Jade is to Kitana what Johnny Cage is to Liu Kang. Take it as you will, but I mean it as a positive. Both characters are sidekicks, both have potential, both will sadly probably never realize said potential.

I'm not too worried about them killing Jade off because as we all know, well know, by now, death means diddlysquat in MK. So even if she's dead in this game, she could easily be brought back to life and properly developed in the future.

We didn't see a great deal of Jade in MK9's story mode even though she had her own chapter, but from what we did see she was quick-witted, charismatic, caring and a bad-ass to boot. It would definitely be a shame not to hang on to her. But I don't think they are going to do away with her. Jade's a fan favourite. She'll be back.

If MKX is moddable like MK9 is, the first thing I'm doing is pallette swapping Kitana green with darker skin. I will get my Jade, one way or another.

Interesting post.

Kung Lao and Jax, as uninteresting as they have been for some time now, are at least distinctive enough to stand out on their own, because of physical objects like the hat and the metal arms that instantly make them recognizable, not unlike Scorpion's spear. They both received their own spinoff games (okay, not exactly a positive in Jax's regard, but...).

Jade on the other hand, had the misfortune of starting off as one of three faceless palette swaps who borrowed another character's distinctive weapons. And when UMK3 rolled around, Kitana had her fans, Mileena her sai, and Jade...a giant stick.
True, she's also appeared in far fewer games than all the aforementioned characters so she hasn't really had a chance to develop. I think her best chance to stand out was in the MK9 story mode and her sassy personality was a very nice touch, but in the end she was let down in that department as everything she did was in the name of Kitana. Plus, unfortunately any shred of popularity among casual gamers stems from, of course, her overinflated mammary glands (her MK9 outfit was just as ridiculous as Kitana's).

This is not a bashing of the character, because in the end it all boils down to NRS' inability to further develop these guys, especially the women, because their philosophy continues to be bewbs=sales (with that one exception of you-know-who). It stands out more in Jade's case because she's been around since the 2D days. She needs to detach herself from Kitana more than anything to make an impact but it's painfully obvious that NRS is in no rush to beef her up storywise and regrettably there's only so much time and energy to spread the wealth.

I do agree that there is a double standard, given that the male hidden characters from the old days have also done virtually nothing in terms of storyline. Reptile's a lackey for life, it took 19 years for Smoke to get anything remotely interesting, and without the Bi-Han angle, Noob is totally worthless.

Jade was supposed to shine in mk :deception but Sindel took her spot. Although Jax and Kung Lao were sidekicks for years, they were the protagounists of mk:special forces and deadly alliance respectively.
Jade was much more "expendable" than the other two.
If fan request is strong enough, she 'll be back eventually.

I haven't liked jade since she was a secret character. I did like her design but I never played as her. Story wise, it takes a special kind of dull to make Tanya look interesting. Jade wasn't even a sidekick, she was a babysitter.

That's my biggest issue with the character. I love her flavor and fighting style, but girlfriend has essentially been nothing but Kitana's bff for 20 years. Deception was the closest she ever came to breaking out of that mold somewhat...and she was forced right back into it in MK9.

I just hope that one day NRS breaks her away from the constant link to Kitana and develops her with her own story. She can never step out of Kitana's shadow until NRS wills it. Hell, if they were open to it, I could pitch them a few ideas.

Some good points.

About Kung Lao and Jax getting their own spin-off games: as further proof that Kung Lao's only Liu Kang's sidekick, MK:SM wasn't even his game alone, but theirs. They were together throughout the whole game, and Kung Lao was pretty much riding Liu Kang's coat tails. As for MK:SF, it ended up being the ever-so requested Jax game (sarcasm) only because they inexplicably removed Sonya. Her vendetta against Kano became Jax's. So, it didn't exactly get him out of her shadow.

My point is that if we ever get a Kitana spin-off, Jade will likely be in, and whether playable or not, will still not be anymore or less of a sidekick than these two.

I also don't see what was wrong with giving her a staff as opposed to the other female ninjas' weapons. To me, this is her equivalent of the hat or the metal arms (who btw aren't all that interesting imo).

I have nothing against Jade and I would certainly be ok with her coming back in the next game. I cant bash on her for being a secondary character because there are plenty of characters I like that haven't done anything too notable either.

There is nothing wrong with being an auxilliary character or sidekick. That in itself does not mean anzthing aside from mazbe not being a protagonist.

Even though we all know by now that Jade is out, Boon pretty much hinted/confirmed it on twitter.

