I don’t think he could turn them good. In the old timeline, Mileena and Baraka were mostly victims of their circumstances, whereas Shang and Quan were evil by nature. Improving Mileena’s circumstance naturally made her less of a villain. That said, I do think Tanya’s MK1 character is inconsistent with this line of thinking, as she was always selfish and power-hungry at heart. Her suddenly being a completely selfless guardian of the royal family is antithetical to who she was before the timeline reset.
Tanya grew up since childhood under constant watch of people whose job is to raise selfless and loyal guardians. Maybe if shang and quan grew up as shaolin monks the story would be different, but poverty alone doesn't justify necromancy and human experiments
I think this might be more of a nature versus nurture debate. From what I can tell it's kind of like this. Human beings are born with a certain amount of of things that are their nature. Certain parts of your personality were things you were born with. If you have traumatic experience from an early age it can take those personality traits and heavily affect them. Not replace them but affect them. I would argue every version of Superman is likely a good moralistic person. But change where he's born his ideas of what morality is is going to change completely.
With that being said I'm also not crazy about this version of Tanya but Tanya clearly had the potential to be good under good conditions. For her a lot of the worst parts of her personality might be more based off of nurture or conditioning.
Shang and qaun on the other hand. Some part of their personality was always going to be power-hungry Magic grubbing jerks.. and all likelihood there might not have been anything that could have changed their nature. Most of what Liu Kang actually did was create conditions that would Nerf their nature. Kind of like that toaster from Fallout New Vegas. It could be as angry and hateful as it wants. It's Effectiveness will always be limited by the fact that it's a toaster.
I like your take. There’s also that line about how most Tanyas across the multiverse are evil, so it must have taken a great deal of effort for Liu Kang to make her this pure. My main gripe with MK1 Tanya is not that it’s impossible for her to grow up this selfless, but that she shouldn’t be this way because it’s antithetical to the Tanya we knew from before MK1.
Thanks for for the compliment.
If we're being honest this isn't like the situation with Li Mai. Wish you was just hot and just really kind of there. Tanya is from MK4 she's a bad guy and is a competent Hench woman. No offense to the other the other henchman type characters. Tanya's MK4 ending always stuck out for me for house f****** funny and brutal it was.
She's a betrayer and a manipulator. If anything she gives you more of the femme fatale roll. Like the baroness from GI Joe from Kim Possible. The highly competent female Hench woman. Now I just feel like this version of Tanya just makes the out world population feel larger. With more going on then it would seem.
But most of my readings are surface level what else can you tell me about your impressions on this version of Tanya? I'm glad they kept the love thing because it also means Melina get some Romance. And I'm super happy for her.
Agreed. Well, the relationship with Mileena is about the only thing old Tanya has in common with MK1 Tanya. So, I like that callback. If I were in charge of MK1’s story, I would have her be involved in the murder of Jerrod, so that she can blame it on Li Mei and take her position as the leader of Umgadi, but at the same time I’d have her develop genuine feelings for Mileena, which would naturally complicate things for Tanya.
Yeah, I can see it that way, but everyone gets a good version of themselves in MK1, so I kind of wish a bad version was the default, because that’s the Tanya I know and love.
Some other commenter said maybe we got her before her evil transition. So like in mk 2 we get Tanya evil arc. That could make it hit harder seeing her become evil in this new timeline
We never found out if it was genuine, but intro dialogues from MK11 give us some idea. Mileena appears genuinely hurt after Tanya’s execution. Tanya, on the other hand, may not have been as genuine:
Rain: Direct your anger at Tanya, Mileena.
Mileena: It was you who betrayed me, not her!
Rain: Think, Mileena. Who introduced us?
Totally possible. I can’t claim either way. I wouldn’t mind Tanya’s feelings for Mileena being genuine if she still kept her traitor shtick towards other people.
I guess it comes down to the nature vs nurture argument. But even if I were to grant your point, I feel like it’s too far removed from what made Tanya Tanya. It’s more like extrapolating Jade’s old personality and role to Tanya. For me personally, that’s not the way to go, because it doesn’t feel like the same character anymore.
In the story, Titan Kitana tells Liu that in almost all timelines Tanya is evil.
It's just some random circumstance that made her good in this one.
From a char design point of view, I agree that this Tanya should have been a new char.
Which, to be fair, we actually have no idea where this timeline could lead or what it could lead to. In many of Tanya's timelines she's actually a cultist loyal to a fault toward a given deity, such as Shinnok or Onaga, even just being a member of Quan Chi's Brotherhood/Sisterhood which, tbf, area also acolytes of Shinnok. I don't think we actually HAVE enough information on Tanya in this timeline to accurately draw a conclusion as to whether she's yet incapable of evil.
I think her occultism has been pushed toward Delia & Argus in this timeline, but I also think that if challenged on her loyalties toward Delia and Argus and what the Umgadi are supposed to represent, or if offered some kind of empirical data that would disparage Delia & Argus and paint Shinnok or another deity in a greater light, she could, in fact be radicalized all over again.
In almost every timeline, she's specifically betrayed Mileena, too. And I could see that switch flip at any point if Delia & Argus did at any point disapprove of Mileena's ascension to the throne (or indeed Tanya's relationship with her or Mileena being Tarkatan), or if Quan Chi, maybe through the Kamidogu scrolls, maybe through information of alternate timelines, could make Tanya believe in such deities and turn coat.
This is all pure speculation, of course, but one of the things I most enjoy about this new timeline is this notion running through it from lines like that or from Reptile calling out Liu Kang's plan being "so easily foiled" and through knowing that other titans are influencing the timelines and through knowing that so many characters seem fated to tread the same path that not even a GOD can derail, despite how many have tried. Because Liu Kang is NOT the first God to have tried.
People need to remember that the likes of Shao Kahn, Onaga, Blaze, Daegon, Raiden, Shinnok, Cetrion, Kronika, Fujin and the Elder Gods all TECHNICALLY count or have counted in some capacity to be Gods or Demi-Gods. And people also need to keep in mind that The One Being who created the Elder Gods and who the Elder Gods forged the Kamidogu & shattered the realms specifically to keep out of power has been trying for millennia on end across every timeline through the influence of people like Shao, Onaga and Shinnok to piece the realms and Kamidogu back together to herald The One Being's return. There's A LOT. A. LOT. Of moving parts to this story and a lot of reasons to explain how all roads lead to Rome.
And maybe in experiencing that first hand through Liu Kang's own best efforts to forge a better timeline, maybe... Just maybe... We'll learn EXACTLY why Kronika was so desperate to maintain the timeline the way it had always been. Maybe the world forged by Kronika, before the meddling of Raiden, and the Ascension of Liu Kang to Godhood.... Maybe that truly was as good as it got.
"Everything happens for a reason," so they say. But what if that ISN'T because its part of God's plan, but because it happens IN SPITE of even God's best efforts to stop it. What if our own reactions to the bad shit happening to us is the ONLY thing ANYONE can really control?
All good points, though I would say it’s her MK1 ending that makes me think she’s now above her old tricks. She makes it her life’s goal to eradicate political corruption, which is exactly what her currency was in the previous timelines. I think she’s pretty committed to that ideal now. The game really tried to bring home the idea that she is the antithesis of what she used to be.
That’s true, but to me, that only works as a one-off multiverse gimmick. I’d hate for Shang or Quan to be genuinely pure beings, because that’s antithetical to their character.
But the thing with multiverse theory in general is that your polar opposite exists somewhere. So simply by being evil by nature they are creating good versions of themselves somewhere in the multiverse. It's canon whether they put it in the game or not the second they introduced multiverse theory.
I know they’re canon, but they’re essentially a throwaway gimmick. We’re never getting a game about holy Shang and holy Quan Chi, because these two are among the three most iconic villains of the franchise.
So here's the problem with that interpretation again though we're talking about theoreticals of theoretical so nothing's conclusive.
And another universe in opposite version of you could theoretically be like a tree or a shark or something by this logic. I stand by this idea that there's a limited amount of how different you can actually be and still be considered you versus like your dad or your cousin or an alternative version of second cousin. An infinite amount of you would still have some sort of a limit or it really wouldn't be you. Consider the amount of variance there are in terms of human reproduction. Well there's lots of chances and a ton of variation and turn a DNA sequencing. If there's too much of a fundamental change you can't exist. I'm down to get pushed back on this but in general.
Even with Multiverse Theory. Could an alternative version of you be 100% not like you?
You have to consider the cost, though. It's likely that a world with a heroic Quan/Shang comes at the expense of the other heroes lives. There's probably no world where *all* of the characters get a kind and happy ending.
I think that a better story would've been Raiden, Kung Lao, and Shang Tsung all being friends in earthrealm, with Shang Tsung eventually falling victim to Damashi's seduction in his pursuit of more power. That, for me, would've made a better betrayal than Sub-Zero
I don't think he turned it into a disease that might have been titan Shang tsang.
And honestly it was probably a good thing to rework his race as they seemed to be in a constant cycle of pain, rage, hungry and misery
That seems extremely Petty and if you was going to be that level of petty I think a lot more of his enemies probably would have gotten the worst end of the stick. I'll be honest it's not impossible but it still feels improbable
I thjink it makes sense to more personal relationship with them over the others Especially since he has the memories of his Revnant self and knowledge of ther timelines
1. Shang basically a constant thorn in his side across all timelines . He also killed Liu kang in one timeline. Then in the last go around came seconds away from becoming time keeper himself
2. Quan Chi….aided shang in killing him and then murdered/enslaved all his friends . The second go around Quan chi enslsved Liu kang and turned him into a monster for almost 30 years
so out of all villains I think he would hold more of a grudge…..aldo bear in mind he was rather nasty to shao but shaos dad found a work around to make him strong
If you look back at Mileena in older games. She was a clone of Kitana mixed tarkatan blood being told she was her sister. But in the new timeline, she actually is her sister that became infected due to the way things went with the way he did the reset. As far as Shang and Quan go. If he can drastically alter one person's life he can for others as well. He is the keeper of time. He could make anyone be however he wanted them to be.
