10 Interesting Facts About Te Kā (Lava Demon Of Moana)

The villain in Moana is Te Ka, a powerful creature/demon or sorceress. She is determined to prevent Moana from fulfilling her destiny as the goddess of the Island, and she will do whatever it takes to stop her. Te Ka is an incredible adversary, capable of magical attacks and stunning feats of strength. She also has a strong hatred for humanity, believing that they are nothing but animals who deserve to die. Her lack of respect for Moana and her people makes her one of the most dangerous villains in Disney history. Te Ka is relentless in her pursuit of Moana, never giving up on finding her no matter how difficult the journey may be. She will stop at nothing to achieve her goal, which means that Moana will have to be prepared for anything when she encounters her. But there’s a catch when you know more about Ta Ka’s character. Let’s read-on 10 most interesting facts about Te Ka.

1 Te Kā Is The Main Villain & A Lava Demon Of Moana

Te Kā Demon Moana

Moana’s main antagonist, Te Kā, is a malevolent lava demon who used to be the warm hearted island goddess Te Fiti. Eventually she became the destructive villain that wreaks havoc throughout Moana’s film, when Demigod Maui stole her heart that makes her a fire or lava demon.

2 Te Ka Original Meaning Is “The Burning One” In English

Te Kā Demon Moana

Te Ka name would translate to “the burning one” in Maori. It would also mean that they’re associated with supernatural beings, like the dark one. They are in the hands of Kā and the word “kā” is also a possessive word for most Polynesian languages which means their identity has been erased.

3 Te Kā Is A Cruel & Heartless Creature With No Mercy For Humans

Te Kā is a creature of pure malice. The theft of her heart has changed her, stripping the kindly and generous Te Fiti of her benevolence, replacing it with hostility and directed towards both demigod Maui and the world at large.

4 Te Kā & Te Fiti Are Two Opposite Forces Of Nature

Te Kā Demon Moana

Te Kā’s opposing goals and ideals with Te Fiti differ while they are not unlike in their bare essentials. While Te Fiti wishes to spread beauty and life, Te Kā wants to bring destruction and death on mankind despite them being innocent in the situation that led to their heart’s taking (and not just society as a whole). As for Maui, he was responsible for the event leading to her heart’s stealing; thereby making them innocent from this crime.

5 Te Kā Can Be Brought Back To Original Te Fiti If Her Heart Would Be Restored

Te Fiti’s power lies in its purity deep down within Te Kā. When someone calls to this side, Te Kā will slowly and gradually calm down and succumb to her inner tenderness and thus be taken over by her gentle nature.

6 Te Fiti Goddess Is The Creator Of All Islands & Their Flora-Fauna

Ti fiti

The mythical tale of Te Kā begins when an island goddess, who is named earlier Te Fiti, creates all islands in the oceans with her heart. With this power she creates life, which includes populating the island she’s on. One day, she loses a lot of powers, but she still retains the ability to be immortal. That is until one day when a demigod, Maui, steals her heart and inadvertently leads to her demise from darkness. This leads to the creation of Te Kā, which is a powerful and deadly lava creature. Seems too good to be true.

7 Moana Movie Tells The Story Of Duo (Maui & Moana) Who Restored Te Ka’s Heart To Bring The Harmony In Islands

Te Ka Heart

An ancient Hawaiian legend tells the story of Te Kā, a storm that was formed from the sea foam and rage of angry gods. While trying to escape with the help of his fish hook, Maui raced across the sky.

Te Kā the Heartless built a fortress in the sky and worked to destroy everything. Te Kā believes that nature is a tool; humans are the slaves of nature, and nature will take care of themselves. So whenever Te Kā would look down on their earth, they would see nothing but chaos and destruction. According to legend, humanity from terrible curse and annihilation can be protected once Te Fiti’s heart needs to be restored.

