Complete List of Animalities in Mortal Kombat
Posted by 2cross2affliction (Brendan Kachel) on Thu 3 Oct 2024 - 20:11 — Edited by Sonious
Ashrah is demon from the Netherrealm (basically Mortal Kombat Hell), but she is attempting to purify her soul with the help of a magic sword and is one of the good guys. Her Animality is an allicorn, meaning we have a My Little Pony reference in Mortal Kombat here.
Baraka the Tarkatan has been around since the second game in the franchise, and is the first non-boss, non-human fighter from the series. Usually a villain, in the rebooted Mortal Kombat 1 universe he's actually a good guy for once, Tarkat now being a disease he's afflicted with. His Animality in Mortal Kombat 3 was as a vulture, but now he's a porcupine who can shoot quills.
Cyrax is a cyborg ninja, but of the cyborg characters in the franchise, is the one most likely to turn good. Male in all previous games, in the new Mortal Kombat 1 timeline, she's female, though the original male version is available as a "Kameo Fighter". Cyrax's new animality is absolutely terrifying as a giant Wasp, though in Mortal Kombat 3 he turned into a shark.
Originally the "red ninja" variant based on a game glitch (his name is short for "error macro"), in game lore, Ermac is the repository of countless souls who, trapped together, fight as one being. Appropriately enough, they take the form of a swarm of locusts for their new Animality, replacing Mortal Kombat 3's frog.
Shao Kahn has usually been the big bad of the Mortal Kombat series, and is also traditionally the one telling the player "Finish them!" or "You suck!", but in the Mortal Kombat 1 universe, he's been downgraded to merely General Shao, though he's still a villain. Though he was playable in certain versions of MK3, he didn't have an Animality there. He did turn into a hydra in the live action movie Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, but if no one wants to count that, fair enough. In MK1, he's a big brown bear.
Geras is the newest character in Mortal Kombat 1, having debuted just last game in Mortal Kombat 11. He was the immortal servant of a time god in that game, but currently has a much less evil master for MK1 in newly created Fire God Liu Kang. His Animality is a hippopotamus.
Havik is cleric of Chaos from the aptly named Chaosrealm. He is missing the bottom half of his face, and frequently tears his own limbs off to attack. He is the main villain of the "Khaos Reigns" story arc DLC for MK1. He transforms into a spotted hyena for his Animality.
Johnny Cage, one of the original fighters, is a Hollywood actor who really does his own stunts. He had a tendency to be killed off for real in the original timeline, before becoming the only major character to not die once in the second timeline. Time will tell how he does in this third timeline. Keeping with his Hollywood roots, Johnny's MK1 Animality is a homage to Jaws. In MK3, however, he was a kangaroo.
Kenshi Takahashi is a former member of the Yakuza who is looking for redemption. He was blinded, but has extra-sensory powers, and wields the sword, Sento, which contains the souls of his ancestors. Likewise, in his Animality, he is joined by the souls of Sento to become not just a wolf, but a pair of wolves.
Kitana is a princess of Outworld, and in MK11 actually finally became its ruler ... for about five minutes before the timeline got rebooted, and in MK1 she's back to princess again. However, this time, her mother and sister are both alive and not evil, so she's got that going for her. Her Animality is as a graceful hummingbird. This is her second transformation as a small, not traditionally aggressive animal, as she became a bunny rabbit in MK3.
Kung Lao was introduced in the second Mortal Kombat game, and has been playing second fiddle to Liu Kang or, in MK1, Raiden ever since. He's best known for his deadly sawblade hat, inspired by the James Bond villain, Oddjob. In MK1, his Animality is a tiger, though in MK3, it was a cheetah. He seems drawn to felines.
Li Mei was introduced in the forgettable 3D games, and had a rather forgettable role in them. Though nominally a good guy, she had a disturbing tendency to betray everyone in her personal story endings. In MK1, however, she is a former Outworld constable who has been disgraced, but remains loyal to the good guys, for once. Her panda Animality is pretty memorable, being the first Fatality involving setting on the victim's head.
