
Isabella Hartley undergoing her metamorphosis in the active Moon Pool in a set of sea caves at the Irish coast
“ | Mako is a mystery. It is said that the island is magic, and that when the moon is full, creatures are born from its depths... It isn't a spell, this is the will of the universe. No one can alter the laws of nature. | ” |
Metamorphosis is the natural reaction of any active Moon Pool on a human being when the Full Moon is over, resulting later in their first transformation into a merperson bestowed with magical powers,[1] and creating a special type of connection with the specific Moon Pool that served as the source of their metamorphosis, and magic.
The effects of the metamorphosis can be reversed via undergoing the unmetamorphosis,[2] as well as some other suitable conditions and magics, including the Fifty Moons Potion[3], and the Water Dragon's cold breath.[4]
Overview[]
Any Moon Pool across the globe in its active state was able to turn any human being that entered its waters into a merperson, when the Full Moon was up. The recently-turned merpeople also received specific magical powers over water, which could later be enhanced to greater levels of strength, and receive elemental and weather-related aspects of their inherent magical powers. When two or more people entered it at the same time while it was still in its active state, the specific Moon Pool granted them individual powers as it chose, presumably based on their own inherent personality, level of skill, history, and native area of a specific Moon Pool, but if only one entered it in its active state, they received all of the regular, and presumably even elemental powers granted by the specific Moon Pool. Humans that underwent a certain metamorphosis were given a special relation with the specific Moon Pool itself that served as the source of their magic, and were susceptible to all of its effects, except its partial destruction.
Also, bewitched merperson transformed by the power of a Moon Pool were also placed under a powerful spell that allowed them to grow legs when dry, and to turn back into their true forms once only a drop of water made a physical contact with their skin. This also applied to mermen and mermaids bewitched by the Tailless Spell, whose true self and magical powers were restored by the power of an active Moon Pool.
In all pods, letting human beings undergo metamorphosis was strictly forbidden. During Full Moons, fledgling mermaids are tasked to protect the Moon Pool by the Mermaid Council's elders in their respective pods to avoid land people from metamorphosing. The rest of the pod is attending the Full Moon Ceremony, although. It is such an important task, and can result in them being outcast if they fail to do so.
All active Moon Pools itselves were the only known counter-spells of the Tailless Spell, and if a bewitched merperson entered the waters of any active Moon Pool when the Full Moon was up, his or her real self and abilities was be restored and the spell broken once and for all.
This event could be magically recreated via the use of a Moon Ring, and activating the magic of a specific Moon Pool with its moonlight, even in a daytime. A targeted human being was not required to be physically present in the waters of a Moon Pool themself, as long as the caster had taken an essence from them, and the spell could be then cast from a distance, altogether.[5]
Merpeople bewitched by the Water Dragon's cold breath were completely immune to the effects of the metamorphosis, and there was no known counter-spell that could be used to restore their true self and magical powers following their fate.[5] However, it was possible that after the specific water dragon that attacked them was reverted, their true self and magical powers could be restored once again, although the validity of this theory was never outright confirmed.
It was unknown how transformation would affect pregnancies; which would be even hard on former bewitched mermaids, if the mermaids don't have similar internal biology.
In the case of being turned into a regular human being, the term metamorphosis referred and applied only to a natural-born merperson due to him/her having never before been a true and regular human being, rather than reverting to their true merperson self, which, in their case, was considered an unmetamorphosis occurrence. Their bewitched human-turned counterparts were instead considered unmetamorphosed due to their preceeding, original human self.
Timeline[]
- 1955: Louise Chatham, Gracie and Julia become mermaids in a Moon Pool located at the heart of an ancient and mysterious Mako Island in the Coral Sea, approximately 50 kilometers off the coast of the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. They were the first ones known to undergo Metarmophosis in Mako, with each whom were bestowed an individual, special power to them, yet unknown.
- Late 1990s:
- Zac Blakely, a merman hatchling native from the Northern Pod, is bewitched by his mother's spell that made him tailless.
- Isabella Hartley becomes a mermaid in a Moon Pool located at the Irish coast, where she ends up gaining power over water, Gelidkinesis.
- Early 2000s: Almost all mermaid members of the Eastern Pod were turned into human beings by the cold breath of the Water Dragon (actually a cursed Nerissa) following the dragon's devastating attack that destroyed the ancient pod.
- February 13th, 2006: Emma Gilbert, Cleo Sertori and Rikki Chadwick become mermaids in Mako Island's Moon Pool, each granted with a specific power over water; Cleo was granted the power of Hydrokinesis, Emma the power of Hydro-Cryokinesis, and Rikki Hydro-Thermokinesis.
- May 2nd, 2007: Charlotte Watsford intentionally becomes a mermaid by jumping in the Moon Pool of Mako Island after becoming aware of her grandmother's past as a mermaid herself. Being the only one in the pool at the time, she is granted all of Cleo's, Emma's, and Rikki's powers at once.[6]
- December 17th, 2013: Evie McLaren, Zac's girlfriend, unintentionally becomes a mermaid in the same place when she tried to help him retain his real merman self from Mimmi and Ondina.
Trivia[]
- According to Sue in H2O: Mermaid Adventures, the Metamorphosis is not the result of a spell but of the will of the universe. She also said that "no one can alter the laws of nature".
- Metamorphosis in Mako's Moon Pool seems to take effect until at least twelve hours after being under the Full Moon, as it happened to Gracie, Julia, Louise Chatham, Cleo Sertori, Emma Gilbert, Rikki Chadwick, Charlotte Watsford, Evie McLaren, and when the Tailless Spell broke on Zac Blakely. In the Irish Moon Pool, Bella sprouted her tail immediately when the Full Moon was still up.
- As shown up close in Party Girls, Rikki has wet glistening skin after transforming from just a small spray of water on her foot; rather than be dry. Reinforcing the idea that whatever biological quirk or magic behind the transformation ensures that a merperson will be fully wet even if they don't want it.
- Cleo notably had zero experience in how to swim, but after gaining her tail she suddenly was able to swim without difficulty. Implying that the metamorphosis imprints the natural knowledge of how to swim as a mermaid.
- In real life, a metamorphposis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation.