Good post Garlador.

Some things I noted as well:

The Edenian resistance is a nice bit of information. It tells us more about Kitana, or at the very least confirms some already held suspicions. Kitana was specifically being trained by Kahn to more than likely kill her own people that Kahn had branded as traitors. A delicious irony he no doubt enjoyed.

Kitana grew up believing a lie by her adopted father, and was in fact killing her own family over the years. That sort of makes her like Adora/She-Ra from Masters of the Universe.

The mirrors between Rain and Kitana are also very nicely done.

I don't like the idea that Sindel gave birth to Rain illegitimately though. It makes for a nice soap opera element, but I don't need every character to be related to one another. If that's a route they're going to go, it makes much more sense for Jerrod to have had an affair and sired him illegitimately. That seems easier than Sindel hiding a pregnancy from Jerrod and it gives him some depth beyond the perfect martyred saintly ruler that Jerrod seems to enjoy currently.

Lastly, this story video jives with what we do know of Rain from his bios and from his mka conquest appearances. Rain has always been a selfish ambitious jerk. He's only ever been out for himself. In the new timeline, it seems clear to me that Rain was only using the resistance for what he could get out of them.

Truly the opposite of Kitana, who ends up being selfless and giving everything for her people's freedom in later games.

Good stuff all around. What we really need now is a Tanya bio to cap off Rain and the Edenians--Kitana, Mileena, Jade, Sindel, Rain, and Tanya. Their story is my favorite after the Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Smoke, Noob, and Quan Chi feud.

I believe that in Rain's case, it's a matter evolution of his character from the time of his origins. Similar cases can be seen with Ermac, who originally was depicted as ruling with a brand of oppression (at the time of MKT, to be fair, he was), and Smoke, whose UMK3 ending showed him to intentionally use others' techniques in an attempt at mastery. Further games have gone in different directions with these characters as their personalities are 'found' and overhauled. Raiden indeed went from the mad god to the guide and mentor we know today, and now his MK1 persona effectively no longer exists during the MK1 timeframe - now, he's always been that mentor figure. I'm sure the same is going to apply to Rain.

While it's not impossible he could be depicted as working for Kahn while having a hidden nobility during the invasion period, only to become an embittered and treacherous ass later - running in the opposite vein as Ermac, who starts sinister and then atones, I feel pretty comfortable in assuming Rain's MKT ending will be of the ilk forgotten about - especially with his allegiance to Kahn now a voluntary one, rather than being enforced at swordpoint.

You presented some very interesting thoughts on RAIN and his potential connection to KITANA. It would be cool to see how SINDEL's hidden affair/pregnancy would have played out...and how that could bring back ARGUS and DELIA (who i personally loved and wished they were made playable) into the picture.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who first saw Rain as a somewhat emasculated character when he was introduced in UMK3. It seems like the only people who didn't think he was cowardly are the Rain fans.

I agree with Shadaloo on this. Sure, they gave Rain some balls now, especially for being directly linked to the extinction of the Edenian culture, but his goal is no longer to free his people, but instead, to conquer them. His ending will only have Outworld governed with the same old rule, but under new management.
I hate the change, really, I do. Tanya will always be the biggest traitor to me.

While that was a good read I think some of the characteristics you assigned to Rain are inaccurate. The idea of him being a sympathetic character seems like a huge stretch. If Rain truly felt strongly for his realm betraying Edenian forces hardly seems like the way to eventually gain Edenia's freedom. If he was sympathetic to his people and wanted their return to prominence would'nt he want to strengthen their numbers? Especially considering that Kahn certainly reduced their numbers, and further, eliminated those that were capable warriors. If Rain succeeded in killing Shao Kahn that would not be the end of the story the many races of Outworld would likely struggle to fill the power void and who is to say that Edenia would not be subject to another's rule again. By eliminating warriors Rain knew for a fact supported Edenia's autonomy and would defend it Rain apparently would land Edenia right back into the position of conquest it was in during Kahn's reign. Rain's siding with Kahn makes more sense as a selfish move.
Also I don't think the comparisons with Raiden are valid. Don't get me wrong I am on the "god of blunder" parade but to be fair the intentions and premises by which each character went are very different. Raiden unknowingly misled earth's warriors due to broken, cryptic messages from his future self all in an effort to save the realm. Rain, bitter by his own ambitions not being approved, sold out his allies. Even Raiden's attempt to barter the Earthrealm warrior's souls with Quan Chi was to get Quan to stop Shao Kahn's entrance into earth thereby saving the realm. Also Raiden's survival at the end of story mode was not a function of his own design and with the exception of Kung Lao and Liu Kang the death of the heroes certainly was not his fault. The results Raiden's guidance in story mode may have resembled the results of Rain's betrayal of his allies but the character of each is nothing alike.

