According to BS01, members of the Brutaka species increase their power with Antidermis. Brutaka in particular was “fed” by the Piraka in Voya Nui with Teridax’s antidermis. Could it be that Brutaka’s descent into darkness during the 2006 arc was caused by absorbing the malignant Teridax’s essence, and his recovery caused by his abstinence of Makuta’s antidermis while he was a Barraki prisoner? If so, could Brutaka be an allegory to drug or alcohol addiction?
Additionally, we know that Teridax could see beyond the green vat as he recognized Matoro when he entered the Piraka stronghold, if that’s the case, he surely recognized Brutaka when he fought him in Mahri Nui, but it seemed like he didn’t know the powerful guy that was eating him alive. Was there a reason Teridax didn’t want Brutaka to know all the antidermis he absorbed was he? Could it be that Teridax was planning on slowly possessing Brutaka’s body?
Then again, another theory comes to mind. What happened to the rest of Brutaka species? Could it be that the Brotherhood convinced them to join their army in exchange for an unlimited supply of antidermis?
I don’t think that Teridax would have taken control of him, more so that their minds would have been merged together I to a combi action of the 2. In a similar way to what happened with the Antidermis pool, they sort of fused with Brutaka creating something new.
As for intention I have to think that Teridax didn’t intend to be fully absorbed by Brutaka, either he was just using him to cause issues or he wasn’t in control of the situation. Given his weakened state it’s not like he could really fight back to stop it happening.
It was. Aside from the above quote and the in-story implications, there are guidebook statements explaining how Brutaka is literaly “addicted” to antidermis and how he gradually goes insane because of it.
Now I am not one to forcefully project messages where there aren’t any, but this one always seemed pretty obvious to me.
I always assumed Brutaka was slowly being transformed into a makuta, and that more makuta could hypothetically be produced.
There goes my baseless fan theory.
Still, I assume Antidermis and Protodermis are polar opposites of the same thing, ala Yin-Yang being split from the same source in taoist metaphysics. And before you say prove it, I’ld like to point out the Bionicle logo as we know it was taking from Christian Faber’s earlier protodermis logo, and infused with yin-yang symbolism.