Clouse

Clouse is Master Chen's former second-in command, and a master of Dark Magic. Like his master, Clouse has a history with Garmadon, having trained with him in their youth. In that time, he lost an opportunity to become Chen's right hand man during a fight with Garmadon in the training yard, thus sparking his hatred against him. He is the last known survivor of the Cursed Realm's destruction.

Years later, when Chen organized the Tournament of Elements, the Ninja uncovered a greater scheme to transform Chen and his followers into Anacondrai. Clouse was one of the masterminds of the plan, although before he could complete the task, he was caught in a battle with Garmadon that led to him inadvertently being banished to the Cursed Realm.

Sometime after Clouse's imprisonment, Morro and his army of ghosts freed The Preeminent, the embodiment of the Cursed Realm, into the city of Stiix. When the beast was drowned, the Cursed Realm and nearly all its prisoners were destroyed, except Clouse. He would later free Nadakhan from the Teapot of Tyrahn shortly after his escape, and would in turn be trapped in the teapot himself. After Jay made his final wish, Clouse was freed, but never summoned Nadakhan. Clouse reunited the Sky Pirates on his own, allying with them to corrupt the Temple of Light and plunge all of Ninjago into darkness. The Ninja would eventually stop Clouse, and as a result he was banished to the Underworld.

Early life
At a young age, Clouse was a student of Master Chen and trained under him at his monastery. There he developed a rivalry between one of the other students; Garmadon. One day a fight broke out between them in the training yard which only intensified when Chen declared that the winner would be made his second in command and be granted lordship. To try and gain the upper hand, Clouse used his magic to bring the equipment to life, but was defeated when Garmadon used Spinjitzu, a form that Chen had forbidden. Clouse quickly pointed out that Garmadon had cheated, but Chen dismissed it and pronounced Garmadon as a "lord."

Clouse eventually did become Chen's second in command as during the Serpentine Wars, Garmadon left Chen to fight alongside his brother. At Chen's request, Clouse used his magic during a battle between the Elemental Alliance and the Anacondrai in Birchwood Forest to divide the elemental masters, ensuring the Serpentine's victory. Nevertheless, the alliance won the war, causing Chen and Clouse to be exiled to a secluded island. Clouse was set as one of the hosts of the Tournament of Elements, and is seen with Master Chen.

Chen Mini Movies
Clouse appears in the five 30-second mini movies about Master Chen and his special chair. These mini movies likely occur sometime during or before the Tournament of Elements.

In "Chen's New Chair" he prompts Chen to look at the instructions for his new chair, but he ignores him and proceeds press random buttons, which opens up a trap door, allowing the chair's box to fall through it. He then presses another button, setting Clouse on fire, hence burning the instructions.

In "Chairful What You Wish For", "Bad Chair Day" and "Chair up Chen", Clouse stands by as Chen plays around with the buttons on his chair. In "Chair Play Chen," Chen and Clouse play table tennis, with Clouse definitely being the better of the two, though Chen refuses to admit it. After many matches and many losses, he loses his temper and brings out two giant ping pong ball machine guns and fires furiously at Clouse. Immediately after the barrage ends, Chen hits a ball over the net to Clouse's side, and pronounces himself the winner. Before getting smashed in the table like a rollaway bed.

The Invitation
Clouse was present when the Ninja were asked to quickly board the ship. Kai, Cole, and Jay quickly boarded, but Lloyd was stopped by his father. Even though he was asked not to get on the ship, Clouse called one last time, and Lloyd joined, with his father coming after him.

Clouse also appeared when Karlof was about to finish his battle against Kai, and stopped them both. After inviting them to Chen's Island, he reported to Chen that Garmadon was back.

Only One Can Remain
Clouse orders the attendants to welcome Master Chen. He then pauses, and lets Chen explain their Tournament idea.

After Karlof has lost all of his powers, his snake has has ripped a hole in Jay's tournament gi. He thanks his pet, and now knows the people who had spied on them.

Versus
Clouse was eager to use his Dark Magic in the Tournament, but Chen told him it had to wait and that they would use it in time. Clouse watched the first round of battles, and showed no emotion when some of the contestants lost.

The Ninja enlisted Neuro to try to find out what the Tournament was really about by reading Chen's mind. Neuro couldn't get close enough to Chen, but he managed to pick up some things from Clouse when the latter caught Neuro in the dressing room.

When Zane escaped his prison, Clouse electrocuted him and told the guards to put on thicker chains that he couldn't cut through.