Raiden is unquestionably a good guy... because he fights on "our" side. But Raiden is the protector god of Earthrealm... doing desperate things for Earthrealm. Raiden showed he was willing to sacrifice the very lives of Earthrealm warriors, barter their souls, and kill them if he felt it was in the "great good" for the realm of Earth. His intentions are quite noble, but his methods border on extreme and callous, if not outright cruel and corrupt. Raiden will not let anyone else rule Earthrealm... no matter how good or evil they might be or how good or evil he must be.

Rain, though different in persona and motive, is still heir apparent to being protector god of Edenia, and he'll similarly do extremely desperate and despicable things to ensure HE gets control of Edenia. He'll sacrifice the sheep to the slaughter, allay the suspicions of his adversaries, and endure, but his end goal is the same as well: liberation for Edenia on his terms under his rule. He won't let anyone else rule Edenia... no matter how good or evil its ruler would be or how good or evil he must be.

Wth is a retcon

Definition of 'retcon'
Altering previously established facts.

Ex: Pre-MK9 = Mileena had been working with Kitana for thousands(?) of years. -> MK9 = Mileena is a newborn (probably not even a year old.)
Pre-MK9 = Shao Kahn preferred Kitana to Mileena, her flawed clone -> MK9 = Shao Kahn prefers the majorly-flawed Mileena to Kitana

@Garlador that was a fantastic post. I hope you decide to do more of these detailed character backround threads. Two Thumbs up!

Amazing post Garlador! It really shows all the potential that Rain has as an interesting and unique character.

Personally, I'd like to see him play out as the true heir to the Throne of Edenia, especially now that Kitana is gone (but who knows for how long). It'd be interesting to see him attempt to return Edenia to its former glory under his rule.

I imagined Rain as an evil character who truly doesn't see himself as the villain. He does what he has to, for what he sees as the greater good. He'll do anything to bring Edenia back to power, and rule as its King, even if he has to tear apart Outworld to do it.

Hundreds. Shang Tsung is not that old.

Good point.

Okay then...Mileena was several hundred years old, at least.

Ah ok. I was trying to figure it out through context but was unsuccessful. Thanks for the definition and examples.

Edenia has always been in a golden age. Sindel and Jerrod were very good rulers and were loved by the patrons of Edenia. I see you know your shit, but did you happen to miss all the stuff the Edenians told us in MKD Konquest, not to mention everything else we know about Edenia's history prior to Shao Khan's takeover. Since Edenians are part demigod and dont die of old age, its not hard to conceive that Sindel and Jerrod have probably been Edenia's only rulers for the past like at least 20,000 years.

Kitana's age is without a doubt the single dumbest element of the mk continuity.

You used to make such long and intelligent posts once, but now they are rather short and almost trollish. What happened?

Instead of just writing "Nyeh nyeh, it's stoopeed!", maybe try and come with an explanation to why you dislike Kitana's age.

An amazing post yet again :) I missed these!

Wonderful post, Garlador!

I enjoyed reading everything you wrote and I'm happy to see that this character is being taken as seriously as the rest of the iconic cast.

I like your observations and assumptions regarding his life, heart, and potential future. Ultimately, I think I'm more interested in "evil" Rain, the traitor, than "Rain the hero".

He's just getting his chance to shine and be developed. I rather they keep him where he stands and take that "hero/good guy" direction for characters like Ermac.

Rain has a lot more interesting things going on as a "rightful heir of the throne" by being an arrogant tyrant. Maybe, eventually, Rain will learn the wrong of his ways and realize that his arrogance and selfishness are the things that are keeping him from truly being who he wants to be.

