Chen

Master Chen was the leader of a secret cult of followers who worshiped the Anacondrai and the former owner of Mr. Chen's Noodle House. A master of deception, Chen was responsible for the Serpentine War, causing him to be exiled to a secluded island when the Serpentine he aligned with lost. Over the years, Chen built up his criminal empire while also operating in Ninjago City with his noodle house as a front. He also had a daughter, Skylor, who inherited the element of Amber from her mother.
Shortly after Zane's presumed death, Chen had him kidnapped and organized the Tournament of Elements as a cover to steal the powers of the Elemental Masters, so he could perform a spell that would turn his followers into Anacondrai. This plan eventually succeeded, turning him into "Chen-acondrai,"Dark Island Trilogy, Part 2 Episode Guide but their mission to destroy Ninjago was thwarted when Chen's former pupil, Garmadon, unleashed the Anacondrai generals from the Cursed Realm. The generals cursed Chen and his cultists, before banishing them to the Cursed Realm. Months later, the Preeminent was unleashed into Stiix. When Nya drowned the beast, the Cursed Realm was destroyed, killing Master Chen and all of its inhabitants.https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/783559505921642496
A statue of Chen was later placed in the Ninjago Museum of History. When Cole accidentally opened the Departed Realm, Chen's spirit escaped and possessed the statue in the museum. Chen set off to exact vengeance, in his case allying with Eyezor and Zugu and going after Kai and Nya. After a lengthy chase using the Chenosaurus, Chen fired a missile at Nya, who repelled it with her element and sent it back towards Chen, destroying his statue and sending his spirit back to the Departed Realm.
==Background==
===Early life===
When he was young, Chen was upset when he was told by those around him that he would amount to nothing, compared to the Elemental Masters, who were naturally born with unique abilities."The Forgotten Element" Promising to prove them wrong, Chen grew up to be a vain martial arts instructor.
===Garmadon and Clouse's training===
Chen was originally Clouse and Garmadon's master and encouraged them to win at any cost. When a duel broke out one day between his students, he decided to intensify it by declaring that the winner would become his right-hand man and be granted lordship. Garmadon cheated and used Spinjitzu to win, which Chen had forbidden, though the master dismissed it, and even praised Garmadon for his deception while granting him the title of Lord. Later, Chen presented Garmadon with a letter he had intercepted. It was a love letter which was written by Wu and addressed to Misako. Chen convinced Garmadon to sign his own name, further stimulating the young lord's dark impulses."Spellbound"
===Serpentine War===
Meanwhile, tensions were growing between man and Serpentine, and Chen, who was bored with peace, decided to use the unrest to his advantage. Even when an uneasy Garmadon tries to point out of a possible truce that can end hostilities for good, Chen refuses to oblige by claiming that no one can ever trust a snake. Deciding to take advantage of the tensions, Chen secretly convinced each side that the other was going to attack without raising suspicions on himself, thus prompting an all-out war. Chen decided to ally himself with the Serpentine and asked Garmadon to aid him. However, Garmadon had second thoughts and instead left to help his brother, much to Chen's irritation.
Chen, however, managed to convince the Elemental Master of Earth to turn against the Elemental Alliance (using a Hypnobrai's hypnotism abilities in at least one case),https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/1339625001239130112 which caused them to lose a battle against the Anacondrai. Nevertheless, the Elemental Alliance managed to win the war by subduing the snakes with the Sacred Flutes. While Arcturus and the Anacondrai generals were banished to the Cursed Realm, Chen and Clouse were exiled to a secluded island for their treason.
