Onua (2001)

"I think that we have won an important battle, and of that we can be proud. But there is more to come."

- Onua to Tahu after the defeat of the Shadow Toa

Onua was the Toa of Earth on the island of Mata Nui, a member of the Toa Mata\Toa Nuva.

Early History
Around 100,000 years ago, Onua and his comrades were created on the island of Artakha. They first walked on Daxia, where they were trained in combat by Hydraxon and put into Toa Canisters. These canisters were launched into the sea, where they stayed for the next 1,000 years.

The Great Shadow
The moment that the Great Spirit Mata Nui fell asleep, the Toa Mata's canisters fell into the sea, supposed to head for the island that would later be named Mata Nui. From there they were intended to head down to Metru Nui, find a scroll in the Great Temple, and get started on awakening Mata Nui.

Unfortunately, their canisters malfunctioned. They floated in the sea for the next 1000 years, till Mata Nui was near the point of death. Takua, on the island of Mata Nui, was the only reason the Toa Mata made it to the island at all, by collecting the six Toa stones made earlier by the Toa Metru and using them to summon the canisters to the island. When they arrived, they had lost all of their memories.

Quest for the Masks
After Onua's canister landed on the shore of Mata Nui and opened, Onua rebuilt himself. He began digging a tunnel, and happened to dig straight into an Onu-Matoran tunnel. He met Onepu, who introduced him to Turaga Whenua. Whenua informed him of his mission: to collect 6 Great Kanohi Masks of Power and defeat Teridax and awaken the Great Spirit Mata Nui.

Onua met up with the other Toa Mata shortly: Tahu, Gali, Lewa, Pohatu, and Kopaka. They decided to split up to search for their Kanohi masks. During the course of the search, Onua saved Lewa from a Muaka and later from being infected.

Eventually the six all found all of their masks, and descended from Kini-Nui into Mangaia. They encountered the Manas, crab-like Rahi that they defeated by fusing into Toa Kaita. Onua became part of Akamai with Tahu and Pohatu; the other Toa became Wairuha.

The Toa then reverted back to their normal forms and encountered the Shadow Toa, dark versions of themselves. They eventually defeated them by absorbing their shadow counterparts into themselves. They then fought Makuta himself, disguising himself as a Matoran and then changing into a void of destruction. They defeated him by combining their powers.

The Bohrok War
But the Toa had not killed Makuta--he was only weakened. While he prepared for his next battle with the Toa, he awakened the Bohrok swarms. They were intended to clean off the island of Mata Nui so the Great Spirit could be awakened, but Makuta awakened them too early, making them a menace to the Matoran of the island.

After defeating a swarm of Pahrak and Kohrak in Ta-Wahi, Turaga Vakama revealed to the Toa that they would need to collect the 48 different types of krana. They split up again. Onua went to Onu-Koro to collect krana from the Gahlok attacking there.

Lewa, meanwhile, had not been seen by any of the Toa in days. Onua went to Le-Wahi to investigate, and found that Lewa had been taken over by a krana, along with almost every other Le-Matoran and Turaga Matau. While Kongu, Nuparu, Takua, and Tamaru set up a trap to rescue the Le-Matoran, Onua battled Lewa, eventually convincing him to take his krana off by himself.

Meanwhile, Tahu and Kopaka had discovered that the Bohrok came from an underground tunnel beneath the island. The Toa traveled into the Bohrok nest. There they discovered that placing their krana into niches on the ground opened six tunnels. Each led to a suit of Exo-Toa suits, and after getting into the armor, the Toa encountered the Bahrag, queens of the Bohrok.

They then realized that the Exo-Toa suits were hindering their elemental powers. They removed them and then combined their powers into a single beam, creating and trapping the Bahrag in protodermis. They then fell into six pits of energized protodermis, transforming them. Tahu renamed them Toa Nuva.

The Bohrok-Kal Invasion
As a defense mechanism in case the Bahrag were ever defeated, six super-powerful Bohrok, known as Bohrok-Kal, were automatically unleashed. They quickly discovered that the only way to free the Bahrag was to unlock the Nuva Cube that sealed the Bahrag with the newly-formed Nuva Symbols. Coincidentally, these now channeled the elemental power of the Toa Nuva.

The Bohrok-Kal easily stole the symbols, and the Nuva were powerless to do anything about it. They were defeated on multiple occasions by the Kal, all the while searching for Kanohi Nuva that had appeared on the island. Onua had another encounter with the Manas in the search for his Kaukau Nuva

After eventually finding all of the Kanohi Nuva, they learned that the Bohrok-Kal had found the Bahrag and were trying to awaken them.

Tahu attempted to stop them by using the Kanohi Vahi, but in the last moments of their mission, they became invulnerable to attack. Gali came up with the idea to feed the Kal power through their symbols--they did this, and the Bohrok-Kal were engulfed by their own power. The Nuva's elemental power returned, and the Matoran began to rebuild the island. The island was finally at peace.

Mask of Light
But it was not to last. Takua, the Matoran who had inadvertantly summoned the Toa to the island, discovered the Kanohi Avohkii, Mask of Light, in a Ta-Wahi lava cavern. He and his friend Jaller were sent to search for a seventh Toa, the Toa of Light.

Makuta, now fully recovered, released three Rahkshi. They chased Takua and Jaller around the island, attempting to seize the Mask of Light. Eventually three other Rahkshi arrived at Onu-Koro. Onua and Pohatu attempted to defend the village, but to no avail. Most of it was destroyed.

