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Villain Overview
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Remove the shadow from the light, the shadow grows. The legacy of life is death, Raiden. My followers accept this and live on. They fight for me!
~ Words of Lord Shinnok.
Miserable wretch! Insignificant speck of feculent scum! How DARE you!
~ Shinnok to Johnny Cage after the latter thwarted him from imprisoning Raiden and Fujin within the amulet.
Tremble before me, as I absorb Earthrealm's power.
~ Shinnok before transforming into his corrupted form.

Lord Shinnok is one of the main antagonists of the Mortal Kombat series. He is one of the Elder Gods that fell from grace and was banished into the Netherrealm after he attempted to conquer the Earthrealm as well as the rest of the realms and even tried to overthrow his fellow deities. Considered to be one of the most powerful villains in the series, his conquest has likewise put him in conflict with Raiden, before being banished into the dreaded Netherealm.

Shinnok is the son of the great Titan Kronika and the brother and direct counterpart of female fellow Elder God Lady Cetrion; He is the Elder God of Death while she is the Elder God of Life. He is also forever worshipped by an ancient and fanatic cult of demons and evil conjurers known as the Brotherhood of Shadow. In addition, he is known for creating the legendary Amulet of Shinnok, a talisman with powers beyond comprehension and also one of the Elder Gods' sacred relics known as the Kamidogu which helped make reality possible.

He was voiced by Steve Beran in Mortal Kombat 4, Gary Wingert in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, Reiner Schöne in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Knute Horwitz in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, the late Ken Lally in Mortal Kombat (2011), Troy Baker in Mortal Kombat X, and Robin Atkin Downes in Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms.

Appearance[]

Shinnok appears as a very tall, slender built man. Because of his imprisonment in the Netherrealm, his skin is completely white and looks decayed. His eyes are usually seen changing from white to green, which is apparently because of his powers.

Powers and Abilities[]

Being a (former) Elder God, Shinnok possesses and wields immeasurable powers. His powers seems to mainly revolve around darkness and the Netherrealm, such as summoning a skeletal hand from the ground to grip his opponent and take them into the Netherrealm.

Shinnok can also shapeshift and mimic the powers of other kombatants, however the powers he mimic must be in his jurisdiction. He can also take on a larger demonic form as shown in the final level of Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero when his precious amulet became stolen from him and in his anger, he transforms into a gigantic, unholy monster.

His magic also includes the ability to create demons and wraiths to do his bidding, as well as creating clones and illusions of others and himself.

The fallen Elder God Shinnok, when combined with his Sacred Amulet (Amulet of Shinnok) once more, becomes already more powerful then ever, meaning he is allowed to freely traverse the realms and open up portals as well as instantly destroys anyone and anything that stands in his way. Even the combined powers of Raiden and Fujin could barely slow him down (though one could argue that they were already tired from facing his army beforehand).

In Mortal Kombat X, when absorbing Earthrealm's life force, he turns into a demonic creature with immense power and the ability to manipulate fire, as well as conjuring objects such as bladed totems and telekinesis. This also increased his strength as he was able to put up a decent fight against Cassie whose powers possibly surpass even that of Johnny. Even then, it took Raiden undoing the damage he caused to Earthrealm's life force to strip this newfound power away.

Powers[]

Normal Shinnok[]

