Hello and welcome to Wasted Plotential, where we discuss the wasted potential of our favourite
plotlines.
Throughout this series, I've largely focused on bad continuity and wasted opportunities,
but an area I haven't touched on all that much is Netherrealm's butchering of the personalities
and characterisation of many characters from the Midway era. And one of the finest examples
of this stripping away of the depth and nuance of a classic character is Shao Kahn. I would
argue that what they did to him is worse than Scorpion being a toadie of Quan Chi, Sub-Zero's
lack of empathy towards anyone not wearing yellow, Mileena's infantilisation, Goro's
lost honour, Raiden's incompetence, Liu Kang's growing arrogance and the general lack of
individuality in motivations and goals that the entire cast now suffers. The only character
I think exceeds Kahn's ruination is Sindel. Let that sink in.
In the Midway Era, Shao Kahn was one of the greatest video game villains of all time.
He looked like a mix between Conan the Barbarian, Oda Nobunaga and The Shredder, yes, but he
was more than that, and reducing him to just this paper-thin muscle man with a brain tumour
is a child's understanding of the character, which is quite indicative of Netherrealm's
transformation of the characters and setting into G.I. Fucking Joe. He was powerful and
imposing, but also intelligent and scheming. In the Netherrealm Era, he's a brutish neanderthal
who needs his followers to do all the thinking for him.
When he was introduced in MKII, Shao Kahn was shown first in shadow, towering over Shang
Tsung, who was begging for his life. This new threat is so powerful and imposing that
even the last game's final boss is terrified of him. You can't get a much stronger set-up
for the new threat than that. He had conquered many realms and was evidently powerful and
wise enough to be able to maintain his vast empire for at least ten thousand years. His
scheming was shown lightly through Mileena, a clone of Kitana he'd commissioned to eventually
kill and replace her, posing as Kitana from then on, since he knew Kitana would one day
betray him.
In MK3, we got to see just how crafty he could be. After he took Sindel as his wife and she
killed herself, he kept her soul imprisoned until he needed it. Ten thousand years later,
after he himself lost to Liu Kang, that time was now. He had her resurrected under mind
control in Earthrealm. That way, he'd be allowed to head there and reclaim his wife; an opportunity
he would capitalise on to invade. We also got clarification that Sindel and Kitana were
royalty of Edenia, not Outworld, meaning that Kahn hadn't usurped Outworld from Jerrod and
Sindel and ruled for ten thousand years - he had conquered Outworld and then bested Edenia
in Mortal Kombat, which meant his empire had stood for even longer than that.
After sitting out MK4, Kahn appeared in the intro of Deadly Alliance, where his death
was used to highlight just how serious a threat the titular alliance was. In Deception, we
learned that Kahn had not conquered Outworld himself. He had aided Onaga's conquest of
the realm and then, knowing he couldn't take Onaga in a fair fight, he poisoned Onaga until
he was weak enough that he could take him. Again, this highlights how crafty Kahn truly
was, while also further using him as a benchmark for how grave the new threat is: even the
final boss of MKII and 3 could not take Onaga in a straight fight. That's the level of reverence
this franchise has always had for Kahn: he is the bar by which all other final bosses
are judged. And yet, he still always comes out on top as, even though there are individuals
that are more powerful than him, his guile will keep him in power, or bring him back
to it in short order should he ever lose it.
Kahn, as of Deception, can be easily compared to Shang Tsung and Quan Chi. Their alliance
made so much sense because they were such similar characters. They were both the right-hand
man to their respective master (Shao Kahn and Shinnok), with secret plans to betray
and kill their masters. Kahn filled that same role for Onaga. While Quan Chi only managed
to screw Shinnok over by stealing his amulet, Shang Tsung actually managed to overthrow
and supplant his own master as ruler of Outworld. Except not really, fucko, because Shao Kahn
faked his death and went to gather allies for his return to power! Not only is Kahn
the only one of the three to actually succeed in assassinating and supplanting his master,
but he was also smart enough to avoid it happening to him! He then spent the rest of Deception
recruiting allies, such as Goro. Goro had defected to Kitana's side back in MK4, but
Kahn saved his life to earn his loyalty after his near death at the hand of Noob Saibot,
who had been operating on Kahn's orders to begin with. While he obviously hadn't intended
it to go quite this perfectly, Kahn never missed a chance to capitalise on his good
fortune.
