I kinda like some of the mystery surrounding the characters like Kung Lao, and Scorpion.

It's strange.
The more I look closer at the characters, the less interesting I think they are.

the MK2 hidden characters -
For a long time, we were clueless as to who or what Jade, Smoke, and Noob Saibot were. NOW, however......we know that Jade was serving under Shao Kahn as an assassin for him, but also had to work with Mileena to make sure Kitana didn't try anything funny. Noob Saibot was spying on the events of MK2 to keep up with events in preparation for Shinnok's own invasion. But we STILL have no frickin' clue what Smoke was doing there. They didn't even say anything in Shaolin Monks as to what Smoke's purpose was. What exactly was he doing?

Meat is a "Bloody Skeleton" (from Shaolin Monks), so we know there are more of his kind out there thanks to Shaolin Monks. I think some background on him would be necessary. One thing about MK - all joke characters eventually become their own entity.

Chameleon was probably also a joke character just to fill up space, but seriously.....why didn't they just put Khameleon in the PS version? Why did they bother to put this dude in? He HAD to have had a purpose. All characters, in the end, have SOME purpose.

I'd like the names of the Gods of Earth, Water, and Fire already.

No Face, Tasia, and Tremor need to return. I'd like to know more about them. Gemini should be referenced again.....she and Jax had an interesting relationship. Fuck, the entire Special Forces game should be remade into what it truly should have been. It should have been to the Special Forces / Black Dragon storyline what Mythologies was to the Sub-Zero / Scorpion thing.

Some more background on the villains would be cool. In a way, I think every classic character should get his / her own game. By that, I mean only the guys from MK1 and MK2.

Oh fuck it. They should just release an MK sourcebook - one that tells every single tidbit of every single faction and character in the universe.

^Looks like you're one of the few who considers Shaolin Monks canon...

It's possible to piece it together.

It's just many of you don't feel like it.......which is understandable, I guess.

Not that I don't feel like it....I just refuse to.


I think some mystery is good, but there are some unanswered questions about certain characters I'd like to see addressed....

Jade- All we really know for certain about her is she was once a Shao Kahn assassin and has been friends with Kitana since childhood. What happened to her family? How much did she know about Edenia? Did she even know about Edenia and if so, why didn't she tell Kitana? Does she have a history with Tanya and if so, what?

Smoke- What's his deal? Like Jade, aside from being a Lin Kuei assassin and Sub-Zero's friend, we know nothing about him.

Shao Kahn- What is he? Where did he come from? How much like Raiden was he? Why is he so evil? Why his sympathy for Kitana?

Sareena- What's her deal? Has she always been a Demon, or was she once human? How did she become one of Quan Chi's assassins? Is there good in her, and if so, how can that be if she's a Demon? Does she have a connection or relationship to Ashrah? Was Ashrah one of the things that made Sareena want to escape the Netherealm? Does she really have a connection to Reiko and if so, what?

speaking of which...
Reiko- Who the hell is he really? If he served Shao Kahn, how did he end up in Shinnok's service? Does he have a connection to Sareena? Where does his loyalty really lie?

Kitana- How did she learn the truth about her real parents and Edenia? Was it something she learned all at once or did she learn a little bit at a time? Some more detail on her life when she was still loyal to Kahn would be cool, too. Mileena too, for that matter.

There's also unanswered questions about Tanya, Quan Chi, Rain, and quite a few others. However, there are some characters I think more background on could possibly hurt their story or character.

Shao Kahn sympathizes with Kitana? EDIT: ADD - Well, I think it's more that he wants to earn Sindel's love (remember - I dunno if the MK team forgot about this or not, but Shao Kahn was in love (or psychotically obsessed) with Sindel. He knows Kitana is important to Sindel so he has to find a way to handle her carefully - maybe kill her without Sindel knowing or keeping her under him, therefore having Sindel under him as well. It would explain why he had Kitana under his influence, or eventually planned on offing her and passing off Mileena as his daughter. He wants Sindel, so he's gotta handle Kitana carefully. He can't just off her like nothing. I really hope the MK team hasn't forgotten that tidbit. It adds depth to Kahn.

Think about it....Kahn conquers Edenia and finds the infant child of the king he just murdered. Now granted, maybe at first he only kept Kitana alive so Sindel would be his bride....but after Sindel kills herself, Kahn not only keeps this child alive, but decides to raise her as his own. AND have her trained to be one of his personal assassins.
Is it just because Kahn's that big an asshole? I'm not sure...it seems like more trouble than it would be worth, IMO. Or did Kahn truly care about Kitana in some way? OR...maybe Kitana is or was in some way important to Kahn and his plans.
I want to know what that deal is.

I don't buy the "He needed to the princess alive to have a legitimate claim the throne" theory at all. He conquered Edenia through Mortal Kombat fair and square....that's legitimite enough.

So many of them could do with one and the majority have already been named.

Jade really does need one. Heck, she needs a new story altogether.

Shao Kahn needs one. Of everyone, he's probably the one chracter with the most history unknown. However, some of it is coming to light slowly as time goes by. MKD did reveal his past connection with Onaga and how he took Outworld.

Smoke, Cyrax and Sektor could use some to go with their Lin Kuei days.

Liu Kang needs some just for the sake of development.

Sonya and Kung Lao's own backstories would be nice to see. We don't know a good deal about their pasts or families or what they used to do. That being said, the same could be said of Jax.

