Teridax's Plan

[Mr. Anon1]

Teridax is famous for his very complicated plans. The guy's so awesome, he even has backup plans for breakfast! With his complicated plan to take over the Great Spirit, there obviously had to be many branches. We really only know one, which is the one that succeeded. But what do we know of the rest of his plan?The Bionicle encyclopedia says that he wanted the mask of time in order to wake up the matoran after enough time so that they would worship him. Based on his successful plan, I've theorized the following about what he'd do in addition. We know that his ultimate goal was to take over the Great Spirit Robot. To do this, he needed Mata Nui to be dead temporarily so that he could insert his own spirit. As a result, I would assume that using the Vahi, he would prepare things so that his forces would obtain the Ignika just in time to save the great spirit. With the Matoran of Metru nui all on his side, he would have the deck safely stacked in his favor.Furthermore, when the Toa Nuva would have to come to Metru Nui in order to wake up the Great Spirit, he could probably use the matoran to manipulate the Nuva to awaken him at just the right moment, again with the cards stacked in his favor.I think this theory would solve one of the obvious holes that appears if Teridax's primary plan relied on him losing so many battles: he did not expect to lose, since Mata Nui had already planted the Metru's minds in his head so that he would choose the matoran he specifically thought would fail. He would not do this if he wanted them to succeed, nor would he silence Karzhani. This also clears up something that made me uncomfortable at first after the plot twist at the end of '08: the idea that the Metru, Nuva, Inika, and Mahri were never really in danger and that all their work was for nothing. According to my theory, Teridax had to spend substantially more resources into having his plan work out the way it did than his original plan. Furthermore, with a Matoran workforce content with serving him, I imagine his body would have functioned at a good enough state so that it would have been easier to take on Mata Nui in the alternate robot.

[fishers64]

Er, I always thought that Makuta just wanted the adoration of the Matoran. If he had gone with his orginal plan, he would have saved Mata Nui's life but never woke him up, and just soaked in brainwashed Matoran's adoration of him for the rest of his existence. He might have done the awakening + takeover thing if he was bored.

[Takatu]

I was under the impression that his real skill was in altering unexpected events and setbacks on the fly to turn them to his favor. Like he didn't really intend on Takanuva fusing with him and having his armor crushed beyond repair, but he quickly devised the next stage of his plan on the spot by getting the Piraka to Voya Nui and building a tank to hold his essence, then using them to go after the Mask of Life.At least that was how I understood how Makuta worked. It wasn't so much a long-spanning web where all paths inevitable ended up in his victory so much as it was an excellently timed speed chess. He couldn't 100% predict his opponents' moves, but made educated guesses and rapidly adapted to a move he didn't necessarily want them to make.

[Toa of Italy]

From Makuta's Guide to the Universe (Makuta's Diary, 2^nd Entry):

When I launched my plan to take over this universe, I will admit that I did not think big enough. I thought I could be satisfied with seizing power in the city of Metru Nui. By doing that, I could control the flow of energy from the city's power plants to the rest of the universe, not to mention being able to decide when - or if - the Great Spirit would ever awaken again.

So basically the only thing Teridax wanted was to rule Metru Nui, causing the universe (which at the time was in good part already under the control of the BoM's troops) to fall in line behind him. His backup plan was much more ambitious, but as Mr. Anon1 said it was much more difficult to achieve and it depended mostly on what Teridax thought other beings would do, a prediction which might have been mistaken.

[Unauthorized Autobiography]

I think the 2008 saga was plan of Icarax. He wanted to make Teridax's plan, but fast and brute.

[Paleo]

Teridax required the Mask of Time to accelerate the memory wiping effects of the Matoran Spheres. While I don't know if becoming the Great Spirit was part of his plan, the 2nd entry of his diary that Toa of Italy posted seems to show he wanted to rule it via Metru Nui.

