I also think it was very interesting Rukah
Also I think whoever gets their mitts on the Bionicle story in the future oughta give Jerminator a call, that’s a pretty solid narrative there
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While the staging of this idea is quite interesting, the tragic tale of the great being’s killer robot has the unfortunate side effect of making Marendar look a bit dumb. Which I understand is based off the fact that he’s a robot, but it’s the presentation of that information that matters.
There’s another problem:
How does this work? Doesn’t a Matoran have to be destined to become a Toa?
And if these certain Matoran happen to be ones she knew were destined in other universes, that wouldn’t cross over - Takanuva found that out when he tried placing the Avohkii on an alternate Takua’s face.
There’s been a few different ideas for what people would like to see in a Marendar fight/Bionicle continuation, and uhh… okay I guess I will too 
A couple big things I want to keep in center focus:
Velika specifically makes it clear he wants not to be found out, in The Powers That Be:
No one would ever suspect him, of course. No one ever had. As time passed and things had become clear to him, he had known this time would come. The most powerful would need to be eliminated individually – no point in risking the grand plan because he had missed one, after all – and the rest could be dealt with at leisure. He had expected it to be a time-consuming, if amusing, exercise, a sort of living strategy game in which only he knew the rules.
He also states he needs the Toa Nuva around and alive, so I would not be killing any of them off - it would not make sense for them to die and not have Velika intervene, if they were truly that important to him. It’s also likely he knows of Marendar’s existence, and quite possible he knows of his awakening, as well, so it only makes sense that, with the Toa Nuva at stake (and that infuriating habit of always having to save the day), one of his top priorities would be finding a way to put Marendar down.
Another thing is the ever-growing presence of the Gold-Skinned Being, which with the right followers, not only could simply cause Marendar to cease to exist, but could turn Marendar into an ally with the slightest thought. For Marendar to truly exist as a threat, the GSB has to die, because left unopposed the GSB would eventually bring everyone from the MU under his sway, and the war would be over.
So with that in mind, Velika’s plan to eliminate the strongest contenders for power on the planet must begin with the GSB, who outranks everyone else to an unfathomable degree. The obvious and most effective way to do this would be to meet with the GSB and find a way to force him to split back apart into his respective original entities. My personal headcanon involves Reidak being key to this, but that’s just me.
With the GSB dealt with, (and this would ne an entirely involved series of events in the story establishing the GSB as a proper threat which I won’t get into here), Velika’s sights would be set on Marendar himself, and monitoring things from afar should he ever need to intervene. Kopaka and Pohatu’s red star escapades are hard to pinpoint an end to, because while many people in the community have assumed there would be zombified versions of characters on the red star, I can’t find anything indicating that whatsoever - in fact, Mavrah appeared completely alive and normal.
Regardless, for the sake of the Marendar focus I will assume they both get off the red star just fine and no major events occur due to it.
Another headcanon of mine is rather than having a specific elemental ability, Marendar’s main capability is that he utilizes Toa energy as a weapon - exerting force which can pull, repel, and greatly enhance what elemental abilities Marendar possesses. Sound familiar? It’s because he possesses the original Nui Stone, the design of which was stored in the GSR by the GBs and replicated by unknown MU inhabitants.
Tuyet currently possesses the duplicate, but as we learned in The Many Deaths of Toa Tuyet, while difficult to destroy on its own, it becomes incredibly fragile when in use/superheated (the story is unclear on how it could not be destroyed and yet also exploded upon contact with the ground). Marendar’s core, the original Nui Stone, operates as his heart, powering the machine with Toa energy and allowing him to sap the strength of any Toa around him.
For his kill list, Lesovikk is a good pick, and I would personally add Varian to that list as well. Beyond that, most Toa would order serious evacuations, unaware that Marendar is only targeting them and not the Matoran as well.
Eventually, Miserix and Artakha would team up to face off against Marendar, quickly learning how his powers operated, with Artakha determining the Nui Stone inside him and the obvious duplicate’s existence. The three would fight almost to a standstill, but the red star would begin to plummet, and Marendar would go berserk from the presence of so much Toa energy. Realizing this, Artakha would quickly teleport Marendar as far away as possible to buy more time.
