I’ve been gone from this forum for a while — mostly because I ended up having a sci-fi story idea of my own that has little to do with Bionicle, though it may end up featuring in it as a cameo (since the sci-fi story is about a generation ship, and the Great-Spirit Robot is technically one, too — even though it’s closer to a Methusalem spaceship, given that the Matoran do not have a natural age limit).
Ever since I started working on a story of my own again, I’ve been concerning myself more and more with the themes inherent in the premises of stories. While I extensively criticised the Great-Spirit Robot twist on a plot level in a previous thread (a few of you might remember 
), I do appreciate it as an inspiring take when thinking of the original premise that inspired it:
Namely, how the story of the Toa defeating Makuta who was keeping Mata Nui asleep was a metaphor for overcoming cancer, and the Toa canisters were the capsules / pills.
What I’ve begun to wonder, though: How does the plot twist of Makuta (Teridax) taking over the Great-Spirit Robot after its ultimate re-awakening fit this premise?
In the story, Makuta changed his plans upon learning that Mata Nui wasn’t just asleep, but dying. And since all life within the Great-Spirit Robot depended on it, if Mata Nui had died, Makuta would ultimately have died, too. So far, this would still have been consistent with the original premise, as a cancer ultimately cannot survive without the host body. However, in contrast to a sentient villain like Makuta Teridax, cancer of course has no intentions of its own. It’s a mindless killer, perhaps more appropriately represented by something like the Morbuzakh plant, which just keeps growing until it destroys everything around it.
Was the point in the story where Makuta was retconned into a villain who wanted to control the universe — rather than the Makuta who wanted to protect his brother by keeping him asleep, as Mask of Light implied — perhaps also were the story departed from the original premise of the cancer metaphor? How else would the takeover of the Great-Spirit Robot fit that image? Mata Nui is alive and well again, and yet, the cancer (Makuta) has won?
Then Mata Nui’s Spirit returns, destroys its own body, and everyone who lived inside it starts living on a new world. If you want to fit the conclusion of Bionicle into the cancer metaphor, it would imply defeating cancer via transhumanism, by transplanting your mind into a different body.
When looking at the story through this thematic lens, I do not have an issue with the Great-Spirit Robot itself — regardless of my attachment to the island of Mata Nui on his face, as the island now seems more like a dream world, a refuge in the robot’s mind while he was lying in a coma. And as the dream ends, so does the dream world — with the island being destroyed. (The Bohrok in this case would be the robot’s way of “washing his face in the morning”, except he has to do it before getting up. 
)
However, I may end up being less fond of the plot twist of Makuta Teridax taking over the robot post-awakening, if I conclude this might be a “twist for the twist’s sake” that actively undermines the original premise of the story.
And given how much of this story was provably planned from the beginning, undermining the original premise would be a bigger deal for Bionicle than for other stories that are made up by the writers as they go (“pantsers”, like G.R.R. Martin).
What do you think? Can you find a way of reconciling Makuta Teridax’s takeover of the Great-Spirit Robot with the cancer allegory?