To still achieve some form of victory in his downfall, Chen had Clouse use dark magic to manipulate Krux and Acronix, the Elemental Masters of Time, into betraying the Elemental Alliance, and Chen informed the twins of the location of the Great Devourer's eggs.Way of the Departed Chapter 9
===Banishment===
On the island, Chen began to build his criminal empire. He gathered an army of followers and began producing noodle goods in a large factory on his island and sending them to the mainland, where he opened a chain of noodle houses. At some point, he met the Elemental Master of Amber, and together, they gave birth to a daughter named Skylor who inherited her mother's power. Sometime later, Chen heard word that Ray and Maya, the Elemental Masters of Fire and Water, had betrayed Wu and the rest of the Elemental Alliance to work for Acronix and Krux."Day of the Departed"
Some time after Lloyd unleashed Pythor from the Anacondrai Tomb, Chen raided the abandoned resting place of the tribe in order to loot their remains, shamelessly desecrating them by carving their skeletons into new Jadeblades for his Tournament of Elements and into an elaborate hat for himself.Virtual Tour
Later on, while Lloyd attempted to wash Zane's pink gi, Chen succeeded in sending an agent to switch out the robe with an identical one,https://web.archive.org/web/20151128220742/http://www.lego.com/en-us/ninjago/explore/story-4/chapter2 adding it to his Hall of Fame. Keeping a close eye on the ninja's adventures, Chen continued looting from their exploits, salvaging one of the Great Devourer's discarded scales and likewise engaging in conflict with Captain Soto in order to steal the resurrected pirate's peg leg. With a possibility for a chance for revenge against Garmadon for deserting him, Chen started to develop a plan to turn him and his followers into Anacondrai, thus enabling them to take over Ninjago. However, the transformation spell required all of the elements, so he came up with the idea of the Tournament of Elements to lure the current elemental masters to his island.
===Tournament of Elements===
====The Invitation====
Shortly after the second defeat of The Overlord, the newly rebuilt Zane was sold to Chen by Ronin,https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/868074042842116096 which allowed Chen to begin enacting his Tournament plan now that he had sufficient "bait" to lure the four other ninja to his island.https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/1290752875992428546 Chen used the Staff of Elements to take Zane's power of Ice and allowed Skylor to absorb his ability as well.
On the morning the Tournament began, Clouse, who had taken the ferry to New Ninjago City to retrieve the contestants, contacted Chen and informed him that Garmadon had also accompanied them. Chen, however, remained confident that he would succeed, encouraged by the Elemental Master whom he had already captured.
====Only One Can Remain====
When the Masters arrived on the island, Chen welcomed them into his palace and took note of Garmadon's presence. He then explained the rules of the tournament. He then ordered his kabuki servants to show them to their rooms. Later that day, Chen announced the start of the first round of the tournament. At the end of the round, when Karlof had lost, Chen dropped him down a trapdoor and encouraged the remaining fighters not to break any rules.
That night, Chen led a ceremony in the Anacondrai temple, where he brings in a captive Karlof and states "Only one can remain." He uses his staff to take Karlof's element, while doing so it is revealed he already did so to Zane as he used Ice to keep him in place. After gaining the element of Metal, he mockingly told the prisoner he'd let him go as the latter looked hopeful until Chen revealed that he meant that he was sending the defeated master to work in the factory for the rest of his life, much to Karlof's horror.
When impostors are discovered, Chen has his followers capture them, but they escape and even elude Anacondrai Serpent.
====Versus====
During breakfast the next morning, Chen announced the second part of the tournament, as well as the six Masters, who would be fighting. Chen observed all three matches and was quite entertained with Kai's match, so he prevented Clouse from interfering. He showed a penchant for using trapdoors when he eliminated the losers. Then, to weaken the ninja, Chen changed the brackets so that Cole and Jay would have to fight next. However, when the ninja refused to fight each other, Chen was annoyed that it hadn't worked like he'd planned and used his many buttons to make the round more interesting. Cole finally lost, and Chen eliminated him from the tournament. It can be implied that Chen was able to nab away Cole's powers for himself while sentencing Cole to work in the factory alongside the other defeated masters.
====Ninja Roll====
The next day, Chen watched the fight between Jacob and Skylor. After eliminating Jacob, he announced that Cole and Jay's disobedience the previous day will cost all the Masters their rooms, prompting everyone to sleep in the same room.
