Merlopians

History

History[]

Battle of Nine Days[]

Before the creation of Ninjago, the Merlopians aided the First Spinjitzu Master and the islanders in a battle against Wojira. During the battle, Nyad merged with the Endless Sea and pried the Storm and Wave Amulets from Wojira's head, causing the giant serpent to fall into a deep slumber.

Seabound[]

Under the command of Prince Kalmaar, several Merlopians, including Glutinous and Gripe, sought to awaken Wojira. After many unsuccessful attempts at creating a duplicate of the Storm Amulet, these Merlopians discovered the presence of surface dwellers within the Temple of Wojira.

After several skirmishes with the two surface dwellers that ended with the pair fleeing to their ship, a group of Maaray Guards surrounded the vessel and ordered them to appear before King Trimaar to answer for their trespassing. Upon receiving the surface dwellers, Trimaar soon realized that his son Kalmaar was responsible for sinking their vessel and was in the process of awakening Wojira. In the verbal dispute between father and son that followed, Kalmaar fatally struck down his father but pinned the blame on the surface dwellers. While Kalmaar declared himself the new King of the Endless Sea, Trimaar whispered the truth to his adoptive son, Benthomaar and asked him to aide the surface dwellers in defeating Kalmaar before passing.

Benthomaar would then honor his late adoptive father's final request and helped the ninja to escape from Merlopia. He would then join them as they sought to secure the Storm Amulet from the Island of the Keepers with Kalmaar's forces not far behind. After both sides discovered that the amulet had already been taken to Ninjago City, Kalmaar and Gripe led an invasion force to retrieve the artifact, finding themselves in conflict with the other half of the ninja team who had stayed behind on dry land. In the ensuing conflicts, however, Kalmaar was able to escape with the Storm Amulet and successfully awakened Wojira.

With Wojira now under his command, Kalmaar and his forces made their way back to Ninjago City, submerging the city in an event that would become known as the Great Flood. While Kalmaar terrorized the city from atop Wojira, Gripe and his Maaray guards hunted the flooded streets for any sign of surface dwellers. After several more battles with the ninja, the conflict culminated in a clash between brothers as Benthomaar and Kalmaar fought against one another. In the ensuing battle, Benthomaar was able to destroy Kalmaar's trident, thus releasing Wojira from his control. Now freed from her tormentor, Wojira immediately turned on Kalmaar and devoured him before turning her sights onto foes and former allies alike, forcing Gripe and his forces to flee.

After Seabound[]

After the end of the Great Flood, the Merlopians learned the truth about Trimaar's death and no longer consider the ninja to be their enemies. Benthomaar was crowned to be their king, but because of this, Gripe led an army of renegade Maaray Guards and plot to take over Merlopia.

Crystalized[]

With Ninjago City overrun by the Overlord during the crystal infection, Nya and Jay came up with an idea to asked Benthomaar for help, hoping that he would bring the Maaray Guards to help them battle against the crystal army. Although it was believed that Nya's message didn't work at first, Benthomaar soon recieved the message and brought the Merlopians, the Keepers, and Zippy to fight the Crystal Warriors during the final battle. A week after the Overlord's defeat, the Maaray Guards helped the ninja rebuild the Monastery of Spinjitzu.

Dragons Rising, Season 1[]

When the Merge occurated, some Merlopian were lost and were rescued by the Administration Agents who reassigned them to the Land of Lee where they integrated the Community of Lee. ^[1]Alongside the other migrating denizens from the realms, some Merlopians moved to the Crossroads after the Merge.^[2] Some also began working as agents at the Administration.

Dragons Rising, Season 2[]

At some point after the Ritual of the Blood Moon, a certain amount of Merlopians went to the City of Temples to watch the Tournament of the Sources, while Teelk went to participate in it.

Dragons Rising, Season 3[]

A certain amount of Merlopians were living in the Community of Lee at the Land of Lee.

Appearance

Appearance[]

Merlopians are amphibious anthropomorphic creatures resembling marine animals divided into two know races, the eels ones and the cephalopods ones.

The skin color of the "cephalopods race" members can vary between purple/gray, pink, blue, green or light purple, they have two tentacles around their mouths that resemble a mustache. From the sides of their heads, two skin formations emerge at the top, with three growths connected by translucent blue (or pink, yellow, and orange) membranes. The same formation is also on the back of their heads. They have a number of small sharp teeth in their mouths. Their chests and abdomens are bright blue (for the purple ones) with marked abdominal muscles. Their eyes are different colors.

The Royal Family of Merlopia is distinguished from the civilian that have legs, by their five tentacles instead of legs and by the more imposing size of their skin growths on the head (with five growths and 4 membranes per side)

The Maaray Guards and other Merlopians civilians of the "eels race" are mainly black or dark grey in color and have an eel-like body with legs and similar heads to serpentine with a black tong and white teeth, though before Dragons Rising their theeth used to be the same color as some part of their body that are glowing in glittering colors, either cyan, orange, yellow, green or purple, which for many matches their eyes color.

In terms of clothing, the Merlopians are relatively modest, though not as good as the Serpentine. The Maaray Guards and the Royal Family, wear vests of diverse colors, mostly according to the color of their skin and often wear gloves and gold armor, and the civilian usually don't wear clothes. In ancient times, however, females used to wear much more enveloping armor, although it is unknown than it is today. Females also wore helmets in battle.

