Teridax

Teridax, more commonly known as simply "The Makuta" or the "Makuta of Metru Nui", was the leader of the Brotherhood of Makuta after overthrowing Miserix. During the final battle on Bara Magna, he was finally killed by Mata Nui.

History

Early Life

Teridax was "created" by the Great Spirit Mata Nui as his "brother" – however, it was not a biological relationship. The being known as Teridax once served Mata Nui as part of a Brotherhood, whose job was to create and alter animals as needed; the Brotherhood soon also took on the job of protecting Mata Nui's chosen people, the Matoran. Teridax was put specifically in charge of the city of Metru Nui and its surrounding region by the former leader Miserix. In this time, Mata Nui and Teridax were so close that they considered one another brothers.

At one point eighty thousand years ago, the Brotherhood had discovered through the traitor Takadox that a military alliance called the League of Six Kingdoms was plotting no less than the overthrow of Mata Nui himself. The Brotherhood, allied with Mata Nui's champions, the Toa, and Teridax led a preemptive strike against the League and their leaders, six warlords titled "Barraki". The operation was a complete success and all six Barraki were captured, but as Teridax was about to execute them a stranger named Botar appeared. He and Teridax argued over the fate of the Barraki until Botar finally teleported away, taking the Barraki to the Pit with him. Though Teridax would occasionally wonder about the stranger and what he had done with the Barraki, he would more often consider the League's ultimate goal, and concluded that a Barraki was ultimately unworthy to replace the Great Spirit. However, he then began thinking about him taking over the Matoran Universe.

Perhaps spurred on by this thought, Teridax (and eventually the rest of the Brotherhood) became jealous of the high regard that Mata Nui was given by the Matoran. He began brooding on ways to overthrow Mata Nui. With the information gleaned from Tren Krom by Mutran, he was able to formulate the Plan. Eventually, Teridax revealed to the other Makuta his plan, which was to put Mata Nui to sleep, intending to take his place in the minds of the Matoran as their savior. Miserix went against this but no other Makuta supported him. After a short brawl, Teridax claimed leadership of the brotherhood and ordered Miserix executed. Though for some reason, the execution never took place, and instead Miserix was imprisoned on an island far to the south by Krika. Teridax then set his plan into motion. At some point, six Toa were selected to be Teridax's personal bodyguards. He, of course, was more than capable of defending himself, so having bodyguards was purely a matter of prestige. These Toa became known as the Toa Hagah.

The Great Shadow

[1] Makuta in his titan formAdded by Digi2.2Around this time, the Toa Hagah discovered the Brotherhood's corruption and treachery and rebelled. They struck by surprise, overpowered the Dark Hunters guarding Teridax's stronghold, and stole the Kanohi Avohkii, the Great Mask of Light. At some point during the battle, they confronted Teridax himself, and wounded him significantly. However, during their escape, they were ambushed by Roodaka, one of Teridax's servants, who used her Rhotuka to mutate them into freakish, Rahkshi-like creatures she dubbed "Rahaga". They managed to escape, however, and safely hid the Mask of Light, so that when it was time for it to be used, the Brotherhood couldn't stop it.

When the Plan was a year from fruition, Teridax kidnapped Turaga Dume, the leader of Metru Nui, and, posing as Dume, began sending the Toa that guarded the city to close the sea gates from which they never returned. To aid in this, he hired three Dark Hunters: Nidhiki and Krekka, who helped inside the city, while the Hunter codenamed "Eliminator" would stay outside and kill the Toa sent out to close the gates. He also brought in a predatory pet bird named Nivawk to act as a spy. Eventually, only Toa Lhikan was left. "Dume" also requested that the city's best maskmaker, Vakama, try to make the Mask of Time that would help in his plans. "Dume" then created the Morbuzakh and released it on the outskirts of Ta-Metru.

After the Morbuzakh was unleashed to drive the Matoran to the city's center, Lhikan began to get suspicious and decided it was time to choose Matoran to become new Toa. Teridax tried to subtly influence this decision so that Lhikan would choose Toa who would not be able to stop him; but Mata Nui, suspecting danger, influenced Teridax so the Toa chosen were the ones destined to succeed.

