When a character dies in Mortal Kombat's story, we all tell ourselves that "Nobody ever really dies in Mortal Kombat" and we assure ourselves that the character will be returning in a game or two; more often than not being completely unaffected by their recent demise and subsequent resurrection.

Almost every character has "died" one way or another within the franchise. In early games, characters like Mileena, killed by Kitana, and Johnny Cage, killed by Shao Kahn's extermination squads, both came back to life their same old selves within the frame of a single game. More recently, large quantities of characters like Sonya, Jax, Kung Lao, Kitana, and Johnny Cage again were all killed off at once between Deadly Alliance and Deception, and resurrected. They were probably even more unaffected by this (at least Mileena could use the fact that most people thought she was dead to her advantage and at least Johnny Cage's death was acknowledged in one of his movies). But come MK Unchained for the PSP and MK Armageddon, these characters were back to their normal lives as if they never died at all aside from a mention in Kitana and Jax’s biographies.

There have only been a few characters that have been dramatically altered by death; Characters like Raiden who turned evil after he self-destructed, and Liu Kang who entered a struggle between his seemingly uncontrollable zombified body and his good-conscience soul. And of course there's Scorpion, who was resurrected before MK1, who became a raging, vengence-obsessed spectre after Quan Chi brought him back.

Of course, all the previous death was undone in the recent Mortal Kombat reboot/sequel/revisiting, giving a chance for death to become a serious threat in the Mortal Kombat Universe. And since a lot of beloved characters found themselves in the NetherRealm in MK2011, the question isn't really whether or not they will come back (that's pretty much a given) but will they be affected by their death and subsequent resurrection?

Personally, I don't really care for the comic-book deaths. Most of the characters in the NetherRealm are good (ironically) but under Quan Chi's control they do terrible things; they fight, they kill, and they go against their allies. They can't control it of course, but when the surviving good guys eventually find a way to bring them back (I have no doubt that they will), how will they react? Is Stryker just going to say "I feel bad for what I did under Quan Chi's control, but now I'm going back to my life." That's what would have happened in the old timeline 9/10 times. But don't any of them develop grudges? Wouldn't they want to get revenge on Quan Chi? Wouldn't they want to help the other souls who are still suffering like they were? Maybe some of them still struggle with the Quan Chi's mind control and try to find a way to purify their souls? My point is, I think death should have a greater impact on character development in the MK Universe. What I want NRS to do is take something like Jax’s MK Unchained biography, and actually act upon it (I was pretty sad that they just threw this one out in Armageddon):



In the new timeline, dead characters haven't been restored to their full glory yet. Assuming that we will see them in their original form again, what would their death add to their storylines? Should it be a significant part of their story that expands or changes their goals and personalities? Should they act as if they never died in the first place and just continue their original goals? Are some characters that are more likely to be heavily impacted by their death than others? Discuss!