Tahu (2001)

"Fire never surrenders. If it cannot burn through, it burns around. Block its path and it sends sparks through the air to begin the blaze anew somewhere else. Fire always finds a way."

- Tahu to Gali

Tahu was the Toa Mata of Fire on the island of Mata Nui. After his exposure to energized protodermis, he was transformed into a more powerful being known as a Toa Nuva.

Early days
Little is known about Tahu's past. He was created on Artakha with the other Toa Mata. His canister was built in the what a Matoran in the Realm of Karzahni called 'the world that feeds the world', which was later revealed to be Karda Nui. He was also trained by Hydraxon in the art of combat. During the Great Cataclysm, he and the other 5 Toa Mata were shot out of somewhere underground and into the ocean surrounding Mata Nui. He and the other Toa were supposed to land safely on Mata Nui almost immediately, but something went wrong. He ended up staying afloat along with the others in the ocean for 1,000 years.

Quest for the Masks
After Takua activated the Toa Stones, unwittingly summoning the Toa, Tahu washed upon shore. He was dissasembled, so he rebuilt himself. He then journeyed into Ta-Wahi, where he was caught in a Rahi Trap. He used his Fire Sword to cut his way out.

Vakama, the Turaga of Ta-Koro appeared. Vakama bowed before Tahu and led him to Ta-Koro before telling him the Legend of Mata Nui. Vakama also mentioned others: Gali, Pohatu, Kopaka, Lewa, and Onua. Tahu met with the other Toa, and they decided to split up to search for the great Kanohi masks.

While searching for his Kanohi Akaku in Onu-Wahi, Tahu had to fight off a Kofo-Jaga swarm.

Tahu later ran into Gali, who was surrounded by Nui-Jaga. Tahu drove them away with fire. Gali did a back flip into the water and was knocked out cold. She washed up on shore and Tahu told her that Onua had called a meeting near the Kini-Nui.

The meeting was interupted by a volcanic eruption. Onua and Lewa dug a trench to make the lava flow through it. Two Tarakava emerged behind Tahu, but Pohatu took them out with a large boulder. A downfall of sand appeared, and Tahu turned it to glass by using his power. Two Nui-Rama appeared, smashed the glass, swooped up Tahu, and dropped him. Tahu did not have the Miru, but luckily Onua caught him.

After the meeting, the Toa decided to work as a team. To get his Miru, which was underwater, the three Toa who had the Kanohi Kaukau had to get it for him.

After this, the Toa split this time into two groups of three. Tahu, Gali and Onua went to Le-Wahi to find a Kanohi Kakama in a tree, and Tahu burnt the tree down, almost setting fire to the entire forest. This enraged Gali, and she stalked off.

Tahu was the last Toa to finish his mask collection, getting the Kanohi Kaukau from a Rahi on Mount Ihu.

The Toa went to Kini-Nui, where they received their golden masks.

Subsequently, the Chronicler Company arrived, and the Toa tasked them with defending the Kini-Nui from any more Rahi attacks while they were in Mangaia. They assembled the Makoki stones they had colected on their journey and descended.

When the Toa walked into Makuta's lair, they encountered the Manas, Makuta's guardians. They proved too strong to defeat alone, so the Toa fused into two Toa Kaita. Tahu, Onua, and Pohatu into Akamai and the other Toa into Wairuha. After an immense battle the Manas were defeated through the destruction of control towers and the removal of their infected Kanohi. The Toa then defused and headed into Makuta's lair.

In the next chamber they heard Makuta speak, telling them that they would defeat themselves. Suddenly, a stranger that looked like Tahu attacked the Toa of Fire. Eventually, all of the Toa had shadow counterparts. They struggled against these, but Onua finally realized that they had to be destroyed by fighting a different Toa's counterpart, not your own. The Shadow Toa were quickly finished off, Tahu's double crushed by Pohatu whilst Tahu used intense flame to melt Gali's.

Now the Toa were ready to fight Makuta. But all they found was a Matoran with a pitted mask and shadowy body. The Toa were surprised at his form, but after a philosophical debate Makuta changed himself into a swirling vortex of mechanical parts which sprouted dark tentacles and began attacking them. The Toa combined their powers and caught Makuta by surprise. Makuta left with the words: "You cannot destroy me, for I am Nothing."

They were then teleported out of Makuta's lair to the surface, believing Makuta to have been defeated.

Bohrok War
Makuta was defeated, but there was a rumble from the ground and a Ta-Matoran came running to the Toa. The Matoran was saying one word over and over again:

Bohrok.

The Toa took him to Ta-Koro, only to find it was being destroyed by strange insectlike creatures with elemental powers. They defeated the Bohrok and Vakama told the Toa about the Bohrok and that they had to collect all eight breeds of krana from all six breeds of Bohrok.