While these new Toa Metru were able to destroy the Morbuzakh, Teridax went forward and had the city's Vahki enforcers continue the job that the Morbuzakh had started: kidnapping Matoran and putting them into spheres that would erase their memory, allowing Teridax to "save" them from their imprisonment. By the time the Toa Metru discovered his plot, it was too late and the entire population of Metru Nui had been put into the spheres. Even worse, Teridax finally struck Mata Nui, sending him into a coma and bringing about the Great Cataclysm.

The Toa tried to escape the city with a few spheres, intending to return for the rest, but Teridax gave chase; boosting his power by absorbing Nidhiki, Krekka, and Nivawk into his body along with the city's power supply turning him into Ultimate Makuta. Vakama went to face him alone and tried to use the Vahi that he'd made against him; Teridax was impressed that he was able to make a Vahi and offered him a position with his Brotherhood and as part of his essence, but Vakama refused. Unfortunately, Vakama's inexperience led to both of them getting caught in the mask's slow-motion effect. Teridax had fired an inescapable, deadly blast when Lhikan, now a Turaga, jumped in the way and took the brunt of the blast for Vakama, and he soon died from the wound. Inspired by Lhikan's sacrifice, Vakama began to truly challenge Teridax, and with the help of the other Toa Metru, sealed Teridax in a prison of solid protodermis.

The Dark Time

But even imprisoned, Teridax was not helpless. He telepathically summoned two of the Brotherhood's lieutenants, Sidorak and Roodaka, to bring their Visorak armies to Metru Nui. Once there, Roodaka painfully cut away a small shard of the prison, intending to absorb the Toa's elemental powers and use them to break the seal. However, things did not go as planned and Roodaka was instead attacked with blasts of elemental power, but the effect was the same: the seal was broken and Teridax was free again. Teridax's first action after being freed was to teleport Roodaka away from the Toa, who thought she had been killed. The prison shard was claimed by the Toa Metru, who later used it to represent Teridax when telling their tales as Turaga.

A short time later, Teridax began searching for the Vahi, the Mask of Time, which had fallen into the protodermis sea during his fight with Vakama. But Vakama was also looking for the mask, as was a mutant named Voporak, who searched on behalf of the Dark Hunters. Teridax found Vakama and trapped him in an illusion, hoping to trick Vakama into giving him the Vahi - but Vakama broke free of the illusion, and Teridax was furious to learn that Voporak had taken the mask. He offered Vakama a truce until they got the Vahi back, and he kept his word - until the Dark Hunter leader, "The Shadowed One", showed up, hunting the Toa that he was sure was responsible for Nidhiki and Krekka's deaths. Teridax started bartering with the Shadowed One over the Vahi, but Vakama cut negotiations short when he pointed out that it was Teridax who had killed Nidhiki and Krekka. Enraged, the two Hunters attacked Teridax, breaching his armor; but Teridax was able to knock Voporak out and make the Shadowed One age prematurely in Voporak's defensive field. Because of this incident, the Shadowed One declared war on the Brotherhood of Makuta. In the confusion, Vakama snatched the Vahi and began flying away.

Teridax soon tracked down Vakama and demanded he give the Vahi, but Vakama threatened to destroy the mask -- and with it, the entire space-time continuum. Reluctantly, Teridax agreed to give the now-free Matoran a year of peace and to leave Vakama's allies in Metru Nui alone.

He then returned to Destral and challenged Icarax to make him stop terrorizing Matoran with his Manas. Interestingly enough, he let Icarax live for the time. He then went to one of his many lairs, this one called Mangaia.

In that year, Vakama and the other Toa Metru brought the Matoran to the Island of Mata Nui, became Turaga, and led them in constructing villages. Teridax, meanwhile, located a lost Matoran named Ahkmou and used seductive lies to make him an ally.

Once the year was up, he began to harass the Matoran by creating Kraata and using them to enslave the local Rahi wildlife, with Infected Kanohi, forcing them to attack the villages. His aim was hopefully to intimidate the Matoran into surrendering, but more importantly to keep the Matoran away from Metru Nui. But the Matoran fought back, driving off the Rahi and freeing some from Teridax's control. However, Teridax would keep on enslaving more, and the stalemate would continue for nearly a thousand years... 

