Who's Helping Shang Tsung? (VIDEO SCRIPT)

Something tells me there’s a movie prequel comic explaining everything I’m about to theorize in this video, which means I technically wasted my time.

But at the same time, not really. Because YOU’RE watching this, giving it either a thumbs up or thumbs down, and commenting that I’m wrong because there’s a comic out. Thus telling YouTube’s algorithm people need to watch this video. So who’s REALLY wasting their time?

_________

Readers, I could say that I was incredibly surprised at how much I enjoyed the 2021 movie reboot of Mortal Kombat. But that would be a lie, because I wasn’t surprised at all at how much I enjoyed this movie

Not only did it give off the feel of early to mid 90’s adventure movies initially aimed at families from my childhood -- like a more GORY version of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie...

/But the very way they handled both the lore and the overall timeline of this new iteration of the Mortal Kombat universe I found to be very interesting/

And when I mean lore, I mean just about EVERYTHING that the movie gave us; the something borrowed that made the transition verbatim, and old stuff that’s the same yet different enough for it to mesh with the “something new”

Speaking of the “something new,” I admit that I was wrong about my theory regarding Lewis Tan’s Cole Young being either the brother of or a descendent of Bi-Han -- aka Sub-Zero.

Like I stated in my previous videos about the Mortal Kombat reboot, the casting director did such a STELLAR job regarding casting just about every Earthrealm originated character in a way that the actors' real-life ethnicities and heritages matched up damn near perfectly. And because Lewis Tan is Chinese-British that would mean he’d be playing an Earthrealm character from the MK roster with a similar Chinese heritage.

/But when it was revealed that Cole Young is a descendant of Hanzo Hasashi -- aka Scorpion -- I had to factor in that there’s a 370 year gap between Raiden finding Hanzo’s infant daughter and Cole Young being born; 400 if you include the events of the movie. To say that the Hasashi bloodline would’ve stayed entirely Japanese during that time frame would DEFINITELY be foolish thinking; ESPECIALLY when you factor in Raiden’s relationship with the Shaolin./

If anything, it was the inclusion of the prophecy regarding the Hasashi bloodline and how the story is molded around it that interested me the most.

/Yes, the inclusion of “arcana” was a pretty nice way of explaining how just about every Kombatant has the special abilities that they wield in the fighting games -- including the ones who originally relied on technology to keep up like Sonya, Jax and Kano./

But the prophecy is so integral to the plot of the Mortal Kombat movie that it even affects how the tournament is played out and handled by Shang Tsung; the film’s antagonist.

Unlike his video game counterpart, this version of the sorcerer has admittedly gone out of his way to find ways to break the rules of Mortal Kombat established by the Elder Gods in order to make sure Outworld was victorious 9 times in a row, and dedicated the pre-game of the tournament to make sure there were no representatives of Earthrealm capable of participating in the tournament when it starts with the same confidence.

/Even Mileena was concerned that the Elder Gods would find out that they were intervening with Earthrealm’s preparation for the tournament/ (If the Elder Gods find out...Leave the Elder Gods to me)

“Leave the Elder Gods to ME.” (blinks rapidly)

Now I don’t know about YOU, but when I heard that sentence come out of his mouth I was all like:

“Oh really? And what you gonna do?”

Then the more I got into the movie, heard this universe’s take on the lore and got exposed to certain things, another sentence left my mouth when I thought about that statement again:

“...Wait. What DID you do?”

/Because considering that this version of Shang Tsung has never honestly won a single one of these Mortal Kombat tournaments for Outworld to save his life -- all while apparently being unnoticed by the Elder Gods as its shown by how he was easily sending Sub-Zero to off its Earthrealm champions ahead of time -- that means somehow he’s avoiding their gaze./

In order to do that, he needs some VERY serious help. And, in the case the thumbnail of this video isn’t enough to tell you who I’m insinuating, I think I know who it is.

But in order to understand the who’s what’s and why’s, we have to actually break down the lore that the movie presents to us before we go into speculation mode regarding content carrying over from the years worth of source material

So as stated before, Shang Tsung is acting as the representative of Outworld for the Mortal Kombat tournament just as Raiden is the representative of Earthrealm.

Outworld is ruled by Shao Khan, who admittedly doesn’t appear in this movie and isn’t referenced by name.

/And while this doesn’t help casual moviegoers get a grasp on who it is that Shang Tsung reports to -- especially given how Liu Kang explains Outworld to Sonya Blade when they’re looking at Shao Khan’s mural in Raiden’s temple.../(Outworld is the enemy)

/Hardcore MK fans know that Shao Khan is a looming presence in this new cinematic take of Mortal Kombat, because one of the individuals Shang Tsung sends to invade Raiden’s temple is Reiko; one of Shao Khan’s generals and victim to Jax’s Fatality/(Yeah, these motherfuckers work).

