#marendar

[demitsorou]

Gata

Or Blood Gali

A fusion/Vhotai of Tahu and Gali, born of fury, to rip and tear, until Marendar's rust-red oil-blood is separated from its body permanently.

[toaarcan]

So Greg said that a Nova Blast outside the GSR would potentially be an extinction-level event, potentially enough to destroy a planet outright, but there are "safeguards" inside the GSR to contain the power.

The question I have is whether the GSR actually makes the Nova weaker, or if the GSR, the structures within it, and the inhabitants are simply built different. Like, have Toa been able to withstand world-ending levels of power this entire time? Did Icarax take an apocalypse to the face and walk it off?

Because if so I kinda understand why the GBs made Marendar.

[toa-va]

Marendar

[outofgloom]

"And what was it called?"

"We...do not speak of that."

"I understand, Elder Kaita, but it is important. To record these things, in the time that remains. So, if you would...."

"E'ah, very well. Many things we called it: The Great Being's Wrath. Toa-Killer. Breaker of Masks...."

"These are known, yes, but what was it's name? Surely the Great Beings gave it one, like the rest of you."

"Only the old names they gave! Not the new. We were the givers of the new."

"Ah, forgive me.... But, I am correct in assuming that it had one, yes?"

"Well...."

"Go on?"

"We did not find out until...after. We do not—"

"For the chronicle, please."

"A'eh.... Its makers clearly saw things different. We knew it as Wrath, Killer...Eater. It killed us, and our comrades. But they...they had the gall to name it 'Salvation'."

"A strange name."

"No, we should not be surprised. It was their way. They did not see us, or know us. We were the grease in the machine that saved their world. Nothing more. In the truest sense, to them our destruction was indeed salvation."

"Their salvation?"

"Yes, but not ours.

[randomwriteronline]

not depicted the Live Random Reaction of spitting my soul out when first getting to this scene in Ide's Journey: Act 2 Disc 2

@leiposting hope you like these terrible little things!! hdjfhkjf

[tiredspacedragon]

Thing about me is that I'm a huge softie. I want everybody to get happy endings and be alright in the end. And that's great for fluffy headcanons. But when I actually buckle down and think about my ideas for how things would go post-canon, it's a little rough. Because the point of Marendar is to kill Toa, and to have it show up and be defeated or change sides or what have you before doing any Toa-killing would just be a cop-out (especially after 10+ years of irl buildup). So that means some Toa gotta die. But who?

On that note, here's a potentially gruesome poll. Pick whichever option you think should happen most, and add anyone else you think should bite it in the tags.

Who should Marendar kill?

Some or all of the Toa Nuva

Some or all of the Toa Mahri

Some or all of the Toa Hagah

Takanuva

Some or all of the Yesterday Quest team (Orde, Zaria, Chiara)

Varian

Tuyet

Helryx

Lesovikk

Some or all of the unnamed 20-ish other surviving Toa

Some or all of the known mutated Toa (Savage, Spinner, Prototype)

A whole lot of Shadow Takanuva

Voting ended onMar 27, 2024

Would have added options for surviving, non-zombified Toa from the Red Star, and Nobody <3, but alas, ran out of room. Also, Krakua isn't here because he has to survive to do the whole "lone guardian of an island fortress" thing and send Vakama that Kratana-induced vision he got back in Time Trap. So his survival is guaranteed. Everyone else, not so much.

Some anti-propaganda (reasons they all should die *evil laugh*) below the cut:

Toa Nuva: Would there be a bigger gutpunch than this? The flagship characters, the six heroes with one destiny! But that destiny is complete now, they don't need to be kept alive anymore. Imagine how much it would shake things up to take them off the board, how ruined the survivors would be if only a few of them went down. Wouldn't it just be so juicy?

Toa Mahri: They're one down already, so it's not like you'd be breaking up a complete set. Besides, we all know they're built for tragedy at this point. Jaller and Hahli could fall together. Hewkii could go down in front of Macku's eyes. Nuparu could sacrifice himself using one last invention to stop Marendar, perhaps making up for the perceived sins of the Vahki and Boxor. Kongu could accept death as it takes him, at least now he might see Matoro again.

Toa Hagah: These six are prime candidates, aren't they? Important enough for it to hurt, for us to care, but not so important that they aren't expendable. Never truly frontrunners. Named characters it's safe to kill. What more could you ask for? I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out Greg had planned to kill them so he'd never have to describe Gaaki, Bomonga, Pouks, and Kualus' appearances. Plus, Norik dying just after getting to see Varian again? Or even just before? Doesn't it hurt so good?

