Jade



"This will be easy!"

- Jade's Mortal Kombat (2011) Battle Cry

Jade is a character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. She first appeared as a secret, unplayable character in Mortal Kombat II, and made her official debut in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.

About Jade
Jade is a childhood friend of Princess Kitana. While her motives were unclear, she served Shao Kahn alongside Kitana and Mileena as his personal assassin for most of her life. When Kitana finally turned against Shao Kahn, Jade was ordered to capture her for the Emperor. She ultimately chose to join her friend, and has since loyally assisted Kitana in her quest to free their native realm and restore its original beauty. Now residing in the freed Edenia, Jade is a General of the Edenian Army and continues to dutifully serve Kitana and her mother Sindel.

Jade's confident and sassy personality was first portrayed in her Girls Gone Wired campaign video, but later expanded upon throughout her story in Mortal Kombat (2011). Always known for her loyalty towards Kitana, she has proven herself to be a dependable, sincere and devoted friend to the princess. She is sarcastic, patronizing and cocky towards her opponents, and incredibly ruthless towards those she considers a personal enemy (at one point splashing Tarkatan essence on the Edenian traitor, Tanya, and allowing her to be torn to pieces by Baraka's militia).

As a female assassin adorned in a green skin-tight outfit, Jade was initially very similar in appearance to Kitana and Mileena, the only noticeable difference being her darker skin (although in the Sega Genesis and Saturn ports of MKII, she has the same skin as Kitana). She appeared first as a hidden, unplayable character in Mortal Kombat II whose moveset were mostly like Kitana's including the use of the fan blade weapon. To reach Jade, the player would fight a one-player game on the match just before the "?" on the map of the mountain. If the player won at least one round of the match using only the Low Kick button (no punches, High Kick, or Block button presses), they would immediately be warped to Goro's Lair to fight Jade. The player did not have to win the match -- only one round -- to fight Jade.

Jade would later become a regular character in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Her main weapon of choice is a metal staff, but she also uses razor-edged boomerangs (dubbed "razorangs") as well.

Character development
Jade's introduction to the Mortal Kombat series is quite similar to that of Reptile's. (In the first Mortal Kombat, Reptile made his appearance as a green-colored version of Scorpion with both Scorpion and Sub-Zero's abilities.) Making her first appearance in Mortal Kombat II, she was a hidden, unplayable character that was simply a palette-swap of Kitana but which was extremely fast and who could not be harmed by projectiles. In most ports of MKII, she had brown skin (except for Sega Genesis/Megadrive, and Sega Saturn where she had Kitana's skin color). Jade's name was not superimposed over her MKII energy meter; its inclusion was likely forgotten by the programmers during production. Jade could be seen peeking out from a tree in The Living Forest Arena in MKII, as could another secret opponent: Smoke. It was then further suggested in the comic book series that Jade and Smoke were in fact assassins working for Shao Kahn. However, the comic books were non-canon.

When Jade made her first non-secret appearance in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, she was given her own attributes and storyline. The same happened for Reptile when he made his first non-secret appearance in Mortal Kombat II.

Jade also made an appearance in the game Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks as an assassin that fought alongside Mileena and Kitana. Her appearance sparked some controversy about the validity of the game's story, compared to established Mortal Kombat canon. After battling her, she is stabbed in the eyes with Mileena's sai by the player and dies.

Powers and abilities
When she was first introduced in MKII, Jade was the only secret character to possess an outright special ability: an absolute immunity to projectile attacks. Any projectiles thrown at her would fly harmlessly pass her. Aside from that, her style of combat was identical to Kitana's, wielding a pair of copper fans during gameplay.

