WAIT WAIT WAIT, I GOT IT!! I HAVE SINGLE HANDLEDLY FIGURED OUT WHY HOTARU SIDES WITH THE DRAGON KING.




Oh wait, WHO CARES? You're looking too deep into it. Just like others have said, Hotaru is just siding with someone who he thinks will bring order in the best way. Doesn't mean that the order has to be in the side of "good".

-Fuj

I think the reason Hotaru sided with the Dragon King, yet was preparing to attack Shao Kahn is that the 2 Outworld rulers have very different ideas how to run the place:

Kahn's Outworld was a very chaotic place, with little order at all, just barely enough to ensure no one could threaten his postion. Aside from he and his henchmen's strongholds the place was a wasteland of mutants and wanderers. Hotaru came to clean it up, only to find Kahn deposed and no longer of interest.

The Dragon King on the other hand is being presented as a facist, with a near infinite army of mindlessly loyal soldiers to insure everything in Outworld is controlled and has a purpose to his knigdom. Neutral Hotaru saw this and probably figured the DK is the only one who could finally bring the chaotic Outworld under control once and for all.

Random thought: if Hotaru somehow figured out that he himself was preventing order, would he kill himself to restore order? I think he would.

Our poor little misguided Hotaru...

There's a thought. Perhaps Darriss' and Hotaru's realm are the same. And therein 'order' is basically fascist. It would explain Darrius' motives for rebellion.

Also, I wonder where Havik's alleigances lie. WIth him representing 'chaos' (and his name being a play on the word havoc), it's one assumption that he'd be opposing Hotaru. Could he have possibly allied himself with Shao Kahn?

I think Havik might side with the D.K. for the exact opposite reason Hotaru has- he thinks the D.K. will cause chaos with his dictatorship, like Shao Kahn did.

It could end up being a Three's Company scenario (a la Deadly Alliance - Kano - Mavado) where the D.K. is using both sides to his advantage while playing them against one another.

Shadaloo Wrote: Now, this is fascinating. It brings an entirely new dimension to our perspective of the Dragon King. Hotaru is a supporter of Order, as we saw. It's mentioned in his Bio that for this reason, he has taken up sides with the Dragon King. So, does this mean that the DK is trying to impose an order of his own? What kind of 'order'? It must be a righteous one, else someone like Hotaru who is devoted to Order would not side with him...would he? Perhaps, in whatever the DK's grand scheme is, the ends justify the means, and that's why Hotaru sides with him. Or perhaps Order means something entirely different in Hotaru's homeland. It's possible eventhat Hotaru himself has a warped sense of what is orderly and what is not. IMO, I think that for the first time, we have encountered a Mortal Kombat character who has shattered the boundaries of 'right' and 'wrong', escaping the 'evil bad-guy' syndrome that plagues so many of our games and comics. It may be that the DK is not inherently evil. It would be welcome to see a character with more than one dimension. Perhaps this is a war with no winners, and for now, our 'Earthrealm heroes' are merely players in a war beyond the boundaries of such limited concepts as 'good' or 'evil'. Perhaps this is the Deception. There are no good guys or bad guys this time through. What do you think?

Excellent theories. I actually love the way the team implemented this idea. I think Hotaru has lots of potential, and everyday, he looks more like ABACUS, the god of order from the comic books of Mk.

ABACUS had to JOIN FORCES with mighty GORO to cause some order. He joined evil, just like Hotaru is doing. It is very very interesting.