Liu Kang is the original hero and Champion of Mortal Kombat. He is actually responsible for the reboot of MK1, as Raiden gave him his powers to reshape the universe in MK11. Originally turning into a Chinese dragon in MK3, the move became a mainstay of Liu Kang's to the point a variation of it is already one of his fatalities in MK1, so he now turns into a phoenix, appropriate for his new role as the man responsible for the world's rebirth.
Mileena began life as a clone of Kitana mixed with Tarkatan, created by Shang Tsung. In the original timeline, she was raised as Kitana's sister, while in the second timeline, the revelation of her existence came later. On one hand, this did somewhat mute the emotional fall out of the two ending up on opposite sides. On the other hand, it solved the plot hole of Kitana apparently never seeing Mileena's face. However, in the MK1 timeline, Mileena and Kitana are sisters, though Mileena is a victim of the Tarkata disease. She retains old Mileena's tendency to devour heads in her Animality as an orchid mantis. In MK3, she was a little stinker as a skunk.
Nitara is another 3D fighter. She is a vampire, and her characterization never really got much more complicated than that. Her choice of Animality is also a bit uninspired. The vampire character with bat wings turns into a bat.
Buckle up, because things are about to get complicated. Okay, Noob Saibot is Bi Han, the original Sub Zero from the first ever Mortal Kombat. According to the sequels, he was killed by Scorpion, and replaced by his younger brother in all subsequent games. However, a black wearing ninja was added to the roster, whose gimmick was that he was accompanied by a shadow warrior. This turned out to be Bi Han, resurrected and evil, usually by Quan Chi. In MK1 however, Bi Han's transformation from Sub Zero into Noob Saibot is different, but also an important part of the "Khaos Reigns" DLC story, so we're not going into that. Suffice it to say, his new Animality is a crocodile, complete with shadow crocodile, which is much scarier than his MK3 Animality, where he turned into an anteater.
Quan Chi is an evil sorceror, and one half of the Deadly Alliance. As said Deadly Alliance killed Liu Kang in another timeline, Quan Chi is one of the few characters Liu Kang doesn't even attempt to turn good in his new universe. His Animality is a skeletal theropod dinosaur, probably meant to be a T. rex, though it looks like there is one too many fingers for that species.
Raiden, originally, was the God of Thunder and Protector of Earthrealm. But, in Mortal Kombat 11, he switched places with Liu Kang, who became God of Fire and Protector of Earthrealm, while Raiden became his Mortal Kombat Champion. Despite being more or less a normal human now, he is still granted electric powers by Liu Kang. Raiden is one of the two characters who did not change Animalities between MK3 and MK1, turning into an electric eel in both.
Rain was originally another ninja palette swap, representing the color purple. His character has evolved into more of a sorceror with water based magic than a ninja, usually ending up on the "bad" side of the "good guy/bad guy" equation. He turned into a much smaller than usual elephant in MK3, but became a much larger than usual pufferfish in MK1.
Reiko is famous for his complete lack of personality, even for a Mortal Kombat 4 debut character, MK4 also being famous for its new fighter's complete lack of personality. MK1 actually finally clarifies what his role even is; he's a very loyal lackey for Shao, either as General or Kahn, but otherwise kind of just muscle. He turns into a ram for his Animality.
The original secret character, who could only be fought under certain circumstances in the original Mortal Kombat. In story, Reptile has always been a lackey to more powerful bad guys, and it is often implied to at least be a little under duress. He finally breaks free in MK1, and breaks good with fellow frequent jobber Baraka. He also gains a very reptilian form in addition to his usual green ninja look, making him the furriest character on the roster by a long shot, if not in the literal sense. This makes up for his new Animality, which really stretches the definition, as he's a Venus flytrap. His MK3 Animality was also weird, as he was a small monkey or ape who doesn't hurt anyone, merely chasing his opponent off.
