Hey everyone! Holiday rush and computer problems derailed me for a few weeks, but I'm back with a new KOTW!

Welcome to my fragile state of non-existence. I fear the temporal portals of the dimensional space-time continuum have aligned, allowing a traversal of Mortal Kombat analysis through the ages and dimensions of reality. But whatever shall this intrepid journeyman discuss on this most confounding of voyages?

Well, we've gone through Sheeva, Nightwolf, Mileena, Smoke, Shang Tsung, Stryker, Reptile, Sonya's boobs, Sonya Blade, Sektor, Johnny Cage, Baraka, Kabal, Rain, and Cyrax.

Admin Edit: Please be encouraged to direct new replies to this thread.

Today, I bring you our favorite white-skinned, shirtless, shoulder-guard-wearing, supremely muscled, red-tattooed, double-sword wielding, overly violent, bald god killer voiced by a black guy with a deep bass voice...


... no, no. Go back a few more years. Like, 1997...

THERE'S my favorite albino freak.

WHO IS QUAN CHI?
Quan Chi is a demon sorcerer and necromancer from the Netherrealm that used to serve under the fallen god Shinnok, yet had the ulterior motives of aspiring towards god-like power himself.

Though he's better known around these parts as "Troll Chi".

(Rumors suggest he's related to Ed Boon)

Quan Chi could very well be considered MK's most enduring villain. Though he didn't show up until after MK3, he's been involved in the MK story since before the first tournament, guided the events that led to the MK4 and Deadly Alliance era, and was recently just outright retconned into being, not just a little involved, but unmistakeably and unavoidably involved in the events of the original trilogy.

(something that has never bothered fans. Ever.)

I was going to try and do this in an unbiased manner, but, screw it, this is MY Kharacter of the Week thread, so I'll tell you who the hell Quan Chi is to me, whether you wanna hear it or not!

(No, YOU calm down magic talking tiger best friend!)

Quan Chi is my favorite villain in MK history. He's a sick, twisted, dark, depraved, hedonistic, selfish, cowardly, smug, manipulative, disloyal, power-hungry, sadistic, back-stabbing, abusive, corrupt, ruthless, vile, blood-thirsty, maniacal, repulsive, slimy, domineering, misogynistic, cancerous, hateful bastard of no equal.

And I LOVE him for it.

(The thought of putting puppies in a blender makes his nipples hard)

One could argue he's TOO good at what he does, but even after every shadowy maneuver, every devious manipulation, every act of wanton violence and corruption, he's still not held to the same level of villainy as Shao Kahn for some odd reason. Now, I love Kahn as much as the next fan, but Kahn was a simple villain with simple goals and a simple way of approaching things.

Quan Chi's evil schemes make Shao Kahn look like Dr. Evil by comparison.

(That might not be too far from the truth)

So how has Quan Chi won me over? So glad you asked me this!


WHY IS QUAN CHI IN THE SERIES?
Quan Chi made quite an impact when he showed his big bald head around MK: Mythologies. Not only did he out-goth every goth in gaming at the time, he also wore more leather and spikes than an 80's heavy metal frontman.

(Sorry, Rob. Not enough spikes)

Quan Chi debuted in MK: Mythologies as the mastermind behind the game's events... and that also set the stage for his role in all future games (and, strangely, past games) as MK's biggest puppeteer who was pulling the strings of everyone, from Shang Tsung to Sub-Zero to Scorpion to Shao Kahn to Sindel to Li Mei to Drahmin to Shinnok...

One could argue that Quan Chi's current role is to serve as the evil ex machina to Raiden's good ex machina plot devices.


But that's getting ahead of ourselves. In MK: Mythologies, Quan Chi appeared as one of the predominant new villains of the series lore. His role was secondary to the final villain, Shinnok, but something about Quan Chi just made him significantly more memorable, fearsome, and interesting than "main" villain Shinnok.

(Probably didn't help that Shinnok looked like a royal jester...)

Quan Chi held an almost royal position in the bowels of hell and surrounded himself with beautiful assassins he made no secret of mistreating. He was spiteful and violent towards anyone that crossed him, and appeared to be defeated in that game... though most of it was just an elaborate ruse that manipulated Sub-Zero, Shinnok, Scorpion, and Sareena to his own ends, which later extended to Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung and him resurrecting and manipulating Sindel.

(He apparently has something against people whose names begin with the letter 'S')

Quan Chi came roaring back in MK4... more than that, he was the friggin' FACE of MK4.

(Right there. On the cabinet. Looking awesome. Rich Divizio, we salute your bald noggin.)

