Mata Nui (Being)



Mata Nui, also known as the Great Spirit, was esentially the guardian of the Bionicle universe. He was looked to for inspiration by the Matoran, and he gave them the Three Virtues. He created many of the beings of the universe directly. He has an organization dedicated to doing his will, the Order of Mata Nui.

History
In the ancient past, the Great Spirit Mata Nui was sent by the even more powerful Great Beings to care for all life. He came to the Matoran people and gave them the Virtues of Unity, Duty, and Destiny. In this time, Makuta and his Brotherhood were some of Mata Nui's closest allies. Mata Nui also created several beings, such as the Barraki.

But Makuta became jealous of Mata Nui's status among the Matoran, and so hatched a dark plan. Invoking some unknown ceremony, Makuta placed Mata Nui into a deep slumber and tried to make the Matoran forget their Great Sprit and become their savior in his place, this event is known as the Great Cataclysm. As a result, Mata Nui could no longer maintain the universe as he once could, and the world began decaying immmediately afterwards. It was also discovered that Mata Nui was dying from the attack, and if he died, the universe would die with him in a matter of days.

But Mata Nui did see the attack coming, and manipulated events to make sure things could be made right. When new Toa Metru were about to be chosen by Toa Lhikan shortly before the Cataclysm, Makuta wished to influence the choices to his advantage. Knowing this, Mata Nui and his Order falsified prophesies regarding the identities of the new Toa. Makuta believed these prophesies, and influenced Lhikan to choose others to become the new Toa. But as these "others" were fake to begin with, the ones that Makuta influenced Lhikan to choose were in fact the true destined Toa Metru.

The Toa Nuva were sent to Voya Nui to find the Ignika, Mask of Life that could heal Mata Nui. Six Matoran followed them determined to help, and were transformed into the Toa Inika. The Toa Inika got the mask, after several struggles against rogue Skakdi Dark Hunters calling themselves Piraka, but it immediately flew away and plunged into the sea, heading for the undersea city of Mahri Nui that rested on top of the Pit, which it considered the most damaged place in the universe.

There, the mask was found by a Matoran named Dekar. The Barraki went after it as soon as they learned of it, and the waters of the Pit were slowly destroying it. The Toa Inika pursued it down to Mahri Nui through the stone cord linking Mahri Nui and Voya Nui. They encountered a tribe of Zyglak, and a giant venom eel cracked the cord and attacked them.

However, they became Toa Mahri, transformed by the mask. They had from that point around 24 hours to heal Mata Nui before he died, and three days after that till the entire underground Matoran universe was destroyed.

Trivia

 * Bionicle story team member Greg Farshtey has recently revealed that by the end of the 2007 storyline, Mata Nui will die.
 * After Mata Nui's death, the universe would only have three days before ending. Islands on the surface would not be affected, but the entire underground universe would be flooded.
 * Mata Nui is actually not hard to find. The trick is knowing you've found him.