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The Line That Never Went Anywhere (Even Though It Should Have)


believe victims

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In Mask of Light, there is one line spoken by Makuta that seems like it sets up a mystery. He says, "Sleep spares him [Mata Nui] pain. Awake, he suffers."

 

That's interesting. Nobody ever thought there could be a reason for Makuta to put him to sleep besides a power grab. What pain does sleep spare him? What else happened to Mata Nui to cause this pain?

 

But nothing happened. Nobody ever alluded to that line, no pain of the sort mentioned comes up. (I suppose Mata Nui's worsening condition could count, but that wouldn't make much sense for him to allude to, especially since he was dying BECAUSE he was put to sleep iirc.) They slapped that mystery on the table and future story turned its nose up like someone had just cracked a rotten egg there.

 

If bonesiii was asked about this line, he'd almost certainly handwave is as "makuta lies" (and if he sees me call that handwaving he will almost certainly give me a diatribe about how it's a fallacy to call it handwaving because he cannot be wrong) and if you asked greg, he probably wouldn't even remember the line, and likely either say makuta lies, or even strike it from canon. Which would make sense, because canon did jack diddly squat with it anyway.

 

I wish they had done something with that line. That had the potential to pull Makuta from the depths of Angry Janitor With Lazily-Written Plans Land and maybe even dropped him into the Domain of Interesting Characters.

 

But they didn't. Oh, dear.

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We could, perhaps, explain this statement if we find the right viewpoint from which it makes the most sense. Obviously "Makuta lies" (I've started reading that to the tune of "Alyssa Lies" already ._. ) is quite plausible because Makuta doesn't want Mata Nui awake. But you're correct, it is such a juicy line that--who knows--there might be something to it.

 

As you pointed out, Mata Nui's comatose state is the prelude to him dying. It doesn't make any sense that keeping him asleep is going to spare him the pain of a worsening condition when him being asleep is preventing him from regaining his health. It might make him unaware of any kind of pain that he may be experiencing, but he was healthy before Makuta put him to sleep. What if the "sleep spares him pain" starts at the outset and not the middle where his condition begins to destabilize?

 

I would posit that you can look at this line from this perspective: being asleep spares him the pain of watching his universe unravel at the hands of Makuta. I keep trying to compare it to the pain of a leader watching the organization he's built up and cared for be dismantled from within, but Mata Nui was--for all intents and purposes--beyond any leadership position in human society. He was practically the god of the MU, and his being felled is well within certain myth traditions regarding the vulnerability of the gods. What if Makuta had found a way to simply restrain him and his power instead of put him to sleep, and then made him watch as the Plan unfolded? Can you say sadism?

 

So yeah, super long reply for a blog... whoops...

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I don't know, it sounds pretty much like a lie, to undermine his enemy's confidence.

 

I agree with what Zox said; Teridax might be saying that Mata-Nui's sleep is giving him a holiday. Instead of having the burden of managing the universe and his other work, Teridax is giving the Great Spirit "a break" while he rules the universe.

 

In which case, Teridax is simply twisting events into a distorted perspective- essentially, lying. Remember, Teridax wants to rule the Matoran. He was jealous of their admiration for Mata-Nui. So, the Makuta was trying justify his actions.

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Hm, I view it more along the lines of a surgery. "Asleep he doesn't feel the pain of me ripping his brain from his body and putting mine in instead... man that would hurt so much if he was awake!" I know it has nothing to do with the canon but whatevs. :P

 

:music:

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It could perhaps be explained as Makuta referring to Mata Nui's more serious injuries from after the Great Cataclysm, the ones that the 2006–2007 story arc was meant to save him from. But there's no telling how much of that was even thought up back in 2003. It was known that the Great Spirit was in a coma beneath the island, and that the Matoran's original homeland was inside his body, but who knows whether the fact that he was slowly dying had been thought up yet?

 

I agree that it was a cool line. Mask of Light was generally a really awesome movie in my opinion. I know a lot of people think it's sort of generic and childish, but I feel like it did a good job making Makuta into a fearsome and manipulative villain (and redeeming him a bit for me in the process). Plus, its focus on showing the adventure through the eyes of the Matoran rather than just the Toa was something I started to miss in many later story arcs.

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for some reason i'd hoped that Makuta's putting MN to sleep was like some sort of stasis situation wherein MN couldn't like, age, or decay, or fall to pieces ('cuz giant robot) and that by taking upon the mantle of the universe for himself (or maybe even just for his kind since they all had the job of making animals and all that) as a way to prolong the universe's overall lifespan in some sort of way and was just going about it in a manner that went at odds with certain ethical and moral standards the opposing teams had (despite them thinking like, it's an evil maniacal power grab versus a "things come to an end, but i'd much rather the thing i live in continue on longer so we all don't die earlier). 

 

idk 

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mata nui partied too hard and drank too much before conking out so makuta is keeping him asleep to spare him the oncoming killer hangover

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Please be more respectful towards the staff. If you're worried about receiving a diatribe for something you've said in your entry, perhaps you shouldn't have said it.

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This is very simple to explain.  While Mata Nui goes into sleep, his consciousness takes over one of the MUI so that he can see the state of his physical body for himself.

 

While he was inside himself (let's call it "literal soul searching" or "LSS") he actually fell in love with another MUI.  Of course, they couldn't be together should he be awakened, and Mata Nui would have then gone into teenage angst instead of performing his duties for the melding.  One day, after Mata Nui had played "Never Wanted to Dance" for like the billionth time, Makuta was all "That's enough, bro, I'm taking over to do your job.  I can't stand this horrid music anymore." and so he set his plan into motion.

 

Now, as for his identity while he was asleep, he took over Hewkii's consciousness and after 2006 when he was awakened in the mask of life, Hewkii regained his consciousness and it was like his dating Macku never happened.

 

And that is the canon reason why Hewkii and Macku are not a thing (another answer is that "Greg hates shipping" but I like this better).

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