For now, I just want to see him explore his connection with Argus, Taven, and Daegon and see him fight for what he believes is his. Rain will grow to become a huge threat, and hopefully, he will pay for his crimes.

Maybe Mileena will help him get where he wants to get, who knows?

I just don't want him as a good guy...not yet, anyways.

Once again: excellent thread!

@Jaded, I only reply in length where its warranted. This place doesn't thrive on intelligence.

Kitana's age (and edenian's age in general) does nothing except muck up what actually happened to Edenia. By making her thousands of years old, we have to now make a million excuses as to how and why Edenia and Outworld have been feuding for so long without resolution. How long ago did Edenia get absorbed? If it was fairly recent, how come everybody acts like its ancient history? If it is ancient history, just how long has Shao Kahn been manipulating Kitana? What sorcery could erase thousands of years of her memory, yet suddenly break in a blink of an eye? Did Kahn really have her duped for that long and then oen day just accidentally leave the "i'm not your real dad" memo on his desk? NRS did us a huge favor by wiping out Kitana and Mileena's "history", for Mileena's sake, but that still leaves a lot of dead air in Kitana's back story. And why would she want to marry Liu Kang when he's going to die before their kids she sprouts her first grey hair or their kids learn to walk?

And now there's a resistance. What has this "resistance" been up to for thousands of years? Earthrealm won their freedom back in like, an hour and they killed kahn forever in like a week. Meanwhile the Edenians have just I guess been sitting on their thumbs? Kahn doesn't have extermination squads scouring Outworld for them, so they must not be very significant. Aren't they supposed to be smarter and more powerful? Earthrealm was defended by like, 5 people, most of whom didn't know a thing about what was going on until an hour ago. And what about Jerrod / Ermac, how long as he been sitting on his laurels? Didn't Ermac JUST get made during MK1? What was going on with Jerrod's soul before then?

And how old is rain? How long's he been working for Kahn that just now he's gonna turn on him? Shouldn't he be a little higher in the rogue's gallery than Baraka and Sheeva or Reptile who presumably don't live as long and therefore haven't been working for him as long? In MK3, Sheeva is guarding the goddamned Queen of Edenia, don't you think that'd be a swell job for your long term edenian traitor? What about Skarlet? She got Kahn's top fucking assassination job and she was JUST made, but he's had a "skilled edenian warrior" in his back pocket for multiple millenia?

Its all very stupid.



There's no reason not to maintain that notion, nothing has actually changed.

Rain is an opportunist who chose a side. That's it. All the new plot gives him is a more personal reason than "he didn't want to die". He is a traitor and a crybaby, but his intentions were clear and overt.

Tanya on the other hand deliberately wore the mask of allegiance while serving the enemy. She only revealed her intentions when it was convenient. Of the two, she is still a way bigger douche.

I like that element of MK. The Edenians are descendants of Gods. I think it adds to the magical side of MK. As to answer your question about when and how long Edenia has been taken over, it has been stated many times throughout bios and endings since MK2 or 3. Kitana is 10,000 years old, Sindel killed herself 10,000 years ago because of Shao Khan so that makes it obvious that Kitana was an infant when Edenia was taken over. I like that the otherworldly characters like Shao Khan, Sindel, Kitana, Jade, Rain, Tanya is also most likely thousands of years old too. The oldest characters are Khan and Sindel.

I think its a novel idea, but it just means that for 10,000 years, NOTHING happened.

More importantly, it means these long lived demi-gods couldn't accomplish anything without the help of a bunch of bickering self-centered humans.

If Kitana was maybe 1,000 years or even 500 years old it would make the Edenians look a lot less inept.

Gonna be lots of quotes. (see, Fenix? There are those who can do intelligent discussions).


Allow me to entertain your madness then...


Kitana was merely an infant, like Rain, when Edenia was absorbed, she it was approximately 10,000 years ago.


Considering their lifespans, 10,000 years would be "relatively" recent, though it is still extremely ancient history, as evidence by the fallen ruins, the destroyed shrines, and the lost history.


Her entire life. She was being misled since she was just a baby, raised to believe Kahn was her father. She has no recollection of her father, Jerrod.


Her memory was not erased (unless you count the non-canon Shaolin Monks). Her ONLY memories growing up were of being Kahn's daughter.


