im actually kinda mad at how they made nya be the water ninja. she's strong as samurai x, and was capable of beating the ninja right up until they reveal its *gasp* a GIRL! and then ofc her element is water, and wu and misako's shit handling of the whole situation pisses me off. theyre such useless mentors imo - wu can't see past his own mysticism and very rarely deigns to help, and misako is Wu But A Woman And Slightly Weaker. (ninja-knox-ur-sox-off has a good theory/meta on why misako couldve been one of ninjagos greatest villians, check out their stuff) honestly they couldve been replaced with teapots and the plot wouldve had the same flow. anyways, ignoring ninjago's lackluster character wrangling, nya's critical moment of truth, where she needs to defeat the preeminent, just ends with her summoning a big wave and doing it in one hit. which is fine, whatever, but there's so much more they could have done with it!

in her water ninja training, nya's weakness is her perfectionism. she's very talented and picks up skills quickly, so not being able to have immediate control over her powers is frustrating. she gets angry and gives up (similar to kai) and it takes ronin of all people to show her that it's ok to fail.

nya's been surrounded by all these impossibly strong people - the ninja, born with elemental powers, lloyd who becomes incredibly powerful, wu who is their teacher, and even misako, who is smart and seasoned. they are constantly in high-stakes situations they barely make it out of alive. (sometimes they dont make it out alive.) of course she's going to struggle with the idea of perfection - she needs to be perfect and smart and seasoned and have elemental powers and battle experience so she can save not only lloyd, but the other ninja and the entirety of ninjago. that's a LOT of pressure to put on someone!!!! especially when they are newly awakened to their powers and suddenly they are the only one capable of helping.

but nya is the element of water, a powerful and versatile element. and like water, she must persist. each raindrop adds to the flood that can level towns. her final, massive wave against the preeminent is impressive, but i would have rather seen nya struggle to summon more than a few raindrops. she fails. she fails, and tries again. with ronin and kai behind her, supporting her. cheering her on. and nya tries again, makes small waves the preeminent doesn't even notice. so she gets back up and embraces the failure and tries again. one droplet can cleave mountains. nya tries and tries and tries and lets herself fail! and she forgets the pressure mounting, the scared people only she can protect, she just flows. lets the power move through her, with her, and feels her strength and understanding grow with every misstep. she isn't trying to grasp the water anymore - she *is* the water. waves of all sizes crash into the preeminent, chaos created by an elemental master who hasn't had years of experience with her element or a mother to guide her through her kata balanced on the mirror-surface of a pond.

the preeminent falls, worn and battered like a broken jetty, eroded away by the constant water. the preeminent falls because nya gave up on doing things perfectly - she just went with the flow.