True Potential

True Potential users[]

Zane's True Potential[]

Zane unlocks his True Potential in "Tick Tock," giving him the ability to levitate and harness his Ice powers as beams or explosions. Zane was able to unlock his True Potential upon discovering his past, learning that he was a Nindroid who nonetheless had a loving father and even if he was a Nindroid, he was still human, and then confronting the Treehorn queen in defense of his friends.

Jay's True Potential[]

Jay unlocks his True Potential in "Once Bitten, Twice Shy," enabling him to fly, teleport short distances, travel through electrical currents, and gain exceptional strength. Jay was able to unlock his True Potential by discovering Nya's feelings for him, and realizing that he simply needs to be himself.

Cole's True Potential[]

Cole unlocks his True Potential in "The Royal Blacksmiths," giving him increased strength, durability, and levitation. Cole was able to unlock his True Potential because his father respected him for who he was, not what he wanted him to be, strengthening their relationship.

Kai's True Potential[]

Kai unlocks his True Potential in "The Green Ninja." In this state, he is enveloped in a sphere of fire, granting him flight, and the ability to endure extreme heat. He is also able to protect others within this sphere. Kai was able to unlock his True Potential by realizing it was not his destiny to become the Green Ninja in the prophecy, but to protect Lloyd, the current Green Ninja.

Nya's True Potential[]

Nya unlocks her True Potential in "Curseworld, Part II." In this state, she was enveloped in a vortex of water and was able to summon an enormous tidal wave to drown the Preeminent. Nya unlocked her True Potential by accepting her past failures and realizing that the possibility of failure should not stop her from continuing to try.

Garmadon's True Potential[]

Garmadon began to unlock his True Potential in the episode of the same name. After freeing Harumi and the rest of the Sons of Garmadon, Garmadon was told to unlock his True Potential by defeating Lloyd without holding back. By defeating Lloyd following their battle at Kryptarium Prison, Garmadon gains access to his true destructive powers and his dormant element of Creation, due to him being a descendant of dragons. Later, he was also able to create a large Colossus with both his Destruction and Creation powers.

However, in "Two Lies, One Truth," Harumi confirms to Garmadon that his potential is not yet complete. To truly unlock it, rather than defeat him, he must end Lloyd's life. Garmadon came even closer to unlocking his full power when he fought Lloyd and Wu in the ninth season finale, "Green Destiny." Lloyd managed to prevent Garmadon from achieving this goal by refusing to engage in combat with him, causing him to weaken to the point of losing his power altogether. However, after sparring with the ninja in "Into the Breach," Garmadon regained his powers and can use Creation when he activates his True Potential. In Crystalized, Garmadon would further develop his true potential to its fullest extent, the ability to access his Oni Form, which enhances his dominant element of Destruction and enables him to transform into an Oni. In Oni Form, Garmadon can still utilize his recessive element of Creation if he chooses due to his dragon blood, has immunity to Vengestone and its effects, and can alter the appearance of both his human and oni forms by sprouting wings and horns along with generating or removing his additional set of arms at will.

Sora's True Potential[]

“We've missed you, Ana. Don't abandon us again!”

“I didn't abandon you. You abandoned me! I thought I had to prove myself to you, but you should never have to prove your worth to your own parents.”

“You're young and naïve, Ana. Just come back to your family!”

“I have a new family now. One that loves me for who I really am!”

— Sora and her parents, "The Power Within"

Sora unlocks her True Potential in "The Power Within." In this state, her hands and eyes glow and release a giant burst of power. Sora unlocked her True Potential by realizing that she can do things her own way, such as choosing the ninja as her true family.

Lloyd's True Potential[]

Lloyd unlocks his True Potential in "Dying to Live". As the Green Ninja, he had to complete the Ritual of Unrooting and connect to the pathways of the Whispering Wood by understanding his connections to himself and those around him. While Lloyd failed the traditional trials, the Source Dragon of Energy noted that his true potential is anything but traditional.

With his new power, Lloyd was able to connect to life itself, restore the flow of Source energy, and fix the disrupted state of elemental powers. Through his connection, he was also able to give the other ninja new forms by sharing a part of himself with them.

