A Comparative Analysis

A Comparative Analysis of the Legends of Artakha and Karzahni by one Kodan, the Chronicler of Metru Nui

This treatise is dedicated to one scholar of Ko-Metru, as it was an argument with them that inspired the collection of thoughts herein. As it happened, the argument began with a level-headed discussion on the relation between myth and history. The scholar had lamented, that due to the subpar recordkeeping of events of the Time before time, we lack any reliable source on what took place in that long-gone era. I argued that this was not the case – that the various oral and written legends can, as long as we analyse them with careful scrutiny, serve as a reliable enough method of gaining insight into the Time. My interlocutor, a Matoran of tangible science, disagreed and what followed was a heated discussion, which unfortunately ended with the scholar silently admitting defeat, as he abandoned his attempts at proving me wrong and sought refuge in warming up long disproven accusations of bias in my annual chronicles of Metru Nui.

The example of a myth, which formed the backbone of our respective arguments, was the legend behind the creation of and the fabled fight between Artakha and Karzahni. While I consider myself well-read on the early history of the universe of our Spirit, the legends surrounding these mythical beings have escaped me. As I left Ko-Metru that day, I couldn’t stop thinking that had I more extensive knowledge on this specific example, I could’ve been more persuasive and self-assured regarding my arguments. I thus decided to rectify this shortcoming by combing through the Metru Nui Archives in search of every available record on Artakha and Karzahni. I then carefully applied the comparative method, analysing the records and searching for tropes and plot points in common – having found them, I could create at least a rough outline of a history based on myth.

The file which you are currently reading was the by-product of this endeavour. Not only did committing my findings to tablet help organize my thoughts, but the result is also a document which I hope will be a great aid to any future historian and peruser of legends.

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No. 1: “The Legend of Artakha and Karzahni” by Kapua the Traveller

The prosaically titled stone tablet, credited to the venerable Kapua of the Northern Continent, is perhaps the oldest and most widely known version of the legend. It is also the shortest and most stripped-down version, containing merely a clipped rundown of events. To summarize its contents could be considered an exercise in redundancy, as it can be assumed that every student and scholar of Matoran storiology is familiar with it. However, I will nevertheless offer a summary for the sake of completeness.

Kapua’s legend begins with these famous sentences: “When the universe was young, two beings were created. One, a spirit of creation, was named Artakha. The other, a spirit of destruction, was named Karzahni. Each were given a realm to rule and a purpose to guide the workers of the universe.” Artakha and Karzahni are further characterized as figures symbolising opposing traits and an insignificant portion is dedicated to describing their realms, the “wonderful glistening cityscapes of Artakha” and the “nightmarish blasted heaths of Karzahni”. Then, the Mask of Creation, a wondrous artefact from the hands of the Great Beings, is introduced and with it, the central conflict of the story, as the brothers are put one against the other in a fight for the mask. The legend does not describe the fight in detail, it merely notes that the brothers “[...] fought in mind and in body, but only one was able to claim the Mask: Artakha.” Following the fight, the brothers settle in their realms; Artakha creates a refuge for the brightest and most illustrious workers of the universe, while Karzahni decides to dedicate himself to the task of repairing and discipling subpar workers. “One, driven by heart and talent, created a paradise. The other, driven by envy and ineptitude, created a netherworld. But in the Time after time, both worlds and their rulers would become legends and would never be seen again.”

It has been put forward that the simple structure of Kapua’s text makes ideal for novice scholars, although, I’d argue that its frequent artistic form of expression could make it a difficult read for some. With its simplicity, combined with the animation of language, it shouldn’t be surprising that this variation of the legend is particularly popular with storytellers. From a historiological perspective, this account of the legend is complete enough. I would like to note, however, a detail which seems to escape most scholars – how Karzahni is consistently characterized as a malevolent figure, even before losing the fight to Artakha. Other, lesser-known accounts of the legend usually derive his malevolence from envy, the result of forever losing access to the Mask of Creation. For reasons which I will get into later in this document, I find this particular aspect of this version to be insipid and narrow-minded.

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No. 2: “Artakha and Karzahni” by the one known only as “The Archivist”

The mystery surrounding the one known simply as “The Archivist” has eclipsed any record bearing the “name” of this enigmatic entity. I find this to be a pity, since I find their record of the legend of Artakha and Karzahni to be the most objective. This objectivity comes at the cost of good prose – “Artakha and Karzahni”, like many of Archivist’s documents, is an incredibly dry read. There are no colourful descriptions or any other artistic flourishes. In terms of described events, Archivist’s story is nearly identical to Kapua’s with the main difference being, aside from it lacking the latter’s moralistic tendencies, a slightly more complete description of the challenges Artakha and Karzahni were faced with. The text specifically mentions a fist-brawl and a riddle – unfortunately, since this is “The Archivist” we are talking about, no further details are given. The text mentions that Artakha won, although it isn’t stated if this refers to the brawl, the riddle or both. Some scholars believe in the third, while others posit that Karzahni won the physical brawl and that Artakha found a better answer to the riddle.

Apart from the dull prose, Archivist’s documents are known for often including differing versions of a given text in the same volume. “Artakha and Karzahni” contains three versions of the legend with only slight variations, mostly confined to the descriptions of the realms of Artakha and Karzahni. In the first version, there is no mention of the realms before the challenges, only after they are already completed. In the second, they are mentioned before and after, although only the first mentions include any description of geography and topography. The third and final is similar to the second, but the realms are only mentioned to exist and are not described further. This version also explains that the Great Beings considered the riddle to be the deciding factor in choosing the wielder of the mask.

