Wu’s Character Development Is Especially Interesting (as Far As Ninjago Characters Go) Since The Early

Wu’s character development is especially interesting (as far as Ninjago characters go) since the early seasons see him as a somewhat static character: the old, wise, morally righteous, serious mentor figure who occasionally helps deliver a punchline. In the early seasons, he sees some change to both his character and the way the audience perceives his character, but he doesn’t have outstanding, main character level development. In season 5, the audience gets introduced to a different side of Wu as the villain of Morro’s story, but the way it’s told still frames Wu as this wise mentor in order to show why Morro went down the path he did. It (explicitly) emphasises Morro’s pride and pursuit of glory rather than Wu’s recklessness, but I would guess that at this time, it’s because Wu was still meant to be a relatively static character and the writers wanted to maintain his authority.

Even though this revelation isn’t delivered to demonstrate that Wu isn’t as infallible as the audience might have assumed, it does present the idea that Wu has hurt people in the past and that Wu could be considered a villain in a certain point of view. The explanation of how Garmadon came to be infected by the Devourer’s venom is another example along the same lines: at that point in the show, I don’t believe the writers were trying to set up a complex web of perspectives without a true villain, so the venom flashback primarily explains Garmadon’s villainy rather than Wu’s questionable character. Wu does take some accountability for his mistake, but that’s how it’s framed: a mistake, not a sense of wickedness. Also, the idea of Wu’s personal imperfections isn’t immediately elaborated any further, so it isn’t made very important.

In “Never Trust a Human”, the audience is finally introduced to a much more irresponsible version of Wu: the episode, not just a flashback, is dedicated to Aspheera’s transformation into a villain and the fact that Wu was to blame for it. Aspheera’s desire for revenge, her primary motivation, frequently reminds the audience that she had been wronged, which means that somebody had wronged her.

In this way, Wu’s character development is witnessed in reverse, forcing the audience to challenge their assumptions about him (and often Garmadon, by the closeness of their character arcs). The Ninjago writing really leaves something to be desired, and tonight I wish that the Ninjago writers had been able to anticipate how long the show would run so that they could really weave an intricate reverse character arc for Wu (and Garmadon). For all the ninja talk about “full potential”, the show itself really misses out on a lot of good storytelling (but that’s another post. Perhaps 2.).

Since Wu’s development is witnessed in reverse, the statement that Wu is a bad person or a villain is not necessarily true: his wrongs and failings are established after his goodness and mentorship, but they happened first in the show’s timeline. Since his mistakes, he has grown and changed and matured to become a good guy and a good person. It’s easy to perceive Wu as evil and twist his actions into villainy and joke that Wu is the true Ninjago villain, but the fact is that he did make mistakes, but he grew and became a better person because of them:

He refused to take action and retrieve his katana, resulting in Garmadon being bitten by the Devourer. Afterwards, he began to take initiative and act in favor of what he believed was right. Most importantly, he formed the ninja team.

He was irresponsible when he taught Aspheera Spinjitzu, resulting in her turning into a villain. Afterwards, he began to be more careful and take his role more seriously. He led the Elemental Alliance and trained students (one can assume successfully).

He took his role too seriously and overlooked Morro as a person, instead pushing him to become the Green Ninja, where he unintentionally led Morro to believe that he was a liar. In his interactions with the ninja, he acknowledges their personal goals and motives, and most importantly, he conceals the scroll with the prophecy of the Green Ninja to prevent them from going down the same path as Morro.

And of course Wu seems to conceal his wrongdoings (‘ninja, there is something I have not yet told you…’), but one has to keep in mind that he is very old. His past actions are things that he has learned and grown from and the ones from his childhood happened a very long time ago at the time of Ninjago’s main canon. He doesn’t consider them important to mention, because they aren’t, and would only reduce his credibility with the ninja and threaten the team if he just told them all his past faults without good reason.

Tl;dr

Wu isn’t the villain that I see some of the fandom making him out to be.