The Turn of the Tide

“I am Nya. I am the sea. We are one.”

— Nya to the ninja

The Turn of the Tide
Information
Air date	April 30, 2021 (UK) May 23, 2021 (Canada) November 19, 2021 (US; Netflix)
Written by	Bragi Schut
Directed by	Wade Cross Shane Poettcker
Episode guide
Previous	"Nyad"
Next	"Curiosity"

Chronological order
Previous	Nyad
Next	Tentacles Below!

The Turn of the Tide is the sixteenth and final episode of the fourteenth season of Ninjago, the 180th episode overall and part of The Flood special. It aired on April 30, 2021 in the UK, and May 23 on Canada, both paired up with "Nyad." It released in the US on November 19, 2021, alongside The Island and the rest of the episodes of Seabound.

This episode is dedicated to Kirby Morrow, who passed away on November 18, 2020 and recorded his lines as Cole in this episode and the rest of the season before his death, thus making this the final episode where he’s part of the voice cast.

Synopsis

Nya leads the ninjas against Prince Kalmaar and Wojira in the final battle to save Ninjago City.

Extended: Prince Kalmaar and Wojira battle Nya while Benthomaar and the other ninjas do their best to help - eventually, Kalmaar's temper finally rankles Wojira, who turns on him and devours him whole. Just as she turns on the ninjas, Nya fulfils her destiny and pries the amulet from Wojira's head, defeating her - however, it's too late for Nya, who says goodbye and dives into the ocean...

Plot

Kalmaar destroying Nya

Nya launches a flurry of water attacks at Kalmaar and lands on Wojira's head to face him. Kalmaar sees Nya in her merged state and tells her it was a foolish sacrifice, just like what Nyad had done.

Wojira eating Kalmaar

The ninja arrive at the scene and Jay calls out to Nya. She lowers her guard at Jay's voice and Kalmaar seizes the opportunity to zap Nya, disintegrating her. The ninja cry out, horrified at what just happened. Kalmaar then commands Wojira to attack the ninja; Jay and Wu end up knocked back by her powers. Enraged, Jay takes Wu's staff and attacks Kalmaar directly. The Maaray Guards arrive soon after and a battle between them and the ninja occurs. Jay continues to fight Kalmaar but is easily defeated. Just as Kalmaar is about to zap him, Benthomaar with a screech, lands on Kalmaar from behind. Brother versus brother, they fight atop Wojira, and Benthomaar manages to destroy Kalmaar's trident, severing his control over Wojira. Kalmaar furiously strikes Wojira's amulet continuously, screaming at her to destroy the ninja. In response, she flings him up into the air and consumes him whole.

Nya fighting Wojira

Wojira then proceeds to destroy the ninja but a blast of water throws off her powers. She turns around and sees a water dragon, revealed to be Nya herself. The shocked ninja watch as Nya faces off against Wojira. Eventually, Wojira is able to disintegrate Nya by conjuring on Storm and turns towards the ninja to finish them off. However, a rainstorm begins as Nya reforms herself. She dives at Wojira and strikes the Wave Amulet, destroying it and sending a pulse of energy throughout all of Ninjago. Storm then circles around Wojira, who was then suddenly struck by it and disappears.

Nya leaving the ninja

The enemy defeated, Nya emerges from the water and lands on the rooftop. The others congratulate her, but notice that she is behaving abnormally. She turns to leave while Jay and Wu desperately beg her to stop, to no avail. Jay declares his love for her, and she asks him to tell Maya that she understands now - "That's the way the cookie crumbles," then dives into the sea as Jay screams her name. She emerges for one last time, returning the sea level to normal, then reenters the ocean and disappears.

