Though the video games are principally about beating up different gamers and taking them out with gory, brutal fatalities, the Mortal Kombat collection is steeped in lore. Ten video games in, its story is fairly convoluted–there are the varied realms, the completely different gods, a bunch of character backstories, and plots crammed with sorcerers, spells, zombies, and even time journey.With Mortal Kombat 11 shortly approaching, we have dug again by means of the tales of the Mortal Kombat video games to deliver you on top of things on all the things it’s essential know–and, truthfully, in all probability some issues you do not. It’s all about Raiden making an attempt to save lots of Earth and forestall the top of all actuality, and long-time baddie Shao Kahn mainly mucking that up. But there are an enormous variety of evil gamers, and so they’re all prone to be related as soon as once more in Mortal Kombat 11, which guarantees extra time-bending weirdness.Here’s the complete story of the Mortal Kombat collection thanks largely to the Mortal Kombat Fandom wiki and some helpful YouTube movies, from the primary launch in 1992, all through the next 27 years.Before The GamesFirst and foremost, it is necessary to grasp how the world of Mortal Kombat is laid out. There are particular, Elder Gods, who preside over a number of distinct dimensions often called the realms, and a bunch of lesser gods who cling round these varied realms, with their very own agendas–usually to guard locations and folks from the scarier of us of different realms.The main realms are Earthrealm (Earth as we all know it, roughly), Outworld (a conquest-happy barbarian wasteland), Edenia (a fantastic magical paradise), and the Netherrealm (Hell). There are extra however they differ in dimension and significance, but when they exist, Outworld desires to dominate them. In Mortal Kombat, that does not simply imply sending occupiers to a different dimension to take over; when a realm is conquered by one other, they actually merge collectively, mixing their landscapes.The Elder Gods figured they need to regulate all this realm-merging nonsense someway. They created the Mortal Kombat event, by which, as soon as a technology, champions from competing realms would face off. If one realm beats one other realm 10 instances in a row, the victor wins the correct to take over the loser.Outworld wasn’t simply warring with different realms; it was creating an empire. For centuries, Outworld was dominated by Onaga, who was obsessive about taking up as many different realms as he might. Onaga was notably scary as a result of he might increase the useless, making his military successfully invincible. He and his followers had been additionally noodling on a approach to make him invincible.Onaga finally was betrayed by his lieutenant, Shao Kahn, with the backing of the Elder Gods. Shao Kahn took over the function of ruler and protector of Outworld, however like Onaga, his lust for energy acquired the higher of him. Shao Kahn took on his personal marketing campaign of conquest, with the assistance of Shang Tsung, his sorcerer minion. His main goal: Edenia.Meanwhile, On EarthSeparate of all of the scary Outworld stuff had been the occasions happening on Earth. One of the Elder Gods, Shinnok, determined he wished to take over Earthrealm and make everybody worship him and be omnipotent. Shinnok was greater than a daily god because of his particular amulet, which was linked to his powers and allowed him to journey between the realms with out the Elder Gods with the ability to cease him.Luckily, Earth had Raiden, the god of thunder, who wasn’t an Elder God however nonetheless. He battled Shinnok in an intense battle that lasted millennia, prompted the extinction of the dinosaurs and toppled civilizations, and even tore holes between realities. A race of dinosaur-descended of us (e.g. Reptile) got here by means of these tears, and whereas most had been worn out with the extinction, some made it to the realm of Zaterra.Raiden finally defeated Shinnok, snagged his magic amulet, and imprisoned him into the Netherrealm for all eternity. For untold centuries, Shinnok was tortured and caught in Hell, which was a reasonably good outcome for Raiden.Shao Kahn Comes For EarthWhen Shao Kahn took Edenia, he subsequent turned his consideration to Earthrealm, which apparently is, like, one of the best one. In Edenia, he killed the realm’s king and took its queen, Sindel, for his personal. At Sindel’s urging, Kahn spared the princess, Kitana; as an alternative of killing her, he raised her to be a talented murderer and member of his guard.Sindel might need been conquered, however she wasn’t finished combating. She commited suicide with a purpose to create a magic ward on Earth, which prevented Shao Kahn from stepping foot within the realm, which made it quite a bit tougher for him to beat.Shao Kahn despatched Shang Tsung