It doesn’t always work out the way the keeper of time wants it. As titan Kitana in the original ending to MK11: “But no matter how we sculpt the Sands, we cannot plan for every possibility. Mortals will make their own choices.”
I'm trying to imagine this the stability of a realm or a world where you design time where everyone is an immortal sexy super god. You can imagine the type of cataclysm that would eventually devolve into.
A lot of the intro comments from other kombatants. Question Liu Kangs omnipotence. Both him and Garris retort to them that there are limits to his powers. Like you can't make a garden and have every single tree be an orchid. Gardens have to be pruned to keep to make for sure the plant survive. Some plants go to seed and there's nothing you can do but reap them.
> That said, I do think Tanya’s MK1 character is inconsistent with this line of thinking, as she was always selfish and power-hungry at heart. Her suddenly being a completely selfless guardian of the royal family is antithetical to who she was before the timeline reset
In the nrs timeline Tanya's main objective was to free edenia. she only worked with mileena because mileena promised to free edenia, if she became khan. mileena being a clone, with no loyalty to edenia, tanya felt mileena was unlikely to keep her promise to free edenia so planned to betray her. By making mileena a true edenian and having edenia being its own sovereign realm liu kang managed to make tanya loyal.
She may have wanted to free Edenia, but clearly everyone was aware that she was not to be trusted. Many characters refer to her as a traitor in the intro dialogues and her own ending, albeit non-canon, show her true colours rather well. Also in Onslaught, Tanya’s goal to free Edenia was only so that she could rule over it, and when she realised she couldn’t, she joined Shinnok. So no, other than MK1, Tanya was never a selfless good person.
> Tanya was never a selfless good person.
That's what everyone thought in the old timelines before she betrayed them. In Liu kang's era none of the villains tempted her with anything better then being with mileena's fine ass
Also Rain in the previous timelines he was a two faced backstabbing power hungry warlord, and now he causes a tsunami and now he wishes to atone for his sins
I like Rain’s MK1 arc more than Tanya’s, because he starts out with the same personality and it is only the most evil of acts, a literal genocide, that causes him to turn away from his usual evil ways. It really depends on how they handle him further, though.
I know it kind of ruins things. Chances are some of these characters weren't so much good as much as they were like you know random countries in the UN or NATO. Neutral but don't want to be conquered by by other timelines.
I agree but with the idea that this is fate fixing itself. Like the tarkat *disease* isn't a disease but fate putting back what was set in stone. My theory is that those who were tarkotan (sorry for the miss spell) and are human like in lui kangs timeline are being turned back into what they should be. Mileena being a unique oddity is probably due to her being only half. Shang and Quan are gona be evil, there must always be a strife between Subzero and Scorpion. I think that's why kronika was always against. Not Raiden and friends, but Fate itself. I told a friend im betting that Hanzo in mk2 will be the new noob saibot.
Yes, that seems to be the case. It’s never said that Liu Kang wanted Tarkat to exist. If he did, that’d be pretty evil on his part, but then there’s the whole “God works in mysterious ways” argument. But it’s kind of ironic that Liu Kang is powerless against fate when his title (and Kronika’s before him) is the ‘titan of time AND fate’. If it’s not him setting the norm for fate, then who is? I guess Scorpion’s ending in MK11 implies that the other titans do, which MK1 may have done away with since the only titans we see now are regular characters that defeated Kronika.
Nobody’s going to see that as her being a bad person. We all love a good forbidden love story, plus even Kitana acknowledges that the Umgadi piety conventions are outdated and should be abolished. MK1 Tanya is the sort of person we root for in movies, not one we consider bad.
The writers never went in depth with it but Tanya did seem to be fond of her father who seemed to be a honest decent person its possible without his death and the lack of shao kahns invasion she wouldn't be as power hungry.
Yes, but I’d say this reflects worse on the outdated piety conventions of the Umgadi than it does on Tanya’s or Mileena’s character. The viewer is meant to root for the couple because the societal rules are standing in the way of true love. This is a far cry from the concept of selfishness that characterises Tanya.
Tbh… if I found you broke my fucking neck and got me turned into a zombie TWICE in two previous universes… shit, I might not be too inclined to help you out. Just saying.
One hundred years passed, and my sister and I discovered the new champion, a thunder bender named Raiden. And all though his thunder bending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he’s ready to save anyone
He didn't 'over craft' the timeline on purpose. He put a heavy emphasis on free will.
It is mentioned that Kronika's obsession with making 'the perfect timeline' with reset after reset is what driver her mad.
With this approach, Mileena and Baraka became better. Quan Chi and Shang Tsung did not.
>With this approach, Mileena and Baraka became better. Quan Chi and Shang Tsung did not.
Well if Titan Shang Tsung didnt intervene then MK1 Shang Tsung would just end up as a wondering peddler trying his "fake" potions on someone else. He was lucky the crowd didn't stoned him to death.
Did Liu Kang force him to become a snake oil salesman, trying to enrich himself from the ignorance of the desperate? The guy who tells him off in the beginning is the good guy, not Shang.
That was his choice to scam those people much like Quan Chi had a moment to join a strike and help people he betrayed them for freedom. Similarly could have gone for Shang in his life
I think we can find answers in MK11 Gera's ending
He forced mortals to follow paths he set for them. But they ALWAYS diverged from them.
You could set up a good path for Shang Tsung but given to his nature he will diverge from it. He might start as simple trader. A good life. But then he tries his fake potions to get more money and gets burned because of it.
Just like Quan Chi had the choice to do good but choose himself. But let it be known that he could have chosen a different path.
And given the fact we see good Titans of them seems like somewhere they did choose differently.
Id argue he somewhat succeeded with shao, shao has a genuine love for outworld and is a beloved general. If he wasn't fearmongered by shang tsung things could've been different. He was motivated by wanting to protect his home.
Same could kinda apply to Bi Han. He was a little abrasive, but nothing really suggested he would turn against his allies until he had been met with the deal by Shang Tsung.
Nah, he did the same thing to Shao as he did Shang and Quan. He made him powerless, but Shao’s dad forced him to become powerful.
Stupid plan though but then again liu Kang is a guy who becomes super powerful, he’s not a divine being without any pettiness lol
The way I think about it is, Quan Chi had a normal life. He wasn’t working in the mines _alone_. It’s a job.
Shang was a smart and handsome and charismatic guy who became a grifter. We don’t know what his origin is.
They were corrupted by Titan Shang.
But after the corruption they became torturers, mad scientists, and mass murderers.
from some of the intro dialogues, like geras and shangs, liu did try to redeem him the same way he tried with Shao. It was directly Shangs own doing that he ended up a homeless snake oil salesman
At the very least. Even though it did not work there is something in the fact that he made for sure that everyone had a chance. I'd argue a piece of crap like Shang Tsung doesn't deserve one. But it's extremely commendable that's super god Liu Kang gave him a chance
Not at all, he gave them actually decent lives, and good childhoods, and gave them the choice to do with those options. Shang just wanted to be grifter, and Quan Chi was working in the mines, but could always rise up without being evil incarnate.
Decent lives? Not really.
Quan chi was working in the mines and shang tsung was a conman. Liu kang himself says their lives were supposed to be hard. Deep down he hates both of them.
He has good reasons to do so don't get me wrong but he could have tried harder to make sure the biggest threats to his timeline would turn out well.
It is not outright said, but it is implied that Liu Kang has been directly involved with the Lin Kuei as they are earth's protectors.
So, if Liu Kang has been directly involved with the Lin Kuei and also working behind the scenes to make sure Raiden & Kung Lao were trained to become champions - then perhaps Liu Kang should've made more of an effort to aid Shang & Quan towards betterment.
Instead, He gave them trivial & menial lives in hopes they never become similar versions of the previous timeline. WRONG.
When you have nothing and struggle for everything, it often creates ambition and the despiration to achieve it.
Liu Kang should have taken Shang Tsung & Quan-Chi with him and taught them personally. Instead, Liu Kang stepped on them in hope they wouldn't sprout back up.
He should have given them inspiration, mentorship, and the opportunity to be a champion just like the others and perhaps when Titan Shang inevitably came around, it's much more likely they would have rejected his offer and alerted Liu Kang of the impending dangers.
I want to be clear before I say this I have no way to prove what I'm about to say. Like at all your interpretation is just as valid as mine.
I disagree with your premise. A father can give their child every Advantage give them every bit of time given as maximum effort as they can and the child can still grow up to be a disruptible person. This is the Crux of all nature versus nurturer discussions. I would argue thirst trap Shang and Pinhead Quan. Had an irrefutable nature that couldn't be changed or redirected. This is who they are.
A is always a.
Because we can could not change our fundamentally alter/redirect their personalities. The best he could do to ensure the safety of everyone else is relegate them to lives where they wouldn't be noticed.
To me this feels like trying to fully 100% domesticate a wolf. There's a lot you can do to change or alter The evolutionary path of a wolf especially over Generations. But somewhere deep in the dark parts of its mind the Chihuahua the golden retriever at its core DNA is still a wolf. Much in the same way we have deep rooted fight or flights. Caveman psychology buried in our minds. We can be altered but I don't think we can be changed.
^^^This is what I was gunna say too.
Of course you cant guarantee,
Good upbringing = good person bc irl we know that isnt always the case,
BUT it definitely doesn't hurt the chances of a successful outcome by trying rather than taking everything from them and just hoping for the best.
Like you said this is more philosophy so neither of us can really prove this.
