General/Other - Kotal Kahn Is Kotal Khan the "real" ending?

[Jynks]

So I haven't finished every tower but I've done about 1/2 and I think Kotal Khan's ending feels like "the" ending. Remember when there was no story mode and it was just the arcade endings.. and one of those endings would be where the next game carried on... Well Khan's has Mortal Kombat reintroduced by the elder gods.. raiden has gone all feral and basically taken power as Khan himself. Seams like a perfect setup for the next chapter!

 

[Derocus]

Arcade endings are not canon.
The ending leading into the next MK will be the MKX's story ending.

 

[BLACKRENEGADE]

Arcade endings are not canon.
The ending leading into the next MK will be the MKX's story ending.

Didn't you see MKX's ending though? There's a part where Raiden explicitly states that he is now going to seek out other realms that threaten Earthrealm and destroy them completly as an act of detente. This arcade ending actually follows the storyline.

 

[Charybdis]

Arcade endings are not canon.
The ending leading into the next MK will be the MKX's story ending.

This but a lot of the Arcade endings don't actually contradict the story endings, they could actually co exist. I doubt NRS has actually spelt out the story of MK11 for his through the endings but from memory Raiden/Kotal (Raiden Kahn), Kitana, Kung Lao/Kung Jin (saving Lao) and Liu Kang (king of hell) all seem to form a general arc.

And then you have other endings which make sense for world building/canonical/keeping characters around purposes like Jax/Sonya (Jax getting assassinated by Erron thus taking him out of the next few games and giving Jacqui something to do), Scorpion (make him Raiden's lieutenant when Raiden goes Kahn), Mileena (shit ending but they won't get rid of MK's most popular female character), Kenshi/Takeda (Red Dragon vengeance gives them something to do and lets them work in and redeem Daegon), Cassie (tie up Shujinko), Kano (to further the descendants theme in the future), Ermac (Shang absolutely HAS to come back) and Ferra/Torr (possibly the least likely new character to return and explains how their species works) all could be worked into the future story or could even be considered semi-canon pending disproval (namely Cassie's). To illustrate, I'll basically consider something canon if it explains something and isn't explicitly ruled out. Like when Kano and Erron talk about Erron killing Kobra: thats canon to me because it explains where Kobra is in the new timeline. A lot of the above is logical progression and I wouldn't be surprised to see them used either as plot points or 'passive canon'.

The ones that have no chance of being canon or influencing future story are Shinnok, D'Vorah and Quan Chi (for obvious reasons), Erron (because they aren't going to kill off all four of the kids and having Jax take the hit gives his arc an end and lets Jacqui breathe as a character), Cage (because it directly contradicts canon in three different ways, which is kinda impressive) and Reptile (duh). I've started to come up with a rough view of where NRS could go and how to work in MKDA and MKD (considering MKX is a retelling of MK4) but it's purely speculative.

I kinda half expect IGAU2 in 2017, MK V IGAU/MKVDC2 in 2020 and then MK11 to be a full hard reboot in 2023. Hope not though, I desperately want this series to move away from its roster/story comfort zone like its done for the gameplay

 

[Gesture Required Ahead]

As long as Cassie's is absolutely not canon and Shujinko is still alive I'm ok

 

[Charybdis]

As long as Cassie's is absolutely not canon and Shujinko is still alive I'm ok

I hope not cos it'd be a shame to not give Shujinko a fair run, but it'd be easy for NRS to just say "oh Shujinko? Yeah Cassie killed him cos he went all Shang and went insane. Maybe it'll be in a comic at some stage, now how about dat IGAU2 DLC???"

 

[Jynks]

why the cassie hate? I think she si cool.

 

[BLACKRENEGADE]

why the cassie hate? I think she si cool.

Seems not so much Cassie hate, but Shuninko love. Cheers if he makes it to the next game.

 

[MORDECA1]

I agree with the original post.

Kotal's character design and place in the story have both been very popular from what I can tell. His story does make perfect sense in that he actually loses in the story making it flow into the main story mode perfectly. I think it is very safe to say that his ending is official. It is precisely where I think NRS wants the players to feel that the story is left hanging.

 

[Eh SnOwY]

i thought the elder gods were on raidens side

 

[MK Led]

It would be hype AF if the next mk story focused on the Outworld gang as the 'good guys'. I'm tired of seeing mortal kombat tournaments from Earthrealm's perspective anyway.

 

[CJKRattlehead]

i thought the elder gods were on raidens side

sure didn't seem like it in MK9

 

[MORDECA1]

It would be hype AF if the next mk story focused on the Outworld gang as the 'good guys'. I'm tired of seeing mortal kombat tournaments from Earthrealm's perspective anyway.

