Only the MK1 comic book ever stated that Shang ages fast because his gods cursed him.

The official canon, established in MK2 and 3, is that Shang Tsung was an old man because when The Great Kung Lao defeated him, Shao Kahn punished him by making him spend the time until the next tournament, which as we all know is "one generation", AKA fifty years, in the cobalt mines of Shokan, where he aged at the NORMAL HUMAN RATE because he couldn't steal any souls.

It was while working in the mines that he met Prince Goro and took him as an apprentice, so he could bring him to the next tournament and have him kill the Great Kung Lao and become MK champion.

hmm pretty interesting facts..

But, i always thought that the "cobalt mines punishment" was a non-canon fact that was created only for MK Conquest.
Is it really canon that Shang was sent to the cobalt mines after loosing against the Great Kung Lao?

WoW cool!

The Cobalt Mines story existed long before MK Conquest ever aired. That's where they got it from. I'm pretty certain the first time I ever read about it was a magazine interview back when MK2 was in the arcades.

I forget whether it was Midway themselves, or another company like EGM who did it, but someone released these 4 collector's magazines, each one spotlighting three specific characters in the game (plus a bonus article or page I think for each of the bosses and hidden characters). They were full of the usual pieces of concept art and long, detailed interviews with Boon and Tobias and the other team members, where they went over backstory and special moves and fatalities, everything.

Now I barely remember these interviews, but one of the things I do very vividly remember is Tobias definitely established the whole "Cobalt Mines of Shokan" bit in the Shang spotlight. He never once mentioned the "cursed by his gods" bit, presumably because it was written before Shao Kahn was ever conceived of, as a villain, or as Shang's master.
You have to remember that back in 1992 and 93, when the only MK game was MK1, Outworld had NO role in the story of Mortal Kombat. MK was JUST a martial arts tournament and Liu Kang's goal wasn't saving the world, it was taking the tournament back from Shang, who had stolen it from the Shaolin Monks. Outworld was only mentioned as the strange place where the strange monster Goro came from.
MK1 was just Enter the Dragon with super powers and that's all it's story was intended to be...at that time. Shang Tsung being this lesser evil who answered to another villain, them wanting to conquer the Earth, that was all dreamed up new for the storyline of MK2. So for MK2, Tobias established that Shang had been taught how to steal souls by Kahn, willingly, as a source of power for his sorcery. He also laid down how Shang met Goro, which is where the mines come in, like I said.
They had similar promotional material for MK3 with a big, thick collector's guide, but as each character only got a single page, the information there was far more brief and less useful. They just rehashed the bios and explained what they were thinking when they designed the characters...why Sub-Zero wasn't a ninja anymore, how early Kabal was going to be "the Sandman" and have buzzsaws attatched to his wrists...stuff like that.

Hmm, pretty cool information!

In the MK2 intro, it is said that "500 years ago, Shang Tsung was banished to the Earthrealm. With the help of Goro, he was to bring a chaotic era to the world etc etc etc" So, i assume, that after Shang lost the MK title to the Great Kung Lao, the tournament was "brought" home, to the earth realm again. And so, Shang being "banished" alongside with Goro to the Earth realm, isn't really banished (as this "banishment" happened after Shang was sent (and met Goro) to the cobalt mines) , but "sent" in order to win the tournament and so "bringing" it's title back to Outworld, where it would be held again (Shang Tsung's island is somehow part of Outworld).

Hmm, pretty hard to figure it all out.

Actually, MK1 told us that originally, the tournament was held at Liu Kang's temples. It was overseen by three grandmasters.

After Great Kung Lao defeated Shang, though, Shang returned 50 years later and secretly assassinated one of the 3 masters, which freed up a spot on the judging panel. Somehow, Shang got that spot. Then he enrolled Goro in the tournament and the rest is history. Goro would defeat the Great Kung Lao, and sometime between then and MK1, the other two grandmasters would be phased out, leaving Shang as the sole authority over the MK tournament.

That's how the tournament was stolen from Liu Kang's temple and moved to Shang's Island, and that's why there are Fatalities - Shang corrupted the tournament by adding in his own rules like the winner of a battle's right to execute the loser.
I think that part about being "banished" just means that when Kahn sent him to Earth with Goro, he wouldn't allow Shang to ever come back to Outworld again until after the tenth tournament.

Yeah, great description of facts.
Really, i never thought about it that way. Pretty interesting stories of the past..

No.

The tournament was held at Shang Tsungs isle, at the Lost Sea. it is right in the game prologue. Also, I could not find any mentions of Cobalt mines previously MKC. I do not know from where you got this, but point is...

your description is generally flawed on several points.

Uh...what?

Yes, MK1 was held at Tsung's Isle. I never said it wasn't.
What I said, if you'd read more carefully, is that the tournament USED TO BE held at the Shaolin Temples before Shang Tsung took control of it and MOVED it to his island 500 years ago.
And I explained where I got the Cobalt Mines backstory from: interviews with Tobias in strategy guides. If you haven't read those interviews and don't believe me, that's your own choice, but I know what I know. The flaw isn't in my descriptions, you just need to read more carefully.

Did you happen to read if Tobias gave any clue about Tsung's "true" form? He undoubtedly knows it better than any fan does.

Syntactic discrepancies.

Specify or show me the interview. It has to be on the net if you found it, or you have it. I am curious.

I dearly wish I COULD show you the interview, but I haven't seen those magazines since the mid-1990's, I've never seen scans of them on the internet and my own copies are long gone. All I can tell you is, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I read the phrase "Cobalt Mines of Shokan" YEARS before MK Conquest was ever filmed. They did not come up with it on their own. That is where Shang and Goro met for the first time in the games, which is something that didn't even happen in the TV series.

Still, even if you don't believe me about the mines, Shang Tsung rapidly aging just doesn't make any sense.
The only reason Tobias wrote him as being cursed to age fast in MK1 was because at that time, he hadn't decided how often the tournament was held. He didn't come up with the "once every generation" part until later. He just needed an excuse why Shang was young when Kung Lao beat him, but all of a sudden was old when he returned.
But we now KNOW for a FACT that there's 50 years between every tournament. So how come, if Shang ages faster than normal, he didn't just wither away to nothing over the course of 50 years without any souls?

And if the power to steal souls is a curse the Gods gave him, how come Shao Kahn can do it too? How come he had the power to steal everyone on Earth's souls in MK3?

No. It doesn't add up.

Shang Tsung simply does not rapid-age. His soul-stealing powers are not a curse, they're a spell Shao Kahn taught him.

And to answer your question, Shaggy, no, Tobias didn't mention his "true form" at all in the interview. That sketch of him as a demon was just that. A piece of concept art they decided not to go with.

I'm pretty sure Shang Tsung is an old man who looks like this:



Who is constantly using other people's souls to rejuvinate his own youth, so he can look like this:

Haha... Way to go for posting into this thread before the third month expired! Otherwise, you'd get skulled.