The Toa split up, each going to their home village. As they battled Bohrok and collected krana, they learned that the Bohrok were not really alive, just vehicles from the krana. Tahu learned through Kopaka that there was a Bohrok nest in Mount Ihu. Tahu wanted to charge right in, but Kopaka told him to wait for the other Toa. A little later, the other Toa met up with them and they descended into the nest. Tahu went into the heart of the Bohrok nest alone and was trapped. For a brief moment, his mask was replaced with a krana, but not long enough for him to be controlled by it. He heated the air, causing the central chamber to explode. He met up with the other Toa in a different chamber, only for the floor they were standing on to collapse as they fell to the bottom of the nest.

They found niches where the krana could fit, and, placing them in the niches, six chambers opened, each leading to an Exo-Toa suit of armor. Each Toa got into the armor. Tahu encountered Cahdok, the blue Bahrag queen. He drove her out of a tunnel and into the main chamber, as Kopaka did with Gahdok, the red queen. The Bahrag backed up against each other, and the Toa began to fight. But they could not use their elemental powers, and the Bahrag seemed to have a forcefield around them. They had all of the Bohroks' elemental powers, and the powers of illusions, so the Toa were losing quickly.

Tahu realized that the Exo-Toa armor was hindering their elemental powers, and commanded the Toa to shed it. He told the others to surround the Bahrag and attack them as a group. Combining their powers to form a Toa Seal the Toa trapped the Bahrag in a cage of Protodermis before falling into tubes filled with Energized Protodermis, transforming them. With new armour, tools, Kanohi Nuva and enhanced powers, Tahu dubbed their new forms "Toa Nuva".

Bohrok-Kal
With the Bohrok defeated, the Toa Nuva returned home and began to repair the damage done by the Bohrok. Each Toa had recieved a symbol at their respective Suva upon becoming Toa Nuva. Shortly after Tahu Nuva recieved his, Turaga Vakama gave Tahu the Vahi, Legendary Mask of Time.

At their first meeting as Toa Nuva, the Toa all got into a fight while showing off their new powers. An argument began, once again resulting in the Toa going their separate ways. Tahu returned to Ta-Koro and encountered a strange new Bohrok, the Tahnok-Kal.

When the Tahnok-Kal was escaping with Tahu Nuva's symbol, the Toa Nuva of Fire confronted him at the gates to Ta-Koro. When he tried to access his fire powers to stop the Bohrok-Kal, he was momentarily stunned by their absence. Tahnok-Kal took advantage of the delay to collapse the gateway above him, burying Tahu in a pile of rubble. By the time Tahu extricated himself, Tahnok-Kal had left. Tahu, Takua and Jaller pursued the Tahnok-Kal, following its trail to Le-Wahi.

When in Le-Wahi, Lewa Nuva literally fell in on the group. He explained that his powers had disappeared as well, and joined the three in their pursuit of the Bohrok-Kal. The search led them next to Po-Wahi, where the two Bohrok-Kal they were observing met with another. This revelation led to the discovery of Pohatu, also powerless, encased in magnetized Mahi. The two Toa Nuva freed their ally, and he joined with them in the search. Their path led them all over Mata Nui, where the rest of the Toa Nuva, their powers also stolen, joined with them.

Eventually, they ran into six Bohrok-like creatures who could talk and had different powers. They called themselves Bohrok-Kal and claimed to be searching for the Bahrag. The Toa Nuva attempted to fight them, but were esentially helpless without their elemental powers. They were all rendered unconscious by a combination attack of Vacuum, Sonics, and Electricity.

When they awoke, the Toa Nuva discovered that the Bohrok-Kal had krana-kal as the Bohrok had krana. They split up to get the krana-kal from the Bohrok-Kal, sure that when they are removed, the Bohrok-Kal would be rendered helpless.

Tahu tried to get Pahrak-Kal's krana-kal, but he was failing horribly. So enraged was he that it appeared he would rather sacrifice himself than give in. Jaller showed up and told him that he had no right to do so, and subsequently wrenched the krana-kal from Pahrak-Kal's body. Unfortunately, a Gahlok Va quickly replaced it with a new one.

Later, Tahu met up with Lewa in Le-Wahi while searching for Kanohi Nuva. Lewa decided to be his guide through the jungle, and Tahu agreed. The Toa came to a swamp where Nuhvok-Kal had been earlier, as Tahu had figured out by studying impossibly heavy trees blocking the path.

Lewa formed a plan to get several Le-Matoran to jump out from all directions and surprise Nuhvok-Kal. They got the Le-Matoran ready, and Tahu lured Nuhvok-Kal over by taunting him and then swinging on vines back to the swamp. The plan worked, but Nuhvok-Kal escaped.

