XiahouDun84 Wrote:
Figured I'd do one on ol' Sub. Younger one, not Noob.

Sub-Zero

What we know about Sub-Zero:
The second son of a 4th generation Lin Kuei member. He and his older brother were taken by the Lin Kuei when they were young and to be trained as assassins. He also had a younger sister, but she, along with their mother were never seen again after the Lin Kuei found them.

He inherited his Kori power, power over ice, from his father who inherited it from his father and so on. He was trained by the Lin Kuei to harness his power and be one of their assassins and warriors. At some point in his training he becomes good friends with another Lin Kuei warrior named Smoke.

In MK1 the older brother is hired to assassinate the sorcerer Shang Tsung. To do so he enters the Mortal Kombat tournament but is killed by the spectre Scorpion. When word of Sub-Zero's failure reaches the Lin Kuei, the younger brother takes the name Sub-Zero and is sent to finish his brother's job.

In MK2, he travels to Outworld and enters Shao Kahn's tournament to get to Shang Tsung, but he does not succeed. At some point during this tournament, he learns of Scorpion's vendetta against his brother.

After escaping Outworld, Sub-Zero returns to the Lin Kuei only to find that they are beginning to turn their warriors in soulless cyborgs. Wanting nothing to do with this, Sub-Zero abandons the Lin Kuei with his friend Smoke, although Smoke does not make it out.

In MK3, Sub-Zero is marked for death by the Lin Kuei and on the run. Also, Shao Kahn begins his invasion of Earth and Sub-Zero finds himself among Earth's chosen warriors, so he must not only elude the three cyborgs sent to kill him, but also Kahn's Extermination Squads.

Among the cyborgs sent is Smoke who was turned into a machine as well. Sub-Zero tries to reach through to Smoke and help him resist his programming. Whether he was successful or not is uncertain. Sub-Zero also manages to capture Cyrax, possibly with Smoke's help, and reprograms him to be against Shao Kahn.

After Shao Kahn is defeated, Sub-Zero disappears into the shadows and remains hidden for a brief amount of time until he learns of Shinnok's escape from the Netherealm in MK4. Remembering his brother's story of his journey into the Netherealm, Sub-Zero dons his brother's Lin Kuei uniform and joins with the warriors of Earth against Shinnok.

Sub-Zero then finds himself under attack by his brother's murderer Scorpion who believes Sub-Zero was somehow involved with the massacre of his clan and family. Sub-Zero fights Scorpion, but is defeated. Before Scorpion can kill him, Sub-Zero reveals it was really Quan Chi who slaughtered Scorpion's clan and family. Scorpion begins chasing Quan Chi and Sub-Zero is freed from Scorpion's curse.

After Shinnok's defeat, Sub-Zero decides to reform the Lin Kuei as a force for good. But first he would have to master the Dragon Medallion and harness it's power. He returns to what's left of the Lin Kuei only to find the cyborg Sektor has gone berserk and slaughtered all the remaining Lin Kuei, including the grandmaster. Sub-Zero fights Sektor for the Medallion and emerges victorious.

Sub-Zero then begins to harness the power of the Dragon Medallion which increases his Kori power dramatically, but makes him age several years as a side-effect. Having mastered the Medallion, Sub-Zero names himself the Grandmaster of the new Lin Kuei and holds a tournament to find new recruits. The winner of this tournament is a young woman known only as Frost, who shares Sub-Zero's power over ice.

Taking particular interest in this woman, Sub-Zero decides to train her personally and help her master her Kori power. She begins to grow very arrogant and Sub-Zero tries to teach her humility. Shortly after, in MK:DA, Sub-Zero is summoned by Raiden to join the fight against the Deadly Alliance of Quan Chi and Shang Tsung. Sub-Zero agrees to help Raiden, hoping this will earn the respect of his students.

Sub-Zero travels to Outworld with Frost and joins with his Earthrealm allies. At some point, Sub-Zero encounters the Demon woman Sareena who had helped his brother when he journeyed into the Netherealm. He offers her sanctuary with the Lin Kuei on Earth in return for her helping his brother and she accepts.

Sub-Zero and Frost were on their way to join their allies on an assault on Shang Tsung's palace, but on the way Frost attacked Sub-Zero and tried to steal the Dragon Medallion. However, she could not control it's power and was consumed by her own Kori power.

Sub-Zero begins to search for a place to bury Frost and discovers and ancient temple hidden in Outworld. Inside he discovers the history of an ancient race of people from Outworld who had power over ice. After studying this history, Sub-Zero came realize that he and most likely Frost were descendants of this race.

