Dragons Rising

The first season of Ninjago: Dragons Rising was first released on June 1, 2023 on Netflix. Arin is the mascot character and Empress Beatrix is the main antagonist. Imperium Claw serves as this season's is the villainous faction.

This season is in the United Arc and being the first season in the third Ninjago generation, it is also the first installment to reset the episode count. It is not considered the sixteenth season of Ninjago. The collectible items in this season are the Dragon Energy Cores.

From December 2022 to January 2023, a series of animated comic strip shorts were released titled Ninjago NXT, which let fans decide what the outcome of some stories would be after the end of Season 15. These shorts also corresponded with the release of the second wave of Core sets in 2023.

It is preceded by Crystalized and succeeded by a second season.

Plot Summary
''In the aftermath of a world-changing event, Lloyd, the Green Ninja, must train young heroes to rescue dragons from a technologically-advanced enemy. New and old Ninja team up to find three Dragon Cores with the power to save their unstable world, unless their enemy, the Imperium, steals them first.''

Characters

 * Alfonzo Frohicky - Andrew McNee
 * Arrakore - Mark Hildreth
 * Arin - Deven Mack
 * Beatrix - Nicole Oliver
 * Cole - Andrew Francis
 * Dale - Jason Simpson
 * Dorama - Mackenzie Gray
 * Dragon Matriarch - Brenda Crichlow
 * Geo - Peter Kelamis
 * Gulch - Andrew McNee
 * Jay - Michael Adamthwaite
 * Kai - Vincent Tong
 * Kreel - Kelly Sheridan
 * Lloyd Garmadon - Sam Vincent
 * Nya - Kelly Metzger
 * Ras - Brian Drummond
 * Rapton - Giles Panton
 * Riyu - Brian Drummond
 * Sora - Sabrina Pitre
 * Wu - Paul Dobson
 * Wyldfyre - Kazumi Evans
 * Zane - Brent Miller

Battles

 * Arin & Sora vs. Claw
 * Lloyd, Arin & Sora vs. Claw
 * Ninja & Dragons vs. Claw
 * Arin & Sora vs. Dorama
 * Ninja & Craglings vs. Earth Dragons
 * Ninja vs. merge monster
 * Ninja vs. Claw
 * Ninja, Wyldfyre & Dragons vs. Claw
 * Lloyd vs. Merlopian gang leader
 * Ninja & Algae farmers vs. giant crab
 * Nya & Sora vs. Howlers
 * Nya, Sora, Cole, & The Seekers vs. The Hoarder
 * Zane, Lloyd, & Arin vs. The Administration
 * Ninja & Imperium Resistance Force vs. Imperium's Claw
 * Ninja vs. Empress Beatrix & Imperium's Claw
 * Ninja & Rapton vs. Dorama
 * Nya, Zane, & Lloyd vs. Empress Beatrix

Locations Visited

 * Ninjago
 * Monastery of Spinjitzu
 * Ninjago City
 * Merged Realms
 * Ninjago
 * Crossroads
 * Cloud Kingdom
 * Kingdom of Madness
 * The Administration
 * Imperium
 * Temple of the Dragon Cores
 * Ocean
 * Ocean farmer's village
 * Greenbone Warrior's forest
 * Pinnacle of Crystals
 * Wyldness
 * Land of Lost Things

Sets
Arin is the mascot ninja and the Dragon Energy Cores are the collectible items of the season. The set background is based on the Merged Realms.
 * 71777 Kai's Dragon Power: Tornado Spinjitzu
 * 71778 Nya's Dragon Power: Drifting Spinjitzu
 * 71779 Lloyd's Dragon Power: Cyclone Spinjitzu
 * 71789 Kai & Ras: Car & Bike Battle
 * 71790 Imperium Dragon Slayer Hound
 * 71791 Zane's Dragon Power: Spinjitzu Race Car
 * 71792 Sora's Transforming Racing Bike
 * 71793 Heatwave Transforming Lava Dragon
 * 71794 Lloyd & Arin's Ninja Team Mechs
 * 71795 Temple of the Dragon Energy Cores
 * 71796 Elemental Dragon vs. Empress's Mech
 * 71797 Destiny's Bounty: Race Against Time
 * 71798 Nya and Arin's Baby Dragon Battle

Ninjago: Core 2 sets
A second wave of Ninjago: Core sets released in the same season as this series.


