Good Shadow Matoran?

BS01 states that shadow matoran are only evil once they are completely drained of light and the mental barrier is created, but once the mental barrier is gone they instantly regain their morals. So I was wondering it was possible for a Shadow Matoran to retain their morals by not being completely devoid of light, but still be of the shadow element. Or would that result in their light returning and reverting them back to whatever they were before?

3 Likes

Maybe take Takanuva as an example for being only partly drained of Light: He was able to keep to his morals most of the time, but also had to struggle with his “dark side”. For example when he lost control of himself and nearly killed Chirox or the multiple occassion he had to supress very un-Toa-like feelings/thoughts.

Through Shadow Leeches the mental barrier seems to be established no matter what - again, Takanuva as an example. For the Avsa it’s directly stated that the drain has to be complete in order for the mental barrier to be established.

Another thing to take into consideration with this method was that Takanuva couldn’t absorb Light; if he used too much of it, he would’ve gone full Shadow Toa. So the same might be said for Matoran of any other element as well once they exhaust their natural energy reserves.
However, as evidenced by Roodaka, any being in the MU can access non-elemental Shadow powers through extensive training and focusing on negative emotions. So while not exactly a Shadow Matoran in this instance, I would assume that it’s still perfectly possible to use them for the greater good.

2 Likes

But aside from Av-Matoran (probably?) Matoran don’t have a reservoir of elemental energy they can actually tap, so they can’t actually exhaust it.

Oh, right, totally forgot about that! A Matoran going this way probably wouldn’t lose his element, but rather gain another one. Because in this case Shadow is more like an ability. However, the heavy focus on “negative” emotions necessary to achieve this power would probably also change someone for the worse to some extend, making them extremely cold-hearted or very quick to anger, for example? …like the Sith from Star Wars - drawing power from their emotions, but to some extend losing themselves in them in the process…


EDIT:

Come to think of it we also have an example of the opposite - embracing the Light through extended meditation like the Makuta from the Melding Alternate Universe did.

1 Like

Actually, they do, as a matter of fact.
Sure, it’s not large enough to allow for power usage like that of their Toa counterparts, but canon Matoran also eat by absorbing their element, making it just as essential as wearing a Kanohi (though, admittedly, they do this much less often than that of an average human), since they both provide them with the energy required to keep them constantly running around the MU.
So theoretically, if they end up pushing themselves to the point of exhaustion, or otherwise aren’t able to replenish it, it should stand to reason that these reserves would eventually run out at some point as well.

Agreed on both counts.
I’d imagine that said negative emotions would be just as capable of bringing their wielder into Anti-Hero or Anti-Villain territory, though. Might depend on how frequently they end up being used, and how often they actually give in to them.

1 Like

What, really? Never heard that before. I know they need to “eat”, and that during this process they actually take up energy, but where was it ever stated that this was elemental energy? The Matoran of Metru Nui were fed through the Metru Nui power plant if I remember correctly and the Matoran of Mata Nui ate by absorbing the energy of Rahi and fruit and stuff. So since I can’t really imagine these food sources to contain elemental energy I always assumed this energy the Matoran body needed to work was simply “electricity”.

2 Likes

Huh. Must’ve misread something somewhere, then.
My bad. You were correct. Feel free to disregard.

1 Like