Mortal Kombat 9/Headscratchers

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Why did they put screamers in the Krypt? I rather liked the calm, spooky atmosphere of the Krypts in the previous games. This one doesn't give me much motivation at all to explore, knowing that some scary as hell chupacabra is going to appear sooner or later.
    • For the Lulz and/or For the Evulz.
    • The strange part is that the freak in the crypt is hinted to be Shang Tsung's first attempt to create Mileena.
    • At least there's compensation in Koins...
  • Couldn't Raiden have gotten the Elder Gods on his side earlier? When Shang Tsung approaches Raiden after the first tournament to propose the second, he says "If Earthrrealm wins, Shao Kahn will renounce his claim to it forever." Raiden accepts these terms and it's implied the Elder Gods go with it. But then Earthrealm DOES win, and Shao Kahn invades, which pretty much means he's still holding a claim to it. Shang Tsung didn't mention that the deal only applied to merging the realms, so is it possible that Raiden could've prevented the massacre at the end if he had realized this?
    • Raiden did realize this but he was too late. He really had to wait for Shao Kahn to fully merge the realms before the elder gods finally decide to do something. The massacre happened when he and Liu Kang were out, so if they were there it would've changed things.
    • Technically, an invasion doesn't equal a claim on Earthrealm. Until he actually tries to take control he's just killing people, which is unfortunate but not against the set rules. Really, it was Sindel that protected Earthrealm for this long, not the Elder God's rules.
  • Why are Cyber Sub-Zero and Stryker dead? Sure, Shao Kahn empowered Sindel but I don't think that automatically turns every strike into a fatality.
    • There might be two explanations. One, they might have been in really bad shape after their fight with the Lin Kuei, allowing Sindel to finish them off fairly easy, or two, they just got knocked out by her initial attacks and actually died in the crossfire of her fight with Nightwolf.
      • If you look closely, Stryker's face caves in from Sindel's punch. Couldn't see what killed Sub-Zero, though
      • Sparks and electricity spewed out of Cyb-Zero's midsection, so maybe Sindel punched him hard enough to short-out his cybernetic parts and kill him? By logic this would dictate that Sonya, Cage, Nightwolf, and Kitana are seriously Made of Iron considering the onslaught they had to endure.
      • The game actually implies that Cyb-Zero's armor is pretty weak - in arcade mode, it only takes a few strikes for his brain to be revealed. Plus, Sindel's strikes focus entirely on his head. Given her power boost, that would be enough to cause a fatal malfunction.
      • As for Stryker he is the most normal of the cast without any superpowers so yeah.
      • Plus, if getting his face caved in didn't kill him immediately, then shock and blood loss would have taken care of that.
  • Quan Chi has Shinnok's amulet. While it is true that he possessed it since Mythologies, and gave a false one to Shinnok, why is he wearing it so openly? You'd think somebody might notice the amulet of a fallen Elder God on his belt.
    • This is made all the more headscratching since he's seen multiple times by two people who'd recognize what it is: Bi-Han (the original Sub-Zero) and Raiden.
      • Well, Raiden's mucking with the timeline caused many subtle changes around the time of the first game, such as a few characters appearing much earlier in-story. Maybe, just like there were slight changes to the first three games' story, there were also changes to the Mythologies story. Perhaps Raiden DID know, but his future visions implied Quan Chi had a role in stopping Armageddon(which he did, to some extent) so Raiden did not take action against him.
    • There's also the massive continuity problems with Quan Chi sporting the tattoos of Onaga's army when he didn't even know about Onaga until after Scorpion beat the tar out of him and chased him through the Netherrealm, causing Quan Chi to stumble upon the Dragon King's tomb (this was after 4--presumably following some shared variation of Sub-Zero and Scorpion's endings--as detailed in Deadly Alliance's intro).
      • Perhaps Quan Chi managed to find a way to get a peek at Raiden's visions and took advantage of it.
      • Either that or Shinnok himself pulled a Raiden as well and gave his past self a heads up (Shinnok survived the events of Armageddon alongside Shao Kahn, Taven, and Liu Kang's spirit, as the Shinnok seen in Armageddon was a clone). It could explain why things went so wrong; two parties with innate knowledge of the future combating each other would be more likely to screw up the timestream.
