Full Moon over Mako Island.
Full Moon functions as a source of power for mermaids.
History
As mentioned above, the mermaids use the full moon as a source of power.
Mako Island was formed out of a comet that fell onto Earth and one of the break-away pieces formed the Sea Caves of Ireland.
The Moon Pool can turn any human that stays in it when the Full Moon passes over into a mermaid or merman and grants them individual powers. After they've been turned, the Full Moon will cause unexpected phenomenal effects on them, which is different every month due to planetary alignments.
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Season 1
The Full Moon over Mako Island
The Moon was the source of the powers that Cleo Sertori, Emma Gilbert and Rikki Chadwick receive in the Moon Pool on Mako Island. The moon also affects each of them in different ways, at various moon cycles.
A full moon has very strange effects on the girls and these effects are explored over a number of episodes. It seems that not only does the full moon give them an opposite take on their original personalities, (Emma: outgoing, and disobedient; Cleo: amazing singer, self-centered; Rikki: vulnerable and self-guilt), but makes them quite romantic and seductive, seeing as Cleo, Emma and Rikki have all kissed their love interest for the first time while under the moon's influence.These effects only last for as long as the full moon is in the sky. During a full moon, the moon pool on Mako Island sometimes protects the girls from the moon's strange effects. The girls usually don't always remember what happened to them when they were under the influence of the full moon.
Dangerous Moon Reflection
Emma is the first to fall under the effects of the full moon, which turns her into a wild and carefree mermaid; exactly the opposite of her normally organized self. In this state, she freely tells everyone exactly what she thinks of them, regardless of whether it would offend them or not. It also causes her to change into a mermaid and is unable to transform back. While under the effect of the full moon, Emma feels inexplicably drawn to water and to Mako Island. She develops a craving for fish as well as a craving for Byron. She becomes somewhat seductive and kisses Byron on several occasions. By the time the moon is completely gone, everything is once again normal and Emma remembers nothing.
While Cleo and Rikki looked at the moon, they did not fall under its magic. Presumably, this full moon only affected Emma specifically. Cleo is the second to fall victim to the full moon. Her powers resemble myths about sirens attracting sailors with their song to a watery doom. Cleo uses her song to attract many boys. In this effect, Cleo is more self-centered compared to her normal, compassionate self. While under this spell Cleo does not change into a mermaid when wet. Rikki is the third to experience the effects of the full moon, which causes her Hydro-Thermokinesis powers and abilities to lose control and overload in a minute of time. Instead of merely heating liquids, she begins to heat up the air and set fire to objects around her by touch and by sight (Pyrokinesis). During this time, Zane comes to Mako Island to try and find the "sea monster", and discovers Rikki sitting amongst a circle of flames. Rikki then kisses him, causing Zane to quickly overheat and pass out, becoming dehydrated and gets sunburnt. The girls realize that Rikki's mermaid power and ability is the most volatile and must be tightly controlled.
The Lunar Eclipse over the Moon Pool
In the season one finale, "A Twist in the Tail," Miss Chatham reveals to the girls that they are able to lose their mermaid powers if they are in the moon pool of Mako Island during a lunar eclipse takes place. The girls, knowing that Dr. Denman and her assistants would not let them rest until they got what they wanted, decide to take this opportunity and fight off Dr. Denman's men just before jumping into the pool and letting the moon draw away their powers. This helps the girls trick Dr. Denman into believing that they are no longer mermaids. Lewis later reveals that Miss Chatham told him that their powers and abilities are only lost for twelve hours, not forever, and that Miss Chatham did not tell them so that they would truly believe they had lost their mermaid powers and abilities and being mermaids forever.
