So, I’ve been wondering some things about Kanoka and Kanohi, mainly dealing with their creation.
According to the Bionicle Wiki “Kanoka Disks were crafted from purified Protodermis forged in a mold. Each Kanoka was stamped with the symbol of the Metru in which it was made, and was engraved with a three-digit “Kanoka Code” that described its strength and special power.”
and Kanohi are made from different combinations of Kanoka Disks.
The main problem I’m seeing here is that it is never really definitively stated where Kanoka and Kanohi get their power, all we know is that they are molded from purified Protodermis. My main theory here is that when they are molded, some other element is introduced that bonds with the Protodermis giving it it’s power, and that the purity of the Protodermis affects the strength of the bond, and thus the strength of the disk. This also explains where mask powers, being that the various elements of those different disks would combine resulting in that power. This theory also explains why we never saw Kanoka or Kanohi being made on Mata Nui, the Matoran didn’t have the technology necessary to purify the protodermis enough to make the bond…
Anyways, this is my attempt at coming up with a theory on the exact mechanics of how Kanoka and Kanohi are made, what do you think?
You know, this actually makes sense in the large scheme of the series. Though how do you suppose they could imbue some of the elements into the protodermis? I think that at least for, fire, lightning, and light, the element would be really hard to infuse into the protodermis.
Well, the only elemental disks we know of are the toa disks that the Toa Metru found. We don’t really know how they were made, but I’d argue that they were actually powerless disks made from purified Protodermis without any additives, and then they were inbuned with the toa’s innate elemental power, as a sort of extension of the toa’s power.
That would make sense, but then how would that first explain how vakama as a matoran made a disk and how would the toa imbue their power in the disks. As we saw in legends of metru nui, vakama used different disks that he made I assume.
Well, I don’t recall, seeing Vakama as a matoran making an elemental disk, but I could be wrong. As far as the imbuing of the elements, we know because of the Nuva symbols that a toa’s innate elemental power can be tied to an object, I would suggest that that is what is happening in the case of elemental disks, but instead of all of the toa’s power it’s just a piece of it, kinda like a Horcrux in Harry Potter? Except instead of it being part of their soul it’s just part of their power, now when it happened to the Toa Nuva Energized Protodermis was involved, perhaps it is involved here too.
As Far as the disks Vakama used, they are not all necessarily elemental, and he didn’t necessarily make them himself, they could just have easily been standard issue Kanoka that he got off of Vaki. Regardless that’s just speculation…
Interesting, so you are partly right in your element assumption. Each Metru in Metru-nui made kanoka disks from purified protodermis. So the disks themselves gain attributes based on where they were made, and not who made them. I also think it is interesting kanoka had definable power levels.
little extra note, the code actually described exactly what the properties of the disk were.
I believe you are correct in that kanoka where stronger based on a bond of some sort. But I think the strength of the bond was more dependant on the disk maker and protodermis used, and not on the disk itself. It is also stated that all kanohi were made in ta-metru.
Yes, all Kanohi, but not all Kanoka. The successful creation of a Kanohi depends on the skill of the mask maker, but the power of it depends on the power of the Kanoka used. As far as the power of the disk itself, I said that is based on how pure the Protodermis is, the idea being that impurities interfere with the bonding process weakening the resulting Kanoka disk.
That is true about the purity of the disk, I believe you are correct in saying the purity affected the disks strength. I think it is interesting if the process is like making steel and alloys out of the protodermis.
That was my entire initial idea with this theory. I literally have been thinking of it like an alloy since the beginning, the only thing that threw me off was the elemental disks, mainly because they aren’t that common in the story…
sounds legit then. Only thing that does not make sense though is that the six prime toa elements determine only the first number on a kanoka disk. Other types of protodermis are used to determine the other two traits of the finished disk, and disk and mask maker skill too.
Well, the power number is based on the number of foreign impurities such as dirt, the higher the impurities, the lower the power, the first number is based on the Metru it’s from, which I suppose could have to do with the style and skill of the disk maker, the middle number would be based on the type of alloy.
