Shinnok
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Shinnok is a character in the Mortal Kombat video games.
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About Shinnok
A vengeful, whimsy, unreliable and powerful Fallen Elder God, Shinnok appeared in Mortal Kombat 4 as the main villain. Unlike Shao Kahn, Shinnok relies less on brute strength and fear-mongering, but all the more on magical powers, ancient artifacts and a vast knowledge of military matters. Adding to his deceptive qualities, he also possesses the power to impersonate other people perfectly, down to their voices. It is unclear what exactly he once was the Elder God of, but after being stripped of his dignity, this may be one of the last vestiges of his former powers. Being an Elder God, Shinnok demands from his followers unwavering faith, and will not hesitate to kill anyone who doubts or challenges him.
Storyline
Shinnok's fall from grace was characterised by his lust for power and more specifically, his initial desire to take Earthrealm for himself. By waging war against his fellow Gods and Elder Gods, he came into violent conflict with the then young thunder god Raiden. During the final stages of this all-encompassing war, Raiden was apparently forced to choose between destroying Earth's budding civilisation, or to cede Earthrealm to Shinnok. He chose the former, and Shinnok was banished to the deepest bowels of the inhospitable Netherealm. The civilisation destroyed was that of the future Zaterrans, Reptile's ancestors, who eventually emigrated to Zaterra.
In the Netherrealm, however, after millions of years of imprisonment, Shinnok was freed. He rebelled against that realm's overlord, Lucifer, with the help of the necromancer Quan Chi, and quickly took over as its supreme leader. Here he started working on his second army, and devised of a means to get out of the Netherealm - he was still trapped there. In order to do so, he needed an ancient and sacred amulet. After another centuries of searching, eventually Quan Chi recovered the amulet for him.
By this time, Shinnok had built an impressive power base, a fanatical cult called the Brothers of the Shadow, lead by Noob Saibot, that worshipped him, and had assured himself of the devotion of Tanya, a high-ranking semi-official of Edenia. During the foiled invasion of Earthrealm by Shao Kahn, Shinnok had ordered Noob Saibot to spy on these events and eventually side with the Earthrealm warriors. After all, with the realms divided and weakened, Shinnok would be able to conquer them easier. Also, Shao Kahn had unsuccessfully attempted to invade the Netherealm, which Shinnok found was a sign that the emperor was getting too much power. Shinnok's first target was Edenia. After successfully posing as a group of refugees, Shinnok and his most important generals, aided by Tanya, were allowed entrance to Edenia. Immediately he seized this opportunity to bring in a full-scale invasion force, and capture both queen Sindel and princess Kitana.
Unfortunately for Shinnok, however, his newfound empire was short-lived, although his devastating war, reaching into the Heavens themselves, was initially going well. Although Shinnok had loyal allies, his most important ally, Quan Chi, proved to be in possession of the real amulet, leaving Shinnok duped with a duplicate, and to make matters worse, Raiden and an elite band of warriors managed to penetrate Shinnok's defences and defeat him.
Shinnok's eventual fate is uncertain. According to some sources, he was destroyed. According to others, he was banished to the Netherealm once more.
Movie appearance
According to the second Mortal Kombat movie, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Shinnok is the father of Raiden and Shao Kahn, who wishes for power not only over all realms, but over the gods as well. He favours Shao Kahn, considering Rayden too weak and caring to be his son. Shinnok orders Shao Kahn to kill his brother while guiding him in his path to merging the parallel universe of Earth and Outworld. Shinnok is later imprisoned by the elder gods and Raiden is offered his position in their ranks.
Trivia
Shinnok has gone down history as the least liked boss of Mortal Kombat games. He has been considered as rather unintimidating, and his ability to imitate moves and styles from other warriors as cheap and unoriginal. This may be one of the reasons why he was quickly disposed of after Mortal Kombat 4 and Gold.
| Preceded by: Lucifer | Ruler of the Netherealm millennia BMK - 4 AMK | Succeeded by: unknown
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