Kai Rayson

## **Overview**

Kai Rayson is one of the main characters in Legends of Ninjago. He is the fire ninja, formerly a blacksmith.

## **Appearance & Personality**

Kai is approximately 6ft. 2in. tall (187.96cm), 16 years old (currently), has spiky, brown hair, yellow-brown eyes, and typically wears either a red hoodie, or his deep red shozoku.

He’s not the easiest person to get close to and tends to keep people at an arm’s length until he feels like he can trust them. He can get frustrated and angry fairly easily, especially when his friends and family are in danger, but most iconic is his ego. Although not shown very much in Book 1, Kai is quite a cocky teenager and often gets himself into trouble because of it.

## **Powers & Abilities**

* ***Pyrokinesis —** The ability to manipulate fire.*

* ***Blacksmithing —** Kai was trained by his father in the art of metal forging. He has successfully crafted swords, spears, and clubs.*

* ***Swordsmanship —** He has a basic understanding of sword fighting, taught to him by his father.*

## **History**

Kai was born in Harper Vale, Southern Ninjago, on a warm summer evening. Two years later his sister Nya was born. They lived with their parents for their entire childhoods, and they taught them all sorts of skills, but when the Skulken War reached their home, Kai and his father were forced to make weapons for Garmadon’s army. Unfortunately, due to a major mishap, Kai’s parents were taken away to a labour camp to work off their debt to Lord Garmadon while Kai was left to run the family forge and look out for Nya.

About a year later, Kai had fallen behind on an order of weapons and Nya was taken away too, but just before Kai could go after her, Sensei Wu and Ann Jing kidnapped him and brought him back to the YamaDera Monastery where he discovered his powers for the first time.

It was here that Sensei Wu revealed that the First Spinjitsu Master had known Kai’s grandfather and that the ancient diety had entrusted Kai’s ancestor with a map containing the locations of the weapons. This special map was not physical, but mental; an image buried deep within the mind. This map was passed down to Kai’s father and eventually to Kai. Wu extracted this map, allowing their journey to begin. Kai’s mission, however, was to save his family, but Wu needed him to retrieve the Sword of Fire. Fortunately, these two goals had enough in common that Kai was willing to help find the Golden Weapons.

He followed along patiently enough while they retrieved the Scythe, the Daggers, and the Nunchucks, but by the time they were nearing the Sword his patience with Wu was running thin. The night before they were going to cross over into Garmadon’s territory, Kai was visited by one of the Dark Lord’s minions who told him that Garmadon was willing to make a trade. The Sword for his family. Kai solemnly excepted but was only able to save Nya and the Sword of Fire.

With the help of the Fire Dragon Guardian and the Sword, Kai was able to battle Lord Garmadon himself just long enough for Sensei Wu and the others to arrive, but in the final moments, Kai was stabbed in the chest. Wu took the Sword from him and held Garmadon off while Ann and Zane rushed over to help him and escape.

Later the four of them came back to the Fire Temple, where the Sword had been, and found it completely deserted except for the Guardian who healed Kai‘s wound and teleported them into the Underworld: the home of the Skulkens. Cole, Jay, and Keaton had snuck in already and they soon found each other in the foreign world, but so did the Skulkens. They swarmed them in unimaginable numbers and before long they were captured and tortured for information about their “Keromine” (Elemental Powers).

Eventually, Kai was able to come up with a plan to escape and they met up with Sensei Wu. He had a plan to fight off Garmadon and King Samukai once and for all, but he needed them to distract the other Skulkens for him. So while Wu took the Sword of Fire into the Skulken Palace, Kai and the others fought one of their greatest battles against the Skulken army.

Near the end of the fighting, Kai had a brilliant realisation: all of their powers could be used together. So when things looked bleakest, he gathered all the boys together and they unleashed their powers in a tornado attack that wiped out the remaining Skulkens. They returned to Ninjago as unsung heroes.

A week after their Underworld visit, Kai, Cole, Jay, and Zane were summoned to Wu’s office where they swore the oath of the ninja and officially embarked on their journey to become the New Masters of Spinjitsu.

However, the search for his parents continues.

## **Family & Friends**

* Nya Rayson — *sister*

* Father

* Mother

* Wu — *Sensei*

* Cole Becket — *Friend/teammate*

* Jay Walker — *Friend/teammate*

* Zane Julien — *Friend/teammate*

* Ann Jing Haruto — *Acquaintance/teammate*

* Keaton Haruto — *Friend/teammate*

* Dr. Lee — *Acquaintance*

* Mrs. Nakamura — *Friend*