Characters / Mortal Kombat 4

Mortal Kombat Main Character Index
Original and Reboot Timeline: MK (1992) | MK2 | MK3 | MK4 | Deadly Alliance | Deception | Armageddon | MK vs. DC Universe | MK9 | MKX | MK11
The New Era: MK1
Spin-offs: Mythologies: Sub-Zero | Special Forces
Non-video game: The Movie | Conquest | Defenders of the Realm | 2021 Movie
Individual Characters: Scorpion I (Hanzo Hasashi) | Sub-Zero I/Noob Saibot (Bi-Han) | Johnny Cage | Liu Kang | Raiden | Shang Tsung | Sub-Zero II/Scorpion II (Kuai Liang) | Kitana | Mileena | Shao Kahn/General Shao | Quan Chi

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Spoilers for 1, 2, 3 and Mythologies will be unmarked

Here, we're going to list the characters introduced in Mortal Kombat 4 and Mortal Kombat Gold.

Shinnok and Fujin can be found in the Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero sheet.

Quan Chi can be found here.

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Meat

Meat

Debut game: Mortal Kombat 4

Other appearances: Mortal Kombat: Armageddon

The abomination known only as Meat was the result of a horrific experiment conducted by Shang Tsung. It escaped the evil sorcerer's infamous flesh pits before being completely formed.

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• Body Horror: He's basically a skinless body with one eye constantly dangling out by an optic nerve.
• Call-Back: Fittingly, a creature that looks like Meat is formed in the background of Quan Chi's lab in MKX.
• Dem Bones: In 4, he was just a bloodied skeleton.
• Detachment Combat: He's capable of removing his head and rolling it to trip enemies, and just sort of falls apart to teleport.
• Ditto Fighter: In MK4, he was essentially a "skin" over whichever character you chose, acquiring all of his/her moves.
• Eye Scream: In a later appearance, one of his eyes is hanging out of his skull by the optic nerve. He can psych himself up to regain health by pulling on it.
• Fan Disservice: He's a bloody, skinless corpse only wearing some underwear for clothes, nullifying any fanservice he could possibly bring as a muscular man.
• Joke Character: He's simply a joke skin for characters in 4 while his actual playable appearance ain't much to talk about in terms of fighting abilities.
• Overdrawn at the Blood Bank: Since he doesn't have any skin, he's bleeding before anyone even lays a finger on him.
• Palette Swap: Of everyone in 4, except Goro and Noob Saibot.
• Shapeshifter Identity Crisis: His Armageddon ending gives him the power to shape shift. He loses his sense of identity and goes to seclusion.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Something tells us this isn't for fanservice purposes, though.

Reiko

Reiko

"I am Reiko. General to Shao Kahn's Army."

Debut game: Mortal Kombat 4 (Ed Boon)

Other appearances: Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (David Beron)

Non-game appearances: Mortal Kombat: Conquest (Jim Helsinger), Mortal Kombat (2021) (Nathan Jones), Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms (Robin Atkin Downes)

First emerging as a general in Shinnok's war against the heavens and an apparent member of the Brotherhood of Shadow. Reiko has served both the fallen Elder God and Shao Kahn.

Believed dead after Shinnok's first defeat by Raiden, he emerged during the events of Mortal Kombat 4 once as an ally of his former master. However in the wake of his masters' second defeat at the hands of Earthrealm's defenders, he disappeared once more.

Reiko later emerged as a general in Shao Kahn's army having gained promotion to the position due to his ruthlessness. His ambitions seem to go much further however as his desire to take the emperor of Outworld's throne is all too clear.

In Mortal Kombat X, he is Mileena's general in Outworld's civil war, after the death of Shao Kahn. However, a prophecy that he has heard of during one of his contests during his time with Shao Kahn persuaded him to get Outworld's throne. Seeing that Quan Chi led the emperor to his death, he decided to no longer serve anyone and attempted suicide, but Havik had to happen to walk towards him, remind him of the prophecy and stab him with one of the Kamidogu, serving him a first taste of blood magic.

For tropes applying to Reiko in the new timeline started by Mortal Kombat 1, click here.

