I think the term "Earthrealm" refers to both the planet Earth, and the whole dimension the planet Earth is in. "Earthrealm" is our universe and the other realms like Outworld and Edenia exist in their own universes like an alternate reality.

The afterlife-realms, like Heaven and Hell, aren't like planets, though. Their geography would be magical in nature. In fact, I'm fairly certain Hell is flat. We know it's separated into "Planes", or pocket-dimensions, since we hear about the Fifth Plane all the time. It probably has 9 like in Dante's Inferno since that's where the concept of Hell having layers comes from in the first place. And if they're "layers", then they might be geographically connected, stacked like a pancake. (Then again, they might not be physically connected at all, pocket dimensions may be connected to each other only by portals like realms are) I believe the Armageddon version of the Hell stage depicts an elevator constantly passing down through the layers.

'Course, MK1 mentioned Outworld having "planes" too. That's the thing about magical worlds in other dimensions, they don't have to make scientific sense. It's like asking if the Faerie world Oberon and Titania come from in A Midsummer Night's Dream is another planet.

Chaosrealm also doesn't behave like a planet, because it's been supernaturally altered by the God of Chaos. It's a bunch of islands floating in funny-colored space, held together by a giant energy tornado. The laws of physics, like gravity, don't even work right there.

Huh. Yeah. Outworld with it's wierd "Astral Planes" woyld technically suggest that it's flat.

I also looke on Unchined and thought that if the realms were COMPLETELY flat if they wer actualy flat like planes, then wouldn't you see in a different range instead of seeing the natural Earthrealm curve.

I do get your reality thing. It does seem like a fairly logical explanation in every way.

I guess it's just Midway/ NRS doind what they love to do...

Confuse me.

I know it is a little bit off-top,but since we are on the subject of Earthrealm...You know what bugged me always? I ALWAYS wanted to see how Earthrealm is changed after MK3 with the whole merging and soul sucking experience. I mean,the only consequence SHOWN in the games is forming of Outer World Investigating Agency to research other realms.

What about people?I would think after this whole "shocking to the very humankind's core" experience,the whole realization that supernatural and other dimensions and realms and aliens are very real,there is gonna be some fucking HUGE changes to Earthrealm. But what I see is like people moving on with their lives and saying "Meh,no biggie,our governments will take care of it".

I even thought there could be some HUGE riots going on after MK3 and some big governments being overthrown,kinda what Kabal wanted to do in MK Deception after interaction with Havik. I want this 180 degrees self-realization to the rest of the world too,and so we SEE it!

Also of note: In Deception Konquest, every realm has a sun in the sky. What the sky looks like doesn't necessarily mean anything when you're in Hell, mind you, it could be an illusion there, because part of the canon is that Shinnok deliberately fucks with what Netherealm looks like to try and make it look more like Earth...

But I bring it up because on a similar subject, in some comics and arenas, you can see that Outworld has moons. Like, more than one I think. Which suggests it's shaped like a planet with orbits and such.

True. MK4 is set several years after MK3 though, so they probably just had time to clean up all the damage and restore order.
I get the impression the post-MK9 games might go into the damage that's been done to the city and to society though, judging by some of the endings, like Sonya's, which suggests there are still Outworlders left behind on Earth roaming around and causing trouble after the merger ended.

You see,I don't buy that everybody can go back to normal after such an experience. I think in my mind,if our world is attacked by some alien race and we all ALMOST die,which kinda equates it to Armageddon depicted in so many religions,then I would think our fundamental ways of living will change as well,because it proved we are very unprotected against BIG threats that concern whole humankind and our societies,our ways of living are not good enough. I would imagine complete restructure of powers and anarchy everywhere for a time being...But that is more fundamental subject I think to discuss.

I don't like how Sonya goes off into this hunting alone and leaving SF,I just don't think it is her way of dealing with adversary,ESPECIALLY Johnny Cage and Raiden still being around,she even says losses in war are ineviablee,so she doesn't blame Raiden at all,she is upset of course,but that scene gave me impression she will be fine (as I always pictured Sonya in original timeline).

But the idea of some Outworlders still out there is not too shabby at all,it is just I think it should be given to another character who fits the role,not Sonya.

I dunno, I think if we successfully repelled an alien attack without too much damage, it'd be kinda like 9/11...a lot of news media uproar and military and political shifting around to ready us for future attacks, but the average joe's life wouldn't change too much.

Especially since losing your soul and getting it back is probably a lot like being unconscious, so the population of the Earth was basically asleep during the entire invasion and only woke up to see the wreckage and have Sonya and Jax tell them "Yeah, it was an attack from another dimension. Sorry about the big hole in Times Square, that's where their king put his big mountain skull-castle. But it's cool, it's gone now."

