Legends of Chima

Did You Know?

• The music for Legends of Chima was composed by Anthony Lledo and won the 2013 Cue Award for Best Television Score.
• In the season finale of Ninjago season 5, it was revealed that Chima is one of the 16 realms parallel to Ninjago.
• The villain Lord Ras is speculated to be from Chima.

Plot

Chima is a pristine realm inhabited by tribes of anthropomorphic animals, later revealed to be part of the Wyldness, one of the 16 Realms near Ninjago. According to the great stories told by Fluminox and Lagravis, ordinary animals evolved after exposure to the elemental Chi. Only a few species evolved initially, but evolution accelerated after a war between the Phoenix and Hunter tribes. The Phoenix performed a Great Illumination to imprison the Hunters in a dreamless sleep, causing Mount Cavora to suspend above the continent and distribute Chi water to all species.

Civilizations suffered regular warfare for thousands of years. When young Prince Cragger loses his parents in the Gorge of Eternal Depth and becomes King of the Crocodile Tribe, his sister Crooler uses Persuader Plants to manipulate him into destroying the Lions. His former best friend, Prince Laval of the Lion Tribe, becomes his enemy, sparking a war among eight animal tribes over the powerful Chi. Before the final battle, a black cloud stops the Chi Falls.

Crooler runs out of Persuader Plants, Laval fakes his death, and Cragger is redeemed. Laval faked his death to find the Crocodile Legend Beast and Cragger's mother. The Crawlers exploit the tribal war to steal Chi from Mount Cavora by blocking the falls. Representatives from the eight main tribes travel to the Outlands to rescue the eight Legend Beasts, which are keys to restoring the falls.

After the Crawlers are defeated, the Legend Beasts unclog the Chi Waterfalls, and Chima becomes peaceful. Meanwhile, in the Gorge of Eternal Depth, Scorm, King of the Scorpion tribe, and the Crawler Tribes blame Laval for giving them Chi, which they say caused their sentience and feelings of defeat. Scorm throws the Chi to the bottom of the gorge, unintentionally awakening the Hunter tribes.

Characters

Laval is the prince of the Lion Tribe and the main protagonist, often acting childishly and arrogantly. Lagravis is the gray-maned king of the Lion Tribe and Laval's father. Lavertus, also known as ShadoWind, is Lagravis' brother and Laval's uncle, exiled after being manipulated by Persuader Plants but later pardoned. Li'ella is the only named female lion, raised by Tormak of the Fire Tribes, and Laval's girlfriend.

Leonidas is a brave lion warrior who cannot do two things at once. Lennox is a brave foot soldier of the Lion Tribe. Longtooth is an older warrior with scars. Lothar is an elder lion.

Cragger is the prince of the Crocodile Tribe, son of Crominus and Crunket, twin brother of Crooler, and Laval's former best friend turned enemy due to his sister's manipulation; he becomes a protagonist in Seasons 2 and 3 and has one white eye with a scar. Crominus is the King of the Crocodile Tribe, husband of Crunket, and father of Cragger and Crooler. Crunket is the queen. Crooler is the cunning princess and main antagonist of Season 1.

Crug is one of Cragger's lead henchmen, brown with a metal lower jaw, known to sleep with a teddy bear. Crawley is another lead henchman, olive green, who leads Crocodile Warriors. Crokenburg is a Crocodile general with a half-metal face. Cranvil is the Crocodile blacksmith who names weapons after the sounds they make. Eris is the princess of the Eagle Tribe and a close friend of Laval and Cragger.

Background and production

Legends of Chima came from M2Film, a Danish animation studio, with Ole Holm Christensen serving as supervising producer. Each episode lasts 22 minutes. A team of 300 people worked on the show, spread across Denmark, Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Bangkok. Christensen said the designers, art directors, and animators were excited to dive into the project, and the global art team produced concept art drawing from many pop culture influences.

The animation relied on a Maya-based CG pipeline and heavy render farms, with each episode taking about 12 weeks to complete. Characters were made to look like shiny plastic Lego minifigures, not real animal fur. In 2021, co-creator Tommy Andreasen posted unseen concept art on Twitter, revealing that a planned six-episode arc about the search for the Fire Wings would have introduced Florax, Flinx's mother and Chima's chief botanist, but those plans changed.

The storyline was written by John Derevlany, based in Los Angeles. He noted that while productions often scale things back, Legends of Chima became more epic, blending simple children's tales with big action and a deep mythology. Voice actors include David Attar as Cragger and Lennox, Bethany Brown as Eris and Crooler, Scott Shantz as Laval, and many others.

Reception

Brian Lowry of Variety described the series as an elaborate hodge-podge of familiar properties existing primarily to sell action figures. Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave it four out of five stars, praising it as a thoughtful, beautifully designed animated series that explores friendship, trust, loyalty, and honesty against a backdrop of mild conflict, exceeding expectations for a toy-driven story. The series premiere drew 1.5 million viewers, ranking as the 10th highest-rated show on cable that night.