#Ruamoko

[axydoesstuff]

The Guardians of the Golden Weapons (from the "Way of the 21st Century Ninja" fanfic by @the-ninja-legacy-whip)

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

Endings are never really endings—only new beginnings. As an Ouroboros cycles eternally, so too does the energy of all things. Life finds a way to persist—but it can never fully be recreated as it once was, nor completely destroyed either. It may seem daunting, being confronted with this truth of reality...but you perch upon the precipice of fate and smile regardless, ignorant of what the future plans for you. The World is not perfect, but that doesn't mean we give up on it.

Upright, The World represents Ending Before Beginnings, Achievement, Fulfillment, and Decisive Moments

When Reversed, The World is indicative of Beginnings Before Endings, Closure, Delayed Success, and Failures

[weekend-whip]

Reading the pilot again and sobbing

*wails into the night* ASKGKSLFKSLG TWO OF MY FAVE SCENES TOO

[bob-money-artist-blog]

MAORI COSMOGONY #basrelief on #canvas #ruamoko vide cos'era accaduto e percepì il dolore di suo padre e sua madre per la separazione, divenne una furia. Il terreno si aprì e Ruamoko gettò fango bollente ed enormi nubi di vapore fetido. Pieno di rabbia, Ruamoko inveì contro i fratelli per la loro scelleratezza, facendo scuotere la terra con la sua voce tonante. Poi fece eruttare fino a raggiungere il cielo i fuochi presenti nelle profondità terrestri per molti giorni, finché #papatuanuku non lo abbracciò dolcemente cantando, per far addormentare il figlio collerico. #maori #cosmogony #cosmogonia #arte #art #artinstagram #artcontemporain #artecollezionismo #artcollector #artdealer #artgallery #artgallerynyc #artgalleries #artgalery #artgalerie #bobmoney #christies #sothebys #philips #auction #auctionhouse (presso Studio Arte 3.0) https://www.instagram.com/p/BsnX5hinvDq/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=smc3xmhz5qcx

[yournextflame]

Does the Greater Will exist?

One of the most interesting aspectcs of the Elden Ring worldbuilding is a blend between fantasy and science. Miyazaki already played with the concepts of enthropy and light is time in Dark Souls. Elden Ring is even less subtle: gravity is a category of sorcery, characters are named after paleontological eras, Fundamentalism operates via mathematical principles, DNA helix is a recurring motif in the various designs; this game is dangerously close of becoming a full-blown mix of magic and sci-fi, although it never crosses the line. It's especially intriguing that the Greater Will, the mysterious force, which is usually viewed as an eldrich/abrahamic god by the players, isn't what it seems on the first sight and probably doesn't exist as an actual deity. In fact, all known actions of the Greater Will sound like a mythological retelling of existing scientific concepts and theories.

Let's start with a genesis myth narrated by Hyetta:

All got separated from the great one thing. Separated, birthed and given a soul. But that was a mistake of the Great Will [JP]

The Big Bang hypothesis states that all of the current and past matter in the Universe came into existence at the same time, roughly 13.8 billion years ago. At this time, all matter was compacted into a very small particle with infinite density and intense heat called a Singularity. Suddenly, the Singularity began expanding, and the universe as we know it began.

Description of the Elden Stars, the oldest known incantation in history:

It is said that long ago, the Greater Will sent a golden star bearing a beast into the Lands Between, which would later become the Elden Ring.

Ever since the discovery of organic molecules in a meteorite that landed in Australia about half a century ago, scientists have been tantalized by the theory, which suggests that life is originated in space, in spatial ices, and continuously distributed to the planets by comets and meteorites.

[Elden Stars icon looks like DNA helix]

Description of Cinquedea dagger contains cut content, but I'm still counting on it because the symbol of intellegence portrayed as a slab of gold.

The design celebrates a beast's five fingers, symbolic of the intelligence once granted upon their kind [cut content from version 1.0] by the Greater Will. Hands were a fundamental ingredient to start making tools. The process of making tools might have also helped the evolution of other human assets such as memory, long-term planning, or social organization. 

All 2(3) lnown actions of the Greater Will are tied to the scientific concepts: Big Bang hypothesis, theory that organic molecules originated in space and were distributed to the Earth via meteorites, and evoltion. Usually "the Greater Will" mentioned in the mythological interpretation of events that don't need to involve any creator deity at all to happen.

Religion is one of the form of the psychological adaptations - tendency to see a human-like agency behind unknown mysterious events, ancient Greeks interpreted thunder as a wrath of Zeus, maori believed that earthquakes were Ruamoko's movements inside the Mother Earth's body, Shinto has thousands and thousands kami - elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express.

