Is Kotal Kahn the most humiliated character? (spoilers)

[Dankster Morgan]

Kung Jin loss isn't as bad as people say imo. His cousin (Lao) beat Shang and Quan Chi 2 v 1, trained by the monks who trained Lao and Liu Kang, and is about the same age as they were when they fought in tournaments. Why not? Sub-Zero loss is excusable too because I'm assuming he got iced off screen in MKX.

However the Sheeva, D'Vorah, Jacqui, and Jade losses are unforgivable.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

It wouldn't have been nearly as bad in Aftermath if EVERYONE was decapitated. Might as well since Liu Kang undoes it anyways, Kotal isn't actually dead or anything. Would have been far more impactful if Kotal, Jade, Kitana, Liu, Cassie, Johnny, and Sonya ALL were decapitated since the game goes out of its way at the end to remind you that Liu Kang can undo it.

 

[BarakaTile]

Maybe one of the non-Kittelsen writers hates him.

Kotal was only cool in the comic where Kittelsen had more control.

 

[Corrupted Shinnok]

Kotal telling Jacqui and Takeda that he would appease Shinnok and bring him their heads before saying that Shinnok is Earthrealm's master... Well done, Kotal! That alone makes you the true Kahn.

 

[Nickolaidas]

I don't think it's a matter of the writers hating Kotal Khan, but rather, a pile of unfortunate happenstance.

His defeat at the hands of Kung Jin is unfortunate, but you're in control of Kung Jin at that point, which means he's in God Mode. He utterly wipes the floor with almost all of Outworld's biggest players - Erron Black, Ferra & Torr, then Kotal Khan. The Kombat Kids could've talked with Kotal Khan and propose an alliance, but the design team needed to give Kung Jin one more battle and Kotal Kahn was it. And instead of wasting precious cutscene time with debates and political ideologies, they went for the easy way out and 'bonded' Kotal Khan to the Kombat Kids though a Kombat-decides-who-will-obey-whom. That way the devs ensure Kotal's cooperation without trouble in the fastest way possible.

And you can easily see how the story needs to accommodate the gameplay need to have fights now and then because when they needed Kotal as an antagonist once more, he immediately disregards his word to Kung Jin and betrays them like he was not honor-bound to them in any way whatsoever. And this is the biggest problem with the MK's story. The devs seem unable to find ways to create a perfect balance between solid storytelling and battles which make sense in terms of narration and power level. Let's not forget the MK9 Cage-Jax battle which was because, em, Cage thought Jax and Sonya were a thing? Or Cyber Sub-Zero taking on both Goro and Kintaro. At the same fucking time.

That said, I have no idea why they killed off Kotal Khan when they left so many Earthrealmers alive. I can feel it in my guts that MK11's story is not done and we're going to see more stuff with it. But I digress.

Point is, in the end the story of MK is a way to make us care about the lore and its characters more, getting to know them a little better. But the nature of the story mode (until Aftermath) to 'force' you to always play four battles with a specific (pair of) character(s) is its undoing. By locking themselves in that number, the devs were forced to make battle scenes which made little sense, both in terms of power levels and in terms of narrative. There is never an explanation given as to why Liu Kang had to fight both Scorpion and Quan Chi in the First Tournament in MK9, other than Shang Tsung being a dick. We have no idea why Sub-Zero effortlessly pummels every single Kombat Kid when one of them annihilates Kotal Khan (does this mean that Sub-Zero could kill Kotal simply by tapping him in the back?). We do not know why Mileena's claim as Khanum is utterly ruined by the word of Reptile in front of just three Tarkatans. We do not know, we do not know, we do not know. Other than the fact they need to make an entire storyline work in two hours, while also accommodating the game's needs to have four battles per character and squeeze in as much narrative as possible within those two hours.

It's a flawed way of storytelling, but it's their only choice as long as the length is so short. That's how I see it, anyway.

 

[EarlyReflections]

Great analysis!
Indeed Kotal is the biggest of jokes, even if the writers have dropped the ball anyway.

He is probably the most well received, interesting and fitting in MK out of all the 11 newcomers since mkx....and that's how they write him. The Irony

Imo his lowest point is where he sold earthrealm and in mk11 he is like" Lord Raiden you went crazy and attacked us". To this day, I don't understand if this os a retcon, intentional, or inconsistent writing.

 

[Morgan the pilgrim]

Kotal was , imo a replacement for shao . Kind of a story telling why shao is as he is . That u cant controle outworld without a iron hand . It seemed like a story where good guy strugles to do what a tyrant did easily. However , they only did it in comic and a little bit in mkx . As far as i can see , he is a jober , no better then a lot of jobers we have already seen. Kinda sad , when the one new character that gets well received is a jobber while other characters ( jaquie for example ) that are not even well created , get protection and plot armors that even onaga cant do shit aggains . I am a big kotal fan , hell i even bought this whole game cuz he was in the roster. But i guess that sometimes u just have to make peace with it . NRS doesnt want him to have any impact , not even in outworld .

