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The Claws of Imperium
General
An organization from the kingdom of Imperium, whose goal is to capture and exploit the power of the Source Dragons.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: To the rest of the merged realms, the Imperium looks like an impressive, shining utopia, because they've been hiding what they're doing from everyone.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To almost every prior villainous group. Whereas most of the antagonistic groups in the show were heavily rooted in some aspect of Ninjago's mythology, generally being some part of its past, the Imperium are from another realm entirely, and most of the previous groups relied upon magic, whereas the Imperium use futuristic technology (albeit powered by the Source Dragons).
- Cult: The entire population is a cult of personality to Empress Beatrix, with her picture hanging on the wall of every room and people expected to reflexively praise her whenever she's mentioned (all glory to the empress!), and they'll go along with any proclamation she makes, no matter how ridiculous.
- Fantastic Racism: Obviously, towards dragons. But also to any and all outsiders as well.
- Instant Humiliation: Just Add YouTube!: Breaking any of the Imperium's restrictive (or sometimes just insane) laws means getting dragged off and put in front of a camera, live-streamed to the entire kingdom so everyone in the Imperium can know you did wrong.
- Meaningful Name: Imperium means "absolute power", fitting for a totalitarian, perfectionist empire.
- Reflexive Remark of Reverence: Any mention of the Empress is met with "all glory to the good empress!"
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Downplayed. The Imperium have a black and orange aesthetic, and their goal is to hunt and exploit dragons, similar to the Dragon Hunters. That said, they're better organized, their views are ingrained into the Imperium's society due to propaganda (whereas the Dragon Hunters suffered from quite a bit of infighting), and their technology has a futuristic slant rather than being Mad Max-inspired.
Empress Beatrix Vespasian-Orus
Debut: The Merge: Part 2
Voiced by: Nicole Oliver
The Empress of Imperium, and the leader of the Claws of Imperium.Voiced by: Nicole Oliver
- All There in the Manual: Beatrix's mech suit is never named in the show, but is called the "Empress Mech" according to the toyline and supplementary materials.
- Arc Villain: As the Empress of the Imperium, she functions as the main antagonist of the first season.
- Ax-Crazy: She's completely out of her mind as the illegitimate ruler of Imperium, and her sanity further degrades the more the Ninja foil her plans.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Everyone in Imperium believes that Beatrix rules for "beneficial" reasons that involve dragons, but deep down, she is a power-hungry totalitarian who captured them to extract their life forces to gain control, and this stems from being The Unfavorite of the royal twins for not having something special like her sister Zeatrix.
- Broken Pedestal: Almost everyone in Imperium loses all respect for her once her opinion of her citizens and crimes are shown to the populace, and she gets stones and garbage thrown at her. Sora's parents are the only ones who maintained their loyalty to the Empress even after her villainy is exposed. By the time a council in Imperium is established after her disappearance, the populace has completely turned on her.
- The Caligula: The undisputed and completely insane ruler of the Imperium. In between being treated like a goddess by her people, she passes absurd laws like making giant shoulder-pads mandatory on weekdays, as well as exposing and humiliating anyone as punishment for any infraction via Public Shaming Platform.
- Child Hater: Downplayed. While she doesn't outright hate children (given that she wanted everyone in Imperium to follow her as their ruler), Beatrix said that she doesn't want them closer to her, as she used actors in green-screen bodysuits to act as children hugging her in one of her PSA videos.Beatrix: That [video broadcast] better work. Like I'd ever allow grubby, smelly children to actually touch me. Ugh!
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist:
- It's relatively easy to draw comparisons with Harumi, with both being white-haired royals who kill their parents. However, Harumi is a much more tragic character and undergoes Redemption Equals Death before coming back to eventually do a full Heel–Face Turn. Beatrix, on the other hand, shows no remorse as she commits more and more horrific actions up to her being fully willing to destroy all of reality just to beat the Ninja. While Beatrix's current fate is uncertain, she's clearly too far gone to change.
