Every character in MK1's age was given in the official comic book by John Tobias. Shang is listed as just over 1,000. It was also reprinted in the instruction booklet that came with the home versions.

And if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. It's canon that he was born on Earth and the only reason he's lived so long is he started stealing souls and winning Mortal Kombat tournaments. So he won 9 tournaments, then Great Kung Lao stopped him and saved the world at the 10th. That's 500 years.

Then Goro came along and won another 9 tournaments, with MK1 being his tenth. That's another 500 years.

Together, that accounts for Shang's entire lifespan, 1,000, maybe 1,050-ish years.

If he's from Earthrealm how could he have competed in MK for Shao Kahn? Or was he fighting in the tournament previously just for shits and giggles?

There are two possible explanations for how Shang is able to fight for Outworld. Both are canon facts about him, but neither one has been officially confirmed as the reason he's allowed to represent Outworld in Mortal Kombat despite being Earth-born.

1) He's a "free-roaming sorcerer", a term which means he can travel from realm to realm freely without the gods detecting it. This could also mean he no longer counts as having a home/allegiance in their eyes as well and can fight as a free agent of sorts.

2) As established in MKA, he sold his soul to Shao Kahn long ago. That could change his "legal citizenship", so to speak, to Outworlder.

I think his soul being sold to Shao Kahn is the more likely reason.

Also about his age does that still hold up? It seems like it was written/decided when MK was less fantastic.

I know nothing contradicts it but it just seems like Shang Tsung should be so much older.

I already explained how it still makes sense because he has to have lived through only 20 tournaments at the absolute most and they're held once every 50 years. That comes out to a thousand.

But that would make him 1,000 exactly right?

I suppose it could be like you said in a previous post that he's closer to 1,050 but it just seems more likely that Shang is over 1,000 years old. A lot over.

I don't know....since the topic is how old Mileena is....determining the age of the man who created her seems relevant to the discussion.

If ol' Shang is not at least 10,000 years old, it is therefore impossible for Mileena to be anywhere near that age.

To get back to the topic...figure Shang Tsung is probably 1,050-1,100 years old. I mean he wasn't born/created and immediatly ran to Shao Kahn's service.
There had to be at least a few years/decades where he became self-aware, learned sorcery, cursed by the gods, etc.

Subtract a few years, because I don't really see him entering Kahn's service and his very first task being, "Clone my daughter!"
Also take into consideration the several hundred years he spent trying to win the Mortal Kombat tournament.

Therefore, figure Mileena was probably cloned from Kitana when she was around 9,000 years old...and that would make Mileena's actual age between 900 and 1,000...give or take a few years.

Kind of sheds some interesting light on how Kitana and Mileena regarded each other.


Imagine, Kitana's 9,000 years old...serving Kahn, doing good, probably with Jade as her partner. Then...

KAHN: "Kitana, come meet your long lost twin sister, Mileena!"

KITANA: ".....what..?"

KAHN: "Your twin sister Mileena! She was lost for so long, but we found her! She'll be your new partner!"

KITANA: "I like working with Jade."

KAHN: "Well, now you've got Mileena. Have fun!"

KITANA: "....fuck."

...and maybe they worked together for a while, not getting along at all. Until one day....

KITANA: "This is bullshit! Since when do I have a sister?! Why doesn't she ever take that fucking mask off?! And she's annoying!!!"

...so Kitana starts snooping around in secret...until finally she stumbles onto some stuff about a place called Edenia...

KITANA: ".....fuck."


....and the rest is history.

Shang isn't human. Isn't he some kind of demon? Also there was even concept art of his true demon form in MK2. Don't know if that;s canon or not, but I always thought it was.

It's never really been explained what they mean when they call him a "demon-sorcerer", and that concept art never became canon. But Tobias established that Shang was born on Earth in the backstory that was released with MK Mythologies. That much is definitely canon.

So either "demon-sorcerer" is just a metaphorical term for how evil he is, or what I've always figured is the black magic he uses has basically transformed him into something demonic over the years, like on the outside, he still looks like a man, but on the inside, he's something much more evil.

Shang Tsung has to older than 10,000 because in MK3 Sindel's bio said "10,000 years after her untimely death" which proves Kitana was a baby when Shao Khan adopted her. Back to the original point, sorry this doesn't have to do with Mileena directly, but we know that Shan Tsung like held Sindel's soul so she could be reborn in earthrealm or whatever, but that happened 10,000 years ago, so either the MK writers are as bad with keeping little details consistent as TV writers, or Shang Tsung has to be older than 10,000. I think Shao Khan, Sindel, and Shang Tsung are the oldest characters, except for maybe Raiden.

Yes, we know that.


Shang Tsung didn't hold Sindel's soul. Shao Kahn did.

Shang Tsung made it so when Sindel was resurrected, it would be on Earth; which was part of a deal he made with Quan Chi. And THAT didn't happen until after the death of the Great Kung Lao...according to Mythologies.
So, it doesn't prove Shang was around 10,000 years ago.

Maybe Kahn was holding Sindel's soul for 9990 years or whatever, until he could find a sorcerer skilled enough to resurrect her. And maybe to ressurect her on Earthrealm he needed an Earth-born sorcerer to do it. I dunno... my head hurts

You ever wonder what the floating green lamp things in the background of the Pit 3 stage are?

The concept art for them is in one of the games' Krypts. There is writing on this concept art. According to those notes, these things are jars for containing souls. They're where Kahn keeps the ones he doesn't want to just absorb right away for whatever reason, or store in the Soul Chamber stage.

He probably used one for Sindel's soul for all those thousands of years.