Season 2
Cleo creating strong wind
Emma freezing the kitchen
Rikki creating lightning which sets fire to her clothes
In the first episode of the second season "Stormy Weather," all three girls are affected by a very special full moon, which causes them to swim to the moon pool on Mako Island. Because of a particularly rare planetary alignment which was taking place at the time, their powers and abilities are greatly strengthened and increased to even higher power levels, and they use their newfound powers and abilities to attack and blow away Lewis, who followed them to make sure everything was okay. Following their reversion to their normal state, the girls struggle to control the effects of these new powers and abilities: Cleo creates a windstorm while upsetting a glass of orange juice her younger sister is carrying, Emma manages to freeze the entire kitchen bench as well as the fridge and freezer with solid ice, and Rikki manages to set her laundry on fire while trying to speed up line drying on her clothes line. She repeats this later in the episode with Lewis' shorts.
The next full moon is on the same date as the camping trip for the Sertori family. Their choice of location could not have been any worse: Mako Island. To ensure that none of the girls fall under the spell of the full moon, Cleo brings Emma and Rikki along. Lewis joins the trip as well, bringing Charlotte at her insistence. Even though the girls sleep in a "moonlight-proof" tent, Cleo is affected once more when Kim opens the tent, while searching for Charlotte, who had gone into the forest with Lewis. When Lewis comes back and warns the other girls, the two girls decide that they have been afraid of the full moon for too long, and venture outside to rescue their friend despite the danger. Both are instantly struck by the moonlight, but somehow manage to channel the effects and find Cleo. Rather than exhibiting ridiculous or flamboyant behavior, they become single-minded and emotionally indifferent, as well as being somewhat vicious in their reaction to threats. Charlotte follows Cleo to the moon pool and is about to touch the magic mystical water, but Emma freezes it just before she does, preventing Charlotte from becoming a mermaid. This is one of the two times that the girls remember what they did, as Rikki and Emma later talk about how Emma managed to freeze the water just as Charlotte touched it.
By the following full moon, the girls have finally sealed off the house completely. Things are spoiled when Ash pays a surprise visit to Emma, and Cleo catches a glimpse of the full moon, causing her to become giddy and childish in her behavior. While Emma has her "date" with Ash, Rikki keeps Cleo locked up in the bedroom because she has been "moonstruck". However, Cleo causes Rikki to see the moon as well by pulling down the cardboard covering the window and the second mermaid falls into a similar state of giddiness. Together they lure Emma into the bathroom, toss her in the bath and make her fall under the moon's spell as well. They plan to let Ash see Emma as a mermaid, and he is on the verge of entering the bathroom when Lewis, being called earlier by Emma, bursts in and stops him. Later on in the episode, Emma admits her feelings for Ash and the two kiss.
Charlotte becoming a mermaid
By the next moon, Charlotte has become aware of her grandmother's past and uses the moon pool to become a mermaid herself. The other girls remain in Cleo's room and manage to avoid seeing the moon. When Charlotte becomes a mermaid there is a normal full moon but the strange thing is that not only does she have all three original powers and abilities (which is probably because the moon pool divides the three powers amongst those in it, so if there is only one person in it, she will acquire the three powers) but for some unknown reason she develops the additional powers and abilities as well.
During the season two finale, "Unfathomable," Max reveals to Lewis that every fifty years an extremely special full moon occurs, during which all the planets are aligned with the moon and earth, making its effect extremely strong and powerful enough to take away a mermaid's powers and abilities forever if they enter the moon pool while it is in its active state. However, this full moon also greatly strengthens and amplifies a mermaid's powers and abilities and makes them much stronger and more powerful, as shown during this episode when Charlotte suddenly develops a fit of anger, and uses her powers and abilities to make the plumbing and water system of Emma's house go haywire, out of spite toward the girls. Because Ash was in their presence, the girls were unable to fight back.
Charlotte losing her powers
Leading Lewis to believe that she was under the influence of the full moon, Charlotte lures him to Mako Island in order to trick the girls into coming after them. At the end of the episode, while the moon is over the moon pool, a big showdown begins at Mako Island. Charlotte tries to push all three girls into the moon pool while it is active, in an attempt to make them lose their powers and abilities forever, so that she will be the only "true mermaid." However, they then combine their powers and abilities to fight back and win, making Charlotte fly into the air and drop into the moon pool, resulting in her losing her powers forever. During the battle, Charlotte reveals that this full moon event is how Gracie, her grandmother, and one of the original three mermaids in the 1950s, gave up her powers and abilities fifty years ago.
