| NOTE: Because of the events that happened in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, there have been more than a single timeline for the mainstream version of the character, therefore making this a composite profile. |
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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | Your soul is mine! | „ |
| ~ Shang Tsung's catchphrase. |
| “ | Kronika's power overwhelmed me, such that I would have been driven mad...had I not spent centuries mastering the dark powers beyond the grasp of ordinary mortals. Now I am the master of time and fate. But Kronika's fall proves that even Titans can be defeated. Though my new power lets me roam infinite timelines and feast upon the souls of billions, I am vulnerable. To survive, I must return to the shadows, avoid confrontation, and work my will through the hands of others...more specifically, through the hands of my fellow Titans. These monstrous beings are plied easily by appealing to their greed, vanity, and fear. Through them, every soul in eternity bends to my influence. In my New Era, morality will be exposed as the illusion it is. The cunning will prosper while the "good" suffer. This is the word of Shang Tsung. Have a nice day. | „ |
| ~ Shang Tsung's MK11 ending |
Shang Tsung is one of the four main antagonists (alongside Shao Kahn, Shinnok, and Quan Chi) of the Mortal Kombat franchise. He is Shao Kahn's former right-hand-man and the arch-nemesis of Liu Kang.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
In General[]
- He consumes souls to preserve his youth, as well as out of sadism.
- Although he's Shao Kahn's right hand man, he's not truly loyal to him and only serves him out of fear for what the emperor could do to him.
- That aside, if Shang Tsung gained more power than the emperor, he would turn against him without a second thought.
- He is also a generally traitorous person who has backstabbed almost everyone in the franchise. As a result, nearly everyone in the series, hero or villain alike, despises him, including other Pure Evils like Shao Kahn and Kronika herself.
Pre-Armageddon[]
- Cheated in one of his battles and was sentenced to death for his crimes against humanity. In order to save himself, he made a deal with Shao Kahn, pledging his service to him for ultimate power.
- Once he consumed his first soul, he was cursed by the Elder Gods to need to consume more so he wouldn't age and die prematurely.
- When he lost to the great Kung Lao, he arranged for the tournament grandmaster's death and unleashed the half-dragon Shokan prince Goro to kill Kung Lao. Once he did, Shang Tsung consumed his soul.
- Used his champion, Goro to incite Outworld's nine-game winning streak, which would enable Shao Kahn to conquer Earthrealm while using the tournament as a ground to consume the souls of anyone who died in Mortal Kombat.
- Around this time, Shang Tsung learned of a great swordsman named Kenshi who might be a threat to Outworld's winning streak.
- Disguising himself as an old man using his shapeshifting powers, he tricked Kenshi into coming with him to find a great sword worthy of him and had him released the trapped souls of Kenshi's ancestors, blinding him. Shang Tsung then devoured the souls on the spot and left Kenshi to die.
- Continues to support Shao Kahn in his conquest of Earthrealm.
- Helps Shao Kahn with resurrecting Queen Sindel, leading to Shao Kahn's invasion of Earthrealm and superpower countries, and many people dying on both sides.
- Forms an alliance with Quan Chi and plans to open a Soulnado to the heavens so Shang Tsung can have an unlimited supply of souls to feast on.
- Kills Liu Kang by snapping his neck like a twig causing Liu Kang to become a vengeful zombie.
- Plots to betray Quan Chi by making a deal with two demons who Quan Chi left behind and promised to give him to them.
- Enslaved an Outworld village and built a temple to get the Soulnado going. When a female warrior named Li Mei tried to fight back, they swore to free her village if she won a tournament they were holding. Li Mei did win, but Shang Tsung just tore her soul out and put in the mummified corpse of a warrior of the Dragon King. The first of many they planned to do this to.
Post-Armageddon[]
- Experimented Kotal Kahn after his master, Shao Kahn betrayed the Osh-Tekk.
- Performed horrifying experiments in his flesh pits, a place where he is experimenting to create warriors, which includes methods like vivisection. which includes several clones of Kitana, most notably, Mileena.