Notably, there's nothing about the Greater Will that's particularly tied to the religion, especially Golden Order, the same people, who are calling Marika a god, never refer GW as such, it doesn't have churches, talismans or idols, at best there are Two Fingers - pathetic outcasts on the edge of Golden Order.

However, there is an interesting quote from the description of Nox set, which recasts the Greater Will from a neutral force of nature into a petty, vengeful deity... or not?

In ancient times, the Nox felt the wrath of the Greater Will. They were destroyed and escaped deep beneath the earth [JP]

English descriptions says that Nox were banished, implying that the Greater Will was directly involved into the exile of Nox. But Japanese wording is different: something happened on the surface of the Lands Between that forced Nox to escape underground.

My theory is that "the wrath of the Greater Will" is meteor shower.

This talisman represents the lost black moon. The moon of Nokstella was the guide of countless stars/Said to be a fragment of the black moon that once hung above the Eternal City

Consider this: Nox black moon was destroyed and the fragments of it rained on the Lands Between, causing a series of catastrophic events on the surface, which forced Nox to seek the shelter underground. It is unclear what happened with the black moon, but knowing the fact that Nox killed a god (the shape of Fingerslayer Blade is almost identical to the Sacred Relic sword) and a strong connection between Nox/Carian royalty and moons, I suspect that black moon was a collateral damage of the Eternal Cities downfall. I will give more meat to this theory in my post about Nox culture, there are some interesting info hidden in Japanese (滅び), but my point is that people of the Lands Between have a habit to interpret a major historical changes and natural disasters as the "will" of the Greater Will.

But I wouldn't go full on Nietzsche "the god is dead" on GW. The outer gods are even simplier by nature and they are sctricly bounded to their metaphysical concepts, but they exist. They can be sealed and wounded, GW can be harmed too (Fingerslayer Blade description), but I doubt that they have an actual anthropomorphic features, motivations and behaviors. Thus, the same goes for the Greater Will, even if it actually exists, it's probably functions like described in this quote: it creates for the sake's of creation, evolves things and gives life its fullest brilliance:

The universe, equipped with nothing but the materials and the power of creation, continues to create: something of this, something of that. It cannot control what it creates and it cannot, it seems, be controlled by its creations (though a few might deceive themselves otherwise). Those who curse the workings of the universe curse that which is deaf. Those who strike out at those workings fight that which is inviolate. Those who shake their fists, shake their fists at blind stars (Michael John Moorcock)

[yes, yes, I like this quote]

Okay, but the Greater Will has vassals. Wouldn't it imply some form of hierarchy and control? Well, one of its vassals is the Elden Beast, an alternate form of the Elden Ring, which can be changed and modified by human hands. The Elden Beast is incredibly passive and demonstrates a very particular reluctancy towards fighting, hence it spends more time swimming away from Tarnished than attacking. There is a theory based on certain animation that it crucified Marika, but considering that Elden Ring, in fact, is a living being, it was a self-defence.

Although it's not mentioned anywhere, I hightly doubt that golden hallucigenia had any involvement in political climate of Marika's empire. But we have an example of the opposite, when the other known vassals of the Greater Will - Two Fingers, were used for the personal gains of the local rulers.

The unreability of Two Fingers is mentioned a lot on game, from Gideon to Patches, many characters are pointing that GW vassals don't fucntion properly. Their "words" are questionable from the start, while intro says that the Greater Will abandoned the Lands Between a long time ago, Two Fingers in the illusory Roundtable Hold created by Marika (we know that she chained Hewg here) are claiming that it's still active.

It's getting worse with a time, Confessors lore suggests that Two Fingers believe the the guidance of the grace is controlled by GW, but from melina's echoes we can learn that the grace belongs to Marika.

Finally, in the late game it is revealed that for a real contact with GW - if there is any, Fingers with their dial-up connection need thousands and thousands moons.

There is a very noticeable information vacuum in the game, all Two Fingers are dead (with two suspicious exceptions), all Finger maidens are dead in the end too, the lack of knowledges about what's going on is so bad that one of the most valuable pieces of information we are recieving from... Three Fingers and their insane maiden.

But why does this vacuum exist?

