Ray (Ninjago)

Ray is a Ninjago minifigure first introduced in Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu. He is described to be the father of Kai and Nya, Kai's predecessor as the Elemental Master of Fire, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-UxxG8zNEc , and a companion of Sensei Wu.
==Description==
Ray has a traditional, yellow head. Ray has wrinkles on the sides of his eyes, cheekbones and a goatee. He has a dark red torso with an armor printing. The printing consists of dark grey and gold. Ray has black legs, with the continuation of his armor printing. 
== Background ==
===Early life===
Ray was one of several Elemental Masters, the original guardians of The First Spinjitzu Master, each blessed with an elemental power; Ray being the original Elemental Master of Fire. Ray was the husband of Maya, the Elemental Master of Water, and a comrade of Sensei Wu, a son of the First Spinjitzu Master. 
During the Serpentine Wars, Ray and the Elemental Masters fought against the Anacondrai Warriors. However, the Elemental Masters lost the battle of Jamanakai Village. Ray fought later alongside Sensei Wu and Garmadon during a another battle with the Serpentine. Although the Elemental Masters had an advantage, Chen used deception to pit the Elemental Masters against themselves. The war was lost, until Ray and the loyal Elemental Masters discovered the Sacred Flute at a remote village. After discovering the flute's hypnotic abilities, they used it to their advantage against the Serpentine. Using the sacred flute, Ray imprisoned the Anacondrai inside a tomb, located in the Sea of Sand.
After the war, Ray and Maya joined the majority of the Elemental Masters in battling against two of their own: Acronix and Krux, the Hands of Time. After failing to defeat the pair in battle due to their mastery of Time, the masters hatched a plan that hinged heavily on Ray and Maya's skills as smiths: forging a set of four blades from Chronosteel, the one material capable of draining a being of their elemental power. Ray and Maya succeeded in forging the Time Blades, but the process left them drained both physically and mentally and thus unable to join the other Elemental Masters in the final battle with the Time Twins. They were thus absent from a mural depicting the battle that later ended up in the Ninjago Museum of History. After Acronix, Krux, and three of the Time Blades were thought to have vanished into a temporal vortex, Wu asked Ray and Maya to hide the Reversal Time Blade, which they did by using the Dragon Blade to form the Fusion Dragon and place the Time Blade within the sunken library of Hono Mizu in the Boiling Sea.
In fear of his own demise, Sensei Wu made a map of the locations of the Four Golden Weapons and entrusted it to Ray. At some point, Maya gave birth to Ray's children, Kai and Nya. Unfortunately, the pair later discovered that Krux had returned to Ninjago with knowledge of when Acronix would return, and posed as Dr. Saunders to earn their trust before blackmailing them into helping with his plans by threatening Kai and Nya. Forced to leave their children behind without a word of explanation, Ray and his wife were forced to design and construct armor and weapons for Krux's growing army of Vermillion warriors. However, Ray also stamped the armor with his blacksmith's symbol in the hopes that it would eventually lead someone to them.
===Tournament of Elements===
By some means Master Chen had knowledge of the fate of Ray and Maya, and he hinted at this to both Kai and Nya on separate occasions.
===Possession===
When Kai and Nya looked into Chen's claims, all they could discover was that their father had been the Elemental Master of Fire.
===Hands of Time===
Kai later had an encounter with a younger version of his father after a wish made to Nadakhan took him into the past. Later, after recovering a Vermillion helmet, Kai felt a familiarity with the symbol but took some time to recognize it as his father's mark. Krux would also lie to Kai about his parents, claiming that Ray and Maya had fought alongside Acronix and himself against the Elemental Masters; their absence from the mural coupled with his father's mark on the armor soon convinced Kai of the truth of these claims. After discovering a hidden room beneath his father's shop and evidence that Ray was still alive, Kai became determined to find his father and bring him to justice.
