Psychological Shadow Toa [Pitch]

Note: This topic is being written while I’m only about halfway through Podcast episode 245, and it is close to midnight here-- apologies for any spelling mistakes.

So, Podcast episode 245 brought up that, right now, the max number for the amount of Toa present at any one time in the story is 7-- of course, this refers to the core 6 and Voriki. As someone who quite enjoys moral greyness, this is somewhat disappointing, as Shadow Toa are one of my favourite concepts. However, upon browsing the Official Canon list and what it contains so far, I started thinking; what I have come up with is based upon some scenes from Resident Evil 7 and Persona 4, with a little bit of Fire Emblem: Fates, the first two of which I have not actually played-- only seen footage/playthroughs of. I do not have any notes writted down-- so, apologies if there are any formatting errors that makes this pitch hard to read, or if I have missed something that renders this whole pitch moot:

  • Shadow Toa do not exist-- not within the physical world; instead, Shadow Toa are a part of the Toa’s psyche, and appear mainly in the dreams of the Toa, which could potentially lead to a distressing experience. Only the Toa can see their own Shadow Toa-- i.e., only Tahu can see his Shadow Toa, and Tahu can only see his Shadow Toa.

  • Shadow Toa are a manifestation of a variety of different factors, such as the Toa’s darkest thoughts, or negative emotions, such as anger or jealousy, taken to the extremes-- however, these are not the root cause for the Shadow Toa projections-- that root cause is much deeper.

  • Given that the Toa have passed into myth by the time G3’s story begins, it is likely that the Shadow Toa have been forgotten entirely by the Matoran, much like what seems to have happened to Karzahni. This latter point is important.

  • Given that the Shadow Toa are a side-effect of being a Toa, then the Shadow Toa projections must have an ‘origin’-- there must be a reason why the projections occur.

I mentioned earlier that the root cause for the Shadow Toa is ‘deeper’ than the negative emotions or dark thoughts of the Toa: the Shadow Toa are the darkest secret of the Elemental Gods themselves, which had been passed down onto the Toa Spirits as a sort of burden.
The Official Canon List states that the Elemental Gods were created by the Great Beings. This pitch puts forth the idea that the Elemental Gods were Karzahni’s creation; however, due to the immense power that these Elemental Gods wield, the creation of the gods lead to Karzahni losing his sanity, or at least a portion of his sanity, leading to Karzahni becoming the mad god. The Elemental Gods are aware of this fact, and are ashamed by it; this is the reason for the existence of the Shadow Toa-- they are caused by this shame ‘polluting’ the power granted to the Toa Spirits.

Of course, this currently only applies to the core 6, and not Voriki, due to a lack of an Elemental God of Lightning (unless, of course, I am missing something that could justify the presence of a Shadow Toa for Voriki). Perhaps, due to the lack of an Elemental God of Lightning and a Shadow Toa, Voriki is unable to directly challenge Karzahni alongside the other Toa.

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I’m pretty sure that the cast said they don’t want the toa to be grey characters. Some of your ideas are decent, but to me, they just seem like an excuse to allow a possible evil toa moment in the future. I think it would just make more sense if the toa were not grey characters, but other characters in g3 instead.

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