The Matoran religion, and why it should be established in G3

The TTV Channel Brickonicle
#1

So, as we all know, the Mata Nui legend was crucial to G1. It helped to introduce us to the world and main conflict, and provided a backstory for why anything is actually happening. What I initially misinterpreted about Bionicle, though, was the nature of Mata Nui and his relationship with the Matoran. I'd assumed that he was actually their god, and that they worshiped him as such.

With that in mind, as well as the all-important worldbuilding that we all so clearly value (and with good reason), here's a little thought I had about spicing G3 up a little: give the Matoran an organized religion.

The benefit to this is that you can tell a lot about a culture by their religion. Take the ancient Romans, for example--while the Greeks saw Ares as a force of aggression and malevolence, the Romans venerated him as Mars. From this, we can infer that the Romans thought more highly of war than the Greeks. Such is the same with the Matoran. If, in the reciting of their creation myth, they proclaim the 3 virtues to be outright divine in nature, and that following them is the path to Artakha, while defiance leads to Karzahni, then we can say that they hold those virtues to great importance.

Additionally, this may make it easier to keep it ambiguous as to whether or not Mata Nui truly existed, and if he did, what he was like. This adds yet another possible mystery, keeping in with the trend of mysteries set by G1. The religious nature of the background also makes the Rahkshi cult make a bit more sense--they're an offshoot of this religion that has gone in the opposite direction and worshiped the Matoran devil.

But hey, that's just my 2 cents on the Matoran culture and a specific aspect of worldbuilding.

8 Likes
#2

An intriguing premise, although, based on the tribal setting TTV seems to be leaning towards, perhaps it would be better to pull from Native American tribal lore. Perhaps have the Great Spirit over all and then the elemental spirits which are represented as animals. This would be a nice way to encorperate the creatures from G2 into the general lore.

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#3

Two words: Yes. .... wait that's one word, wait now its five, wait....

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#4

Clearly we need to have the matoran hail Denmark, in all its creation.

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#6

That makes sense, since some tribes worship a god whose name translates to "Great Spirit." It would certainly make things more interesting, since G1 already took influence from the Maori, so now we're just moving to another part of the globe.

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#7

That's exactly what I was thinking.

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#8

I really like the idea of the Matoran religion; it'll definitely tie into what we're planning with the Brotherhood of Makuta.

I do also like the idea of a pantheon of beings that are at the same level of power that Ekimu/Mata Nui and Makuta were. I've been playing around with that idea for a good while; was going to bring it up after we're done with the main characters.

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#9

DiS TopIC sHoULD B BAnNed For REligIUs DisCUsiON

/s /s /s
On a more serious note, I feel that this can work, if done correctly. Meaning that since Lego is a company that does not include historical events, warfare, social arguments, and, of course, religion, it would be hard to actually make the Matoran going to a church, for example.

However, if it's more like what you stated (more like mythology) like temples and stuff (as almost every Lego theme has a temple of some sort) I feel like it could work.

I do feel, though, that having mythological stories might take away from the stories currently happening in the Bionicle theme. (basically the epics being told would take the primary position of the story)

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#10

Here's what I was picturing: The Matoran do not have regular rituals or sermons; rather, acknowledgment and veneration of Mata Nui is just a part of their daily routine. They might pray to an idol when they think it is necessary or seek spiritual guidance, but the closest thing to a church they have is Kini-Nui, where a population of monks live. This could also be where Matoran are made into Toa as per Mata Nui's perceived will.

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#11

While it does seem like it could work, I still highly doubt that Lego would use Monks or Prayer in a storyline (obviously this is for TTV and not Lego, though). Perhaps they would refer to the term "Monks," at least, with a different term (Turaga?)
The most I could see them doing would be having a Matoran meditate in front of a statue, or something.

And yes, I know that The Avatar was a Monk

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#12

I love this thread. I think the underlying question is how accurate is the matoran religion to reality, and if it is altered in someway, how so?. Were real historical figures reimagined as demigods, or might there be an omnipotent God who is only somewhat understood on motivation and practice?

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#13

I had an idea I put forth in my general G3 topic that the villages hadn't seen Toa for a long time, so the Toa of old were revered as these ancient spirit warriors.

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#14

This kind of thing could be explored in its own story arc, where the Toa learn the truth from Makuta and don't really believe it, but then find out that their quest to [insert Toa's endgame here] backfires exactly how Makuta said it would.

That could have a really big impact on the Toa themselves. Becoming what is essentially a demigod and seeing it as the will of your deity probably inflates one's ego like a balloon.

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#15

Oh yeah...

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#16

I was thinking along those lines as well, http://board.ttvchannel.com/t/beyond-the-shores-of-mata-nui-story-history/34062 talks about four major gods:

Artakha, God of Industry/Hard Working, Karzahni,God of Repair, Ekimu, God of Fortune, and Makuta, God of Retribution/Justice.

These Gods also have practical uses(pray to Artakha for hard working employees, pray to Karzahni that you will get better, pray to Ekimu for good fortune, and pray to Makuta to smite your enemies) Of course there would be tons of diverging lesser gods worshiped by the different Koros and stuff. There should probably also be gods of each of the Elements.

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#17

The elemental lords. Also, perhaps it would make sense to have Ekimu, Makuta, and Mata-Nui each represent one of the three virtues.