Lord Zedd


 * For the movie version of this character, see Lord Zedd (movie)

"I am Lord Zedd, Emperor of all I see."

- Lord Zedd

Lord Zedd is a major villain from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series and recurring through Power Rangers Zeo and Power Rangers in Space. He was played by Ed Neil, with Robert Axelrod supplying the voice. Steven Blum voiced him in the video game Power Rangers: Super Legends.

The character was the first American-made villain for the Power Rangers series of shows with no origin in the Japanese Sentai shows. Originally depicted as a frighteningly more evil character than Rita, (given the dark, gothic atmosphere during his scenes in the Lunar Palace, and the tone of the music) complaints from parents resulted in Zedd being toned down immensely, such as his marriage to Rita. After this, most of his plans seemed rather hair-brained than previously.

He and Rita both have a son, Thrax, who appears in Operation Overdrive, during the 15th Anniversary 2 part special, Once A Ranger, where he is mentioned to have succumbed to good. He later regains his lost powers thanks to interference in the timeline by his past self.

Since his appearance, Zedd is often considered the greatest Power Rangers villain of all time.

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
Zedd is the self proclaimed "Emperor of Evil". Thousands of years before the start of the series, he had left Rita Repulsa to takeover Earth while he pursued the conquest of other systems.

In the show's second season premiere, he arrived on Earth, to punish Rita, disgusted with her failure in defeating the Power Rangers. Stripping Rita of her powers, he shrunk her and imprisoned her within a "Space Dumpster," hurling her into the depth of space. He then mutated a piranha into the monstrous Pirantishead, who assumed command of the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord and Dragonzord. The Rangers barely survived the attack, but managed to regain control of their Zords. Furious, Lord Zedd attempted to destroy the five dinozords, only for the rangers to turn the tables and transform the remains into the more powerful Thunderzords.

Despite the Rangers' acquisition of the Thunderzords, Lord Zedd attacked again and again, each assault deadlier than the last. His monsters were created from objects on Earth with the power of his scepter, and he made them grow using spherical grenades - Zedd would throw the grenade down to the monster who would then catch it, pull out the pin and throw it to the ground to make itself grow. After his marriage to Rita they would instead grow their monsters by crossing their staffs. He once desired Kimberly to be his queen based on her good looks and tenacity, and sent Goldar to capture, brainwash and train her into being so, but his plan failed when it was discovered that the magic dust that was used to entrance her didn't work and that she was really doing a Rita impression to fool Goldar and buy the Rangers enough time to rescue her. Zedd has hated Kimberly ever since.

Zedd once attempted to create a team of evil Power Rangers, but Tommy managed to free his enslaved group of humans before the plan took place. He swore to erase the Green Ranger forever, finding him the most offensive of Rita's mistakes, concentrating his attacks on him. He finally succeeded with the TurbanShell monster, wiping out Tommy's power forever. He later planned to make Tommy his successor by brainwashing him, but Zordon managed to get to Tommy first, making him the new White Ranger. These events left Zedd without a queen or heir, making him grow angrier with the Rangers because of their constant interference.

Over time, Lord Zedd discovered that the Rangers were no pushovers, and each of his monsters failed to defeat them. With the Thunderzords and new White Ranger at their side, the Power Rangers seemed indestructible. He soon unearthed the gigantic war machine known as Serpentera that was so large that it could crush the Ranger's Zords with ease, however its flaw was that it used up its energy so fast that it could only be used for short periods of time.

Soon it was time for Zedd's Centennial Recharge, which he must undergo to fully restore his evil energies. It was during this slumber that Rita Repulsa returned to the Palace, plotting revenge. She poured a love potion created by Finster into the Centennial Recharge machine, and when Zedd awoke, he instantly fell in love with Rita, proposing. However, the love potion did not work as Rita hoped; she planned on manipulating him, but Zedd was strong enough to resist completely being under her control, becoming less seriously focused on the rangers and more on his life with Rita.

With Zedd and Rita side by side, the Rangers battles were more difficult. Zedd and Rita's schemes together included creating a clone of the evil Tommy and sending the Rangers back into the past. When his wife's brother, Rito Revolto, arrived on the moon (even with Tengas and a Vampirus as gifts) Lord Zedd was disgusted by the skeleton's stupidity, and would bellow with rage every time Rito called him "Ed." Rita's love potion was eventually removed from Zedd thanks to Goldar, but to everyone's surprise, Zedd loved Rita anyway. During the Pink Ranger fiasco when Zedd had her held hostage to force the Rangers to use the Shogun Zords in his service, Lord Zedd battled Tommy personally to keep him from saving Kimberly from an alternate dimension. This marked the only time that Zedd had battled a Ranger personally, proving himself quite capable of holding his own, a trait passed down to his son in later years. Though Zedd easily gained the upperhand against the White Ranger, Tommy used Saba to shatter Zedd's Z-Staff, forcing him to retreat.

When Master Vile arrived on the moon, Lord Zedd was pushed to the side as Vile took over in his search for the Zeo Crystal. He expressed disdain for his father-in-law, who constantly put him down. Once Vile left after his army was defeated by the Aquitian Rangers, Zedd was ecstatic, and he resumed his attacks on Earth. The Rangers had been turned to children due to Vile's Orb of Doom and all that stood in Zedd's way were the Aquitian Rangers. Zedd managed to find a map of the Ranger's Command Center, pointing out a weak point. He sent Goldar and Rito in to plant a bomb and steal the Zeo Crystal before the Orm of Doom's magic was undone. Though unable to stop the rangers in undoing the damage Master Vile did, Zedd was able to destroy the Command Center. But before they could take advantage of it, the Machine Empire arrived.