to kick off the Mortal Kombat event on Earth. Raiden had ready for this, although, and created an order of Shaolin monks devoted to looking for out one of the best fighters on Earth each technology to struggle within the event. The Great Kung Lao gained the event, and Earthrealm was secure.Shang Tsung had a trick this time, although. He introduced the four-armed Goro to function Outworld’s champion, and the monstrous fighter promptly kicked the Great Kung Lao’s ass and killed him. The plan labored fantastically, and regardless of Raiden and Earthrealm’s finest efforts, Outworld gained the following eight tournaments. One extra, and so they’d be capable to invade and merge Earthrealm with Outworld.Shinnok’s Not PerformedBut wait! Shinnok continues to be a factor. After being tortured within the Netherrealm for 1 / 4 of eternally, Shinnok met Quan Chi, a sorcerer wandering across the realm. The pair made a deal: Quan Chi would assist Shinnok in trade for being his right-hand man and gaining the facility to rule with him. They teamed up and finally took over the Netherrealm. But even being King of Hell form of sucks, on account of it is nonetheless Hell, so Shinnok and Quan Chi began engaged on getting out and again to Earth.On Earth, Quan Chi employed the Lin Kuei to discover a map that may finally result in the place Raiden had hidden Shinnok’s amulet, which is what’s depicted in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero. Quan Chi additionally employed the Lin Kuei’s rivals, the Shirai Ryu, for a similar job to extend its probabilities of success. Sub-Zero, the ninja despatched by the Lin Kuei, was profitable find the map, and within the course of killed Scorpion, from the Shirai Ryu. Quan Chi repaid the Lin Kuei by wiping out the Shirai Ryu, and when Sub-Zero tracked down the amulet, Quan Chi stole it and took it again to the Netherrealm. That was when Raiden determined to clue Sub-Zero in on what was taking place, and the ninja went to the Netherrealm to undo the mess he’d created.Sub-Zero defeated Quan Chi and acquired the amulet again earlier than Shinnok might use it to flee the Netherrealm. He returned the amulet to Raiden, after which allowed Shang Tsung to rent him to struggle within the subsequent Mortal Kombat tournament–although he had secret orders from the Lin Kuei to assassinate the sorcerer.Finally, The Original Mortal Kombat Video gamesThat brings us (oh my god, lastly) to the unique Mortal Kombat. Shang Tsung had orchestrated the event but once more, Outworld was one victory away from taking up Earth, and Goro was able to wallop all challengers. But Shang Tsung did not financial institution on Raiden and his new flock of champs, together with Sonya Blade, Johnny Cage, and Liu Kang (or on Sub-Zero, despatched to kill Shang Tsung, or Scorpion, resurrected by Quan Chi and pushed by revenge in opposition to Sub-Zero). Liu Kang went on to defeat Goro and Shang Tsung to win the event. Meanwhile, Scorpion killed Sub-Zero, whose soul went to the Netherrealm and have become Noob Saibot.In Mortal Kombat II, Shang Tsung tried doubling down in repentance for his failure. He and Shao Kahn despatched forces led by Baraka to assault the Shaolin monks, baiting Earth’s fighters to Outworld for one more event to get across the regular guidelines of Mortal Kombat. The thought was that if Earth gained the Outworld event, Outworld would cease bothering them altogether–but if Outworld gained, it might rely because the tenth victory and permit Outworld to take over Earthrealm. It was a dumb gamble, however the Earth fighters had been all upset, so that they determined to go for it.Luckily, Liu Kang defeated Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn to win the event, once more. He and Kung Lao headed off to restart the Shaolin monk order that may stand able to defend Earthrealm. Meanwhile, Sub-Zero’s brother (now bearing the title Sub-Zero) confirmed up within the event along with his bud Smoke in an try to search out out what occurred to the unique Sub-Zero. They had been additionally fleeing the Lin Kuei, who had began turning their clansmen into cyborg ninjas–namely, Sektor and Cyrax. Sub-Zero and Smoke had been apparently in line for the conversion and bailed on the clan as an alternative, an act equal to treason, which was why the 2 cyborgs started searching them. Sub-Zero acquired away, however Smoke was captured and acquired the robotic therapy.Oh, and Kitana switched sides, realizing that Shao Kahn was a jerkbag and that her sister, Mileena, was not her sister in any respect, however some monster clone particular person created by Shang Tsung.In Mortal Kombat III, Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn’s different shadow clergymen managed to resurrect Sindel and brainwashed her into being evil and dependable to Shao Kahn. That broke the ward over Earthrealm, and it additionally gave Shao Kahn the