How Bionicle Ended: the Generation 1 Story's Final Chapter Explained

The original BIONICLE story, now called Generation 1, ran from 2001 to 2010 across books, comics, films and online serials. It ended in two comics released with LEGO Magazine in early 2010, a two-part arc called Journey's End, which settled the long war between Mata NuiMata Nui: Great Spirit of the Matoran UniverseBuilt by the Great Beings as a biomechanical guardian, betrayed by Teridax, and returned in a smaller form to reshape Spherus Magna. and TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna. on the desert world of Bara MagnaBara MagnaA desert world of tribal warfare and scarce resources, one of three landmasses that formed Spherus Magna.. A handful of official online serials followed on BIONICLEstory.com before the story stopped in 2011. This page covers the last chapter from Teridax's takeover in 2008 through to those final serials, with full spoilers. (BIONICLE Glatorian 6: All That Glitters; BIONICLE Glatorian 7: Rebirth; The Yesterday Quest)

Before the story begins#

Long before the Toa, the world of Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint. was torn apart in the Core WarThe Core War: the war that shattered a planetThe Core War was fought on Spherus Magna over Energized Protodermis. It ended in the Shattering, which tore the planet into three planetary fragments.. The ShatteringThe Shattering: the day Spherus Magna broke into three worldsThe Shattering split Spherus Magna into Bara Magna, Aqua Magna and Bota Magna around 100,000 years ago, triggered when the fire tribe siphoned energized protodermis from the ice tribe's well during the Core War. split it into three pieces: the desert of Bara Magna and its two moons, the ocean world Aqua MagnaAqua MagnaThe endless ocean where the Matoran Universe found refuge and Mata Nui made his final stand. and the jungle world Bota MagnaBota MagnaA verdant jungle moon separated from Spherus Magna for 100,000 years, then restored by Mata Nui himself at the climax of the Core War.. The Great BeingsThe Great BeingsScholar-inventors of Spherus Magna whose creations shaped the Matoran Universe and whose absence defined the conflicts that followed. built Mata Nui, a giant robot with a whole universe of MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. living inside it, so that he could one day repair the damage. (All Our Sins Remembered; BIONICLE: The Legend Reborn; The Yesterday Quest)

Everything from 2001 to 2008 happened in and on that robot, the Matoran UniverseMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control.. The MakutaMakuta (Species)Shadowy Antidermis beings and the Brotherhood's elite, Makuta commanded darkness and shaped the Matoran Universe's fate. Teridax had struck the Great Spirit down in the Great CataclysmThe Great CataclysmThe day Makuta Teridax put the Great Spirit to sleep, the Great Spirit Robot fell from the sky, Metru Nui flooded, and Voya Nui tore loose from the Southern Continent., and for years the ToaToa (2001)Biomechanical heroes bonded to elemental powers and masks. Not born, but chosen and transformed. fought to wake him. What none of them knew was that the robot was lying on the ocean floor of Aqua Magna. (BIONICLE Legends 11: The Final Battle; BIONICLE Glatorian 5: Valley of Fear)

2008: Teridax takes the Great Spirit's body#

In BIONICLE Legends 11: The Final Battle, the Toa NuvaToa NuvaThe form the Toa Mata took after stepping into the Energized Protodermis beneath the Bahrag, with new masks, new tools, and the elemental scale to fight Karda Nui. finally woke Mata Nui at Karda NuiKarda NuiThe vast inner cavern at the core of the Matoran Universe, original home of the Av-Matoran, site of the Codrex and the final battle that decided the fate of Mata Nui. with the power of the Mask of LifeThe Mask of Life (Kanohi Ignika), explainedA failsafe forged by the Great Beings to recharge a god. It curses everyone who touches it, and by the end of Bionicle it had learned how to be a hero.. The robot rose, the Matoran celebrated, and then Teridax's voice rang out across the universe. He had moved his own spirit into the Great Spirit's body before Mata Nui's spirit could return to it, and so he now controlled the robot and everyone living inside it. (BIONICLE Legends 11: The Final Battle)

Mata Nui's spirit had been sealed in the Mask of Life, and Teridax fired the mask out of the robot into space. The book ends with the mask flying through the void and one thought from the being inside it: that he would return. (BIONICLE Legends 11: The Final Battle)

