—Nitara to Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat 1 |
Biography
- Mortal Kombat 1: "Nitara's race of vampires hails from the dark and desolate realm of Vaeternus. To survive, they evolved the ability to feed on the blood of other creatures. The Vaeternians thrived, guiding a great society. But as their comfort grew, so did their shortsightedness. They overfed on Vaeternus' creatures, disrupting the natural order. They now starve as it collapses. It is Nitara's solemn obligation to deliver her people from hunger and save her race. Vaeternus must survive."
Storyline
Mortal Kombat 1
In Liu Kang's New Era, Nitara's home realm of Vaeternus is once again separate from Outworld. However, it faces a dire crisis - with an ageless, disease-immune population of vampires came a rapidly increasing birth rate, and an exponential decay in sources of blood on which to feed. The Coven, a group of vampires that governed Vaeternus, tasked Nitara with exploring other realms for a possibility to end the blood shortage and sustain their people. To that end, Nitara ventured to Outworld and met the sorcerer Quan Chi, with whom she began assisting in his plot against the realm in return for his assistance in finding Vaeternus a new blood supply. Joining his other cohorts in Sareena, Havik and Darrius, Nitara would help the sorcerer in his tasks, and in exchange, received the first of potentially many magics - a newfound immunity to exposure to the sun.
Nitara is first seen in the story mode with her allies, helping Quan Chi construct a soul stealer in the Living Forest. Quan Chi requests that Nitara and Havik each hand him two crimson-colored crystals necessary for completing the soul stealer. While Nitara readily brings him her crystal, Havik is less eager, due to some impatience for his end of their bargain. Quan Chi warns him not to reconsider, and after some convincing from Sareena and Nitara, Havik relents and hands Quan Chi his crystal. However, they are interrupted by the arrival of a band of heroes led by Ashrah, a reformed Netherrealm demon that had previously broken free from Quan Chi's control. Quan Chi tells Nitara and the others to keep Ashrah's group at bay while he continues to activate the soul stealer. Nitara fights Ashrah head-on, using her wings to avoid many of Ashrah's low strikes before finally being cut by her kriss, which she painfully realizes is enchanted. Ashrah confirms this, claiming she's already used it to kill plenty of evil vampires before her. Nitara denies that her people's reliance on blood makes them inherently evil, but is defeated by Ashrah nevertheless. She remains unconscious for the remainder of the forest fight.
Later, Nitara recovers and relocates to Ying Fortress, the base of operations for Quan Chi and his partner-in-crime, fellow sorcerer Shang Tsung. As she and Sareena wait outside for Quan Chi to continue aiding her efforts, she discovers a trio of intruders in the Lin Kuei ninja Sub-Zero, Scorpion, and Smoke. Nitara dive-bombs Smoke, nearly sending him falling to his doom before he manages to save himself with his karambit blade. She then turns her attention to Sub-Zero and drags him across the ground, attempting to bite him but failing as Sub-Zero kicks her off of him. The ninja mentions he had heard childhood stories of Vaeternian kind and thought them little more than tall tales until now. Nitara replies that all of Earthrealm will know of Vaeternus when the realm begins feeding on its people, but her threats are cut short when Sub-Zero incapacitates both her and Sareena, claiming Nitara will end the day hungry.
Eventually, Shang Tsung and Quan Chi's plot to collapse Earthrealm and Outworld is revealed. General Shao begins his coup to try and overthrow the current Empress Sindel, and Nitara joins him, Rain and Goro in confronting Sindel's party in Shang Tsung's real laboratory. After a tense argument between Sindel and Shao, the general uses the Amulet of Shinnok to capture most of Sindel's allies, save for Liu Kang and Li Mei. The fighting erupts, and Nitara manages to strike Sindel's face with a glancing blow. Sindel calls Shao a fool for deciding to cast his lot with such "bloodsucking fiends" and decimates Nitara in battle, calling her no better than the monstrosities in the laboratory.
The current Nitara is not seen again in the main story afterwards, but various versions and amalgamations of Nitara are seen during the second Battle of Armageddon, including one allied with Titan Shang Tsung that also assists Dark Sindel, a version with Sub-Zero's cryokinesis called Frostbite, and many more. Additionally, a heroic version of Nitara can be selected as the final warrior who aids Liu Kang in defeating the Titans Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, before being sent back to her respective timeline.
After the events of the story, the current Nitara was summoned by The Coven. As she was the one who advocated for allying with Quan Chi in the first place, she was held responsible for the failure of her mission to secure enough beings, and was tasked with finding new feeding grounds for Vaeternus, with The Coven threatening her with banishment should she fail once again. Sometime later, however, she had a revelation; she didn’t need to conquer entire realms to feed her people, but rather she simply needed to find and capture enough beings to reproduce them, effectively discovering a new way to ensure that Vaeternus was well-fed for years. With that in mind, she started to capture thousands upon thousands of beings from across all the realms, which to her is a number so small that nobody would notice as they go missing, but is more than enough to establish her people's breeding stock and ensure their ongoing survival.
Endings
- Mortal Kombat 1 (Canonical): "Quan Chi's plot collapsed. Along with it, my plan to secure new beings to feed my starving people. Because I'd advocated for partnering with him, I was held responsible. If I didn't seize Vaeternus new feeding grounds, the Coven would banish me. But then I had a revelation. I didn't need to conquer realms to feed my people. I simply needed to capture enough beings to breed them. Once they multiply, Vaeternus will have a limitless, renewable source of food. And I only need a few thousand to start. A number so small, compared to the billions in the realms, that no one will notice as people go missing. But it will be more than enough to establish our breeding stock and feed a ravenous Vaeternus."