Summary
After pulverizing numerous skilled fighters back-to-back in aMortal Kombatgame,only the boss stands in between the playerand a character-specific ending. However, it should be pointed out that not all endings are full of sunshine, lollipops, and hand-holding.
In fact, some conclusions are downright dark. It’s understandable for some of the bad guys to have some grim ones, but even some of the good characters have a bleak wrap-up of events as well. Fans of the franchise are probably wondering which ofMortal Kombat’sendings is the absolute darkest of them all, and the competition is fierce.
This one is a joint ending of sorts. In both Havik and Rain’s ending inMortal Kombat 1, the duo team up to flood the Realm of Order, Seido.Havik is overjoyedat the death of the “fascist rulers” that ran the ultra-strict world in his ending; the water sorcerer is anything but.
In fact, it’s revealed in Rain’s ending that countless amounts of innocent people end up perishing from the great flood that Havik had him create to supposedly liberate the realm. He’s so shocked and disgusted by his actions that he hands himself in to Sindel for punishment. When a bad guy willingly surrenders himself to the opposition because of his actions, then clearly something messed up has happened…
Mortal Kombatwas new to the scene when it dropped in 1992, so all the characters introduced weren’t exactly as fleshed out as they are today. So,to see the thunder god Raidenhave a very bleak ending due to his own egotism can be quite the eyebrow-raiser for long-term fans of the series.
After defeating Shang Tsung and saving Earthrealm, he’s more bored than relieved at his victory. None of those who fought him put up a good enough spar. To spice things up, he invites other gods to battle in future competitions that last for many years. As a result, it all “results in our world’s final destruction.” Of course, Midway cheekily rounds it off with the infamous semi-recurring phrase, “Have a nice day.” Thank goodness it’s non-canon.
It’s no surprise to see thesoul-stealing sorcerer get a nefarious ending, being an exceptionally evil chap. Defeating both Kintato and Shao Kahn, Shang Tsung takes over Outworld and has an entire army left over by his former master.
With help from his fellow sorcerer buddies, the nasty dude weakens “the dimensional gates between the Outworld and Earthrealm." Consequently, this sends never-ending waves of demons into Earthrealm to “doom its inhabitants to eternal darkness.” Unsurprisingly, this one also ends with the tongue-in-cheek line: “Have a nice day.”
Even thecrossover fightersthat started to appear inMortal Kombat 10onward had their fair share of grim cinematics, though this certainly beats the others. After laying waste on Shinnok in his final form, the Alien kidnaps fighters to implant Chestbursters in, who grow up to become mutated versions of the Xenomorphs.
A Queen is born, and they begin to grow in numbers across every realm. Despite Kotal Kahn’s attempts to destroy the nest in Outworld, his effects were in vain, and the visitors took over. While the fate of the rest of the realms was not mentioned, they were probably next, and that’s enough to make anyone shudder.
After his vain sacrifice in a botched attempt to defeat the Dragon King inMortal Kombat: Deception, Raidenreturns in his dark form, his soul tainted by darkness.
In hisMortal Kombat: Armageddonending, the thunder god becomes exceptionally powerful and puts a stop to the constant invasions of Earthrealm by destroying all the realms out of pure malice. Well, prevention is better than cure, but at the cost of potential millions upon billions? He clearly made his job as protector of Earthrealm a lot easier in the messiest way possible.
5Mortal Kombat: Armageddon – Havik
Havik was always about anarchy. And he gets exactly that and so much more in his arcade ending forMortal Kombat: Armageddon, after defeating Blaze atop the Pyramid of Argus and absorbing his power.
Becoming Chaos incarnate, Havik’s aura results in the destruction of every single realm, “causing them to rip, tear and reshape in grotesque ways.” The entire universe ends up getting completely redesigned in a horrific, messy way, and the mad lad could not be happier with the end result – Ultimate Chaos!
4Mortal Kombat 10 – Shinnok
Mortal Kombat 10brought backShinnok as a main villain for the first time ever since the fourth game. According to him, the realms were created by the “One Being” (an oppressive deity that was more powerful than the Elder Gods themselves – it was divided into six different realms) eons ago.
“Shinnok would merge the realms and awaken him,” watching as the newly-formed One Being absorbs the Elder Gods, as “this reality comes to an end.” Can’t get any darker than the literal end of the world… or can it?
This ending was pretty controversial with fans at the time, considering how unexpected it was. Onaga ends up fighting the Forces of Light, but Li Mei has a change of heart. Keeping the good guys busy, she gives the Dragon King enough time to fuse the Kamidogu and become the One Being, granting him the ultimate power to reshape the universe to his liking. She ends up being transformed into her queen as her reward.
For many, not only was it really dark, but also left-field. The truth is, in her in-game biographies, she almost had her soul removed and implemented in one of the Dragon King’s undead soldiers in the prior game, but she was saved. Yet, she feels “strangely drawn in” to him (i.e. corrupted). Nonetheless, it remains a shocker to this day.
Re-merging the realms is one thing, but Shao Kahn becoming the ruler of time inMortal Kombat 11is certainly a grim fate for everyone else. When he defeats Kronika in the arcade mode, he gloats about how he “conquered history, like [he] conquered realms – merging billions of potential timelines into a singularity”, with the entire universe recreated in his image.
And with that, an ongoing tournament persists, where the strongest fight for great rewards, butno one has ever defeated the emperor himself, or ever will. Once, the Mortal Kombat tournament was created to stop him from merging the realms. Now, in this ending, it’s a vicious bloodsport that exists for his amusement.
1Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath – Shang Tsung’s Ending
At the end of theMortal Kombat 11: AftermathDLC, the player is left with a choice: will Liu Kang liberate the timelines, orshall Shang Tsung be allowed to conquer them? Of course, the bad ending would be to let the sorcerer win, and, for those who have played through the story mode inMortal Kombat 1, it’s technically partially canon.
Liu Kang is defeated, and his soul and power are absorbed. Shang Tsung becomes a titan, towering over his new subordinates, Raiden and Fujin. All the realms are at his mercy, as he cryptically sneers “it has begun.” It’s a sneaky reference to the 1995 movie, and a cryptic cliffhanger of something even worse to follow. It is, quite simply, the darkest ending in the entire series.