2009: Mata Nui on Bara Magna#

The mask came down on Bara Magna and used its power to build Mata Nui a new body from the sand. He picked up a scarab beetle companion, ClickClickThe Scarabax beetle whose touch on the Ignika turned him into Mata Nui's scarab shield, and who travelled with Mata Nui across Bara Magna., and a ride to the village of VulcanusVulcanusThe Fire Tribe's settlement on Bara Magna, caught between resources and threats. from the AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and lived by the Glatorian arena system. MetusMetusMetus was a transformed Agori from Spherus Magna who worked as a Glatorian recruiter. Originally a member of the Ice Tribe, he later joined the Rock Tribe. White and ice blue in coloration, Metus wielded an Ice Axe and an Ice Shield.. The Agori lived in scattered villages and settled their disputes through arena fights between their warriors, the GlatorianGlatorianTribal warriors of Spherus Magna who settled disputes through arena combat, until the Skrall conquest enslaved most of them.. Mata Nui won the friendship of the veteran Glatorian AckarAckarVeteran Glatorian of the Fire Tribe and prime fighter for Vulcanus, Ackar served from the Core War through the defence of Spherus Magna., the restless KiinaKiinaKiina is a Glatorian of the Water Tribe who served as the secondary Glatorian for the village of Tajun on Spherus Magna. Colored in shades of dark and light blue, she wielded a Vapor Trident and a Thornax Launcher in combat. Following the reformation of Spherus Magna, she continued to reside on the restored world. and the young GreshGreshA young Glatorian of the Jungle Tribe who served Tesara and later joined the alliance that defended Bara Magna during its final crisis.. (BIONICLE: The Legend Reborn)

He found that the SkrallSkrallA black-armored warrior species from Spherus Magna that dominated northern Bara Magna under Tuma's rule. and the Bone HuntersBone Hunters: the Agori who left the rock tribe and became desert raidersBone hunters are a nomadic tribe of Bara Magna raiders descended from rock tribe Agori. Left out of the social system after the Shattering, they took what they needed by theft and by force. had joined forces and were destroying villages, starting with TajunTajunTajun was a village of the Water Tribe, situated on the banks of the Skrall River.. In a cave near the ruins, he and the Agori BerixBerixBerix is an Agori of the Water Tribe who lived on Spherus Magna. A scavenger by trade, he is recognized by his blue and dark blue coloration and carries a Water Sword and shield. found plans for a giant robot much like his old body. Mata Nui used the Ignika to give the Glatorian elemental powers and talked the villages into uniting. When Kiina and Berix were captured, he went to RoxtusRoxtusThe largest Agori village on Bara Magna and the seat of Tuma's Skrall, Roxtus was the centre of the Empire of the Skrall until Mata Nui defeated Tuma in single combat. alone and beat the Skrall leader TumaTumaTuma rose from the survivors of the Baterra massacre to rule the Skrall Empire from Roxtus until Mata Nui defeated him in single combat. in a duel. Metus then revealed himself as the traitor who had brought the Skrall and Bone Hunters together. In the Battle of RoxtusThe Battle of RoxtusThe climactic engagement at the Skrall stronghold of Roxtus on Bara Magna, where Mata Nui defeated Tuma in single combat, Metus was exposed and transformed, and the united tribes broke the Skrall and Bone Hunter army. the united Glatorian and Agori broke the enemy army, and Mata Nui turned Metus into a snake. (BIONICLE: The Legend Reborn)

The robot in the villages#

The Agori had built their villages for generations out of old metal scrap from the desert. That scrap was really the pieces of a prototype robotThe Prototype RobotThe Great Beings' earlier and unstable attempt at the design that became the Great Spirit Robot, scattered across the Bara Magna desert and reassembled by the villages to carry Mata Nui into the final battle with Teridax., an earlier version of Mata Nui built by the Great Beings. Looking for the meaning of a coin stamped with a shield symbol, Mata Nui went north alone to the Valley of the MazeThe Valley of the MazeThe northern Bara Magna maze where the Great Beings hid the unstable Power Source of the Prototype Robot, sealed behind puzzle traps and a fortress that few outsiders ever survived to describe., where he fought his way through its traps to the fortress at its centre. (BIONICLE Glatorian 5: Valley of Fear; BIONICLE Glatorian 6: All That Glitters)

