In 999 AGC the Toa Mata finally arrived after being unwittingly summoned by Takua. For nearly a thousand years thereafter, the war between Teridax's Rahi and the local Matoran coninued. Only a year later, after Teridax's promise with Vakama to not harm the Matoran expired, Makuta controlled the wildlife with Infected Kanohi masks, and turned them against the Matoran, making living on Mata Nui extremely dangerous. They awakened the Matoran, sacrificing their Toa Power in the process and becoming Turaga, and each element of Matoran built a Koro in a region of Mata Nui that reflected their element, in the locations that the Turaga had earlier designated. Later, they came back with the rest of the sleeping Matoran from Metru Nui. They later traveled back down to Metru Nui to claim the rest of the spheres. While on the island at this time, the Toa Metru searched it for possible locations to build villages for Matoran. The Toa Metru traveled in a Vahki Transport, dubbed the Lhikan, to the island above through tunnels from the Great Barrier to 'the island above' with five Matoran asleep in spheres.

The sudden landing caused a malfunction in his camouflage systems, which, along with leaking Energized Protodermis, created the island paradise of Mata Nui. When Makuta Teridax used a Makuta Virus to bring the Great Spirit into a deep slumber, he crashed on Aqua Magna. This was to be accomplished by Mata Nui landing on a planet and concealing his face under an island of stone and local flora by means of Energized Protodermis. A duty the Great Spirit was tasked with accomplishing was the observation of other worlds. The origins of Mata Nui began with the Great Spirit it was named after.

The island of mata nui