I agree with this. I feel like I could see KK as a good guy as far as MK goes. Mileena, Kano, Tremor, and Rain as another crew of rival Outworlders plus with Raiden now becoming dark and going on the offensive. It would make a lot of sense from a story arc kind of perspective. You have to play the game as the weaker force conquering impossible odds in games/movies and KK's cadre is the unit with that arc and backround.

 

[Lt. Boxy Angelman]

As long as Ashrah and Cyrax come back for the next one, they can do whatever they please.
I want my robot and my demoness back.

Also: I vote yes on this thread. Kotal looks like he's here to stay.

 

[Jynks]

Yeah.. Khan is really cool, I hope we see more of him.

As long as Ashrah and Cyrax come back for the next one, they can do whatever they please.
I want my robot and my demoness back.

I'd like to see Ashrash for sure.. She is always in my posts during those "what toons would you like to see" type threads.

I also would love to see Scarlet back. I thought she was so awesome, I didn't actually enjoy playing her to much, as I was heavily invested in my mains by the time she came out.. but she was all sorts of cool imo. Back story, moves, fatalities. She was all I love about MK.

 

[NHDR]

He's a good anti-hero. He's brutal and violent while being honorable and fair. I actually really dig the way NRS created him, Cassie, and E. Black.

 

[Lt. Boxy Angelman]

Yeah.. Khan is really cool, I hope we see more of him.



I'd like to see Ashrash for sure.. She is always in my posts during those "what toons would you like to see" type threads.

I also would love to see Scarlet back. I thought she was so awesome, I didn't actually enjoy playing her to much, as I was heavily invested in my mains by the time she came out.. but she was all sorts of cool imo. Back story, moves, fatalities. She was all I love about MK.

If MK11 takes from MKDA and Deception like X did from MK4, I can see her getting a D'Vorah sized amount of play next time around. Someone has to serve as a party of contention for Evil Liu and Kitty in the Netherrealm to keep things interesting, and I'm pretty sure she's THE only one left already in existance who originates there who hasn't either been killed or reduced to a head, with the only possible exception being Drahmin. I get the feeling we won't be seeing Quan or Shinnok returning. Although there is the possibility that the Shang Tsung returns by consuming Ermac ending becomes canon and the four of them all end up butting heads, which could lead to him either causing all three of them problems, or being made right/purified by Ashrah as Ermac was in Deception and sent on a more righteous path.
And that could make things reeeeally interesting if/when they return to Earthrealm, as they'll inevitably end up crossing swords with Kenshi and Takeda (and presumably Taven if we're going by sensible endings here) while they deal with the Red Dragon. Which will lead to an epic self-spiritual confrontation for Kenshi, who'd then have to choose between exacting revenge on the man who took his sight but inadvertantly made him the better version of himself he is...or, having already seen that redemption is possible even for the most fiery of souls through Scorpion, accepting that a renewed, redemption-seeking, and far more powerful Shang Tsung would be much more useful on their side of the fight and is wortg taking the chance on.

I mean, think about all the backstory that goes into Kotal before he became the Kahn. Even Sindel, or Ermac, who were completely different people prior to Shao Kahn...Does anyone know who the hell Shang Tsung was BEFORE he was taken into Shao's service? How do we know he wasn't just the sorcerer's equivalent of a gifted Jedi who was manipulated and overwhelmed by the dark side?
You're going to have more than enough evil, chaotic and self-servingly vicious players to mill through if they rebirthe the 3D MK story next time, neutral anti-heroes too. A face-turned Shang + demoness reborn Ashrah + full blown empirical Kotal = guaranteed fireworks.

 

[MORDECA1]

I actually thought a lot about how it would be cool if they did make Kotal Kahn and his crew protagonists after I beat the story and Raiden & Kotal Kahn's Klassik Tower. It just makes so much sense and he seems to be really popular from a character design point of view.

 

[Reauxbot]

So many great ideas in this thread would just be perfect. Some people however wont like the idea of rhe classics slowly fading out.
Hell some friends didnt appreciate all these new characters and how they replaced some "classics"
But variety always keeps things fresh.
I would definitely love Kotal to be one of the mains.

 

[MORDECA1]

It would be cool to see what they could do with small changes to the Klassic Tower. For example in MK11 if you chose Kotal or one of his crew it would be muthaphuqin Raiden as the Shang Tsung/Shinook role and I'm thinking possible Scorpion as his guardian/sub boss ala Goro (I think it would make sense because Raiden "sentences him to life" and Scorpion is still a demonic badass driven and twisted by revenge and a painful history. And obviously if we selected Cassie it could be Kotal Kahn with Ferra/Torr as the sub-boss; for some it could be Mileena as a boss with Tremor or whatever as the sub-boss; or with other characters the Tower's boss would be Quan Chi with Revenant Lou Kang as the sub-boss (honestly I would love to see Spawn become an official member of the cast in a role like this too).