Meanwhile Teridax ruled the universe inside the robot and hunted down anyone who resisted him, which the serial Reign of ShadowsReign of ShadowsThe year Teridax ruled the Matoran Universe from inside Mata Nui's body, and the scattered resistance plots that ran against him until the Great Spirit returned from Bara Magna. followed from the Matoran's side. Learning that Mata Nui had survived, Teridax lifted the Great Spirit Robot off Aqua Magna and set out across space to kill him. (BIONICLE Glatorian 5: Valley of Fear; Reign of Shadows)

Journey's End: the last battle#

Mata Nui came back from the Valley of the Maze with the Power SourcePower SourceThe energized artifact that powered Mata Nui's prototype robot during the final arc of BIONICLE. the prototype needed. After an argument with the Vulcanus leader RaanuRaanuRaanu is an Agori of the Fire Tribe, distinguished by his dark red and yellow-orange coloration, who served as the leader of Vulcanus and the Fire Tribe on Spherus Magna. He wielded a Flame Blade and Fire Shield as his tools of office. Following the reformation of the planet, Raanu continued to reside on the restored Spherus Magna., the Agori let him have the robot. He took the Mask of Life off his face, which destroyed his sand body and let his spirit pass into the machine. His first act was to try pulling Aqua Magna and Bota Magna back to Bara Magna to remake Spherus Magna, but the old robot was not strong enough. Then the Great Spirit RobotThe Great Spirit Robot, explainedBionicle's whole universe lives inside a 40-million-foot robot built by the Great Beings. Here is what it is, why it was built, and how it ended. arrived with Teridax in control. Mata Nui was outmatched, and he could not hit back hard without killing the millions of Matoran living inside his old body. (BIONICLE Glatorian 6: All That Glitters)

On the ground, Gresh had the Glatorian fire on Teridax to distract him while he looked for a way into the giant robot. He found one, but 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. poured out of it, followed by the Toa of Light, TakanuvaTakanuvaHidden among the Ta-Matoran as Takua, the disguised Av-Matoran who became Takanuva was the sole Toa of Light produced in the Matoran Universe's full history., whom Gresh took for another enemy. Above them Teridax beat Mata Nui down and declared himself master of Bara Magna. (BIONICLE Glatorian 6: All That Glitters)

TahuTahu, Toa of FireTahu served as Toa Mata, Toa Nuva, and Toa Mistika of Fire, leading his team from the first landing on Mata Nui to the destruction of the Rahkshi army on Bara Magna. then stepped out onto Bara Magna and found the Mask of Life waiting for him. It returned him to his original form and began building him the Golden ArmorThe Golden ArmorA glossary entry on the golden armor, the six-piece relic worn by Tahu on Bara Magna, and the 2015 reboot's six Golden Masks of Power it is often confused with., but Teridax blasted the pieces across the desert. Takanuva tricked two Rahkshi into hitting each other and got one piece. Gresh beat a group of Skrall for another. Tahu took the shield from the SkakdiSkakdiA brutish warrior species from Zakaz whose pair-dependent elemental powers and moral void made them one of Bionicle's few irredeemable factions. warlord NektannNektann: Skakdi Warlord of ZakazNektann was a formidable Skakdi warlord of Zakaz who rallied a massive army to fight alongside Teridax in the Battle of Bara Magna. He gave his name to the automated Nektann weapons and fought Tahu to the end before the Great Spirit Robot fell.. Once Tahu wore the full set, the armor released its power across the desert, killing thousands of kraataKraataSlug-like creatures birthed from Makuta's essence, designed as both weapons and the cores of Rahkshi armor. and shutting down every Rahkshi. (BIONICLE Glatorian 7: Rebirth)

High above, Teridax had given up on ruling Bara Magna and was charging a gravity blast to destroy it. Mata Nui lunged at him and knocked the blast off course. It struck Aqua Magna and Bota Magna and started dragging both moons towards the planet. When Teridax staggered at the loss of his Rahkshi, Mata Nui shoved him into the path of a rock fragment breaking off Aqua Magna. It hit Teridax in the head and destroyed the robot's core systems, and he died. (BIONICLE Glatorian 7: Rebirth)