During the night, Chen's servants rounded everyone to the rollerskates track, where Chen announced a game of Thunderblade between Chamille and Lloyd. Despite Chen's efforts to eliminate Lloyd—including giving Chamille an Anacondrai buggy and ordering the scores to be changed—Lloyd still won, forcing him to drop Chamille through the trap door.
====Spy for a Spy====
During the feast to celebrate the start of the third round, Chen presented the Staff of Elements to the Elemental Masters, claiming that the winner of the tournament will receive it. This action led to the dissolvement of the alliance between the Masters. Later in the day, Clouse informed Chen that someone had stolen the spell from the book, and he ordered the guards to find the spy. Chen eventually learned that Nya is the spy as she had been posing as a kabuki servant while holding the stolen page, so he sends Clouse and several of their men to go after her.
thumb|Chen meets with his daughter
At night, Skylor later informed him that Cole and Zane had escaped. Chen congratulated his daughter for her infiltration of the fighters and told her that soon they wouldn't have to put up the tournament charade too long before they shared a laugh.
====Spellbound====
As Nya was still loose on the island, Chen decided to use the situation to his advantage. He took control of the D.B. Express and used it as his base of operation for the next round of the tournament. When the blimp the competitors were placed in reached an altitude high above the island, Chen explained the next round; find Nya and the winner would be moved on to the final round. He then released parachutes for them before realizing that Garmadon had come along and was without a parachute. Chen shrugged the issue away and opened the floor of the blimp, sending the contestants plummeting towards the island, while Lloyd was able to share his parachute with Garmadon.
After all the contestants had safely arrived on the island, Chen announced through the loudspeakers that he had left tools throughout the island to help the fighters in their hunt. He was then approached by Clouse, who questioned how he thought the fighters would be able to find Nya when his men could not. Chen explained that the purpose of this round was in fact not to hunt Nya, but the other remaining masters as the gifts he had given them have tracking devices that will allow him to anticipate their every move on radar. Realizing what Chen is exactly planning, Clouse is impressed by this and follows up through the plan.
Clouse soon returned with two of the fighters, presenting the Mr. Pale before Chen, though the master quickly ordered him to be taken away as he was considered too boring. Clouse then informed him that Skylor was with Kai though they didn't know where Lloyd and Garmadon had gone. Angered by this, Chen sent him out to find them and round everyone else up while he was at it.
Chen meanwhile used the power of smoke to appear before Kai and Skylor just as the latter revealed she was his daughter. He then informed the Master of Fire that his time in the tournament was over and though Kai tried to flee, Chen used the power of nature to entrap him in vines. Chen returned to the D.B. Express where he threw Kai in the prison with the other remaining fighters.
====The Forgotten Element====
Chen has the captured Elemental Masters brought before him when Jay mentions Lloyd will come to save them very soon. Chen decides to wait for him but gets bored and drains the remaining masters of their powers and has them sent to the Noodle Factory. He speaks with Skylor, who wishes to have Kai, free and notices she likes him he allows the Red Ninja freedom.
Afterward, he shows Kai some of his possessions when Kai mentioned that he could take Chen down if he didn't have the staff. Chen noted that Skylor was right about his possessing a fiery attitude without his element and reveals his plan of turning his cultists into Anacondrai after defeating Lloyd and taking over Ninjago. He noted that Kai had previously wanted to be the Green Ninja and offers him the chance but is denied and instead, offers him information about his parents that Wu hid from him. When a shocked Kai questions this, Chen tells him to think about his offer while he prepares to fight Lloyd.
Very soon, Kai apparently considered Chen's offer and helped him in luring Lloyd to him. Chen overwhelms Lloyd with the various elements and defeats the struggling Green Ninja while stating "only one can remain."
 
He then visits the captured Nya and Garmadon with Clouse, Skylor, and Kai revealing his victory over Lloyd and taunting them overturning Kai to his side. He states he will take Lloyd's power while telling Garmadon that he can't witness it as he is still a little hurt at his desertion. Chen and Clouse then laugh when Garmadon threatens Skylor, stating they know he can't do it as he is now a good guy, forcing Garmadon to release Skylor. Chen happily leaves as Clouse states that his pet serpent will feast on both Nya and Garmadon.
