Moana (character)

"The ocean chose me for a reason!"

- Moana

Moana Waialiki is the protagonist of Disney's 2016 animated feature film of the same name. Born on the island village of Motunui, Moana is the daughter of Chief Tui and Sina, with an inherited love for the seas and voyaging. When her island becomes endangered due to the theft of the heart of Te Fiti at the hands of the demigod Maui, Moana is chosen by the ocean to journey across Oceania to the island of Te Fiti to restore the heart and save her people.

Official description

 * Moana is a teenager who dreams of becoming a master wayfinder.

Personality
Moana, as Gramma Tala describes, "stands out from the crowd". She is adventurous, headstrong, practically fearless, and physically capable. Though she has moments of self-doubt, she has great pride in who she is, and is generally too stubborn to back away from new challenges. Moana approaches new experiences and tasks with the utmost seriousness, and will stand her ground to fight for what she values until all is lost. She can present herself as an imposing force despite her size, and has bested the most fearsome beasts and impossible obstacles across the seas of Oceania while relying almost solely on her own intelligence.

For all her strengths, Moana suffers from major identity crises. Surrounded by a loving family and a supportive community of neighbors, Moana cares a great deal for her people, and the village in which she was born and raised. However, she also has a passionate love for the ocean and the idea of voyaging beyond her home island's barrier reef. At the start of the film, voyaging had been prohibited as a means to keep the people of Motunui safe, but even so, Moana's spirited and tenacious attitude kept her dreams of experiencing life beyond her island alive.

Despite her forbidden call to the sea, Moana was happily devoted to her village during her time as chief-in-training. An intelligent and resourceful leader, Moana was quick to remedy any problems her village faced, and was masterful in keeping herself composed and optimistic during times of a crises. When it was revealed that she had been chosen by the ocean to restore the legendary heart of Te Fiti, Moana did not put her focus on the potentially devastating outcome of her mission, but the unity between her love for Motunui and her dream of voyaging in the tradition of her great ancestors. Though this would ultimately benefit all parties, this mindset is perhaps Moana's greatest flaw. In being heroic and deathly devoted to her goals, Moana can be selfish in that she is willing to endanger the lives of others in order to prove she is worth the responsibilities given to her. Both Tui and Maui confront Moana of this during the events of the film, and though she denied both accusations, she knew - deep down - that this was correct. In the end, she ultimately decided to risk her safety only, by taking on the lava demon Te Kā alone, and only allowed others to help her by their own will.

Role in the film
Moana is first seen as a toddler, being told an ancient story about the legendary demigod Maui. According to Gramma Tala, the dramatic storyteller, Maui stole the coveted heart of Te Fiti years before their time. As a result, a lava demon known as Te Kā swore vengeance and plunged the world into a slow-burning darkness. The only hope for humanity lies in the hands of a fearless hero, who must journey to find Maui and have him return the heart to its rightful place. While the other children are terrified by the story, Moana is captivated. Her father, Chief Tui, claims there is no such darkness consuming the world, and stresses the law that forbids anyone on the island from traveling past the reef. Moana fails to heed her father's words and waddles to the ocean shores in bliss. There, she is acquainted with the ocean, which reveals itself to have a mind of its own. The ocean grows fond of Moana, and chooses her as the heroine destined to save the world. It provides her with the heart of Te Fiti, but when Tui arrives and takes her back to the village, she inadvertently leaves the heart at the shore.

Tui notices his daughter's love for the sea, and over the years, he and the people of Motunui try to convince Moana that their island home is a paradise, and that her destiny is to follow in her father's footsteps by becoming chief. Though she loves her people, Moana continues to feel drawn to the sea, something Tala encourages. One day, Tui takes Moana to a sacred place on the island: a high mountain, where chiefs from every generation place a stone to signify the start of their leadership. This inspires Moana to finally accept her role as soon-to-be chief of the village. She thusly spends her time learning under her parents in how to assist her people across the island. One day, the islands's supply of food begins to die out. Moana believes that traveling beyond the reef to find food elsewhere is the best solution, best Tui strongly forbids it. She nevertheless tries against his wishes and nearly drowns before she can even make it passed the barriers.

Believing she's failed as a sailor, Moana declares that she is not fit for the sea and wishes to place her stone on the mountain. She tells this to Tala, who responds by showing Moana a hidden cave created by their ancestors long ago. Moana learns that she's drawn to the sea because her ancestors were voyagers. When asked why their voyaging stopped, Tala explains that it was Maui's doing, referring to his crime of stealing Te Fiti's heart, which filled the seas with monsters and demons. Tala reveals to have the heart of Te Fiti in her possessions, and explains that the ocean chose Moana to restore it. Not knowing how to sail, Moana rushes to her people and asks for their assistance in restoring the heart. Once again, Tui forbids leaving the island, and throws the heart away. As Moana uncovers it, she finds Tala's walking cane on the grass.

Moana and her parents rush to the medics, where Tala lies on her deathbed. She encourages Moana to find Maui and restore the heart with her last ounce of breath. Moana reluctantly accepts her grandmother's dying wish, packs supplies, and takes one of her ancestor's boats that unknowingly had her rooster friend, Heihei, aboard as well. As Moana leaves, her grandmother's light fades out, and her spirit guides Moana passed the reef and into the seas. The following night, the ocean carries Moana to Maui's island, where the two meet and fail to see eye to eye. Maui is more concerned with the sight of Moana's boat, which he steals by trapping Moana In a cave. She manages to use her wits to escape, and makes it to Maui with the help of the ocean. She orders him to return the heart, but upon seeing it, Maui tries to leave the boat, only to be brought back by the ocean. He claims the heart is cursed, something Moana refuses to believe until they fall under attack by a band of pirates called the Kakamora.

