Nitara

"The damage to his transporter left Cyrax stranded in Outworld. Nitara's plan was coming together beautifully."

- Nitara's Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance Bio

Nitara is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. She made her debut in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.

About Nitara
The winged Nitara is a vampiress who, much like Shang Tsung, has to prey on the life of others in order to remain alive, except that she requires blood rather than souls or life energy. Rather than being evil, Nitara is depicted as being rather self-serving and morally neutral. She has a distinctly gothic appearance, and has long been on a quest to separate her own realm from Outworld.

Storyline
Nitara spent a very long time trying to find a mysterious orb that bound her realm to Outworld before actually discovering its location. The orb, however, was inaccessible to her, submerged under molten lava. Fortunately for her, at one point she had spotted the Outer World Investigation Agency agent Cyrax traveling across Outworld. With his cybernetic body, he would be able to descend into the lava and come back with the orb, unharmed.

But she realized she would need to offer the cyborg something in exchange for his services. Seeing Reptile as an easily exploitable fool, she presented him with a Kirehashi blade, an artifact of Reptile's Zaterran realm, and revealed to him the location of Kitana's military encampment. After Reptile discovered the dead body of Shao Kahn, he offered his services to Nitara, grateful for her apparent kindness. He pledged to serve her, and she commanded him to attack Cyrax, describing him as an Earthrealm invader, and explaining he could be weakened by destroying his arm console, which Nitara was aware the cyborg used to travel between realms.

Reptile did as instructed, and fled after being frightened away by one of Cyrax's attacks. Nitara introduced herself to Cyrax immediately after, and made her proposal: having the ability to traverse realms through the powers of her gemstone, she would send him home, under the condition that he retrieve the orb for her. Although hesitant to trust her, Cyrax accepted, having little choice. The two journeyed to the orb's location, Onaga's incubation chamber. There, both parties held up their end of the bargain: Cyrax descended into the lava and retrieved the orb, and Nitara sent the cyborg home. With the orb in her hands, her plans had come to a successful conclusion. She then smashed it into pieces on the floor, separating her realm from Outworld at last. The ordeal knocked her unconscious, but when she awoke, she was home. She then made it her mission to protect the realm's fragile stability.

During the events of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, mass genocides of her people began to occur in her realm. The wounds on the bodies indicated that the attacker used a mystical kriss known as "Datusha", which is described as existing solely to slay vampires. Nitara is sent by her people's elders to a crater in Edenia so as to find a prophesied force of great power that would be able to destroy the blade. While traveling there, she came upon the demon Ashrah, the possessor of Datusha who was slaughtering vampires in the belief that it was purifying her soul. To protect the rest of her race, Nitara defeated Ashrah and continued on her journey into Edenia, planning to lure her attacker to the Edenian weapon where it may be used against her.

In Nitara's Armageddon ending, Blaze's godlike power transformed her into a blood god. She then used this power to transform every single kombatant, beginning with Shao Kahn, into her vampire slaves. With this army, she would begin her conquest of all the realms.

Biographies

 * Deadly Alliance: "The vampire Nitara had at long last discovered the location of the Orb that bound her realm to Outworld. Unfortunately, it rested in a location she could never access. However, the ninja cyborg Cyrax of Earthrealm had the ability to retrieve it for her. Through careful manipulation, she convinced Reptile to engage Cyrax in combat and destroy his arm panel in the process. The damage to his transporter left him stranded in Outworld. Her plan was coming together beautifully. Nitara offered to send Cyrax back to Earthrealm if he could retrieve the Orb from its hiding place. Nitara carried a gemstone around her neck. These gemstones made it possible for her people to traverse the realms. They had done so for ages and had even visited Earthrealm regularly in search of blood. Cyrax had no choice but to accept the offer and journeyed with her to the presumed location of the Orb. As they traveled across Outworld, however, they had the strange feeling that they were being followed."


