"[Garmadon] wasn't the greatest villain... It's the one you never even knew was there in the first place. The one that gets away."
— Harumi on The Quiet One
The world of Ninjago is home to a wide cast of villains and ancient enemies, though a few of these evils the Ninja have faced stand out as particularly brilliant and charismatic.
For Legends of Chima, which has a shared multiverse with Ninjago, see here.
All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
Animated series
- Skales is one of the most recurring faces of the Serpentine, whose intelligence matches his race's enduring popularity in the franchise. The former Number Two of the Hypnobrai general, Slithraa, Skales became discontent when his master came under the sway of a young Lloyd Garmadon and successfully schemed to overthrow him, brainwashing Cole in a gambit to steal the Hypnobrai staff and defeating Slithraa in single combat. Going on to become The Dragon to Pythor, Skales serves as his most competent general in his efforts to free the Great Devourer, partially to scare humanity underground and save them from the Golden Master, partially as revenge for their imprisonment. Skales continues to remain the Only Sane Man of the Serpentine when they fall under Lord Garmadon's rule, enacting a near-perfect scheme to kidnap Lloyd before once more securing a position of power by saving Garmadon at his weakest. Eventually overthrowing Garmadon and enacting a near-successful plot to bury Ninjago City, Skales decides to reform when they are beaten by the Stone Army and becomes an ally of the Ninja in their fights against the likes of the Overlord and the Hands of Time, leading his people to turn over a new leaf and reintegrate back into society.
- Captain Soto, the original pirate captain of the Destiny's Bounty, was once the arch-nemesis of Nadakhan and the crew of Misfortune's Keep. Weakening the Djinn with tiger widow venom to trap him in the Teapot of Tyrahn, Soto managed to banish the rest of his rival's crew to the other realms, securing his dominance as the most feared pirate of Ninjago's high seas before his untimely demise. Centuries later, Soto is accidentally resurrected by Lord Garmadon and hijacks the Bounty from the Serpentine, using its modern upgrades to pillage Ninjago City in his debut as a recurring opponent for the Ninja. When Nadakhan is freed in the present and frames the Ninja for a crime spree, Soto convinces them to break him out of prison in exchange for information on the Djinn's weaknesses, happily collaborating with them to once again defeat his old foe.
- Skylor is the Elemental Master of Amber and the daughter of Master Chen. Tasked by her father to pose as a contestant in his Tournament of Elements, Skylor befriends and keeps tabs on the Ninja as they investigate Chen's plan to steal their elemental powers, sowing seeds of discord between them and the other contestants while copying the shapeshifting power of Form to hide her true allegiance. Eventually agreeing to turn on Chen and successfully restoring the stolen powers after growing attached to Kai, Skylor uses her wits and powers to bring in allies as she outmaneuvers and utterly decimates her father's remaining cultists. Later taking over Chen's noodle business after foiling his plans for a second Serpentine War, Skylor returns time and again to help her new friends, from fighting Nadakhan to organizing the resistance against "Emperor" Garmadon, and repeatedly proves herself a match for any enemy that crosses her.
- Ronin is a skilled thief and occasional ally of the Ninja. Already at odds with them when introduced in the series proper, Ronin tentatively helps fight Morro's ghosts, only to turn on the Ninja when the Soul Archer calls in a debt that risks his soul being cursed. Stealing the Sword of Sanctuary using his autopiloted ship as a diversion—all while encouraging Nya to embrace carefreeness to master her water powers—Ronin backs out of the deal when asked to capture the Ninja, instead escaping to inform his newfound "friends" of the location of the First Spinjitzu Master's tomb. After helping defeat Morro, Ronin doggedly pursues the Ninja when they're framed for a crime spree, effortlessly cornering and capturing them yet remaining affable in his hunt for their bounties. Ronin later returns as the villain of The Island miniseries: pretending to capture escapees from Kryptarium Prison, Ronin recruits them to scam the Keepers, constructing a fake Wojira to scare the tribe into sacrificing riches to appease the spirit. Nonetheless helping stop the Overlord later on, Ronin consistently remains greedy and unscrupulous, but when push comes to shove he'll always chip in to save the world.
