Cole, Kai, Jay

Fittingly for his elemental affinity, Kai is very hot-headed, prone to taking action before he thinks things through. He is capable of making careful observations when the need arises, but his emotions often override his caution. His single-mindedness made interaction with his teammates difficult at first (especially due to his worry about Nya), but he eventually learned to work with the other ninja. He can be very cocky at times, especially earlier in his career as a ninja, sometimes even to the point of selfishness, insisting that he is better than others, gloating about his victory, or yelling about his failures. He seems to have a large ego as he wanted to be the Green Ninja and lead the team. He eventually grew out of this for the most part, though he occasionally lapses back into a similar mindset. But those emotions are also when his strength is greatest, especially when protecting those he cares about. Kai's personality represents caution, growth, safety, and warmth. He may not say it much, but he deeply cares about his loved ones and will do anything to protect them, even if he must sacrifice himself, which is why he's so overconfident.

Later, following the ninja's fame, Kai would end up getting something of a larger head and bigger ego, constantly flirting with girls and enjoying the merchandise styled after him. He indulged in his fame the most out of all of the ninja.[16] Usually, because he often feels insecure, Kai feels like he's useless or insignificant at times or not as good as the other ninja.

Kai also has something of an overconfident stubborn side, believing that he is in the right until overwhelming evidence to the contrary is presented. This is especially pronounced during Lord Garmadon's stay on the Destiny's Bounty; Kai repeatedly accused the four-armed villain of treachery or plotting despite Garmadon's insistence that saving Lloyd was his primary concern at the time.[17] On the other hand, Kai's stubborn streak lends him incredible determination that allows him to bolster the team's spirit in the face of impossible odds.

Despite having no powers at the time, Kai showed intense loyalty through his determination to protect Lloyd when the latter was possessed by Morro.[18] As time passed, Kai mentally connected his power with his self-worth to a greater degree, at one point hesitating to give up his power to save Lloyd and, at another point, losing hope when his power was taken by Aspheera.[19][20][21] However, his desire to protect his friends was able to overcome all this insecurities and allow Kai to see his self-value besides his power, allowing him to become an even better person and ninja.

Overall, Kai is a tough, brave, confident, passionate and also protective ninja. The most prevalent facet of Kai's personality is his good heart and dedication to the people he cares about—if someone can earn his friendship, he will stop at nothing to protect them. Much of his stubbornness and recklessness is due to his desire to help his loved ones, either directly or by becoming strong enough to defeat anyone who might threaten them with their plans. In turn, his friends and family work to balance out Kai's more extreme traits, causing him to become a level-headed mentor for Lloyd by the time he and his comrades begin training the Green Ninja. According to Zane, Kai's desire to protect his friends is just as powerful as his temper.

Unlike his sister, Kai likes to spend time with his parents and doesn't mind when his mother tends to baby him, which he likes. He also formed a better relationship with Ray while playing video games at the monastery with Cole.[12]

After the Merge and finding himself in the Land of Monsters, alone, Kai struggled to keep himself hopeful as he navigated for weeks fighting for survival and trying not to lose his humanity in the process. However, despite all the adversities he faced, Kai remained firm on his convictions, even inspiring a fire dragon driven by vengeance against a monster that killed her child to not kill its own unhatched egg and giving a sentient Fire Mech called Rusty, whose master had turned into a monster, a new purpose. However, as he grew tired, Kai eventually reached his limit, as he almost drowns due to a Sea Monster after it lured him with visions of his friends, sister, and master. But after Rusty sacrificed himself to save him, Kai was able to regain his hope and continue his journey to return to Ninjago. Even after years since escaping the Land of Monsters, Kai is showed to still struggling with what he experienced there, not even disclosing the details with the other Ninja, with the exception of Wyldfyre and only because she accidently found out about it and he knew she wouldn't stop pestering him until he told her all about it.

