Shinnok

You turned against your fellow Elder Gods, you betrayed your title, you deserve much worse. -- Raiden to Shinnok in Shinnok's Mortal Kombat 4 Ending

Shinnok is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. He made his debut in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero as a boss, and first became playable in Mortal Kombat 4, in which he also served as the boss.

About Shinnok
Shinnok is considered one of the most evil beings in Mortal Kombat. A vengeful and powerful fallen Elder God, Shinnok appeared in Mortal Kombat 4, Mortal Kombat Gold and Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero as the main villain. He has also made an appearance in Mortal Kombat Armageddon. He is seen to be seemingly leading the side of evil.

Unlike Shao Kahn, Shinnok relies less on brute strength and fear-mongering, but more on magical powers and ancient artifacts. He is the ruler of the Netherealm, possessing millions of years' worth of knowledge and power, including the ability to impersonate other beings perfectly, as well as to transform into an immense demon.

Shinnok demands from his followers unwavering faith and loyalty and will not hesitate to kill anyone who doubts or challenges him.

Storyline
Shinnok's fall from grace was caused by his lust for power and more specifically, his desire to take Earthrealm for himself.

At the dawn of time, when the realms were created, Shinnok desired to rule Earthrealm, and thus acquire for himself immense power. However, Shinnok couldn't enter Earthrealm without the Elders being aware of his actions. To resolve this issue without directly defying the sacred rules, Shinnok created a powerful amulet, weakened the dimensional barriers, and entered Earthrealm. During the war against his fellow gods, he came into direct conflict with the thunder god Raiden.

During the final stages of this war, Raiden was forced to choose between sacrificing Earth's indigenous races, or ceding the rule of Earthrealm to Shinnok. The angered Elder gods intervened, and assisted Raiden in his struggle. Raiden defeated Shinnok, and stripped him of his amulet. Shinnok was then banished to the deepest regions of the Netherealm. However, at the expense of Shinnok's defeat, the dimensional fibers of the worlds were severely weakened, and the Saurians, Earth's indigenous life form at the time, were nearly exterminated.

In the Netherealm, Shinnok endured constant torture from the Netherealm's overlord, Lucifer. Shinnok was at his mercy until he encountered a sorcerer, Quan Chi, who could travel through the realms at will. Quan Chi would aid Shinnok in overthrowing Lucifer and taking his throne, becoming ruler of the Netherealm. As payment for Quan Chi's efforts, Shinnok endowed him with incredible powers, making him arch-sorcerer of the Netherealm.

Shinnok began building his second army of darkness, and plotted to escape the Netherealm once more. In order to do so however, he would need his lost sacred amulet. After centuries of searching, Quan Chi eventually discovered the amulet's whereabouts for him. It had been in the possession of the Lin Kuei. Using the Lin Kuei warrior Sub-Zero (the elder), Quan Chi recovered it, but unbeknownst to Shinnok, he created a flawed replica in its place which he delivered, keeping the original for himself.

His time in the Netherealm was well spent, having built a massive army, as well as a fanatical cult of demons called the Brotherhood of the Shadow, dedicated to worshipping him. Also loyal to him was Tanya. He changed the Netherealm's appearance as well, to make it look closer in appearance to Earthrealm.

During Shao Kahn's failed invasion of Earthrealm, Shinnok ordered Noob Saibot to spy on these events and eventually side with the Earthrealm warriors (Shao Kahn had also unsuccessfully attempted to invade the Netherealm, which Shinnok had seen as a sign that the Emperor was becoming too powerful).

Shinnok's first target was Edenia. After successfully posing as a group of refugees, Shinnok and his highest generals, using Tanya's Edenian connections, were allowed entrance to the peaceful realm. Immediately, he seized this opportunity to bring in a full-scale invasion force, and captured Queen Sindel and Princess Kitana.

Despite all these successes, the specter of doom arrived for Shinnok. The amulet he had was a fake, the real one in Quan Chi's hands. The sorcerer himself was captured by Scorpion and trapped in the Netherrealm. Raiden and his warriors defeated many of Shinnok's soldiers and the Elder God faced Liu Kang in kombat. Although the evil deity tried his best, he lost to the Shaolin Monk and Raiden ultimately banished Shinnok to the Netherrealm.

