History Characters / MortalKombatRaiden

* HumbleHero: Exaggerated to the point its a character flaw. In sharp contrast to Kung Lao, Raiden is perfectly content with his life as a simpler farmer and only agrees to fight in the tournament when Liu Kang and Madam Bo convince him it's for the greater good. Even then, he's surprised at his own abilities and doesn't take any pride in his victories. Had Liu Kang not approached him, he likely would have lived out his life as a farmer who had no ambition to even leave his home village, and never would have realized his potential to be one of Earthrealm's greatest champions. When dealing with others Raiden is soft-spoken and polite no matter how they treat him, but behind his back even some of his allies admit to each other that they find his modesty annoying and condescending.

** Raiden calls them out again [[VideoGame/MortalKombat9 when they refuse to intervene on behalf of Earthealm to stop Shao Kahn's invasion.]] It seems that after he [[spoiler:CameBackWrong at the end of ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'', [[FaithHeelTurn he began to see the Elder Gods more burden than help]], hence his reason to take matters into his own hand, first by [[KickTheSonOfABitch beheading]] [[PayEvilUntoEvil Shinnok]], and, in his ''MKX'' arcade ending, [[HeWhoFightsMonsters invading Outworld in a]] [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis reversal of roles]].]]

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:He beheads Shinnok as a warning of what could happen if anybody dares to invade Earthrealm at the end of ''MKX''.]]

Individual Characters: [[Characters/MortalKombatHanzoHasashi Scorpion I (Hanzo Hasashi)]] | [[Characters/MortalKombatBiHan Sub-Zero I/Noob Saibot (Bi-Han)]] | [[Characters/MortalKombatJohnnyCage Johnny Cage]] | [[Characters/MortalKombatKano Kano]] | [[Characters/MortalKombatLiuKang Liu Kang]] | [=Raiden=] | [[Characters/MortalKombatShangTsung Shang Tsung]] | [[Characters/MortalKombatKuaiLiang Sub-Zero II/Scorpion II (Kuai Liang)]] | [[Characters/MortalKombatKitana Kitana]] | [[Characters/MortalKombatMileena Mileena]] | [[Characters/MortalKombatShao Shao Kahn/General Shao]] | [[Characters/MortalKombatQuanChi Quan Chi]] | [[Characters/MortalKombatKotalKahn Kotal Kahn]] | [[Characters/MortalKombatKronika Kronika]]-]]]

* DropTheHammer: Raiden had a War Hammer in ''[=MK4=]'', before it was placed on the top of [[VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception the Sky Temple]].

'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/VincentRodriguezIII (English and face model), Armando Guerrero (Latin American Spanish)

* AdaptationalWimp: From being the series' iconic god of thunder for generations to a simple, mortal farmer with martial arts skills. Even when he gets an amulet of thunder and lightning, it pales in comparison to the godlike abilities he once had, which include teleportation (though Raiden can still teleport after his Fatal Blow), healing, and even fusion.

* AdaptationalWimp: From being the series' iconic god of thunder for generations to a simple, mortal farmer with martial arts skills. Even when he gets an amulet of thunder and lightning, it pales in comparison to the godlike abilities he once had, which include teleportation, healing, and even fusion.

* TheChosenOne: Liu Kang has every intention to make him his chosen champion in Mortal Kombat. However, he does succeed should he is selected as the fighter for the Second Battle of Armageddon.

* ShipTease: He gets a bit of this with Kitana. As he took Liu Kang's place as Earthrealm's champion, he gets some of his interactions and subtext with her, including echoing Liu Kang's line after beating her in kombat; "may we meet again, under different circumstances." Some versus intros state he has a crush on Kitana, and others say she's taken a romantic interest in someone, implying Raiden's attraction isn't one-sided.

* HumbleHero: Exaggerated to the point its a character flaw. In sharp contrast to Kung Lao, Raiden is perfectly content with his life as a simpler farmer and only agrees to fight in the tournament when Liu Kang and Madam Bo convince him it's for the greater good. Even then, he's surprised at his own abilities and doesn't take any pride in his victories. Had Liu Kang not approached him, he likely would have lived out his life as a farmer who had no ambition to even leave his home village, and never would have realized his potential to be one of Earthrealm's greatest champions. When dealing with others Raiden is soft-spoken and polite no matter how they treat him, but behind his back they comment on how his modesty can sometimes be annoying and condescending.