        • This theory has a lot of validity, as the ending'd stinger implies Quan Chi and Shinnok had been manipulating the game's events from the beginning, which they never did to this extent in the original games. Raiden was also his Well-Intentioned Extremist self when he sent his messages to the past, so his lucidity was open to question and his messages to his past self were very vague, while Shinnok was probably in a much better position to send himself clear messages on what to do. Perhaps he recognized that Raiden was getting vague messages and he used Quan Chi to manipulate events in his favor while taking advantage of Raiden's desperation.
  • Why is Noob Saibot so willing to work with Quan Chi? In this timeline, unlike the original, Scorpion hesitates against killing Sub-Zero until Quan Chi projects a false "reminder" image of his family/clan's destruction. Sub-Zero sees the image as well and protests his innocence before being slain. Given how he saw this accusation first-hand, why would he be willing to openly support the person who got him killed?
    • It's been implied before that Bi-Han as Sub-Zero and Bi-Han as Noob Saibot are distinct. In his Deception ending, it's mentioned that he would've been proud of his brother, but his descent to hell stripped away his compassion. In his Armageddon ending, after killing Blaze, Noob is confronted by Bi-Han, who wanted to "regain control of his divided soul". Noob Saibot is Sub-Zero minus any redeeming qualities; which he'd presumably would've regarded as weaknesses. So he probably wouldn't hold a grudge. Also, as Deception and his ending in this game show, Noob may be serving under Quan Chi, but he's got ulterior motives.
    • Noob is just a shadow of the former Bi-Han.
    • It's also pointed out that the two are separate entities when Noob tells Subby that even though they are related by blood, they aren't brothers.
      • That sounds more like a "I have no son!" moment than the literal meaning. Noob was mocking Kuai Liang's revenge motivations because he's so evil that he doesn't even appreciate that someone wanted to avenge his death. Put simply, you would be hard-pressed to find someone in Mortal Kombat with more evil in him than Noob Saibot. He is nothing but a being of hatred and villainy.
    • Or maybe he just doesn't remember that particular event as a result of the whole "brought back from hell deal"
    • Or, alternatively, Noob has realized that the easiest way to deal with both of the characters involved in his death is to act as their ally right up until the most convenient "do or die" situation.
  • Bi-Han and Hanzo are both assassins who died violent deaths. Both were sent to the Netherrealm before returning to earth. Hanzo came back as Scorpion and Bi-Han came back as Noob Saibot. So how come one of them looks like a regular guy (except when he takes off his mask) and the other is, er, whatever the hell Noob Saibot is?
    • Scorpion's a spectre, Noob is a wraith. There's no further explanation given than that, but the two seem to be different species of The Undead. Minus the whole "skull for a head under my mask thing" and his one-track mind on avenging his family, Scorpion more or less seems to be the same as he was in life. Noob, on the other hand, had his soul stripped of all compassion and moral restraint, leaving only a corrupt, prideful, vicious assassin. He's a Made of Evil Humanoid Abomination.
  • When Sub-Zero is awakened after having his systems knocked offline, it's mentioned in his boot-up interface that higher brain function has been restored, hinting that the Lin Kuei were hampering the brain functions of their cyborg members to prevent rebellion. Now, while it's likely that Cyrax got the same treatment, is it likely they did the same thing with Sektor, considering how eager he seemed to become a cyborg?
    • Yes. You can never be too careful.
    • Well, except that it seems that Sektor is sort of a Control Tower to the other cyborgs.
      • If you look at the cyborgs' battle damage, you can see their brains being exposed with wires placed in them. This is only really noticeable in the Klassic Cyrax and Sektor models however.
  • So wait. At the end of the story, are Johnny and Sonya the last humans left alive on Earth?
    • Of the heroes? Yes. Out of all the denizens of Earthrealm? It's questionable, but highly unlikely. Shao Kahn's invasion was stopped the same day it happened. As great as his forces were, I don't think they could have gotten to everyone in such a short amount of time, especially if his strongest enforcers were dealing with Raiden's chosen. If Stryker, Kabal, and some NYC S.W.A.T. officers could keep Shao Kahn's elite at bay, I'm hard pressed to believe that the rest of the world would have severe trouble with the bottom feeders.
    • Last we saw of Kano, he was okay.
  • Why didn't any of the Earthrealm warriors warn Kung Lao when the emperor got off his throne, walked over and snapped his neck? Unless he teleported, which he's never shown the ability to do, they should have seen it coming with enough time to save him.