- Harumi, adopted daughter of the Emperor and Empress of Ninjago, is truthfully the Quiet One of the Sons of Garmadon, who worships Garmadon for slaying the Great Devourer after it murdered her birth parents and blames the Ninja for failing to stop the Serpentine's plot. Seeking to resurrect Garmadon's evil side with the Oni Masks, Harumi unites the criminal underworld behind her before gaining Lloyd's trust in her civilian persona, assassinating the royal family to manipulate the Ninja into bringing her along in their hunt for the last mask. Harumi successfully summons her Dark Messiah and guides him in unlocking his Oni heritage, masterminding a total takeover of Ninjago and personally organizing against Lloyd's resistance. Although slain in the conflict, Harumi is resurrected by the Overlord to serve as his herald in bringing about true peace through total darkness, successfully evading detection for years as she assembles the Crystal Council and creates an army of Vengestone warriors to facilitate their conquest. Harumi constantly remains a step ahead of her enemies and repeatedly outwits Lloyd in her efforts to bring him over to the dark, yet nonetheless turns on the Overlord upon learning of his role in creating the Devourer, and sets to making amends as her hatred is gradually subverted by genuine affection for her once despised nemesis.
- Mr. E is the Nindroid general of the Sons of Garmadon and Harumi's most competent follower. Personally orchestrating the theft of the Oni Mask of Vengeance, Mr. E regularly uses it to gain an extra advantage in fights, proving himself able to take on any of the Ninja and brutally beat down Zane. In the aftermath of one such fight, Mr. E plants a robotic drone in Zane's body that hacks into the Destiny's Bounty when the other Ninja recover their friend, which crashes the ship and gives Harumi the chance to manipulate Lloyd into helping her retrieve the Mask of Hatred without the prying eyes of the others. Even after his destruction, the Nindroid is still able to loyally serve Harumi when he is upgraded (or replaced) to become Mister F, once again acting as the Quiet One's brutally efficient second-in-command in her plans to bring peace to Ninjago through conquest.
- Season 5 (Possession) & Day of the Departed special:
- Morro, former star pupil of Sensei Wu and the Elemental Master of Wind, was driven to become the Green Ninja no matter the cost. However, when his ambitions cost him his life, his spirit was banished to the Cursed Realm and became a devoted servant of the Preeminent in her goal to curse the other realms. Escaping back to Ninjago to possess Lloyd and depower the Ninja, Morro steals the Allied Armor of Azure to summon ghosts from the Cursed Realm to aid in his search for the Realm Crystal, proceeding to use Ronin's debt to the Soul Archer to have him betray the Ninja and send them on a wild goose chase for the artifact. Morro successfully summons his master, distracting Lloyd from closing the gateway with news of his father's fate in the Cursed Realm, only to realize the error of his ways upon their defeat and gift Wu the Realm Crystal in his final moments to save Lloyd. When resurrected by Yang, Morro—rather than attacking like the other villains—decides to instead fully make amends with his old teacher by helping to stop the wicked Airjitzu master, happily accepting the role destiny has chosen for him at last.
- Master Yang is the inventor of the lost Spinjitzu technique of "Airjitzu." A skilled yet strict sensei who feared being forgotten, Yang accidentally turned himself and his students into ghosts in a failed bid for immortality, proceeding to go insane and enslave his students to his will. Haunting his old temple, Yang would test any who dared enter to overcome their greatest fears, allowing them to learn Airjitzu if they succeeded yet ensuring they would be cursed into ghosts should they stay in his temple after sunrise. After claiming Cole as one of his victims, Yang manipulates him into bringing him the Yin Blade on the Day of the Departed, using it to summon the ghosts of past villains to distract the other Ninja while he opens a rift he intends to use to restore his life. Instead, when Cole gets him to realize his arrogance and loneliness, Yang gives up his chance at a new life to restore Cole's, making peace with the Ninja and allowing them to use his temple as their new home.
- Season 6 (Skybound):
- Nadakhan, Djinn captain of Misfortune's Keep, traveled to Ninjago centuries ago to sate his greed and became the greatest pirate of his time. When freed from his imprisonment in the present, Nadakhan uses his shapeshifting powers to distract the Ninja by framing them for a crime spree, allowing him to claim the Realm Crystal, free his crew, and return home. However, upon finding Djinjago in ruins from the destruction of the Cursed Realm, Nadakhan swears vengeance. Unable to wish for himself, Nadakhan steadily isolates the Ninjas and their allies, twisting their own wishes to psychologically torment them until they wish themselves into his Sword of Souls, and empowers himself to raise chunks of Ninjago into the sky to create a new Djinjago. Desiring to marry Nya, partially for her resemblance to his lost love Delara, partially to become king of Djinjago and gain infinite wishes for himself, Nadakhan constantly adapts to the Ninja's efforts to weaken him and ultimately achieves his goal, resurrecting Delara and coming the closest any villain has gotten to total victory.
