With the new Mortal Kombat 11 release being just a bit more than three weeks away (with its official launch on 23-04-2019), it’s about time to remember all the good and brutal stuff that has happened throughout the Mortal Kombat narrative. No, we won’t be talking about the new game’s mechanics, fatalities, or the available characters in it — this time it’s all about the Mortal Kombat plot recap up until now.
Previous Mortal Kombat game iterations, those before the MK9 (2011) and X (2015), were truly awesome fighting games! But even though the prior titles have created a potentially captivating narrative the said feature in previous iterations wasn’t used to reach its full potential. However, that was changed with MK9 (2011), when NetherRealm Studios took the steering wheel in their own hands. As always, you can visit our Eneba store and acquire the most thrilling Mortal Kombat games right now!
Today’s article targets the Mortal Kombat narrative that began almost 27 years ago, with Mortal Kombat arcades, and continues up until this day. What we have in stock for you today? We have three explicit realms, a bunch of elder gods, the main champions from each realm, a devastating fate-deciding tournament, more dead and respawned characters than you can count and two majorly intertwined timelines which mix and mashes the whole deal to perfection!
How the Mortal Kombat tournament came to be
So, basically, throughout Mortal Kombat’s narrative, we have eight competing realms (this article focuses on three of them). These competing realms have been in a constant war since their very beginnings. The realm in Mortal Kombat narrative represents a world much like our Earth, it’s just all eight of these realms are scattered through different dimensions.
So, we have our eight distinct realms, and then we have The Elder Gods, who are like these super-powerful beings that rule over the realms but don’t intervene unless something really bad happens balance-wise, harmony-wise, plus other factors. The Elder Gods didn’t like that the realms were at constant war, and so, they thought out a ‘reasonable’ preventive measure. They called it The Mortal Kombat tournament!
Basically, The Mortal Kombat tournament was established so that each kingdom would be safer from invasion. Each Mortal Kombat narrative realm is supposed to present its strongest fighters as representatives for the realm’s defence. However, if a realm is bested 10 tournaments in a row, the winning realm can begin their invasion and conquer the defeated dimension. Exactly this happened with Outworld and Edenia.
Lead characters throughout the franchise and their doing
When it comes to character variety, Mortal Kombat narrative is certainly not lacking, however, some characters appear and reappear, some have only been shown once and then killed off with no option for resurrection, others live happily ever after, have babies, then their babies grow up and enter the tournament themselves, and yet other icons die, get resurrected, then die once more, just to come back once again!
The most essential antagonist characters in the Mortal Kombat franchise up until now has been the four bad guys from the Outworld, Shao Kahn, Shang Tsung, Quan Chi and Shinnok. Shao Kahn debuted in MK 1 along with Outworld sorcerer Shang Tsung. Quan Chi, the Demon Sorcerer along with Shinnok, the fallen Elder God, have made their appearance much later in the games. Although, all four share a common goal of overtaking the Earthrealm at any cost necessary! They have failed for multiple times because of the Earthrealm protagonists.
When it comes to the Earthrealm, the two main Mortal Kombat narrative characters protecting the peace are, of course, Raiden and Liu Kang! Both characters have made their first appearance on the original Mortal Kombat game, and ever since they’ve played a detrimental role in protecting the Earthrealm! Raiden has cheated the timeline for multiple occasions (one too many as we’ll see in MK 11), and Liu Kang has won the Mortal Kombat tournament four times in a row! As you may understand, both guys are pretty powerful.
Mortal Kombat narrative with two intertwined timelines
If you’re not a hardcore MK fanatic, and just got into the whole Mortal Kombat narrative business with NetherRealm Studios, then it might be hard to fully understand the plot that MK 9, MK X, and MK 11 presents. The first eight Mortal Kombat games were built upon one timeline, and the latter three – on another.
That has happened because at the end of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon narrative, every single character except for Raiden and Shao Kahn was killed. Such faith would’ve meant the end of Earthrealm. To stop such disasters from happening, Raiden managed to mess up the timeline, and thus, reset the whole Mortal Kombat narrative to the very beginnings! On top of that, with his last breath, he managed to send a three-word message to his alternate self – ‘’He Must Win’’ it said.
Mortal Kombat 9 narrative recap
The Mortal Kombat 9 narrative is pretty similar to what has happened throughout the first three games. Liu Kang still wins his first tournaments. Shao Kahn still tries to invade the Earthrealm. However, this time Raiden must do something differently, not knowing what must be done exactly, he, without realising it, sends his allies to meet their deaths, and later even decides to allow Shao Khan to merge the two realms.
Liu Kang can’t believe what his former friend is plotting, and so the two fight in a battle until death. Raiden walks out victorious, and Shao Khan enters the Earthrealm. The fact that Shao Khan entered the Earthrealm didn’t turn out disastrous, as the Elder Gods momentarily offer Raiden their power, he accepts and driven by the godly engine he obliterates Shao Khan and his legions.
Mortal Kombat X narrative recap
Mortal Kombat X narrative follows the alternative MK 4 action. Shao Khan’s and Liu Kang’s defeat was all according to Shinnok’s plan, yet he didn’t expect to cross paths with the Earthrealm’s newest champion, Johnny Cage. Cage defeats Shinnok and seals his darkness into an amulet. The action then moves more than 20-years forward, and an entirely new generation of Earthrealm protectors joins the scene. These include Cassie Cage, Sonya Blade, Jacqui Briggs, Kung Jin, and Takeda.
The Earthrealm characters manage to lose the Shinnok’s amulet during the years, and it appears to be located in the Outworld. The new Outworld’s leader, Kotal Kahn, has a peace treaty with Raiden, and Earthrealm. However, he no longer believes that Earthrealm warriors are capable to keep the amulet safe, and thus, decides to keep it under his own protection. But D’Vorah, Kotal’s second-in-command deceives Kotal Kahn and steals the amulet, as she is then revealed to work under Quan Chi’s command.
Mortal Kombat X Narrative continues with D’Vorah managing to deliver Shinnok’s amulet to Quan Chi, and he successfully releases the Fallen God Shinnok out, right before he himself gets chopped down. Together with D’Vorah, Shinnok manages to escape and later forms an attack on the Sky Temple. They overpower Raiden and Bo’ Rai Cho and then Shinnok enters the Jinsei Chamber (which in Mortal Kombat narrative functions like the heart of Earthrealm), he corrupts it completely and then turns into a fierce demon.
Some of the newer Mortal Kombat narrative characters join the fight, one of them is Cassie Cage. Due to the circumstances, she’s left to face Shinnok’s demon form head-on, and she manages to overpower him completely. Meanwhile beaten up Raiden manages to purify the Jinsei, however, the evil energy from within the Jinsei just couldn’t vanish into thin are, and Raiden had to become the sponge to soak-in the darkness.
During the Mortal Kombat X narrative end credits, we are presented with a scene where Raiden walks to the revenant Liu Kang and Kitana, they are now the rulers of the Netherrealm (basically, hell), and warns them that the Earthrealm shall no longer stay peaceful with those aiming to threaten it. Raiden is now shown carrying the Shinnok’s amulet and just so his words wouldn’t be taken for granted, he drops off the severed Shinnok’s head (still alive) as a warning. And from here onwards, we simply can’t wait for what the upcoming Mortal Kombat 11 narrative will bring!
