Jaded-Raven Wrote:
I don't think she is.

diirecthit Wrote:
The development she had from MK2-MK3 was greater than MK4-MK9 combined, imo.

oracle Wrote:
Ermac needed a revamp though, Kitana didn't. She was already pretty unique and stand out despite having Jade and Mileena around. Ermac was ninja #9 with the green projectile. He desperately needed more to differentiate him from the Rains and Reptiles.

You're right that most MK characters don't have real depth, they mostly go from one task to the next. In Kitana's case I feel like she does interesting things. Rebelling against Shao Kahn, going on the run, freeing her homeland and saving her mother while convincing her best friend to join her despite growing up loyal to Kahn.

Admittedly MK4 was a weak spot in her story but isn't that true for everyone but Raiden and the characters that debuted in that game?

After that she formed an alliance with Goro and the Shokan and waged war against Shao Kahn while he was weak and when the Deadly Alliance was formed she went with Kung Lao to train with Bo Rai Cho to fight the Deadly Alliance where she was killed by Quan Chi and then resurrected as a minion of the Dragon King all the while being aware of the evil she was doing but helpless to stop it.

I'm sorry but that's interesting. Kitana slays.

SubMan799 Wrote:
where is XD84 when you need him?

XiahouDun Wrote:

What we already know about Kitana:

She's introduced to us as one of Shao Kahn's daughters and personal assassins. During Mortal Kombat 2, she was seen speaking to an Earthrealm warrior and is suspected of treason. We then learn that at some point in her life she discovered that her parents were the true rulers of Outworld and they were killed by Shao Kahn. Ever since learning this, Kitana has vowed to overthrow Kahn and restore her world.

In MK3 Kitana is put on trial in Outworld for killing her "sister" Mileena. She flees to Earth where she plans to find her resurrected mother Sindel and tell her the truth about their past. She apparently succeeds because Sindel turns on Kahn and he is later defeated. Also at some point while all this is happening, she seems to develop a relationship with Liu Kang.

In MK4 Kitana is taken prisoner by Quan Chi when Shinnok invades Edenia. She manages to escape and fights to free her realm from Shinnok's control. Eventually Shinnok is defeated and Edenia is saved. She then negotiates a truce with the Shokan people and forms an alliance with Goro.

In MK:DA, Shao Kahn is severely weakened and Kitana leads the Edenian army to war against Outworld to capitalize on Kahn's weakness and destroy him once and for all. During the war she gets caught up in the battle with the Deadly Alliance.

Kitana was killed while fighting the Deadly Alliance but shortly after her death the Dragon King resurrected her and she is now serving as one of his personal bodyguards.


Let's start by discussing Kitana's childhood and upbringing. Since Kitana is about 10,000 years old and Shao Kahn conquered Edenia 10,000 years ago, he's been a part of her life since she was an infant. Now one would assume that since Kahn for whatever reason decided to not only keep this baby alive, but raise her as his own, he would make it his business to make SURE she grew up loyal to him without any doubt. Also since Sindel commits suicide shortly after Kahn's takeover, his influence on her would go unchecked.
(Course, even if Sindel was alive, it probably wouldn't make much difference. Kahn would probably have kept Kitana out of her reach.)

There isn't much specific detail on Kitana's upbringing, but we can assume based on what we know about Shao Kahn that it wasn't very warm and loving. He probably manipulated her thoughts and feelings so she'd be devoted to him. He probably exploited Sindel's suicide, using it to give Kitana the idea that he was her only family and the only one who cared about her. Considering this state of mind, Kitana would grow up dutiful to her "father" and eager to please him.

Not only is she raised as Kahn's daughter, she is raised to be one of his assassins; so he didn't just raise her to be loyal, he raised her to be a cold-blooded killer. Let's take a moment to imagine what Kitana's training was life. Kitana, who was most likely still a child at this point. The information on Kitana's life as Shao Kahn's assassin is vague, but just how vile and evil Kitana was as an assassin probably depends on how vile and evil you can imagine Shao Kahn encouraged her to be. (Personally, I see her being pretty vicious.)

Kitana lives her life as Shao Kahn's daughter and assassin well enough, until she learns the truth about her past. Now when and how exactly Kitana learns this truth has yet to be revealled. It had to have been fairly recently because, giving Kitana all the credit in the world, just how long do we think she can bullshit loyalty to Shao Kahn? I would say a couple of decades, tops.
(There is belief by some she didn't learn the truth until MK2, which I'll get into later.)

Now when Kitana discovers the truth about her past, it was very likely a rude awakening. Look at this from her perspective: she suddenly discovers that her whole life, family, and everything she's believed in and been fighting for is all a lie. The initial crisis this creates for Kitana is a question of her identity. I think it should go without saying that having your whole identity taken away from you is more than a little traumatic.

