Were Nova Blasts... Intentional?
So, today I watched @rahiwatching‘s Knowledge Tower video about Nova Blasts, and how actually in order to produce that much energy, Toa would have a truly obscene amount of energy within them.
And it made me think about something. Is the Nova Blast actually an intended trait of the Toa? Is it something they’re supposed to be able to do? Or did the Great Beings just... forget to put a cap on how much energy a Toa can release at once?
The Nova Blast is powerful enough that it can completely destroy islands. Both times it was used, this was expressed: Gali floods Karzahni (the island) entirely, and Jaller’s attempt, though suppressed, would’ve destroyed Metru Nui itself.
Now, the Great Beings are famously irresponsible. “Put a plasma cannon on a giant cyborg scorpion”- irresponsible. But I don’t think they would intentionally put something that could destroy islands vital to the GSR’s function within the GSR itself. It would be entirely counter-intuitive.
Accidentally, though? That, I buy. I could totally see them forgetting to set an upper limit on a Toa’s output- After all, they’re not meant to be sentient. Nothing in the GSR is. If the GSR’s population weren’t subject to the Awakening, and all acted fully within their programming for their entire voyage, then they never would’ve had cause to trigger a Nova Blast, and never would’ve needed hard limits set on their power, because there would be nothing dangerous enough to justify using that much of it.
So, without knowing that such a situation would arise, the Great Beings either forgot or considered a hard limiter irrelevant... until they began to consider the possibility of the Toa becoming threats upon the return to Spherus Magna, and thus, Marendar was born.
Now, the fact that the technique has a name means it must be something that the Toa are aware of, despite the lack of use, which could suggest that knowledge of the technique was wired-in by the GBs... but the Toa used to have a culture, and organised training, so it’s entirely conceivable that the technique was named by the Toa themselves (Perhaps by a Toa of Fire or Plasma, given the root of the word “Nova”), and then passed down by them, until it eventually reached Vakama, who passed it on to Jaller.
It’s also worth noting that, despite using the ability, Gali never refers to it by name.