Having succeeded in capturing all of the Elemental Masters and reclaiming the spell page, Chen soon has Clouse to tell the henchmen he wants noodles after the ceremony. He makes it to the temple where he successfully steals Lloyd's element, and Clouse happily prepares the spell to transform himself, Chen and the others into Anacondrai. However, Kai reveals that he lied about accepting Chen's offer and has turned Skylor against him, which angers him.
When Kai takes control of the Staff of Elements, the power begins to corrupt him, and Chen sadistically tells him to embrace the power, hoping that it will be enough to take down Lloyd. However, the Elemental Masters, flying a Roto Jet, break-in. Chen notices that Kai dropped his staff and runs to retrieve it, but the Red Ninja grabs it and destroys the crystal, returning all the stolen elements back to their masters, allowing them to defeat the Anacondrai Cultists.
During the chaos, Chen, Clouse, Kapau, Chope, Eyezor and Zugu then take Skylor hostage before retreating, with Chen complaining about his plans being ruined.
====The Day of the Dragon====
While the Blade-Copter was being repaired, Clouse and Chen returned to the serpent's feeding room only to find the beast dead. Clouse quickly realized that they can still perform the ritual, thanks to the powers copied by Skylor. Chen hurried to the cave where his daughter was imprisoned and ordered her release. Skylor, however, quickly realized her father's intentions and fled. Chen ordered his remaining forces to catch her, and he gave himself chase in the Blade-Copter.
Chen eventually caught up to his daughter, but soon lost the trail, and Clouse ends up bring banished to the Cursed Realm by Garmadon. When Skylor and Kai were caught, Chen had them taken to the Crystal Caves by Chope and Kapau, who were able to finish the ritual and turn themselves and the rest of the cultists into Anacondrai. After a brief confrontation with Kai and Skylor, Chen returned before his palace and stole the Roto Jet to fly to Ninjago, taunting the defeated Garmadon and the Elemental Masters for their failure to stop him.
====The Greatest Fear of All====
Shortly after arriving in Ninjago, the transformation spell slowly ceased working. Chop'rai and Kapau'rai quickly learn that in order for the spell to be permanent, they must obtain the essence of a real Anacondrai. Chen sent his army out to find if there were any Anacondrai remaining and they soon returned with Pythor. Placing him in a hamster wheel with a swamp rat, the little snake quickly released enough sweat to turn the army into Anacondrai, thus making the spell permanent.
With that problem out of the way, Chen moved on to striking fear among the Elemental Masters and split them apart by sending empty noodle trucks to different regions of Ninjago. Meanwhile, Chen and his army attacked the Jamanakai Village and with the ninja out of the way, took it over with ease.
====The Corridor of Elders====
Having succeeded in deceiving the Elemental Masters in separating themselves, Chen soon took over more villages laughing at how the people are defenseless without the ninja or the Elemental Masters protecting them from danger.
Later on, he took over the airwaves and contacted those aboard the Destiny's Bounty. He offered a truce, but instead ended up revealing to Misako and Wu the truth about Garmadon's letter and thus turning them against one another. He laughed that he caused Garmadon much grief as revenge for leaving his services decades ago.
Before long, Chen had taken over the entire east coast and began moving inland. The next day, his forces passed through Echo Canyons and arrived at the Corridor of Elders, where he was attacked by the inhabitants of Ninjago. Chen himself was attacked by Skylor, but despite the Ninjago citizens' best efforts (along with the help from the other Serpentine), Chen's army is still too powerful for them to stop. However, an escaping Pythor soon learns that the only way to defeat Chen and his army is to release the spirits of Arcturus and the Anacondrai generals from the Cursed Realm, but only if Garmadon is to sacrifice himself in order to do so since he was the one who banished them in the first place. Deciding to make amends for his previous actions, Garmadon agrees and sacrifices himself (with the help from Lloyd), In the Cursed Realm, Garmadon releases the spirits of Arcturus and the Anacondrai generals while telling them the truth about what Chen did to both sides. With the truth exposed, the Anacondrai generals cursed Chen's army by having them transported to the Cursed Realm. Witnessing this, Chen tried to plead to Arcturus that they were on the same side, but Arcturus furiously calls Chen out for his deceitful and backstabbing nature and curses him as well. Screaming in defeat, Chen and his army are sent to the Cursed Realm as punishment for their crimes against Ninjago.