Things are about to get complicated, part two. Kuai Liang takes the name, fire-based powers, and "Get over here!" of Scorpion in MK1, but in most other timelines, Kuai Liang is the brother of Bi Han, and therefore the second Sub Zero. Hanzo Hasashi, who is usually Scorpion, is implied to be a child in this timeline, and neither person is an undead revenant, as is usually the case with Scorpion. As far as Animalities go, Scorpion is finally a scorpion, which makes sense, though since he wasn't actually part of the starting roster of MK3, Sheeva had already taken scorpion, and when he was added later in expanded re-releases, he infamously got stuck with an egg-laying penguin (which would actually have made more sense for a Sub Zero cosplaying as Scorpion, as in MK1).
Basically, you can copy and paste everything said about Cyrax above here, except Sektor prefers to be a bad guy and is in red, while Cyrax is partial to yellow. She turns into a rhinoceros in MK1, while he turned into a bat for MK3.
The original villain of the original game, Shang Tsung is an evil sorceror with soul-sucking and shape-shifting powers. With Quan Chi, formed half of the Deadly Alliance, and is definitely not Fire God Liu Kang's favorite character, as he is first introduced in a very low spot in Mortal Kombat 1's story. But you can't keep a good villain down for long! Like Raiden, he's had one Animality in both MK1 and MK3. He's a king cobra.
Sindel is Kitana's mother, and Empress of Outworld. In the previous timelines, she was married to Shao Kahn, and it varied wildly between games whether or not she was magically brainwashed into this, or if she was actually evil all along. Whatever the case, in MK1, she's good and definitely not married to General Shao, and is the actual biological mother of Mileena, as well. Her powers include long, prehensile hair and a banshee like sonic scream. She seems to like bugs, as she was the originator of the giant hornet Animality that now belongs to Cyrax, and has upgraded to a giant spider for MK1.
Smoke was the grey ninja variant, with smoke based powers. He became a cyborg in the original timeline, and even replaced Noob Saibot's shadow warrior for a game. In MK1, he is Scorpion and Sub Zero's adopted brother, though only Scorpion really accepts him. In MK1, his Animality is a gorilla. In MK3, he actually had two Animalities. As a human, he was the originator of what is now Baraka's porcupine Animality, and as a cyborg, he became a bull.
Things are about to get complicated, trilogy. Sub Zero in Mortal Kombat 1 is Bi Han. Noob Saibot in Mortal Kombat 1 is also Bi Han. There are two Bi Han's on the roster. No, it doesn't make sense. Anyway, he turns into a woolly mammoth in MK1. In various versions of MK3, you could play as both the Bi Han or Kuai Liang version of Sub Zero, but they both had the same polar bear Animality.
Takeda Takahashi wasn't introduced until the second main timeline, and then he was introduced as Kenshi's son. In this timeline, that wouldn't quite add up, so he became Kenshi's cousin, instead. Either way, he uses whip-like swords to fight crime. He becomes a giant octopus for his Animality.
Tanya was introduced in the 3D days, and her specialty is back-stabbing good guys, and unlike Li Mei, she doesn't wait until her non-canon endings to do it, either. In MK1, Liu Kang actually brags about being able to turn even her good. All it takes is basically having her trained to be a bodyguard for the royal family since birth, and even then it takes a genuine romance with the also newly reformed Mileena to keep her good. Tanya's Animality is a giraffe, which brings back some of the goofy "killer anteater" antics of the original Animalities.
Animalities have returned to Mortal Kombat. Players of the infamous fighting game series can finish a defeated opponent off by transforming into an animal and brutally mauling them death for the first time since 1995's Mortal Kombat 3 with the "Khaos Reigns" update to Mortal Kombat 1.
So, what follows is a list of every Mortal Kombatant's fursonas, basically, from Mortal Kombat 1. Two warnings: In explaining different characters roles, there may be spoilers for the games, and also, extreme, over the top violence and gore is the point of Animalities.
Ashrah
Ashrah is demon from the Netherrealm (basically Mortal Kombat Hell), but she is attempting to purify her soul with the help of a magic sword and is one of the good guys. Her Animality is an allicorn, meaning we have a My Little Pony reference in Mortal Kombat here.