A few years after the Merge, he is showed to have matured quite a lot, finding the perfect balance to his cocky and impulsive personality. While still vain and loving to brag about his skills, Kai has showed a lot more modesty than he used to. Also, despite still being hot-headed and rush into battle, he is now able to focus on the mission and to sort out priorities. This is especially showed when Nokt attacks Imperium to take the souls of the inhabitants, where Kai remained focused in finding a way to better fight the ghosts, even advising Cole, who was engulfed in anger and grief due to Nokt taking the souls of Bonzle, Fritz and Spitz, to not let his emotions cloud his judgment. One factor that contributed to this was becoming Wyldfyre's mentor, which not only gave him someone with whom he could relate, but it also gave him someone he could guide. Through Wyldfyre, Kai's teaching skills that he had developed while teaching Lloyd were able to fully blossom, as not only he was able to teach her how to properly use her elemental power, but also taught her how to calm down her own temper.

Jay is the most light-hearted and energetic of the ninja. He is always telling jokes, most of which are only funny to himself. He usually does this to cover up fear and anxiety, as revealed in Season 6. He is also sensitive in both positive and negative ways and thinking. He enjoys boasting about his abilities, such as inventing and poetry, much to the annoyance of the others, but he proves to be a good friend and a skilled fighter. He is also somewhat high-strung, typically being the first to panic in dire situations.

Jay has a crush on Nya, and often stumbles on his words around her, although they both eventually reveal their feelings for each other at the end of Season 6. There was a period of time where it seemed Jay didn't understand what Nya wanted, and was worried about their relationship. He tried to treat her like a lady and protect her, refusing to let her row the boat, though Nya found a way to help anyways. He was also incredibly nervous to ask Nya to be his Yang, even though they were already steadily dating by then.

He is fond of those he is loyal to, but will go against them if they wrong him, as shown with the love triangle in Season 3 when he fought over Nya's love. He started yelling at Cole when he found out Cole was Nya's perfect match which surprised Cole since he knew nothing about it. The fight showed immaturity in both of them and a lack of desire in talking it out. When they were settling their differences, Jay at first assumed Cole was trying to deceive him. However, since then, it has been revealed that Jay and Cole are best friends. They have a lot of banter in the show, even pulling a prank on Cole in the Temple of Airjitzu.

Jay also hosted a television show between Seasons 3 and 4, where it showed his charismatic nature. It was revealed that he also wore makeup (when he hosted the show) in which Jay comments that "concealer is a time-honored tool of the ninja." This could mean he wears makeup regularly. In Season 8, it seems Jay was embarrassed by this period of his life, asking Cole to not remind Master Wu about when he hosted a show.

Jay has always been a likable and charismatic character, despite being annoying sometimes. Besides his show, he had his own "League of Jay" where fans inspired by him had avatars that looked like him. As Superstar Rockin' Jay, it was another show of his charismatic but egotistical nature. And without meaning to, he caught the eye of the Munce Queen after bragging about his skills in Season 13.

Jay can get a laugh out of making fun of his friends. In Season 4 when the ninja thought Skylor was related to Kai, Jay laughed about it as he told Sensei Garmadon. In Season 8, he told the group that he was recording and will make many copies of Cole's horrible singing. He also has a lot of faith in his friends, assuring everyone that Lloyd would come to their rescue when they were all imprisoned by Chen, only to be incredibly sad and worried when Lloyd didn't show up.

Jay is fond of inventing, technology, and the color blue. Technologically, Jay is one of the smartest out of all the six ninja, possibly second to Zane, because he was raised by adoptive parents who were mechanics. The ninja have relied on him to been the engineer at times. Jay is embarrassed of his doting parents, and dismisses the advice they give (like when Edna asks Jay if he brought extra underwear and it turned out he did not when he had to pull the sails of the Bounty while it was raining). But he is still is extremely loving of his parents, never wanting something bad to happen to them. Jay was the only one on good terms with his parents when the show started. His parents were the first to be introduced as they came by to visit him and the other ninja (in which they mentioned Jay didn't go to visit them). Over time, it seems Jay grew to be less embarrassed of them.

Jay values technology more than the others. In Season 3 he was the most excited to visit Borg Industries, who revolutionized Ninjago. He also told Clouse in Season 4 that he would rely on nuts and bolts over magic.

In Season 8, Princess Harumi identified Jay as "the joker whose mouth is as fast as lightning," which he took pride in. Even in the pilot episodes the characters have described Jay as talkative.

