“ | Once, when the world of Ninjago was new, all things were bright and peaceful. Farmers toiled in their fields, in harmony with all the creatures of land, sea, and air. But in all things, there must be a balance. And so darkness crept upon the land, and came upon a lone snake in the grass... | „ |
~ The Great Devourer's description in the fourth graphic novel of Ninjago, foreshadowing the tragedy of her existence. |
“ | Together, we will unleash the Great Devourer! | „ |
~ Pythor to the Serpentine. |
“ | Awaken great one, awaken the insatiable appetite of the beast that shall consume all of Ninjago! | „ |
~ Pythor as he awakens the Great Devourer. |
“ | Did you truly think you could defeat me? Your powers were a gift from me. It was I who possessed the serpent that bit your hand! It was I who corrupted the Great Devourer and set it against you! All that has happened was by my design!! The Devourer was merely a pawn... set in motion by me to provide a worthy vessel for my return! Now, at last, I have such a vessel! I am COMPLETE!! Thus does Garmadon, son of the First Spinjitzu Master, meet his end! | „ |
~ The Overlord as he reveals that he is the one who corrupted the Great Devourer. |
The Great Devourer is the overarching antagonist of Season 1: Rise of the Snakes in the animated series LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu. She is the monstrous goddess of the Serpentine who was responsible for Lord Garmadon's transformation to evil, as she bit him as a child, corrupting him with her evil venom.
Despite being sealed, she is released by Pythor and begins attacking Ninjago until Garmadon manages to destroy the beast with the four golden weapons thanks to the Ninja's help. However, the demise of the Devourer would only result in more conflicts in Ninjago, thus having a tremendous influence on the latter's future. It was later revealed during the final battle that the Devourer was nothing more than a pawn used by the Overlord as a means of wreaking havoc in Ninjago.
Appearance[]
The Great Devourer is a massive green snake with a slight copper tinge to it. She has two large fangs that protrude from her mouth and a ring of frills around her neck. her two more notable features are her sharp bone-like tail and her glowing purple eyes. She is also shown in flashback as once being only the size of a normal snake. She was a much lighter shade of green and her frills were larger and less pronounced. Interestingly her eyes were shown to be red as opposed to the purple they turned later on.
Powers and Abilities[]
The Great Devourer's main two strengths were her size and invulnerability. The Great Devourer was hundreds of feet long and around the width of a subway train. Because of this, the ninja could not effectively use the golden weapons or any other weapons since they were far too small. She was able to use her large body to beat the ninja's ultimate dragon in two hits. The Devourer was also shown to be invulnerable except for one spot on the top of her head that was too small and inaccessible to normally reach.
The snake also shared powers and traits with the serpentine that worshiped her. She was able to burrow underground, exude venom, and was hurt by the music of the sacred flutes when amplified. Her venom specifically had three powers on its own. It acted as acid, it could turn people evil, and it could animate the Overlord's stone army as well as anything that looked like them.
As the name would suggest one of her powers revolved around eating. The Great Devourer grew every time she ate something. While she was shown to be able to eat metal and non-organic objects she seemed to have a preference towards organic things. This was shown when she went to Ninjago City despite having plenty to eat at a junkyard she was at.
Personality[]
The Great Devourer was appeared to be a bloodthirsty, malevolent, and dangerous being whom only think to eat anything that stumble upon her way and indifferent with any sides. Sensei Wu even revealed that the Great Devourer was not bound to obey the one who awakened it. In fact, she had no qualms about eating the Serpentine along with the rest of the world.
As revealed in the ancient Serpentine legend that explained by Acidicus in episode, The Curse of The Golden Master, the purpose of Great Devourer's creation was intended for more peaceful and benevolent cause: Serpentine actually trying to use the giant serpent for protecting the tomb of Overlord's Stone Army by scare off intruders and tries to warn Ninjago citizens. Unfortunately, there's a misunderstanding between Serpentine and people of Ninjago that ultimately escalated into First Serpentine War.
Towards the end of the series, it's revealed that the Great Devourer most likely didn't intend any of the destruction she caused in the first place and would've likely been more than happy to just live the quiet life of a wild snake and only ate what she needed had she not been corrupted and indoctrinated at a very young age by the Overlord into being his pet.
Biography[]
The Great Devourer had been around since the very early days of Ninjago, starting off as a small viper corrupted by The Overlord. When she was still small, she bit Garmadon and her venom eventually corrupted him. She wandered about the land and became revered by the Serpentine as a god, though her exact relation to them is unknown. she was used to try and scare the humans underground but she was defeated and trapped under the Lost City of Ouroboros, four of her teeth were found or removed and used as keys to her prison, known as the Silver Fang Blades.
The Great Devourer lay dormant for centuries until Pythor the Snake King placed the four ancient silver fang blades into a statue of the beast and venom poured from the statue and melted the ground under it. The venom seemed to be that of the Devourer, and it is unknown how she was able to be pumped out of the statue. The venom brought down the statue and flowed through a design of a coiled snake that adorned the arena in front of it. This caused the ground to break apart and the Devourer shot out and roared at the sky. She then proceeded to eat Sensei Wu and Pythor who were fighting below it.
