Maui

Background

Maui was born to human parents, centuries before the events of the film. Apparently wanting nothing to do with their son, Maui's parents threw him into the sea as an infant, and left him for dead. He was saved by the gods, who raised Maui, granting supernatural abilities, immortality, and a magical fish hook that allows him to shapeshift. Despite his demigod status, Maui's cruel upbringing would forever scar him. Feeling rejected by humans, he used his powers to benefit mankind in any way they pleased as a means to earn the love and validation that he was denied by his parents; he pulled islands from the sea to provide them with homes, extended their days by pulling back the sun, and stole fire from the bottom of the earth to provide them with warmth on cold nights, among many feats. As a result, Maui became one of the most acclaimed figures of Oceania history. As the people acclimated to Maui's gifts, he had to perform increasingly grand feats to sustain their adulation. This led him to steal the heart of Te Fiti, the mother island. As the gem has the power to create life, Maui believed it would make the perfect gift to mortals all across the world. Unfortunately, once the heart was removed from its resting spot, darkness slowly began consuming the world. The removal of the heart also gave birth to the wrathful lava demon Te Kā, who confronted Maui before he could escape. The two battled, but Maui was defeated, losing both the heart of Te Fiti and his magical fish hook in the aftermath. The heart would remain lost for centuries, while Maui's fishhook eventually fell into the possessions of his arch-rival, the giant crab Tamatoa. Maui, meanwhile, was banished to a desolate island by Te Kā, and was doomed to remain there for all eternity as punishment for his crimes. Even so, legend proclaimed that Maui was destined to team up with a hero—the "chosen one"—to return the heart to its rightful place.

Development

Moana came from co-director John Musker's fascination with the legends and lore surrounding Maui. As such, the plot was initially conceived as a story centering Maui, with Moana playing a secondary role. This was during extremely early stages of development, and it was quickly changed to focus on Moana after an inspirational research trip to the South Pacific. Maui's physical appearance was much different in earlier versions of the movie. He was bald and shorter in stature. For five years of the film's development, the filmmakers consulted in their Oceanic Story Trust, who pushed Disney to enhance Maui's physique to resemble a hero in the vein of Superman.[4] When designing Maui, the team researched athletes such as football players, wrestlers, and men with massive physiques. One source of inspiration was Dwayne Johnson's late grandfather High Chief Peter Maivia, who was also a professional wrestler like Johnson and an actual Samoan high chief.

Personality

Maui is boastful, gregarious, and mischievous. His manner of carrying himself matches his massive physique, being larger-than-life and a true god among men. He is responsible for most of the necessities and luxuries currently belonging to mankind, and with his magical fish hook at hand, is amongst the most powerful figures in South Pacific lore. Widely regarded as a clever trickster, Maui is rarely matched when it comes to adversaries, being greatly feared by villains and monsters lurking throughout the sea. Maui can be extremely arrogant and pompous as a result of this reputation, although his many achievements tend to justify his vainglorious attitude. For all his heroics, however, Maui can also be short-tempered, bitter, pretentious, and his inflated ego tends to give him a superiority complex. This attitude lead him to be quite antagonistic, and even murderous. When he first meets Moana, he had no regard for her life and was completely willing to leave her stranded on a barren island or even lost at sea. He can also be selfish, initially choosing to focus solely on reclaiming his hook with no intention of saving the dying world, though Moana was able to change his mind. As a result of his poor upbringing, Maui has spent a majority of his life living with crippling insecurity. He went out of his way to perform godly deeds for mankind's benefit to gain the love and appreciation denied to him by his parents. While he seemed to enjoy the praise he earned, Maui secretly longed to be appreciated beyond his demigod status; as the human he is on the inside, rather than the deity portrayed in legends. Additionally, despite boasting about his accomplishments to Moana, Maui initially credited the gods for his many feats, claiming they're the ones that "made him Maui". He saw himself as "nothing" without his hook, and was extremely reluctant to take on challenges without it, becoming somewhat of a coward. Through Moana, however, Maui slowly began to realize that the hook

Powers and abilities

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Godly Strength

Maui possesses extreme superhuman strength in both his arm and leg muscles. The latter allows him to jump significant heights that end with damaging land. Maui's incredible superhuman strength allowed him to perform impossible feats such as singlehandedly dredging up islands, lassoing the sun, and even pushing up the sky. His strength also lies in his lungs, as he can produce massive gusts of wind to clear a path before or surrounding him; he apparently uses this ability to harness the breeze in the world's air.

