Tu'i Tonga nui ko e tama tou, the wooden king

This forum needs more Pacific. By which I mean any Pacific at all. So I'm gonna make the first post of this section by telling one of my favorite stories from Tonga's history.

So in the 12th century AD, Talatama, who had moved the capital of the Tu'i Tonga Empire to Mu'a, passed away, and left no heir. Talaiha'apepe, Talatama's brother, who had assisted him during his reign, seemed like the obvious choice for successor. Talaiha'apepe disagreed. He believed that breaking the father-to-son tradition of succession would be a bad omen, and devised a bizarre solution to ensure a "proper" succession. Talaiha'apepe took a doll made of tou wood, names Tamatou, declared it to be the son of Talatama, and had it installed as king, being given the name "Tu'i Tonga nui ko e tama tou", which translates to "Great Tonga King that is Tou Person". Tamtou was even assigned a queen (no word on whether she was also made of wood). After a three year "reign" of what I can only assume was Talaiha'apepe being a literal puppetmaster of the "king", Talaiha'apepe announced that Tamatou had died somehow, and would be buried like any other king. But who would succeed the mannequin monarch? Talaiha'apepe also reported that Tamatou's queen had bore a son, who would become the next king. Somehow, this son, the "grandson" of Talatama and "son" of Tamatou, was none other than Talaiha'apepe, who was now his own great-uncle.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a wooden doll came to rule a great maritime empire.

I am just glad there is something in this section now.

I suppose this forum could also be used to discuss World War II battles, as they happened in the Pacific.

Interesting story. Thanks for the share!

Could you be a bit more pacific with the details?

Crazy Boris wrote:This forum needs more Pacific. By which I mean any Pacific at all. So I'm gonna make the first post of this section by telling one of my favorite stories from Tonga's history.

So in the 12th century AD, Talatama, who had moved the capital of the Tu'i Tonga Empire to Mu'a, passed away, and left no heir. Talaiha'apepe, Talatama's brother, who had assisted him during his reign, seemed like the obvious choice for successor. Talaiha'apepe disagreed. He believed that breaking the father-to-son tradition of succession would be a bad omen, and devised a bizarre solution to ensure a "proper" succession. Talaiha'apepe took a doll made of tou wood, names Tamatou, declared it to be the son of Talatama, and had it installed as king, being given the name "Tu'i Tonga nui ko e tama tou", which translates to "Great Tonga King that is Tou Person". Tamtou was even assigned a queen (no word on whether she was also made of wood). After a three year "reign" of what I can only assume was Talaiha'apepe being a literal puppetmaster of the "king", Talaiha'apepe announced that Tamatou had died somehow, and would be buried like any other king. But who would succeed the mannequin monarch? Talaiha'apepe also reported that Tamatou's queen had bore a son, who would become the next king. Somehow, this son, the "grandson" of Talatama and "son" of Tamatou, was none other than Talaiha'apepe, who was now his own great-uncle.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a wooden doll came to rule a great maritime empire.

Dang. That's fascinating history. I believe I've heard references to this story, but there's no way I'm ever going to keep the names straight. Cool read!