Mask of Incomprehension

The Mask of Incomprehension is a KanohiKanohiMasks that grant powers and sustain life, they're the most vital artifact in the Matoran Universe. that scrambles spoken and written language. It began life in a fan project that writer Greg Farshtey approved, and its rules come from those approved notes and his online answers rather than from a story. Its one appearance in official media is on the face of an unnamed MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. on Voya NuiVoya NuiAn island born from catastrophe and hiding the universe's most powerful artifact, Voya Nui was everything Bionicle 2006 promised: danger, mystery, and a race against time.. (BIONICLE Ignition 1: If a Universe Ends...)

Function#

Under the rules Farshtey approved, the Mask of Incomprehension scrambles both spoken and written language. It cannot affect hand signals, and the KanohiKanohiMasks that grant powers and sustain life, they're the most vital artifact in the Matoran Universe. RauKanohi RauThe Kanohi Rau allowed its wearer to comprehend foreign written and spoken languages, and was most associated with Turaga Nokama. can counter it. Notes from the fan project that created it add that the user has to be in range to scramble a message, but the message stays scrambled after the user moves away. Farshtey also said Toa would consider the power immoral. None of these rules is shown in a published story. (Writer's later comment, not a published story)

The RauKanohi RauThe Kanohi Rau allowed its wearer to comprehend foreign written and spoken languages, and was most associated with Turaga Nokama. itself is a long-established mask: the Great Mask of Translation, which lets its wearer understand unfamiliar languages and symbols. That makes it the obvious counter to a mask built to make language unreadable. (BIONICLE: Encyclopedia)

Recorded wearers#

The only wearer seen is an unnamed MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. on Voya NuiVoya NuiAn island born from catastrophe and hiding the universe's most powerful artifact, Voya Nui was everything Bionicle 2006 promised: danger, mystery, and a race against time., one of the villagers 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. had "fixed" and enslaved, who appears wearing the mask in the comic If a Universe Ends... The comic never shows the power in use, and no named character is recorded wearing the mask. (BIONICLE Ignition 1: If a Universe Ends...)

Theoretical applications#

In principle, the mask could disrupt any force relying on spoken commands or written orders. That is the whole of its appeal, and also its weakness: a team that signals by hand, or an opponent wearing a RauKanohi RauThe Kanohi Rau allowed its wearer to comprehend foreign written and spoken languages, and was most associated with Turaga Nokama., would carry on as normal under the approved rules. (Writer's later comment, not a published story)

Limits and counters#

Two limits stand out in the approved rules: hand signals get through untouched, and the RauKanohi RauThe Kanohi Rau allowed its wearer to comprehend foreign written and spoken languages, and was most associated with Turaga Nokama. counters the power outright. Those rules, along with the fact that no story ever uses the mask, explain why it has so little presence in the canon. (Writer's later comment, not a published story)

Position in the Kanohi record#

The Mask of Incomprehension sits among the KanohiKanohiMasks that grant powers and sustain life, they're the most vital artifact in the Matoran Universe. of the Matoran UniverseMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control. with a single cameo, no named wearer and no recorded use. Its whole footprint is a set of writer-approved rules and one Matoran's face in a 2006 comic. (BIONICLE Ignition 1: If a Universe Ends...)