Season 3
A Water Tentacle
In the third season the girls are now immune the effects of the full moon. However, a strange waterfall creates a Water Tentacle that attack the girls, dragging them into the ocean. It appeared for the first time in "The Awakening" and captures Rikki and brings her to the Moon Pool. Cleo and Bella combine their powers and destroys the water tentacle.
In episode "Kidnapped" the creature captures Bella and attempts to turn her into water. Cleo uses her power to keep Bella's body together until the moon passes over. Afterwards, Bella says while she was turning to water, she felt safe and at home. Rikki goes to confront the water tentacle after a heated argument with Zane. She is the first to confront the creature and connect with it. While it tries to communicate with her, Will walks in on them and interrupts them. The creature attempts to attack Will, but Rikki stops it before it can touch him. After the moon passed, the water tentacle disappears. The mermaids find out that the water tentacle is a friend. They confront it together, and it shows them a hologram of a comet moving toward Earth, but before the hologram can show everything, Zane and Will walk in and interrupt it. The Comet Eva is about to fall toward Earth and collide with the Moon Pool when Sophie and Ryan plant explosions on the cave and subsequently destroy the magic within, as well as the mermaids' best shot at stopping the comet. Knowing the comet will destroy the entire world when it collides with the Moon Pool, the mermaids create Tower of Light to alter its course using their own powers.
Mako Mermaids
Season 1
A boy named Zac falls into the Moon Pool when the full moon passes over it, breaking a spell cast by his mother that made him tailess. It also opens a rock tunnel leading to the location of the Trident. On the first full moon after his transformation, Zac feels strongly drawn to the moon's pull as it rises and changes into a different personality when he gets hit by moonlight, and goes toward Mako Island. After the full moon, Zac returns to his regular self but develops the power of invisibility.
On the second full moon, the same thing happens again and he goes to Mako to claim the trident. Unlike the first time, he remembers everything that happened, including the mermaids' true identities. It is unknown whether or not Zac has developed any other powers.
On the third full moon, Zac lures away the mermaids to obtain the Trident.
When the next full moon arrives, Cam Mitchell attempts to use this opportunity to become a merman himself and take full mastery over the Trident and the island. Lyla, Nixie and Sirena utilize their Moon Rings and hold him off, despite the Trident being more powerful, before Zac appears and destroys the Trident. Nixie then holds Cam in the air until the moon passes and the pool's power deactivates.
Season 2
On the night of Zac's seventh full moon, Mako draws him back to the Moon Pool where his connection to the island is expected to deepen. New mermaids, Mimmi and Ondina, plan to use this as an opportunity to draw out his powers. Worried for Zac's safety, Evie McLaren dives in to save him just as the moon is passing, only to be turned into a mermaid herself the next morning.
Zac is drawn to an entirely new merman chamber on another side of the island while camping with Rob Blakely, Cam and Erik when the full moon rises. He walks into the cave and begins to activate the platform before he is stopped. When the moon passes, the chamber begins to close up and Zac loses most of his memory of the night. In the meantime, Evie falls under the spell of the moon, and similarly to Cleo, Emma and Rikki, begins to act the opposite her normal self (overexcited, childlike, immature). Under the moon's influence, she is drawn to Zac, who almost attacks her in the Merman Chamber. She is automatically restored to normal the next morning.
During the next full moon, Sirena takes Evie to the Moon Pool where she teaches Evie to control the power of the moon. She manages to stay in complete control this time and rejoices the beauty of the moon. Meanwhile, Zac and Erik go back to Mako to learn more about the chamber, but before they can go further, the mermaids Veridia, Ondina, and Mimmi arrive to stop them. Rita then arrives to stop Veridia from hurting Zac. Veridia expresses concern of "Nerissa's son" taking control of the chamber, revealing that Zac was born a merman to a powerful mermaid and also Mimmi's brother.