- Beatrix also shares this with the Iron Baron, as they were tyrannical leaders outside of the Ninjago realm who outright abused dragons and spread lies to hide their true agendas. On one hand, Iron Baron hunted dragons for a living ( he even killed the Ultra Dragon sometime after the Overlord's defeat) and wanted to take control of Firstbourne by wearing a golden Dragon Armor, while on the other hand, Beatrix didn't exactly kill dragons because she only wanted their energy to maintain power in Imperium.
- Evil Is Petty: Her motivations for taking the throne stem from her perceived feeling that her twin sister got everything she thinks she deserves.
- Evil Laugh: One of the first things we see her doing is letting out one of these, to a captive Source Dragon.
- Facial Markings: The left side of her face.
- Hate Sink: One of Ninjago's most vile villains, essentially being the dictator of a fascist empire built on punishing all who deviate from her will and the energy of abused dragons. And that's just what's revealed in Part 1; she also killed her father and betrayed her sister to gain her throne, and goes into a full-on Villainous Breakdown by the season's end ignoring all warnings and signs that her Mergequake Weapon is tearing reality apart.
- Humongous Mecha: She brings one out at the end of Season 1's first half as she prepares to handle things herself once Ras has failed for the last time.
- It's All About Me: She outright declares that her own personal power is all that matters, no matter who gets hurt in that pursuit of power. It comes to the point she simply does not care she lost most of the dragons the Imperium imprisoned; her wounded pride from the Ninja managing to score such a significant victory over her is far more important than Ras's plan, deciding to seek out and destroy the Ninja personally. This is even present in her backstory, where she felt that she was the only one who deserved to be Empress.
- Laser-Guided Karma: She makes members of her populace who have broke any laws go on a stage and broadcasts them and telling the populace of their crimes. Beatrix's own unflattering thoughts on the members of Imperium as well as her crimes are broadcasted to the populace, showing them exactly what kind of person their ruler is.
- Malicious Libel: Her propaganda-induced PSA videos about the Ninja after they free the dragons.
- Missing Mom: While her father was shown in a flashback, her mother is never seen nor mentioned.
- No-Sell: Beatrix's Empress Mech is immune to Elemental Powers, which makes the Ninja taking her in a direct fight rather difficult. Arin actually manages to cut through the mech with a Spinjitzu-infused rock, though this doesn't accomplish much beyond briefly surprising Beatrix.
- Orcus on His Throne: Tends not to get involved in the affairs of her minions for the first half of season 1, though in fairness she is the head of a whole civilization, so she shouldn't have to get involved. This changes by the season finale, as she takes the Ninja interfering as a personal slight.
- Psychopathic Womanchild: She acts like a Spoiled Brat 24/7, throwing tantrums when she doesn't get her way and enacting ridiculous laws on her people. The psychopathic part stems from the fact that she's knowingly killing a sentient race purely for energy and later attempting to cause total devastation to the realms with a Mergequake weapon.
- Self-Made Orphan: She arranged for her father to be killed so she could take the throne herself.
- Shoulders of Doom: Her outfit includes some giant golden shoulder pads. And being a dedicated fashionista, she insisted all her subjects would wear them as well. Or else.
- Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: Upon learning about the Dragon Cores, she decides to try and use them to weaponize the Mergequake rifts against the Ninja, not realizing or caring that this will destroy reality.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Downplayed. Beatrix is a white-haired royal who noticeably lacks maturity, comes to despise the Ninja, and killed her father, similar to Harumi. However, whereas Harumi is intended to have sympathetic aspects, Beatrix has no redeeming qualities, and the destructive scale of her actions never occurs to her, being so engrossed by her hatred of the Ninja for wounding her pride to notice or care.
- Uncertain Doom: She's last shown being sucked into a Mergequake rift in "The Power Within", but everyone else sucked in are released once the Mergequakes are finally closed, leaving it possible she survived and is still active.
