Lord Garmadon

"I haven’t even been a part of your life. How could I ruin it?"

- Garmadon in the Lego Ninjago Movie.

"I’ve played many roles. Worn many masks. Father. Husband. Brother. Teacher. But one of them has only been summoned... destroyer!"

- Emperor Garmadon

Lord Garmadon is the overall main antagonist to the Lego Ninjago Franchise, serving as the main antagonist to the pilot episodes, anti-hero to the first season and secondary antagonist turned anti-hero to the second season. He served as a major protagonist to the third and fourth season. He is also the main antagonist of Warner Bros.'s 4th animated film The LEGO Ninjago Movie. He later returns as the overarching antagonist of Season 8: Sons of Garmadon and one of the two main antagonists of Season 9: Hunted (the other being Iron Baron). Then he becomes an anti-hero in the Season 10: March of the Oni.

He is the son of the First Spinjitzu Master and the older brother of Sensei Wu, who turned evil after being bit by The Great Devourer and tried to take over the world of Ninjago, but was banished to the underworld by Wu. He took his signature helmet from Samukai, and became the ruler of the underworld. He returned in command of an army of skeleton people, including the actual ruler of the underworld, Samukai. Garmadon's goal is to possess the four golden weapons of Ninjago until the weapons are destroyed but still he continued to try to achieve his only true goal: Recreate Ninjago in his image.

In the TV series, he is voiced by Mark Oliver, who also played Mechanikat in Krypto the Superdog. In the film, he was voiced by Justin Theroux, who also played Lord Leezar in Your Highness, Seamus O'Grady in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Tom Watson in The Girl On the Train, and Dropkick in Bumblebee.

Pilot Episodes
In the Ninjago pilot epsiodes, Garmadon is betrayed by Samukai, but the skeleton is destroyed when he tries to possess the four weapons, and a portal to another dimension is opened, which Garmadon intentionally lets himself to be sucked into, so he can become strong enough to wield the four weapons from inside. In the 2012 series, he returns from the void, now with four arms to help save his son from a group of snake people called the serpentine.

Season 1: Rise of the Snakes
Despite being evil, he loves his son and does not wish for Lloyd to become him, because Lloyd should find his own destiny because he never got to make the choice to become evil, hinting that the Great Devourer's venom could not corrupt his heart completely. He also has shown hatred for the Great Devourer. He formed a truce with Sensei Wu and the ninjas to save his son. Once Lloyd is revealed to be the Green Ninja, both Lloyd and Garmadon are devastated knowing they would face each other in battle. However, he tells Lloyd that even though they're now on opposite sides, he's still proud of him and used the skeleton army to help save the ninjas. In the season finale, he used the four golden weapons to destroy the Great Devourer and got his revenge on the giant snake, and then he ran off with the four weapons. Lloyd accepts he will have to face his father in the future and get his training from not only Sensei Wu but the four ninjas as well.

Season 2: Legacy of the Green Ninja
In Season Three, Garmadon will return, this time intent on destroying the ninja, to prevent his son from reaching his true potential. Allying himself with the Serpentine, Garmadon will create "The Dark Bounty" from pieces of the broken Destiny's Bounty, and travel to the birthplace of the Golden Weapons, uniting the weapons into a stronger one.

Back in Ninjago, Skales leads the Serpentine in his plan to destroy Ninjago City, but they stumble upon a tomb filled with Stone Warriors. The Stone Warriors lock the Serpentine up, then leave to find their master, he who wears the helmet of shadows. The Overlord leads Garmadon to the Helmet of Shadows, and Garmadon takes control of the Stone Army. With guidance from The Overlord, Garmadon instructs his army to build the ultimate weapon, consisting of dark matter. The Weapon is designed to transform whatever it targets into Garmadon's evil image. Using the dark island as his base, Garmadon is seemingly unstoppable. Once the ninja arrive, a war on the island breaks out. Garmadon realizes he will have to fight his son soon, but he doesn't want to.

At one point, the stone army captured Misako, Garmadon's wife, whom Garmadon has not seen since before he was cast into the Underworld. She tells him that Lloyd does not want to fight, which both comforts and scares Garmadon. Garmadon is ashamed of his evil ways, but still invites her to rule Ninjago by his side. Misako lies and tells him that she accepts, but she steals the helmet of shadows from him, leaving him angry and hurt.

