Character Analysis: Shao Kahn

 

Background

Height: 7’2 | 218 cm

Weight: 400 lbs | 181 kg

Age: Over 10,000 years old

-Emperor of Outworld

-Announcer for Mortal Kombat

Thousands of years ago, Shao Kahn worked as one of the advisors for Onaga, the Dragon King, and ruler of Outworld. Through trickery, Shao Kahn poisoned Onaga and usurped him as Outworld’s ruler. He would maintain his title as ruler for centuries to come, slowly conquering other realms and merging them with Outworld. 

One of these realms was Edenia. After killing its former ruler, Jerrod, Kahn took his wife Sindel as his bride, and turned his daughter Kitana into a personal assassin. With even more power under his control, Kahn looked towards a little place called Earthrealm to take over next. With the Shokan warrior, Goro, as his champion, and the mystic Shang Tsung assisting Kahn, Outworld easily gained 9 victories in the tournament of Mortal Kombat. They only needed one more in order to gain the right for Kahn to merge Earthrealm and Outworld.

But ultimately, the warrior monk Liu Kang defeated Goro and Shang Tsung in the 10th tournament. This defeat set Shao Kahn back a couple hundred years, and after failing to kill the kombatants who took away his 10th tournament win, he was forced to take more drastic measures. Using Shang Tsung’s magic, he revived his deceased ‘wife’ Sindel in Earthrealm. This act bypassed the traditional rules of Mortal Kombat, giving him the right to merge and invade Earthrealm.

In the end, Liu Kang would defeat him again, leaving Shao Kahn’s rule and control over the lands he had conquered fractured. Not one to give up so easily, Kahn created a clone of himself to take his death, and return once he had amassed the forces necessary to regain control over Outworld. Which he did, giving him the chance to march into the events of Armageddon, and take Blaze’s soul and power. Complete conquest was finally Shao Kahn’s to have, and none could stand before him. 

This is where the original timeline ends, because Raiden, in a last ditch effort, decided to send a message to himself in the past in hopes of undoing Kahn’s victory. Much like in the original timeline, Kahn suffered defeat at the hands of Liu Kang, but still ended up invading Earthrealm through a loophole in Mortal Kombat’s tournament rules. But not like the original timeline, Raiden managed to get Shao Kahn to attempt to merge Earthrealm and Outworld when he hadn’t gained 10 tournament wins. 

This breaking of the rules brought judgment from the Elder Gods, who promptly bestowed Raiden the power to kill Shao Kahn. It seemed that the conqueror had died for good. Until the Titaness, Kronika revived him and he attempted to retake control of Outworld by killing its new Kahn, Kotal. Despite an admirable attempt, Shao Kahn was stopped by Kitana before he could execute Kotal, rendering him blind and bound for a life of imprisonment.

But thanks to some intervention from Sindel, who it turned out had willingly betrayed Jerrod all along, Kahn managed to escape and restore himself. Shao Kahn and Sindel allied themselves with Shang Tsung, fighting their way through the battle between Raiden and Kronika’s forces, hoping to gain control over the sands of time themselves. After taking down Kronika’s revenants, victory seemed assured. Until Shang Tsung stole both of their souls, ending Kahn’s conquest (for real this time), and leaving Shang Tsung to be defeated by Firegod Liu Kang, who used Kronika’s hourglass to reset the timeline and bring about a new era of peace.

Where Shao Kahn is in this new timeline, or if he is in it at all, is unknown. But knowing his history, it’s unlikely Earthrealm and the new era of peace Firegod Liu Kang has founded will stay unconquered for long.

Experience

Having fought and conquered for tens of thousands of years, Shao Kahn has become quite skilled.

-Shao Kahn is proficient in both Tai Tzu & Lui Hei.

-While sometimes arrogant, Kahn is capable of strategizing and using trickery to get his way. As shown when he poisoned Onaga to claim the throne of Outworld, and cloned himself to fake his death.

-Kahn had conquered many realms and fought through many battles, both large scale and through Mortal Kombat tournaments, prior to setting his eyes on Earth. This includes Edenia, which he ultimately conquered.

-In the original timeline, Shao Kahn technically succeeded in his plans of taking Blaze’s soul and achieving Armageddon.

-In the rebooted timeline, Kahn still came admirably close to achieving his goal and defeated quite a few kombatants, but was ultimately killed by Raiden when he infringed on the Elder Gods’ rules.

-After being resurrected by Kronika, Shao Kahn managed to defeat Kotal, and would have by all accounts usurped him as ruler of Outworld if not for the intervention of Kitana and other kombatants.

-Despite ultimately being betrayed by Shang Tsung, Kahn and Sindel came very close to achieving their goal in taking Kronika’s hourglass during the events of Aftermath, and defeated most of the notable kombatants on their way to do it.

Arsenal

Wrath Hammer: A colossal hammer Shao Kahn can materialize into his hand whenever he wishes. In Mortal Kombat Mobile it offers several stat boosts, and is capable of bludgeoning most foes to bits.

Spear: A lance either made out of green energy, or emitting it that Kahn can materialize to impale foes up close, and target foes from a distance by chucking it.

Abilities

Beyond superhuman strength, speed, and durability, Shao Kahn has...

Weapon & Construct Creation: Kahn can materialize weapons out of thin air. Typically this is for either his hammer or a spear.

Energy Projection: Kahn can fire green energy projectiles from his hands, shoot lasers from his eyes, create energy shields, and emit the same energy from the weapons he uses.

Soul Stealing: Shao Kahn is capable of freely taking and absorbing the souls of others. These souls can be used to further empower himself. He has stripped millions upon billions of people of their souls in the past.

Minor Telekinesis: Shao Kahn can telekinetically grab and pull opponents towards him.

Power Bestowment: In the comics, Shao Kahn was capable of bestowing part of his power to others. He can just as easily take away this power from whoever is given it. He has similarly given the power of others’ souls to characters in the games. Such as when he gave Shang Tsung’s soul to Sindel.

Portal Creation: When not bound by the rules of Mortal Kombat, Shao Kahn can freely create portals to other realms. 

Moves

Shoulder Charge: Shao Kahn rams his opponent with his shoulder, knocking them back.

Fireball: A green energy projectile used for long range fighting. These blasts can be fired from both Shao Kahn’s hands and his mouth.

Emperor’s Shield: An uppercut that doubles as a reflector by forming a shield that knocks projectiles back at opponents.

Wrath Hammer Attack: Kahn’s hammer immediately appears in his hand and he hits his opponent with an overhead smash. An effective surprise attack if his opponent doesn’t know of his hammer yet.

Hammer Toss: Kahn chucks his hammer at his opponent. ‘

Hammer Swing: Uppercuts his opponent into the air, making them open to juggling.

Merciless Spear: Kahn forms either a physical spear or an energy spear in his hand and chucks it at his opponent, impaling them.

Mystic Choke: Kahn levitates his opponent in the air with his magic, punches them, levitates them back, and punches them again.

Hammer Cut: A sweeping move Kahn performs with his hammer to knock opponents to their feet.

Taunt: Shao Kahn will often taunt opponents. It’s generally not a smart thing to do in the midst of combat, but in Mortal Kombat Deception, it would heal a tiny bit of his health.

X-Rays and Fatalities

It’s Official: Shao Kahn’s X-ray move. After hammering his enemy to the ground, he curbstomps their skull with his foot, lifts them up, and headbutts them.

Double Down: Shao Kahn pries his opponent in half using his bare hands.

Home Run: Shao Kahn throws his opponent into the air, then smashes them to pieces with a hammer swing.

Fore: Shao Kahn smashes his opponent into the ground before knocking their head off with his hammer.

Feats

Strength & Destructive Power

-Can pry apart bodies with ease.

-Can knock foes back dozens of feet with ease. 

-Broke Kotal Kahn’s back.

-Annihilated a pillar. 

-Merged together Earthrealm and Outworld.

Speed & Agility

-Kept up with the other kombatants during Armageddon.

Durability & Survivability

-Withstood a blast from Raiden while he was powered by the Elder Gods.

-Survived having part of his shoulder cut through.

-Survived Liu Kang impaling him (albeit, narrowly). 

Scaling

Who does Shao Kahn scale to?

Shao Kahn should scale above every noteworthy mid-tier in Mortal Kombat on account of numerous victories he’s achieved over said characters, or characters who also scale. This includes Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Johnny Cage, and Goro. When unrestricted by the rules of Mortal Kombat, he should also reasonably scale to top tiers such as Raiden, Fuujin, and Cetrion. He has consistently fought with Raiden, was only taken down by the combined power of the Elder Gods, and like them, is an immortal himself.

Sub-Zero

-Created a large mass of ice (Scorpion’s Revenge, 7:36)

Kintaro

-Survived a large explosion (Mortal Kombat X(II), Issue #7, Page 26)

Johnny Cage

-Ducked a bullet (Mortal Kombat 11)

Quan Chi

-Blocked Raiden’s lightning (Mortal Kombat Deception)

Kabal

-Parried automatic fire (Mortal Kombat 11)

Cetrion

-Swung her arm while comparable in size to Earth (Mortal Kombat 11)

Weaknesses

While powerful, Shao Kahn is also quite arrogant, and tends to taunt a lot in the middle of battle. This can leave him open if he isn’t careful. Despite his impressive feats in manipulating souls himself, he also is vulnerable to soul manipulation himself. As evident in Shang Tsung taking his soul during the events of Aftermath.