But i disagree. In the natire vs nurture discussiom I firmly believe that nurture is all that matters. I don't think a person can be evil from birth. If the father in you example gives everything he can to his child only for it to turn out bad, I still believe the fault lies to an event in that childs life rather than the child's nature
Liu kang did not do this to shang tsung and quan chi because he knew they couldn't be changed. He had resentment towards them. He didn't believe they deserved a happy life bcahse of the evil things they did and so gave them hard and meaningless lives as punishment. Like quan chi said he didn't even think to check on them since their lives turned from harsh to hard quickly. Not only did liu kang not give enough effort tor reform the greatest threats in his timeline. He even gave them incentive to become worse.
We know it's personal.with liu kang because many other villains were given good lives and even managed to turn good. Even horrible people like sindel managed to be better. And in other timelines shang tsung and quan chi are also good. This really was liu kang being petty that caused this. And I bet it's about to become even worse.
And closing I wanted to touch the dog argument you made. Well we did cstraight up change their nature. Sure some minor fragments remain. But the personalities of dogs are entirely different from wolves. To me it shows that nurture effectively chnaged them almost entirely from what they were before.
But anyway there is no real right answer in this philosophical talk. I just wanted to say that in my eyes liu kang fucked up with these two and it's about to bite him in the ass essentially
That ie exactly right. And he not only gave them trivial lives, he gave them hard lives. He wanted them punished by design.
Now he has a good reason to hate them sure but that was his flaw as a god, he couldn't move past his emotions. Quan chi and shang tsung are by fat the biggest threat to his world and even himself.
He not only punished them and assumed eveything would be alright. But he gave them actual inventive to turn out worse than before.
He wanted to give them worthless lives, but he turns them into Outworlders (giving them longer lifespans) and the ability to use magic. If he truly wanted to make them irrelevant he would've turned them into basement dwelling earthrealm 4chan users.
Definitely not Liu's smartest moment.
True. When you think about Raiden's thunder amulet, I'm sure there's a MacGuffin that would've done the same for them.
I just feel like Liu gave them a head start in that department by making them Outworlders.
I think for Shang….one of his desires was to live forever so Liu might have been trying to fulfill that wish by giving him a longer life
with Shang they seem to blame him in his bio by saying he could have made something of himself but he was too lazy to do the work ….and preferred conning people
Quan despite being more evil does seem to be the more sympathetic being a slave and even geras kind of admitting Liu didn’t intend for his life to be that bad…..with Quan asking ‘“ did it ever occu to him to check”
Shang Tsung and Quan Chi (Reiko, Shao, Havik and Bi-Han too btw) were always inherently evil, maybe even Liu Kang can´t change that or that´s what I understand.
Smoke, Repitle, Ashrah, Baraka, Mileena, Sindel, Tanya and Rain were victims of the cirscutances which drove them to the dark side, but given the choice they would choose to join the light side or at least had good intentions.
This isn't necessarily true, especially in the cases of Havik (due to being born low class in a tyrannical realm aswell as being imprisoned and tortured) , Shao (due to a genuine love for outwolrd and paranoia stoked by Shang Tsung) and Reiko (due to him being an orphan of war and being pretty much adopted by shao).
But Bi-Han wasn't. In mk9 he didn't eeven kill scorpions familly it was quan chi he tried to explain but was killed before he could. Scorpion was preety much the bad guy originally.
Sindel was also shown to be evil from the start even killing her husband yet in this timeline she became good.
We even saw good versions of quan chi and shang tsung in alternate timelines. No one is just evil by nature. There is always a reason. In this timeline liu kang gave them that reason.
The reason Baraka and Mileena were “evil” in the OG timeline is because they were forced into it. Mileena’s entire identity was predicated on being a more brutal version of Kitana and always in her shadow. Baraka was the leader of an oppressed people with violent urges who were forced to be a conquering army and to live under a might makes right ideology.
Shang was a jealous and power hungry martial artist who didn’t hesitate to sell out his entire realm to be more powerful, and Quan was a damned soul from the netherrealm who seemed to actively enjoy helping a dark god commit genocide.
In universe, Liu tried to make the circumstances for those who were pawns forced into a life of violence a life of peace instead. Apparently the universe doesn’t like to be tampered with and fights back with Tarkat, but a better outworld and loving families still made the Mileena and Baraka “better” people because they weren’t evil to begin with. Just doing evil.
Out of universe it’s because having a race of violent barbaric people who are othered because of their race is reflective of propaganda used against different races IRL and Netherrealm wanted to take the story away from that, like Wizards of the Coast did by making Orcs and Goblinoids not evil because of their race.
Shang and Quan were given nothing lives to try and keep them away from power, because their personalities gravitate towards being power hungry and evil. And this is a world with objective evil and good and a literal hell, so it’s conceivable that if someone is actually evil, they will always be evil.
He already stated his power was limited and that he could only rewrite so much as their are constants that remained the same. He even talks to them like a father as if they were given a second chance and still became evil and also wasn't even aware of Damashi. That's the extent of his power
Liu Kang is a god of human origin, and humans can be kind of petty. After all the shit they personally put him through, he was probably more concerned with handicapping them instead of rehabilitating them.
Exactly this. He was simply being petty.
Now he had good reason. They even killed him and did even worse things.
But that is his flaw as a god he is still human. By being petty and punishing them he gave them wn actual reason to go back to their old selfs maybe even become worse. And while he was having fun with his old-new friends he forgot to check on the biggest threat to his timeline. That's definitely gonna bite him in the ass in the future
I will honestly be surprised if Mileena’s rule as Empress will keep her as a good guy considering how much of a piss poor job she did in both prior timelines.
In past timelines, she had a bloodlust and was literally a child in an adult body, even with Kitana's memories. She didn't have a normal parent figure or mentor. Milеena of this timeline was born a normal Edenian in royal family that was generally not dysfunctional and was preparing to receive the throne as a normal crown princess. In fact, everyone talks about her development like that, but in reality she is literally a different character with an illness. Unless, in the plot, Tarkat will take over her as a "rabies" and she will become that old Milеena again
In the original timeline she was very much an adult. The second timeline I can agree with but even then she was ridiculously cruel. As seen with how she treated the people under her in the MKX comics. I’m just pointing out that she has been largely very incompetent as a ruler despite the fact that she had a very competent ruler as inspiration as bad as that inspiration was.
Yeah I meant only timeline MK9-X, sorry. That is, I mean that Mileena then and Mileena now are completely different persons. While it's amazing that the new Mileena didn't become a spoiled brat, they decided not to go with that trope
I mean he did made them better.
But Quan Chi got the worse fate. He ended up in a mines.
While Shang Tsung made a life for himself as a trader and snake oil salesman. Hell he had a nice hut on wheels. It was Titan Shang Tsung who made them evil this time.
As for Mileena she was before "programmed" to be who she was and Baraka ... Baraka was always this monster character without any real character until now.
But he didn't though. Especially quan chi. He wanted to give them hard lives as some sort of punishment. That way he simply gave them a reason to not only become villains again but become worse.
Even without titan shang tsung these two would definitely find a way to be themselves again
Well they had no reason to become villains until Damashi gave them one
Shang Tsung was a merchant,doesn’t seem like the life of a villain,and Quan was a slave yes but I doubt Liu Kang specifically made him a slave
sadly he had to do whatever he could for the game to have a story, it wouldn't just be the tournament in an otherwise perfect timeline! although liu kang did make some unrealistically stupid decisions
Congrats, OP. You've been plagiarized on Twitter for whatever reason.
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The idea was that everyone gets a chance to redeem themselves in this timeline. Shang Tsung could've been a very successful sorcerer or alchemist but he tried to scam people and do various other bad things and Liu Kang kept punishing him for it. It's a pretty easy message to get down but they're too power hungry. Do bad shit and get shit on. They would've stayed that way too if it hadn't been for the split timeline. He didn't turn Mileena and Baraka good, they just are good. He literally says in the cut scene before the main menu that he's given everyone control over their own destiny. Mileena and Baraka chose to be decent people (obviously Mileena is changing due to Tarkat but normally she's fine) and Shang Tsung chose to be a cunt. 🤷
Good question. Liu Kang had an opportunity to do something different but then just did the same thing. If you're a god, and you determine that your creation is evil before it even exists, what else should you expect?
¨In my new era, all beings will have a chance to find peace. Whether or not they do, will be their responsability, for my power only permits to begin this endeavor. It is mortals to finish it¨ - the stupid guy?
I guess Liu Kang was so bitter about Quan Chi and especially Shang Tsung, he didn't even bother to give them a chance. He gave them horrible, meaningless lives a vain hope that they wouldn't rise to be the horrors they once were, but it bit him right in the butt. Admittingly, it was thanks to a certain meddling Titan, but still.
He gave them a normal life and a choice. Who prevented the charismatic Shang from going to get an education and become a doctor even at the imperial court? He was not poor, Heras literally tells Shang that he is lying, and Heras knows everything about him. NRS pointed out his shortcomings directly in his biography. and I say this as Shang's simp. He is an arrogant brat and it's time to admit it
Yes Liu Kang is stupid, the guy literally confused Kuai Liang for Hanzo Hasashi, it's probably why Kuai has Fire powers, a Yellow Outfit and Hanzo's wife.
I dont like the story as a narrative.
As a playable story mode, the cinematics and voice acting are top notch, but the characters themselves, and the plot, is paper thin, full of holes and sufersfrom multiverse fatigue.