One of the most prominent examples of Two Fingers decieving Tarnished is the main quest, in which Tarnished supposed to become consort of Marika:

Now, seek the Erdtree, and an audience with Queen Marika. To become Elden Lord, and restore the Golden Order. But Two Fingers at the Roundtable are never mentioning existence of the other candidates to the godhood, which their crew picked up before the Shattering:

the Age of Queen Marika ends, a precious Empyrean is born to become God so they can establish a new Order [JP] Of the demigods, only I, Miquella, and Malenia could claim that title. Each of us was chosen by our own Two Fingers, as a candidate to succeed Queen Marika, to become the new god of the coming age. [oh the irony, in the end of her quest Ranni actually fulfills the task of Two Fingers]

This whole situation makes me think that Two Fingers system is barely functional and basically repurposed to frame the local rulers as avatars of higher cosmic powers, who are doing what their are doing on the behalf of the greater... will.

The concept of divine right of kings stems from a specific metaphysical framework in which a monarch is, before birth, pre-ordained to inherit the crown. According to this theory of political legitimacy, the subjects of the crown have actively (and not merely passively) turned over the metaphysical selection of the king's soul – which will inhabit the body and rule them – to God.

Basically, almost every royal dynasty in the world pretended that they are descendants of the gods or were appointed by the gods to their position. Just one of many examples:

The Mandate of Heaven, the "Heaven's will" is a Chinese political philosophy that was used in ancient and imperial China to legitimize the rule of the King or Emperor of China. According to this doctrine, heaven (天, Tian) – which embodies the natural order and will of the universe – bestows the mandate on a just ruler of China, the "Son of Heaven".

This doctrine sounds very familiar, right?

In the Elden Ring the concept of Divine Rights is partially legitimized in form of Empyreans chosen by Fingers. I said "partially" because Empyreans are candidates to the godhood, not gods. There is a quote common misconception born from straightforward and surface-level of reading Ranni's questline that Empyreans are forced into godhood, and some of them, like Marika, were directly approached by the Greater Will to become the vessels of the Elden Ring.

It doesn't help that Golden Order deliberately erased existence of the other forms of worships, and this propaganda is so convincing that it affects even the playerbase. Ironically, the same people, who hate the Golden Order and everything associated with it, continue to believe that there are no gods but Marika with the blind fanatism of brother Corhyn, even though the plot shows that the system of gods and their lords was estabilished a long, long time ago.

[not only Farum Azula has the Elden Ring of the older Order, but it also shows it together with Twinbird carving, which depicts a mother of Deathbirds, envoys of an outer god] This again, unlike the Greater Will and the outer gods, who existed and coexisted for millenias, gods like Marika are supposed to be changed every age by Two Fingers. But Golden Order was founded on principle that Marika was one and only god; and even though this lie is constantly uncovered in the game in different ways - Radagon exists, other Empyreans exist, previous vessels of the Elden Ring existed; the imagery of the tragic queen, who was forcibly made into eternal slave by the evil god and should be saved by the greatest hero of the Lands Between, is so appealing that people would rather argue that Placidusax title of the Elden Lord is a developers mistake than accept that the queen is the alien pest herself. The face of the Numen, supposed descendants of denizens of another world The portrayal of the outer gods and the Greater Will is very interesting, the first group is always vilified because they are outsiders to the Order, this alienation translates through the screen as well. Similar thing happened with the Greater Will, which is blamed for the faults of the Golden Order, although it is possible that it doesn't even exist as an actual entity, let alone as something with human-like goals and interests.

[avventure-per-un-anno]

Christchurch

08.01.2020

Zu den Bildern der Sagenwelt der Maori gehört die Erklärung für die zahlreichen Erdbeben. Schuld daran sei ein ungeborenes Kind von Mutter Erde. Dieses eigenwillige und manchmal etwas unruhige Baby namens Ruamoko bewegt sich in der Gebärmutter unseres Planeten. Er ist der Gott der Erdbeben.

Ich habe heute heute einen ersten Ausflug in das Zentrum von Christchurch gemacht und habe im Quake City, dem Erdbeben-Museum, begonnen. Als allererstes wird in einem kurzen Animationsfilm Ruamoko vorgestellt, wie er Neuseeland zum Beben bringt.

Christchurch wurde zuletzt hintereinander von 2 größeren Erdbeben heimgesucht; am 04.09.2010 mit einer Stärke von 7, 1 und am 22.02.2011 mit einer Stärke von 6,3.

Wie sich das Erdbeben 2011 auswirkte, ist hier zu sehen:

Und so ist das Stadtbild bis heute von Ruinen, Baulücken und Baustellen geprägt.

Da sich Neuseeland, aber v.a. auch Christchurch, zwischen der Australischen Kontinentalplatte und der Pazifischen Platte befindet, waren dies nicht die ersten - und leider nicht die letzten Erdbeben.

weitere Impressionen:

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

So how old is every guardian? Including genesis and epsilon?