After MK4, Quan Chi's steady rise to fame hit a peak with him sharing top-billing as the final boss of Deadly Alliance alongside MK1 boss alumni Shang Tsung.

It was at this point that MK had gone two whole games without any sort of "cheap" overpowered boss, and that was two games too many, so Quan Chi's oh-so-threatening boss status was quickly dethroned and Onaga, the Dragon King, was quickly introduced to compensate.

(He seemed like such a natural fit)

Strangely, Quan Chi's meteoric rise of fame and prominence hit a grinding halt right after Deception's intro and he didn't have much to do with Armageddon either. To be fair, nobody knew what was going on with Armageddon, and everyone got shafted by that game... it was an awkward time for everyone.


With nothing else going for him, Quan Chi made cameos in spin-offs like Shaolin Monks and MK vs DC Universe like an over-the-hill TV actor desperate for work.

(did he have no shame?)

But his poor fortunes came to an end with the MK reboot, and suddenly Quan Chi was able to do what he does best.

(upstage every other villain, of course!)

QUAN CHI'S STORY-
Quan Chi's origins remain unknown. We know he hails from the Netherrealm, though how he learned his craft, ascended to power, and hooked up with Shinnok as a partner isn't ever explained.

(That's not what I meant and you know it)

Quan Chi emerged from MK4 as the "victor" of a grand manipulation of all parties involved, though they didn't exactly know it at the time, or even after the fact. He successfully stole Shinnok's amulet, which both served as a key to inter-dimensional portals, a compass to the Dragon King's dormant army, and imbued him with great power.

Well, that WOULD have been a victory had Scorpion not learned that Quan Chi was responsible for killing his entire clan and family. Scorpion did what any reasonable vengeful spirit would do and dragged him to hell.

(Sub-Zero substituted for Justin Long during that scene)

Stuck in the Netherrealm where Scorpion became super strong (and, for reason unknown, Quan Chi did NOT, even though that was totally his home turf AND he had Shinnok's amulet of power AND he gave Scorpion his power in the first place), Quan Chi took several years of beatings before he managed to track down a portal out of the Netherrealm and escape, leaving Scorpion behind to fend off the oni Drahmin and Moloch.

Quan Chi had discovered the Dragon King's mummified army, but seeing as how he had no map or a pen with him to write down the location of the ancient Dragon King language, he did the only logical thing he could think of and tattooed the instructions directly onto his flesh.

(Though how the hell did he expect to read the tattoos on the back of his head?)

He then realized he could get Shang Tsung to help him put souls into the corpses to resurrect and control them.

(But... Quan Chi could ALREADY raise the dead and brainwash them... why did he need Shang Tsung?... and there I go, asking QUESTIONS again.)

They then killed Shao Kahn (but not really) and killed Liu Kang so Shang Tsung, I don't know, would feel good about himself before they moved on to more important things.

("You know, Shang, we could've REALLY caught him off guard if we had launched a surprise attack at him with a hundred invincible undead warriors. Just saying. The look on his face would've been totally priceless.")

And... well, Quan and Shang pretty much proceeded to kick the holy living crap out of every last single thing that breathed with their Deadly Alliance. I mean, all the heroes pretty much got wasted in a massacre so brutal that Sindel went "damn!".

(And then went back in time to one-up them both... on her own)

Quan Chi even personally took delight in turning Kitana into a pretty princess pin-cushion before they took out Raiden. Then Shang Tsung got the power-hungry bug all villains get and turned on Quan Chi, which caused Quan Chi to smack Shang Tsung around like his personal bitch.

(No, not you, Sareena... though he treated you better than NRS ever did)

So, for one brief, shining moment, Quan Chi was the very top of the food chain... until, coincidentally, completely randomly, the Dragon King Onaga decided to make that very moment, at that very instant, literally seconds after the epic war was over that he had no part in, the moment he showed up to reclaim his power and throne.


Raiden, Shang, and Quan Chi all worked together to stop Onaga... and failed hilariously. Because MK is just like Dragon Ball Z, not even three Kamehamehas/fireballs could defeat Cell/Onaga, so Goku/Raiden did the only thing he could think of and spirit bombed/blew up the entire area...

And just like Dragon Ball Z, did it work?

(HA!)

It did "kill" Quan Chi and Shang Tsung though, who went MIA for Deception... but then wound up completely alive again in Armageddon. They never made it clear if they survived somehow, or got resurrected, or were just undead, if Quan Chi could resurrect himself, or if they faked it or what.

