The Great Barrier

The Great Barrier was the wall of the vast dome that surrounded the island city of Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive. and the Silver SeaThe Silver SeaThe vast body of unrefined liquid Protodermis surrounding Metru Nui inside the Great Barrier dome of the Matoran Universe., cutting the city off from the rest of the Matoran UniverseMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control.. Its cliffs were where the Toa MetruToa Metru and Toa HordikaSix Matoran elevated by Lhikan to save their city, mutated by Visorak venom, and restored in time to deliver the population to safety. sealed TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna. after his coup, and after the Great CataclysmThe Great CataclysmThe day Makuta Teridax put the Great Spirit to sleep, the Great Spirit Robot fell from the sky, Metru Nui flooded, and Voya Nui tore loose from the Southern Continent. the Toa passed through it to carry the sleeping MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. up to the island of Mata NuiMata Nui (Location)An island created by accident on the Great Spirit's face, home to the Matoran for a thousand years.. (BIONICLE Adventures 4: Legends of Metru Nui; BIONICLE 2: Legends of Metru Nui; BIONICLE Adventures 5: Voyage of Fear)

Structure and scale#

The Great Barrier was the wall of the dome that held Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive. and the Silver SeaThe Silver SeaThe vast body of unrefined liquid Protodermis surrounding Metru Nui inside the Great Barrier dome of the Matoran Universe. around it. To travellers on the sea it looked like a cliff so high that it vanished into the sky and so wide that it took up the whole horizon. Its face was broken by many cliffs and ledges, and one ledge looking out over the sea was linked by a great door to TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna.'s lair inside the wall. (BIONICLE Adventures 4: Legends of Metru Nui; BIONICLE 2: Legends of Metru Nui; BIONICLE 3: Web of Shadows)

The Barrier cut the city off from the rest of the Matoran UniverseMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control., but it was never sealed tight. Gates in the wall gave access to the city, and sea gates and underwater chutes ran through its base toward other lands. When TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna., disguised as TuragaTuragaFormer Toa who fulfilled their destiny and transformed into leaders. Turaga wield Noble Kanohi masks and weakened elemental powers, guiding their communities. DumeDumeDume is a Turaga of Fire and the former ruler of Metru Nui, distinguished by his red and black coloring and the Noble Kanohi Kiril, the Mask of Regeneration. As a member of the Turaga of Metru Nui, he wields a Staff of Office and commands a weakened mastery of Fire. He later resides on the reformed Spherus Magna., moved against the Toa of the city, the Toa Mangai were sent out to the Barrier, where the Dark Hunter Eliminator, hired by Teridax, was waiting to kill them. (BIONICLE Adventures 5: Voyage of Fear; BIONICLE: Dark Hunters)

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. and the First RahiFirst RahiMassive sea creatures of the Matoran Universe, though specific details remain scarce in canon.#

The waterways inside the Barrier also hid a fugitive. The Onu-MatoranOnu-MatoranEarth-wielding Matoran of the deep who adapted to darkness and built the Matoran Universe's defensive cavalry. 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. had studied a group of sea RahiRahiThe Rahi were the biomechanical wildlife of the Matoran Universe, built largely by the Brotherhood of Makuta, ranging from background fauna to engineered war beasts. in the city, and when TuragaTuragaFormer Toa who fulfilled their destiny and transformed into leaders. Turaga wield Noble Kanohi masks and weakened elemental powers, guiding their communities. DumeDumeDume is a Turaga of Fire and the former ruler of Metru Nui, distinguished by his red and black coloring and the Noble Kanohi Kiril, the Mask of Regeneration. As a member of the Turaga of Metru Nui, he wields a Staff of Office and commands a weakened mastery of Fire. He later resides on the reformed Spherus Magna. shut the project down after one of the creatures nearly killed WhenuaWhenuaToa Metru of Earth and later Turaga of Onu-Koro, formerly an Onu-Metru archivist whose career in the Archives shaped his role across the rescue of Metru Nui and the long residency on Mata Nui., Mavrah stole the Rahi before the Vahki could remove them. He fled across the Silver SeaThe Silver SeaThe vast body of unrefined liquid Protodermis surrounding Metru Nui inside the Great Barrier dome of the Matoran Universe. and made a new home with them in the Great Barrier, between Metru Nui and the lands above. (BIONICLE Adventures 5: Voyage of Fear)

When the Toa MetruToa Metru and Toa HordikaSix Matoran elevated by Lhikan to save their city, mutated by Visorak venom, and restored in time to deliver the population to safety. passed that way on their voyage out of the fallen city, they ran into Mavrah and his creatures. The fight with his sea Rahi that followed took place in the channels running through the Barrier. (BIONICLE Adventures 5: Voyage of Fear)

The Battle of the Great Barrier#

The dome's most famous event was the end of the Toa MetruToa Metru and Toa HordikaSix Matoran elevated by Lhikan to save their city, mutated by Visorak venom, and restored in time to deliver the population to safety.'s escape from Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive.. After TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna. absorbed NidhikiNidhikiOnce a guardian of Metru Nui, Nidhiki traded his Toa honor for Dark Hunter gold and paid the price., KrekkaKrekkaA brutish but ineffective Dark Hunter with no powers or masks, Krekka was outmatched from his first moments in Metru Nui. and NivawkNivawkNivawk was a scavenger hawk Rahi that served Makuta Teridax as an aerial spy during his impersonation of Turaga Dume., he took a monstrous new form and pursued the Toa across the Silver SeaThe Silver SeaThe vast body of unrefined liquid Protodermis surrounding Metru Nui inside the Great Barrier dome of the Matoran Universe. to the Barrier. There he offered VakamaVakamaA Ta-Metru maskmaker transformed into the Toa Metru of Fire, leader of his team through the Visorak war, and Turaga of Ta-Koro for a thousand years. a place at his side, and Vakama refused. In the fight that followed, LhikanLhikanToa of Fire, leader of the Toa Mangai, and the last Toa of Metru Nui, who surrendered his Toa Power to create the Toa Metru and died defending Vakama. died shielding Vakama, and Vakama used his Mask of Concealment to turn invisible and turn Teridax's own attacks against him. (BIONICLE Adventures 4: Legends of Metru Nui; BIONICLE 2: Legends of Metru Nui)

