Board Thread:General MK Discussion/@comment-1084762-20150830085026/@comment-25163804-20151118122936

Dynamo68 wrote: Dirtbag Daryl wrote: probably should stop talking about Shao Kahn altogether, writers confirmed he is gone forever, even by MK standards.

he was basically wiped from existence by the Elder Gods lol

Then why is his soul inside of Ermac? Does that ring a bell to you? That's the thing with the intros. Like the endings, we don't know if they are truly canon. Do you really think, for instance, that Shang Tsung cloned Kano like in this intro? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68qUqVIDCiI At the best, it's a cop-out answer as to why there's a mirror match outside of alternate timeline craziness.

As for why Ermac would mention Shao Kahn's soul, maybe he does have Shao Kahn's soul... but the original Shao. Lemme explain.

See, Shao Kahn is supposed to be an Outworlder, as far as we know. He's not a god, or the son of a goddess, or even third cousin, once removed with a demigod. As far as we can throw a stone, Shao Kahn is a full-blooded Outworlder (although his background has never been explored). Despite this, somehow he is able to put up a fight and toss around Raiden like it's no problem. And before you say 'Blaze!', that was the original timeline. In the current timeline, he still tosses Raiden around, despite not even touching Blaze.

This is the same guy who, since he's an Outworlder, shouldn't be any tougher than Bo'rai Cho or Li Mei, the latter of which was killed in the first 30 seconds of the Armageddon intro by a Naginata through the chest. Sure, Liu Kang crippled Shao Kahn with a punch through the chest, but how did he survive long enough to get medical attention from an injury that should've outright killed him? And no, 'MK Logikz' doesn't apply here. Shao Kahn was not revived. He's still alive and manages to heal from basically getting impaled on a man's arm. So how the hell is he so tough?

My hypothesis lies in the fact that he is a master of black magic; he poisoned Onaga, sure, but he quickly learned how to use black magic to his advantage, going so far as to augment his abilities to be on par with a god. If Shao Kahn were to come back, perhaps he'd be 'nerfed' and that'd be explained by his lack of black magic augmentation. Sure, he'd still have some, but not nearly enough to become a walking deicide machine.

Thusly, finally, we come back to Ermac. When the Elder Gods destroyed Shao Kahn, they may have destroyed his physical form, but his soul found refuge in a new owner; Ermac. The creator housed in his own creation. Now, Shao is just biding his time, waiting for the chance to overpower the other souls in Ermac, one by one, until he resurrects himself.

This is how they could bring Shao Kahn back.

But, as Daryl said, the Elder Gods essentially erased him from history, and c'mon; we know the Elder Gods are somewhat incompetent, but they would be sharp-witted enough to get Shao's soul before it could escape, one would imagine.

And to tie it all around back to the beginning, while Shao is dead for now, who's to say that the guys at NRS might change their minds about perma-deathing Shao Kahn? If the intros are non-canon and Shao never made it into Ermac, then this is another case of speculation; like the endings, some of the intros are canon, others are semi-canon, and others yet are non canon whatsoever. But, due to the fact that we're probably at least 3 years out until we get another Mortal Kombat game, minds can change in that time, and a previously non-canon intro might become canon in the end. Time will tell.

P.S.: Yes, I'm overtired again. I really need to sleep at a normal time.