Visorak venom IS a poison.

When asked if whether Visorak venom is a poison or not, most knoweldgable enough on canon would probably say the same thing Greg has, that it isn’t because it is not fatal (1, 2, 3, 4). However, I think I can make a pretty strong case against this, that Visorak venom is in fact a poison.

First, Greg calls it poison several times (5, 6, 7) and Visorak themselves are called “poisonous scourge” (“Visorak.” Encyclopedia Updated, p. 152.). Besides just arguing from semantics, Greg elsewhere defines poison as causing illness OR death (8, 9, 10). Despite Greg saying Visorak venom is not poison because it doesn’t kill, he defines poison as also just causing illness, not necessarily death.

One could also argue that Visorak venom is actually a mutagen (11). However, mutation is only physical (12), but Visorak venom affects its target psychologically too (13, 14, 15, 16), just as Lerahk’s poison affected Tahu (17).

The objection could be raised then, that if Visorak venom is a poison, it can be cured simply with a Remove Poison disk, so why didn’t the Toa Hordika use one? There are several possible answers to this. One is that they simply weren’t thinking clearly at the time (18). But even then, why didn’t the Rahaga think of this either, since they were still wise while mutated? Another possibility is that the venom only worked for a short period of time, then its effects were complete, after which point a Remove Poison disk would’ve been useless (19). A third possibility is that while Remove Poison could theoretically cure Visorak venom, we don’t know what level is required to do so. If they needed a higher level disk, say 7 or 8, then it may have been too difficult and time consuming to try to craft one, and it wouldn’t even be guaranteed given the broken state of Metru Nui (and the Great Furnace specifically) at the time. They probably did not have the resources needed to create one.

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I mean, i dont want to throw a wet towel over the party, but a venom is a harmful substance that is injected, while a poison is ingested. I also think generally speaking venoms are a natural product, which is to say if you took an artificially produced poison and injected someone with, you’d still be “poisoning” them.

The Visorak are animals, and they inject their venom by biting, so they’re venomous. That is the stone-cold truth based off of the information we’re given. Now technically speaking the venom might also be poisonous if you eat it, and i guess maybe if you eat a Visorak THEY might be poisonous, but i guess those are questions that we’ll never know the answer to.

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Even if this is true in real life, Bionicle doesn’t follow this logic. Lerahk’s staff scratched Tahu’s mask. He didn’t ingest it, so by this standard, even Lerahk’s poison wouldn’t be considered poison either.

They can deliver their venom through a bite, but its mostly done through the barbs in their cocoons (1).

What is natural vs artificial in Bionicle? Everything in the MU is pretty much artificial since it was either created by the Great Beings or beings within the MU. The Visorak were created by Chirox, and any Makuta is capable of creating a poison kraata through their essence.

EDIT: Even if it is technically “venom” rather than “poison”, Remove Poison disks can cure venom of other Rahi (2). Poison is just used as an umbrella term in Bionicle to refer to other things such as venom, toxins, etc.

It would be more accurate to say that venom is injected, whereas poison is consumed or absorbed through the skin.

I disagree. According to BS01, the staff of poison “can be used to poison anything, so long it makes contact with the target.”

It also says " In Mask of Light , during the Attack on Ta-Koro, a Lerahk scratched Tahu Nuva, which became contaminated.

These quotes seem to imply that the sharpness of the staff is what cut Tahu’s face, and simultaneously the poison touched him and was absorbed into his skin. If that’s the case, it’s not really an injection, and would be considered a poison.

You do realize that ingest is synonymous with eat, right? It’s the process of taking something in through the mouth and digestive tract. That most certainly did not happen with Tahu.

Yes…? I’m saying that poison doesn’t have to be eaten/ingested. It can also be absorbed through the skin.

And I was only refuting the point that poison is classified as something ingested (at least in bionicle), so we actually agree, yes?

For a better breakdown of why I think Hordika Venom should be classified as a poison, see the chart on my BS01 page.

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