Karzahni

Karzahni is a name applied to three things in LEGO Bionicle line: the legendary lord of the Matoran underworld, his domain, and a plant monster named after the legend.

The Ancient Being
Karzahni and his brother Artakha were two of the first creations of the Great Beings, and each was given a domain to rule over. Originally, Matoran were sent to Karzahni in order to be repaired - but Karzahni never really did a good job. He tried to make up for it by supplying the Matoran with weapons to defend themselves, but eventually Matoran stopped being sent to him. Some of the Matoran that Karzahni had "repaired" were sent to the area which eventually became the island of Voya Nui. Over time, his and Artakha's realms passed into legend, with the myths saying that bad or lazy Matoran were sent to him not for repair, but for punishment. When Matoran enter his domain, he has them abandon their old masks as a way of making them abandon their old identities, and he uses his alternate-future power to make them lose hope, making them little more than zombies.

Until recently, he did not even know of the Makuta or Mata Nui. His first knowledge of them came from the Matoran who later became the Toa Inika. At first, he didn't believe the tales, but then through his own mask power he saw that the universe would cease to be if Mata Nui died. Because of the distraction he suffered from this vision, the future Toa Inika were able to escape in Toa canisters, though he came close to destroying them. Now that he knows what exists outside his kingdom, he aims to take control before Mata Nui wakes up - and it seems that Makuta will become one of his first targets.

Karzahni has an ancient appearance, with ebon- and gold-colored bladed armor and a mask that is seemingly made of three or four older masks patched together. He speaks in whispers and has deep, hollow black eyes. He carries a burning chain and his gauntlets crackle with energy. His Kanohi Mask can make himself and others experience alternate or possible futures; usually bad ones. For instance, Jaller saw the devastation which would have come to pass if Takua had never become Toa Takanuva. Other futures shone by this mask include what would have happened to Kongu had he refused to submit to the wishes of Dark Hunters Nidhiki and Krekka in Metru Nui, and the horrible future that awaits the universe, specifically Metru Nui, should Mata Nui die.

The Plant
When plotting his scheme to take over Metru Nui, Makuta designed an intelligent plant creature to drive the Matoran towards the city's center; he named this creature "Karzahni" after the fabled tyrant. However, the Karzahni was too powerful and too ambitious, so Makuta abandoned it and instead engineered a weaker plant creature, the Morbuzakh. Karzahni swore revenge on Makuta, but this was taken from it when the Toa Metru imprisoned Makuta during the Great Cataclysm.

When the Toa Metru were returning to the city, Toa Nokama was critically injured by the Rahi Nui and Karzahni took the opportunity to blackmail the Toa: it would cure Nokama if the Toa would get him some energized protodermis. They did so, and Toa Nuju figured out that the Karzahni not only wanted the protodermis to become more powerful, but to save its life; as Makuta deliberately designs a fatal flaw in all his creations. However, the Karzahni was not destined to be transformed by the protodermis, so it was instead destroyed, leaving nothing but dead wood.

Shortly afterward, the Toa Metru used the dead Karzahni branches as part of a boat to bring them to Metru Nui; but none noticed a single sprig that seemed to have sprouted when immersed in the water. This sprig later grew into a new Karzahni plant, with all the memory and experience of the old. This Karzahni hid for a while, and when the now-free Makuta sought the Vahi Mask of Time, he made a deal with Karzahni and had it impersonate the Morbuzakh in an illusion he crafted for Toa Vakama. But after the illusion had been shattered, Karzahni switched sides and helped Vakama by bolstering his self-confidence, revealing that despite evidence that he and his team had found, they were always the ones destined to be Toa. It also said that it had gotten this information from a member of the Order of Mata Nui (and implied that it killed the member). By this time, Makuta had caught up with the two, and Karzahni was seemingly killed again when Makuta encased it in a shell, cutting it off from heat and light.