Nya's memorial

Later at the Monastery, Jay cries as he studies a photo of him and Nya together, and he and Maya comfort each other. Cole and Kai come up behind them, and Jay and Cole head towards the courtyard. Jay remarks that he wants everyone to know what Nya did, and hopes that Skylor and Dareth will show up to pay respects. The two are then surprised to see that nearly everyone they had encountered throughout their adventures, along with the people of Ninjago, was present, and the crowd is so large that it trails down the steps of the Mountains of Impossible Height. As Wu makes a speech to commemorate Nya, everyone mourns together.

Out in the Endless Sea, Nya is swimming with the whales, laughing and whooping happily as she does so before speeding off into the depths of the ocean.

Appearances

Characters

Cast

• Benthomaar - Cole Howard
• Cole - Kirby Morrow
• Gripe - Brian Drummond
• Jay - Michael Adamthwaite
• Kai - Vincent Tong
• Kalmaar - Giles Panton
• Lloyd Garmadon - Sam Vincent
• Maya - Jillian Michaels
• Nya - Kelly Metzger
• Wu - Paul Dobson

Non-speaking

• Zane
• P.I.X.A.L.
• Maaray Guards
• Skylor
• Dareth
• Ed
• Edna
• Skales
• Acidicus
• Clutch Powers
• Dwayne
• Milton Dyer
• Okino
• Racer Seven
• Unagami
• Gulch
• Hailmar
• Korgran
• Murt
• Murtessa
• Vania
• Twitchy Tim
• Gayle Gossip
• Vinny Folson
• Antonia
• Nelson
• Leroy
• Ronin
• Jimmy
• Police Commissioner
• Cecil Putnam
• Percy Shippelton
• Smythe
• Underhill
• Adventure-Ready Woman
• Monk
• Ray

Miscellaneous

• Acronix (painting)
• Garmadon (painting)
• Harumi (painting)
• Iron Baron (painting)
• Krux (painting)
• Nyad (painting)
• Trimaar (mentioned)

Creatures

• Firstbourne (painting)
• Wojira
• Wu's chicken

Events

• Battle of Nine Days (mentioned)
• Battle for All of Time (painting)
• Fall of Ninjago (painting)
• Liberation of Ninjago (pictured)
• Great Flood

Items

• Amulets of Wojira
  • Storm Amulet
  • Wave Amulet
• Benthomaar's spear
• Benthomaar's arrows
• Bo staff
• Cole's golden hammer
• Dragon Armor (painting)
• Dragonbone Blade (painting)
• Jay's golden kusarigama
• Kai's golden katana
• Lloyd's golden sword
• Oni Mask of Hatred (painting)
• Ramen noodle cart
• Samurai X suit
• Time Blades (painting)
  • Forward Time Blade
  • Pause Time Blade
  • Reversal Time Blade
  • Slow-Mo Time Blade
• Tridents
  • Kalmaar's trident
• Zane's golden shurikens

Vehicles

• Iron Doom (painting)

Locations

• Ninjago (realm)
  • Ninjago
    • Ninjago City
      • Royal Palace (pictured)
    • Mountains of Impossible Height
      • Monastery of Spinjitzu
  • Endless Sea
• Realm of Oni and Dragons (painting)

Species

• Beavers
• Chickens
• Dragons (painting)
• Fish
• Geckles
• Humans
• Jellyfish
• Merlopians
• Munce
• Nindroids
• Serpentine
  • Hypnobrai
  • Venomari
  • Vermillion (painting)
• Sky Folk
• Oni/Dragon hybrids
• Oni/Dragon/Human hybrids
• Sea serpents
• Whales

Transcript

For the transcript of the episode, click here.