flexibility to cross into the realm to go after Sindel for some motive. Apparently, it is a important loophole that allowed him to skip doing a bunch of silly tournaments and simply invade Earthrealm outright.Raiden gathered a bunch of Earth heroes to struggle Shao Kahn, once more, and once more, Liu Kang beat him, this time liberating Edenia within the technique of saving Earthrealm. Kitana managed to save lots of Sindel, Johnny Cage was killed by Motaro, Kung Lao virtually killed Baraka however did not, then was supposedly killed by Shao Kahn. Anyway, Earth was saved.Another Invasion ThoughOn to Mortal Kombat 4. With Shao Kahn defeated, Quan Chi and Shinnok had been able to execute their plan and assault Earthrealm and the heavens, the place the Elder Gods dwell. With the assistance of Noob Saibot and the Edenia traitor Tanya, Shinnok escaped to Edenia to wage his battle, kidnapping Sindel and Kitana within the course of. Mostly, Shinnok was very mad everybody let him rot in Hell for like one million years, and was out for vengeance on everybody, however particularly Raiden. His final plan was to deprave the Jinsei, the form of life pressure of Earthrealm, to realize much more energy.As regular, although, no person deliberate for Liu Kang, who beat Shinnok and despatched him again into the Netherrealm. Meanwhile, Quan Chi revealed himself because the man who orchestrated all of the occasions of Mortal Kombat Mythologies and who killed Scorpion’s clan and household, simply as he was making an attempt to banish Scorpion again to the Netherrealm. Enraged, Scorpion grabbed Quan Chi and dragged him again to Hell together with him, wrapping issues up fairly properly for everybody who was not Scorpion.Crucially, although, we discovered that when Quan Chi took Shinnok’s amulet from Sub-Zero means again in Mortal Kombat Mythologies, he switched it out for a faux. That meant the one Raiden took again to Earthrealm was, in reality, the copy. Quan Chi nonetheless had the true one.Quan Chi And Shang Tsung Team UpThe lethal alliance of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is one between Quan Chi and Shang Tsung. Quan Chi used Shinnok’s amulet to flee the Netherrealm, and sooner or later, he came upon about Onaga’s unbeatable mummified military. He approached Shang Tsung about filling these troopers with souls–which Shang Tsung routinely steals from folks, it is form of his complete deal–so they may use them to take over all of the realms. They began enacting their plan by taking out key opposition. They headed to Outworld and took down Shao Kahn, then went to Earthrealm and killed Liu Kang. (It turned out that Shao Kahn, in reality, faked his personal loss of life, hoping to see how issues shook out as he labored to regain the Outworld throne.)Despite his finest efforts in rallying a bunch of heroes to his trigger, this time, Raiden wasn’t in a position to flip again the dangerous guys. In Mortal Kombat: Deception, we came upon that Raiden and a band of high fighters, together with Kung Lao, Sub-Zero, Sonya, Jax, and Kitana, challenged Quan Chi and Shang Tsung at Shang Tsung’s palace, however had been in the end defeated, with all of the mortals getting killed (aside from Sub-Zero, who wound up elsewhere). Raiden tried to cease the lethal alliance on his personal however could not deal with it. In the ultimate moments, Quan Chi and Shang Tsung turned on one another for management of Shinnok’s amulet, with Quan Chi rising victorious. But maintain that thought for a second…The Deception In Mortal Kombat: DeceptionThe Konquest mode of Mortal Kombat: Deception units up the occasions of that sport, ranging again 41 years earlier than the battle between Raiden, Shang Tsung, and Quan Chi. A warrior named Shujinko was visited by Damashi, who claimed to be an emissary of the Elder Gods. Damashi put Shujinko on a quest to gather particular artifacts, the Kamidogu, from every of the realms and collect them collectively. Shujinko was deceived, however–decades later when he accomplished the duty, he found Damashi was really Onaga, with the Kamidogu permitting him to be reborn into the world as soon as once more.Onaga’s plan: get Shinnok’s amulet; management all the things. So Onaga confirmed up at Shang Tsung’s palace to get the amulet and his invincible military at the beginning of Mortal Kombat: Deception’s most important story. Quan Chi briefly teamed with Shang Tsung and Raiden in opposition to their frequent foe, however they had been overwhelmed. Raiden tried to sacrifice himself utilizing all his god powers to explode the entire place, however Onaga emerged just about unharmed. Onaga claimed the amulet, and Raiden finally reconstituted, however got here again as a red-eyed, corrupted, villainous model of the god.Onaga resurrected the opposite Earthrealm warriors to struggle for him. Mileena disguised herself as Kitana (deception once more!) to