Usually I Don't Actually Like Misako To Be Honest, But Your Take On Her Is Making Me Like Her! So Thank

Usually I don't actually like Misako to be honest, but your take on her is making me like her! So thank you for that! I really do appreciate seeing a new side of her that most ignore. It's really good to see a more positive light on her, even if I don't usually like how she's portrayed.

thank you!

the biggest issue i see people having with Misako is her abandoning Lloyd and not fully apologizing for it; but that take on her character completely overlooks the very important context that the Battle Between Brothers mini-movie gives to the situation between herself, Garmadon, Wu, and Lloyd.

this got long, so uh... full explanation under the cut JKDSFHKJFHD

We don't get much backstory at all about Misako. She's not so much her own character as she is an explanation and someone who exists to help move the plot along. (This is something that happens a depressingly high amount to female characters in a lot of media... but for now let’s just focus on Misako Ninjago.)

What little we are told is that a: she's an archeologist, a historian and explorer, b: she was and is interested in the Spinjutsu Brothers romantically, in a way that has sometimes caused a divide between them, and c: she is Lloyd's mother.

We don't get to see her doing her job much at all- even in The Island, where she was said to be the leader of the expedition, Clutch Powers was given the limelight. Whenever Misako's work is referenced, it is for plot convenience only.

When we get to see her romance, the writers prefer to pair her with Wu, despite her marriage to Garmadon never truly being nullified. The letter from S4 is a throwaway excuse for them to move past that relationship, despite how important it must have been to them. (I like to think she was friends with Garmadon and recognized Wu's handwriting, but found it cute Garmadon would steal for her attention, personally.) Misako is treated not like her own person, but as an accessory to whichever Spinjutsu Brother stands closest, in a sense.

We aren't even given much context for her and Lloyd's relationship aside from the... (sucks air sharply through teeth) way they introduce her and her relationship with Garmadon and Wu in s2... later they are shown to be close enough that they have a fairly steady relationship (s5, where she asks him for a kiss on the cheek and he gets embarrassed; their interactions while Wu is aging in s7; the way he worries for her in The Island, and so on); however, we never get to see it expanded in the same way Garmadon's relationship with Lloyd is.

TL;DR: Misako isn't given deep characterization, and what little characterization she's given tends to affect the more fleshed out characters negatively, which leads to her not having much to defend in the eyes of the fans. So what?

So the Battle Between Brothers Short I mentioned at the start of this.

From what we know, Misako has no family. Perhaps she ran from home. Maybe they died long ago. They could have even quietly fallen apart; what matters is that they're out of her life.

All Misako has are the Spinjutsu brothers (and possibly that snooty Explorer's Club, who don't really count as a good support system if they drop memberships as soon as someone is in trouble rather than sending help). Wu, her friend and old flame; Garmadon, her adoring husband.

Her son, Lloyd, is an infant. Somehow, she knows he's destined to defeat his father- @httydbooks-doodler has a theory that I have adopted that I think makes sense- the Golden Weapons are all in one place, after all. It's likely she entered the room with him at some point. And if he was held before the weapons, of course they would have glowed.

This could tear their little family - all the family Misako has - apart.

So Misako keeps it secret. She doesn't tell her husband, nor his brother, in hopes that their lives will remain quiet. Garmadon has resisted the venom so far. Surely the balance can be maintained.

And then... Garmadon loses his unsteady footing and takes a plunge into darkness, he tries to steal the Golden Weapons. Wu, of course, tries to stop him. He's been helping his brother to stay in control basically all their lives.

But it goes too far. Garmadon is sent to the underworld, and Wu remains above, absolutely destroyed by what has happened.

And Misako wakes up that morning to learn that her husband is as good as dead because his brother could not stop him, fought him despite how that could feed the venom. Of COURSE she left. Of COURSE she didn't leave Lloyd with Wu!! How could she possibly trust him after that?? Perhaps she didn't even give Wu the time to explain.

I know I wouldn't, in her shoes.

Misako has no support. She has no one to help her raise her son, she might not even be able to help herself at this point. She's mourning the loss of her husband to darkness and barely able to keep herself going. She's not fit to raise a child like this- shattered and depressed.

She thinks to herself that her son deserves to grow up with a chance of happiness, the chance to love his father as dearly as she loves him. Lloyd doesn't deserve to grow up hating Garmadon for what such loss did to his mother. She can't allow them to be turned on each other.

So she fills out the proper paperwork and leaves Lloyd at Darkley's, a school that will raise her son to love his father and see him as a role model- she prefers the idea of Lloyd turning evil to the idea of him and Garmadon killing each other in battle- and she leaves before the pain of leaving her only son grows too much and she keeps him despite the cost.

She throws herself into her research. She tells herself that when she finds the solution to the Green Ninja Prophecy, the secret that will stop her family from killing each other, she can go back to her son. She can finally be his mother.

And then she goes back, and he's grown up too fast, he's already a child soldier. His father doesn't seem to realize just how much his crimes have affected his son. Lloyd has so much responsibility on his shoulders.

How could she possibly have told him the truth and burdened him even more? "I'm sorry for leaving you Lloyd, your father was basically dead and I was so depressed I couldn't take care of you and now I realize maybe I should have because by your Grandfather's name what has Wu let HAPPEN to you?!!"

... that would just hurt him.

So she keeps it quiet. She makes her pain smaller for him, makes it sound as if she simply followed destiny for its own sake, rather than fought as hard as she could to stop it for his. She doesn't tell Wu. (How could she trust Wu.) She lets him think everything is as it was as well.

It's painful to even speak to her husband, when she sees him again. He died, and she was alone, and she misses him so much. But she can't let herself be his like this. Not when he might die.

Not when he might kill their son.

She turns against him. She helps Lloyd win. And yeah, Garmadon comes back. He's hers once more, and he welcomes her with open arms.

She doesn't tell him what his loss did to her. She takes her place in their lives once more, as a wife, a flame, a mother, grateful simply to have her support back.

Even if she won't let them support her anymore.

... overall, i blame the writers for not giving Misako's role in Lloyd's life as much attention as they give Garmadon's as the overarching issue behind her getting so much hate, but considering how much the fandom likes to find small details to dig into other character's lore, I'm kind of put out that Misako doesn't get the same sort of deeper inspection.

(I see some people say Misako should have raised Lloyd alone, like Koko. This overlooks the very important fact that Koko made the choice to raise her son alone. Misako had that choice ripped away from her. Also, Koko has issues w her character being a plot point for Garmadon and Lloyd’s stories rather than being her own character as well, basically being Just a mother and love interest with no interests aside from that... so I don’t really like the assertion that she’s a better character than Misako. They’re both fascinating to delve into of course! I love Koko! But she and Misako are in two completely different situations and should be regarded as such!)

(and not all of my content with Misako takes the angst route of course, but this is my hc for the show specifically!)