When she was made playable, she displayed slightly more aptitude than her other counterparts. Unlike Kitana and Mileena, Jade wielded two weapons: a steel, sharp-pointed staff which transforms itself into a supply of 'razorangs' (a portmanteau of 'razor' and 'boomerangs'). She displayed the most effectiveness with the staff, preferring weapon combat over hand-to-hand combat. During one of her Fatalities and her win pose, the staff left behind purple energy trails, hinting at magical properties. The staff has also been redesigned twice, first displayed as mentioned above, but in Deception, given a larger spearhead at one end, whilst in Shaolin Monks, it is a simple iron staff with no sharp ends. In MK 2011, the staff reverts back to its original steel design, but heavily features the purple aura during gameplay as well, and has the ability to change length. She also displayed skill with the razorangs, able to retrieve her weapons as they returned to her without cutting herself and can alter their trajectory at will. Jade is able to emit a 'force rejection field' around her, which seems to cause projectiles in particular to fly right through her like air.

Signature moves

 * Razor-Rang: Jade throws a razorang at her opponent. In the 2D games, there were three variations of this move: one that curved up, one that curved down, and one that returned if it missed the opponent. In MK 2011, this is renamed Boomerang, and has a straight throw, an upward throw called Boomerang Up, and a throw at the shin called Boomerang Down. (UMK3, MKT, MK:D, MK:U, MK:SM, MK:A, MK 2011)
 * The enhanced version is called Reboomerang in which the razor-rang returns to strike the opponent a second time. The enhanced upward throw is called Reboomerang Up, and the enhanced lower level throw is called Reboomerang Down.
 * Blazing Nitro Kick: Jade illuminates herself with a green force and kicks her opponent. In MK 2011, this is called Shadow Kick. (UMK3, MKT, MK:D, MK:U, MK:A, MK 2011, MKX Mobile)
 * The enhanced version is called Eclipse Kick. This makes the kick go full screen and increases damage.
 * In MKX Mobile, Jade performs this when tagging in for a teammate.
 * Dodging Shadows: Jade puts a forcefield around herself which causes projectiles to go through her. This move is taken in reference to her automatic immunity to projectiles in MKII. In MK 2011, this is called Shadow Flash. (UMK3, MKT, MK:D, MK:U, MK:A, MK 2011)
 * The enhanced version is called Shadow Glow and illuminates Jade in a purple glow instead of a green glow. This will give her immunity to the knockback effects of any attack, but she still takes the damage like normal.
 * Vanishing Winds: Jade spins with a cloud of green smoke surrounding her and appears behind her opponent. (MK:D, MK:U, MK:A, MKX Mobile - Assassin Card)
 * The move was updated for MKX Mobile for her passive ability for her Assassin Card, in which after vanishing, she does not reappear behind her opponent, but can avoid an incoming special attack or combo ender, which is retaliated with a powerful, unblockable kick which will also disable the opponent's special attacks for a short amount of time. She cannot dodge X-Ray attacks. The chance of her dodging is completely random.
 * Staff Overhead: Jade jumps up and smashes the opponent with her staff. (MK 2011, MKX Mobile)
 * The enhanced version is called Staff Smash. Jade jumps and smashes the opponent quicker than Staff Overhead.
 * In MKX Mobile, the attack is renamed as Staff Whack, and breaks the opponent's shield, increasing the damage they receive for a short time.
 * Staff Grab: Jade grabs the opponent by the chest with her staff and slams them behind her. This move was once her grab move in UMK3. (MK 2011)
 * The enhanced version is called Staff Slam in which Jade slams the opponent an additional two times.
 * X-Ray Move - Staff Buster: Jade rushes behind her opponent, grabs her staff and slams it in the groin. She then pulls it out and smashes them in the back with it, damaging their spine and nearby bones. (MK 2011, MKX Mobile)
 * She does not run behind the opponent in MKX Mobile, but will spin them around with her staff. Additionally in the mobile game, when she strikes the opponent's groin, she causes any male fighters' testicles to explode.
 * Fatal Blow: Jade does an overhead strike with her staff. She then teleports behind her opponent, opening his spine with her dagger. She does a second teleport, now in front of her target, to slice his throat. The dagger then spins in midair, whereas Jade jumps to grab it and pierce the side of the enemy's skull, and lastly she kicks the enemy. (MK11)