  • Godly Physiology: Being a fallen Elder God, Shinnok possesses immeasurable powers.
    • Superhuman Strength
    • Superhuman Speed:
      • Superhuman Agility
      • Superhuman Reflexes
    • Superhuman Stamina:
      • Self-Sustenance
    • Superhuman Endurance
    • Telepathy
    • Flight
    • Immortality
  • Magic: The nature of his powers seems to revolve around darkness and the Netherrealm, summoning skeletal hands from the ground to grab and bind his opponents as well as pulverize them. He also possesses Life-Force Manipulation and shape shifting powers comparable to Shang Tsung. Unlike Shang Tsung, he is not required to steal souls in order to perform this feat, instead, he must have to defeat them or for them to serve him (likely he defeated a large demon in an unknown time, so he can take on a larger demonic form as shown in the final level of Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero when his Sacred Amulet was stolen from him). His powers of mimicry and shape shifting are absolute, as he can mimic the abilities and powers of other combatants; the only drawback to this is that the powers he mimics must be in his jurisdiction. He is unable to mimic every power due to the fact that he doesn't have his amulet nor his staff. Despite this, he can still mimic black magic freely, and nullify projectiles although for an unknown reason he cannot copy the powers of Shang Tsung or Quan Chi. With his amulet, Shinnok can freely traverse the realms and open up portals. Related to his mimicking abilities, Shinnok is capable of creating clones or physical illusions via mirage mimicry of other warriors with their powers and abilities intact. His magic abilities also include the ability to manipulate souls via revenants, and or conjure demons and wraiths to do his bidding. He even created a clone of himself to aid Daegon in the Battle of Armageddon. Shinnok has also shown vast energy manipulation without his amulet, such as force fields, eye beams, energy blasts, telekinesis, shockwave blasts, and energy balls, as shown in Shinnok's battle with Bi-Han in MKM: SZ, and his battle with Raiden, Fujin, Kenshi, Johnny Cage, and Sonya Blade in Mortal Kombat X. He is capable of using telekinesis, shown when he threw Raiden to the ground in their battle for Blaze's power as well as in Mortal Kombat X where he threw Johnny Cage to a wall. Shinnok can even turn into a cloud of dark gaseous substance that renders him impervious to physical attacks. He can also banish someone away to another realm with a gesture, sense dark energies, teleport to another location and levitate through the air.
    • Power Mimicry
    • Soul Manipulation
    • Life-Force Manipulation
    • Summoning
    • Shapeshifting
    • Astral Projection
    • Mind Control
    • Clone Creation:
    • Illusion Creation
    • Energy Manipulation:
      • Force Fields
      • Eye Beams
      • Energy Blasts
      • Telekinesis
      • Shockwave Blasts
      • Energy Balls
    • Portal Creation
    • Necromancy

As Corrupted Shinnok[]

  • Unique Physiology: In Mortal Kombat X, when absorbing Earthrealm's life force through his amulet, he turns into a demonic creature with immense power and the ability to manipulate fire and lava, as well as conjuring objects such as bladed totems, and retaining his power of telekinesis. Shinnok also retains his energy manipulation in this form, in which Corrupted Shinnok could fire an orange energy beam to torture Johnny Cage.
    • Superhuman Strength
    • Superhuman Speed
    • Superhuman Stamina
      • Self-Sustenance
    • Superhuman Endurance
    • Superhuman Durability
  • Magic:
    • Energy Manipulation
    • Fire Manipulation
    • Telekinesis

Abilities[]

  • Master Martial Artist: Shinnok has shown to have immense fighting skills. He has been able to overpower even the most powerful or skilled martial artists in the realms. Shinnok has been able to quickly defeat Sonya Blade & Johnny Cage together.
    • Mimicry
    • Kuo Shou
  • Master Acrobat: Shinnok does possess incredible acrobatic skill.
  • Weapon Mastery: Shinnok is one of the few who has incredible experience in using weapons in combat. He has been conjuring weapons made of bone, but he mostly uses his famous amulet in the whole series.
  • Intimidation: Shinnok is skilled in intimidation.
  • Advanced Intelligence: Shinnok does possess incredible intelligence in many ways. He has shown to make brilliant strategies and is a headstrong leader of the Netherrealm. Shinnok also has knowledge of magic.
    • Tactical Analysis
    • Leadership
    • Occultism
  • Indomitable Will: Shinnok's obsession of bringing death to the realms is absolute. He would not let anyone ruin his plans and will always stop at nothing into achieving his goals, even if they failed before.

Personality[]

You turned against your fellow Elder Gods. You betrayed your title. You deserved much worse!
~ Raiden to Shinnok in Shinnok's Mortal Kombat 4 ending.

Shinnok being the god of death and destruction only cared about spreading death and destruction across the realms. He despised the elder gods and Raiden in particular for constantly interfering in his plans of conquering the realms and for imprisoning him in his own amulet. He seems to have some respect for Quan Chi as he managed to release him from his amulet and commented on the fact that he chose his servants well like D'vorah.

He even found it pitiful that he didn't get a chance to see his work complete. Rather than destroy those who have stopped him he instead decided to make them suffer like Johnny Cage and Raiden the latter he was going to imprison him in his amulet. He was short-sighted though by doing this he gave Cassie Cage the motivation to stop Shinnok and afterwards allowed Raiden to purify the jinsei thus putting an end to his plan. In his final moments he found solace on the fact that Raiden became as ruthless as he did in his corrupted form and mocked him for it.

After being tortured and beheaded by Raiden, Shinnok became a shell of his former shelf not even able to talk anymore. Ironically a man who delighted in causing the deaths of others suffered a fate worse than death.