- Worked with Liu Kang and Raiden to get back Kronika's crown only so he could steal it for himself in order to recreate the universe in his image.
- He betrays the heroes in due time and he defeats Nightwolf, Raiden, and Fujin. And he steals the souls of the latter.
- When he, Shao Kahn, and Sindel are close to killing Kronika and taking the Hourglass for themselves, he betrayed them and stole their souls.
- Then he went on to overpower Kronika and kill her by stealing her soul and power.
- With all the timelines being split and canonized, Shang Tsung successfully kills Fire God Liu Kang by stealing his soul and power, which results with him ruling over all realms as a giant god and corrupting all the other fighters into his own dark servants, completely loyal to him and seemingly without free will.
New Era[]
- After discovering the existence of Liu Kang's timeline beside his own and realizing that their battle for the Hourglass had split the timelines, he planned to invade Liu Kang's timeline to conquer it as well.
- After finding a way to travel to Liu Kang's timeline, he disguises himself as Kronika and takes the alias of "Damashi" and finds his counterpart from that timeline, fooling and tricking him to obey him by promising him power and glory that would put the realms at his feet.
- He located the New Era's versions of Quan Chi and Shao Kahn and recruited them as well.
- It's stated by Geras that his actions of interfering with the timeline resulted in the plan Liu Kang had to be forever altered.
- He taught his counterpart and Quan Chi how to become powerful sorcerers and devised a plan to bring all the realms down by having Quan Chi tell Sindel of a false prophecy that Liu Kang and Earthrealm would try to conquer Outworld, planting seeds of doubt in the Empress and further gaining her favor by having the New Era's Shang Tsung develop a temporary cure for Mileena's Tarkat affliction, which he obtained by focibly extracting bone marrow from innocent Tarkatans.
- He had several Soul Stealers built which could destroy nearly all life on Earthrealm and worked with his new counterpart to create a plan to alienate Bi-Han and the Lin Kuei from Liu Kang's side, which ultimately worked.
- He had the New Era sorcerers create all the necessary tools in order for him to amass an army and enough destructive force to destroy nearly all forms of life across all the realms.
- He planned to merge Liu Kang's timeline with his own in order to rule both timelines with an Iron Fist but not before destroying all life in Liu Kang's timeline, including the New Era's Deadly Alliance which had helped him achieve his goals.
- Upon revealing himself, he openly mocked his followers and announces his intention of killing them as well, before leaving dark versions of Raiden and Sindel to fight for him.
- The Dark Sindel even manages to injure and kill the New Era's Sindel, resulting in her soul being absorbed into Ermac.
- He uses the combined might of the Dragon Army and his dark versions of the other combatants to create three large portals tied to Shao Kahn's life force which would merge the timelines.
- He leaves his followers to guard the portals while he himself and a few select warriors go to Liu Kang's hourglass to personally destroy it, which would cause Liu Kang and all life in his timeline to cease to exist.
- Realizing that other timelines exist as well, he decides that after destroying Liu Kang's he will attack and destroy all the other timelines as well.
- After being defeated and forced back to his timeline, he teams up with a Titan Quan Chi to amass a mass army for their Deadly Alliance composed of several warriors from various timelines to fight Liu Kang's Union of Light in the Second Battle of Armaggedon.
- He and Quan Chi fight Liu Kang and a selected champion, inmobilizing Liu Kang and attempting to kill the champion before being defeated and erased once and for all, although their deaths weren't played for any sympathy as they truly deserved it for their actions.
Trivia[]
- He, along with Shao Kahn, Shinnok and Kronika are four of the Mortal Kombat Pure Evils/Complete Monsters to appear in Mortal Kombat 11.
External Links[]
- Shang Tsung on the Villains Wiki
- Shang Tsung (2nd Timeline) on the Villains Wiki
- Shang Tsung on the VS Battles Wiki
- Shang Tsung on the Mortal Kombat Wiki
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  Pure Evils
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