Sheeva



"For the Shokan!"

- Sheeva's Battle Cry in Mortal Kombat (2011)

Sheeva is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series who made her debut in Mortal Kombat 3. Sheeva belongs to the ancient race of the Shokan, a race of mighty four armed half Human, half Dragon beings from Outworld that are the archenemies of the Centaurian race. Like all of her race, she possesses a tall, muscular build, and four arms. Notably, Sheeva served as the personal bodyguard of Queen Sindel during Shao Kahn's failed invasion of Earthrealm.

Unlike Goro and Kintaro, Sheeva was never a sub-boss in the Mortal Kombat series and was always a playable character, therefore she was not as strong as them.

Combat characteristics
As a Shokan, Sheeva possesses incredible strength. She retains the common Shokan ability to summon fireballs and utilize a teleport stomp. However, unlike her fellow Shokan warriors Goro and Kintaro, she can use the latter to merely stomp the ground without teleporting, causing damage. Also, Sheeva's fireballs seem to be more powerful than other character's, as evidenced in Armageddon where they can knock the opponent to the ground, rather than simply knocking them back.

Signature moves

 * Death From Above: Sheeva disappears over the top of the screen and reappears over the opponent's head, then stomps on them a few times. This is called Jump Stomp in MK 2011. (MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK:A, MK 2011)
 * The enhanced version is called Jump Crush. It is slightly more damaging.
 * Searing Blast: Sheeva launches a fireball, which can knock the opponent to the ground. In MK 2011, this is called Fireball. (MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK:A, MK 2011)
 * The enhanced version is called Fire Blast. The fireball is larger, slightly more damaging, and knocks the opponent back.
 * Furious Stomp: Sheeva stomps on the ground hard, knocking the opponent back and causing additional damage. In MK 2011, this is called Ground Pound. Her X-Ray move resembles the old animation for this move. (MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK:A, MK 2011)
 * The enhanced version is called Ground Smash. Sheeva stomps on the ground twice instead of once.
 * Untamed Fury: Sheeva lunges forward, grabs the opponent with her lower arms, hits them repeatedly in the face with her upper arms, then smacks them across the stage. This is called Grab N Punch in MK 2011. (MK:A, MK 2011)
 * The enhanced version is named Untamed Fury. Instead of ending the attack with a punch, she throws the opponent across the screen.
 * Anti-Air Grab: Sheeva grabs an opponent from mid-air, slams them on the ground, and stomps on their back. (MK 2011)
 * The enhanced version is called Power Anti-Air. It is slightly more damaging.
 * Low Grab: Sheeva grabs a ducked opponent and slams them behind her, as well as allowing for a juggle. This was her throw in MK3/MKT. (MK 2011)
 * The enhanced version is called Anti-Duck Throw. It is slightly more damaging.
 * thumb|250px|rightX-Ray Move - Slam Dance: Sheeva stomps the ground causing the opponent to go in the air and land in front of her, as they lay on the ground, she stomps on their head, breaking it. Then stomps on their back, breaking their spine. She then throws the opponent away. (MK 2011)

Other Moves

 * Throw: Sheeva grabs her foe using her upper arms, while delivering two body blows using her lower arms. She then either headbutts them away (Forward Throw) or slams them down (Backward Throw). (MK2011)

Fatalities

 * Stripped Down: Grabbing a handful of flesh in each of her four fists, Sheeva pulls her opponent's skin to the floor, leaving a bloody, skeletal husk. In MK 2011, she pulls the skin away in two pieces, in an upward motion. She then kicks the opponent's skinless body away, then lifts the flesh. (MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK 2011)
 * Stomping Fatality: Sheeva launches straight up, heading off of the screen, then comes down from the air above her opponent, landing with a brutal assault of stomps. (MK3)
 * HammerHead: Sheeva brings her fists down upon the opponent's head in succession, driving them into the ground. (MK3, UMK3, MKT)
 * Lend A Hand: Sheeva rips her opponent's arms off with her lower arms, then hits them twice in the face with their severed arms, the second hit breaking their neck. She then kicks them, and proceeds to clap with their severed arms. (MK 2011)

Other finishers

 * Friendship: Sheeva spins plates with her four arms. (MK3, UMK3, MKT)
 * Animality: Sheeva turns into a scorpion and stings her opponent. The opponent turns red and explodes. (MK3, UMK3, MKT)
 * Babality: Sheeva turns into a baby and has a giant fit. (MK 2011)

Movie appearance
Sheeva, played by Marjean Holden, appears in the second Mortal Kombat movie, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. The shooting script included a lengthy fight scene with her and Raiden (James Remar), but it was omitted during filming; instead she was merely squashed by a falling cage as she prepares to fight Liu Kang and Kitana in Shao Kahn's throne room (she does, however, use her prefight stance).

