Moana

**Moana** 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, Moana is chosen by the ocean to journey across the sea to save both her people and the world.

Role in the series

## Personality

Moana, as Gramma Tala
 describes, "stands out from the crowd". She is adventurous, headstrong,
 strong-willed, 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 even when all seems
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.
At the same time, 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 crisis.
Moana's loyalty towards her family and people actually played a part in
her crippling identity crisis. As she cared for them immensely, she
occasionally felt extreme guilt for being drawn to the sea, as lamented
in her song "How Far I'll Go";
 she believed that if she were to pursue the ocean, she would ultimately
 disappoint the people she loved. Simultaneously, she felt an obligation
 towards her ancestors, wanting to reinvigorate their ways of wayfinding
 as a means to honor them and the legacy they left for her people. These
 conflicted emotions would ultimately act as Moana's greatest challenge
throughout the film.

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 capable
 of confronting her ambitions without fail. Both Tui and Maui confront
Moana on this during the events of the film, and though she denied both
accusations, she knew - deep down - that this was correct. She can also
be reckless with herself in this regard, as she drove herself out to sea
 without proper training in the ways of wayfinding or even sailing. She
fears very little, but because of this, she can occasionally bite off
more than she can chew. However, these acts are not done with malicious,
 or even notable intent. Moana is extremely sympathetic and caring,
which drives her to perform life-threatening stunts for what she
genuinely believes to be the greater good.

In contrast to this, Moana grows with failure. After Maui refuses
 to assist her in battling Te Kā following a disastrous first encounter
on her account, she works up the courage to redeem herself by facing the
 lava demon alone. She is also empathetic, and looks to help herself by
helping and understanding others first. This is most notably seen when
she puts hours worth of focus on coming to understand Maui, and the
reasonings behind his own inner-demons. In doing so, she was able to
exhibit self-loving wisdom (specifically regarding how one should look
inside themselves for strength and guidance, and not in someone else).
Moana would later use this to encourage herself during her darkest hour.

As she grew with her adventure, Moana discovered more about
herself. She came to realize that no one can define who you are, other
than yourself; she was neither meant to be devoted solely to the sea or
solely to her people, but to herself. As such, she was able to bring her
 two loves together, ultimately recreating and honoring what came before
 her: a unity between her people and the sea.