Once again, you all knew this was coming. Exactly six months after Netherrealm released
their godawful new take on Sindel, they released a story expansion that brings her into the
narrative of MK11. Many fans hoped that Netherrealm would listen to the fan outcry and somehow
fix her. Others concluded that, as with Justice League, the next project was too far along
to course correct and that we were stuck with her like this. So, am I here to confirm that
Sindel is, indeed, completely ruined; or to say that Netherrealm somehow managed to fix
her broken narrative and put everything right? Let's discuss.
The first third of the plot of Aftermath revolves around Shang Tsung's plan to resurrect Sindel
by capturing her revenant. Where she was during the main game is never explained, naturally.
Nor how this can be done without Quan Chi. They knock her out and take her to the Soul
Chamber to restore her, with help from Sheeva. All throughout, it's mentioned that Sindel's
true personality will be restored once she's human again. This does appear to be the case,
but her words and body language seems a little off. It could be that she's faking, or that
it's just bad writing. I mean, this is the same scene where Sindel's clothes and makeup
magically change in her restoration, and Kitana says she's dreamed of her mother's return
for a thousand years, when she's been dead for ten.
Cassie: "That was six hundred years ago."
She claims her death was at Quan Chi's hands, which had been claimed in various intros,
which makes her ward a lie and makes Kahn even more of an idiot than has already been
documented. She hugs Kitana and it's kinda awkward and pales in comparison to the Deception
one.
She joins the group in heading to Shang Tsung's island, where she speaks very callously of
Raiden, earning a look from Nightwolf and Fujin. This is the point where it's starting
to look more like she's faking and the others are too just dumb to pick up on it. She helps
defeat Cetrion, and then leaves to rally the Outworld forces.
We next see her speaking with Shang Tsung about their secret plot, as the chapter is
revealed to be shared by her and Shao Kahn. After seeing Kitana off, Sindel frees Kahn
from his cell, lays out Sheeva (seemingly killing her), and then very easily manipulates
the braindead shokan to join her cause. They ambush the Special Forces, capturing the Cages,
and then attack Kitana's ship, throwing Kung Lao overboard and breaking both Kitana's heart
and Liu Kang's legs. They're very open about Sindel's "true nature" and she even kills
the revenant Jade and Kitana with no qualms. They then fall for Shang Tsung's lies, proving
that Netherrealm's Sindel truly is Shao Kahn's equal in evil, lust for power, and stupidity.
So, yeah. They're sticking with it. Golden opportunity to win back fans by revealing
it was all mind control, but they chose to solidify this godawful take on the character
as canon. And that's the thing: a common rebuttal to my arguments has always been that this
Sindel isn't canon, so who cares? I always argued that it would very likely inform her
next canonical appearance. Turns out, this Sindel is canon, and will only not be in the
future if the next writer happens to prefer her original incarnation. This new backstory
is now what Sindel has always been and I am fucking disgusted that Netherrealm insists
on pushing this godawful retcon. And yes, it is a retcon. Because her bio in 2011 clearly
said she was under mind control. Fuck you.
Fans have been criticising it for over six months and Netherrealm did not care. While
it's possible they wrote and recorded Aftermath alongside the base story, I find that unlikely,
given Sonya's total lack of dialogue here, as if Ronda was too busy to come back to record
more (great casting choice, by the way).
And they didn't even do anything interesting with this new Sindel, so I have to once more
question what the fuck Shawn was on about when he said he was proud of what had been
done with her. They didn't create an interesting arc for Sindel, where Geras was right in the
base game, and she only thinks she's evil and hates Kitana, and relearns her true nature,
like a more fleshed out reimagining of MK3. Nor did they even take this "evil and she
loves it" idea in an interesting direction. She's just a boring female Shao Kahn who serves
as a monkey wrench in the heroes' plan for the finale, before she goes out like a bitch
alongside Kahn. At this point, the best we can realistically hope for is the next timeline
having her be more true to her original persona, with Liu Kang getting credit for making her
a better person, rather than letting her improve by her own power like she originally did.
But nothing sums up the contempt Netherrealm holds for Sindel fans quite like their corruption
of that iconic image from her Deception ending. When she hugs Kitana, it's awkward and feels
wrong. Then, she hugs Kahn and she shows genuine love for the man who, in the original version
of the story, led her to fucking suicide. Someone, please do a model swap to put Sindel
in place of Mileena in Kitana's friendship so we can have a more accurate depiction of
their relationship.
There really is nothing else to say, at this point. Netherrealm's current creative team
have hijacked Sindel's name to insert their own godawful new character, and then audaciously
insisted that fans would like what they'd done to her, and that this is just how she
always was. This really is a disgrace to the name of one of MK's most interesting characters,
with one of the best arcs and story roles in the series.
One more time: Sindel was a tragic queen, who abandoned her people and her daughter
to pursue her own selfish escape in death. She was then used as a pawn by the man who
led her there, and was shown unearned love by her daughter and acceptance by her people.
She repaid that kindness by saving her daughter when their roles were reversed, and then fought
in a battle to save her realm. The writers of MK2011, while they made her death less
selfish, still respected the core of her character and story, acknowledging her true nature in
her bio and ending.
Since then, the writing staff at Netherrealm has changed, leaving us with writers who have
no problem rewriting characters and aspects of the universe to so vast an extent as to
be entirely different characters and setting details. I mean, Christ, I made a separate
character based on this new portrayal and I can assure you, it works a hell of a lot
better for Shao Kahn's jealous second wife than it does for Sindel.
Contrary to what some bafflingly say, she is not made empowered by losing her arc of
overcoming her own weakness and bettering herself as a queen and mother, and becoming
the generically evil wife of her former abuser with no personality of which to speak. The
original Sindel was a fully fleshed out and well-defined character, but this Sindel has
less depth than Rita Fucking Repulsa.
These people have no respect for this series, it's setting, it's history or its characters,
and such people have no goddamn place working on such a major franchise. Currently, as far
as I'm aware, Shawn Kittlesen is no longer employed at Netherrealm, though Dominic Cianciolo
still is. I wish Shawn luck in his original projects, but I pray he never touches an established
franchise like this again. And I hope that whoever takes his place on the writing staff
is someone who can show this bonafide institution of the video game industry the respect it
fucking deserves.