Ronin

Ronin is the main antagonist in LEGO Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin and a recurring character in the fifth season of LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu. He is a selfish, yet skilled and intelligent mercenary hired often by Master Chen for important tasks such as capturing Zane and releasing the banished master from the Cursed Realm.

Up until the destruction of the Obsidian Glaive, Ronin was a memory thief known to remove people's memories and replace them with lies about their past.

History
Ronin is mercenary, and at one point, stole the Obsidian Glaive from Hibiki. He also became indebted to Soul Archer, and owed him greatly.

Shortly after the defeat of The Overlord, Ronin captured the newly rebuilt Zane and sold him to Master Chen for use as bait to lure the other Ninja into the Tournament of Elements.

Shadow of Ronin
Following Chen's banishment to the Cursed Realm, Ronin planned to free him using the Elemental Forges in return for a large amount of money that he could use to pay his debts. Knowing that the Ninja would no doubt interfere with his plans, he sent several of his warriors to the monastery atop Spinjago where they enlisted as Dareth's adult class to get close to the Ninja.

After his men were easily defeated by the Ninja, Ronin himself arrived in stolen samurai armor and lured the Ninja to the top of the mountain, destroying the village as he went. When the Ninja cornered him, Ronin used the Obsidian Glaive to remove their memories, yet was only able to erase a few years before Wu fended him off. The memory thief claimed that he had done what he came for and escaped in R.E.X..

To make sure that the Ninja wouldn't regain their memories, Ronin sent his forces to Kryptarium Prison to steal the map to the Inky Lemonberry from Hibiki. They were unable to obtain it before the Ninja arrived however, though by then, Ronin had used the Obsidian Glaive on the Serpentine to make them believe they were still at war with the Ninja. He sent the Constrictai to claim the Obsidian Scythe, but they failed.

Ronin and his forces attacked the Ninja again at the Fire Temple while they were obtaining the Obsidian Sword. Ronin himself arrived at the temple in a large mech just as the Ninja were leaving, but the mech, however, proved to be no match for the power of the Ninja. Ronin was forced to retreat again in R.E.X., but not before he activated a device that would cause the volcano to erupt. The ninja just barely managed to escape in time.

While the Ninja journeyed to the Frozen Wasteland, Ronin constructed a new power source for the Nindroids, and used them to attack Ninjago City as a diversion to buy him time to find the Lightning Forge. He returned to the Floating Ruins just as the Ninja deactivated the power source, and used the forge to attack them, this forcing the Ninja to flee.

Ronin sent his goons after the Forge of Fire while he himself found the Forge of Earth. He then went to the vault of Ice only to find the Ninja there with both the Fire and Ice forges. Ronin ambushed them with the Lightning Forge, though, Dareth and Zane managed to escape. Ronin caught up to them, however and threatened to bury the rest of the Ninja and Wu in dirt unless they hand over the Fire and Ice forges. Dareth countered by attacking Ronin with the two forges, unintentionally creating water, which when Ronin added lighting, shocked and discombobulated the Brown Ninja. Ronin grabbed the remaining Forges and left, his intentions now set on finding the Primal Fulcrum.

Ronin used the Obsidian Glaive to alter Misako's memory to believe that the Ninja had betrayed her. He then sent her to the Fangpyre Tomb to find any clues to the Fulcrum's location. A Samurai that had been secretly watching her reported back to Ronin that the Fulcrum was hidden in Hiroshi's Labyrinth, and Ronin journeyed there to find it.

When he entered the inner chamber where the Fulcrum was kept, Ronin found the Ninja trapped as Misako had tricked them into activating a fail-safe. Misako ran to him, relieved that he was there and expressed that she hoped she did a good job in trapping them. Lloyd however, became furious at what Ronin had done to his mother, and managed to break one of his arms free. He fired a green beam at the Obsidian Glaive, destroying it. With his key weapon no more, and its effect starting to wear off on Misako, Ronin mocked the Ninja before he left with the Fulcrum. To ensure he wouldn't be followed, he destroyed the entrance to the room.

Ronin then traveled to Chen's Island to finish his plans, but the Ninja manage to break free in time and traveled to the Island to stop him. Ronin then gave the orders to his troops to throw everything they had at them.

After the Ninja find Ronin in Chen's Palace, he had already manage to put up a force field around himself and the Fulcrum, as he began to place the Elemental Forges on the Fulcrum. Wu then pleaded him to stop but Ronin refused, placing the final Forge on the Fulcrum and opening a portal to the Cursed Realms.

But the Ninja did not stop and instead, entered the now giant sized portal on their Elemental Dragons and the Ultra Dragon to stop him once and for all. After they had searched different portals to find him and manage to build an entrance to the portal he was hiding in, they were finely standing face to face with Ronin for one last time, but Ronin then revealed a triumph card. Using the remaining power of the Elemental Forges, Ronin conjured a giant elemental mech and fought the Ninja. But as the battle continued, the Ninja managed to destroy each of the Forges that powered his elemental mech, until they where all destroyed, and Ronin was then forced to flee on R.E.X. once more, but not before he saw a giant, green, ghostly arm coming out of the now closing portal, Ronin then managed to escape.

Ghost Story
Ronin later stole Sensei Yang's Airjitzu scrolls from the ancient library of Domu and returned to Stiix.

