The Cursed Great Being

The Cursed Great Being was one of the Great BeingsThe Great BeingsScholar-inventors of Spherus Magna whose creations shaped the Matoran Universe and whose absence defined the conflicts that followed. of Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint.. Curious about the power of the Kanohi IgnikaThe 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 Mask of Life his people had forged, he touched it, and the mask cursed him: everything around him came to life. His fellow Great Beings locked him away in their fortress on 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., where he stayed for ages until VezonVezonHe started as a weapon misfire and a throwaway joke, and the canon spent four years quietly turning him into its most useful expendable asset. and a band of beings Teridax had cast out of the Matoran Universe arrived in his cell. (BIONICLE Legends 5: Inferno; Reign of Shadows)

Origin and the curse#

Long ago, the Great Beings forged the Kanohi IgnikaThe 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. and encased it in a golden shell. One of them, curious about its power, touched it. The mask shared its power with him, and the result was a permanent curse: anything around him came to life. (BIONICLE Legends 5: Inferno)

The things he animated moved and breathed, and he could hear their thoughts and pleas. Over time those voices drove him insane. (BIONICLE Legends 6: City of the Lost)

In his own words to Vezon, furniture, equipment and even rays of light came to life around him, and his fellow rulers imprisoned him for their own safety. (Reign of Shadows)

Imprisonment on 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 other Great Beings locked him away in their fortress on 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. so he couldn't do any more damage. (Reign of Shadows; BIONICLE Legends 6: City of the Lost)

The curse made his prison as alive as he was. By his own account, all he had left to fear were his living chains, the living blocks of stone, and the screams of light as darkness snuffed it out. Objects only stayed alive while they were within a certain range of him, and returned to normal once they left it. (Reign of Shadows)

Visitors during the 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.#

Even imprisoned, the Great Being had powerful telepathy and could freeze time and space around a target, or switch off mask powers, even in another dimension. During Teridax's reign he watched VezonVezonHe started as a weapon misfire and a throwaway joke, and the canon spent four years quietly turning him into its most useful expendable asset., who had been fused with a Kanohi OlmakThe Kanohi OlmakThe Kanohi Olmak was the Great Mask of Dimensional Gates, a portal-opening Kanohi forged by Artakha. Only two ever existed in the Matoran Universe, and both passed through the hands of figures who reshaped the late storyline., and when Vezon turned up in an alternate Spherus Magna, the Great Being shut off the Olmak's power, froze him in place and made telepathic contact. Vezon offered to free him if the Great Being let him go. (Reign of Shadows)

The Great Being judged that Vezon wasn't strong enough to free him on his own. Instead he sent Vezon to rescue a group that Teridax had cast out into space from the Mata Nui robot: HelryxHelryx: the first Toa ever createdHelryx was the first Toa ever made, commissioned by the Great Beings on Artakha long before the Toa Mata. She founded and led the Order of Mata Nui., TuyetTuyetA Toa of Water caught in the Order's machinations, Tuyet turned from peer-seeker to rebel-schemer., LewaLewaToa of Air, member of the Toa Mata and Toa Nuva, whose career was marked by repeated possession, body theft, and aerial campaigns from Le-Wahi to Karda Nui., MiserixMiserixThe deposed Makuta leader clawed back from exile to hunt the brother who stole his throne., ArtakhaArtakhaArtakha is the master craftsman of the Matoran Universe, ruler of a hidden island where the Toa Mata came into being and the Avohkii was forged., AxonnAxonnAxonn served as an arbitrator under the Hand of Artakha and later as an Order of Mata Nui agent, guarding the Kanohi Ignika on Voya Nui for thousands of years., BrutakaBrutakaBrutaka guarded the Kanohi Ignika on Voya Nui, betrayed the Order during the Piraka incursion, was mutated in the Pit, and later led the Order's strike team to free Miserix., and the Matoran 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. and 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.. Vezon pulled them through a portal into the Great Being's cell. (Reign of Shadows)

Helryx stepped towards him, and his curse brought her armour to life; it started to strangle her. The Great Being told the group they were on Bota Magna and that they were there to free him. He spoke of how the Great Beings' own name had been the worst thing that ever happened to them, because they had started to believe it, and wondered if that was why he was imprisoned at all. (Reign of Shadows)

The group immediately started arguing over whether to free him, and kept at it for so long that Lewa got bored and left the fortress. (Reign of Shadows)

The detonation and the escape#

After Spherus Magna was restored, VelikaVelikaVelika is a Great Being who disguised himself as a Po-Matoran on Mata Nui, wearing a powerless Komau and bearing an affinity for Stone. Colored in golden brown, grey, and orange, he worked as an inventor and carried Power Carvers as his tools. He was last known to be located on Bota Magna., another Great Being who had been living disguised as a Matoran, came to the tower and sensed the powerful beings gathered inside. In line with his own plans, he put together a complicated system of machinery meant to destroy the tower and everyone in it. (The Powers That Be)

The Powers That Be was never finished, so the outcome of Velika's plan, and the fate of the Cursed Great Being, aren't told in the story. (The Powers That Be)

Encounter with ArtakhaArtakhaArtakha is the master craftsman of the Matoran Universe, ruler of a hidden island where the Toa Mata came into being and the Avohkii was forged.#

ArtakhaArtakhaArtakha is the master craftsman of the Matoran Universe, ruler of a hidden island where the Toa Mata came into being and the Avohkii was forged., the maker of the Matoran Universe's finest masks and tools, was one of the beings Vezon brought to the cell, and so was among those who stood before one of the creators of their universe and argued about whether to set him loose. (Reign of Shadows)

That's where the Cursed Great Being's story stands. His curse was as strong as ever, his prison was still alive around him, and the question of whether anyone should free him was still open. (Reign of Shadows; The Powers That Be)