Departed Blades

> "*Use your Departed Blades, and you will take their place among the living.*"
> ― Yang
>
>

The **Departed Blades** are a set of magical blades created by Sensei Yang to assist in the return of multiple souls brought back from the Departed Realm. Based on weapons associated with each resurrected soul assigned to them (a Silver Bone Axe, Anacondrai Staff, Elemental Blade, Techno Blade, Jadeblade and the Sword of Sanctuary), they were displayed alongside statues in the Hall of Villainy. When the statues were possessed by the souls they were modeled after, they proceeded to use their assigned Departed Blades to take vengeance on those involved with their death, the Ninja, in order to kill them and take their place amongst the living. Should any of the villains have killed their adversaries, they could've taken their place among the living due to the Blade's powers.

By the end of the night, the only Blades that remained intact were Pythor and Morro's, the latter of whom peacefully returned to the Departed Realm after leaving his statue and its weapon in the museum, both unscathed. Pythor either discarded his weapon or held onto it following his fight with Lloyd.

During the Oni Invasion, the Overlord resurrected Garmadon using a Departed Blade, along with a sliver of hair from Lloyd, Misako, Wu, Celestia, Luna, and Twilight.

## Depictions in the Series

Prior to the establishment of the Hall of Villainy, Yang succeeded in placing Departed Blades in the hands of statues designated to contain souls he planned to bring back from the Departed Realm. Exactly how Yang managed to place the Blades in the museum is currently unknown.

### Day of the Departed

After stealing the Yin Blade, Cole was tricked by Yang into using the weapon to open a rift in the Departed Realm and thus free the souls of several of his teammates' deceased enemies, most notably Samukai, Kozu, Cryptor, Chen, and Morro. Seeking vessels, their souls inhabited the statues in the Hall of Villainy, likewise taking possession of the Departed Blades posed in their vessels' hands. Yang, contacting them, informed the group wielding the weapons that they would return to the Departed Realm after the Yin-Yang eclipse unless they used a Departed Blade assigned to them to kill a Ninja involved with their death. After briefly disputing over who would take which soul's place, the antagonists succeeded in a compromise and went off to kill each opponent with their Blade. Likewise, Pythor, although not deceased, dedicated himself to the cause by seizing an unused Departed Blade as a replacement for his lost Anacondrai Staff.

Engaging their respective Ninja in combat, the villains used their Departed Blades as their main means of attack, with the exception of Morro, who made peace with Master Wu instead and warned him of Yang's plans. Despite the others' efforts, their Departed Blades' purpose would be left unrealized, with Chen's destroyed after being blasted by one of his redirected rockets, Samukai's vaporized by a bolt of lightning, Cryptor's shattered after striking himself, and Kozu's blade seemingly broken after being attacked by the Stone Army.

Following the battles, only Morro and Pythor's Departed Blades were left intact, with Morro having chosen not to utilize his and thus preserving it alongside his statue following the end of the eclipse, and Pythor having survived his encounter and escaping with his Blade in hand.

## List of Departed Blades

* A Double-Bladed Bone Axe (Samukai)
* An Anacondrai Staff (Pythor)
* An Elemental Blade (Kozu)
* A Techno Blade (Cryptor)
* A Jadeblade (Chen)
* The Sword of Sanctuary (Morro)
* The Yin Blade (Yang)
* ???? (Garmadon)

## Powers and Abilities

Modeled after various melee weapons, the Departed Blades functioned like regular tools in combat. Their main purpose, however, was their ability to transfer the placement of souls—should a soul involved in the death of the wielder be slain by a Departed Blade, the Blade's magic would allow the victim to trade places with their killer, with the wielder now amongst the living and their deceased opponent in the afterlife.

Aside from these abilities, the Departed Blades functioned as regular melee weapons and did not possess any of the powers of the weapons that they were modeled after. The only exception to this is Pythor's staff, which holds an anti-venom in its capsule, although Pythor himself is unknowing and wary of its contents.

## Trivia

* In "Day of the Departed," Yang explains that the revived villains must use their Departed Blades to slay the person who originally killed them. Doing so with the weapon would (supposedly) fully-resurrect the villain. However, Chen had seemingly discarded his Blade even before Yang said this, meaning he never stood a chance to be revived.
* In the special, the Yin Blade is separate from the Departed Blades.
* Samukai's Departed Blade is the only weapon not modeled after a weapon used by a Ninja for that respective year or a weapon that he was seen wielding in the sets or show. It is worth noting, however, that he was at least famous for his use of it off-screen, when not wielding his signature bone daggers (which he briefly wields in one shot from the junkyard scene, likely due to an animation error).
* Samukai's Departed Blade is a bone ax. However, in the sets, it's a regular ax.
* The handles of the Blades are heavily based off of the Yin Blade's handle, more than likely due to both weapons' associations with Yang.
* In the concept artwork for the Departed Blades and in promotional material for the "Day of the Departed" special, a mysterious green lantern can be seen. However, this lantern never actually appeared in the final version of the special, and its potential powers or association with the Departed Blades are unknown.
* Interestingly, despite being referred to as a Departed *Blade*, the weapon based off the Anacondrai Staff is not actually a blade, but rather a staff.