Other Moves

 * Spinning Staff: Jade strikes her opponent multiple times with her staff, spinning it in a helicopter-like fashion and ending with an overhead strike. Applies the Blind debuff. (MKX Mobile - Assassin Card)
 * Tag-Out Attack: When a teammate tags in for Jade, she retreats, but bounces off her staff, dealing damage to the active opponent before she exits. (MKX Mobile)


 * Day of the Dead Combo-Ender: Jade ends her combo by throwing her Razorang at the opponent, vanishing, then performs a Shadow Kick to the opponent. (MKX Mobile - Day of the Dead Card)
 * Evocation: Jade performs two overhead kicks to the opponent followed by a flip kick. She then performs Kitana's Staff Smash. (MKX Mobile - Day of the Dead Card)
 * Achieving 80% or more in the mini game will have Jade throw her Razorang for additional damage.
 * Angel of Death: After performing Evocation, Jade gains a shield that reflects all forms of damage back to her opponent, with the exception of damage-over-time effects. (MKX Mobile - Day of the Dead Card)

Fatalities

 * Staff Shake: Jade stabs the foe in the stomach with her staff, and shakes it to the point where the body blows up. (UMK3, MKT)
 * Staff Impale: Jade uppercuts the opponent into the air, and promptly holds out her staff, as the opponent is pierced by it upon falling down. (UMK3, MKT)
 * Jade Cutter: Jade runs past her foe after cutting him/her, and when she looks at the foe, the foe's upper torso and the lower body split apart and fall to the ground. (MK:D, MK:U)
 * Head Kabob: Jade thrusts her staff into the opponent's head, then flips over and smashes the opponent to the ground, which separates the body and the head, the latter of which is still attached to the weapon, spilling blood. (MK:D, MK:U)
 * Boss Fatality: She assists Mileena in this Fatality. Jade sweeps the enemy to the ground with her Bojutsu, Mileena then throws her Sai into the opponent's palm. Jade then slams her Bojutsu in his face, eventually crushing it. (MK:SM)
 * Head-A-Rang: Jade throws her Razorang at the opponent, cutting off their head. The head stays on the opponent's body as if it wasn't cut. Jade then kicks the body away, letting the head fall off. As she kneels down to catch the opponent's head with one hand, she catches the returning Razorang with the other. (MK 2011)
 * Half Mast: Jade kicks the opponent upward into the air and plants her staff onto the ground. As the opponent is impaled on the staff upon landing, she rips off his/her head and puts it on the top of the staff. (MK 2011)

Other finishers

 * Animality: Jade turns into a cat and mauls the opponent to death. (UMK3, MKT)
 * Friendship: Jade hops on her staff like a pogo stick. (UMK3, MKT)
 * Hara-Kiri: Razorang Harvest: Jade throws her razor boomerang in the direction in front of her. Then it comes back and cuts off her head. (MK:D, MK:U)
 * Babality: Giggling, Jade throws a razorang, but it comes back and hits her on the head, making her cry. (MK 2011)

Film
Despite her portrayal as a "good" character in the games, Jade appears in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (portrayed by Siberian supermodel Irina Pantaeva) as a character who remains loyal to Shao Kahn until her death. After failing to seduce Liu Kang and leading the other warriors to an ambush (not before testing Liu Kang and leading him to the Temple of the Elder Gods), Kahn himself has her eaten and swallowed by a living gargoyle in his palace due to her alleged failure at keeping the Earth Warriors from escaping. There is also little to no indication in the movie that Jade and Kitana know each other from the past. Instead, Kitana glares at Jade when she betrays the group during a later part of the film.

