Watch that video though, he was treated like shit the entire time. Also, in that video he points out that it is implied he killed Goro meaning that they fought again and he killed him. Meaning he has beaten Goro twice. Why does Kotal have to have his many many flaws shown in the spotlight when Kitana instantly unites outworld and can inexplicably beat Shao Kahn? I think it is pretty egregious the way Kotal is treated, even career jobbers are treated with more respect. Erron Black, Reptile, Baraka, etc are always getting their shit kicked in but they are never propped up to be competent, or get completely man handled and embarrassed, being decapitated off screen, and finally his own people that he took care of cheering over his execution in seconds afterwards. He wasn't even on the boat in the main game, they only brought him in Aftermath because they wouldn't dare decapitate Kitana, Liu, Cage, or Sonya.
I rarely bother with random YouTube videos since they rarely ever get facts straight, and tend to push opinions as facts instead. I prefer to look at and examine the actual source material instead. In this case, that's the Story Modes for the games and the first party comics
only.
Kotal wasn't though. He was routinely good at making bad decisions and this often cost him and created repercussions for his actions. He also placed himself in a position of power with his little coup, a position he ultimately was
not well suited for.
That's one example of the video being wrong. Kotal did not kill Goro in the official story canon. He cut his arms off only, which Goro survived.
Kitana is, and always has been, a better leader than Kotal. She was a strong leader in the original timeline, and she worked well with most the protagonists and was more compassionate, creating trust, in this timeline. Kotal's first act of leadership was to rule a primitive Earthrealm aztec culture as a false god, and they all died due to his ignorance. He didn't do that on purpose mind you, but it's the start of his troubles as a leader due to poor decision making, and he continues to do this throughout his life. It's a character flaw, and certainly not an unrealistic one.
I do agree Kitana defeating Shao Kahn in single combat is a stretch.
Those "jobbers" are competent, they simply never had the power lust that Kotal did and thus were never in the position that
Kotal placed himself in.
His own warriors cheering for Shao was indeed odd, though they would have died otherwise and they did capitulate to Shao when Kotal was captured in the Tarkatan Camp. Considering how well the Osh-Tek were fairing against the Tarkata during Mileena's rebellion, they didn't seem near as tough as Shao's typical forces. Outworld also seems to thrive off of the "might makes right" mentality regardless of who is in charge, so that may have something to do with it as well.
Kotal was on Charon's ship in "Aftermath" because his back was healed enough at the time. We don't even know if he was placed in the Soul Chamber in the main game's timeline before alterations happened, and his back was the reason he was absent. Sindel wanted to make an example of Kitana, Liu had his legs shattered (and then we don't know his fate after that), Cage and Sonya are sent to be breeding stock for the rest of their lives.
You ask me, it's Cage and Sonya that got the shit end of the stick there. Forced to have children who would be raised to fight and die for sport...
Let's look at another character closely related to Kotal's story and development: Mileena. She was slapped around through the two games she was in, never had a single onscreen victory because she's a non-playable antagonist, and her own impulsiveness and instability constantly created her own problems and led to her own downfall. She's executed as well, and eaten out from the inside by carnivorous insects! She's also the legit heir of the Outworld throne, and lost that, and was defeated by someone lesser in power and status than Shao.
She has excellent character development in the comics, but is used and played by Reiko and then enslaved by Havik, only to be deserted by Ermac a second time!
By your statements, and given the similarities between the character's story arcs, Mileena also got "shit on" the entire time, in many instances worse than Kotal. She's also an extremely popular character, yet no one seems to be freaking out story-wise for her. It's just the way story telling goes when they have so many characters to focus on.
Kotal was never a main character of the Story, he was a supporting character (as was Mileena). He had some solid screen time, some good character development with realistic character flaws, and he did some pretty cool things during the story. He is one of the coolest of the new characters, he simply isn't up there with Chosen One status.
We'll ultimately find out if I'm right in x amount of years.