    • They probably just didn't think he was going to kill him. After all, its supposed to be a fighting tournament; that was outright murder. If anything it serves as just another example of Elder Jerkass Gods; how the hell can he get away with something like that? Could he just massacre all of the other fighters and just beat the crap out of the weakest in a proper fight, and claim victory?
      • I got the impression that Kung Lao had already won the tournament by beating Kintaro. So outside the tournament he IS free to just murder them all, as we see during the invasion. And I'm not sure the Elder Gods are Jerkasses, they seem more simply very bound by the rules, if there is no real violation they can't act.
  • Why did Raiden attempt an alliance with Quan Chi to save Earthrealm? Quan Chi has been visiably aiding Outworld throughout the two tournaments and Seido or Chaos realms would have been better choices with less extreme payments. Chaos Realm might have even done it for free, they enjoy war and the chaos it brings.
    • He was deperate and, being in charge of defending Earth Realm has not cultivated contacts in those two realms. Simply put, he had no other option. Quan Chi was the only person he knew of who had the power to help him and who would accept what he was offering. Seido would just annex Earthrealm entirely if they decided it was worth the effort, and Chaos is, well, chaotic. They could just as easily fight alongside Outworld as fight against them. If they decided to do so, they might have thought getting involved after Raiden asked for help would be too much order for their liking.
  • In Stryker's chapter, how did Mileena recover so fast from her fight with Stryker? Reptile, Kintaro and Ermac didn't get right back up afterward, and two of them should significantly be more physically capable fo taking said beatings, so how did she do it? Hell, how did she get back up after Raiden blasted her? He's clearly willing to kill Outworld invaders, just look at what happened to Motaro in that same scene, so how did Mileena come out none the worse?
    • Hm. Let's see. Because Raiden only shocked Mileena, while he used the more lethal JOHNNY BOUGHT A CAR on Motaro? So, yeah.
    • Mileena was wearing plot armor and was part of the roster, whereas Motaro wasn't.
  • As per Raiden's desperate plan to ally himself with Quan Chi; not so much the plan itself, but what derails it. When he tries to offer the souls of Earthrealm's fallen in exchange for Quan Chi's help, Quan Chi refuses on merit of Shao Kahn has already made the exact same deal with him. So...how in Netherrealm's name does Shao Kahn have that kind of authority? Raiden is at least feasable, given as he's Earthrealm's guardian and all, but Shao Kahn? He's an invading conqueror whose "say" revolves around his wife being in the realm; HER soul could be said to be under his authority, and MAYBE Kitana's...but that's where it stops. Even if he doesn't technically try to merge the realms until the end, he's still not in any position to be bargaining with souls that aren't from his own realm. How is this allowed?
    • Shao Khan's MO is to steal the souls of the people of a realm, generally when they die, afterward they're his to do as he pleases.
  • How does ANYONE with a tarkatan mouth speak perfect, unmangled English?
  • In the beginning, Johnny Cage seems to know nothing of the supernatural beings. How did he end up at the tournament in the first place? Also, how can a guy who can throw energy balls still have any skepticism left?
    • According to the movie, the best martial artists in the world are invited to the tournament, Cage being one of them, apparently. Or, perhaps he heard of the tournament and decided to attend to test his might against others. As for Cage's skepticism; his ancestry may have given him his Shadow abilities, but that doesn't mean he's spent his entire life around mutants, humanoid lizards, and gods. So, the skepticism makes sense.
  • So it seems that Scorpion's clan and family were around back in the Sengoku era of Japan or thereabouts. But the tournament clearly takes place in modern times. I could accept Scorpion holding a grudge for 400-odd years, but unless Bi-han is immortal that can't be the same Sub-Zero.
    • Bi-Han is Sub-Zero V. If you consider that Cryomancers live longer lives than Earthrealmers on average, it could be well plausible for us to think that Scorpion thought Sub-Zero I (Bi-Han's ancestor) killed his family and clan. But of course he didn't, Quan Chi did under his guise. Even if you consider that Cryomancers don't live much longer lives than humans, there's a possibility that several of Sub-Zero I's descendants did not take the name Sub-Zero.
    • Or, Scorpion's clan just tends to do things old school. They're probably more "traditional" than the more modernized Lin Kuei, reflected by their housing and style of dress. Also, according to official sources, Bi-Han was 32 when he was killed by Scorpion.
    • If so, then Hanzo is actually a modern-generation member of the antiquated Shirai Ryu, just as Bi-Han is a modern-generation member of the modernized Lin Kuei.
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