Board Thread:Mortal Kombat X/@comment-25033529-20150505005712/@comment-5025667-20160212153745

24.154.0.21 wrote: The severed head thing is actually a problem continuity wise, because the gods of the Mortal Kombat universe have been established as incorporeal beings, with their mortal forms being throw-away bodies that are subject to death, as can be seen with Raiden and Fujin. Shinnok's body would have been no different (unless it's different when Elder Gods incarnate, with the immortality of their godly states extending to their physical bodies as well). I'm actually under the assumption that part of it is due to the power he gains from his amulet. If Shinnok had a corporeal body after being descended from Elder God status, he might have given himself immortality from said amulet, making himself more immortal than he already was. After all, the best that the Elder Gods could do is banish him to Hell and hope he doesn't break free, and he probably realized that. Of course, he wasn't expecting Raiden to become more ruthless.

Now, the aspect with Raiden. Nothing ever said that Raiden was incapable of being killed, and he has died more than once in the story. On Fujin's biography in Armageddon, it even outright says that if a lesser God would die, they would eventually be reincarnated as a blank state.