Upon discovering this truth, Kitana decides to turn against Shao Kahn and vows to overthrow him and restore Edenia. Now consider this: being Shao Kahn's daughter and assassin is the only life Kitana knows. By turning against him, she's pretty much voluntarilly joining the losing side in Outworld. Why would Kitana choose to risk her life and soul for a lost cause? Three things: guilt, betrayal, and revenge.

Aside from the intial horror her life is a lie, she also had to deal with the fact that all this time she'd been loyally serving the man who killed her parents, conquered her realm, and enslaved her people. Let's take a moment to think about what people, as Shao Kahn's assassin, she's been killing her whole life: people who were trying to overthrow Shao Kahn. Fellow Edenians. All this time Kitana has been killing people for the service of who she believed was her father. She thought what she was doing was "right." So in Kitana's mind, she's been killing people for a lie. So Kitana turing against Shao Kahn is a search for redemption. She wants to make up for the evil she did while she served him.

Then there's revelation that not only is Mileena her clone, but she was intended to be her replacement. Look at this from Kitana's point of view: in spite of years loyal service to Shao Kahn, he was willing to kill her and replace her with a clone. I think this was a major factor in Kitana's decision to turn on Kahn. She finally realized that Kahn doesn't see her as a daughter, he sees her as a weapon. A tool who can be easily replaced by someone/thing who simply looks like her. And think about this: the only reason Kitana is alive is because Shang Tsung couldn't fix Mileena's face. If Mileena didn't turn out ugly, Kitana would have been killed and Mileena would have taken her place.

And there's revenge motivating Kitana as well. Let's think about what Kitana's life might have been like if Shao Kahn had not conquered Edenia. She would've grown up in a peaceful, idyllic kingdom with loving parents who genuninlly cared for her. She could have a perfect life with no fighting or war. But instead, her realm is conquered by this madman who steals her and turns her into a heartless killer. He manipulates her into being his loyal servant and uses her as a weapon. Shao Kahn stole Kitana's life and made her what she is.

So Kitana makes her decision to turn against Kahn, but continues to feign loyalty until she can make a move. This leads to MK2 where she meets Liu Kang of Earthrealm, whom as we know, apparently falls in love with. Why? To Kitana, Liu Kang is really the only ray of hope in her life. She grew up surrounded by evil people and seeing many heroes be murdered. She probably even killed some herself. She lived in a pretty pessimistic life where evil always triumphs. But here comes Liu Kang who defeats Goro and Shang Tsung and later stands up to Shao Kahn against all odds. Liu Kang proves to Kitana that good guys can win and there is hope for freeing Edenia.

During MK2, Kitana secretly contacts Earth's warriors I guess to help them. This is discovered by Mileena who sees this as a golden oppurtunity to prove she is better than Kitana(see Mileena Analysis). I imagine, before she learned the truth about her past, Kitana resented Mileena's presence. Mileena was probably always trying to get Kahn's attention and make Kitana look bad so Kitana probably just saw her as a jealous brat. In MK2 Mileena and Kitana fight, however we never find out how exactly it went down. Most likely Mileena made the first attack and Kitana simply defended herself, however I think Kitana would have at least attempted to reason with Mileena first. After finding out Mileena is just a clone, I think Kitana would realize that Mileena is being used as a pawn and try to convince her to turn on Kahn too. Unfortunatly, any attempt Kitana may have made to convince Mileena to join her failed because as we know, Mileena is killed.

Killing Mileena gives Kitana away to Shao Kahn and she is forced to flee Outworld, which leads into MK3 where Kitana faces new conflicts in the form of Sindel and Jade.

Kitana's conflict with Sindel in MK3 is a testament to her perseverance and determination. Sindel is resurrected evil with no memory of her life and is loyal to Shao Kahn. In spite of the fact that Kitana never knew her mother (and also that since Sindel apparently committed suicide, she effectively abandoned her daughter) Kitana makes it her business to break Sindel free from Kahn's control. Obviously, doing so would help save the world and defeat Kahn, but for Kitana it goes deeper. She doesn't want her mother to be corrupted by Kahn the way she was. And for Kitana, freeing her mother is another way of making up for the terrible things she did while serving Shao Kahn. However, the downside is that since Sindel is evil at this point in time, I doubt she was cooperative. She probably even tried to fight Kitana at some point. If they did fight, it couldn't have been easy for Kitana since she wouldn't want to fight her. In spite of this, Kitana still tries to reach Sindel and make her remember her true past. Ultimately, Kitana's determination succeeds and Sindel regains her memory.
(Interesting how now in Deception their roles have reversed. Guess the question now is will Sindel be as successful as Kitana was?)