Similar phenomena[]

Power of the Forbidden Spinjitzu[]

The power of Forbidden Spinjitzu (channeled through two scrolls) drastically enhances powers, to a level that Master Wu directly compared to unlocking one's True Potential. Its power was enough for the young sons of the First Spinjitzu Master to defeat Aspheera's regular Spinjitzu and her guards, as seen in "Never Trust a Human", and enabled Zane to defeat the Hypnobrai sorceress's Pyro Vipers in "Vengeance is Mine!" and freeze the entire Never-Realm in "Corruption". While this power doesn't require the user to overcome emotional obstacles and only needs them to hold a Scroll of Forbidden Spinjitzu, it slowly corrupts the user, making them aggressive and gradually turning them evil. As of "Awakenings", only one scroll remains after Zane destroyed the one in his former scepter.

Lloyd as the Golden Ninja[]

Lloyd gained the power of the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master when the ninja sent him their combined elemental powers of Creation and what remained of their True Potentials^[4] within the Temple of Light in "Island of Darkness". In "Rise of the Spinjitzu Master," he unleashed his full power, becoming the Golden Ninja. He had all of the abilities of the First Spinjitzu Master, including massive control over the four main elements, levitation, the ability to summon the Golden Dragon, and manifest Golden Power into a protective sphere and powerful blasts of energy. These powers allowed him to defeat the Overlord for the first time and purge Ninjago of his evil. Lloyd stayed in this state constantly until the Overlord (now reduced to digital form) later drained him of his Golden Power in "Enter the Digiverse".

It is similar to the other Ninja's True Potentials, but there is no clear answer if it is Lloyd's first and actual True Potential, as it is separate from his main power, Life, and it was technically given to Lloyd instead of him achieving it himself.^[5] In 2017, Tommy Andreasen said it was "kind of" his potential,^[6] and in 2020, replied indicating that it may have not been unlocked in the Temple of Light because the ninja gave their potentials to him.^[7] Lloyd himself eventually claimed that he had already reached his True Potential once.^[8] This suggests that Lloyd has two distinct True Potential as the Green Ninja: one for Golden Power and another one for Life, his main element. Given the unusual nature of his aging as a result of Tomorrow's Tea in "Child's Play", the order of Lloyd’s advancement was instead played out in reverse with him having acquired his True Potential with Golden Power at the Temple of Light first.

Day of the Dragon[]

Through the Tournament of Elements in Season 4, Zane had dreams of an ice dragon that terrified him. Later, in "Spellbound", Lloyd discovered he is still able to summon his dragon from when he was the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master, now manifested through his original power of Life, by conquering his fear of freefalling to his doom.

In "The Day of the Dragon", after P.I.X.A.L. helped Zane overcome his fear of death when he had a vision of the mysterious ice dragon while wide awake. Eventually, he became able to manifest this dragon in the real world. Using it to fly to the other Elemental Masters, he and Kai (who unlocked his own fire dragon) explained to the other Masters that this power exists within each of them and can be unlocked by facing their fears, encouraging the others to unlock their own Elemental Dragons and fly away together to face Chen and his army of Anacondrai Cultists.

According to The Book of Spinjitzu, Elemental Masters can only unlock their dragons after unlocking their True Potentials.

Trivia[]