Well technically the Guardians would be older than the FSM since they trained him in their ways while he was a realm-traveling child (but maybe they were 'children' too at the time, that's fun to think about! Lil puppy Eirlys and baby squid Tawhiri hanging with a teeny FSM ;w;.....but otherwise they're about the same age as each other)

Genesis and the Great Devourer are slightly older than Time Itself (which...we'll get into eventually), and Epsilon isn't even born until S7 (Lloyd is approx 16 at the time), so she's not that old at all

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

can you rank the guardians (including wojira and GD in book 2) from biggest to smallest

Well, back in 21-22, I had the idea for the Guardians to be able to change their shape and size at whim, but a) I could never figure out why this would be a thing they could do, and b) it never actually made it into a story, therefore it’s not ‘canon’. That being said, their sizes actually vary quite a bit as a result.

The Great Devourer is the biggest for, well, obvious reasons. If she didn’t have the destructive eating/growing thing (courtesy of biting Garmadon), she would’ve been equal in size to Genesis. But of course, she went from being smaller than them to utterly surpassing them.

Genesis/Wojira are next! They’re both about the same size, though they’re moreso long as opposed to being big, they still cut a rather imposing silhouette. They both drawf buildings and make people look like ants in return.

Next is technically Tawhiri. From just her head/body alone, she is the same size as Ruamoko, but her tentacles give her some extra length there. Nothing more terrifying than there being a big ol’ Lightning storm and then a giant flying octopus emerges from the clouds—

Then it’s Ruamoko! He’s pretty huge, being able to hold Cole in the palm of his hand for example, and able to catch a falling building (though that’s mostly due to his crazy strength anyway), but he’s not the size of a skyscraper or anything. As mentioned in the GD fight, he’s just a bit bigger than Eirlys and Vulcanell combined.

Next is Vulcanell, who is essentially the size of a regular lion, if not somewhat bigger. Large enough to hold/carry a few people on his back, small enough for fiery cuddles with a Fire Master.

Eirlys is also only a little bigger than the average wolf (which are actually already pretty big when it comes to potentially dangerous animals). Still imposing despite the relatively smaller stature compared to her fellow Guardians, but not above getting pets and treats from Zane (and Cole) on occasion snksnksnk.

Last is Epsilon, who for a good chunk of the story is about as big as the GD was pre-Garmadon bite. During the NRG Arc she starts to reach the size of a Boa Constrictor, and one day if she is cared for and treated well, she just might reach Genesis’ size as a proper Guardian, as her mother should have before her.

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

What are each of the ninja's relationship to their respective guardian? Do they ever make time to go visit their guardians? Will they be significant in the focus seasons of their respective ninja, or the focus seasons of their home realm?

They do make time to visit their Guardians when they can, although traveling all the way to the farthest corners of the world can be a tad inconvenient so it’s not terribly often. They also know that they can visit Vulcanell anytime (as he is the closest to the city, until Genesis is on the scene again) who can then summon the others, but they try to save that for extreme emergencies only.

I can promise they’ll definitely be prominent in the Ninjas’ focus seasons during the NRG Arc (Seasons 11-15), but beyond that I’ll include them if I can make it make sense! (We won’t be seeing much of them in S2 as they’re still recovering from S1, but stay tuned!)

As for the relationships themselves:

Zane never feels compelled to visit Eirlys, though when she decides to make an appearance for him he’s certainly not going to turn it down, and will make the most of the time with her. She misses him a lot when they’re apart, but she’d never show it snksnksnk. She acts like a puppy around Zane (and Pixal, and Cole if she’s in a good mood), and everyone else she’s a stoic lone wolf snksnk

Cole also doesn’t go out of his way to see Ruamoko too often (probably because going to the Western Province requires going through West Haven), but when they do get the chance to reconnect he always feels guilty about not trying to do more. Ruamoko never takes it personally, as he too is something of a rolling stone, but he’s always proud to see Cole thrive, and is happy to support Cole’s friends when he can <3

Jay always wants to visit Tawhiri but he never gets around to it (similar to visiting his parents, ha). When he finally makes good on his promise to take Nya to the Floating Ruins though, Tawhiri does not take well to Nya’s presence and that kind of puts a rift between them and it hurts Jay’s feelings. They reconcile during Skybound, though…but the same can’t be said for the other ninja (as they’re always going to be terrified of her temper gkdnslfdj)

Kai lucks out with Vulcanell, due to his close proximity and the amount of opportunities they’ve already had to fight side by side together. Vulcanell is a bit intimidating towards everyone else, but turns into a softie around Kai. Sometimes he sneaks out when he’s feeling particularly bad to go vent to Vulcan (and sometimes he does the same for Nya—she’s pretty close with Vulcan too).