 * 71780 Kai's Ninja Racing Car EVO
 * 71781 Lloyd's Mech Duel EVO
 * 71882 Cole's Earth Dragon EVO
 * 71883 Kai's Mech-Bike EVO
 * 71884 Jay's Thunder Jet EVO
 * 71885 Jay's Titan Mech
 * 71886 Zane's Ice Dragon
 * 71887 Ninja Creative Brick Box
 * 71888 Lloyd's Ninja Bike

Continuity

 * An event known as the Merge occurs in the beginning, merging together all sixteen realms and causing chaos, and the Ninja are separated. Lloyd and Kai remained at the Monastery.
 * Nya was sent somewhere and ended up in the Kingdom of Madness.
 * Zane ended up in the Monastery of Imperium, where he remained on standby in a stasis pod, until he was discovered by Kai and Nya years later, before raising the monastery to assist Lloyd, Arin, Sora, Riyu, and Wyldfyre in escaping Imperium.
 * Cole was sent to the Land of Lost Things where he spent his time with the Seekers defending them from the Hoarder. Since then his Elemental Power has grown such that he can turn himself into a giant rock monster.
 * Jay was sent to the Administration and became an agent.
 * Characters with new Elemental Powers are introduced in this season never before seen. Nya theorizes that the Merge created a new set of Elemental Powers with the Realms combining.
 * Sora is introduced with the Elemental Power of Tech, which she is able to access with the Source Dragon Riyu's help.
 * Wyldfire is introduced with the Elemental Power of Heat, which seems to act almost the same as Fire, and their relation is unknown.
 * A Munce named Geo is introduced with the Elemental Power of Fusion.
 * Geo is a purple Munce with long ears, so he was exiled from Shintaro for sharing the color of the Munce's enemies.
 * The new Master of Wind has been introduced, being a writer in the Cloud Kingdom.
 * Morro is referenced by Lloyd when he says he knew who the last Master of Wind was and likes the new one better.
 * Zeatrix is introduced through flashbacks to be an Elemental Master from the Realm of Imperium. Her power goes unnamed, but it appears as purple flashes of some kind of power wave.
 * The state of the former 16 Realms, known and unknown, is slowly revealed in this season.
 * The Cloud Kingdom reappears in Episode 5, making its first reappearance since Season 5. It is revealed in this season that the "writers of destiny" claim that their writings predict destiny but are often wrong. This seems to be a retcon of the events of Possession, since we do see that their writings do in fact alter fate.
 * Since the last appearance, the previous Master Writer, who helped the Ninja defeat Fenwick, has stepped down as Master Writer and been replaced with someone else. It may be that they cycle through Master Writers frequently.
 * The Realm of Madness has since become the Kingdom of Madness. This marks the first appearance of this realm since Season 2, and the first appearance of the Craglings since then.
 * It is later discovered that The Administration, a region of large office spaces that claims to have jurisdiction over the whole world, was once a region in the Realm of Madness before the Merge.
 * This is a massive reveal, seeing as that until now, we had only known the Realm of Madness to be a dark desolate landscape with creatures like Craglings living in it. With this reveal, it can be assumed that it got it's name (the Realm of Madness,) from multiple different factors, like this Administration arbitrarily and unfairly carrying out awful rules and regulations.
 * The Cursed Realm is named in "The Administration," where an employee sends a group of people to "the realm formerly known as..." It is unknown what the meaning of this truly is, meaning has the realm taken on a new name? Has The Preeminent been returned to life through the Merge after being in the Departed Realm?
 * Djinjago is mentioned, and the events of Skybound indirectly, how Djinjago was destroyed. Nya uses the words "long ago" before the Merge.
 * The character Arrokore is introduced as the "last Djinn." He is the only named Djinn to appear besides Nadakhan and his father Kanjikhan.
 * It is revealed that Arrokore was not in Djinjago when it was destroyed, and when he returned, it was reduced to a single grain of sand, which he keeps in an amulet around his neck.
