The Great Devourer

The Great Devourer was a monstrous snake worshipped by the Serpentine as a god, believed to consume all of creation if left unchecked. According to legend, she could only be unleashed if the Serpentine tribes united as one and found the four silver Fangblades. She was also responsible for Lord Garmadon's transformation to evil, as she bit him as a child, corrupting him with her evil venom. Some time after this, the Serpentine tried using the Devourer to scare the people of Ninjago underground in a bid to protect them from the Golden Master. However, this only fueled the people's disgust for the Serpentine. Around this point, the Devourer was sealed underground.

When Lloyd freed Pythor, the Anacondrai began scheming to awaken the Devourer by uniting the Serpentine and finding the Fangblades. Following a series of battles with the Ninja, the Fangblades were obtained and Pythor unleashed the Devourer from the Lost City of Ouroboros, after which she consumed Wu and Pythor before heading into Ninjago City to wreak havoc. The Ninja battled the Great Devourer, which proved to be a dangerous adversary, until Garmadon offered to destroy the beast by combining the Golden Weapons. Reluctantly, the Ninja gave him the weapons, and Garmadon killed the beast.

Despite all, the Devourer's demise would only create further conflicts. The Devourer's venom revived the Stone Army and Krux used eggs from the beast to breed an army of Vermillion Warriors. Needless to say, the massive serpent had a tremendous influence on the future of Ninjago.

Early years
In her early days, the Devourer was just a small green viper. She was then (possibly) corrupted by an evil darkness, turning her venom into an ominous poison that could turn the purest of hearts evil. She bit a young Garmadon, infecting him with darkness, and began to grow into a titanic monstrosity. The ancient Serpentine somehow took control of the Devourer and used her in their initial invasion of Ninjago—following the Serpentine's defeat, the beast was sealed under the Lost City of Ouroboros.

Can of Worms
The Great Devourer's existence was revealed when Cole and Zane entered the Constrictai Tomb. While searching for the inhabitants, the two Ninja discovered a crude mural on the wall depicting the Serpentine gathering before an especially massive snake. Zane translated the drawings as a prophecy: when the Serpentine united as one, they could find the Four Silver Fangblades and unleash the Great Devourer, who would consume all of Ninjago and turn day into night.

The Snake King
A statue of the Great Devourer was present at one end of the Slither Pit arena in the Lost City of Ouroboros.

Tick Tock
The Great Devourer made her first true appearance in a flashback Master Wu had before he set out to find Lord Garmadon's Dimension, when the old man told his students how Lord Garmadon's descent into evil began when he was bitten by a strange green snake in the bushes. Wu explained that the snake—a young Great Devourer—was a legendary beast that would consume all in her path, and her venom could turn even the most noble soul into a being of pure evil. He charged the Ninja with finding the four Fangblades before the Serpentine could, as the Fangblades were the keys to the Devourer's revival.

The Rise of the Great Devourer
Despite the Ninjas' best efforts, Pythor managed to collect all of the Fangblades and retreat to Ouroboros, where the Devourer was thought to have been imprisoned. Placing the Fangblades in the teeth of the statue overlooking the Slither Pit arena, Pythor commanded the Devourer to awaken, expecting her to emerge from the statue. To his surprise, the beast was not within the statue, but beneath the arena itself, and she was far larger than Pythor had expected.

More frightening still for the Anacondrai General, Master Wu revealed that the Great Devourer was not bound to obey the one who awakened her—in fact, she had no qualms about eating the Serpentine along with the rest of the world. As Master Wu prevented Pythor from fleeing, the Great Devourer burst free of her stone prison, immediately swallowing Pythor and Master Wu whole.

Day of the Great Devourer
The Ninja attempted to escape the Devourer in the Destiny's Bounty, but they only succeeded in making the beast even bigger when she ate their jettisoned ballast and the ship itself. However, the escape gave them time to reach Ed & Edna's Scrap N Junk, where they used a Tornado of Creation to build the Ultra Sonic Raider. Equipping their new vehicle with Zane's recording of the Sacred Flute, they managed to deal some damage to the Devourer, also discovering a small weak spot on the top of her head. However, the Great Devourer destroyed the Ultra Sonic Raider's sonic cannons and withdrew to attack Ninjago City.

The Ninja followed the Great Devourer and managed to prevent her from consuming any innocent civilians, but the monstrous snake proved too powerful for them to defeat. Even the arrival of Nya's Samurai Mech and the Ultra Dragon did little against the Devourer. Eventually, Lord Garmadon arrived and revealed that the only way to slay the Devourer was to use the power of all four Golden Weapons, which only he could do. Despite their misgivings, the Ninja agreed, with Kai also telling Lord Garmadon about the Devourer's weak spot.

While Lord Garmadon left to prepare his attack, the Ninja distracted the Great Devourer, leading her on a mad chase around the city. Eventually, they were able to immobilize the beast by tangling her body in buildings and tricking her into biting her own tail, leaving her weak spot wide open as Lord Garmadon combined the energies of the Golden Weapons with his own dark powers. Declaring his actions as vengeance against the Great Devourer for dragging him down the path of evil, Lord Garmadon leaped from a skyscraper and plunged through the creature's weak spot, causing the Great Devourer to explode spectacularly, releasing large amounts of venom onto the city.

Darkness Shall Rise
Despite her destruction, the Great Devourer's evil influence continued to plague Ninjago—literally, as her defeat flooded the city with venom. The Ninja spent a large amount of time helping the city's cleanup efforts. When Skales was attempting to assert his leadership over the Serpentine, Skalidor suggested unleashing the Great Devourer again, only for Skales to strike the Constrictai General for the bad idea.

