So my Ninjago hyperfixation has been defrosting again (everyone clap and cheer), and something really interesting occurred to me.
Now, it's been a hot minute since I've watched the full series, so correct me if I'm missing the mark on a few details. But I was noticing a really interesting trend when it comes to the utilization and context of the saying "ninja never quit".
9 times out of 10, when someone says "ninja never quit" (or some variation like "the resistance never quits", "the news never sleeps", etc.), it's usually stated as a sort of rallying cry. It's primarily used as a motivational phrase to encourage others not to give up and to keep fighting until the day is saved.
However, off the top of my head, I can think of only two instances in which that context subtly yet meaningfully deviates from the norm (again, feel free to chime in if I'm missing any others). And analyzing it further has led to a fascinating realization about both characters involved.
Zane at the end of s3, during his fight with the Overlord. Zane isn't speaking to anyone except the Overlord directly in this conversation. He isn't motivating anyone except maybe himself, and perhaps saying it as a threat towards the Overlord. Now you might immediately be thinking that him simply motivating himself instead of someone else isn't that meaningful of a deviation from the norm. But it actually gets so much more interesting when you consider the surrounding context. Before confronting the Overlord, Zane stated the iconic line of "support me, friends, for one last time". That last bit in particular leads me to believe he fully planned on dying. He knew the risks of wielding the Golden Weapons/Armor. Survival was nowhere in his strategy. He planned to die, and he did so with a smile on his face - and he planned to take the Overlord down with him by any means necessary.
Lloyd at the end of s8, right after watching the Bounty get crushed. Like Zane, he says the phrase not with the intention of motivating his companions, but as a threat against Harumi/personal affirmation to himself. And in the much more specific emotional context of this scene, it's important to note that right now Lloyd thinks he's one of the only ninja left alive. Then he drops his badass one-liner, and jumps off the train so he can live to fight another day. But more noteably, the full quote goes like this: "This isn't the end, Harumi. This is just the beginning. Without my power, without my friends, I'm gonna fight you. I'm gonna fight on. Because a ninja never quits." Unlike with Zane, these aren't the words of someone planning to die, but rather the opposite. With the phrasing and attitude he has in this scene, it doesn't seem like death is an option. Lloyd is promising, both to Harumi and to himself, that he will not rest until she has faced justice and Ninjago is saved. Death is not an option. Fatality is not an option. He will continue to live and fight and strive no matter what, and will not let himself die until his goals are achieved.
In both of these cases, the phrase "ninja never quit" take on a uniquely different meaning. When Zane says it, he means "I will not stop fighting you until we're both dead. I will fight you with everything I have, and even my dying breath will be spent in your opposition." Whereas with Lloyd, he means "I will not stop fighting you until I've succeeded, and I will not allow myself the peace of dying along the way. So square up motherfucker, because I'm coming for you."
Although Lloyd and Zane are both deeply sacrificial individuals, I think this dichotomy says a lot about how differently their views are on what sacrifice actually means.
For Lloyd, death is not an option, not for himself and not for anyone, even his worst enemies. From his perspective, the ultimate sacrifice is not martyrdom but devotion. He gave up his childhood to be the Green Ninja, permanently aged himself with the Tomorrow's Tea, banished his father to the Cursed Realm, and made so many other personal sacrifices to his health and happiness for the greater good, rarely wavering in his devotion to his cause. Even when the FSM offers him the chance to find peaceful absolution in the afterlife, Lloyd rejects that opportunity to return to fighting alongside his friends. His own martyrdom is rarely, if ever, something he plans for or intends. Unless he's backed into a corner with no other option, his own death is never Plan A. Because for Lloyd, sacrifice means living on and continuing the fight.
For Zane, however, death itself is the end goal. Whether he dies, his opponent dies, or they both take each other down together, he thinks the only way a fight can end is if one or more parties are gone. From this angle, martyrdom is the ultimate form of sacrifice. And although Zane himself doesn't always die by intentional sacrifice as often as the fandom likes to joke, the fact it happens anyway seems to be endemic to his death-as-heroism mindset. Zane fights and he fights hard, but one could interpret his actions throughout the series as being somewhat self-destructive (to put it lightly). He also gets injured that much more after his titanium rebuild, post-sacrifice. I like to imagine that's because coming back from death gave him some bad ideas about his expendability, and now he's a lot more careless with his own physical wellbeing.
Both of these characters are deeply sacrificial, defining themselves and their worth by the sacrifice they offer to others. But for Lloyd, the ultimate sacrifice is living. And for Zane, the ultimate sacrifice is death. And although that on its own is interesting enough, what I find even more fascinating is that both of those opposing perspectives share one commonality: loneliness.
Although both characters have likely held some version of their respective values for a long time, it really seems like these two moments are when those values truly crystallized (ha). For Lloyd, he had just been led to believe that almost all of his friends were dead, yet he chose to get back on his feet and continue the good fight because "ninja never quit". He was alone, and allowing himself to endure that loneliness was his sacrifice to bear.
With Zane, it's a lot subtler but that same situation rings true. In the Decoded miniseries, Zane confesses about his death that he "felt so alone". With the implication being that the loneliness he felt in death was the part that actually traumatized him more so than the physical experience of it. Zane was alone in that moment, hanging hundreds of feet in the air without the help or support of his friends, unable to properly say goodbye, armed with nothing but his own memories of them. For Zane, dying is a lonely process. And during a lot of his other death scenes, sacrifice or otherwise, he often experiences it on his own without any of his friends present (cough cough the Never Realm).
In both cases, subjecting themselves to loneliness is the ultimate sacrifice. For Lloyd, that means living on without his loved ones. For Zane, that means dying with no one around to hold him as he goes.
Anyway. Just some food for thought <3
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