Sheeva

Sheeva is a character in the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games.

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 kills her by stabbing her in the chest with his sword.

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.
 * Nail Driver: Sheeva brings her fists down upon the opponent's head in succession, driving them into the ground.

Other finishers

 * Friendship: Sheeva spins plates with her four arms.
 * Animality: Sheeva turns into a scorpion and stings her opponent. The opponent turns red and explodes.

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 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.
 * 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 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 Mortal Kombat 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 is returning in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
 * Sheeva is based on the Hindu god, Shiva.