Novel
Jade appears in the novelization of both feature films. Her role in the first novel is very small, appearing only on one page before being tricked by Sonya and defeated with a single blow. It is interesting to note that instead of fighting with any of the three weapons she uses in the games (fans, staff or razorangs), Jade displays great proficiency with a pair of half-moon daggers, capable of moving them so fast around herself that she can shield herself from attack.

Jade's role in the novelization of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is expanded, and a history between her and Kitana is hinted at, but Kitana is disgusted by her arrival rather than friendly with her (which would explain Kitana glaring at Jade in the movie). She fakes subduing Sindel and lures the Earth Warriors into a trap, distracting them long enough for the Extermination Squads to get close, before escaping. Like in the film, despite Sindel's testimony to Jade's loyalty, Shao Kahn has her devoured by a living stain-glass window for allowing the Earth Warriors to survive.

Jade doesn't appear in Jeff Rovin's non-canon Mortal Kombat novel.

Comic books
Jade has a minor role in Malibu Comics second series Battlewave. Since her participation in Mortal Kombat II wasn't revealed during production of the comic, Jade's portrayal and personality is highly different from her in-game canon story and traits. In the comics, Jade is an evil assassin under Shao Kahn's command, and shows no relation or ties with Kitana besides their shared looks. She is always paired with Smoke, possibly due to both of them appearing on the background of the Living Forest stage in Mortal Kombat II.

Jade and Smoke attempt twice to kill Jax (and later Johnny Cage) before they arrive in Outworld, but both times, they fail to do so. Later, they try to redeem themselves by killing Raiden during his fight with Kano (the third issue of the mini-series Rayden and Kano), only to be stopped by Kano himself. She is also present as one of the wedding guests for Shao Kahn and Sonya's wedding in issue #6 of the Battlewave series.

Mortal Kombat (2011)

 * "This will be easy." (Battle Cry)
 * "Too easy." (after performing her X-ray)
 * "You need to be careful. I have never seen your father this angry with you." (to Kitana)
 * "You are a princess. He expects more from you than this."
 * "We will talk later. When you are in more of a mind to listen."
 * "I do not question the emperor's commands. Kitana, please. Turn back."
 * "I failed you, Kitana. Now I will make amends." (witnessing Kitana's arrest)
 * "You are an excellent guard dog, Baraka. But you must learn to heel." (Before confronting Baraka)
 * "Good boy." (after defeating Baraka)
 * "Blind loyalty is not a good thing, as I have learned. You must keep your eyes open - to anticipate the finishing blow." (when Baraka claims Edenians have no loyalty)
 * "You make it too easy." (After knocking Baraka out)
 * "We have different concepts of honor, Shokan." (to Sheeva)
 * "Not much of a jailor, are you?" (after defeating Sheeva)
 * "By the gods... You are Mileena!"
 * "I am more of a sister to Kitana than you." (after defeating Mileena)
 * "I did not wish to do that." (after defeating Smoke)

Mortal Kombat X Mobile (Feats of Strength)

 * ”This is your best?”
 * ”Show some fight.”
 * ”Pitiful effort.”
 * ”Embarrassed yet?”

