Kanohi scarcity, sentimental value, and common usage

[Pohaturon]

A number of recent topics made on BZP were in some way related to masks, and they got me thinking about a few things, leading me to this thread. 

 

Now, plenty of examples in the lore suggests that beings who used Kanohi masks often and freely switched between them, or at least would have been capable of doing this. While I have many thoughts buzzing about in my head about the matter, my basic question boils down to this - were Kanohi Masks, or at least Great Kanohi Masks, scarce?

 

See, in Metru Nui, the mask making forges were constantly in production, however I get the sense that the Matoran population was, more or less, stable in the MU at all times. Of course, replacement masks needed to be on-hand if some Matoran damages theirs, but for Metru Nui to actually need such a quantity of masks, this should be something that happens really often - like twice a week per Matoran or something - and yet this is not alluded to.

 

Does Metru Nui supply all of the MU inhabitants with masks? If not, then there must be a large amount of mask surplus, right?

 

Now, since the Hapka novels, and much of the 2001/2002 material has been rendered non- or semi-canon, I'm not clear on how the Toa Mata and their masks worked. Most of the media suggested that when finding a new mask, they placed it upon their default mask and it "melded" together. Whenever they needed a different mask power, the physical mask on their face shapeshifted into that form (as seen in MNOG) and they would use it. The novels stated that the masks could "un-meld", such as when they were placed one by one onto the Suva. 

 

So, if having/wearing multiple masks doesn't require additional space, doesn't add additional weight, and so on, and hypothetically there was an abundance of masks, why didn't mask-using beings just have a bunch of them on hand? Like, thinking of general-purpose masks the powers of which would be useful in everyday life - Kakama, Kaukau, Akaku - not just in combat. Why didn't basically everyone have these on hand?

 

Now, from a storytelling perspective, the answer is obviously to avoid characters being overpowered, and that mask powers were an identifying trait of many characters, but from a logical and immersion standpoint. Were there any canon references to Great Kanohi being at least rare enough for their being some kind of unspoken "one mask per being" rule, barring special circumstances? Why didn't Toa, during their numerous conflicts, simply have the Ta-Metru forges mass produce Great Kanohi and equip every Toa with every mask? Sure, mask powers aren't everything, but they do lend significant advantages.

 

Were Kanoka discs scarce? Since they were used for all things from defense, recreation to mask-making, I'd think not. BS01 states that Kanoka were forged all over Metru Nui, from liquid protodermis, so there shouldn't be a scarcity of that either. 

 

There isn't too much data about the economy of the MU, but were Kanohi commercial products meaning there is some financial barrier to collecting masks (meta much)? Even then, one would assume that Toa, for example, being protectors of the realm, would be granted multiple masks even if not all. Was having multiple masks a symbol of status? Status symbols are usually used to display power, and Kanohi are objects that literally empower their users. 

 

Now, there are some references to masks having some sentimental value - such as certain Toa shaping their masks after fallen heroes whom they wish to honor. Maybe having multiple masks was a taboo, or some cultural barrier prevented this from becoming common? In this case, is it possible that the Toa Mata/Nuva were discriminated against in some way due to using multiple masks? Maybe "polykanohism" was frowned upon due to some underlying programming the Great Beings coded into every being to prevent them from becoming too powerful to control?

 

I know most of these questions venture into a part of lore which wasn't thoroughly explored, and most of these questions don't have answers that can be backed by sources, so basically I'm just waiting for interesting speculation here.

 

[TuragaNuva]

You raise some interesting points. It hadn't occurred to be before that there isn't an obvious reason for Ta-Metru to constantly be making masks.

 

One thing, though: the Mata/Nuva's masks were teleported to their Suva from their faces and back. They didn't actually fuse together (though I used to think that, based on how it looks in the comics). So any Toa (or other being) without a Suva would have to either carry their spare masks on them, or return to where they kept them to swap out.

[Pohaturon]

You raise some interesting points. It hadn't occurred to be before that there isn't an obvious reason for Ta-Metru to constantly be making masks.

 

One thing, though: the Mata/Nuva's masks were teleported to their Suva from their faces and back. They didn't actually fuse together (though I used to think that, based on how it looks in the comics). So any Toa (or other being) without a Suva would have to either carry their spare masks on them, or return to where they kept them to swap out.

 

Ah, thanks for pointing that out! I've seen several ideas of how people interpreted how the multiple masks of the Mata/Nuva worked - even here on BZP I've seen ideas that the masks were physically stacked on one another, with the Toa walking around with horizontal towers of masks protruding from their faces. 

 

If Kanohi need be physically carried, that would explain why not every user has all of them on hand, but still, it would be logical for them to carry around two or three others, right? It shouldn't be that huge a weight, especially considering that most being capable of using mask powers are usually quite strong physically. Like have a Kakama and a Kaukau on you besides your primary mask in case you need to hurry somewhere or stay underwater for long. 

