Why Zaktan didn't die

[YoYoFantaFanta]

I've posted this once before but not on BZP.

 

We know that Zaktan didn't get killed when The Shadowed One blasted him with his eyebeams. In a recent Ask Greg, he said that was probably because he was mutated. We also that Zaktan was a slave at a protodermis mine before he was a Dark Hunter, and protodermis can transform a person. My theory is this: What if, on the day that TSO came to that mine, there was a freak accident at the mine, and Zaktan got hit with protodermis? The protodermis would have changed his molecular level rather than his armor (I don't know if protodermis could do this, but I see no reason why it couldn't). This would explain why TSO chose Zaktan to join the Dark Hunters, because TSO knows that protodermis would make him stronger and a valuable hunter.

 

How does the fanbase feel about this theory? Do you agree with it?

[Chro]

I was under the impression that he was just mining regular (not energized) protodermis, which wouldn't have that effect.

I've heard a theory that similar to the other Piraka's powers (invulnerability, animating environment, etc.) Zaktan's was that he was simply destined to not die (or that he cannot die by certain means, perhaps?). That explains why he became protodites instead of being slain by the eyebeams.

Edited May 5, 2013 by Chro

[Voxumo]

Yeah only energized protodermis can cause the transformations.

[bonesiii]

So you're saying he was already protodites, knew it, and TSO knew it? That clearly cannot be -- TSO was shocked, and Zaktan was clearly stated to have turned into a new form. I just read this section of Legacy Evil for writing my own version of it, and it's crystal clear.

 

Now, something else (Spiriah's tampering, protodermis, destiny, or something we've got no clues for) may have set up the conditions that turned TSO's eyebeam attack into a mutagenic effect, but neither TSO nor Zaktan could have known about it.

 

And I agree with Chro; he was apparently just mining normal protodermis, possibly in liquid form, but not energized.

[Click]

I was under the impression that he was just mining regular (not energized) protodermis, which wouldn't have that effect.I've heard a theory that similar to the other Piraka's powers (invulnerability, animating environment, etc.) Zaktan's was that he was simply destined to not die (or that he cannot die by certain means, perhaps?). That explains why he became protodites instead of being slain by the eyebeams.

Well, Reidak's special is adapting, so he can't be beaten the same way twice, so something similar to that wouldn't be too farfetched.

[YoYoFantaFanta]

So you're saying he was already protodites, knew it, and TSO knew it? That clearly cannot be -- TSO was shocked, and Zaktan was clearly stated to have turned into a new form. I just read this section of Legacy Evil for writing my own version of it, and it's crystal clear.

 

Now, something else (Spiriah's tampering, protodermis, destiny, or something we've got no clues for) may have set up the conditions that turned TSO's eyebeam attack into a mutagenic effect, but neither TSO nor Zaktan could have known about it.

 

And I agree with Chro; he was apparently just mining normal protodermis, possibly in liquid form, but not energized.

The only problem is that why would TSO select Zaktan to be a Dark Hunter? All of the other piraka have legitimate reasons why they would be selected. The part about his special power being unable to die could fit in some gaps. We never learned what his third power was.

[bonesiii]

I don't see why being protodites, or having the ability to become them, would have much if anything to do with why he was selected to be a Dark Hunter. Toa have powers that would be useful for DH too and they're not selected, because they would never do so (aside from Nidhiki), and there was an island full of other Skakdi to choose from, too. I'd think his personality and choices would have a lot more to do with that than his powers. (Obviously this was a miscalculation on TSO's part, but we wouldn't expect him to never make mistakes from his perspective.)

[Chro]

Just to add to what I said previously... there's a series I read a few years ago called "Ordinary Boy" about an apparently powerless child living in a city where literally everyone has some superpower or another. His strength is that he doesn't rely on any obvious power or specialty, thereby having an advantage over everyone else. (Zaktan could be similar.) At the end of the series he meets the man who founded the city a century or so before, who also had seemed to have no power, but over time it was revealed to be immortality (and it is implied that the main character may have a similar power).

I know that whole thing was a really random example, but it has some interesting parallels and makes a good example of my point.

[slifer3000]

If the staff of fusion were to be fixed couldn't Zaktan and the piraka fusion go back into six Skakdi?

[bonesiii]

Chro -- that does fit remarkably well.

 

 

If the staff of fusion were to be fixed couldn't Zaktan and the piraka fusion go back into six Skakdi?

Maybe, but then the fusion was made in energized protodermis, so not sure. Of course, so was Takutanuva, and he split "naturally" with time. So it may be plausible. We just couldn't call it confirmed.