Stiix and Stones
As Ronin was setting a pot out that hid the scroll at his shop in Stiix, the Ninja arrived seeking it. The thief attempted to sell them weapons such as Aeroblades or Jadeblades, but they were relentless in asking for the scroll and he offered the price of 200, but raised it to 400 when he learned of its value. Kai attempted to barter with him, but due to his poor negotiating skills, they settled on the price of 450. After the Ninja left the shop in search of money, Ronin pulled the scroll out and inspected it.

That night, he was confronted by Soul Archer and Morro who also sought the scrolls. Ronin tried to stall by trying to purchase the Allied Armor of Azure, but they were interrupted when the Ninja arrived.

The Temple on Haunted Hill
Ronin comes to the tea shop and tells Misako, Nya, and Wu about the deal he and Kai made. When a customer is leaving, Ronin takes the treat Misako gave the man and points out its a business not a charity. Nya pays him to take her to her Samurai X Cave, on their way, Nya gets Ronin to reveal that he made a bet with the Soul archer, and if he did not pay him back, then his soul would go to the cursed realm. when they arrive they find out that Morro have already arrived in the cave, he uses an Aeroblade to take out one of the Soul Archer's arrows. After Nya's mech got possessed, Ronin saves Nya and takes her outside where the ghosts try to take Ronin's R.E.X but fail when Nya makes it rain. Ronin then told Nya that she was a Water Ninja.

Kingdom Come
Ghoul Tar was brought aboard the Bounty and Ronin questioned the ghost along with Wu and Nya. However, when the ghost refused to answer, Wu decided that the time would be better spent training Nya and the two left, leaving Ronin in charge of the prisoner.

Appearance
Ronin’s distinctive armor was, like most of his possessions, gained through dishonest means. It was forged by Eboshi, one of Ninjago’s greatest and most noble armorers, who Ronin tricked into helping him by implanting false memories with the Obsidian Glaive. After Eboshi created the armour for Ronin, he once more used the Obsidian Glaive, this time to wipe all of Eboshi’s memories so that he could never reveal Ronin’s identity.

Ronin's costume uses a half-mask similar to the Ninja's Techno Robes and Tournament outfits, as well as a straw hat similar to Sensei Wu's.

He only wears a cape in the Shadow of Ronin advertisement art.

Shadow of Ronin personality
Ronin is a self-centered greedy character, willing to cause chaos and destruction, just so that he could get paid. He shows little, if any, compassion to his victims, and cares little for his own henchmen, seeing them as nothing but tools to further his own plans. He often cracks jokes and mocked the Ninja throughout their encounters, which also showed him as being full of himself. But he was no fool, he was shown to always stay one step ahead of the Ninja and his foes.

LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu personality
Under Construction

Abilities and Weapons
Ronin wields two katanas and the Obsidian Glaive, which allows him to steal and alter memories. He also uses different weapons and gadgets: like a grapling hook, various explosives like explosive shurikens, a giant mech suit and R.E.X.. For a short time, Ronin possessed the Elemental Forges, which allowed him to use the elements of Fire, Ice, Earth and Lightning. This also allowed him to change into a giant elemental form of each element, during his final battle with the Ninja. Ronin also had his own personal army, of samurai armour wearing individuals.

Trivia

 * In the game, Ronin has three playable variants; his samurai armor costume, a armor-less variation of his first costume, and his mercenary outfit.
 * It's hinted that Ronin is rich.
 * In the game as a playable character, Ronin has the ability to: throw explosive shurikens (and his Obsidian Glaive), use sword activated switches, repair broken machines and use his grapling gun on certain areas.
 * Even though Ronin is shown wearing his mouth cover, straw hat and a cape in the advertisement, he never wear any of them together in the game. As a playable character, he wears the mouth cover but never the cape or the straw hat. When he threatens Zane and Dareth to give him the two remaining Forges, he only wears his straw hat, and he never wears his cape at any point in the game.
 * Ronin is arguably the only villain in the Ninjago series, who is not motivated by conquest or destruction, but is instead motivated by greed.
 * He is also revealed to have an Aeroblade, although it is unknown which element (if any) it is or how he obtained it and the other Aeroblades.
 * Just like many characters in the series, Ronin resembles a Star Wars character, in this case Han Solo. Both are older men, without special powers, relying on weapons to defend themselves. Both also have debts to pay, and they do dirty work as long as they get paid. They are neither good or bad, just people who do jobs for either side, but ultimately they choose to fight beside the heroes. They also have a fast ship that they fly around with.
 * He is the only boss in LEGO Ninjago: Tournament app that is unplayable.
 * His past with the Soul Archer is similar to Jack Sparrow and the debt he made with Davy Jones, the difference is that Ronin must pay in money, where as Jack had to pay in souls, either his or other people's.
 * Ronin is treated differently in the Ninjago series than he was treated in the game.
 * In the show, Nya, Wu, and Misako did not know who he was or recognize him (even though in the game, they had all met him).
 * The series treats Ronin more as a thief than the mercenary he was in the game, and even tries to give him a sympathetic backstory, by stating that he made a bet with the Soul Archer and had to pay him back or else he would be taken to the Cursed Realm, explaining his crocked motivations in the game.
 * Also, in the game, he had an army of Dark Samurai, but in the series, he says he's always been on his own. There is the possibility that ronin had hired them for that special occasion.
 * Ronin is the second person to actually kiss Nya (seen in "The Crooked Path"), the first being Bizarro Jay.

Appearances

 * 70735 Ronin R.E.X.
 * LEGO Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin
 * LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu
 * "Ghost Story"
 * "Stiix and Stones"
 * "The Temple on Haunted Hill"
 * "Peak-a-Boo"
 * "Kingdom Come"

Gallery
Ronin