When the ultimate weapon, Garmatron is complete, Lord Garmadon leads his troops to the edge of the island, and aims the weapon at Ninjago. Lloyd, Sensei Wu, and Misako arrive and tell him to stop. Garmadon tells them that fate has turned his son, wife, and brother against him, and turning them evil is the only way for his family to be together.

Sensei Wu tells him that the Overlord is using him, and that if he fires the weapon, the Overlord will be released. The Overlord insists that Garmadon ignore him and fire the weapon anyway, so Garmadon decides the Overlord is right, and fires the weapon at Jamanakai village. The balance is then shifted, and the Overlord is freed. The Overlord posses Lord Garmadon's body, and he transforms into an evil, scaly figure with claws, sharp teeth, a tail, and a head resembling a dinosaur.

The heroes realize the "Dark Lord" in the green ninja prophecy was not talking about Garmadon, but about the Overlord. Lloyd begins his fight with the Overlord, trying to tell his father to regain control over his body. Garmadon fights back, telling the Overlord that he will not hurt his son, but the Overlord wins, and nearly kills Lloyd. Still possessing Garmadon, the Overlord, the stone army, and evil Nya teleport to Ninjago City, leaving Lloyd on the island with a broken leg.

Later, the Overlord transforms Garmadon's body into his Original Form. The original form resembles a gigantic black dragon. When the ninja arrive in Ninjago City, everyone (Except for Dareth) has been transformed into Garmadon's image. The Helmet of Shadows falls off of Garmadon's head when he turns into a dragon, because it is far too small. Dareth finds the helmet, and takes control of the stone army.

Lloyd battles the Overlord, and wins, transforming everything in Garmadon's image back to good. Lloyd is upset because his father's body is missing. But they find him shortly after that, only he is not the Garmadon they once knew. Garmadon is now transformed to look like his original self (Before cast into the underworld) only much older. Every ounce of evil was drained out of Garmadon, making him good again. His family runs to him, and he is finally reunited with the people he loves.

Season 4: The Tournament of Elements (No-Villain)
Some time later, he was forced to self-abide in a mystical realm called Cursed Realm to stop a snake armies commanded by Chen. When the kingdom was completely destroyed, Garmadon also perished.

Season 8: Sons of Garmadon
Sometime after his death, a group of fanatics named the Sons of Garmadon have managed to resurrect Garmadon in his form of Lord Garmadon, completely devoid of all that remained of his humanity. Worse, Lord Garmadon behaves as if he is a separate entity to Garmadon who his friends and family knew and love, as when fighting Lloyd, he claimed that he had no son, much to Lloyd's dismay.

After unlocking his true potential by defeating Lloyd, Garmadon uses his new abilities to create the Colossi, a giant rock monster. After failing to capture Sensei Wu, Garmadon succeeded in taking over Ninjago with Harumi by his side.

Season 9: Hunted
Garmadon oppressed Ninjago's citizens and sought out his son, who led a brave Resistance. In the eventual confrontation against Lloyd and Wu, it turned out that Lord Garmadon still retain his humanity just like when under Overlord's corruption. While he still ignored Lloyd's attempts to talk sense with him, Garmadon prevented Lloyd from falling to certain death twice and slowly revealed his true agenda: He intended to make Lloyd defeat him without holding back, so his son would be ready to fight an oncoming threat. Lloyd soon stopped fighting and resisted his father long enough for the latter to lose his power and him to regain his own. Having lost, Garmadon, apparently believing Lloyd is ready to inherit the responsibility of defending Ninjago from the Oni, accepted defeat and wanted Lloyd to finish him off, but Lloyd was unable to bring himself to do it and had him arrested and sent to Kryptarium Prison instead. In spite of damage he caused, Lloyd was implied to forgave Garmandon, after understanding his agenda.

Season 10: March of the Oni
Garmadon requests Lloyd to visit him in his High secrurity, solitary cell built soley for him in Kryptarium prison. After the Prison Warden escorts Lloyd to the cell, Garmadon reminds Lloyd about his warning that the Oni will come and destroy Ninjago. Garmadon tries to convince his son to let him out so he can help stop the Oni, to which Lloyd immediatly refuses. As Lloyd leaves Garmadon remarks to himself the Lloyd will be back. However when Garmadon's unheeded warning is proven correct, and the Oni take over Ninjago city and cover it in a dark cloud which will turn anyone who touches it into a statue, after arriving through the Realm Crystal, Lloyd and the rest of the Ninja come to Kryptarium prison and relcutantly tell the guard to let Garmadon out of the prison.

