Element Lords

The Element Lords are among the most powerful beings in Bionicle canon, and they're also its strangest concealed asset. Seven in total, each infused with mastery over a different element, they were ordinary warriors on Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint. until the Great Beings remade them entirely. They gained power and, according to the Element Lord of JungleElement Lord of JungleThe Element Lord of Jungle was a being native to Spherus Magna who was formerly of the Glatorian species, wielded power over the jungle element, and carried a sword. A member of the Element Lords, the individual once led the Jungle Tribe and bore green coloration., became their elements: indifferent, giving, and ruthless as nature itself. The Shattering didn't kill them. It just left them stranded in a war that never ended.

Born from War#

The Element Lords weren't born. They were chosen by the Great Beings from among the finest warriors on Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint. and fundamentally altered. Where other mortals trained with weapons, the Element Lords became weapons, each fused with command over an element. One of them describes the transformation in "Riddle of the Great Beings": they were remade "one with our elements," given armor and tools, and told to defend their respective villages. This transformation wasn't metaphorical. They really did become nature itself.

Before the Shattering, each Element Lord commanded a tribe. The Ice TribeIce TribeOne of Bara Magna's six major tribes, the Ice Tribe produced legendary Glatorian like Strakk and survived the Shattering intact., the Jungle TribeJungle TribeThe Jungle Tribe of Tesara originated in Bota Magna, weathered the Shattering, and sent Gresh and Vastus into the Bara Magna arena system., the Sand TribeSand TribeBara Magna's strangest tribe, Zesk and Vorox degraded by cataclysm into barely-sentient packs., and four others looked to them for leadership. But this wasn't benevolent rulership. The Element Lords were as implacable and indifferent as nature itself, willing to wage war, reshape the terrain, and treat soldiers as expendable. They commanded vast armies through what's called the Core War, a conflict that consumed Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint. for centuries.

After the Shattering#

The Shattering was supposed to be an ending. The planet fractured, civilizations collapsed, millions died. But for the Element Lords, it was just a transition. SurelSurelSurel is a Glatorian and the Element Lord of Ice, native to Spherus Magna. Clad in white and light blue, he wanders the reformed Spherus Magna armed with a spear., the last warrior of Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint. to witness their era firsthand, explains to TardukTardukTarduk is an Agori of the Jungle Tribe, distinguished by his dark green and lime coloration. A treasure hunter by trade, he wields claws and spikes and makes his home on the reformed Spherus Magna. in "Riddle of the Great Beings" that while the war ended for everyone else, the Element Lords never stopped fighting. This is what makes them genuinely unsettling: they're not corrupted or insane, just continuing exactly as they were made to do.

More than 100,000 years after the world broke, they persist, still locked in conflict. Some wandered into the Forest of BladesForest of BladesThe forest north of the White Quartz Mountains where Core War warriors stood fused into the trees, still gripping their swords, in the territory of the Element Lord of Jungle. and found themselves trapped there. Others roam Bara MagnaBara MagnaA desert world of tribal warfare and scarce resources, one of three landmasses that formed Spherus Magna., the reformed planet's surface, locked in an eternal war most modern inhabitants don't remember happened.

The Unchanged#

The Element Lords are Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint.'s only stagnant power. Everything around them adapted. The AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and lived by the Glatorian arena system. learned to survive in scarcity. The GlatorianGlatorianTribal warriors of Spherus Magna who settled disputes through arena combat, until the Skrall conquest enslaved most of them. sold their skill as warriors-for-hire. But the Element Lords never changed. They remained what the Great Beings made them: embodiments of their elements locked in an endless war, indifferent to the world's collapse around them.

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Compiled from primary sources by Lore Fortress editorial. Reviewed by Joe Garratt, Editor-in-Chief.