 * Bio Kard: "A vampire from a forgotten realm, Nitara fights to keep her homeworld independent. Years ago, her realm was fused with Outworld, throwing it into chaos. Now that her homeworld has been freed, she struggles to maintain it's fragile stability."


 * Armageddon: "The realm of Vaeternus had regained independence from Shao Kahn. I was revered for my part in the victory. The restructuring of our civilization was well underway; soon we would regain our former majesty. Unfortunately our honor was not all that had returned from ages past.... Reports of genocide raced throughout the restored Moroi Empire. Many vampires had been slain; none had yet survived an attack to describe the assailants. I set forth to uncover the truth. Examining the wounds of the dead, I came to the disheartening conclusion that these murders were not the work of a band of assassins. The victims had fallen to the blade known as Datusha, the bane of the Moroi. The ancient kriss had found a new wielder. It had returned for vampire blood. Though Datusha's origin has been lost to history, its purpose is clear: It lives to kill as many vampires as it can. We are a powerful race; there are few who threaten our immortality. It has been speculated by the Elders that the sword itself may be our one "natural" predator. The accursed blade finds a wielder and corrupts them into believing they are slaying for some higher purpose. In the past it has chosen a vampire as its puppet. The last was Kahil Grigesh. Though he was driven mad by the power of the sword, he was strong enough to eventually overcome its mind control. To atone for slaying his fellow vampires, he took the sword into the Netherrealm, where he committed hara-kiri, imprisoning Datusha in Hell. It was believed that the sword would never find another vampire wielder in that desolate place. Safe from slaughter, our numbers had exceeded those of any recorded era. But with Datusha's return, vampires were being rapidly driven to extinction. Something needed to be done! The Elders researched ancient vampire texts, hoping to find some means of defeating the blade. An obscure Edenian prophecy they found might hold the key. It describes a force of great power concealed in a crater there. I was commanded to find this power and use it against our foe."

Combat characteristics
As a vampire, Nitara's moves seem to revolve around blood; one of her special moves is literally a ball of blood being shot at the enemy, and her fatality in Deadly Alliance has her biting violently into the enemy's neck and draining their blood. Also, due to her wings, she can cover ample ground to either advance towards or retreat from the enemy in little time.

Apart from her kombat skills, deception and exploitation appear to be Nitara's greatest weapons. She was able to trick Reptile into severing Cyrax's only means of traveling between realms; she could then use Cyrax's desperation to her advantage by promising him escape from Outworld in exchange for his services. Later, during the events of Armageddon, she lured Ashrah away from her homeland towards Edenia, where an artifact lay that could exterminate the demon once and for all.

Signature moves

 * Unicorn Kick: Nitara flips forwards and kicks the opponent. (MK:DA, MK:A)
 * Blood Spit: Nitara spits a ball of blood at the opponent. She can also do this in the air. (MK:DA, MK:A)
 * Quick Escape: Nitara jumps away from the opponent with considerable distance. (MK:A)

Fatalities

 * Feast of Blood: Nitara pounces on her opponent, and bites into their neck, draining their blood. After spitting out chunks of flesh, she bites again, then kicks their drained corpse to the floor. (MK:DA)

Endings

 * Nitara_&_Cyrax_with_the_Portal_Sphere.jpgNitara's_Moment_of_Truth.jpgDeadly Alliance: "After what seemed like an eternity, Cyrax finally emerged from the lava, holding the Orb that had bound Nitara's realm to Outworld for ages. At last it was within her grasp. She would be able to free her people from Shao Kahn's imprisonment. Fulfilling her end of the bargain, she sent Cyrax back to his Earthrealm home in exchange for the Orb. Nitara stared into the Orb. It seethed with the power trapped within. She raised it above her head, and then smashed it to the floor. It shattered with an inhuman, soul-rending howl. Its horrible energy exploded away, and tore her consciousness from her. She awoke later for the first time on her native soil."


