Character Analysis: Lloyd Garmadon (Ninjago)




"The ninja have protected Ninjago for years. We've been a symbol of hope for so many. But with the others missing, that hope had been lost. Now I see there is a reason to hope once again, because I can't do this alone. I need your help saving the world."

Background

  • Series: LEGO Ninjago
  • Name: Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon
  • Gender: Male
  • Origin: Ninjago
  • Alignment: Neutral Good
  • Likes: Garmadon, video games, pillow mints
  • Dislikes: Garmadon, Harumi, not living up to Wu
The lineage of the First Spinjitzu Master has spanned thousands of years. From the First Spinjitzu Master came brothers Wu and Garmadon, and from Garmadon and a young woman named Misako, came Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, legendary Green Ninja. However, his destiny didn't always seem so clear. As a young child, Lloyd's family was already torn apart, as Garmadon was consumed by the Great Devourer's corruptive venom, and turned to the dark side. He was banished to the Underworld, but Misako knew he would eventually return, and she knew Lloyd would be the one destined to defeat him. 

Desperate to avoid this fate, Misako dropped Lloyd off at Darkley's Boarding School for Bad Boys and went abroad, desperately trying to find a way to avoid this destined battle. Lloyd grew up alone and friendless, bullied by the other kids at Darkley's, and having never remembered his mother or father. However, Lloyd had heard about his father and aspired to be like him. When he was expelled from Darkley's, Lloyd sought to be an evil overlord like his father. 

Threatening a nearby village, Lloyd unleashed the Serpentine and demanded candy, but was foiled by the Ninja themselves, who eventually took him under their wing, under the care of his uncle, Master Wu. As the Ninja battled the freed Serpentine and desperately tried to prevent the unleashing of the Great Devourer herself, it became clear that Lloyd was indeed the Green Ninja, Elemental Master of Life.

Lloyd changed his ways by embracing the life of a Ninja and his destiny as the chosen one. As they trained Lloyd, he was artificially matured into a teenager, reunited with his mother, and faced the Overlord, becoming the Golden Ninja, a being only comparable to the First Spinjitzu Master himself. He managed to save his father and purify him, and briefly united his family. 

Lloyd helped the Ninja battle the Digital Overlord and permanently gave up his Golden Power to help his friends, helped win the Second Serpentine War, end the ghost invasion, stop Nadakhan the Djinn's plan to restore his homeworld using pieces of Ninjago and prevent the past from being altered.

However, Lloyd's greatest challenge would come from an unlikely place: Harumi, the Jade Princess, whose parents perished in the attack by the Great Devourer, infiltrated the Ninja under the guise of someone who had just lost everything. She grew close to Lloyd as she secretly searched for the three Oni Masks which, when united, could resurrect Lord Garmadon, the true slayer of the Devourer. But this Garmadon would have no light left in him. Lloyd had his heart broken by Harumi, and was forced to defeat a resurrected evil Garmadon, and later, had to team up with the evil reflection of his father to defeat the Oni.

A great period of peace resided across Ninjago, but new threats would come from the horizon, forcing the Ninja to rescue an amnesiac Zane from the Never-Realm, conquer Prime Empire, defeat the Skull Sorceror in the bowels of Shintaro and defeat Wojira, rescue Nya and defeat the Overlord once and for all. 

But then, everything changed. The Sixteen Realms of legend merged with Ninjago in a cataclysm that separated the Ninja for years and left Lloyd all alone. Without Wu, Lloyd had to mature into a true Master and took students of his own, tech genius Sora and Ninja superfan Arin. No matter the threat to Ninjago, Lloyd will be at the front lines, protecting the world and mentoring the younger generation, and he'll always make sure that Balance is maintained, because Ninja never quit. 

Before We Start...

Since Ninjago has a habit of introducing powers and weapons and has different levels of canon, we'll need to set some rules on what is being included for this particular blog. For canonicity, obviously, all seasons and tv specials of Ninjago and Ninjago: Dragons Rising will be included, from the pilot episodes to the most current installment, Dragons Rising Season 2. We will also be including graphic novels and comics like the Dark Island Trilogy, Spinjitzu Brothers, Garmadon and Shatterspin, as, while obscure, are each canon to the lore of Ninjago and have no major contradictions to the plot. The mini-series The Virtues of Spinjitzu will also be included as it does not contain plot contradictions.

As for what will not be included, Tommy Andreasen's (Ninjago co-creator) own books Way of the Departed and The Splinter in the Blind Man's Eye will not be included, as they are merely listed as 'could-be-canon' by Tommy himself, and neither are completed. Video games such as Shadow of Ronin have major plot contradictions, and so are also non-canon. Obviously, the Lego Ninjago Movie universe will not be included, as it is also a non-canon spin-off. While technically included in canon, The Realm of Shadows stage play (yes, this is a real thing) will also not be included, as it contains major inconsistencies, such as Cole not being a ghost despite taking place before the Day of the Departed special. 