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No. 3: “The Mask of Creation” by the Stelt Collective

From what I’ve been able to gather, “The Mask of Creation” is considered to be one of the most controversial and reviled versions of this particular legend. Apart from the contents, I believe this attitude is partly due to the widely negative perception of Stelt, from which the Stelt Collective hails from. The authors are also colloquially known as “The Exaggerators”, based on accusations which I will not bother to defend them from, since they are well-deserved. “The Mask of Creation” is incomparable with the other versions of the legends, both in terms of literary style, which is characterized by impenetrably thick poetic writing (I will not torture the reader by citing even a snippet) and plot, which comprises solely on one aspect of the legend – the challenges given to Artakha and Karzahni by the Great Beings. Similar to the Archivist’s tale, “The Mask of Creation” describes both a physical as well as a cerebral challenge. The first is a brawl, described in the Collective’s signature style as violent enough to level mountains and shatter the ground. The second, which is perhaps the most controversial aspect of this entire tale, involves the creation of a mask, the better of which will be rewarded to the winner. While it’s difficult to extrapolate from the impenetrable prose what kind of mask this is supposed to be, there are enough hints (the title being one of them), that it’s the Mask of Creation itself. The implication that this legendary mask was created not by the Great Beings, as widely accepted, but by one of the brothers, is considered to be blasphemy by scholars and is the main reason for the text’s infamy. Despite what the previously mentioned versions of the legend would imply – that Artakha would be the one to win the competition – I am unable to confirm that this is the case with “The Mask of Creation”, as the document in the Archives is incomplete and I was unable to track down another copy. Although, given the Collective’s reputation, I could assume that the outcome is as unexpected and blasphemous as other aspects of this version.

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No. 4: “The Ballad of Karzahni” by unknown

I suppose you haven’t heard of this one yet. This is the most recent of the documents presented here, it is an oral tale that was told to me by a Fa-Matoran sailor on a visit to Metru Nui. The sailor, his name escapes me, I’m afraid, was an eccentric sort, he had only one working optical sensor, and he spoke in an unrefined Fakornan dialect, which certainly made transcribing his story difficult. But I believe I did a decent enough job at it.

Since this treatise is already rather long, I will refrain from a complete summary of “The Ballad of Karzahni” – you can find and read my document in the literary section of the Archives Library (Don’t forget, reading room materials can only be lent for the day!). The details of the legend, as told by the aforementioned sailor, don’t diverge greatly from the other legends. What is notable is what it does and doesn’t include. For example, the tale doesn’t really introduce Artakha and Karzahni, nor does it devote any time to describing their realms. It focuses almost exclusively on the main characters or rather main character – as the title, coined by the sailor himself, suggests, it primarily occupies itself with the Mad Titan. Karzahni is portrayed here as a tragic, misunderstood figure, whose central motivation is to prove himself to the Great Beings, and to his brother. This is in wild contrast to Kapua’s legend, where he is portrayed as an avatar of evil. Sadly, since this is the legend of Artakha and Karzahni, we know how the story goes. Before anyone asks, Artakha is also portrayed as a sympathetic character, who heartfully wishes his brother good luck and shows dismay when he fails. The challenge for the Mask of Creation is here portrayed solely as a battle of wits and not of force. The tale notes how Karzahni could’ve easily won a brawl and how he was not a little shocked at the actual challenge. The challenge itself is a difficult read, not because of the prose, but because of the painful struggle Karzahni faces. When all is said and done, Artakha is given the Mask of Creation, while Karzahni is given the Mask of Alternate Futures. The text notes the irony of giving Karzahni such a mask after his defeat and the first thing Karzahni does when he dons it, is imagine a scenario where he gained Artakha’s mask and leave for his realm, anger and envy building up inside him, while his brother looks back at him sadly.

The tale of the Fa-Matoran sailor functions less like a legend and more like refined fiction, with slight embellishments for the enjoyment of the reader. Some may argue that including it in this selection of sources would be unscholarly, but since we are dealing solely with secondary sources, who’s to say the previously mentioned legends are any more reliable than this one? There’s one unscholarly thing I will do here and that is to admit that this document is my personal favourite among these. The reasons behind this are more scholarly than the fact that I was the one to discover it. Rather, the virtue of “The Ballad of Karzahni” is how it challenges beliefs that are set in stone – in particular the portrayal of Karzahni as inherently evil – but not in a way that destroys those beliefs with lies. This is how, in my opinion, “The Ballad of Karzahni” avoids both the moralising of “The Legend of Artakha and Karzahni” as well as the ridiculous distortions of “The Mask of Creation”.

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Conclusion

The stated goal of this text, one which I might’ve lost track of, was a historical one – compare and contrast the various versions of the legend of Artakha and Karzahni and try to form as comprehensive as possible a truth about who these mythical beings were and what they did. Based on my comparative analysis, here is what we know.

There were two powerful beings, who were also brothers: Artakha and Karzahni. It is believed they were created with a specific purpose, but also that they possessed a certain degree of autonomy. We can assume they ruled over their own realms – the details vary across accounts but one is considered to be more hospitable than the other. We also know for certain there was a Mask of Creation created by the Great Beings and that Artakha and Karzahni fought for this mask. The details on the nature of this fight are again uncertain but it is widely accepted that Artakha won and Karzahni lost. After the fight, the brothers would retreat to their respective realms, never to be seen again and achieving mythical status for this reason.

Of course, since we are dealing with mere legends, one could dismiss their entirety as lies and improbable fiction. I believe doing so would be foolish. Firstly, this argument is a slippery slope which can lead us to denying the stories and truths which are fundamental to our survival. We know from the Disruption how dangerous that can be – or should we dismiss the stories of that disgrace as lies also? And secondly, I believe it would dullen our lives to condemn stories as unbelievable. Even if they cannot be proven to have happened, they give us respite from our troubles and inspire us to be better Matoran. If that is not a noble goal, then I do not know what is.