Barakas intelligence

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Barakas intelligence

posted04/13/2012 11:25 AM (UTC)by

DG1OA

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06/15/2011 08:07 PM (UTC)

While Baraka isn't renowned for his intelligence, he does display some in his MKD and MK9 endings. While neither are canon (though the MKD was more likely to be than the MK9 one), I see no reason why his intelligence couldn't be.

Do any of you guys and gals agree with me on that? That even though Baraka didn't kill Mileena nor Shang Tsung, he might still be capable of some intelligence? That he might even be smarter than some of the other enforcers, such as Scorpion?

Sure, Scorpion gets his own chapters and all those oh-so-awesome victories against significant characters, but that doesn't mean he's smart, just skilled as a fighter. Baraka might have lost more often, but so did Quan Chi, and he's a superb schemer. I realize Baraka is nowhere in his league intellectually speaking, but my point is, Baraka might still be somewhat cunning.

Finally, the reason I'm taking Baraka's endings from MKD and MK9 into account when it comes to evaluating his intelligence despite them not being canon is because they weren't about Baraka taking over the world, as in not credible. His MKD ending could have happened (whereas the chance of his MK2 one happening were slim to none) , and I do not feel the smarts he display in that one plus his MK9 one contradict anything about the character or the series in general.

Feel free to share your thoughts, people. Is Baraka smart in your opinion, even if only a little?

Icebaby

@Icebaby

•03/27/2012 08:54 PM (UTC) •

I never really depicted Baraka as being a dumb creature. Sure, he's a bit of a complex thing, such as how he moves his jaw and how his blades fit into his arms, but I never really thought that he would be stupid.

Losing battles doesn't show any sign of being dumb, because then I would have to say that every character that lost in the story for this game would be dumb, especially Sheeva since she was defeated the most in the game.

KungLaodoesntsuck

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•03/29/2012 04:00 PM (UTC) •

Baraka isn't dumb. Just unlucky

Ninja_Mime

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•03/29/2012 08:05 PM (UTC) •

I've always considered him to be more brawn than brains, but definitely not a dimwit. How he was depicted in his MKG ending seemed about right to me.

It's a shame he was so downplayed in MK9. He's far from my favourite character but I do find him fairly interesting, and it'd be cool to see him as more of a feared leader than a lackey.

JUST_A_TARKATAN

@JUST_A_TARKATAN

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•03/30/2012 12:54 PM (UTC) •

hmmm i dont see him stupid at all i mean he is my favorite character

he also is leader of his own army and if he was a dimwit he would never be able to touch the earth realm people because there would be no strategy

so he must be smart i mean out of all the tarkatans he is the leader and he must even be a schemer just as great as quan chi but whats the difference between them ?

baraka lacks the power and abilities he has but baraka has an army and shoa khans support

Chryo_Spyder

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•03/30/2012 03:15 PM (UTC) •

Baraka is most certainly not an idiot.
He just doesnt use enough of his brain to win the fights.
There is one key factor you all seem to forget:
Its not strength that wins fights.Its the brain and the will power.
Unfortunately, he only understood strength portion of that saying.
But Im guessing Warner Bros. wanted a classic monster like what we would dream of when we were 3 years old that would rush towards you with no thought behind what it was doing. But, I can guarantee that if Baraka had any knowledge on who he was fighting and what he's constantly up against, he'd play a more important role in the story and wouldnt be just a mere guard dog.

DistraughtOverlord

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•03/30/2012 06:40 PM (UTC) •

Baraka only has enough brains to be dangerous.:P

Nah. I think he's far from stupid. If he was, he wouldn't scare anyone. But i still think he's an interesting character even though he's never been more than the big bad dog. I can't portrait that char as something different. But even though his brain don't seem to show anything impressive, anyone with brain could try and fool him. Just, the consequences would be lethal.

Rockchalk5477

@Rockchalk5477

•03/30/2012 07:55 PM (UTC) •

He doesn't come off as a total moron, but, let's be honest here, Tarkatans were bred for (blind) loyalty and brawn, not smarts.

