Jade

Jade is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.

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. 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 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.

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. She appeared first as a hidden, unplayable character in Mortal Kombat II and 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.

Storyline
It is assumed Jade was the back-up plan of Shao Kahn during the second tournament, in case his own warriors would fail to withstand the fury and anger of the Earthrealm warriors. In fact, although she was not present in the first Mortal Kombat tournament, she was hiding in the shadows and watching the events unfold. From there, she would have to return to Outworld and report to Shao Kahn.

Like Kitana, Jade's origins lie not in Outworld, but in the realm of Edenia. While it is not certain whether or not her parents made any significant contributions to Edenia, it is known that they were loyal and faithful subjects who loved King Jerrod and Queen Sindel. Aside from the fact that she has been Kitana's friend since childhood, there isn't much information on Jade's background and early life. Jade eventually grew up and became one of Shao Kahn's personal assassins.

At the time of Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Kitana had been sentenced to death after being tried for treason for murdering Mileena during the events of Mortal Kombat II. She escaped the evil realm and fled to Earthrealm. Shao Kahn became enraged and appointed Jade and Reptile to venture into Earthrealm and capture her. Jade was assured that Kahn wanted her back alive, but Reptile was secretly told to bring Kitana back by any means necessary, including and especially killing her.

The two then ventured into Earth to find Kitana. However, Jade found herself torn between loyally carrying out Kahn's orders and betraying her friend or joining her against the Emperor. She ultimately decided to help Kitana and thwarted Reptile's assassination attempt. With his defeat, the path was cleared for the two women to join Raiden and his Earthrealm combatants in the battle against Shao Kahn and his forces. Of immediate importance, however, was Kitana's personal mission to reach and warn the resurrected Queen Sindel about their true past together. Jade's assistance had made that possible. With Sindel's memories recovered, she too would turn against Shao Kahn. Shortly afterward, Kahn was defeated by Liu Kang. After Kahn's defeat, Kitana would go on to free Edenia from Outworld.

Jade was not present during the events of Mortal Kombat Gold. It was at this time that Tanya betrayed Edenia to Shinnok and earned Jade's wrath.

In Mortal Kombat: Deception, it was revealed that Jade had attempted to join Kitana and her allies in the battle against the Deadly Alliance. She had arrived too late, finding her friend's body lying on the ground with the other Earthrealm warriors. Heartbroken, Jade knelt beside her fallen friend's side and noticed a large creature approaching. She then hid in the nearby shadows and witnessed this evil menace, Onaga the Dragon King, resurrect the bodies of Kitana and her fallen friends. While they were resurrected, they were also placed under an evil spell and were told to meet up with the force controlling them at the Living Forest.

Jade followed in secret, only to discover that they were going to invade Edenia and hold Queen Sindel prisoner. Jade returned to Edenia to find Queen Sindel behind bars and guarded by her own daughter. Sindel could have fought for her freedom, but she couldn't bring herself to attack Kitana. Jade attacked Kitana and managed to trap her in a cage of her own while she freed Sindel. Kitana then began shouting for the guards to capture them, forcing Jade and Sindel to flee to the portal into Outworld. Before they went through the portal, Jade caught a glimpse of her enemy, Tanya, standing next to Onaga.

Currently in Outworld with Sindel, Jade has made it her personal mission to assist her Queen in rescuing Kitana from the Dragon King's spell and to seek justice (or perhaps vengeance) against Tanya, who has betrayed Edenia yet again.

In Jade's Mortal Kombat: Armageddon ending, she is given great power by defeating Blaze. Through sheer will she opens the Pyramid of Argus. All of the darkness in the realms is drawn into it, where it is sealed forever. Jade is regarded as a hero, and the pyramid stands as a testament against anyone who wishes to do harm to Edenia.

Signature moves

 * Razor-Rang: Jade throws a razored-boomerang 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. (UMK3, MKT, MK:D, MK:U, MK:SM, MK:A)
 * Blazing Nitro Kick: Jade illuminates herself with a green force and kicks her opponent.This move is borrowed from Johnny Cage. (UMK3, MKT, MK:D, MK:U, MK:A)
 * Dodging Shadows: Jade puts a forcefield around herself which causes projectiles to go through her. (UMK3, MKT, MK:D, MK:U, MK:A)
 * Vanishing Winds: Jade spins with a cloud of green smoke surrounding her and appears behind her opponent. (MK:D, MK:U, MK:A)

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. 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 Jade betrays the group.

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.

Character development
Jade's introduction to the Mortal Kombat series is quite similar to that of Reptile's. She was simply an extremely fast palette-swap of Kitana who could not be harmed by projectiles and, in some ports of MKII, had tanned skin. In the first Mortal Kombat, Reptile made his appearance as a green-colored version of Scorpion with both Scorpion and Sub-Zero's abilities. 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'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 Mortal Kombat II, 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 considered to be non-canon.

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.

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 later scraped due to time constraints.