Takanuva: He only needs to live long enough to end the civil war between the Great Beings, but after that, if Marendar is still in play, he's fair game. What do you say? It would torture him more to see his friends fall while he lived on, but there is something poetic to "Takanuva, the first and greatest Toa of Light, whose life burned brightly, but quickly."

Yesterday Questers: These three are like the Toa Hagah, but even safer. Named characters, important enough for their deaths to matter, but brand new, without much audience investment. Besides, they're asking for it, aren't they? Ancient Orde, the chip on his shoulder as old as he is, could finally know peace in oblivion. Perhaps Zaria's death would finally clear his guilty conscience. And Chiara... Does anyone actually like Chiara? Would anyone miss her? Are these questions she asks herself? And wouldn't it hurt to hear her ask them in her final moments?

Varian: Talk about tragedy. Thousands of years, locked in a tube, dead to the world. Unaware time is even passing. And when she finally awakes, it's only to die. A waste of her character, perhaps, but if you don't mind fridging, it would piss off Norik somethin' fierce.

Tuyet: Doesn't she deserve it? And you know, Marendar does track Toa Power, and there's no greater source of that than Tuyet and the Nui Stone. It would be gunning for her. And it would be so deliciously ironic. All that power, all the effort she put in to get it, and it would be utterly useless to save her in the end. Her dreams of empire ground to dust in seconds, right before her eyes, as Toa Tuyet dies one last time.

Helryx: Think of the poetry. Marendar, the Toa's bane. What more worthy opponent could there be for the first Toa's last stand? It practically writes itself. Helryx has done her duty. The will of Mata Nui has been carried out. This is her perfect chance to go down fighting on her own terms, not as the leader of the Order, but as a Toa once more.

Lesovikk: This guy is Orde and Zaria but worse. He wants death so bad. And what else is there left for him to do? Karzahni is dead. His Matoran are found. What, will he become a Turaga and gift his power to the next generation of Toa? Will he wander the woods and care for the animals? Will he find joy and beauty in living? Lame. He misses his team so bad? Let him join them.

20-odd nameless mooks: By far the safest option. A Toa-killer would be pretty pointless if it never killed any Toa, but nobody said it had to be anyone we cared about, right? This is the best of both worlds. A pile of bodies to make Marendar a credible threat, but nothing and no one of consequence lost. A perfect solution, right? Just uh. Hope you don't have any OCs in here.

Mutants: The Dark Hunters are scattered, vulnerable. If these lost souls haven't found the greater group yet, they'd be easy to pick off. Good options too, right? Actual characters, so their deaths have some weight, but not major ones, so they won't be missed. Guardian was killed off in Reign of Shadows for those exact reasons. Why not have Savage, Spinner, and Prototype carry on the tradition, and tie off some loose ends in the process?

Shadow Takanuva: Sure, it might suck for their home universes to lose their Takanuva like this, but hey. If you have a whole army just sitting around, might as well put them to use, right? The fight could be interesting to watch too. Shadow might be the only element Marendar has no countermeasures for, since Toa of Shadow were never meant to exist. Maybe this is how it's finally beaten, after taking several alternate Takanuva down with it, of course. Besides, Melding Teridax flattened several of them already, so it's not like they were all making it home to begin with.

[that1cactus]

BIONICLE - The Yesterday Quest

Did this really cool poster for The Yesterday Quest story arc long ago and it was a pretty big piece that I'm still proud of.

Members can enjoy the full-res and project files on my Ko-Fi [Ko-Fi] [Files]

(The Teaser Poster)

[teelguy]

Y'know I've realised I haven't actually thrown my hat into the Marendar shaped ring.

I'm generally meh to the post canon stuff but Marendar is one of the things I really like from them.

So Marendar's whole shtick was bein a big ol fella meant to kill toa if they ever went rogue and Velika woke him up too early. Immediately with this setup I feel it's wrong to call Marendar a villain. Antagonist fits, but Marendar isn't evil. Similar to the bohrok in 2002. Caused a mess because they came at the wrong time, but they weren't evil.

Now the interpretation of Marendar on a more character level is that Marendar has a semblance of sentience but the duty to kill the toa can override it. Now a nuance I like is not forgetting that Marendar is killing toa to keep everyone else safe.

I like to imagine a scene where Marendar is about to strike down a toa when a scared matoran runs between them. Marendar abruptly stopping its attack to not hurt the matoran and then just grabbing them and jumping away from the toa, who it perceives as dangerous. Now the tragic part that we could add to this is Marendar being able to acknowledge that people are trying to stop it, but whenever it gets close to realising it shouldn't kill the toa its code overrides the thoughts and tries to rationalise the toa being evil.

I think this would add some nuance and perhaps even tragedy to the big murder robot.

Also don't get me started on how cool this could make a Tuyet vs Marendar fight. I'll probably post separate ramblings on that one some time.