- The Unfavorite: Her father Levo favored her sister Zeatrix more, which only fueled her resentment and insanity.
- Unwitting Pawn: To Ras, who was using her ambition to fulfill his true master's plans.
- Villainous Breakdown: In the end of the first half of Season 1, she loses almost all of the dragons her men captured, which results in her losing her temper, ignoring Ras's pleas to put her pride aside for the greater plan, ultimately imprisoning him, and decides to prioritize destroying the Ninja. It somehow goes even further in Part 2, with Beatrix using the Dragon Cores to blast Mergequake rifts throughout Imperium, without any concern about her realm destabilizing or her citizens being sucked up.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Without a doubt, she really is.
Ras
Debut: The Merge: Part 1
Voiced by: Brian Drummond
The leader of the Wolf Pack Army and former leader of the Claws of Imperium.Voiced by: Brian Drummond
- Bad Boss: Rare is the scene where he's not snarling at, insulting, or threatening those who work under him.
- Cats Are Mean: A humanoid tiger who's also a villain.
- The Chessmaster: When he couldn't get the King of Imperium to assist him, he played on Beatrix's inferiority complex to effectively assist him and his master's plans behind the scenes by subtly manipulating her. When Beatrix is humiliated and thus lashing out, making her unable to be controlled, he abandons his cell after a power outage and recruits Jordana after all is said and done.
- The Dragon: He's the leader of the Claws of Imperium and reports directly to Beatrix. By the end of Season 1's first half, however, after all of the dragons except the Source Dragon are freed, she imprisons him. In the final episode of Season 1, it's revealed that Ras serves under a true master, having seen Beatrix as nothing but a tool for his master's goals.
- Embarrassed by a Child: He insists that Riyu was hard to capture, yet a teenager named Percival caught him and brought him to Empress Beatrix on a hoverboard.
- Fantastic Racism: Is briefly subjected to this, being called an "Outlander" by Beatrix. Given his very humanoid animal appearance, it was thought that Ras is from Chima, when he is actually from the Wyldness. Season 2 confirms they're actually the same place.
- Fatal Flaw: His temper. He's very easily angered when things don't go his way, which Arin and Sora exploit in "The Battle of the Second Monastery", which causes him to accidentally break the container Riyu is trapped in, allowing him to power up Sora.
- Gone Horribly Right: He manipulates Beatrix for his own ends by exploiting her pride and power-hungry nature, but after she loses a bunch of Imperium's Dragons to the Ninja, she becomes completely impossible for him to influence due to her ego demanding that she prioritize destroying the Ninja, and he spends almost the entire second half of the first season imprisoned.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The end of Season 1 shows that Ras was merely using Beatrix to further his plans for his undisclosed master.
- Informed Species: He's stated to be a tiger but the elongated snout and black fur makes him resemble more of a wolf or even a hyena.
- Karma Houdini: The first season ends with him escaping from his prison cell during all the chaos Beatrix causes. He later seeks out Jordana and offers her a partnership to use the raw dragon energy she got from the Source Dragon to eliminate the ninja in the future.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: After one final attempt to manipulate Beatrix in "Absolute Power", he decides, when a Mergequake results in a power outage in his prison cell, to cut his losses and run in "The Power Within", recruiting Jordana for his own means after Beatrix is defeated.
- Lazy Backup: When Rapton calls him for assistance in "The Merge: Part 2", he refuses to lift a finger, leaving Rapton and his men to get pummelled, because it wasn't what he's really after.
- Rank Up: In Season 1, he is second-in-command in the Claws of Imperium before being stripped of his title. In Season 2, he is leader of the Wolf Clan.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Flashbacks in season 2 hint that he used to be a lot nicer before his "Master" got his hooks in him.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: Arin and Sora do generally well in "The Merge: Part 1" until Ras shows up to salvage Rapton's failure to capture Riyu, quickly defeating Arin and Sora in the process.
