Lothor

Lothor, born Kiya Watanabe, is a fictional character and villain from the Power Rangers universe, appearing in the television series "".

Lothor is played by Grant McFarland, who also portrayed and voiced the benevolent Sensei Kanoi Watanabe.

Lothor is an exiled evil ninja master. At the beginning of "Ninja Storm", he arrives on Earth with an army of evil space ninjas (space aliens trained in the dark ninja arts) that he has gathered in space, intending to conquer the planet and destroy all the protecting ninja academies with their ninja masters, allowing him to become the ultimate dark ninja master.

His minions at this point include Zurgane, Choobo and his nieces, Marah and Kapri. Later, he would be joined by Vexacus, Motodrone and Shimazu. His foot soldiers were creatures called Kelzaks.

History

When the son of Sensei Kanoi Watanabe, Cameron Watanabe, travelled back in time to obtain a magical amulet, he learned that Lothor was actually born on Earth as Kiya Watanabe, the twin brother of Kanoi Watanabe and Cam's uncle. This plot twist explained why Lothor and Sensei Watanabe had both been played by the same actor.

Kiya had been a student at the Wind Ninja Academy, in the Earth Ninja category. Even at a young age, he craved power and secretly began practicing dark ninja magic. When a woman named Miko was inducted to the Academy with a mystical samurai pendant, he attempted to steal it, but was stopped by Cam, who took the pendant back to the future. For his crimes, he was banished from the Earth by his sensei and, in his rage, he foreswore his family and ninja heritage and declared himself to be Lothor. In space, he continued his mad search for power.

Presumably, at some point, he married as he later took on his two nieces Marah and Kapri as apprentices at the urging of their parents. He found them to be very annoying, but kept them around because they were family - an odd sentiment for one that had so recently abandoned his family on Earth, possibly an attempt to fill the gap left in his life alone.

Before his attack on Earth in the first episode of "", Lothor had returned to Earth previously in secret, a violation of his former sensei's orders. His purpose on this visit is unknown, but while there, he killed the Bradleys, the adoptive parents of Hunter and Blake Bradley. These two were taken in by Sensei Omino and trained at the Thunder Ninja Academy, which, unfortunately, was the first place attacked by Lothor's army. He captured the Thunder Ninja students and Sensei Omino, and even managed to convince Hunter and Blake Bradley that the Wind Ninja's current sensei, Kanoi, was responsible for their adoptive parents' deaths.

The Wind Ninja Academy, now under the leadership of Sensei Kanoi Watanabe, Lothor's brother, was the next target. Once again, Lothor kidnapped the students of the academy, When they were fighting Sensei Watanabe turned himself into a guinea pig.

During the series

Lothor's victory was short-lived, and he soon realized that three students had escaped the purge of the Wind Ninja Academy (Shane, Dustin, and Tori). Being the only three remaining, they were presented with morphers, allowing them to become Ninja Power Rangers. These new Power Rangers foiled Lothor's plans on numerous occasions, and he has sent monstrous warriors after them, but they all fail. Nevertheless, he has always stuck by the evil code for destroying a Power Ranger, that "they must be in their true Ranger form." Lothor has a campy sense of humor, which is often reflected from his frustrations with his monsters/nieces when they fail to best the Power Rangers, or in some predictable occasions (e.g. after making a monster grow, he stares at the camera and asks the audience if they really expected him to make it smaller.) Such fourth wall breaking manifested itself in several other of Lothor's asides (in the season finale, piloting the final giant robot the Rangers would fight, he comments on the battle was the most fun he'd had all season) as well.

In the final episodes of the series, treason and betrayal among Lothor's generals saw them all dying off - at each other's hands or at the hands of the Power Rangers. It was soon revealed that these deaths had all been a part of Lothor's great plan, and that when each had died, their spirits had gone to the "Abyss of Evil". With the help of Cam's stolen Samurai Amulet, Lothor was able to make the Abyss overflow and the dead generals and armies were all released once again, free to destroy the world. Shane was quickly able to destroy the resurrected generals with his Battlizer while the other Rangers tossed the other monsters back into the Abyss. Lothor then managed to use Cam's Samurai Amulet to drain the Rangers of their Ranger powers. Fortunately, Shane, Dustin and Tori were able to use their inner ninja powers to seal him and his deceased army in the Abyss of Evil, saving the planet.

Defeat

After escaping from the Abyss of Evil (during the "" two-part episode "Thunder Storm"), Lothor allied himself with Mesogog. When his plans failed, Mesogog turned on him (which he already intended to do anyway), using his mind powers to shrink him down to the size of an action figure, and trapped him in a jar. The fate of the jar imprisoning him is never made clear, but it is presumed by many that it, with Lothor still inside, was destroyed in the destruction of Mesogog's lab in the "Dino Thunder" finale and that he returned to the Abyss of Evil.

Trivia

*Kiya Watanabe, when renouncing his family name, claims that the name "Lothor" is that of an ancient warrior of evil.
*As Kiya Watanabe, student at the Wind Ninja Academy, Lothor wore a yellow and black uniform, indicating that he studied under the Earth element.
*Unlike most other Power Rangers villains, Lothor actually had a sense of humor, and broke the fourth wall on occasion (example: after making a monster grow, he looked at the camera and said "What? He wasn't going to get smaller.").
*Lothor suffered from acid reflux.
*Lothor was well-versed in pop culture.
*According to the episode "The Wild Wipeout", Lothor is a Libra, which also makes Sensei Watanabe a Libra.