Power Ranger Online Message Board - Fan Theory: Zordon was the original White Ranger

The origins of the White Ranger coin/powers have been a source of fan speculation for years.

In Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 3, it's stated that only Ninjor has the ability to create a new power coin, yet we are lead to believe Zordon did just that a season prior when he gave Tommy the White Ranger powers.

If Zordon can't create the coin, where did it, and the powers, come from?

I'd like to propose Zordon was the very first Power Ranger, and yielded the power of the White Tiger Coin.

In my mind, Zordon is the first being to learn to tap into the powers of the morphing grid to defend the innocent. Maybe at first it's not a full on morph, but him tapping the energy within to increase his strength (ala Troy in the latest episode of Super Megaforce) and lob the occasional fireball in the fight against Rita and Lord Zedd's forces during the early days of their war.

After a while, Ninjor comes into the picture and learns how to harness energy from the morphing grid and use it to create the first power coin, which he gives to Eltar's greatest hero. Obviously, this is a HUGE game changer, and the forces of evil find their own ways of harnessing the power, while jealously eyeing the original, and early, teams of Power Rangers (the Pre-Zyu Sentai). Even though they can use the Morphing Grid, they're unable to create their own proper rangers. Every time they try, they get monsters instead. The original ranger teams are eventually killed or stationed on planets ravaged by the larger war with Zedd, Dark Specter, and Alliance of Evil, while Ninjor is forced to flea to Earth to try and protect his secret. This spreads Power Ranger forces thin and leaves Zordon alone. Rita finds out Ninjor, and the Zeo crystal, are on Earth and heads there herself, followed by Zordon.

Once there, it's a race to find the new Power Coins hidden throughout the planet. Zordon is successful in capturing five, but the sixth falls into Rita's hands.

Eventually, Rita and her crew are imprisoned on the moon, and Zordon is trapped in a time warp that keeps him phasing through dimensions, which is why he needs his tube to maintain a presence on Earth. But because he's stuck in the time warp, he's unable to morph, rendering his power coin useless. He can't transfer his powers to another since, as seen when Jason, Trini, and Zack left for the peace conference, you need the Sword of Light to pass a power coin to another (maybe this was a safeguard put in place by Zordon and Ninjor, so if any Power Ranger was captured, their ranger powers couldn't stolen and used for evil).

He could have sent the rangers to grab the sword earlier in the conflict, but since doing so would be dangerous, and he didn't really need to until the three rangers left, he let it be.

Zordon had been bonded with the coin for a long time, and though he had the Sword of Light he still couldn't easily transfer his coin to a new ranger. Again, maybe he didn't look too hard into it as he didn't necessarily need to until Tommy lost his Green Ranger powers. But the loss of the Green Ranger, and the increased threat presented by the alliance of Lord Zedd and Rita, made him realize the team needs a sixth hero, and that he must finally hand down his own powers to make it happen.

That's when he and Alpha started experimenting on his old power coin/suit and looked for ways to transfer them to Tommy. Luckily, Tommy had already been given some of Zordon's energy to temporarily recharge the Green Ranger powers. This made him better suited for the powers and ultimately is the reason why he's able to wield them. Cue the episode White Light and the rest is history.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the unnecessarily complicated backstory I created so can sleep at night with both a Green and White Ranger toy displayed on my shelf at the same time.

TL;DR: Zordon was the original White Ranger, but couldn't hand off his coin without the Sword of Light and another human with a similar life force.