Sensei Garmadon

"Whatever happens to me, wherever I am, I will always be with you. There comes a time where every boy must become a man. What sort of man, is up to him."

- Garmadon to Lloyd in Curseworld Part II Sensei Garmadon is a major character in LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu. He is the first son of the First Spinjitzu Master, the older brother of Sensei Wu and husband to Misako.

Prior to the beginning of the series, a young Garmadon was bitten by the Great Devourer and infected with evil. The corruption transformed him into Lord Garmadon, a power-hungry villain who served as the main antagonist of the first two seasons of the series. After a battle with his younger brother, Garmadon was trapped in the Underworld, where he gained command of the Skulkin. During the pilot episodes of the series, he sent the Skulkin to retrieve the Golden Weapons in order to grant him incredible power.

In the first full season of the series, Garmadon is revealed to have a son, Lloyd Garmadon, who seeks to follow in his footsteps. Lord Garmadon actually becomes something of an ally to the Ninja after Lloyd unleashes the Serpentine on Ninjago, working with his old foes to both save his son and to remove a potential rival for conquest of the land. Despite seeing their alliance through to the end, Lord Garmadon continues to seek means of gaining the advantage over the Ninja, eventually finding himself with a perfect opening to steal the Golden Weapons.

In the second season, Lord Garmadon once again becomes the main villain of the series, using the power of the Golden Weapons to take leadership over the remaining Serpentine. Combining the weapons into a single Mega Weapon, he schemes to remake Ninjago in his own dark image. Later on, he allies with the Overlord and gains control of the Stone Army, only to be betrayed by the former and used as a vessel for the original evil's rebirth.

After the Overlord's defeat at the hands of Lloyd, Garmadon is completely purified of evil, and happily reunites with his family at last. He has since joined his brother Wu as a mentor to the Ninja, hoping to atone for his evil deeds by helping them overcome whatever new evils may arise to threaten Ninjago.

Personality
As a child, Garmadon was especially mature for his age, using phrases of wisdom to his younger brother during their youth. However, upon being bitten by the Great Devourer, he began to take on darker, more megalomaniacal aspects that he fought with, showing great determination by keeping the beast's venom from fully controlling him for centuries.

However, under Chen's influence, the Great Devourer's venom would continue to grow. As a result of his master's teachings, Garmadon felt the need to win at all costs and would even resort to blatant cheating in order to achieve his goals. He would even go so far as to lie in order to win Misako's heart, though despite all this, his true, good side managed to prevail at times, such as through guilt and virtue.

Likewise, when Chen sought to ally with the Serpentine, Garmadon managed to summon enough of his strength to resist the temptation given to him by both his master and the venom and refused, siding with his friends and family. During the war, he went on to fight with bravery, and displayed great intelligence after creating the Serpentine's only known weakness, the Sacred Flutes.

However, despite this victory and the love of Misako, who would go on to be his wife, Garmadon eventually was unable to fight on any longer and ultimately succumbed to the influence of the Great Devourer's venom. Under its control, he became noticeable far more sinister and megalomaniacal, ruthlessly insulting his father's legacy and showing no hesitation to murder his brother over the Golden Weapons. Upon being banished to the Underworld, his evil continued to fester as he mercilessly stole Samukai's authority, refusing to give up even in death.

From there, he would hone his skills of manipulation, and afterwards also displayed signs of mocking sarcasm to his enemies, relishing in their dilemmas. He was also noticeably vengeful towards his brother, even more so as a result of his banishment and because he blamed Wu for the Great Devourer infecting him.

One thing that the venom of the Devourer failed to suppress, however, was his love for his wife and Lloyd; Upon being told that his son was in danger, Garmadon didn't hesitate to save his arch-nemesis and brother in order to rescue his son. Likewise, he was unable to bring himself to harm Lloyd, even under the influence of the Overlord, instead feigning eagerness to fight, when in reality he was insecure over his deteriorating relationship with his loved ones. Indeed, he would also fight back the venom by offering to save Misako by having her rule at his side, and also showing betrayal upon learning she had tricked him.

After being purged of the Great Devourer's venom after countless years of scheming and manipulating, Garmadon's true, good side finally begins to show through; However, as a result of his crimes, he was left to feel enormous guilt. To cope, he began to live in solitude, training pupils to defend themselves, and was extremely pacifistic, relying exclusively on the Art of the Silent Fist in combat. Despite this, he was unwilling to let his personal guilt place his loved ones in danger, and promptly broke his vow in order to later rescue his son. Additionally, Garmadon would later refuse to take hostages, regardless of who they were, in order to accomplish any goals.

As a master, Garmadon was also noticeable different in that while his brother was generally more cryptic and vague, Garmadon was far more down-to-earth and practical, making his advice and instruction to the ninja more direct and not hesitating to emphasize their wariness of his former master, Chen. He also acted very fatherly to his son, and built a greater relationship with him.

Ultimately, without the venom of the Great Devourer, Garmadon proved to be incredibly selfless as well; Upon the need, he willingly had himself banished to the Cursed Realm in order to save Ninjago from the Anacondrai Cultists, and likewise emphasized the defeat of the Preeminent over his own safety. Because of his virtuous side, Garmadon ultimately changed his legacy from that of a vile Dark Lord to a benevolent hero, being remembered forever by his friends and family.