Zeo and Beyond
When the Machine Empire arrived and attacked, Zedd and Rita were forced to retreat, taking Serpentera to the M51 Galaxy. They soon returned, however, in a motorhome, plotting to overthrow King Mondo and destroy the Empire. The two forces clashed on several occasions, neither gaining much ground. At one point, Prince Gasket had Tommy brainwashed and about to kill the other Rangers, but Zedd had Finster help free them to prevent a Machine victory. After a series of failed attempts, they finally managed to destroy the Royal House of Gadgetry with a bomb in the shape of a gift.

Zedd and Rita were mysteriously absent during the Power Rangers: Turbo Season, and fans have speculated that a "gap" between Power Rangers Zeo and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie reveals what occured after Rita and Zedd had regained control of the moon from The Machine Empire. Events in Forever Red suggest that Zedd at some point launched an attack on Earth with a significantly more powerful Serpentera, only to be defeated again by The Zeo Rangers. Disillusioned and convinced he would never defeat them, Zedd and Rita retreated for good.

Lord Zedd, along with Rita, makes a cameo apperance in Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, when Divatox calls Rita for advice on how to deal with the Power Rangers, she is subjected to Zedd's snoring and Rita instructing her to flee, rather than fight. After many successive failures, this was the best advice the villianess could get.

A year later, Zedd and Rita attended Dark Specter's conference on the Cimmerian Planet, Zedd toasting to Dark Specter's capture of Zordon and takeover of the universe. Months later, they invaded the Vica Galaxy and quickly conquered it, defeating and capturing the Gold Ranger in the process. When Zordon's energy wave washed over them and their army, Zedd was spared, transformed into a human being. His love for Rita seemed to remain and the two danced together in the remnants of their army, much to the confusion of the Gold Ranger.

Years later, Thrax mentions that he seeks to rebuild his parent's legacy, disgusted by the fact that they were "lost to goodness".

Return
Years after the events of Countdown to Destruction, Zedd's human form is an accomplished archaeolgist on Earth. Despite being given a second chance at life, his human form wonders about his former life. Upon unearthing a set of time crystals, the human Zedd looks into the past and is instantly corrupted by the powers of his past self, who hated what he would become. Now evil again, with his powers restored, Zedd decided to enjoy making use of the time crystals to create choas with the timeline, not caring of the consequences his actions may have on reality.

He visits various points in the future and past, forming alliances with generals and leaders of villian factions and giving them minions from the other time zones to help accomplish their goals. He even makes it a point to pay Goldar a visit while he was serving Rita in his place and had a plan to use a potion on the Angel Grove water supply to turn citizens into new Putties for his plans. However, this plan is thwarted by the original Pink and Red rangers. At the end of the game, it takes the combined effort of various Rangers from the past, present, and future to defeat him. Zedd attempts to escape, but accidentally drops his time crystal when fleeing to a void outside of time. The Omega Ranger admits to his fellow Rangers that it may take Zedd eons to escape. The canonicity of the game is unknown.

Titles Zedd refers to himself
While Lord Zedd refered to himself as the "Emperor of Evil", there are other titles he called himself.
 * In the non-canon Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Live, Lord Zedd refers to himself as the "Prince of Darkness", a copyright referrence to Ozzy Osbourne and Bram Stoker's Count Dracula character.
 * In the game Power Rangers: Super Legends, he refers to himself as "Galactic Overlord Zedd".

Family Tree
Lord Zedd Seigneur Zedd

In other Media

 * Lord Zedd has appeared in some comics of MMPR. His role was much the same as it was during the second and third seasons of the show.
 * Zedd also appears as a hidden mini-boss in the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie game for Sega Genesis. During the game's Ninja Encounter stage, the player can enter a cave where they face a giant Zedd. It is necessary to avoid his attacks and land enough blows on Zedd's fingers to escape.
 * He is also the penultimate opponent in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Fighting Edition, as well as being a playable character in versus mode.
 * Lord Zedd is the primary antagonist of Power Rangers: Super Legends.

Trivia

 * Lord Zedd's appearance is usually explained as a result of his attempt to capture the Zeo Crystal millenia ago. The people of the M51 Galaxy placed a forcefield around the crystal that would destroy anyone evil who tried to take it from its tomb on the moon, Zedd's skin and scalp may have been completely torn off, resulting in his somewhat grotesque appearance. Though this was stated by Rita, who said it mockingly and thus may have been kidding when she stated this.
 * It is often assumed by fans that Thrax was conceived during Zedd and Rita's time away during Power Rangers Turbo.
 * Zedd is one of first Power Ranger villians to not have a Sentai counterpart.
 * It is also shown that Zedd has a hatred rivalry with Count Dregon however, the two never are seen face to face. This is similar to his wife Rita, who has shown to hate Divatox but the two actually met face to face.
 * He's teleporated himself, on his throne, into the Command Center numerous times, but never tried destroying it. Perhaps he began thinking of his fight with the rangers as sport, or he wanted to destory them in battle. He later DID blow up the Command Center.