#the fact that they haven’t made Cole and Morro interact again is cruel to me ESP WITH WU!!!

[badboychaser]

as the resident cole AND morro guy, uve GOT to have some interesting opinions on wu, so im gonna bite the bullet and ask what u think of my epic guy of all time wu.

I don’t really like or dislike Wu. He’s more so a character to me that is just…there.

He served more as a guide character within the pilots-s2 to sort of introduce us to the lore and world of Ninjago outside of the Ninjas perspective when we weren’t focusing on their world- like Coles father, Jays parents/crush on Nya, Kais ambition towards the green ninja, Nya coming to terms with growing up as a women (saying this as afab), and Zane’s sense of purpose. I’ll get to Lloyd later.

I joke often about Wu forgetting to tell the Ninja about important situations such as the Time Twins, Morro, etc. as most people do, however, I see this more as a fault of the writers than anything else. Characters are bound to be written and expressed differently depending on the writers of the time. This extends to the character of Wu and very noticeably the Ninja throughout the later seasons.

*I’m gonna talk about Cole & Morro a lot but it’ll circle back to Wu I swear.

~ Cole ~

During the beginning of the show we’re introduced to Cole; whom is shown to be somewhat a leader of the group in sense that he’s strong-willed. He’s not afraid of taking down someone who’s threatening the lives of others, but he can easily shed that hard exterior to reveal a caring person. Someone who, later on, is revealed to have had this revelation in childhood as well. He wants to go his own path even if others advise against it.

I believe that Wu did notice this in Cole when Cole was younger. The particular age that Wu started officially training Cole is unfamiliar as the mainline tv show has retconned this a few times while the comics go their own way. Besides that, I don’t believe Wu ONLY wanted to train Cole to become a ninja I believe he wanted to train Cole a certain type of discipline- to pick his battles and to know exactly what he’s fighting for.

I see Cole as someone who would get lost without proper guidance. Someone who has the potential for destruction whether that be internal or external. Someone who fights for what he thinks is right and to help others, but may end up actually hurting those he loves to prove a point.

Cole turning into a ghost is one of the BIGGEST points in his character arc. He sacrificed himself to get the map inside the Temple of Airjitzu thus turning him into a ghost. He accidentally chose his battle incorrectly because he felt obligated morally to help more than he needed too. He knew he was fighting for Ninjago and against Morro, but he didn’t know what he specifically got out of the situation which put him in a type of purgatory. This purgatory is worse than what is normally described, because instead of being cleansed of past sins and mistakes he is substituted to watch himself create more mistakes and “live” through the ones he’s already made without amends. In a perfect world, Cole only realizes he can move forward from his ghostly form if he actively WANTS change.

Wu trying to aid and guide Cole through life so he doesn’t end up like a child he used to teach- only to end up seeing Cole stuck due to circumstances out of his control. Circumstances brought on by someone from the past. Someone who cannot move forward and doesn’t believe in change. Morro.

“I tried to warn you when you were a child

I told you not to get lost in the wild

I sent omens and all kinds of signs

I taught you melodies, poems, and rhymes”

The Yawning Grave - Lord Huron

~ Morro ~

Morro is the same as Cole, at least, in the sense that they’re both strong-willed. Wanting to go his own path and achieving the destiny he thinks he’s entitled too. Wu definitely saw a little bit of Morro in Cole at some point and I believe the ghost arc sealed it.

A lot is unknown about the relationship between Morro & Wu other than knowing that Wu took Morro under his wing to train him to become a ninja. Lore like this isn’t really explored much in Ninjago seasons as they like to focus on present situations instead of past ones. It did seem that Wu really did care for Morro and did try to comfort him after it’s revealed that Morro wasn’t yet worthy of the green ninja title. Although, when Morro started acting out that’s when Wu started to become stern which is where I believe a lot of people have misconceptions about his character.

While we don’t know much about Wus student of the past I think it’s safe to assume this is the moment where Wu recognized that people have to been taught and trained differently. Maybe he taught Morro wrong? Maybe Morro cannot be taught and had to experience hardships himself to actually learn? Next time it can be different- it has too.

The first time I watched Day of the Departed I thought Morro mentioning Coles danger to Wu was to get some type of ulterior motive and the writers were going to explain it at a later date. This..didn’t happen. Typically because of this I joke about Morro helping Cole to get “heaven points” or “helpin another ghost bro out” but if I were to look deeper into it (a territory that the writers had 100% no intention of) I like to picture it as Morro not EXACTLY forgiving Wu but accepting the fact that he’s done wrong and wanting a better life for someone else.

Morro has done bad things, he knows that, and he’s not immune to consequences. Whether or not it was his own fault or Wus doesn’t matter because it’s all in the past. What matters going FORWARD and helping others is the important part.

~ Lloyd ~

Lloyd had a bit of a tricky relationship with Wu. It’s very obvious that Lloyd loves his Uncle, but the lingering thought of his father does get in the way of that love sometimes. Wu was very sweet to Lloyd when they took him in during s1 and even advised the ninja to look past where and who Lloyd initially came from and focus on befriending him and moving forward. From then on mostly it was the ninja and Kai who raised Lloyd.

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Misako…I’m not a Misako lover. I don’t resonate with her character at all so I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to speak on her relationship with Wu. Not my place to say.

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Reiterating, while Wu does do the infamous “there’s something I forgot to tell you…” that’s ABSOLUTELY just a writer shoe-in to push more seasons and should not actually reflect Wu as a character.

The way I see it; Wu at the beginning of the series was a character to push guidance and lessons for our characters to learn from so they can “defeat the big bad” of that season. A LOT misdirection of Wu’s character comes from s5. Honestly, I’m an early Ninjago season lover so anything after s7 is not my strong suit so I cannot speak for his character beyond that point.

I’ve been a little distant from Ninjago lately so I wish I could have given a more in depth response, so I tried to reason with what I already knew from the top of my head.

*Side note: I think “The Yawning Grave” by Lord Huron is a really good song to express the relationship between Wu, Morro, and Cole. Highly recommend the listen and looking up peoples thoughts about the meaning of the lyrics online.

*Side note: “Ninjago Mini-Movie #4: An Underworldly Takeover” is a good Cole and Wu focused short where Wu explains the relationship he had with his brother Garmadon after Cole gets curious and asks.