History Characters / Ninjago

* {Flanderization}: In seasons 8-12, he went from a protective hothead who was cocky, but cared about people, to being overly egotistical, whiny, and having his leadership traits removed in favor of sarcasm. He also had a lot of [[JerkassBall Jerkass Ball]] moments; hesitating giving up his powers to save Lloyd just because he'd feel weak without them and berating Wu for his powers being taken away because of a misunderstanding.

* ColorCodedCharacters:they're all asociated with a particular color to the point that (with the exeption of nya) they're sometimes refered to as "[insert colour here] ninja"
** Lloyd: green
** Kai: [[RedIsHeroic red]]
** Jay: [[BlueIsHeroic blue]]
** Zane: [[LightIsGood white]]
** Cole: [[DarkIsNotEvil black]]
** Nya: initially light blue and dark red then silver
* ADayInTheLimelight: Most of the seasons focus on one of them.
** The Pilot episodes focus on Kai.
** Season 2 focuses on Lloyd.
** Season 3 focuses on Zane.
** Season 4 focuses on Kai.
** Season 5 focuses on Nya, to a lesser extent.
** Season 6 focuses on Jay.
** Day of the Departed focuses on Cole.
** Season 7 focuses on Kai and Nya.
** Season 8 focuses on Lloyd again.
** Season 11 focuses on Zane again.
** Season 13 focuses on Cole again.

** Jay's biological father, the actor Cliff Gordon, abandoned his son at a Ed, and Edna's Scrap N Junk when he was just a baby for unknown reasons, leading to be adopted by Ed and Edna and rasied as their son
** Cole's mom died of an illness after being bed-riden for many years, and his father's coping mechanisms drove Cole away and resulted in him meeting Sensei Wu.
** Zane, a nindroid, was built by Dr. Julien, who raised him for decades happily, before dying from old age and resseting Zane's memory to spare him the grief of his "father's" death, leaving him with no memory of his past.

* {{Adorkable}}: More noticeable in Season 8.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: He was abandoned by both of his parents ([[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou not that they had any other choice]]) and left at a boarding school for kid villains. He was heavily bullied at said boarding school, and got expelled for not having the drive to commit actual evil. He tried to prove his worth as a villain after that, only to fall into HumiliationConga over and over again courtesy of the ninja and his own general lack of evil-ness. Fortunately, he was taken in by his uncle, Master Wu, and the ninja, and was made to see the error of his ways.

* {{Adorkable}}: Every bit as sweet as regular Zane.

* SamusIsAGirl: Lloyd first encountered her in her wolf form, which he mistook for male.

%%* BecomingTheMask

!! Ice Emperor / [[spoiler:Zane]]

* FallenHero: [[spoiler:The Ice Emperor's true identity is Zane, the Master of Ice and hero of Ninjago City.]]
* AnIcePerson: He is able to control ice, he uses it to create Ice golems, and cover the Neverrealm in a eternal winter for decades.

!! General Vex

* DragonInChief: Actually has this role in the Blizzard Samurai, mainpulating Zane into carrying out his will.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Had Vex not uttered the word "protect" in front of [[spoiler: Zane]], he wouldn't have triggered his memories, setting up his downfall.

!! Blizzard Samurai

* AntiVillain: [[spoiler: Is not truly evil, he's just a hurt and confused A.I. lashing out at his creator for shutting him down.]]

** Season 13 will focus on Cole again.

* AbusiveParent:

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: Is the only female ArcVillain.

* OfficialCouple:
** After spending three seasons being uncertain about their relationship, he finally gets together with Nya at the end of Season 6, as confirmed by their BigDamnKiss.
** Kai with Skylor as of Season 9.

->'''Voiced by:''' Andrew Francis

* Shell-Shocked Veteran: Kruncha and Nuckal become this with their frequent battle cry of "retreat", whenever the ninja encounter them in Season 1.

A former employee of Master Chen, who repaired the Chen's Noodle Trucks

* FiveSecondForeshadowing: Take a good guess as to why [[spoiler:he's missing from the Season 9 intro in "Iron and Stone" (hint: It's not because he's taking a vacation).]]

* TheVoiceless: Seems to be the case. The only possible exception is when he informs the Quiet One [[spoiler:about the bug he planted in Zane.]]

* EtTuBrute: [[spoiler:She seems quite angry at Harumi after Garmadon kills Mr. E]].

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In "Son's of Garmadon", his name is pronounced 'Kill-Oh'. Apparently this was caught, because in season 11 it's now pronounced the same as 'Kilo' (the unit of measure). While it could be a reference to the fact he's a Bigfig, because of his status as a gang member the context could easily come off as a drug reference, [[CensorDecoy making it worse than the original naming.]]

* TheDragon: The second-in-command of the Dragon Hunters [[spoiler: until she defects from Iron Baron.]]

* [[spoiler:PuppetKing]]: [[spoiler:He may be recognized as the ruler, but Vex is just using him for his own plans.]]

The main villain and final boss of the Prime Empire video game

* ShipTease: With Princess Harumi [[spoiler:before TheReveal.]]

* VocalDissonance: Until the eighth season, he retains his younger self's voice.

!!Zane, the White/Titanium Ninja/Ice Emperor and Master of Ice

* TheDragon: Vex is the second in command to the Zane/Ice Emperor.

* Complete Monster: Vex is virtually this with his attemplted murder of his own people, and his nearly complete genocide of the Yeties.

** [[spoiler:Nya]], between Jay and Cole, throughout most of Season 3 and 4.

* InspectorJarvert: When the ninja get framed, he becomes hell-bent on arresting them all.

* ProfessionalButtKisser: Pretty much everything he says and does is him attempting trying to win Aspheera's favor.

* {{Expy}} He looks similar to General Grievous. He even has similar fighting moves and four arms.