Darkness

Darkness was a Dark HunterThe Dark HuntersA mercenary organization founded on Odina by The Shadowed One and Ancient, contracted across the Matoran Universe for assassination and theft, and ultimately reduced to a battered remnant by the fall of the universe itself. of unknown species and origin who served The Shadowed OneThe Shadowed OneThe Shadowed One is the leader of the Dark Hunters, a black, yellow, and silver figure based on Spherus Magna. Armed with a staff and a Rhotuka, the Shadowed One directs the organization. directly, in the role of permanent personal observer and contingency replacement, throughout the operational period of the organisation. He followed his leader almost continuously, intervened personally to break the only documented coup attempt against him, and was openly counted by The Shadowed OneThe Shadowed OneThe Shadowed One is the leader of the Dark Hunters, a black, yellow, and silver figure based on Spherus Magna. Armed with a staff and a Rhotuka, the Shadowed One directs the organization. as one of the most powerful Dark HuntersThe Dark HuntersA mercenary organization founded on Odina by The Shadowed One and Ancient, contracted across the Matoran Universe for assassination and theft, and ultimately reduced to a battered remnant by the fall of the universe itself. on the OdinaOdinaOdina is a member of both the Dark Hunters and the Cliff Screechers, operating within the Matoran Universe. Formerly in possession of the powers of Vamprah, Odina retains no elemental abilities in the present day. roster. He survived the fall of the Matoran UniverseMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control. and lives on the reformed Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint..

Role inside the Dark Hunters#

The Dark HuntersThe Dark HuntersA mercenary organization founded on Odina by The Shadowed One and Ancient, contracted across the Matoran Universe for assassination and theft, and ultimately reduced to a battered remnant by the fall of the universe itself. operated under a flat command structure centred on The Shadowed OneThe Shadowed OneThe Shadowed One is the leader of the Dark Hunters, a black, yellow, and silver figure based on Spherus Magna. Armed with a staff and a Rhotuka, the Shadowed One directs the organization., with AncientAncientAncient is a dark blue and gold operative who served as both an agent of the Order of Mata Nui and a member of the Dark Hunters, armed with Kanoka and a Rhotuka. as his founding partner, SentrakhSentrakhThe Shadowed One's mysterious bodyguard commands transmutation and illusion, leaving Vakama barely alive in Time Trap. as his personal enforcer, and LariskaLariskaDark Hunter defined by discipline and tactical competence, Lariska was one of the Shadowed One's most dependable operatives before joining Brutaka's desperate mission. as his administrative second when he was off-island. Darkness occupied a role distinct from each of these. He was not a recruiter, not an enforcer in the public sense, and not an administrator. He was the contingency. His standing assignment was to wait for the day, if it ever came, that his leader showed weakness, and on that day to descend upon him and assume leadership of the organisation.

The arrangement was openly known to The Shadowed OneThe Shadowed OneThe Shadowed One is the leader of the Dark Hunters, a black, yellow, and silver figure based on Spherus Magna. Armed with a staff and a Rhotuka, the Shadowed One directs the organization. and accepted by him as a structural feature of the organisation he had built. The presence of Darkness as a designated successor provided the only succession mechanism the operating model permitted, and acted as a continuous internal discipline on the leader himself, who knew he was being watched at all times by a Hunter authorised to remove him on detection of fault.

Darkness followed his leader almost constantly. Whenever The Shadowed OneThe Shadowed OneThe Shadowed One is the leader of the Dark Hunters, a black, yellow, and silver figure based on Spherus Magna. Armed with a staff and a Rhotuka, the Shadowed One directs the organization. left OdinaOdinaOdina is a member of both the Dark Hunters and the Cliff Screechers, operating within the Matoran Universe. Formerly in possession of the powers of Vamprah, Odina retains no elemental abilities in the present day., Darkness managed to follow him. The only documented departures from the routine were short absences in which Darkness left his post specifically to keep his combat skills sharp, conducting disciplinary combat against Dark HuntersThe Dark HuntersA mercenary organization founded on Odina by The Shadowed One and Ancient, contracted across the Matoran Universe for assassination and theft, and ultimately reduced to a battered remnant by the fall of the universe itself. who had been judged disobedient.

