Pridak

"Once, we six were rulers of the surface world, from Xia to the Southern Islands. Then we dared rebel against the Great Spirit Mata Nui and were condemned to an eternity down here. But if the mask Kalmah describes is indeed the legendary Mask of Life--it could make us all that we once were. We could be free of this Pit and conquer once more!"

- Pridak, Comic 6: Web Comic

Pridak was one of the six Barraki, warlords who established the League of Six Kingdoms and rebelled against the Great Spirit Mata Nui himself, only to be defeated and imprisoned in the Pit for thousands of years. After the appearance of the Mask of Life, he and the other Barraki sought to use the mask's power to restore themselves, only to fail. He was later freed by the Order of Mata Nui to fight the Brotherhood of Makuta.

Early Life
Pridak and his species were created 95,000 years ago by Mata Nui, who at the time created six sapient species in the Matoran Universe. He came under the employment of the Brotherhood of Makuta as aide to Makuta Icarax and given rule over a small territory. As Icarax's aide, he accompanied him and Mutran to the island of Xia to negotiate the export prices they offered to the Matoran. This mission was successful, and Pridak was taken with the island's potential that the two Makuta had to force him off the island. Not long after the mission to Xia, Pridak was chosen as the representative of his species to establish order in the Matoran Universe, along with five others. 1,000 years later, Pridak, along with Ehlek, Mantax, Kalmah, Takadox, and Carapar, formed a military alliance and joined their armies into the League of Six Kingdoms. The six leaders of the League were now the Barraki--warlords.

Using their armies, they conquered the entire Matoran universe and divided it into six territories for each to rule, although Pridak was known as the unofficial leader of the League. This was revealed at a meeting with the Brotherhood of Makuta, whom the League allied with to be provided with war Rahi. Although the Makuta present at this meeting did not accept this strategy, Pridak intimidated them as the chosen rulers of Mata Nui. Pridak then took control of the northwestern region of the universe, including Xia. With Xia under his control, he reformed the island as a weapon manufacturer.

By 80,000 years ago, the League had sought the control of the island of Metru Nui and the overthrow of Mata Nui. During the final preparations for this attack, the League was ambushed by the joined efforts of a Brotherhood of Makuta army of Rahi, Rahkshi, and Exo-Toa under the command of Makuta Teridax, and the Toa. The Barraki, including Pridak, were captured, and brought before Teridax who ordered their execution by Exo-Toa. Before this could occur, however, the Order member Botar appeared and teleported the Barraki into the Pit. There, they were imprisoned by Hydraxon until 1,001 years ago, when the Great Cataclysm occurred. The Pit was shattered, allowing the criminals contained there to escape, and thus be mutated by the Mutagen contained in the waters.

The Pit
Pridak and the other Barraki were forced to be confined in the Pit, mutated into water-breathers that could never set foot on land again. Some time later, Pridak organized an army of Takea. 300 years ago, a region of the island above them, named Mahri Nui, broke off and crushed the Barraki Fortress, a structure similar to the one they previously had on land. Pridak allowed the inhabitants of the city- Matoran- to survive, seeing nothing to gain from them, although he and his Barraki did torment the Matoran with their armies.