- You Have Failed Me: By the end of the first half of season 1, Ras being defeated by the Ninja and losing all but one of the Imperium’s dragons leads to him being stripped of his title as captain of the Claws of Imperium and thrown into the Imperium dungeons.
Rapton
Debut: The Merge: Part 1
Voiced by: Giles Panton
A Dragon Hunter that works for the Imperium.Voiced by: Giles Panton
- Butt-Monkey: In just the opening two-parter, Riyu, a baby dragon, manages to escape him, Ras is forced to bail him out, and due to Beatrix's plan hinging on the Ninja and Dragon Matriarch finding each other, is completely humiliated by the end of it.
- Dumb Muscle: He often misuses or mispronounces large words, and prefers to use brute force to solve his problems.
- Enemy Mine: Upon realizing Beatrix is willing to destroy all of reality in the name of petty revenge, Rapton quickly switches sides and helps the Ninja discredit and defeat her. It's unclear if his alliance will stick now that their common enemy is defeated, especially as he admits he still hates the Ninja.
- Hidden Depths: "The Calm Inside" reveals that he collects porcelain unicorns, and shows little shame in liking them, stating that they're cool because "they have horns on their faces".
- One-Way Visor: Wears it to cover his eyes.
- Pragmatic Villainy: He ends up joining Percival's resistance not for any moral reason, but because he misses hunting dragons and Beatrix destroying reality through her actions would naturally make that impossible.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Rapton joins Percival's resistance, because Beatrix no longer hunts dragons, which he preferred.
- Starter Villain: He's the first threat Arin and Sora face in the series, and establishes the Imperium as the antagonists of Dragons Rising.
Dorama
"I will not be upstaged!"
Debut: Crossroads Carnival
Voiced by: Mackenzie Gray
A famous pyrotechnician that once partook in the Crossroads Carnival, only to seek out desperate and less ethical means to improve his stage effects and fireworks to outdo competition from other realms. He's eventually recruited into the Claws of Imperium by Ras.Voiced by: Mackenzie Gray
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: A demented, hammy loon who constantly talks stage-talk, but Dr. LaRow explains in her first scene that despite this she's not seen anyone as skilled as him in energy-draining techniques.
- Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: His show was one of the most beloved in the Crossroads Carnival, and might've remained that way if he hadn't decided to abduct people and use them as living batteries, something Arin even calls him on.
- Didn't Think This Through: Evidently didn't consider working for an Omnicidal Maniac would end badly for him.
- The Heavy: He serves this role in the Claws of Imperium, even suggesting to Ras that the former wants him in this role outright when he's recruited.
- It's All About Me: Abducted Whack-Rats and drained them of their life force solely to make his show look better, just because he couldn't stand the idea of people not attending his show.
- Too Dumb to Live: Even as Beatrix becomes increasingly insane and her Bad Boss traits get more evident, Dorama still follows her orders.
Dr. LaRow
Debut: Beyond Madness
Voiced by: Ashleigh Ball
A scientist working for the Imperium, intent on doing her part to serve her Empress, regardless of the ethical costs.Voiced by: Ashleigh Ball
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: When Sora was a child, she wanted nothing more than to meet LaRow. When she did so, by inventing a device that created holograms, LaRow showed up and offered her a job, only to reveal almost immediately she wanted to weaponize Sora's inventions by sucking the life out of dragons.
- Dirty Coward: After Arin and Sora are free and able to properly confront her, she immediately flees to get Ras' help, noting that she doesn't do combat.
- Even Evil Has Standards: She stands up to Empress Beatrix when she demands she drain energy from Imperium's Source Dragon to create a new Dragon Core, pointing out it could endanger the city.
- Facial Markings: Three markings on her right cheek.
- Lack of Empathy: A result of her For Science! attitude, draining innocent dragons of life does nothing to faze her.
