Mortal Kombat makes it difficult to keep track of its characters with the series' convoluted timeline. One of the few characters from the original game is Shang Tsung, and he could be considered the starting point of the series since he is the host of the Mortal Kombat Tournament, which plays an important role throughout the story. As one of the primary antagonists, he is one of the main enemies of the main protagonist Liu Kang.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Mortal Kombat series.]
Mortal Kombat is a fighting game released in 1992 that centers around the Mortal Kombat Tournament, where a win streak of ten wins allows the realm of the winner to takeover other realms. The best fighters from various realms, one of the most recognizable being Earthrealm, gather together to try and win the right for their realm to invade and conquer other realms. As a bonus, the winner of Mortal Kombat receives slowed aging and immortality until the next tournament. While Earthrealm provides many of the heroes, its counterpart Outworld, which is brutally ruled by Shao Kahn, is home to many of the series' villains.
Though he isn't a native, Shang Tsung resides in Outworld with his master, Shao Kahn. His exact origins are unknown, but he was cursed to take the souls of enemies he defeated. However, this curse ended up being largely beneficial to Shang Tsung because he gains the knowledge of his victims after consuming their souls. The downside of this curse shows up when Shang Tsung consumes the souls of immensely powerful creatures, such as Shao Khan or Kronika in non-canonical endings. While some characters flip between hero and villain in Mortal Kombat, like Sindel, Shang Tsung is among those who are consistently villains.
Shang Tsung's Life In The Original Mortal Kombat Timeline
Shang Tsung holds the title of champion until he's defeated by the Great Kung Lao from Earthrealm. After his defeat, Shang Tsung is absent from the tournament for an unknown amount of time. He reappears after the suspicious death of one of the tournament's Grandmasters, bringing with him his prized student, Goro, who is half-dragon and half-man. As Goro holds the position of champion, Shang Tsung becomes the only Grandmaster to keep his control over the Mortal Kombat tournaments.
When Goro is on the verge of winning his 10th tournament, which would allow Outworld to conquer Earthrealm, Raiden brings Liu Kang to fight on Earthrealm's behalf where he ends Goro's streak and saves Earthrealm despite Liu Kang having the least lethal fatality in Mortal Kombat at the time. Shao Kahn spares Tsung only because of his idea to challenge Earthrealm to a tournament in Outworld as a diversion, but this failure among others ends with Shang Tsung being imprisoned and tortured until he regains Shao Kahn's favor.
Shang Tsung forms the Deadly Alliance with Quan Chi, and this allows Shang Tsung to finally have his revenge on Liu Kang. He disguises himself as Kung Lao and surprised him, but Liu Kang only dies due to Quan Chi also showing up to fight. Shang Tsung consumes Liu Kang's soul, but it does him little good when he fights Quan Chi, then shortly after is killed by Raiden's self-sacrificial blast. Shang Tsung's soul is given to Shao Kahn, and he's forced to feign loyalty until he can get help from Quan Chi to break Shao Kahn's power over him. Shang Tsung dies in the original timeline at the hands of Liu Kang's corpse as he's trying to reach the top of the Pyramid of Argus.
Shang Tsung's Fate In The Current Mortal Kombat Timeline
With this timeline to continue in the distant Mortal Kombat 12 when it's released, it begins back with Shang Tsung as the host of the Mortal Kombat Tournament. Shang Tsung is once again defeated by Liu Kang, which saves Earthrealm like in the original timeline. He's spared by Shao Kahn by suggesting Outworld host another tournament, and he forces Raiden to compete by capturing Sonya Blade.
During the tournament, Kitana discovers Mileena in Shang Tsung's Flesh Pits, learning that he's been working to perfect her by cloning her. Kitana subdues him and takes him to Shao Kahn, who praises him rather than punishes him as he's already aware of Shang Tsung's experiments. Kitana is imprisoned, and Shang Tsung is ordered to work with Quan Chi to fight Kung Lao, who defeats both of them, and then seemingly kills Shao Kahn. Due to his supposed death, Shang Tsung is among those trying to become the next Outworld emperor.
Considering Liu Kang, or rather Fire God Liu Kang at this point.
A classic fighting game, Mortal Kombat has been around for more nearly three decades, yet its story has not grown any clearer with how time travel is frequently used in the plot. However, Shang Tsung is reliably a villain throughout the various timelines in Mortal Kombat. While the success of his villain status is debatable, considering how many times he fails Shao Kahn, Shang Tsung does manage to be the last one standing against Liu Kang before he uses Kronika's Crown and Hourglass to start a new history. Shang Tsung might be an important part of gaming history for his consistent role as an antagonist, but it might be time to retire him and let new villains rise up in future Mortal Kombat titles.
