to that spot. Gorast was the first to use it to gather the entire Visorak horde together and officially make them a part of the Brotherhood army, with Sidorak and Roodaka at the head eventually.