The Throne Room, also known as Shang Tsung's Throne Room is located at his old island fortress within the Lost Sea in Earthrealm, and first appeared in Mortal Kombat.
Overview
It is where the shapeshifting sorcerer himself sits on his throne in his island domain and watches as the kombatants fight each other for his amusement in the first MK game. As the fighters move about the stage, he turns his head to watch them, and applauds whoever wins a match.
Shang Tsung's Throne Room later reemerged in Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks as where the story begins. The Shaolin warrior Liu Kang, along with his two friends, Special Forces agent Lt. Sonya Blade, and Hollywood superstar Johnny Cage, continued fighting their battle for Earth as they face off against their opponents in the last stage of the first Mortal Kombat Tournament.
As both Sonya and Johnny go up against the Black Dragon mercenary Kano and the Raptor ninja Reptile, while the original Sub-Zero fights his own battle with the ninja spectre Scorpion, Liu Kang himself is about to face Shang Tsung when the sorcerer sends out two of his guardsmen to deal with him but both of them are defeated. Shang Tsung, in his complete disgust, jumps off of his throne to attack Liu Kang. Just as Shang Tsung was about to steal Liu Kang's soul, a Masked Guard knocked him down. The guard was later revealed to be another Shaolin warrior, Kung Lao, who saved Earthrealm's champions by warning of the traps in Goro's Lair.
As Kung Lao joins in the fight, the vicious Tarkatan, Baraka, steps in at the scene. As the battle ensued, Liu Kang defeated Shang Tsung and knocked him down with his Flying Kick. That's when Shang Tsung calls for help from his favorite pupil, the ferocious Shokan Prince, Goro, to attack Liu Kang and his friends. As Goro fights everyone, Shang Tsung used his sorcery to open a portal to the Realm of Outworld.
As he escaped through the gateway, so too behind him were Goro, Kano, Baraka and even Scorpion. Shang Tsung's magic then began destroying the island while Sub-Zero than suddenly disappeared. The Thunder God Raiden then suddenly appeared before all four of his chosen champions, and leads them the way out of this crumbling island fortress to a portal that had safely transported them back to the Wu Shi Academy.
In Mortal Kombat (2011), the Throne Room has a much darker setting than its previous presentations, which include a violent storm occurring in the background and the fight overlapping in the rain. This serves as the final stage for the Mortal Kombat retelling of the story as well. The Throne Room serves as the first sub-boss stage in the Arcade Ladder.
Trivia
- This arena is based off a throne from Big Trouble in Little China (1986).
- In the Sega Genesis and Amiga versions, the throne is red and two dragon's walls are gold. The mountains, trees, chinese house, chinese columns and Shang Tsung's applause and the turning of his head were removed.
- Shang Tsung's Throne Room appears in the cartoon movie Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge, where Liu Kang fights Goro and later Scorpion fights Quan Chi.