The Kakamora crave the heart of Te Fiti's power, but Moana stands her ground and fights back. She successfully recovers the heart and defeats the pirates. Though Maui commends her on surviving, he still refuses to help return the heart. Moana persuades him to do otherwise when she claims such an act will help Maui regain a positive reputation amongst mortals. Maui agrees to help, but not without his fishhook, which is said to be in the clutches of Tamatoa, a giant crab living in the Realm of Monsters. As they make their way, Moana watches intently as Maui proves himself to be a massive wayfinding. She asks him to teach her, and though he refuses at first, the ocean uses one of the Kakamora's blow darts to numb the demigod, leaving him unable to sail. With no other choice, he teaches Moana how to wayfind. After much mentoring, Moana falls asleep and has a nightmare in which she watches as her home and parents are destroyed by Te Kā's curse. When she awakens, she finds that Maui has taken over the boat and has successfully led them to Lalotai's entrance.

As they climb a mountain to reach the entrance, Maui questions why the ocean chose Moana to save the world, though she doesn't seem to know, herself. Despite her sudden feeling of self-doubt, Moana follows Maui into Lalotai, and eventually finds the fishhook. She distracts Tamatoa long enough for Maui to take back his hook, but the demigod finds that his shapeshifting abilities are out of whack. Feeling powerful, Tamatoa attacks Maui and imprisons Moana to prevent her from interfering. She escapes, however, and uses what appears to be the heart of Te Fiti to drive the crab's attention away from her friend. The two escape, and once they've reached safety, Maui thanks Moana for her actions, though he berates himself for failing to defeat Tamatoa and almost letting Moana be killed as a result.

They set sail once more, but a down-on-his-luck Maui feels unable to defeat Te Kā and restore the heart without his hook. Moana and Mini Maui (Maui's sentient tattoo) work together to train Maui in recovering his power. They do so successfully, while also furthering Moana's ability to wayfind. After a while, it's decided that they're ready to face Te Kā. When they arrive at Te Fiti, Maui is attacked by the lava monster and defeated. He tells Moana to turn back, but she refuses, which nearly gets them killed if not for Maui using his fishhook to block Te Kā's blow. His fishhook is severely damaged, and he confronts Moana on her failure to listen. Not wanting to risk losing his hook entirely, Maui leaves a heartbroken Moana.

Moana tells the ocean that she's not worthy of saving her people, and that someone else must be chosen. The ocean accepts Moana's decision, and takes the heart of Te Fiti back into the sea. As Moana breaks down in tears, she's visited by Gramma Tala's spirit, who comforts and apologizes to her granddaughter for placing so much pressure on her. Tala encourages Moana to return home if she wishes to, but Moana finds that she cannot bring herself to do so. She opens up to her emotions and declares that she is Moana, a lover of her people and a lover of the sea all in one, just as her ancestors were before her. She dives into the sea and retrieves the heart of Te Fiti. When she resurfaces, Tala is gone, but Moana's determination is stronger than ever.

She and Heihei travel back to Te Fiti and confront Te Kā. They make it passed her, but are nearly killed until Maui returns with a change of heart. Maui distracts Te Kā while the ocean helps Moana to Te Fiti's now molten shores. However, Moana cannot find the spiral in which the heart is to be placed, until she notices one on Te Kā's chest. 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. She revives the dying islands across the world, as well as Moana's boat and Maui's fishhook. Moana asks Maui to return home with her, but Maui warmly denies, instead showing Moana a new tattoo on his body, inspired by her heroism. The two embrace and part ways, while Moana and Heihei sail home.

Just as Motunui recovers entirely, Tui and Sina spot Moana arriving home, and lovingly greet her. With her deed having restored the safety of the sea, Moana becomes chief and the people of the village break out their ancestor's boats. Voyaging starts again, and Moana makes her mark on Motunui's sacred mountain with a seashell given to her by the ocean.

Disneyland Resort
Moana currently makes meet-and-greet appearances at the Disneyland park in Adventureland.

Walt Disney World Resort
Moana began making appearances at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort on November 16, 2016, prior to the film's release. She later became available for meet-and-greets at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Disneyland Paris
On November 18, 2016, Moana made her debut at the Disneyland park during the "You're Welcome" pre-parade, in which she toured through the parade route to the music of Maui's signature song. She later began making meet-and-greet appearances at the Art of Animation attraction on November 20.

Trivia

 * Her name means "ocean" in many Polynesian languages, including Hawaiian and Maori.
 * Animators put a considerable amount of effort into ensuring Moana's hair added to her performance. They did so by developing new software to give the hair a realistic look. They also changed her hairstyle in different scenes, depending on her current action (such as tying her hair in a bun as she sails).
 * She is the second protagonist of Polynesian descent in a Disney animated feature, the first being Lilo from Lilo & Stitch.
 * In some countries, she is renamed Vaiana due to copyright reasons.
 * Moana was originally going to be a playable character in the third installment of Disney INFINITY, but after the series was confirmed to have been discontinued in May 2016, it was implied that Moana was cancelled.
 * In Zootopia, a feline version of Moana can be seen on the cover of Duke Weaselton's bootleg copy of Meowana.