They stayed there for quite some time, until news of the Mask of Life came. The Barraki agreed to do everything they could to get that mask, because if they did, they could become air breathers again. Pridak immediately went to action, and destroyed Defilak's sub, with Defilak, Sarda, Gar and Idris inside it, though they were not dead. He brought them to a cave to ask them about the Mask of Life, and what they knew about it. When Sarda refused to answer, Pridak showed his harshness by dragging him out of his water bubble and throwing him to his waiting army of Takea Shark. He then asked Defilak to show him. Gar and Idris swam away to Mahri Nui. However, Defilak delayed, and Pridak was becoming angry, when a 300-foot Venom Eel arrived. Pridak knew that this beast was created from the Mask of Life, and followed its direction. He found Mantax, another Barraki, who told him where it came from. They both left to see the Mask of Life. When they got there, Brutaka, as well as the other Barraki, were all there. When Pridak attempted to take Brutaka on, he was defeated. He later woke up and agreed with the others that Brutaka was a phony, and had him taken away by a Giant Squid. Then, all six of them went to confront Dekar, the Matoran with the mask. Pridak took it from him, and was cursed-he now was incredibly overreactional and prone to anger from the least bit of a nuisance. Takadox managed to calm him with his hypnotizing powers. He, along with all the other Barraki went to "greet" the Toa Mahri once they found out that the six Toa were coming from the Stone Cord. The Barraki captured the Toa Mahri and put them into confined cells, while attending a meeting about who should take the Mask of Life. They eventually came to an agreement-Nocturn, Ehlek's lieutenant, should take the mask because he was too stupid to do anything with it. However, Pridak soon found out that the Toa Mahri had escaped, and he commanded the Barraki to split up into groups and destroy them. He teamed up with Takadox, and they found Matoro with Maxilos (actually Teridax). They commanded their armies to attack his army of reanimated dead creatures, and there was a tremendous battle. Pridak's army was starting to win, when Ehlek's army advanced on Pridak's. Pridak, currently unaware that the whole thing was caused by a trick from Hewkii, attacked Ehlek's army, and there was total chaos. The Barraki eventually realized that they had been tricked by the Toa Mahri, and they started to gather up to attack them, when a meeting was called for from Mantax. Pridak attended the meeting, just like all the Barraki, and realized that Mantax had both the Mask of Life and the Betrayal Contract. Mantax had started to give a list of demands when an avalanche fell, causing chaos. Pridak battled the Toa Mahri but the six Toa escaped. However, the Barraki began to gather up their armies to destroy the Toa Mahri when Maxilos interfered, revealing that he was Teridax. Pridak was the most angry, stating that Teridax had ruined their lives enough, without interfering again. However, "Maxilos" simply stated that he was not interfering, and knocked out all six Barraki. However, Maxilos/Makuta had failed to realize one thing-the Barraki's armies were still at large. They had destroyed Maxilos and left Teridax's fate unknown by the time Pridak and the others woke up, and Pridak commanded an all-out charge to destroy the Toa Mahri once and for all. They arrived, and began viciously attacking the Toa Mahri, until the Mask of Life teleported them away.

Mantax found Pridak and gave him the original Hydraxon's Helmet. Pridak found out the current Hydraxon was not the original, and gathered his army of Takea sharks to find the jailer. While fighting Hydraxon, Pridak stated that a Matoran named Dekar had disappeared just when Hydraxon appeared, thinking he would fool Hydraxon. Not listening, Hydraxon defeated Pridak and took him to the Pit.

Aqua Magna
Afterwards, Pridak and the remaining Barraki were offered the chance to help the Order of Mata Nui fight the Brotherhood of Makuta. Pridak accepted the offer for all of the Barraki, seeing an opportunity to rebuild his former legions.

After being released from the Pit, Pridak gathered an small army and ventured outwards. On the first island he attacked, Pridak discovered that an older fortress existed underneath the one he was attacking with his army. He explored the fortress, and discovered a pile of rubble with writing on it located in a sub-basement. Believing that it was destroyed by someone (Zaktan) who did not want the content known, he began to piece the wall back together.

After reading the details of the Brotherhood's plot, he contacted the other Barraki to propose an alliance to the leader of the Dark Hunters, making an offer of information on the viruses the Shadowed One had found on Xia. The leader of the Dark Hunters agreed, on the condition that he and Pridak meet in the recently destroyed realm of Karzahni. They met, and made a deal to take Teridax out of power.

With his legions ready for battle, Pridak decided to travel to Metru Nui anyway. Before Pridak and his army could reach Metru Nui, Teridax was killed by a fragment of Bota Magna. As a result, he marched his army out of the Matoran universe onto the newly formed Spherus Magna, where his mutations were undone by the Kanohi Ignika.

Abilities and Traits
Pridak was the unofficial leader of the Barraki and previously was the unofficial leader of the League. He was a fiery leader and would not hesitate to reward disobedience or insolence with pain. He once blinded Kalmah in one eye and bit off one of Nocturn's arms in a separate engagement. Pridak was a leader who ruled with his emotions, able to hold a grudge against someone indefinitely. His mutations were possibly the worst punishment he could receive, before his transformation he took great pride in his own appearance and believed creatures that carried monstrous faces such as the one he would later bear did not deserve to live.