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• According to Garmadon in "The Invitation," the other Elemental Masters (such as Skylor, Griffin, Neuro, etc.) have also unlocked their True Potential on their own, but the exact Elemental Masters were not specified.
  • The comic Mother Earth states that Lilly unlocked her True Potential.
• Of the four original ninja, Kai is the only ninja to not have blue glowing eyes when he used his True Potential.
• According to The Book of Spinjitzu, Elemental Masters can only unlock their Elemental Dragons after unlocking their True Potentials.
• In the Character Encyclopedia and Character Encyclopedia Updated and Expanded, it was called "full potential" instead. Both terms are used interchangeably in the original series.
• The term "full potential" is occasionally applied to situations unrelated to this exact power, such as when Garmadon refers to the Golden Weapons' "full potential" in "Darkness Shall Rise" or Lloyd's "full potential" in "Blackout".
• When asked why the ninja stopped using their True Potential powers, Tommy Andreasen explained that "True potential must be maintained."^[9] He had also said earlier that they may have lost the abilities once they gave their powers to Lloyd in "Island of Darkness,"^[10] and while they regained their powers in "Codename: Arcturus," they no longer have them to the extent that would allow them to use their True Potential abilities.^[11]
  • Zane was still able to use beams of ice and create a bomb to destroy the Overlord in "The Titanium Ninja," although this was likely due to him absorbing Golden Power from the Golden Armor.
• While it was clearly implied that Garmadon tapped into his dormant creation powers, being a descendant of a dragon, to unfold his True Potential after defeating Lloyd, Tommy Andreasen just thinks that it took him "a lot of destruction."^[12]
• Forbidden Spinjitzu, accessed by the Scrolls of Forbidden Spinjitzu, is stated to have power comparable to that of accessing a True Potential.^[13] Whether the scrolls truly unlock one's True Potential as long as they wield it or it simply grants them powers similar is unknown. Aside from Zane and Lloyd, when Wu, Garmadon, and the ninja held the scroll, they merely used the enhanced Spinjitzu and never used their Elemental Powers. Zane was able to defeat the Pyro Vipers quickly by blanketing them in ice.
• Nya's True Potential resembles the Spinjitzu Burst.
• When Nya, Sora, and Lloyd unlock their True Potentials, their bodies don't glow or become transparent, like the other ninja. The reason for this is unknown.
  • This may be because Water, Technology, and Life are not elements of Creation, unlike the other ninja's elements.
  • This may also be because the original ninja's True Potentials could have been tied to their Golden Weapons, as seen by the glow in each weapon when the corresponding ninja unlocked his True Potential.
• In "Wishmasters," Jay compared Nadakhan unlocking infinite wishes to unlocking his True Potential.
• When asked if the Time Twins or Morro had unlocked their True Potentials, Tommy Andreasen stated, "The[y] didn’t seem like they had overcome the obstacles within to me."^[14]
• The Book of Elemental Powers and the extended synopsis of "Awakenings" state that Kai regains his True Potential in the episode, but when asked about this, Tommy Andreasen simply said, "He was pretty fired up."^[15]
• Currently, Garmadon is the only Elemental Master to have used his true potential the most often, while Kai and Sora are currently the only Elemental Masters to use their True Potential only once.
• True Potential is the highest level of Elemental Powers accessible to all the Elemental Masters but there are others higher (or equal) abilities accessible to certain Masters in a specific case (these abilities are not included in the classic process of use of Elemental Powers):
  • Spinjitzu Burst: A powerful form of Spinjitzu accessible to any Elemental Master who would be surrounded by their Elemental Power and mastered the teachings to perform the technique.
  • Merging with the Endless Sea: An ability accessible to a Master of Water.
  • Dragon Form: An ability accessible to Elemental Masters possessing one of the four elements of creation, or have dragon blood.
  • Boosted Power: Any Elemental Master can receive energy from dragons to enhance their power.
  • Oni Form: Exclusively only to those of Oni heritage. As demonstrated by both Garmadon and Lloyd, the user doesn't need access to the essence of Destruction as their primarily elemental power but can access it as a recessive ability by utilizing their anger and darker emotions under the proper techniques, akin to a True Potential.
  • Draconus Form: A unique ability unlocked by Lloyd when he discovered his True Potential, which he can share with the other ninja.
• Lloyd is the only known Elemental Master to have two True Potentials: one for Golden Power, as the Golden Ninja, and another for Life, his main element, which he achieved in Dragons Rising, Season 4. Due to the unusual nature of his aging as a result of Tomorrow's Tea in "Child's Play", the order of Lloyd’s advancement was instead played out in reverse, with him having acquired his Golden Power first at the Temple of Light before he could reach his True Potential with the Ritual of Unrooting. However, according to the Arc Dragon of Life, it is common for people to have several True Potentials.^[8]
  • Chris "Doc" Wyatt would later reinforce this idea of several True Potentials, saying that it is more realistic for people to have more than one in-universe and in real life, as opposed to what was shown in the original series.^[16]

Gallery[]

In Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu[]

Season 1: Rise of the Snakes[]

Season 4: Tournament of Elements[]

Season 5: Possession[]

Season 8: Sons of Garmadon[]

In Ninjago: Dragons Rising[]

Season 1[]

Season 4[]

Translations[]

Language	Name
Czech	Pravý potenciál
Finnish	Todellinen potentiaali
French	Vrai Potentiel/Véritable Potentiel
Hungarian	Tökéletesség
Japanese	秘めた力
Polish	Pełnia możliwości (S1-S7) Prawdziwy potencjał (S8+)
Portuguese (Brazil)	Verdadeiro Potencial

Notes[]

References[]