So. The beloved Ice Emperor. The corrupting potential of the Staff of Forbidden Spinjitzu + Amnesia + Vex.
Now what if the Ice Emperor came in other flavours?
That’s right, introducing the Other Emperors AU, a collection of different “What ifs” for if other people had been zapped with the staff by Aspheera!
Different Versions:
Earth Emperor / King of the Underworld = Cole
Lightning Emperor / Thunder God / Lightning Striker = Jay
Fire Emperor / Western Wildfire / Fire Maker = Kai
Energy Emperor / Lord of Energy / Luh-Lord = Lloyd
Water Empress / Commander of the Sea / Wrath of the Waves = Nya
Empress of Technology / Automated Empress / Overseer / The Technodrome = Pixal
Creation Emperor / Second Spinjitzu Master / The Creator = Wu
Not all of them are fleshed out (honestly most just have… one or two minor ideas, but I’ll gladly bounce ideas back and forth with people in Reblogs, comments, and/or asks!), but here’s what I’ve got—
Earth Emperor / King of the Underworld
- Got zapped into the Neverrealm instead and lost his memories from a concussion in the fight
- Vex finds him and the staff and convinces him to take it
- He raises/sinks the Earth to create a stone dome over the realm and make it a cavern of tunnels; some call him the King of the Underworld (Hades vibes) for it and he hates it even if he can’t remember why (haha forgotten Skulkin memories)
- Master of the Mountain mixed with ancient mythology vibes
- His hair grows out and becomes partially lava because come on that look just is so cool on him ; his armour is also formed of obsidian/onyx and crystals
- Difficult to anger (a very patient emperor that listens to his people whenever Vex doesn’t interfere) but if you do (usually on Vex’s manipulation) OH BOY you’re in for it now
- Built a dangerous labyrinth King-Minos-style complete with a stone minotaur in the centre that he sends prisoners/people Vex tricks him into thinking are enemies
- Is very fascinated by Kai’s fire (and Jay’s lightning) because the only light source in the caverns are glowing crystals formed from his powers or special regulated flint/coal-based fires
- He keeps Kai with him when the Ninja arrive and banish the rest to the labyrinth to “prove themselves” on Vex’s manipulation (possibly specifically dropping Jay in the minotaur room as a sacrifice because Jay made a menace of himself in the throne room)
- The Ninja make it through the traps because they’re all kinda Cole-themed (like one involves the Triple Tiger Sashay) and arrive back at the throne room after defeating the stone minotaur, much to Cole/Vex’s astonishment/ire respectively
- Cole realizes the Ninja are telling the truth and that Vex has been lying to him and ends up dropping the staff after reverting the Neverrealm back to its original state
Lightning Emperor / Thunder God / Lightning Strike
- Realizes Zane’s vision (yeah, Jay is the only person who knew Zane had a vision and he DISMISSED IT, hecking come on) is about to come true and shoves Zane out of the way of Aspheera’s shot
- Cracked his head on a rock falling through the portal and has zero memories <3 Should he be dead? Probably. But he’s Jay, so he survives, especially with his boosted element lashing out
- Vex finds him and is so confused over the lightning appearance but realizes he can use it
- Skybound / Lightning Ruins parallels with Jay ripping up chunks of ground and making floating magnetized islands
- Has a very ominous cult following Vex leads because its Jay, of course it would happen, its not the first time
- Is kinda revered more as a ‘godly figure’ than an emperor (Vex uses his status to make orders in Jay’s name)
- Kinda unhinged, but you can blame the staff + Vex + the concussion and blood loss
- Fascinated by Cole because he absorbs/grounds lightning fine ; also fascinated by Zane who is a walking metal lightning rod
- Constantly zapping around
Fire Emperor / Western Wildfire / Fire Maker
- Lost his powers to Aspheera, battled her with the second staff, and got his butt yeeted to the Never Realm- that’s rough, buddy
- Gets his well-deserved focus season
- He really means well and just wants to keep his people safe, but unfortunately it comes across as overly possessive and tyrannical
- Older brothers so hard that he comes across as evil/possessive and aggressive when he’s trying to be caring and protective
- Don’t have much for him because the fandom already has insanely cool Fire Emperor AUs
Energy Emperor / Lord of Energy / Luh-Lord
- So many Lord Garmadon parallels
- ONI-DRAGON LLOYD ONI-DRAGON LLOYD
- Also a surprising amount of Morro parallels about making his own destiny
- So, so traumatized and got corrupted simply for wanting to take his fate into his own hands for once
- Punts Vex out of the castle because he’s had enough of people telling him what to do
- Kinda goes back to S1 Lloyd because this kid just wants his childhood back
- Goes from “scary emperor who’s going to execute you” to “excited little kid” the second he sees his siblings
- Taking the staff back hurts because Lloyd isn’t mad, he’s just super sad and confused and pleads with them not to do it
Water Empress / Commander of the Sea / Wrath of the Waves
- The Never Realm just became the Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
- All the ice and snow melts into an ocean with islands
- Nya builds a big ol’ palace that’s both above and below the water’s surface
- Seabound parallels in terms of architecture (lots of accidental Wojira foreshadowing)
- So. Much. Rage. You anger Nya, you’re done for.
- The staff + her element amplified the ocean’s whispers and she’s kinda merged with the sea but not fully, her memories are a bit scattered
- Was going to take on Vex as an advisor because he convinced her she knew him before her memories got lost/scattered, but then her memories associate him with Krux, and she kicks him onto a lone island
- Her brothers have to face the ocean to get to her. They hate it, but they do it anyway
Empress of Technology / Automated Empress / Overseer / The Technodrome
- Pixal gets to sacrifice herself for Zane
- While the staff doesn’t amplify powers for her, she still gets boosted strength, speed, smarts, etc., her processor running at 300x proficiency
- Is able to get the mech up and running— she DID build it, after all
- Still loses her memories from Vex’s interference, somewhat reverts to S3 Pixal
- Makes the entire realm “efficient” and rapidly revolutionizes technology
- Easily one of the scariest rulers because of how good she is at it
- Took Vex on as an Advisor because of his knowledge of the realm, then fired him once she was done.
“But you— you cannot FIRE me! I am your loyal, most trusted advisor—”
“And you are no longer necessary. There is more important matters to attend to.”
- It’s very difficult to dismantle her empire
Creation Emperor / Second Spinjitzu Master / The Creator
- Aspheera blasts her intended target
- Wu is sent to the Never Realm with the other staff
- The Ninja are devastated because they just lost their Sensei AGAIN just after getting him back
- Wu refuses to use the staff at first but then… well, he starts getting desperate to return. He misses his family. And his essence— creation— could be used to help the people of this realm. So he uses it once or twice, sparingly, to help the villages, to help travellers— and slowly gets more and more addicted. Why does this realm hurt the people in it? If his essence is one of creation, couldn’t he use it to… reform this realm into something more peaceful? More habitable? Remake it in his own image? Correct all the mistakes he’s made, start again, start better—
- FSM and Pilots-S2 Garmadon parallels
- His students manage to get into the Never Realm only to find it “prosperous” and “thriving”
- Bonus if there are copies of them, but the way Wu sees them— uncanny valley alert
- EXTRA bonus if there’s a fake Morro that’s based on how he was as a student / if he’d lived , and a fake Garmadon cured of venom and evil
- Breaking their Sensei out of this illusion of a perfect world really hurts
- Wu is traumatized by all his mistakes and they get acknowledged in this AU whether he wants them to be or not <3
