The Hands of Time

*“Master Lloyd. Everyone, listen up. First, we get rid of this. It's too powerful. Then, it'll take all our energy and we will not rest until we know where is Wu?”*

— Lloyd, "Lost in Time"

## Title Card

***The Hands of Time*** is the seventh season and the tenth installment of the *Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu* series. It was originally released on May 15th, 2017. Kai & Nya are the focus characters for this season and the Time Twins are the main antagonists. The Vermillion serve as the villainous faction.

It is the sixth and final installment in the Master Trials arc. It focuses on Kai & Nya and their journey to find out what happened to their parents and learn to embrace the past and future. Special minifigures of powered up Kai & Nya were released for this season. The collectible weapons for this season are the Time Blades.

In May 2017 shorts titled *Operation Heavy Metal* in that the events occur during the seventh season and before the event of an episode were released.

In July 2017, shorts titled *Wu's Teas* were released. They are non-canon and tell the story of Wu and the Ninja in their day jobs at Wu's new tea shop: Steeper Wisdom.

In November 2017, shorts titled *Ninjago: Decoded* were released to bridge the gap for new fans between Seasons 7 and 8. It is unclear of its canon status.

In January 2018, a short mini movie titled *Master of the 4th Dimension* was released. It was a 4D show at Carlsbad Themepark. It is non-canon.

In 2021 a special eleventh episode titled *Golden Hour* was released as part of the *Ninjago: Reimagined* line of shorts.

It is preceded by *Day of the Departed* and followed by *Sons of Garmadon*. A midquel between this season and Season 8 was released to tie together the loose ends that remain after changes made because of *The LEGO Ninjago Movie* titled *Way of the Departed.* Chapters have been releasing infrequently by Tommy Andreasen on Twitter since 2017. It is considered "could-be-canon," as it doesn't conflict with canon, and serves to answer the remaining unanswered questions that *The Hands of Time* left.

## Plot Summary

Acronix, one of the Hands of Time, passes through a time vortex and is challenged to a fight by Master Wu. After the arrival of the Forward Time Blade, Acronix hits Wu with a Time Punch which accelerates his aging one day per hour. Even with the intervention of the ninja, Acronix escapes and reunites with his brother Krux, who had been patiently waiting in the Ninjago Museum of History. Now the two Hands of Time have a plan that could change history and revert Ninjago back to its old-fashioned roots. They control an army of Serpentine known as Vermillion, from the eggs of the Great Devourer, who can form into Samurai using metal. The Vermillion began capturing Ninjago builders, including Cyrus Borg, and stealing metal. All to build the Iron Doom, which can travel time, using the Time Apparatus to utilize all four Time Blades. With Master Wu unable to fight, P.I.X.A.L. offline, three other Time Blades scattered throughout time, and a mysterious new Samurai X to learn the identity of, Lloyd leads the team to stop the Time Twins and save Master Wu. The adventure soon proves personal to Kai and Nya, when it turns out their parents could have ties to the villains.

## Characters

* Acronix - Ian Hanlin
* Blunck - Brian Drummond
* Cole - Kirby Morrow
* Cyrus Borg - Lee Tockar
* Dareth - Alan Marriott
* Krux - Michael Daingerfield
* Ed Walker - Colin Murdock
* Edna Walker - Jillian Michaels
* Gayle Gossip - Kelly Sheridan
* Jay - Michael Adamthwaite
* Libber - Kelly Metzger
* Kai - Vincent Tong
* Karlof - Scott McNeil
* Lloyd Garmadon - Jillian Michaels
* Lou - Kirby Morrow
* Misako - Kathleen Barr
* Machia - Kathleen Barr
* Maya - Jillian Michaels
* Nya - Kelly Metzger
* P.I.X.A.L./Samurai X - Jennifer Hayward, Michael Donovan
* Raggmunk - Michael Adamthwaite
* Ray - Vincent Tong
* Ronin - Brian Dobson
* Skales - Ian James Corlett
* Skales Jr. - Alyssya Swales
* Skylor - Heather Doerksen
* Wu - Paul Dobson
* Zane - Brent Miller

## Battles

* Wu vs. Acronix
* Ninja vs. Acronix
* Ninja vs. Vermillion warrior
* Kai vs. Krux
* Jay & Cole vs. Vermillion
* Nya vs. Buffmillion
* Nya & Kai vs. Acronix & Krux
* Ronin & Dareth vs. Mutantmillion
* Nya, Kai, Cole, & Jay vs. Vermillion
* Ninja vs. Vermillion
* Kai, Cole, Zane, Lloyd, & Nya vs. Vermillion & Raggmunk
* Jay, Ed, & Edna Walker vs. Vermillion & Blunck
* Ninja & Ed Walker vs. Vermillion
* Ninja & Samurai X vs. Vermillion
* Wu & Ninja vs. Krux & Acronix
* Samurai X vs. Nya
* Jay & Cole vs. Vermillion
* Kai vs. Ray
* Lloyd vs. Blunck & Raggmunk
* Jay, Cole, Zane, & Lloyd vs. Vermillion
* Kai vs. Krux & Acronix
* Kai & Nya vs. Geotomic rock monsters
* Kai, Nya, & the Past Elemental Masters vs. the Iron Doom
* Kai, Nya, & Wu vs. Time Twins
* Wu vs. Time Twins

## Locations

* Ninjago
	+ Ninjago City
		- Ninjago Museum of History
	+ Vermillion Swamps
	+ Mountains of Impossible Height
		- Monastery of Spinjitzu
	+ Sea of Sand
		- Samurai X Cave
		- Ed & Edna's Scrap 'N Junk
	+ Ignacia
		- Four Weapons Blacksmith
	+ Temple of Airjitzu
	+ Ninjago Power Plant

* Endless Sea
	+ Boiling Sea
		- The Lost City of Honomisu
			* Ancient Library of Honomisu
* Temporal Vortex

## Episodes

### *Operation Heavy Metal*

 2
 3
 4

## Sets

Kai and Nya were the mascot ninjas, and the promotional art was appropriately focused on the Vermillion Swamps. The collectible items were the Time Blades. The sets mostly consisted of locations and Vermillion vehicles.