Gali later summoned Kopaka and Tahu to meet up with her to get their last three Kanohi Nuva in the Place of Shadow. Tahu and Kopaka were arguing the whole trip despite Gali's attempts to calm them. After getting through several challenges, they reached the masks, out in the open. They took the masks, only for the ground to crumble underneath them, leading to a chamber far below where the other Toa Nuva and Turaga Vakama were. They encountered a huge beast known as the Rahi Nui. With Vakama's help, they were able to beat the beast and then combined the powers of the Miru Nuva and Kakama Nuva to fly out of the chamber. The Toa split up and began again the fight against the Bohrok-Kal.

Eventually, Tahu met up with Pohatu and Onua in Le-Wahi, who had a disturbing discovery that they refused to tell until they met up with the others. Soon enough, Kopaka, Gali and Lewa arrived and told of how they had formed a Toa Kaita Nuva, Wairuha Nuva, to try to defeat Kohrak-Kal, Lehvak-Kal, and Gahlok-Kal, but they formed their own Kaita and beat Wairuha Nuva easily. Pohatu and Onua told of their discovery: they had defeated Tahnok-Kal and removed its krana-kal, but the krana-kal said they were too late, that the Bahrag had already been found.

The Toa Nuva descended into the Bohrok nest and had Lewa levitate down first. He saw the Bohrok-Kal fighting the Exo-Toa, the Bahrag in their prison and a large floating cube with spaces to put in the Toa's symbols. The Toa went down into the Bahrag's chamber, hoping the Kanohi Nuva masks they had found would be enough. Once down there, Tahu revealed to the others how Vakama had given him the Vahi. Unfortunately, the Vahi didn't affect the Kal who were protected by a force field as they drew so close to the end of their mission.

Then Gali had an idea--to channel their power through their symbols and into the Bohrok-Kal. The Bohrok-Kal became arrogant with their newfound power, beginning to think they would not need to awaken the Bahrag. But the power kept coming, and eventually an overload of power destroyed each Bohrok-Kal. The Toa Nuva, their elemental powers returned to them, returned to their villages and hid their symbols in more secure locations, for a period of peace and prosperity.

Mask of Light
"Chronicler, sightseeing are you?"

After the Bohrok-Kal were defeated, a new era of peace rose upon Mata Nui. The day of the first Kolhii game in the Ta-Koro stadium came. Just before the game, Tahu was in the Lava Falls of Ta-Wahi when he saw Takua about to be killed by a giant lava wave. Tahu saved him with his Kanohi Hau Nuva and sent Takua and Jaller off to the Kolhii game.

Tahu and Gali were among the spectators and argued over the game, prompting the Turaga to remark on how the new era of peace had caused the Toa to forget how much they relied on each other. After the game the Avohkii fell from Jaller's bag and projected its light onto him. After learning that a seventh Toa was on his way, Tahu suggested that it was Jaller's duty to search for him. This revelation also caused Tahu unease; Makuta's threats had been defeated, why was a new Toa needed now?

While Jaller and Takua searched, a new threat, Rahkshi, attacked Ta-Koro. Tahu and Gali tried to fight off the three Rahkshi, but without the other Toa the Rahkshi easily won and Tahu was poisoned by Rahkshi Lerahk. Ta-Koro was destroyed, falling into the lava along with five of Tahu's Kanohi Nuva.

Tahu became more and more aggressive, due to the poison spreading through his system and the loss of Ta-Koro. In Onu-Koro his anger was increased by Kurahk and it took the combined effort of Lewa, Kopaka, and Gali to heal him.

Once again realising the Toa needed to be united to defeat the Rahkshi Tahu and the other Toa journeyed to Kini-Nui. There Tahu combined his powers with Lewa and trapped Guurahk, Lerahk and Panrahk in glass, before helping the other Toa defeat Kurahk and Vorahk. With the arrival of Takanuva, Turahk was also destroyed and Tahu assissted him and the other Toa in building a vehicle to take Takanuva to Mangaia. They were then ordered to stay behind to watch over the Matoran as Takanuva went to fight Makuta. When Takanuva summoned the Matoran, the Toa Nuva went with them and were witness to the Kolhii match between Makuta and Takanuva.

Makuta and Takanuva fused into Takutanuva, who opened the door to Metru Nui. The Toa Nuva and Takanuva were left at peace for the next couple of weeks, during which they listened to the Turaga's tales of Metru Nui.

Return To Metru Nui
After learning from Turaga Dume that Mata Nui was dying, the Toa Nuva were sent to the island of Voya Nui to find the Ignika Mask of Life. Dume lead them to a chamber and showed them six canisters that will take them to Voya Nui, or as the stars also call it, "the daggers of death".