Sheeva does appear in other scenes of the movie, but her role was less than memorable in most respects. She had no fight scenes besides a brief quarrel with Motaro. The movie did acknowledge that she was the personal protector of Sindel and her family, which she mentions to Kahn in her personal endorsement for him to appoint her as general of his Extermination Squads.

TV appearance
Sheeva had a small role in the animated series, Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, in which she possessed a long-standing hatred of Raiden. She referred to her opponents as "darlings" (in a manner similar to Zsa Zsa Gabor). She was voiced by Dawnn Lewis.

Movies

 * Servant of Shao Kahn in the second movie.
 * Protector of Sindel.
 * Arch nemesis of Motaro.
 * Tried to prevent Liu Kang and Kitana from escaping Shao Kahn's fortress, but was crushed to death after Kang cut the rope of a cage, which fell on top of her.

Trivia

 * Like Goro and Kintaro, Sheeva also possesses a Teleport Stomp, though she was the first playable character capable of using the move.
 * Sheeva was the first and only playable female Shokan introduced in the series; Queen Mai is another female Shokan, but she isn't playable.
 * She was also the first Shokan in the series playable without the use of glitches or cheats as Goro could only be playable in the Game Boy version of the first Mortal Kombat game via a code.
 * Presumably to conserve memory space, Sheeva was left out of the roster of selectable fighters in the SNES and Sega Genesis version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. However, she wasn't totally abandoned, as she appears (although invisible) as a glitch character in the SNES version of UMK3. Her voice is also audible in the sound test of the Genesis version. There are still left over sprites of her character in the SNES version, when performing a physical fatality on glitch Sheeva such as Kung Lao's Hat Slice, Reptile's Tongue Lash, or Cyrax's Helicopter fatality will reveal Sheeva's MK3 standing sprite. If any character perform a Babality on glitch Sheeva, she will turn into her MK3 baby sprite.
 * In MK3 and UMK3, when performing the Stripped Down fatality on Sheeva, she has two arms. This was changed in MKT where she has 4 arms.
 * Sheeva had not appeared as a playable character since Mortal Kombat Trilogy, nor has she had any substantial cameos; only her corpse was found in the Netherrealm in Mortal Kombat: Deception ' s Konquest Mode, and is occasionally seen running through the graveyard in Deception, where almost all Mortal Kombat characters had cameos. Her fate after those games was revealed in text from Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance ' s Konquest Mode. However, she returned in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
 * Sheeva is based on the Hindu god, Shiva, the god of destruction. This is further reflected on her Mortal Kombat: Armageddon ending.
 * Similar to other Mortal Kombat 3 characters, during early production of Mortal Kombat 3, Sheeva was called "She-Goro", since she did not have a name yet.
 * Sheeva was the very first character in the series to bleed green blood. However, to fit with the other Shokan, Sheeva's blood was converted to red in later games.
 * Sheeva's alternate costume in Armageddon is her appearance in MK3/UMK3/MKT.
 * Sheeva, along with Motaro, appears trapped within a cell in the Dark Prison stage of Mortal Kombat: Unchained, but not in Deception, though.
 * In MK 2011, if Sheeva receives Baraka's Up The Middle Fatality, her lower arms will not be cut by his blades. This is odd because Baraka's blades cut the enemy's arms in a vertical move, and Sheeva's lower arms remain intact. It's the same situation with Raiden's Just A Scratch Fatality, Ermac's Mind Over Splatter Fatality, Kitana's Fan Opener Fatality and Cyrax's Nothing But Net Fatality.
 * Also, when the Pit Stage Fatality is done on Sheeva, one of her lower arms, depending on the side she was standing on, will hang as if it was impaled by a stake, although only her upper arm is impaled.
 * However, if Skarlet's Make it Rain Fatality is done on Sheeva, there will be 6 pillars instead of 4, due to the fact Sheeva has four arms. This the only fatality modified specifically for Sheeva's lower arms.
 * Sheeva's ending in MK 2011 is a comical stab at Australia banning the game due to its graphic violence.
 * During the Battle of Armageddon, Sheeva is shot with an arrow by Nightwolf, which disappears, and is ultimately stabbed and killed by Kenshi. However, in the opening cutscene in MK 2011, Nightwolf's arrow is seen glowing in Sheeva, despite it not glowing during the Battle of Armageddon.
 * Sheeva, along with Kratos, do not have their own avatar on King of the Hill.
 * Although Sheeva is a female, her voice sometimes sounds like a male voice.
 * Sheeva's Animality in MK3 was later given to Scorpion as his fatality in MK4. Originally this was gonna be Scorpion's Animality had he wasn't left out of MK3.
 * Though Sheeva is glitch in the SNES version of Ultimate MK3, she could still perform two of her MK3 fatalities by turning on the Easy Finisher option via cheat menus.
 * Sheeva was the only playable character (aside from the bosses) in Ultimate MK3 that doesn't had a Brutality finisher, this is probably due to the fact that she only appeared in the Arcade and Saturn versions of the game which the Brutality was not established yet and was missing from the SNES and Genesis versions.