When I was looking up Elemental powers, I noticed there was more than just Fire, water, Air, Stone, Earth and Ice. Aside from those there is also Lightning, Gravity, Plantlife, Iron, Sonics, Plasma, etc.
I know this is not related to Bionicle but, in “The Legend of Spyro”, the main character was able to conjure fire, ice, electricity, and earth along with a fifth element that is exclusive to his own race as it is unique as it relates to the four basic elements in Alchemy, Aether.
If that is applied in Spyro, wouldn’t it apply to some character who can use more than one elemental power besides the Toa Kaita? I mean what if there is an Aether elemental power in Bionicle or something similar to Aether? What if it is not related to the “Mask of Emulation”?
There is not.
The closest thing to what you’re talking about is the Toa Seal. But even that isn’t true manipulation of elemental energy in they way you’re talking about.
The most general answer to your question is that no single being can possess more than one Elemental Power:
However, there are some powers or objects that provide exceptions, in addition to the Mask of Emulation you mentioned.
It is possible for some Skakdi to have a unique power that allows such a feat. Vezok, for example, has an absorption power that lets him temporarily copy powers of beings near him, including Elemental Powers. This power is shown to work on more than one power at once in Legends 3: Power Play, when he simultaneously copies Jaller’s Fire and Matoro’s Ice to create a cloud of steam.
Another more general exception is Elemental Kanohi; if a Toa Disk is forged into a Kanohi, it will grant its wearer the Elemental Power of the Disk, although the extent of this control isn’t clear:
To more generally answer your question, Spyro and Bionicle simply use different elemental systems. I can’t speak for how things work in Spyro, haven’t played any of the games, but in Bionicle control of the elements stems from elemental energy.
A given character will have a reservoir of elemental energy they can draw from, and they expend that to influence a given element around them. A character only ever has a single type of elemental energy, therefore only allowing them to use a single element.
Bionicle just doesn’t have any element or power that could be equivalent to the Aether you describe - probably because it focuses on teams of characters, so having one character be able to use the powers of the entire team by themself would just overshadow all the other characters. For that same reason I don’t think an element that gave you multiple other elements would fit in canon, though of course you can fit anything and everything you want into your own fanon.
There are a number of characters with control over multiple elements, but that doesn’t come from another power. It’s just a character with two elements.
So while you don’t get, say, Toa of Smoke or something, you can have a Toa of Light and Shadow (Takanuva was this, briefly). That sort of thing doesn’t happen under normal circumstances, but certain things can cause it.
I think there was also a dark hunter created by fusing two Toa together, and he had control over both elements.
So you can have characters with a few elements, but you don’t find naturally occurring merges of elements in Toa.
Interestingly, there is one caveat to this, though it is a general rule. Any being in the MU can gain a limited control over the Element of Shadow, if they train themselves in things like anger and aggression. Two examples of this are Roodaka (who previously had no Elemental-based abilities, and trained to use Shadow energy), and Takanuva, who gained some Shadow abilities after being partially drained by a Shdow Leech.
Of course, the control one gains in this case will be reduced, so it’s not really having two Elements at once, but theoretically, a Toa could train to wield Shadow and still retain their original Element.
Is this possible for light as well? I vaguely recall Greg saying that it’s technically possible, but he’s not aware of anyone who has done it because it’s way harder to be good than bad.
That might just be my imagination playing tricks on me though.
I remember hearing that as well, maybe if I do some digging I can find the source.
EDIT: So, Biosector has this to say on the matter:
The balance of Light and Shadow also has an effect on a being’s other Elemental Powers. Any being unbalanced in either direction will gain the ability to use the corresponding element of Light or Shadow. In addition, any being who previously wielded an Elemental Power will now wield the new element instead. An element wielder who only partially lost his/her Light and cannot regenerate it will be able to wield both the native element and Shadow, although neither element may be used to its full potential. Takanuva, when suffering from such a drain, continually lost Light whenever he used his native elemental abilities and was instead filled with Shadow.[ citation needed : Takanuva’s 2008 BIO?] Spherus Magna beings cannot access these powers.
The only actual citation on the matter is this, which just seems to be referring to the last sentence about Spherus Magnan natives. As far as I can tell none of the other citations on the page explain this, but one of them still links back to the LMBs, making it… difficult to pursue.
I saw that on BS01 a few days ago, and I have to admit it was new to me. I’m skeptical of the lack of citations.
I seem to remember that a Toa could still access their original Element even if they were fully drained. (Hypothetically, of course)
EDIT: I was apparently remembering wrong:
(As a side note, I think it’s kind of odd that an element could be changed in this way. Doesn’t that mean that any Toa could become a Toa of Light? This seems to go against the idea that Light and Shadow are just regular elements.)
But that’s exactly my point. If a being can be drained entirely of Light, then they can also be drained entirely of Shadow, and the results would be exactly the same (just in reverse).
Who said anything about “learning” powers? Toa can’t just “learn” new elements.
Remember what alternate Teridax said? “What is darkness, but the absence of light?”
There’s a bunch of fundamental ways to create darkness. The Avsa, the Shadow Leech, Gorast’s Stinger. These all just remove light. It’s probably much more fundamentally difficult to “inject” moral light into someone. The only thing in Bionicle that comes close to that (that we know of… The Melding AU probably has some crazy stuff tho) is the Avohkii, which can spread truth and understanding. But even that’s not quite the same.
I thought that’s what we were discussing? Roodaka “learnt” her shadow powers, so presumably a Toa could too.
From BS01:
Roodaka can tap into her dark side, something she learned through extensive training, and use it to wield Shadow energy from her hands.
That’s a good point. I suppose that makes sense, though I dislike how it makes Light and Shadow different from each other. After all, you wouldn’t say “light is the absence of darkness”.
Huh. I guess so.
After having this discussion, I think there needs to be a distinction between Light and Shadow as controllable elements vs. Light and Shadow as the morals within a being, with the former being controlled by Toa, and the latter being affected by Shadow Leeches and the Avsa.
Having Elements tied to the morals that exist in every being seems to be branching out beyond “Elements”.
