Kitana

Kitana is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. Debuting in Mortal Kombat II all the way to mk1. she is a royal from the fictional realm of Edenia. Her primary weapon is a pair of steel fans, which she uses for most of her special attacks.

The character is introduced as the daughter of Outworld emperor Shao Kahn until she learns her true father was murdered by Shao Kahn when he conquered Edenia. Kitana subsequently becomes a primary hero in the series, joining forces with the Earthrealm warriors as she fights to ensure her realm's liberation.

One of the franchise's most iconic and popular fighters, Kitana has appeared in various media outside of the games. She has received a positive reception for her appearance, personality, and character development.

Kitana first appears in Mortal Kombat II (1993) as a member of the Edenian race in from the fictional dimension, Outworld. While she is thousands of years old, she more closely resembles a young woman. For most of her life, Kitana believed she was the daughter of Shao Kahn and Queen Sindel. She served as the former's personal elite assassin for centuries, working alongside her sister Mileena and her best friend Jade. Eventually, she found out the truth; Shao Kahn murdered her true father King Jerrod, usurped his throne, and claimed Sindel as his wife to rule over Edenia. He placed Kitana under a spell to make her his loyal daughter and assassin, and had his subordinate Shang Tsung create a disfigured clone of her to be a backup heir. That clone, Mileena, would spy on Kitana and kill and replace her if she ever rose against Shao Kahn. Realizing her life had been a lie, Kitana turned against Shao Kahn and began fighting alongside Earthrealm's champions to defeat the evil emperor and free her home realm of his tyranny. She also came to hate Mileena for being a reminder of the lie she lived and her existing only to kill her. According to the semi-canonical spin-off game Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (2005), after Kitana was found to be no longer loyal to Shao Kahn, she was placed into a spell-induced trance and forced to fight the Earthrealm heroes, Mileena, and Jade before being freed by the Shaolin warrior monks Liu Kang and Kung Lao. Eventually, the sisters clash and Kitana slays Mileena.

During the events of Mortal Kombat 3 (1995), Kitana is put on trial for treason after killing Mileena. Before a verdict and sentence could be reached, however, Kitana escaped (as retconned in MK3 update releases Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy) and joined the warriors of Earthrealm to free Sindel, who had been resurrected and used by Shao Kahn to invade Earth. After convincing Jade to join her, Kitana located and freed Sindel from Shao Kahn's mind control, leading to his defeat at the hands of Liu Kang. Kitana, Sindel, and Jade then liberated Edenia from Outworld.

However, their jubilation was short-lived, as during the events of Mortal Kombat Gold (1999), fallen Elder God Shinnok and his grand vizier Quan Chi escaped imprisonment in the Netherrealm and invaded Edenia. Betrayed by the traitorous Edenian Tanya, Kitana, Sindel, and Jade are taken prisoner, but Kitana manages to escape and rejoin her Earthrealm allies and eventually defeat Shinnok's forces. With Edenia freed once again, Kitana proposes to Liu Kang, offering him the chance to rule Edenia by her side as King and Queen, but he reluctantly rejects her offer; seeing his true duty as being Earth's champion. After Shinnok's defeat, Kitana captures Mileena, but learns that Shao Kahn had survived his defeat in Earthrealm and was reamassing power. Knowing that the Kahn would attempt to reclaim Edenia once he was strong enough, she forged an alliance with Goro, prince of the Outworld race Shokan, against the Kahn's forces.

In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (2002), Kitana led a preemptive strike against Shao Kahn's forces, only to learn that he had been slain by unknown assassins. Believing her fight was over, she began the journey back to Edenia, but encountered Kung Lao, who warned her that Quan Chi and Shang Tsung had formed an alliance to kill Liu Kang and Shao Kahn before attempting to revive Onaga the Dragon King. Despite Kitana's grief, she rejoined the Earthrealm warriors and led them into battle. During the assault on Shang Tsung's palace, she faced Quan Chi, but is outmatched and killed alongside her allies. Shortly afterward, they were resurrected and magically enslaved by Onaga,[20] who sent Mileena to impersonate Kitana as the princess of Edenia.

In Mortal Kombat: Deception (2004), Onaga used Kitana to defeat and imprison Sindel. She was freed by Jade, and together they flee to Outworld to find a way to defeat Onaga and free Kitana from his influence. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, Liu Kang's spirit was able to remain amongst the living due to the bond he shared with Kitana. He found himself a new ally and friend in Ermac, as the two embarked on a mission to save their allies as well, and eventually succeeded. While traveling back to Edenia, Kitana encountered Blaze, who warned her of a coming danger that threatens all the realms and advised her to assemble the forces of light to avert it. Weary of the constant battle, Kitana was disheartened, but Blaze assured her that the wars would soon be over.