By Armageddon, he was back in power, as Mileena had become the interim ruler after Onaga's
death. Whether due to being programmed to obey him, her subservient tarkatan nature,
secret betrayal plans or just natural self-preservation instincts, Mileena instantly submitted to
Khan's rule again. That's the kind of power he wields. And again, he didn't try to make
a move against Onaga. He waited for someone else to do it and then seized his chance to
reclaim his throne. He was then recruited as one of the four figureheads of Shinnok's
alliance, with the clear motive to betray the rest and seize Blaze's power for himself.
2011 then shows him to have done exactly that and beaten Blaze in the end. Given how clear
it was that Taven was supposed to be the victor, it's not hard to assume Kahn waited for the
right time there and batted Taven aside when Blaze was weakened and then scored the finishing
blow.
But, once those visions reach Raiden, Shao Kahn becomes a completely different character.
His new timeline introduction, the equivalent of MKII's intro, is so blasé. He just shows
up in a neutrally-lit scene. This is your main villain and his first appearance, as
with the nine-time MK champion earlier, is shot with less significance than Reptile's
debut. Yes, I know he'd already appeared in the prologue, but that was a different version
of him. This is shockingly poor planning for what was intended as a fresh start for the
series with the expectation of bringing in new fans. But, I suppose it is an accurate
representation of how little presence he has as a threat in this game. The first sign of
how badly his characterisation is botched in this game is during Kitana's chapter. I've
discussed this in the past, but it bears repeating. Kitana discovers that Shang Tsung has been
performing cloning experiments on her. She, still under the impression that Kahn is her
loving father, brings Shang Tsung before him for judgement, having no idea that Kahn had
commissioned Mileena's creation in the first place. Instead of playing into her ignorance
and later having her memories altered to believe Mileena is her twin sister, Kahn goes full
Bond villain and tells her everything - not just that it was his idea, but also that he
is not her real father and actually killed her father and led her mother to suicide.
He then has her sent to the tower (under the guard of someone who already failed at guarding
a prisoner not two hours ago), with a plan to later have her transferred to the arena
for a public execution. There are more holes in this plan than a victim of Erron Black's
Six Shooter Fatality.
Not only does it run the risk of her being rescued before her transfer... which she almost
is... but it's also pointless because he and his entourage are about to go to the arena
themselves, so they could just bring her with them. He then makes no attempt to stop Liu
Kang when he goes to free her, though that could just be because it takes him the length
of Kung Lao's fights with both sorcerers and Kintaro to get one of her hands free. And
it completely defeats the purpose of having Mileena created in the first place, since
she's supposed to supplant Kitana, which cannot be done if Kitana is given a public execution.
Just kill her in the throneroom and have Mileena take her place among Raiden's allies until
the time is right. Even Annihilation Kahn was able to get a mole in Raiden's group for
a while, you fucking mong!
After he kills Kung Lao, he makes no attempt to abuse his position as the host of the tournament
to prevent the champion of Mortal Kombat from attacking him in retaliation, probably because
he's high on achieving his single victorious feat in this entire timeline.
The plan to revive Sindel is no longer his, because Netherrealm were too busy sucking
Quan Chi's pasty white cock to make their main villain seem like his IQ exceeded single
digits.
Shao Kahn isn't a character anymore. He's a concept: the concept of the big powerful
emperor that only the absolute best fighter can topple. But he's written more like an
enforcer to the main villain - a big dumb brute that enacts the main villain's will
like MK1 Goro. And considering how easily Quan Chi manipulates him on Shinnok's behalf,
that's basically what he is. And then in MK11, that's exactly what he is.
Kronika brings him into the time merger and recruits him easily. Unlike the revenants,
he is not given an example of what Kronika can actually do, so he has no reason to believe
she actually can do what she claims and fall in line with her forces. Instead of a time
merger, Kronika should have plucked the dead from various points in time, with Kahn coming
from right before his battle with Raiden. Kronika could then show him visions of his
original victory and Raiden's undoing of that victory, using their mutual hatred of Raiden
and a promise to restore Kahn's "rightful rule" to motivate him into joining her cause,
but with a moment that makes it clear Kahn intends to usurp Kronika when he gets the
chance. That way, the guy who ruled a successful empire for over ten millenniums would feel
like a schemer again, rather than a brute who'll go along with anyone who just tells
him they are powerful.