steer the Edenia forces in opposition to Onaga, and the Elder Gods saved Scorpion, who Shang Tsung and Quan Chi had seemingly destroyed of their “Soulnado” (sure, it is a twister of souls), to be their champion. The ghost of Liu Kang and the telekinetic ninja Ermac additionally managed to unbrainwash all of the resurrected Earthrealm warriors, and so they stood in opposition to Onaga, too.In the top, it was Shujinko who stopped Onaga. He did a factor the place he summoned all the facility of the opposite warriors, and used it to destroy Onaga’s Kamidogu. That weakened Onaga, which allowed Nightwolf to do a magic factor to chuck him into the Netherrealm.Mortal Kombat Causes The End Of The WorldsNow it is Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. The rise of Onaga introduced out all of the dangerous guys in all places and banded them collectively beneath one banner. All the soldiers on the great aspect had been converging to defeat them.This is definitely all a part of a prophecy made centuries earlier by Delia, the spouse of Edenia’s protector-god, Argus, in response to the Mortal Kombat Fandom wiki. She foresaw a battle by which all of the super-strong Mortal Kombat warriors fought one another till they destroyed all of the realms with their energy. To cease it, she and Argus enacted a plan: zap the soldiers’ powers. They created Blaze, a fireplace elemental that may draw all the soldiers to the correct place, as a result of whoever beat it might get insane energy. Then they put their two sons, Daegon and Tavin into stasis, with the concept that when the armageddon battle got here, they’d get woken up and go on a quest to defeat Blaze, get its energy, and both kill all the soldiers or magically take away their powers. Shinnok messed that up, waking up their son Daegon centuries too quickly. He turned tremendous evil, and spent the years getting ready to kill his brother, Taven, so he might get Blaze’s energy, which might flip one of many two brothers right into a god.Taven awoke and accomplished his quest, then managed to defeat Daegon. But Taven didn’t cease the soldiers and defeat Blaze, like he was speculated to with a purpose to chase away armageddon. Instead, it was the worst doable one who wound up on high with Blaze’s energy: Shao Kahn. All the opposite warriors had been killed within the course of and by Shao Kahn. The apocalypse had not been canceled, in reality, and now the realms can be dominated by an unstoppable Shao Kahn.Except, that’s, for one last item. Raiden, defeated and dying, used some form of magic amulet to ship a message by means of time to his youthful self to attempt to forestall the apocalypse. The younger Raiden realized he needed to forestall the long run, however he solely had one clue to work with. Those had been previous Raiden’s closing phrases: “He must win!”Mortal Kombat: Groundhog DaySo now we’re again to the start (form of), nevertheless it’s the 2011 Mortal Kombat (or Mortal Kombat 9), which used time journey to reboot the collection timeline and covers a brand new model of the occasions of Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, and Mortal Kombat III. Raiden knew one thing dangerous is coming, however did not have a lot data. Not figuring out what the message meant, Raiden assumed it referred to Liu Kang defeating Shang Tsung within the first event.The occasions of Mortal Kombat principally performed out the way in which they did within the first timeline, however with Raiden making an attempt to make some adjustments for the higher. He satisfied Scorpion to not kill Sub-Zero, for example, however Quan Chi confirmed up throughout their battle and manipulated Scorpion into murdering Sub-Zero anyway, creating Noob Saibot. Raiden stopped issues from going too flawed, like when he talked Cyrax out of killing Johnny Cage, and finally Liu Kang gained the Mortal Kombat event like the primary time. But Raiden’s magic amulet, the one he used to ship the message again in time, cracked a little–telling him that Raiden hadn’t stopped the dangerous future from taking place.Next up are the occasions of Mortal Kombat II, which noticed the heroes heading to Outland for Shao Kahn’s event. Raiden tried to vary some issues once more, guessing that “He must win” meant Kung Lao within the second event, relatively than the always-winning Liu Kang. But Shao Kahn wound up killing Kung Lao, and Liu Kang gained anyway. When Raiden tried to save lots of Smoke from getting become a cyborg ninja, the Lin Kuei captured and transformed the youthful Sub-Zero as an alternative. More cracks within the amulet.Mortal Kombat III got here subsequent with Shao Kahn launching his invasion of Earthrealm. Again, Raiden tried to make some adjustments to change the long run, however continued to suck at it. He saved Johnny Cage’s life and Sub-Zero was reprogrammed by the Earthrealm fighters to offer him again his free