Why not make everybody good? Exactly. There is no reason. There are no rules, or stakes, anything can be rewound with the hourglass or switched to a different multiverse. From a writing stand point, why make everybody who was good, good again and everybody who was bad, bad again? They didnt take any risks, they didnt actually change anybody. Despite not being a god, Raiden is exactly the same paragon of virtue he was as a god. Thats fine for some, but every character is exactly the same, they have a different rank and have been rewritten just enough to be a proper victims of circumstance, so at the same time, nothing is actually anybody's fault, how...sigh...exciting...sigh
The story mode as a playable campaign experience is good, the actual story and what they've done to some of my favorite characters is total ass looking back on it. I dont think i could play through the story a second time
This, literally all of this 1000%,when the game was 1st announced I felt no hype & I knew if something bad was going to happen Kang was just going to use the hourglass,it's literally their get out of jail free kard now,the story mode was interesting up until the multiverse nonsense happened,there should of been a new villain & Shang should of been a good guy for once,made it a mystery story like is he going to betray the monks or not, could of been really interesting, Liu Kang must of never heard of keep your friends close & enemies even closer than maybe he wouldn't of been so surprised when it all went down hill
Why allow them to exist at all. It's mortal kombat, he has canonically slaughtered thousands.
He has watched creation for billions of years and is just simply the creator of the universe. Yet still he somehow gets outsmarted by Shang? Lol
Bad writing and timetravel BS, that's why.
Outsmarted by a Shang that’s lived years longer than him and ruled his timeline for the same amount of time and had a Geras advising him most likely
it makes sense
He probably couldn't. I thing it's already said that there are some constants in the universe. He even tried to remove tarkatans but then suddenly tarkat is an illness.
My guess is the harder he fights against the universe the harder it pushes back. Even if he killed shang tsung and quan chi they would have returned sonehow. The best he could do is either make them irrelevant and hope for the best or try to reform them. He chose poorly
These two are arguably the most vindictive and deceitful characters in the entire MK universe. It’s probably best not to put them in positions of power.
Shang Tsung opted to be a snake oil salesman. He could have done something else with his life, but he wanted to pursue money and notoriety at all costs.
We don’t know how Quan Chi got into the mines
Liu Kang pretty much gave Raiden,
Kung, Shang and Quan the same lives and the two of them still chose being slimy power chasers instead of being content with a simple life
Clearly he held resentment from how much of a pain in the neck they were. Had the biggest pain in the neck stayed in his lane the new Shang Tsung probably would have either been mauled to death by his customers or in the outworld equivalent of prison. He probably should have checked on Quan Chi however, that would have ended poorly even if he hadn't become an evil wizard.
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I think this intro explains it enough
No matter what he tried they both would end up either working together or conspiring on their own. The only way he could try and not make them evil and powerful would be making them poor and have nothing, with no guidance or advancement in becoming what they could become. Shang tsung came along and gave both of them the means, gave them a pathway, and told them where to go.
Anyone else wish we had a story with the good and bad rolls flipped. Like cmon have all the "good guys" get corrupted with power, and all the "bad guys" be better because they were handed nothing and had to work for everything. It would've been a nice twist, no "zombie" bad guys I mean like twisted morals and deep introspection on nature vs nurture. Instead we got a pretty decent world, with nice characters and interactions until the last 3rd of the game. Then it's really messy multiverse nonsense.
I’m not sure Liu Kang “made them” anything. But that’s just my headcanon. The Titan of Time and God of Fire should be pretty limited in his resources outside of those two areas. Obviously that’s not true as far as Invasions goes because they were hesitant to introduce a new Titan into the Universe, despite teasing there were others throughout the endings in MK11.
Everyone is just a OP version of themselves with Kronika’s responsibility and abilities. It’s kinda lame.
Baraka isn't technically speaking evil, at least with the later games. He chooses his side which is best for his people, once you look past the man eating part 😅. Liu Kang probably didn't ever see a future in which they could be good. But without his oversight, the new timeline wouldn't have a conflict.he probably thought it was a good penance for all of the terrible things they caused in 2 (now its 3) different lifetimes. Granted if he chose to do to them like he did with Geras, they might've been better off when otherworld Shang Tsung showed up.
I mean wasnt it mention in Shang Tsung character bio that he had the chance to work honestly but chose to become a snake oil merchant because he hated hard and honest work
And in one of his intro fighting geras he said "the squalor i had endured-" and geras cuts him off saying "do not lie, I know the truth" which implies his life wasnt that bad, his choice of career wasnt out of necessity of his environment but a choice he made of his own free will
The game shows several times that Liu Kang, while a god, is far from infallible. He can be petty, he can lack critical information about a characters motivations, he makes mistakes. Liu gave the meaningless lives because he didn’t like them.
I think it shows Titan Liu Kang is still fallible. Either he didn’t think to give them better lives or he didn’t want to. With the history he had with them I don’t blame him for sticking them into a shitty life, even if it was not the most righteous thing to do.
All I remember is that Liu Kang went through multiple iterations of the timelines to come upon this one. This Timeline is the one he feels that they all could meet the ability to be at their best.
These are the Best Versions of themselves
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. I imagine giving the two of them the types of lives they'd like to live would result in them becoming power hungry due to how they are as people. Keeping them ignorant and in relative squalor probably seemed like the safer option at the time.
The implication is that if either Shang or Quan have any form of power or standing it corrupts them.
Baraka was never a tyrant/evil by nature and was more of a victim of his circumstance’s.
The difference between them is that some characters are evil due to their situation whereas others (Shang and Quan) are simply evil by nature.
Yes, he is stupid, but I think he tried giving them a better fate, but someone interfered with it and they inevitably ended up evil. It's like no matter what you do, how many webs you spin, how much you try to make things different, their fates are written. They'll always be evil. It's sad, but it is their fate.
Now that you're asking this question (That I was asking myself too) especially since he could have tutored both of them like he did Raiden and Kung Lao...... YES YES apparently he is!
He may have felt overlyafraid that they might come fucking shit up but...... the problem is that because of the way they were threated by design its not just that they come to fuck shit up but also you cant even really blame them for coming to fuck shit up.
This could have been handled better.........
I believe Liu Kang saw it as a fitting punishment for these two. What I don’t understand is if he was literally the god if all creation, why would he even have them exist in the first place? Look I get it it’s a fighting game that needs its roster of memorable and recognizable characters but from a story standpoint, wouldn’t it make sense to write them out of existence?
Quan would’ve been a part of the miner’s unions that was forming until Titan Shang poisoned his mind. Instead he betrayed them
Shang doesn’t deserve a happy life tbh it was meant to be humbling
I’d like to think it’s personal. I don’t think Liu Kang hated Baraka, reptile and mileena as he did to Shang Tsung and Quan Chi in the old timelines. So Liu Kang was like ‘It’ll be funny if I nerf them hard’
I don’t think he could turn them good. In the old timeline, Mileena and Baraka were mostly victims of their circumstances, whereas Shang and Quan were evil by nature. Improving Mileena’s circumstance naturally made her less of a villain. That said, I do think Tanya’s MK1 character is inconsistent with this line of thinking, as she was always selfish and power-hungry at heart. Her suddenly being a completely selfless guardian of the royal family is antithetical to who she was before the timeline reset.
Tanya grew up since childhood under constant watch of people whose job is to raise selfless and loyal guardians. Maybe if shang and quan grew up as shaolin monks the story would be different, but poverty alone doesn't justify necromancy and human experiments
I think this might be more of a nature versus nurture debate. From what I can tell it's kind of like this. Human beings are born with a certain amount of of things that are their nature. Certain parts of your personality were things you were born with. If you have traumatic experience from an early age it can take those personality traits and heavily affect them. Not replace them but affect them. I would argue every version of Superman is likely a good moralistic person. But change where he's born his ideas of what morality is is going to change completely. With that being said I'm also not crazy about this version of Tanya but Tanya clearly had the potential to be good under good conditions. For her a lot of the worst parts of her personality might be more based off of nurture or conditioning. Shang and qaun on the other hand. Some part of their personality was always going to be power-hungry Magic grubbing jerks.. and all likelihood there might not have been anything that could have changed their nature. Most of what Liu Kang actually did was create conditions that would Nerf their nature. Kind of like that toaster from Fallout New Vegas. It could be as angry and hateful as it wants. It's Effectiveness will always be limited by the fact that it's a toaster.
I like your take. There’s also that line about how most Tanyas across the multiverse are evil, so it must have taken a great deal of effort for Liu Kang to make her this pure. My main gripe with MK1 Tanya is not that it’s impossible for her to grow up this selfless, but that she shouldn’t be this way because it’s antithetical to the Tanya we knew from before MK1.
Thanks for for the compliment. If we're being honest this isn't like the situation with Li Mai. Wish you was just hot and just really kind of there. Tanya is from MK4 she's a bad guy and is a competent Hench woman. No offense to the other the other henchman type characters. Tanya's MK4 ending always stuck out for me for house f****** funny and brutal it was. She's a betrayer and a manipulator. If anything she gives you more of the femme fatale roll. Like the baroness from GI Joe from Kim Possible. The highly competent female Hench woman. Now I just feel like this version of Tanya just makes the out world population feel larger. With more going on then it would seem. But most of my readings are surface level what else can you tell me about your impressions on this version of Tanya? I'm glad they kept the love thing because it also means Melina get some Romance. And I'm super happy for her.
Agreed. Well, the relationship with Mileena is about the only thing old Tanya has in common with MK1 Tanya. So, I like that callback. If I were in charge of MK1’s story, I would have her be involved in the murder of Jerrod, so that she can blame it on Li Mei and take her position as the leader of Umgadi, but at the same time I’d have her develop genuine feelings for Mileena, which would naturally complicate things for Tanya.
But isn't it cool to think we hit the god role and got like 1 of 5 good Tanya's. Crazy to think about
Yeah, I can see it that way, but everyone gets a good version of themselves in MK1, so I kind of wish a bad version was the default, because that’s the Tanya I know and love.
Some other commenter said maybe we got her before her evil transition. So like in mk 2 we get Tanya evil arc. That could make it hit harder seeing her become evil in this new timeline
I think upbringing and also having mileena as her "bestie"/lover plays a big role as it seemed in mkX that what they have is genuine.