As for powers, only abilities, forms and weapons Lloyd can feasibly have access to will be included. No Golden Ninja (a form Lloyd had only for a little bit years ago and has since given up), Lloyd won't have any other elements, as he only has access to them under special circumstances. Airjitzu and Elemental Dragons, while explicitly not being used anymore by the creators, do not have a canon reason for their disappearance and thus, will be included. 

Also, no mechs. He has a thousand of them and they don't change much, and also must bring them to battle and can't call on any as he pleases.

With that out of the way, let's begin! 

Experience & Skill


While his powers are extremely useful, Lloyd is an incredibly skilled combatant and more than worthy of being the Green Ninja. He's had years of experience, having been trained since he was a child, resulting in martial arts mastery, able to fight against attacker bots (seen above), other Ninja amplified by dark powers, and even some of the Forbidden Five, warriors so deadly and powerful that their teachings were banned across the Realms, while injured. Lloyd is skilled enough to take on two of the greatest warriors in the Merged Realms without spilling a single drop of stew.

Through Lloyd's over a decade of training and fighting, Lloyd has persevered through insurmountable threats. He's faced off against Merlopians, reawakened skeletons, Oni, Dragons, embodiments of evil, users of Shatterspin, ghosts, Nindroids, Vermillion Warriors, and even the most deadly adversary: A pretty girl. 

Lloyd has used and is familiar with many Elemental Powers that aren't his own, including Fusion, Propulsion, Light, Shockwave, Size, and Wind throughout the Tournament of the Sources, and was once the master of Fire, Earth, Ice and Lightning when he had the powers of the Golden Ninja.  

Even without Elemental Power, Lloyd has expertly piloted many mechs, vehicles and animals, including the Destiny's Bounty, the Imperium Mechs, the Ultra Dragon, and the Golden Mech, as well as learn many complicated techniques, such as Spinjitzu, Rising Dragon, Airjitzu, and summoning an Elemental Dragon. 

Equipment

Golden Sword


His bread and butter as a Ninja, Lloyd owns a golden sword that he uses to great effect. Pretty self-explanatory.

Bo Staff


While teaching, Lloyd uses a wooden bo staff, much like his beloved Master Wu. Similar staves used by Wu have been able to deflect fire and energy blasts with no observable damage.

Dragon Hook


Created by Sora based on the grappling hook used by Arin, the Dragon Hook Lloyd owns functions like a grappling hook and allows the Ninja to reach high places and swing between trees. The rope of the grappler is made of Lloyd's Elemental Power.

Dragon Icon


More than just a mere weapon, a Dragon Icon is formed from the scales of a Source Dragon, and allows the user to summon a Source Dragon to the mortal realm, once. Lloyd owns a Dragon Icon of the Source Dragon of Motion as a thanks for discovering the ones responsible for hunting down dragons and placing the Source Dragons in danger. However, Dragon Icons can be incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands, as Ras has used them to imprison the Source Dragon of Energy.

The Source Dragons are immensely powerful, and the Source Dragon of Motion in particular has the following powers:

Abilities

Life


Lloyd is the Elemental Master of Life, allowing him to control the energy of life, manifested as green energy. This power is unique to Lloyd due to his bloodline and is what remains of his Golden Power after giving it to the Ninja. This Elemental Power comes from the Source Dragon of Life, and is extremely powerful; Lloyd is described as being more powerful than the other Ninja combined. This power flows through Lloyd's body and makes his eyes glow bright green, his eyes lose their green hue when he is depowered.

Cole has described the Elemental Power of Life as Fire, Earth, Ice, and Lightning rolled into one, but only Lloyd knows the true meaning of his power. Lloyd uses Life to fire beams or balls of powerful energy as projectiles or light sources. Lloyd has used his powers to create bombs of energy, send out waves of energy, and amplify his striking power. His power is strong enough to withstand atmospheric re-entry when used as an Elemental Shield, and Kai used it to protect Lloyd from dangerous substances.


Life being a combination of Fire, Earth, Ice and Lightning also gives it unique properties. Lloyd can use his power to create electricity, using it to charge a battery to power a mech. Similarly, Lloyd has manifested his power into fire, which he used to light a torch in the Oni Temple. As a derivative of his old Golden Power, Lloyd can even use it to purify beings infected with the Dark Island's Dark Matter. 

Destruction


With the blood of an Oni in his veins, Lloyd can access the dangerous and dark power of Destruction, inherited from Garmadon himself. When sufficiently angered, Lloyd's eyes and hands glow purple, increasing his power greatly. Lloyd can fire destructive beams and shapeshift his body into an Oni Form, giving himself two extra arms in the process. 


