Zordon

Zordon of Eltar is a fictional character in the Power Rangers universe, appearing in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers television series and many of its subsequent incarnations.

Although the Power Rangers had, in the Power Rangers continuity, predated Zordon (for example, the ancient warriors of Power Rangers: Wild Force), Zordon is generally credited with creating the first group of modern Power Rangers, (though the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers movie suggests he was creating Rangers thousands of years ago, and that these old rangers defeated Ooze; Dino Thunder suggests that Tommy Oliver is the last of the first Power Rangers.) as well as coining many of the phrases that are still used today. Among the most notable of these terms is the zord, a term for the various building-sized mechanical or biomechanical machines used in the series, and the megazord, a term for any arbitrary merger of zords into a bigger zord.

It should be noted that in the pilot episode of "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers", Zordon's original name was "Zoltar".

The Power Rangers saga begins with a story of a battle of gigantic proportions between good and evil during some unspecified point in the past. Zordon at some point followed Ninjor's lead in creating powerful coins and infusing them with the power of Rangers. Unable to match the skill of the ninja power, Zordon infused his coins with the power of the dinosaurs instead. Zordon also prepared for the eventual arrival of evil by placing key weapons across the solar system (such as the Mega Voyager which he left on a moon of Jupiter). His experience over the ages gave him knowledge of various peoples and objects all across the known universe, many of which became key to aiding his Rangers. He is also believed to have had a hand in creating the Space Rangers of KO-35.

Zordon's rivalry
According to some non-canonical sources, Zordon and villainess Rita Repulsa had managed to agree to seal the fate of the universe with a best-of-five coin toss aft. Not wanting to lose, Zordon cheated the coin toss, and easily won. However, this victory was not without a price - Rita managed to trap Zordon in an interdimensional time warp before being sealed away in a dumpster. With Zordon gone, the day-to-day upkeep fell to the duties of his loyal robot, Alpha 5.

Since Rita's dumpster landed on the Moon, Zordon decided to use Earth as his new base of operations, setting up in the deserts of California.

When Rita was released in the early 1990s, Zordon, now only appearing as a large blue head in a blue tower of light, asked Alpha to find five "teenagers with attitude", thus creating the first generation of Power Rangers. Each Power Ranger received a Power Coin - one of the five coins used in the coin toss that decided the fate of the universe eons ago.

Zordon acted as a mentor and advisor for all but a few moments between the original incarnation and Power Rangers: Turbo. It was somewhere during this point that it was revealed that because of the prolonged amount of time in the alternate dimension, bringing him back would be dangerous, if not lethal, as the Power Rangers would find out in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie. (In an earlier version of the movie script, Zordon was a member of the "Order of Meridian". He was regarded as the finest commander in the galaxy, a true legend.  It was also stated by Dulcea that if not for him, the universe would be a very different place.  She also said that he was always in inspiration and if he died, a piece of all of them would die, and the forces of good within the universe would be dealt with an irreparable blow.)

Early on during Power Rangers: Turbo, Zordon returned to his home planet of Eltar, to be replaced by Dimitria. Not much was known about what happened to Zordon afterwards, except that he was captured by the forces of evil at the end of Turbo. The evil monarch, Dark Specter imprisoned Zordon and began draining his powers for his own gain.

The Power Rangers: In Space saga would bring an end to the continuous storyline that had existed since the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Ironically, in the finale episode, Countdown to Destruction, which is considered one of the best series finales of Power Rangers, the current Red Ranger Andros would be forced to kill Zordon (by smashing the column that contained him) in order to defeat evil once and for all by unleashing a power energy wave that washed across several galaxies.

Although Zordon ceased to exist, many other characters in later incarnations served in much of the same role as Zordon - in some cases, the role of Zordon is divided into two characters, one being the philosophical mentor and the other being the technical genius of the Power Rangers team (examples include Captain Mitchell and Miss Fairweather in Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue, Princess Shayla in Power Rangers: Wild Force, and Sensei Kanoi Watanabe and his son Cam in Power Rangers: Ninja Storm).

Because of Zordon's influence on much of the first part of Power Rangers, there remains persistent rumors of Zordon's return in a future incarnation. So far, such rumours remain unsubstantiated.

It should be noted that since Zordon was trapped in a Subspace Rift, the destruction of his tube should not have killed him, just cut him off from this world.

Trivia

 * Coined the expression "It's Morphin Time."