So, we obviously know about the Great Spirit and all that, but that’s all provable and true, making it simply a statement of fact rather than of faith. Did other bionicle peoples, like the Skakdi or Vortix, have their own religious beliefs and practices separate from those of the Matoran?
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Seeing as how the candle head cult was removed from cannon, don’t think so.
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From what I’ve seen, people either believe in and worship Mata Nui as a Devine being, or they simply recognize his existence and don’t pay much thought to it.
Then of course there’s the third party who don’t even believe that’s he’s real.
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Phhfff, there’s no such thing as Mata Nui, he’s just a Matoran myth to keep their work appetite up.
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Found this on BS01:
Other beings within the Matoran Universe are known to adhere to the principles laid down by the Three Virtues, but many species disdain the notion, and reject or ignore them. Only Matoran, as one of the most plentiful species and the chosen race of Mata Nui, have a need to follow the teachings, though the Matoran are more than willing to do so.
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I can’t see other species’ needing a creation myth to explain their world, due to the fact that they know what happened, and they know how. There’s little to suggest that the denizens of the Matoran Universe look to the supernatural to explain their world, other than a few casual superstitions. As for the Glatorian and Agori, their world seems ripe for religion. They were practically in their own Middle Ages for the last 100,000 years after all.
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Actually like 99,99% of the Matoran Universe’s inhabitants only knew that “The Great Beings sent Mata Nui to watch over the Matoran Universe”. There were only very, very few who actually knew that Mata Nui was the Great Spirit Robot and the Matoran Universe inside him - maybe even only Tren Krom and Velika.
So the species of the Matoran Universe had kinda an explanation of why things were as they were, but it is a little strange, actually, that basically only the Matoran cared about winning their protector’s favor.
As to Bara Magna - the Great Beings would actually make good “gods”. They’re more or less omnipotent and give an explanation of why things are as they are (I doubt any Glatorian or Agori remembers the time when the Great Beings didn’t yet exist). This makes me wonder why there isn’t at least some cult worshipping them. Maybe people simply began stopping worship after teh Great Beings allowed Spherus Magna to shatter…
The only being I can remember being even older than the Great Beings would be Annona.
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Well I know a lot of the Glatorian and Agori became disillusioned with the great beings after they pretty much started the core war and abandoned them after the sharing. Kina in particular is pretty fed up with them. And they really didn’t make good gods, they just hung around and made things, but they hated governing, which is why they made the element lords. Most of them also lacked morals so many of their experiments were questionable at best.
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Really? I’m pretty sure that none of them know any details of what actually happened in the early, primeval days of the MU.
As far as myth goes, it’s tough to say - things like the Mountain on Xia would be cultural myths (i.e., Mt. Olympus) on Earth; however, theyre legitimately real in the MU. There’s always Irnakk.
The way that I’ve always seen that is similar to the way that I see a lot of creation myths in human history - a god or group of gods is held in high esteem as a moral example and venerated until they fall to a more powerful, more just, or more up-to-date group of new gods. The Agori knew about the GSR, for sure…
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Well the Agori had no idea of it before it landed. It was probably constructed on the other side of the planet, far away from habitation. I could see the Agori, especially the Zesk, having a kind of ancestor worship, and it seems likely that the Skrall would have waited cult or similar, like the Sardaukar from Dune. We also know the Sisters of the Skrall got their powers from Annona, and may venerate him for that, though of courses they think he’s a great being and not a Lovecraftian monstrosity.
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Well, if you take the Greek gods for example, most of the time they didn’t really make good gods either…
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To be fair they were still worshipped, either out of respect or fear.
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I’m not saying the Matoran knew the true nature of their universe, but they are aware that Mata Nui watches over and protects them. They believe he is the stars above them, the ground they walk on, and relatively all-encompassing. They are also aware of the Great Beings, and that they had a hand in creating Metru Nui as well as presumably many other lands.
The Matoran’s single-minded devotion to Mata Nui is an interesting point, one I’d be interested to learn more about. What is the “Matoran condition”? How are they content to work for thousands of years without exploration, without learning about the Universe around them? The Matoran are certainly smart and deductive enough to figure out the nature of Mata Nui, if they felt so inclined. But for 100,000 years they do not. It’s rather curious.
As for the situation on Spherus Magna, you make some interesting points. I feel that upon the rise of the Great Beings, some, what? 265,000 years ago, if I remember? Upon their rise, I feel that religion would have ceased to be so pervasive in favour of secularism (if the Great Beings’ mindset could be compared to a modern day materialist or scientist), as opposed to simply replacing whatever god(s) existed prior. As an aside, Annona couldn’t be the only being older than the Great Beings; Spherus Magnan lifespans endure far over 100,000 years. If the Great Beings are in fact Glatorian as is claimed, they would have been simply the result of years and years of evolution (I’m comparing Spherus Magnan history to human history because it’s my only reference; perhaps they could have come about in some other way, but evolutionary origins required the least assumptions), and there was probably a long history prior to the rise of these scientists. Now, the Glatorian and Agori probably treated the Great Beings as something beyond comprehension- maybe even supernatural on occasion- but I cannot picture the Great Beings proposing the people of the world blindly place their faith in them.
Upon the Shattering and subsequent disappearance of the Great Beings, religion definitely could have come back into popular belief. They were gone, and, as the mad Great Being once said, the people of the world will fill in what they believe them to be, creating their own unique image of the GBs. 100,000 years of hardship and starvation probably lead some to believe some long-abandoned God was punishing Spherus Magna for it’s rejection of them in favour of these Great Beings, or something similar.
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Somehow I don’t think anyone on bara magna is going to worship annona after the whole iron tribe debacle…
Nobody knew it was Annona. Nobody except the great beings knew Annona existed, the dreaming plague was just believed to be a disease.
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