Kai eventually found Ray at the Vermillion base and fought with him, ignoring Ray's attempts to explain himself until Maya and Nya together intervened. Ray and Maya then explained how they had been blackmailed into helping the Vermillion after hiding the Time Blade, only to realize that Kai and Nya were now the only ones who could retrieve it. Acronix and Krux soon forced the pair to do so, with Ray and Maya giving them counsel on how to accomplish the task using the Fusion Dragon. When the Time Twins double-crossed them, Ray was struck with a Time Punch and left aging rapidly, and remained behind with Maya in the present while their children and Wu followed the Iron Doom back in time. Kai later impersonated his father in the past, and upon returning to the present used the Reversal Blade to save Ray from his advancing age.
===Seabound===
In "A Big Splash", Ray and Maya arrived at the Monastery of Spinjitzu in answer to Kai calling Maya for help regarding Nya's water powers, which had recently begun to malfunction. Ray carried their substantial amount of luggage, but paused to greet his son before making his way inside. In "The Call of the Deep", Ray had settled in at the monastery and was enjoying playing Prime Empire with his son. In "Unsinkable", Ray remained at the Monastery of Spinjitzu with Kai, Cole, and Wu while the others-including a stowaway Maya-set off in the Hydro Bounty.
In "Riddle of the Sphinx", Ray engages Kai in a brief sparring session, though he becomes nervous when Wu claims that he wishes to see how a former elemental master of fire is affected by the powers of the current one. Any experimentation-and joking-is put on hold as Cole arrives with word from the others that the Storm Amulet has been stolen from the Island of the Keepers and is currently in Ninjago City. Ray and the others, joined by Misako, travel to the Explorer's Club in order to retrieve the amulet from Clutch Powers. After passing the Trial by Sphinx, they manage to find Clutch, only for Kalmaar and his Maaray Guards to arrive in search of the amulet as well.
The battle between the two groups spills out into the streets of Ninjago City in "Papergirl", and Ray is briefly stunned after leaping in to help Kai. Kalmaar eventually gains possession of the amulet, forcing the heroes to chase him to the Ninjago City Docks. After a brief fight, Ray and the boys are knocked into the water and Misako is captured; all five are then sentenced to be executed by Kalmaar. Fortunately, the Hydro Bounty returns, and Maya and the others rescue their friends, with the reunified group working together to battle Kalmaar's forces. Following a final game of Prime Empire with Kai, Ray leaves with Maya to head back to their blacksmith's shop; in "The Turn of the Tide", they return to the monastery to join numerous other guests in a ceremony honoring Nya's sacrifice in defeating Wojira.
===Crystalized===
In "Dragon Form", Ray appears alongside various other allies of the Ninja to join in the final battle with the Vengestone Army. In "Roots", he witnesses the defeat of the Overlord.
== Spinjitzu Smash DX ==
In Spinjitzu Smash DX game, Kai's father appears as a spirit to guide the ninja through the Underworld, and disappears shortly after. His appearance is very different than one on his picture from the flashback.
== Gallery of Variants ==
==Gallery==
Nya, Maya and Ray..jpg
Ray and Maya with Cyrus Borg.jpg
Ray and Maya (The Hands of Time (Flashback)).jpg
Ray and Maya (Out of the Fire and Into the Boiling Sea).jpg
Lloyd, Maya, Ray and Cyrus Borg (Ep. 74).png
Ray (The Hands of Time).jpg
Nya, Ray, Samurai X and Jay.png
TLNMVGRay.jpeg|In The LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game.
== Appearances ==
=== Sets ===
*70627 Dragon's Forge
=== Video Games ===
* Spinjitzu Smash DX
* The LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game
*Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu===
**Pilot
***Way of the Ninja
**Season One
*The Royal Blacksmiths 
**Season Seven
***The Hands of Time 
***The Hatching 
***Pause and Effect
***Out of the Fire and Into the Boiling Sea
***Lost in Time
**Season 14
***A Big Splash
***The Call of the Deep
***Unsinkable
***Riddle of the Sphinx
***Papergirl
***Master of the Sea
***The Turn of the Tide
**Season 15
***Dragon Form
***Roots
=== Books ===
*The Dark Island Trilogy
*Brother/Sister Squad
==References==
Category:Ninjago Minifigures
Category:Minifigures introduced in 2017
Category:Minifigures first introduced in animation
Category:Exclusive Minifigures