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• Ambiguously Brown: He was a fair deal lighter in his debut.
• Asshole Victim: Meets quite the gruesome demise in the MKX prequel comic, as his flesh literally melts from his body as he screams in utter agony. However, he’s such a creep in-universe and out that you’d have an easier time finding a needle in a haystack than finding someone with any sympathy for him.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Literally, at that. His ending in 4 shows that, in the original timeline at least, he liked to enter Shao Khan's throne room, put on his helmet and sit on the throne to get a taste of the power he craved.
• Carry a Big Stick: Reiko's weapon in 4 is a spiked club.
• The Chessmaster: As seen in the prequel comics for Mortal Kombat X, he's correctly predicted every move Kotal Kahn has made and managed to have his father Kotal K'etz killed in an ambush by Goro and the Red Dragon as a result.
• The Dragon: To Shao Kahn's Big Bad in MK: Conquest. In canon, he served as both Shinnok and Shao Kahn's general in their armies at different points in time. He later serves former Empress Mileena.
• Flanderization: Not that he had much characterization to begin with, but Midway took his connection to Shao Kahn and ran like hell with it.
  • In Deception, he claims he enjoys sneaking into Kahn's throne room and wearing his helmet. Come Armageddon, he's gone from maskless ninja to a helmetless copy of Kahn (except with proper pants), complete with his weapon being changed from a war club to the Crude Hammer, further emulating Kahn. One of his attacks even generates an aura version of Kahn's helmet. And what does he do in his Armageddon ending? Defeats Shao Kahn and claim his helmet, which fuses to his head.
  • His MK4 ending has him step through a portal to a throne room and sit, and then Shao Kahn's helmet magically lowers itself onto his head. At this point it was strongly implied that Shao Kahn was dead, and Reiko's bio says that he too was supposed to be dead. So the idea was that Kahn had cheated death by possessing Reiko's body, or something along those lines. The fans generally either did not like this, or did not get it (until Deception, many people believed that this meant he was Shao Kahn), and the idea was scrapped, and in Deadly Alliance it was decided to make it that Kahn had never been killed in the first place. The helmet thing is thus a Running Gag. Originally he never even served Kahn; he had only worked for Shinnok.
  • In an inversion, the prequel comics for Mortal Kombat X have made no mention of this obsession whatsoever, and have instead begun to flesh Reiko out as a master tactician who Kotal Kahn recognises as the true threat to his rule.
• Flechette Storm: Throws a barrage of shuriken at his opponent for his Fatality in 4. Noob Saibot's appearance in Deception and his shuriken's Relic description in Armageddon affirms that such weapons are signs of membership in the Brotherhood of Shadow.
• Gender-Blender Name: His name is one you'd find favored by Japanese women.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: All of his appearances show him with glowing white eyes.
• Killed Off for Real: Meets his end in Issue #30 of the MKX comics, where his body is destroyed under the weight of Blood Magick and his head split open by Havik.
• Ludicrous Gibs: His fate in Issue #30, where he melts and has his head ripped apart by Blood Magick.
• The Man Behind the Man: In the comics, while he's an advisor to Mileena, he's the person doing most of the planning, and its said he ingratiated himself with her in order to use Mileena's status as "heir" to Shao Kahn's empire in a bid for control of Outworld.
• Metaphorically True: The prophecy "Reiko's blood reigns." Maybe not as Emperor of Outworld, but as the Blood God ruling over all realms. This also ends up applying to his eventual death, where his blood is running in a literal state as he is destroyed by the Blood Magick when his body cannot handle it.
• Monochromatic Eyes: As covered under Glowing Eyes of Doom, he has blank white eyes that glow.
• Stalker with a Crush: His relationship with Kahn comes off like this, especially the creepy sneaking into his throne room and wearing his helmet. In Armageddon his outfit's even similar...
• The Starscream:
  • Possibly to Shao Kahn. He certainly wants that helmet.
  • Very blatantly one to Quan Chi. He even revels in the fact that his failure to stop Taven in Shao Kahn's war room could possibly lead to the sorcerer's death.
• Treacherous Advisor: To Mileena, as he intends to take the Outword Kahnum for himself by gaining the power of Blood God.
• Undying Loyalty: The MK1 version of Reiko has this in spades when it comes to General Shao. The general in his turn sees Reiko like a son.
• Unholy Matrimony: With Mileena in the prequel comics to X. This is all a ruse, as he doesn't like sharing her bed and instead uses her for his own goals.
• Unwitting Pawn: To Havik, who was just manipulating him to get his hands on Shinnok's Amulet.