Shadow versus Light

The next day, Takanuva went to challenge Teridax alone; though once he got there he told his friend Hahli (who had stowed away on his Ussanui) to go back and bring all the Matoran. While she was doing this, Teridax challenged Takanuva in the Matoran sport of kolhii, and the ensuing "game" damaged much of the lair. When the Matoran arrived, Teridax took out the lair's last remaining pillar, causing a cave-in and cutting off the Matorans' escape route. Takanuva then tried to rip Teridax's Mask of Shadows off of his face, causing the two to fall into a pool of energized protodermis and emerge as a single being, Takutanuva(see Takutanuva section below). Takutanuva opened the way to Metru Nui, and the Teridax side (being enlightened by the Mask of Light piercing the lies he had told himself over the centuries) even helped bring Jaller back to life, but the energy spent on the resurrection made Takutanuva too weak and the gate he was holding fell and crushed him. Takanuva was quickly restored from his mask, but Teridax was believed by the world to be no more.

Despite the apparent victory, Takanuva had some suspicions that Teridax let the Matoran win to further some grander plan. According to series writer Greg Farshtey, "My feeling has always been that Makuta knew that the Toa and Matoran would make it back to Metru Nui eventually – so he intentionally lost the fight to Takanuva, allowing them to go back there thinking they had won. This way, they would be occupied with rebuilding for some time and convinced the danger from Makuta was largely over, and thus ignore what he was really up to."

Kanohi Ignika

Voya Nui

Unknown to all, Teridax still clung to life as a mass of liquid antidermis, though the loss of his physical body severely weakened him. A few weeks later, a gang of thieves calling themselves Piraka heard rumors of Teridax's death and went to investigate. They found his crushed armor and one, Reidak, tried to claim his mask but it hit him with energy pulses until he let go, ending up throwing it into the sea. Seeing them as perfect pawns, Teridax used his telepathy to plant knowledge of the powerful, cursed Ignika Mask of Life in their heads; Teridax hoped to gain control over the Ignika, which would give him control over when and if Mata Nui's life gets saved as well as the ability to take life from enemies, believing the he could control the Ignika without dying because he was so powerful. He also specifically influenced Zaktan's behavior, as he was the Piraka leader and had some authority over the others.

On Voya Nui, the Piraka constructed a vat centered around a crystal that collected Teridax's substance, in the form of a virus called "antidermis". Only Zaktan knew the antidermis' secret, that it was really a form of Teridax; and he was the only Piraka that could approach the virus collection vat without becoming physically ill. While the vat kept Teridax's energy collected so that he doesn't dissipate, the Piraka infected the island's Matoran with small amounts of the antidermis, enslaving them to the Piraka's will. The Piraka's ally, Brutaka, also found that absorbing some antidermis into his system gives him a temporary boost in strength and aggressiveness.

In Brutaka's last fight with his ex-friend Axonn, he tries to get to the antidermis vat so he can become stronger. However, Axonn destroys the vat before he can get there - and as the virus dissipates he swears he hears a second scream besides Brutaka's. During this time, the Ignika has fallen into the depths of Voya Nui bay. The Toa Inika went down the Cord down to Mahri Nui where the Mask of Life had drifted, and the Makuta's essence followed them there.

Mahri Nui

In Mahri Nui, Teridax took over the body of the Pit Robot Guard Maxilos. In this form, he persuaded Matoro to reanimate Tuyet, attempting to use her to recreate the Nui Stone. But he was stopped by Karzahni who heard him speak of the Staff of Artakha. The two started fighting and Karzahni summoned an army of Manas. Teridax made half of them turn against the other half using his powers of Rahi Control. Karzahni then got angry and used his powers, showing Teridax the future with the Toa Nuva awakening Mata Nui.

However, Teridax recovered. After he damaged Karzahni`s mind and hurled him out of sight, Icarax arrived with the Staff and Teridax told Matoro that if another Toa went corrupt and fell under his sway, he could use the Nui Stone to increase his power a thousandfold.

Matoro attempted to stop him but was put in a stasis field. Teridax then was attacked by none other than Brutaka, who had spikes coming from his armor and a dorsal fin on his back. Then Brutaka snatched the Staff of Artakha and called for Botar to take it away, ruining Teridax's plan. Brutaka and Teridax began to fight. Brutaka told Matoro to return to the other Mahri and he did, trusting Brutaka over Teridax. Teridax then attacked Brutaka, who easily countered Teridax's attacks. Brutaka convinced Teridax to leave and retrieve the Mask of Life, which was now in the hands of Hydraxon. Teridax left, knowing Hydraxon was likely to destroy the Ignika, but not before promising Brutaka that their battle wasn't over.