However, as a top Tarkatan general, he's probably quite a bit more cunning and perceptive than others. He's been known to detect imposters very well, though that may just be due to a keen sense of smell.
(In MK:D, Mileena saw Baraka as a possible threat, as he could unveil her (no pun intended) and her scheme to the Outworld armies led by Bo' Rai Cho, if she turned her back on him. He definitely had been planning ahead.)

I'd say he's much smarter than he looks, though his MK9 presentation did him no favors. Hopefully, come MK10, he'll stop being a punching bag, and start becoming a true threat.

tabmok99

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•03/30/2012 09:29 PM (UTC) •

I think Baraka is definitely lacking in the intelligence department. When he was first introduced to us in John Tobias's MKII comic, his only line was "Baraka show Cage pain!" The next time we got to explore him, a little bit more deeply, was the Malibu comics line. Baraka really struggled with his grammar here, offering up such gems as "You nothing but slithering serpent. You not careful, Baraka roast you on spit." (Goro Prince of Pain #1, p. 9).

I don't remember his more recent appearances (MKSM, MK vs DC, MK9) as well as the classics. But I don't think his chances of becoming a grammarian or linguist are very good.

DG1OA

@DG1OA

•03/31/2012 09:22 AM (UTC) •

]{0MBAT Wrote:
I think Baraka is definitely lacking in the intelligence department. When he was first introduced to us in John Tobias's MKII comic, his only line was "Baraka show Cage pain!" The next time we got to explore him, a little bit more deeply, was the Malibu comics line. Baraka really struggled with his grammar here, offering up such gems as "You nothing but slithering serpent. You not careful, Baraka roast you on spit." (Goro Prince of Pain #1, p. 9).

I don't remember his more recent appearances (MKSM, MK vs DC, MK9) as well as the classics. But I don't think his chances of becoming a grammarian or linguist are very good.

Maybe Tobias didn't intend Baraka to be smart, but I'm not sure his comics are still considered canon nowadays. As for the Malibu comics, were they ever canon?

tabmok99

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https://www.youtube.com/tabmok99

•03/31/2012 10:42 AM (UTC) •

I'm not really sure we need to carefully consider what's canon when we're just analyzing general attributes.

Was MK vs. DC canon? Did certain endings ever happen? Did MKSM retcon the MKII comic, and was that further retconned by MK9? We're getting too much into the details. (All of what's canon will probably change in another five to ten years anyway with future generations of MK games.) It doesn't matter for a general question such as whether Baraka has intelligence or not, and out of canon sources can shed some light on the subject.

Jaded-Raven

@Jaded-Raven

•04/04/2012 08:00 PM (UTC) •

Baraka is a beast who goes on instincts, a killing machine who is out for blood, fuelled with rage and murderous intent. However, we have seen in Deception that he is indeed capable of strategic thinking. He isn't dumb, his intelligence is just focused on war and killing.

Zmoke

@Zmoke

•04/05/2012 09:11 AM (UTC) •

It doesn't necessarily prove that Baraka is intelligent when he is the generalissimo of Tarkata. A wolf can lead a pack of wolves but it isn't necessarily intelligent if you compare it to humans. If you compare Baraka to other Tarkatans, it easily is above average. I think that the latest iteration of Baraka is the Baraka the MK team wanted him to be, be the early appearances canon or not. Baraka is remarkably intelligent compared to other Tarkatans, but not that special compared to humans *in my opinion*.
Intelligence is a thing that can't really be measured by behavior just. Good and bad decisions are a simple meter for measuring intelligence. The most reliable thing is the IQ test however, but even that doesn't include areas such as social or musical intelligence. Tarkatan < Human

raidenthefridge

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•04/13/2012 11:25 AM (UTC) •

Until MK9 I considered Baraka to be of Average intelligence but with a weakness of Anger and rage, but I think hes a dummy now though.

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