Zaktan

Zaktan was a Dark Hunter² and later the leader of the Piraka.^{3, 4} Little was known about Zaktan's past. Zaktan had elemental air power which he could only use in combination with another Piraka. He possessed laser vision. After being struck by the Shadowed One's eyebeams, for some mysterious reason, his body was converted from solid matter to a mass of microscopic protodites, each of which contained a portion of Zaktan's consciousness. Zaktan could change his shape at will, with different parts of his form able to function independently. He could also fly. His favorite weapon was a three-bladed sword made of protodites.⁴

Notes

Zaktan, "the Snake," was the brilliant and ruthless leader of the Piraka. He may have been the strangest of them all. His body was made up of billions of microscopic protodites which could split apart and come together at will. He possessed laser vision and carried a zamor sphere launcher and a three-bladed weapon with gripping tongs on the opposite end. Hated and feared by the other Piraka, none had the courage to defy him.⁵

Zaktan was a mystery to the Shadowed One, one he wanted to solve slowly and painfully. As the self-styled leader of the Piraka, he represented a threat to the Shadowed One's authority and needed to be destroyed.⁶

When the Shadowed One first encountered Zaktan, Zaktan was working as a slave in a protodermis mine. The Shadowed One could see hatred in his eyes, contempt for concepts like honor and trust, and knew that he could mold him into a fearsome Dark Hunter. The Shadowed One assigned Zaktan to lead a team devoted to capturing and eliminating Toa.⁶

Zaktan considered the heroic and dutiful actions of Toa and Matoran to be idiotic, preferring to steal, destroy, and kill in the name of profit. Zaktan tried not to think about his time in the Dark Hunters, particularly because of the incident which turned him into a mass of protodites. Even the other Piraka saw him as a monster.⁷

As a Dark Hunter, Zaktan did not talk much. It was rumored that he was a slave in a protodermis mine – practically a death sentence – when the Shadowed One found him. He was constantly being reminded that he could go back to being a slave in an instant if the Shadowed One willed it. Vezok noted that something about Zaktan gave him a chill; he seemed to embody rage and evil.⁷

Zaktan was secretive and antisocial, and he made few friends in the Dark Hunters.⁴

Zaktan was leader of the Piraka. Zaktan was working as a slave in a protodermis mine when he was recruited into the Dark Hunters. After leading an unsuccessful rebellion against the Shadowed One, the Shadowed One's eyebeams somehow turned Zaktan's body from solid matter to a mass of microscopic protodites. He gained the ability to disperse his body into a swarm of the tiny creatures, slipping through any opening, no matter how small, and flying on the wind. Zaktan possessed elemental air power, which could only be used in combination with another Piraka. He also had laser vision and carried a three-bladed sword made out of protodites and a zamor sphere launcher.⁸

When in the custody of the Order of Mata Nui, Zaktan, in the form of a green sea snake, was kept in a globe filled with water. To get Zaktan to comply with her demands, Helryx would pull him out of the tank and let him gasp for air. Zaktan needed to be carried in a water-filled globe because of his mutation into a sea creature.⁹

Zaktan probably knew how to attack Mata Nui's body.¹⁰

Zaktan was able to survive the Shadowed One's eye beams because he was a kind of mutant, which is why his body did not react to the beams like anyone else's would have. It is possible that this was an intentional aspect of his creation.¹¹

Zaktan was the self-proclaimed leader of the Piraka. He maintained his role by severely injuring anyone who rebelled against him.¹²

Zaktan assumed and maintained his position as leader of the Piraka by beating back any revolt. He was the one who decided to go after the Mask of Life.¹³

The Piraka who hated each other most were probably Zaktan and Hakann.¹⁴

Zaktan knew the nature of what was inside the Zamor spheres, but not the substance of the spheres themselves.¹⁵

Zaktan's three-bladed sword had a pair of tongs at the other end.¹⁶

Zaktan saw allies as important because they gave his enemies someone else to kill before they got to him.¹⁷

The similarity between Zaktan's name and the island of Zakaz was coincidental.¹⁸

Zaktan didn't want to destroy organizations like the Dark Hunters or Brotherhood of Makuta, he wanted to rule them.¹⁹

Pridak was stronger than Zaktan physically.²⁰

There wasn't a big difference between Takadox's and Zaktan's intelligence.²¹

Zaktan wasn't less affected by antidermis because he was a swarm of protodites, he was less affected because Teridax had to let someone get close to him.²²

Protodites

When the Shadowed One blasted Zaktan with his devastating eyebeams, Zaktan did not die. Instead, his body was shattered into billions of pieces – microscopic creatures called protodites – each one containing a portion of his consciousness. He could control each piece at will, making him even more powerful than before. The Shadowed One did not know whether he had always been this way or if his attack somehow altered him. He hoped to dissect him to find out.⁶

Zaktan was able to control the shape of his body and to disperse into a cloud of protodites to avoid being struck. He could also fly and regenerate parts of himself that were destroyed. He also possessed laser vision. He carried a three-bladed sword and a Zamor sphere launcher.⁶

Zaktan's body was converted to billions of microscopic protodites. Each contained a portion of his consciousness and could function independently of his body as a whole. This allowed him to send parts of himself on the attack as a swarm, to fly, to evade physical attacks more easily, and to slip through spaces too small even for an insect. He never spoke about the event that made him that way, nor did he allow anyone else to speak of it. He learned to adapt to his new condition and harness the powers it gave him. Eventually, he became a hundred times more effective as a Dark Hunter than he had ever been before. He also never stopped hating the Shadowed One.⁷