Now aboard the newly rebuilt destiny's bounty, Garmadon shuts off the ships power although the Ninja manage to turn back on just before they hit the ground. Garmadon claims that the power button needs to be labled although it already is. Garmadon sees a picture of him and Lloyd in the sleeping quarters on the ship and although Lloyd tries to make Garmadon remember the picture, Garmadon doesent and throws the picture behind him. On deck, Garmadon explains to the Ninja that the Oni came to Ninjago through the realm crystal and that the realm crystal which has recently moved to the Basement of Borg Tower must be destroyed and that only he and Lloyd can go get it, as they the only one with Oni heritage which means that they will not be turned into the statue. The relcuctantly give Garmadon a sword and after a brief fight with the Ninja, Garmadon regains his powers and jumps off the ship followed by Lloyd. On the ground Lloyd and his father discover the frozen statues of many citizens including cyrus borg. After a struggle with two oni guarding the enterance, the two make their way into the basement of Borg Tower as Garmadon attempts to destroy the realm crystal but is stopped by an Oni who introduces his self as Omega and reveals he is the Oni leader.

The LEGO Ninjago Movie
At some point, Garmadon met Koko in a battle, and they fell in love. They eventually got married and had a child named Lloyd. However, Koko soon realized that Lloyd would grow up to be evil if he stayed with Garmadon, so she left Garmadon along with her son. Not changing to become a good father became one of Lord Garmadon's greatest regrets.

At some point after this, Garmadon gained the Shark Army and would attack Ninjago almost daily, until a Secret Ninja Force formed to repel his attacks. Eventually, his attacks were added to the daily weather forecast. On Lloyd's birthday, he attacked again in a Shark Walker, sending his Shark Army to try and take over Ninjago City. The Secret Ninja force responded and took to their mechs, fighting back against the Shark Army forces. Lloyd went after Garmadon, who kept running in his Mech all over the city, mocking the Green Ninja, telling him to shoot him if he saw him. Lloyd then saw the shark head poking out and fired, and Garmadon yelled that Lloyd hit his kidney. Lloyd then tracked Garmadon down and used his Green Ninja Mech Dragon to send rapid fire missiles at Garamdon, after the Dark Lord said that he left because his son cried all the time, had no hair or any teeth. Garmadon was then surrounded by the Ninjas' mechs, and he threw a bomb at Lloyd, which he could not catch. As Lloyd yelled at him to get out of his life, Garmadon told Lloyd he had a lot of problems and that he hoped that he would have them sorted out by the time he was back to attack again.

Garmadon then returned to his Volcanic Lair and met with his generals, telling them they had finally taken Ninjago. When General Number 1 tried to correct him, Garmadon yelled that he was being sarcastic, and asked #1 if he wanted to be a follower or a leader. When he said leader, Garmadon fired him out the volcano. Other generals dropped ideas, only to be fired as well. But then, some IT Guys gave him the blueprints for a new mech, Garma Mecha Man. They then got to work building it.

The next day, he attacked again, with a bigger army and the new Garma Mecha Man. Once again, The Ninja went to stop him, but it went differently. Garmadon grabbed the Mech Dragon and flung it into the docks, firing off tons of Sharks. He then climbed up the tower to the mayor, and planting a flag, finally taking Ninjago City after so many tries. Lloyd followed him up on his dragon, and aimed the Ultimate Weapon at the Garma Mecha Man, demanding Lord Garmadon leave Ninjago forever. Garmadon began dropping his weapons, and then started walking towards Lloyd, pressuring the Green Ninja into firing the weapon: a light that attracted Meowthra. Garmadon took the chance to grab the weapon and aim it at the other Ninjas' mechs, having the cat destroy them. He then used his Mech to kick the Green Ninja Mech Dragon off the tower, and some Shark Army members grabbed Lloyd.

Lloyd then revealed he was Garmadon's lost son before telling Garmadon that he wished that Garmadon wasn't his father before escaping. Garmadon then moved from his volcano to the tower, and the Shark Army partied there in celebration of their victory yet Garmadon was upset over Lloyd wishing he wasn't Loyd's father. He then called out to his then General Number 1 and asked her if she had captured the Ninja, Master Wu or Koko like he asked her to, which she didn't as she was busy celebrating with the other Generals, which gets her fired from the volcano.

Trivia

 * It is revealed in season 8, that Garmadon is part Oni and Dragon. His "Lord" form is due to his Oni blood.

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Lord Garmadon