The red star would be slowly plummeting towards the general location where most of the MU had evacuated to, forcing the inhabitants to reluctantly close the distance towards Marendar once again. Marendar himself would slow his approach once he was further from the presence of the Toa.
Tuyet would then be interrogated, and convinced to assist in taking down Marendar due to having far greater Toa energy in her Nui Stone. The team assembled is fairly similar to Jerminator’s team, with Tahu, the Yesterday Quest group, Tuyet, and the Dark Hunter Dweller, who the Order has kept tabs on in spite of his escape from custody. While Orde initially tries to reason with Marendar inside his mind, things quickly turn south as Orde is not a skilled negotiator and Marender is not in the mood. Dweller batters Marendar’s mind with nightmares to allow Orde the chance to safely retreat from his mind, which in turn emboldens Marendar further at the thought of his mission failing and the Toa conquering the planet.
The group would then unload on Marendar for a moment, until Marendar’s properly-constructed Nui Stone fully siphons Tuyet’s, rendering it useless and giving him around 2,000 years’ worth of Toa energy from Tuyet’s universe-hopping adventures. The team is wiped, with Chiara brought close to death due to getting cocky and Gelu dying at Marendar’s hands.
It’s Gelu’s death which really sets Marendar off-kilter. How could a Glatorian, someone he was fighting to defend, betray him in this manner? And much like Jerminator’s concept, Gelu dies trying to preserve the life of his team. Orde absolutely torches Chiara for this, worrying the rest of his team, who are a bit upset about his fixation on Velika’s plans instead of worrying about Marendar.
Eventually, however, Tahu notices Marendar holding off his approach, and decides to send someone to talk - Kapura. Not really by choice; the Matoran got inquisitive, figured out where Marendar was, and Tahu knew he couldn’t prevent him. Marendar and Kapura talk, and Marendar comes to a slightly better understanding of his opponents. The two agree to meet in the future, and Marendar holds off his assault for now.
Eventually the pair meet again, but this time with Gali in tow, which Marendar is extremely uncomfortable with, however with their combined efforts the pair calm Marendar down and run him through the logic of his programming to find a loophole. Gali convinces him that he needs only kill Toa which pose a serious threat to the planet and its population, and Marendar convinces himself of this.
Which is the perfect time for Tuyet to enact her empire. Deprived of the Nui Stone, and under suspicion from the Order, Tuyet begins allying herself with anyone and everyone she can find, reportedly to defend against the Marendar threat, but ultimately to drum up dissatisfaction in the leadership spread for inaction regarding the murder machine.
Kopaka and Pohatu, meanwhile, have been preoccupied facing off against the Baterra, with the support of Stronius’ Skrall, on the promise that participation would allow Tuma to retake the throne unopposed. Controlling the Bohrok through a Krana Xa after the Bahrag refused to assist, Kopaka uses the superior numbers of the Bohrok to push back against the Baterra, which are almost enough, but Kopaka changes tactics after learning the Baterra do not attack anyone unarmed. By ordering the Bohrok to drop their shields and attack with the head mechanism only, the Baterra instantly refused to fight back and were demolished.
The group returns in time to see Tuyet making her power play, ordering a mass attack on Marendar. Tahu leads a small group consisting of most of the people responsible for defending against Marendar up until now, along with several OoMN members. A furious Helryx, who had been absent with other matters, lashes out and kills an Agori trying to break rank and fight Marendar. This triggers Marendar to label the entire defensive group as hostile to Agori, and begins assaulting them with devastating effect - grievously wounding Helryx and killing Johmak. Axonn and Brutaka break up Tuyet’s advancing party and orders a retreat while joining the fight.
Most of the party members are wounded or commanded to leave by Tahu after the Bohrok arrive, which begin giving Marendar grief. Kopaka and Pohatu observe the scene as Marendar demolishes Bohrok, with Tahu, Miserix, and Brutaka using their Makuta powers to interfere with Marendar’s movement as much as possible. However, in spite of Kopaka’s best efforts, Pohatu speeds off to join the fight, with the Bohrok leaving the fight after losing too many numbers.
