None that we know of, but there's room for development. It seems like he would be open to joining anyone who had the capability of enabling his revenge (via access to other realms.)

However, his MK Armageddon bio gives me major doubts he would have been a member of criminal organizations. That is, unless, he had an epiphany after some time.

Perhaps after his blinding, he took a few years off to retrain his senses and prepare for battle against Shang. When he got back out into the world, he heard about OIA's offer, and sped over.


The only explanation I can come to about that dragon paraphernalia on his armor is questionable... The one on his sash is in the Western/European style of dragon (bat wings, breathes fire.) Even more to this, his sash used to have Japanese(?) writing along the red edges, though it was done away with in MK9.

The dragon on his leg armor looks to be the Eastern/Asian style of dragon (no wings, looks like the MK symbol.)
My only reasoning behind this is that it could depict his heritage (as revealed in MK:DA Konquest) of Chinese-European.


I have no idea. I always figured his MK:DA primary, MK:D primary, and MK9 primary were all provided by OIA. Obviously that makes little sense, as Jax/Sonya don't ever mention/refer to him in MK9. Judging by how his arcade ending is worded, he would have joined them after he'd killed Shao Kahn. However, Kenshi's arcade ending is clearly not canon. Also, where did his MK:D outfit come from?! Did someone with extra armor run up to him while he was dying on the ground, and just toss some more at him..?

I'm not really sure, but I'd just assume he had already joined OIA before/around MK3 (I guess.)
Also, speaking of the two known criminal organizations in question, none of the members (past or present) have ever worn anything that tech-ish. If he were in one of them, why would he have received such expensive (and unusual) gear? Kano, the #1 guy in the Black Dragon, doesn't even get such fancy gear, nor do Daegon or Mavado, who are essentially the pres and a higher-up of the Red Dragon.


That'd be nice. He was a guy who got taken advantage of, due to his massive ego. He's fueled by hatred for Shang, though he wants to return his ancestors souls to the sword, and redeem himself. He is a 'tragic' character, though.


He's always come off as 'morally cloudy,' though that just may be from all the other people (swordsmen/warriors) he killed in "[his] vain quest for glory."
He is no villain, but he apparently doesn't like being considered a good guy.


I think he has shown himself to be a loner, and he doesn't like being in groups and organizations. He even refers to himself as, "The Lone Warrior," in his MKA bio. I'm pretty sure the second he joined OIA, he was hounding them about when he could use the portal, and get out of HQ.

He begrudgingly accepts to accompany Subz back during MK:D (due to the fact he himself was injured, and was lost in Outworld), he quits OIA immediately after he gets back [which seems to possibly have been remedied in his (non-canon) MK9 ending, 'agreed to serve the fledgling OIA'...], and tells Subz he won't take his offer of joining the Lin Kuei.

Overall, he seemed perfectly content just killing criminals in the night, as Shang was already 'dead.' However, I still liked to see his time in OIA fleshed out somewhat, before he goes back to being a loner.
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Good thread, by the way, though try to break up that block text! I'll edit more later.

Hey thanks for the reply y insight, Rockchalk!

I just thought of something else!

Maybe as an introduction to the Red Dragon in MK10, Kenshi can recall his "freelance" work and his time working with this obscure criminal organization (Red Dragon) where he learned of the intense rivalry between it and its sister clan, the Black Dragon (actually more like the ugly step-sister ). I also find the prospect of Kenshi becoming somehow involved with Mavado very interesting. I like Mavado, I really think if he recieved a

Remember, Kenshi's alternate costume in MK:DA was a tattered Judo gi with no blindfold. His eyes look like they still work fine. And I believe DA's Krypt had concept art of Kenshi's storyboard. If I remember correctly, he has the gi on while he's getting blinded. Then he joins the Special Forces. I assume he wore the gi back when he was still the lone wandering Ryu-type martial artist guy, but then the Special Forces gave him the high tech looking stuff.

As for the dragon emblem, hey, it looks Asian, so of course they're just gonna slap it on his costume.

But i like the idea of him doing dirty jobs before ending up where he is now, I think NRS should consider that if they ever plan to expand more on Kenshi.

As I recall he is a descendant of the Warrior Kings. A group mentioned only as a footnote, and perhaps in the description of the House of Pekara stage in MKDA.

MKDA basically said that pre-blinding, he lived pretty much the same as Ryu in Street Fighter, just kind of a vagrant wandering place to place and challenging people to swordfights to improve or show off his skills.
Post-blinding, he had apparently learned to get by without eyesight and learned TK enough in time to try to attend MK1 and get a head start on that "revenge against Shang" plan, but apparently missed the boat or was unable to attend for some reason, possibly because Shujinko was the one who got him invited but also never made the trip.
The games said he joined the OIA, not the Special Forces - an important distinction because the OIA didn't exist until AFTER MK3. Sonya and Jax founded the group as a direct result of living through Kahn's invasion and wanting to be prepared against future threats. Also, keep in mind that the reason Kenshi joined was so he could use their techno-portal to go to Outworld and find Shang. That portal wasn't invented until after MK3 either.
It's kinda an important part of Sonya and Jax as characters that until MK1 and 2, neither of them had ever heard of Outworld before, y'know? They're NEW to the whole "magic is real and realms are at war" thing. So there's no way they could have met Kenshi or would have any reason to associate with him before MK1.
One wonders when he joined the OIA, how a guy with no military credentials attracted Sonya and Jax's attention...his MK9 ending, which obviously isn't canon to MK9 (because among other reasons, Jax is in it but Jax died in story mode), but DOES seem to follow his original MKDA story, suggests he joined because he fought with the good guys during the MK3 invasion. This could very well be the case even in the old timeline - he could've been one of Raiden's chosen, he's got superpowers and the ability to fight off Outworlders, after all. It's simply that we never saw him or got to play as him in the original MK3 because IRL they hadn't invented him yet. Just think of him as being somewhere off-screen the whole game, sort of like how Ermac and Kung Lao were supposedly at MK1 even though they're not really in that game.
So...where did Kenshi get his fancy Metal Gear Solid armor? Well...he debuted in MKDA, so presumably it was originally intended to be provided by the OIA. Military armor for a military character. And his alt costume, a simple Ryu-esque gi, was intended to be his "origin story" duds, which you can tell because it's all tore up and you can see his blind white eyes because he hasn't gotten a blindfold yet.
But in MK9? The IRL explanation is of course just that they put him in what he's famous for wearing and didn't think about it. Storywise...maybe he's wealthy via inheritance? I mean, he's all proud of his family lineage, the ones who were "warrior kings" may be long dead but maybe their modern descendants still have wealth and influence? He doesn't have a real job, he just travels the world pursuing his fencing hobby...so in order for that to be his whole life, either he's literally a homeless person like Ryu basically is, or he's a member of the idle rich. And the latter of those two options seems to fit the way they describe his personality before Shang blinded him as arrogant and egotistical. I could totally see him as a rich snob.

That's actually an excellent point, and makes perfect sense.

Now that you mention it, he very well may be of wealthy background.
As his bio says, "For years, [he] traveled the world in search of worthy opponents.." Either the guy has some deep pockets, or he's been doing some shady things in order to catch flights halfway across the world.

Wonder if NRS will ever dig that deep into his story to explain, though.
Doubtful.