Onua and Pohatu later joined the other Toa Nuva at Kini-Nui for the final battle against the Rahkshi. Jaller was killed in this battle, but Takua donned the Avohkii and became the Toa of Light, renaming himself Takanuva.

The Toa Nuva joined Takanuva in his final battle against Makuta; at the end of that battle, they both toppled into a pool of energized protodermis, fusing into Takutanuva. Takutanuva held open the door to Metru Nui for them. Given Jaller's old mask, he used some of his life force to bring Jaller back to life.

However, this weakened him so much that the door dropped on him, killing him. Takanuva was somehow brought back to life, but Makuta was presumed dead.

Ignition
Onua and the other Toa Nuva returned to Metru Nui with the Matoran and Turaga, where Turaga Dume revealed to them that he and Nuju had discovered that Mata Nui was not only asleep, but dying. Dume told them that the only way to save his life was to go to the island of Voya Nui for the Kanohi Ignika, Mask of Life. The Toa Nuva left immediately for Voya Nui in Toa Canisters they found deep below Metru Nui. Takanuva, however, stayed behind to defend Metru Nui.

The Toa Nuva arrived on Voya Nui, only to find that its inhabitants had been enslaved by the Piraka, rogue Dark Hunters. After an encounter with them, which they narrowly lost. Onua managed to stay conscious the longest, but eventually fell to the combined forces of the Piraka. Zaktan, leader of the Piraka, ordered the Toa Nuva stripped of their masks and weapons and tossed into Mount Valmai.

However, the volcano erupted at that moment, causing the Piraka to drop them and run. The Toa Nuva managed to escape the volcano as well, only to have an encounter with the Voya Nui Resistance Team, the only six Matoran who managed to escape being enslaved by the Piraka. Untrustworthy of any beings claiming to be Toa after the Piraka's scam, they attacked the Nuva, almost defeating them. However, Balta, at the time separated from the group, informed them that they were in fact Toa.

The twelve heroes then attempted to break into the Piraka Stronghold to get the Nuva's masks and weapons back. However, Brutaka, having made an alliance with Zaktan, attacked them and knocked out all twelve with a single blow. The Nuva were enslaved with the Antidermis Zamor Spheres the Piraka used, commanded to pour out their elemental powers slowly until they eventually died from the strain.

The Matoran Resistance freed them with energized protodermis, after the arrival of the Toa Inika on the island. When the Mask of Life plunged into the Pit, the Toa Nuva were able to meet the Toa Inika briefly. They said they would be waiting on Metru Nui, but they were lying.

Botar, a member of the Order of Mata Nui had told them of a scroll in the Great Temple of Metru Nui that gave a list of things needed to be done before the universe was ready for Mata Nui to awaken. Onua and the others returned to Metru Nui for the scroll, taking a side trip to the realm of Karzahni.

World Tour
Onua traveled with the other Toa Nuva to the island of Mata Nui, where they began the first phase of their mission: Awakening the Bohrok.

Afterwards, they proceeded to Odina, where they sought for the Staff of Artakha. After being captured and gaining information on the staff, they proceeded to Xia, where the Tahtorak and Kanohi Dragon were battling fiercely. While the others escorted the residents, Onua traveled underground to the place where the staff was held. There, he was defeated by Icarax who took the staff from him.

He then rejoined the Toa Nuva on their trip to Karzahni where he was ambushed by Icarax and was knocked unconscious. Onua was later revived after Gali destroyed the realm through a Nova Blast, and then journeyed with Pohatu to find an artifact named "Heart of the Visorak". He was then teleported by Botar to Daxia where he saw the Staff of Arthakha being used to restore the Universe to its former aspect.

Later, they were teleported to Arthaka. There they met Artakha (although he didn't show himself), to begin their final task. Artakha gave the Toa special armour and teleported them to the Universe Core.

The Toa Nuva met the remaining Av-Matoran in their village. They recounted what they had seen when Toa Matoro died. Knowing they had to follow the mask, Tahu, Gali and Onua flew down after the mask while Kopaka, Pohatu and Lewa stayed behind to help Tanma, Solek and Photok.

Swamp of Secrets
Tahu, Gali, and Onua went to the Swamp below Karda Nui to battle Gorast, Krika, and Bitil. The story of what happened in the swamp is revealed in BIONICLE Legends 10: Swamp of Secrets.

Dark Mirror
Onua also has appeared in Dark Mirror, where he killed Akhmou after the matoran was frozen by Kopaka during the coliseum battle. Later, Onua then met up with Pohatu and fought the Toa of Stone evenly to keep him from advancing.

Personality
Onua was wise but quiet, even allowing the other Toa Nuva to split up even when he knew it was a mistake. He was in a way the conscience of the Toa.

Tools, Powers, and Abilities
Onua controlled Earth; he could raise walls and control soil. He was skilled at tunneling, helping Onu-Matoran in their mining. He had great night vision, but disliked too much light. He carried claws as a Toa Mata and they were replaced by Quake Breakers when he transformed into a Toa Nuva. He came to the island wearing the Pakari, Great Mask of Strength, he also wore a Pakari Nuva known as one of the Nuva masks.

Trivia

 * Onua Nuva was shown in the Bionicle video game with the original claws of his Toa Mata form.