Artakha is absent watching the red star come down, along with some of the Turaga, so the remaining heavy hitters deck Marendar with everything they have. Greg has stated he envisions Marendar being able to adapt to attacks, and so the options to hurt Marendar become less and less as the battle goes on, but eventually Marendar adapts to Pohatu’s mask of speed traveling at almost light speeds, catches him, and cracks his head open.
Kopaka, furious, throws himself at Marendar fruitlessly. Orde tries to mentally make Kopaka back off, but gets forced out, and rather than waste his energy on him, crawls back into Marendar’s mind, only to find his mind has adapted, too. With no other option, and with Marendar having hacked off his arm, Kopaka mentally forces Marendar’s body open, and rips the Nui Stone out from Marendar’s chest, effectively killing him.
After Marendar’s defeat, Pohatu is taken away to be examined only to walk back out moments later blissfully unaware of events following his death. While nobody discerns it, Velika had quickly appeared and repaired Pohatu, albeit not before Kopaka had wandered out into the wastes to contemplate his existence, his breaking of the Toa code, and to probably make his grief over losing Pohatu 2000% worse. Orde is ordered to go find him, but he angrily refuses, partially due to Kopaka’s concerning mental strength and partially due to him being jealous of Kopaka’s ability to just leave unopposed, commenting that he might consider joining him instead. Pohatu wordlessly heads out to locate his brother and console him over his actions, with varying degrees of success.
The Nui Stone core is now under lock and key, with the highest security the OoMN can offer, albeit not enough to ultimately deter Tuyet, hungry for another chance at power. Takanuva disappeared not long before stuff went down, embroiled in events which will eventually lead to the Great Being War, and the search for him resumes. The Red Star finally lands, setting off the next chain of major events.
And under the OoMN’s prison, in the darkest corner, Kapura occasionally pops in to visit the cold body of Marendar, and share a few words.
My goal here was to leave Marendar’s status ambiguous, so that he could be resurrected (or technically still alive, even) for future events in the story. I also was trying to have him be a sympathetic villain, while grounding him in his robotic side, but ultimately my writeup feels pretty clunky and would need a lot of refining to smooth things out. Marendar would also need moments to provide context on how his physical form works, that it changes based on pure computational power, and that after adapting to Orde’s conversation with him could only be forced open by pure willpower - something only Orde and Kopaka (and maybe Miserix) could have done, and something only Kopaka was angry enough to do.
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For sure; my quick summary of ideas doesn’t convey the characterization nearly as well as I’d like.
As for Marendar seeming “dumb”… kind of, yeah. While I wouldn’t say “dumb”, I was imagining something along the lines of “Toa Ignika”: extremely knowledgeable and capable in specific areas, but inexperienced with social interaction.
Yeah, but who’s to say that these Matoran aren’t destined?
I’ve always found the idea that only destined Matoran are capable of becoming Toa to be somewhat redundant. It’s like saying that a Toa can only win a battle if they’re destined to do so. It’s not like “destiny” is some omniscient being that can break the physics of reality to make certain things happen: things just happen the way they do and, while there’s only one possible destined future, that future is still determined by the actions and decisions of those in the present.
That’s a good point that I hadn’t considered. In that case, I would probably change my version of events to have Velika step in and protect Gali from Marendar.
Maybe Gali could then become more directly involved in Velika’s plan. Does he convince her to help? Does he hold her captive to protect her until it’s her time to be useful? There’s a lot of ways that could go.
I really like this idea.
I wonder: if a Toa were to find out that Marendar is specifically targeting them, and only them, would they remove themselves from the equation in order to protect those around them?
I think some Toa would (not necessarily the main characters, but other Toa), whether it’s by isolating themselves from society, becoming a Turaga, or something else.
What do you mean he “torches” Chiara? Did Chiara screw up in the battle?
I like this too. It would be great to see some Matoran take a central role, and Hafu and Kapura were set up to be involved with some serious stuff by being taken by the Cursed Great Being. Kapura is a good choice in particular, with the opportunity to bring his ambiguous teleportation-like power back into play.
This sounds unfathomably awesome, especially since the Baterra are said to have inspired the design of the Bohrok.
