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What was Dume actually like?


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We all remember the '04 story arc, I'm sure. 18 months before the Great Cataclysm, Teridax took Dume's place and masqueraded as him until his defeat by the Toa Metru. Dume awoke during the Great Rescue, and we got to see him interact with the other Turaga starting with the '06 arc. We got some glimpses of his personality--he's stubborn, but protective of his people--but what even supplementary media doesn't specify is what exactly Metru Nui was like under his rule; at least in my memory.

 

The kind of leader Dume is depends heavily on the nature of his regime. We know the Teridax regime was super oppressive, but I can't find anything detailing what the real Dume's politics were like. He's willing to hide things from the Matoran, but so were Vakama and co, so that doesn't seem to mean much. The only clue here is that the Vahki in operation long before Terry's Takeover; but even then, I'm not sure that says anything if they weren't always used for the Orwellian level of civil oppression they were in post-Teridax Metru Nui.

 

So I guess what I want to know is whether Dume was an oppressive dictator or whether that harsh regime only began with Teridax, since that's going to give us a better image of his identity than the skimpy BS01 summary can.

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My impression is that he was a brave, noble leader, but did not have the same kind of close, personal relationship with the Matoran as the six newcomers did. This wasn’t entirely his fault though: unlike them, he was not native to Metru Nui and so had never lived among the Matoran there as one of them, and it’s entirely possible that Metru Nui’s system of government (including the aspect of the Turaga ruling from the Coliseum, generally away from the Matoran) had already been established before he became the Turaga.

 

As for the Vahki, they were actually an improvement over the dangerous Kralhi that were used before them. And I’m not sure exactly when they were commissioned, but keep in mind Metru Nui had a history of crises, like the Matoran Civil War, the attack of the Kanohi Dragon, and the Toa-Dark Hunter War, and Vahki would ease the burden on anyone else dealing with these problems. Plus, as ihumane as it might sound, the forcing of the Matoran to keep working was necessary for the well-being of Mata Nui.

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I'd peg him as a conservative to be honest, he had to have had some policies that may lead on into what Teridax imposed later on, because if the shift would be too drastic it would have raised suspicion I believe. 

 

:kakama: 

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Since I've written a few stories set in Metru-Nui where Dume is a semi-antagonist, my perspective may be a bit skewed between what is official and what I'd like it to be, so take this with a grain of salt, but here's my view:

 

Dume have the best interests of Metru-Nui and the Matoran, but he likes to be in control. And since Metru-Nui is a big and important place, there's a lot of stuff going on that he can't control but wants to. You have crime and black markets and dangerous Rahi and Matoran illegally playing Kanoka Catch in the Dark; so he uses the Vahki to enforce his will. Some of the stuff is to protect the Matoran (don't play dangerous games or approach dangerous Rahi) but some of it is to make sure his authority isn't undermined.

 

Perhaps a lot of this stemmed from the Matoran civil war; the bickering amongst themselves led to a conflict that really hurt the city. So he needs to keep the Matoran in line, united but united under his rule. So he puts rules in place to ensure that the Matoran can't work themselves up into another civil war, but perhaps at the expense of their personal freedoms. While he is doing this for the Matoran's best interest, it also basically makes him a dictator. The Vahki enforcement goes through him, and I think it's implied that the Toa report to him too, so he controls all the power in the city.

 

Thus when he is replaced by Makuta, there's not much of a change from his dictatorship ways. Except Makuta doesn't have the best interests of the Matoran at heart, only they're so used to blindly trusting in Dume and listening to the Vahki that they don't resist when he puts them in pods, still believing that Dume/Makuta is doing this for their benefit. I'd also like to think that the Morbuzahk gave Dume even more authority during wartime; he had pulled through for them in the past, so the Matoran didn't hesitate to trust his rule when they were threatened by the Morbuzahk. (Which he himself controlled, thus playing both sides of the war... but that's Makuta, not Dume.)

 

The other two instances (that I can recall) where real Dume was in the story back this up. When he gets threatened by Vezok, he stands his ground, reaffirming his utter control of the city while also acting in its best interest. And when he learns of Mata Nui's imminent death, he keeps it secret to preserve the peace. But at that point, he suddenly has to share power with Turaga who he probably considers inferior, so I'm sure that rubbed him the wrong way, which is why he was so gruff in the book.

 

So Dume was never a truly bad guy, and always had the best intentions... but for all his wisdom, he liked power and disliked people challenging his power. Under his rule Metru-Nui probably operated efficiently, but it also set the stage that Makuta could slip into his position seamlessly and nobody could tell the difference.

 

And that's my dissertation on Dume. Sorry for the length. ;)

 

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  • 1 month later...

Everyone else seemed to hit the nail on the head. While definitely not evil, he treated the Matoran more like subjects than grandchildren like the Turaga of Mata Nui did. Whether this was his ideal system or a necessity due to the size of the city is never mentioned. The story definitely implies that part of Makuta's plan was relying on it not being uncharacteristic of Dume to act like an autocrat and be obeyed without question. The best thing I can say about Dume is that no one ever calls him out, and even the Toa Metru never seem to harbor any ill will toward the real Dume.

 

The Vahki, however, are a different story. They're always either shown to be evil, or, when they're actually fighting a dangerous threat, ineffective.

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