Helryx

"This universe, like all others, demands a price from its heroes. Sometimes, they have to suffer; sometimes, they have to die. That is the price for living a life that matters... for having the power to change, to protect, to act.""

- Helryx, Swamp of Secrets

Helryx was the first Toa of Water, as well as the first Toa created. She was a former member of the Hand of Artakha, and after its disbandment, she formed the Order of Mata Nui and became its leader.

Early Life
Helryx was created by the Great Beings. She aided in the construction of Metru Nui and was a member of the Hand of Artakha. When the Hand disbanded, she decided to reform the organization as the Order of Mata Nui, also devising a rule that other Toa could not join the organization, as they had destinies of their own.

Order of Mata Nui
Helryx watched the awakening of the Toa Mata on Daxia. She greeted them and informed them of their purpose as Toa. She assigned Hydraxon to train the Toa Mata. At this time, she was designing the Swamp Strider for Mazeka, when she was interrupted by Tahu and Kopaka. She revealed to them their destiny, the Codrex and of Karda Nui. After the Toa Mata were dispatched to Karda Nui, her history was largely unknown. She was known to have ordered those killed who knew of Artakha's location following the raid of the Kanohi Avohkii, including those in the Order. She also wrote a comprehensive atlas for the Order, using carvings and information collected by three Order members: Jerbraz, Tobduk, and Johmak.

Thousands of years later, Helryx appeared once more. The Toa Nuva had been teleported to Daxia in completion of the Scroll of Preparations for Mata Nui's awakening. As Trinuma placed the Staff of Artakha in a chamber, she spoke to them, saying they had justified the Order. She proceeded to tell them the Staff would now undo the effects of the Great Cataclysm and they had one final task to complete.

Shortly afterward, Helryx departed with Krakua and Brutaka to Metru Nui. The trio rescued an unconscious Takanuva from a Shadow Leech and brought him to the Archives. Helryx placed a "Kratana" on his face, which gave him visions of the Toa Mata's past, including the Energy Storms that plagued Karda Nui when the Great Spirit was awakening. After a while, she ripped it off and sent him through a portal using Brutaka's Kanohi Olmak to send him to Karda Nui to tell the Toa Nuva of their fate. Helryx told Brutaka as they left of a mission that would reinstate him in the Order, which was revealed to be the finding of Miserix.

Order/Brotherhood War
"I hired the Dark Hunters for a simple task [of occupying Xia ]... If you can’t do it, I'll find someone who can."

- Helryx, intimidating "The Shadowed One" Following the return to Daxia, Helryx decided to order a War against the Brotherhood of Makuta. She first dispatched Krakua and a member of Botar's species to Voya Nui and summoned Axonn. When they returned, she sent him and Brutaka to Zakaz to discuss an alliance with several different Skakdi Warlords.

She also sent a signal to "Ancient" to confront "The Shadowed One", reveal the Order and prevent the Brotherhood from using weapons from Xia. However, "The Shadowed One" defied Helryx and went to destroy the island, so she went with two unknown Order members (one of them being Botar's replacement) to confront him, along with Zaktan. Helryx was able to convince the Dark Hunter leader to follow her commands through debating so prepared to unleash a tidal wave against his armies unless he followed her orders of only occupying Xia. She also gave Zaktan to the Toa Hagah and sent them to find the missing Makuta Teridax.

However, Helryx found the war was much more difficult than she believed, as the Order found strong resistance from Makuta and their armies. She sent two messengers, one to to Metru Nui to send the Toa Mahri to Artidax and use the Heart of the Visorak and the another to the Pit to release the Barraki so they can fight against the Brotherhood.

She then went to Nynrah after the Brotherhood's Rahkshi forces were defeated there. Using her Kanohi Mask of Psychometry, she was able to scan the history of the Rahkshi armor to find sources of Energized Protodermis to destroy so the Brotherhood could not use them to create new Rahkshi. She and her new ally, Keetongu, found a piece that was created by Makuta Chirox. But this source was far from ordinary, for in the middle of the pool, she saw a being made of Energized Protodermis. She and Keetongu traveled to the island where the source was and encountered unusual half Matoran-half Rahi creatures. They saw a huge cave and went into it. Far into the cave, they found Rahi that they had ever seen before. The Rahi let them pass, then grouped up and followed them. At the end of the tunnel was a chamber, containing a lake of Energized Protodermis. The Energized Protodermis Entity emerged from the lake and, after an argument about its experiments with Helryx, it sent a wave of the lake's substance toward Helryx and Keetongu, saying that they would find out together if their fate was transformation or destruction. Just before striking, a portal opened behind the two beings and they jumped into it to avoid the wave, leaving Vezon, who had accidentally created the portal through testing an Olmak, to be transformed.