 

[Cheesy Mac n Cheese]

Great Kanohi are not as common as powerless Matoran Kanohi. This is true. The reason: they’re harder to make. And Noble Kanohi are easier to make than Great, but still harder than Matoran. Kanohi are made from Kanoka, and the third digit on them determines the power level. The power depends on the purity of the protodermis used. So the less time and effort you spend purifying the protodermis, the weaker the mask it ultimately becomes.

 

And no, Metru Nui wasn’t the sole provider of masks for the MU. Certain Kanoka and Kanohi powers were totally absent in Metru Nui (accuracy/Sanok, for example), and some masks that were present in Metru Nui were also present in other lands, but had a different standard design (namely Lhikan’s Hau).

 

However, during the thousand years on Mata Nui, Kanohi in general were scarce. While the Turaga had a stockpile if them, they had no way of making new ones. And obviously, the Toa Nuva had preferred masks, or else they’d be seen wearing their other masks more often. And I get the feeling that other than them, owning multiple masks wasn’t common, probably because it wasn’t necessary for most beings.

Edited April 22, 2018 by Cheesy Mac n Cheese

[The 1st Shadow]

My first point has already been brought up: The Mata were using the Suva to store their masks. Some Toa have access to a Suva which serves as a sort of armory for them, but they primarily store masks, but they are implied to have a limited storage space, like a hard drive, and can only store a few masks at a time (we've seen the Mata's Suvas store 5 Great and 6 Noble at a time, since the 6th Great mask was on the Toa's face at any given time, but we can assume they could hold at least 12). 

 

Next is the mask-making thing. Bear in mind, not all Ta-Matoran in Metru Nui were mask-makers. Most made tools or parts for machines that other Matoran would use throughout the city. Vakama was one of only a select few that made masks on a regular basis. So, there wasn't necessarily a vast surplus of Kanohi floating around. And since Metru Nui did trade with other islands, it's likely that other Toa or mask-wearing beings in the universe often ordered shipments of Great Kanohi from there, which the Mask-makers would have spent hours, if not days, perfecting before sending the finished product on its way.

[onionfarb]

I thought the Toa Mata put the masks they collected on their Suvas and that they kept teleporting their masks back and forth to and from the Suvas, but regular Toa in the Matoran Universe didn't have Suvas and stuck to one mask. Could be wrong though.

[Toa of Italy]

As Cheesy Mac n Cheese has pointed out, Great Kanohi were harder to make than Matoran ones (though I don't actually remember it being due to the time needed to purify the Protodermis) and were actually quite precious, as we can deduce from all the trouble Nuhrii goes into in Mystery of Metru Nui to retrieve a flawed mask he made after being deceived into thinking it was fine. So there certainly weren't that many around and they might have been quite expensive to procure.

That said, over tens of thousands of years one can expect that a substantial number of masks were crafted. So let's try another approach.

 

We know that many species in the MU were capable of using Kanohi. However, most didn't actually need to do so. We might therefore assume that most of the fighters hailing from these species, not being forced to use Kanohi, never actually took the trouble to acquire them and learn how to use them, instead choosing to develop other powers and fighting skills. In the specific case of the Dark Hunters, a further reason was probably that they wanted to actively distinguish themselves from the Toa.

 

I can think of only four groups who used powered masks regularly: Turaga, Toa, some Order agents and Makuta.

In the case of Turaga, I think it is reasonable to assume that, being elders and not fighters, most never felt the need for a Suva to switch between masks.

 

The Toa, then. The point I want to make here is that we don't actually know whether most Toa used Suvas or not. Consider that most of the Toa teams we saw were in rather anomalous situations. The Toa Metru were transformed rather in a hurry and had barely the time to master their main masks, let alone collect others. Same goes for the Toa Inika/Mahri. The Mata/Nuva, as we know, used Suvas (except in Karda Nui, where it was impossible for them to do so, and on Voya Nui, where they made one mistake after another).

That leaves us with teams such as the Toa Hagah, the Toa Mangai and the Toa Mahri after they returned to Metru Nui. Concerning the Hagah, we hardly saw them before they became Rahaga, so they might well have had Suvas we don't know of. After being transformed back into Toa, they certainly didn't have the time to set one up.

We saw a bit more of the Toa Mangai, but not that much. The only detailed fights I can remember are the ones in The Many Deaths of Toa Tuyet and Lhikan's battle against Nidhiki and Krekka. Frankly, I don't think it was enough to rule out that at least some of them had Suvas; if they had, it would also explain how the Turaga of Mata Nui knew how to build them.

As for the Toa Mahri after their return to Metru Nui, there might be multiple explanations for why they didn't use a Suva. It might be that there weren't enough Great Kanohi in Metru Nui at the time (the Matoran were too busy rebuilding to forge them), or that we simply didn't see them swap masks (we only saw one detailed fight they took part in, the one against the Hagah), or that there wasn't time to build new Suvas (how long does it take to build a Suva? If it's not a fast process, this might even explain why the Toa Nuva didn't swap masks on Voya Nui).