It can be inferred that Jay is sloppier than the other ninja. When Harumi found a pair of blue underwear on the main console, Jay was immediately embarrassed. Jay is also more likely to take shortcuts, though the other ninja do as well such as in Season 4 where his injury led him to using a mech left in the jungle by Chen, even after Jay claimed he wouldn't take any of Chen's gifts. Another example of shortcuts would be in Season 13 where he cleaned up the leaves in the yard with Spinjitzu and risked getting lectured from Master Wu. When he wasn't, Nya commented on how strange it was that Wu gave up a moment to reprimand him in which Jay agrees. This shows that this may be normal behavior for Jay and his relationship with Wu is like a parent and a child.

At random times, Jay has a habit of talking, shouting, or screaming very loudly. It's usually whenever he loses his temper, he gets really scared or freaked out, or when he sometimes becomes impatient. It also happened during dangerous or tight situations. An example of this is when Kai tries to tell the other ninja that the Great Devourer has a weak spot on its forehead, Jay responded with sarcasm and then yelled that it is impossible to kill it, due to it being "ridiculously" huge. Another example is when he freaks out upon seeing the Tiger Widow when he was sent to collect its venom.

After being stranded in the Realm of Oni and Dragons, Jay had a mental breakdown. He seemed oddly indifferent about the ninja's predicament and the other ninja realized he had lost his sanity. In this state, he is constantly "happy" about their many predicaments, even saying that he had "found it," when he had clearly lost it. Since then, he has returned to normal, as evidenced by him freaking out when fighting in the Pit, which indicates his insanity and unusually calm nature was simply temporary and caused by stress.

Jay has always been obsessed with video games. He was upset when the Monastery was burnt down in Season 1 because he lost his high score. In the Cloud Kingdom, he was excited to find a pinball machine. Season 12 was a video game season and Jay was the most experienced and excited to be inside a video game. Jay was also shown to be a great dancer in the Prime Empire shorts, due to his skills in rhythm games. When Lloyd showed the ninja the comics he was into in Season 2, the seasons after it was Jay that was the biggest fan of them.

In "Game Over," Jay reveals that deep down, he feels sad about his birth parents abandoning him in a junkyard, explaining to Unagami that he always wonders why they did it and hopes that it was for a good reason, if there's even a reason behind it all.

Nya's merge with the Endless Sea led to Jay suffering another mental breakdown, and he fell into a deep depression to the point that he isolated himself, did not shave, and started collecting half-empty glasses of water and would speak to them, thinking Nya was in them. He was also defensive of them as when Kai spilled one by accident. Nya's return and reversion made Jay regain his usual sanity.

After the Merge, the loss of his memory made Jay become sterner and sassy, but he still retains most of his old habits like wasting his time on video games rather than sorting out paperwork. He is also more simple than other Administration Agents as he told his Sub-Agent Prentis that if someone doesn't need realm reassignment, then it is not their department's problem. He also retained his chatty habit, as seen when he encountered Bonzle. Jay also admitted that he found the Administration very by-the-book and silly. Despite his dislike, he harbors deep insecurities about himself, such as particularly not telling the Administration about his elemental power and when Bonzle mentioned that Jay didn't have the heart to turn her in. Much of these traits were exploited by Ras, who deceived him by claiming he was a great warrior who served him in the Wyldness. After being corrupted by using a Wolf Mask, Jay becomes cold, ruthless, and impolite, with Nya describing him as a different person. As a bounty hunter, he’s become merciless and silent most of the times yet he retains his sense of humor but is more sassy, annoyed, and often a jerk to others.

After becoming a mercenary, Jay started to do work for money, such as delivering items or people to his clients. He often did work for Fedulian, who wanted him to hunt rare artifacts, earning a small fortune. Despite being a ruthless bounty hunter, Jay has a sense of honor, completing his missions and going after his targets. However, being deceived by the Administration and Ras caused him to only trust himself.

At the monastery, he is constantly rude towards Nya and the others. However, he retains a sarcastic and dry sense of rumor.