Trivia

• Narrator: Wu
  • In the Japanese version of the episode, the narrator is Nya instead of Wu.
• This episode is the ending of the "Abyss and The Flood" series that began with "Uncharted".
• Nya's departure fulfills a possibility mentioned by Tommy Andreasen in his interview with Brent Miller in 2018: Andreasen stated that he thought Jay and Nya would be together forever "unless we want to shake that up because of some story plot point at some point".
• Tommy Andreasen was "sobbing loudly" as he read Bragi's final script for this episode.
• Several characters from past seasons make their returns at Nya's memorial counting many background characters.
  • When asked about Ed and Edna's lack of appearances in recent seasons, Tommy Andreasen had said, "They aren’t exactly crucial characters. But I guess they would show up at an important event like a marriage or a funeral."
  • Skylor, Ed and Edna are the only characters appearing in the episode that have not yet appeared in episodes of WildBrain. Unlike Skylor, Ed and Edna have completely different designs based on their appearance in The LEGO Ninjago Movie, but without the aprons. Edna also has different hair piece.
  • Surprisingly, the Postman, Cyrus Borg, Lou, all the Elemental Masters except Skylor, and Scott did not appear at the memorial among the main allies of the ninja from previous seasons.
  • According to Tommy Andreasen, Cole's father Lou didn't attend the memorial because he "doesn’t react well to loss" and Cyrus Borg didn't attend because he is in a wheelchair and could not go up the stairs.
    • However, Cyrus Borg was already in the Monastery of Spinjitzu in "Endings."
      • It's possible he was airlifted in the Bounty in "Endings," and could not be transported due to the Bounty being grounded in "Assault on Ninjago City."
• Cole's line to Nya, "I knew you could do it!", is reused from when he congratulated Nya after she seemingly defeated Boreal in "Awakenings."
  • Similarly, Jay's finals words to Nya were reused from "The Temple of Madness," after she turned into an energy cube.
  • This was most likely done to reduce time, as most of the season was produced with crew members working from home, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Three lines in this episode (Nya's "This is how the cookie crumbles!", Kai's "That's gonna take some getting used to.", and Cole's "I think so.") were hinted at when Tommy Andreasen briefly changed his Twitter name to these phrases shortly before this episode's release. The third is also significant because it is Kirby Morrow's final line in the series.

The dedication to Kirby Morrow.

• This is the final episode to have Kirby Morrow as a part of the voice cast, as he recorded his lines for the 2021 episodes prior to his death in 2020.
• This episode and the previous episode, "Nyad," aired in the UK on the same day "Gold Rush" was released.
• This episode is a pun on turning the tide, which means to reverse a situation.
• According to Tommy Andreasen, the reason Kai didn't react to Nya's sacrifice like Jay is because "People respond in unexpected ways to grief and shock. You'll learn though life."

Cultural references

• When Cole throws his hammer at the Maaray Guards, he does so in the same way as Thor with Mjølnir in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Continuity