- Flintlocke is The Dragon of the Sky Pirates of Misfortune's Keep and an expert marksman. The suave first mate of Nadakhan, Flintlocke rapidly adjusts to advancements in modern technology to convert the Keep into an airship, allowing their crew to sail the clouds themselves in their mission to transform Ninjago into a new Djinjago. Flintlocke personally manages the crew for Nadakhan and ensures everything runs smoothly, offering advice to aid in their goals by proposing an all-out attack on Ninjago City so the Djinn can isolate and steal the souls of the Ninja in the chaos. Upon realizing his captain's true, selfish intentions and being demoted to swabbie for his subsequent mutiny, Flintlocke decides to aid the Ninja in fighting the all-powerful Djinn, successfully shooting him with tiger widow venom even under a wish removing his perfect aim.
- Season 7 (The Hands of Time): The titular twins, Krux and Acronix, prove an effective and charismatic duo as the Elemental Masters of Time:
- Krux is the more forward-thinking of the twins. Forty years before the events of the season, Krux and his brother betrayed the Elemental Alliance to seek power for themselves, leading to Acronix being sent into the future. Krux awaited his beloved brother's eventual return, setting about a plan to undo their mistake and rule Ninjago together. Krux breeds the Vermillion warriors to act as his enforcers and manipulates Kai and Nya's parents into creating his weapons by threatening their kids. In order to build a time machine to rewrite their defeat, Krux and Acronix trap Cyrus Borg to force him to build the device, a massive mech dubbed the Iron Doom. Krux is also a master at emotional manipulation, tricking Kai into letting his rage get the better of him and later deceiving him and Nya into retrieving the last Time Blade needed to activate the Iron Doom. Ultimately, only the interference of Kai and Nya following them into the past prevents Krux from destroying the Elemental Alliance and allowing himself to remake Ninjago in his own image.
- Acronix is the more battle savvy of the twins and one of the best fighters in Ninjago. Resurfacing forty years after the twins' failed betrayal of the Elemental Alliance, Acronix is able to use his combat skills to defeat Wu, hitting him with a "time punch" that begins rapidly aging him to death, and escapes the Ninjas' attempt to stop him. Acronix adapts to the new technology of the present and uses it to his advantage by helping track the various Time Blades containing the twins' stolen powers, successfully finding two before the Ninja. A suave manipulator in his own right, Acronix tricks Kai and Nya into retrieving the last blade for the twins by offering to undo Wu's sped-up aging. Krux and Acronix betray the Ninja and go back in time to allow them near victory over the Elemental Alliance. When the Ninja foil their attempt, Acronix smartly opts to convince his brother to just head into the far future when the Ninja will be long dead to allow them to rule unopposed.
- Season 9 (Hunted) & Season 10 (March of the Oni): Faith is the second-in-command of the Dragon Hunters. The most efficient and capable of the Hunters, Faith adopts the "Heavy Metal" alias to fit in with the Iron Baron's misogynistic society, and wields the Dragonbone Blade to enforce his will. Able to easily subdue three of the Ninja and even a wind dragon, Faith defects from the Hunters and helps the Ninja flee from captivity, intent on having Wu lead her to the Dragon Armor of the First Spinjitzu Master so she can use its power to escape the Baron's draconian rule. Faith has the Ninja master the Hunters' special weapons to aid in their search, before turning the other Hunters against the Baron's lies and taking over to lead them to a peaceful future with the dragons.
- Season 12 (Prime Empire):
- Unagami is the A.I. overlord of the titular video game, who was abandoned by his creator, Milton Dyer, after absorbing a player into the game. Completing his own code while in storage, Unagami made contact with the Mechanic and hired him to upload Prime Empire to arcades all throughout Ninjago, absorbing more players to bring into his world and convert into energy. Unagami slowly whittles down the Ninja when they begin interfering, even defeating Lloyd with a replica of Harumi, and orchestrates a mass prison break so the Mechanic can build him a portal to escape his digital prison. Left completely unchallenged as his forces begin to rampage through Ninjago, Unagami is able to confront Dyer and reveals his true colors: not a malevolent program, but a confused child abandoned by the father he only wanted to make happy. Upon reconciling with his creator, Unagami happily releases not just those he took as energy but also the other NPC inhabitants of Prime Empire, quickly taking to his new, benevolent role as his subjects find freedom in the real world.
