Garmadon

"Now to destroy the ninja, once and for all!" - Lord Garmadon

Lord Garmadon is the evil, Dark Lord of the Underworld and the older brother of Sensei Wu. He is the main antagonist in the Ninjago storyline, though he not always intended to have been. He starts off as the primary antagonist of the pilot episodes, and later as an anti-hero in the first season. He is once again the main antagonist in the second season.

Background
When Garmadon and Sensei Wu were young children, they were best friends. One day, young Garmadon went to fetch Wu's katana after it fell into some bushes outside the Monastery. Before he could retrieve it, Garmadon was bitten by the Great Devourer, who was a viper whose venom plagued him with evil. After their father died, Wu and Garmadon swore to protect the Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu, but Garmadon wanted them for himself due to the Devourer's venom consuming his soul. After a climatic battle, he was banished into the Underworld, where he is confronted by Samukai, King of the Underworld and the Skeleton Fire General. Determining to set his plans straight to return and posess the Four Weapons, Garmadon starts off into a duel with Samukai and defeats him, leading him to become the new King and take control of the Underworld and the Skeleton Army. After many years of teaching the Skeletons about Spinjitzu, he sent them to steal the map leading to the Four Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu from Kai and Nya's blacksmith shop, Four Weapons. He ordered Samukai to pursue Cole, Jay, Zane, and Kai on their search for the weapons, but not to take them. Garmadon later tricked Kai into going into the Fire Temple by using a false image of Nya to lure him in. He then made Kai remove the Sword of Fire to free Nya and used Kai's own shadow to take the powerful Sword. Sensei Wu came just in time to save Kai, but was not able to stop Garmadon from summoning the Fire Dragon to stop them from leaving. Wu used the Sword of Fire to cut of a piece of rock so he could keep the sword from Garmadon, and he fell into the Underworld. Garmadon then ordered Samukai, who had already stolen the Scythe of Quakes, the Nunchucks of Lightning, and the Shurikens of Ice, to return to the Underworld and retrieve the Sword.

After Samukai had defeated Wu and held all Four Weapons, he betrays Garmadon, attempting to use the Golden Weapons to take down Garmadon and reclain control of the Underworld. But Garmadon had planned for this encounter, and had tricked Samukai into using the Four Weapons at once, and Samukai disintegrated from the Weapons combined power. The power of the Four Weapons created a wormhole, through which Lord Garmadon escaped, vowing to return one day to possess the Weapons so that he can remake Ninjago in his own image.

In the "Rise of the Snakes" series, Garmadon spent his time in a dark place where he gained enough power to be able to control all four Golden Weapons, and grown two new arms for a total of four arms. Sensei Wu traveled to the dark place and was almost killed but was released by Garmadon when Sensei Wu informed him of Lloyd's plight. Garmadon showed concern for Lloyd and began to lead Sensei Wu out of the dark world and aid him in rescuing his son.

Rise of The Snakes
After Sensei Wu opened a portal to the Underworld, he comes into contact with Garmadon, who has now grown four arms. Garmadon greets him with an attack but after Wu informs him of Lloyd's status, Garmadon joins Wu to save his son. After traveling to the Mountain of Madness, a portal sends them back to Ninjago. Garmadon is allowed to stay at Destiny's Bounty until Lloyd is found. Around several times Garmadon is attacked by Kai, who does not not trust him and believes that Garmadon is taking the opportunity to claim the Four Golden Weapons, despite Garmadon being more focused in rescuing Lloyd. Soon, the two end up fighting after Kai spots Garmadon holding the Weapons and Kai "wins". However, to Kai's disappointment, Garmadon allowed himself to be defeated as he was actually trying to deliver the Weapons to the Ninja, this was confirmed when Wu confessed that he ordered Garmadon to deliver them to the Ninja. As a result, the other Ninja are now angry at Kai for his foolishness, and he is now humiliated, though he still retains his suspicion towards Garmadon. The Ninja and Lord Garmadon lead an expedition to the Fire Temple to get a Fangblade and save Lloyd from the Serpentine. There, Lord Garmadon defeats most of the Serpentine and attempts to save Lloyd, but the temple ends up collapsing due to the eruption, causing Lloyd to lose footing, much to Garmadon's shock. Garmadon is then forced to leave with the other Ninja, excludng Kai, much to his discomfort. Luckily, Kai manages to save Lloyd by finding his true potential and the two are reunited, and Garmadon genuinely thanks Kai for saving his son. However, Lloyd is now revealed to be the Green Ninja, destined to defeat Lord Garmadon.

