You are correct, Goro's Lair is not located in the Outworld, it is located on Shang Tsung's island which he created in the Earthrealm.

CorrezZ Wrote: In MKII, after you fight Jade, Smoke or Noob Saibot in Goro's Lair, it says: Now you must return to Outworld. So... Goro's Lair was NOT in Outword. Was it on Earth? If so, how the heck did Goro get on Earth, and better yet, why didn't Shang use the same magic to get an outworld army on Earth? Just wondering...

Goro got to Earth because, well he was born on Earth. AS far as I know (and it has been a long time since I read Goro's bio from MK1) in MK1 Goro was described as a half human dragon. He wasn't a Shokan or anyhting like that, just a mythilogical beast that served as a freaky looking boss. fOuR ArmS dUDE!!!!!!11111

MK2 happened and they decided to explain everything. Kintaro wasn't even meant to be similar to Goro originally. It could be conceived that if they had managed to go along with their Tiger humanoid Kintaro, Goro would have remained a one time only character, never properly explained or given a race of others like him.

They went one further with Motaro who is a Minator, an Ancient Greek legend. Except by that stage they started explaining everything in a more canon way.

Feel free to correct my memory and guesses.

Khardynyl Wrote: Goro got to Earth because, well he was born on Earth. AS far as I know (and it has been a long time since I read Goro's bio from MK1) in MK1 Goro was described as a half human dragon. He wasn't a Shokan or anyhting like that, just a mythilogical beast that served as a freaky looking boss. fOuR ArmS dUDE!!!!!!11111 MK2 happened and they decided to explain everything. Kintaro wasn't even meant to be similar to Goro originally. It could be conceived that if they had managed to go along with their Tiger humanoid Kintaro, Goro would have remained a one time only character, never properly explained or given a race of others like him. They went one further with Motaro who is a Minator, an Ancient Greek legend. Except by that stage they started explaining everything in a more canon way. Feel free to correct my memory and guesses.

It all sounds about right to me, except Motaro was a Centaur not a Minator, but thats a simple mistype. Goro's bio did describe him exactly as "a half human dragon." Its a shame they didnt put a lot into the storyline in the first one, but at least in MK2 they made it uber cool. Even MK3, I thought, added some interesting twists to the story that MK2 brought out. The Shokan/Centaur friction, Sindel reborn on earth to open the portals, all that good stuff. I'd say it was a soft start as far as the story but they really turned it into something interesting.

You are right, it is Centaur. A Minataur is more like Rock from Soul Calibur, if his head was real and no a mask. I had always thought of a Minataur having 4 legs for some reason. :/

Goro was from Outworld in MK1. In the comic(which was written by Tobias) his profile has him listed from there("4th astral plane of Outworld", IIRC).

The whole Shao Kahn story is not mentioned at all in MK1 though. Shang Tsung was stealing souls because of a curse he got from his "gods" and he was not trying to open any portals, just corrupt the tournament for his own evil desires.

In MK II they introduced Kahn and said Shang was taking over the tournament in MK1 to unbalance the furies and allow Kahn's armies to enter Earth. So yeah, you're right....if Kahn can't go through to Earth how come Shang and Goro could? Baraka and his cronies went through to Earth to beat down Liu Kang's friends before MK II too. It makes no sense and is a plot hole. Maybe only a certain amount of Outworld people can cross through at once and then they have to wait a long time or something. Who knows.


Anyway, once the movie came out and they changed the story in MKT that was explained. The new canon is that "Outworld must win 10 tournaments in a row" crap from the film. So Kahn couldn't come in because he just can't get the portal open, he couldn't come in and invade because he had to win the tournament fairly like the Elder Gods declared. Of course he broke the rules with his Sindel scheme, but whatever.


The problem with the MK story is that we(the fans) care about it a lot more than Boon, Vogel and probably even Tobias ever did. They have changed things countless times over the years and never go into detail about things.