Yes. Kahn used her for as long as he could, but by the events of MK2011, Kitana had reached a threshold of doubt and disobedience that troubled him. As Raiden put it, she was a "a reed bent in the wind", and Kahn preemptively put in plans to replace her with Mileena. When Mileena was ready, and he had no more use for her, he broke the truth to her, expecting her execution to be the end of his unreliable daughter.


Age is just a number. Mass Effect has something similar with the Asari, a race of aliens that have very long lifespans. They address the issue of outliving their lovers and spouses often, but it ultimately boils down the fact that love is a feeling very much centered in the present, and one need not worry about what the future holds. Kitana loved Liu Kang - he was a good, noble, brave, selfless hero that showed her extreme kindness - and she wanted to be with him. It was said she mourned greatly at his passing, showing that even his death before the age of 30 impacted her just as much as his death would've been at the age of 80 or 90 or 1000.


They fought against Kahn for years... until their numbers dwindled (no thanks to Rain's betrayal) and they were hunted into hiding or irrelevance.


It was actually significantly longer. The Story Mode's time frame actually covers a span of several years, which there being long gaps between MK1 and MK2 (probably a few months) and MK2 to MK3 (possibly a few years), and the events within those lasted much longer than it might otherwise seem. Comparatively, Earthrealm did not LOSE its freedom, while Edenian was thoroughly conquered and defeated, making "earning it back" a much harder endeavor once their world had already fully merged into Outworld.


Yes, Kahn does. Kitana was part of that very same squad, trained from childhood to hunt down those that opposed her father's rule... and that included the Edenian resistance.


And Earthrealm was nearly conquered by one all-powerful demon god king of Outworld. And yet, you see hundreds of people waging war in the streets against the invasion of Outworld hordes, armies of Tarkatans killing soldiers and policemen. It wasn't just the heroes; even Sub-Zero's quest has him freeing captured soldiers. Our heroes were just the ones with the power and knowledge to know who and where to strike.


It belonged with Kahn, who sucked it out and added his power to Kahn's own. Kahn let it empower him until he felt it could be used elsewhere in the creation of Ermac, so he offered up the soul from himself to Ermac's creation. The souls are still his, just serving him in a tangible form.


Since both he and Kitana were infants, both are nearly the same age at 10,000.


Rain was shown to be a young adult in the vignette, meaning he fought him for likely a few thousand years, betrayed his people, and then sided with Kahn for the last few thousand years, all the while slowly building up rank, prestige, and power.


Rain has also proven himself untrustworthy, an opportunist unloyal to anyone or any cause. Kahn would be foolish to entrust special matters to a man with the notorious instinct to kill those that don't give him what he wants. Baraka and Sheeva and Reptile are far more loyal to Kahn's regime, and Kahn knows this. Also, Shokan live long lives too (at least several thousand as Goro was reigning champion for at least 9 generations of Kombat).


Not at all. Sheeva's bio stated that she protected the queen through an extremely deadly military coup and became almost legendary in name for staving off the assassination attempts. She EARNED her role as Sindel's protector (possibly due to Sindel's own request she take on the job).

Secondly, it's implied Sindel committed suicide long before Rain betrayed the resistance and joined Kahn, so the two of them never met.

Then there's the logical fallacy of taking an Edenian sympathizer with aspirations of royalty and pairing him up an Edenian royal queen. Either he would join her to get what he wants, or kill her if he felt she stood in the way. Either way, it would not be to Kahn's benefit.


Like Ermac, Skarlet might be a recent creation, but only because Shang Tsung's flesh pit sorcery takes time, skill, and resources. Even Mileena was supposedly in creation for several hundred years and still emerged "flawed".

And it all goes back down to trust. The reason Kahn keeps requesting warriors created for his service is because he has little trust for those in charge, like Rain, a dubious traitor most people can see has no loyalty to Kahn or respect for his rule, but does what he asks so long as it suits him. If Rain ever stepped out of line, Kahn would kill him, but he similarly wants to ensure he has warriors waiting in the wings to replace him, or anyone else, should they fail him, just as Kitana was replaced with Mileena.

re: Kitana
You make some excellent accomodations, Garlador, but the fact remains that both Kitana and her mother act (upon being freed) as though they had some sort of peaceful existence in Edenia before Shao Kahn's rule.