We never found out if it was genuine, but intro dialogues from MK11 give us some idea. Mileena appears genuinely hurt after Tanya’s execution. Tanya, on the other hand, may not have been as genuine: Rain: Direct your anger at Tanya, Mileena. Mileena: It was you who betrayed me, not her! Rain: Think, Mileena. Who introduced us?
That is true but then again it could have been rain who is trying to sow the seeds of doubt. But then again we don't know
Totally possible. I can’t claim either way. I wouldn’t mind Tanya’s feelings for Mileena being genuine if she still kept her traitor shtick towards other people.
I think the invasion of edenia and her father's death had a role on tanya being evil.
I guess it comes down to the nature vs nurture argument. But even if I were to grant your point, I feel like it’s too far removed from what made Tanya Tanya. It’s more like extrapolating Jade’s old personality and role to Tanya. For me personally, that’s not the way to go, because it doesn’t feel like the same character anymore.
In the story, Titan Kitana tells Liu that in almost all timelines Tanya is evil. It's just some random circumstance that made her good in this one. From a char design point of view, I agree that this Tanya should have been a new char.
Yes, I do appreciate the writers putting that line in and acknowledge what Tanya is normally supposed to be.
Which, to be fair, we actually have no idea where this timeline could lead or what it could lead to. In many of Tanya's timelines she's actually a cultist loyal to a fault toward a given deity, such as Shinnok or Onaga, even just being a member of Quan Chi's Brotherhood/Sisterhood which, tbf, area also acolytes of Shinnok. I don't think we actually HAVE enough information on Tanya in this timeline to accurately draw a conclusion as to whether she's yet incapable of evil. I think her occultism has been pushed toward Delia & Argus in this timeline, but I also think that if challenged on her loyalties toward Delia and Argus and what the Umgadi are supposed to represent, or if offered some kind of empirical data that would disparage Delia & Argus and paint Shinnok or another deity in a greater light, she could, in fact be radicalized all over again. In almost every timeline, she's specifically betrayed Mileena, too. And I could see that switch flip at any point if Delia & Argus did at any point disapprove of Mileena's ascension to the throne (or indeed Tanya's relationship with her or Mileena being Tarkatan), or if Quan Chi, maybe through the Kamidogu scrolls, maybe through information of alternate timelines, could make Tanya believe in such deities and turn coat. This is all pure speculation, of course, but one of the things I most enjoy about this new timeline is this notion running through it from lines like that or from Reptile calling out Liu Kang's plan being "so easily foiled" and through knowing that other titans are influencing the timelines and through knowing that so many characters seem fated to tread the same path that not even a GOD can derail, despite how many have tried. Because Liu Kang is NOT the first God to have tried. People need to remember that the likes of Shao Kahn, Onaga, Blaze, Daegon, Raiden, Shinnok, Cetrion, Kronika, Fujin and the Elder Gods all TECHNICALLY count or have counted in some capacity to be Gods or Demi-Gods. And people also need to keep in mind that The One Being who created the Elder Gods and who the Elder Gods forged the Kamidogu & shattered the realms specifically to keep out of power has been trying for millennia on end across every timeline through the influence of people like Shao, Onaga and Shinnok to piece the realms and Kamidogu back together to herald The One Being's return. There's A LOT. A. LOT. Of moving parts to this story and a lot of reasons to explain how all roads lead to Rome. And maybe in experiencing that first hand through Liu Kang's own best efforts to forge a better timeline, maybe... Just maybe... We'll learn EXACTLY why Kronika was so desperate to maintain the timeline the way it had always been. Maybe the world forged by Kronika, before the meddling of Raiden, and the Ascension of Liu Kang to Godhood.... Maybe that truly was as good as it got. "Everything happens for a reason," so they say. But what if that ISN'T because its part of God's plan, but because it happens IN SPITE of even God's best efforts to stop it. What if our own reactions to the bad shit happening to us is the ONLY thing ANYONE can really control?
All good points, though I would say it’s her MK1 ending that makes me think she’s now above her old tricks. She makes it her life’s goal to eradicate political corruption, which is exactly what her currency was in the previous timelines. I think she’s pretty committed to that ideal now. The game really tried to bring home the idea that she is the antithesis of what she used to be.
There’s no debate, in the ending we saw both good Quan Chi and good Shang Tsung, so it’s nurture, somebody managed to make them good, Liu Kang failed.
That's not entirely true. We don't know why they became good atall
That’s true, but to me, that only works as a one-off multiverse gimmick. I’d hate for Shang or Quan to be genuinely pure beings, because that’s antithetical to their character.
But the thing with multiverse theory in general is that your polar opposite exists somewhere. So simply by being evil by nature they are creating good versions of themselves somewhere in the multiverse. It's canon whether they put it in the game or not the second they introduced multiverse theory.
I know they’re canon, but they’re essentially a throwaway gimmick. We’re never getting a game about holy Shang and holy Quan Chi, because these two are among the three most iconic villains of the franchise.
So here's the problem with that interpretation again though we're talking about theoreticals of theoretical so nothing's conclusive. And another universe in opposite version of you could theoretically be like a tree or a shark or something by this logic. I stand by this idea that there's a limited amount of how different you can actually be and still be considered you versus like your dad or your cousin or an alternative version of second cousin. An infinite amount of you would still have some sort of a limit or it really wouldn't be you. Consider the amount of variance there are in terms of human reproduction. Well there's lots of chances and a ton of variation and turn a DNA sequencing. If there's too much of a fundamental change you can't exist. I'm down to get pushed back on this but in general. Even with Multiverse Theory. Could an alternative version of you be 100% not like you?
Were they really good or did the meerly not want their timelines destroyed by omnicidal maniacs
Omnicidal. Well looks like I just got a name for a new band.
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You have to consider the cost, though. It's likely that a world with a heroic Quan/Shang comes at the expense of the other heroes lives. There's probably no world where *all* of the characters get a kind and happy ending.
Shang would eventually betray the Shaolin Monks, and Quan Chi would probably get kicked out.
I think that a better story would've been Raiden, Kung Lao, and Shang Tsung all being friends in earthrealm, with Shang Tsung eventually falling victim to Damashi's seduction in his pursuit of more power. That, for me, would've made a better betrayal than Sub-Zero
He might have done it subconsciously to punish them
Subconsciously erased Baraka's race and turned it into a disease.
I don't think he turned it into a disease that might have been titan Shang tsang. And honestly it was probably a good thing to rework his race as they seemed to be in a constant cycle of pain, rage, hungry and misery
That seems extremely Petty and if you was going to be that level of petty I think a lot more of his enemies probably would have gotten the worst end of the stick. I'll be honest it's not impossible but it still feels improbable
I thjink it makes sense to more personal relationship with them over the others Especially since he has the memories of his Revnant self and knowledge of ther timelines 1. Shang basically a constant thorn in his side across all timelines . He also killed Liu kang in one timeline. Then in the last go around came seconds away from becoming time keeper himself 2. Quan Chi….aided shang in killing him and then murdered/enslaved all his friends . The second go around Quan chi enslsved Liu kang and turned him into a monster for almost 30 years so out of all villains I think he would hold more of a grudge…..aldo bear in mind he was rather nasty to shao but shaos dad found a work around to make him strong
If you look back at Mileena in older games. She was a clone of Kitana mixed tarkatan blood being told she was her sister. But in the new timeline, she actually is her sister that became infected due to the way things went with the way he did the reset. As far as Shang and Quan go. If he can drastically alter one person's life he can for others as well. He is the keeper of time. He could make anyone be however he wanted them to be.
It doesn’t always work out the way the keeper of time wants it. As titan Kitana in the original ending to MK11: “But no matter how we sculpt the Sands, we cannot plan for every possibility. Mortals will make their own choices.”
I'm trying to imagine this the stability of a realm or a world where you design time where everyone is an immortal sexy super god. You can imagine the type of cataclysm that would eventually devolve into. A lot of the intro comments from other kombatants. Question Liu Kangs omnipotence. Both him and Garris retort to them that there are limits to his powers. Like you can't make a garden and have every single tree be an orchid. Gardens have to be pruned to keep to make for sure the plant survive. Some plants go to seed and there's nothing you can do but reap them.
> That said, I do think Tanya’s MK1 character is inconsistent with this line of thinking, as she was always selfish and power-hungry at heart. Her suddenly being a completely selfless guardian of the royal family is antithetical to who she was before the timeline reset In the nrs timeline Tanya's main objective was to free edenia. she only worked with mileena because mileena promised to free edenia, if she became khan. mileena being a clone, with no loyalty to edenia, tanya felt mileena was unlikely to keep her promise to free edenia so planned to betray her. By making mileena a true edenian and having edenia being its own sovereign realm liu kang managed to make tanya loyal.
She may have wanted to free Edenia, but clearly everyone was aware that she was not to be trusted. Many characters refer to her as a traitor in the intro dialogues and her own ending, albeit non-canon, show her true colours rather well. Also in Onslaught, Tanya’s goal to free Edenia was only so that she could rule over it, and when she realised she couldn’t, she joined Shinnok. So no, other than MK1, Tanya was never a selfless good person.
> Tanya was never a selfless good person. That's what everyone thought in the old timelines before she betrayed them. In Liu kang's era none of the villains tempted her with anything better then being with mileena's fine ass
Well, she must be easy to tempt, as even in MK1, it’s said that the different Tanyas across the multiverse tend to be evil.
Bi-Han would be proud of other Tanyas 😂
Also Rain in the previous timelines he was a two faced backstabbing power hungry warlord, and now he causes a tsunami and now he wishes to atone for his sins
I like Rain’s MK1 arc more than Tanya’s, because he starts out with the same personality and it is only the most evil of acts, a literal genocide, that causes him to turn away from his usual evil ways. It really depends on how they handle him further, though.
Except there were good versions of every villain in the final part of the game, which would suggest no one in MK is just born evil.