Tanya

Tanya

Debut game: Mortal Kombat 4 (Lia Montelongo)

Other appearances: Mortal Kombat: Deception, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, Mortal Kombat X (Jennifer Hale, English; Carla Castañeda, Latin American Spanish)

The daughter of an Edenian ambassador to new realms, Tanya allowed fleeing refugees to enter Edenia in order to find safety. However, these unfortunate victims turned out to be Shinnok, Quan Chi, and their deadly Netherrealm forces. Tanya had betrayed her own realm to the fallen god.

Despite attempting to lure Liu Kang into a trap, she was eventually undone by Shinnok's defeat at the hands of Earth's warriors. Her treachery known to both Edenia and Earth she fled to Outworld. Eventually, she found herself an enforcer for the Deadly Alliance and imposed the will of her masters on Outworld.

Their defeat left her contemplating a return home but after a confrontation with Baraka was drafted into the ranks of the Dragon King Onaga's army. Later bringing her new master to her native realm in search of information on the Kamidogu.

In Mortal Kombat 9, she makes a cameo appearance in Shao Kahn's Arena, as a captive. She plays a more active role in the storyline in Mortal Kombat X as one of Mileena's rebels. Mileena convinced her that if she is made to be empress again, she will sever the link that Edenia still shares with Outworld due to Shao Kahn's conquest. She runs across D'Vorah and Cassie Cage at the rebel encampment where she and Rain are guarding Shinnok's amulet. She is able to successfully subdue Cassie but is overpowered by D'Vorah in battle. She survives the events of the game despite her leader being executed by Kotal Kahn and D'Vorah and her whereabouts are currently unknown (her Arcade Ladder ending says she sold out Rain in order to get on Kotal Kahn's good side and save herself in order to get a fresh start at her dreams of a free Edenia, but this does not seem entirely canon). In 11, it's clarified Rain simply parted ways with her after Mileena's death. Kotal eventually caught up with her and murdered her.

For tropes applying to Tanya in the new timeline started by Mortal Kombat 1, click here.