In Deception, having learned his true heritage, Sub-Zero dons the armor of his ancestors and sets out to fight. Along the way he is ambushed by Tarkatan hordes, but his armor increases his strength allowing him to decimate the Tarkatans. He then finds the blind swordsman Kenshi injured and agrees to help Kenshi return to Earth.


I think the first thing that should be pointed out is, more than likely, the name "Sub-Zero" carries a prestigious legacy. Some say there is no proof that the father or his fathers were also named "Sub-Zero," but let's consider the facts: four generations of warriors all possessing power over ice. Most likely, they all wore the same or similar uniform. After Sub-Zero I dies in MK1 his younger brother not only takes his place, but his name. Also, the Lin Kuei doesn't exactly regard it's warriors as individuals, which I'll get into later. So I think it's a safe bet to assume the name "Sub-Zero" is passed on from generation to generation.

The legacy of the "Sub-Zero" name was probably something that was highly regarded within the Lin Kuei. Sub-Zero's mother didn't want her children to be trained as warriors but their father tracked them down. His loyalty to the clan was so strong he was willing to sacrifice his wife and daughter. As we saw in Mythologies, the older brother was dutifully loyal to the clan until his death, in spite of Raiden's warning.

So right from the start, Sub-Zero has quite a lot to live up to. As a "Sub-Zero" he's living with the expectation to live up to the legacy of his forefathers. Then there's his older brother, who fought and defeated four GODS, traveled into Hell itself, and defied a former Elder God. That's a hell of a standard to live up to.

I think all these factors are what initially influenced Sub-Zero in his training. He was probably too young to remember what the Lin Kuei did to his mother and sister so he grew up believing his place was with the Lin Kuei as one of their warriors. I imagine he looked up to his famous brother and was proud of his "Sub-Zero" heritage and was eager to live up to that standard. As we saw in Mythologies, the older Sub-Zero wasn't all bad, so he and his brother were probably close, encouraging him to train and become a great warrior.

At some point during his training, Sub-Zero becomes friends with the warrior Smoke. Only real guess we can assume is they trained together growing up and that's how they became friends. However, we know almost nothing about Smoke's past or background. So anything beyond that is speculation.

Now, was Sub-Zero's mission in MK2 his first? And if it wasn't, was he already called "Sub-Zero?" It would seem strange that the Lin Kuei would have two assassins named "Sub-Zero." Which brings me to what I referred to earlier about the Lin Kuei not seeing its warriors as individuals. Say MK2 was his first mission or at least his first mission as "Sub-Zero." What was his name before he took the "Sub-Zero" mantle. Something given to him by the Lin Kuei? Something easily taken away and forgotten apparently.

The point is, when the older Sub-Zero dies, the younger brother immediately takes his place, name, and mission and I doubt the Lin Kuei cared that much. Now, after learning his older brother died, Sub-Zero was probably so angry and outraged he didn't bother to realize the Lin Kuei was just using him. This will become a factor later on when the Lin Kuei decides to start turning it's fighters into cyborgs.

So after word of the older Sub-Zero's death reaches the Lin Kuei they decide to send the younger brother to finish the job. More likely, he also volunteered hoping to maybe avenge his brother and carry on the "Sub-Zero" legacy. So going into MK2, we have Sub-Zero dutifully loyal to the Lin Kuei, trying to live up to his family's legacy, unaware that his clan is just using him as a weapon as it uses all it's warriors.

So Sub-Zero travels to Outworld to assassinate Shang Tsung and finds himself in Shao Kahn's Outworld tournament. At some point he learns of Scorpion's vendetta against his brother and that is was Scorpion who killed him. Now, what exactly happens between Sub-Zero and Scorpion at this point is subject to debate. Regardless of whether or not Scorpion vowed to protect Sub-Zero, by meeting Scorpion I think Sub-Zero began to see his clan in a different light. He most likely grew up believing the Lin Kuei was a great clan of honorable warriors and his older brother was greatest among them. But he meets Scorpion and witnesses first hand the evil his clan is capable of. There is the possibility that while in Outworld Sub-Zero met Raiden who probably gave a similar warning he gave to the brother about changing his reckless life.

For whatever reason, he does not succeed in his mission to assassinate Shang Tsung and returns to Earth uncertain about his place in the Lin Kuei. And as he returns to the Lin Kuei what does he find? The Lin Kuei has begun turning it's warriors into soulless cyborgs. I think this is when Sub-Zero catches on the Lin Kuei does not hold it's warriors in very high regard. It sees them as weapons. Mindless, interchangeable machines. Between his possible meeting with Raiden, his encounter with Scorpion, and now this cyborg situation, I think Sub-Zero finally realized the Lin Kuei was not where he belonged.

