Mutran

Makuta Mutran is a fictional character LEGO's Bionicle franchise. He is a mad scientist character and a member of a race of evil shapeshifters called the Makuta who play the role of the main antagonist.

In the storyline, he watches over the lands of the Southern Continent, specifically the center of the mainland, and thus is referred as the Makuta of the Center Southern Continent. He is also part of an strike team sent to invade Karda Nui during the 2008 storyline, and has written a chronicle of his life (The Mutran Chronicles), which describes his history and involvement in the Brotherhood, detailing the organization's history.

Fictional character history

Mutran once served the BIONICLE world under the leadership of the benevolent Brotherhood leader, Makuta Miserix. Along with his fellow Makuta, he was a creator of Rahi, something he instantly became an obsession, and took on the role of guarding and dealing with Mata Nui's chosen Matoran and his rulers, the League of Six Kingdoms.

Shortly after the completion of the island of Destral, Mutran and Chirox, at the time best friends, were experimenting on Rahi when they were approached by Miserix, who asked for one of them to go to Xia and make the Vortixx stop charging high prices for their exports, which was beginning to surpass what many Matoran settlements could afford. To his dismay, Mutran ended up going with Icarax and Pridak, in the name of "diplomacy". The matter was settled after the Vortixx were forced to cooperate after Icarax took his anger on the island in fury. After their departure (and dragging Icarax's aide off the island), Mutran later remembered he accidentally left behind an experimental Rahi that he kept as a pet; a sentient rock. This rock later grew into The Mountain, a famous Xian landmark- with a hunger for Vortixx. [BIONICLE Winter 2008 Blog, "The Mutran Chronicles, Entry 1". [http://bioniclestory.com/LatestStory/Blog/MutranChronicles1.aspx] ]

Mutran was also present at a meeting with the League of Six Kingdoms, along with Miserix, Chirox, Icarax, and Teridax (the Makuta of Metru Nui and the storyline's main villain). While the League ruled, Mutran supplied Rahi for their armies (an alliance he and his brethren personally disliked), along with other Makuta, but never sent Kalmah anything that he expected to last more than three days, whom never showed Mutran the proper respect he believed a Makuta deserved. [BIONICLE Winter 2008 Blog, "The Mutran Chronicles, Entry 2". [http://bioniclestory.com/LatestStory/Blog/MutranChronicles2.aspx] ] Thus, it was quite a surprise when one such Rahi he created survived. After Teridax's glorious battle and dismemberment of the League, he and Gorast were assigned a less-grand role in its consolidation, and were dispatched to Kalmah's fortress for what "amounted to be clean-up duty", in his words. After finding nothing of use for the Brotherhood's gain, he was left alone by Gorast who went off to hunt a remnant of his army who had ransacked the fortress, he was disturbed to discover a carving of Kalmah's, written upon it that a breed of his Rahi, the "Blade Burrowers", had survived against the odds. The Barraki had discovered a trait of the Burrowers- they had begun creating random tunnels, infinitely, and eventually discovered they were creating a map. Intrigued, he attempted to find what this map was, even using an imprisoned Toa with a Kanohi Rau to translate and discover the Blade Burrowers' intentions, but to no avail, even the Rahi do not know what they construct, only that they must. This question continues to plague Mutran, who believes the answer is of great importance, and even as a Makuta, is haunted by its possibilities. [BIONICLE Winter 2008 Blog, "The Mutran Chronicles, Entry 3". [http://bioniclestory.com/LatestStory/Blog/MutranChronicles3.aspx] ]

