Sons of Garmadon

*“Long before time had a name, there was the Realm of the Oni and the Dragon. The Dragon had the power to create. The Oni had the power to destroy. Their war was never ending. But a child arrived, born of both worlds. The child understood the power of both. Without one, you could not have the other. But when the Oni and the Dragon fought over which side the child should choose, the child abandoned their world to start a new one called Ninjago.”*

— Mystake revealing the origins of the First Spinjitzu Master, "The Oni and the Dragon"

## Title Card

***Sons of Garmadon*** is the eighth season and the eleventh installment of the *Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu* series. It was originally released on April 16th, 2018. Lloyd is the main protagonist and Harumi is the main antagonist. The Sons of Garmadon serve as the villainous faction.

It is the first season in the Oni Trilogy arc. It focuses on Lloyd attempting to stop the Sons of Garmadon from reviving his father, and introduces the Oni into the lore, revealing that Lloyd is 1/8 Oni and Dragon. The collectible item for this season is the Oni Masks.

This is the first season to feature the redesigned Ninja featured in the *LEGO Ninjago Movie*.

It is preceded by *The Hands of Time* and followed by *Hunted*.

## Plot Summary

A year after the loss of Master Wu, the ninja, led by the newly dubbed Master Lloyd, must protect the Royal Family of Ninjago and prevent a group known as the Sons of Garmadon from successfully reviving Garmadon at the Temple of Resurrection using the Oni Masks.

## Characters

* Chopper Maroon - Sam Vincent
* Cole - Kirby Morrow
* Dareth - Alan Marriott
* Dr. Julien - Mark Oliver
* Emperor of Ninjago - Richard Newman
* Empress of Ninjago - Ellen Kennedy
* Garmadon - Mark Oliver
* Harumi - Britt McKillip
* Hutchins - Alan Marriott
* Jay - Michael Adamthwaite
* Kai - Vincent Tong
* Killow - Garry Chalk
* Lloyd Garmadon - Sam Vincent
* Luke Cunningham - Michael Adamthwaite
* Misako - Kathleen Barr
* Mystake - Tabitha St. Germain
* Mr. E - Brent Miller
* Nya - Kelly Metzger
* P.I.X.A.L./Samurai X - Jennifer Hayward, Michael Donovan
* Police Commissioner - Michael Donovan
* Ultra Violet - Maggie Blue O'Hara
* Wu - Paul Dobson, Kelly Metzger, Caleb Skeris
* Zane - Brent Miller

## Battles

* Lloyd vs. Sons of Garmadon
* Lloyd vs. Mr. E
* Ninja & Royal Palace of Ninjago vs. Sons of Garmadon
* Ninja vs. Mr. E
* Zane vs. Sons of Garmadon
* Zane vs. Mr. E
* Ninja vs. Samurai X/The Quiet One
* Lloyd vs. Harumi
* Ninja vs. Sea Monster
* Ninja vs. Harumi & the Sons of Garmadon
* Lloyd vs. Lord Garmadon
* Cole, Kai, Jay, & Zane vs. the Colossus
* Lloyd vs. Harumi

## Locations Visited

* Ninjago
	+ Ninjago City
		- Ninjago Royal Palace
		- Borg Tower
		- Ninjago Harbor
		- Laughy's
	+ Sea of Sand
		- The Teeth
		- Kryptarium Prison
	+ Primeval's Eye
		- Oni Temple
* Endless Sea
	+ Hollow's Bluff
* Departed Realm
* Realm of Oni and Dragons

## Sets

Garmadon was the mascot character, and the promotional and box art appropriately focused on Ninjago City. The collectible items were the Oni Masks. The sets mostly consisted of ninja and Sons of Garmadon vehicles.

* **70638 Katana V11**
* **70639 Street Race of Snake Jaguar**
* 70640 S.O.G. Headquarters
* **70641 Ninja Nightcrawler**
* 70642 Killow vs. Samurai X
* **70643 Temple of Resurrection**

### Spinners

* 70633 Kai Spinjitzu Master
* 70634 Nya Spinjitzu Master
* 70635 Jay Spinjitzu Master
* 70636 Zane Spinjitzu Master
* 70637 Cole Spinjitzu Master

## Notes

* There were originally plans for Echo Zane to be revealed as the true identity of Mr. E, as Harumi and her team would've found him at the lighthouse and upgraded him. The concept was scrapped and isn't canon, as the Hageman brothers felt there wasn't time for it.
* Dan and Kevin Hageman returned to write this season. Previously, they handed over the writing duties to David Shayne for "Day of the Departed" and The Hands of Time, as the brothers were occupied with writing their Netflix original series, *TrollHunters* and *Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark*.
* Ninjago City now looks more like the city in *The LEGO Ninjago Movie*.
* Despite the six ninja and Garmadon receiving new designs from *The LEGO Ninjago Movie*, Misako remains the same design from the previous seasons, although her streak of white hair appears more prominent, after being absent since "The Attack".
* Season 8 marks the only season to have the ninja defeated and separated in the end.
* According to Tommy Andreasen, production issues during the seventh season's development caused the vendor to be dismissed and replaced with another, resulting in this season's "leap in quality" in terms of animation.
* The Hageman Brothers stated that they tried to make this season more cinematic than previous ones.
* According to Tommy Andreasen, this season was originally set to be more of a continuation of the story from The Hands of Time, but the existence of the movie forced the writers to add Garmadon back into the series, changing the plan of the season.
* This is the first season to feature the "Kunoichi" font in the title cards, which replaced the "Aldo the Apache" font used in all prior seasons.