Baraka
Baraka the Tarkatan has been around since the second game in the franchise, and is the first non-boss, non-human fighter from the series. Usually a villain, in the rebooted Mortal Kombat 1 universe he's actually a good guy for once, Tarkat now being a disease he's afflicted with. His Animality in Mortal Kombat 3 was as a vulture, but now he's a porcupine who can shoot quills.
Cyrax
Cyrax is a cyborg ninja, but of the cyborg characters in the franchise, is the one most likely to turn good. Male in all previous games, in the new Mortal Kombat 1 timeline, she's female, though the original male version is available as a "Kameo Fighter". Cyrax's new animality is absolutely terrifying as a giant Wasp, though in Mortal Kombat 3 he turned into a shark.
Ermac
Originally the "red ninja" variant based on a game glitch (his name is short for "error macro"), in game lore, Ermac is the repository of countless souls who, trapped together, fight as one being. Appropriately enough, they take the form of a swarm of locusts for their new Animality, replacing Mortal Kombat 3's frog.
General Shao
Shao Kahn has usually been the big bad of the Mortal Kombat series, and is also traditionally the one telling the player "Finish them!" or "You suck!", but in the Mortal Kombat 1 universe, he's been downgraded to merely General Shao, though he's still a villain. Though he was playable in certain versions of MK3, he didn't have an Animality there. He did turn into a hydra in the live action movie Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, but if no one wants to count that, fair enough. In MK1, he's a big brown bear.
Geras
Geras is the newest character in Mortal Kombat 1, having debuted just last game in Mortal Kombat 11. He was the immortal servant of a time god in that game, but currently has a much less evil master for MK1 in newly created Fire God Liu Kang. His Animality is a hippopotamus.
Havik
Havik is cleric of Chaos from the aptly named Chaosrealm. He is missing the bottom half of his face, and frequently tears his own limbs off to attack. He is the main villain of the "Khaos Reigns" story arc DLC for MK1. He transforms into a spotted hyena for his Animality.
Johnny Cage
Johnny Cage, one of the original fighters, is a Hollywood actor who really does his own stunts. He had a tendency to be killed off for real in the original timeline, before becoming the only major character to not die once in the second timeline. Time will tell how he does in this third timeline. Keeping with his Hollywood roots, Johnny's MK1 Animality is a homage to Jaws. In MK3, however, he was a kangaroo.
Kenshi
Kenshi Takahashi is a former member of the Yakuza who is looking for redemption. He was blinded, but has extra-sensory powers, and wields the sword, Sento, which contains the souls of his ancestors. Likewise, in his Animality, he is joined by the souls of Sento to become not just a wolf, but a pair of wolves.
Kitana
Kitana is a princess of Outworld, and in MK11 actually finally became its ruler ... for about five minutes before the timeline got rebooted, and in MK1 she's back to princess again. However, this time, her mother and sister are both alive and not evil, so she's got that going for her. Her Animality is as a graceful hummingbird. This is her second transformation as a small, not traditionally aggressive animal, as she became a bunny rabbit in MK3.
Kung Lao
Kung Lao was introduced in the second Mortal Kombat game, and has been playing second fiddle to Liu Kang or, in MK1, Raiden ever since. He's best known for his deadly sawblade hat, inspired by the James Bond villain, Oddjob. In MK1, his Animality is a tiger, though in MK3, it was a cheetah. He seems drawn to felines.
Li Mei
Li Mei was introduced in the forgettable 3D games, and had a rather forgettable role in them. Though nominally a good guy, she had a disturbing tendency to betray everyone in her personal story endings. In MK1, however, she is a former Outworld constable who has been disgraced, but remains loyal to the good guys, for once. Her panda Animality is pretty memorable, being the first Fatality involving setting on the victim's head.
Liu Kang
Liu Kang is the original hero and Champion of Mortal Kombat. He is actually responsible for the reboot of MK1, as Raiden gave him his powers to reshape the universe in MK11. Originally turning into a Chinese dragon in MK3, the move became a mainstay of Liu Kang's to the point a variation of it is already one of his fatalities in MK1, so he now turns into a phoenix, appropriate for his new role as the man responsible for the world's rebirth.