500 years after the League's end, Mutran was assigned the center of the Southern Continent to protect by Miserix, after the Matoran Civil War, to make sure such a problematic event could never occur once more. Unfortunately for the native Matoran, he rarely had cared for his region, preferring to tinker with his countless experiments. [BIONICLE Winter 2008 Blog, "The Mutran Chronicles, Entry 4". [http://bioniclestory.com/LatestStory/Blog/MutranChronicles4.aspx] ] During the end of the war and Teridax's "Archives Massacre", he had already been assigned on a new mission: with the legendary Tren Krom. Miserix had personally sought him out, to ascertain him as a threat to the Brotherhood. Arriving on a desolate island home to the myth, he ignored the maddening legends of the being, and was taken into custody by the horrific being. Even to this date, his sanity recoils at his thought of him. After being taken into his "lair"-like cave, his already fractured mind could not fully comprehend his appearance, and to add to the experience, he almost died as Tren Krom explored his consciousness, as Mutran did the same, and fell unconscious, awakening on the deserted beach of the island with little memory of the encounter. However, he had learned of Tren Krom's incredible intellect- the inner workings of the universe, to be precise. And in that moment, he learned that Makuta Teridax, who had already begun to compelate the overthrow of the Great Spirit: his genius plan could indeed work. [BIONICLE Winter 2008 Blog, "The Mutran Chronicles, Entry 5". [http://bioniclestory.com/LatestStory/Blog/MutranChronicles5.aspx] ]

After returning to Destral, he loyally informed Teridax of his discovery. This sparked Teridax to put his ideas into action, calling a Convocation of the Brotherhood, recalling all the Makuta to Destral. After Teridax had stated his plan to strike at the Great Spirit Mata Nui, Mutran witnessed the overthrow of Miserix and his sentence to death, and sided with Teridax in support of his Plan. [BIONICLE Winter 2008 Blog, "The Mutran Chronicles, Entry 6". [http://bioniclestory.com/LatestStory/Blog/MutranChronicles6.aspx] ] Mutran was later involved with the transformation of the Makuta's organic tissue to energy "Antidermis" during the early stages of the Plan. His armor was later modified by the Nynrah Ghosts to compensate, but painfully discovered the last affect of their transformation as Chirox (whom he resented due to the fact that he discovered the Makuta's evolution before he could) took control of an Exo-Toa to surprise Mutran. In revenge, he had planned to unleash his Lohrak, a Rahi with the name of one of Chirox's previous creations, and created with attributes that his nemesis was struggling to incorporate into a similarly-designed Rahi. [BIONICLE Winter 2008 Blog, "The Mutran Chronicles, Entry 7". [http://bioniclestory.com/LatestStory/Blog/MutranChronicles7.aspx] ]

Before unveiling his new Lohrak, he was indirectly involved in the raid of Artakha and the theft of the Kanohi Avohkii, before Teridax began to put "the Plan" into action after the Mask of Light was again stolen- this time by the Brotherhood leader's Toa Hagah guardians. He was the only Makuta to connect the deaths of random servants of the Brotherhood- who were involved in the raids of Artakha- and knew that fellow Makuta Kojol would also die, but decided letting him die now would be better than having to kill him later. However, he regretted not seeking the location of Artakha from him before he died. [BIONICLE Winter 2008 Blog, "The Mutran Chronicles, Entry 8". [http://bioniclestory.com/LatestStory/Blog/MutranChronicles8.aspx] ] After this event, he planned to take the joy of unleashing his Lohrak on Chirox, but he confronted him with a dead specimen of his creation before he could do so. Their confrontation was ended short as a massive earthquake occurred, (the Great Cataclysm) which brought the Destral fortress to rubble but left the duo relatively unscathed. This was a sign of rejoice for the Makuta, that the Great Spirit had fallen to Teridax's plan and his Makuta Virus, and that "the Plan" succeeded in its first stage. However, Mutran was disgraced with the fiasco that followed, and the failure of Teridax's plan to conquer Metru Nui and its coveted Matoran. [BIONICLE Winter 2008 Blog, "The Mutran Chronicles, Entry 9". [http://bioniclestory.com/LatestStory/Blog/MutranChronicles9.aspx] ]