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• Adaptational Nice Girl: Downplayed in X. She still remains to be treacherous as her ending shows her betraying Rain even though he was always on her side but she intends to restore Edenia as an idendependent realm, (the same realm Tanya betrayed in the original timeline), making her less selfish than before. While she's still a backstabber, she at least has genuine noble goals in the rebooted timeline.
• Ambiguously Brown: Edenia is a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of East Asian and Middle Eastern countries and she, like Jade is darker-skinned than other Edenians that we have seen.
• Ancient Egypt: Her MKX look evokes this a lot, right down to her Cleopatra-like hair bob.
• Arch-Enemy: Jade took it personally when Tanya betrayed their people.
• Badass Boast: To Jacqui in MKX.
  Tanya: Miss Briggs.
  Jacqui: Another Edenian.
  Tanya: The only one you need to worry about.
• Battle Boomerang: Her weapon of choice in 4.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Her ending in 4 made this as The Reveal. Also, in another one of her endings, she even betrays and sacrifices fellow Edenian Rain to die at the hands of Outworlders just to keep herself alive and buy herself time to plot her next nefarious scheme.
• Breakout Character: Tanya was the only new fighter introduced in this game to make several appearances outside of 4 (Armageddon did bring back the others but that game brought back every fighter that made an appearance in the Mortal Kombat franchise until that point). She was a playable fighter in Deception and X, and since her appearance in X, she became linked with Mileena as her canon love interest. Her relationship with Mileena continues in the new timeline set by 1, where she, along with Reiko, are the only 4 representatives.
• Choice of Two Weapons: In MKX, she has two variations that grant her access to weapons, her dual bladed tonfas and her naginata.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Possibly more untrustworthy than Kano. And that's quite a statement. Doesn't stop her from having enough gall to call him out on his.
• Les Collaborateurs: Tanya is this trope for betraying her homeland of Edenia.
• Combat Stilettos: Puts them to good use in one of her fatalities in MKX.
• Damage-Increasing Debuff: Her Pyromancer variation in MKX's bread and butter tactic is to splash the opponent with combustive dust, then ignite the dust with her fireballs for greater damage.
• Dark Action Girl: This girl is sadistically evil in every sense of the word, and knows how to kick ass as well.
• Depraved Bisexual: She's a sadistic murderess and pathological traitor. She has the hots for Kung Jin and Rain, and definitely has something going on with Mileena according to her intro dialogues. Tremor, in one of his intro dialogues with her, outright calls her "Mileena's concubine."
• Designated Girl Fight: A designated Edenian Girl Fight with Jade. The alternate timeline have her fight D'Vorah instead, with Jade being still dead.
• Difficult, but Awesome: While she's a difficult character to master in Mortal Kombat X, it's worth getting good with her due to her mix-ups and and unmatched aerial attacks and options.
• Downloadable Content: Is included in Mortal Kombat X's "Kombat Pack" alongside Jason Voorhees, Predator, and Tremor. She was released on June 2, 2015. She shows up as an enemy fighter in the Story Mode but is clearly incomplete (she uses Kitana's stance and has no variations).
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Mileena seems to be the one person who Tanya won't betray. The two of them seem to genuinely be in love with each other, as seen in Mileena's MK11 ending where they raise a child together. Possibly subverted, as one of Mileena’s MK11 intro dialogues with Rain heavily implies that Tanya was merely using her all along, which is something that would be completely in-character for Tanya to do.
  Rain: Direct your anger at Tanya, Mileena.
  Mileena: It was YOU who betrayed me, not her!
  Rain: Think, Mileena. Who introduced us?
• Even Evil Has Standards: In new timeline during her intro with Kitana in versus mode, she will express sadness in fighting Kitana, claiming that Edenians shouldn't fight one another and that her family once respected her. Regardless if she's a Revenant or not, Kitana will press on anyway, distrusting of Tanya, given her history of deceit and betrayal in the past.
  Kitana: Tanya.
  Tanya: Edenians shouldn't fight each other!
  Kitana: Our realm is dead, as you shall be.
• Evil Counterpart: To Jade, being a distrustful Edenian as opposed to Jade's Patriotic Fervor. Tanya's allegiance to Mileena further reinforces this as Mileena is Kitana's clone and rival.
• Face–Heel Turn: 4 describes her as a freedom fighter trying to take back her realm. But it isn't until her ending that you find out she's a bad guy.
• Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Deception's Konquest Mode even specifically states, "Tanya is beautiful, but she is not to be trusted." Considering that this angel-faced dame went on to betray her Edenian and Earthrealm allies, this is understandable.
• Femme Fatale: She misleads Liu King into a death trap in her 4 ending and one of Rain's intro dialogues implies she was using Mileena in a romantic relationship to overthrow her.
• Fiery Sensuality: Tanya is a Femme Fatale and evil sorceress who specializes in seduction, manipulation and fire magic.
• Heel Realization: Her bio for Deception notes that Tanya, now lonely after the fall of the Deadly Alliance, felt an urge to return to her homeland of Edenia (y'know, the same realm she betrayed back in 4?). However, this is where the Tarkatan horde intercepts Tanya and forces her to lend her talents to Onaga's cause.
• Hot Witch: A very beautiful woman who's said to have great proficiency with the dark arts, which is reflected with her fireballs and teleporting abiltities.
• Hypocrite: Shows disgust towards Kano, calling him names such as "snake and "turncoat". This, coming from Edenia's most selfish, calculating, traitorous woman...