If Wojira wasn’t, well, Wojira, I imagine she and Nya would be pretty close. …Though now I want an AU where Wojira is more benevolent and wasn’t forced to sleep through the terraforming of her realm and had the chance to connect with masters of her elements—

Lloyd also lucks out—when Genesis returns, he’s always patrolling the Central Province via the skies (a la the dragons in Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom) and is quick to come when there’s a drastic crisis (or simply if Lloyd calls him). There’s a strong bond of respect between them, similiar to Lloyd and the GD, but not quite a genuine friendship until some more time passes.

Epsilon basically becomes Lloyd’s pet, so, y’know. He might have a favorite without even trying—

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

idk if this has been asked before but what do the guardians think of the ninja's significant others?

feel free to not answer this if these are spoilers!!

Vulcanell is extremely wary of Skylor at first when Kai brings her around (and is like a territorial yet protective cat around Kai as a result) but she manages to get him to warm up to her eventually (I would hope so, since he’s made of fire—ba dum tiss)

Ruamoko already approves of Jesse if the Great Devourer fight is anything to go by snksnknsk, but otherwise he doesn’t have any strong feelings on Cole’s love life so long as Cole is happy

…Tawhiri, meanwhile, is of the opinion that Jay should be with the weather girl (Sunni), buuuuut that’s neither here or there (it’s because Nya reminds her a lot of herself, and Tawhiri takes that as a personal challenge lmao)

Eirlys adores Pixal the moment Zane brings her to meet her. She’s the opposite of Tawhiri—she appreciates how similar in temperament Pixal is to her, and they form something of a kinship because of it. (Plus she and Pixal both like messing with Kai, so, instant friendship there)

Wojira doesn’t get much time to form an opinion on Jay as a person, buuuut given the fact that Jay goes psycho-mode fighting against her, I can’t imagine her thoughts would be anything favorable fkfksks

Genesis doesn’t know what to think of Harumi. It’s pity there, more than anything else though. But he adheres to Lloyd’s desires/feelings, whatever they may be at whatever moment in time.

…Epsilon, on the other hand, loves Harumi and no one can figure out why.

(Brad in the back: It’s cuz they’re both SNAKES

Lloyd: Brad please—

Brad: YOU KNOW IM RIGHT)

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

i loved the explanation thank you but now im just imagining the scene where lloyd has to ring the bell for everyone to power up and it just doesnt work cuz they are in the wrong spots and they just start arguing

"All right, Lloyd. This is it." Zane declares, facing the Green Ninja with a note of seriousness. "It is time."

Lloyd nods once, turning his sights onto to the bell in the middle of the room, designed to—quite literally—ring in his Destiny. He takes a breath to steady himself, clenches his fists, and makes a run for the nearest pillar. With quick steps, he races up the length of it, pushing off at the peak of his momentum. His head dives downwards as he sinks into a backflip, bringing his foot up and over to collide directly into the side of that giant bell.

A loud, droning gong rings out into the Temple of Life. Lloyd alights back on the ground as the Core Four brace themselves, awash with the sound and the anticipation of being plunged straight into a prophecy.

The ringing of the bell fades. The silence becomes suffocating.

A great resounding amount of nothing happens.

...The five stand in position awkwardly for a good two minutes holding their breath, but when nothing shakes or glows or scream-worthy happens, Lloyd finally can't take it anymore and throws his arms up.

"Wait, what—?!"

"Did we not do as the prophecy instructed?" Zane wonders, equally perplexed. Kai glances around with a huff, only for his shoulders to tense when he spots the glaring problem.

"...oh, you idiots," Kai calls from the bottom of the room, pointing between Jay and Cole. Jay immediately snaps on the defensive.

"Excuse me?! Why are we the idiots?!"

Kai gestures at the larger-than-life painting of the Elemental Compass on the floor like it's the most obvious thing in the world (and it is).

"You guys are in the wrong places! Cole, you're literally on the blue part!"

"....for Creation's sake—" Lloyd starts to groan as Cole blinks and sheepishly lifts up his foot, revealing Tawhiri's insignia hiding beneath. Similarly, Jay coughs, shuffling backwards and finding Ruamoko lurking below.

"Ahahahaha, wow, how did that happen?!"

"It appears you two have gotten West and East mixed up," Zane points out. "...although I cannot comprehend how you failed to notice the incorrect insignias regardless."