Quest for the Mask of Life
The Toa Nuva washed up on shore on Voya Nui. There, however, they ran afoul of the Piraka and were defeated. Stripped of their masks and tools, they were going to be dumped into the volcano, but when it began erupting, the Piraka left them at the edge and ran away.

The Toa Nuva awoke in time to save themselves, but were ambushed by the few free Matoran on Voya Nui. Axonn interrupted the battle by establishing that the Toa Nuva were indeed Toa. The new allies inflitrated the Piraka's base and recovered their tools and masks. Just as they were about to attack the Piraka, however, Zaktan made a deal with Brutaka and Brutaka defeated them all with a single blow.

The Matoran escaped, but the Toa Nuva were chained to a wall and exposed to the antidermis, which slowly drained them of their life source. The Matoran Nui returned and saved the Toa Nuva, and the Toa Nuva met up with the newly transformed Toa Inika.

After some contemplation, the Toa Nuva decided that the Toa Inika were destined to save Mata Nui's life and they let the Toa Inika go on. They promised them that they would be waiting for them on Metru Nui.

After the Toa Inika left, Tahu admitted to Axonn that he had lied. They were going on another secret mission, with a sidetrack to gain back Lhikan's old mask, which Jaller had been wearing until it was taken from him in the land of Karzahni.

World Tour
Tahu traveled with the other Toa Nuva to fulfill the Preparation Scroll. Their first task was to awaken the Bahrag and start the cleansing of Mata Nui. Tahu himself could not carry out the order to do it, and Onua had to say it for him. The next task was to retrieve the Staff of Artakha, that was possibly being held on the island of Odina. Tahu and the other Toa Nuva encountered The Shadowed One who asked them to kill Roodaka if he helped them find the staff. Tahu said yes, but later revealed to Gali that he had other plans. He and the other Toa went to Xia and found Roodaka. They also had her change the Rahaga back into Toa Hagah. Then, with the Staff of Artahka gone and taken by the Makuta Icarax, Tahu claimed that they would get the staff even if they had to take it from a Makuta's dead hands.

Later, Tahu and his team journeyed to the realm of Karzahni, where all the Toa but Gali was defeated. After the realm was destroyed by a Nova Blast unleashed by Gali, Tahu was revived and then journeyed with Kopaka to a chain of islands to the south of the Matoran Universe where they needed to stop several active volcanoes one of them being on the island of Artidax. Sometime after calming the volcanoes he was brought by Botar to Daxia where he saw the restoration of the universe through the Staff of Artakha.

A few days after Mata Nui had died and been revived by Matoro, the Toa Nuva traveled to the realm of Artakha for their final mission on the scroll. There they were given adaptive armor by Artakha himself, and he sent them to the Universe Core.

Swamp of Secrets
After the first battle in the sky at Karda Nui, the Toa Nuva split up. Tahu led Gali and Onua into the so-called Swamp of Secrets that puddled at the bottom of Karda Nui, where he and the others encountered Gorast, Krika, and Bitil. The story of what happened in the swamp is revealed in BIONICLE Legends 10: Swamp of Secrets.

Dark Mirror
In the Toa Empire, Tahu, along with other Toa, were led down a path of evil by Tuyet. When Takanuva was teleported here, he met Tahu in his Toa Mata form, along with Kopaka, who then attacked Takanuva and imprisoned him. During the Coliseum Battle, Tahu was killed by Dark Hunter "Primal".

Personality
"Enough of this bickering. We will accomplish nothing by standing here and having a debate. The decision is made - we split into small groups. It's the best of both worlds, can't you see that?"

Tahu was the leader and the fiercest of the six Toa, and the most feared. His flaming temper could make him hotheaded and irrational at times. He had the least patience of the Toa and jumped into a situation without thinking, which could get him, and the other Toa, in trouble! He was, however, very brave and fiercely protective of his friends.

Tools, Powers, and Abilities
"Power... I have such power. The power of fire. Of heat and flame. But where does it come from? What is it for?"

-Tahu's thoughts when he first discovered his power over fire.

Tahu was a Toa of Fire, and therefore could command fire with his will, withstand extreme heat, create structures from fire, heat the air around him or suck the heat inside himself, emit blasts of fire at enemies, create fire, and melt many substances. He didn't work well near, in, or under water.

Tahu's main Kanohi mask was the Hau mask of shielding, which could shield against any known attack. It did not work against ambushes or surprising blows.

Tahu carried a Fire Sword as a Toa Mata, and as a Toa Nuva, carried two Magma Swords which could be connected together to form a lavaboard. These tools were used to focus Tahu's innate powers.

Tahu also carried rotating blades and a Nynrah Ghost Blaster.

Set information

 * According to Lego.shop.com, Solek is supposed to ride on Tahu's back.

Trivia
Toa Tahu is now in the swamp in Karda Nui, battling the other three makuta.

Tahu