Yes... They are so MKDA-ish

Stage looks good, curious about story implications. Aside from the ball and chain there isn't much to say that this is specifically the Oni "Moloch" and not just any prisoner Oni held in Goro's Lair as they've been confirmed to be the hungry eyes in the background since MK1. Could be any generic Oni with any generic ball and chain. The dead Shokan on the throne is much more intriguing to me.

Baraka could also simply be from this timeline's past or any past. We've only heard Jade tell him he's dead in the future. If he's from their past or pretty much any past this is true as poor Baraka dies about as often as Krillen. He just also comes back alot.... sometimes with staples and netherrealm magic holding him together, lol.

Sadly we all (myself included) should have seen a time crisis story coming... between the DC connection of Crisis on Infinite Earths or Flashpoint, etc. and simple time stories in general the one moral to ALL time related fables we MUST take away and finally learn is SIMPLE:

Time Travel/Manipulation. JUST DON'T. STOP. DO NOT PASS GO. DO NOT COLLECT $200.

Ikr. When will these creative types learn. They all think they can handle time travel stories. They all think they've considered the loose ends, and buttoned them up appropriately. Then fans get their hands on it, trash it, and rip apart every plot hole the creators missed.

I feel like the only time travel stories that work are the ones that set out as time travel stories from square 1. I never had a problem with the premise of Back to the Future, or even the early Terminator movies, because they were paving their own continuity as they went, not picking apart the nooks and crannies of an established continuity and fudging up all the details.

Whenever an established franchise tries to do it... details get fudged. And we already know from past experience this is a franchise that's not shy about glossing over fudged details, so... I can't imagine we should have high hopes they'll button things up air tight this time.

Its more entertaining than anything because we all fully see this for what it is;

1) An attempt to rewrite the massive missteps they took with the retelling of Trilogy in the reboot

And 2) An attempt to finally rid themselves of characters they hate and have a narrative reason to never use them again. "Drahmin? That was the pre-Kronika timeline. Drahmin no longer exists, sorry, hehe."

As for the Lair itself, it looks gorgeous and insanely creepy with poor Goro having fully expired in the background.

I do wonder what killed him. Raiden? Kronika? Bueller?

Bueller?

Bueller?

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

Ka-Tra

The wait for the 3D era to be fully acknowledged killed him.

Damn. That must have been a VERY long wait.

The what?

Goro dead? Say it ain't so! He's such an iconic character he deserves to be playable, not a corpse rotting in the background. Hopefully with all the time travel shenanigans the Shokan prince is still running around alive at some point in the game. Shame about Moloch too, he's one of the 3D characters I wanted to come back most.

I'm sure there's a parallel universe where the Shokan prince is alive.

I'm also sure there's a parallel universe where Blood Queen Nitara is running things like the underrated boss bitch she is- sadly doesn't bring much comfort when we can't see it.

His MK2 soul steal leaves behind a dessicated corpse.

My thought is that Raiden showed up one sunny afternoon and just electrocuted everyone where they stood.

He must have really hated all the clapping in the Courtyard.

LMAOOOO. XD

I'm not even sure as to how time travel works in Mortal Kombat. As has been pointed out, when we went from Armageddon to MK9, certain events in the (MK9 world's) past changed, which doesn't make any logical sense. The basic idea here is that Raiden communicates with his past self, and so when Timeline B Raiden starts to manipulate events in his world, that's when you see events changing. Timeline B splits off from A at this point, but it wouldn't make any sense for events prior to this being effected. Still, Mileena's origine story changed. In MK9, she is only created during the events of Mortal Kombat 1 and 2, but in Timeline A, Mileena had already been constructed long before those events. This shouldn't be possible. Irregardless of Timeline B Raiden's manipulations, Mileena should've been there already. This can only be solved if Timeline A Raiden didn't just contact his former self from the past, but if the Raiden he contacts (the one in MK9) was already from a different reality. In MK9 Raiden's world, Mileena really hadn't been created yet, which means that this world isn't the past of the world from A, but is its own unique world instead. It already was B, even without Raiden's interference.

It's possible now that when B Raiden starts acting according to the information he received from A Raiden, the changes cause a split from what was already a B world, and create a C world on top of that.

Timeline A still exists, its past is as it was, and its future is unknown.
Timeline B existed as an alternate reality alongside A, with past events already being different.
Timeline B splits off into a C world, which we know of as MK9 and MKX.
Whatever happened to the future of the proper B world remains unknown.

Why would A Raiden reach a B world's Raiden, instead of his actual Timeline A past self? Maybe it's simply to avoid a paradox?
So if characters from MKX (which could already be Timeline C) travel back in time, then where do they end up?
Because Timeline C's past only goes as far back as the start of the MK9 events.
If you go further back in time, you're in the B world, and not in the original A Timeline.
Basically, it's impossible for world C characters to return to the past of world A, because it's an alternate universe.