The proto-Piraka coup#

The single most consequential engagement Darkness fought on his own initiative came roughly five thousand years before the contemporary era, during the period in which the SkakdiSkakdiA brutish warrior species from Zakaz whose pair-dependent elemental powers and moral void made them one of Bionicle's few irredeemable factions. recruits later known as the PirakaPirakaSix rogue Skakdi mercenaries who broke from the Dark Hunters to hunt the Mask of Life on Voya Nui. were still serving as the Dark Hunter team built around ZaktanZaktanMutated Skakdi leader of the Piraka, formerly a Dark Hunter whose body was dissolved into a colony of Protodites by the Shadowed One and reformed with its consciousness intact.. The five core members of the proto-PirakaPirakaSix rogue Skakdi mercenaries who broke from the Dark Hunters to hunt the Mask of Life on Voya Nui. team, ZaktanZaktanMutated Skakdi leader of the Piraka, formerly a Dark Hunter whose body was dissolved into a colony of Protodites by the Shadowed One and reformed with its consciousness intact., VezokVezokThe Beast was a Piraka thief split in two by the Spear of Fusion, then imprisoned by the Order of Mata Nui., ReidakReidakA sadistic Skakdi thug who traded the Dark Hunters for the Piraka and paid the price., HakannHakannThe Skakdi bully known for pure aggression, from Dark Hunter mercenary to Piraka thief driven by violence and power., and ThokThok (the Drifter)The Piraka's cowardly thief learned that ice guns and dirty tactics can't save you from Toa with elemental fury., attempted a coup against The Shadowed OneThe Shadowed OneThe Shadowed One is the leader of the Dark Hunters, a black, yellow, and silver figure based on Spherus Magna. Armed with a staff and a Rhotuka, the Shadowed One directs the organization. inside the OdinaOdinaOdina is a member of both the Dark Hunters and the Cliff Screechers, operating within the Matoran Universe. Formerly in possession of the powers of Vamprah, Odina retains no elemental abilities in the present day. fortress. The attempt represented the only serious documented internal challenge to The Shadowed OneThe Shadowed OneThe Shadowed One is the leader of the Dark Hunters, a black, yellow, and silver figure based on Spherus Magna. Armed with a staff and a Rhotuka, the Shadowed One directs the organization.'s leadership in the organisation's history.

Darkness intervened personally. He broke the coup. The proto-PirakaPirakaSix rogue Skakdi mercenaries who broke from the Dark Hunters to hunt the Mask of Life on Voya Nui. survived and remained on the roster, with ZaktanZaktanMutated Skakdi leader of the Piraka, formerly a Dark Hunter whose body was dissolved into a colony of Protodites by the Shadowed One and reformed with its consciousness intact. eventually reduced to a colony of protodites by The Shadowed OneThe Shadowed OneThe Shadowed One is the leader of the Dark Hunters, a black, yellow, and silver figure based on Spherus Magna. Armed with a staff and a Rhotuka, the Shadowed One directs the organization.'s own attempt at execution, but the leadership of the organisation was not transferred. The intervention also confirmed for The Shadowed OneThe Shadowed OneThe Shadowed One is the leader of the Dark Hunters, a black, yellow, and silver figure based on Spherus Magna. Armed with a staff and a Rhotuka, the Shadowed One directs the organization. what he had long suspected: that Darkness was not merely watching but was capable of the act he had been positioned to perform, and that the system he had built therefore worked as designed. The Hunter resumed his observation routine after the coup was broken and continued in the role for the rest of the operational period.