I agree Sakura. I always liked the story a lot. The thing that annoyed me was that I only really liked sticking with the game storyline, like the goro story we were discussing, and that was knocked around and changed so often. I would be happy to have a compilation CD of all the classic games even if only to have an officially altered storyline that reflected everything.

in response to the kahn stepping through the portals thing, thats a thing to really discuss because even though he cant take earth without mortal kombat, he can still go there. (this is pretty much mentioned in the conquest tv show even though its not really relevant to the mk storyline). he can send his minions to earth like baraka and shang tsung, who was originally from earth. (i forgot where i read that but its true). i did have more to say but i forgot the rest of it lol. i'll come back when i remember.

To Sakura:
I think that Goro and Shang Tsung were allowed to enter Earth Realm because they were the representantives of Outworld in the tournament. If there weren't any outworld fighters in mortal kombat, how could Outworld ever win?

I think Baraka and the other nomads made it through because of the same reason Rain and the other Outworld assassins arrived on Earth in MKC: Shao Kahn had a secret, 'ilegal' portal on Earth, however, he couldn't just send a whole army there to take over the realm, because that would be agaisn't the rules. I take it not even the elder gods knew about Kahn's portal, and that's how Baraka made it to the shaolin temples.

I think that Goro and Shang Tsung were allowed to enter Earth Realm because they were the representantives of Outworld in the tournament. If there weren't any outworld fighters in mortal kombat, how could Outworld ever win?


Right. That makes sense NOW but the "Outworld must win 10 in a row" thing wasn't added to the story until the movie came out. Before the movie Shang Tsung was trying to open the portal by unbalancing the scales of good and evil.

the portal have always existed,remember in mk4 raiden and shinnok fought as well,and the story goes that any immortals and mortals can go through the portals,but the elder gods knew that if they allow such beings to enter they fear that all different souls can overtake thier throwns and become as gods.instead of keeping the portals remain open they arranged a plan to create a mortal kombat tournament and set a rule that whoever win's 10th in a row can have free access to go any realms he/she goes.raiden in mortal kombat mythologies have the power and will to open and close the portal,and only him can freely access it all.

Of course, they had to alter it here and there... But like... You're saying he's human-dragon, maybe they said that just because they had no real name for the race yet, but then they all just became the Shokan. If not, I mean, if Goro has human in him, then... Well, what, you're saying that Gorbak, or someone before that did it with a human chick or something...
I really think that Goro is a pure breed, I mean, look at all the ancestors he got... All 4-armed and stuff... Is there anybody that can clearify Goro's origins with solid proof? I mean, while we're on the topic.

If you read the intro to MKT, it tells you that certain men (most likely monks), envisioned Kahn taking over Earth. Mortal Kombat was not set up then, so they pleaded to the Elder Gods for protection. Elder Gods would rather events occur naturally without their interference, but they also realized the kind of power that Kahn would recieve if he took over Earth, so they created the Mortal Kombat Tournament, with the stipulation that if Outworld won 10 straight tournaments, then Kahn could invade Earth.

THAT is why Tsung and Goro were allowed into Earth, to represent Outworld (along with other Outworld warriors) in Mortal Kombat. Goro was the champion, so whoever defeated him would win it for Earth, but Tsung was there to challenge the new champion should Goro be beaten, and attempt to kill him and take his soul.

Pretty much anyone could open a portal to Earth and go through, including Tsung, Baraka, Kitana, anyone, except for Shao Kahn. It may be because it would have had the same assumed effect that it would have if Raiden entered Outworld. It's been said in several ways that Raiden entering Outworld would strip Raiden of his godhood (reason why he wasn't in MK3 and UMK3, in MKT he reduced himself to a mortal, but still with his powers). Should Kahn enter Earth, he'd lose his powers just the same.

The loophole was Sindel. The Elder Gods seemingly had to allow Kahn to reclaim her as his queen after she was reborn on Earth. It was only then that Kahn could enter Earth without losing his powers or suffer any other consequences. That's when he unleashed his army. Again, the Elder Gods wouldn't intervene because they'd rather events occur without their intervention.

Tsung's secret island was sort of like the "gateway" of Earth and the Outworld.