Okay,I agree,maybe everybody calms down after MK3 events,since nobody saw too much what happened since everybody were out. But what about MK4? Seing legions of demons invade us,and ONLY AFTER several years after MK3 is CLEARLY saying that "Damn,what the fuck is going on? This shit is not working,we need to change something!"

I mean,even Armageddon happened and you can argue it partially affected Earthrealm too,but since we don't have any sequel after that,I can't bring that as an argument.

My point is,Razor,since this invasion shit happens not once,but TWICE,and in VERY short amount of time,you have to question those above if they are doing everythig in their power.

It's never been terribly clear how much of MK4 actually happens on Earth. We know Hell attacks Edenia, then uses it as a staging ground to attack Heaven, then the heroes go after the bad guys, so...maybe it mostly takes place in Edenia?

Well,since in MK4 comics we see Liu Kang and Kai rescuing Fujin on Earth,I would think,Earth is pretty involved too,don't you think? Then again,since Fujin is Earthrealm god,then maybe this group of demons just hunted him down here,but besides this event nothing in the game indicates that the bad guys got here too.

I just think that since Shinnok wanted to conquer Earth for so many years and Raiden kicked his butt last time he tried,the logical part of my brain says the invasion touched Earth as well...I mean,he SHOULD do some damage partially,otherwise Shinnok is just a bigger loser than what I thought of him,and hyping him up since MK3 in some characters' endings and bios would be pointless if he didn't do anything to Earth in MK4.

At the end of the comic, they all travel to Edenia to fight Quan Chi and co.

Sure Shinnok wanted Earth, but I think his plans were somewhat interrupted by Raiden and Liu and Sub-Zero coming after him.

I'm pretty sure the canon way MK4 ends is a variation of Tanya's ending where, in the catacombs of Edenia, she leads Liu into a trap where Shinnok is waiting. Except unlike how the ending actually goes, Shinnok doesn't blow him up, because Scorpion's ending, where he drags Quan Chi to Hell, has already happened, so Shinnok is cut off from the amulet and too weak to defeat Liu Kang.
Personally, I'm with you, I'd much rather see a version of MK4 where the threat of Hell attacking the mortal realms is fully realized, Shinnok is a decent end boss on his own power, the dead rise, and Earth has to deal with a full on zombie outbreak Blackest Night-style...but that's not what we got back in '98. What we got was Shinnok being a puppet dictator propped up by Quan Chi and Tobias totally phoning it in.

Not to question your knowledge,Raz,but how do you know that it is canon way how it ends? I mean,is there references in MKDA or MKD somewhere? I mean,Quan Chi part everybody knows it happens,as well as discovering Tanya as a traitor,but the way we discovered about Tanya could have been different,since Kitana was out of jail already...And lots of spaces between here about where Jade has been and why particularly she hates Tanya the most.

The way I always envisioned it,I thought Raiden engaged Shinnok first in that round circle between mountains with thunder roaring (like in MK9 vision where you can see them fighting,i forgot the arena name,was it Wind World or something?),but was overpowered (you even can have Shinnok's ending here involved,since lets say he defeated Raiden,he started torturing him),so Liu Kang stepped in and probably was losing too until Scorpion dragged Quan Chi to Netherrealm.

I always envisioned that arena as somewhat final stage and culmination of MK4,since it was epic and Raiden is standing there and telling us the story. And if you think about it,it reminds me a little of that stage where Sub-Zero (Bi-Han) fights Fujin in MK Mythologies,so the whole saga with Shinnok started from there and it is logical to wrap it up there as well. It is just epic and dark place I really like from MK games,second only to Sky Temple in MK Deception.

Well I don't know for sure, but I think it's the assumption that makes the most sense, based on which endings were canon and how in MK, even the non-canon ones tend to have "half" canon stuff in them (for example, Jarek didn't kill Sonya, but Jax still drops him off the side of a mountain), and some comments Vogel has made about how the reason Shinnok lost was because Quan Chi was using the amulet to power him and he got cut off from it.
We know Scorpion's ending is canon and that Liu is the one who fought and defeated Shinnok even though his actual mission was supposed to be freeing Kitana from imprisonment, not going after the bad guy, and we know Tanya got caught betraying the good guys somehow...and nowhere else in the game or any of the sequels actually bothers to explain where they all were when the final battle went down. So It just makes sense to me that a version of Tanya's ending where she's leading him into a trap rather than to rescue Kitana, but Quan doesn't show up because Scorpion got him, so Liu wins instead of exploding, is what really happened.
Granted that's an extremely weak way to end the plot of a game...but like I said, MK4 was totally phoned in and needs a remake bad.