Others who need background are Tanya, Kai, Reiko, Fujin and some of the other forgotten warriors.

Nitara could use some, though the stuff we did learn about her in DA was interesting. I'm sure that when she returns along with Fujin and some others, that we'll learn more and more.

I also hope they manage to elaborate more on the likes of Ashrah and Sareena. Their backstories with Quan Chi and possibly one another would be nice to know.

Haviks backstory would be fun to read. A history of chaos invlving him would own.

It's funny how the most developed character in terms of story is somewhat one of the most hated, even if it were poorly done. His name, Shujinko.

I don't think it's possible to piece all of MKSM's story together to make it logical, but that's just how I feel.

Anyway, I think that every one of the MK characters needs some backstory. Sure, the Older Sub-Zero got his own game, but I would still like to see more backstory for him with things such as his relationship with his brother and their days as Lin Kuei warrior assassins. I'd like to also know what happened to the mother and sister. Another thing I'm curious about is, why did the Older Sub-Zero spare Sareena?

I have to agree with everyone else who brought up characters like Shao Kahn, Reiko, Quan Chi, Jade, etc.

We know that Shao Kahn is indeed a native of Outworld yet we don't know what kind of species he originates from. Is he from a particular race or is he some sort of hybrid of different races?

MKD's Konquest reveals somewhere that Quan Chi was once an Oni. How long has he been around? How exactly did learning sorcery change him from an Oni to a more humanoid type entity?

Reiko's bio states that he was one of Shinnok's generals who led the forces into battle against the Elder Gods. Is this referring to the war that happened long ago or is it referring to MK4's timeline? In Shinnok's ending, Shinnok says that he suffered for millions of years in the Netherrealm. If Reiko's bio is referring to the war that happened a long time ago, does this make Reiko millions of years old? Where's Reiko from and what kind of being is he? How did he get to serving Shinnok and Shao Kahn? What are his relationships like with them as well as the members of the Brotherhood of Shadow?

What did Shang Tsung do to piss off the gods? How did Shang Tsung learn sorcery? Is he from Earthrealm or Outworld? Is he a human or is he a demon with a human form? How did he get to serving Shao Kahn? How long has Shang Tsung been around?

I think it would be good to see an insight into Scorpion's training days as a Shirai Ryu ninja. I wonder if his child was a boy or a girl. If he did train as a ninja, did he also learn Ninpo? Did he believe in Ninpo? What is the origin behind his roped kunai technique?

Sektor, Cyrax, and Smoke are pretty ambigious characters as well and I think out of those 3, I feel that Cyrax is the most ambigious one. We know Sektor was very loyal to the Lin Kuei and that Smoke was a friend and ally to Sub-Zero as well as one of the top Lin Kuei warriors. However, we don't really know anything about Cyrax when it comes to his days as a Lin Kuei. Where do these 3 come from? Were their fathers Lin Kuei warriors who raised them in the temple or were they like Sub-Zero in that they were taken from their families and stripped of their past? How did Smoke obtain his smoky powers? Did Sektor and Cyrax have powers? If so, what were they?

Well, that's about all I'm going to put for now.

Johnny Cage- OK, he had his motivations for entering MK1, he was using the tournament to prove he's a real fighter. And since he survived that tournament, he's obviously a threat to Shao Kahn, so was chosen to compete in MK". But what about after this? What keeps him coming back to MK other than the fact that he's a human who can fight? And WHAT was he doing during his now retconned death and ressurection, which took up the time between MKT and MKG?

Jade- Like people have said, we don't really know a lot about her beyond the fact that she's Kitana's best friend and that she worked for Kahn. What was she before Kahn invaded Edenia? Did she work for Kahn out of choice or something else? What, if anything, is her connection to Tanya (though no need to bring Tanya herself back). I'd like to see some of these questions answered, as Jade is a potentially very interesting character.

There are other characters who need more developed backstories, and I might post more later.

Tanya-we know nothing about her other than the fact that she was a traitor to Edenia. Who were in her family? Why did she betray Edenia? We want to know these things.

I'm a very inquisitive person, and I love to speculate for hours about characters motivations and histories. I write Fan Fiction, and I have a good few theories on almost every character. Theorising back story for the more obscure characters, particularly those from Outworld, where the supernatural runs wild and where all kinds of weird stuff can happen, is one of my favourite past times.

However, if Midway ever released a "Source Book" or did its best to give every character a complete backstory then I would probably die. I wouldn't be able to speculate anymore, or write Fan Fiction. I couldn't decide to write these characters the way I want to, the way I feel they make sense. And to be fair, the way Midway is handling most characters these days, the official back story of these characters would be completely shallow, boring, stale, cliche and all manner of other words to stress the fact that they would be crap.

For the sake of MK Fan Fiction, and for my own personal mental well-being, I ask that Midway look to the future, and let us fans handle the past. If you want characters to have backstory then take what you know about them and create your own. Its a worthwhile endeavour let me tell you.

Shang Tsung needs a backstory. Many people have had idea's of who he is. I, for one always thought he was a once from earthrealm and lost a Mortal Kombat tournament. I'd like that to be cleared up.

I could probably say that ALL characters need backstories. The ones I would really like to see:

Shang Tsung
Shao Kahn
Sonya/Johnny Cage
Mileena/Baraka
Kitana/Liu Kang

etc.