Shadow Toa (Illusions)

"This is bad, how can I fight one so much like myself? How can any of us?"

- Toa Mata Onua, Tale of the Toa

The Shadow Toa were six illusions created by Makuta Teridax, and were evil counterparts of the Toa Mata.

History
After the arrival of the Toa Mata on the Isle of Mata Nui, Teridax created the Shadow Toa to be one of the obstacles in his lair, Mangaia. After the defeat of the Manas, the Toa Mata faced the Shadow Toa, the final guardians of Mangaia. The Shadow Toa taunted the Toa and used their own powers against them. The Toa Mata eventually realized that the Shadow Toa were extensions of themselves, as darkness was as much a part of them as Light, and they absorbed their shadow counterparts into their bodies. The Toa Mata then continued on to their final confrontation with Teridax.

Abilities & Traits
The Shadow Toa were identical to the Toa Mata, except they were colored in much darker hues and were tainted with Shadow. They possessed the same Elemental and Kanohi powers as the Toa Mata, making it impossible for each Toa to defeat his or her own Shadow Toa.

Trivia

 * The Shadow Toa were originally going to appear in The Legend of Mata Nui. However, the media was canceled. The Shadow Toa were therefore only referenced in The Bohrok Awake and made their actual first appearance in Tale of the Toa.
 * Although Cathy Hapka wrote that to defeat the Shadow Toa in Tale of the Toa, the Toa had to face each other's Shadow Toa, the BIONICLE: Encyclopedia explains that the Toa actually defeated the Shadow Toa when they acknowledged that the darkness was a part of them and absorbed the shadows into their bodies. Greg Farshtey later explained the absorption was the ultimate method of their demise once the "switching opponent" method proved frivolous.

Appearances

 * BIONICLE Chronicles 1: Tale of the Toa
 * Comic 4: The Bohrok Awake (Mentioned Only)
 * BIONICLE: Encyclopedia (Mentioned Only)
 * BIONICLE: Encyclopedia Updated (Mentioned Only)