Summary
The origin story of theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesis iconic, well known even by those who have no interest in the franchise. The four brothers were once completely ordinary baby turtles who were exposed to DNA melding ooze and subsequently transformed into sentient, humanoid mutant turtles. In addition to being famous, the turtles' backstory is also consistent, featuring the same basic structure acrossevery incarnation the turtles find themselves in.They begin life as regular turtles until they have a chance encounter with a cannister of mutagen. The same cannot be said for the fifth most famous mutant of the franchise, Master Splinter.
The sensei and adoptive father of the turtles has an assortment of drastically different origin stories across theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesfranchise. It’s important to keep in mind that different installments ofTMNTtend not to lead directly into one another. Instead, the various films and shows serve as completely distinct interpretations, taking place in separate universes. They share the same core concept and origin of the turtles, but the tone, overarching story, and mechanics of the world around them fluctuate.
RELATED:8 Things Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Does Better Than Other TMNT Movies
The history and mutation of Master Splinter is one of the biggest variables in aTMNTadaptation. Broadly speaking,the mutant rat ninja masteralternates between having been a rat the whole time, or mutating from human to rat. Different details of the story may cross over between the two, but this is always the biggest differentiating factor.
Sometimes Splinter Starts as a Rat
In the originalTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlescomic book series, Splinter began life as a pet rat. His owner was the ninja master Hamato Yoshi, and Splinter would mimic his movements as he trained, learning the art of ninjutsu before he was ever mutated. Interestingly, in this original incarnation, Splinter is sentient prior to his mutation and is shown to have simply been an unusually intelligent rat. Hamato Yoshi is killed by rival warrior Oroku Saki, better known as the series' main antagonist the Shredder, who is seeking vengeance for his brother, Oroku Nagi. Having witnessed the murder, Splinter mourns his beloved master and retreats into the sewers of New York City. It is here that he encounters the turtles and the ooze, finally mutating into a sage mutant rat warrior. He takes in the turtles as his sons and teaches them martial arts so that they may avenge his fallen master.
The 1990s live-actionTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesfilms differed dramatically from the comic book predecessor, aiming for a fun and campy tone rather than one that was dark and violent. In spite of this, Splinters' backstory was kept similar to the original one, with a few large changes. Nagi was cut out entirely, as he would be in mostTMNTmaterial moving forward, leaving the focus solely on Oroku Saki. Hamato Yoshi still owned Splinter as a pet rat, and Splinter still learned martial arts through watching his practice. This time, however,Shredder’s motivation for revengewas the love of Tang Shen, a woman Yoshi and Saki both fell in love with. After Shen chose Yoshi and left for New York with him, Shredder chased the pair to New York and killed them both. Once again, the death of his master leads Splinter into the sewers and towards his destiny.
The 2003 animated series follows a very similar path to the prior comics and movies. Splinter was a pet rat in the care of Hamato Yoshi, whom he learned ninjutsu by mimicking. Shredder’s brother is also absent here, with Tang Shen once again being Shredder’s motivation for vengeance. Overall, the 2003 series gave Splinter an origin story more or less identical to that of the live-action films.
The series' most recent project,Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, took a fresh approach to the origin of Splinter. In the film, Splinter once again begins life as a rat. This time around, though, he truly is an ordinary rat. He lives on the streets of New York city as a wild rat, with no owner at all, much less a ninja master. Splinter happens to find the ooze-covered turtles in the sewer and, appreciating their kindness towards him, decides to raise them as his own after they’ve all mutated. He trains them to become ninja not looking for revenge, but in an effort to protect them from a world full of humans who he fears will despise them. Having no martial arts background, this version of Splinter teaches the turtles using Bruce Lee movies and training videos found online.As far as the first film shows, this version of Splinter has no connection to Hamato Yoshi or the Shredder, making him possibly the most unique take on the character the series has yet to feature.
Sometimes Splinter Starts as a Human
The first animatedTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesseries came out in 1987 and introduced a concept that would go on toappear again and again in the series. Rather than having Splinter be the pet rat of Hamato Yoshi, this incarnation of Splinter originally was Hamato Yoshi, the human ninja. Moving forward, Splinter starting off as a human would be implemented in stories seeking to focus heavily on story or give Splinter and Shredder a deeper connection. This applied less to this series than those that would come after it, however. Yoshi is framed by Sato for the murder of their master and is forced to flee in exile, which leads him to New York City, where he would come to adopt the turtles and get mutated alongside them.
The 2012 series was possibly the piece ofTMNTmedia that focused the most heavily on Splinter’s history as a human. The show solidifies some of the lore surrounding mutagen, specifically the reason behind specific mutations. The ooze fuses the DNA of the afflicted being with that of the organism they had the most recent contact with. Rather than simply being mutant turtles, this series establishes the four brothers as turtle-human hybrids, a result of their recent contact with the still-human Splinter. Splinter, meanwhile, falls backward into an alley full of rats after being exposed to mutagen, resulting in his transformation into a humanoid rat. Notably, this series borrows the love triangle backstory from the first movie. Yoshi and Saki were raised as brothers, but came into conflict when they both fell in love with Tang Shen. When Shen chooses Yoshi and the two have a daughter, Saki takes action against Yoshi, killing his wife and daughter. Splinter and the turtles engage in battle against the Foot Clan, as Shredder seeks to take Splinter’s life. Among his cohorts is his daughter Karai, who unbeknownst to Splinter is actually his own daughter, taken in by Shredder and raised as his own.
Each incarnation ofTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesadds its own twist to the formula andtakes steps to stand out. Of these variations, the origin of Master Splinter continues to be one of the most interesting. As the series continues to take him in new directions, it’s exciting to think about where the future will lead this sage rat sensei.