Ondina, under Veridia's orders, talks Zac into going to the Merman Chamber to activate its power, hoping to redirect the chamber's energy on itself to destroy it once and for all. When the chamber is near activation, a hologram of the trident appears, but Zac cannot touch it. They realize that the chamber can never be activated now that the trident is destroyed. After reporting this to Veridia, the leader agrees to let the pod return to Mako.
Zac under the Moon Spell
Erik hears about the Trident Stone still existing and comes to believe that all he needs is the rock to activate the chamber. When Zac refuses to do it, Erik takes matters into his own hands and goes to search for it until he finally finds it and uses it to absorb Zac's powers, which gives him full access to the chamber. Knowing that activating the chamber will destroy all mermaids across the world, Zac, Mimmi, Ondina, and Sirena attempt to stop him when the full moon begins to pass. Their efforts fail and the stone begins to drain the magic from the Moon Pool, along with every mermaid's life force (excluding Evie). Erik attempts to deactivate the chamber when he realizes his mistake, but the rock knocks him away, forcing Zac to stop it himself. Though he is successful, his efforts nearly cost him his life until Mimmi uses the stone's power to save him. Once he is saved, the stone is turned to ash, thus the chamber is deactivated forever.
Season 3
During the following full moon, Chinese mermaid Weilan comes across the water dragon that destroyed her pod. When she relocates to Mako the following month, the dragon followed and encountered Mimmi, Ondina and Evie on the night of the full moon, and try to fight it off to no avail. Joe and David's boat accidentally encounter the dragon and their lights distract it long enough for the mermaids to escape. The others want to stay and protect David and Joeissues, but Weilan, who has followed Zac to help, tells them that the dragon is only interested in mermaids and ushers them to warn the pod.
On the night of the next full moon, Weilan tells Veridia to have the pod wait for the dragon on the other side of Mako Island, saying the dragon will appear in the shadow of the moon. This is a lie to send them away while Zac lures it into the Moon Pool in attempt to destroy it. Evie, having overheard their plan before, rushes to the Moon Pool, where she and Zac fight the dragon. Unfortunately, it strikes Evie with its fire and Evie is rendered human once again.
Veridia and two other mermaids enter the Moon Pool on the following full moon where they conjure up a storm to destroy the dragon. Mimmi, Zac, Weilan and Ondina find an ancient Chinese bracelet that has the power to revert the dragon to its prior form, and rush there to save Zac and Mimmi's mother, Nerissa, whom they learn was the dragon itself. They successfully save Nerissa and the threat is neutralized.
Moon Spell
When merpeople look at the full moon directly or in the reflection in the water, they are put under the Moon Spell. They don't remember anything that happened while under the Moon Spell. Sometimes the full moon will make a merperson's powers go out of control or make a mermaid a siren.
Special Full Moons
The Moon Pool magically reacts to the Full Moon, in specials occasions.
Special Planetary Alignment
During a rare planetary alignment, the moon will increase the powers of a mermaid if they are in the Moon Pool during the alignment, granting them amplified versions of their own powers.
The Moon of Fifty Years
At every fifty years another planetary alignment takes place. If a mermaid is in the Moon Pool during this alignment, they will lose all of their mermaid powers, returning to human.
Lunar Eclipse
During the Lunar Eclipse, the mermaid who stays in the Moon Pool will lose their powers for 12 hours. After that, they will come back. These effects apply only to human-turned-merpeople, because they became merpeople through the Moon Pool, and subsequently, the Full Moon reacts and can increase or remove their powers and mer-form according their alignments.
The Seventh Moon Cycle
The seventh full moon cycle after one's first transformation is said to cause sudden escalations of merman powers, but no mermaid knows for certain how this works.
Trivia
- There is a potion which has to be used on merpeople in the Moon Pool, during the Full Moon and the merpeople could use it to extract another's powers.