How many alternate worlds are there? We know of two, because changes can only effect future events of a new Timeline, but not past events. Since past events were different in Timeline B, it means that it was never A to begin with. It has always been world B. And we know of a third split, which is MK9 and MKX; branching off from world B's events, possibly, because we don't actually know for sure that world B's events would've played out differently without Timeline A Raiden's message. Maybe nothing changed for world B, and A Raiden was meant to shape B's future. In that case, Timeline C (MK9 and MKX) is simply part of B again.

In light of this, I think it's fair to say that there are at the very least two known alternate worlds here.

So where would dead Goro fit in? How long has he been dead? It looks like his corpse has been sitting in that chair for quite some time, but I honestly don't know. It also depends on where the scene takes place; in a past, or in a future?

Maybe Dark Raiden from B (or possibly C) starts to travel back in time, executing specific characters in the past, to ensure these wouldn't become a threat in a future reality. Killing Goro would certainly make sense, because he was so dominant in the Mortal Kombat tournaments (ahh, remember when this was just about a tournament?). But Goro doesn't look like he was killed. He looks like old age got to him. Or maybe Raiden zapped him with a bolt of lightning when he found him chilling on his throne. Why's Moloch there..?

How is Raiden even capable of physical time travel? He couldn't do it in Timeline A, so what's allowing him to physically go back in time? Not just him, but other characters just the same. Liu Kang and Kung Lao are seen fighting their past/future selves. Is Kronika doing this?

Anyway, if Goro is dead in the events of MK11, then it can't have anything to do with Timeline A's past. It can't be world B's past either. Goro's alive and well in both. If there's a world C (MK9 and MKX), then it can't be in the past of world C, because C is simply an off-shoot of world B, and traveling back in world C's events eventually brings you to B, where Goro was alive in the past. It could be that this is Timeline A's future, but I seriously doubt that. It could also be a future version of world B that is not world C, but is its own unique world; one in which B Raiden didn't interfere with events. It could also be world C's future. But then there's Moloch. If MKX Quan Chi's intro has any canonical value, then the arena shown here isn't in world C, as Moloch couldn't have died in two distinct ways in the same Timeline. Or maybe he could've been revived and then killed again, it really is utterly confusing. Assuming Moloch in the arena didn't die twice in the same world, then Goro's Lair in MK11 cannot be from the C world. The only option now is that this is set in world B proper, unaffected by Raiden's actions. Whatever occurred there is a complete unknown. Shang Tsung could still be alive, Shao Kahn could still be alive there, and Goro and Moloch could've died in that cave, for whatever reason. It's either that, or Goro's Lair in MK11 is in yet another world: a world D, that either existed separately from A and B, or itself is another example of a splitting timeline within another world.

None of this makes much sense, and the further you go down the rabbit's hole, the more incoherent and confusing it gets. In my opinion, time-travel should've only be used as flashbacks, simply to tell past events and include characters on the roster that couldn't have made it on there, due to the fact that they're no longer alive in the main story's timeline. I have no clue as to how NRS writers will approach the time traveling aspect. It's a very tricky narrative they have to come up with, and I'm curious if they manage to pull it off somehow (I have serious doubts).

I love Goro's Lair there by the way, I think it looks perfect. Reminds me of a scene in Conan the Barbarian, when Arnold stumbles upon a tomb with the ancient remains of a king still sitting in his chair.

I think you put way more thought in that post than Netherrealm likely has in MK11s story.

Hmm.. yeah you're probably right too, sadly. I agree with what's been said before; time travel stories are better avoided.

Look, even when a near genius author like Michael Crichton comes up with a complex time travel story in his 'Sphere' novel, you can still analyze the end result and go over all the possible implications, and find some major flaws and contradictions in it. Even the best theory you can come up with to explain the story WILL contain holes. And that's Crichton, who actually spend lots of time in trying to make it one coherent story. He's smart though, he barely even attempts to explain the mechanics and processes, he just ends the book, and let's you try to figure it all out, which is where you run into this brick wall, because even the best literature on this topic can't actually avoid these problems. I don't expect NRS writers, writing for a fighting game, to do what accomplished authors couldn't even accomplish, but it just goes to show how naive they are for even trying.

H.G. Wells' The Time Machine isn't complicated; it's very straight forward, literally. It works because of its simplicity, and it's a good story. Complicated time travel stories, however, require serious effort.

As I said; time travel should've simply be used to do short flashback stories, for the sole purposes of exploring, and elaborating on the lore, and adding characters to the roster that shouldn't really be there, but are too cool/popular to leave out. It shouldn't be the central theme..

They should have just rebooted without time shenanigans

Or just pretend Armageddon wasn't canon.