• Hidden Depths: In MKX her goal is to restore Edenia, since Edenia was never unmerged from Outworld in the current timeline. This is why she joined Mileena, who promised to restore Edenia if she became Empress again. However, she seems to be privy to Rain's plan to usurp power once Mileena has killed herself through prolonged use of Shinnok's amulet, so her long game beyond said goal is unclear.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Rationalizes her actions as necessary steps for ensuring her own survival. In her X ending, she grows uninterested in fellow ally and Edenian Rain and sacrifices his life in order to buy her more time in Outworld to realize her dream of restoring Edenia.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Her "Edenian Drill" fatality in Mortal Kombat X in which she uses her Combat Stilettos to pierce her opponent's back and then slides right through the opponent, leaving a gaping hole and her covered with entrails while she holds her opponent's heart.
• Incompatible Orientation: She's attracted towards Kung Jin, openly describing him as 'quite handsome'. As the latter puts it, she's barking up the wrong tree.
• Invisibility: Gains a move like this in Deception and Armageddon. Appropriately, the technique is named "Find Me."
• Kick Chick: Her fighting style and animations in X get a lot of use out of her legs.
• Killed Offscreen: Mileena and Rain in 11 clarify Kotal killed Tanya after X.
• Kiss of Death: Like Kitana and Sonya, she had a similar move as a Fatality in 4 (called Kiss of Deceit; perhaps a nod to her true nature). This fatal peck causes the receiver's body to agonizingly contort before exploding.
• Kung-Fu Wizard: Tanya is skilled in magic and martial arts.
• Lady of Black Magic: An evil and beautiful villainess who prides herself in her mastery of the dark arts and can conjure damaging fireballs.
• Leotard of Power: And in Deception, it heavily resembles a corset.
• Long Hair Is Feminine: In Deception, although tied up in her alt. Back in 4, had it not been for the ponytail, Tanya might've been very well mistaken for having a bob.
• Manipulative Bitch: Her ending in Mortal Kombat 4 reveals she was lying about her allegiances to Liu King and the heroes to aid Shinnok.
• Mini Dress Of Power: Dons a black one as an alt. in 4.
• Mistaken Identity: Pre-fight dialogue in MKX has her mix up Ferra and Torr with a dead co-ed being dragged around by Jason Voorhees.
• Mix-and-Match Weapon: In Deception and Armageddon, she wields a pair of tonfas with kama-like blades attached known as Kobu Jutsu. Tanya maintains these weapons in the new timeline as a variation.
• Monochromatic Eyes: While she had normal eyes in her debut, Deception would give her blank, white eyes she would keep for future appearances.
• Moral Myopia: She's quick to try and justify her own duplicitous deeds. But when Kano does it, she condemns him.
• Murderous Thighs:
  • In 4 her bone breaker throw was a Neck Snap done via clinging on her foe head with her thighs and spinning around and her first fatality in the same game is a triple spin version of the throw
  • This move, which leaps into opponents head, is revamped as a frankensteiner for her X-Ray move last hit, except she leaps onto opponents head from behind.
• Playing with Fire: Shows up in multiple special moves of hers, particularly during her appearances in Deception and Armageddon. In Mortal Kombat X she gets a variation called "Pyromancer" that's dedicated to this trope.
• Naginatas Are Feminine: One of her stances in X uses one.
• Pragmatic Villainy: As her ending happens after Mortal Kombat X's Story Mode, Mileena is dead so it's just her and Rain on the run from Outworld's armies. While she likes Rain's talents and "company", he is not going to help her achieve her goals in their current state. So she rats him out in order to be spared by Kotal Kahn. It sentences her to a life of servitude under Kotal but puts her in a better position to try to accomplish her goals long-term.
• Primp of Contempt: After performing a brutality in X, Tanya crosses her arms and checks her nails, saying either "You disgust me" or "You may die now."
• The Quisling: In the original continuity, she's most known for betraying Edenia to Shinnok and his invading Netherrealm forces.
• She-Fu: Her fighting style in X includes a lot of flips.
• Shipper on Deck: In X, along with Mileena, she sees Kitana and Liu Kang are fit as a Battle Couple, teasing their secret affair for some fun.
• Short-Range Long-Range Weapon: In 4, Tanya can use her boomerang for melee combat.
• Sole Survivor: Of a full blooded Edenian race after what happen to Kitana, Jade and Sindel in 2011 event. But in Edenian civil, she's not the only Edenian to survive from extinction, one of her fellow is Rain, who is a half-God.
• Spin Attack: Tanya has a special known as the Human Cannon Drill. It involves Tanya corkscrewing under opponent's legs like... well, a drill.
• Stance System: In Deception, she had the Zi Ran Men, Yue Chuan, and Kobu Jutsu stances. She keeps the latter two in Armageddon.
• Summon Magic: Her ending in Armageddon has Tanya transforming into a being known as a Dragon Caller. With the ability to conjure ethereal dragons and give them a corporeal form, Tanya then goes on to conquer all of the realms with her new army.
• Teleport Spam: Tanya has a teleport that carries over across all three of her variations in Mortal Kombat X. Expect to see it a lot in high level play.
• Unholy Matrimony: A rare lesbian variation. It's mentioned in a mostly offhanded manner in X, but between Mileena's MK11 appearance having her declare vengeance in Tanya's name multiple times, and her arcade ending seeing them raising a child together, the sapphic undertones are pretty hard to deny.
• Vow of Celibacy: Took one as part of being part of the Umgadi; though she and Mileena carry on their relationship in secret, Kitana was able to see it quite clearly.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In Mortal Kombat X, she and Rain basically disappeared from the story after D'Vorah beats her. Cassie stopped D'Vorah from killing them but that's about it. It's revealed in 11 Kotal killed her.