Culture

Culture[]

The culture of the Merlopians seems to be relatively primitive and more similar to Ninjago from the past. However, they are still much more technologically advanced than the other guardians of the Amulet of Wojira, the islanders.

They live in the kingdom of Merlopia near the Tartarus Trench, the deepest trench at the bottom of the Endless Sea. Despite the fact that they are amphibians, there is an air in the interior of their homes, although at least the Merlopian Palace can be flooded with water.

Their technology, as mentioned above, is relatively primitive and does not reach the modernity of major cities on the mainland, such as Ninjago City. However, they still use some water-filled panels that respond to touch and control various functions, mostly automatic door opening. They also have scientists and physicians and write their knowledge in the sea scrolls made of unknown material, although they probably don't know the classic books.

Merlopia is an absolute monarchy, with a king at the head of their nation, also known as the ruler of the Endless Sea, suggesting that he claims the right to rule the entire ocean. He also has absolute power over the entire army of Merlopia, whose duty is to carry out all his orders. If the king dies, his son becomes the successor in his place, although it is unknown whether it can also be a daughter. While the King always wears a golden crown with the symbol of Merlopia on his head, princes and probably princesses do not wear anything like that.

Merlopians live in peace with the surface-dwellers such as humans, and do not enter their territories, probably unaware that their existence is considered only a legend. However, this peace seems to be fragile, and as soon as the ninja entered the territories of Merlopia, they were arrested and brought before the King.

Unlike the surface-dwellers, they use no motor vehicles and are only transported on undersea animals, especially on the backs of manta rays. There are also many directed sea currents in Merlopia, which speed up their traffic.

The currency in Merlopia is pearls, as Trimaar placed them on Undersea Biscuit on the Royal manta races.

Among the most famous legends of the Merlopians is the legend of Nyad, the first Elemental Master of Water, who rode on the backs of whales and defeated Wojira before time had a name.

The traditions in their kingdom include mainly the Royal manta races, which are races in which the Merlopians probably race on the backs of their manta rays.

The Merlopians also have dancing rituals and celebrations. Their sacred winter dance involves blindfolding themselves while dancing.

Known Merlopians

Known Merlopians[]

Nyad (formerly; merged with the Endless Sea)
Benthomaar^[3]
Anthropomorphic eels^[4]
Anthropomorphic cephalopods
- Royal Family of Merlopia
  - Trimaar's ancestor (deceased)
  - Trimaar (deceased)
  - Kalmaar (deceased)
- Teelk
- Seafoam Green

Official description

Official description[]

Fish-Like People[]

The parrot insists they exist and that he's seen them. I'm not sure I believe him since he named No-Eyed Pete as a witness...^[5]

Appearances

Appearances[]

Sets[]

Boxed Sets[]

Magazine Gifts[]

Ninjago[]

The Island[]

164. "The Tooth of Wojira" (statue)

Season 14: Seabound[]

165. "A Big Splash" (pictured)
167. "Unsinkable"
168. "Five Thousand Fathoms Down"
169. "The Wrath of Kalmaar"
170. "Long Live the King"
171. "Escape from Merlopia"
172. "The Tale of Benthomaar" (flashback)
173. "The Storm Amulet"
174. "Riddle of the Sphinx"
175. "Papergirl"
176. "Master of the Sea"
177. "The Calm Before the Storm"
178. "Assault on Ninjago City"
179. "Nyad"
180. "The Turn of the Tide"

Season 15: Crystalized[]

181. "Farewell the Sea" (pictured)
203. "Quittin' Time!" (mentioned)
206. "Compatible" (mentioned)
207. "Distress Calls" (indirectly mentioned)
209. "Dragon Form"
210. "Roots"

Ninjago: Reimagined[]

5. "Golden Hour"

Ninjago: Dragons Rising[]

Season 1[]

The Elemental Mechs[]

3. "A Pain in the Mech!" (flashback)

Season 2[]

Season 3[]

Season 4[]

63. "Tonight We Hunt Monsters"

Books[]

Skills and Powers
- "The Curious Case of Agent Walker"

Ninjago Magazine[]

Live readings[]

Peak of 1000 Suns (mentioned)

Video games[]

Abyss (non-canon)
LEGO Brawls (non-canon)

Trivia

Trivia[]

They're the second species to use the term "surface-dwellers" on others such as humans, the first being the Serpentine.
- Unlike the Serpentine, the Merlopians use the term for all beings that live on land instead of higher ground.
"Mer" is an Old English prefix meaning "sea."
While the Royal Family and citizens are based on octopuses, the Maaray Guards, Glutinous, and the ocean gang are based on eels.
All the eel-like^[6] Merlopians resemble the Pyro Whippers.
The names of all known members of the Royal Family of Merlopia end in the suffix "-maar."
- A maar is a broad, shallow crater typically filled by a lake after a volcanic eruption. However, in-universe, the suffix "maar" means "sea."^[7]
Based on one of Tommy Andreasen's tweets, it's possible that Merlopians are classified as amphibian.^[8]
The Merlopians could be based on the Silurians and Sea Devils from Doctor Who, as both ruled their respective planets (Earth and Ninjago) before humans ruled.
According to Chris "Doc" Wyatt, Benthomaar is a different kind of Merlopian.^[3]

Gallery

Gallery[]

Members/Design variants[]

Minifigures[]

Promotional media[]

Concept art[]