How does Kopaka do this? He may have incredible willpower, but that can’t just generate telekinetic powers.
Regardless of how he does it, though, I like the idea of Kopaka taking down Marendar through what is essentially sheer anger.
Again, how exactly would this work? Does Kopaka basically just flip Marendar’s self-destruct switch from within?
Overall, this seems to follow the same basic structure I envisioned for Marendar, though I think your thought processes for the various characters make more sense.
I think there are still a few things from my version that could be worked into yours. For starters, I would still have Gali become a Turaga; not to make her more vulnerable to Marendar, but simply because I think she’s ready to become one, especially with her important leadership in the New Society.
Another thing I’d change would be to have Tuyet at least make some Toa with her Nui Stone before it’s destroyed. It just feels like a bit of a wasted setup to have her bring back all this power without utilizing it in any lasting way.
My last idea involves Marendar itself. Continuing my idea of Marendar being “Toa 2.0”, I think it would make sense if it could use Kanohi powers. I figure it, has some sort of “Kanohi matrix” containing the “elementary” powers, and then it can combine them as needed to access virtually any Kanohi power (with the likely exception of super rare Kanohi, or those with extraordinarily unique powers).
This could also contribute to Kopaka’s defeat of Marendar, with him taking mental control over the matrix and turning it against Marendar.
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Yeah, but it is canon.
Also, becoming a superhero =/= winning a fight. When the entire universe is developed off of code, only certain Matoran every having the possibility to become Toa is a little more believable.
Granted, not every one that is destined to become a Toa does so - Ahkmou remains a Matoran at the end of Bionicle’s story, and unlike many other fans in the community I prefer to leave him that way.
Velika is far better at manipulating people than a lot of the ones who profess to be good at it in the MU. He could very easily convince Gali that Marendar was forewarned by Turaga Jovan and send her off on a goose chase to keep her out of harm’s way.
Maybe, but you would need a collaborative effort for that to work very well. Otherwise Marendar would just target the largest amount of Toa, and pick up the stragglers after.
man I did a really bad job of explaining my thoughts, I was sure I had given context for this but apparently no
Chiara contributes slightly to Gelu’s sacrifice and Orde shifts all the blame on her - by torched I mean utterly lambasted.
That was part of my choice, along with him being peculiar in his own unique way - it seemed his way of speaking and approach to viewing the world around him made him an excellent conversation buddy for Marendar, whose restrained view of the world dictated by his makers’ wishes is rather naive.
The big issue with the Baterra is they’re described as a major threat to the Skrall and only the Skrall, and do virtually nothing else for the longest time. The only way to have them shine as a force to be reckoned with is to pit them against the Bohrok, IMO.
So my view of how Marendar operates is that, since Greg pictures him as adapting to attacks against him, he physically adapts - not by using telekinetic abilities, but by telling the structure of his body to adapt. Orde would be a fair match for him, except he agreed to the more peaceful route of talking to him telepathically, which gave Marendar all the information he needed to make himself resistant.
Kopaka has combated telepathic communication before (through somebody else’s head) by his stubbornness alone, so it seems to me that him telling Marendar’s body to shove off wouldn’t be too great a hurdle to clear.
My idea was that Tuyet would steal Marendar’s heart, aka the real Nui Stone, which would then have the power of the old one plus all of Marendar’s energies as well. This would get rid of the Nui Stone being immensely fragile as it was before, as well as keeping her around as a threat, rather than just sidelining her entirely.
That’s an interesting idea - having a digital libraries of masks that, more or less, already work digitally. But Kopaka taking control of it seems closer to telepathic powers than my idea does. Unless accessing it is a matter of willpower.
It seems like there’s a lot of room here to write a solid fan continuation. Time to make a community project
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Yeah, I know; I’m not trying to say that it’s not canon. It should go without saying that you can only become a Toa if you’re destined to; that’s more-or-less the entire concept of destiny.
What I’m saying is that it’s not super relevant in this context; it’s entirely possible that all of Tuyet’s chosen Matoran are destined to be Toa. Destiny has a funny way of putting the right Matoran in the right spot at the right time. After all, it’s not like Lhikan had to trial-and-error a bunch of Matoran until he found the Toa Metru, nor did the Toa Inika have a bunch of extra companions who wasn’t transformed with them because they “weren’t destined”.