So it's clear that whatever it is that Shang Tsung is doing in order to win Mortal Kombat tournaments for Shao Khan is efficient enough for him to assume that he doesn’t need to involve himself; he’s in his palace thinking Shang Tsung’s doing fine on his own. And that’s probably why we don’t see him in this movie at all; not even through a magical phone call to give Shang Tsung that hot ass stereotypical “Do Not Fail Me” line.

/What turned out to be just an easter egg in the form of a wall mural may actually hold up as an actual bit of lore that was utilized in the movie, and we have ANOTHER mural to back that up; the mural of Goro the Shokan prince, who is later sent to the home of Cole Young in order to kill him before the love he has for his family finally activates his arcana./

Y’know, before he gets pieced up... In his first fight... AGAIN (pause) Can you tell that I just wanna see MK11 Shiva be sweet as fuck? Can you tell that I want that??

So if the murals in Raiden’s temple are more than just easter eggs, then maybe that ALSO counts for the artifacts in there as well.

/Artifacts like Kitana’s bladed fan and Shinnok’s amulet./

If we take into consideration that the items and displays within Raiden’s Temple -- and even Sonya’s bunker before it, real talk -- are more than just easter eggs cleverly thrown in, then they could also represent one of the 9 tournaments that occurred before the movie that Earthrealm lost. Maybe even before the indoctrination of Mortal Kombat to begin with.

/And one of the first clues we have to the legitimacy of the items being in Raiden’s temple is Mileena/

If that fan is a legit item that Raiden collected from one of the previous Mortal Kombat tournaments, then Mileena’s presence over Kitana’s makes a lot more sense

Because it implies that she was either captured by Outworld for siding with Raiden in one of the previous tournaments by either Shao Khan or Shang Tsung and they decided to make Mileena in response to Kitana’s treachery, or worse; she actually DIED in one of those nine tournaments. And because Shao Khan needs an heir made Mileena to replace her.

/Look how well THAT turned out./

Personally I hope that it's the former that’s happened because I would love to see Kitana make an appearance in this franchise.

And yes, I would prefer if they cast an asian actress to play the role, considering the lack of representation that was present in the movie. Especially if they get an asian actress that shares facial resemblance to Sisi Stringer to show where Mileena’s Edenian DNA came from. But I’m also prepared for the latter decision of her being dead to end up being canon.

So if Kitana’s bladed fan is supposed to be a piece in memoriam to either a captured or a FALLEN Kitana, then the same can be said of the other major item in the hallway; Shinnok’s amulet

For those unaware, Shinnok is a fallen Elder God. He has a constant desire to rule Earthrealm and created the same amulet we see in Raiden’s temple in order to do it.

/Think of the amulet as like...the Mortal Kombat equivalent of The One Ring; while anyone can TRY to control it in order to use its power, the user will become corrupt and end up a slave to it because it was only truly meant to be wielded by Shinnok/

/Kinda makes Kano’s snide remark to Raiden when they first meet kinda smart, in retrospect/(Okay Gandalf)

As a matter of fact, it was Raiden who was responsible for defeating Shinnok in the games; both in the original timeline and the JJ Abrams-styled reboot that began with Mortal Kombat 9.

The only difference is that in the pre MK9 timeline Raiden banished Shinnok to the Netherrealm...

/And in the new timeline he strips Shinnok of his powers and allows himself to be corrupted by the amulet, presenting the new revenant rulers of the Netherrealm Kitana and Liu Kang with his decapitated -- yet still living -- head in a very “fuck around and find out” move./

So given that this is the history of Shinnok and that his amulet is in Raiden’s temple for a reason outside of it being an easter egg, that tells us that Shinnok and Raiden have come to blows before in this movie version of the Mortal Kombat universe.

And since its on display and not on his person like in the MK9 timeline, then “process of elimination” would tell us that the movie version of how Raiden took care of him might reflect how Raiden dealt with him in the original timeline, if not adjusted to fit the way we know the world to be like according to this movie.

/And according to this movie, Shang Tsung plays dirty. He doesn’t wait until the actual tournament to put things in his favor and declare Outworld the winner, he kills the champions of Earthrealm ahead of time so that there aren’t any to represent them and can be declared the winner by default. And during his conversation with Mileena, he blatantly admitted to cheating in order to win the other 9 tournaments in a row in a way that kept the Elder Gods from interfering./

So how would Shang Tsung -- a sorcerer from Outworld -- know how to keep the involvement of the Elder Gods to a minimum both before AND during 9 going on 10 Mortal Kombat tournaments in a row, unless he learned how to do so from an Elder God first hand? An Elder God currently banished to only exist in the Netherrealm?

