Sons of the First Spinjitzu Master

> "*We were the sons of the First Spinjitzu Master. And together, with the Elemental Alliance, we stood a fighting chance.*"
> ― Garmadon.
>
>

The **sons of the First Spinjitzu Master** (also known as the **Spinjitzu Brothers**) are the children of the creator of Ninjago. The brothers, Garmadon and Wu, have been a team dedicated to protecting the realm of Ninjago from the various threats that seek to conquer or destroy it, prior to the era of the Ninja and long before the First Serpentine War. Together, they fought many great evils of Ninjago's past, such as Aspheera, Nineko, Tanabrax and his puppets, Samukai, the Serpentine, and the Time Twins.

## History

### Beginnings

After several millennia of protecting Ninjago, the First Spinjitzu Master eventually felt his time was nearing its end. Wanting to continue his legacy, he fathered two children: his firstborn, Garmadon, with power over Destruction, and Wu, his secondborn, with power over Creation.

### Aspheera's rule over Ninjago

One day, a young Wu told Garmadon he wanted to go to Serpentine Valley. Garmadon reluctantly agreed, and they got caught and thrown in a cell. Aspheera then freed them in exchange for friendship and Spinjitzu lessons, with only Wu keeping his end of the promise.

Over the course of many weeks, Wu would sneak off to teach her Spinjitzu. She succeeded and used her newfound powers to overthrow Mambo V. The brothers saved the valley by using the Scrolls of Forbidden Spinjitzu and had her thrown in a cell that cannot be opened with magic. However, after the two went back to their father, he became more disappointed in the two than he was before.

### Garmadon's accident

When the two were young, Garmadon went to retrieve Wu's katana after knocking it over the monastery wall during a sparring match. While reaching for it, he was bitten by the infant Great Devourer, which would go on to be a known as legendary being that could grow forever as long as it consumed, and whose venom could turn the purest of things wicked. The young Garmadon was corrupted by the venom, causing him to become increasingly villainous over time, but it would take many, many years for him to be completely taken over.

### Wu and Garmadon's journey

As years passed, the First Spinjitzu Master had Wu and Garmadon go on a journey to find a tea plant that could cure Garmadon from the Great Devourer's venom.

### The First Spinjitzu Master's passing

When they became young men, they swore to protect the Golden Weapons after their father's passing.

### Serpentine War

The Serpentine were wreaking havoc on Ninjago, raiding places like Jamanakai Village, and terrorizing those living there. Wu, Garmadon, and the Elemental Masters of the era formed an alliance to battle the Serpentine and protect the citizens. At Jamanakai Village, the Elemental Masters drove back the Serpentine Tribes but were forced to retreat upon the arrival of the Anacondrai. A crucial battle in the war took place at Birchwood Forest, with the Elemental Alliance fighting Arcturus and his Anacondrai, but this battle was lost as well. The Elemental Masters found hope by using the Sacred Flutes to hypnotize the Serpentine and imprison them in a series of tombs. Arcturus and the other Anacondrai generals were found guilty of committing war crimes and were consequently banished to the Cursed Realm.

### Battle for All of Time

Shortly after the Serpentine War and the banishment of Chen and Clouse, the Elemental Alliance were celebrating their recent victory against the Serpentine, two of these celebrants being the Hands of Time. Acronix and Krux, the elemental masters of time, betrayed the Elemental Alliance, believing that they had the strongest Elemental Power in Ninjago. Wu and Garmadon gathered the Elemental Alliance to fight the Hands of Time, but they were outmatched.

Wu, seeing his team losing, gathered Ray and Maya and asked them to forge four blades made of Chronosteel. Ray and Maya used all their energy to create the Time Blades, to the point where they had passed out. Wu came and gathered the Time Blades from Ray and Maya and returned to the monastery, leaving the gate open so that the Time Twins would come.

A raging battle between the Time Twins and the sons of the First Spinjitzu Master broke out. The Twins, unaware of the Chronosteel Time Blades, tried using their powers against Wu and Garmadon, who were holding the blades. This powered the Time Blades with the four elements of time (Forward Time, Slow Motion Time, Pause Time, and Reversal Time). Wu and Garmadon then created a temporal vortex using the four blades and allowed the Time Blades to be sucked into the vortex. The Time Twins did not surrender, instead, following the Time Blades and entering the vortex. At this time Wu saw a blimp that showed Acronix's return forty years in the future.

