Bionicle: Mask of Light: The Movie - Plot

Plot

The story begins with a retelling of the original BIONICLE legend. The story then shifts to the fortress village of Ta-Koro, which is located in a lake of lava. A Ta-Matoran named Jaller is looking for his Kohlii (a lacrosse-like game) teammate, Takua. He soon finds him inspecting a warning totem next to a lava flow. Just before they leave, Takua picks up the totem, unwittingly setting off a booby trap. He drops the artifact into the lava, revealing a Kanohi mask that was embedded in the totem. At that moment, a wave of lava began to rush through the chamber at Takua. He throws the mask to Jaller and tries to use a lavaboard to cross the lava, but only got halfway. Just as he was about to be killed, he was saved by Tahu, the Toa of Fire. Takua and Jaller then rushed to the Kohlii field, and Jaller puts the mask in his pack. After the match had ended (Takua even tried using a new move he had practiced before the match, with no success), the mask Takua found falls out of Jaller's pack, shining a bright light on Jaller. The Turaga reveal that this is the Mask of Light which is to be worn by a legendary Seventh Toa that will defeat Teridax (Makuta). The Mask of Light will lead its herald the Seventh Toa. But Takua, who was thought to be the Herald, was unwilling to admit it so Jaller was mistakenly believed to be so. Unfortunately for Takua, he still has to come along to chronicle Jaller’s quest. Pohatu, the Toa of Stone, left to spread word about the Seventh Toa, while Gali, the Toa of Water, had already departed. The two Matoran leave Ta-Koro the next day and followed the mask’s light to the jungle region of Le-Wahi.

Deep beneath Mata Nui, Teridax was fully aware of what is happening above. He spoke to a large statue of a Kanohi Mask, which he refers to as his brother, Mata Nui. He then decided to release three of his spawns of shadow, the Rahkshi, to find and destroy the Herald. On the surface, Gali was meditating at Kini-Nui, the Great Temple, when the Rahkshi burst from the center of the temple and attack her. She narrowly escapes by hiding in the river. Realizing the Rahkshi are headed for Ta-Koro, she hurried there and warned the villagers. The Rahkshi burst through the walls of Ta-Koro, using their powers of shattering (Panrahk), disintegration (Guurahk), and poison (Lerahk) to eventually destroy the village. Fortunately, all the Matoran escape unharmed. In the fight, Tahu's mask is accidentally damaged by Gali when she tried to get Lerahk off of him, leaving a sickly green scratch. However, he was more concerned about his village's destruction just after he and Gali abandoned the place by lavasurfing.

Meanwhile, Takua and Jaller were traveling through the jungle of Le-Wahi, going where the Mask of Light shows them to go. They are then attacked by a Graalok ash bear and rescued by Lewa, the Toa of Air. He gave them a faster way of traveling, a Gukko bird, which quickly carried them to the frozen region of Ko-Wahi. Upon their arrival, they learn of Ta-Koro's destruction. Lewa then flies to Ta-Wahi to learn more, leaving Takua and Jaller behind. They got caught in a blizzard where they encounter a squad of Bohrok that are frozen, and ran into Kopaka, Toa of Ice. Upon arriving at Ko-Koro, they are attacked by the Rahkshi who had already ransacked the village, and escaped down the side of a mountain. Kopaka is knocked out in the escape, and Takua tries to lure them away across a lake. Just as the Rahkshi close in, Kopaka awakens and froze the Rahkshi in the lake. Kopaka then leaves to see to his village and the Matoran leave for the underground region of Onu-Wahi.

In the Onu-Koro Highway, an abandoned network of tunnels connecting Ko-Wahi and Onu-Wahi, Takua gets lost. He was surprised by Teridax, who appeared before him in the form of two glowing red eyes. He warned Takua that if he does not give him the mask, Jaller will die. Takua refuses, but later panics and leaves Jaller and the mask behind. He arrives in the village of Onu-Koro in time to find Pohatu and Onua, the Toa of Earth, telling the village about the Seventh Toa. However, three more Rahkshi—with the power of fear (Turahk), anger (Kurahk), and hunger (Vorahk)—appear, sent by Teridax in response to Takua's refusal of his good will. As the Matoran were forced to flee from their village, Takua feels that this was his fault as the Rahkshi are after him for being the true Herald. Tahu, Gali, and Lewa arrive. However, Tahu's scar has gotten worse. When he was hit by Kurahk’s anger energy, the poison and the anger caused him to attack Gali. He was stopped when Kopaka arrived and froze him. Meanwhile, Pohatu and Onua caused a cave-in, and the Toa are forced to flee the village. Gali, Kopaka, and Lewa later have Tahu bound to a rock and free him from his madness.

Takua finds Jaller and after warning him about the second wave of Rahkshi and the fact that the Rahkshi were looking for the Herald, the two head for the Kini Nui, where the mask says the Seventh Toa would be found. However, the six Rahkshi caught up to them. at which point Takua finally admits he is the Herald. The Toa arrive and defeat all the Rahkshi except Turahk. Turahk then tried to kill Takua, only for Jaller to take the blow instead. As the dying Jaller tells Takua how he was "always different", the Chronicler realizes that he wasn't the Herald, but rather the Seventh Toa himself. Takua puts on the Mask of Light and the Toa of Light, renaming himself Takanuva. He destroys Turahk, and then builds a vehicle out of the Rahkshi’s armor, called the Ussanui - powered by the discarded Kraata of the Rahkshi - and flies down to Teridax's lair.

There, Teridax challenges Takanuva to a game of Kohlii (played using a ball made of a substance called protodermis) with the agreement that the Toa of Light would try to awaken Mata Nui if he won or relinquish his mask if he lost. When Takanuva prevailed using his special Kohlii move from earlier to knock the Makuta clean through a wall, Teridax claims he will protect Mata Nui from the Toa of Light stating that "sleep spares him pain; awake, he suffers." and this duty is to his "Mask of Shadows". When Takanuva tries to rip the mask off of Teridax's face ("Then let's take a closer look behind that mask!"), they fell into a pool of protodermis and emerged as Takutanuva ("Light and shadow have become one"). The combined being leads the Matoran, Turaga, and Toa (who had been led down to witness Teridax's defeat by Hahli, a Ga-Matoran and close friend of Jaller), through a gate in the Kanohi mask statue. Takutanuva, who is holding the gate up, resurrected Jaller by transferring part of his energy into Jaller’s mask. However, this transfer weakened Takutanuva and the door crushed him. As the dust cleared, only the Mask of Light remained. Takanuva is then revived as well, and his light makes a hole in the cavern, revealing the long lost city of Metru Nui.