As written in Maze of Shadows, BIONICLE World, and other places, the Matoran legend of Artakha and Karzahni said that when the universe was new, Matoran “labored in darkness,” with no true idea of what they were working on or why. Makuta’s Guide to the Universe also states that when Tren Krom oversaw the universe, never-ending darkness consumed everything.
I’m wondering, are all of these sources referring to literal darkness, or is it more of a reference to the fact that the inhabitants of the MU had not yet awakened intellectually and emotionally until Velika altered their programming? Hence the not truly understanding what they were working on.
Both. The power inside the robot was not turned on yet, so there were no lights for those who were working on the internal structure and they were relying on the enhanced optics of those Matoran. They also did not know what they were building, only what their part of it was supposed to be.
Ah, I see. I had it in my head that they may have been working in normal conditions, but that after their intellectual awakening, they simply remembered or perceived it as a time of literal darkness, in the same way that it is difficult for most people to remember anything from before early childhood. Also, we saw in BL5 that Great Beings can make Matoran “not see” things simply by “wishing” it, presumably by virtue of the fact that they can exploit “back doors” in their programming (I always thought this was a cool concept).
This made me think of a few follow-ups, if you don’t mind:
What about before the roof of the robot had been completed? There would have been Matoran working in natural daylight at that point.
Do all Matoran have these “enhanced optics”? Are they enhanced in the sense that Matoran’s vision, on a whole, is better than that of SM inhabitants?
Also, would this have resulted in a disproportionate number of Onu-Matoran going to Artakha during this time, since they naturally have better night vision than even other Matoran?
Were optics prioritized less during the creation of new Matoran?
Would optical sensors be easily rebuilt along with the rest of the Matoran if one were to be damaged, reduced a la a Karhazani makeover, or otherwise modified?
Are other elements of a Matoran’s physiology similarly individualized during a reconstruction or creation effort?
