Makuta’s motivations seem to be a hotbed of debate among the community and I think it’s important for Bionicle, if it is to retain its appeal to older audiences as well as young, to have a big bad that’s more than just your standard archetypal sadist.
In some of your earlier discussions on the origin of Rahi and Matoran there was some mention of Makuta having been the deity to create the former. This had me thinking, what if Makuta doesn’t unleash his minions upon Okoto(or wherever the setting is) out of envy for his brother’s work but rather in the interest of preserving nature. See, Makuta could have created Rahi in a way that they are always capable of living in tandem with the world around them; like animals they live and die under natural cycles that replenish themselves. They’re sustainable to Okoto’s ecosystem.
Ekimu, however, didn’t create his people with that sustainability in mind. Like humans, Matoran are expansive and sentient; they develop technology, expand their populations rapidly thus requiring more land space to live comfortably, and perhaps worst of all, wage destructive wars against Rahi and one-another. In Makuta’s eyes, this is messy. It’s trashing the beautiful landscapes for one expensive species.
In a sense, he’s right too. It’s hard to argue that Matoran aren’t expensive. But that’s a very godlike, top-down perspective on the matter. Makuta doesn’t understand, nor care that Matoran are people with their own complex lives. He doesn’t hold empathy for them and this is what makes him a villain. He would have all of the villagers slain outright without a second thought.
Although perhaps you already thought of this. It’s kind of a natural progression from what you stated on the podcast. What I doubt was raised as a possibility, however, is perhaps instead of sealing Makuta away or killing him with a golden macguffin of some sort what if the way to defeat Makuta is by granting him that perspective of empathy? I mean, first of all how would the Toa logically defeat a godlike foe? It would seem a bit contrived if it was just “let’s get MORE POWER that can kill him because it’s just THAT easy to become stronger than a deity”, and some power of friendship or whatnot would be cliche as well.
My pitch is this; what if in year three Makuta creates, for the first time, a mortal body of his own? This could be his literally creating it, or perhaps something more wicked like the possession of one of the heroes. Then in not only fighting, but just living himself he can begin to understand the Matoran condition. This would have to be an arc, of course, but if done well I think it could say a lot about empathy and would certainly be a fresh take on villainy in Bionicle.
Anyways, those are just some thoughts that crossed my mind after listening through all of the related Podcasts thus far. Thanks for reading through them!
I’m going to tag @Jon because he seems to be taking the conceptual lead on this project and @Eljay because he appears to be stalking the boards for this kind of stuff.
If this is in the wrong place, feel free to move it. I kind of just assumed that Brickonicle is a dumping ground for anything related to the concept