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Shao Kahn is a boss from the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.

About Shao Kahn

Shao Kahn, who resembles an Asian warrior-king in many respects, embodies evil in many forms. He is known for his great strength, callousness, brutality and his fondness of personal executions, but rises above the level of a mere warlord through his intelligence and knowledge of black magic. Like his subordinate Shang Tsung, he has the power to consume other souls. His greatest strength is probably his ability to work towards his goals with great tenacity, but his greatest weakness is his overconfidence.

Official Debut

Shao Khan first debuted in Mortal Kombat II in 1993

Place Of Origin

Unknown. It is believed that he was born in Outworld, but there's no evidence to support this belief

Alignment

Evil

Allies and Enemies

Allies: Shang Tsung, Goro, Kintaro, Reptile Motaro, Mileena

Enemies: Liu Kang and Rayden (Both Liu Kang and Raiden are Khan's sworn enemies, although Khan does have many more)

Favourite Weapon

Shao Khan's favourite choice of weapon is his trusty maul/slegehammer, called Wrath Hammer, which he uses to bash his opponents. In the Gamecube version Shao Kahn is a playable character. If you are able to finish arcade mode with Shao Kahn you see his ending, in which he, and his four-armed friend Goro take on the Dragon King. Seeing that Shao Kahn isn't able of beating Onaga alone, he pushes him (with his WraithHammer)right at Goro's four blades. That is when Shao Kahn would take control of outworld.

Kombat Highlights

• Kitana's one time stepfather
• The father of Mileena (since she was created for Shao Khan by Shang Tsung)
• Current Emperor of Outworld
• Onaga's murderer
• Former ruler of Edenia (he fused Edenia with Outworld into one realm)
• Sindel's one time husband and king

Distingushing Features

Shao Kahn's "death-mask" crown is one of the most recognisable features in the Mortal Kombat series. In addition to his death mask, his armour also is a memorable and highly recognisable feature. In many official depictions of Shao Khan made by Midway, he is shown wearing a cape.

Memorable Quotes/ Trademarks

• "You will die, mortal!"
• "You will never win."
• "That Was Pathetic."
• "I Win."
• "Feel The Power of Shao Khan."
• "Do Not Make Me Laugh."
• "You Are Still Trying To Win?"
• "Outstanding!"
• "Excellent!"
• "You weak, pathetic fool!"
• "All too easy!"
• "You suck!"
• "It's official, you suck!"
• "Evil Laugh
• "You Are Too Weak!"
• "Don't Run Away Like A Little Girl!"
• "Is That All You Got!"
• "You Are Too Easy!"
• "You Will Suffer!"
• "Your Power Will Be Mine!"
• "You Are Pathetic!"
• "Your Soul Will Be Mine!"
• "You Will Be My Slave!"
• "Fatality!"
• "Brutality!"
• "Finish Him!"
• "Finish Her!"

Upon defeat in Mortal Kombat II, Shao Khan stands over his defeated opponents and taunts them

• Usually laughs during gameplay, thus further insulting and intimidating the opponent

Storyline

Shao Kahn originally served as an advisor to Onaga when he ruled Outworld as the Dragon King. Onaga's Empire had become the most powerful in the realms and so he began searching for a way to become immortal. Before his goal could be realized, Shao Kahn made his move by Poisoning the Dragon King and taking his kingdom. Leading whatever troops that remained loyal to the Dragon King, Kahn continued many of the former emperor's plans. He continued to add lesser realms to Outworld, either through direct conquest or through Mortal Kombat.

A milestone in his military victories was the merging of Edenia with Outworld. After his warrior had won in Mortal Kombat, Kahn invaded the realm. On the battlefield, Kahn killed King Jerrod, and took Queen Sindel as his wife, raising there daughter, Princess Kitana, as his own. He had the young princess trained in his personal guard an an assassin. Sindel took her own life in an atempt to escape a life subservient to the Emperor. Unwilling to be denied, Kahn held in Outworld stopping her transition to the after life.

Many years later, Kahn chose his next conquest...Earth. He sent Shang Tsung and eventually Goro to Earthrealm to prepare earth for an invasion. A turning point came when Prince Goro defeated the Great Kung Lao and started a winning streak that would last nine generations and 500 years. Shang Tsung, a shapeshifter, supervised the tournament. The tenth Mortal Kombat however, saw the defeat of both Goro and Tsung by a Shaolin monk, Liu Kang, destroying five hundred years' work. Shang Tsung begged for his life with Shao Kahn, and came up with a plan to lure Earth's chosen warriors to Outworld for a second tournament. If Earthrealm's champions would be killed, they would not be able to cause further damage to Kahn's plans. With the captured Kano and Sonya Blade as bait, and enraging Liu Kang by sending Baraka and his troops to destroy the Shaolin temples, they confidently waited for the Earth warriors to come and fall into the trap. Despite Kahn's vast power, Liu Kang's determination saw him through, and he defeated the despot. Unwilling to accept defeat, Kahn called his armies to destroy the Earthrealm warriors. They fled back to Earthrealm, out of Kahn's clutches.

By this time, Shang Tsung had good news for the emperor: he could resurrect queen Sindel in Earthrealm, and Kahn could reach across the border to claim her, which would merge Earthrealm and Outworld in the process. Kahn told him to do it, and when he reached across, the realms merged, and the souls of every living being in Earthrealm were ripped from their bodies. Kahn's day finally seemed to have come. Lord Raiden had protected the souls of a handful of warriors, but Kahn sent extermination squads to kill them. In the ensuing fights, Kahn was confronted by Kung Lao, a Shaolin monk and descendant of the warrior Goro defeated to become champion of Kombat, but Kahn crushed him. Raiden brought Liu Kang to fight him again, and the two of them wore Kahn down enough for him to recall his squads and retreat to Outworld, which stopped the merger and restored Earthrealm to its status before the merger took place. To make matters worse, many of his former loyals had abandoned him, and Kitana had succeeded in turning Sindel to her side, and restore Edenia as an independent realm. In three years' time, he had also lost three high ranking officers of his army.

The emperor was now greatly weakened. The Edenians had made peace and military treaties with the Shokan, whom Kahn had always heavily relied on, and were ready to attack Outworld a few years later. It was only by his new commander Kano's ingenuity, and the stealth of his unreliable assassin Noob Saibot that Kahn was able to save the day and force the Edenian army into a draw. Then, Shang Tsung came to Kahn's court with the sorcerer Quan Chi, and they announced their undying loyalty to the master of Outworld. As they did so, they sprung on him, overwhelmed him and killed him. His skull-faced crown fell from his head and bounced to the ground. In a show of ultimate cunning, however, it appeared that Kahn had not been killed at all. Rather, the emperor had felt threatened for some time by forces from both the outside and the inside, and had installed a clone in the palace so he could rebuild his power base from another place. As the Deadly Alliance was destroyed and Onaga resurrected, Kahn inevitably began planning to kill his ancient master again, and show he was the true lord of Outworld.

Movie appearances

Shao Kahn appears in both Mortal Kombat movies, although he is played by different actors (the first is only a bit part, and he appears mainly as a special effect). In the second movie, played by Brian Thompson, he is ultimately defeated and killed by Liu Kang.

Television appearances

Shao Kahn appears in Mortal Kombat: Conquest, played by Jeff Meek. Despite having lost much of his physical stature from the games and films, he has a much more threatening disposition, though he rarely interacts with the heroes of the series (due to his inability to travel to Earth). Jeff Meek's role is more interesting when one considers that he played Raiden on the same show, occasionally opposite himself.

• Mortal Kombat characters
• Video game villains