(Unlike Hsu Hao. Nobody cared if Hsu Hao was alive again.)

Well, anyway, Armageddon rolled around and everyone killed each other. Quan Chi butchered a few folks but it seemed Shang Tsung got revenge for... um, being fairly defeated after Shang broke their partnership... and defeated Quan Chi. Not that it mattered. Everyone wound up as the main course meal for the vulture buffet.

So hit that magic reboot dongle, NRS!

It's MK reboot time... and out of the entire original cast, Quan Chi was the ONLY character to return to the main roster that wasn't from the first three games. You'd think that would be just fine and dandy, but then you found out he wasn't just there in the background... by Fujin, he was instrumental in nearly every major event that happened during the MK Trilogy era. He was nearly responsible for everything from the very beginning!

(you mean the butler was behind it all?)

We discover Quan Chi was at the first tournament, and was the one responsible for resurrecting Scorpion. We see him present in MK2, having resurrected Sub-Zero as Noob, and partake in the battle against Earthrealm. We see it was Quan Chi that resurrected and brainwashed Sindel, and convinced Shao Kahn to invade Earthrealm, being the very instigator of MK3.

And ultimately, we end the game with all the dead heroes enslaved to Quan Chi's service and in league with Shinnok once more to fully invade both Earthrealm and Outworld, putting him in a position of near absolute power for the forthcoming and inevitable sequel.

("Alas, poor Yorick..." Never say Quan Chi doesn't have a poetic soul)

QUAN CHI'S FUTURE-
I don't think NRS has ANY plans for Quan Chi in the future. I think they're through with him. Say good-bye; his story is done. He's run his course. There's nothing left for him to do.


Quan Chi's definitely going to be back, and he's going to be back front and center and deadlier than ever. And yet, we've seen the events of MK4 before; I seriously doubt we'll see them repeated, and that includes his alliance with Shinnok following the same outcome (or at least in the same manner).

But what I DO know is that Shinnok, while having a clever cameo, is hardly as popular or as brilliantly detestable of a villain as Quan Chi is. I mean, sure Shinnok may be a fallen Elder God and technically be more powerful, but Quan Chi is just far more compelling.

(not just because they're both bald either...)

What I want to see, however, is Quan Chi amidst his "peers". I want to see him delight in the power he has over the fallen heroes, I want to see him with Shinnok, and I wouldn't mind seeing Jakaata and Kia, or even Sareena (if it means she get in a game again) following him around as arm-candy either.


Quan Chi is the most connected MK villain in the entire mythology. He has made enemies of practically every character, yet he endures, either out of brilliance, brutality, or sheer dumb luck and determination. There are so many characters that Quan Chi would bring the emotional core out of, whether they be Sub-Zero, Scorpion, or, gasp of gasps, forever-forgotten Sareena.

I want to see that, because Quan Chi works on a psychological level no amount of visceral violence can surpass. Shao Kahn can tear you apart with his bare hands, Goro can rip your limbs off, and Shang Tsung can suck out your soul, but only Quan Chi can so carefully and meticulously destroy every last single thing you know and love, destroy your family, destroy your mind, destroy your confidence, crush your dreams, burn your future to cinders, and when you have nothing left to live for, kill you... and then resurrect you as a puppet.

It was Quan Chi's black magic that brought about Sindel's resurrection, the murder of the heroes, and the destruction of the Edenian royal line. It was his dark dealings that ensured every loss of an Earthrealm hero bolstered his troop numbers. It was his plan all along to so utterly cause heroes to despair and gods to seek aid in the pits of hell itself.

Say what you will about Quan Chi, whether you're sick of him or not, you can't argue that he's not highly effective at what he does, and what he does is so thoroughly twisted and malicious that it literally makes the fatalities in the game seem like mercy killings.

Quite frankly, I'm excited to see what he does next. I'll only be disappointed if we get another Deception intro on our hands, where he's been built up all game only to be so casually cast aside or written out. I mean, wouldn't it just suck to be one of the most powerful, legendary, and fearsome MK villains and just be killed off without any fanfare?

(yeah, that would just plain suck, right?)

Anyway, Quan Chi's a great character to discuss... do discuss him! Sound off! Do you hate the albino a-hole, or do you adore him for these very reasons? Do you think he's too clever for his own good, or does it fit his personality and serve the story? Are you okay with the retcons or feel he was shoe-horned in at the expense of other characters? Do you want more of him in the next game, or would you prefer him staying in a puppet-master role?

Okay people. Been fun. See you all next KOTW.