In wake of people suddenly starting to reblog my Marendar design (thanks btw) and just sudden influx of Marendar posting period,I had a realization:
If you think about it Marendar was to Agori what the Toa were to Matoran. A protector created to protect the weak from the wicked.
Granted, it is implied that Marendar was just a cold-blooded killing machine just created to kill Toa were the Toa go rogue but still. The fact that Agori/Glatorian see Marendar as this protective guardian angel figure to the point they named it after their term for SALVATION is such an interesting detail to me, considering how it clashes with both the MU inhabitants and the audience seeing it as a coldblooded killer.
And while we see Marendar killing the toa we know and love as cruel due to killing living beings with their hopes and dreams, from the POV of Great Beings, Marendars mission to kill toa was justified. Since like the Great Beings didn’t intend toa to be sapient. They were just supposed to be machines created to fulfill their duty in the Great Spirit Robot. Not to mention Toa could possess powerful weapons and harness the elements. So like that + the sapience could make toa easily dangerous. Sure Toa were valiant heroes who won’t hurt anyone unless they had to but it’s not like the Great Beings knew that,let alone that the Toa became sentient thanks to Awakening. THey simply created Marendar as a conviency plan in case the Toas AI went rogue or they started act out of control.
But yeah while Marendar was most likely going to just be an antagonistic plot device serving as a source of tension (and possibly as a way to trim down the cast during post canon plot),it is genuinely fascinating how Marendar was this knightly protector in the eyes of the Magnaians.