The Xia operation and the vials#

Darkness was present for the events on XiaXiaA hostile island southeast of Metru Nui, home to the Vortixx and their brutal mercenary culture. recorded later in the operational chronology. The Shadowed OneThe Shadowed OneThe Shadowed One is the leader of the Dark Hunters, a black, yellow, and silver figure based on Spherus Magna. Armed with a staff and a Rhotuka, the Shadowed One directs the organization. had discovered three vials of Makuta VirusMakuta VirusA bioweapon engineered by Makuta Kojol that incapacitated the Great Spirit Mata Nui, reversible only through Matoro's ultimate sacrifice. on the VortixxVortixxThe amoral weapons dealers of Xia who sold to anyone willing to pay. island and had developed a desire to kill anyone who knew of the discovery. He did not kill Darkness. The reason, as understood by The Shadowed OneThe Shadowed OneThe Shadowed One is the leader of the Dark Hunters, a black, yellow, and silver figure based on Spherus Magna. Armed with a staff and a Rhotuka, the Shadowed One directs the organization. himself, was that Darkness was concerned only with the question of weakness; the discovery of the vials and the operational decisions surrounding them did not constitute weakness, and Darkness therefore had no occasion to discuss the matter or act on it.

The pattern held during the rest of the XiaXiaA hostile island southeast of Metru Nui, home to the Vortixx and their brutal mercenary culture. operation. When The Shadowed OneThe Shadowed OneThe Shadowed One is the leader of the Dark Hunters, a black, yellow, and silver figure based on Spherus Magna. Armed with a staff and a Rhotuka, the Shadowed One directs the organization. had a throne constructed for himself in the chamber where he conducted his subsequent meetings, Darkness witnessed the engagement from a rafter above the chamber. The meeting in question included three of the BarrakiThe BarrakiSix warlords who built an empire spanning most of the Matoran Universe, fell in a single Brotherhood ambush, and spent millennia mutated in the Pit. warlords, KalmahKalmahA red-and-black Barraki warlord of the League of Six Kingdoms, imprisoned in the Pit and mutated into permanent aquatic form., EhlekEhlekA Barraki warlord with electrical powers who led aquatic forces against the Brotherhood of Makuta., and MantaxMantaxMutated Barraki warlord of the Pit who uncovered Takadox's Brotherhood collaboration through a hidden Tablet of Transit., who had been freed from the PitThe PitThe deep-water prison of the Matoran Universe, built by the Order of Mata Nui to hold the Barraki and other beings too dangerous to execute. and were negotiating with The Shadowed OneThe Shadowed OneThe Shadowed One is the leader of the Dark Hunters, a black, yellow, and silver figure based on Spherus Magna. Armed with a staff and a Rhotuka, the Shadowed One directs the organization.. Darkness observed the whole exchange and made no intervention; the negotiation reflected the leader's continuing competence rather than its failure, and the contingency therefore did not activate.

Powers and equipment#

Darkness wielded dual claws on each hand as his primary armament. He could slip through tight spaces, including narrow cracks and gaps too small for most operatives of his apparent size. The capacity was operationally useful for the silent observation work his role required: he could enter rooms, hallways, and architectural cavities that an obvious sentry would notice and a larger frame could not negotiate.

The Shadowed OneThe Shadowed OneThe Shadowed One is the leader of the Dark Hunters, a black, yellow, and silver figure based on Spherus Magna. Armed with a staff and a Rhotuka, the Shadowed One directs the organization. suspected the claws and the slipping capacity were not the whole of his arsenal. The additional powers were not catalogued, and Darkness did not display them in the documented engagements, but his master considered him one of the most powerful Dark HuntersThe Dark HuntersA mercenary organization founded on Odina by The Shadowed One and Ancient, contracted across the Matoran Universe for assassination and theft, and ultimately reduced to a battered remnant by the fall of the universe itself. on the OdinaOdinaOdina is a member of both the Dark Hunters and the Cliff Screechers, operating within the Matoran Universe. Formerly in possession of the powers of Vamprah, Odina retains no elemental abilities in the present day. roster. His equipment was otherwise minimal: no ranged weapon, no shield, no secondary armament beyond the claws on each hand.

