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Mata Nui, represented by a carved stone.

Mata Nui is a fictional spirit created by Lego for the Bionicle storyline. He is a god-like figure revered by the Matoran people (however, he is not worshipped as a deity; as Lego is specifically trying to avoid religious issues). The island of Mata Nui was named in his honor.

Mata Nui was once so close to the Brotherhood of Makuta, or at least the Makuta over Metru Nui, that they were considered "brothers"; until the Makuta became corrupt. A secret organization called the Order of Mata Nui, who remain loyal to Mata Nui, now oppose the Brotherhood. Centuries ago, the Makuta of Metru Nui attacked and Mata Nui eventually fell unconscious from his injuries, which led to what is called the Great Cataclysm.

Despite being called a "Spirit", Mata Nui does have a physical body. His location is unknown, even to the Order of Mata Nui, though it is said to be "quite easy to get to" - though "the trick is knowing you've found him".^[1]

The Kanohi Hau Mask of Shielding is often used as a symbol to represent Mata Nui.

In the ancient past, the Great Spirit Mata Nui was sent by the even more powerful Great Beings to care for all life. He came to the Matoran people and gave them the virtues of Unity, Duty, and Destiny; and he chose select members of this race to become his Toa champions. Among these Toa, the Toa Mata held special status in that their destiny was to aid the Great Spirit if some tragedy befell him. Only once did something like this come close to happening: a civil war in Metru Nui affected normal work worldwide, and this "Great Disruption" weakened Mata Nui severely; he was only saved by the timely actions of Toa Jovan and his team.

The Toa and Matoran were not the only groups to follow Mata Nui. One other was the Brotherhood of Makuta, shadow beings who originally created creatures for the good of the universe but soon expanded to become powerful guardians of the Matoran. Another was the Order of Mata Nui, a secret society that took on tasks that Toa could not; ones where a Toa's well-known reputation could hinder the mission or where the necessary actions could violate their code of honor.

Soon after his arrival, Mata Nui created six Barraki warlords to help bring order to the universe. But the Barraki became far too ambitious, eventually plotting to usurp the Great Spirit himself. The Brotherhood of Makuta somehow learned of these plans and allied with the Toa to defeat them. The Brotherhood successfully captured the Barraki and Botar, an Order member, made them vanish. But even with the Barraki's disappearance, their goal survived...

One powerful Makuta, the one assigned to Metru Nui, became jealous of Mata Nui's status among the Matoran, and remembering the Barraki's plot hatched a dark plan. Attacking the Great Spirit by some unknown means, Makuta sent Mata Nui into a deep slumber and tried to make the Matoran of Metru Nui forget their Great Spirit and become their savior in his place. As a result, Mata Nui can no longer maintain the universe as he once could, and the world has been decaying ever since; the numerous natural disasters that struck at the moment Mata Nui fell asleep are collectively known as the Great Cataclysm.

But while Mata Nui still clung to life, he intervened directly to make sure things could be made right. When new Toa Metru were about to be chosen by Toa Lhikan shortly before the Cataclysm, Makuta wished to influence the choices to his advantage. Knowing this, Mata Nui and his Order falsified prophesies regarding the identities of the new Toa. Makuta believed these prophesies, and influenced Lhikan to choose others to become the new Toa. But as the prophecies were fake to begin with, the "others" that Makuta influenced Lhikan to choose were in fact the true destined Toa Metru.

Mata Nui also prepared the Toa Mata, who entered Toa canisters that were supposed to bring them to an island named "Mata Nui" after the Great Spirit, where the refugees of Metru Nui were living. But the canisters malfunctioned and would finally arrive a thousand years later, when the island's six Toa stones were brought together, summoning the canisters.

Though the Toa Mata remembered nothing of their time prior to the canisters, they quickly took up the task of protecting the island's Matoran from Makuta. Through the course of their battles, they became more powerful Toa Nuva; and one of the Matoran became Takanuva, the Toa of Light, who defeated Makuta and allowed the Matoran to return to Metru Nui, completing the first task that will help reawaken the Great Spirit.

It has only recently been discovered that Mata Nui is in fact dying from the attack, and that if he dies, the universe will die with him. The Toa Nuva have been sent to the island of Voya Nui to find the Ignika Mask of Life that could heal Mata Nui. However, this was not their destiny, but that of others: six Matoran followed them determined to help, and were transformed into the Toa Inika. Following their victory over the villainous Piraka that had claimed the mask, the Inika have been tasked with retrieving the Ignika and saving Mata Nui from dying. In the meantime, the Nuva are setting aside their original mission of awakening the Great Spirit; instead preparing the world for such an awakening.

But the Piraka's interference, as well as that of evil Barraki warlords, proved to cause too many delays. The Great Spirit Mata Nui has died.^[2]

This article or section contains information about scheduled or expected future events. It may contain tentative information; the content may change as the event approaches and more information becomes available.

After he died Matoro followed the falling island of Voya Nui to the Universe Core. There he put the Ignika on and doing so gave up his life to revive Mata Nui. Mata Nui is currently alive waiting for the Toa Nuva to awaken him from his eternal slumber. Mata Nui was completely aware of what was happening while he was on his deathbed, but when he was revived, he was casted into a nightmare, and when he wakes up will remember everything as a bad dream.

• Mata Nui (Great Spirit) article at Bionicle Sector 01 Wiki