After abandoning the Lin Kuei, Sub-Zero is left to try to forge a new destiny for himself. No longer bound to his clan Sub-Zero must find his new purpose. However, Sub-Zero soon finds his severe roadblocks in quest for a new destiny. Marked for death for leaving the Lin Kuei, Sub-Zero goes on the run trying to elude the three cyborgs sent to kill him: Sektor, Cyrax, and his friend Smoke who tried to escape the Lin Kuei as well but didn't make it. Sub-Zero believes that Smoke's soul still exists and tries to help him resist his programming. Now what exactly happened they never said, other than in the end Smoke ends up deactivated in Shao Kahn's dungeon. Sub-Zero also manages to reprogram Cyrax and turn him good.

While Sub-Zero is dealing with his cyborg assassins he finds himself caught in the war against Shao Kahn. As one of the chosen warriors of Earth, Sub-Zero becomes a target of Outworld's armies and he's forced to join with the other warriors of Earth. According to his MK3 ending, after Kahn's defeat Sub-Zero disappears into the shadows and he doesn't reemerge until MK4. I think Sub-Zero's forced alliance with the Earth warriors changed him. We begin to see the beginning of Sub-Zero's evolution from assassin to something of a hero.

As MK4 begins, Sub-Zero immediately steps into the fray to help defeat Shinnok. Remembering the story of Shinnok from his brother, Sub-Zero already knows a bit about Shinnok and Quan Chi. I wonder though if Sub-Zero is aware of Quan Chi and Shinnok's involvement with his brother's death? Did he know it was Quan Chi and Shinnok who allowed Scorpion to leave the Netherealm to avenge himself? If so, then there's some personal vendetta influencing Sub-Zero during MK4 as well. With Shinnok and Quan Chi's defeat and at last freeing himself from Scorpion, Sub-Zero is finally freed from his past and able to choose his new path.

After Shinnok's defeat, Sub-Zero does find his new purpose. His whole life he's been trying to live up to the standard of the previous "Sub-Zero's," only to realize that path led no where. So he decides he will live up to the "Sub-Zero" legacy in his own way. By not being a mindless assassin but a hero. He chooses not to be a weapon of the Lin Kuei, but to be it's leader and reforms it into something better.

Sub-Zero decides to reform the Lin Kuei as a force for good. To get the Medallion he fights Sektor who went berserk and tried to take over the Lin Kuei himself. There's something about Sektor and his relationship with Sub-Zero I think deserves to explored.

We're all familiar with the idea of a "nemesis." The hero and their evil opposite who represents their dark potential. The concept of a nemesis is the hero and villain are faced with a similar choice, but the villain chooses a different path. Two sides of the same coin. An obvious example in MK would be Kitana and Mileena. They seem to be hinting something with Jade and Tanya. There are others.

Now back to Sektor and Sub-Zero. They are faced with the choice of being turned to cyborgs by the Lin Kuei. Sektor, so dutifully loyal to the Lin Kuei, is the first to volunteer and he is turned into a cyborg with no regret. Sub-Zero does not. He abandons the Lin Kuei and forges his own path. I don't think it's a coincidence Sektor and Sub-Zero fought each other for the Dragon Medallion. Both wanted to reform the Lin Kuei in their image. Sub-Zero for good, Sektor for evil. Sektor represents the path Sub-Zero did not take. Is Sektor is Sub-Zero's true "nemesis?" Does Sektor represent Sub-Zero's dark potential? Is Sektor the Agent Smith to Sub-Zero's Neo? The Venom to his Spider-Man?

When we last heard from Sektor, he formed his own clan called the Tekunin and was slowly taking over Japan. Since Deception takes place solely in Outworld we haven't gotten an update on Sektor's Tekunin. When Sub-Zero finally returns to Earth, what's going to be waiting for him? We'll have to see...

Anyway, Sub-Zero masters the Dragon Medallion which increases his Kori power and this leads to his discovery of Frost, whom Sub-Zero takes particular interest in training. Now, there's been all sorts of speculation on who Frost is and her relationship with Sub-Zero. As we know, the Kori powers were passed on from generation to generation and Sub-Zero has a sister who disappeared so signs tend to lead to her being his lost sister. (However, before MK:DA came out it was confirmed in an interview Frost was not Sub-Zero's sister...but then again, this is Mortal Kombat. I for one won't be surprised if what was said in that interview is ignored down the line.) But even if she isn't his sister, she still shared similar powers and he probably felt a connection. Maybe he saw in Frost a potential successor. The "Sub-Zero" name was passed onto him so maybe he thought he could eventually pass it on to her when she was ready?

