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The Ignika is an extremely powerful Kanohi Mask in Lego's fictional Bionicle franchise. It is the focus of the story's third arc, Bionicle Legends. The mask has control over life and death, and over what forms life can take; it also has a degree of life itself and is self-aware. It is for this power that several groups desire to claim and use it.

History
A hundred thousand years ago, near the creation of the universe, the Ignika Mask of Life was forged by the Great Beings. The Ignika's purpose was to restore the Great Spirit Mata Nui's life energies if needed. At first, the mask was kept locked away in an armored golden shell, but one Great Being was curious and opened the shell to hold the mask. To his horror, everything began coming to life around him - inanimate objects, the stones of the building, even rays of light - and everything began making requests and demands about their newfound desires. The Being was eventually locked away where he could not bring anything else to life, and he may have possibly gone mad. Since then, the Great Beings treated the mask with more respect than curiosity.

Soon, the two creators of the Ignika hid the mask far under a volcano named Mount Valmai, which was directly above Karda Nui, the core of the universe where the mask could fulfill its purpose. They appointed Umbra as one of its guardians, and eventually the Order of Mata Nui sent Axonn and Brutaka on their own assignment to protect the mask.

Around eighty thousand years ago, the Great Disruption in Metru Nui had injured Mata Nui. Toa Jovan led his team to Mount Valmai, and they reached and used the Mask of Life to heal the Great Spirit; but not all the Toa survived the incident and the ones that did quickly replaced the mask out of fear of its power.

One thousand years ago, Mata Nui fell unconscious from an attack, causing the Great Cataclysm. Mount Valmai and the surrounding area broke off from the mainland, becoming known as the island of Voya Nui.

Recently, several groups have come to Voya Nui to claim the Ignika. Former Dark Hunters calling themselves "Piraka" wanted to claim the mask in order to ransom it for wealth and power. The Toa Nuva hoped to use the mask to heal Mata Nui, and six Matoran who came to help them were transformed into the Toa Inika.

While the Toa Nuva were quickly taken out of action, the Piraka and Toa Inika have had to face several guardians. The Piraka entered a nightmare zone that brought their worst fear, the monster Irnakk, to life. The Inika also entered this zone and fought enemies they had faced as Matoran, only to have their worst fears happen as their powers spiral out of control and kill their foes. The Inika also faced the Protodax (Protodites enlarged by the mask), but Umbra wiped them out to claim the honor of slaying the Inika for himself.

Eventually, both groups reached the Chamber of Life, only to find one more guardian: The mad Piraka, Vezon. He had reached the mask first, only to become cursed; he was fused with a giant spider, and worse, the mask itself had fused to the back of Vezon's head, which made him believe that its removal would kill him. While the Piraka were swiftly defeated, the Inika made some headway in fighting Vazon - only for the mask to evolve Fenrakk into . Toa Kongu was able to read the mask's mind and find out that it wanted to dispose of Vezon as a guardian in favor of Toa Matoro, as Matoro was a kind, self-sacrificing person; he had volunteered to give his life earlier and, on the way to the island, had offered to help someone that seemed to be in need - never realizing that the "someone" was a manifestation of the mask's power. Vezon became enraged at this news, giving the Toa the opportunity to use a Zamor Sphere that froze him and Kardas in space and time, so that Matoro could safely take the mask. However, when the Zamor wore off Kardas let off one more attack that made Matoro lose his grip, and the mask began to fly away towards the island's shore.

The Ignika dove under the sea, ending up near the lost underwater city of Mahri Nui, where it triggered a war over its power: Banished, mutated warlords called Barraki desired it for its power to return them to their original air-breathing forms, and the Ignika turned the pursuing Toa Inika into water-breathing Toa Mahri in response. It also transformed a local Matoran, Dekar, into a clone of the Barraki's dead jailer, Hydraxon, but this proved to be a mistake as Hydraxon felt the mask was too powerful to allow to exist. Complicating matters was the fact that the waters of Mahri Nui were eroding the mask, causing it to leak energy - in other words, that the Ignika was dying. This added another combatant to the fray, as the leaked energy caused a nearby Gadunka to grow, and the territorial Rahi felt the mask belonged to him.

The Toa Mahri were victorious in the end, and they shattered the stone cord that connected Voya Nui and Mahri Nui, allowing the island to return to its original location. However, as they rushed to follow the sinking island time ran out and Mata Nui died, causing the mask to go dark. Refusing to give up, five of the Mahri stayed behind to hold off the pursuing Barraki while Matoro continued to follow Voya Nui.

Eventually, Matoro was able to catch up and get ahead of the island, plunging through a hole in the ocean floor and following the waterfall into Karda Nui. There he put on the Ignika and sacrificed himself to revive Mata Nui. He only fought the mask's power in order to teleport the other Toa Mahri back home, which the Ignika agreed to.

Out of respect and admiration of Matoro, the Mask of Life will soon use its power to create a body for itself. Equipped with a sword, skyboard, and Midak Skyblaster, Toa Ignika is determined to be a hero. Matoro's use of the mask has also blinded some of the that have invaded Karda Nui, crippling them.

Personality
Though the Ignika is self-aware, it is not fully alive and is somewhat primitive and immature. Series writer Greg Farshtey has made comments on the mask's thoughts:

Kanohi Ignika:



Toa Ignika:


Powers
Unlike most Kanohi masks, the Ignika is sentient and has a mind of its own. It has the power to give, take away, and evolve life and will not hesitate to use its powers to defend itself if threatened.

Just like life can take many forms, so can the Ignika; it has so far taken three separate shapes: One shape seen only in video and web games featuring the Piraka and Toa Inika, a second seen as part of the Vezon toy set, and a third seen in all 2007 and 2008 media (top of page). This third shape, notably, features the image of a humanoid figure on its face.

Secretly, the Mask of Life has a second purpose besides just saving Mata Nui: If the world were to plunge into chaos in a way that threatens all that exists, then a countdown would start and the mask would turn silver. If the problem is not corrected quickly, then the mask will turn black and drain all life from every living creature, ending that universe for good.

Curses
The Ignika will instinctively use these powers to curse whomever touches it unless that person is destined to have it. This curse, or at least the form it takes, appears to be a conscious choice of the Ignika, although it sometimes mistakenly believes it is giving a blessing to the being. The curse lasts only as long as someone is touching the mask.
*Great Being: Uncontrollably grants surrounding objects with life. Unlike the others, this effect is permanent, as the Ignika laid too strong of a curse its first time.
*Vezon: Fused to an enlarged Fenrakk spider and to the mask itself.
*Kyrehx: Local vegetation would grow and attack.
*Dekar: All opponents were unable to be harmed.
*Pridak: Natural personality traits were heightened; mainly violence, paranoia, and insanity.
*Nocturn: Instantly killed anything he touched.
*Mantax: Leeched strength from any nearby.
*Gadunka: Devolved from giant size to former few-inch-long state (the growth to giant size, while caused by the mask, was an accident and not a deliberate curse).