Destruction feeds on negative emotions and Lloyd himself gains in strength as his anger grows. However, Lloyd rejects this part of himself, and will quickly stop himself from using Destruction when he regains control of his emotions or sees his reflection.   

Spinjitzu


The single most important Ninja technique, Spinjitzu is the art of rotation. When spinning rapidly, a Ninja can summon a swirling tornado of energy around them, an incredibly difficult technique to learn. Lloyd himself claims that it took him years to learn it from an incredible teacher. Indeed, Spinjitzu is so complex that only one person outside of the First Spinjitzu Master is known to have taught themselves the technique without a master, that being Lloyd's Ninja student Arin, a feat previously thought impossible.

The rotation behind Spinjitzu adds momentum to your blows, dramatically increasing a Ninja's striking power. It also allows for flexibility, both in and out of a battle. Spinjitzu allows a Ninja to propel themselves through the air, change their clothing, suck in and throw out opponents and drill through thin surfaces. Users of Spinjitzu, like Lloyd, have even used Spinjitzu for defense, able to deflect beams of ice and clash with giant hammers without a weapon. 

However, Spinjitzu is a draining technique and requires a lot of focus and energy to pull off, so Lloyd can't use Spinjitzu for extended periods.

Rising Dragon Technique


To counter the dark, nigh-unstoppable Shatterspin, Lloyd learned Rising Dragon Technique from Dragon Masters Egalt and Rontu. Derived from Spinjitzu, Rising Dragon requires the user to harmonise with the motion of the universe itself and connect it to the motion inside their body. Due to its focus on motion, Rising Dragon can cut through techniques that have an obsession with strength, such as Shatterspin.

After coming to peace with his visions and harmonising with the world, Lloyd can use Rising Dragon, summoning a green energy dragon avatar to surround them. The Rising Dragon Technique allows the user to fly and fire elemental blasts from the dragon's mouth. Lloyd has effectively used the technique against Shatterspin users such as Cinder, and while injured, used it against Nokt to mixed results.

Airjitzu


Due to his possession by Morro, Lloyd learned the lost martial art of Airjitzu. Developed by legendary Master Kodokuna Yang, Airjitzu is a variant of Spinjitzu that allows the user to to temporarily take flight. The user is surrounded by a vortex of energy as they perform the technique. The technique is not designed for combat, but Lloyd has used the ability to great effect. 

Elemental Dragon


When Floyd, Master of Dragons can conquer and control his inner fear, he can bring forth the manifestation of his Elemental Power, summoning an Elemental Dragon completely unique to them. These Dragons are made of pure Elemental Power, uniquely attributed to each Master. Functioning for both transportation and combat, Lloyd can use his Elemental Dragon to fly around and fire breath attacks of his Elemental Power.

If Lloyd loses control of his fear or runs out of energy, the Elemental Dragons will vanish and leave him stranded. 

Visions


After connecting with the immense power of a Source Dragon, Lloyd started to experience time differently, akin to the Source Dragons themselves. At random, without warning, Lloyd experiences visions of possible futures in a strange red void. 

These visions are important, vivid, and terrifying. Initially, these visions tormented Lloyd, preventing his ability to sleep, and riddling him with anxiety. Each vision would leave Lloyd defenseless, scared and distracted. After learning that these visions are a permanent part of him, and that he has to allow them to come and flow, Lloyd has learned to find harmony with these visions, even using them to try and gain information.

Forms

Oni Form

After Garmadon's supposed "death", Lloyd's anger overcame him, and he morphed into the terrifying Golden Oni. In this form, Lloyd's use of Destruction becomes more powerful and refined, capable of throwing the Overlord onto his back and making the embodiment of evil gasp in fear. This form causes purple lightning to crack through the sky, Lloyd to gain two new arms, and greatly increases his power. 

This form is equal and opposite to the Dragon Forms used by the Ninja and is thus the highest form of Oni Power. As such, Lloyd's Oni Form should be capable of everything the Dragon Forms and Garmadon's own Oni Form can do, such as resisting and undoing the effects of the Overlord's corruptive crystals and surviving the Vengestone Warrior's corrupting blasts. 

Despite this power, Lloyd resents the Oni Form and the destructive part of himself. Thus, if he sees his reflection or realises the anger he's releasing, Lloyd will willingly stop using his power.

Conduit

After connecting with the Source Dragon of Energy, and processing his energy, Lloyd became a Conduit, and can utilise the immense power of a Source Dragon. When Lloyd taps into this power, he can fly and gains immense power, able to power the Portal Gates that connect the Merged Realms, and use the Dragon Cores to end the universe-spanning MergeQuakes.

The energy of a Source Dragon is immensely powerful. They hold together the fabric of reality and are the source of all Elemental Power in the Merged Lands. and the Source Dragon of Energy's capture and release could have destabilised and destroyed everything. 