Ninja Roll
When Jacob tried to escape the Noodle Factory, Clouse caught him and told the guards to feed him to his serpent.

Spy for a Spy
Clouse first appeared to inform Chen that he had heard rumours of an alliance of Elemental fighters, spurring Chen to take action. He then reappeared to check on his spellbook, and noticed some kabuki paint (Nya's) on the spellbook cover. Intrigued, he opened it to discover that the transformation spell page had been stolen. With this clear evidence of a spy, Chen ordered all the kabuki servants to be searched. Later on, once Dareth had revealed Nya as a spy, Clouse took on Nya in a fight on the rooftops of Chen's fortress. It seemed like Clouse had the upper hand, but right before he dealt the final blow, Nya kicked him backwards and fled to the jungle, leaving a very angry Clouse behind.

Spellbound
For the next part of the tournament, wherein Chen had the fighters search the island for Nya, Clouse stood by his masters side in the D.B. Express as he oversaw the event using the mobile base's computer screen. He questioned his master's intent, pointing out that their men hadn't been able to find the girl so it was unlikely that they would be able to either. Chen however revealed that the purpose of the round was not to capture Nya but rather the fighters as the gifts he had given them were tracking their every move.

Clouse was sent out to capture the fighters, first locating Shade and then Paleman. He brought the latter before Chen, informing him that Skylor was with Kai, but they had yet to locate Garmadon and Lloyd. Angered by this, Chen sent his second in command out to find them.

While he was unable to locate them, he did however find Jay who was using an ElectroMech to get around due to his injured leg. To fight him, Clouse used his magic to create a mech for himself and the two proceeded to fight. Jay quickly became distracted when Nya arrived with the spell in hand and Clouse destroyed the mech's main power source and causing the mech to overload. Jay was then captured and imprisoned with the other fighters.

The Forgotten Element
Clouse's first major appearance in the episode was when he interrupted Garmadon's infiltration into Chen's temple. Seizing an Anacondrai blade, he advanced on Garmadon, who had grabbed Captain Soto's cutlass in defense. He managed to slice the cutlass in half with his superior blade, and presumably captured Garmadon and brought him to his pet serpent's cave off screen. He reappeared by Chen's side in the underground portion of the temple to recite the spell. However, when Kai intervened and grabbed the Staff of Elements, Clouse had to act quickly, and attempted to douse Lloyd with some venom (presumably acid/poison) that was dripping from the ceiling. His attempts to destroy Lloyd were foiled when Kai created an energy bubble around Lloyd to protect him. In anger, he attempted to cast a spell at Kai, but was frozen into a block of ice by the Staff. He was later shown escaping from the block of ice and carrying Skylor away through a secret passageway.

The Day of The Dragon
Clouse was sent to recapture Skylor upon her escape, but was distracted when he was assaulted by Garmadon. After a brief fistfight on the wings of Cole's Roto-Jet, Garmadon shoved Clouse off the wings of the plane, but was dragged down as well. They resumed fighting on the ground, until Clouse opened the portal to the Cursed Realm. As Garmadon was being sucked into the portal, Clouse became distracted in his moment of victory, envisioning himself as "Lord" Clouse, instead of Garmadon. In this brief respite, Garmadon took advantage of Clouse being distracted and grabbed his leg, throwing Clouse into the portal and escaping himself.

Curse World - Part II
For a time, Clouse was the only Anacondrai Cultist to be imprisoned in the Cursed Realm, until Garmadon sacrificed himself to free the original Anacondrai Generals and have Chen and his followers, now transformed into Anacondrai, banished to the Cursed Realm. Clouse would remain there for several months, with Master Chen being imprisoned in the cell in front of his.

When Lloyd is banished to the Cursed Realm, he runs past several aisles of cells after seeing a group of ghosts on the move. One of the cells he runs by is Chen's, who is startled by the Green Ninja running by. He alerts Clouse, who is hopelessly attempting to cut his way out of his cell, but he assures Chen that he was seeing things again.

When Morro and his army of ghosts free The Preeminent (who is revealed to be the embodiment of the Cursed Realm), they attack Stiix and its civilians. Eventually, the Preeminent heads out into the Endless Sea but is knocked over by a massive tidal wave created by Nya, killing the beast. As a result, the Cursed Realm is destroyed and all its inhabitants are presumably killed, including Chen and all the Anacondrai Cultists, but Clouse managed to escape.