1,000 years later, protagonist and title character Moana finally manages to reach Te Fiti with the demigod Maui after assisting Maui to extract his magical fish hook from Tamatoa and overpowered the Kakamora who attempted to steal her heart. On the journey, Moana learns that Maui wanted humanity to receive love and acceptance because he had a rough upbringing.

All the while, Te Kā watches from the shore. When all hope is lost, Maui shapeshifts into a hawk, and tries to fly past her but to no avail. He is also struck by Te Kā repeatedly and is soon so weakened that he instructs Moana to prepare her for its return journey. Though Moana is confident she can succeed, it’s difficult when she’s facing off against an opponent as powerful as Te Kā. When Moana and Maui fight back though, they’re sent flying miles away from Te Fiti, and the boat is then severely damaged.

After saving Moana’s life, Maui is furious with Moana for endangering everyone and he leaves her as punishment. Moana wasn’t expecting his sudden exit, but she has no other choice but to leave too, knowing that one more single blow of Te Kā might destroy the fish hook forever.

Though Moana is almost overrun by the monster, she refuses to give up. She repairs her boat and sails back up towards the spirit of Te Ka, once again sailing close to a gap. As soon as her prayers are answered and she’s firmly on their territory, Te Ka instantly reappears and raises a fist to destroy the boat, but Moana steers her boat in such a way that she just barely misses being hit. When Te Ka catches up with her, she sails back towards the first gap. However, this time instead of sending a giant wave at Moana to damage her boat, they send a grapple after her ship – with boulders raining down from around them all – which causes Moana’s boat to capsize. After struggling for an instant, Maui returns and finally pulls herself out, having managed to right herself somewhat during this time thanks to the help of Maui who distracts Te Ka momentarily while Moana begins heading towards Te Fiti island.

Unfortunately, Moana was unable to find the spiral in which her heart can be fixed back. At this point, Moana suddenly came to know about the swirling spiral on Te Kā’s chest and came to an incredibly interesting realization: Te Kā is actually an evil form of Te Fiti without her stolen heart. During the time, Maui performs a haka (Maori posture dance) to show his confidence, despite having been destroyed by that same fish hook. This really angers Te Kā and she conjures a mighty fireball to destroy Maui once and for all. Hopelessly, Maui is about to accept his end in order to protect Moana, Moana gains attention from the ocean by shining light from the heart of the ocean at a distance. She also asks it to clear a path so that Te Kā can crawl towards her. However, when Moana sings “Know Who You Are” song with calming words to the fury of Te Kā, she calms down and finds peace preparing herself into molten rock. The woman then places her heart back into its rightful place inside of Te Kā’s chest with so much power that it disintegrates both creations.

After Moana restores Te Fiti’s heart, the goddess falls to pieces and regains her true form as Te Kā. Maui then apologizes for stealing her heart before confessing that he was wrong and had no excuses. Once Moana forgave his mistakes, Te Kā revived the dying islands across the world and brought Moana’s boat and Maui’s fish hook back to life.

8 Te Ka (Originally Te Fiti) Can Destroy & Recreate Matter & Lives On Islands

Te Fiti

Although the specifics of her power are unknown, one thing is certain: Te Fiti possesses the ability to increase or decrease life in her environment and manipulate matter. Perhaps most notably, she has the ability to create or recreate things that were previously destroyed (including flora and fauna). Unlike other characters, her magic doesn’t run out, and she can even do it without any outside sources. Maui’s fish-hook and Moana’s boat were also restored by her.

9 Her Invincible Nature Portrays She Is More Powerful Than Demigod Maui

Maui Demigod Fight With Te Ka Lava Demon

Te Kā is a mighty creature with superhuman strength who has power over earth, fire, lava and water. She has proven to be invincible as she can overwhelm even gods such as Maui herself.

10 In The End, Maui Got Te Ka’s Tattoo On His Back As A Memory Of This Legendary Fight

Maui Demigod Tattoo

Te Kā (Tiki) is one of the tattoos assumed to be made by Maui. After they battled, the aftermath of their great battle can be seen on Maui’s back.