# Pāoa — Polynesian Mythology character guide

> Pāoa in Polynesian Mythology by George Grey.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** poor Pāoa

**First appearance:** 0027-the-history-of-p-oa-the-ancestor-of-the-ng-ti-p-oa-tribe

## Snapshot

A grieving husband who abandons home and kin to search the known world for a wife who hides from him, only to be offered a new life he never sought.

## Who they are

Pāoa is a chief whose wife flees in shame after being mistreated, and his long search carries him from village to village, from Taupō to Tongariro to the Waikato, with only his faithful slave for company. His devotion is both admirable and stubborn—he refuses his brothers' companionship, orders them home, and vows never to return unless he finds her. When strangers offer him a new bride instead, his story turns on the question of whether loyalty to the lost can coexist with the life that waits ahead, making him a quiet emblem of migration's human cost.

## Relationships

### [Tukutuku](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/polynesian_mythology_se/characters/tukutuku)

_romantic_

Pāoa and Tukutuku are lovers whose relationship is central to a story of elopement and pursuit.

### [Horowhenua](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/polynesian_mythology_se/characters/horowhenua)

_family_

Horowhenua is Pāoa's father, guiding him in his journeys.

### [Horowhenua](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/polynesian_mythology_se/characters/horowhenua)

_family_

Horowhenua is Pāoa's father, guiding him in his journeys.

### [Tukutuku](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/polynesian_mythology_se/characters/tukutuku)

_romantic_

Pāoa and Tukutuku are lovers whose relationship is central to a story of elopement and pursuit.

### [Tukutuku](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/polynesian_mythology_se/characters/tukutuku)

_romantic_

Pāoa and Tukutuku are lovers whose relationship is central to a story of elopement and pursuit.

### [Horowhenua](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/polynesian_mythology_se/characters/horowhenua)

_family_

Horowhenua is Pāoa's father, guiding him in his journeys.

## In the story

### [The History of Pāoa, the Ancestor of the Ngāti Pāoa Tribe](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/polynesian_mythology_se/chapters/the-history-of-p-oa-the-ancestor-of-the-ng-ti-p-oa-tribe)

Ancestor of Ngāti Pāoa, travels in search of his wife, later settles at Kaitotehe and fathers two sons.

### [Appendix II: On New Zealand and Polynesian Ethnology](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/polynesian_mythology_se/chapters/appendix-ii-on-new-zealand-and-polynesian-ethnology)

Ancestor of the Ngāti Pāoa tribe; his legend is used as a central example of ancient Māori social life.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/polynesian_mythology_se/characters/paoa
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/polynesian_mythology_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/polynesian_mythology_se/characters