Lothor, born Kiya Watanabe, is a fictional character and villain from the Power Rangers universe, appearing in the television series Power Rangers: Ninja Storm.
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 byVexacus, Motodrone and Shimazu. His foot soldiers were creatures called Kelzaks.
History
When the son of Sensei Kanoi Watanabe, Cameron Watanabe, traveled 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.
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.
At one point, he put several teenage girls under a love spell. His plan was to create a television show that brainwashes people into adoring him as their ruler. However, his plan is thwarted by the Rangers. I Love Lothor
Before his attack on Earth, 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, and with his magic, he turned Sensei Watanabe 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.
Eventually, treason and betrayal among Lothor's generals led to 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: when each 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. Storm Before the Calm
Final Defeat
After escaping from the Abyss of Evil, Thunder Storm Lothor allied himself with Mesogog. When his plans failed, Mesogog turned on Lothor, using his psionic brain-blast to shrink him down to the size of an action figure, and trapped him in a jar as a trophy for his victory . 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 and that he returned to the Abyss of Evil. Thunder Struck
Notes
- Lothor carry a few similarities with Rita Repulsa, antagonist from previous seasons, such as beeing considered comical antagonists, although Lothor is less inclined to moments of goofiness like Rita (these reserved for his two nieces), both have bases around the earth's orbit and both suffer from some kind of sympton caused by stress ( Rita have headaches and Lothor suffers acid reflux).
- Lothor was based on Boss Tau Zant, from Hurricanger. His Megazord is actually Tao Zant's last form in Hurricanger.
- He claims to have taken his new name from an ancient warrior of evil.
- As a student at the Wind Ninja Academy, he wore a yellow and black uniform, implying that he studied under the Earth element.
- Unlike most other Power Rangers villains in the canon of the show, Lothor actually had a sense of humor, if a bit on the sadistic side.
- He suffers from acid reflux, a sign of stress. In some episodes, viewers may see him blending a drink to try to counter his case of acid reflux.
- Periodically Lothor would comment to the audience by breaking the fourth wall.
- Despite his evil ways, Lothor was actually well versed in pop culture, though it could be rubbed off from his nieces.
- Lothor was indeed powerful in his own right, he held his own against the entire Ninja Storm team in the series finale, not taking many hits at all and capturing their Ranger powers.
- According to the episode The Wild Wipeout, he is a Libra.
- Lothor's theme seems to be that of a centipede. This is a tie-in to his Hurricanger counterpart, who really is an alien centipede.
- Lothor is the second villain in the series to be related to a ranger, as he is Cam's uncle. The first was Astronema, Andros' sister. Unlike Astronema, Lothor chose to be evil while Astronema was kidnapped and raised to be evil.