Kai

Kai

"I will not fail."

Debut game: Mortal Kombat 4 (Sultan Uddin)

Other appearances: Mortal Kombat: Armageddon

An-ex member of the secret White Lotus Society. Kai gained his skills learning from the great masters throughout Asia. After a chance meeting with Liu Kang looking to train future Shaolin warriors, Kai joined him in China for further instruction.

However his training was halted by the invasion of Shinnok's forces. Kai then joined the other Earthrealm warriors to battle alongside Raiden against the fallen Elder God. After Shinnok's defeat, he decided to walk the Earth in search of self-enlightenment. As a sign of thanks and approval Raiden entrusted him with his Lightning Staff to help guide him on his quest. He would eventually return to aid the Forces of Light in the Battle of Armageddon.

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• The Bus Came Back: In Armageddon, he rejoins the Forces of Light in the final battle after disappearing at the end of 4.
• Carry a Big Stick: His weapon in Armageddon is a spiked club.
• Dance Battler: Kai's fighting style is very nimble and agile and one of his moves has him going into a hand stand to kick his opponent.
• Death from Above: His fireball move in Mortal Kombat 4. He can also invert this and shoot the fireballs downward, causing them to shoot up out of the ground under his opponent.
• Elemental Punch: Kai's "Renegade Kick" in Armageddon has him unleash a powerful flaming kick.
• Flat Character: What else do you know about him other than the fact that he's a monk seeking self-enlightenment?
• Journey to Find Oneself:
  • If his ending in 4 is any indication, his quest is to find enlightenment.
  • This screws the Elder Gods completely over in Armageddon, where he finally finds oneself — or more rather, the One Being.
• Kukris Are Kool: His weapon in 4, although he switches to Raiden's staff after completing Arcade Mode.
• Magic Staff: In Kai's ending in 4, Raiden gives him his staff saying it will grant Kai command over lightning and will make him immortal. Beating the game with Kai in ''4'' changes his weapon from the Ghurka Knife to Raiden's Lightning Staff.
• Martial Arts Headband: Wears a red headband in 4 and was a former member of the White Lotus Society.
• Meaningful Name: In Scottish, Kai means "fire", matching his ability to use flames.
• Playing with Fire: Like Liu Kang, Kai can conjure flames in battle. Kai adds his own flair to this by summoning them from the ground or launching them into the sky to rain down on the opponent. In Armageddon, he gains a new move that allows him to ignite his foot as he kicks his opponent.
• Power Floats: Kai's "Headshot" fatality in 4 has him levitates in front of his opponent and then throw a fireball at their head, decapitating them.
• Psychic Link: In his Armageddon ending, Kai develops a psychic link to the One Being. Since reality is formed from the One Being's dreams, Kai is able to witness multiple events from the past and present. But when he looks to the future, he sees nothing.
• Put on a Bus: After the events of the fourth game. Possibly justified because he's searching for self-enlightenment.
• Red Is Heroic: He wears red clothing and allies with the heroes to fight Shinnok and the Forces of Darkness.
• Spin Attack: Kai can rotate on one hand and spin his legs like propellers, kicking his opponent repeatedly.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He takes Kung Lao's place as Liu Kang's Shaolin Monk companion as Lao was thought to be dead until Gold.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: While his height is unknown, he is muscular and has dark hair.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Is shirtless in 4, but averted with his armored look in Armageddon.
• Walking the Earth: He searches for spiritual enlightenment.
• Warrior Monk: He's a Shaolin Monk who fights against Shinnok's threat.

Jarek

"Soon I’ll have revenge."