Double Trouble
Lord Garmadon called his Serpentine forces together on the Black Bounty for a brainstorming session on how to defeat the Ninja with his new Mega Weapon. Upon hearing that the weapon could only create, not destroy, Lasha suggested recreating the Great Devourer. Lord Garmadon was not amused by the idea, and had the Venomari Scout thrown overboard as a sign of his displeasure.

The Stone Army
The Great Devourer's venom dripped onto several pieces of Stone Army merchandise at the Ninjago Museum of History, bringing them to life. Later, some more venom dripped on the Giant Stone Warrior exhibit found by Misako, bringing the ancient soldier to life.

The Day Ninjago Stood Still
More of the Devourer's venom seeped deep underground, activating an entire army of Stone Warriors, which were suddenly awoken, sealed in a hidden tomb unearthed by the Serpentine—although this also ended with the Serpentine themselves being sealed away once again.

The Art of the Silent Fist
As the Digital Overlord searches Wu's memories, the rise of the Great Devourer can be seen.

The Curse of the Golden Master
An ancient Serpentine legend revealed that the Serpentine were, in the beginning, trying to save the people of Ninjago from the Golden Master, and tried to use the Great Devourer to scare the people of Ninjago underground. However, the people defeated the Devourer and believed that the Serpentine were the enemy, and drove them underground.

Later in the episode, it is revealed that Pythor survived his time in the Great Devourer's stomach, although the experience turned his scales white.

Only One Can Remain
Kai said that Clouse's pet was the second biggest snake he had ever seen, alluding to the colossal Great Devourer as the biggest.

The Forgotten Element
Master Chen kept a scale of the Great Devourer in his Hall of Fame.

The Last Resort
While hiding from Nadakhan and the Sky Pirates, Nya suggests that Jay could wish for the Great Devourer to be brought back while thinking of what Jay can use his last wish on.

The Hatching
Krux used eggs from the Great Devourer to breed an army of Vermillion.

Game of Masks
It is revealed this episode that Harumi's parents were killed during the events of Day of the Great Devourer, and she was left an orphan. Harumi saw Lord Garmadon's bravery in defeating the Devourer, and became The Quiet One so that she may resurrect him one day to get revenge on the Ninja for indirectly killing her parents and their poor efforts to stop the Devourer.

Abilities
The Great Devourer had an insatiable appetite and the ability to consume anything that she came across. Whenever she consumed something, she grew larger and more powerful—the Ninja noticed that she would have been truly unstoppable if allowed to consume the bustling metropolis of Ninjago City.

In combat, the Great Devourer normally used her tremendous size and nigh-invulnerability to her advantage, attempting to swallow anything in her path and smashing opponents with her spiked tail. Her venom was capable of bringing inanimate objects to life and could corrupt even the purest individuals into wrathful megalomaniacs against their will, such as the case of Garmadon.

Additionally, she seemed to display a sense of tactical thought, tricking both the Ninja and the Ultra Dragon into thinking they had either defeated or escaped her, only to suddenly ambush them when their guard was lowered. Despite her massive size, she was also incredibly fast and had the ability to burrow through the ground with ease.

The Great Devourer only displayed two real weaknesses over the course of the show. Like the Serpentine, she appears to be intolerant of the Sacred Flute's music, to the point of physical pain. She also had a small weak spot on top of her head. If she took a particularly powerful blow to this point, it would result in her death, as evidenced when Garmadon used the Golden Weapons to finally destroy her once and for all.

Trivia

 * The Great Devourer has only appeared in one LEGO set, 9450 Epic Dragon Battle. Physically, she bears more resemblance to the young Devourer seen in Master Wu's flashback in "Tick Tock," and she is significantly smaller than the Devourer seen in the show—in fact, she appears to be approximately the size of the statue in Ouroboros' Slither Pit.
 * In one of the supplementary Ninjago comics, it is implied that the Overlord was responsible for creating the Great Devourer by corrupting a snake with darkness, thus the Overlord might be responsible for turning Garmadon evil in the first place. This theory is supported by the end of "Rise of the Spinjitzu Master": when Lloyd defeats the Overlord, Lord Garmadon is purified of the Devourer's venom.
 * The Ninja immobilize the Great Devourer by tricking her into biting her own tail. This is another reference to ouroboros—often depicted as a snake eating its own tail—the concept of cyclical events and entities.
 * The Devourer is one of the three most powerful and largest beings of Ninjago, the others being the Overlord (the most powerful) and the Preeminent (the largest).
 * The Great Devourer's true relationship to the Serpentine is unknown. She was considered a ruler and god of the Serpentine, but they immediately hid in fear of her when she was released, as they were avoiding the considerable threat of being eaten.
 * According to Kai, the four Silver Fangblades were made from the original teeth of the Great Devourer.
 * The Great Devourer's abilities and traits appear to be larger-scale versions of the Serpentine's tribal abilities. She has the Constrictai's rapid burrowing abilities, the Anacondrai's ability to swallow things whole, and the effects of her venom could be interpreted as a mixture of Hypnobrai Hypnotism and the Fangpyre's Bite.
 * Physically, the Devourer's green skin and tendency to secrete mass amounts of fluorescent green venom hearken back to the Venomari, but her long fangs resemble the Fangpyre and her pink eyes are similar to the Anacondrai.
 * As it turned out, the Great Devourer is apparently female, as she laid Vermillion eggs sometime after the Serpentine War. These eggs were later obtained by Krux, who used them to breed his army.

Gallery
Großer Schlangenmeister Pożeracz Światów