Following this warning, Kitana returned in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (2006), accompanied by Liu Kang's spirit in order to keep him whole until she found a way to reunite him with his body. They later met with Nightwolf, who offered to relieve Kitana of her burden by taking Liu Kang's soul into himself, allowing her to fight against the coming evil. Kitana ultimately perished alongside the rest of her allies during the battle.

In the non-canonical crossover game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (2008), Kitana was transported to Metropolis, where she encountered Wonder Woman. As she was suffering from "kombat rage" at the time, Kitana hallucinated Wonder Woman as an assassin sent from Outworld and challenged her. After being defeated, Kitana fled to a different section of Metropolis, where she was found and defeated by Scorpion and brought to Raiden's temple, where she reveals she had a vision of Shao Kahn fusing with a being called Darkseid to become Dark Kahn. Following this, Kitana joined the rest of the combatants in traveling to the fused realms of Outworld and Apokolips and fighting the DC Universe's heroes and villains while Raiden and Superman battled and destroyed Dark Kahn.

In the rebooted timeline of Mortal Kombat (2011), which retells the events of the first three Mortal Kombat games, she and Jade are sent by Shao Kahn to compete in a Mortal Kombat tournament. Kitana battles Liu Kang in an attempt to ensure that he will not reach the final stages of the first tournament, but is defeated. Expecting to die, she is surprised by his decision to spare her. Later, during the second tournament, Kitana is approached by Raiden, who informs her that her supposed past as Shao Kahn's daughter is a lie. Plagued by doubts, she infiltrated Shang Tsung's flesh pits and discovered the newly created Mileena. Before the Kahn, she accuses Shang Tsung of attempting to replace her, but is shocked to learn that the Emperor himself ordered Mileena's creation. He imprisoned Kitana in the palace, prior to an execution, and commands his "true daughter" to be brought to him. Kitana is soon freed by Liu Kang, and she and Jade escape to Earthrealm to join their new allies against Outworld's forces. They assist in the battle for Earthrealm, but are killed alongside several other warriors by Kitana's corrupted mother, Sindel. In the end, she is shown to be one of the warriors that were resurrected by Quan Chi in the Netherrealm to battle Raiden.

In Mortal Kombat X (2015) Kitana returns as one of Quan Chi's revenants. She fought Jax and Cassie Cage in the game's story mode. Following Quan Chi's death and Shinnok's defeat, she and fellow revenant Liu Kang became the Netherrealm's new rulers.

In Mortal Kombat 11 (2019), Kitana's revenant aligned herself with the keeper of time Kronika after the latter promised her a timeline without Raiden. As a result of Kronika's actions however, a past version of Kitana and Liu Kang were brought to the present. While he traveled to Earthrealm to find out more about what happened, she stayed in Outworld to find Shao Kahn, who had also been brought to the present. To aid the new Outworld emperor Kotal Kahn, Kitana forged alliances with Outworld's disparate factions before leading them into battle against Shao Kahn; personally defeating and maiming him herself. Kotal, who had been crippled during the fight, appointed Kitana the new Kahn of Outworld in recognition of her skills in combat and diplomacy. After Kronika kidnaps Liu Kang, Kitana and her Outworld army aided Earthrealm's allied forces against Kronika's army until Raiden merged with Liu Kang's past self and his revenant to become Fire God Liu Kang. As the rest of her allies fought off Kronika's forces, Kitana joined Liu Kang in breaching Kronika's keep. However, Kronika reverses time for everyone except Liu Kang, who faces her and his allies' revenants alone. In one of the game's endings, Liu Kang defeats Kronika and is able to bring Kitana back to help him forge a new timeline. In the DLC story expansion Aftermath, Kitana was reunited with Sindel after a time-traveling Shang Tsung and Fujin resurrected her to help in the fight against Kronika. However, she was horrified to learn of her mother's true megalomaniacal nature when she failed to stop her from betraying Earthrealm and Outworld.

In Mortal Kombat 1's rebooted timeline, Mileena is biologically her twin sister at birth and they have a steady relationship with each other as well as their mother, Sindel, who doesn't marry Shao this time. Due to being slightly older, Mileena is set to inherit the throne, but her family fears her potential banishment from the throne due to her affliction with the Tarkat disease. They are initially deceived by Shang Tsung and General Shao into believing Earthrealm is plotting against them until Fire God Liu Kang and his allies expose their atrocities. Though they are reunited with their father, Jerrod, after he takes control of Ermac's body, Sindel is killed shortly afterwards by her evil counterpart from Titan Shang Tsung's timeline and passes the throne to Mileena. To defeat Titan Shang Tsung, Liu Kang brings over Kitana from an alternate timeline where she defeated Kronika and became a Titan, and they passionately embrace each other before recruiting more Titan allies to face off against the threat. After Titan Shang Tsung's defeat, Titan Kitana returns to her own timeline, and the Kitana from Liu Kang's timeline replaces Shao as the General of Outworld's army while continuing to advise her sister.