Marendar

Marendar wasn't designed as a weapon you'd hope to use. It was designed as the weapon you never wanted to build. The Great BeingsThe Great BeingsScholar-inventors of Spherus Magna whose creations shaped the Matoran Universe and whose absence defined the conflicts that followed. created it for one scenario: Toa turning evil. In that case, negotiation doesn't exist. Redemption doesn't apply. The weapon activates and does what it was built to do. Its name comes from an AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. word meaning salvation, which makes the whole thing feel almost cruel. You call it salvation and lock it away, hoping that vault stays sealed forever.

Built for Extinction#

The Great BeingsThe Great BeingsScholar-inventors of Spherus Magna whose creations shaped the Matoran Universe and whose absence defined the conflicts that followed. believed that no single Toa, nor any team working together, could stand against Marendar. That confidence came from what they'd built into it. The weapon existed for one purpose and one alone. To destroy Toa. Not to threaten them or test them. To kill them.

They placed it in a vault on Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint.. A cage for a doomsday device. As long as no Toa corrupted, the vault remained sealed and Marendar slept. That was the safeguard. That was the plan.

When the Vault Opened#

In 2010, the Toa arrived on Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint.. AngonceAngonceThe Great Being who named Mata Nui, refused to work on the Baterra, remained on Bara Magna to observe the Agori, and went looking for Marendar when the Toa returned to Spherus Magna., who understood what the vault contained, realized the danger immediately. A sudden surge of Toa on the planet could trigger Marendar's activation. He rushed to the vault to stop the weapon before it woke.

He was too late. Marendar had already smashed through three feet of metallic protodermis and left the vault. The weapon was active. Its programming was running. It moved across Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint. hunting for Toa.

What came after is where the lore simply stops. Did Marendar find any Toa? Did anyone stop it? The Yesterday QuestThe Yesterday QuestThe unfinished post-Reformation serial that sent a hand-picked team of three Toa and the Glatorian Gelu into the unmapped jungles of Bota Magna to find the Great Beings, intercept the awakening of Marendar, and uncover the Great Being who had hidden inside the Matoran Universe for a hundred thousand years. leaves the story unresolved, a doomsday device that woke up and walked away into the canon with no closure. It's the perfect anti-climax for a weapon designed to end everything.

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