Mileena
Mileena began life as a clone of Kitana mixed with Tarkatan, created by Shang Tsung. In the original timeline, she was raised as Kitana's sister, while in the second timeline, the revelation of her existence came later. On one hand, this did somewhat mute the emotional fall out of the two ending up on opposite sides. On the other hand, it solved the plot hole of Kitana apparently never seeing Mileena's face. However, in the MK1 timeline, Mileena and Kitana are sisters, though Mileena is a victim of the Tarkata disease. She retains old Mileena's tendency to devour heads in her Animality as an orchid mantis. In MK3, she was a little stinker as a skunk.
Nitara
Nitara is another 3D fighter. She is a vampire, and her characterization never really got much more complicated than that. Her choice of Animality is also a bit uninspired. The vampire character with bat wings turns into a bat.
Noob Saibot
Buckle up, because things are about to get complicated. Okay, Noob Saibot is Bi Han, the original Sub Zero from the first ever Mortal Kombat. According to the sequels, he was killed by Scorpion, and replaced by his younger brother in all subsequent games. However, a black wearing ninja was added to the roster, whose gimmick was that he was accompanied by a shadow warrior. This turned out to be Bi Han, resurrected and evil, usually by Quan Chi. In MK1 however, Bi Han's transformation from Sub Zero into Noob Saibot is different, but also an important part of the "Khaos Reigns" DLC story, so we're not going into that. Suffice it to say, his new Animality is a crocodile, complete with shadow crocodile, which is much scarier than his MK3 Animality, where he turned into an anteater.
Quan Chi
Quan Chi is an evil sorceror, and one half of the Deadly Alliance. As said Deadly Alliance killed Liu Kang in another timeline, Quan Chi is one of the few characters Liu Kang doesn't even attempt to turn good in his new universe. His Animality is a skeletal theropod dinosaur, probably meant to be a T. rex, though it looks like there is one too many fingers for that species.
Raiden
Raiden, originally, was the God of Thunder and Protector of Earthrealm. But, in Mortal Kombat 11, he switched places with Liu Kang, who became God of Fire and Protector of Earthrealm, while Raiden became his Mortal Kombat Champion. Despite being more or less a normal human now, he is still granted electric powers by Liu Kang. Raiden is one of the two characters who did not change Animalities between MK3 and MK1, turning into an electric eel in both.
Rain
Rain was originally another ninja palette swap, representing the color purple. His character has evolved into more of a sorceror with water based magic than a ninja, usually ending up on the "bad" side of the "good guy/bad guy" equation. He turned into a much smaller than usual elephant in MK3, but became a much larger than usual pufferfish in MK1.
Reiko
Reiko is famous for his complete lack of personality, even for a Mortal Kombat 4 debut character, MK4 also being famous for its new fighter's complete lack of personality. MK1 actually finally clarifies what his role even is; he's a very loyal lackey for Shao, either as General or Kahn, but otherwise kind of just muscle. He turns into a ram for his Animality.
Reptile
The original secret character, who could only be fought under certain circumstances in the original Mortal Kombat. In story, Reptile has always been a lackey to more powerful bad guys, and it is often implied to at least be a little under duress. He finally breaks free in MK1, and breaks good with fellow frequent jobber Baraka. He also gains a very reptilian form in addition to his usual green ninja look, making him the furriest character on the roster by a long shot, if not in the literal sense. This makes up for his new Animality, which really stretches the definition, as he's a Venus flytrap. His MK3 Animality was also weird, as he was a small monkey or ape who doesn't hurt anyone, merely chasing his opponent off.
Scorpion
Things are about to get complicated, part two. Kuai Liang takes the name, fire-based powers, and "Get over here!" of Scorpion in MK1, but in most other timelines, Kuai Liang is the brother of Bi Han, and therefore the second Sub Zero. Hanzo Hasashi, who is usually Scorpion, is implied to be a child in this timeline, and neither person is an undead revenant, as is usually the case with Scorpion. As far as Animalities go, Scorpion is finally a scorpion, which makes sense, though since he wasn't actually part of the starting roster of MK3, Sheeva had already taken scorpion, and when he was added later in expanded re-releases, he infamously got stuck with an egg-laying penguin (which would actually have made more sense for a Sub Zero cosplaying as Scorpion, as in MK1).