During his time as a bounty hunter with the ninja, Jay was envious of the familial bond they shared, which ultimately led him to abandon their mission to awaken the Arc Dragon of Focus. However, Nya's words reinforced his regret about his decision, and he resolved to return to the ninja, eager to reconnect with them and regain his memories.

Cole used to be more uptight and strategic, disapproving of Kai's impulsiveness. Before meeting Wu, Cole lacked direction and purpose. At this time, his mother just passed away and he was struggling to take care of the family himself and understand his father's way to cope with their loss. As a ninja, Cole thoroughly enjoys helping others in need and feels accomplished with a job well done.

In the pilot episodes, Cole insisted he was without fear, though Zane quickly pointed out his fear of dragons. When the ninja had to recruit their dragons, Cole awkwardly stood on top of the Earth Dragon instead of properly mounting him. Despite his initial hesitance, he grew to accept Rocky, even learning to care for him more than the other ninja cared for theirs. He was also worried to face his dad and dance in Season 1. He had a fear of ghosts in Season 5, which he was also able to overcome after turning into a ghost and facing Master Yang. This was the same with singing in front of people in Season 8. Cole has had the most fears expressed and conquered, despite acting like the bravest of the ninja.

Cole may act out of instinct or impulse without thinking first, as seen in "Wishmasters", where two of his wishes went to waste.

He is shown to have fatherly tendencies, caring for baby Wu as his own in Season 8, even going to the extent of calling him Cole Jr. before figuring out the baby's identity. He was often shown being protective of the de-aged Wu as well, examples being when he attempted to threaten Ultra Violet should she harm the child, running into the ninja's cabin to protect him when the Bounty crashed, and making sure toddler Wu was safely hidden behind a rock before joining the other ninja in using his Spinjitzu. Throughout the season, Cole was his main caretaker. Another example of these tendencies was in Season 11, where Cole threatened Krag with a parent-like punishment: to not let him play video games.

Cole has kept a strong relationship with his father, Lou, ever since Season 1. Before, he would lie to his father through letters about his dance practice, not wanting to disappoint him, which ironically, held him back from his True Potential. Whenever the Royal Blacksmiths would be performing, Cole would point out his dad proudly. Since then as well, Cole has been more confident in his dancing and singing. He occasionally does the move Triple Tiger Sashay in a fight and in Season 8, he openly sang.

He also has addictive tendencies, mainly his love for cake. He has also shown these same tendencies towards noodles from Chen's Noodle House. In general, Cole seems to have a great love for food and eating, despite being shown to be a terrible cook in Season 1. Sometimes he eats without thinking though, like when Dareth hid weapons in a cake for them, or eating the fortune cookie without taking out the fortune. In Season 9, the others joked about how he might be overweight, but Cole points out how he had shown a lot of self restraint in Seasons 8 and 9 by staying away from cake, even stating that "his body is a temple". In "The Weakest Link", he questions why he ever gave up cake, and Jay responds with the same thing.

At the beginning of Season 8, Jay comments that Cole has become a party pooper since Master Wu had gone missing after Season 7. This was due to Cole giving up cake. It seems like a drastic change for him, and may be inferred that the loss of Wu affected Cole immensely. Similarly, the death of his mother, Lilly, prior to the series, impacted him and forced him to become more responsible at a younger age, explaining his tendency to become a leader and take more responsibility to deal with loss.[11][12]

He and Zane are the most serious and focused of the ninja. However, that does not stop him from allowing his one-track mind or competitiveness to get the best of him. Once he really sets his mind to something, he will remain interested in it until it is fulfilled (for instance, when he was itching for a fight in "Island of Darkness").

Cole is one to put himself at risk before his friends, as shown when he gave Jay the Jadeblade during Season 4. He has shown sympathy toward Zane, Lloyd, young Wu and Jay when they were melancholic. However, when trying to comfort his allies, he seems to have difficulty finding the correct words to do so, only able to accomplish the task with the example of his teammates. He always encourages his friends to do the right things but tries not to force them. This happened with Jay in Season 6 and Wu in Season 9. If it comes down to it though, he will try to solve the problem. He tends to be patient and give others the benefit of the doubt, as seen in "Scavengers" when he told the others to not be so hard on Lloyd, who was trying to lead at the time.