Another aspect of Kitana's life which unfortunately has yet to be fully explored is her friendship with Jade. All we really know so far is they've been friends since childhood. As I stated ealier, Kitana most likely did not care for Mileena's presence; so Jade, who was probably the only other child present, becomes something of a surrogate sister. Jade's importance to Kitana would increase after she learns the truth about her past. Everything Kitana believed about her life and family was a lie....except for Jade. Her friendship with Jade may have been the only aspect of Kitana's life that wasn't manufactured and manipulated by Shao Kahn.
(Or was it? Wouldn't that be a twist?)

As we go into MK3, Kitana learns that Jade is one of the assassins sent to capture her. Kitana however, tries to convince Jade to join her. Aside from the obvious fact that they're friends, Kitana has another reason for wanting Jade to join her. Kitana loyally served Shao Kahn for thousands of years and is now turning against him. She's also trying to change and redeem herself into a good person. As much support Kitana may have gotten from Liu Kang and the other Earth fighters, none of them can really understand what she's going through. So she doesn't want to go through it alone.

Fortunately for Kitana, Jade does decide to join her against Shao Kahn. And Jade's friendship reaches another level of importance for Kitana. We don't know how many friends or allies Kitana had while she was loyal to Kahn, but we do know that Jade was apparently the only one to go with her.

Now let's go back to what I mentioned earlier about some believing Kitana didn't learn the truth about her past until MK2. Her MK2 ending implies Kitana learned the truth some time before MK2, however there is still this belief and I want to acknowledge it because while this doesn't really change anything about Kitana's character, it adds a potentially interesting layer to her. Suppose Kitana did in fact only learn the truth about her past during MK2. This would mean that Kitana had to deal with whatever grief or trauma she experienced WHILE fighting off Mileena in MK2 and dealing with all the shit she went through in MK3. If that is indeed the case, it creates an interesting dimension to Kitana's character. Did it come into play is somehow in between the lines? Did she bottle it all up? If so, when did she deal with that trauma? DID she even deal with it? Has she been bottling it all up this whole time?

Kitana only learning the truth during MK2 also adds a potential layer to her relationship with Liu Kang. Perhaps another reason she fell in love with him is because he helped her through her grief? Perhaps it was Liu Kang's presence and support that helped Kitana come to her decision to turn against Shao Kahn and try to turn good?

In the aftermath of MK3, Kitana frees Edenia from Outworld and begins restoring the realm only for it to be invaded by Shinnok which leads us into MK4. Unfortunately, very little happens to Kitana in terms of developement here. She escapes Shinnok's dungeons and fights to free her realm. If nothing else, it adds to her perseverance. Refusing to give up and keeping on fighting despite this setback, which I imagine was frustrating because she'd worked to hard to free Edenia only for it to be invaded by Shinnok.

Kitana is also confronted by Mileena once again. At first it was believed Kitana simply killed her again, but in Deception we have learned that she in actuality had Mileena secretly imprisoned. I think Kitana imprisoning Mileena shows that Kitana does indeed feel some sympathy towards Mileena. She probably put Mileena in prison in the hope that she could possibly be rehabilitaed. If she didn't, then why keep Mileena alive at all?

After MK4, Kitana focuses her attention on Shao Kahn who, as it turns out, is still alive and trying to regain his power in Outworld. She decides to lead a pre-emptive strike into Outworld and also forges an alliance with Goro. During the course of this war, Kitana and Goro apparently become good friends. For Kitana I believe it was because Goro would've helped her adjust to her role as a leader. Remember, she was trained as an assassin, not a general. I think Goro, who was an experienced leader, helped Kitana lead her armies and and was also an influence on her leadership. Since he too is a Prince, he would also understand the pressures of being a leader and royalty and I think that's what Kitana saw in Goro.

In the aftermath of the war, we go into MK:DA, where Kitana learns of the death of Liu Kang and joins in the fight against the Deadly Alliance. Kitana's actions in MK:DA reveal an interesting aspect about Kitana and her apparent search for redemption. I think it's safe to assume that the people of Edenia have accepted her as their princess and have more-or-less forgiven her. Edenia itself is almost practically restored. Yet Kitana insists on continuing to fight these battles herself. She personally leads her armies to war. Despite whatever grief she felt because of Goro's "death," and Liu Kang's death, which had to have been a crushing blow to her, she insists on joining the fight against Quan Chi and Shang Tsung.

