Moana Theory: The Secret Feud Between Maui And Tamatoa

A lot of details went into the epic production of Disney’s Moana. The animated musical covers a lot of ground in a short amount of time and fans have taken a lot of the little details to come up with several theories. One of these theories involves the long-standing feud between Maui and Tamatoa.

Despite being stuck on an island for 1,000 years, Maui and Tamatoa feuded in the time before that, with both characters living out long, long lives. As seen on Maui’s tattooed body, the two characters had an epic battle, but what exactly happened?! We know from the movie that Tamatoa lost a leg, but why were they fighting and why do they still have a grudge in the first place? Let’s dive deep into some of the production planning and work that went into the movie. The song Shiny showcases a lot about their relationship, but a demo version of the song adds even more details. Would killing Maui give Tamatoa his powers? And how was Tamatoa one of the only animals able to talk in the whole movie?! The singing crab has gone through a lot of work to earn his treasures, including Maui’s magical hook. How has the hook been a part of Tamatoa’s life and transformation? And how does a video game tie into the whole theory, including little seen details for Moana fans? Watch our theory to get answers to all of these questions and learn a lot of little-known facts about Moana!

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Featuring:

1. AN ALLUDED HISTORY
2. A GREAT BATTLE
3. SHINY’S SECRET LYRICS
4. TAMATOA’S ORIGINS
5. THE MAGIC OF THE HOOK

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[tigerdudethegreat]

Tamatoa is easily my favorite character, even though I have never seen any of his movie clips in forever

[merlin]

Moana says "You two must get along great."
And Maui reply " Not since I ripped off his leg."
To me this implies that they did get along before that.

[ShadowSaberBaroxio]

They were originally friends, which is alluded to when Moana says it sounds like they would get along when hearing how Tamatoa acts pretty similarly to Maui. Maui then confirms this by saying that they did get along...until he ripped off Tamatoa's leg. This suggests that it was *Maui* who was at fault for the feud, not Tamatoa. Also, Tamatoa likely did NOT start off as human, given his line about eating his "humongous" grandma.

[Nordique]

One more thing with the lyrics he mentioned how the humans abandoned Maui so there were a few hints they knew each other’s history

[CanonGuts]

I can prove to everyone that Tamatoa did not transform into a crab, but had always been a crab from the beginning of his days. In the movie, Maui is in fact able to transform into various creature with the help with his hook. Although Screen Rant got that part right, they missed the fact that the hook merges with Maui when he transforms, therefore Tamatoa and the hook wouldn't be separated if he actually transformed.

I have no idea why I wanted to clarify this it just bugged me a little qwq

[Mical]

Maui literally states that he cut Tamatoa’s leg off, how is that a “secret feud”

[Raebees]

He literally says, "I have to give you credit to my start" in the song

[jakey]

What about the fact, in the beginning, it shows all the creatures that wanted the Heart included Tamatoa. Could they have battled on their way to retrieve the heart? They could have had their legendary battle right before the movie starts with Maui stealing the heart. Maui is obviously victorious, clearing the way to get to Tefiti

[randomchannel]

when tamatoa says, "C'est la vie, mon ami" that means: That's life, my friend

[pompe]

When Tamatoa says that he ate his grandma and it took a week because she was humongous . . . did he eat her when he was still human or after he turned into a giant crab?
(And why would he eat her if had been born human? Wouldn't it make more sense for him to have been born a crab monster into a family of crab monsters and he ate her because 1. real crabs can be cannibalistic and 2. to gain her monster powers for himself and become even more powerful?)

[Bunger]

The way Tomatoa just casually mocks Maui’s ptsd is so sinister and awesome

[reborngamer]

The last theory has a flaw because tamatoa mentioned eating his own grandma which took a week because of her size maybe because she was a gaint crab so that means he was born as a crab

[kazy]

"Despite being apart for so long, Tamatoa still holds a grudge against Maui." Uh, yeah, he stole the guy's leg
Also, how could Tamatoa have transformed himself into a crab if the hook was still existing? Like, when Maui uses it, the hook actually disappears. Plus, when Moana comments that he should be good friends with Tamatoa b/c they're both vain, Maui says "eh, not since I ripped off his leg." This kinda sounds like they used to be friends, until a fight started.

[fettugenie]

me at 6:30 :

oh it’s reversed-
*_sees maui get thrown in the air and transition_*

PUAWHAHAHAHAH-

[JackHeathGaming]

At the beginning of the song tamatoa says that ” I was a little crab once “ so how would tamatoa be a human if he was a crab?

Edit: lol XD I don’t even know what this is.

[JoshuaLingo_]

Is it just me or does jermaine Clemont (the voice of tamatoa) always play a villainous animal

[Madsematisk]

Bruh this crab is so OP that it plays around with a demigod 💀

[phanCAbe]

"Did your Granny say, 'Listen to your heart, be who you are on the inside'? I've got three words to tear her argument apart - your granny lied."

Disney villain songs written for kids always telling the *real adult* truth when you least expect it.

[aidavaldez]

I have memorized his whole movie.. Sigh.. My lil' sister LOVES Moana.. 😧😂😧

[santantruf]

I see one flaw in your theory... Once you use the power of the hook and transform into an animal, the hook disappears until you come back as a human. It happens everytime Maui transforms - one exception is when he half-transforms into a shark. So when the transformation is full, the hook disappears therefore it wouldn't have been able to sit on Tamatoa's shell would it?