Teridax was next to Matoro after the short conflict between Hahli, Hydraxon, and Mantax. Wanting to get rid of Teridax/Maxilos, Matoro suggested to the Toa Mahri that Maxilos will track Hydraxon down. Without a choice, Teridax headed off in search for the jailer. Teridax managed to track him down. Hydraxon, thinking that Maxilos was still the Pit Robot, asked the guardian to go with him in search of Mantax. When Teridax tried to persuade Hydraxon to stop following Mantax and capture the Toa Mahri and the other Barraki, and failed, Teridax/Maxilos attacked the jailer. Then Hydraxon summoned Spinax to attack Maxilos, only to find the Rahi being swiped away by the powerful being. Hydraxon then attacked Teridax using daggers, which was stuck directly on the armor's legs. Ripping the daggers out, Teridax roared at Hydraxon, and the sound blast knocked Hydraxon off his feet. Hydraxon managed to aim his Cordak Blaster at an undersea mountain, causing boulders to rain on Teridax.

Later on, after Teridax got out of the avalanche, he had already been drifted off to the Razor Whale's Teeth. There, with Maxilos' body badly damaged, Barraki Takadox attempted to hypnotize Teridax into killing Mantax. Swiping Takadox aside, he was then attacked by Matoro, who froze him in a block of ice. The sudden decrease of temperature caused cracks to appear on the body, and Makuta's essence, the Antidermis, began to freeze. Later, during a fight against Hydraxon, Jaller's flames melted Maxilos' prison, and Teridax advanced towards the Mask of Life. However, Jaller slapped at the mask, and it spiraled upwards into Matoro's hands. To Matoro's surprise, Teridax did not launch any form of attack on Matoro, and simply watched as the two Toa disappeared.

Teridax then turned to confront the Barraki, revealing that he was not Maxilos and was actually the Makuta who had led to the Barraki's defeat. Anguished, the Barraki attacked Teridax, only to have four of their members defeated. Takadox then attempted to get out of the attack by showing Teridax the Betrayal Contract. Teridax then casted Takadox in a vision, displaying the Barraki's destiny. Unknown to Teridax, however, the other Barraki were slowly gathering their armies. By the time Teridax stopped casting the vision, the Barraki already assembled their armies and revealed to Teridax that they were pretending their defeat. They then summoned their troops of over 100,000 underwater Rahi against one.

Maxilos' body was greatly damaged after being attacked by the Barraki's armies. Pulling himself up from the fight, Teridax simply let the Barraki go, only wanting to delay them, and not destroy them. He felt the abrupt change when Mata Nui died, and knowing that it could not be the end, he prayed to himself in his mind that the Toa Mahri will continue their task to revive the Great Spirit so that his plans can succeed. Teridax later left the armor of Maxilos.

The Plan's Completion

Teridax, freed from the robotic body of Maxilos, traveled to Metru Nui to carry out the final stages of his plan. He reached his destination, Mata Nui's mind, and possessed it.

Shortly after his arrival, the Toa Hagah arrived with Zaktan as an escort, with Miserix later coming, and two portals opening with Axonn, Brutaka, Helryx, and Keetongu emerging. After Teridax shattered Brutaka's Olmak to prevent them from escaping, he killed Zaktan with a Sonics hum that shattered Zaktan's water sphere, and Zaktan. Teridax then proceeded with teleporting Axonn, Brutaka, and Keetongu to the Southern Islands, erasing the minds of the Toa Hagah to think they won the battle, and kept Helryx to live with him and Miserix, who turned into a painting that is now hung on a wall in Teridax's mind. When the Toa Nuva woke up Mata Nui, they awoke the Great Spirit's body along with Teridax's mind. He then made his announcement across the Matoran Universe. Teridax then killed off all the remaining Makuta to stop them from overthrowing him. And after that, he sent a group of Rahkshi after the Toa and Matoran of Metru Nui. After that he destroyed Daxia and killed many members of the Order of Mata Nui. Then Teridax sent a group of Rahkshi to overrun Odina. He also bound Mata Nui's spirit to the Ignika, and then ejected it into space so that it wouldn't destroy his newly gained body.