"Well you two could've said something beforehand! How were we just gonna instinctively know which way North was???" Cole points accusingly at Kai and Zane.

"Nevermind the fact Zane would be at North and I would be at South!" Kai shakes an annoyed fist. "You could've at least noticed the fact that you weren't standing on your color!"

Cole gasps in offense, recoiling backwards. "You can't call me out on that! I'm a little bit colorblind! I have a pass!"

Kai's eye twitches. "Your color is BLACK! There's no color to be blind to—!"

"And that provides no excuse for Jay, unless he is just blind overall," Zane coughs, cuing Jay to make a high-pitched whining noise.

"W-Well, maybe we're the ones in the right places, and it's you and Kai that need to swap! Or the Compass is just facing the wrong way! How about that?"

Zane gives Jay a blank look. "Do you really think the FSM would have painted his own design incorrectly?!"

"This was nearly impossible to mess up, and yet you still managed to do so in the only way possible!" Kai exclaims. "Amazing!"

"Okay, I am feeling PERSONALLY attacked right now, and I will not stand for it—" Cole huffs.

"WILL YOU GUYS JUST GET IN THE RIGHT SPOTS?!?!" Lloyd hollers, his voice echoing in the near-empty room harder than the bell ever could. Jay screams, Cole flinches, and Kai and Zane just gawk, but all four of them whimper at the glow emanating in Lloyd's eyes. There's no room for protest.

Jay and Cole do a silent shuffle of shame as they scuttle into what is hopefully the correct spots. Lloyd inhales once again, folding his hands in front of him to perform a small prayer of apology to his grandfather who is surely rolling in his grave, wherever that may be.

Either way, it's probably a better place than here.

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

How do the Ninja’s love interests feel/opinion about their significant other’s guardian?

Vice Versa Question

Skylor loves Vulcanell, even if Vulcan is understandably wary about her first. Treats him like the pet cat she never had. Vulcan also acts a winglion whenever Kai casually suggests a ‘romantic evening ride’ along the coast. Or across the ocean. Either way, Skylor finds it incredibly amusing (and endearing)

Jesse knows Ruamoko is a friendly and (mostly) gentle giant, but it’s really, really hard not to be intimidated when you’re standing beside a giant stone-back gorilla with fists that can rip buildings and start earthquakes…and you are very small and easily breakable. But aside from a surprise accident of some kind, he does feel very safe with Ruamoko

It takes a while for Nya and Tawhiri to reach solid footing—again, there’s a rocky relationship there because the duo are similar in temperament and feel that *their* thoughts are the correct ones, especially if the other disagrees. They can put aside their differences long enough for Jay’s sake, but it takes some time before they have full trust in each other. Sunni, meanwhile, thinks Tawhiri is the most fascinating thing ever because weather-creating octopus?!?!?! Right up her alley.

If Eirlys could talk, she and Pixal would definitely be gossip buddies, or throw shade about others off on the side. Also similar in temperament, but not in a way that causes them to clash—rather, their shared perspective on things makes it easier to build trust with one another (which makes Zane happy to see his girls bonding ;w;)/ )

Jay: *sees Wojira* *breaks bottle over his head* ITS ON SIGHT

Harumi would be more impressed with Genesis if she didn’t meet them around the time Lloyd outs himself as the Green Ninja, soooo…yeah. She does have a small soft spot for lil Epsilon, irony being what it is (the daughter of the bane of your existence is just too adorable to overcome sometimes)

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

not sure how much of a loaded lore question this is but how cosmically important/powerful are the 4 main guardians, genesis, the great devourer, wojira, the preeminent and first bourne are in your universe are they god like beings that embody concepts like the fsm and and the overlord or are they just semi immortal magic creatures also sorta unrelated but do you have art of the guardians

Firstbourne/Alpha: Is actually the "mother" of the FSM, and is just a semi-immortal magic creature, but can be perceived as something of a god in the First Realm. Possesses the Essence of Creation and all four Elements, but cannot combine them into the Green Element. While she couldn't wrap her head around the concept of Balance at the time, she still helped her "son" flee the realm after she realized how miserable he was, and always believed he would return in some form.

The Omega: Is actually the "father" of the FSM, and is also just a semi-immortal magic creature, but can be perceived as something of a god in the First Realm. Wielder of the Essence of Destruction and user of Dark Magic (which, as we know via Garmadon and Mystake, enhances inherent Oni traits). When his "son" fled the Realm, he sent the three Oni Warlords to hunt after him, though Mystake found him first, long after he had turned the Realm of the Endless Sea into Ninjago. Having her heart changed by him and seeing the light of maintaining balance, she in turn killed the other two warlords and left the evidence of the Oni's presence in the realm sealed in a temple within Primeval's Eye.

