Topics: Disney, Disney Plus, Instagram, Film and TV, Entertainment, Dwayne Johnson
Fans are convinced after hearing a popular Disney Moana theory remarking who the eponymous character’s actual dad could be in the films.
Can you believe it’s almost been a decade since Disney’s Moana premiered?
Starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as Maui and Auli'i Cravalho as the titular heroine, Moana tells the story of an ancient Polynesian girl whose island is suffering from a blight.
In the hopes of saving her village, Moana is tasked by the ocean to reunite a mystical relic called the ‘Heart’ with the goddess Te Fiti.
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Along the way, she finds Maui, a demigod who previously stole the heart of Te Fiti and was banished to live on a desolate island for his crime.
Disney’s Moana was followed up last year with its lauded sequel, Moana 2 - which recently found its way on to Disney+ - and now an Instagram user has a theory that supposedly connects the film’s principal characters.
“I can’t believe I just realized who Moana actually is,” said Ivan Mars, a self-described ‘Movie Detective’.
“So we all watched the Moana movies, and after doing some research I realized they’re actually based on a Polynesian myth.”
Mars claimed that in one fable called The Legend of Sina, an eel falls head-over-heels in love with a Samoan girl named Sina.
Sina, coincidentally, is also the name of Moana’s mother in the beloved Disney flicks.
“But she gets scared by the obsessive behavior of the eel and orders her husband to kill it,” he went on.
Mars goes on to recite that after Sina’s husband - who goes by the name Maui - buries the eel, the first ever coconut tree sprouts.
He then played a part of ‘You’re Welcome’, which is sung by Maui, which includes the lyrics: “I killed an eel/I buried its guts/Sprouted a tree, now you got coconuts.”
“Could this mean Maui is Moana’s true father?” Mars asked. “This explains why she’s able to become a demigod in the second movie.”
If that’s not enough evidence for you, then the content creator has gone deeper into the lore.
In the folklore, one of the children Sina and Maui had together is called Pau - short for Kamapua’a - and he apparently resembled a pig.
Of course, keen Moana fans will recognize Pau as the cute, pot-belly pet pig who scrabbles around after his owner.
“No wonder why Pua is the only pig they do not eat, even when famine rises,” Mars alleged, insinuating that perhaps Pua is actually Moana’s sibling.
“It all makes sense now,” he concluded.
Naturally, Mars’ observations have caused havoc in his video’s comments section, with one Instagram user writing: “Bro be BREAKING it down better than SHERLOCK HOLMES???”
A second said: “Not to mention Moana visually looks more like Maui than her actual dad.”
A third responded: “How do you be figuring this out.”
However, another has put speculation to bed, reminding fans that at the beginning of the first movie, Maui has been stuck on a deserted island for 1,000 years, so how could he have fathered Moana?
“I don’t think there’s any possibility that Maui is her dad,” the user claimed. “Love knowing that the movies are based on real stories though!
“Moana becoming a demigod was the only way to save her from the lightning, i’m assuming it’s about the same as Maui being cast into the sea as a baby. The gods saved Maui from dying as a baby because of his potential, and saved Moana because of her dedication. I love these movies so much.”
Meanwhile, someone else said: “Samoan here, born in Samoa and raised. The Legend of Sina, yes, we all knew where the myth of coconuts come from but Kamapua’a is actually a Hawaiian legend….
“Kamapu’a is the brother of Pele. Moana is a blend of all the Polynesian cultures.”
Moana and Moana 2 are currently available to stream on Disney+.
