Te Fiti is a major character in Disney's 2016 animated feature film Moana. She is a goddess with the power to create life—an ability that she used to create the islands of Polynesia. After her heart had been stolen by Maui, she became Te Kā, a demon of earth and fire and the main antagonist of the film.
However, one day, Te Fiti's heart was stolen by the demigod Maui in a misguided act of heroism. As a result of this, the island was quickly consumed by darkness, while Te Fiti's physical form morphed into that of the deadly and powerful Te Kā.
Te-Fiti is the original form, whose power lies in her heart, but when her heart is stolen, she transforms into Te-Ka. When the heart is restored, Te-Ka morphs back into her original form i.e. Te-Fiti.
In Hawaiian mythos, Pele is credited with the creation of the Hawaiian islands, so it fits that she would also be Te Fiti, Disney-fied for a broader audience. After all, Pele is less a green, loving goddess, and more a goddess known for power and an even more powerful jealousy.
Maui is traditionally known as a trickster god — that means he likes to cause mischief, even if his actions are mainly done to the benefit of mankind. Ultimately, Maui took the heart simply because he could. Stealing it would prove his prowess, gain him infamy with the humans, and cause chaos all in one go.
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Though Moana and Te Fiti aren't related by blood like Anna and Elsa, the sacrifice underscores the large role nature plays in the film. “The idea that what we perceive as the villain of the film is actually 'nature wronged' was always an idea that we had, and wanted to build toward,” Shurer said.
The theory is that there is a barrier between the spiritual, mystical world and the real world, with Maui's island located in the former. In order for Moana to get there (and return the relic stolen from the goddess Te Fiti) she has to die, too.
Māui is a demi-god who is popular in the Native Hawaiian culture. He is known for being the “trickster.” It is said that he owns a great fish-hook called Manaiakalani. Legend has it that Māui created the Hawaiian islands by tricking his brothers into going fishing with him.
Te Fiti is a major character in Disney's 2016 animated feature film Moana. She is a goddess with the power to create life—an ability that she used to create the islands of Polynesia. After her heart had been stolen by Maui, she became Te Kā, a demon of earth and fire and the main antagonist of the film.
But depending on where in the world people saw Moana, they might know the great animated movie by another name. Disney retitled Moana in different countries, with most European countries using Vaiana. This change was reflected in the movie too, as Moana's name was changed to Vaiana due to copyright issues.
Water harms Te Ka, so the ocean physically couldn't return the heart. Because Moana was able to journey to Tefiti, the rest of her island knew it was safe to start sailing again.
The ocean parts, and Te Ka bears down angrily as Moana sings Know Who You Are, “I have crossed the horizon to find you /I know your name /They have stolen the heart from inside you, but this does not define you /This is not who you are /You know who you are.”
Why couldn t the ocean take the heart back to Te Fiti?
Because the ocean doesn't know where Te Fiti is. That island, the source of creation, can only be found by a god. It needs Maui to be there in order to find the island to even get the heart back.
Premiering in 2016 as Walt Disney Pictures' 56th feature film, Moana follows the bold title character as she leaves her Polynesian island of Motunui to return the magical heart to the goddess Te Fiti in order to restore balance to nature.
Although Moana's relationship with Maui never extends beyond the platonic level in the film, and although he is a 1,000-year old demigod and she is a 16-year old human, a lot of fans of the film like to put her and Maui in a romantic pairing known as Hooked Wayfinder.
Tala's death is perhaps the saddest scene in Moana. After revealing to the young Moana that she has the Heart of Te Fiti, Tala's health takes a sudden turn for the worst. Despite putting on a brave face for her grandchild, she's weak and in pain.
At sixteen, Moana (Auli'i Cravalho) is in the middle of the pack, but her ending makes her age less of an issue, at least on the surface. Her film, Moana, is one of the more recent additions to the franchise and doesn't include a romantic plot.
A millennium later, Moana, daughter of Motunui's chief Tui, is chosen by the ocean to return the heart to Te Fiti. However, Tui arrives and takes Moana away, causing her to lose the heart. Tui and Moana's mother, Sina, try to keep her away from the ocean to prepare her for ascension as the island's chief.
Among the iwi of New Zealand, Hina is usually considered to be either the elder sister or the wife of Māui. The most common story that presents Hina as the wife of Māui tells of Te Tunaroa, the father of all eels, who one day visited the pool where Hina bathed.
Andaya ultimately said that officials feared residents would believe a tsunami was coming and evacuate to higher ground if they heard the sirens. “Had we sounded the siren that night we're afraid that people would've gone mauka,” he said, using the Hawaiian directional term that can mean toward the mountains or inland.
The story of the demigod Maui stretches across the Pacific and is estimated to be over 1000 years old. Always on a quest to empower mankind, Maui has become an endearing icon to the people of Polynesia.
The chiefs wife is not Moanas mother. The chief was seduced and had moana with the goddess of the sea Tangaroa. When the Goddess presented the chief with his daughter she told him the child's fate, which is why he fights so hard to keep her away from the ocean.
The reasons behind the change of name are not completely clear, but a tweet from Disney España gives an important clue: 'Moana' is registered as a trademark in Spain, and in a number of other European countries, hence the change to Vaiana in Europe.
