The Golden-Skinned Being

The Golden-Skinned Being was a unique creature made on ZakazZakazThe island where Skakdi civilization developed, shaped by isolation and harsh Makuta rule. when an army of SkakdiSkakdiA brutish warrior species from Zakaz whose pair-dependent elemental powers and moral void made them one of Bionicle's few irredeemable factions. threw the PirakaBionicle Piraka: the Six Skakdi Thieves Who Hunted the Mask of LifeThe Piraka were six Skakdi who quit the Dark Hunters, took over Voya Nui by posing as Toa and went after the Mask of Life in 2006. Here's who they were, how the Voya Nui story played out and what happened to them afterwards., a VortixxVortixxThe amoral weapons dealers of Xia who sold to anyone willing to pay., a ZyglakZyglakZyglak are a species of dark red, dark blue, and white creatures who are amphibious and wield spears and knives in combat. Formerly confined to the Pit, the Zyglak now inhabit Spherus Magna., and a Steltian laborer into a tank of Energized ProtodermisEnergized ProtodermisA sentient substance that could remake or annihilate any being that touched it. One of the Matoran Universe's most lethal hazards.. The resulting being could make dreams real and fed on the dreams of those around him. (Reign of Shadows; Sahmad's Tale)

Origins#

During TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna.'s reign over the Matoran Universe, an army of SkakdiSkakdiA brutish warrior species from Zakaz whose pair-dependent elemental powers and moral void made them one of Bionicle's few irredeemable factions. gathered in an underground chamber on ZakazZakazThe island where Skakdi civilization developed, shaped by isolation and harsh Makuta rule. for a ritual. They threw a VortixxVortixxThe amoral weapons dealers of Xia who sold to anyone willing to pay., a ZyglakZyglakZyglak are a species of dark red, dark blue, and white creatures who are amphibious and wield spears and knives in combat. Formerly confined to the Pit, the Zyglak now inhabit Spherus Magna., a Steltian laborer and the surviving PirakaBionicle Piraka: the Six Skakdi Thieves Who Hunted the Mask of LifeThe Piraka were six Skakdi who quit the Dark Hunters, took over Voya Nui by posing as Toa and went after the Mask of Life in 2006. Here's who they were, how the Voya Nui story played out and what happened to them afterwards. into a tank of Energized ProtodermisEnergized ProtodermisA sentient substance that could remake or annihilate any being that touched it. One of the Matoran Universe's most lethal hazards., and another figure climbed out of a nearby lake and plunged in after them. The Toa MahriToa Inika and Toa MahriSix ordinary Matoran transformed by lightning from the Red Star into heroes who ultimately revived the Great Spirit itself., spying on Zakaz, suspected that Teridax was behind it all. (Reign of Shadows)

A single golden-skinned figure climbed out of the tank. He had a reptilian face and piercing green eyes, and he told the Skakdi that they would feed him and in return be granted a wondrous gift. (Reign of Shadows)

Rule on Zakaz#

The SkakdiSkakdiA brutish warrior species from Zakaz whose pair-dependent elemental powers and moral void made them one of Bionicle's few irredeemable factions. gave themselves to him willingly. He also turned his power on the watching Toa MahriToa Inika and Toa MahriSix ordinary Matoran transformed by lightning from the Red Star into heroes who ultimately revived the Great Spirit itself., who abandoned their mission and began to serve him. (Reign of Shadows)

His time on ZakazZakazThe island where Skakdi civilization developed, shaped by isolation and harsh Makuta rule. was short. The stories move straight from his emergence to his departure after Teridax's death. (Reign of Shadows)

Relocation to Spherus Magna#

After TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna. died, the Golden-Skinned Being used his power to make a section of the robot vanish, opening an exit, and led his Skakdi and the Toa Mahri out onto Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint.. He took them through the new jungles to the shores of Aqua MagnaAqua MagnaThe endless ocean where the Matoran Universe found refuge and Mata Nui made his final stand., where, after talking with the Skakdi, he raised the Gold Being's FortressThe Gold Being's FortressA vast cliffside fortress raised on Spherus Magna by the Golden-Skinned Being and unmade during Annona's attack. on the cliffs. (Reign of Shadows)

The SkakdiSkakdiA brutish warrior species from Zakaz whose pair-dependent elemental powers and moral void made them one of Bionicle's few irredeemable factions. stayed with him there, and their dreams fed him. (Reign of Shadows; Sahmad's Tale)

Powers and abilities#

The Golden-Skinned Being could make the inner desires of those around him real, a near-unlimited power over matter. But he had little control over what was dreamed, so he could create things on purpose or by accident. He fed on dreams, and without them, as he told Annona, beings like him wouldn't exist. (Sahmad's Tale)

He raised his fortress in moments, conjured stone spikes from the ground in battle, and contacted Sahmad telepathically. He didn't care for everything his power produced: the monsters born of the Skakdi's maddened dreams frightened even him. (Reign of Shadows; Sahmad's Tale)

Confrontation with Annona#

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., a being who fed on dreams, came to the Gold Being's FortressThe Gold Being's FortressA vast cliffside fortress raised on Spherus Magna by the Golden-Skinned Being and unmade during Annona's attack. to feast on the Skakdi. The Golden-Skinned Being came out to face her and told her she would go hungry that night. (Sahmad's Tale)

He impaled her with stone spikes and left her to die, but she devoured all the Skakdi's dream energy at once, driving them mad. His power made their mad dreams real, and the fortress began to dissolve. With the Agori SahmadSahmadA slaver, a survivor, and the only living memory of a people the Dreaming Plague erased before the Core War., he then turned the fight: Sahmad wished away the dreams of everyone on Spherus Magna, starving Annona, and when she bargained for a world where she could feed, Sahmad dreamed one full of creatures like her. She left for it. The golden being and Sahmad restored everyone's dreams, and he told Sahmad he'd hear from him again. (Sahmad's Tale)

Significance#

The Golden-Skinned Being was a new kind of power after TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna.'s fall. He wasn't a MakutaMakuta (Species)Shadowy Antidermis beings and the Brotherhood's elite, Makuta commanded darkness and shaped the Matoran Universe's fate., a Toa, or a creation of the Great BeingsThe Great BeingsScholar-inventors of Spherus Magna whose creations shaped the Matoran Universe and whose absence defined the conflicts that followed., and he answered to none of the old Matoran UniverseMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control.'s powers. He existed because of a Skakdi ritual and energized protodermis. (Reign of Shadows)

On the reformed planet he led a power of his own, a Skakdi army with a fortress on the coast, apart from the Agori and GlatorianGlatorianTribal warriors of Spherus Magna who settled disputes through arena combat, until the Skrall conquest enslaved most of them. and from the factions of the old Matoran Universe. The story never got to show what he did next. (Reign of Shadows; Sahmad's Tale)