| “ | Together we will unleash the Great Devourer! | „ |
| ~ Pythor to his serpentine army. |
| “ | Awaken great one, awaken the insatiable appetite of the beast that shall consume all of Ninjago! | „ |
| ~ Pythor ranting as he awakens the Great Devourer. |
The Great Devourer is the final antagonist of the first season of Lego Ninjago and a posthumuous antagonist in it's subsequent seasons. She is the being responsible for Lord Garmadon's transformation to evil, as she bit him as a child, corrupting him with her evil venom (while she herself got her powers from the Overlord). Despite being sealed, she is released by Pythor and begins attacking Ninjago until the Ninjas get her to attack her own tail, allowing Garmadon to destroy the beast with the four golden weapons.
Appearance
The Great Devourer is a massive green snake with a slight copper tinge to it. It has two large fangs that protrude from its mouth and a ring of frills around its neck. Its two more notable features are its sharp bone-like tail and its glowing purple eyes. It is also shown in flashback as once being only the size of a normal snake. It was a much lighter shade of green and its frills were larger and less pronounced. Interestingly its eyes were shown to be red opposed to the purple they turned later on.
Powers and Abilities
The Great Devourer's main two strengths were its 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. It was able to use its 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 its head that was too small and inaccessible to normally reach.
The snake also shared powers and traits with the serpentine that worshiped it. It was able burrow underground, exude venom, and was hurt by the music of the sacred flutes when amplified. Its 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 its powers revolved around eating. The Great Devourer grew every time it ate something. While it was shown to be able to eat metal and non organic objects it seemed to have a preference towards organic things. This was shown when it went to Ninjago city despite having plenty to eat at a junk yard it was at.
Personality and Purpose
The Great Devourer was appeared to be a bloodthirsty, malevolent, and dangerous being whom only think to eat anything that stumble upon its 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, it had no qualms about eating the Serpentine along with the rest of the world. This villainous trait, and the fact that its venom can both turned Garmadon into evil Dark Lord and resurrect Overlord's army shows that the Great Devourer's malevolence was due to Overlord's influence whom using it as means to make a pawn (namely Garmadon himself) for his long-term evil scheme for return to power into Golden Master.
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, and little that Serpentine known, Overlord corrupted it and used it as instrument for his return around that time where it ultimately administrated Overlord's corruption in it to Garmadon by biting him.
History
The Great Devourer had been around since the very early days of ninjago. It is unknown how it came to be but it can be speculated that the Overlord created it since the beast set in motion his return to power. When it was still small it bit Garmadon and its venom eventually corrupted him. It wandered about the land and became revered by the Serpentine as a god, though its exact relation to them is unknown. It was used to try and scare the humans underground but it was defeated and trapped under the Lost City of Ouroboros, four of its teeth were found or removed and used as keys to its 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 it 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. It then proceeded to eat Sensei Wu and Pythor who were fighting below it.
Now free it attacked the ninja's flying ship and destroyed it. It then slitered to a scrap yard in search of food. There the ninja fought it using weaponized sound waves that were the same as the sacred flutes once played. It was hurt by them but only for a short time as it destroyed their vehicle and quickly recovered. Kai was able spot its weak spot before abandoned the scrap yard and tunneled to Ninjago City where it started chasing people and possibly eating them since it was shown growing a few times. It continued to wreak havoc and battled the ultimate dragon who was able to annoy it but not kill it. The ninja ultimately beat it by tricking it into biting its own tail. It 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 its weak spot. The Devourer's eyes and mouth glew with green energy upon impact and it exploded into green goo which covered all of Ninjago city.
Despite the Devourer's death it still played a major role in the subsequent seasons that followed its defeat. At first it was only mentioned as a joke with people suggesting it be awakened or brought back only to be mocked. It gained a much more important role when its venom was revealed to be seeping underground. Its venom was able to resurrect the dormant 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. Before it 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.
Gallery
.png "The Great Devourer (Ep. 13).png (820 KB)")
Trivia
- The Great Devourer is technically the first female main antagonist to appear in a season of Ninjago, pre-dating the likes of Harumi and The Preeminent. However, The Great Devourer is not human and was only revealed to have been female when Krux uses its eggs to create The Vermillion army.
- The serpentine worshiped the Great Devourer as a god and knowingly helped bring it back yet almost immediately feared it upon release and thought Pythor mad for resurrecting it. Interestingly it seems their ancestors did not share their fear and after its defeat some of the serpentine suggested bringing it back despite knowing how dangerous it was.
- The city it was trapped under was called Ouroboros which is Greek for "snake or dragon biting its own tail".
- The Ninja immobilize the Great Devourer by tricking it into biting its own tail. This is 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 larger-scale versions of the Serpentine's tribal abilities. It has the Constrictai's burrowing abilities, the Anacondrai's ability to swallow things whole, its venom can turn people evil (similar to the Hypobrai’s hypnosis and the Fangpyre’s ability to turn others into fellow Fangpyre),and its color/ venom are like that of the Venomari.
- The Devourer's set depiction looks closer to its adolescent form and is comparatively smaller. It is also the first and only ancient Ninjago creature to appear in a set that was also in the TV series. The original Overlord and the Preeminent do not appear in any sets.
 Villains
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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 Administration Agents Wolf Clan Shark Army Snake Army Red Crows Others See Also | ||