 

[Lord Snotty]

Sheeva and Cetrion get a bad rap too, let's be honest.

 

[Juxtapose]

Yeah this got me annoyed. Kotal BODIED Goros Dad, and Goro as well. It's fair that my boy Shao stomped Kotal, because to be fair - Shao is one of the only characters who could do it.

That being said, Kotal is right up there in terms of strength and ability, yet got washed time after time - no way could Sheeva 'restrain' Kotal, but alot of his L's in this game (D'vorah, Jade lol), and MKX (Kung Jin, XD) are just silly. They need to do him better because right now he is almost King jobber himself.

Keep in mind, he bodied Goro by using the super powerful Blood Magic that ultimately corrupted/enslaved people. He did not do it with his normal abilities.

D'Vorah is more cunning than Kotal and knows how to play him.

Jade is his partner newly brought back from the dead, and he loves her. He's not going to go full tilt on her.

Kung Jin is explained well by @Dankster Morgan . It's also possible he held back a bit to since he needed Earthrealm as an ally at that point in the story.

 

[Juxtapose]

Kotal telling Jacqui and Takeda that he would appease Shinnok and bring him their heads before saying that Shinnok is Earthrealm's master... Well done, Kotal! That alone makes you the true Kahn.

Yup. He's an excellent general, but a poor political leader. I think he's a great character, but of the four Kahns we've seen in the reboot trilogy, he's handsdown the worst.

 

[kabelfritz]

The thing is they keep doing Kotal so dirty while they are way over protecting Jacqui. We never fight her once in both stories and she never got her ass kicked by anyone

theyre trying so hard to make that trash character look awesome instead of just admitting she was a kobra-esque failure.

 

[Morgan the pilgrim]

Yup. He's an excellent general, but a poor political leader. I think he's a great character, but of the four Kahns we've seen in the reboot trilogy, he's handsdown the worst.

Which 4 kahns ? Excluding onaga and shao , whos left ? Kitana kahn XD ?? She just got a title cuz of plot armor of a 16 bit . No decsions , no feats , nothing . Her beating shao is as bullshing as anyone losing to barak in story . Remind me if i missed any kahn .

 

[Nickolaidas]

Poor Kotal was even killed in his reveal trailer. You guys remember that?

 

[Pizza]

Poor Kotal was even killed in his reveal trailer. You guys remember that?

It's in the op

 

[Rice]

Baraka Go UP

Kotal Go DOWN

We have new King of Jobbers. Even Reptile looks like a god compared to Kotal Failure.

 

[Juxtapose]

Which 4 kahns ? Excluding onaga and shao , whos left ? Kitana kahn XD ?? She just got a title cuz of plot armor of a 16 bit . No decsions , no feats , nothing . Her beating shao is as bullshing as anyone losing to barak in story . Remind me if i missed any kahn .

In the reboot timeline, we've seen four Kahns:

• Shao
• Mileena
• Kotal
• Kitana

Onaga would technically have ruled Outworld before Shao, but I'm not counting him since, in this timeline, we haven't actually seen the character.

Shao is obviously the most successful Kahn, though of course he rules by strength and brutality. He did make Outworld, and the subsequent Realms he conquered and absorbed, strong under his rule, though the people were obviously oppressed.

Mileena, we actually don't know much about her rule, aside from that she was Kahn for approximately 17 years, was dubbed the "mad" empress, and was rebelled against and overthrown not because of that, but because she refused to ally with Earthrealm against NetherRealm when NetherRealm was assaulting Earthrealm. We saw more of her as a rebel leader attempting to regain her throne.

Kotal's rule is next, and we know he ruled for roughly a dozen years. In that time, he made or broke alliances with Earthrealm when it suited him, committed genocide on the Tarkata, was played by his right hand (D'Vorah), decided to capitulate to Shinnok post-haste, and needed the Kombat Kids to help keep his throne secure from Mileena's rebellion. Oh, and he had a thing for having statues of himself made. His rule was far from impressive. The people of Outworld, mostly, were lease oppressed than under Shao though, which was a plus.

Lastly, we have Kitana's rule, which was very, very short lived, originally because Kronika reset time, and then because of Shang Tsung's interference, she was usurped by Shao and Sindel. During her very short rule, however, she united all the peoples of Outworld under a common cause for good for the first time in its known history, and before Shang's meddling, aided in preventing Kronika from creating her New Era.

I do agree that Kitana defeating Shao in single combat is certainly a stretch.

 

[DeftMonk]

They need to add more jobbers into story mode so characters can at least body someone before they get pwnt. Honestly tho it does suck for Kotal but Shao was looking hella weak in the first story mode which doesn't make any damn sense whatsoever.

 

[Morgan the pilgrim]

In the reboot timeline, we've seen four Kahns:

• Shao
• Mileena
• Kotal
• Kitana

Mileena, we actually don't know much about her rule, aside from that she was Kahn for approximately 17 years, was dubbed the "mad" empress, and was rebelled against and overthrown not because of that, but because she refused to ally with Earthrealm against NetherRealm when NetherRealm was assaulting Earthrealm. We saw more of her as a rebel leader attempting to regain her throne.

