Bionicle Piraka: the Six Skakdi Thieves Who Hunted the Mask of Life

The Piraka were the villains of BIONICLE's 2006 story: six Skakdi named Zaktan, Hakann, Vezok, Reidak, Thok and Avak who walked out on the Dark HuntersThe Dark HuntersA band of mercenaries and thieves founded on Odina by the Shadowed One and Ancient, hired out across the Matoran Universe, and left a battered ruin by the time Teridax ruled the universe. and went after the Kanohi Ignika, the Mask of LifeThe Mask of Life (Kanohi Ignika), explainedA failsafe forged by the Great Beings to recharge a god. It curses everyone who touches it, and by the end of Bionicle it had learned how to be a hero.. They landed on the island of Voya Nui, passed themselves off as Toa to the local MatoranThe Matoran of Voya NuiThe Matoran population stranded on Voya Nui after the Great Cataclysm. A Karzahni-repaired community living in a Matoran Cliff Village on a floating fragment of the Southern Continent, fought through the Piraka occupation, and survived the descent back into the Matoran Universe., enslaved the whole population and beat 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. before the Toa InikaToa Inika: six Matoran struck by lightningSix Matoran of Metru Nui chased the Toa Nuva to Voya Nui and were struck by lightning from the red star. That strike made them the Toa Inika. finally stopped them. (BIONICLE Legends 1: Island of Doom; BIONICLE Legends 5: Inferno)

Who the Piraka were#

All six were Skakdi, a violent species from the island of Zakaz, and all six had joined the Dark Hunters at the same time. In BIONICLE Legends 4: Legacy of Evil, Vezok and Hakann steal the Makoki Stone from a Toa fortress about 7,000 years before the main story and are caught by the Dark Hunter Ancient, who forces them into the organisation alongside Zaktan, Thok, Reidak and Avak. The name came from Ancient too. Piraka is a Matoran insult meaning thief and murderer, and the six eventually wore it as a badge. (BIONICLE Legends 4: Legacy of Evil)

Their leader was ZaktanZaktanMutated Skakdi leader of the Piraka, formerly a Dark Hunter whose body was dissolved into a colony of Protodites by the Shadowed One and reformed with its consciousness intact.. Around 5,000 years before the story he led a failed plot against the Shadowed One, who tried to kill him with his disintegrating eyebeams. Zaktan didn't die. His body broke down into millions of microscopic ProtoditesProtoditeViolent microscopic Rahi native to the Matoran Universe, escaped from the Archives, prey of the Archives Moles, raw material for the Protodax, and the biological substrate of the Piraka leader Zaktan. that kept his mind, and that strange, hard-to-kill body is a big part of why the others put up with him. About 250 years before Voya Nui, guarding a former Brotherhood base, he also found records of the Brotherhood of Makuta's plans, including 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., and swore he'd use them. (BIONICLE Legends 4: Legacy of Evil)

The other five each had a role. Reidak was the brute. Hakann and Thok were the schemers who'd betray anyone. Vezok interrogated prisoners, and Avak built the weapons and devices. They trusted each other about as far as they could throw Reidak. (BIONICLE Legends 1: Island of Doom; BIONICLE Legends 3: Power Play)

From Makuta's lair to Voya Nui#

When rumours spread that TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna. had been beaten, the six deserted and went to loot his lair at MangaiaMangaia: Teridax's lair beneath Mata NuiMangaia was Teridax's hidden lair beneath the island of Mata Nui. It held a pool of Energized Protodermis used to make Infected Kanohi and Rahkshi.. They found his empty, crushed armour. Hakann picked up the Spear of FusionSpear of FusionThe Spear of Fusion is the artifact Hakann used in reverse on Vezok in Mangaia, splitting off Vezon as a separate being. Vezon then carried it to Voya Nui until Jaller destroyed it. and fired it at Vezok by accident, splitting him into two beings. The second one became VezonVezonHe started as a weapon misfire and a throwaway joke, and the canon spent four years quietly turning him into its most useful expendable asset., who fled with the spear. In the same moment every one of them suddenly knew about the Mask of Life. Two Mana-KoMana-KoMassive crab-like Rahi created by the Brotherhood but shielded by the Order of Mata Nui from Teridax's mental control. crabs chased them out, and they used the old canisters of the Toa MataWho are the Toa Mata?Six warriors built to order by Artakha, stored in canisters, dropped into the ocean. This is the origin story of Bionicle's heroes and why their first week of work was entirely amnesiac. to sail to Voya Nui. (BIONICLE Legends 4: Legacy of Evil)

On Voya Nui they told the Matoran they were Toa and had them build temples, statues and a stronghold, then drain Mount Valmai, where they believed the mask was hidden. Hakann and Avak even staged a fight with a lava monster they'd made themselves. Zaktan filled zamor spheresZamor SpheresHollow spheres carrying gas, liquid, or energy, fired by Zamor Launchers and used by the Piraka to enslave the Matoran of Voya Nui, by the Toa Inika to free them, and by a long list of older operators going back to Toa Jovan. with antidermis, the essence of Teridax, and the Piraka fired them into the Matoran, turning them into obedient workers. Six Matoran escaped and became the Voya Nui resistanceVoya Nui Resistance TeamSix Matoran of Voya Nui who recognised the Piraka as impostors and waged a covert campaign against them before the arrival of the Toa Inika.. (BIONICLE Legends 1: Island of Doom)

Then the Toa Nuva arrived. Reidak attacked them almost as soon as they landed, the rest piled in and the Toa Nuva were beaten. Zaktan ordered the five to throw the bodies into the volcano, but Mount Valmai erupted while they were carrying them, so they dropped the Toa on the slope and ran. (BIONICLE Legends 1: Island of Doom; BIONICLE Legends 2: Dark Destiny)

