History Characters / MortalKombatShao

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Shao Kahn was a self-absorbed, power hungry, mean-spirited BadBoss who treated all with disdain and allowed pride to rule his actions. General Shao is much more well-meaning ([[WellIntentionedExtremist if only by his own standards]]), and while still contemptuous of enemies and Earthrealmers, treats his lieutenant Reiko with considerably more respect than Shao Kahn ever showed anyone.

* NobleDemon: For all his belligerence and disdain for Earthrealmers, General Shao displays both honor, loyalty, and sincerity that sets him apart from most other villains (including his own past self); he's steadfastly loyal to Outworld itself (if not the royal family), treats his followers well, and genuinely believes that his extreme actions are both morally right and necessary to protect his realm.

* BlackSheep: Shao was born into a distinguished military family, with his father being an especially decorated soldier. [[spoiler:While Shao's siblings remained loyal to the throne (though Kitana notes that she'll be keeping a close eye on them), Shao himself ultimately betrayed the royal family, for which his family disowned him.]]

* FantasticAbleism: In a pre-kombat dialogue with Baraka, he calls him a "beast" for having Tarkat.

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]] | [[Characters/MortalKombatRaiden Raiden]] | [[Characters/MortalKombatShangTsung Shang Tsung]] | [[Characters/MortalKombatKuaiLiang Sub-Zero II/Scorpion II (Kuai Liang)]] | [[Characters/MortalKombatKitana Kitana]] | [[Characters/MortalKombatMileena Mileena]] | [=Shao Kahn/General Shao=] | [[Characters/MortalKombatQuanChi Quan Chi]] | [[Characters/MortalKombatKotalKahn Kotal Kahn]] | [[Characters/MortalKombatKronika Kronika]]-]]]

* BarbaricBattleaxe: In ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1'', [[SameCharacterButDifferent General Shao]] carries a massive two-bladed axe as his default weapon, [[AdaptationalWeaponSwap as opposed to the]] HumongousHeadedHammer used by versions of Shao Kahn in older timelines. Despite ostensibly being on the heroes' side, Shao is still an imposing GeneralRipper in [[TinTyrant heavy armour]] with a brutal fighting style that puts his axe to work, ''and'' his [[HornsOfBarbarism massive horns]] further add to his barbaric aesthetic.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In contrast to previous depictions, particularly ''[=MK11=]'', General Shao is depictled with more human-like and conventionally attractive facial features, and frequently goes without his helmet in non-kombat scenes.

* DropTheHammer: His Wrath Hammer, in all games he's appeared in, has been Shao Kahn's weapon of choice to crush weak and pathetic fools.
** It was his most feared special in ''[=MK3=]'' and later became his weapon style in the [=GameCube=] version of ''Deception''.
** It gets heavily incorporated into Shao Kahn's moveset in ''[=MK11=]''.

->When he took Edenia - a milestone in his campaign - he murdered King Jerrod in battle and took his wife Sindel as his bride. He then raised Jerrod's daughter Kitana as his own, and trained her to be his personal bodyguard. Sindel eventually decided to kill herself rather than live as his slave - but even death would not free her of Shao Kahn. He trapped her soul in Outworld, thus denying her the afterlife.

->Kahn's next target was Earthrealm. He sent Shang Tsung - and then Goro - to gain enough victories in Mortal Kombat to allow him to freely invade the realm. Despite a 500 years-long winning streak, Goro was denied the vital tenth victory by Liu Kang - a descendant of the very same man who had put an end to Shang Tsung's dominance of the sacred tournament centuries ago. Enraged, Kahn brought Tsung before him to punish him personally. However, the sorcerer begged him for another chance, one that the Emperor believed might hold the key to undoing five centuries of wasted plans. The plan was to draw Liu Kang and his allies into an Outworld tournament where they would surely die. However, the new Mortal Kombat Champion proved to be too great even for the Emperor of Outworld - by defeating him personally. Unwilling to accept this, Kahn ordered his forces to kill off the Earth's fighters, but they managed to escape.

->Shao Kahn had one last plan up his sleeve, however. Shang Tsung was ordered to complete a plan 10,000 years in the making by reviving Kahn's long-dead wife, Sindel, not on Outworld - but on Earthrealm. This allowed Kahn to step through the gateways between the realms to claim her and undermine the safeguards of Mortal Kombat, thus launching a full-scale invasion of Earth. Consuming countless millions of souls upon entering the realm, he then sent extermination squads to destroy those whose souls he could not steal. The chosen few eventually defeated Outworld's forces, with the Emperor himself falling once again to the might of Liu Kang. Shao Kahn was greatly weakened by this defeat, and Earthrealm was restored. Many of his so-called loyal soldiers had abandoned him, and his adopted daughter Kitana had turned Sindel to her side, thus restoring Edenia as an independent realm. To make matters worse for Kahn, the Shokan race had joined their ranks. When Shang Tsung and Quan Chi came before him to pledge allegiance, this meeting soon became an assassination attempt - and seemingly his reign had finally come to a violent end. However, ''Deception'' revealed that the Outworld Emperor had planted a clone in his stead and restored the mortally wounded Goro with his remaining power, thus regaining Shokans as allies.

** Also, Shao just ''can't'' imagine his vast empire without slaves. So much so that he fully deserves the nickname "skull-fucker" - which is given to him by [[ComicBook/{{Spawn}} a certain Hellspawn]], of all beings.