Sektor
Basically, you can copy and paste everything said about Cyrax above here, except Sektor prefers to be a bad guy and is in red, while Cyrax is partial to yellow. She turns into a rhinoceros in MK1, while he turned into a bat for MK3.
Shang Tsung
The original villain of the original game, Shang Tsung is an evil sorceror with soul-sucking and shape-shifting powers. With Quan Chi, formed half of the Deadly Alliance, and is definitely not Fire God Liu Kang's favorite character, as he is first introduced in a very low spot in Mortal Kombat 1's story. But you can't keep a good villain down for long! Like Raiden, he's had one Animality in both MK1 and MK3. He's a king cobra.
Sindel
Sindel is Kitana's mother, and Empress of Outworld. In the previous timelines, she was married to Shao Kahn, and it varied wildly between games whether or not she was magically brainwashed into this, or if she was actually evil all along. Whatever the case, in MK1, she's good and definitely not married to General Shao, and is the actual biological mother of Mileena, as well. Her powers include long, prehensile hair and a banshee like sonic scream. She seems to like bugs, as she was the originator of the giant hornet Animality that now belongs to Cyrax, and has upgraded to a giant spider for MK1.
Smoke
Smoke was the grey ninja variant, with smoke based powers. He became a cyborg in the original timeline, and even replaced Noob Saibot's shadow warrior for a game. In MK1, he is Scorpion and Sub Zero's adopted brother, though only Scorpion really accepts him. In MK1, his Animality is a gorilla. In MK3, he actually had two Animalities. As a human, he was the originator of what is now Baraka's porcupine Animality, and as a cyborg, he became a bull.
Sub Zero
Things are about to get complicated, trilogy. Sub Zero in Mortal Kombat 1 is Bi Han. Noob Saibot in Mortal Kombat 1 is also Bi Han. There are two Bi Han's on the roster. No, it doesn't make sense. Anyway, he turns into a woolly mammoth in MK1. In various versions of MK3, you could play as both the Bi Han or Kuai Liang version of Sub Zero, but they both had the same polar bear Animality.
Takeda
Takeda Takahashi wasn't introduced until the second main timeline, and then he was introduced as Kenshi's son. In this timeline, that wouldn't quite add up, so he became Kenshi's cousin, instead. Either way, he uses whip-like swords to fight crime. He becomes a giant octopus for his Animality.
Tanya
Tanya was introduced in the 3D days, and her specialty is back-stabbing good guys, and unlike Li Mei, she doesn't wait until her non-canon endings to do it, either. In MK1, Liu Kang actually brags about being able to turn even her good. All it takes is basically having her trained to be a bodyguard for the royal family since birth, and even then it takes a genuine romance with the also newly reformed Mileena to keep her good. Tanya's Animality is a giraffe, which brings back some of the goofy "killer anteater" antics of the original Animalities.
In addition to those listed above, Mortal Kombat 3 fighters who did not return in Mortal Kombat 1 include Jade as a cat, Jax as a lion, Kabal as an oddly skeletal rhinoceros, Kano as a tarantula, Nightwolf as, naturally, a wolf (a form he also took in the movie Mortal Kombat: Annihilation), Sheeva as a scorpion, Sonya Blade as a hawk and Stryker as a (fully fleshed) T. rex. Mortal Kombat 1 also features "guest" fighters The Boys's Homelander as a griffin, Invincible's Omni-Man as a "Hail Mary" monster from that series and Peacemaker as a bald eagle. Three additional guest characters (Conan the Barbarian, Scream's Ghostface and Terminator 2's T-1000) have been announced, but their Animalities have not been revealed at this time.
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2cross2affliction (Brendan Kachel) — read stories — contact (login required)a red fox
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