The Portal brought them to the Core Processor beneath the Coliseum where the Toa Hagah, Zaktan and Miserix were. Then another portal opened and Axonn and Brutaka emerged from behind the two. Just as the assembled group began to converse about what to do, Teridax revealed himself and destroyed Brutaka's Kanohi Olmak to prevent any escape. Teridax then told her that she would stay there with him after he got rid of Keetongu, Axonn, Brutaka, Miserix and the Toa Hagah.

Reign of Teridax
Knowing that Teridax planned to conquer other universes, Helryx concluded that it would be better to destroy Teridax and, through him, the entire Matoran Universe, than to allow his plan to succeed. She prepared to unleash a Nova Blast, but was interrupted by Tuyet and Tren Krom in Lewa's body, who told her that the universe must be saved. Tren Krom freed Miserix, who was trapped on the wall and Miserix sided with Helryx. Axonn and Brutaka entered, siding with Helryx and Tren Krom, respecively. Seeing that there was no other choice, Helryx, Miserix, and Axonn prepared to fight Tuyet, Tren Krom, and Brutaka. The two sides then battled briefly until Artakha appeared to stop them. However, this caught the attention of Makuta Teridax and he teleported them into orbit around the Matoran Universe. Luckily, a dimensional vortex opened which transported him and his group to Bota Magna, where they met Vezon and the Great Being that was cursed by the Ignika. The Great Being pleaded the group to release him, resulting in Helryx and the others arguing about whether or not to do so. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Helryx, Velika, a Po-Matoran who was actually another Great Being in disguise, had set up explosives outside the fortress in order to eliminate her and the others. But Helryx and the others managed to escape the fortress and unbeknownst to them, the cursed Great Being escaped as well.

The Kingdom
In this universe, Matoro hesitated with the Kanohi Ignika and the Great Spirit Mata Nui died. In response, Helryx revealed the Order's existence to assist the migration to Mata Nui and assisted the Toa in barring the Makuta from making it to the island. When Takanuva from the main universe arrived 10,000 years later, she helped him to talk to the Turaga.

The Melding
In this universe, the Great Beings never created Mata Nui so the Matoran lived on Spherus Magna among the Great Beings. The Great Beings also made their creations differently so that the Matoran had the powers of a Toa and the Toa were little more than villagers. The Makuta were never evil in this universe; instead, they were beings of light.

When Vultraz and Mazeka came to the alternate Spherus Magna from a portal in Karda Nui, they briefly met Helryx, a simple Toa-sized Ga-Matoran in this universe, and a Matoran-sized Toa Macku was accompanying her. She was not seen after this first appearance.

In this universe, Helryx lived in the Spherus Magna version of Ga-Koro.

Powers and Equipment
Helryx carried a spiked mace and a shield, both crafted from Protosteel by Artakha.

As a Toa of Water, Helryx could create tidal waves and water blasts. Over her exceptionally long life, she had honed her control over water to far exceed that of an ordinary Toa of Water.

She also wore a Great Mask of Psychometry, which allowed her to learn the past of an object by touching it.

Trivia

 * Prior to being named in the 2008 storyline, Helryx was simply known as "the First Toa."
 * Despite being a Toa, Helryx does not follow the Toa Code, as she was created before it.
 * According to Greg Farshtey, Helryx has at this point completed her destiny, and could become a Turaga if she chose to give up her Toa Power.
 * Helryx's set appearance was determined by a poll on the TTV Message Boards.
 * The MOC chosen to represent Helryx was created by poll winner "The Underscore Double."
 * The artwork chosen to represent Helryx and her Mask of Psychometry (based on the MOC) was created by poll winner "Mister-N," and later canonized by Greg Farshtey.

Appearances

 * BIONICLE World - Indirectly mentioned
 * BIONICLE: Encyclopedia Updated - Indirectly mentioned
 * Toa Nuva Blog - Voice only
 * BIONICLE Legends 10: Swamp of Secrets - First appearance
 * The Kingdom - Mentioned only
 * Brothers In Arms - Alternate timeline
 * Destiny War
 * Dwellers In Darkness
 * Reign of Shadows
 * The Powers That Be - Mentioned only