Finished my marathon of the brainstorm episodes.
So, an issue I found heavily discussed near the end of the podcast was the Tahu title/persona discussion.
Here is the way I understood it:
Toa names are names and titles at the same time. It is a title in the sense that it is passed down and matoran inherit the title. They are names because they refer to specific personalities within the Toa. Tahu has a specific personality.
Now some issues in the video.
Dalai Lama Is a title, the person itself has a name ranging from their original name, to being the incarnation of a guy who named himself Gendun Drup. the title is often used to also describe a specific Bodhisattva. The title means “Master Guru”.
The current Dalai Lama is named Tenzin Gyatso.
Wiki searched.
The difference between Dalai Lama’s incarnations and the Toa’s incarnations is that, Dalai Lamas are assumed to be born for the role with their previous memories. In olden times, they called their old students by first name, knew things only the previous person knew, and so on. Meaning they were the same person, in a different body.
However Toa are different. Narmoto is not born with the memories of Tahu, was not born as Tahu. Narmoto was chosen, by an elemental God to become Tahu. Tahu is a title, like Thor, like Dalai Lama. Unlike Thor however, Tahu come with the memories of the previous Tahu. Unlike the Dalai Lama, matorans are not born as Tahu.
Let me put a thought experiment:
Take the Dalai Lama reincarnation as an example. Narmoto is born as Tahu, if he followed Dalai Lama rules, then He would know his previous names in his past lives, he would recognize thing that happened in certain places, like once this cliff used to be half of a mountain, or this ravine was where this creature got smacked down. Second he would live his life as Tahu. He would have knowledge beyond years, and would already know elemental spirits exist, would have fighting experience unequaled by others and could have a perfected training to beef his muscles and combat prowess. Will know of secret locations and will understand why the village is frozen time and what to do.
We all know this is not the Tahu we have.
Take the Thor example. Tahu is a title. Then Narmoto has the choice whether to use it or not. He can also feel that he does not like the title and adopt a new one, try to change how people call him or hide the fact that he is a Tahu. He can say, my title is Vakama, and he could chose to act and use his powers in such a way that differentiates him from Tahu. Maybe use a great axe instead of a sword. Learn to channel Fire without the sword, so on.
So we need a reason to explain why he calls himself Tahu and not something else.
We know Toa Powers are given by the elemental Gods.
We know matoran who will become Toa, do not know they will become Toa.
However, all previous Toa call themselves by their respective Toa names.
Each individual Toa has a distinct personality
Toa have the memories of previous incarnations, in a limited way.
So, why did I conclude Tahu, and all the other Toa names, are both a title and a name? Well, Tahu is referring a title, because it is passed down, inherited by specific people who are chosen. However, as soon as they inherit the title, they gain memories of previous title inheritors. So why do they not call themselves, Tahu Narmoto? The answer is simple, because Tahu is also a name. Matoran who inherit the Toa names, become the Toa they are named after. Like mixing paint of the same color.
You have Year old white paint. and recently bought white paint. When you mix them, it is still white paint, but it is no longer recently bought white paint. You cannot also say it is year old paint. Then say to that mixture you add a decade old white paint, lets assume paint remains the same through eternity. Then it is neither recently bough paint, nor is it year old paint, but it also not year old paint. It is a mix of all three. Keep adding differently aged paint to the mix and you get a toa. Tahu is still tahu, red paint in this case, but that red paint is not Narmoto, recently bought paint, nor is he any other matoran who became Tahu before. It is its own person.
That is why all Tahu identify as Tahu, because they all are the same Tahu, they are not Narmoto, they are not Lhikan. They are the Tahu.
I mentioned this before, in Youtube comments. Toas are a little like walking tragedies. They were normal matoran, living their lives. However that changed when the elemental Gods picked them and made them Toas, usually without their consent. Be it saying: You are Tahu" or “You will wield the power of Tahu” its just placing a cover over what happens to the person. In this case, Narmoto died in a sense. he no longer is recently bough paint. He is a mixture of several red paints, who have lived different amount of times. He is now Tahu. He can never return to be Narmoto, that powerless guy who lived in front of Bob and liked the girl next door. Once you mixt the paint yo cannot separate the paint.