Reign of Shadows

Teridax, now ruling the universe, sent Exo-Toa to hunt down the fugitives trying to overthrow him. One such group was discovered in Karzahni, a group consisting of Tahu, "Guardian", Kopeke, Lariska, Johmak, and Krahka. Guardian left the team, hoping to find a way out of Teridax's body, but Teridax had the ground open and swallow him whole. The rest of the team was left to fight a team of Exo-Toa. As the Toa were about to give up, Onua came up from beneath the Exo-Toa, causing them to fall into a deep chasm. Teridax then thought of Mata Nui and debated on killing the former Great Spirit. However, he then sensed his alternate self and decided to destroy him instead.

Departure

Teridax spent months learning to control the body of Mata Nui and crush attempts at rebellion by the inhabitants of the Matoran Universe. His attention was drawn by a conflict between Miserix, Artakha, Helryx, Axonn, Brutaka, and Tuyet within the Core Processer, and requested that the group leave the chamber. They refused, and he teleported them, himself, along with two Matoran present, out of the Matoran Universe and into space. He could still sense the presence of the former Great Spirit out in the cosmos, and he felt that now was the perfect chance to destroy him. Feeling he was ready, he left Aqua Magna, with the intentions of hunting down and killing Mata Nui.

Bara Magna and Death

On Bara Magna, Teridax found Mata Nui in a smaller robotic body. A huge battle ensued, during which Gresh found a hatch in Teridax's robot. Once opening it released numerous Rahkshi of Heat Vision and Skakdi, as well as Takanuva and Tahu. While the Rahkshi overcame Mata Nui's Glatorian allies, Mata Nui realized both that his robot was weaker and more likely to be defeated, and that if he damaged Teridax in any way, he ran the risk of killing Matoran trapped inside. Teridax then claimed Bara Magna for his own.

When Tahu defeated Nektann's Legions and the hordes of Rahkshi, Makuta was left dazed. While distracted, Mata Nui took advantage of this and pushed him into the path of a fragment of Aqua Magna coming back to the planet. The fragment struck the side of his head hard, and the impact caused the top of his robotic head to implode which finally killed the master of darkness, ending his reign of evil for ever. Teridax's body then began to tilt toward Mata Nui, who had to push him back up until the corpse fell onto the Black Spike Mountains, destroying his husk. Moments later, the inhabitants of the Matoran Universe began to evacuate the robot.

Powers

Although once biomechanical, like almost every other Makuta, Teridax later evolved into a form that was, as Thok put it, "just armor and energy - no organics, not anymore." Teridax needed his armor in order to hold his energy, Antidermis, together; if the armor was damaged then the Antidermis would leak out and weaken him. Since his armor was completely destroyed, Teridax then existed merely as a mass of energy; but should too much time pass this energy would dissipate and he would die.

Teridax's most commonly-used power was his ability to shapeshift, allowing him to shape his armor to any form he desired. The only limitation on this power was that when changing into a bigger, stronger form, he couldn't do it quickly unless he absorbed power and mass from somewhere. If what he absorbed was a living being, then their body was incorporated into his and their mind and spirit utterly destroyed (though not immediately - Teridax blamed his defeat in Metru Nui on having to suppress the minds of Nidhiki, Krekka, and Nivawk at the same time: "I disagreed with something I ate"). In his energy form, Teridax still had some limited shapeshifting power; he can make his energy liquid, gaseous, or even viral.

He controlled the element of shadows, allowing him to manipulate shadow energy into different shapes such as spheres, beams, or hands. This power was strengthened by his Kanohi Kraahkan, the Mask of Shadows, which could fill others with fear and anger. However, due to the fact that his powers were based on shadow; light-based attacks against him proved to be especially effective.

Like all of the Makuta, Teridax was capable of creating slug-like beings from his essence called Kraata, which could infect Kanohi Masks and enslave those who wore the masks to his will. When exposed to energized protodermis, Kraata transformed into Rahkshi armor that another Kraata could control.

In addition to the powers described above, he also had 40 other powers. The strength of a stage-six Kraata should be considered the bare minimum when compared to a Makuta's strength.

After Teridax possessed Mata Nui's body, he controlled the entire Matoran Universe.

Finally, Teridax possessed a genius level intellect that surpassed that of some of the most intelligent beings alive, save Tren Krom, nearing him to omniscience.