The ending explained#

The Battle of Bara MagnaThe Battle of Bara MagnaThe Great Spirit Robot fell from the sky carrying Teridax in stolen flesh, and the desert world below produced a champion who carried Mata Nui's consciousness back into the fight. ended with Mata Nui looking down at the body of the brotherIs Makuta Mata Nui's Brother?Only in legend and in a loose sense. The Matoran's Legend of Mata Nui calls Makuta the Great Spirit's jealous brother, and Makuta talks about Mata Nui the same way, but the later story shows Makuta Teridax was one of a species Mata Nui himself brought into being. Here is how the story uses the word. who had tried to take everything from him. As the moons rejoined Bara Magna, he poured the last power of his ancient robot into the planet and covered the restored Spherus Magna with life. The prototype then crumbled to the ground. (BIONICLE Glatorian 7: Rebirth)

The Matoran climbed out of the fallen Great Spirit Robot believing Mata Nui was deadWhat Happened to Mata Nui?Mata Nui was struck down by Teridax, kept alive by the Mask of Life, robbed of his body and thrown into space, then rebuilt himself on Bara Magna and killed Teridax. At the end of the original story his spirit rests inside the Mask of Life. Here is the whole chain of events, with where each part is told.. He was not. His spirit had been drawn back into the Mask of Life, and he spoke to the people of both worlds one last time before going back into the mask. When Kiina asked whether he was really gone, Tahu said no, and told them the best way to honour him was to build the world as it should be. He called on Matoran and Agori to live in peace together on the planet the Great Beings had always meant to restore. That event, the ReformationThe ReformationThe cosmic act that pulled Aqua Magna and Bota Magna back into Bara Magna and remade the broken homeworld of the Great Beings, paid for with the life-energy of Mata Nui and the last reserves of the Prototype Robot., finished the job Mata Nui was built for. (BIONICLE Glatorian 7: Rebirth)

What it means is simple enough. The whole saga had been about a broken world and the robot made to fix it, and in the end Mata Nui fixed it with the prototype rather than his own body, killing Teridax with the very moons he had come to reunite. Teridax's own weapon gave him the way to do it. What it left open was a lot: where the Great Beings were, how two very different peoples would share one planet, and what Mata Nui would do next. (BIONICLE Glatorian 7: Rebirth; The Yesterday Quest)

The serials that followed#

The story carried on for a while in online serials on BIONICLEstory.com. In The Yesterday QuestThe Yesterday QuestThe unfinished post-Reformation serial that sent a hand-picked team of three Toa and the Glatorian Gelu into the unmapped jungles of Bota Magna to find the Great Beings, intercept the awakening of Marendar, and uncover the Great Being who had hidden inside the Matoran Universe for a hundred thousand years., which began in July 2010, OnuaOnuaOnua was the Toa Mata and Toa Nuva of Earth, a quiet, deliberate warrior whose patience and underground mastery anchored his team across the Matoran Universe. briefed three Toa, Chiara, Orde and Zaria, on a job from Tahu: with the Glatorian GeluGeluGelu is a Glatorian of the Ice Tribe, native to Bota Magna, who formerly served as a secondary Glatorian for the city of Iconox. White and dark blue in color, he wields an Ice Slicer and a Thornax Launcher and resides on the reformed Spherus Magna. as their guide, they were to find the Great Beings, because Mata Nui had asked that they be told their mission was done. Onua explained that Tahu was busy keeping the peace between the Agori and the Matoran, and GaliGali, Toa of WaterThe Toa Nuva of Water and conscience of the Toa Mata, whose attunement to her element anchored the team across every campaign from Mata Nui to Karda Nui. had a mission of her own. The Toa ran into VoroxVoroxThe warrior caste of the Sand Tribe, reduced to feral pack hunters in the wastes of Bara Magna after the collapse of their civilisation in the Core War. led by KabruaKabruaKabrua led an organised Vorox community on Bota Magna, retained the speech and intelligence lost by his desert kin, and captured a Toa expedition in 2010., and the Great Being AngonceAngonceThe Great Being who named Mata Nui, stayed out of the Baterra project, was said to have lingered on Bara Magna to watch the Agori, and raced too late to stop Marendar when the Toa reached Spherus Magna. appeared in a strand of his own. In the last chapter, in February 2011, Orde read Kabrua's mind and learned that one of the Great Beings had long ago moved his mind into a being from the Matoran Universe and had been living among them in disguise, with plans of his own for the new world. (The Yesterday Quest)