Fun Fact: Todaya39;s Mortal Kombat X stream also includes our next character UN-reveal. See who aina39;t making da cut !a10;pic.twitter.com/aV1wo7vm2I

— Ed Boon (@noobde) February 12, 2015

I like jade, bit just let the story unfold

Im sure shell be revived for mk11

I would say that you're limiting the character by calling her a sidekick, I feel that Jade is not necessarily Kitana's sidekick but an overall supporting character to advance the plot, particularly when it involves the fall of Shao Kahn and the re-emergence of Edenia.

From MK2 to MK3 Jade has been under the influence of Shao Kahn but like Kitana, she was not without her skepticism. Imagine being in Jade's shoes during that time, she like Kitana had no memory of Edenia at all, all she knew is that Mileena and Kitana were trained assassins just like her, Jade primarily used stealth and reported information as one of Shao Kahn's recon assassins hence why we see her lurking in the background of the Living Forest.

So during MK2 Kitana in Jade's eyes was acting a bit strange, she would randomly disappear to meet in secret with an Earthrealm warrior, most likely Liu Kang and her suspicion was shared with the likes of Mileena and Shao Kahn. Kahn hired Jade to spy on her, and she had a huge conflict of interest with her loyalties to the empire, and also to her childhood best friend, again remember Edenia wasn't even in Jade's mind at the time.

MK2's arc for Kitana could be told as if it were a detective noir story, there's a huge mystery about her past in which in ended with Kitana learning the truth about her past and then abruptly confronting her envious sister Mileena.

Mileena had intent on basically having Kitana lose favor with the Emprie and in Mileena's best case scenario have her killed so that she can carry out her own agenda with Baraka. Mileena failed and Kitana was the one to land the killing blow resulting in Kitana going rouge and joining the Earthrealm warriors during the events of MK3.

Shao Kahn knew at that point that with Mileena's death his plot was foiled in creating an Outworld princess. With Kitana knowing the truth about the past of her realm and what happened to her parents as well as kingdom he knew he had a serious threat and enemy that he had to eliminate. Enter Jade who was forced to take that task with Reptile accompanying her.

Mk3 was I feel Jade's moment she was tracking every step of Kitana with Reptile and when they confronted her Jade had to make a serious choice, kill her friend or become an outlaw to Outworld just like her, both Jade and Kitana knew nothing outside of Outworld and they were fighting for a losing cause with Earthrealm being destroyed by Kahn's invasion.

So Jade is indeed a capable warrior, who was entrusted with many secretive tasks by Shao Kahn, she holds a strong bond with Kitana so I don't consider her a sidekick at all. When MK3 ended, both Kitana and Jade with the restored queen Sindel worked to restore Edenia and their culture as well as restore the Edenian people who most likely were scattered throughout the wastelands of Outworld.

I listed how awesome Jade was in 2 games, there's still much more I can say about her, but I believe I made my point. It makes perfect sense for Kitana to honor her fallen friend who risked everything because their bond and friendship mattered most to them. Both Kitana and Jade were the last two survivors of a forgotten realm and the two of them discovered their heritage together.

I wouldn't be surprised if NRS uses Jade to build up that mysterious woman in MKX. Could have a whole new character with that.

Jade has always been a favorite of mine so while I am a little bummed she's "dead", I'm not crushed we won't see her in MKX....as Jade anyway. With the heavy fan base she and Kitana have, if the comics don't elaborate on her death, then MKX's story mode will. They're not just going to leave us with "Jade is dead, and Kitana now uses her staff." End of story.

Nah, can't see that happening.


But just like everyone else has said, this is all but permanent. Jade will be back for future installments. And I believe she'll still get a cameo either in the comics or the story mode.

Jade is easily in the top 5 female characters of mortal kombat!
Haters can hate!
Yeah she isn't going to be in the game, but that doesn't make her less of a character.

Literally nobody in mk is safe from not making it into the games with the exception of scorpian and sub zero. Like stop trashing her because she missed one game.

Oh, yeah, I agree wholeheartedly that Kung Lao will always be associated with Liu Kang like Jax with Sonya (re: coattailing). I'm not saying he and Jax getting their own games was justified. Hell, my days as a Jax fangirl immediately ended with those silly metal arms. There's no denying that Kung Lao's hat is very cool, but let's be honest: it's all he has going for him. Take it away and he becomes nothing.

