Tunneler

The Tunneler is one of Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive.'s most frustrating 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. to fight. It's a large lizard-like creature with a peculiar and lethal ability: it absorbs any power directed at it, transforming to match the energy used against it. Throw fire at a Tunneler and it becomes a creature of pure flame. Use ice and it turns to ice. This adaptive defense makes traditional combat nearly impossible. But it's also the key to defeating it.

Nature and Diet#

Tunnelers earned their name for their relentless pursuit of inorganic protodermis throughout Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive.. These creatures tunnel through the city consuming any protodermis they find, which makes them a genuine hazard to the city's infrastructure. But feeding is only part of their threat. When you hit a Tunneler with energy (fire, ice, elemental force of any kind), it doesn't just absorb the blow. It becomes that energy. The creature transforms into the very thing used against it.

Power and Weakness#

This adaptive ability seems unbeatable until you find the catch. A Tunneler doesn't merely survive the power directed at it. It becomes that power's exact substance. Expose it to something inorganic (glass, metal, whatever forms suit your strategy), and it shifts into that material permanently. The creature is locked into whatever form it takes. That's the trap. Strike at the right moment with the right trigger and you've forced the Tunneler into an inescapable cage. It cannot refuse the transformation. Once trapped, it's finished.

The Po-MetruPo-MetruMetru Nui's Stone District, home to carvers whose work defined the city and site of an ancient conflict that threatened to divide it. Encounter#

During their search for Po-MetruPo-MetruMetru Nui's Stone District, home to carvers whose work defined the city and site of an ancient conflict that threatened to divide it.'s Great Disk, Toa MetruMetruIn the Matoran language a metru was a single district of Metru Nui; the city was divided into six such districts, one for each element, and the term covered both the place and the elemental community that lived in it. 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. and OnewaOnewaOnewa served as Toa Metru of Stone, led Po-Koro through the Dark Time, and constructed the Metru Nui statue honoring the fallen Toa Mahri Matoro. confronted a rogue Tunneler of unusual size. Neither Toa could rely on elemental attack without feeding the creature exactly what it craved. They needed to think sideways. The solution came through forcing the Tunneler to absorb something inorganic (glass), making it transform into a brittle, immobile statue of itself. Once glass, it couldn't sustain itself. Too fragile to move without shattering, the creature became its own monument. That fight proved something crucial: Tunnelers aren't unbeatable. Find the logic inside their power and exploit it.

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