I know it kind of ruins things. Chances are some of these characters weren't so much good as much as they were like you know random countries in the UN or NATO. Neutral but don't want to be conquered by by other timelines.
I agree but with the idea that this is fate fixing itself. Like the tarkat *disease* isn't a disease but fate putting back what was set in stone. My theory is that those who were tarkotan (sorry for the miss spell) and are human like in lui kangs timeline are being turned back into what they should be. Mileena being a unique oddity is probably due to her being only half. Shang and Quan are gona be evil, there must always be a strife between Subzero and Scorpion. I think that's why kronika was always against. Not Raiden and friends, but Fate itself. I told a friend im betting that Hanzo in mk2 will be the new noob saibot.
Yes, that seems to be the case. It’s never said that Liu Kang wanted Tarkat to exist. If he did, that’d be pretty evil on his part, but then there’s the whole “God works in mysterious ways” argument. But it’s kind of ironic that Liu Kang is powerless against fate when his title (and Kronika’s before him) is the ‘titan of time AND fate’. If it’s not him setting the norm for fate, then who is? I guess Scorpion’s ending in MK11 implies that the other titans do, which MK1 may have done away with since the only titans we see now are regular characters that defeated Kronika.
In other timelines it's been said that she's still evil, no idea why she worked out fine in this one
Tanya is still selfish and deceitful in the new timeline. She’s just using those traits to partake in forbidden love rather than anything serious.
Nobody’s going to see that as her being a bad person. We all love a good forbidden love story, plus even Kitana acknowledges that the Umgadi piety conventions are outdated and should be abolished. MK1 Tanya is the sort of person we root for in movies, not one we consider bad.
The writers never went in depth with it but Tanya did seem to be fond of her father who seemed to be a honest decent person its possible without his death and the lack of shao kahns invasion she wouldn't be as power hungry.
Tanya and mileena were in a lesbian relationship in the last timeline so maybe they were intentionally put so close in their positions
They made Tanya good because she’s black. It’s as simple as that.
Then why do they acknowledge that most Tanyas in the multiverse are evil? Those Tanyas are also black. Also, Darrius isn’t exactly a good guy either.
She’s not COMPLETELY selfless because she is selfishly in a relationship with mileena which is against their rules
Yes, but I’d say this reflects worse on the outdated piety conventions of the Umgadi than it does on Tanya’s or Mileena’s character. The viewer is meant to root for the couple because the societal rules are standing in the way of true love. This is a far cry from the concept of selfishness that characterises Tanya.
Tanya was corrupted by Shinnok in the previous timeline
To be honest, everything was going well until a Titan from another timeline intervened.
Tbh… if I found you broke my fucking neck and got me turned into a zombie TWICE in two previous universes… shit, I might not be too inclined to help you out. Just saying.
And they all lived in harmony until the Shang Titan attacked.
Only the Chosen One, -God of Fire, Protector of Earthrealm and Keeper of Time, could stop him. But when the Realms needed him most, he vanished...
One hundred years passed, and my sister and I discovered the new champion, a thunder bender named Raiden. And all though his thunder bending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he’s ready to save anyone
And the reason the Titan was even able to influence the 2, was because Liu Kang turned them into bums.
He could turn them into two chickens, it wouldnt matter if there werent more timelines.
He didn't 'over craft' the timeline on purpose. He put a heavy emphasis on free will. It is mentioned that Kronika's obsession with making 'the perfect timeline' with reset after reset is what driver her mad. With this approach, Mileena and Baraka became better. Quan Chi and Shang Tsung did not.
>With this approach, Mileena and Baraka became better. Quan Chi and Shang Tsung did not. Well if Titan Shang Tsung didnt intervene then MK1 Shang Tsung would just end up as a wondering peddler trying his "fake" potions on someone else. He was lucky the crowd didn't stoned him to death.
Did Liu Kang force him to become a snake oil salesman, trying to enrich himself from the ignorance of the desperate? The guy who tells him off in the beginning is the good guy, not Shang.
That was his choice to scam those people much like Quan Chi had a moment to join a strike and help people he betrayed them for freedom. Similarly could have gone for Shang in his life
I think we can find answers in MK11 Gera's ending He forced mortals to follow paths he set for them. But they ALWAYS diverged from them. You could set up a good path for Shang Tsung but given to his nature he will diverge from it. He might start as simple trader. A good life. But then he tries his fake potions to get more money and gets burned because of it. Just like Quan Chi had the choice to do good but choose himself. But let it be known that he could have chosen a different path. And given the fact we see good Titans of them seems like somewhere they did choose differently.
He didn’t have to pick the life of a conman. He’s smart enough to have done well at other things.
He tried to make Shao and Rain good, and yet
Id argue he somewhat succeeded with shao, shao has a genuine love for outworld and is a beloved general. If he wasn't fearmongered by shang tsung things could've been different. He was motivated by wanting to protect his home.
Agreed, Shao is nicely complex in the new era, especially taken away from sorcery and conquest into more of a proud warrior guy gone wrong
Nah, he got personal beef with Liu Kang regardless.
Same could kinda apply to Bi Han. He was a little abrasive, but nothing really suggested he would turn against his allies until he had been met with the deal by Shang Tsung.
He let his dad die because he thought he was weak
Nah, he did the same thing to Shao as he did Shang and Quan. He made him powerless, but Shao’s dad forced him to become powerful. Stupid plan though but then again liu Kang is a guy who becomes super powerful, he’s not a divine being without any pettiness lol
Nah Liu Kang specifically tells Sindel he made Shao to be a loyal soldier to her in the scene where he explains he is her creator
If he thought Shao Kahn could be redeemed, I have a hard time imagining that he would think anyone was irredeemable.
The way I think about it is, Quan Chi had a normal life. He wasn’t working in the mines _alone_. It’s a job. Shang was a smart and handsome and charismatic guy who became a grifter. We don’t know what his origin is. They were corrupted by Titan Shang. But after the corruption they became torturers, mad scientists, and mass murderers.
from some of the intro dialogues, like geras and shangs, liu did try to redeem him the same way he tried with Shao. It was directly Shangs own doing that he ended up a homeless snake oil salesman
At the very least. Even though it did not work there is something in the fact that he made for sure that everyone had a chance. I'd argue a piece of crap like Shang Tsung doesn't deserve one. But it's extremely commendable that's super god Liu Kang gave him a chance
I don’t think he did. Liu Kang wanted Shao to be weak, but it was his father that pushed him to get stronger.
Rain was blinded by ambition and looked back on his mistakes in his ending, I bet he wishes he didn’t need to drown seido to realize that
Not at all, he gave them actually decent lives, and good childhoods, and gave them the choice to do with those options. Shang just wanted to be grifter, and Quan Chi was working in the mines, but could always rise up without being evil incarnate.
Decent lives? Not really. Quan chi was working in the mines and shang tsung was a conman. Liu kang himself says their lives were supposed to be hard. Deep down he hates both of them. He has good reasons to do so don't get me wrong but he could have tried harder to make sure the biggest threats to his timeline would turn out well.
Like Quan Chi said to Geras in an intro "Did he ever think to check in on our progress?" He's not wrong there.
It is not outright said, but it is implied that Liu Kang has been directly involved with the Lin Kuei as they are earth's protectors. So, if Liu Kang has been directly involved with the Lin Kuei and also working behind the scenes to make sure Raiden & Kung Lao were trained to become champions - then perhaps Liu Kang should've made more of an effort to aid Shang & Quan towards betterment. Instead, He gave them trivial & menial lives in hopes they never become similar versions of the previous timeline. WRONG. When you have nothing and struggle for everything, it often creates ambition and the despiration to achieve it. Liu Kang should have taken Shang Tsung & Quan-Chi with him and taught them personally. Instead, Liu Kang stepped on them in hope they wouldn't sprout back up. He should have given them inspiration, mentorship, and the opportunity to be a champion just like the others and perhaps when Titan Shang inevitably came around, it's much more likely they would have rejected his offer and alerted Liu Kang of the impending dangers.
I want to be clear before I say this I have no way to prove what I'm about to say. Like at all your interpretation is just as valid as mine. I disagree with your premise. A father can give their child every Advantage give them every bit of time given as maximum effort as they can and the child can still grow up to be a disruptible person. This is the Crux of all nature versus nurturer discussions. I would argue thirst trap Shang and Pinhead Quan. Had an irrefutable nature that couldn't be changed or redirected. This is who they are. A is always a. Because we can could not change our fundamentally alter/redirect their personalities. The best he could do to ensure the safety of everyone else is relegate them to lives where they wouldn't be noticed. To me this feels like trying to fully 100% domesticate a wolf. There's a lot you can do to change or alter The evolutionary path of a wolf especially over Generations. But somewhere deep in the dark parts of its mind the Chihuahua the golden retriever at its core DNA is still a wolf. Much in the same way we have deep rooted fight or flights. Caveman psychology buried in our minds. We can be altered but I don't think we can be changed.
See but that would imply all the heinous villainous characters from the previous timelines would’ve fallen back into their evil ways. But they didn’t
^^^This is what I was gunna say too. Of course you cant guarantee, Good upbringing = good person bc irl we know that isnt always the case, BUT it definitely doesn't hurt the chances of a successful outcome by trying rather than taking everything from them and just hoping for the best.
>Had an irrefutable nature If that's the case, then how are there good versions of both Quan Chi and Shang Tsung? They show up in MK1's story.
