True Potential

:Not to be confused with the episode.
True Potential, also known as Full Potential, is the highest level of classic use of Elemental Powers accessible to Elemental Masters, tapped into through overcoming the emotional obstacles that are holding them back. When in use, the master's bodies glow, they are surrounded by the colors of their elements, and they can freely control and manipulate their elemental powers.
==True Potential users==
===Zane's True Potential===
Zane unlocks his True Potential in "Tick Tock," giving him the ability to levitate and harness his Ice powers as beams or explosions. Zane was able to unlock his True Potential upon discovering his past, learning that he was a Nindroid who nonetheless had a loving father and even if he was a Nindroid, he was still human, and then confronting the Treehorn queen in defense of his friends.
===Jay's True Potential===
Jay unlocks his True Potential in "Once Bitten, Twice Shy," enabling him to fly, teleport short distances, travel through electrical currents, and gain exceptional strength. Jay was able to unlock his True Potential by discovering Nya's feelings for him, and realizing that he simply needs to be himself.
===Cole's True Potential===
Cole unlocks his True Potential in "The Royal Blacksmiths," giving him increased strength, near indestructibility, and levitation. Cole was able to unlock his True Potential because his father respected him for who he was, not what he wanted him to be, strengthening their relationship.
===Kai's True Potential===
Kai unlocks his True Potential in "The Green Ninja." In this state, he is enveloped in a sphere of fire, granting him flight, and the ability to endure extreme heat. He is also able to protect others within this sphere. Kai was able to unlock his True Potential by realizing it was not his destiny to become the Green Ninja, but Lloyd's.
===Nya's True Potential===
Nya unlocks her True Potential in "Curseworld, Part II." In this state, she was enveloped in a vortex of water and was able to summon an enormous wave to drown the Preeminent. Nya unlocked her True Potential by accepting her past failures and realizing that the possibility of failure should not stop her from continuing to try.
===Garmadon's True Potential===
Garmadon began to unlock his True Potential in the episode of the same name. After freeing Harumi and the rest of the Sons of Garmadon, Garmadon was told to unlock his True Potential by defeating Lloyd without holding back. By defeating Lloyd following their battle at Kryptarium Prison, Garmadon gains access to his true destructive powers and his dormant element of Creation, due to him being a descendant of dragons. Later, Garmadon was also able to create a large Colossus being with both his Destruction and Creation powers.
However, in "Two Lies, One Truth," Harumi confirms to Garmadon his potential is not yet complete. To truly unlock it, rather than defeat him, he must end Lloyd's life. Garmadon came even closer to unlocking his full power when he fought Lloyd and Wu in the ninth season finale, "Green Destiny." Lloyd managed to prevent Garmadon from achieving this goal by refusing to engage in combat with him, causing him to weaken to the point of losing his power altogether. However, after sparring with the ninja in "Into the Breach," Garmadon regained his powers and can use Creation when he activates his True Potential. In Crystalized, Garmadon would further develop his true potential to it's fullest extent, the ability to access his Oni Form, which enhances his dominant element of Destruction and transforming him into an Oni. Under Oni Form, Garmadon can still uitlize his recessive element of Creation if he chooses due to his dragon blood, has immunity to Vengestone and its effects, and can alter the appearance of both his human and oni forms by sprouting wings and horns along with generating or removing his additional set of arms at will. 
===Sora's True Potential===
thumb|right|Sora's True Potential
Sora unlocks her True Potential in "The Power Within." In this state, her hands and eyes glow and release a giant burst of power. Sora unlocked her True Potential by realizing that she can do things her own way, such as choosing the ninja as her true family.
==Similar phenomena==
===Dragon metamorphosis===
Wu asserts that every dragon goes through a distinctive metamorphosis upon reaching maturity, albeit the majority of them must visit the Spirit Coves to complete the process. In "Day of the Great Devourer," when the ninja's dragons were revealed to have molted and merged into one entity during their time at the Spirit Coves, Zane likened the process to the ninja unlocking their True Potential. YinYang Dragons possess the ability to undergo a transformation into either a Light or Shadow Dragon as they mature, a phenomenon intricately linked to how they're raised.
===Temple of Light ritual===
In "Island of Darkness," after losing their Golden Weapons and discovering the Island of Darkness, the ninja learned of a prophecy in Misako's scrolls that told of a ritual that would unlock their "true elemental powers." Upon enacting this ritual at the Temple of Light, the ninja received their Elemental Blades and stronger powers, similar to when they unlocked their True Potentials.
===Lloyd as the Golden Ninja===
Lloyd gained the power of the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master when the ninja sent him their elemental powers and what remained of their True Potentialshttps://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/1571234607856599040 within the Temple of Light in "Island of Darkness". In "Rise of the Spinjitzu Master," he unleashed his full power, becoming the Golden Ninja. He had all of the abilities of the First Spinjitzu Master, including massive control over the four main elements, levitation, the ability to summon the Golden Dragon, and manifest Golden Power into a protective sphere and powerful blasts of energy. These powers allowed him to defeat the Overlord and purge Ninjago of evil. Lloyd stayed in this state constantly, until the Overlord later drained him of his Golden Power. 
It is similar to the other Ninjas' True Potentials, but there is no clear answer if it is Lloyd's actual True Potential, as it is separate from Lloyd's main power, Energy, and it was technically given to Lloyd instead of him achieving it himself.https://web.archive.org/web/20200711221035/https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/1282073033390391296 In 2017, Tommy Andreasen said it was "kind of" his potential,https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/826117325183209472 and in 2020, replied indicating that it may have not been unlocked in the Temple of Light because the ninja gave their potentials to him.https://web.archive.org/web/20200711221035/https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/1282073033390391296
==Trivia==
*True Potential is represented in the sets as the ninja variant.