So perhaps now, it's more a question of will Kitana ever forgive herself? She's a smart person, and considering her upbringing, not a very optimistic person, so she knows one can't make up for almost 10,000 years of evil in just ten. It seems no matter how much Kitana does, she apparently doesn't believe she's doing enough and keeps pushing herself. Perhaps harder than she should. She's apparently carrying the burden of protecting Edenia entirely on her shoulders, and she doesn't even have to. May it be possible that this was one of the factors that led to Kitana's death at the end of MK:DA? So will Kitana ever forgive herself? Will she ever reach a point where she feels she's done enough? And what if she encounters someone she wronged in the past and refuses to forgive her?

There may be yet another reason Kitana continually pushes herself so hard. For most of her life, she believed she was Shao Kahn's daughter and that was her place. Then that life was taken from her and revealled to be a lie. So she built a new life for herself as the Princess of Edenia. She's probably so determined to fight and protect this new life because she doesn't want to go through that pain again. She had an identity for herself which was shattered, so she's very protective of her new life because she's afraid it may one day shatter, too.

From here we go into Deception where Kitana is turned into one of the Dragon King's bodyguards, which is a bigger deal for Kitana than initially appears. There's often been a question over whether or not Kitana should be considered "evil" when she served Shao Kahn. Some will say "She worked for Shao Kahn, therefore she was evil." Others say she wasn't evil because it wasn't her fault, Shao Kahn just raised her that way and she had no choice.

So now we're left with a question: what is Kitana's true nature? Is Kitana really a good person who just had a screwed up childhood and made a lot of mistakes? Or is she really a cold-blooded killer who's only denying her true nature by trying to be good? What if Kahn hadn't conquered Edenia; would Kitana still grow up to be a warrior? How much of Kitana's killer instincts are in her nature and how much of them were from Shao Kahn? Did Kahn turn Kitana into a killer, or did he simply nurse what was already there?

Which brings us to the Dragon King. Did he simply twist Kitana's mind into being something she's not? Or did he exploit the evil in her soul?


Kitana is one of the true "heroes" of Mortal Kombat. And I think her most defining attribute is her perseverance. Despite her life falling apart once, she picks up the pieces and reforms herself. She changes herself from a cold-blooded killer into a heroic princess and leader. And despite numerous setbacks and tragedies, she continues to fight.

However, a big question for Kitana's future is how much more can she take? She's already lost much. Now under Onaga's control, she's already helped him invade Edenia and imrpison her mother. Suppose she does something else while under his power? Kitana's worked very hard to earn the trust of her people and change herself into a good person and because of the Dragon King, everything she's built can fall to pieces. Not to mention Shao Kahn is still alive and Goro is working for him again.

Going back to her choice to turn against Kahn. Her life as an "evil" person must've been infinitely easier. It must be tempting to just go back to what she was. How much more tragedy can Kitana endure before she just gives up? Is she really just an evil person, deep down inside? After Deception Kitana may be forced to confront these questions and fears.

Thoughts?

JaymzHetfield Wrote:
Don't get me wrong, I love Kitana. She may be my favorite female character of the bunch. Her original storyline with Shao Kahn, Sindel, and Mileena is fantastic, but she's had it since her debut and done very little since then. I don't feel like I "know" more about Kitana than I ever did from the beginning. I have no insight into her emotions aside from the very shallow, father and sister are evil, mother is good! That can be said about pretty much every character because MK is a fighting game and not literature. I don't blame anyone for it, but let's not act like it's high art (I'm not applying that towards you). We just really never get time to get close enough to the characters outside of the bios and endings to call any of them "developed."

oracle Wrote:
I mean I agree, most MK characters don't have real depth. I think i prefaced with that but I already can't remember XD but that doesn't mean that what the characters do isn't interesting or that we don't really know them. Sure getting some insight, some REAL insight into the characters would be great but it's unlikely because of the nature of the game. Still I don't think it's good to be dismissive of the development and characterization we do get shallow as it may be.

Jaded-Raven Wrote:


So you admit that there is development. Then why make this thread?

oracle Wrote:

I mean I agree, most MK characters don't have real depth.

T-rex Wrote:

It's there if you're willing to look for it.

T-rex Wrote:
So it's not real depth unless it's shown in dramatic cutscene with a voiceover narration by Nolan North?

Okay then.

T-rex Wrote:
So it's not real depth unless it's shown in dramatic cutscene with a voiceover narration by Nolan North?

Okay then.

JaymzHetfield Wrote:
Very fair, you're right. The development is relative. That said, I really hope the story mode in MKX can find a way to make the characters complex beyond "good" and "evil". I want to sympathize with Shinnok, I want to be annoyed with Sub-Zero. There's no reason they can't make a mature, evolving story with these characters.

Jaded-Raven Wrote:
The thing about MK characters is that there is room for interpretation, but all in all, it is just fans speculating and theorycrafting. The depth isn't shown, it is made-up by fans.

RazorsEdge701 Wrote:
Rex, did you fuckin' save all of XD's old posts before he erased them?