Debut game: Mortal Kombat 4 (Herman Sanchez/Mark Meyers)

Other appearances: Mortal Kombat: Special Forces, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon

Non-game appearances: Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind

After learning of Kano's apparent demise, Jarek fled to the realm of Edenia. Pursued by special forces members Jax Briggs and Sonya Blade who believe him to be the last member of the criminal Black Dragon clan. However, their plan to bring him in is halted by Shinnok's invasion of the realm. This leads Jarek to reluctantly join forces with them and the rest Earthrealm's warriors to deal with the greater threat.

After Shinnok's defeat Jax throws Jarek to his death over a cliffside. Jarek managed to break his fall by digging his blade into the rock face. However, his injuries were still substantial. The time taken to hone his skills and recover, whilst presumed dead, did little to lower his bitterness over having to overcome his wounds. Eventually his desire to kill Jax extended to everyone.

Has a short appearance in the Mortal Kombat X comics, where he and Tasia captured both Cassie Cage and Jacqui Briggs at the direct orders of Erron Black.

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• Animal-Themed Fighting Style: His unarmed style in Armageddon is Dragon Kung Fu.
• Asshole Victim: Jax drops him off a cliff right after Jarek betrays his partner. Jarek is so terrified in his final moments of life, he begs to be spared. He's not.
• Author Avatar: His facial appearance was based on Mortal Kombat character designer and modeler Herman Sanchez.
• Ax-Crazy: Ends up as this in Armageddon.
• Beard of Evil: Sports a messy beard in all his appearances.
• Blade Brake: How he survived Jax dropping him off a cliff at the end of 4.
• The Cameo: Shows up along with Tasia in the Mortal Kombat X prequel comic, interrupting Cassie's fight against Frost and slaughtering civilians in the process. He even managed to capture both Cassie and Jacqui off-screen thanks to Erron Black, no less.
• Dirty Coward: Begs desperately to the point of utter embarrassment for his life in Jax's 4 ending after killing Sonya.
• Divergent Character Evolution: Originally a clone of Kano in 4, he becomes this in Armageddon.
• Enemy Mine: Teams up with Sonya and Jax (and the rest of Earthrealm's warriors by proxy) to defeat Shinnok in 4. It takes all of five seconds after the Elder God's defeat before Jarek and Sonya are at each other's throats again.
• Eye Beams: In MK4, because of his previous status as that game's Kano. In an effort to include more new characters in-game, they reskinned Kano as Jarek (hence the reason Jarek has mostly Kano's moves).
• Ground Pound: In the form of his signature Rhino Stomp.
• Knows the Ropes: In Armageddon, he gains a move called "Lasso Snatch" in which he throws a lasso at his opponent and brings them over his body, slamming them on the ground.
• Moveset Clone: Of Kano in MK4. Doubles as a Replacement Flat Character.
• Token Evil Teammate: He fights alongside the Earthrealm warriors despite his continued loyalty to the Black Dragon 4. Overlaps with Enemy Mine.
• Un Evil Laugh: In 4, he has a weird, humming laugh, as shown in his and Jax's endings.
• Villainous Breakdown: In Jax's MK4 ending, he goes from smugly satisfied with himself for throwing Sonya off the cliff to pathetically begging for his life when Jax's about to do the same to him.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Was this up until he armored up in Armageddon.

Elder Gods

Elder Gods

Debut game: Mortal Kombat 4

Other appearances: Mortal Kombat: Deception, Mortal Kombat 9, Mortal Kombat 11

The supreme beings of the Mortal Kombat Universe. The Elder Gods are distinct from lesser gods like Raiden due to predating the creation of the realms and having power and authority over all the realms instead of a single one. A lesser god can be promoted to the status of Elder God.

Before the creation of the realms, the Elder Gods existed in the Void along with the One Being which fed off of their essences. The Elder Gods created the Kamidogu and used it to shatter the One Being. The realms came from its remains and the mortals are its dreams. The Elder rarely intervene in the affairs of the realms. According to one story, when the Elder God Shinnok tried to seize control of the realms, the rest aided Raiden in his battle against their fallen brother. At another point in time, they created the Mortal Kombat tournament to regulate the conflict between realms.