And not only is he the dumbest motherfucker in the series right now, he also goes out
like a bitch. Across two games, he has four fights: Liu Kang, Raiden, Kotal Kahn and Kitana.
He gets fucking ratioed and is left beaten but apparently still alive?
Kotal Kahn: Shao Kahn has gone missing.
Raiden: His injuries were not fatal?
Kotal Kahn: So it appears, Raiden.
I don't know which question is in most need of answering: "Why doesn't Kitana kill the
guy who murdered her father and led her mother to suicide?" or "Why the fuck can MKII Kitana
now beat him?" I mean, back in MKII, she really took after the man who raised her by waiting
for the right opportunity to turn against him, because she knew that, if she tried to
rebel, she would get absolutely bodied. In 2011's version, she couldn't even get out
of the grasp of two no-name tarkatans and was powerless to free herself despite being
able to teleport. I guess that's where Mileena gets it from. But now, later that same day(?),
she bodies Kahn all on her own. And by the end of this timeline, what does the big bad
emperor have to show for it? He's killed Kung Lao (which is undone by the merger), broken
Kotal's back and... I guess bringing back a dead emperor in 2019 was always pointless...
Jade: That Kronika chose you speaks volumes.
Shao Kahn: She'd have won, had she heeded me.
Jade: What do you know of victory, Shao Kahn?
Nate Dogg: "Hold up." Nate Dogg: "Whe-hey."
Nate Dogg: "For my niggas who be thinkin' we soft-"
The series has always had such reverence for this character: the final boss of two games
who came closest to conquering Earthrealm, being the tease in Reiko's MK4 ending, his
alleged death marking the threat level of the Deadly Alliance, being one of the two
characters added to Deception's Gamecube port to make up for the lack of online functionality,
receiving major focus in Armageddon's intro, being compared to Darkseid in the DC crossover,
being the ultimate victor of Armageddon and serving as the entire reason the second timeline
even exists, a new character being added to MKX just to be his successor, and serving
as the pre-order bonus for MK11 with his return being noted as significant enough a threat
to be the focus of the plot for the duration of the second act. And yet, it seems like
this reverence is only held by the fans, while the current developers focus on him out of
obligation or cynical knowledge that the fans love him. Why else would he have been completely
stripped of everything that made him interesting or threatening, and turned into a braindead
brute with no personality that isn't directly lifted from Donald Fucking Trump?
They focus on making him detestable with the most shallow characterisation - sexual threats
and "orange man bad" - rather than making him threatening, the latter of which really
is where the focus should be when writing your main villain. If you want to make him
hateable, be original and avoid the cheap stuff: sexual violence, violence towards children
or animals, comparisons to real life villains. Do something like I did in the MK Khronicles
chapter The Emperor's Trophy, where Kahn's skull mask is an actual skull he turns into
a mask in his workshop, convincing Kitana to help him do it and oh by the way, the skull
is Jerrod's. Tricking Kitana into turning her own father's skull into a mask for his
killer to wear is the kind of fucked up things he should be doing, not making threats of
sexual violence towards Cassie Cage like half the other male villains, or wearing a fucking
MOGA hat.
Of course, why should we expect Netherrealm to care about giving Kahn depth or a threatening
aura when they decided that Kahn killing Jerrod, canon since twenty-six years before MK11,
was fair game to be changed so that D'Vorah did it except Kahn is also claimed to have
done it in the same game but oh no it was Sindel actually also in the same game? I hesitate
to imagine what he'll be like in MK12 now that they don't need to even pretend we're
seeing the same characters. He'll probably be the brute enforcer sub-boss of the new
boss character that everyone'll forget about a week after release...
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Today's recommended video is Shao Kahn Got That by SomeBuddy Jr. I honestly don't know
how to describe it, except to say that you'll need a cigarette by the time you're gone watching
it. I really like the part where Kahn murders Internet Historian.