Immortality

Since becoming a demigod, Maui is virtually immortal, looking the same in the present as he did one thousand years ago. This immortality is likely how he survived on a desert island in that length of time with little or no food or freshwater, and allows him to survive attacks from monsters and other deities that would greatly injure or kill a normal person.

Fish Hook proficiency

Maui's most powerful abilities come from his mighty fish hook, which allows him to shapeshift into a wide array of animals, from insects to whales. This proves to be an extremely useful asset, as Maui's quick changes from massive to pint-sized creatures prevent his enemies from keeping up and laying an attack. The fish hook glows with a blue (purple, if broken) energy when in use, and is strong enough to shatter stone and cause severe damage to deities. Because it was created by the gods, however, it can be just as easily destroyed by a deity. Fortunately, it will take more than one extreme blow to completely destroy the weapon. Maui tends to combine the strength of his muscles and his hook to perform acts such as pulling islands from the sea and lassoing the sun. Without his hook, however, Maui cannot shapeshift. He must also swing the hook a certain way to transform into the desired animal, as evidenced during his fight with Tamatoa. Although he would still have his strength, Maui is considerably less powerful when stripped of his magic weapon, and therefore vulnerable to enemies.

Shapeshifting

With his hook, Maui is able to shapeshift into anything he can imagine, though mostly just animals. He has been shown to transform into a hawk, an iguana, a beetle, a fish, a shark, a reindeer (resembling Sven from Frozen), a pig, a starfish, a rooster (resembling a larger version of Heihei), and a whale.

Sentient tattoos

Another significant trait of Maui is his animated tattoos plastered throughout his skin. The tattoos depict Maui's various exploits and accomplishments. New tattoos magically appear moments after a new milestone has been reached; as Maui explained, they must be earned. All of the tattoos are animated, but one stands out from the rest: Mini Maui. Mini Maui is a tattooed depiction of the actual Maui and acts as the latter's conscience, biggest supporter, and best friend. They communicate with each other often, and share a loving bond, though their conflicting levels of morality causes them to clash on occasion (with Maui being mischievous and Mini Maui being completely benevolent).

Master sailor

Even without his powers, Maui is an expert seaman and navigator, able to sail an outrigger canoe with relative ease and use the stars to plot the quickest way to any destination. After successfully escaping the Kakamora using these skills, Maui would later teach them to Moana, albeit paralyzed and not by choice.

Appearances

Maui was first seen during Gramma Tala's story regarding his disastrous theft of Te Fiti's heart. A thousand years after Maui's disappearance, Tala's granddaughter, Moana, was chosen by the ocean to find the demigod and have him join her in returning the heart to its rightful place. According to Moana's ancestors, Maui can be found by following a constellation resembling his fish hook. After Tala's death, Moana takes the heart and journeys off into the sea. She follows the fish hook constellation but gets lost along the way. Fortunately, the ocean creates a storm that transports her to Maui's island, and she washes up along its shores the following morning. Shortly after Moana awakens, Maui finds her boat unattended and celebrates his key to escape. He soon meets Moana, who angrily confronts the demigod and orders him to return the heart. Maui, feeling a tad disrespected, explains to Moana exactly who he is and his gifts to mankind over the years. He does so through the musical number "You're Welcome", which served more as a ploy to distract Moana. He traps her in his cave in order to make off with her boat (against Mini Maui's protests). By time Moana manages to escape, Maui has already sailed off. The ocean helps Moana catch up to Maui on the boat, and she reveals to have the heart of Te Fiti in her possessions. Believing the heart is cursed, Maui refuses to return it and instead tries to rid them of it. Due to the ocean, however, Maui is unsuccessful. Suddenly, the duo are attacked by a band of pirates known as the Kakamora, who sought the heart like many villains. As Maui Moana defend the boat, Heihei swallows the heart and is kidnapped by the pirates shortly thereafter. Moana asks Maui to save him and the heart, but Maui doesn't believe it to be worth the risk and tries to escape. Moana hops off the boat and rescues Heihei herself against Maui's advice. After she makes it back to the boat safely, Heihei spits out the heart. Through Maui's impeccable sailing

look like

For one thing, he's big, really big He also has a great head of thick, wild hair (in most versions, Maui's hair is tied back in a neat topknot) and biceps bigger around than his co-star's waist, brown eyes