Origin

Tahu fell from the sky into the sea in a capsule with five others known as toa. It would become their mission to free the island Mata Nui, where they washed up, from the grasp of the evil Makuta and save Mata Nui, the being for which the island is named.

Powers

Tahu can control and produce fire with almost no limit. Extensive use of his fire powers in a short amount of time can drain him but he can absorb energy from fire and heat to recharge. He wields a large fire sword that can cut through metal and stone. He posses the Great Kanohi mask Hau that gives him the ability to produce a protective force field that can repel all attacks except for ambushes. He is an adept surfer and he surfs on lava using a large rock for a board. His being is comprised of biomechanical metal called protodermis.

Story

Tahu was a member of the toa team including Gali, Pohatu, Onua, Kopaka, and Lewa. They arrived on Mata Nui unaware of who they were. They found villages of beings called Matoran who had awaited their arrival to free them from the tyranny of the Makuta. The Matoran were led by wise beings called the Turaga who knew the toas' names and purpose. It was their destiny to find all of the great Kanohi masks and use them to defeat Makuta who had polluted the minds of the animals of Mata Nui, known as Rahi, and put the Great Spirit Mata Nui to sleep. Tahu became the leader of the team.

In their first journeys throughout the island Tahu gained five other masks aside fromm his mask of shielding. They gave him the powers of underwater breathing, x-ray vision, super speed, super strength, and levitation. At the temple Kini Nui the six masks were combined into one golden mask that allowed him to use all of his mask powers at once.

The toa descended to the deep tunnels of the island where they faced shadow versions of themselves, created by the Makuta. They were victorious and reemerged and finished reverting the Rahi to normal.

The toa later faced the threat of the Bohrok swarms, mechanical bugs that functioned as suits for the Krata. The toa gathered one of each kind of Krata and used them to unlock and activate the exotoa, power suits of armor. They then used these suits to battle the Barahg twin queens. At the end of the battle they took off the armor to unite and use their combined power to imprison the Bahrag. The resulting energy burst threw them into pools of energized molten protodermis transforming them in to the toa nuva.

Tahu nuva

Tahu became Tahu nuva. His golden mask was turned into the hau nuva. It could no longer gave him the powers of underwater breathing, x-ray vision, super speed, super strength, and levitation, but he could extend his shield to those around him and the shield was no longer weak against ambushes. His sword was transformed into two more powerful ones that could be put together as a double sword or ridden as a surf board. Tahu nuva also had much greater fire control and could channel it through his swords in a variety of ways including a blast or slamming them into the ground sending out a stream of heat in the direction of the strike.

Shortly after the Bohrok Kal attempted to free the Bahrag. Tahu nuva was given the mask of time by the Turaga, who also cautioned him against its use. It gave him complete control of time. He used to defeat the Bohrak Kal by slowing time long enough for the other toa to stop them from freeing the Bahrag.