The Dark Mirror counterpart#

The recorded universe contains a single alternate-timeline counterpart to Darkness, drawn from the Dark MirrorDark MirrorThe parallel timeline in which Tuyet kept the Nui Stone, the original Toa Mangai survived, and a Toa of Light from another reality fell through a cracked Olmak into the heart of a Toa empire. account of the Toa EmpireToa EmpireAn alternate-universe tyranny where Tuyet ruled Metru Nui with absolute authority over all its Toa. timeline in which TuyetTuyetA Toa of Water caught in the Order's machinations, Tuyet turned from peer-seeker to rebel-schemer. had successfully imposed a militarised ToaToa (2001)Biomechanical heroes bonded to elemental powers and masks. Not born, but chosen and transformed. regime over the Matoran UniverseMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control.. In that branch, Darkness survived the Toa EmpireToa EmpireAn alternate-universe tyranny where Tuyet ruled Metru Nui with absolute authority over all its Toa.'s campaign of suppression against the Dark HuntersThe Dark HuntersA mercenary organization founded on Odina by The Shadowed One and Ancient, contracted across the Matoran Universe for assassination and theft, and ultimately reduced to a battered remnant by the fall of the universe itself., which the regime had identified as a threat to the controlled order it was building, and joined the resistance team that 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. was organising against TuyetTuyetA Toa of Water caught in the Order's machinations, Tuyet turned from peer-seeker to rebel-schemer.. He summoned the remaining Hunters surviving on Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive., GuardianGuardianA Dark Hunter who tracked down captured operatives before the fall, and later fought beside Tahu in the ruins of Karzahni. and PrimalPrimal: The Trophy-Hunting Dark Hunter"Primal" was one of the most troublesome of the Dark Hunters, a survivor of a Visorak-ruined homeland who hunted for trophies and whose harsh sense of justice sometimes turned him against his own employers., to support the rebellion at the ColiseumThe ColiseumCentral tower of Metru Nui, serving as government seat, sporting arena, and, during Teridax's masquerade, a prison for the city's Matoran population..

In the battle that followed, Darkness reached the Hall of Masks chamber inside the ColiseumThe ColiseumCentral tower of Metru Nui, serving as government seat, sporting arena, and, during Teridax's masquerade, a prison for the city's Matoran population., entering through cracks in the structure with 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. following behind. TuyetTuyetA Toa of Water caught in the Order's machinations, Tuyet turned from peer-seeker to rebel-schemer. was already in the room and used her elemental Water powers to summon a wall of water that swept Darkness away. The encounter is the only documented appearance of his counterpart in the alternate timeline and is preserved only in the Dark MirrorDark MirrorThe parallel timeline in which Tuyet kept the Nui Stone, the original Toa Mangai survived, and a Toa of Light from another reality fell through a cracked Olmak into the heart of a Toa empire. account itself.

Aftermath#

In the contemporary universe, Darkness survived 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. and the broader collapse of the Matoran UniverseMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control. that followed the death of TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna.. He evacuated the Great Spirit RobotMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control. with the rest of the population and resettled on the reformed Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint.. The Dark HuntersThe Dark HuntersA mercenary organization founded on Odina by The Shadowed One and Ancient, contracted across the Matoran Universe for assassination and theft, and ultimately reduced to a battered remnant by the fall of the universe itself. themselves were reduced to a battered remnant by the end of the era, and Darkness's standing role no longer carried the operational weight it had held inside the closed organisation on OdinaOdinaOdina is a member of both the Dark Hunters and the Cliff Screechers, operating within the Matoran Universe. Formerly in possession of the powers of Vamprah, Odina retains no elemental abilities in the present day..

His significance for the organisational history of the Dark HuntersThe Dark HuntersA mercenary organization founded on Odina by The Shadowed One and Ancient, contracted across the Matoran Universe for assassination and theft, and ultimately reduced to a battered remnant by the fall of the universe itself. is structural rather than narrative. The presence of an authorised internal successor, continuously stationed near the leader and openly known to him, is the single clearest expression of the operational logic on which the entire organisation ran. The arrangement made The Shadowed OneThe Shadowed OneThe Shadowed One is the leader of the Dark Hunters, a black, yellow, and silver figure based on Spherus Magna. Armed with a staff and a Rhotuka, the Shadowed One directs the organization.'s position both more secure by removing the temptation of a peaceful coup and more precarious by guaranteeing an immediate replacement on any failure. Darkness was the living form of that arrangement, and his survival of the period in which the organisation collapsed around him is the final piece of evidence that the design had worked.