I think one thing about Ninjago that will forever fascinate me most is the Serpentine.
When the OG series started, they were introduced to us as this new threat, even at that moment more dangerous than Garmadon and a lot more menacing than the skeletons.
In theory, we learn everything about them straight away: they are a species of snake people who are just as intelligent as humans. They were dangerous and were therefore all locked away. And that's not a lie. It was exactly like that. We just got to know them from the human perspective.
Just the way Pythor is introduced to us straight away - someone who ate his own tribe. It's not said directly, but suggested by the skeletons and his grumbling stomach, which was very disturbing as a kid, what makes the feeling even stronger, that it was justified that they all were locked away.
Because yes, in the beginning, they are the bad ones. They want to awaken the Great Devourer to make humanity pay. Humans who can't help what happened in the past.
And at the end of Season 2, they get locked up again, and that should have been the end.
What I found quite fascinating in the rewatch as an adult is the fact that when Skales became leader and they captured Lloyd, he didn't really want to harm Lloyd. It doesn't seem like he has any thoughts of revenge. Skales more likes: "Now go away kid and don't come back. Stop taking advantage of us, we don't want that, leave us alone." He is annoyed by Lloyd, but doesn't think about hurting the child, but wants his people to be left in peace.
The Fangpyre are not immediately out for revenge either, but are willing to help the boy who freed them.
And one thing that I found really interesting is the end of Season 2.
As a child, the Serpentines are the bad ones, without question, but the scene where the gate goes down threatens to lock all the snakes back in and Skales quickly snakes towards it and screams...in that moment, even as a child, I somehow felt pity for them.
And that would have been their final end. This was the end that was planned for them. They were the villains who are evil and got their karma.
In Season 1 and 2 we experienced the story from the perspective of the humans.
Then comes Season 3 and suddenly we learn that the Serpentine wanted to warn the humans about the Golden Master.
We see how they have come to terms with their situation and found peace and are starting families themselves. Have children on whom, it seems, they do not impose their hatred of humans.
That's when you really realize that not all Serpentine are fighters. They are partly normal people with families. And the fact that EVERYONE was locked away during the war suddenly becomes damnable. And in the end they even help to safe the humans. The people who locked them away for decades, even the ones, who doesn't even do something.
We learned that the snakes actually just wanted to help, were misunderstood, and the humans were actually the assholes. Which was very irritating to hear as a child.
We heard the story in this season from the viewpoint of the Serpentine.
You can occasionally see Serpentine living with human's. Not much yet, but a start. Nevertheless, there are definitely still prejudices between each other. As seen with Sensei Garmadon, who cynically explains to Pythor that the snakes started the war back then. Despite the fact that the Serpentine helped last season, not everything is good. The past is still in the room, after all it is about war. And in the season we finally learn the truth of the story - that Serpentine and humans both wanted peace. That no one really started, but was manipulated. Nobody is right or wrong.
There was no good and evil.
That's why I find the fact that the Serpentine, should have ended like this in Season 2 so...crazy.
From today's perspective, you can no longer imagine that.
In the flashback of Wu's childhood, we also learn that the two species have always been very separate. They were not allowed to enter each other's lands. In Season 1 there was a CHILDREN'S BOOK where the moral was to never trust a snake. Which seems subtle...racist from today's perspective.
Serpentines then became an integral part of society. They even wear clothes! XD Cole has a Hypnobrai daughter and we now have a Serpentine elemental master who Arin, a ninja, is friends with. And who even admires the ninja, the descendants of those who took away his ancestors' freedom. (No joke, I really hope that this topic will still come up with Spitz and Frak)
But it doesn't mean that everything is fine again, as if nothing ever happened. We still have Pythor, who knew his people wanted peace, and yet he spent 40 damn years underground and had to eat his own people to survive. He can't forgive and forget, which is...okay. He has a right to still be angry. Pythor is an asshole, but people were assholes to him too. There is no direct bad and good in the situation. The past doesn't just disappear just because you know the truth. Some have chosen to forgive, others cannot because the pain is too great. Pythor has a right to not forgive the humans for what their did.
That's what I find so fascinating - it's not like the Serpentine were any different when they're were introduced. We just barely knew anything about them. We hated them without barely knowing them. And only when we get to know more about them do we realize that they are no any different than us humans.
Humans and Serpentine got to know each other better and dropped their prejudices, and so found peace and learned to share the world in which they live together.
There was never any real redemption for the Serpentine. What we learned about them in Season 1 was never wrong, it just wasn't everything. We just looked at the story from a different perspective, which changed everything - damn I think that's awesome.
