Some of the cast members in the new series “Chief of War,” including the actor who plays King Kamehameha, are from Kauaʻi, the only island Kamehameha never subdued by military force.
The nine-episode historical drama series is set in the late 18th century and centers around the brutal conquest of the islands, made even more deadly by the acquisition of guns and cannons.
Thousands of Native Hawaiians died if they stood in the Hawaiʻi Island king's way as he and his advisors sought to fulfill a prophecy to unite the kingdom.
Kauaʻi resident Mainei Kinimaka grew up hearing stories of Kamehameha I: from his birth under Halley's Comet, lending credence to the prophecy, to his tale of the splintered paddle, where he was knocked unconscious in an event that led to the creation of some of the first laws of the new Hawaiian Kingdom.
“As you get older, you learn about the implications of war and what that really means,” Kinimaka told HPR. “In this show, we do show how brutal the war is.”
Kinimaka plays Heke, the younger sister of Kupuohi, wife of Kamehameha's ally Kaʻiana.
Kinimaka traces her lineage to Kauaʻi and Hawaiʻi Island, and said that Kauaʻi residents pride themselves on never being violently conquered.
King Kamehameha and his military had two failed attempts to invade Kauaʻi. After conquering Oʻahu after the Battle of Nuʻuanu, King Kamehameha launched his first invasion on Kauaʻi in 1796.
But a raging storm swamped his military about one-fourth of the way across the Kaʻieʻie Waho Channel between Kauaʻi and Oʻahu. Kamehameha and his warriors were forced to turn back.
Kamehameha's second attempt to invade Kauaʻi was thwarted when an epidemic swept through his warriors.
“I think it will be interesting to go into the next seasons, maybe, and explore Kauaʻi and what was going on there at that time, and talk about that conflict and how Kamehameha had never really made it over there,” Kinimaka said.
Kinimaka hopes the show will shed light on Hawaiʻi's history.
Kauaʻi is not only known as the Garden Isle, but also as the unconquered island, or the Separate Kingdom — nicknames spoken with humility, according to Kauaʻi Museum Director Chucky Boy Chock.
King Kamehameha was not the only chief who sought to conquer Kauaʻi. Chock said Hawaiʻi Island Chief Kalaunuiohua made a failed attempt in 1350.
Chock hopes that the audience will gain “a deeper understanding of the Hawaiian people and a glimpse into what pre-contact Hawaiʻi was truly like.”
Kauaʻi resident and kalo farmer Kaina Makua, appearing in his first acting role, plays King Kamehameha in the show. Growing up on Kauaʻi, he heard stories of the steps its leaders took to protect the islands from the man he now portrays.
“Our kahuna (priests) on Kauaʻi were powerful,” he told HPR. “They would sit on these peaks on Kauaʻi and pule (pray) and oli (chant), and make the ocean so crazy, the storm so crazy.”
Kamualiʻi was the ruling chief of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau. Makua described him as a loving leader who prioritized his people.
After two failed invasions, Kamehameha sought to conquer Kauaʻi through diplomacy. The two chiefs signed a treaty to unify the islands under one Kingdom in 1810.
It’s unclear what the Hawaiian Islands would've been like if King Kamehameha had not accomplished his conquest. Some of the “Chief of War” cast say the islands would've been divided by competing Western interests.
Others say that another chief would've tried to conquer the islands, and then the Native Hawaiians would have been referred to as “Oʻahuan” or “Mauian.”
Makua still finds it perplexing that King Kamehameha would listen to Kamualiʻi after years of war. He said Kamehameha must have learned about the importance of having a mutual agreement.
“Their relationship might have been one that I would love to sit around and just hear them talk about what they're doing for their people,” Makua said. “It must have been an unreal conversation.”
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