He, like the other Barraki, despised Teridax, and would not hesitate to defy him to his face. He was also almost as complex a thinker as the Makuta. His hate for Teridax was especially intense, as he alone once worked as little more than a slave of the Brotherhood of Makuta. Although hot-headed, he was very practical, since he saw no gain from killing the Matoran of Mahri Nui, he chose not to, but if he could get something out of it, he would gladly destroy the entire city and sleep peacefully that night.

Pridak was cursed by the Kanohi Ignika when he tried to touch it, causing him to be stuck forever in a murderous rage.

Pridak was physically the most powerful and one of the fastest Barraki. Pridak also possessed all of the enhanced senses of a real shark, such as enhanced eyesight; hearing; and smell. He could also detect electrical fields. After the Ignika cured his mutations, he lost these abilities.

Tools
Pridak's weapons included Shark Tooth Blades, along with powerful jaws lined with Protosteel teeth sharp enough to rip through Makuta armor. He also wielded a Squid Launcher.

Quotes
"No...you don't understand what it can do...it will destroy you...all of us." "Oh, yes, there will be destruction...but it will not be the Barraki who fall. It will be the Toa...the Brotherhood of Makuta...and Mata Nui himself!"

- Dekar and Pridak, Comic 8: Sea of Darkness

Set Information

 * ''Brilliant strategist one moment, savage waarrior the next, Pridak is the unquestioned leader of the Barraki. He rules through strength and through the respect that strength commands. Today, he rules the Pit--tomorrow, perhaps, the universe.


 * Pridak was released in 2007 as one of the six Barraki canister sets. His set number was #8921, consisted of 47 pieces.
 * Pridak's instruction booklet shows him with red eyes on the cover, though the image on the container and the figure itself has blue eyes. The booklet also shows the smaller ends of his weapons as white, although in the real set the small ends are red.

Trivia

 * Although many fans believe that Pridak's red coloring was the "blood" of his victims, BIONICLE author Greg Farshtey has confirmed it was really part of his natural coloring after being mutated.
 * Brian Ellis, Pridak's designer, elaborated further on the coloration, stating that the red splotch around his teeth was inspired by the look of blood on an aquatic predator's mouth, but was merely supposed to just be evocative of the idea. The redness either comes from warpaint, or just natural pigmentation; and came from his desire to make a figure with a red-and-white color scheme when most previous white sets only had blue highlights.
 * Like the other Barraki, Pridak is based on a real-world sea creature--a shark. Brian Ellis claims he got the idea for Pridak during a team bonding exercise where the creative team swam in a diving tank with live sea-creatures. While in the tank, Ellis accidentally let too much air out of his buoyancy regulator, causing him to plummet to the bottom of the tank, and land on a live shark. The experience of being anchored to the ground, in the dark, underwater with a predator was the main inspiration for Pridak's design.
 * Pridak is somewhat infamous for having a ball-joint spine which makes the figure's upper torso flop over easily. The original design for the figure had two sets of ball-joints in its spine, making it more stable while still being more articulate than most other figures. However, producing the figure with this design would mean exceeding its desired price point, so it was redesigned to be cheaper to produce; ultimately resulting in the weaker, one ball-joint design.

Appearances

 * Comic 6: Web Comic - First appearance
 * Comic 7: Mask of Life, Mask of Doom
 * BIONICLE Legends 6: City of the Lost
 * BIONICLE Legends 7: Prisoners of the Pit
 * Comic 9: Divided We Fall
 * BIONICLE World - Mentioned only
 * BIONICLE: Encyclopedia Updated - Mentioned only
 * BIONICLE Legends 8: Downfall
 * Comic 10: The Death of Mata Nui
 * Comic 11: Death of a Hero
 * The Mutran Chronicles - In flashback
 * Dreams of Destruction - Mentioned only
 * Destiny War
 * Hydraxon's Tale
 * Makuta's Guide to the Universe - Mentioned only
 * Reign of Shadows
 * Command Toa Hahli - Non-canon
 * Command Toa Kongu - Non-canon
 * Command Toa Matoro - Non-canon
 * Command The Toa Mahri - The Final Challenge - Non-canon