Gaardus

Gaardus was a MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. who was taken from his koro by a band of exiled Nynrah GhostNynrah GhostsThe Nynrah Ghosts were Fe-Matoran weapons engineers from the island of Nynrah whose sabotage of Brotherhood war machines led to their near extinction. weaponsmiths and remade into a winged creature meant to serve as a living weapon. He escaped, hunted every one of his makers down, at some point found himself aboard the Red StarRed StarThe Red Star was an orbiting facility that revived the dead and enabled the Great Spirit Robot's cosmic travels. and was sent back from it, and ended up living alone in the forests of Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint.. His only story appearance is in 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., where he reluctantly teleported 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. aboard the Red StarRed StarThe Red Star was an orbiting facility that revived the dead and enabled the Great Spirit Robot's cosmic travels., the first time two of 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. learned it was more than an engine. (The Powers That Be)

A Ta-Matoran taken from his koro#

Gaardus's early life was ordinary by the standards of the Matoran universeMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control.. He was a Matoran with a home, a job and a life in a koro, and Gaardus was the name people there called him by. He gave 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. only the bare bones of that life when they caught him in the forest, and told them that he was now just what they saw. Greg Farshtey later said online that he had been a Ta-MatoranTa-MatoranThe Fire-element Matoran of Ta-Metru and Ta-Koro, forgers of masks and Kanoka, lava farmers, and the standing core of the Ta-Koro Guard during the war for Mata Nui.. (The Powers That Be)

His life ended when a band of Nynrah GhostsNynrah GhostsThe Nynrah Ghosts were Fe-Matoran weapons engineers from the island of Nynrah whose sabotage of Brotherhood war machines led to their near extinction. took him. They were exiles, cast out for crimes too horrible to relate and hated and feared even by their own people. They had decided to make a living weapon out of a MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body., and Gaardus was the one they took. Greg Farshtey later put this more than 80,000 years before the story. (The Powers That Be)

Almost nothing is said about the transformation itself. The result had large scalloped wings and long arms and legs, carried a sword of fire, and could return to any place it had ever been. The 2010 combiner model built from the six BIONICLE Stars sets shows him wearing a HauHauThe Mask of Shielding that protected Toa from harm they saw coming, but left them vulnerable to ambush and mental assault.. He still wore a KanohiKanohiMasks that grant powers and sustain life, they're the most vital artifact in the Matoran Universe., but he no longer thought of himself as a Matoran. (The Powers That Be; Gaardus combiner model)

The hunt of the Nynrah Ghosts#

By Gaardus's own account, the exiles underestimated him. He was too smart for them. He escaped, and then he hunted them, and he didn't stop until none of them were left. (The Powers That Be)

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., hearing this later, was stunned. What kind of MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. could mutate one of their own like that? How had the rest of the Nynrah let it happen? Gaardus spoke of the hunt as if the memories themselves hurt, but he offered no view on whether finishing it had been right. (The Powers That Be)

The killings ended the threat. They didn't end the rage. Gaardus stayed for a long time in the Nynrah's village after his escape, watching the red star in the sky, and later left the Matoran behind and went looking for somewhere peaceful. (The Powers That Be)

The Red Star detour#

At some point in his long life Gaardus ended up aboard the Red StarRed StarThe Red Star was an orbiting facility that revived the dead and enabled the Great Spirit Robot's cosmic travels., the strange structure in the sky that the Toa had only recently learned was a booster engine of the Great Spirit Robot. How he got there isn't told. What he said was that he didn't choose to go and didn't choose to leave, and the KestoraKestoraThe Kestora are a species of purple and black beings associated with the Red Star and the City of Silver Pocket Dimension. who tend the place remembered that he was sent back from it. Greg Farshtey later explained that he had died and been revived there, which the serial never reached. (The Powers That Be)

Something changed after that return. According to the KestoraKestoraThe Kestora are a species of purple and black beings associated with the Red Star and the City of Silver Pocket Dimension., Gaardus was the last being they managed to send back. Since then the Red Star hadn't been working, and those who arrived couldn't leave. The Kestora had tried to find out why, including by dissecting some of the arrivals, and all they got were what they called messes. Meanwhile the Red Star's population kept growing; one of them complained that they already had too many. (The Powers That Be)

