Matoro

"It ends here. One thousand years of fear and violence and darkness even in the daylight... it's time to stop it."

- Toa Mahri Matoro to Makuta Teridax

Matoro was the Toa Inika and later Toa Mahri of Ice, originating as a Ko-Matoran from Metru Nui. He was one of the few beings who could touch the Ignika without being cursed.

Metru Nui
Matoro began his life on Metru Nui, where he ran a Rahi shop called Matoro's Rahi that sold small Rahi for pets. Through this job, he became familiar with the language of the Rahi, which made him Turaga Nuju's first choice for a translator on Mata Nui.

Shortly before the Great Cataclysm, Matoro and every other Matoran of Metru Nui were summoned to the Coliseum by Turaga Dume, who was actually Teridax in disguise. A Vahki shoved him in a Matoran Pod. His memory was erased and his body shrunk into a weaker form.

The Toa Metru eventually rescued all of the comatose Matoran and smuggled them to an island above Metru Nui that they named Mata Nui after the now-sleeping Great Spirit.

Mata Nui
During the one thousand years that the Matoran of Metru Nui spent on Mata Nui before the coming of the Toa Mata, Turaga Nuju refused to speak the Matoran language and instead used the language of bird Rahi that Kualus had taught him during his time as a Toa Hordika. From his experience as a Rahi trader before, Matoro quickly picked up Nuju's language and became his translator.

He learned many secrets, but was under oath to keep them from his friends. He became very good at keeping secrets, but he also hunted in the harsh Ko-Wahi terrain. On one such hunt, he and Takua, the Chronicler of Mata Nui were ambushed by a Muaka. They were only saved by Toa Mata Kopaka.

Matoro later became a member of the Ko-Koro kolhii team along with Kopeke. Their team never made it to the championship, defeated early on in the competition.

Return to Metru Nui and Quest to Voya Nui
After Takanuva defeated the Makuta, freeing the way back to Metru Nui, the tales of Metru Nui were revealed (although Matoro had already overheard some of it during the Turaga's counsels) and the Matoran returned to their home.

As they began to rebuild the destroyed city, the Toa Mata, now Toa Nuva, had left on a mission to Voya Nui to recover the Ignika to save Mata Nui, who they had recently discovered to be dying. Matoro was the only Matoran who knew about this, and when his friend Jaller came to ask him, he had to refuse to divulge the information.

However, Jaller was able to ask Takanuva, who accompanied Jaller to confront the Turaga. Jaller set the Matoran of Metru Nui on a strike after the Turaga refused to say where the Toa Nuva had gone. He gathered five other Matoran, including Matoro, and they left the city trying to find Voya Nui, guided by Takanuva.

In their journey, they discovered a tunnel that engulfed all light. In the tunnel, Matoro felt a hand and grabbed it, and then was disturbed to discover that Takanuva and the other five Matoran were already out of the tunnel and waiting for him. As Kongu would later find out, it was a manifestation of the Mask of Life's power, testing Matoro to decide if he was worthy to be its destined bearer.

Eventually, the group arrived at the gates of Karzahni, where Takanuva had to turn back due to a strange barrier that blocked beings with the power of Light. The Matoran continued in alone, where they had their masks replaced and were set to work by the insane Karzahni.

Hahli, the current Chronicler of Metru Nui, was stopped by Karzahni and forced to tell him stories, none of which he believed. Matoro, Jaller, Kongu, Nuparu, and Hewkii discovered that Karzahni, in legends known as a place where bad workers were sent, was in actuality a place where damaged Matoran came to be repaired. However, Karzahni had done a horrible job, given the ruined Matoran weapons, and sent them to the Mainland in the hopes of never seeing them again.

They then met up with a Matoran who had forgotten his name and was quite possibly insane. He was an Av-Matoran, though he was disguised, and he was among the Matoran who built the Toa Canisters. He led them to six Toa canisters, only for them to be confronted by an enraged Karzahni. Using his Olisi, he filled the Matoran's minds with images of what would happen should the Great Spirit die. Matoro was brave enough to stand up to him, and the six Matoran from Metru Nui escaped into the Toa canisters.

Little did they know, Karzahni followed them, leaving his realm for the first time since shortly after its creation. As their canisters arrived on the shores of Voya Nui, they were struck by lightning from the Red Star, transforming them into Toa. Jaller later dubbed their team the Toa Inika, after the Matoran word for "energy from a star".

Ignition
The Toa Inika quickly realized they were not normal Toa. Their masks were alive, their elemental blasts were intwined with lightning, and their faces glowed with energy behind their masks. Matoro quickly discovered his mask power--his Iden, Mask of Spirit, allowed him to leave his body and explore invisibly, intangibly, and flight at high speeds. However, his body was left vulnerable while doing so. When he first activated his mask power, his teammates thought he had just dropped dead, till Hahli used her Elda, Mask of Detection and began talking to his spirit form.

