Geras

Geras is a character who debuted in Mortal Kombat 11.

About Geras
Geras is the loyal and powerful servant of the Keeper of Time and Architect of the Universe's destiny, Kronika. He wields power to manipulate sands of time.

He has died thousands of times over, each time coming back stronger and wiser. Due to his immortal lifespan and apparent immortality, he has witnessed various key events throughout time, such as the Ice Age and the Great Kung Lao’s defeat at the hands of Goro.

Geras also exhibits the traits of a scholar, as a witness of many lifetimes in many timelines, he studies and collects knowledge of immeasurable events, cultures and peoples. Regarding this, he knows impressive and precious information about many of the denizens of the realms, including genealogical, cultural and racial unique features.

Appearance
Geras has dark skin, glowing blue eyes - some kind of energy that also is present on his chest and on his back - and has a tone physique. His whole body seems to be attached by pieces, like Geras has been built like a puzzle.

Powers & Abilities
Geras possesses the ability to manipulate time and the sands. His control over time includes being able to stop its flow, teleport, rewind it and replay his previous actions. By stopping the flow of time, Geras can freely interact wih his opponents who are oblivious to his next move and completely unaware of it. His ability to rewind time is useful against enemies who successfully dodge his attacks as he can simply rewind them back to the time when they have not yet moved before setting up another attack. He can also use it on himself as an escape method by rewinding himself from the moment of danger to safety. If necessary, he can erase others from existence instead of blasting them with energy that would normally freeze them in time.

As Geras is a point fixed in time by Kronika herself, this has granted him a degree of immortality. As stated by Skarlet and shown in one of his intros, Geras cannot truly die as he can simply rewind the time of his death and come back to life. He seems to possess a very potent healing factor as he can repair a broken neck by snapping it back in place or regenerate even if he has been blown up to pieces. The duration required for him to regenerate depends on the kind of wounds he receives, as he was able to instantly heal from getting shot by a barrage of bullets (allowing him to simply shrug it off and continue fighting) but took at least thirteen seconds for him to recover from decapitation via Kung Lao's hat. When regenerating - or even being revived - the sands of time themselves help rebuild Kronika's most faithful servant.

It is implied that Geras grows stronger and smarter with each death, as he mentioned to Scorpion in one of his intros. This ability allows him to fight on par with gods such as Raiden, although the thunder god ultimately incapacitated him by drowning him in the Sea of Blood.

The element of sand is one of the few things he can control. He can harden sand to make it durable enough to create walls, tables and weapons for crushing and slashing his enemies such as hammers and swords. He can even become intangible by turning into sand, making him impervious to physical attacks.

He can also manipulate the earth in a way similar to Tremor such as summoning rocks to strike his opponent's feet and create metallic gauntlets.

In addition to that, he also has supernatural strength allowing him to crush heads into pieces, tear others in half, shatter his own stone constructs and throw people away over a long distance with ease.

Signature Moves

 * Temporal Advantage: Geras freezes his opponent in time, then sends another blast to send them away.(MK11)
 * Amplifying this move skips Geras's second hit, momentarily rendering the opponent vulnerable to hits for a short period. After the time freeze wears off, the opponent will react to the last hit that connected with them.
 * Sand Trap: Geras summons sand from the ground in a small area. If he hits the opponent with the sand, the opponent will sink into the sand, rise into the air and be struck with a pair of sand hammers. The attack has a close, far and very far version. (MK11)
 * Quick Sand: Like Sand Trap, Geras summons sand in a small area. If it connects, the opponent will sink as well as Geras, who becomes immune to projectiles, teleporting behind the opponent only to lift them back up by the head to hand chop them in the side of the neck. Has a close, far and very far version. Replaces Sand Trap. (MK11)
 * Does a krushing blow if this move acts as a punish or a counter which deals 32% of damage.
 * Titan Tackle: Geras runs and grabs his opponent, proceeding to charge across the stage with them in his hold, then throws them away. If he runs to the edge of the stage, Geras will throw the opponent against a sand wall and punch them in the face with his giant fist. This move is a command grab. (MK11)
 * Bed of Spikes: Geras lifts the opponent by their throat before summoning sand spikes in front of him. He then proceeds to throw the enemy into them. This move does more damage than Titan Tackle if not in the corner. Replaces Titan Tackle. (MK11)
 * When amplifying it, Geras instead summons a whirlpool of sand which sucks the opponent in, then spits them out, allowing for a juggle.
 * Big Fist: Geras throws a straight punch with his sand fist. (MK11)
 * Stepping It Back: Geras cancels out of Basic Attacks by rewinding time. (MK11)
 * Sand Pillar: Geras summons a column of sand from the ground that sends opponents flying away. Has close, far and very far versions. (MK11)
 * The amplified version delays the attack for roughly two seconds and allows Geras to act while it counts down. If Geras is hit during this, the pillar will instantly appear.
 * Sand Simulacrum: Geras creates a sand clone of himself which he can use to teleport to, or to detonate it. (MK11)
 * Fatal Blow - Stasis Assault: Geras uppercuts the opponent into the air and then reverses time, placing them in front of him again. While they are frozen in time, Geras punches them in the stomach and slashes their throat and chest with his sword before burying it in their shoulder. Finally, he cracks them over the head with a rock-covered fist before unfreezing time and punching them to the ground. (MK11)