/An Elder God named Shinnok?/

Now I know what you Mortal Kombat stans are thinking:

“But La’Ron, Shang Tsung isn’t normally associated with Shinnok. It’s the OTHER sorcerer ACTUALLY from the Netherrealm Quan Chi.”

Yes, that is correct. In the VIDEO GAME. But this is a MOVIE trying to become a film franchise. And if they can save money trying to only focus on ONE otherworldly sorcerer, then they are gonna do what they can to incorporate aspects of Quan Chi into the character they already introduced.

And the proof of that is in how the movie displayed the rivalry between the Lin Kwei and Shirai Ryu.

Unlike the manipulation that was used to instigate it, Scorpion and Sub-Zero’s beef in this movie was literally spawned by rivalry and Hanzo turned into a revenant due to sheer spite and revenge alone; no involvement from Quan Chi whatsoever.

/And unless the sequel explains that he had a hand in transforming Hanzo’s soul into a revenant after he died -- which I doubt, because Raiden’s explanation of Hanzo’s transformation was pretty much Quan Chi free and it took the blood of Cole Young in order to summon him to Earthrealm to fight Sub-Zero, which is a failsafe in controlling Scorpion that Quan Chi would NEVER allow -- I don’t think his involvement in this version of the Mortal Kombat universe is going to be a thing./

If anything, It’s just like what I assumed would happen back when I thought Lewis Tan’s Cole Young was associated with the Lin Kuei as opposed to the Shirai Ryu; the roles usually associated with Quan Chi will be added to Shang Tsung in order to keep the character count at a reasonable number

We know this because meddling in the machinations of the rivalry between Lin Kuei and Shirai Ryu in ways that favor Outworld is usually a task for Quan Chi in the video games.

/But with the exclusive plotline of the prophecy regarding Earthrealm’s champions being united by a descendant of the Hasashi bloodline, it's clear that Shang Tsung has taken on that responsibility from Quan Chi’s character 16 minutes into the movie the moment its revealed Bi-Han -- now Sub-Zero -- is working for him./

So if Shang Tsung is taking over Quan Chi’s duties regarding making sure the Lin Kwei and Shirai Ryu rivalries are in Outworld’s favor, why not give him Quan Chi’s association with Shinnok? After all it was Quan Chi that helped Shinnok take over the Netherrealm in exchange for power, and even tried to double-cross Shinnok by making a fake version of his amulet to return to him while keeping the actual one for himself; all choices that from what we’ve seen of this version of Shang Tsung are ones he would make and actually be believable.

So what I think is happening is that Shang Tsung has won 9 of the Mortal Kombat tournaments in a row for Outworld, because he found a way of communicating with Shinnok in the Netherrealm.

The two of them struck a deal; Shinnok helps Shang Tsung avoid the eyes of the Elder Gods in order to win the Mortal Kombat tournaments necessary to invade Earthrealm, and in return he would retrieve his amulet from Raiden once Earthrealm is claimed for Shao Khan so that he could break free of the Netherrealm and have his revenge.

But the moment he achieves this, he’s going to attempt to double-cross Shinnok and keep the amulet for himself in order to overthrow Shao Khan and rule the universe, not knowing that the only person who can TRULY control the power inside the amulet is Shinnok himself.

Now I do want to state that all of this is just speculation and theory based on what is presented in the movie and prior knowledge of the lore presented in the Mortal Kombat games. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that I could, in fact, be wrong about the majority of the shit that just came out of my mouth. ESPECIALLY if the story going forward proves otherwise with the four sequels Warner Brothers wants for it if this one does well

And as my prediction regarding the true identity of Cole Young has proven, sometimes I’m okay with the fact that I’m wrong. Happy, even.

/Because despite what people may think about the movie, 2021’s Mortal Kombat has a lot of potential to be the franchise vehicle the IP has always tried to be moving forward/

A lot better than what I assumed that sequel to the original movie was that doesn’t exist, THAT’S for sure.

But, I digress Readers. Your homework assignment for the day:

Write in the comment section below how YOU think Shang Tsung is getting away with cheating in the Mortal Kombat tournaments in the universe of the 2021 film reboot

Or, if you feel like sharing with the rest of the class, what you thought about the movie if you’ve seen it.

Whichever you decide to answer, I’d LOVE to know your thoughts.