Infamous
Alone and harboring dark ambitions, Clouse went on to find the legendary Teapot of Tyrahn in Stiix, having lost his magic due to his status as a Ghost and believing the wishes of a Djinn could bring his powers back. He dug up the teapot from a pile of junk in the harbor of Stiix, and entered an unknown location, where he used the teapot to summon Nadakhan, which freed him, and was granted three wishes. He wished for his book of spells, but it backfired when he picked up the book, as it turned into ash due to being burned by the Ninja. He then wished for him to become human again, but suffered intense pain, as Nadakhan described the transformation from ghost to physical as a "painful process," leading to Clouse to use his final wish, and end up being manipulated by Nadakhan into wishing to be free of all of the pain. Nadakhan then used the broad context of the wish to trick Clouse into being absorbed into the teapot, where he was free of the pain at the expense of being trapped within the teapot.

Enkrypted
After receiving the Djinn Blade from Khanjikhan, Nadakhan shattered the Teapot of Tyrahn, transferring Wu, Clouse, and Misako into the blade.

Operation Land Ho!
When Jay was about leave the Djinn Blade with his friends, Clouse grabbed his leg, but Jay kicked him and sent Clouse floating backwards, Jay then escaped along with his friends, leaving Clouse trapped for all eternity.

The Way Back
As a result of Jay's final wish, Clouse was freed from the Djinn Blade and restored back to his Ghost form, with no memory of the events of the season. He attempted to salvage the Teapot of Tyrahn, only to be noticed by the people of Stiix and chased off, preventing him from freeing Nadakhan and ironically sparing him.

Ninjago: The Realm Of Shadows
Frustrated once again, Clouse eventually set his eyes on conquering Ninjago by plunging it into Darkness. Setting his eyes on a recently-hatched YinYang Dragon named Bandit, Clouse, realizing he could use a spell to turn the naive baby into a corrupt Shadow Dragon, sent in an army of Shadows to kidnap Bandit, succeeding in doing so. Chaining Bandit in his lair and seizing one of his scales, Clouse used the scales to begin a spell that would corrupt him into a Shadow Dragon. Interrupted by Kai and Nya, Clouse unleashed his Shadows on the two once again, and with the spell beginning to finish, had his Shadows converge into Bandit to finish the metamorphosis. Gloating that Kai's callous neglect would ensure Bandit's inner darkness, Clouse's plans would be rendered futile when Kai, Nya, and a group of acquaintances sent by Sensei Wu instead encouraged Bandit, supporting the young Dragon. Emboldened by the support, Bandit vanquished the darkness with him, instead turning into a Light Dragon. Incredulous and raving mad, Clouse swore vengeance and escaped from his collapsing lair.

Dark Island Trilogy, Part 2
With Bandit now purified, Clouse sought another means of spreading darkness and thus journeyed to the Dark Island. There, he used his dark magic to release Nadakhan's crew from their imprisonment in separate realms. Though they were at first reluctant to work for him, Clouse blackmailed them into plundering fishing boats and using their owners as slave labor to mine for Dark Matter. Using the Matter, he intended to destroy the Temple of Light's defenses which would plunge both islands of Ninjago into darkness.

Not long after the Ninja arrived on the Dark Island, Clouse confronted Sensei Wu in a cave and explained to him his intentions. When Wu freed himself of his entrapment, Clouse fled in the Misfortune's Keep, heading to the Temple of Light.

Dark Island Trilogy, Part 3
Regrouping with the Sky Pirates at the Billy Badlands, who were transporting the final trove of Dark Matter needed to corrupt the Temple of Light, Clouse was confronted by Kai, Cole, and eventually the rest of the ninja, including the escaped Misako and Ronin, all piloting his commandeered vehicles. Ordering his minions to defend the trove, Clouse assisted in the fight by blasting Kai aside with a burst of dark magic and later summoning a sandstorm, separating the Ninja from him and the pirates as they escaped.

Despite the Ninjas' attempts to catch up to him, Clouse succeeded in transporting the Dark Matter to the Temple of Light. With the sacred structure's defenses failing, Clouse relished in his victory but nevertheless summoned an army of Shadows to defend his plans alongside the Sky Pirates. Even as the growing darkness caused the Dark Island and Ninjago to slowly merge in order to infect both worlds with pure evil, Clouse formed a shadow barrier to protect the Dark Matter trove, only for Sensei Wu, now armed with the repaired Golden Mech, to break through.