• The way Kalmaar took Benthomaar's spear by his tentacle is the same as he took Wu's bo staff in "Riddle of the Sphinx."
• Before she leaves, Nya touches Jay's face the same way she did when she was dying in "The Way Back."
• The ending scene with several characters gathered at the monastery resembles the final scene in "Endings," though the tones are completely different.
• This is the first episode to feature a ninja sacrifice themselves since "Vengeance is Mine!"
• The line, "This is how the cookie crumbles," references Nya and Maya's conversation in "Five Thousand Fathoms Down."
  • A similar line was said by Cole in "The Last Hope." However, the lines in Seabound were not intended as a reference to this.
  • "That's the way the cookie crumbles" is a phrase in English vocabulary said when something slightly unlucky has happened that could not have been prevented and so must be accepted.
• Nya's departure was foreshadowed in "Master of the Sea," when Maya told Nya she was glad she got to go "on one last adventure" with her.
  • Another hint was when Maya had told Nya that she had never had to make a major sacrifice before.
• An image of Jay and Nya from "Green Destiny" can be seen before Nya's memorial.
  • Due to being an image from the WILFilm ApS era, the image has a slightly different style than that of the WildBrain animation of this episode. This is the third time an image from a WILFilm episode is seen in a WildBrain episode, following "Dyer Island" and "Ninjago Confidential."
• This episode shares similarities with "Day of the Great Devourer," "The Titanium Ninja," and the "The Son of Lilly."
  • With "Day of the Great Devourer,"
    • The main antagonist of the season (Kalmaar and Pythor) are consumed by a giant serpent that they awakened (Wojira and the Great Devourer), although Kalmaar wasn't immediately devoured by Wojira at first, unlike Pythor.
    • The ninja believing that Nya was killed at first is similar to how they believed Wu died by the Great Devourer, but both characters ultimately survived in the end.
    • The serpents battle against a large dragon during the final battle (the Water Dragon and the Ultra Dragon). Both dragons are also a transformation of something else (the Water Dragon being Nya's water avatar, while the Ultra Dragon is a combination between the four original ninja's dragons, Flame, Shard, Wisp, and Rocky).
    • Both serpents (Wojira and the Great Devourer) are defeated by a character (Nya and Lord Garmadon) striking their vulnerable spots on top of their foreheads (the Amulets of Wojira and the glowing green spot on the Great Devourer).
      • When the ninja witness Wojira's defeat, the sight in which they witness her possible death was in a similar location to where they all witness the Great Devourer's defeat, both being on the rooftop of a building.
  • With The Titanium Ninja,"
    • Like with "Day of the Great Devourer," all three battles took place within Ninjago City.
    • The focus ninja of the season (Nya and Zane) sacrifice themselves to defeat the main villain (Wojira and the Overlord) by using their elemental powers (Water and Ice).
    • A memorial for both ninja are publicly held, however, Nya's memorial was treated as such, whilst Zane's memorial was treated as a funeral, and a statue dedicated to him was built.
  • With "The Son of Lily,"
    • Both collectible items of the season (Wave Amulet and the Blades of Deliverance) were destroyed by someone striking at them (Nya and Hazza D'ur).
    • Both focus ninja (Nya and Cole) are able to defeat the final antagonist (Wojira and the Skull Sorcerer) by achieving higher-level powers by being in tune with their elemental powers (Nya having merged with the Endless Sea in the previous episode and Cole harnessing the Earth around him in the Dungeons of Shintaro to unlock Spinjitzu Burst).
    • At the end, both feature a farewell (Nya re-entering the sea and the Ninja leaving Shintaro), as well as an event centered around a female character (Nya's memorial and Vania's crowning ceremony)
    • Both focus ninja (Nya and Cole) fulfill a message from their mother (Maya and Lilly) ("That's the way the cookie crumbles" and "Always stand up to those who are cruel and unjust") .
• When Jay and Cole walked out of the monastery to see citizens gathered around for Nya's memorial, the music that plays is the one used when Lloyd is being congratulated by the First Spinjitzu Master in "Endings."
• This is the first time where Ed, Edna, Skylor, and a monk appear in the WildBrain animation.
• This is the first episode of WildBrain, where it is mentioned that Nya was Samurai X and an inventor.
  • This may have foreshadowed her returning to the role as Samurai X following the next season.

Errors

• In the synopsis, it states that Nya would pry the amulet out. However, this didn't happen, as the Wave Amulet was destroyed, not taken.
• Kalmaar pronounces "Nyad" NYE-ad, which is neither the actual pronunciation of the Greek mythology creature, Naiad, or Nyad's name in the show. However, this might not be classified as an error.
• As the ninja fight the Maaray Guards, Cole throws his hammer off the side of the building and into the water, yet it reappears on his back after Nya defeats Wojira.
• During Nya's memorial, Hailmar was seen in two places at once.

Hair error

• During Nya's memorial, several background characters' hair does not fit on their heads.

Videos

LEGO NINJAGO - Season 3 Episode 20- The Turn of the Tide

Ninjago - Nya Vs Wojira - Cartoon Network UK

Gallery

For the gallery of the episode, click here.

Translations

Language	Name
Czech	Příliv se obrací
Dutch	De Kering van het Tij
German	Gezeitenwende
Italian	Il Cambiamento
Korean	역전의 순간
Polish	Zwrot Akcji
Spanish	El giro de la marea