Ninjago Fire and Ice: Kai’s easygoing nature vs Zane’s push forward
So season 11 has divided people but the best thing by far is Zane getting corrupted by the scroll while Kai is left to get his powers back. Why? Because it goes back to the roots of the characters. Recall how Wu recruited Kai vs how he recruited Zane.
Kai was working in his family’s blacksmith shop rushing through making a samurai sword. Nya chastises on him for this whole Kai brushes it off, claiming he’s gonna be a better backsmith than their dad.
Zane meanwhile, was testing himself. Meditating underwater, and in icy water.
This contrast carries over into the rest of the show. Zane is the first one to get their true potential because he actively goes after it, to discover part of himself.
Meanwhile Kai is last because he doesn’t actively discover himself. He just looks for another explanation, IE he must be the green ninja.
It’s only through an actual test he wasn’t prepared for that he discovers his true potential. Just like how he found his calling to be a ninja over a Samurai.
Zane is an active agent. He goes looking for what he wants and makes himself into who he wants to be. He becomes, “the titanium ninja.” But unlike Kai he often gets things handed to him. A new body, ice powers, and his visions. Zane May be an active agent, but that hasn’t stopped him from accepting things that could otherwise be considered hand outs.
Kai is lazy. He’d prefer it for things to come to him instead of going after it. It’s something that’s so ingrained into him that he’s still bitter about not being the green ninja. That he expects people to just fawn over him and doesn’t even try to change public opinion when they become public enemy number 1 during skybound. He jumps the gun when it comes to their parents being bad guys instead of thinking of other options because it’s easier to just assume that they abandoned him and Nya on purpose.
This all culminates and gets flipped on it’s head during season 11. Zane has been corrupted by power he was given, becoming an evil dictator freezing anyone who gets in his way thanks to the crazy power he was granted, and didn’t work for.
Meanwhile Kai is first stripped of his power, and then had them severely weakened. Unlike in season 5, Kai is alone in this. He’s back to season 1 territory where the self pity kicks in, only this time he doesn’t have a prophecy to justify why he’s weaker. Instead, he targets the external source of these problems, the emperor. Failing to actually internalize that he’s got to dig a little deeper in order to become stronger. That all his powers won’t come back to him at once. It takes effort.
Basically I’m really looking forward to how this is gonna end because the contrast between Kai and Zane hasn’t really been explored that much, and the show is doing it this season without even drawing attention to it. Bravo season 11. Bravo.
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