Now free, she attacked the ninja's flying ship and destroyed it. She then slithered to a scrap yard in search of food. There the ninja fought her using weaponized sound waves that were the same as the sacred flutes once played. She was hurt by them but only for a short time as she destroyed their vehicle and quickly recovered. Kai was able spot her weak spot before abandoned the scrap yard and tunneled to Ninjago City where she started chasing people and possibly eating them since she was shown growing a few times. She continued to wreak havoc and battled the ultimate dragon who was able to annoy her but not kill her. The ninja ultimately beat her by tricking her into biting her own tail. She was temporarily stuck, and the ninja gave Lord Garmadon the four golden weapons to destroy it. He jumped from a skyscraper and brought them down on her weak spot. The Devourer's eyes and mouth glow with green energy upon impact and she exploded into green goo which covered all of Ninjago city.
Despite the Devourer's death she still played a major role in the subsequent seasons that followed her defeat. At first she was only mentioned as a joke with people suggesting she be awakened or brought back only to be mocked. She gained a much more important role when her venom was revealed to be seeping underground. Her venom was able to resurrect the dormant Stone Army of the Overlord and allowed them to aid Lord Garmadon in ensuring the Overlord's return to power. The Devourer eating Pythor caused his skin to bleach and plan revenge, leading to him siding with The Overlord. Before she was imprisoned, The Devourer was revealed to have laid eggs that Krux used to build an army of Vermillion to battle the Ninja. The Devourer was also responsible for the death of Harumi's parents, which resulted in her forming the Sons of Garmadon.
During the final battle between Lloyd, Garmadon, and The Overlord, the latter revealed he was the one who possessed the serpent and bit Garmadon's hand, in order to provide a vessel worthy of him. This makes him indirectly responsible for Harumi losing her parents, and causes her to betray and attack him, since she was next to him when he revealed this.
Relationships[]
Family[]
- Vermillion - Spawn
- Machia
- Blunck
- Raggmunk
- Slackjaw
- Tannin
- Buffmillion
Allies[]
- The Overlord - Former Manipulator and Corruptor
Enemies[]
- First Spinjitzu Master
- Garmadon - Attempted Victim and Killer
- Wu - Attempted Victim
- Serpentine - Former Worshippers
- Anacondrai
- Pythor - Awakener and Attempted Victim
- Hypnobrai
- Skales
- Slithraa
- Mezmo
- Rattla
- Fangpyre
- Fangtom
- Fangdam
- Snappa
- Fang-Suei
- Venomari
- Acidicus
- Lizaru
- Spitta
- Lasha
- Constrictai
- Skalidor
- Bytar
- Chokun
- Snike
- Anacondrai
- Ninja - Attempted Victims
- Lloyd Garmadon
- Kai
- Jay Walker
- Cole
- Zane
- Nya
- Harumi - Attempted Victim
- Harumi's biological parents - Victims
- People of Ninjago
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The serpentine worshiped the Great Devourer as a goddess and knowingly helped bring her back yet almost immediately feared her upon release and thought Pythor mad for releasing her, likely because they didn't think they would get this far. Interestingly it seems their ancestors did not share their fear and after her defeat some of the serpentine suggested bringing her back despite knowing how dangerous she was.
- The Great Devourer was confirmed to be female as the snakes that the time twins used to construct the Vermillion were her babies.
- Despite this, she was originally referred to as a male in the first season, and by The Overlord when he explained he was the one who possessed her.
- The city she was trapped under was called Ouroboros which is Greek for "snake or dragon biting its own tail".
- The way the Ninja immobilize the Great Devourer by tricking her into biting her own tail is also a reference to ouroboros (often depicted as a snake eating its own tail) the concept of cyclical events and entities.
- The Great Devourer's abilities and traits appear to be beefed-up versions of the Serpentine's tribal abilities. She can burrow across vast distances like the Constrictai, can swallow large things whole like the Anacondrai, her venom can turn people evil (similar to the Hypobrai’s mind control and the Fangpyre’s ability to infect and zombify others into fellow Fangpyre or various Snake/X chimeras),and her skin color and venom greatly resemble that of the Venomari.
- The Devourer's set depiction looks closer to her adolescent form and is comparatively smaller.
External Links[]
- Great Devourer on the Ninjago Wiki
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Villains | ||
Skulkin Serpentine Destiny's Bounty Pirates Stone Army Nindroid Army Anacondrai Cultists Ghost Warriors Yang's Students Sky Pirates Shadow Army Departed Villains Sons of Garmadon Dragon Hunters Oni Blizzard Samurai Unagami's Army Re-Awakened Kryptarium Inmates Merlopians Crystal Army Imperians The Administration Wolf Clan Shark Army Snake Army Red Crows Others See Also |