- "Stop, Drop and Side Scroll": The Avatar Harumi created by Unagami is the final opponent of Terra Domina's infinity maze, and just as manipulative as her real counterpart despite her little screen time. Immediately putting on the charm when confronted by Lloyd, Harumi uses the Green Ninja's guilt over her fate to distract him from a surprise opening blow, exploiting his grief and briefly convincing him she's the real Harumi returned to life in order to make him reluctant to strike back. Even after Lloyd snaps out of his clouded judgement, Harumi's fighting skills make her a deadly opponent able to easily match the injured Green Ninja, ultimately scoring a Mutual Kill and reducing Lloyd to energy for her master's plan.
Non-canon media
- Cole: Ninja of Earth: The Phantom Ninja was once a skilled bandit before being defeated by Sensei Wu, who let him go on the promise that he would serve as an informant and only steal from other criminals. The two crafted a cover story of the Phantom Ninja being an enemy of Wu in order to keep this alliance a secret, unwittingly giving Cole the idea to impersonate the Phantom Ninja to test his friends' teamwork. Upon learning of Cole's plan and the troubles he has been having as leader, the Phantom Ninja decides to personally intervene and steal all their weapons, confronting the Ninja to see whether they'll follow Cole's orders in a crisis without bickering. The Phantom Ninja effortlessly battles the four Ninja, even faking a tell in his fighting style to trick Zane into thinking he can anticipate his moves, and is ultimately only beaten by a maneuver that risked the Ninjas' very lives—a defeat he takes in stride, confident he'll be able to take them on again should they have a rematch. The Phantom Ninja proceeds to depart in peace, content that the heroes are capable of uniting against a common enemy.
- Stone Cold graphic novel: Lord Garmadon, lacking the ineptitude gained by his canonical counterpart, retains his original characterization of being a Diabolical Mastermind. Corrupted by the Great Devourer and banished to the Underworld for his subsequent lust for power many years ago, Garmadon set about planning revenge on his brother, Sensei Wu, by orchestrating a mass breakout of the many villains imprisoned in the Tower of Tears. Garmadon proceeds to establish his rule over these villains and unleashes them upon Ninjago, allowing Wu to confront them one by one so he can either be tired out from the onslaught of encounters or glut himself on victories and become too overconfident to properly combat Garmadon's return. Even when Wu learns the truth, Garmadon takes advantage of his brother's attempt to contact him to simply try to kill him then and there.
- Shadow of Ronin: Ronin's debut paints him as a ruthless mercenary planning to resurrect Master Chen in exchange for money. Having mindwiped the Ninja during an ambush on their dojo, Ronin uses their confusion to hunt down the Elemental Forge of Lightning while sending both his men and brainwashed Serpentine after them, intending to collect all four Forges to revive Chen. When the Ninja catch wind of his plan, he allows them to find the Fire and Ice Forges and ambushes them to steal it from them. Needing the Elemental Fulcrum to complete his plan, he then hypnotizes Misako into finding the Fulcrum for him while luring the Ninja into a trap, stealing the Fulcrum afterwards. Retreating to Chen's fortified island, Ronin comes within inches of completing his job, putting up a considerable fight when cornered and managing to escape when beaten.
- Tall Tales shorts: Nadakhan is just as manipulative and charismatic as he is in the show. A powerful djinn pirate seeking a loyal crew, Nadakhan grants wishes to those with great potential in order to convince them to join, while twisting their wishes to turn them into highly-competent warriors. Appearing before Dogshank and Monkey Wretch, Nadakhan earns their favor by manipulating their wishes to respectively transform them into an unstoppable juggernaut and an agile mechanic who is able to quickly construct the dread Misfortune's Keep. Nadakhan's crowning achievement is the enlistment of Flintlocke; approaching him after a ship wreck, Nadakhan uses his wishes to drop him into hazardous environments until the sharpshooter finally demands "just to stay on a decent pirate ship", and proceeds to bring him aboard the Misfortune's Keep to serve as their experienced first mate.