The Toa Inika met up with Vezok, a rogue Dark Hunter Skakdi calling himself a Piraka. After a quick battle with him, one that they won, Vezok escaped. The team met up with the Voya Nui Resistance Team, the last six Matoran on the island of Voya Nui who had not been enslaved by the Piraka's Antidermis. The two teams joined together and split into three groups.

Matoro, Hewkii, Kazi and Balta sought out Axonn, a member of the Order of Mata Nui who resided on Voya Nui. They found him badly damaged after an encounter with his former friend Brutaka. They left Axonn behind while the Toa regrouped at the Piraka's stronghold. They attacked the Piraka and Brutaka, and had almost won when Hakann and Thok used a special Zamor sphere to steal Brutaka's power. He was left near death, and the two super-powerful Piraka quickly defeated their former comrades and the Toa.

Axonn arrived shortly after, deciding to stay by Brutaka for the moment when his powers returned so they could have a rematch. The Piraka and the Toa made a shaky alliance, and the Toa were given two zamor spheres: one by Axonn, whose power was to freeze any being in space and time, and one that the Piraka created to reverse the effect of Hakann and Thok's zamor.

The Inika and Piraka caught up with Hakann and Thok and defeated the two, returning Brutaka's power. The stairway to the Mask of Life was revealed in the battle, but the Toa were soon after defeated themselves, and the Piraka descended the staircase alone.

Chamber of Life
The Inika soon awakened and pursued them, encountering a false Lhikan and false versions of their old foes, all of which they were forced to kill, only for them to become the Toa Nuva. Kongu informed them that he had detected no thoughts from them with his Suletu during the battle, and thus they were probably just illusions.

But the Toa next encountered a room that demanded one of the Toa sacrifice themselves for the quest to continue. Matoro, reasoning that while all of the others had battle experience, he was simply a translator, decided to sacrifice himself. He temporarily died, but was quickly returned to life, now having proved himself to the Mask of Life as its chosen guardian.

After a brief battle with the Piraka, the Inika reached the Chamber of Life, where they found six unconscious Piraka and another being called Vezon, with an enlarged Fenrak Spawn spider mount. They noticed that the Mask of Life was attached to his head, and Kongu read the Mask's "mind", discovering that it wanted Matoro to be its guardian. Vezon learned this and became enraged, giving the Toa the opportunity to defeat him, sending him into a lava flow.

However, he was not dead. Just as the Toa were contemplating if they should go into the lava to retrieve the Mask of Life, Vezon rose out of the lava, his Fenrakk spider transformed into a huge dragon, which he named Kardas. Jaller remembered Axonn's zamor, and froze the two in time and space. Matoro took the opportunity to pluck the mask off of Vezon's head. But the zamor wore off, and he was struck by Kardas, sending the mask flying.

It escaped, leading the Inika to where it wanted to go. After disappearing underwater, they were no longer able to track it. However, Axonn showed them another way underwater, opening a tunnel from them to travel through.

The Stone Cord
On their way down, they encountered murderous Zyglak and a spiteful Vezon. Vezon was defeated once again, and carried off by the Zyglak. At some point, Matoro activated his Iden to scout ahead, only for the Antidermis that was Teridax to inhabit his lifeless body. He stole Hahli's Elda to keep her from communicating with Matoro, but eventually the other Inika found a way to force Makuta out and allow Matoro back into his body.

Then the tunnel began to crack, and seawater flooded in. The Inika were surrounded by Zyglak and were about to be killed, and decided to take the chances in the ocean. Almost as soon as they made it out, they were hit by a huge wave of energy, transforming them into Toa Mahri.

Arrival in the Pit
The Toa Mahri found themselves confronted by a 300-foot long eel. With their newfound mask powers, they quickly defeated it and found an underwater Matoran city, Mahri Nui. The citizens mistook them for criminals and attacked them.

Then Defilak, the city leader, said that one of them could stay at Mahri Nui if the other five would free the Fields of Air from a Keras crab infestation. Matoro quickly discovered that he could no longer breathe air. Leaving Mahri Nui, Hydraxon, long-dead jailer of the Pit, recreated from a Matoran named Dekar, found and captured Matoro, introducing him to the guardian robot Maxilos.

As it turned out, Maxilos was possessed by the Makuta Teridax, who informed Matoro that he was on the Toa of Ice's side. The two soon found themselves starting a war--Matoro and a legion of dead sea creatures, reanimated by his Tryna, versus the Barraki Takadox and Pridak. The other Toa Mahri were starting conflicts between the Barraki as well, until the entire area was a battlefield.

Into the Darkness
In the confusion, Matoro and Maxilos escaped to the ruins of the original Pit, where Maxilos showed Matoro the remains of a Toa of Water named Tuyet. Teridax forced Matoro to reanimate her, and he soon discovered why--she had tiny bits of an artifact known as the Nui Stone embedded in her armor, and Teridax could recreate the entire Nui Stone if he had the Staff of Artakha, which his fellow Brotherhood member had retrieved for him.