After he was split into protodites, Zaktan's body parts could function independently of himself. They would be far more likely to fly around than crawl on the ground. His three-bladed tool was made of protodites, but his Zamor sphere launcher was not.²³

Zaktan had a finite number of protodites and could not produce more.²⁴

Zaktan's ability to regenerate protodites was limited.²⁵

Zaktan could move protodites around his body. He could spread his protodites out into a massive floating cloud without becoming molecularly unstable.²⁶

When parts of Zaktan were destroyed, the aspects of his consciousness within likely transferred to intact parts.²⁷

Zaktan had the ability to fly because protodites had the ability to fly.²⁸

Zaktan did not split up into his separate molecules; he was made up of Rahi protodites.²⁹

Zaktan could be physically harmed in his protodite form. He did not turn intangible; he simply spread out enough to allow projectiles to pass through. This did not deter energy or mental attacks.³⁰

When Zaktan swarmed his protodites around someone, he typically tried to suffocate him rather than eat him.³¹

Hakann's mind blast would be as effective on Zaktan as it would be on any other Piraka. Zaktan's mind was more spread out, but was still a mind.³²

Zaktan's protodite condition was inflicted upon him; it was not his natural state.³³

If Zaktan's eye protodites flew away, he would still be able to see because all of his protodites had eyes.³⁴

All of Zaktan's protodites could see; whether Zaktan himself saw what they saw depended on whether they fed their visual input back into his nervous system. They probably all did this; otherwise he would have had trouble directing his disparate parts.³⁵

Zaktan had the ability to see in all directions at all times, but chose not to because his mind was not suited for processing that many stimuli.³⁶

There was no known way to reverse the process that turned Zaktan into protodites.³⁷

Zaktan's protodites could stay still and pack together tightly enough for long enough to endure being Zaktan's weapon during a swordfight.³⁸

Zaktan was once a whole being, but he was changed so his body was made out of protodites. The protodites didn't have separate consciousnesses; each protodite had a portion of Zaktan's consciousness. Since all protodites had a certain portion of that consciousness, the anatomical location of each one was unimportant and each could fulfill any necessary role.³⁹

When Zaktan spoke, it sounded like the exact same voice spoken many times.⁴⁰

Technically, all of Zaktan's protodites needed to breathe.⁴¹

A single protodite of Zaktan was easy to defeat if one could see it.⁴²

Each protodite had a part of Zaktan's consciousness. If one was killed, its portion would be added back to the swarm as a whole.⁴³

Zaktan could not assimilate new protodites he came across.⁴⁴

If Zaktan lost protodites, he would likely be the same size and shape but less dense.⁴⁵

Zaktan had no additional power before he was transformed into protodites, just his eyebeams.⁴⁶

Zaktan could not use his laser vision power from any of his protodites, just the ones that made up his eyes. His protodites could see on their own if he detached them from his main body for scouting.⁴⁷

Zaktan created his sword himself.⁴⁸

Zaktan could direct his blade to fly away from his body and still fight with it.⁴⁹

Zaktan could detach his hands and use them to wield weapons at a distance from his body.⁵⁰

Zaktan could arguably launch his blades like boomerangs because he had complete control over their trajectory.⁵¹

Zaktan's greatest fear was losing control of the protodites that made up his body.⁵²

Zaktan's protodites were susceptible to being crushed, burned, or frozen.⁵³

When Zaktan fell asleep, his protodites stayed together. Keeping his exact shape likely required some willpower.⁵⁴

Zaktan could alter his shape, but not change his colors. Any form his swarm took would be green.⁵⁵

If Zaktan broke off any part of his body and sent that portion of protodites off on their own, he would be able to see what they saw because each of them had a portion of his consciousness. It was only when the swarm was together that he could only see from his eyes.⁵⁶

Zaktan's protodites had a limited range where he could maintain contact with them and a limited amount of sensory input his brain could handle.⁵⁷

Zaktan could shapeshift to an extent, but could not fool anyone because he couldn't change his color.⁵⁸

Zaktan would not recognize a protodax as being an enlarged protodite, as he was unaware of what protodites looked like due to their microscopic size.⁵⁹

Zaktan didn't like being made of protodites.⁶⁰

Zaktan needed nutrition in the same way other beings did.⁶¹

Sonics had a greater effect on Zaktan because keeping his form together required concentration, which sonic attacks disrupted.⁶²

Zaktan's protodites did not have their own wills.⁶³

The Spear of Fusion could probably be used on Zaktan's protodites to make him a whole being again.^{64, 65}

If Zaktan were only partially exposed to mutagen, only the protodites exposed would mutate. He would mutate like the other Piraka mutated, not how protodites would mutate.⁶⁶

After story year 2006, Zaktan's voice was still made of a multitude of voices, but the more guttural voice was missing since Teridax was not around.⁶⁷

Zaktan survived the Shadowed One's eye beams because of his nature.⁶⁸

Other Information

• In marketing, Zaktan's nickname was "the Snake," and his tagline was "100% Cunning, 0% Cuddly."⁸
• Zaktan was Greg Farshtey's favorite Piraka.^{69, 70, 71, 72}
• Zaktan was probably Greg Farshtey's favorite villain to write about in 2006.⁷³
• Zaktan was probably Greg Farshtey's favorite 2006 character.⁷⁴
• Greg Farshtey stated that he knew why Zaktan survived the Shadowed One's eyebeams.⁷⁵
• Greg Farshtey stated he would have loved to put Zaktan and Takadox on a team together.⁷⁶