The Archives of Metru Nui

The Archives were a huge museum based in Onu-MetruOnu-MetruThe deep archive-city that made mining and historical records preservation the beating heart of Metru Nui. that kept spreading underground until it ran beneath the whole of Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive.. They held at least one of every RahiRahiThe Rahi were the biomechanical wildlife of the Matoran Universe, built largely by the Brotherhood of Makuta, ranging from background fauna to engineered war beasts. the Matoran had met on Metru Nui, along with Matoran tools, carvings and art, and their main purpose was to preserve and study those creatures. (BIONICLE: Metru Nui: City of Legends; BIONICLE Adventures 1: Mystery of Metru Nui)

Foundation in Onu-Metru#

The Archives began above ground but were dug ever deeper, using special digging machines, until they reached beyond the coast of Metru Nui. Many sub-levels lie below the Silver Sea. (BIONICLE Adventures 3: The Darkness Below; BIONICLE: Metru Nui: City of Legends)

The Onu-MatoranOnu-MatoranEarth-wielding Matoran of the deep who adapted to darkness and built the Matoran Universe's defensive cavalry. ran the place. WhenuaWhenuaToa Metru of Earth and later Turaga of Onu-Koro, formerly an Onu-Metru archivist whose career in the Archives shaped his role across the rescue of Metru Nui and the long residency on Mata Nui., MavrahMavrahA Metru Nui Archivist who fled his city rather than let Turaga Dume cull his pet sea Rahi, drowned in a feeding frenzy a thousand years before the Great Cataclysm, and was rediscovered alive aboard the Red Star., TehuttiTehuttiTehutti was an Onu-Matoran archivist of Metru Nui, one of the six finders of a Great Disk, whose Archives research produced the Matoran Nui technique., OnepuOnepuOnepu is an Onu-Matoran and the High Commander of the Ussalry, bearing a Pakari and wearing the purple and black colors of his kind. Connected to the element of Earth, he resides on Spherus Magna. and NuparuNuparuAn Onu-Matoran engineer from Metru Nui who built the Boxor and rose to become a Toa of Earth despite no warrior destiny. all worked there as archivists, studying Rahi in the sub-levels. A Chief Archivist made major decisions along with Turaga DumeDumeDume is a Turaga of Fire and the former ruler of Metru Nui, distinguished by his red and black coloring and the Noble Kanohi Kiril, the Mask of Regeneration. As a member of the Turaga of Metru Nui, he wields a Staff of Office and commands a weakened mastery of Fire. He later resides on the reformed Spherus Magna.. (BIONICLE Adventures 1: Mystery of Metru Nui; BIONICLE: Metru Nui: City of Legends)

Each entrance to a level had one guard, and the doors were locked with three levers whose positions changed daily. Only the guard on duty knew the combination. (BIONICLE: Metru Nui: City of Legends)

Structure and Contents#

Most specimens were kept in stasis tubes, while Rahi too big for stasis were held in cells or cages. The Archives also kept dormant BohrokBohrokHive-minded mechanical creatures designed to reshape worlds, the Bohrok represent a threat the Toa Mata never expected., krana and RahkshiBionicle Rahkshi: the Sons of Makuta from Mask of LightRahkshi are armoured hunters made from kraata, the slug-like creatures of the Makuta. Six of them chased the Mask of Light across Mata Nui in 2003. Here's what they are, the different kinds and where they turn up in the films, books and comics. that Onu-Matoran miners had dug up. (BIONICLE: Metru Nui: City of Legends; BIONICLE Adventures 1: Mystery of Metru Nui)

Only the top five levels were open to the public, with guided tours recommended because visitors without an Onu-Matoran guide could easily get lost. The levels below were for staff only, and some were so restricted that even VahkiVahkiMetru Nui's mechanical law enforcement squads, designed to maintain rigid order but ultimately undermined by chaos beyond their programming. couldn't enter. The deepest held the most dangerous exhibits: the Archives BeastThe Archives BeastA shapeshifting Rahi locked away in the lower levels of the Archives, which disguised itself as an empty room and was driven off by cold., a two-headed Tarakava, a mutated Ussal crab, and in the darkest reaches the shapeshifting Krahka and wild Rahkshi. (BIONICLE: Metru Nui: City of Legends; BIONICLE Adventures 2: Trial by Fire; BIONICLE Adventures 3: The Darkness Below)