So either, Kitana's allegiance to Shao Kahn is artificial and was broken (as Raiden seems to indicate in this plot line), or she's an even bigger traitor then Rain and has completely turned her back on the only world (Outworld) she's ever known for the sake of some random strangers and a magical place (Edenia) she's never been.

Are we supposed to believe that after 10,000 years of father / daughter life with the cruel tyrant known to Outworld, she was still festering a "soft side"? Surely Mileena nor the contents of MK1-3 can't have been the first or worst atrocities Kitana has ever witnessed her "father" execute, disregarding entirely the fact that she worked for him as an assassin. So if she if we're supposed to accept that after 10,000 years (lets just call it 25 human years) she made a COMPLETE face turn because he deluded her for about his true nature (unlikely given Shao Kahn is far from subtle) and then suddenly slipped up or she's a complete idiot / delusional.

You see, the whole 10,000 year old stolen baby plot worked when Sindel and Jerrod were just former rulers of Outworld who got overthrown by a tyrant with no kids of his own (for reasons they never really bothered to explain). It didn't matter how long ago they got overthrown, because presumably whoever was following them would have followed Kahn or died. That's how coups work. But the second they were given their own realm, its credibility began to weaken. Instead Outworld is this villainous realm they totally knew about and just got rolled by, worse they have now spent 10,000 years in rebellion and accomplished absolutely nothing. Meanwhile, the Earthlings they look down upon (see: Jade) did what they failed to do in (even as you say) a span of a few years.

Its not like the Vampires / Raptors who were crushed and no longer care about freedom, or even the Centaurs / Shokan who simply chose to get in line. Apparently there are quite a few Edenians around, and none (except rain) are happy about life. I don't care how long they live, 10,000 years is a long time to be in a conflict and neither win nor get totally wiped out. You drop Kitana's age down to like a thousand or something, we got a ball game. But 10,000 years of demigods doing absolutely nothing? Stupid.

re: Rain, we've established Kahn keeps Skarlet chained up when she's not active cause she's a wildcard, and that he's willing to literally kill his most trusted servants for failure (Shang). In every game there's at least three endings that paint him as so unbelievably arrogant he's totally unsuspecting when one of his top agents turns on him. Trust would never be an issue with Rain, the second he stepped out of line he'd just as soon brutally murder him.

More to the point, if this vignette says that Rain threw a fit when the Edenians spurned him, what do you think he'd do when Shao Kahn said "sorry rain, you can eat cheerios but my captain crunch is off limits cause you're a douche." You think he'd just say "sorry miss daisy, I be honkin" and go back to work? For something like 2,000 years? His most young and impetuous years at that?

re: Argus, so Shao Kahn has had the soul of an ancient nemesis in his possession for the neighborhood of 10,000 years, and only NOW he did something with it? If he didn't get a soul shaping wizard until a thousand years ago, why did he even keep it? A memento? I mean, the realm runs on sorcery, even an idiot as big as Kahn couldn't miss the potential faling there for 9,000 years. Not while he had Jerrod's toddler stumbling around the fortress stealing $20 from his wallet for movie night.

Mr.Garlador, ever thought of working for Ed Boon as personal story writher?? You do a so much better job as any of them ever did...

I'm not one who compliments anyone but myself, but for this read I make an exception, really good read and it actually turned Rain back into my favorite top 5 character list, you possess a magical writing skill mister!

Very good read and not much to say about it as everything you said already is so much true!

Keep it on!

In all seriousness, I just graduated with a major in game design. A job at NRS would be a dream job, either as a modeler, texture artist, animator, sound designer, or story writer. I'm passionate about all of them.

Though, for story, John Vogel's done an amazing job with many characters and has really breathed new life into old favorites. Though if he ever needs a break and they're looking to hire, I certainly wouldn't say no if an offer came my way.

I'm of the opinion that every single character, especially in the MK2011 era, is bursting with potential and new directions to pursue, new relationships and pasts to explore, and new goals and agendas to undertake, making it very exciting to see how every character is going to pan out for future games, Rain most definitely a part of this equation.