===Possession===
====Curseworld, Part II====
Sometime after his imprisonment in the Cursed Realm, Chen eventually transformed from his Anacondrai form back to his normal self. He was then imprisoned in a cell, where he was to remain for the rest of eternity.
When Lloyd was dragged into to the Cursed Realm, he ran past several aisles of cells. One of the cells he ran by was Chen's, who was startled by the Green Ninja running by. He alerted this sight to Clouse, who was in the cell in the left of him, though his loyal right hand assured him that he was seeing things again as he was secretly cutting his cell to escape.
The Preeminent ventured into the Endless Sea to target the villagers of Stiix, only to be toppled by a colossal tidal wave unleashed by Nya, resulting in the creature's demise. As the Preeminent embodied the Cursed Realm, its destruction led to the demise of all its inhabitants, including Chen, who was sent to the Departed Realm.
===Day of the Departed===
On the Day of the Departed, Wu and the ninja went to the museum, where Dr. Saunders introduced them to the Hall of Villainy. While viewing the statues of the villains, Nya looked at Chen's statue, remarking that it brings back not so fond memories.
After Cole accidentally opened the Departed Realm using the Yin Blade, the spirits of the ninja's old adversaries were released, traveling from Yang's Temple to the Ninjago Museum of History. There, the spirits of the villains possessed the statues in the Hall of Villainy, with Chen being revived along with Samukai, Kozu, Cryptor, and Morro.
As the villains met each other, Chen wondered how they returned before playing with his new chair. In doing so, he partially activated its Chenosaurus function, causing two robotic legs to eject from the bottom. Chen's mech stumbled around the museum before he joined the other villains, who were looking at a painting of Master Yang for answers.
Using the painting as a way to communicate, Yang explained how he brought the villains back from the Departed Realm, but that they would only remain in Ninjago for the duration of the lunar eclipse unless they kill one of the ninja who killed them, and take their place among the living. As the villains cheer over this prospect, Pythor arrived to join them, before he sees Chen and they greet each other in quiet disdain. The group tries choosing who they'll go after, with Chen choosing Kai and Nya, although Pythor is aggravated that he chooses two targets. Yang orders the villains to work it out amongst themselves. Chen is the first to pick, claiming Kai and Nya, the latter of whom he has a score to settle with. Pythor proposes that they gather reinforcements from the Hall of Sidekicks. While there, Chen allies with his revived generals, Eyezor and Zugu. As they set off to find Kai and Nya, the other villains go and confront their enemies.
Chen arrives at Four Weapons Blacksmith, where Kai and Nya are commemorating their parents while wondering if they'll find out what happened to them. Chen makes his presence known and offers to tell them, but states they have bigger problems to face. As Eyezor and Zugu roll up on Condrai Crushers, Chen struggles to activate the Chenosaurus' bazooka function. When he does, Kai and Nya flee on their Raider Bikes, and a chase breaks out. After Eyezor and Zugu are vanquished, Chen continued the fight, eventually shooting a missile at Kai and Nya.
Using her element, Nya turns the missile around and it strikes Chen, destroying his statue and sending his spirit back to the Departed Realm, killing the manipulator once again.
==Legacy==
Shortly after his banishment to the Cursed Realm, Skylor took over Chen's noodle industry since he was gone, and she also ran Chen's Noodle House in Ninjago City while assuring that she won't run any more criminal operations underneath her business."The Corridor of Elders""Curseworld, Part I" In addition, both an animatronic and painting of Chen were included in the Ninjago Museum of History,"Winds of Change""Infamous" and Dr. Saunders later had a statue of Chen placed in the museum's Hall of Villainy exhibit.