During MK:DA Sub-Zero encounters Sareena who had escaped the Netherealm. He already knew of Sareena from his brother's story of his journey to the Netherealm. Sub-Zero then allows Sareena sanctuary with the Lin Kuei. Why? Well, regardless of her personal reasons, Sareena risked her life to help the older Sub-Zero against Quan Chi and was horribly punished for it, so Sub-Zero probably feels he owes her and may even feel some pity. If nothing else, this shows Sub-Zero's strong sense of honor. I think how Sub-Zero sees Sareena would be based on whatever his brother told him about her. Mythologies sort of hinted the older Sub-Zero and Sareena may have had some feelings for each other so maybe that has an influence of Sub-Zero's decision. Where Sareena and Sub-Zero's relationship goes from here is yet to be seen.

Towards the end of MK:DA, Frost betrays Sub-Zero and attempts to steal his Medallion but is apparently killed. Despite this betrayal, Sub-Zero feels the need to give her a proper burial. Why? They said in MK:DA that Sub-Zero brought Frost with him to Outworld so she could learn discipline. He tried to teach her humility, but he failed. And because of his inability to teach Frost discipline, she was killed. So he probably feels partially responsible for Frost's death.

From here, he discovers his true heritage and the source of his Kori power. He dons the armor of his ancient ancestors and sets out.


Sub-Zero is one of the few characters who has evolved throughout Mortal Kombat. He started as a young assassin and eventually evolved into one of MK's greatest heroes. He is a man seeking his destiny and trying to forge his own legacy. When he started he was simply trying to prove he was worthy of the "Sub-Zero" mantle. But now, he has surpassed it and become the greatest "Sub-Zero."

It seems, unlike some of the other characters, Sub-Zero's already overcome his inner conflicts....or at least his first few. I imagine his first was when he began to question his place in the Lin Kuei, but he overcame it and abandoned the clan. Then it was trying to find his new path, but he overcame that as well and became a hero.

Although he has overcome his first inner conflicts, many challenges still await Sub-Zero. By becoming one of Earth's primary defenders, Sub-Zero's put himself in the cross-hairs of Onaga, Shao Kahn, and any other future villain. His new Lin Kuei has garnered the attention of the Red Dragon. As I said before, Sektor is still out there biding his time. And of course, there's Noob Saibot. How and when will Sub-Zero come to learn of Noob's true identity? What role will he play in that little drama? What role will Sareena play? Is Frost really gone for good? I think we still have a long way to go before Sub-Zero's part in the story is over.

Thoughts?



See also:

Scorpion Analysis

Noob Saibot Analysis

Reptile Analysis

Kitana Analysis

Mileena Analysis

Sonya Blade Analysis

Scorpio2 Wrote:
well, never in any game did it say that sub-zero had a sister. nothing is official unless it appeared in the game. comics and nothing else matters.

and the sub-zero name was never passed down to any member of the lin kuei. the POWERS were. read the mkmsz story. the only reason the current sub has the name is he wanted to honor his brother.

Scorpio2 Wrote:
and you left out the big story of him (the original sub) killing scorpion..basically the entire event that happened pre-mk1 (mkmsz)

XiahouDun84 Wrote:

Okay, one: read this That's the official MK: Mythologies website.
And two, as I explained, evidence points to the Sub-Zero name being passed on.
And three, the MK1 and MK2 comics made by John Tobias and relased before each arcade are, or at least were, canon. All the other comics aren't canon.


As I pointed out, I did this on the younger Sub-Zero, not the original one who became Noob Saibot. So why would I bother explaining Scorpion's death or what happened in Mythologies here, since the younger Sub-Zero wasn't involved?

Scorpio2 Wrote:
that mkm site has nothing to do with anything. that site was closed before the game even came out. the information contained on that site didnt make it into the final version of the game (it still said "coming soon" before the site was closed down, lol)..obviously.

they probably realized how dumb of a story that would have been for the game and scratched it. i mean..it wouldnt have made since to have the sub name passed on..seeing how if in mk1/mkm sub-zero was the ORIGINAL..meaning the FIRST, and his brother was the second...which means if the mk1 sub was the ORIGINAL like the game states, no one else had it before him.

Scorpio2 Wrote:as i said before. if it isnt in the game, it never happened. no matter what anyone wants to think. you can count "some" comics..but not a movie or anything else? just cause john tobias said it? unless it appears IN GAME then it has nothing to do with THE GAMES story.

Scorpio2 Wrote:
and if youre gonna do a big thing on sub-zero, you should have explained the original. i know it was intented on the younger brother, but when you read it, it sounds like the same guy involved in 2 different storylines.

Shinnox Wrote:
the second scorpion fight in mkm was a game boss battle. it has nothing to do with the actual story. much like the mk dragon logo appearing under the throne of the lin kuei grandmasters throne. if the lin kuei never knew of the mk tournament, why would the logo be there? for the same reason the second fight happened. it was an extra.