The Toa MetruToa Metru and Toa HordikaSix Matoran elevated by Lhikan to save their city, mutated by Visorak venom, and restored in time to deliver the population to safety. then combined their elemental powers and sealed the weakened MakutaMakuta (Species)Shadowy Antidermis beings and the Brotherhood's elite, Makuta commanded darkness and shaped the Matoran Universe's fate. into the cliffside in a Toa SealToa SealA cage of Protodermis created by six Toa combining their Elemental Powers, used to trap powerful beings. of solid ProtodermisProtodermisThe engineered substance building the Matoran Universe, protodermis exists in countless refined states from mundane metal to diamond-hard crystal to the destruction-or-transformation force of energized form.. Later, RoodakaRoodakaShe spent the entire Visorak arc letting everyone think they were using her, then walked away having beaten the Brotherhood and the Toa at their own game. took a fragment of that seal and set it into her armour. When the Toa Hordika VakamaVakamaA Ta-Metru maskmaker transformed into the Toa Metru of Fire, leader of his team through the Visorak war, and Turaga of Ta-Koro for a thousand years. struck her with his elemental power, the blast shattered the prison and freed TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna.. (BIONICLE Adventures 4: Legends of Metru Nui; BIONICLE 2: Legends of Metru Nui; BIONICLE Adventures 9: Web of Shadows; BIONICLE 3: Web of Shadows)

The breach and the evacuation#

After sealing TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna., the ToaThe Toa: Heroes of the Matoran UniverseThe Toa were biomechanical guardians sworn to protect the Matoran, bound by a strict code and defined by sacrifice across every age of the universe. carried six MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. spheres onward in their Vahki TransportThe Vahki TransportThe multi-legged cargo vehicle built by the Vahki of Metru Nui and used by the Toa Metru to escape the city across the Silver Sea after the Great Cataclysm., the LhikanLhikanToa of Fire, leader of the Toa Mangai, and the last Toa of Metru Nui, who surrendered his Toa Power to create the Toa Metru and died defending Vakama., and found a way through the Barrier. The route led them up to an island above, where they left the sleepers on the shore at Naho BayNaho BayThe body of water that made up most of Ga-Wahi, named for a fallen Toa of Water and home to the floating village of Ga-Koro on its surface.. VakamaVakamaA Ta-Metru maskmaker transformed into the Toa Metru of Fire, leader of his team through the Visorak war, and Turaga of Ta-Koro for a thousand years. named the island Mata NuiMata Nui (Location)An island created by accident on the Great Spirit's face, home to the Matoran for a thousand years. in honour of the Great Spirit. (BIONICLE Adventures 5: Voyage of Fear; BIONICLE 2: Legends of Metru Nui)

The first crossing was followed by a return trip. The Toa MetruToa Metru and Toa HordikaSix Matoran elevated by Lhikan to save their city, mutated by Visorak venom, and restored in time to deliver the population to safety. went back for the remaining MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body., only to be captured and mutated into Toa HordikaToa HordikaToa mutated by Visorak venom into bestial hybrids, forced to fight their primal nature and hunt for a cure. by the VisorakVisorak (Rahi)Spider-like Rahi employed by the Brotherhood of Makuta whose name meant 'Stealers of Life' and whose swarms threatened the Matoran Universe. horde that had moved into the abandoned city. Once restored, they carried every remaining sleeper out of Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive. in airships built in Le-MetruLe-MetruThe teal district where Le-Matoran managed everything that moved through Metru Nui, from chutes to airships. and took them up to the island. On arrival the airships were taken apart and their parts reused to build the KoroKoroThe Koros were the six elemental villages built on Mata Nui after the Great Rescue, on sites the Toa Metru had chosen, each tied to one element and one Turaga.. (BIONICLE Adventures 7: Web of the Visorak; BIONICLE Adventures 9: Web of Shadows; BIONICLE 3: Web of Shadows; BIONICLE: World)

Aftermath and use as a portal#

For a thousand years the Matoran on the island knew nothing of the city below. When they finally went back to Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive., they built boats and sailed down to the city, where they began rebuilding it as a working settlement. (BIONICLE Adventures 1: Mystery of Metru Nui; BIONICLE Adventures 10: Time Trap)

Final status#

The Great Barrier stood until the end of the Matoran UniverseMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control.. After Mata NuiMata NuiBuilt by the Great Beings to restore Spherus Magna, Mata Nui sustained an entire civilisation inside his body, was deposed by Teridax, and reclaimed his purpose as a mortal on Bara Magna. defeated TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna. on Bara MagnaBara MagnaA desert world of tribal warfare and scarce resources, one of three landmasses that formed Spherus Magna. and the Great Spirit Robot fell, the universe's inhabitants left the Matoran Universe for the reformed Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint.. (Journey's End)