Relations[]

Allies[]

Enemies[]

  • Elder Gods
  • Raiden
  • Lucifer
  • Sareena
  • Bi-Han
  • Fujin
  • Liu Kang
  • Sindel
  • Kitana
  • Kung Lao
  • Sub-Zero
  • Sonya Blade
  • Jax Briggs
  • Scorpion (former slave)
  • Taven

Allies[]

  • Titans
  • One Being
  • Quan Chi (killed by Scorpion)
  • Brotherhood of Shadow
  • Baraka (killed by D'Vorah in MKX game)
  • D'Vorah
  • Scorpion (formerly)
  • Havik (killed by Scorpion in MKX comics)
  • Drahmin (killed by Quan Chi in MKX comics)
  • Moloch (killed by Kitana in MKX comics)
  • Noob Saibot (formerly)
  • Netherrealm Demons
  • Revenants
  • Revenant Liu Kang (formerly, purified)
  • Revenant Kung Lao (deceased)
  • Revenant Kitana (deceased)
  • Revenant Jade (deceased)
  • Revenant Kurtis Stryker
  • Revenant Nightwolf (deceased)
  • Revenant Kabal
  • "Enenra"
  • Revenant Sindel (formerly)
  • Revenant Sub-Zero (formerly)
  • Revenant Jax (formerly)
  • Geras (defeated by Raiden)
  • Kronika (killed by Liu Kang)

Enemies[]

  • Lady Cetrion
  • Elder Gods
  • Raiden/Dark Raiden
  • Liu Kang
  • Kitana
  • Jade
  • Nightwolf
  • Kurtis Stryker
  • Kung Lao
  • Scorpion (freed from Quan Chi's control)
  • Hanzo Hasashi (previously a revenant, killed by D'Vorah in MK11)
  • Sub-Zero (previously a revenant)
  • Jax Briggs (previously a revenant)
  • Special Forces
  • Sonya Blade
  • Fujin
  • Earthrealm heroes
  • Bo' Rai Cho
  • Johnny Cage
  • Erron Black
  • Kenshi Takahashi
  • Kotal Kahn (former leader of Outworld)
  • Ferra and Torr
  • Outworlders
  • Reptile
  • Ermac
  • Cassie Cage
  • Takeda Takahashi
  • Jacqui Briggs
  • Kung Jin

Trivia[]

  • Shinnok is loosely based on the demon Yan Wang from the classical story Journey to the West.
  • In one of Kung Lao's match intro dialogues in MK X, he called Shinnok, "Lord Cockatrice." The name however might be loose reference to the mythical creature.
  • The figure that looks a lot like Shinnok that died in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is his clone sent by the real Shinnok who was in the Netherrealm.
  • Shinnok was mentioned in an episode of Jeopardy.
  • During an intro dialogue between Raiden and Cetrion, the former questions/suggests that Shinnok's madness and evil were actually the works of his mother Kronika's manipulations. Whether this is true or not is unknown.
  • The Crown of Shinnok comes with 3 different designs throughout the entire MK franchise.
    • It was originally a crimson bokgeon-styled headdress. This was its initial design since its first appearance in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero.
    • It is a crimson-ruby, ornate and spiky crown that is shaped like a spine or head of a dragon. This is the crown's primary semblance since Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
    • In Mortal Kombat X, its front containing the famous spikes, was remade to combine regal and religious elements but with twisted details, representing the corruption of the fallen Elder God himself and giving him such additional boldness fitting for his dark nature, and clearly takes the form of diabolical horns, showing a more menacing and predatory appearance than religious.
  • Shinnok appears as the main villain (alongside Shang Tsung and Quan Chi) in the mobile game titled Mortal Kombat: Onslaught, where it is revealed that he needs to have in possession powerful, ancient relics to retrieve back his Elder God status and powers. It is also revealed in here that his goal is to obliterate all life and has been so ever since he was created. However, none of this is yet considered canon in the official continuity, unless if it counts as another, secret timeline.

