Talk:Red Dragon/@comment-174.48.176.95-20141021000829/@comment-94.211.159.251-20151017182207

"Does the Red Dragon even exist in the alternate timeline?"

Yes.

Super Sub-Zero: "Daegon gets awakend, makes the Red Dragon, after that the Black Dragon gets made, etc. But like you said, it's possible someone else created the Red Dragon."

The alternate timeline technically only becomes an alternate timeline from the moment alternate timeline Raiden received his first messages (coming from his original timeline self of course). Only when Raiden begins to act differently than he would have in the original timeline, due to the knowledge he was receiving from his "future" self, does an alternate timeline come into existence. Logically speaking (for as far as time travel makes any sense at all), the realities would only split once Raiden starts influencing and altering events. Before alternate timeline Raiden received word from his future self, nothing would change. Timelines split during the MK1 events we see in the MK2011 storymode. Events leading up to that moment would not get altered. This is how it would be, logically speaking, though I think the writers didn't really hold on to that rule, seeing how certain characters, storylines and events changed even before Raiden starts diverting from the choices he made during the original timeline.

The Red Dragon Clan would have existed, as does the Black Dragon. Daegon would've been alive during the events of MK2011 (MK9), though not playing any role yet relevant to the MK2011 events. But yeah, he would have been walking around somewhere, and he would have created the Red Dragon Clan long ago, and yes, the Black Dragon would have parted from the RD.

This of course creates a paradox, as is generally the case when messing with timelines: if future Raiden makes alternate timeline Raiden change events in order to prevent Armageddon from happening, then Delia and Argus would not have foreseen Armageddon from ever happening, thus Taven, Daegon and Blaze would not have been worth mentioning at all, as their very reason for awakening in the future would be non-existing. Did Delia foresee Armageddon or didn't she? Yes, she must have seen it in the context of the original timeline's events, but at the same time, she could not have seen it, because Raiden actually stops it from happening in the alternate timeline.

The problem is that the realities split when Raiden starts altering the events leading up to Armageddon, while all events prior to Raiden's interference would have remained the same. For example: there would have to be two versions of Raiden; one Raiden who dies at the hands of Shao Kahn, and one Raiden who defeats Shao Kahn. One Shao Kahn who defeats Blaze and becomes the ultimate boss, and another Shao Kahn who gets destroyed by the Elder gods for breaking the rules of Mortal Kombat. But take Jerrod for example, the father of Kitana, a character that lived and died long before any of these events. There is only one version of Jerrod. Both in the original as well as in the alternate timeline, the history of Jerrod did not change. His fate did not change, his actions are the same, etc. Because he lived and died before the split occured.

Thus it becomes paradoxical, because Delia falls in the same category as Jerrod: there is only one Delia with a certain set of experiences. Delia saw Armageddon destroying the Realms. But in that same reality, Raiden managed to send a message back in time and help prevent Armageddon from ever happening. So looking into the future, why didn't Delia see Armageddon being prevented by Raiden? From her perspective, she could have seen one chain of events leading up to Armageddon, but in theory, she should have been just as abled to see the other chain of events leading up to the destruction of Shao Kahn. So why did she see one outcome, while being unaware of the alternate outcome? That makes no sense. You can't say that the original timeline happened first, because they both happen at the same time. The original timeline is "first" in the sense that "we", the watchers (existing outside the hypothetical world in the games), played the original timeline first and after that there came the alternate timeline games. But in-game, from the perspective of Delia, both timelines happen simultaneously, so it's rather odd why she perceived one in her visions, but failed to see the other.

Also, all the trouble they went through to prevent Armageddon from happening (pyramid with Blaze, sending their sons on missions), none of that actually helped. It was purely up to Raiden: Raiden sending messages back in time to his younger self is what prevented Armageddon from taking place (at least in one reality). There are many incoherent little facts that ruin the logic of these stories, but yeah.. the Red Dragon exists in the alternate timeline, is what I'm saying, lol.