* 70621 The Vermillion Attack
* **70622 Desert Lightning**
* 70623 Destiny's Shadow
* **70624 Vermillion Invader**
* 70625 Samurai VXL
* **70626 Dawn of Iron Doom**
* **70627 Dragon's Forge**

## Notes

* In "*Scavengers*" Zane mentions that the treadmill was invented in 1818. Despite this, it has been confirmed that the A.D. calendar does not exist in Ninjago, so it was not meant to be taken seriously.
* Many fans have noticed a change in this season's animation style, where the texture of the characters seems to be shinier and less refined.
	+ According to Tommy Andreasen, production issues during the season's development caused the vendor to be dismissed and replaced with another, resulting in Sons of Garmadon's "leap in quality" in terms of animation.
* The original end of The Hands of Time was that we would see the ninja 40 years in the future along with their children, in addition to the return of Acronix and Krux.
	+ The original ending was written to be a finale of *Ninjago*. It would end with Acronix and Krux locked up in Kryptarium Prison 2.0, forty years in the future, while Lloyd and Kai reminisced about the adventures they had in the past decades.
	+ This would be the second time *Ninjago* was set to end before it was revived.
* The clock tower at the opening and closing credits reuses the design of Darkley's Boarding School, using the coloring seen in its concept art. The clock tower never appears in the season or show itself, but it is not Darkley's.
* Originally, Season 8 was set to be more of a continuation of the story from this season, but the existence of *The LEGO Ninjago Movie* forced the writers to add Garmadon back into the series, changing the plan of the season.
* This is the last season to feature the "Aldo the Apache" font in the title cards, which was replaced with the "Kunoichi" font in the following season.
* This season has the most spin-off episodes dedicated to it, with a grand total of 35.

## Continuity

* This season was foreshadowed at the end of "*The Dark Island Trilogy, Part 3"* when Master Wu has a vision of Kai and Nya's parents forging something alongside the "twins lost to time".
* The fate of Kai and Nya's parents, Ray and Maya, was revealed, after being alluded to since the pilot episodes. Master Chen's taunts in Season 4 and *Day of the Departed* about the truth of their parents foreshadowed the sinister secrets.
* More details on post-Serpentine War are revealed.
	+ It is revealed that Krux and Acronix, the Masters of Time, also fought in the war. After defeating the Serpentine, the two brothers believed that they had the right to rule the world and rebelled against the Elemental Masters. They were defeated, and their powers were absorbed into the Time Blades. One of the twins was foreshadowed in *Day of the Departed* as Krux was under the disguise of Doctor Sander Saunders.
		- It is revealed that the cause of Kai & Nya's parents' disappearances was because they were kidnapped by Krux to make armor for their Vermillion Army.
		- It is also revealed that the Great Devourer had offspring, and Krux has been cultivating them since her death to create the Vermillion army.
	+ Jay's mother, the Elemental Master of Lightning, is also revealed to have been in the war as well. She married Cliff Gordon and is said to be going on her honeymoon with him after the war is over.
* Lloyd officially reaches the status of Master at the end of this season, since his training began in "*Curseworld Part II*."
* In the Temporal Vortex at the end, several shots of past events are shown.
* In "*Golden Hour*," the sequel episode released in 2021, Wu's final battle with the Time Twins is shown.
	+ It is confirmed that the effects of the Reversal Blade on him caused him to de-age as he battled with the Time Twins.
	+ The crack created by Wu's head when he hits the monastery wall resembles the Royal Family of Ninjago's lotus symbol. This is a reference to the fact that the Royal Family seemingly appeared out of nowhere in Season 8, and it suggests that their existence was caused by this change to the timeline.
	+ Wu's teenager and child design are the same as the forms he takes as he begins to age again during the events of *Hunted.*
* It is implied in Season 8 that the time travel shenanigans from this season caused the Ninja's designs to be changed, but this is not the case.
* P.I.X.A.L. finally gets her body back after having been compressed to be in Zane's brain since *Tournament of Elements*.
	+ She becomes the new Samurai X, taking the mantle from Nya. Her identity remains a secret until the next season.
* The ancient Hypnobrai sarcophagus returns in this episode since it first appeared in "*Child's Play*."
* Karloff reappears in this season after having been captured by the Vermillion.
* When the Time Twins alter history to make it so they won the War for all of Time, they caused the future to be altered and New Ninjago City to be reverted to its pre-technological state. In this scene, the Temple of Fortitude is seen. This is the first time it makes its reappearance since "*The Titanium Ninja*."
* This is the final season where the Ninja's Elemental Dragons are shown off. It is implied in the could-be-canon novel *Way of the Departed* that the Ninja have lost touch with their powers due to the disappearance of Master Wu, but a better explanation may just be that they have been continually out of tune with their powers as the seasons go on. Since the Dragon's introduction in Season 4, they get used less and less until Season 8 when they are completely dropped.

## Gallery

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