## Continuity

* The origins of the First Spinjitzu Master are revealed. Long before time had a name, the Oni and Dragon lived in the First Realm and were infinitely at war with each other. One day a child was born of both worlds, the First Spinjitzu Master. He left the First Realm to start his own, Ninjago, trying to find balance.
	+ This confirms that Garmadon and Wu are Human/Oni/Dragon hybrids, as well as Lloyd
		- This explains, somewhat, where Lloyd's powers come from, as they are an amalgamation of Destruction, Creation, and Golden Power.
* P.I.X.A.L. is revealed to be the new Samurai X in this season after being alluded to in the previous one.
* The origins of Zane's elemental powers are revealed. It's said that the previous Elemental Master of Ice visited Dr. Julien weary and passed on his power to Zane before taking off.
	+ The flashback revealing this also shows Wu meeting Zane for the first time at some point before we are first introduced to them, when Zane is meditating under a frozen pond.
* It is revealed in a flashback that Cole met Master Wu climbing the Mountain of Impossible Height because of growing distant from his father after the death of his mother, Lilly.
* Garmadon is resurrected in this season, using the powers of the Oni Masks, his Oni form returns from the Departed Realm full of rage and hatred. It is implied in later seasons that because of the influence of the Oni Masks (and the inherent negativity surrounding his revival,) that he does not have memories of his life as Master Garmadon, before his sacrifice.
* The Ninja's designs are altered to fit the movie designs for this season. It is implied that their appearances changed due to the time travel in the previous season, but this was confirmed not the case.
	+ Lloyd's design change is the most apparent, as he now has green eyes, showing that he has grown closer to his Elemental Power.
	+ Even with the design changes, aspects of certain characteristics that were integral to the TV show are kept in, such as Zane's titanium form and Cole's ghost scar (which has faded to a point where it only appears when he's using his Earth Punch.)
* It is revealed that Harumi's motives come straight from the events of "*Day of the Great Devourer*." Her parents were killed in the Devourer's rampage on Ninjago City, and she resented the Ninja (especially Lloyd) for this for the rest of her life.
* Master Wu returns from the time vortex in this season as a baby, slowly beginning to age up again, as the effects of the Reversal Blade wear off.
* This is the first season where the Ninja stop from using Airjitzu and their Elemental Dragons again.
	+ The reason for not using Airjitzu is found in a non-canon novel *Way of the Departed*. Apparently, it is created using Edo magic, which is inherently evil, and can lead to the Ninja's destruction.
	+ The reason for not using the Elemental Dragons again is unknown, but the writers stopped them from using these two abilities to make the Ninja more grounded.
* The Commissioner rambles on about random enemies the Ninja could be fighting and mentions Sky Pirates, unaware that they were a real enemy that the Ninja fought in an erased timeline.
	+ Jay and Nya share a moment remembering the events of *Skybound*.
	+ Curiously, the other Ninja do not make note of this statement (although there could be a reasonable explanation for this,) because they encountered the Sky Pirates in *The Dark Island Trilogy.*
* The original four Ninja and Wu are stranded in the First Realm at the end of this season, having been taken there by Mystake's Traveler's Tea, leaving Nya and Lloyd in Ninjago assuming they were defeated.
* This is the first season to mention the storm spirit Wojira (though in this season she is referred to as "Wohira.") It is also mentioned that an ancient tribe worshipped her, possibly in reference to The Keepers.
* The Mechanic, one of Ninjago's villains, makes his reappearance in "*The Mask of Deception"* after making his debut in *Skybound*. He was last seen being locked up in Kryptarium Prison, but he has since escaped.
* In the episode "*The Quiet One*," several past villains and locations are mentioned by Lloyd.
	+ When discussing the funny sounding names of locations in Ninjago, Lloyd chalks them up as "not all that," claiming some of them have scary names but aren't really all that scary. The ones he mentions are Hiroshi's Labyrinth (first seen in *Rebooted*,) the Caves of Despair (first seen in the pilot episodes,) and Blind Man's Eye (first seen in *Possession*.)
	+ When discussing the greatest villain that the Ninja have faced, Harumi mentions "the one that got away," (in reference to herself,) Lloyd wonders if she may be referring to Morro, the Great Devourer, or Pythor.
* When Samurai X's identity is revealed to be P.I.X.A.L., Jay claims that he called it, which Cole denies. This is referenced in *Way of the Departed* when Cole mentions the several guesses that Jay made at the identity of Samurai X, one of them being P.I.X.A.L..
* In the flashbacks during Harumi's parent's deaths, Gayle Gossip is seen on the TV televising the destruction of the Devourer, however she is not introduced as a character until the following season.
* *"The Mask of Deception"* marks Quanish the Elder's first and only appearance, although he does not speak, and it is not made note of until *The Splinter in the Blind Man's Eye*. He is later mentioned in *Crystalized*.

## Gallery

The first footage of the seasons shown off in SDCC 2018Sons of Garmadon END