External Links[]

Navigation[]

           Kombat2 MortalKombat Villains Kombat2

Main Villains
Blaze | Daegon | Dark Kahn | Havik (New Era, Titan Havik) | Kronika | Onaga | One Being | Quan Chi (New Era) | Shang Tsung (New Era) | Shao Kahn (General Shao) | Shinnok

Secondary Villains
Cetrion (Dark Cetrion) | D'Vorah | Dark Raiden (New Era) | Frost | Geras | Goro (New Era) | Kano | Kintaro | Mileena | Noob Saibot (New Era, Order of Darkness) | Sektor (New Era, Khaos Timeline, Order of Darkness) | Sindel (2nd Timeline) | Skarlet

Other Villains
Baraka (Order of Darkness) | Chameleon | Cyrax (Khaos, Order of Darkness) | Drahmin | Darrius | Dairou | Ermac (Order of Darkness) | Erron Black | Hotaru | Hsu Hao | Jade | Jarek | Kabal | Kira | Kobra | Kollector | Mavado | Moloch | Motaro (New Era) | Nitara (New Era, Order of Darkness) | Rain (New Era) | Dark Rain | Dark Liu Kang | Dark Kitana | Reiko (New Era, Emperor) | Reptile (Order of Darkness) | Scorpion (Order of Darkness) | Sheeva | Smoke | Dark Kung Lao | Dark Smoke | Tanya | Dark Li Mei (Empress) | Dark Geras | Tremor | Triborg

Undead Villains
Jade | Jax | Kabal | Kitana | Kung Lao | Kurtis Stryker | Liu Kang | Nightwolf | Sindel | Smoke | Sub-Zero

Guest Star Villains
Alien | Catwoman | Darkseid | Deathstroke | Freddy Krueger | Homelander | Spawn | Jason Voorhees | Joker | Kratos | Leatherface Lex Luthor | Omni-Man | Predator | Terminator

Non Playable Villains
Barakion | Female Ermac | Female Reptile | Female Scorpion | Female Sub-Zero | Fire Cage | Firefly | Forrest Fox | Frostbite | Guard of Thunder | Dark Janet Cage | Jataaka | Jawspell | John Khaner | Johnny Savage | Kang Quan | Katara Vala | Kia | Kitana Kahn | Klockodile | Lin Kuei Grandmaster | Lizard Queen | Lucifer | Malebolgia | No Face | Oni Warlord | Quan Li | Quantum-Chi | Quinn | Red Dragon | Reiko Starr | Rojack | Ruutuu | Scorp Lao | Screen Demon | Sento Storm | Shao-Zero | Shock Priestess | Stung Lao | Tasia | Warlord

Evil Races
Centaurians | Demons | Dragons | Hellspawn | Kytinn | Oni | Shokan | Tarkata | Tormentors | Wraiths | Zombies

Evil Organizations
Army of Darkness | Black Dragon Clan | Brotherhood of Shadow | Cyber Ninjas | Dragon King's Army | Festival of Death | Forces of Darkness | Kahn Guards | Masked Guards | Red Dragon Clan | Shaakans | Shadow Assassins | Shadow Priests | Tekunin | The Deadly Alliance

Movies
Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins (1995): Shang Tsung | Goro
Mortal Kombat (1995): Shang Tsung | Kano | Goro | Sub-Zero | Scorpion | Reptile | Shao Kahn
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation: Shao Kahn | Sindel | Shinnok | Mileena | Motaro | Sheeva | Ermac | Jade | Baraka | Cyrax | Smoke | Scorpion | Sub-Zero | Reptile | Rain
Mortal Kombat: Rebirth: Shang Tsung | Sub-Zero | Reptile | Baraka
Mortal Kombat: Legacy: Gadsen | Liu Kang | Baraka
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge: Scorpion | Quan Chi | Shang Tsung | Goro | Shao Kahn | Kano | Baraka | Reptile | Moloch | Motaro | One Being
Mortal Kombat (2021): Shang Tsung | Sub-Zero | Mileena | Reiko | Kano | Kabal | Goro | Reptile | Nitara
Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms: Shao Kahn | Shinnok | Shang Tsung | One Being | Scorpion | Lin Kuei Grandmaster | Sektor | Legends | Mileena | Smoke | Reiko | Kintaro | Jade | D'Vorah | Baraka | Li Mei
Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind: Kano | Shang Tsung | Kabal | Kira | Kobra | Erron Black | Ferra and Torr | Drahmin | No Face | Tremor | Jarek | Kronika
Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match: Shinnok | Sareena | The Director | David Doubldy | Jataaka | Kia | Drahmin | Moloch

Shows
Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm: Karbrac | Hideyoshi | Komodai | Oniro | Ruby | Zaggot | Zara | Zenkaro
Mortal Kombat: Conquest: Bannak | Baron Reyland | Cilene | Jola | Kebral | Kiri and Ankha | Noob Saibot | Quan Chi | Queen Kreeya | Peron | Qali | Shang Tsung | Scorpion | Reptile | Siann, Mika and Sora | Sub-Zero | Vorpax

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