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• Adaptational Wimp: While they were useless in previous timelines a more recent one took this to a whole new level with them being killed by Cetrion.
• Alien Non-Interference Clause: The Elder Gods avoid interfering in mortal affairs but not out of concern for their welfare. They're afraid doing so will trigger the One Being's return.
• All-Powerful Bystander: The Elder Gods are well-aware of the threat various villains pose to the realms. Yet they refuse to do anything unless they themselves are directly threatened. Part of this is explained away in 11 as Kronika's manipulations.
• Always a Bigger Fish: Kronika's existence and numerous character endings reveal the Elder Gods are dwarfed by the Titans and One Being.
• Ambiguous Situation: Although Fire God!Liu Kang refers to them in exclamation the same way Thunder God!Raiden once did it's unknown if they actively exist in that timeline. That being said the only deities actively worshipped are Delia and Argus.
• Broken Pedestal: In both timelines seen Raiden starts out with great faith in the Elder Gods only to lose it due to their inaction. The Thunder God now sees them as more burden than help hence why he chose to take matters into his own hands at the end of X and use a more hardline approach to protect Earthrealm.
• Cain and Abel: Shinnok and Cetrion respectively.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The only exceptions among them are Shinnok and Cetrion.
• God Is Dead: Partway through 11 Cetrion kills every other Elder God under Kronika's orders and later sacrifices herself to empower her mother. Aside from Shinnok's technically living head the Elder Gods are all gone in this timeline.
• The Gods Must Be Lazy: The Elder Gods frequently do everything with slackness, most notably failing to enforce the rules of Mortal Kombat during Shao Kahn's invasion of Earthrealm. They only act if directly threatened - and even then not always. The only real exception is Cetrion as she is seen hanging around the mortals more often.
• Good Is Impotent: Instead of just forbidding Shao Kahn from invading anyone they allow it on the arbitrary conditional clause of "win ten martial arts tournaments first" with nothing to enforce this besides the threat of retaliation. Meanwhile Sindel and Quan Chi can apparently create a functional Kahn-proof shield around Earthrealm on their own. Evidently the Elder Gods are far from omnipotent.
• It's All About Me: The Elder Gods have displayed zero empathy for anyone else, including lesser divine beings. All of their actions are solely about them.
• Jerkass Gods: Whenever the Elder Gods do get involved it either makes things worse or is just to mess around with mortals:
  • For the crime of consuming a soul they cursed Shang Tsung to consume more or rapidly deteriorate and die in return. This only made him even stronger. This is revealed in 11 to be a back-up plan for Kronika if she ever needed the power.
  • They promised to return Scorpion's family and clan to life in exchange for service only to bring them back as undead zombies.
  • In Mortal Kombat 9 they justified not doing anything by reinterpreting the tournament to apply only to merging realms and not invasions. This is contrary to everything ever said before and since to which Raiden even calls them out on this due to their statement being a Distinction Without a Difference.
  • They have a habit of screwing over numerous characters in their (usually) non-canon endings.
  • Shinnok himself is a fallen Elder God who tries attacking Earthrealm in many timelines.
  • Cetrion is no better, betraying and killing her fellow Elder Gods while doing Kronika's bidding.
• Lawful Stupid: The Elder Gods enforce their non-interference rules to the point of near-suicide. Instead of taking care of obvious threats early on their slackness allows them to mushroom until it's a direct danger to them and almost too late to stop it.
• Neutral No Longer: They finally get involved at the end of MK9, giving Raiden the power to destroy Shao Kahn moments before he's about to conquer Earth.
• No Name Given: Other than Shinnok and Cetrion none of the Elder Gods are given names.
• Not Quite the Almighty: They aren't the real supreme gods one would think. Instead it's the One Being, who they cut up and split into the Realms in the first place. MK11 reveals the Titans are also above them.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Their purest forms are supposed to be ethereal and in the shape of the signature Mortal Kombat dragon.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Shao Kahn and Shinnok call out the Elder Gods on their cowardice in light of the threats both villains pose. Even Raiden calls them out for their inaction in both witnessed timelines.
• Speak in Unison: Whenever Raiden speaks to them the Elder Gods speak at the same time saying the exact same thing.
• Too Dumb to Live: In some non-canon endings the Elder Gods' refusal to do anything allows villains to become powerful enough to actually destroy them. Also almost happens to them in the opening of MK9 where Shao Kahn plans to kill them after getting the power of Blaze, only being stopped because of Raiden hitting the Reset Button.

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