Other Moves

 * Throw (Forward): Geras clotheslines his opponent, then hurls them skyward. He teleports in front of them, catches them as they fall, and slams them into the ground. (MK11)
 * Throw (Backward): Geras grabs the opponent and throws them onto a sand anvil behind him. Before they can get up, he forms a sand hammer that strikes the anvil, hitting the opponent. (MK11)

Fatalities

 * Phasing Through Time: Geras disappears into sand and reappears behind his opponent, punching a hole through their pectoral. He then appears in front of his opponent and performs an uppercut to create a gash in their other pectoral. Finally, he appears behind the opponent again and strikes the back of their head with a powerful palm strike, causing their face to fly off and their brain to fly out of their skull. (MK11)
 * Peeling Back: Geras summons a sand wall behind the opponent and punches them to the wall with his sand fist, who bounces forward from the impact. Geras kicks his opponent into the sand wall, immobilizing them. Geras then grabs the opponent's hand and rips the skin off their arm, proceeding to finish the unfortunate enemy off by completely tearing off their front half, spilling the victim's internal organs in the process. (MK11)

Brutalities:

 * The Klassic: Geras uppercuts the opponent's head off with their spine attached. It is available to all other characters. (MK11)
 * The player mustn't block throughout the finishing round.
 * A button must be held.
 * Carry On: Geras does his Titan Tackle in the corner before hitting them 3 times with his giant fist in the face and then dealing the final blow with a overhead smash, which crushes their entire head. (MK11)
 * Anvil Smash: Geras does his backwards throw, but when he calls for his sand hammer, he obliterates the opponents' upper torso between the hammer and the anvil. (MK11)
 * Hammer Smash: Geras performs the Sand Trap move, only for the opponent's legs to be ripped when they are risen into the air, showing bones. When the hammers strike, the head will pop off. (MK11)

Quotes

 * "Drowning cannot kill me, Raiden." (To Raiden before banished into the Sea of Blood)

Trivia

 * Geras' sand and time-control powers are likely based on the idiom "sands of time", which refers to the passage of time as being like sand in an hourglass.
 * Geras shares his name with the Greek god of old age, Γῆρας (Ancient Greek: Geras).
 * Additionally, the word 'geras' in Ancient Greek refers to the virtue where the more geras a man acquired in his life, the more fame, excellence and courage he was considered to have.


 * According to Skarlet, Geras can never truly die, as he can simply revert time to save himself. This is further hinted at an intro where Geras is seen picking up his head from the ground and attaching it to his neck. This is further supported by an interaction with Cassie, where he states that he has been reborn for the billionth time.
 * Kung Lao decapitates Geras in Mortal Kombat 11's Story Mode, only for the latter's head to turn into sand and rematerialise itself on his body.
 * Geras also directly states that he exists at a fixed point in time, and thusly can never truly be eliminated.


 * In a Kombat Kast #1, Geras was stated by Steve Brownback to be the MK11 equivalent of a mini-boss character like Goro, Kintaro, Motaro, Moloch and others.
 * In early builds of Mortal Kombat 11, Geras had blue-coloured blood. In later builds, the colour of his blood is red like most of the other characters. No official statement explaining this change has been released.
 * When the roster section was first added to the Mortal Kombat 11 website Geras was referred to as Terminas. In the files for Mortal Kombat 11, Geras is labelled as "Ter", this suggests that Geras' original name was Terminas before being changed at some point through development.
 * Geras is very similar to the character Zasalamel from the Soul series of fighting games. Both are dark-skinned characters whose general aesthetic predominantly features white, black and gold and possess the ability to manipulate time. They are also eternally reincarnating characters who cannot die and as shown in his ending, Geras' sole desire is to rest in peace after being forced to forever fight on Kronika's behalf in the hopes that he could ultimately rest, much like how Zasalamel desired a way to undo his self-afflicted immortality after having lost all joy in living.