The FSM: Only inherited the Essences of Creation/Destruction from his "parents", which came together as the Essence of Neutralization (or, the Golden Power), giving him to ability to Master Build/Break. Forced to flee from his home realm due to ensuing war over his powers, the FSM had to learn to harness the Elements from other sources, that being the Guardians found within other realms. From there, and after settling in Ninjago, he experimented with the Core Elements, discovering the Derivative Elements and causing the Green Element to manifest within him as well. Only seen a equivalent to a god as he truly has/had no equal, until...

The Overlord: Was manifested directly by the cosmos to balance out the FSM's otherwise peerless existence. Not exactly a "god" either, but is absolutely on par with the FSM himself, although he has the fatal flaw of only being able to exist when a wielder of the Green Element/Golden Essence does. When the FSM realized this, despite his and Genesis' attempts to seal the Overlord away for good two thousand-some years ago, he wound up giving up his life, in an attempt to cut his Element from the compass and thus prevent the Overlord from ever threatening his realm again. This almost worked, except his grandson was eventually born with the perfect genetic makeup to wield the Element/Essence for himself anyway...leading to the Overlord stirring again to beckon to Garmadon amongst other things. The Overlord's initial motivations are to wipe out the wielder of the Green Element/Golden Essence, even at the expense of himself, but after being defeated by Lloyd (and company) twice, he shifts his goals into erasing the Balance itself so he can extinguish Lloyd yet continue to persist for himself.

The Four Main Guardians: As the FSM ran off to establish a new home where he could live in peace, he came across four wielders of the Core Elements that weren't Dragons—Ruamoko, Eirlys, Tawhiri, and Vulcanell (also semi-immortal but very magic creatures). He befriended them all during his temporary stay in their home realms, and came to master the Four Core Elements, which he then went onto channel into the Four Golden Weapons when he forged them at the Golden Peaks. But when the Overlord reared his ugly head in Ninjago, the FSM summoned his old friends to his aid in the resulting battle, and with their four elements combined as one...

Dragon Genesis / The Great Devourer: ...the four Guardians manifested a Guardian of the Green Element, and one for its opposite of Golden Essence. The golden-eyed, green serpent became known as a snake to eventually be called The Great Devourer, while the green-eyed, golden serpent became known as a dragon called Genesis, who became the FSM's personal dragon. Together, the Devourer helped the FSM split Ninjago in two with destructive force despite her small size, while Genesis kept the Overlord trapped on the sinking half of the island, creating an opportunity for the FSM to seal the Overlord away (although Genesis sealed themself too in the process). The Devourer, after the battle, became the sole Guardian of Central, up until she bit the Master of Destruction, in which her venom reacted badly to Garmadon's Oni traits, while Garmadon's essence invoked a restless and destructive appetite within her that could never be satiated, especially without her other half to keep her in check.

As for what's up with Genesis now, well, that's a pretty big spoiler :P (And I know I said that Genesis came from the First Realm in the Compass post but I lied aka changed stuff around. It's been a while since I wrote that post snksnksnk)

Wojira: Long before Time Had a Name, and long before Ninjago was even a thought, the Storm Spirit Wojira soared through the waves and the winds of the Realm of the Endless Sea. Though she was the sole Guardian of what little lands there were (known as the Aquatic Archipelago in today's times), she did less "guarding" and more "causing chaos" creating turbulent turmoil for the denizens that did live there. With the Realm of the Endless Sea being the FSM's last stop during his quest through the realms, he worked with Nyad to quell the beast's reign, and then went on to forge the Golden Weapons at the Golden Peaks and from there create the island of Ninjago to live upon. And, it was witnessing a Master of Water in action that gave the FSM the realization that there were more elements than just the Core Four, pushing him to begin his experiments to begin with. Wojira, meanwhile, has been left in her deep sleep for all this time, but legends lost to time tell that she will return to reclaim all that was once hers...