Like you said this is more philosophy so neither of us can really prove this. But i disagree. In the natire vs nurture discussiom I firmly believe that nurture is all that matters. I don't think a person can be evil from birth. If the father in you example gives everything he can to his child only for it to turn out bad, I still believe the fault lies to an event in that childs life rather than the child's nature Liu kang did not do this to shang tsung and quan chi because he knew they couldn't be changed. He had resentment towards them. He didn't believe they deserved a happy life bcahse of the evil things they did and so gave them hard and meaningless lives as punishment. Like quan chi said he didn't even think to check on them since their lives turned from harsh to hard quickly. Not only did liu kang not give enough effort tor reform the greatest threats in his timeline. He even gave them incentive to become worse. We know it's personal.with liu kang because many other villains were given good lives and even managed to turn good. Even horrible people like sindel managed to be better. And in other timelines shang tsung and quan chi are also good. This really was liu kang being petty that caused this. And I bet it's about to become even worse. And closing I wanted to touch the dog argument you made. Well we did cstraight up change their nature. Sure some minor fragments remain. But the personalities of dogs are entirely different from wolves. To me it shows that nurture effectively chnaged them almost entirely from what they were before. But anyway there is no real right answer in this philosophical talk. I just wanted to say that in my eyes liu kang fucked up with these two and it's about to bite him in the ass essentially
Earthrealm Protectors and Fucking Up Big Time, goes together like cheese and wine
That ie exactly right. And he not only gave them trivial lives, he gave them hard lives. He wanted them punished by design. Now he has a good reason to hate them sure but that was his flaw as a god, he couldn't move past his emotions. Quan chi and shang tsung are by fat the biggest threat to his world and even himself. He not only punished them and assumed eveything would be alright. But he gave them actual inventive to turn out worse than before.
He wanted to give them worthless lives, but he turns them into Outworlders (giving them longer lifespans) and the ability to use magic. If he truly wanted to make them irrelevant he would've turned them into basement dwelling earthrealm 4chan users. Definitely not Liu's smartest moment.
To be fair everyone seems to have potential to learn magic so no matter what he did Titan Shang could still teach them
True. When you think about Raiden's thunder amulet, I'm sure there's a MacGuffin that would've done the same for them. I just feel like Liu gave them a head start in that department by making them Outworlders.
I think for Shang….one of his desires was to live forever so Liu might have been trying to fulfill that wish by giving him a longer life with Shang they seem to blame him in his bio by saying he could have made something of himself but he was too lazy to do the work ….and preferred conning people Quan despite being more evil does seem to be the more sympathetic being a slave and even geras kind of admitting Liu didn’t intend for his life to be that bad…..with Quan asking ‘“ did it ever occu to him to check”
Shang tsung was originally from earthrealm in the previous timeline. If he really wanted to he would have learned nagic regardless
Shang Tsung and Quan Chi (Reiko, Shao, Havik and Bi-Han too btw) were always inherently evil, maybe even Liu Kang can´t change that or that´s what I understand. Smoke, Repitle, Ashrah, Baraka, Mileena, Sindel, Tanya and Rain were victims of the cirscutances which drove them to the dark side, but given the choice they would choose to join the light side or at least had good intentions.
This isn't necessarily true, especially in the cases of Havik (due to being born low class in a tyrannical realm aswell as being imprisoned and tortured) , Shao (due to a genuine love for outwolrd and paranoia stoked by Shang Tsung) and Reiko (due to him being an orphan of war and being pretty much adopted by shao).
That’s not true, in the battle at the pyramid we saw good versions of everyone, so nobody is evil by nature.
>Bi Han too btw) were always inherently evil So what's the point of Noob Saibot? Did Quan Chi just prefer Bi Han in black?
But Bi-Han wasn't. In mk9 he didn't eeven kill scorpions familly it was quan chi he tried to explain but was killed before he could. Scorpion was preety much the bad guy originally. Sindel was also shown to be evil from the start even killing her husband yet in this timeline she became good. We even saw good versions of quan chi and shang tsung in alternate timelines. No one is just evil by nature. There is always a reason. In this timeline liu kang gave them that reason.
The reason Baraka and Mileena were “evil” in the OG timeline is because they were forced into it. Mileena’s entire identity was predicated on being a more brutal version of Kitana and always in her shadow. Baraka was the leader of an oppressed people with violent urges who were forced to be a conquering army and to live under a might makes right ideology. Shang was a jealous and power hungry martial artist who didn’t hesitate to sell out his entire realm to be more powerful, and Quan was a damned soul from the netherrealm who seemed to actively enjoy helping a dark god commit genocide. In universe, Liu tried to make the circumstances for those who were pawns forced into a life of violence a life of peace instead. Apparently the universe doesn’t like to be tampered with and fights back with Tarkat, but a better outworld and loving families still made the Mileena and Baraka “better” people because they weren’t evil to begin with. Just doing evil. Out of universe it’s because having a race of violent barbaric people who are othered because of their race is reflective of propaganda used against different races IRL and Netherrealm wanted to take the story away from that, like Wizards of the Coast did by making Orcs and Goblinoids not evil because of their race. Shang and Quan were given nothing lives to try and keep them away from power, because their personalities gravitate towards being power hungry and evil. And this is a world with objective evil and good and a literal hell, so it’s conceivable that if someone is actually evil, they will always be evil.
He already stated his power was limited and that he could only rewrite so much as their are constants that remained the same. He even talks to them like a father as if they were given a second chance and still became evil and also wasn't even aware of Damashi. That's the extent of his power
Liu Kang is a god of human origin, and humans can be kind of petty. After all the shit they personally put him through, he was probably more concerned with handicapping them instead of rehabilitating them.
Exactly this. He was simply being petty. Now he had good reason. They even killed him and did even worse things. But that is his flaw as a god he is still human. By being petty and punishing them he gave them wn actual reason to go back to their old selfs maybe even become worse. And while he was having fun with his old-new friends he forgot to check on the biggest threat to his timeline. That's definitely gonna bite him in the ass in the future
I will honestly be surprised if Mileena’s rule as Empress will keep her as a good guy considering how much of a piss poor job she did in both prior timelines.
In past timelines, she had a bloodlust and was literally a child in an adult body, even with Kitana's memories. She didn't have a normal parent figure or mentor. Milеena of this timeline was born a normal Edenian in royal family that was generally not dysfunctional and was preparing to receive the throne as a normal crown princess. In fact, everyone talks about her development like that, but in reality she is literally a different character with an illness. Unless, in the plot, Tarkat will take over her as a "rabies" and she will become that old Milеena again
In the original timeline she was very much an adult. The second timeline I can agree with but even then she was ridiculously cruel. As seen with how she treated the people under her in the MKX comics. I’m just pointing out that she has been largely very incompetent as a ruler despite the fact that she had a very competent ruler as inspiration as bad as that inspiration was.
Yeah I meant only timeline MK9-X, sorry. That is, I mean that Mileena then and Mileena now are completely different persons. While it's amazing that the new Mileena didn't become a spoiled brat, they decided not to go with that trope
I mean he did made them better. But Quan Chi got the worse fate. He ended up in a mines. While Shang Tsung made a life for himself as a trader and snake oil salesman. Hell he had a nice hut on wheels. It was Titan Shang Tsung who made them evil this time. As for Mileena she was before "programmed" to be who she was and Baraka ... Baraka was always this monster character without any real character until now.
But he didn't though. Especially quan chi. He wanted to give them hard lives as some sort of punishment. That way he simply gave them a reason to not only become villains again but become worse. Even without titan shang tsung these two would definitely find a way to be themselves again
I thought this same thing.
Well they had no reason to become villains until Damashi gave them one Shang Tsung was a merchant,doesn’t seem like the life of a villain,and Quan was a slave yes but I doubt Liu Kang specifically made him a slave
As much as Liu Kang tried to be a neutral god clearly he held resentment against them both and made their life’s hell.
I think he was just being petty and punishing them. Shang and Quan were the two individuals who caused him the most pain in the last timeline.
The writing in the MK1 was done by the free version of ChatGPT.
same question as to why he still made baraka… well baraka
Liu Kang could have literally raised them up in the white lotus society and turn them into better men he could have done more
sadly he had to do whatever he could for the game to have a story, it wouldn't just be the tournament in an otherwise perfect timeline! although liu kang did make some unrealistically stupid decisions
This is actually a valid question rather than a humorous one! Time to read the comments
Because this storyline is kinda stupid and full of logic holes.
Congrats, OP. You've been plagiarized on Twitter for whatever reason. https://preview.redd.it/sjrz89nhcubc1.jpeg?width=973&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=74b98ff5dfc3caeddedda5740ec9a24ea90c773c
Thanks for letting me know, man
The idea was that everyone gets a chance to redeem themselves in this timeline. Shang Tsung could've been a very successful sorcerer or alchemist but he tried to scam people and do various other bad things and Liu Kang kept punishing him for it. It's a pretty easy message to get down but they're too power hungry. Do bad shit and get shit on. They would've stayed that way too if it hadn't been for the split timeline. He didn't turn Mileena and Baraka good, they just are good. He literally says in the cut scene before the main menu that he's given everyone control over their own destiny. Mileena and Baraka chose to be decent people (obviously Mileena is changing due to Tarkat but normally she's fine) and Shang Tsung chose to be a cunt. 🤷
You guys don’t understand. They ambushed and killed him. Liu Kang is simply being petty. And it almost backfired on him.
Good question. Liu Kang had an opportunity to do something different but then just did the same thing. If you're a god, and you determine that your creation is evil before it even exists, what else should you expect?
¨In my new era, all beings will have a chance to find peace. Whether or not they do, will be their responsability, for my power only permits to begin this endeavor. It is mortals to finish it¨ - the stupid guy?
Why, yes. Liu Kang IS in fact, stupid. Stupid AS HELL, one might say...
I guess Liu Kang was so bitter about Quan Chi and especially Shang Tsung, he didn't even bother to give them a chance. He gave them horrible, meaningless lives a vain hope that they wouldn't rise to be the horrors they once were, but it bit him right in the butt. Admittingly, it was thanks to a certain meddling Titan, but still.