Feats

Overall

  • Is the Green Ninja
  • Became the Golden Ninja
  • Placed top 3 in both the Tournament of Elements and Tournament of the Sources
  • Connected with a Source Dragon to become a Conduit
  • Stopped the MergeQuakes
  • Achieved the rank of Master
  • Redeemed his father multiple times 
  • Defeated the Overlord, Garmadon, Harumi, Cinder

Strength

Speed

Durability

Weaknesses


Lloyd, while powerful, isn't perfect and does have weaknesses. The mysterious substance Vengestone suppresses his Elemental Power and prevents its use when nearby. While he has found harmony with his visions, they can be debilitating in stressful situations and distract him, leaving him vulnerable. This contributes to his biggest weakness: His heart is too big. Lloyd puts enormous pressure on himself and feels his emotions to the highest degree. The emotional effects of Harumi and Garmadon have led to him letting his guard down in certain situations, and he has trouble controlling his anger. Lloyd's refusal to embrace his Oni side can make him vulnerable as he tries to resist its temptation.

Important Notes

Golden Weapons Created A Star?



In the Season 2: Legacy of the Green Ninja episode "Wrong Place, Wrong Time", Kai, Cole, Jay and Zane travel back in time to stop Garmadon from using the Mega Weapon, a combination of the present Golden Weapons, to defeat the Ninja in the past. To do this, the Ninja use the past Golden Weapons to overload it and shoot it into space. The Mega Weapon explodes in a flash of light, leaving a star-like bright spot in the sky.

Tommy Andreasen, the co-creator of Ninago, said on Twitter (no, I'm not calling it that) that the Mega Weapon did indeed become a star. So, cut and dry, right? The Four Golden Weapons created a star. 

Well, this ignores some vital context. In the Season 3: Rebooted episode "The Void", it can be explicitly seen that the molten remains of the Golden Weapons landed on a comet known as Delta V. This is a direct contradiction to Tommy Andreasen's statement that the Mega Weapon specifically became a star. This could be explained away, that the Mega Weapon became a star while the Golden Weapons merely landed on a comet, but this has its own problems:
  1. The Mega Weapon and Golden Weapons are the same thing, the Mega Weapon is just the Golden Weapons combined. If they are the same object with the same powers, why are they behaving differently in the same scenario?
  2. These:


The transcripts from the Season 3 episodes "Project Arcturus" and "The Void" directly contradict the narrative that the Golden Weapons created or became a star. The characters and show directly confirm that the Golden Weapons were shot into space and landed on a comet. The Mega Weapon is never seen or mentioned again and is destroyed. 

Tommy himself says that canon information comes from the show, not Twitter, and has said this multiple times. So Tommy's word is contradicted by the show and per his word, we must take the show's conclusion over his own word. 

Therefore, the Golden Weapons creating a star has been contradicted numerous times and is not valid for scaling.

Possible Opponents

Tommy Oliver (Power Rangers)


Probably Lloyd's most popular matchup, this is probably my personal favourite matchup for Lloyd, as it has fun debate and animation potential and a fun theme.

Both Lloyd and Tommy are green dragon-themed warriors who fight for a multicoloured team against a variety of foes. They were once antagonistic to the heroes, due to the influence of the main villain, before they turned to the side of good and eventually became the leader of the team. Both operate a variety of mechs to fight the villains and have multiple different forms.

Both Lloyd and Tommy play off of each other well, with martial arts to play off of each other, before escalating into multiple mech battles and even concluding in an exciting climax between Conduit Lloyd and a Dragonzord/Heart of the Morphin Master Tommy, if you wanted. The use of mechs and Lloyd's various powers also work around any various criticisms about their art styles clashing, as creative uses of both powersets will play against each other without needing too much direct contact between Lloyd and Tommy.

Overall, it's a pretty good matchup that I approve of. 

Takanuva (Bionicle)



Also one of Lloyd's most popular matchups, Takanuva from Bionicle is also a good matchup that plays to Lloyd's strengths and avoids any art style contrasts that people may disapprove of.

Both Lloyd and Takanuva are LEGO fighters who are prophecised warriors of legend, their powers completely unique to them. They started young, but eventually matured into members of a multi-coloured, element-wielding team.

Lloyd and Takanuva's abilities play off of each other well. Lloyd's power of Life and Takanuva's power of Light give a fun dynamic, especially since Takanuva can create holograms, and his ability to blend into the environment like a chameleon is a fun contrast to Lloyd being a Ninja. Furthermore, Takanuva, when drained of his inner light, can use a dangerous Shadow power similar to Lloyd's Destruction, which also play off of each other well. It is the quintessential battle of LEGO and is definitely acceptable to be a DB. Plus, who doesn't want more new series in the show?





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