--> '''Shao Kahn:''' You want to lead my armies?\\
'''Frost:''' [[SmugSnake Good luck finding anyone better]].\\
'''Shao Kahn:''' A ''street urchin'' would do better!
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Say what will you of him, but even ''Shao Kahn'' distrusts the Black Dragon clan. When Kabal casually says that's ''[[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder a good call,]]'' Shao questions how the clan hasn't dissolved yet - let alone ''survived'' long enough.
* EvilCounterpart:

** Kotal Kahn shows himself as the antithesis to Shao via serving as the Emperor of Outworld. While the latter is a BloodKnight who believes in MightMakesRight-sort of ruling with an iron fist, Kotal cares deeply for his people and understands when sacrifices and hard choices need to be made in order to ensure his subjects' survival. Ironically, Kotal isn't too different from Shao: both of them dress in tribal clothing, wield massive melee weapons, and will readily execute those who break the rules - but Kotal only does so for the betterment of Outworld while Shao is AxCrazy. In addition to this, Kotal had achieved and attained leadership without murdering his predecessor while Shao had poisoned Onaga and took over at first opportunity. Adding to this is the fact that Kotal had willingly gave up his position to Kitana, while Shao wants to remain as the Emperor of Outworld '''forever''' - and kills anyone who dares to disagree with him. Bonus points in that they both have Edenian lovers, though Jade ''genuinely'' loves Kotal but will stand against him if she thinks he is wrong while Sindel only loves Shao because she's BrainwashedAndCrazy (pre-retcon) or enables and supports his insanity (post-retcon).

* FatalFlaw: His biggest flaw is [[SmugSnake overconfidence]] and arrogance, as he has often underestimated mankind, and therefore tried to conquer Earthrealm many times to no success. He's also a BloodKnight - and that trait alone can sometimes override his better qualities, thus allowing him to be manipulated by the likes of Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, or even Shinnok - who are all cunning enough to exploit this weakness.
** Even in victory, Shao Kahn's arrogance has ultimately proven to be his downfall - his ''Armageddon'' ending shows that even though he won, it will lead to him becoming mad with boredom. The reboot shows him on the cusp on victory in ''9'', so self-assured that the Elder Gods would do nothing, that this leads to him underestimating Raiden and being KilledOffForReal. In ''11'', he was so certain that victory was his, that he outright neglected to keep one of the biggest backstabbers in the entire series in check, and wound up paying for it in the [[YourSoulIsMine most horrible way imaginable.]]

* {{Hammerspace}}: ''Literally'', in his case. Look closely at the sprites for his hammer attack in ''[=MK3=]'' and the move in ''[=MK9=]'' - it appears to materialize out of thin air!

** Subverted. He just taunts you because you fight against him in Outworld, and you were supposedly stupid enough to a fight with the big cheese himself around here. So, he assumes that some casual gloating here and there won't hurt - since, in his mind, he could swat you away ''with his index finger.'' However, in reality, there's nothing calculated behind these taunts, and in doing so, he's unable to move or react, thus he's completely vulnerable to a big combo (this is a major part of beating him up in ''II'' and ''9''). [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration This even leads to his ultimate downfall in the new continuity's storyline]]: in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'', Shao Kahn comes out on top in the events of ''Armageddon'', with literally no one left but him and Raiden (who is exhausted and on the verge of death). Kahn takes the opportunity to taunt Raiden about this, which gives Raiden enough time to send a message to his past self, which ultimately averts this outcome and destroys Kahn before the ''Armageddon'' would ever come to pass.

* KlingonPromotion: He obtained the throne of Outworld by killing the previous Emperor - Onaga - by poisoning him.

--> '''Shao Kahn:''' "Bow to me!"

* PapaWolf: Shockingly, he demonstrates this trope in ''11'' when D'Vorah off-handedly mentions her murder of his clone experiment "daughter", Mileena--he's so enraged that he tries to kill her for it, and would have undoubtedly done so had Kronika not interrupted.

** An intro with Kano has Kano mentioning he kidnapped Kollector and demanding ransom from Shao Kahn for his life. Shao simply demands to return his subordinate - or ''die.''

'''Shao Kahn:''' [[MultiversalConqueror Empires must expand - or die!]]

** ''[=MK9=]'' opens with him likewise triumphing during the events of ''Armageddon'' - but this just motivates Raiden to send a message to his past self, preventing this outcome.
** [[spoiler:''[=MK9=]'' concludes with Shao Kahn '''finally''' succeeding in conquering Earth - only for the Elder Gods to utterly destroy him moments later in response, rendering all his efforts moot.]]

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Done on ''him.'' One match intro has Shang Tsung sent to kill Shao Kahn on behalf of Kronika. Shang doesn't immediately make it known what he's here for, but Shao's response to the allusion of her terminating him is [[SuicidalOverconfidence daring her to try.]]

** [[spoiler: ''Actually happens'' to him in ''Aftermath''. Shang Tsung uses Shao Kahn to help him reach the Hourglass - and then takes his soul out of him when he is no longer needed.]]

* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Shao Kahn is usually the person who should make such offerings... until the story mode of ''[=MK11=]'', where Kronika issues one ''to him'' - namely, a new empire to rule. Given his bloodthirsty nature, Shao Kahn obliges without hesitation.

* OhCrap: Even the ruthless genocidal maniac like Shao can have ''a legitimate one''. Kahn becomes surprisingly '''''terrified''''' when he learns that a single Franchise/{{Terminator}} can take down ''his entire army.'' '''Single-handedly.'''