In ancient Hawaii, royal succession was based on not on birth order but on a noble child’s rank. A child’s rank was determined by the genealogy of both its father and its mother.
Pono’s real name (Lono-i-ka-maka-hiki) was too similar to the name of their agricultural god, Lono, to use in a screenplay. Other actual names were shortened or changed, e.g., Pono means good, Lani means heavenly, Kea means white, Naika means knight. Lani’s real name was “Ka-iki-lani-nui-alii-wahine-o-puna .” Kanaloa’s real name was Ka-na-lo-a-ku-a-a-na. Kanaloa was also the name of a Hawaiian god. After Christian missionaries arrived, Kanaloa was deemed “a personified spirit of evil.”
As a youth, Pono was unfamiliar with Hawaiian gods, weapons, and games and was uninterested in warfare. This would have been very unusual for a son of a noble. He was also concerned about how wealthy he would be as an adult.
Pono actually had five brothers and two sisters.
A woman who founded of the only women’s temple on the island was married to Keawe and may have been Pono’s mother. She may have had another son by Keawe.
The woman who raised Pono had two husbands. Having multiple spouses was common in the nobility. Having sex with sisters in law and brothers in law was allowed. Jealousy in such situations was common, too, albeit frowned upon.
Pono was the nephew of the deposed king; Lani was the granddaughter of the deposed king. They need not have been all that different in age, however, as both of their fathers had multiple wives and Keawe would have taken his deposed brother’s wives as his.
Hawaiian children were allowed to have sex before puberty. After a noble daughter became mature enough to become pregnant, she was not allowed to have sex until she had a mate who was selected for her. Birth control was not practiced but infanticide was.
The deposed king actually met survivors (the captain and his sister) from a Spanish shipwreck; the captain made it ashore with an iron sword; Lani had Spanish ancestors. The Hawaiians knew about metals but did not possess them.
Kea was Keawe’s son but his mother’s name was not recorded. Kea was short in stature and his name (Pupuakea) means the pink color of the sunset. He lived apart from court. He became Pono’s general.
Lani had two male children whose father was Kanaloa.
Pono had no children with Lani and had two children with a second wife.
Development of two large agricultural field systems allowed Hawaii to support a large population that included many warriors.
The Hawaiian New Year’s Festival lasted a few months during which time work and warfare ceased.
During war, Hawaiians fought to the death. Men, women, and children were killed or made slaves.
Hawaiian fighting moves were intended to kill or cripple. Bone breaking was common.
Gambling based on games of skill and games of chance was a common pastime of the nobility. Competitive wordplay (ho‘opa‘apa‘a) was a favorite game. Competitors could bet their bones (lives).
Metaphorical language was used by the nobility to the extent that the meaning of some memorized chants was lost.
There was no written Hawaiian language before contact. Some Hawaiians were expert at memorizing long chants.
Some sports, like surfing and sledding, were reserved for the nobility.
Men did all the cooking (in underground ovens). Certain foods were forbidden to women, such as pork, many kinds of bananas, coconuts, and some large fish.
Hawaiians did not cover their breasts, but the clothing of both sexes covered their genitals. They surfed naked (probably because their clothing was made out of a kind of paper).
The power of monarchs was absolute, but the people could rise up and kill evil monarchs, or move away. Monarchs were considered gods or godlike. For example, casting a shadow on a king was punishable by death.
Lawbreakers or defeated warriors who could make it (out run pursuers) to an official “place of refuge” would not be punished.
Most Hawaiian commoners were farmers.
Hawaiians wailed and knocked out a tooth or participated in orgies when a king died.
The victors write history, so later monarchs cleaned up the histories of monarchs in their genealogy. Victorious chiefs collected the large bones of vanquished chiefs.