Age
Garmadon is several hundreds of years old. He and his younger brother's long lifespan is a result of them being the sons of the First Spinjitzu Master, whom lived for thousands of years before finally succumbing to his mortality.

Garmadon and his brother have a peculiar aging pattern. Ages ago, they were children when he was bitten, and they grew to be young men by the time their father passed away. Their aging stagnated at some point, and centuries later, they were still physically young men during the events of the Serpentine War. Decades later, they were physically in their early thirties when he was banished. Only a mere decade later, the begining of the events of the series, they both appeared as old men, though Garmadon would only show his true age after he was purified of his evil.

Appearance
As a child, Garmadon appeared as a normal boy with a brown bowl-cut. As a young man, he had a swept back, tousled hairstyle similar to Lloyd's teenage form. He wore a black kimono with red kanji, showing his status as a Spinjitzu Master. Because of the Great Devourer's bite, he later gained pale skin and glowing red eyes. Upon being struck by lightning and falling into the Underworld, his body became completely black, with a lined face and visible ribs and teeth. His hair became quite messy-looking while turning black like the rest of his body. He wore a purple sash around his waist, his old ninja-obi, and later gained Samukai's helmet - a silver samurai helmet with a bone on it.

His time in the Realm of Madness gave him four arms, an armored chest plate, a darker helmet, and new blades. After arriving on the Island of Darkness, he gained a new helmet that also gave him control over the Stone Army, which he wore until Dareth took possession of it.

At the end of "Rise of The Spinjitzu Master," Garmadon was reverted to a normal man, free of the evil energy that had corrupted him. He appeared as an old man similar in appearance to Master Wu, but with a full head of graying hair instead of a beard. His old outfit had been transformed into the "special" kimono his brother wore in "Battle Between Brothers," a predominantly black kimono with white sleeves and golden Chinese characters written on the front.

In Rebooted, he donned an official master gi that was mostly black with a white sleeved, gray overcoat and a green belt, along with a crest of a black dragon in a gold circle. This same symbol appears on his back.

In Tournament of Elements, his gi remained mostly black, but its design was altered to have gold accents. It was also revealed that he had an Anacondrai tattoo on his back from his days as Chen's right hand. He later turned into an Anacondrai, but was reverted to normal after his banishment to the Cursed Realm.

Weapons
Lord Garmadon was never seen fighting directly in the pilot episodes, and was thus never seen wielding any weapons. In Season 1, he was seen using a variety of weapons, including katanas, scythes, knives, and spears. He usually carried weapons in all four of his hands, but occasionally used less in order to hold them with multiple hands (thereby increasing the force of his blows).

In "Day of The Great Devourer" and "Darkness Shall Rise," Lord Garmadon briefly wielded all four of the Golden Weapons, but eventually fused them into the Mega Weapon, which he wielded until its destruction in "Wrong Place, Wrong Time." After arriving on the Island of Darkness, he was largely content to remain out of direct combat once again, with his possession of the Helmet of Shadows allowing him to command the Stone Army in his stead. However, he manned some of the Army's strongest vehicles, including the Samurai Mech and the Garmatron.

Following his purification, Garmadon vowed against using weapons, though he does use a Nin-Jô as a walking stick, much like his brother Wu.

Powers and Attributes
Like his brother, Master Wu, Garmadon has the ability to perform Spinjitzu, with his version channeling the power of Destruction. After being bitten by the Great Devourer, his power became unbalanced. He was also a skilled fighter, being proficient in martial arts and the use of many different weapons.

In his first appearance, Lord Garmadon was able to summon and duplicate Shadows - dark entities able to harm physical beings while the latter could not do the same. Similarly, during his stay in the Underworld, he had the ability to use his powers to create a shadow duplicate of himself in order to interact with Ninjago to some extent.

During his time in his dark dimension, he gained the power of doing what was seemingly impossible for him to achieve: to wield all four Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu at once. In addition to this newfound ability, he gained two extra arms to help him hold each weapon more easily - though this new power still left him feeling weak upon using the Mega Weapon.

Upon being purified at the Overlord's defeat, Garmadon lost his extra pair of arms and subsequently, the power to wield all four Golden Weapons. In addition, Garmadon's Destruction returned to balance. Initially after being cured, he repressed his power by refusing to fight, but he eventually returned to being an active combatant in order to save his son, and remained so until his end.

Trivia

 * Sensei Garmadon is extremely similar with Anakin Skywalker as both were gained nefarious reputation when turned to the dark side, transformed into black-clad entity, manipulated by a greater evil whom brought them to the dark side (Overlord for Garmadon and Palpatine for Anakin), and finally able to redeemed themselves with help of their archenemy that turned out to be their sons.
 * The difference however, whereas Anakin died in peace soon after he redeemed himself, Garmadon survived longer. Also, whereas Anakin was able to redeem himself with his own terms, Garmadon could only be able to redeem himself after Great Devourer's venom that corrupt his mind like a parasite exorcized from him.