In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, it is revealed that Shinnok knew Taven and his family well before the start of Taven and Daegon's quest, as Taven is at first confused as to why an Elder God would reside within the realms. He calls upon Taven for help when being attacked by Li Mei in the Netherrealm, Taven ordering her to get away from "Lord Shinnok". Shinnok lied to Taven after Li Mei was defeated, claiming that he was no longer an Elder God because he "meddled in the affairs of mortals," and that, in his weakened state, he needed Taven to help clear out his spire, which has been "overrun by demons." Taven completed this task, but alas, Shinnok was revealed to have easily decieved Taven, tricking him into kombating images he conjured up himself. Shinnok tells Taven that Daegon (whom Taven was chasing) had already departed the Netherrealm after he defeated Shinnok's Kintaro and Sheeva illusions. With Taven gone, Shinnok was revealed to be aiding Daegon; Daegon was shown to be hiding behind Shinnok's throne the whole time. Shinnok began to doubt his choice in favoring the skills of Daegon immediately afterwards, claiming that Taven defeated his illusions much faster than Daegon did, and it was Shinnok who alerted the many Kombatants to the prize at the top of the Pyramid of Argus, telling them that whomever obtained this power would be granted godlike power.

Shinnok does not appear in Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, but he is mentioned by Quan Chi to Shao Khan saying that Shinnok will be Displeased by his failure to conquer earthrealm.

Memorable moves

 * Summoned Friend: Using his magical powers, Shinnok would raise his "summoned friend's" skeleton hand and throw him away. (MKA)
 * Tricky Portal: Shinnok would create a portal behind his and his opponent's back then Shinnok would attack his opponent using his elbow. (MKA)
 * Judgement Fist: Shinnok would summon a violet streaking skeleton fist out of his hands. (MKA)

Fatalities

 * The Hand From Hell: Shinnok disappears in a puff of flame, then a portal opens on the ground near the victim. A giant skeletal hand emerges from the portal and grabs the victim, slowly squeezing until their head pops off from the pressure.  As the portal closes, the hand pulls back into the portal, taking the headless body with it, but leaving the head.  Shinnok reappears. (MK4, MKG)
 * Two Hand Clap: Shinnok levitates his victim high in the air, then disappears. A giant portal appears under the victim, and two skeletal hands emerge on either side of him/her.  The victim wails briefly before the two hands brutally clap on the victim.  They then retreat into the portal, revealing bloody messes of flesh and bone on the inside of the palms as they do so.  Shinnok reappears over the still-open portal. (MK4, MKG)

Movie appearance
According to the second Mortal Kombat movie, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Shinnok is the father of Raiden and Shao Kahn, who wishes for power not only over all realms, but over the gods as well. He also appears to be the elder god of wind.

He favors Shao Kahn, considering Raiden too weak and caring to be his son. Shinnok orders Shao Kahn to kill his brother while guiding him in his path to merging the parallel universes of Earth and Outworld. Shinnok is later imprisoned by the elder gods and Raiden was offered his position in their ranks.

Trivia

 * Shinnok's fall from grace is similar to that of Satan appropriately named Lucifer.
 * Shinnok is heavily implied to have the ability to change his shape much like Shang Tsung. However, because of limitations, Shinnok was stuck with only able to mimic fighting styles and voices only, despite there being a Randper Kombat code that randomly transforms the player's characters in both model and moveset. However, he does have the ability to morph himself into a demonic shape if his amulet was removed from him in Mortal Kombat Mythologies.
 * If "Big Head Mode" is activated in Mortal Kombat 4, the hands in Shinnok's fatalities will roughly double in size. Oddly, in the Two Hand Clap, the hands will fail to retract entirely into the portal, offering an excellent view of the bloody gunk on them.
 * Shinnok is loosely based on Journey to the West's demon Yan Wang. Such an appearance may have inspired his incarnation in the movie.
 * Shinnok's little-known "backstory" concerning his overthrowing of the Netherealm from Lucifer's hand is mentioned in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero's instruction manual, as well as MK:Deception' s Konquest mode, where Shinnok makes a cameo (his voice here seems to be the same that he had in MK4). However there is no other information about Shinnok's battle with Lucifer.
 * So far, Shinnok is the first boss character to be playable without the aid of a cheat code or third-party cheat device upon his first appearance (every other boss character was playable either through these devices, or not at all). Since MK4 Quan Chi & Shang Tsung have also appeared as playable boss characters
 * Although seen in the Armegeddon character roster as wearing a sorcerer's robe, Shinnok is seen in the in-game screenshots as wearing a similar attire to his costume in Mortal Kombat 4.
 * In promotional pictures of Mortal Kombat 4, Shinnok is shown to have a staff on which his Amulet is housed, although he never actually uses it in the game. He does appear to use it as his weapon stance in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, though it's unclear how he regained the Amulet from Onaga...that is, if the amulet on the staff is the real thing.
 * Shinnok's MK4 face model is based on Midway developer Steve Beran.
 * In Armegeddon, Sektor says "Initiate code K-0-N-N-1-H-5" where that code should be read 5H1NNOK, though there is no relation between Sektor and Shinnok except their alignment.
 * In early versions of MKA, Pao Chui was supposed to be his unarmed fighting style.