[Makuta Matata]

I heard a theory that his special power (like Thok's animation or Reidak's adaption) is that he can resist being split apart, so that whatever he was split into could have it's own sentience and be controlled by Zaktan. If he was split in two, he could have lived as two halves, like giant Protodites, only not Protodites. That would explain why he was split into Protodites and why he didn't die when Makuta shot him, for lack of a better term.

[Dralcax]

Just to add to what I said previously... there's a series I read a few years ago called "Ordinary Boy" about an apparently powerless child living in a city where literally everyone has some superpower or another. His strength is that he doesn't rely on any obvious power or specialty, thereby having an advantage over everyone else. (Zaktan could be similar.) At the end of the series he meets the man who founded the city a century or so before, who also had seemed to have no power, but over time it was revealed to be immortality (and it is implied that the main character may have a similar power).

I know that whole thing was a really random example, but it has some interesting parallels and makes a good example of my point.

I read that book too :DAnyways, I think Zaktan may have simply originally have been not a Skakdi, but a shapeshifter in the form of one. He was tampered with by Spirah, who was oblivious to the fact that Zaktan was actually a shapeshifter, and accidentally altered his cellular composition, creating a hive mind between his cells rather than a singular mind, so that, when Zaktan was blasted, his shapeshifting went haywire, and each cell turned into a protodite and lost the ability to change back.

[The Legendary TNT]

Chro -- that does fit remarkably well.

 

 

If the staff of fusion were to be fixed couldn't Zaktan and the piraka fusion go back into six Skakdi?

Maybe, but then the fusion was made in energized protodermis, so not sure. Of course, so was Takutanuva, and he split "naturally" with time. So it may be plausible. We just couldn't call it confirmed.

Didn't Reidak destroy the Spear just before the Piraka left the Chamber of Life though? Gotta fix the spear first.

[Chro]

 

Just to add to what I said previously... there's a series I read a few years ago called "Ordinary Boy" about an apparently powerless child living in a city where literally everyone has some superpower or another. His strength is that he doesn't rely on any obvious power or specialty, thereby having an advantage over everyone else. (Zaktan could be similar.) At the end of the series he meets the man who founded the city a century or so before, who also had seemed to have no power, but over time it was revealed to be immortality (and it is implied that the main character may have a similar power).I know that whole thing was a really random example, but it has some interesting parallels and makes a good example of my point.

I read that book too

 

Hahaha! Yep, it was an interesting one.

Anyways, I think Zaktan may have simply originally have been not a Skakdi, but a shapeshifter in the form of one. He was tampered with by Spirah, who was oblivious to the fact that Zaktan was actually a shapeshifter, and accidentally altered his cellular composition, creating a hive mind between his cells rather than a singular mind, so that, when Zaktan was blasted, his shapeshifting went haywire, and each cell turned into a protodite and lost the ability to change back.

That would sort of fit with what we know, but it's making a big leap with minimal basis in fact, I think. Doesn't sound too realistic to me that he'd be able to be seen as a Skakdi for however long, and still be affected by Spiriah's tampering the same (or similar) way as everyone else. It is a possibility though.

[Hitoshura]

I've got another strategy. What if Zaktan was born/made/whatever with what we humans call a birth defect? Like somthing went wrong and he had some power that allowed him to be like this. Correct me if I'm wrong, like usual.

[bonesiii]

Pretty much all these possibilities are plausible, as long as Zaktan wasn't already protodites and/or wasn't aware TSO's attack wouldn't kill him.

[Axilus Prime]

Maybe his Skakdi power was an extra life, and he happened to have protodites on him when he was shot, so when he re-formed, he was mixed up with them?

[Kopekemaster]

Maybe his Skakdi power was an extra life, and he happened to have protodites on him when he was shot, so when he re-formed, he was mixed up with them?

 

Sort of like how the Doctor Who Chula Nanogenes work?

 

Anyway, what of the official serials/books/etc. have info on this topic?

 

That would explain why he was split into Protodites and why he didn't die when Makuta shot him, for lack of a better term.

 

Do you mean TSO?

[Makuta Matata]

 

That would explain why he was split into Protodites and why he didn't die when Makuta shot him, for lack of a better term.

 

Do you mean TSO?

No. I mean in the serial (I can't remember the name) where he;s leading the Hagah beneath the Coliseum.

[Kopekemaster]

Oh.

I suppose I should read the serials more.

Edited May 8, 2013 by Kopekemaster