Sheeva



As brutal as Goro and Kintaro, she possesses more than enough power to destroy any opponent unfortunate enough to cross her path.

-- Mortal Kombat: Armageddon Bio Card

Sheeva is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. She made her debut in Mortal Kombat 3.

About Sheeva
Sheeva belongs to the ancient race of the Shokan, described as a subterranean people living in Outworld. Like all of her race, she possesses a tall, muscular build, red eyes, and four arms (she also wears armor in her Armageddon makeover as well). Sheeva served as the personal bodyguard of Queen Sindel during Shao Kahn's failed invasion of Earthrealm.

Storyline
Because of Prince Goro’s reign as Grand Champion of Mortal Kombat, the Shokans are among the most elite of Outworld’s citizens. They maintain a high class status among the population, and are Kahn’s most prized soldiers on the battlefield. One of the most savage Shokan warriors to gain Kahn’s attention is the female, Sheeva. She can pile drive an opponent into the ground with her fists, or skin her victims in seconds, with her bare hands.

When Shao Kahn resurrects Queen Sindel as the first step in his invasion of Earth, he appoints Sheeva to be her personal protector. Sheeva becomes distrustful however, when Kahn appoints Motaro, a Centaurian, to lead his Extermination Squads into battle. This is an insult to the Shokan race, as the Shokan and Centaurs have long been mortal enemies.

During the ensuing battles, Sheeva puts the hurt on anyone who tries to get close to Sindel. After dispatching countless enemies, she is confronted by Jade and the renegade Princess Kitana. They intend to free Sindel from Kahn’s spell, but they must get through Sheeva first. Her brute strength is simply not enough to defeat these two highly skilled warriors. Sheeva is downed by Kitana and Jade, and they rush to confront Sindel. Embarrassed for her failure, Sheeva makes her retreat back to Outworld.

When she arrives, she is shocked to learn that Shao Kahn has betrayed the Shokans, and has launched an offensive against them. She joins her brethren in fighting Kahn’s warriors. The Shokans are far outnumbered, and cannot hope to win. Before, Shao Kahn is defeated by Earth’s champion Liu Kang and after his victory over Kung Lao, Sheeva decideds to take revenge on her nemesis, Motaro.

Sheeva sneaks her way into Kahn’s palace on Earth. She learns that Motaro has nursed his Earthrealm ally, Kano, back to health. She secretly approaches Kano, and offers him a deal. She asks for his assistance in assassinating Shao Kahn. In exchange, she will pay him in precious jewels, extracted from Kuatan’s magnificent mines. Kano agrees. Some time later, Motaro has returned to the palace to report to Shao Kahn. Sheeva waits silently in the shadows, as Kano watches from his cell, Sheeva attacks the unsuspecting Centaurian. She slays Motaro after a long brutal fight, and then proceeds to face Shao Kahn. Kano offers to distract Kahn and tells her to wait for his signal, however Kano betrays Sheeva by telling Kahn she killed Motaro and is now planning on killing him. After Kano gives the signal Sheeva enters the throne room, where she and Kahn face off, with Kahn able to quickly and easily defeat her, then he allegedly kills her by stabbing her in the chest with his sword. But, she somehow survives and is seen taking part in the climactic battle at the Pyramid of Argus in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.

In Sheeva's Armageddon ending, she defeats Blaze and is transformed into the goddess of destruction by the Elder Gods. One by one she laid waste to the realms using a powerful Kamidogu. When the realms reformed, nothing was as it had been.

Combat characteristics
As a Shokan, Sheeva possesses incredible strength. She retains the common Shokan ability to summon fireballs and utilize a teleport stomp; however, unlike her fellow Shokan warriors Goro and Kintaro, she can use the latter to merely stomp the ground without teleporting, causing damage. Also, Sheeva's fireballs seem to be more powerful than other characters', as evidenced in Armageddon where they can knock the opponent to the ground, rather than simply knocking them back.