Exiting the ruined Pit, Matoro and Maxilos encountered Hahli, who seemed to think Matoro was keeping to himself a little too much. Matoro tried to tell Hahli he was in trouble without Maxilos realizing what was going on, and she got the message, but had no idea how to help him.

The Toa and Makuta eventually encountered Karzahni, who had followed the Toa Mahri since they had arrived on Voya Nui, always staying far enough behind not to be noticed. He shattered Tuyet and attacked Teridax and Matoro, assaulting them both with his Olisi. Teridax retaliated and defeated Karzahni, and was in the process of recreating the Nui Stone when Brutaka, banished to The Pit by Botar after being defeated by Axonn, attacked Teridax and summoned Botar, whisking away the Staff of Artakha and keeping him from recreating the Nui Stone.

Teridax and Brutaka fought briefly, but before the battle had even began, Matoro had fled and regrouped with his friends.

The Death of Mata Nui
The Toa Mahri later regrouped, now with the knowledge that they would have to destroy the Stone Cord to save the life of Mata Nui. However, this presented a dilemma: the Matoran on Voya Nui and Mahri Nui would be killed by that action.

The Mahri led the Matoran of Mahri Nui into caverns in Voya Nui, where they met up with Axonn doing the same thing for the Voya Nui Matoran. They stayed safe in the caverns of Voya Nui while the Mahri severed the stone cord.

However, before they could cut the cord, they needed the Mask of Life, currently held by Mantax. In their Toa Terrain Crawler, the Mahri arrived at the Razor Whale's Teeth, where Mantax revealed that he had discovered a traitor among the Barraki--Takadox. But at that moment, an avalanche caused by Hydraxon rushed through the area, disturbing the meeting. The Toa Mahri split up--Matoro and Jaller went after Mantax and the Mask of Life, with Maxilos and Hydraxon not far behind. Jaller easily defeated Mantax, but Hydraxon intervened.

In the meantime, Matoro froze Maxilos solid--something that made the Makuta inside proud, as he had pushed Matoro to the point of trying to kill an intelligent being, against the Toa code. But a wall of fire by Jaller in an attempt to keep Hydraxon from the mask freed Makuta. Jaller gave the mask to Matoro, and the two headed back to Mahri Nui where the other Toa were already waiting.

But Gadunka, the 300-foot Venom Eel and a creature summoned by Kongu in an earlier battle came to stop them. Matoro was knocked out early in the battle, but the other Toa Mahri defeated the creatures. Hydraxon tried to get the mask one last time, but Matoro convinced him otherwise, and the cord was finally smashed.

Voya Nui sunk down and smashed Mahri Nui, and the begun to be pulled away as if by a magnetic force. The Toa Mahri followed it, and the Barraki were not far behind. But even as they followed Voya Nui, they felt Mata Nui die, and the Mask of Life went dim.

Matoro knew that there had to be a way to bring Mata Nui back to life, so he hurried ahead of the other Toa Mahri while they held off the Barraki to buy Matoro time. Matoro chased Voya Nui all the way to the Mainland, and at the last moment slipped past it into Karda Nui.

There a voice told him to don the Ignika, and thus he did. His body turned into energy, killing him in the process but reviving Mata Nui. As his last conscious act, he allowed the other Toa Mahri to breathe air again, and sent them back to Metru Nui so they would not die at the hands of the Barraki. Unknown to some is that Mata Nui guarenteed that that Matoro will be allowed to live again in four years (2012), and he and the others on his team will be turned into new Toa with the same powers as the Inika forms, but with brand new armor and masks(still organic). The only other difference would be that their faces wouldn't glow.

Personality
Matoro was quiet and kept to himself, mostly because of all of the secrets he knew. He was very protective of his friends, however. He felt that he was inferior to his friends because he was merely a translator, while they all had fighting skill. However, he eventually began to gain more confidence, and began to take control of the team as they journeyed into the Pit.

Powers and Tools
As a Toa of Ice, Matoro could create, control, and absorb frost and cold, as well as other things. As a Toa Inika, his elemental powers were infused with lightning, and he carried a zamor launcher and energized ice sword, and wore an Iden. As a Toa Mahri, he carried twin cutters and a Cordak blaster, and wore a Kanohi Tryna.

Behind the Sets/Trivia

 * Near the end of his life, Matoro began to take control of the Toa Mahri, much to Jaller's annoyance.
 * Matoro was the first Matoran to appear in a fully canonical story source.
 * After Matoro's death, many members of BZPower began using banners in their signatures to commemorate him. It was likely the largest reaction to a character's death on the site.
 * It has been stated that Matoro is evil in the Toa Empire.
 * Matoro is the first Toa of Ice to wear a perfectly equal sided Kanohi.