Trivia

 * Jade was a representative of Mortal Kombat in Video Game Vixens - a special four-part TV show on G4 that features what they consider to be "the sexiest female video game characters of the year."
 * In the 1995 movie Mortal Kombat, Jade was scheduled to face off against Sonya in a secret area of the island that was slated to be a hidden Easter egg in the DVD version of the movie; but the scene was scrapped due to time constraints.
 * In early versions of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, Long Fist was supposed to be her unarmed fighting style.
 * In MK:D 's Konquest Mode, Jade asks Shujinko to bring Rain to the Edenian Freedom Fighters, and in completing this, she defeats him.
 * In Mortal Kombat II, Jade occasionally drops down during a match and gives clues on how to reach her just as Reptile did in Mortal Kombat. One of her clues is a reference to the Ermac rumors from Mortal Kombat.
 * One of the clues Jade leaves is her saying "Chun who?" which is a reference to Street Fighter's Chun Li, a fighter known for her incredible strength in her kicks. This was a clever hint at how to fight Jade in which the player would have to defeat the opponent using only low kicks.
 * In the Sega Genesis version of UMK3, Jade's fighting stance is a version of Mileena.
 * In the SNES version of UMK3, Jade's fighting stance is a version of Kitana.
 * Jade is the first hidden female character in the series, the first male being Reptile.
 * In the Sega consoles and Amiga versions of Mortal Kombat II, Jade's skin is white.
 * In the Arcade and SNES versions of Mortal Kombat II, Jade's hair is brown, but all other versions have black hair.
 * In the Arcade and SNES versions of Mortal Kombat II, Jade's Steel Fans are bronze/silver, but all other versions are silver.
 * In UMK3, Jade's boomerangs have only two blades, but from Mortal Kombat: Deception to Mortal Kombat (2011), the boomerangs have three blades.
 * Also, in Mortal Kombat: Deception, when Jade throws her boomerangs, they glow green. But in Mortal Kombat (2011), when she throws the boomerangs, they will glow purple.
 * In MK 2011, when Jade performs her Head-a-Rang Fatality, her Razorang seems to be created directly from her shrunken staff.
 * This is also the only Fatality in which Jade does not use her staff to kill her opponent.
 * In MK 2011, Jade, along with Mileena, Sub-Zero, and Kitana, has the most costumes with a total of 4 while everyone else has either 2 or 3.
 * In Mortal Kombat (2011), Jade's primary costume is similar to her alternate costume in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, while her alternate costume is similar to her Mortal Kombat: Armageddon primary costume, both only switching the hairstyle.
 * In Mortal Kombat: Deception and Mortal Kombat: Armaggedon, Jade's staff doesn't emit a purple glow like in the other games she appeared in.
 * In the Story Mode of MK 2011, when Sindel enters the Cathedral, Jade is seen in her alternate costume, holding her MK:D staff. However, when her alternate costume is chosen, the staff is not seen in.
 * While she has a unique move set in MKX Mobile, her X-Ray is borrowed from MK 2011 and she shares her only variation with Kitana (Mournful).
 * With the Halloween 2018 Update, Jade is the first character not from the main game to receive a new exclusive card.
 * Due to this, Day of the Dead Jade can not benefit from the exclusive bonus given to her by her exclusive item. (See Errors below)
 * Similar to Kintaro in the mobile game, Day of the Dead Jade barrows some combos and specials from Kitana.

Errors

 * In MKX Mobile, Jade can still be affected by the Frostbite and the Weaken debuff even if she evades the attack with her Assassin Card. The same happens with Jason Voorhees' Relentless Card.
 * However, the only known time she is affected by the Weaken debuff is from Tournament Quan Chi's Special 1.
 * In MKX Mobile, Jade's exclusive equipment card, Bojutsu Staff, can only affect her Assassin Card, as there is no possible way for her to evade attacks on her Day of the Dead Card.
 * However, Jade's Day of the Dead Card can gain the bonus of her Bojutsu Staff with the below statement. (See Below.)
 * In MKX Mobile, Jade's Bojutsu Staff can grant the exclusive bonus to Jade without her evading an attack.
 * This can happen in two known ways:
 * Jade simply enters the match from being tagged out and already has the buff present.
 * Jade blocks the entirety of a special attack without dodging, but gains the buff after the special ends.
 * This also seems to happen with Grapple Attacks.
 * This can also happen when the attack's damage is reflected back to the attacker or when Jade's damage is reflected back at her.
 * Due to the first statement, Jade's Day of the Dead Card can actually gain the bonus from her equipment from being tagged out despite never being able to evade any attacks.
 * Opposite of the above statements, in MKX Mobile, Jade can also evade an attack but not gain her Bojustu Staff's bonus despite it being equipped and dodging the attack.