So the KestoraKestoraThe Kestora are a species of purple and black beings associated with the Red Star and the City of Silver Pocket Dimension. blamed Gaardus. Whether they were right hardly mattered: in their eyes he was the reason the Red Star had stopped working. He had no wish to go back, and later told the Toa that no one ever does. He carried on his life in the Matoran universeMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control., and the next time he set foot on the Red Star it wasn't his idea. (The Powers That Be)

Hermit on Bota Magna#

After the Matoran universeMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control. was abandoned and its people moved to Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint., Gaardus kept well away from the Matoran. 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. guessed that he had slipped out of the robot among the Rahi and headed north, as far from the Matoran as he could get, and Gaardus didn't argue. He ended up in the forests of the north, in the region that had once been 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 hunted alone. (The Powers That Be)

The peace didn't hold. While Gaardus was in the trees, 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. appeared in the forest out of nowhere, confused and barely able to move. Gaardus was about to hunt him, but Tren Krom's mind touched his and it hurt. Then someone else arrived, a howling wind knocked Gaardus from his perch and tore limbs off the trees, and by the time he was back in the air the attacker was gone. All he had was the image of a red star, carried into his mind by Tren Krom's dying scream. (The Powers That Be)

The encounter with Kopaka and Pohatu#

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., searching the forest for a killer, felt the same telepathic scream. They found what was left 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., pieces of scarlet gelatin scattered for hundreds of yards, and soon afterwards heard something with huge wings in the trees. Kopaka iced its wings with a blast of frost, and it tumbled to the ground. Gaardus told them he hadn't killed Tren Krom; he had only eaten what the killer left behind. (The Powers That Be)

He told them who he had been and what had happened to him. 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. asked, failing to hide his disbelief, whether Gaardus had really been a MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body.. Gaardus answered that Kopaka said the word as if there was some honour in it. He had been one. He no longer was. (The Powers That Be)

The talk turned to the image in 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.'s scream. Gaardus had seen the same red star. When Kopaka wished aloud that they could get up there, Gaardus admitted, very quietly, that he could take them. He had been built to hunt, and a hunter returns to the grounds rich in prey; anywhere he had ever been, he could go back to. Kopaka insisted, so Gaardus folded his wings around both 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. and they vanished. (The Powers That Be)

Return to the Red Star#

The three arrived in a curved hallway whose walls mixed metal bands with organic tissue, much as 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. imagined the inside of a Toa would look. Three small KestoraKestoraThe Kestora are a species of purple and black beings associated with the Red Star and the City of Silver Pocket Dimension. in purple and black armour came towards them, alarmed. One recognised Gaardus as the last being to leave. They drew weapons, then accused him in front of 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. of being the reason the Red Star had stopped working. Gaardus told the Toa that this was why he hadn't wanted to come back. (The Powers That Be)

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. disarmed the KestoraKestoraThe Kestora are a species of purple and black beings associated with the Red Star and the City of Silver Pocket Dimension. at super-speed. When they started discussing dissecting the newcomers, 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. lost patience and froze all three solid, assuring Pohatu they would thaw out eventually. In the meantime, Gaardus quietly disappeared. Where he went isn't said, and The Powers That Be was left unfinished before he could turn up again. (The Powers That Be)

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. were left aboard the Red StarRed StarThe Red Star was an orbiting facility that revived the dead and enabled the Great Spirit Robot's cosmic travels. with no way home. Hunted through dark corridors, they were pulled to safety by an Onu-MatoranOnu-MatoranEarth-wielding Matoran of the deep who adapted to darkness and built the Matoran Universe's defensive cavalry. who introduced himself as 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 archivist long thought dead since the Toa Metru's time beneath Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive.. The serial stops there. (The Powers That Be; BIONICLE Adventures 3: The Darkness Below)

Significance#

Gaardus's short appearance carried more weight than its length suggests. Through him the story revealed what the Red StarRed StarThe Red Star was an orbiting facility that revived the dead and enabled the Great Spirit Robot's cosmic travels. really did and that it had stopped working, the central discovery of 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.. He also showed what the exiled Nynrah GhostsNynrah GhostsThe Nynrah Ghosts were Fe-Matoran weapons engineers from the island of Nynrah whose sabotage of Brotherhood war machines led to their near extinction. were capable of: a working living weapon, with flight and teleportation and the will to turn both against its makers. (The Powers That Be)

What was done to him was done by outcasts of his own kind, and the anger it left followed him across the Matoran universeMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control. and on to Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint.. In his own words, he wanted to get away from the rage, but it followed him even to that peaceful place. (The Powers That Be)