After he was once again defeated on the Day of the Departed, another statue of Chen was brought into the museum by Lloyd. Since the original statue was destroyed by Nya, it's assumed Lloyd was carrying a new statue to supplant it.The Hands of Time
After the reconstruction of the Monastery of Spinjitzu, murals were painted to depict the major historical events the ninja were part of. One for the murals shows Chen in his Anacondrai form."Tales from the Monastery of Spinjitzu"
==In Shadow of Ronin (non-canon)==
Chen is a playable character in LEGO Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin. He can be purchased for 500,000 studs after collecting his character token in Level 27: Chen's Palace. He is armed with the Staff of Elements which allows him to shoot elemental blasts, but he possesses no special abilities.
==In LEGO Dimensions (non-canon)==
Chen serves as a boss in the Ninjago level, "Elements of Surprise." In the level, he watches Eyezor defeat Jacob and motions for the thug to finish off the Master of Sound. Before Eyezor can do this, however, Wyldstyle, Gandalf, and Batman drop out of a vortex and crush him. Chen inquires to Clouse if he arranged these surprise competitors. Not waiting for an answer, Chen starts another round of the Tournament, and orders Griffin Turner to combat the heroes. Batman, Gandalf, and Wyldstyle defeat Turner, Gravis, and Karlof in rapid succession. Irritated, Chen accuses them of cheating and attempts to drop them through a trapdoor with comical results. A portal opens on the arena wall, and Lex Luthor arrives in a large armored suit. Demanding Chen give the Staff of Elements to him, Luthor is set upon by the Anacondrai Cultists, and retreats. Batman, Gandalf, and Wyldstyle purposefully leap into one of Chen's still open trapdoors, landing in the Tunnel Maze. As they battle their way through the maze, they come into conflict with Saruman the White, who merges the Elemental Keystone with Clouse's Anacondrai Serpent, giving it elemental powers.
They defeat Saruman and move on to stop Lex Luthor from gaining Chen's staff and confronts him and Chen in the Anacondrai Temple where they defeat Lex (who is pulled back to Foundation Prime by Lord Vortech) and the staff merges with the keystone. Chen grabs his staff and prepares to punish them for cheating by using the elements of Ice, Lightning, Earth, and Fire but, is defeated and sucked to Foundation Prime where he is later recruited by Lord Vortech as he's seen with other villains in other levels.
==Appearance==
Chen wore an Anacondrai skull atop his head, which itself sported a large purple snake around its own head, with skeletal rims attached to it. He had a mustache-goatee, thick eyebrows, and thick sideburns and hair, all of which were black in color, though in his younger years his hair seemed to be red. He sported dark red robes with golden and black markings, along with purple rims along the midlines.
==Personality==
Before his banishment from Ninjago, Chen was an master of deceit and trickery who was able to manipulate both Garmadon to crave power, and the Elemental Master of Earth (in addition to others unmentioned) to fight against the Elemental Alliance. This manipulation served him in keeping a balanced rift between the Elemental Alliance and the Serpentine in the Serpentine War. At this time, he also proved to be a master strategist, twisting moves on both sides in such a way to keep his involvement in the dark—an aspect that grew stronger in the years to come, with the newer generation of Elemental Masters.
After his banishment, however, Chen became more childish, spoiled, and impatient (all of which he expressed while supervising the Tournament of Elements), but still devious and greedy. He also had a quirk, which is his love for buttons and trap doors (which is a combination of his need for power and childish nature). During the Second Serpentine War, Chen started to complain about how difficult and time consuming it was to take over Ninjago.
However, it would appear that Chen did love his daughter, and gave her special treatment (he provided her with a tournament suit similar to those of the ninja, and he allowed her to keep Kai around after he had drained him of his power). After she betrayed him, though, he no longer cared for her safety, and his greed took over.