This leaves us with hundreds of Toa who lived in the MU before the Great Cataclysm. Did they use Suvas? Many might have that we don't know of. Yes, one could wonder why those who had Suvas didn't just stack as many masks as they could in there, but again, it might be that some that we don't of did that; it might also be that Great Kanohi weren't common enough, or that there's a limit to the number of Great Masks a single Suva can support.

 

Moving to Order agents, I remember six that used masks: Trinuma, Tobduk, Krakua, Helryx, Axonn and Brutaka. I don't think we saw enough of the first three to exclude that they had a Suva. Helryx might have come into being before Suvas were invented and might thus have grown accustomed to not having one. Axonn and Brutaka are more tricky: I'm guessing that neither was accustomed to swapping masks, since they most likely weren't born (... or created, whatever) using them, and that given their sheer power they felt they could do without them.

 

Finally, Makuta: we saw most of them fight only in Karda Nui, where it was impossible to swap masks, so once again, we can't rule out that they had them. Teridax didn't seem to have one, but in his case, the Kraahkan was a very powerful mask (it allowed him to see the darkness within every being, a power he clearly valued) and a symbol of status as well, so that might explain why he always used it.

 

So, in the end, I just don't think we can exclude that Suvas were indeed used in the MU and that the reason we don't know of any Suvas apart from those of the Toa Mata/Nuva was that we didn't get to see enough masked characters in a fight.

 

See, in Metru Nui, the mask making forges were constantly in production, however I get the sense that the Matoran population was, more or less, stable in the MU at all times. Of course, replacement masks needed to be on-hand if some Matoran damages theirs, but for Metru Nui to actually need such a quantity of masks, this should be something that happens really often - like twice a week per Matoran or something - and yet this is not alluded to.

 

Does Metru Nui supply all of the MU inhabitants with masks? If not, then there must be a large amount of mask surplus, right?

 

This is a more complicated issue. To begin with, I think the population in the MU, while stable, has been substantially underestimated (in no small part due to GregF himself never thinking about the numbers properly, in my opinion). It was also never clear whether Matoran come into being already equipped with a Kanohi.

 

That said, you're right, there was probably a surplus of Matoran Kanohi. I'm not quite sure how to solve this. It could be that powerless Kanohi, after some time (say, one or two thousand years), wear themselves out and must be changed. Plus, while Metru Nui wasn't the only center of Kanohi production in the MU, it might still have been a significant exporter (so as not to require that all the masks forged in Ta-Metru stay in the city). It isn't a very satisfying answer, but I can't think of anything better.

Edited April 26, 2018 by Toa of Italy

[Cheesy Mac n Cheese]

Suvas (Suva? Does that name have the same plural rules as other terms?) is also the Matoran word for “shrine.” That implies that someone who has a Suva is revered by other people, and this is not always the case with Toa (consider the Tren Krom Peninsula, where Nidhiki came from), and rarely the case with other beings, save perhaps the Makuta before they were publicly evil. There was also a Suva on Voya Nui, and it seemed to have no purpose other than being a Shrine to Mata Nui.

 

Tridax was mentioned before, since he had two masks, one of which was an Olmak. It wasn’t his primary mask, and he simply kept it stored in a safe place. Maybe this is what most beings who use masks do.

 

(On the note of Makuta masks, weren’t they made of protosteel? That would make them even rarer and harder to make than standard Great Kanohi.)

Edited April 26, 2018 by Cheesy Mac n Cheese

[Pohaturon]

Suvas (Suva? Does that name have the same plural rules as other terms?) 

 

Suvae, maybe? Suvi? 

 

While I get that Suvas may not have been common, there still remains the option of simply carrying one or two masks around with you in a bag. 

It being harder to make Great Kanohi makes sense, but it was a very rare necessity to make them at all - Toa who are transformed from Matoran automatically have their Kanohi zapped into Great status, and based on the canon materials at our possession, mask loss and damage was rare even under combat. For all the wars and conflicts, it seemed to me that, not considering Matoran (who didn't use great masks anyway) there really wasn't a source of "new" Great Kanohi users in the MU, and most started out with said masks by default, giving the Matoran across the MU plenty of time to produce surplus even if Great Kanohi crafting is difficult. With all the transformations and mutations and fusions, I'd even hazard that over time the gross quantity of Great Kanohi users fell significantly over time, whilst the means of producing these masks were still present.

 

[TERIDAX941]

(On the note of Makuta masks, weren’t they made of protosteel? That would make them even rarer and harder to make than standard Great Kanohi.)

You would be correct. We know for a fact that Artahka made the Kraahkan, so he definitely knows how to create kanohi from protosteel (I would love to put together a theory of how one does that. Do you purify the protosteel the same as liquid protodermis and create kanoka out of protosteel and then into a kanohi? Or was Artahka able to create a fully powered kanohi from scratch? Given his repertoire the latter wouldn't surprise me). The second candidate would be the Nynrah ghosts, the makuta had them modify their protosteel armor after they evolved, but I don't know if their masks were already protosteel or not, but if not, they might have asked the ghosts to make new kanohi for them if Artahka wan't giving out masks anymore.