"Any more surprises down here I should know about?" Nuju asked when he and Whenua went below. Whenua's answer summed the place up: that's what the Archives were all about. (BIONICLE 17: Disks of Danger)

The Archives Massacre#

Long before the Toa Metru, the Archives saw their worst day. To end the Matoran Civil WarThe Archives MassacreThe closing atrocity of the Matoran Civil War, in which the Brotherhood of Makuta sealed the warring armies inside the Archives of Metru Nui and released the caged Rahi exhibits upon them., Makuta TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna. sealed large numbers of the opposing armies inside and set the exhibits loose on them. Makuta Mutran later called it quite a mess to clean up. (The Mutran Chronicles)

The Great Cataclysm and Its Aftermath#

When Teridax overloaded the city's power grid about a thousand years before the main story, the resulting earthquake shattered the Archives. Many stasis tubes broke, and their Rahi got loose in the city. (BIONICLE Adventures 7: Web of the Visorak)

The VisorakVisorak (Rahi)Spider-like Rahi employed by the Brotherhood of Makuta whose name meant 'Stealers of Life' and whose swarms threatened the Matoran Universe. who invaded Metru Nui patrolled the Archives heavily, capturing and mutating many of the Rahi that hadn't already left, and their occupation damaged the place further. (BIONICLE Adventures 7: Web of the Visorak)

Use During the Reign of Shadows#

After Teridax took over the Matoran Universe, the Archives' sub-levels became a hiding place for the resistance. MackuMackuMacku was a Ga-Matoran of Metru Nui and later Ga-Koro, attendant to Turaga Nokama, Kolhii partner to Hahli at the championship at Ta-Koro, and a member of the Chronicler's Company. led KapuraKapuraKapura was a red Matoran of Fire who served as a member of the Ta-Koro Guard and formerly as part of the Chronicler's Company. A native of Metru Nui, he later worked as a Vat Controller there, wearing a powerless Ruru on Mata Nui and a powerless Pakari on Metru Nui, and ultimately settled on Bota Magna on Spherus Magna. and HafuHafuHafu was a Po-Matoran Carver of Po-Koro, recognized as a Master Carver, who served in the Chronicler's Company and survived the Reign of Shadows. deep into them, moving as though she knew the place as well as Ga-Metru, to a chamber that had once held a nasty Rahi primate. (Reign of Shadows)

Inside was a wounded Toa of Water none of them recognised. She called herself TuyetTuyetA Toa of Water caught in the Order's machinations, Tuyet turned from peer-seeker to rebel-schemer., asked after Lhikan and Nidhiki, and produced a fist-sized crystal she claimed could cleanse Metru Nui of Makuta's forces. Since Teridax could find anyone living in his universe just by thinking of them, she said, she was the perfect ally: she had been dead for some 2,000 years. (Reign of Shadows)

Restoration and Abandonment#

The returning Matoran began to rebuild Metru Nui after a thousand years of vacancy, though many of the Rahi that had escaped stayed loose. Greg Farshtey later said, outside the stories, that after Teridax's defeat the Matoran made a mass effort to move the Archives' remaining exhibits to Spherus Magna. (Reign of Shadows)

Unresolved Records#

Several exhibits drop out of the story after the Toa Metru's search for the Great Disks, including the two-headed Tarakava and the Archives Beast. The books don't say whether they escaped in the Cataclysm. (BIONICLE Adventures 2: Trial by Fire; BIONICLE: Metru Nui: City of Legends)

Legacy of the Facility#

The Archives were both a museum and a warning. Their deepest levels held creatures the archivists preferred to lock away rather than understand, and as Whenua warned Nuju, the last Archivist to go down to the Archives Beast's level hadn't spoken since. (BIONICLE Adventures 2: Trial by Fire)