- Mad Scientist: Nothing will stop her from making advancements in the scientific field for Imperium, with torturing dragons being nothing close to a bother for her.
- You Are Number 6: Some of the other scientists in her lab named one of the dragons, suggesting some level of attachment. She just refers to them by numerical designation.
Jordana
Debut: Return to Imperium (flashback)
Voiced by: Diana Kaarina
A scientist who worked under Dr. LaRow, having been jealous of Sora all her life while the two were in school together.Voiced by: Diana Kaarina
- Berserk Button: Not being recognized. While Sora not recognizing her as an Unknown Rival already sets her off enough, people not remembering her name, or not knowing her even if they haven't met her yet (Such as Cole) also ticks her off a lot.Jordana: (After getting car-jacked by Arin who didn't remember her name) Ugh! Why can't they ever remember my name!?
- Black Magician Girl: In Season 2, courtesy of their attempts to learn how to free the Forbidden Five, Jordana ends up learning forbidden Theroxian magic which in tandem with her Imperium tech serves her well in capturing Bonzle.
- Co-Dragons: She and Cinder serve as Ras's Co-Dragons among the Wolf Clan, Cinder using his Elemental Powers and Shatterspin to contribute to Ras's plans, while Jordana uses her newly learned mystical skills.
- Everyone Went to School Together: She and Sora (Ana at the time) were in the same class when they were kids, but Sora was oblivious to her.
- Facial Markings: Three markings on her right cheek, like Dr. LaRow.
- If You Won't, I Will: She takes Dr. LaRow's place in draining the Source Dragon to create a new core, something her boss refused to do so, even managing to save a small sample of it, which Ras recruits her for.
- Never My Fault: Instead of accepting her defeat was her own fault, she blames Sora instead.
- Rank Up:
- She takes over Dr. LaRow's position in draining the Source Dragon in Season 1.
- She (presumably) becomes second-in-command of the Wolf Pack Army in Season 2.
- Sanity Slippage: At the end of Season 2 Part 1, after the ritual to free more of the Forbidden Five failed and a weird bolt of energy struck her, she's left in an extremely stressed state as a result.
- School Rivalry: With Cinder, over gaining favor with Ras.
- Unknown Rival: To Sora, who doesn't even remember her name as Jordana's fiercely attacking her. LaRow even lampshades it in the season one finale. Sora only even realizes that they were in the same science class in season 2, and even then it's clear that she barely remembers Jordana.
The Administration
General
A group of amnesiac agents who ended up in the Administration, a bureaucratic organization stationed within the Kingdom of Madness (formerly Realm of Madness).
- Entertainingly Wrong: The agents who run the Department of Reassignment, who are supposed to help people who got lost during the Merge return to their home realms, are not very good at their jobs, to put it lightly. They blindly guess who goes where, such as mistakenly sending some Cloud Monks to the Cursed Realm while sending some skeletons (who resemble Re-Awakened) to the Cloud Kingdom.
- Incompetence, Inc.: Despite the Administration's claims of being the bureaucratic center of the Merged Realms, their forms and permits actually don't mean anything, with their only area of expertise, according to Zane, being "gross incompetence".
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Essentially their hat in a nutshell. They pile on pointless forms and permits to the people they're supposed to be helping and meddle in affairs where they shouldn't.
- Paperworkaholic: All agents have to fill out forms of any type. They even have a form to let them default paperwork to a later date in urgent situations, so they're clearly aware of it.
- Paperwork Punishment: Any failures on their part have to be filled out.
- Sinister Shades: All agents wear shades, except for the Serpentine, Merlopian, and Nindroid agents.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: They consider Nindroids like Zane to be equipment, not people. As such when Zane escaped with Arin and Lloyd, he was sentenced to be incinerated if he were to be caught again.
The Administrator
The mysterious leader of the Administration.
- He Who Must Not Be Seen: No one knows who he or she is.