[The Lord Of Wednesday]

I am under the impression that Teridax had more sincere intentions then he thought. From his perspective, and possibly many others, Mata Nui was quite negligent, and he wanted to replace him as something of a god like entity that would actually care about the interior universe. Though with some cracks in the plan, as well as a lethal dose of "He who fights monsters..." from Nietzsche. Perhaps that is why he wanted the matoran's admiration, to not only continue their jobs of fixing him, but to prop himself up as a hero who actually deserved the respect of his followers while skipping the annoying "proving your intentions" middle man. This is alternate interpretation of course, but an interesting thing to think about indeed.

[Toa Of Virtues]

I thought that as a backup plan he used his staff of fusion to split himself into two beings, so if one dies, the other can continue. this is actually the basis of my epic "Return of the Shadow"

[fishers64]

I thought that as a backup plan he used his staff of fusion to split himself into two beings, so if one dies, the other can continue. this is actually the basis of my epic "Return of the Shadow"

He didn't actually do that...canonically...He might have done that if his other plan didn't work, although that's kind of unlikely.

[Vote Saxon]

It depends on what caused Mata Nui to die. Was it the virus that put him to sleep itself or the lack of Matoran working in Metru Nui.I believe it was the later, making me think that Teridax' original plan was to put Mata Nui to sleep, take over Metru Nui and establish himself as the Matoran's savior and "god", becoming the supreme ruler of the MU through his control over Metru Nui and the Brotherhood's armies, while keeping Mata Nui asleep for all eternity (With Metru Nui under his control and the Matoran following him, he could have easily layed a trap for the Toa Mata).Since that plan failed due to the Toa Metru's intervention, Teridax changed the plan to the way we saw it fulfill: keep the Matoran from returning to Metru Nui, let Mata Nui come near death, then have the Matoran return and start a rescue mission, which he delayed long enough for Mata Nui to be dead for a short time, slip his own mind into the Great Spirit's body, pretend to be defeated and then become the MU itself.And, as Takatu said, Teridax was able to make up for all smaller drawbacks (e.g. the destruction of his own body) similar to a brilliant speed chess player.

[darkslizer]

This has always been a very interesting topic to me. I have a theory that another branch of his plan has something to do with the makuta scattered across the Matoran Universe. I think he deployed some of his most powerful makuta to eventually take over each region and then Teridax would become a ruler of an entire universe. (entire meaning that he didn't know about Spherus Magna and all the stuff around that.) He would probably find it easier to put Mata Nui to sleep, obtain the Mask of Life, kill him, bring him back to life, and take control of the Mata Nui Robot. He would then become the "Universe". He could want every intelligent being in line through his troops so he could romp through the universe doing what he pleases. I would also like to point out that, as much as he hates the Barraki, they were his inspiration for taking over the universe.

[fishers64]

This has always been a very interesting topic to me. I have a theory that another branch of his plan has something to do with the makuta scattered across the Matoran Universe. I think he deployed some of his most powerful makuta to eventually take over each region and then Teridax would become a ruler of an entire universe. (entire meaning that he didn't know about Spherus Magna and all the stuff around that.) He would probably find it easier to put Mata Nui to sleep, obtain the Mask of Life, kill him, bring him back to life, and take control of the Mata Nui Robot. He would then become the "Universe". He could want every intelligent being in line through his troops so he could romp through the universe doing what he pleases. I would also like to point out that, as much as he hates the Barraki, they were his inspiration for taking over the universe.

To be clear, it was Miserix (Teridax's predecessor) that dispatched Makuta to guard portions of the Matoran Universe. Also, he killed off the other Makuta in Karda Nui; if his original plan had succeeded, he probably would have found a way to kill them all, as they were threats to his power.

[darkslizer]

good point. I totally forgot that Miserix dispatched the Makuta. I suppose, though, that Teridax could still have used those Makuta to his advantage after he overthrew Miserix. Teridax could have destroyed the other Makuta after taking control of the Mata Nui robot. I stand by the Barraki statement though