**NRG is also the name of a Ben 10 Alien.
*According to Garmadon in "The Invitation," the other Elemental Masters (such as Skylor, Griffin, Neuro, etc.) have also unlocked their True Potential on their own, but the exact Elemental Masters were not specified.
**The comic in Ninja Legend!, a Ninjago Magazine, states that Lilly unlocked her True Potential.
*Of the four original ninja, Zane, Jay, and Cole all have blue glowing eyes when they unlock or use their True Potentials. Kai is the only ninja to have red glowing eyes instead.
*According to The Book of Spinjitzu, Elemental Masters can only unlock their Elemental Dragons after unlocking their True Potentials.
*Considering Garmadon's True Potential gave him access to Creation, Wu's True Potential may give him access to his recessive power, Destruction.
*In the Character Encyclopedia and Character Encyclopedia Updated and Expanded, it was called "full potential" instead.
**The term "full potential" can apply to other situations unrelated to this exact power, such as when Garmadon refers to the Golden Weapons' "full potential" in "Darkness Shall Rise" or Lloyd's "full potential" in "Blackout".
**In "Winds of Change," the Night Watchman tells a then-unseen Morro that he is legally required to share that he's unlocked his full potential. However, this is likely untrue, as it is played as a joke and he also says he knows Spinjitzu.
*When asked why the ninja stopped using their True Potential powers, Tommy Andreasen explained that "True potential must be maintained."https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/1067687234743214080 He had also said earlier that they may have lost the abilities once they gave their powers to Lloyd in "Island of Darkness,"https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/793620089811636224 and while they regained their powers in "Codename: Arcturus," they no longer have them to the extent that would allow them to use their True Potential abilities.https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/891304820019261440
**But Zane was still able to use beams of ice and create a bomb to destroy the Overlord.
*Forbidden Spinjitzu, accessed by the Scrolls of Forbidden Spinjitzu, is stated to have power comparable to that of accessing a True Potential. Whether the scrolls truly unlock one's True Potential as long as they wield it or it simply grants them powers similar is unknown. Aside from Zane and Lloyd, when Wu, Garmadon, and the ninja have held the scroll, they merely used the enhanced Spinjitzu and never used their Elemental Powers. Zane was able to defeat the Pyro Vipers quickly by blanketing them in ice.
**Regardless of whether it grants the wielder access to their True Potential, the scroll's powers are shown to be so potent that Zane, as the Ice Emperor following his corruption from using it, was able to overpower Lloyd. Even with the latter's Golden Power lost, he was still the most powerful ninja, due to having the essence of Energy. This indicates that the scroll could be even stronger than a True Potential.
*Nya's True Potential resembles the Spinjitzu Burst.
*When Nya and Sora unlock their True Potentials, their bodies don't glow or become transparent, like the other ninja. The reason for this is unknown.
**This may be because Water and Technology are secondary elements, rather than primary elements like the other ninja.
**This may be because the original ninjas' True Potentials could have been tied to their Golden Weapons, as seen by the glow in each weapon when the corresponding ninja unlocked his True Potential.
*In "Wishmasters," Jay compared Nadakhan unlocking infinite wishes to unlocking his True Potential.
*When asked if the Time Twins or Morro had unlocked their True Potentials, Tommy Andreasen stated, "[They] didn’t seem like they had overcome the obstacles within to me."https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/893079484668293121
*The Book of Elemental Powers and the extended synopsis of "Awakenings" state that Kai regains his True Potential in the episode, but when asked about this, Tommy Andreasen simply said, "He was pretty fired up."https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/1396578673264939011
*Currently, Garmadon is the only Elemental Master to have used his true potential the most often, while Kai and Sora are currently the only Elemental Masters to use their True Potential only once.
*True Potential is the highest level of Elemental Powers accessible to all the Elemental Masters but there are others higher (or equal) abilities accessible to certain Masters in specific case (These abilities are not included in the classic process of use of Elemental Powers): 
**The Burst: A powerful form of Spinjitzu accessible to any Elemental Master who would be surrounded by their Elemental Power.
**Merging with the Endless Sea: An ability accessible to a Master of Water.
**Dragon Form: An ability accessible to Elemental Masters possessing one of the four main elements.
**Boosted Power: Any Elemental Master can receive energy from dragons allowing for their power to be enhanced.
**Oni Form: Exclusively only to Elemental Masters of Oni heritage. As demonstrated by both Garmadon and Lloyd, the Elemental Master doesn't need to have access to the essence of Destruction as their primarily elemental power but can access it as a recessive ability by utilizing their anger and darker emotions under the proper techniques, akin to a True Potential. 
==Gallery==
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==Translations==
==References==
Category:2012
Category:Rise of the Snakes
Category:Legacy of the Green Ninja
Category:2015
Category:Possession
Category:2017
Category:Ninjago: Decoded
Category:2018
Category:Sons of Garmadon
Category:Hunted
Category:2023
Category:Season 1 (Dragons Rising)
Category:Earth
Category:Fire
Category:Ice
Category:Lightning
Category:Golden Power
Category:Golden Weapons
Category:Water
Category:Lloyd's Abilities
Category:Kai's Abilities
Category:Nya's Abilities
Category:Zane's Abilities
Category:Cole's Abilities
Category:Jay's Abilities
Category:Ninja
Category:Destruction
Category:Energy
Category:Technology (element)
de:Wahres Potenzial
Category:Ninja's Abilities
Category:Creation
ru:Истинный Потенциал
fi:Potentiaali