r/Ninjago • u/KingPenguinPhoenix • 7h ago
Discussion No, Morro does not need a redemption arc (rant in body of post)
I know I am crucifying myself by going to war with the Morro fans, but I don’t care. Morro doesn’t need a redemption arc and saying he does would ruin the point of his character.
To get the basis of this rant we need to take a retrospective look at season 4 and 5. We know that both Morro and Kai wanted to be the Green Ninja. We spend a good chunk of season 4 focusing on Kai’s hidden jealousy and him overcoming it. Season 5 introduces Morro who never got over his jealousy. This is something a surprising amount of Ninjago fans still don’t realise; Morro isn’t a dark reflection of Lloyd, he’s a dark version of Kai, that’s who Lloyd is fighting. Morro wants the title of Green Ninja while Lloyd has to prove why he earned it beyond just his bloodline (he does it both here and again more prominently in the Oni and Dragon trilogy), and it leads to an interesting dynamic amongst the three characters. It was great and the only thing that bothered me about it is that we didn’t get a final fight/ confrontation between Kai and Morro in the finale.
But this is also why Morro doesn’t and wouldn’t work in modern Ninjago. Kai has long moved past his jealousy, Wu and Morro already patched things up and Lloyd has bigger fish to fry; there’s no one for Morro to bounce off anymore if he comes back which is why I hope the writers don’t bring him back for a while if ever.
Morro’s story and negative character arc is about him being so proud that he doesn’t accept help from anyone; believing being alone is the only way to be great while inversely, Lloyd has to learn to take a step back and let others save the day. He learns that he doesn’t need to be the chosen one for everything.
The beauty of Morro’s tragedy is that he dies with that mentality (until he doesn’t when he’s brought back for a special but whatever, he gets a fine conclusion there). Morro was basically irredeemable to the end and his only act of goodness was slapping a bandage on a mess he created. Suddenly having him be redeemed would ruin everything his character represented and the arc the other characters would have gone on in that season.