Frustrated but not defeated, Clouse proceeded to summon his army of Shadows to him, forming a doppelganger Shadow Mech and mocking the Light, ironically claiming that he would remake the world in his own image; the infamous goal and words of his rival, Garmadon. Despite his efforts, however, the blade of his Shadow Mech would be shattered, even as Wu used the Golden Mech to once again disperse the Dark Matter and cleanse the Temple of Light. With the islands now returning to their original positions, a portal formed above Clouse, sucking him in. Despite Wu's offer to save and redeem him, Clouse, blinded by his fury, refused, stating that he'd prefer to die than be saved by Wu, and surrendered to the vortex, being sucked inside. In a final twist of irony, Clouse would find himself transported to the Underworld, surrounded by the Skulkin just as his nemesis Garmadon was, even being in the exact same place where the Dark Lord fought Samukai. Realizing his whereabouts, Clouse screamed, lamenting his fate.

Personality and Traits
Unlike his master, Clouse was practical and far more down-to-earth, always being serious and rarely, if ever, having a humorous moment. Constantly reserved, Clouse would keep his anger in check, relying on silent threats to those he opposed instead of loud declarations, often preferring to leave his victims' fate to their imagination. Likewise, he was rather sadistic, reveling often in the fear of others, and was prone to a sense of cruel humor. When angered, Clouse would be quick to punish and often severely, not taking any offenses very kindly and enjoying his threats enormously. He also took joy in taunting his enemies after cornering them.

Though ultimately not as intelligent nor cunning as his master, Clouse would at least remain more focused and intuitive, often more wary of events around him and was very intelligent and calculating. Prone to sinister plots, Clouse held a close relationship to his pet, genuinely caring for it and being grieved upon its death. Likewise, Clouse could be an incredibly vengeful person, holding powerful grudges; Namely, against Garmadon, and as an extension, his son, Lloyd. Though calm and composed, he would usually corner his old rival, slyly reminding him of his mistakes and other evil deeds of the past in order to torture him mentally and emotionally, and when attempting to banish Garmadon to the Cursed Realm, reveled intensely over Garmadon's predicament.

Likewise, Clouse's sense of vengeance could go on beyond his own sense of self-preservation at times, the most notable occasion in which he opted to drag Jay back into the Djinn Blade instead of escaping himself. Additionally, despite Wu's efforts to save Clouse, Clouse insisted on giving into his fate, his vengeance having been heightened to the point where he preferred death over mercy by his enemies.

In his calmer moods, Clouse would often act exasperated around the foolishness of others, though nevertheless remained seemingly indifferent to his surroundings; However, in the heat of battle, and when confronting his opponents, Clouse's voice could become more tense and strained. Likewise, Clouse was prone to having to restrain his wrath whenever threatening others, fighting, etc., his angered tone becoming more evident. Despite these strong emotions, Clouse succeeded in keeping them in check, instead slowly and darkly festering them within him, and preferred to plan revenge on those who angered for him, his plans even lasting years.

Despite his constant exasperation over his master's antics, Clouse nevertheless tolerated him, displaying great loyalty towards Chen. However, following his master's death due to The Preeminent's destruction, Clouse began festering his darker ambitions, seeking power and revenge. Having resented the denial of his Lordship for many years, Clouse would slowly turn into a megalomaniac, feeling that the world owed him and thus deciding to claim it as his own. He would eventually become completely obsessed with his own personal glory and gratification, often raving over his intended fame as the one to defeat the Ninja and rule all of Ninjago.

Appearances
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 * 70748 Titanium Dragon

Season 4: The Tournament of Elements

 * 35. "The Invitation"
 * 36. "Only One Can Remain"
 * 37. "Versus"
 * 38. "Ninja Roll"
 * 39. "Spy for a Spy"
 * 40. "Spellbound"
 * 41. "The Forgotten Element"
 * 42. "The Day of the Dragon"

Season 5: Possession

 * 54. "Curse World - Part II"

Season 6: Skybound

 * 55. "Infamous"
 * 56. "Public Enemy Number One"
 * 63. "Operation Land Ho!"
 * 64. "The Way Back"

Dark Island Trilogy

 * "Dark Island Trilogy, Part 2"
 * "Dark Island Trilogy, Part 3"

Chen Mini-movies

 * "Chen's New Chair"
 * "Chair Play Chen"
 * "Chair up Chen"
 * "Chairful What You Wish For"
 * "Bad Chair Day"

Plays

 * Ninjago: The Realm of Shadows

Video Games

 * LEGO Ninjago: Tournament (non-canon)
 * LEGO Dimensions (non-canon)}}