Current Events > Theory: Tamatoa is Ursula. *spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5N5cGlvKcs

I really want to dismiss this, since that guy seems like one of those smarmy try-hards a la MatPat, but he raises a lot of good points.
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This looks so stupid I can't bring myself to click it. What's the tl;dr for these "good points"?
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I got to the one minute mark, then became extremely bored.
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i watched all of this and do not disagree
i've seen the movie probably 30 times by now because of my girls
and i can't punch any good holes in this
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I got a minute in and couldn't stand this guys voice. Way too over the top.
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TheOnionKnight posted...

This looks so stupid I can't bring myself to click it. What's the tl;dr for these "good points"?

I don't blame you. I thought it was going to be stupid until I watched it (and even then, it still kinda is).

In a nutshell:
-The name "Tamatoa" is similar to the words "taotao mona" which is a kind of Polynesian reincarnated spirit; evil beings were said to be brought back as dogs, deer or crabs.

-Additionally, Moana's grandmother dies and is reincarnated as a glowing blue manta ray; Tamatoa glows blue in the second half of his song.

-The "Realm of Monsters" in the film was originally going to be called the "Realm of Spirits".

-Tamatoa claims he's a decapod (ten legged creature), yet only has eight limbs; Ursula is an octopus, with six tentacles and two arms.

-Both Tamatoa and Ursula had aspirations to rule the oceans and gain god-like power, and both are desperate to collect things; Ursula wanted Triton's trident and collects souls, Tamatoa wanted Maui's hook and the Heart of Te Fiti and collects treasure.

-Ursula definitely died, so could be reincarnated.

-Moana carries the Heart of Te Fiti in a pendant around her neck; Ursula has a pendant with a similar spiral to the Heart of Te Fiti (though even I admit this one's more likely coincidence).

-Both are purple.

-Even though Tamatoa is male and Ursula is a woman, Tamatoa is quite flamboyant and effeminate and Ursula is visibly based on a drag queen. Also, we don't know if gender is something that could change through reincarnation.

-Moana's people are stated to have intentionally kept their culture completely unchanged for a thousand years, so despite the difference in technology The Little Mermaid could have taken place long before Moana.

-Tamatoa references Sebastian in the post-credits sequence; "if my name was Sebastian and I had a cool Jamaican accent you'd totally help me!"

-Finally, Ron Clements and Jon Musker directed both The Little Mermaid AND Moana.
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so ursula was reincarnated into a being that existed possibly thousands of years before she did???
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I'm sorry but those points are horrible. Tamatoa is a legendary monster that fought Maui back in the primordial days and survived to the film's present time. This all happens in the Pacific. It's inspired by Polynesian mythology.

The Little Mermaid is a Danish fairy tale. Disney took liberties with it but their version is still vaguely set in the 19th century in the Atlantic near Europe.

So this theory proposes that Ursula died, and was reincarnated as a monster male hermit crab in the primordial mythological Pacific, hundreds if not thousands of years before Moana was born. Which means that The Little Mermaid's Europe was even further back in the past, which means the movie Moana is actually set thousands/millions of years in the future. It's nonsense.

Their personalities are nothing alike. Tamatoa is a hoarder like a dragon sitting on a treasure mound. Ursula doesn't "collect" stuff in that fasion at all.

It also adds nothing to either story. It means nothing. It's just someone trying to string together Disney movies into a larger conspiracy about a connected universe. The fact that Tamatoa references Sebastian as a jokey easter egg shows how disconnected the movies truly are. The stakes are so low that the directors are happy to break the fourth wall for a laugh.

Tamatoa also has the Genie's lamp from Aladdin on his back. That's another easter egg. Maybe he's the reincarnated Cave of Wonders, since it was purple and it also hoarded treasure! I wonder where that puts ancient Persia on this ridiculous timeline. And did you know that Maui transforms into Sven the reindeer from Frozen? Maybe he's a reincarnated Norwegian spirit.
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TheOnionKnight posted...

Tamatoa also has the Genie's lamp from Aladdin on his back. That's another easter egg. Maybe he's the reincarnated Cave of Wonders, since it was purple and it also hoarded treasure! I wonder where that puts ancient Persia on this ridiculous timeline.

Then you're definitely going to hate the insane theory I saw on TV Tropes; Tamatoa is actually Sebastian who used the magic lamp to become huge and powerful, and was reincarnated as the Magic Carpet.
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Yeah, that's terrible. I don't mind when people come up with crazy ideas about movies like this, but what gets me is when they try to pass it off as the "hidden truth." Like, no, it's just a bunch of silliness you dreamed up. Stop trying to convince people it's real.
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TheOnionKnight posted...

I don't mind when people come up with crazy ideas about movies like this, but what gets me is when they try to pass it off as the "hidden truth."

Agreed. It's a part of the reason I went off MatPat and his Game Theory. He reached a point when he started to believe he knew more about the games than the creators; when Scott Cawthon disproved some of his Five Night's At Freddy's theories, MatPat basically said "No, you're wrong."

In all seriousness, I'm pretty sure the ACTUAL Doylist reasoning behind Tamatoa and Ursula's similarities are just due to the two movies sharing directors. That's just the style of villain that Clements and Musker tend to make. I just found the whole theory to be interesting and felt like sharing it.
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