Te Fiti

Te Kā is a demon manifested of fire and magma and the main antagonist of the Disney's 2016 animated feature film, Moana. Te Kā is what became of the mother island Te Fiti after her heart was stolen by the demigod Maui. Now a damaged and emotionless shell of her former self, Te Kā looks to slowly plunge the world into darkness and eradicate humanity as punishment for Maui's insolence.

Background
One thousand years before the birth of Moana, the island shores of Te Fiti were invaded by the mischievous demigod Maui. In a misguided act of heroism, Maui stole Te Fiti's coveted heart, which gave her the ability to create life. 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.

As Maui made a hasty escape on his boat, a vengeful Te Kā rose from her cloud and confronted the demigod. Their battle resulted in the loss of the heart, and as punishment for his crimes, Te Kā banished Maui to a desolate spit of land in the middle of the open ocean, where he would be doomed to remain stranded for eternity. As further punishment, Te Kā sentenced the entirety of mankind to death and placed a devastating curse upon world. As the curse slowly spread across the seas, food supply, flora, and fauna were destroyed, thus making it impossible for humanity to survive. According to legend, only the restoration of Te Fiti's heart can save the world from annihilation.

Personality
Te Kā is—quite literally—a heartless creature with a fiery deposition. The theft of her heart has stripped her of Te Fiti's benevolence, replacing it with malice aimed at both Maui and the world at large. Te Kā and Te Fiti are polar opposites, with differing goals and ideals; while Te Fiti wishes to spread life and beauty, Te Kā seeks to bring death and corruption, purely out of the belief that mankind is undeserving of the gifts brought to them by Te Fiti. As it was Maui who was responsible for the theft of Te Fiti's heart (and not mankind as a whole, thus making them innocent), Te Kā can be painted as vindictive and arguably a purely evil entity.

Despite this, Te Fiti's purity lies deep within Te Kā. Should someone call to it, as Moana did during the climax, she will slowly ease her tension and succumb to her inner, gentle nature.

Physical appearance
Massive in size, Te Kā towers above all who encounter her, and is usually depicted with a hollow scowl. Always surrounding her slender form is a dense pyrocumulus cloud, coupled with bolts of lightning and volcanic ash.

Powers and Abilities
Most of Te Kā's abilities are derived from her elemental control over fire, lava and magma. With these assets, she can create fireballs and turn matter into molten rock.

She is also extremely power in her strength—so much so, that she overpowers the capacity of a demigod, though one can pose as a decent adversary for a period of time. Aside from water, which can temporarily turn her lava form into molten rock, Te Kā doesn't appear to have any true weaknesses. The only way to truly "defeat" her is to subdue her long enough to return Te Fiti's heart to its rightful place. This will inevitably obliterate the being known as Te Kā, and revive her true identity.

Role in the film
Te Kā was once the goddess island named Te Fiti, whose created all islands on the ocean with her heart, who had the ability to create life. But a day, the demigod Maui, in a misguided act of heroism, stole Te Fiti's heart. 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.

As Maui tried to escape on his boat, Te Kā rose from her cloud and attacked the demigod. Their battle resulted in the loss of both the heart and Maui's fish hook, and as punishment for his crimes, Te Kā banished the demigod to a desolate spit of land in the middle of the open ocean, where he would be doomed to remain stranded for eternity. Also, because of the lost of the heart, all the islands that Te Kā has created were cursed, caused the destruction of food supply, flora, and fauna, thus making it impossible for humanity to survive. According to legend, only the restoration of Te Fiti's heart can save the world from annihilation.

Three thousand years ago, at the film's climax, Moana finally reach Te Fiti with Maui. But before they can make it to her shores, Te Kā emerged and attacked them. Maui then turns into a hawk and tries to fly past her, only to be struck from the sky several times. He is soon weakened too severely and orders Moana to turn the boat around. But not wanting to back away from her mission, Moana continues to sail towards Te Fiti and directly by Te Kā, who tries to smite the duo. Maui quickly blocks her blow with his fishhook, the impact sending him and Moana miles away from Te Fiti. When they recover, Maui finds his fishhook severely damaged and nearly destroyed.

Furious at Moana for endangering their lives despite his orders to turn away, and knowing that one more blow from Te Kā to his hook will destroy it forever, Maui leaves her.

This forces Moana to faces Te Kā herself, and she is nearly killed in the process, but Maui returns and saves her, after having a change of heart. He then distracts Te Kā again, while Moana returns Te Fiti's heart to the spiral on the island.

However, Moana cannot find the spiral in which the heart is to be placed. But at rhis same time, Moana notices the spiral circling Te Kā's chest and comes to a stunning realization: Te Kā is Te Fiti. Meanwhile, Maui continues to fight despite his fishhook having been destroyed. This enrages Te Kā immensely, and the lava demon conjures a massive fireball meant to kill the demigod once and for all. Maui accepts his fate to protect Moana, but before he can be burned alive, Moana distracts Te Kā by shining the heart of Te Fiti's light in the distance. Moana, also asks the ocean to clear a path, allowing Te Kā to lunge at her. But Moana uses "Know Who You Are" to tame Te Kā, who finds peace in Moana's inspiring words. She turns herself into molten rock, and Moana places the heart into Te Kā chest. The lava monster crumbles, and Te Fiti is reborn, much to Maui's shock. She warmly forgives the demigod for stealing her heart and then revives the dying islands across the world, as well as Moana's boat and Maui's fishhook. Afterwards, Te Fiti forms back into her resting position.

Trivia

 * Te Kā is depicted as one of Maui's tattoos, as the aftermath of their battle for the heart of Te Fiti is illustrated on the latter's back.
 * Te Ka is probably the tallest, and one of the most dangeorus DIsney Villains, because she is totally covered by magma and lava.
 * Te Kā is made up almost entirely of effects animation. Art director of characters Bill Schwab described her as "the most challenging character to design in the film".
 * In earlier designs, Te Kā's facial appearance was slightly more human; she appears as a more demonic figure in the final film.
 * Te Kā bares similarities to the religious Hawaiian figure Pele, the goddess of fire, lightning, wind and volcanoes.