I didn’t mean that Toa, specifically, have special destiny powers; I just picked a Toa as a random example. Again, my point was just that destiny isn’t some magical force that can make things happen against the laws of reality. It’s just the single path of things working out naturally.
Where was it said that Ahkmou is destined to be a Toa? If he’s truly destined, then he’s becoming a Toa at some point. Not necessarily in any major plot-affecting way, but it’ll happen eventually.
Imagine Gali’s mission becoming a massive main plot thread, only for it to amount to literally nothing.
Yeah, it wouldn’t really be a main plot point. I figure that this is just something that a few Toa might choose to do without knowing all the context of the situation that we have.
Okay, I figured it would be something like that.
How does he make the mental connection to Marendar’s body in the first place? Through Orde?
I see what you mean now, though; he’s basically just forcing Marendar’s adaptation power to adapt in a really bad way, right?
I think that’s cooler than him taking over the Kanohi matrix, for sure.
That’s kind of what I’m thinking, yeah.
Regardless of whether or not Kopaka takes advantage of the Kanohi Matrix to defeat Marendar, I think it still makes sense as something for Marendar to have.
Then we could also figure out all of these other non-Marendar plot points that need to tie in as well.
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Fair… Although extremely convenient.
That’s right, because Mata Nui influenced him in that direction.
In my brain from misreading BioSector apparently
or the evil shadow bionicle community made an edit after I read it and are working against me
Velika is actually a Glatorian word which means “we do a little trolling”
Lesovikk within 5 seconds
Kopaka made the mental connection to Lewa’s mind to the Bahrag’s minds through nothing.
So idk maybe Orde, maybe it’s a collaborative effort
Yeah - rather than Marendar’s body adapting to cover the original Nui Stone, the source of his power, it’s adapting everything it has to protect itself from the opposite side of where Kopaka is - completely exposing it.
If there’s anyone else who would like to see a community project for this - writing concepts for a possible Bionicle continuation (and maybe actually writing it as well 
) - lemme know; if there’s enough interest I can get something rolling.
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I was thinking this: Kopaka uses Orde as a proxy connector for him and Marendar to mentally communicate. Orde would essentially be a translator between their minds. This would allow for some mental trickery between both sides, as they are both hearing only what Orde allows them to hear, and could thus present a reason for Marendar to incapacitate or override Orde during the conversation.
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That was my first thought as well.
However, after thinking about it a bit more, I think I prefer the idea that Marendar communicates telepathically directly with Kopaka, but then Kopaka is able to take control of the connection to turn it against Marendar.
I feel like Kopaka relying on Orde for the connection kind of takes away from the raw mental power that he’s meant to be emitting in this scene. Besides, I’m not sure if Orde could even make the connection in the first place; it was mentioned previously in Ghid’s story that Marendar had adapted to Orde’s attacks, which is why it’s coming down to Kopaka in the first place. There’s also the possibility that even a Toa of Psionics isn’t strong enough to act as a conduit for what Kopaka’s doing.
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Shame Greg isn’t working for Lego anymore to canonise this…
To whomever is placed in charged of Bionicle in Lego (either now or in the future), please either canonise this, or hired Synnova to help release an official version of Marendar inspired by this (I know official sets have to keep to certain piece limits for budget reasons, and I’m cool with that).
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Lego if you reading this
No need to even canonize anything; Pls just hire me I’d like one (1) job pls
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I was thinking about this a long time ago, maybe to conclude a story serial.
It detects elemental energy, refusing to fight is not an option, at best, those without elemental powers would not be targets.
The answer I settled on before was either Helryx, Takanuva, both, or other ‘first’ beings created for the MU, including Artakha, Karzahni, and Tren Krom, but two of these were not an option.
The verdict was Helryx sacrificing her Toa power to destroy the machine; giving her a defined ‘Destiny Event’ There at the beginning; there at the end. Though due to her age, she would become a Turaga, and then promptly perish.
Or Velika would turn it off.
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That sounds like a fitting ending.
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