Maui is the deuteragonist of Disney's 2016 animated feature film, Moana.
Appearance[]
Maui is an exceptionally tall, brown-skinned man. He is considerably fat yet still muscular and a lot of his impressive girth is covered in Polynesian tattoos, given life in order to re-enact his old exploits for human entertainment. At least one of these tattoos, Mini Maui, possesses a level of sentience and often acts as Maui's conscience.
Maui's clothing is a loincloth made of various multicoloured leaves, and a necklace, carrying bones and teeth from each of the different animal types that Maui can transform into using his fish-hook. He has a wide, prominent chin, a small nose, dark brown eyes and a gap between his front teeth. Maui's hair is long, black and curly and comes down over his neck. Presumably he grew it that long in order to hide the least favorite image of his tattoos; the image of his parents throwing him into the sea as a baby.
Personality[]
Maui is boisterous, 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 it is justifiable in every way. While his prideful ego can lead him to perform antagonistic and selfish acts, Maui is a lot less careless as a first impression may perceive.
As a result of his poor upbringing, Maui has spent a majority of his life living with crippling insecurity. He goes out of his way to perform godly deeds for mankind's benefit to compensate for the love and appreciation denied to him by his parents. While he seems to enjoy the praise he earns, he secretly wishes he could be appreciated beyond his demigod status; as the human he is on the inside, rather than the deity portrayed in legends. Even so, Maui's daring adventures over the centuries shaped him into a mighty hero. Before meeting Moana, Maui credited the gods for his greatness, completely contradicting his initial arrogance. He believed he was nothing without his deity-created fish hook, and openly lamented how useless he viewed himself whenever the hook was decommissioned. Through Moana, however, he slowly began to realize that the hook is only an accessory during his adventures and that his many accomplishments over the years were a result of his own selflessness and bravery, rather than what the gods conjured to assist him in such exploits. He discovered that Moana's words of wisdom were correct when he fought relentlessly against Te Kā (without his fish hook) to save Moana and the world from destruction.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Enhanced Strength: Maui possesses herculean strength in both his arm and leg muscles. The latter allows him to jump significant heights that end with damaging land. Maui's incredible physical strength allowed him to perform impossible feats such as singlehandedly dredging up islands, lassoing the sun, and even holding 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.
- 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.
Weapons[]
Maui's Hook
Maui wields a large, Magical Fish Hook that allows him to shape shift and take on large, powerful foes.
The fish hook is a sizable bone-like weapon created by the gods of Polynesian lore. It was given to Maui after the gods adopted the former and turned him into a demigod with supernatural power. It had since been used throughout his exploits, and has considerable magical abilities. Like its owner, the fish hook has elaborate markings engraved on it representing the various tales and adventures it has been used in. According to Maui, he used the fish hook to slow down the sun itself, pull islands out of the sea, and battle colossal monsters. Aside from being a weapon, Maui also uses the fish hook in his dances and performances, swinging it around himself as he does so.
The hook is notable in that it grants Maui the ability to shapeshift. The hook itself disappears into Maui's animal body whenever he does so, as its shape is seen on the wing of Maui's hawk form. Without the hook, however, Maui cannot perform this ability.
Role in the Crossover[]
If the Big Four ever visit the South Pacific, chances are that they would end up going to visit Maui and ask for the demigod's help; even promising to help the demigod to get off the island that he was banished to. They might not initially get on with him, but eventually he would befriend them and help the Four fight against Pitch and his allies.
Relationships[]
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III[]
As a Viking, Hiccup would no doubt believe in demigods like Maui, and as Vikings are voyagers themselves, Hiccup could run into Maui on one of his adventures. Initially, however, Hiccup would not like Maui, since the demigod's arrogant, boastful nature would remind him of Snotlout. Given time, though, the pair could start to connect, since Hiccup could sympathize with Maui being rejected by his parents, having fought so hard to gain his own father's approval all his life. Maui, in turn, would be impressed by Hiccup using his smarts and inventive drive to compensate for his weak nature, and would try to see if he could add Toothless to his repertoire of animal forms.
Jack Frost[]
As a demigod, Maui would no doubt be able to see and interact with Jack, helped by the fact that the Hawaiian cultures from which Maui is derived worship a snow goddess called Poli'ahu, and Maui could regard Jack as another demigod, perhaps one of Poli'ahu's children. Initially, the two would butt heads, Maui's smugness reminding Jack of his rival E. Aster Bunnymund, and Jack's reckless, mischievous nature would make Maui annoyed with him out of protective fury, much like Moana. However, they could connect to each other on their feelings of isolation, since Jack spent 300 years without anyone to interact with, while Maui spent 1,000 years on an island by himself. Also, they both connect due to their desire to connect to humans, since Jack makes snow days fun for children in the hope that one child will eventually be able to see him, while Maui provided gifts to the human world to gain the love he did not receive from his parents. In addition, their nature as tricksters would enable them to plan out massive pranks on the Guardians and, better still, on Pitch.
Merida DunBroch[]
Merida and Maui are both proud and active fighters. Any initial interactions between them would be tense with antagonism. Maui's arrogance and suave personality would remind Merida of Young Macintosh, and her own stubborn, impulsive nature would remind him in turn of Moana. However, over time, they would come to be friends, Merida empathizing with Maui for feeling like he doesn't fit everyone's expectations of him, and he would feel that she shouldn't have to be forced into marriage before she feels ready. Maui could even engage in some high-spirited adventuring in his animal forms, flying Merida to the top of a mountain in his hawk form and retelling the stories of his exploits for her. Indeed, sometime later on in Merida's life, she and Maui could have a romantic relationship (Mauida).
This pairing sounds plausible, given that Merida is apparently drawn to strong men, judging by her reaction to the muscle-bound man from Clan Dingwall. It could be a similar relationship between an immortal and a human to the pairing of Jelsa.
Rapunzel Corona[]
Rapunzel and Maui's first meeting wouldn't be an ideal one. His imposing build would initially frighten her, reminding her of the Stabbington Brothers, and his annoyingly smug attitude would call to mind her first impressions of Eugene. However, due to the fact that he is an abandoned child, also like Eugene, Rapunzel could sympathise with the demigod and open her heart to him. Both of them have a lot more in common; they both were brought up by someone who wasn't their birth parent (Gothel brought up Rapunzel, and the gods brought up Maui); they gained their magic powers from an object that is destroyed towards the end of their film (Rapunzel's hair and Maui's fishhook); and they have both experienced a sense of isolation (Maui spent 1,000 years living alone on an island after robbing Te Fiti of her heart, and Rapunzel was brought up in a tower for 18 years). As she warmed to him, Rapunzel would regard him in a better light, and may become intrigued by his stories about how he created natural wonders for the people of the Pacific Islands.