Board Thread:Mortal Kombat Wiki/@comment-24.154.0.21-20160202182832

I have always been interested in knowing more about the deities of Mortal Kombat. Of course, the one we have all been familiar with since the first game is Raiden, the Earthrealm god of thunder and lightning, who carries the title of "protector." Call it conjecture, but I have always gotten the impression that he holds a position of authority over the other Earthrealm gods, as they seem to answer to him (or at least it seems that way with Fujin). He is like the Zeus of Earthrealm, answering only to the Elder Gods. Raiden briefly became an Elder God himself as a reward for defeating Shinnok for the second time in the original timeline, relinquishing said status and returning to Earthrealm as its protector once again when the Deadly Alliance threatened its existence. We know that Raiden's essence can easily be corrupted by certain stimuli, rendering him a rutheless anti-hero, as can be seen in his MK1 unding (from some as-yet unknown factor), or when fusing his power with that of the Deadly Alliance to combat Onaga, or when immersing himself inside the corrupted Jin'sei to purify it.

We also know of Fujin, the god of wind and a former protector of the Temple of Elements, who fought alongside Raiden in both NetherRealm Wars (original timeline and new). He also briefly held the title of protector of Earthrealm when Raiden was promoted to the status of Elder God following the defeat of Shinnok in the original timeline. He briefly fought the minions of the NetherRealm alongside Raiden in the new timeline as well.

We know of Fujin's elemental comrads, the gods of earth, water and fire, who guarded the Temple of Elements along with Fujin until their physical forms were destroyed by Sub-Zero. What became of these gods after this event is unknown, though we know from the MK4 tie-in comic that the Temple of Elements was left unprotected at least up until the invasion of Edenia. It seems that either these gods were not able to reform their physical manifestations as Fujin was, or that they had been wiped from existence altogether.

We know of the Elder Gods, the (passive) rulers of all realms, ruling from the Heavens. They are the shattered consciousness of the One Being, and are rather petty and uncaring toward the realms and their inhabitants, and are reluctant to intervene unless something threatens their own existence. For the most part, they leave the realms alone, leaving their protection to the people and their gods.

We know of Shinnok, the fallen Elder God. His physical form seems dependent upon the possession of his amulet, which possesses his godly power (which may indicate that the power of an elder god is too much to be contained within a single body, but this is just conjecture). We can assume that it takes time for Shinnok's full godly power to return to him when aquiring his amulet since he is able to be defeated by Johnny and Cassie Cage, where an all-powerful being would surely obliterate a mortal with barely a thought. (A charge-up time, if you will, seems necessary.)

We know of Argus, an Edenian god. He is the protector of Edenia, and is to Edenia what Raiden is to Earthrealm. We can assume that there are other gods under his command, though we never see them.

Finally, we know of the gods of Outworld. Raiden briefly mentions these beings in the intro to UMK3, where he says that, as a result of the gradual merging of Earthrealm with Outworld, that he cannot interfere because Earthrealm was now under the control of the "Outworld gods." We do not know anything about these gods other than that they exist, as the concept is never revisited.

Regarding the nature of these gods, we know that they are not like the gods of ancient Greek or Roman mythology in that they are considered to be material beings with immortal bodies bearing resemblance to human bodies. Rather, it is implied (especially in Raiden's MK1 bio) that they exist in their immaterial forms naturally, and only take on tangeable bodies when interacting with mortals, which seem to fade into nonexistence when returning to their natural elemental dwellings, or when they visit the Heavens. These "throw-away" bodies can apparently be killed, as we see is the case with Raiden, Fujin, Shinnok, and the Elementals, which renders them out of commission for a time until their energies can reform.

These bodies do seem to take on some of the facets of a normal mortal body as they are apparently able to reproduce with mortals, as is the case with demigods Taven, Daegon, and Rain.

Now, the purpose for this discussion is that I wished to speculate about a number of things. The following questions are my own, but feel free to submit any of your own musings for discussion:

1. What's the deal with the Outworld gods? Are they subject to the ruler of outworld (Shao Kahn), possibly explaining his immortality and near-godlike power? When a realm is conquered and absorbed into Outworld, are the gods of that realm then bound to the will of Shao Kahn, possibly becoming corrupted as Raiden occassionally becomes corrupted, with their own wills becoming submissive (similar to Quan Chi's revenants)? Is that what would have happened to Raiden, Fujin, and the other Earthrealm gods had Shang Tsung won the Tenth Tournament?

2. When Raiden was briefly an Elder God, was he subject to the collective consciousness they all seem to exhibit, and verfied in Shinnok's ending? Or was he immune to it since he was not an Elder God by origin, coming into existence with the others at the beginning of time when the One Being was shattered?

3. Is there a pantheon for every realm? Does the NetherRealm have its own pantheon of gods? Does ChaosRealm? OrderRealm? DreamRealm?

4. Why have we not seen more god characters in the series? Why have we not seen gods of other realms, aside from Argus? Why were the enigmatic "Outworld gods" mentioned in UMK3 never shown (or why was the concept dropped)?

5. Would you want to see more god characters in Mortal Kombat? 