Agent Roderick Allen
Debut: The Administration
Voiced by: Michael Adamthwaite
One of the numerous agents of the Administration.Voiced by: Michael Adamthwaite
- Non-Human Sidekick: Agent Underwood, who is a female Hypnobrai.
Agent Underwood
Debut: The Administration
Voiced by: Rhona Rees
One of the numerous agents of the Administration.Voiced by: Rhona Rees
- Sssssnake Talk: Reasonable as she is a Hypnobrai.
Wolf Clan
General
An army that serves Lord Ras in hopes of seizing power for their leader.
- Animal Motifs: They wear wolf-like masks.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: After acquiring the Gong of Shattering and a special mallet for it, the Wolf Mask Army is able to unleash dark powers after the good parts of their soul are "shattered" through their wolf masks, making them much more powerful. And that's not to mention the sheer Super-Empowering it can do for an Elemental Master such as Cinder... Jordana mentions that there are consequences for using it too much, but what those are aren't clear.
Cinder
Debut: The Blood Moon
Voiced by: Ian Hanlin
A general serving the Wolf Army and is currently the Elemental Master of Smoke.Voiced by: Ian Hanlin
- Ambiguously Related: It is unclear if he has any ties with Ash, the other elemental master of Smoke.
- Ambiguous Situation: It is unclear how he gained the power of Smoke.
- Co-Dragons: He and Jordana serve as Ras's Co-Dragons in the Wolf Clan, with Cinder using his Elemental Powers and Shatterspin to contribute to Ras's plans, while Jordana uses her newly acquired mystical skills.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Much like the Wolf Mask Army, Cinder can access the power of the Gong of Shattering, but as an Elemental Master, it unleashes even more power for him, including a dangerous Spinjitzu technique made by the Forbidden Five, Shatterspin. With it, he's able to deliver a SEVERE Curb-Stomp Battle to the Ninja and force them to retreat.
- School Rivalry: With Jordana, over gaining favor with Ras.
- Super Smoke: He's the new master of Smoke.
The Forbidden Five
In General
A group of Elemental Masters who turned evil, developing a corrupted version of Spinjitzu called Shatterspin, and conquered their home realm. They were defeated by Egalt and Rontu and banished into the Nether-Space. Lord Ras' goal is to free them as part of his master's plans.
- The Dreaded: Powerful and feared with their Shatterspin technique, Egalt and Rontu had them sealed away in Nether-Space because they were worried that not even them dying and going to the Realm of the Departed would stop them for good.
- Informed Ability: They are Elemental Masters, implying that they have Elemental abilities. But they (Or rather just Nokt) haven't used these abilities onscreen yet, with Nokt simply relying purely on their own Shatterspin technique (which admittedly is highly powerful) for the little time they've been on screen so far. Which doesn't exactly help when Nya and Lloyd manage to figure out Shatterspin's counter, the Rising Dragon technique.
- Unperson: Everything about them has been wiped from history, with only Egalt, Rontu, Gandalaria, Bonzle, and the Cloud Kingdom archives having any knowledge left of them.
Nokt
Debut: The Spell at the Waterfall (pictured), Rising Ninja (physical)
Voiced by: Deven Mack
Voiced by: Deven Mack
One of the Forbidden Five and the only one to have been freed during the Ritual of the Blood Moon.
- Incapable of Disobeying: Ras puts a control device on the back of his head to make sure he obeys him.
Other Villains
Ras' master
Ras' unseen master.
- Greater-Scope Villain: As Ras' master, they were the ones who instructed him to journey to Imperium to capture a Source Dragon using their resources.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: Their goals are currently unknown, with it only being hinted in "Rising Ninja" that freeing the Forbidden Five was only one step and that they intend to conquer the Tournament of the Sources and dominate the Source Dragons for some reason. We don't even know who or what they are.
- Light Is Not Good: The visions they use to communicate with Ras are brightly colored, and when they teleport Ras and the Wolf Pack Warriors away they vanish in a flash of golden light.