Infighting, Brutaka and the Toa Inika#

The group never held together for long. Zaktan had been making private deals with BrutakaBrutakaBrutaka guarded the Kanohi Ignika on Voya Nui, betrayed the Order during the Piraka incursion, was mutated in the Pit, and later led the Order's strike team to free Miserix., a renegade member of the Order of Mata NuiThe Order of Mata NuiThe covert organization founded by Helryx to serve the Great Spirit directly, operating in concealment from a fortress on Daxia and waging the open war against the Brotherhood of Makuta that decided the fate of the universe., and Hakann caught him at it. Avak and Thok decided the mask was in the island's Green Belt and turned on Zaktan, and the stronghold ended in a brawl. When the Toa Nuva and the resistance broke in, Zaktan bought Brutaka's help and the giant knocked the heroes out. (BIONICLE Legends 2: Dark Destiny)

Six Matoran from Metru Nui reached the island and were turned into the Toa Inika. Inside the stronghold, Hakann fired a zamor sphere loaded with Vezok's power-absorbing ability at Brutaka, but Thok collided with him at the last second and the two split Brutaka's power between them. They flattened everyone and left. The remaining Piraka built a sphere to reverse the theft, the Inika fired it, and an explosion from Hakann's heat vision exposed the tunnel down to the mask. The Piraka got there first. (BIONICLE Legends 3: Power Play; BIONICLE Ignition 4: A Cold Light Dawns)

The race to the Mask of Life#

Underground, the Piraka faced IrnakkIrnakkIrnakk was a Skakdi myth that gained temporary existence in the Zone of Nightmares, manifesting to confront the Piraka on their path to the Ignika., the monster of Skakdi legend, who used their worst fears against them. Zaktan beat him by refusing to be afraid. A Great Beings trap then caged them and offered freedom to whoever flipped a switch first; Reidak betrayed the others and dropped them all into a pool of mutagenic water, which they escaped through an underwater tunnel. On the bridge at the Lava Chamber GateLava Chamber GateAn ancient stone gate inside Mount Valmai that guarded the final approach to the Chamber of Life and collapsed during the Toa Inika's pursuit of the Piraka. they fought the Inika, and the bridge collapsed under the Toa. (BIONICLE Legends 5: Inferno; BIONICLE Ignition 4: A Cold Light Dawns)

In the Chamber of LifeChamber of LifeThe Chamber of Life was the vault beneath the Lake of Lava of Mount Valmai on Voya Nui where the Kanohi Ignika, the Mask of Life, lay hidden. they found Vezon already there, with the mask fused to his head and the spider FenrakkFenrakkA Fenrakk Spawn mutated by the Mask of Life's curse and fused to Vezon as a guardian, then reborn as Kardas after Vezon rode it into the lava of the Chamber of Life. beside him. Vezon offered the mask in exchange for Vezok's death, then used the Spear of Fusion to merge Vezok and Reidak into a giant that beat the other four. The Toa Inika arrived, defeated Vezon, and the mask chose MatoroMatoroA quiet Ko-Matoran translator who became a Toa Inika and then a Toa Mahri, Matoro gave his life with the Mask of Life to restore Mata Nui. as its guardian before flying off into the sea. Faced with twelve Toa, AxonnAxonnAxonn served as an arbitrator under the Hand of Artakha and later as an Order of Mata Nui agent, guarding the Kanohi Ignika on Voya Nui for thousands of years. and the Order's Botar, the Piraka went into hiding. (BIONICLE Legends 5: Inferno)

What happened to the Piraka#

The pool in the tunnels was laced with mutagen from the PitThe PitThe deep-water prison of the Matoran Universe, built by the Order of Mata Nui to hold the Barraki and other beings too dangerous to execute., and in the 2007 story the exposure had turned the Piraka into water-breathing sea snakes. They attacked the Toa MahriToa Mahri: The Toa Who Saved the UniverseThe Toa Mahri were the water breathing form of the sixth Toa team, transformed by the Mask of Life on the way down to the drowned city of Mahri Nui. They fought the Barraki for the mask and recovered it at the cost of one of their own. as the Toa led the Matoran of Mahri Nui up the CordThe CordThe stone Cord linking Voya Nui to the sunken peninsula of Mahri Nui, the tunnel the Toa Mahri descended, and the lifeline severed to revive Mata Nui., and Avak trapped the Toa in air until Axonn arrived and saved them. (BIONICLE Legends 8: Downfall)

The Order of Mata Nui then kept all six in a water tank in its fortress on Daxia, across the corridor from Vezon's cell. Zaktan was taken out to guide the Toa Hagah under the Metru Nui Coliseum in search of Teridax, and Teridax seemed to kill him there with a sonic blast. (Destiny War; Dwellers in Darkness)

When Teridax seized the universe he levelled the Order's fortress on Daxia, and the snakes vanished. In Reign of Shadows the Toa Mahri found the five surviving Piraka on Zakaz, where a warlord's Skakdi threw them into a tank of energized protodermis with a Zyglak, a Vortixx and a Steltian labourer. A strange greenish cloud rose from a nearby lake and plunged in after them. The serial doesn't name it, but the hint is plain enough: it was Zaktan. What climbed out was a twelve-foot golden-skinned beingThe Golden-Skinned BeingA fusion of nine beings produced by Skakdi experimentation on Zakaz, the Golden-Skinned Being made dreams real for those who fed him.. (Reign of Shadows)