** Raiden does this quite a bit more in pre-fight banter in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'', especially if he's facing a comedic character.

** Though he is the protector god of Earthrealm, mentor to Liu Kang and Kung Lao, and a faithful supporter of the Elder Gods, he starts to become more of this. He gets corrupted (and reforms as [[DarkMessiah Dark]] [[FaceHeelTurn Raiden]] after doing a HeroicSacrifice to stop Onaga, and becomes [[FaithHeelTurn disillusioned]] with the way mortals have treated their Earthrealm. By ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'', [[spoiler:he [[FatalFlaw constantly screws up in choosing his decisions,]] [[IdiotBall misinterprets and fails to understand the visions he gets from his future self,]] loses many of his friends over the course of the game, [[GodIsFlawed is spurned by the Elder Gods for technicalities]] and [[spoiler:[[MyGodWhatHaveIDone accidentally kills Liu Kang in self-defense]] [[WhatTheHellHero (but not before Liu Kang calls out on him)]]]]. This GuiltComplex carries over to MKX, where he is still distraught over the loss of Liu Kang and Kung Lao, and is unable to restore the remaining revenants (blame Scorpion for his RevengeBeforeReason). Ultimately it takes an emotional toll on him, where he has to deal with Shinnok's attempted invasion of Earthrealm. He finally snaps at the end of MKX, when he decides that [[FaceHeelTurn he]] will take a [[WellIntentionedExtremist more]] [[KnightTemplar aggressive]] approach to defending Earthrealm (he adopts a [[OmnicidalManiac much more ruthless persona]] after purifying the Jinsei). In his arcade ending in MKX, [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope this even spirals into something much worse]], where he attempts to [[TheConqueror invade Outworld]] by brute force until Kotal Kahn invokes Mortal Kombat in order to stop Raiden; Raiden is suggested [[HeWhoFightsMonsters to start becoming more like Shao Kahn]] by adopting crueler methods to [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans make Earthrealm "safe" from external threats.]]]]
** Raiden's character arc seems to show that even [[GodIsFlawed gods can be subject to the same flaws]] as mortals, and allows for more CharacterDevelopment; instead of a "goody-goody" god that we saw in the original timeline, we now see a [[GodOfGood god who is willing to help the heroes.]] The rebooted timeline also shows [[TraumaCongaLine the personal toll]] it is taking on him, [[HeroicBSOD something which continues to grow]] and he never recovers from it. Crossing the DespairEventHorizon ([[NiceJobBreakingItHero losing many of your heroes and friends,]] being stressed out of dealing with multiple invasions and being unable to restore most of the fallen heroes to the side of good) and carrying a big GuiltComplex ([[IdiotBall failing to interpret visions,]] [[WhatTheHellHero being called on by your protege]] and [[spoiler:[[MyGodWhatHaveIDone accidentally killing him]]]]) are indicative of a broken man who has lost perspective. Ultimately, this leads him [[StartOfDarkness to finally snap]] and pull off a FaceHeelTurn after being [[BreakTheCutie put through multiple rounds of hell.]]

** In the new timeline, he becomes increasingly cynical about the Elder Gods' refusal to intervene on behalf of Earthrealm against Shao Kahn's invasion in ''9''. This, along with [[spoiler:Liu Kang's and Kung Lao]]'s deaths, ultimately push him into the DespairEventHorizon.

* PetTheDog: {{Averted}}. [[spoiler:In Scorpion's MKX arcade ending, he makes the Shirai Ryu ninja the Jinsei's new guardian for eternity. This would seem like a pretty cool thing to do, were it not intended to be a punishment for Scorpion recklessly putting his vengeance against Quan Chi before the safety of the realms. Scorpion is notably in the process of committing seppuku before Raiden interrupts him.]]

* NiceGuy: Raiden is shown to be ''immensely'' humble and polite, rarely showing other kombatants anything other than quiet respect.