Lastly, we have Kitana's rule, which was very, very short lived, originally because Kronika reset time, and then because of Shang Tsung's interference, she was usurped by Shao and Sindel. During her very short rule, however, she united all the peoples of Outworld under a common cause for good for the first time in its known history, and before Shang's meddling, aided in preventing Kronika from creating her New Era.

I do agree that Kitana defeating Shao in single combat is certainly a stretch.

Mileena was overthrows cuz she was a mad empress ... if she wasnt , she wouldnt of been overthrown and kitanas kahn status rests on the shoulders of her defeating shao , which is the crazy enough of a fact on its own .
Additionaly we have no feats or any good knowledge of mileenas rule as kahn to even take it in consideration when comparing it with the rest of the rulers.
Kotal was worst of the kahns but not out of 4 , but out of :
-2 in this timeline
-3 in total (if u count onaga in)

 

[Juxtapose]

Mileena was overthrows cuz she was a mad empress ... if she wasnt , she wouldnt of been overthrown and kitanas kahn status rests on the shoulders of her defeating shao , which is the crazy enough of a fact on its own .
Additionaly we have no feats or any good knowledge of mileenas rule as kahn to even take it in consideration when comparing it with the rest of the rulers.
Kotal was worst of the kahns but not out of 4 , but out of :
-2 in this timeline
-3 in total (if u count onaga in)

No, Kotal was the worst emperor in this timeline; his decision making was routinely poor.

Mileena was called the "Mad Emperess," but it was never explained why and we hardly saw anything of her rule. At the time of her rebellion, she was impulsive, but not insane at all. They actually did some excellent character development with her in the comics.

And she wasn't dethroned because she was "mad," she was dethroned specifically because she wasn't allying with Earthrealm, which would "doom Outworld." That's why Kotal overthrew her, this is stated in-game. And then he goes on to not ally with Earthrealm at that time anyway...

Crazy fact or not, it is fact and it did happen: Kitana defeated Shao Kahn, and Kotal relinquished his title to her.

 

[EarlyReflections]

Imagine if the story was outworld Civil war. Or if crazy Raiden challenged him in a MK tournament.

 

[Darth-Nero]

I think it's a tie between him and Quan Chi.

 

[LeoMK29]

The dlc story just made the base story even worse than it already was imo

 

[Morgan the pilgrim]

Mileena was called the "Mad Emperess," but it was never explained why and we hardly saw anything of her rule. At the time of her rebellion, she was impulsive, but not insane at all. They actually did some excellent character development with her in the comics.

And she wasn't dethroned because she was "mad," she was dethroned specifically because she wasn't allying with Earthrealm, which would "doom Outworld." That's why Kotal overthrew her, this is stated in-game. And then he goes on to not ally with Earthrealm at that time anyway...

Could u maybe finde a link or smtng to confirm that ? As far as i have seen , she was dethroned by kotal after reptile revealed her origin and i think the reason was that she was mad . Kotal didnt ally with earthrealm in mkx at the culmination of the story , in that period mileena was eather dead or a rebel . Also kotal did ally with earth realm in comic , so that story of ''not allying with ER so she got kicked from the throne'' seems even less likely.

 

[Juxtapose]

Imagine if the story was outworld Civil war. Or if crazy Raiden challenged him in a MK tournament.

I loved the concept of the Outworld civil war. It was, in my opinion, much stronger and more interesting than the Shinnok arc.

 

[Juxtapose]

Could u maybe finde a link or smtng to confirm that ? As far as i have seen , she was dethroned by kotal after reptile revealed her origin and i think the reason was that she was mad . Kotal didnt ally with earthrealm in mkx at the culmination of the story , in that period mileena was eather dead or a rebel . Also kotal did ally with earth realm in comic , so that story of ''not allying with ER so she got kicked from the throne'' seems even less likely.

Absolutely. It's the cinematic from D'Vorah's Story Mode in Mortal Kombat X. Link here. It starts just under a minute in.

Listen to Kotal's concerns, and his speech when he addresses Mileena. It's all about the NetherRealm threat and the need to ally with Earthrealm. Reptile goes on to mention her origins, which Mileena refutes as moot since Shao Kahn decreed her his heir (which is true, she actually is the proper heir since he disposed Kitana).

Kotal dismisses her origins and again focuses on the threat to Outworld and Mileena's inability to take practical solutions. They fight, Ermac switches sides, and she and her Tarkata loose.

In terms of allying with Earthrealm here, I mean at this time, when he took over. Kotal was saying that allying with Earthrealm was important to oppose NetherRealm (remember, the NetherRealm War was happening in Earthrealm at this time), yet once he assumed the throne, Kotal Kahn did not make said alliance.

He came to Earthrealm years later, during the comics, to forge an alliance for completely different reasons. And ironically, Earthrealm immediately placed him in chains. Mileena's mistrust of Earthrealm (from an Outworld perspective) was certainly not without merit.