He was also shown to be culturally insensitive, as he used the symbolism of the Anacondrai, even after betraying both humans and serpentine by igniting the war that drove both sides to near extinction. He even violated their remains by using them as decorations and clothing, while espousing their ideology of "only one can remain," adding insult to injury. He was also shameless in this, as he begged the spirits of the Anacondrai generals to spare him even though he was the one who instigated both wars, which caused them to be banished to the cursed realm and then used elemental power to transform himself into a pseudo-Anacondrai while claiming to be on the same side.
Chen was also shown to be temperamental, sadistic, and possibly psychotic. This was shown in his previously mentioned duplicity, hot temper, and tendency to believe his own lies. He also showed great enjoyment and schadenfreude when he revealed to Wu and Misako that Garmadon had signed the love letter that Wu had written for Misako that caused her to fall for Garmadon in their youth. Chen's perverse glee was quite evident in this action, and only further showcased his psychosis.
Chen was also shown to be quite cowardly and was seemingly incapable of owning up to his own mistakes and misdeeds, claiming that his use of magic to become an Anacondrai meant that he was on their side in a futile attempt to be spared by the unleashed spirits of Arcturus and his comrades.
==Relationships==
===Family===
*Skylor Chen (daughter)
*Unnamed (wife)
===Allies===
*Mogra (formerly)
*Anacondrai Cultists
*Yang (formerly)
*Cryptor
*Kozu
*Samukai
*Morro (formerly)
*Pythor (briefly)
*The Mechanic 
*Ronin (non-canon; formerly)
===Enemies===
*Lloyd's family
**Garmadon (former ally)
*Elemental Alliance
*Elemental Masters
*Kryptarium inmates
*Serpentine (former allies)
==LEGO.com descriptions==
===The Tournament of Elements (2017 Museum gallery)===
Before the Tournament of Elements, Chen was commonly known as the “nice man” behind Master Chen’s Noodle House. But this identity concealed his underground criminal organization, as well as his murky history as Master Chen, teacher of Clouse and Garmadon. Master Chen loves theatrics and playing people against each other, dividing the closest of friends. Long ago, he provoked the Serpentine Wars, then turned against his own kind and sided with the snakes. He used deception to divide the Elemental Masters, and when the Serpentine were finally defeated he was exiled to a distant island for his treachery. From this remote fortress, Chen built a criminal empire and an army of warriors that shared his obsession with the most powerful of all the snake tribes, the Anacondrai. Using his daughter’s abilities, he planned to steal the power he craved from the descendants of the Elemental Masters. Not only was he seeking revenge, but he aimed to use this power to transform his army into Anacondrai Warriors and bring a reign of terror to the NINJAGO world. In the end, he was undone by his own twisted teaching. Long ago, Master Chen taught his pupil Garmadon to win at all costs, no matter who got hurt. As the ninja finally confronted Chen and his Anacondrai worshippers, Garmadon remembered this lesson...he sacrificed himself, dragging Chen and his army to the Cursed Realm and leaving behind a grieving Lloyd.https://web.archive.org/web/20160928014352/http://www.lego.com/en-us/ninjago/characters/master-chen-season-4-7834f27961744a0e9339f20868c8f57c
===Day of the Departed===
Chen’s past is littered with terrible secrets. Responsible for the Serpentine Wars, he set both Garmadon and Clouse on a path to evil and interfered with the lives of Wu & Misako. He desecrated the Anacondrai tombs to make his hat from their bones, angering the real snakes when they returned. Somewhere along the way he learned to create delicious noodles. This suggests the recipe might be Serpentine in origin, or that he was a foodie with a lot of time on his hands.
==Appearances==
==Etymology==
The word "chen" means in Chinese "to describe" or "ancient."
==Behind the scenes==
*Chen being the source of the Time Twins' betrayal was a scrapped idea for The Hands of Time.https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/972330304269676544 The idea was that Chen planned to have himself freed from the island by the Time Twins after they seized power.https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/894165004882239488
*Chen was inspired by the character Lo Pan from Big Trouble Little China.https://twitter.com/brothershageman/status/955268991882182656
*Chen was voiced by Ian James Corlett, who also voiced Skales, the leader of the Serpentine.