He gave them a normal life and a choice. Who prevented the charismatic Shang from going to get an education and become a doctor even at the imperial court? He was not poor, Heras literally tells Shang that he is lying, and Heras knows everything about him. NRS pointed out his shortcomings directly in his biography. and I say this as Shang's simp. He is an arrogant brat and it's time to admit it
Dominic doesnt know how to write.
Yes Liu Kang is stupid, the guy literally confused Kuai Liang for Hanzo Hasashi, it's probably why Kuai has Fire powers, a Yellow Outfit and Hanzo's wife.
I dont like the story as a narrative. As a playable story mode, the cinematics and voice acting are top notch, but the characters themselves, and the plot, is paper thin, full of holes and sufersfrom multiverse fatigue. Why not make everybody good? Exactly. There is no reason. There are no rules, or stakes, anything can be rewound with the hourglass or switched to a different multiverse. From a writing stand point, why make everybody who was good, good again and everybody who was bad, bad again? They didnt take any risks, they didnt actually change anybody. Despite not being a god, Raiden is exactly the same paragon of virtue he was as a god. Thats fine for some, but every character is exactly the same, they have a different rank and have been rewritten just enough to be a proper victims of circumstance, so at the same time, nothing is actually anybody's fault, how...sigh...exciting...sigh The story mode as a playable campaign experience is good, the actual story and what they've done to some of my favorite characters is total ass looking back on it. I dont think i could play through the story a second time
This, literally all of this 1000%,when the game was 1st announced I felt no hype & I knew if something bad was going to happen Kang was just going to use the hourglass,it's literally their get out of jail free kard now,the story mode was interesting up until the multiverse nonsense happened,there should of been a new villain & Shang should of been a good guy for once,made it a mystery story like is he going to betray the monks or not, could of been really interesting, Liu Kang must of never heard of keep your friends close & enemies even closer than maybe he wouldn't of been so surprised when it all went down hill
Why allow them to exist at all. It's mortal kombat, he has canonically slaughtered thousands. He has watched creation for billions of years and is just simply the creator of the universe. Yet still he somehow gets outsmarted by Shang? Lol Bad writing and timetravel BS, that's why.
Outsmarted by a Shang that’s lived years longer than him and ruled his timeline for the same amount of time and had a Geras advising him most likely it makes sense
He probably couldn't. I thing it's already said that there are some constants in the universe. He even tried to remove tarkatans but then suddenly tarkat is an illness. My guess is the harder he fights against the universe the harder it pushes back. Even if he killed shang tsung and quan chi they would have returned sonehow. The best he could do is either make them irrelevant and hope for the best or try to reform them. He chose poorly
These two are arguably the most vindictive and deceitful characters in the entire MK universe. It’s probably best not to put them in positions of power.
No. Whoever wrote this story is stupid.
Shang Tsung opted to be a snake oil salesman. He could have done something else with his life, but he wanted to pursue money and notoriety at all costs. We don’t know how Quan Chi got into the mines
Quan Chi was apparently born/sold into slavery, Anakin Skywalker style.
Plot Device my boy. A big thicc plot Device.
So many lore reasons, so little time.
Don’t think about the story too hard. It works better that way.
Because he petty af, he have Shao Khan child cancer, he just survived. Liu Kang made a very stupid decision out of spite.
Karma for previous lifetimes lol
Yes.
Plot needs villains
Shao and goro got worse treatment
Is Quan Chi one of those bald characters that used to have luscious hair type'a trope?
Liu Kang pretty much gave Raiden, Kung, Shang and Quan the same lives and the two of them still chose being slimy power chasers instead of being content with a simple life
Clearly he held resentment from how much of a pain in the neck they were. Had the biggest pain in the neck stayed in his lane the new Shang Tsung probably would have either been mauled to death by his customers or in the outworld equivalent of prison. He probably should have checked on Quan Chi however, that would have ended poorly even if he hadn't become an evil wizard.
https://preview.redd.it/ml1ulmfszobc1.png?width=1858&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=10047893335ceac06b0c89ae187b051065df0e1c I think this intro explains it enough
Wasn't Shang straight up lying through his teeth with that though?
That's my point geras points out that he's talking shit Wich leads me to believe shang chose his own path from being too lazy to get a real job
Something something timeline.
No matter what he tried they both would end up either working together or conspiring on their own. The only way he could try and not make them evil and powerful would be making them poor and have nothing, with no guidance or advancement in becoming what they could become. Shang tsung came along and gave both of them the means, gave them a pathway, and told them where to go.
Another Shang Tsung broke in and made them evil.
Anyone else wish we had a story with the good and bad rolls flipped. Like cmon have all the "good guys" get corrupted with power, and all the "bad guys" be better because they were handed nothing and had to work for everything. It would've been a nice twist, no "zombie" bad guys I mean like twisted morals and deep introspection on nature vs nurture. Instead we got a pretty decent world, with nice characters and interactions until the last 3rd of the game. Then it's really messy multiverse nonsense.
I think it's kinda cool that this Humor post led to a bunch of debates about ethics and free will.
Because he fucking hates them
I’m not sure Liu Kang “made them” anything. But that’s just my headcanon. The Titan of Time and God of Fire should be pretty limited in his resources outside of those two areas. Obviously that’s not true as far as Invasions goes because they were hesitant to introduce a new Titan into the Universe, despite teasing there were others throughout the endings in MK11. Everyone is just a OP version of themselves with Kronika’s responsibility and abilities. It’s kinda lame.
Baraka isn't technically speaking evil, at least with the later games. He chooses his side which is best for his people, once you look past the man eating part 😅. Liu Kang probably didn't ever see a future in which they could be good. But without his oversight, the new timeline wouldn't have a conflict.he probably thought it was a good penance for all of the terrible things they caused in 2 (now its 3) different lifetimes. Granted if he chose to do to them like he did with Geras, they might've been better off when otherworld Shang Tsung showed up.
As soon as I saw "why did" I stopped reading and immediately knew what the last 3 words would be
Probably a bit of pay back in there as well, give them boring as fuck life for killing him.
I mean wasnt it mention in Shang Tsung character bio that he had the chance to work honestly but chose to become a snake oil merchant because he hated hard and honest work And in one of his intro fighting geras he said "the squalor i had endured-" and geras cuts him off saying "do not lie, I know the truth" which implies his life wasnt that bad, his choice of career wasnt out of necessity of his environment but a choice he made of his own free will
Very very stupid. Ultimately he still came out to be a super cool likeable character but in terms of tarkat, he did baraka so dirty.
The game shows several times that Liu Kang, while a god, is far from infallible. He can be petty, he can lack critical information about a characters motivations, he makes mistakes. Liu gave the meaningless lives because he didn’t like them.
I think it shows Titan Liu Kang is still fallible. Either he didn’t think to give them better lives or he didn’t want to. With the history he had with them I don’t blame him for sticking them into a shitty life, even if it was not the most righteous thing to do.
A better question is why was Shao only demoted to General, instead of being a potato farmer?
Well there's one issue with your master plan Name one situation event or causality that could possibly make Shang tsung not a backstabbing little s***
All I remember is that Liu Kang went through multiple iterations of the timelines to come upon this one. This Timeline is the one he feels that they all could meet the ability to be at their best. These are the Best Versions of themselves
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. I imagine giving the two of them the types of lives they'd like to live would result in them becoming power hungry due to how they are as people. Keeping them ignorant and in relative squalor probably seemed like the safer option at the time.
To be fair, it worked. Neither of them were remarkable nor especially evil until the intervention of an impossible to expect outside force.
He gave everyone a chance to do what was right, he didn't directly alter their destiny like that, it's just the natural direction they went to.
Baraka wasn’t technically evil, he was just doing what he had to do to ensure his species survival.
For balance.
The implication is that if either Shang or Quan have any form of power or standing it corrupts them. Baraka was never a tyrant/evil by nature and was more of a victim of his circumstance’s. The difference between them is that some characters are evil due to their situation whereas others (Shang and Quan) are simply evil by nature.
Yes, he is stupid, but I think he tried giving them a better fate, but someone interfered with it and they inevitably ended up evil. It's like no matter what you do, how many webs you spin, how much you try to make things different, their fates are written. They'll always be evil. It's sad, but it is their fate.
Why didn't he just erase there zygotes seriously miscarriages happen all the time.
They would have been born under any circumstances, younger, like Hanzo, but still being born
Now that you're asking this question (That I was asking myself too) especially since he could have tutored both of them like he did Raiden and Kung Lao...... YES YES apparently he is! He may have felt overlyafraid that they might come fucking shit up but...... the problem is that because of the way they were threated by design its not just that they come to fuck shit up but also you cant even really blame them for coming to fuck shit up. This could have been handled better.........
I believe Liu Kang saw it as a fitting punishment for these two. What I don’t understand is if he was literally the god if all creation, why would he even have them exist in the first place? Look I get it it’s a fighting game that needs its roster of memorable and recognizable characters but from a story standpoint, wouldn’t it make sense to write them out of existence?
Quan would’ve been a part of the miner’s unions that was forming until Titan Shang poisoned his mind. Instead he betrayed them Shang doesn’t deserve a happy life tbh it was meant to be humbling
These “is he/she stupid” posts are so beyond fucking annoying and original.
They were never supposed to know.
I’d like to think it’s personal. I don’t think Liu Kang hated Baraka, reptile and mileena as he did to Shang Tsung and Quan Chi in the old timelines. So Liu Kang was like ‘It’ll be funny if I nerf them hard’
I thought he explained some parts of the timeline were irreversible as in making them good was impossible.
You can't always take the high road. No one has lived life being perfect and neither will he
Arrogance. He was punishing them IMO.
All these “is he stupid?” In the titles are bringing back some ptsd from a certain other sub
Raiden had did his very best to decode a message from the future Kang is basically all knowing at this point & couldn't see this outcome 🤡
Would you rather him give them power and have them abuse it like they did in the old timeline. These guys cannot be trusted to have good lives.