 * When he does end up granting a wish, he says "your wish is yours to keep," which was Nadakhan's saying.
 * It's also revealed that "Sora" the Dragon is really named Zanth, and is a Djinjagian dragon.
 * Arrokore mentions that Djinjagian Dragons have always had the power to ferry between realms, but this has been shown to be true for most Dragons (or at least ones who were born in the First Realm.)
 * Arrokore tells Sora and Nya that Djinnjago was the source of Wish Magic, which all Djinns once had, but without the realm, the magic is depleted. This gives some additional context to Nadkhan's need to recreate Djinnjago before he could marry Nya and gain infinite wishes.
 * Characters called Greenbone Warriors appear, and it's revealed by the writers that they once inhabited the Underworld before the Merge.
 * "Imperium" is a Realm that was never named previously but was a highly technological tyrannical empire ruled over by Empress Beatrix.
 * "The Realm of the Wildness" is a Realm that was never named previously but was apparently almost desert-like with animal people. Wyldfire and Ras are two characters who originated from this realm before the Merge.
 * "The Realm of Lee" is a Realm mentioned by Sora during the Crossroads Carnival. Not much is known about it and it is never seen.
 * In Episode 3, Lloyd attempts to train Sora and Arin in the same way that Master Wu originally trained Kai in the Pilot Episodes.
 * It was revealed by the writers that all this time, there had actually been 17 realms in total, not 16. It had been a misunderstanding all this time that "the 16 realms" made up all of them, but in fact it was 16 realms parallel to Ninjago, meaning there were 17 total all along.
 * This seems to be a retcon due to there being 16 doors total in the Tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master.
 * A new type of Dragon is revealed, Source Dragons, who are the source of all Elemental Powers. There are 7 Source Dragons in existence.
 * It was previously assumed that Elemental Powers came from Dragons due to the fact that there are Elemental Dragons as well as the fact that the First Spinjitzu Master harnessed all of the original Ninjagian Elemental Powers, but this confirms that all Elemental Powers come from one of the 7 Source Dragons.
 * The Dragon Energy Cores are the condensed form of Elemental Powers.
 * It could be speculated that Firstbourne is a Source Dragon, as she is the source of the Elements of Fire, Ice, Lightning, Earth, and Wind.
 * Riyu, the baby Source Dragon, seems to be the source of the Element of Technology, harnessed by Sora.
 * There is a reason why Ninjago was the epicenter of the Merge, and it may be because of the revelation in Episode 11 that the First Spinjitzu Master did not only create Ninjago, but some of the other realms. Those realms are unknown, currently, but previously he predicted that the realms would come together in what he called "the Coallesense," (what we call the Merge.)
 * In Episode 9, a flashback is shown that takes place sometime between Rise of the Snakes and Legacy of the Green Ninja with Master Wu training young Lloyd.
 * In the flashback, Lloyd has his green eyes, which is an error, as he obviously didn't get them until Sons of Garmadon. He also wears his Legacy Gi, which isn't too big of an issue.
 * He also is played by Sam Vincent and not Jillian Michaels.
 * A portrait of Ray and Maya, Kai and Nya's parents, appears in Episode 11, although their current whereabouts are unknown.
 * Since the Merge, a gang of Merlopians overtook a village of algae farmers on the sea and sent the humans living there stuck floating on the ocean. It is later revealed that the Merlopians were being controlled by Rapton.
 * Gulch, a Geckle from Shintaro, makes an appearance in Episode 13. He is the first character besides the main Ninja team to have a speaking role in this new series. He mentions how Zane and Kai helped him and the other Geckles in Season 13.
 * Also in Episode 13, Zane wears the jacket and hat he wore in "Ninjago Confidential" in Season 12.
 * Lloyd is able to act as a conduit for the Dragon Energy Cores due to the fact that he has Dragon blood.