Jade doesn't really have that problem; her issues are intangible. She needs to strike out on her own and be a lone wolf, kind of like Ermac (sure, he's supposedly got Kahn's soul, but he's technically not attached to anyone, and the Kenshi thing is ten years' off in the rearview mirror). Those are my favorite kinds of characters, including that 3D one I'm a fan of who must not be named. Also, she's going to always have that baggage of being among the ten ninja swaps couched into UMK3 at the time when palette swapping became the bane of MK fans' existence. (However, it's Rain who's taken the most abuse in this department, hands down.)
As for Jade's bo staff, I never said there was anything wrong with it, just that it's not a selling point with her to casual gamers as Kitana's fans (arguably the series' most memorable weapon outside of the spear) and Mileena's sais. I just remembered that she even has two weapons to their one. Jade hasn't gotten a fraction of the publicity as either one of them because of her lack of game time and, consequently, storyline, but she's definitely not a blatant character like Skarlet, who has no reason for being in the series whatsoever. I did like how her staff magically telescoped in MK9, but she also used it as a damn stripper pole for no reason other than satiating MK's perpetually-horny-male fanbase. That was just pathetic.
I would like Jade to return in MK11 or 12 or whatnot, but continue to keep her attached to Kitana's hip and I will gladly scream.
(I'm enjoying this conversation, by the way.)

Potential or not, she is a sidekick now, which is not a bad thing, the inclusion of Kung Lao doesn't make it less of a fact. Calling people hypocritical for decisions made by the developers is nonsense. The only chance she really got to start evolving from a mere palette swap was in Deception, and you see how much that game gets unfairly bashed on this board.

I don't really rate a characters worth by their storyline tbh. Especially when the story has been all over the place like MK.

Jade is my favourite character. She got a huge boost in popularity thanks to Deception, but her story has and probably always will be related to Kitana. I honestly don't think NRS like her enough to change that (she always seems to be getting killed in the trailers, Shaolin Monks, got arguably the most gruesome death in MK9 - maybe I'm just over-analysing?).

Having said that, I wouldn't let her role (or lack of) in the story change how I enjoy her moveset, design and badassary. I get what you are saying about Kung Lao and Jax, but the thing is they are more iconic to Mortal Kombat as a whole. Jade is a fairly popular character within the community, but beyond fans of the series she isn't as recognisable.

This so much.

I think the difference with Jade and some of the other MK duos is that she so strongly comes across as less than Kitana.

Jax and Sonya feel like partners. Equals. The only place I've seen people call Jax Sonya's sidekick is here and y'all kind of have a universal dislike of him.

Kung Lao and Liu Kang kind of seem more like partners too. It wasn't until MKSM that made Kung Lao into this annoying tag-along never good enough sidekick and they seem to be making a conscious effort to go back to how he was in the previous timelines.

NRS has always had Jade come across as a accessory. Even in MKD she was there helping Sindel not saving Kitana on her own.

I knew her chances were making were very slim whether main roster or dlc. Cool to see Kitana have her variation though. There is just so few female characters that are actually likeable in this series to begin with. Seeing her just being cast off just for the hell of it. Oh well moving on.

Since when is Jax Sonya's sidekick? He is of a higher rank than Sonya in the Special Forces, she follows HIS orders. Jax has also been in more games than Sonya (the only game he's missed since his debut is Deception, and even then he was added on the updated version Unchained). Jax was also the protagonist of the Special Forces game, not Sonya. Everybody knows MKO hates Jax, but ya'll need to stop with the sidekick BS.

If Jade doesn't come across as an equal to Kitana, it is again because she's made fewer appearances than Kung Lao and Jax. Smoke's had the same problem, hell he got it far worse than Jade in MKD, but I don't believe people want him left out of MKX for it.

@directhit
Again, MK:SF was Jax's game only because they stupidly choose to remove her instead of him.

So what if Jax is her superior officer? That hasn't made much difference storywise, as he was introduced after her so he'll always seem like a second-rate version of Sonya, regardless of his rank. I always wonder what could be done with him storywise that couldn't be done with Sonya.

But I'm no hypocrite, I know Jade's got the same problem, which is pretty much why I find it hypocritical to single her out for being a sidekick. If that's grounds for keeping her dead, then why is Kung Lao back? Oh yeah, popularity. And if Jax returns, it'd be because of NRS' hard on for for him.

I was hoping that Jade would be in MKX instead of Kitana so thay she could progress more. Her and Sindel will probably be back in MK11 while Kitana sits out.

I loved her story in Deception. At the end of Deadly Alliance she got to the battle in time to see everyone dead and Onaga returning. She got back to Edenia to find Sindel captured and Edenia enslaved. She saved Sindel. Then they made their way to Outworld to help Kitana.

Jade is pretty different than Kitana, they just need to capitalize on it. Jade is a stealthy assassin. Im sure we will see Jade again soon.

I just hope they actually use her death to make some character progression with Kitana, and not simply use her death as a 3rd variation for Kitana because they ran out of ideas.