The Preeminent: ngl she's a little bit complicated since at two separate points she is a realm and also persists within one, BUT eldritch horror is a suitable title for her so we're going with that for now call me back after Season 4

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

guardian questions was there any reason you choose chima, the never-Realm, djinnjago and the realm of madness to be where the 4 main guardians come from do the guardians home realms have legends about them how did each guardian become connected to their element since ruamoko is from chima is he technically a gorilla legend best and would he have a connection to that tribe is the reason the realm of madness looks the way it does because of vulcanell can genesis realm travel like a regular dragon and can he breath out an element like regular dragons which lloyd dragon does genesis look the closest to ultra, golden, his elemental, his core dragon or golden ultra how did the devourer guard all of central if it was the size of a garden snake while also having no powers how did she help the fsm divide ninjago did she boost his power so they could do that was she bigger during the overlord battle or was she always small until she bit garmadon if jesse had a guardian what animal would it be

was there any reason you choose chima, the never-Realm, djinnjago and the realm of madness to be where the 4 main guardians come from -> aesthetics, mostly

do the guardians home realms have legends about them -> yes, except for Vulcanell + Realm of Madness...but after DR kinda revealed that there ARE actually sentient creatures living in/from that realm, I may have to tweak that a bit. Either way, this gets discussed in Season 5 if not Post-S4.

How did each guardian become connected to their element -> Gets discussed in Post-S4 (and if things go according to plan, is a plot point!)

Since ruamoko is from chima is he technically a gorilla legend best and would he have a connection to that tribe -> Yeeees

is the reason the realm of madness looks the way it does because of vulcanell -> ...Partially (it's the result of an old fight b/w an Oni invasion and Vulcanell, actually)

can genesis realm travel like a regular dragon -> yes, but with limitation

And can he breathe out an element like regular dragons -> gold breath, I suppose, though it doesn't actually have any elemental/essence aspects

which lloyd dragon does genesis look the closest to ultra, golden, his elemental, his core dragon or golden ultra -> Genesis is the Golden Dragon. Ultra, Golden Ultra, and the Elemental Dragon are different entities that are still utilized later down the line, however.

how did the devourer guard all of central if it was the size of a garden snake while also having no powers -> Hey don't judge a Guardian by it's size! Eirlys is just a slightly larger wolf, after all ;P That being said, she mostly accompanied the FSM around from problem to problem, hence why she'd been in the gardens of the Monastery when Garmadon was bit. She then ran off after that, which is why Mystake headed off to hunt her down afterwards.

how did she help the fsm divide ninjago did she boost his power so they could do that -> yes, actually. She is not just the "Guardian of Green", but also representative of the Destructive half of the FSM's powers. Her presence definitely helped enhance his abilities (similar to how the Guardians helped the Core Four during their Great Devourer fight)

was she bigger during the overlord battle or was she always small until she bit garmadon -> she was always small(ish) until she bit Garmadon. Biting Garmadon is what gave her the insatiable appetite to begin with, and from there that's what caused her to start growing uncontrollably

if jesse had a guardian what animal would it be -> Either a rabbit (cuz magic) or a butterfly (cuz of the "surprising metamorphosis"), but those are kinda common picks for ocs, sooo...maybe an axolotl to spice things up. Plus they're usually pink!

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

So the core 4 guardians live where their weapon was hidden right but why do Eirlys, Vulcanell and Tawhiri live in temples of their elements but why does Ruamoko live in the caves of despair was wu unable to hide the scythe in the heart of the mountain can Ruamoko even access the heart of the mountain and for the uroboros guardians the devourer lived in the monastery since its the closest thing to a temple of the green element (in the light island at least) and epsilon will presumably live with lloyd in the bounty and later the monastery but where will genesis live after he's freed and is there a wind temple since wojira is technically sleeping in the water temple (its not called that but it basically is)

Earth Temple is under Shintaro protection, and Vangelis obviously wasn't just going to let anyone march into *his* mountain willy nilly (even if they are a child of a god). So, Wu chose somewhere else. And it's much more convenient for Ruamoko to get in and out of the caves than it is to crawl out from under a mountain, but he could access the heart of the mountain if he wanted to tho

Genesis, after freedom, roams around Central in its intended role as protector (although Lloyd can call them up when needed). Was gonna say it makes pitstops at the monastery BUT I forgot the monastery stayed burned down for ten seasons straight can you believe that—

Epsilon will definitely live with Lloyd, just like GD lived with FSM~

I like to think there's a temple for every element, actually :V

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

What realms are the guardians from? I can’t remember if this has been asked before, but are there smaller guardians for the derivative elements?

Vulcanell: Realm of Madness

Eirlys: Never-Realm

Ruamoko: Chima

Tawhiri: Djinnjago

Genesis was originally going to be from the First Realm, but lore with the Devourer got changed during S1 so now you’re gonna have to wait for S2 to get the full story there *finger guns*

There is not smaller Guardians for the Derivative Elements, though whether or not there are creatures out in the sixteen realms that do possess some semblance of these elements remains to be seen. Really, the main Guardians are only Guardians because the FSM personally appointed them to be for Ninjago.