*Chen, along with Pythor, is Tommy Andreasen's favorite villain because he's funny.https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/947501994499035136
*The Character Encyclopedia Updated and Expanded states that Chen, back when he was training Garmadon and Clouse, "wanted to defeat Master Wu and for evil to rule all." In "Spellbound," however, his younger self is depicted as someone who causes conflict for fun but does not have a specific vendetta against Wu or a plan for evil to rule all.
*Despite having gloves in sets, Chen doesn't wear them in "Day of the Departed."
==Trivia==
*In the four sets he appeared in, Chen wields a fang claw, which he has not utilized in the show. It is unknown as to why these sets feature him using this weapon.
*He and Cole's grandfather had the same symbol on the belts of their torsos. This could be a reference to how Chen used Hypnobrai hypnotism to turn the Master of Earth to his side.
*Chen, Garmadon, Clouse (in the LEGO Ninjago: Tournament app), and Skylor are the only fake Anacondrai who keep their normal heads instead of gaining snake heads like the other Anacondrai Cultists. This is likely because they lack tattoos on their heads.
*The history museum has a portrait of Chen hanging in one of their rooms, as seen in "Winds of Change" and "Infamous."
*Chen is a boss in LEGO Ninjago: Tournament. He can also be bought for 3000000 studs.
*Although he claimed to have a score to settle with Nya upon his revival in "Day of the Departed," he also chose her sibling Kai as a rival. His unspoken reason may have been due to a personal vendetta regarding his daughter Skylor harboring strong affections for the Fire Ninja, which led to her turning against her father.
*Chen dislikes Kai and Nya the most out of the ninja.
**Taking this into account, his personal mission to get Lloyd out of the Tournament as fast as possible was most likely out of acknowledgment of his power, not necessarily a personal hatred.
***Ironically, Chen is responsible for Lloyd's existence, as he manipulated Garmadon into signing Wu's letter, which made Misako fall in love with Garmadon and eventually led the two to have a child.
*Despite having been his master, Chen is actually far younger than his former pupil, Garmadon, who is chronologically thousands of years older.
*Chen appears as a boss in The LEGO Ninjago Movie Videogame in the training dojo "The Deadly Arena" and can be unlocked as a playable character by achieving gold medal status in the said dojo, which requires the player to accumulate at least 220,000 studs.
*Chen appears in "Infamous" as a cameo in a painting and is mentioned by Jay. He is later mentioned again in "Questing for Quests" when the ninja were talking about which villain they should face, but they realize that he has been already sent to the Departed Realm.
*His hair color seen in his younger years in "Spellbound" is red, like that of his daughter, Skylor.
**Chen's hair is shown to be black in his present-day appearance in the painting from the Ninjago Museum of History seen in "Winds of Change" and "Infamous." It is unknown if his hair color changed with age or if this was simply one artist's interpretation of his appearance.
*He is the second main villain to have a child who is a heroic character. The first was Garmadon with Lloyd and the third was Vangelis with Vania.
*He is one of the ten characters to have a cape in the sets, the others being Lloyd, Morro, the Time Twins, Harumi, Wu, the Blizzard Sword Masters, Akita, and Mammatus.
*Chen did not have the ability to turn invisible as an Anacondrai.https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/800280074658467841
*Chen is one of the seven main antagonists in the TV series not currently known to be alive, the other six being Morro, The Preeminent, the Time Twins, The Omega, and Kalmaar.
*In "Day of the Departed," Cryptor describes Chen as skinny.
*He is similar to Gus Fring from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, as they are both deceased restaurant entrepreneurs who secretly ran an illegal organization but were defeated and indirectly killed by the main characters of their shows with the help of previous antagonists. Both were also defeated in the fourth season of their respective shows.
==Videos==
Villains – LEGO NINJAGO – compilation
The Story of Master Chen - LEGO Ninjago - Villain Throwback Mini Movie
==Gallery==
==Translations==
==References==
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