During the thousand years that followed as Makuta Teridax terrorized the Mata Nui Matoran, Mutran ignored his duty to his region and concentrated on a series of successful and unsuccessful experiments (attempting to outdo Chirox). He eventually experimented with Kraata, creating a mutated version known as Shadow Leeches, an experimental "leech" which sapped the Light from its target, transforming it to Shadow and changing its personality darker and evil. To test his most notable creation, he searched in his region for a Matoran volunteer, coming across Vican, a loyal subordinate who wanted a greater purpose and adventurous life. He then became Mutran's lab assistant and Shadow Matoran, and brought to Destral, where they witnessed Gorast attacking Vultraz as payment for not informing the Brotherhood of an entrance to Karda Nui which Vamprah had only recently discovered. When the Makuta informed Teridax, meanwhile in Mahri Nui, he informed them to invade and transform the region's natives to Shadow Matoran to prevent the creation of Toa of Light. Accompanied by Vican, and a strike force of six Makuta (later joined by Icarax), Mutran and Vican created a hive to house the Makuta and the Shadow Leeches. Left to guard the hives, he decided to create a chronicle of his life in the Brotherhood, the Mutran Chronicles. After finishing his autobiography, he noticed a bright flash of light from Matoro's use of the Ignika, and was not blinded unlike his brethren. [BIONICLE Winter 2008 Blog, "The Mutran Chronicles, Entry 10". [http://bioniclestory.com/LatestStory/Blog/MutranChronicles10.aspx] ]

Mutran and Vican continued to engineer and create Rahi and Shadow Leeches (he also experimented on the Shadow Matoran, and was responsible for giving Radiak a "spider"-like mutation because he was "moody") in Karda Nui until the Makuta strike team regrouped at the Hive after the arrival of the Toa Nuva. Mutran is ordered by strike team leader Antroz to create a steed for Vican to summon Makuta Icarax on Destral. He would later be attacked by the three Toa Nuva Phantoka assisted by their Av-Matoran and Toa Ignika, and after a brief victory fell, but was backed by the arrival of his fellow Makuta, who defeated and bound the Toa and Matoran up to transform them to Shadow. This maneuver was unsuccessful, and led to the destruction of the Shadow Leeches and the Hive, angering Mutran, furious with the destruction of his creations.

Soon afterwords, Icarax arrives to back the Makuta up, but even he is no match for the Toa Ignika. Unleashing a massive blast of Shadow, he calls to retreat and join with the Makuta in the swamps to even the odds, as the Toa Nuva Phantoka follow, into the final battle. [Farshley, Greg (2008): "BIONICLE Legends 9: Shadows in the Sky". New York: Scholastic. ISBN 978-0439916417]

Personality

Mutran specializes in mutations that tend to be extremely destructive in nature. Chirox, a fellow mutation specialist, thinks very little of his work, however. Mutran has a personality reminiscent of a mad scientist. Like all Makuta, he is sadistic, egocentric and ambitious though not quite as ambitious as Teridax whose plan to conquer the universe Mutran considered delusional until his encounter with Tren Krom which had a detrimental effect on Mutran's already deranged mind. Mutran is somewhat more loyal than most of his race and on numerous occasions shows respect and even concern for his fellow Makuta, an example being when Miserix attacked Teridax with an energy blast during the Convocation, causing Mutran to stand up in order to go and help Teridax to his feet, but resumed his previous position after Miserix glared at him.

Mask and Tool

Mutran wields the standard Makuta powers, in addition to his own. These include the ability to wield the element of Shadow, and the creation of a Shadow Hand, and the ability to create Kraata and Rahkshi, and possession of the 42 Kraata powers. He also possesses the strengths and weaknesses of the Makuta's evolution from a physical form to a energy form, thus the ability to shape-shift, control robot bodies, and can crush the will of an enemy and absorb them into their bodies to increase mass.

During the invasion of Karda Nui, Mutran's current appearance was similar to Chirox, with a green and black deco with silver armor. He wielded a bladed staff-like weapon, the Shadow Spear, and a hand-held Shadow Blade, which could channel his Shadow and 42 Kraata powers. He was outfitted to hold a Tridax Pod and thus Shadow Leeches, and wore the Kanohi Shelek: Great Mask of Silence.

References