Thinking about it,it does make sense using your theory,but my question is then where the heck was Raiden at that moment? I just think it is essential for him to show up in the final battle,since Shinnok is more personal to him,than let's say Shao Kahn,and as I said earlier,in MK9 you see the vision where Raiden engages Shinnok in the batlle (though it may have happened in the Heavens,not sure).

Your theory is very good,don't get me wrong,but Raiden being at the final battle and that battle happening in Wind World is kinda more intriguing to me,since this is where shit started,when Subbie the Older was retrieving the Amulet.

Thinking about Wind World,I would say that proves my point that Shinnok could have invaded Earthrealm too by that time,since this arena is located on Earth and you do battle there as well as Raiden's ending happening there too,unlike Living Forest,which is a very famous arena since MK2 and that's why it is in the game...or maybe Kung Lao ended up there once he was sucked back into Outworld?

Tanya being the traitor ending with Liu still could have happened,but maybe before Liu is attacked,he is saved by Raiden or Kitana? And then they do battle in Wind World... I dunno man,I am stuck with that awesome arena lol.

The Living Forest is in the game because at the time, "Edenia" and "Outworld" were two names for the same realm. In MK4, Sindel and Kitana are supposed to be ruling Kahn's kingdom and Kahn was believed dead.

This was all retconned in Deadly Alliance into Edenia being a separate realm that had been merged with Outworld and freed during MK3.

Anyway, no idea where Raiden and Fujin were supposed to be. Maybe leading a skirmish against Reiko's soldiers? I'd certainly prefer it if Raiden had been the one who won MK4, not Liu, since Raiden's the one who has a personal stake against Shinnok...

Who knows, Raiden just might beat Shinnok this time around.
Or, Kai does it instead. Nothing would surprise me at this point.

What I think personally what everybody was doing when Liu was battling Shinnok:

Scorpion/Sub-Zero/Quan Chi we know what happened. But the question is,what was Sub-Zero doing in Goro's Lair? Maybe he tagged along with Kung Lao to chase Goro down,because Sub-Zero was chasing Quan Chi and suspected that the sorcerer allied himself with the Shokan Prince somehow (which never happened of course,Goro actually wanted to take revenge for his loss in MK1 by confronting Liu Kang,that's why he was in his Lair). They got separated,where Kung Lao follows Goro into Outworld from the island and Sub-Zero is eventually confronted by Scorpion?

Kung Lao was probably laying low the whole game and returned only when he heard Goro was back. He was probably chasing Goro the whole game until he arrived at that scene in his MK4 ending,where he strikes him?

Reiko,Reptile and Baraka and their forces were probably fighting Fujin,Cage,Jarek,Sonya and Jax. It makes sense for Baraka and Reptile to fight Jax and Johnny,since these four are familiar with each other for quite time and I imagine HILARIOUS dialogues happening,with Cage's remarks about the grunts.

Since Reiko is the most serious and most dangerous of the group,and he is the general after all,I would make him fight Jarek AND Sonya,since neither trusts each other,and therefore will make their battle a little bit complicated. So that way,they will have to find a way to trust each other's back and overcome such a dangerous enemy like Reiko. Fujin can fight all the rest soldiers by himself and show his Godly might,because he is too powerful for either Reiko,Baraka or Reptile...

Kitana was trying to reclaim her Palace and free Sindel and Jade,while maybe Tanya was controlling Shinnok's forces in Edenia and occupying the capital maybe? Kitana would battle Tanya and chase her away,reclaiming the throne and the palace and then Mileena shows up who was watching her the whole time and they battle,after which Mileena is locked up?

Kai was probably engaged in battle with Noob Saibot,since Noob Saibot is Shinnok's KIND of bodyguard and Kai is Liu Kang's new "Kung Lao". So while they fight and Kai wins,it buys Liu Kang some time to confront Shinnok,who is already in battle with Raiden and defeating the Thunder God.

What do you think Raz?

Eh, makes some sense, but I wouldn't venture to guess about things that there's no canon info about in the games one way or the other...

In pretence, and as a basis of the natured look from a distance.

Earth = Earthrealm.

Venus = Netherrealm.

Mars = Outworld.

Saturn = Seido.

Neptune = Edenia.

Uranus = Chaosrealm.

This is all make-believe though.

Would talk of this satellite but it's not an assured celestial body, as it doesn't orbit around a star.