will. But Shao Kahn killed Shang Tsung and used his energy to strengthen the brainwashed Sindel–and she, in flip, killed a bunch of humanity’s finest fighters.Desperate for the reply, Raiden went to the Netherrealm to ask for Quan Chi’s help–but acquired turned down. But his dialog with Quan Chi did lastly assist Raiden determine what “He must win” meant, which has in all probability been apparent all alongside. “He” on this case is Shao Kahn. Liu Kang continually defeated Shao Kahn within the unique timeline however was by no means in a position to kill him, which allowed Shao Kahn to maintain hanging round till he lastly led to armageddon. If Earthrealm misplaced and Outworld merged with it, the Elder Gods can be compelled to step in.And step in they did. Shao Kahn gained his invasion however broke the foundations of Mortal Kombat. The Elder Gods powered up Raiden and he fought Shao Kahn, defeating him and blowing him aside as soon as and for all. Everyone was saved, besides Liu Kang–Raiden unintentionally killed him when he disagreed with the plan to let Shao Kahn win.As it turned out, although, this was all a part of Quan Chi and Shinnok’s plan, someway. That may not, uh, make sense, however this was all about bringing Shinnok again to take over. Thanks to Raiden being horrible at time journey, many of the finest fighters on the great aspect had been now useless, and Shinnok would be capable to take over an entire lot simpler.Shinnok Comes BackFinally, we’re coming to Mortal Kombat X. Shinnok and Quan Chi made their play, backed by undead variations of the soldiers that had died in Mortal Kombat 9. It turned out, although, that Johnny Cage, who changed Liu Kang as Earth’s finest fighter, was a member of an extended line of warriors created by the gods. His particular powers kicked in to permit him to defeat Shinnok and imprison him in his amulet. Quan Chi tried to kill Johnny and resurrect him as a member of his undead forces, however Raiden used all his godly powers to struggle the move–and the interplay of their powers not solely saved Johnny, it restored the opposite undead of us within the room to their human varieties.Quan Chi acquired away, however Shinnok was defeated and everyone acquired to sit back out. Sub-Zero and Scorpion remade their clans and eventually buried their hatchet, whereas Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade had a daughter collectively, and Jax had a daughter of his personal. Twenty-five years later, Kano managed to pay money for Shinnok’s amulet and promote it to Mileena, inflicting the following technology of fighters to go trying to find it.The Earthrealm fighters had an uneasy alliance with Kotal Kahn, the brand new chief of Outworld, who despatched is lieutenant D’Vorah to assist them discover Mileena. When they did, Kotal Kahn saved the amulet–but did not know that D’Vorah was really working with Quan Chi to get it. The Earthrealmers labored collectively to search out and seize Quan Chi, however Scorpion and his clan confirmed as much as get his vengeance on the person who prompted the deaths of his household. Scorpion killed Quan Chi, however not earlier than D’Vorah delivered the amulet and he used it to launch Shinnok.Back as soon as extra, Shinnok was in a position to corrupt the Jinsei, the Earthrealm’s mystical life pressure, along with his evil magic, similar to he deliberate the primary time. That gave him intense powers and turned him right into a demon–but Johnny and Sonya’s daughter Cassie Cage fought Shinnok and defeated him, because of Johnny’s particular warrior bloodline. Raiden sacrificed himself to purify the Jinsei and save the world. Unfortunately, Raiden got here out corrupted once more. Now he is again to being form of evil Raiden, with Shinnok’s amulet and Shinnok’s severed head–still residing, because of him being a god.More Time Travel In Mortal Kombat 11We do not know an excessive amount of concerning the story of Mortal Kombat 11, however feedback from Ed Boon recommend that point journey is coming again in an enormous means. It appears we’ll be seeing one other time rewind by the hands of Kronika, the Keeper of Time. The new villain was apparently fairly proud of the way in which historical past had turned out, and did not recognize Raiden’s meddling with the plan and rewriting historical past, as is clear from the sport’s story trailer.This will not simply be one other return to the start of the story, although. Apparently, Kronika is inflicting the varied timelines are going to “fold” collectively, with previous occasions merging with current ones, and characters will run into themselves from the previous and future. Perhaps most notably, which means Shao Kahn is again, and varied forces of Earthrealm and Outworld are going to want to band collectively to defeat him and cease Kronika and her time-bending plans.
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