Signature moves

 * Death From Above: Sheeva disappears over the top of the screen and reappears over the opponent's head, then stomps on them a few times. (MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK:A)
 * Searing Blast: Sheeva launches a fireball, which can knock the opponent to the ground. (MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK:A)
 * Furious Stomp: Sheeva stomps on the ground hard, knocking the opponent back and causing additional damage. (MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK:A)
 * Untamed Fury: Sheeva lunges forward, grabs the opponent with her lower arms, hits them repeatedly in the face with her upper arms, then smacks them across the stage. (MK:A)

Fatalities

 * Skin Rip: Grabbing a handful of flesh in each of her four fists, Sheeva pulls her opponent's skin to the floor, leaving a bloody, skeletal husk. (MK3, UMK3, MKT)
 * Nail Driver: Sheeva brings her fists down upon the opponent's head in succession, driving them into the ground. (MK3, UMK3, MKT)

Other finishers

 * Friendship: Sheeva spins plates with her four arms. (MK3, UMK3, MKT)
 * Animality: Sheeva turns into a scorpion and stings her opponent. The opponent turns red and explodes. (MK3, UMK3, MKT)

Endings

 * Mortal Kombat 3: "While Sheeva serves her master on Earth, her race of Shokan are being punished on the Outworld. Kahn now favors Motaro's race of Centaurs and aids them in defeating the Shokan. After learning of these events, Sheeva turns on her master. She defeats Motaro, and in a rage brings down Kahn. In freeing the Earth, she also frees the Outworld. She then returns home and works to restore the pride and respect of her race."


 * Armageddon: "At the moment of victory over Blaze, Sheeva was blinded by a flash of energy. When she regained her sight, she found herself standing before the Elder Gods. They were clearly alarmed that neither Taven nor Daegon had completed the quest. Their desire to prevent further turmoil prompted them to transform Sheeva into a goddess of destruction. One by one she laid waste to the realms using a powerful Kamidogu. When the realms reformed, nothing was as it had been."

Movie appearance
Sheeva, played by Marjean Holden, appears in the second Mortal Kombat movie, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. The shooting script included a lengthy fight scene with her and Raiden (James Remar) but it was omitted during filming; instead, she was merely squashed by a falling cage as she prepares to fight Liu Kang and Kitana in Shao Kahn's throne room (she does, however, use her prefight stance).

Sheeva does appear in other scenes of the movie, but her role was less than memorable in most respects. She had no fight scenes besides a brief quarrel with Motaro. The movie did acknowledge that she was the personal protector of Sindel and her family, which she mentions to Kahn in her personal endorsement for him to appoint her as general of his Extermination Squads.

TV appearance
Sheeva had a small role in the animated series, Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, in which she possessed a long-standing hatred of Raiden. She referred to her opponents as "darlings" (in a manner similar to Zsa Zsa Gabor). She was voiced by Dawnn Lewis.

Trivia

 * Like Goro and Kintaro, Sheeva also possesses a Teleport Stomp (though she was the first playable character capable of using the move).


 * Sheeva was the first female Shokan introduced in the series.


 * She was also the first playable Shokan in the series without the use of glitches or cheats.


 * Presumably to conserve memory space, Sheeva was left out of the roster of selectable fighters in the SNES and Sega Genesis version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. However, she wasn't totally abandoned. She appears (although invisible) as a glitch character in the SNES version of UMK3. Her voice is also audible in the sound test of the Genesis version.


 * Sheeva has not appeared as a playable character since Mortal Kombat Trilogy, nor has she had any substantial cameos; only her corpse was found in the Netherealm in Mortal Kombat: Deception's Konquest mode and is seen running through the graveyard in Deception, where almost all Mortal Kombat characters had cameos. Her fate after those games was revealed in text from the Konquest mode of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. However, she returned in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.


 * Sheeva is based on the Hindu god, Shiva.


 * Similar to other Mortal Kombat 3 characters, during early production of Mortal Kombat 3, Sheeva was called "She-Goro", since she did not have a name yet."


 * Sheeva was the very first character in the series to bleed green blood. However, to fit with the other Shokan, Sheeva's blood was red.