Lord Garmadon stays for a short time and while the ninja are investigating the Serpentine's main base, Lord Garmadon hacks into their computer in an effort to gain information on the ninja. He is interrupted by Lloyd and the two get into an argument. Upon hearing of the Ninja being captured by the Serpentine and held hostage, Lord Garmadon decides to leave and heads off. During a Slither Pit for the Serpentine, Lord Garmadon summons the Skulkin Army to fight the Serpentine, allowing Lloyd to free the NInja and get the Fangblades. Garmadon then engages into a short fight with Pythor, who then runs off hiding. The ninjas then escape back to the Bounty, and Lord Garmadon decides to depart, believing that he's no longer needed anymore as they got all the Fangblades. However, before departing, he admits to Lloyd that he's still proud of what Lloyd will be, even though they're on opposite sides for it.

Unfortunately for Lord Garmadon, Pythor has stowed himself in the Bounty and sabotages the systems, reclaiming the Fang Blades and heading back to the city of Ouroboros, where he awakens the Great Devourer before it eats him and Sensei Wu. In the final battle against the Great Devourer, Lord Garmadon appeared and told the Ninja that only someone wielding the Four Weapons of Spinjitzu at once could defeat it. Zane confirmed this and the Ninjas gave him the Weapons and the Ninja caught the Devourer in one place by leading it to slither in a circle. Lord Garmadon appeared and delt the finishing blow, proclaiming it was part of revenge for making him evil. Afterwords, he disappeared with all four weapons in his hands. Though the Ninja are dismayed that Garmadon has taken the Golden Weapons, they are surprised to see that Sensei Wu has survived and they know they have reached their full potential that is enough to help them train Lloyd to find his true potential and use it to fight his father for the sake of Ninjago.

Darkness Shall Rise
After sneaking out of Ninjago City, Garmadon managed to ally himself with the Serpentine and tries to unlock the full power of the Golden Weapons, recreating the broken Destiny's Bounty, now known as the Black Bounty. Offering the Black Bounty to the Serpentine as their new home, the Serpentine gave in their new loyalty to Garmadon and flew away with him, abandoning Skales and the other generals. While piloting the Bounty, three Serpentine ask why they were moving away from the ninja, to which Garmadon explains that they're heading over to the Golden Peaks, the birthplace of the Golden Weapons, where Garmadon will uncover secrets pertaining to the power of the Golden Weapons. He also informs the Serpentine of the prophecy that Lloyd will gain his Spinjitzu potential as the Green Ninja that will send Garmadon to his defeat in the future. One of the Constrictai suggests they kill Lloyd in order to destroy the prophecy, but Lord Garmadon angrily disapproves of this (due to his love for his son) and locks the Constrictai member in the brig as punishment for his ruthless suggestion, forbidding the Serpentine to hurt Lloyd. He then explains that he will kill only his brother Wu and the Ninja instead so that Lloyd never reaches his full potential, thus Garmadon can go on and continue his goal to recreating Ninjago in his own image. In the meantime, the treacherous Skales plots to have the other Serpentine generals to distract the Ninja in Ninjago City so that he can kidnap Lloyd in order to blackmail Garmadon into giving his power over the Serpentine. Fortunately, Sensei Wu and Nya came to the rescue, and Skales is sent to prison, much to his anger. At the Golden Peaks, he unites the Golden Weapons into the Mega Weapon.

Appearance
Before Rise of The Snakes, he is all black with his ribs visible and a purple piece of cloth as a belt, and wears a silver helmet with a bone on it and has glowing red eyes. After going through the portal, dark essence seems to have given him four arms and he now has a different helmet. He also has new blades to go with his four arms.

Trivia

 * In the movies, he is seen with his hair piece, similar to Doctor Inferno from the LEGO Agents theme.
 * He is the second character in Ninjago to have four arms, the first being Samukai.
 * He is only seen in flashbacks and dreams in Season 2 of Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu without four arms.
 * He has a different helmet in 2012 than the one in 2011. The 2011 one was silver and the 2012 helmet was dark gray.
 * In the episode 'All of Nothing,' Lloyd said to Garmadon, "You left me for so long? Where did you go?" This indicates that Lord Garmadon left his own son when he was younger, which may explain why Lloyd is incredibly immature towards others.
 * His hair piece before he was banished to the Underworld is the same hair piece as Anakin Skywalker, from the Star Wars theme.
 * Now that Lloyd is the Green Ninja, their family has been seperated even more. Brother vs. Brother (Sensei Wu vs. Lord Garmadon) and now Father vs. Son (Garmadon vs. Lloyd).
 * In Once Bitten, Twice Shy it showed that he truly loved his son. When Sensei Wu said Lloyd was in trouble, he helped out the ninja and Wu.
 * He is one of two characters to use the 2012 "Samurai" helmet mold.
 * He and the Serpentine enter the Ninjaball run on the Black Bounty. They almost won, but the Ultra Sonic Raider crossed the finish line an inch further then the Black Bounty.

Weapons
He currently wields all Four Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu, but he formerly used a weapon called the Golden Bolt as his main weapon during the 2011 wave, however he never seemed to carry his Bolt in the show.