Yeah I agree. I would've preferred a true reboot at this point. MK9 was a continuation disguised as a reboot, which was a mistake. Instead of dismissing it, they just went and rolled with it, thinking they could somehow correct it all. You just have to stand in awe at some of the choices/blunders made by Mortal Kombat writing staffs, throughout the years.

I wonder what John Tobias thinks of all this..

Mileena being brand new meant we actually got to see Shang's kreative skills in action, and show off his lab.

Perhaps there's some kind of butterfly effect that ripples back unless Kronika does it herself perfektly?

Ka-Tra

its shame if there is no Goro, Moloch or some other non-human like fighters. there are many Earthrealm humans, many other realm humans and very very few non-humans or humanoids. that is why i like kharacters like D'Vorah, Baraka, Quan Chi, Goro, Baraka, Sheeva, Reptile or Kotal as playable fighters. they always spice up the roster in that way.

There's a simple reasonable explanation for everything we've seen so far.

The devastation of the Courtyard and Goro's Lair probably happened soon after the events of MKX, when Raiden starts his preemptive campaign against Earth's enemies. The trailer even sort of suggests this is the case: Raiden goes on a rampage leaving destruction in his wake, and character doubles from the past come in to defend the future. This explains Liu and Lao just as easily.

Either or both of the Moloch-looking things we've seen were not actually Moloch, but one of many Oni Destroyers who look similar. We know from Quan Chi's big entrance in MKX that the Netherrealm's forces are a vast faceless horde and he considers individual members so expendable that he'll casually kill one himself just to make an entrance. Or maybe this is just a simple inconsistency brought about by us taking Quan Chi's Moloch-head intro too seriously as a plot hook, and the team just likes to make references to Moloch being dead.

The biggest piece of evidence that there is only one timeline is Raiden's amulet that foretells the apocalypse in MK9. As soon as he steers the timeline away from Armageddon (or at least, away from Shao Kahn being the victor) the amulet reforms, indicating that the future -- the one future -- has changed.

If Alice in Wonderland should teach us anything, it's that tumbling headlong down a rabbit hole can make you start seeing things that aren't there.

My issue with the idea that there are too many humans in Mortal Kombat is that the series has nearly always been about Earth vs. Everybody Else, and how are you going to tell that story without humans? Earth doesn't really have a bunch of monsters of its own to enlist in a martial arts tournament, unless we want to go the Tekken route and throw a couple trained bears in the mix. And the monsters that do exist are either evil (Enenra), just visiting from other realms (Vampires, Osh-tekk), or hibernating lizard people from eons past who would just as likely take over the world themselves. Monsters aren't exactly on our side here.

My other issue is that while non-humans do give the games some flavor, there really is such a thing as "too much flavor." If there are not as many humans for the monsters to be weirder than, the monsters don't seem quite as weird or special anymore. And while games about mostly monsters can be fun, it isn't really Mortal Kombat's brand.

A solid quarter of the MKX base roster was inhuman-looking. One of two MK characters in each DLC pack was also inhuman, as were one of two guests. So that's around a third of the total roster, which is quite a lot if we're just in it to have "flavor" and not be totally overrun with monsters.

The problem is humans seems to mean Special Forces. I mean out of the 4 introducees in MKX you bring back only two and what a surprise, it's Special Forces...The military, gun toting, technology using earthlings vs. netherrealm and outworld is just a silly hollywood version of what Mortal Kombat is supposed to be about. Instead of Johnny, Sonya, Cassie, Jacqui, give me Johnny, Jacqui, Kai and Kung Jin / Takeda any day of the week.

Yeah there is: nobody actually thought any of this thoroughly through. This isn't the vision of one author, but is the product of multiple writing staffs trying to make something out of a jumbled, undefined story-line. By solving one issue, they create two completely new problems that they're then stuck with. I mean, we have to wait and see how the story actually progresses, but there's sufficient reason for people's skepticism, as well as criticism.

Your reply doesn't explain why past events prior to Raiden's interference with events changed. The fact that they changed proves that there aren't just two timelines, but two completely unique parallel worlds, each with its own histories. I mentioned Mileena as a prime example of this, but I'm sure you can find other proofs as well. The point therefor stands: MK9's world is not the past of Armageddon's world: it's a separate world entirely. There is no such thing as "the one future", because if that were the case, then it would have to be true in all moments throughout both realities. Since past events aren't exactly identical, then future events aren't either. After all, in world A's past, Mileena and Kitana believed they were twin sisters, which means that Mileena is old enough that Kitana couldn't recall her 'sister' ever NOT being there. But in world B, Kitana's an only 'child', and Mileena's only created extremely late in the timeline. These are two distinct worlds. There's no real reason to assume that the future would be identical, if all other moments on the timelines are different.

All of this isn't according to someone's plan and vision, it's just writers making it all up as they go along.. and I think that shows.