 * Armageddon: (Non-Canonical) "The gift of godlike power transformed Nitara into a blood god. Horrified, the kombatants fled from the pyramid, but none were spared her wrath. Beginning with Shao Kahn, she mutated each of them into her vampire slaves. With the most powerful warriors in the universe at her command, Nitara and her unstoppable army easily conquered the realms."

Trivia

 * Nitara's ability to withstand daylight is explained by the fact that only Earthrealm's light is hazardous to vampires. As such, she can freely move on Outworld and other worlds during the daytime.
 * Nitara_cyrax_deception.jpg Nitara has a few cameo appearances in Mortal Kombat: Deception. One of the arenas players can fight in is a prison and she can be spotted in a cell together with several other familiar characters. In Konquest mode, she can be found in Outworld, and in the Netherrealm speaking with Cyrax. Since her character model is in the game, she can be made playable in the PlayStation 2 and GameCube versions of Deception with the use of an Action Replay code. However, playing as her in Deception can cause the game to freeze. Nitara_concept_art.jpg
 * Character Artist Luis Mangubat, the designer of Nitara, had also created a male vampire which was scrapped due to lack of time. Many of the design elements ended up being used for Rain's costume.
 * Many of Nitara's Konquest mode messages in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance make references to different rock bands and songs performed by them. Examples include:
 * Def Leppard ("You must be deaf. Leopard style is not executed in such a way. Listen to my instructions again.")


 * Journey ("You have not yet failed on this journey. Do not stop believing. Practice these moves faithfully and you can achieve your goals any way you want them.")


 * KISS ("You are a midnight queen. You are a creature of the night. Kiss your black diamond freely to draw strength from dark light.")


 * Guns n' Roses ("Patience, sweet child of mine. You are not the first to fail. You are crazy if you do not continue. It is so easy. You must get back in the ring.")


 * Scorpions ("Good. Now execute that same combo one more time, but this time add one more hit between the eyes." "Your attacks were so powerful, it looked as though Scorpion might black out from the force of the blows." "Nitara has perfected her punches and kicks after six hundred years or more of practice. And after all this time, she gets the same thrill from learning new moves. When it comes to training, she cannot get enough.").


 * Culture Club ("You must successfully learn the Kama. Khameleon would have mastered it with ease had her culture not been clubbed by Shao Kahn ages ago.")


 * The Police ("Do not be afraid. On this secret journey, you must learn to harness your Vampiric essence to bring on the night. I will be next to you watching every step you take as you traverse this material world.")


 * Van Halen ("If you do not pass this test, you will be cast into the Netherealm, condemned to run from the Devil for the rest of eternity." "You are indeed learning at a pace that kills.")
 * Even though she has wings, Nitara was never seen in full flight like other winged or levitating characters (for example, in the Armageddon intro she could have easily flown to Blaze). It is likely she would use them for stealth purposes or as a means to escape danger.
 * For some strange reason, whenever she is the victim of another character's Fatality, her wings are either unharmed or disappear from her back (and the same goes for Death Traps).
 * Much of Nitara's look was inspired by Vincent Valentine from Final Fantasy VII, such as her headband.
 * Nitara and her race are different from the old vampire legends, mostly because they have wings on their backs, instead of transforming into bats.
 * She is the only female character to have wings, the first male being Onaga.
 * Nitara is seen in the MKA opening fighting Smoke.
 * Nitara, Meat and Skarlet are the only characters that powers involve blood.

Character Relationships

 * Shao Kahn took over her realm and merged it with Outworld.
 * Found Reptile and ordered him to fight Cyrax and damage his arm panel and later abandoned Reptile.
 * Aided by Cyrax to restore her realm and was successful.
 * Ashrah attacked and killed some of her people and was defeated by Nitara.
 * Joined the Forces of Darkness in the final battle in Armageddon to obtain the power to destroy Datusha, wielded by Ashrah in the Forces of Light.

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