The Powers That BeThe Spherus Magna Murders: The Hunt for the Power KillerA string of killings on the reunified Spherus Magna struck at the most powerful beings in the universe, drawing Kopaka and Pohatu into an investigation that led them to the Red Star. opened with the Toa of Water GaakiGaakiGaaki is a Toa of Water and member of the Toa Hagah, distinguished by her dark blue and copper armor and wielding a Tidal Spear and Rhotuka Launching Shield. She wears the Great Mask of Clairvoyance and once served as a bodyguard to Makuta Teridax before dedicating herself to hunting Rahi and protecting Matoran, residing on Spherus Magna. and a few others helping sea creatures leave the ruined robot for Aqua Magna. The Toa of Air LesovikkLesovikkA Toa of Air and former commander whose team was destroyed, leaving him fractured and searching for purpose. was hunting KarzahniKarzahniBionicle reused one cursed name three times, and every instance earns it, this is the article that finally untangles all three., who had been set free on the planet. KopakaKopakaKopaka was the Toa Nuva of Ice, the loner of the Toa Mata, and one of the six warriors created on Artakha to protect the Great Spirit Mata Nui. and PohatuPohatuPohatu was the Toa Mata and Toa Nuva of Stone, guardian of Po-Wahi, whose speed and steady humour anchored the team through every era of the Matoran Universe. found the remains of Tren KromTren KromThe first purely organic creation of the Great Beings, exiled to a stone island after surrendering the core of the Matoran Universe to Mata Nui. torn apart, received a mental image of a red starRed StarThe Red Star was an orbiting facility that revived the dead and enabled the Great Spirit Robot's cosmic travels., and ended up aboard it, where they met the KestoraKestoraThe Kestora are a species of purple and black beings associated with the Red Star and the City of Silver Pocket Dimension. and the Matoran 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.. (The Powers That Be)

Only Sahmad's TaleSahmad and the Hunt for Annona: The Iron Tribe Slaver's Last PursuitThe last survivor of the Iron Tribe tracked the dream-eater Annona across Bara Magna and onto Aqua Magna, ending the entity that had ended his people. reached an ending. The Agori slaver SahmadSahmadA slaver, a survivor, and the only living memory of a people the Dreaming Plague erased before the Core War. told his own story as a podcast, and in its final chapter, in June 2011, with the help of a mysterious golden being, he got rid of the dream-eating creature AnnonaAnnonaA predatory entity older than the Great Beings, the dream-eater Annona fed on the minds of sentient life and ended the Iron Tribe before its banishment. that had wiped out his tribe, then walked north to say goodbye to the people he had lost. (Sahmad's Tale)

The other two serials stopped partway through. The Great Being in disguise was never named in the text, Karzahni was never caught, and the mystery of the red star was left hanging. (The Yesterday Quest; The Powers That Be)

Where it fits#

Rebirth was the last Generation 1 comic, and the Bara Magna battle is the final event of the original saga. The battle and the restoration of the planet have their own pages, linked above. The film BIONICLE: The Legend RebornMata Nui's Exile to Bara MagnaAfter Teridax seized the body of the Great Spirit, Mata Nui's consciousness was cast into the Kanohi Ignika and hurled to the desert world of Bara Magna. is the place to start the Bara Magna chapter, the Mata Nui sagaThe Mata Nui SagaThe recorded chronicle of Mata Nui's deeds in exile on Bara Magna, from his awakening in a Glatorian body in the Bara Magna desert to the reunification of Spherus Magna and his final return to the Mask of Life. follows his whole exile on Bara Magna, and BIONICLE Legends 11: The Final BattleThe Final BattleThe convergence of the Toa Nuva, Takanuva, and the Toa Ignika at the Codrex beneath Karda Nui, the second Energy Storm, the reawakening of Mata Nui by the sacrifice of the Ignika's body, and the moment Teridax revealed that he had taken the body for himself. is the book that sets it up. That film was also the last of Bionicle's feature filmsEvery Bionicle Movie in Order: Mask of Light to The Legend RebornThere are four Bionicle feature films, all released straight to home video between 2003 and 2009, plus a two-minute web short and a 2016 Netflix series for the reboot. Here is each one in release order, what happens in it, and where it sits in the story.. (BIONICLE Glatorian 7: Rebirth; BIONICLE: The Legend Reborn; BIONICLE Legends 11: The Final Battle)