Sometimes Cole is shown to not think things through. One of these occurrences was in Day of the Departed when he was bitter about being turned into a ghost and went into the temple to face off against Yang alone and when he in Dragons Rising, Season 3 decided to face against Nokt alone. He realized the depths of his actions and the effect they had on his friends and felt guilty, though in the end he managed to get past his inner turmoil and defeat Yang. He showed understanding to Yang's plight and was able to get him to overcome his pain and attempted to get him to go through the rift with him.

Cole has been shown to make allies easily. Examples of this include Master Yang, Krag in the Never-Realm, and the Upply in Shintaro. Cole seems to be very understanding and willing to help those who need it. Cole is also never willing to leave someone behind, as shown in Season 4 with the factory workers and eliminated Elemental Masters. This was an early example in the show of his promise to his mother to "always stand up to those who are cruel and unjust", even though the phrase was never shown until Season 13.

Rarely does Cole back down from a fight, for better or worse. When Jay aggravated Cole about Nya, Cole was willing to fight back. However, it doesn't seem like it was about Nya as much as it was about seeing who was the better of the two. However, in the end his maturity manages to shine through, with him finally ending the fight in the Tournament of Elements. Since then, Cole is proud to be considered Jay's best friend and is shown to return this friendship.[13]

Season 11 showed how sensitive Cole is to keep his friends happy and how he hates letting them down. This is most evident when Cole felt extreme guilt for losing the Traveler's Tea after arriving in the Never-Realm, and is further elaborated in the form of a nightmare where the others (except Zane, of course) chastise him for losing it, even forcing him to get it back despite the Land-Bounty being inches away from falling off a cliff. He also seemed like a pretty good artist, making some pretty well-drawn ninja puppets to tell the kids stories about Aspheera and how the ninja got into the Never-Realm. The other times we see drawings from him are the ones hanging in Lilly's room when he was younger in Season 13 and in Season 1 when Nya was explaining the venom of the Venomari.

In Season 12, he and Kai heroically both sacrificed themselves for the others to win the Speedway Five-Billion. Both Jay and Cole in this season were shown to be the video game experts on the team, though Cole likes to do it in style.[14]

Cole has a lot of ideas that seem to typically be shot down or cause doubt. In Season 4, as he tried to find the trigger for a secret passage in Kai's suite, the other ninja questioned him. Later in the season as he and the factory workers plan an escape, his plan of rolling into giant egg rolls was rejected. His argument against a Roto Jet was also ignored. In Season 13, Cole seeing a purple creature in his bedroom wasn't believed by the ninja or Wu. Later, Cole tries to lead Master Wu, Vania, and the Lowly out of the mountain by making choices like riding the minecart and using the stone mech to push it. Not only was there doubt, but when they barely succeeded each time, Cole would claim dizzily, "Another great idea!"

Cole has a lot of confidence in his super strength. In Season 4 after Chen took his elemental power, Cole yelled that they couldn't take his super strength, in which he was quickly proven wrong. This happened again when the ninja were put in jail. In Season 8, his advice to Lloyd to impress Harumi was to act tough and flex his muscles.

Cole is the most likely ninja to give nicknames. Some nicknames/name calling include calling Zane "Tin Can," or "Pinky" (when Zane's gi was pink in Can of Worms) and calling Jay "Motormouth," "Zaptrap," and "Bluebell." He also makes fun of his friends' crushes, like when Kai thought Skylor could've been related to him, or after Lloyd went into town with Harumi. For himself, he befriended Princess Vania, but nothing romantic occurred between the two and he assured Lloyd that he doesn't like her in that way since they just met.

Cole has a somewhat uncreative naming sense, although Zane stated Cole was much better at naming things than he was. He was presumably the one to name his Earth Dragon "Rocky", and other names he came up with have been "Rocky Dangerbuff", "Dangerbuff Jr.", "Snake Jaguar", and "Cole Jr.".

When he is alone, he often talks to himself, as shown in "Snake Jaguar" or "The Skull Sorcerer."

According to Tommy Andreasen, Cole "is a selfless empathic person ... as simple as that".[15]

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