### Battle Between Brothers

Some time after Lloyd was born, Garmadon succumbed to the darkness from the Great Devourer and his Oni heritage and planned to steal the Golden Weapons. But when he tried, Wu confronted him. It was up to him to quench his brother's thirst to destroy. The brothers fought, and Wu won the battle, but at a cost. The kimono he was wearing had a protection spell to keep him safe from evil. This in turn worked on Garmadon, and cast Garmadon into the Underworld, banishing him for what could have been eternity.

## Trivia

* Wu and Garmadon are part Oni and part dragon, like their father.
* In Tommy Andreasen's opinion, Wu and Garmadon are twins while Garmadon was created first.
* Their names begin with the letters G and W, as do the Golden Weapons. It is unknown whether this is a coincidence or an intention.
* Originally, Wu and Garmadon rarely used their powers. However, from the eight season onward, Garmadon uses them as his primary method of combat after learning of his True Potential.
* Garmadon has darker hair than Wu, both in youth and old age. In old age, this, along with Wu's beard, causes Wu to appear older despite being the younger of the two. Besides this, when the beard on Wu's minifigure is removed, it can be seen that he and Garmadon share nearly identical facial features (i.e. age lines).
	+ Purified Garmadon in "Rise of the Spinjitzu Master" has Wu's face without the beard and 3D mouth, instead having a mouth resembling Jay's. This face design is also used for "Tommy Wu" in the 2014 blooper reel. Purified Garmadon's face design was changed for the subsequent seasons, possibly because his minifigure was released and he needed more unique face design.
	+ At some point in their lives both also had hair used by some ninja. During the Serpentine War and the Brothers Between Brothers, Wu used Jay's pre-movie hair and earlier in his life (*Spinjitzu Brothers*), he used Island Cole's hair. Garmadon (before his banishment to the Underworld and as a Master), being Lloyd's father, used Lloyd's pre-movie hair and earlier in his life (*Spinjitzu Brothers*) also his Island hair.
* Old Lloyd in Skybound takes on features of both of the brothers.
* The brothers have made multiple enemies who have sworn a vendetta towards them: Aspheera, Samukai, and the Time Twins.
* Their young life is elaborated in the book series called *Spinjitzu Brothers*.
* At one point in their childhood, Garmadon and Wu often played a game on the playground called Templegate Tigers, in which Garmadon threw the ball and Wu would hit it, and they never lost.
* In "Weapons of Destiny", Garmadon states that Wu was always their father's favorite. It's unknown if this is true or if Garmadon was viewing the past through a negative lens due to the evil inside of him.
* There are parallels and connections between the actions of the brothers' past actions seen in "Tick Tock" and "Spellbound":
	+ As seen in "Tick Tock", Garmadon went over the wall of the monastery to get the katana because Wu refused to get it himself, even though it was Wu's katana and Wu was the one who had lost hold of it. Garmadon was taking responsibility for Wu's mistake.
	+ As seen in "Spellbound", Garmadon signed Wu's letter to Misako. Garmadon was taking credit for Wu's work.
	+ In both cases, it was one of the brother's fears that prevented him from doing the right thing. Wu was showing the typical fearfulness and reluctance to own up to one's mistakes often seen in childhood, and Garmadon was afraid to lose Misako.
* Their appearances tend to be opposite to each other; while Wu is bald and has a long beard, Garmadon has a full head of hair and is beardless. Wu's main colors are white and gold, while Garmadon's are usually black and purple.
* According to Tommy Andreasen, the brothers are not Elemental Masters. Lloyd referred to them as such in "The Hands of Time" because even he did not know the full truth yet.
* According to Tommy Andreasen, there are three possible reasons for why Wu and Garmadon aged so quickly between "Battle Between Brothers" and the beginning of the series, despite having been young for so long.
	+ In an interview with Brent Miller, he hinted it had to do with Wu and Garmadon being apart from each other and from the Golden Weapons, as Garmadon was banished to the Underworld and Wu hid the weapons shortly after.
	+ In the live-chat of an episode of the Eljay Johnsen Show, he confirmed that one reason may be that Wu and Garmadon share an intrinsic connection of some sort that was severed by Garmadon being banished, affecting their mortality.
	+ He also said another explanation could be tea.
* According to Tommy Andreasen, "G[armadon] an W[u] are 1000s of years old so ‘teens’ and ‘kids’ are quite abstract when it comes to them."
* They are very good at fishing and had often been with their father or alone to fish when they were children. They can also swim, as they often went swimming to the lake.
* As shown in "Big Trouble, Little Ninjago" and "Green Destiny," the brothers feel each other's presence.