Mortal Kombat 1 Full Plot Summary, Story Leak, and Spoilers

If you are a gamer it isn’t possible that you haven’t heard of the Mortal Kombat series. The first game of the series debuted in 1992 and since then there have been 21 main games and 3 spin-offs. Mortal Kombat 1 is will be the 12th main instalment in the Mortal Kombat series, serving as both a sequel to Mortal Kombat 11 (2019) and the series’ second reboot, following Mortal Kombat (2011). Since the release of the game in now nearing, the leaks and spoilers have also begun to pop up everywhere and that is exactly what this article is about. So, if you are gamer who wants to stay away from any or all potential spoilers, please refrain from reading on. The following leaks are the courtesy of r/gamingleaksandrumours and consist of the entire detailed plot summary of the game and is rather long!

Mortal Kombat 1 Opening

Picking up after Kung Lao beats Sub-Zero in the opening 15 minutes we’ll all seen, Madam Bo is OK after the attack. The whole thing was set up by Earth Protector Liu Kang to test Raiden and Kung Lao. The attack on the teahouse was staged and Scorpion and Sub Zero were pulling their punches. The Lin Kuei are sworn protectors of Earth Realm. Liu Kang says that he is gathering warriors for a Tournament. Cut to a movie-in-the-game starring Johnny Cage. It is an Indiana Jones style adventure with Cage and his side-kick named Sam. It involves among other things a river of mercury. They are attacked by two vampires who sort of look like Vaeternians with the kameo fighter being named Nitara. You can use Sam as a kameo. There is also a fight with an undead creature who sort of looks like Havik’s classic design and is named Havik. Sam also gets thrown in the mercury and dies. It is revealed that it is just a film. Cage pitches ideas for new films to the director Stephen (Karate zombie) but he is not interested at all.

At home, Cage has a fight with his girlfriend Kris about his roles drying up and not being able to keep the lavish lifestyle and also fame going to his head. Johnny has bought Sento for 3 million dollars. She leaves and Kenshi comes in, looking for Sento. Johnny beats him and ties him up. Kenshi reveals that he is a descendant of the Taira clan, the original owners of Sento. After they were vanquished they went into hiding, changing their name to Takahashi and serving the bakuto/yakuza for protection. He is disgusted with the lifestyle and wants to get out. In order to gain his clan’s respect he needs to prove himself that’s why he needs Sento. Liu Kang with Scorpion and Sub-Zero come in. Liu introduces himself as protector of Earth Realm. Cage fights Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Liu Kang reveals he is a fire god. Liu takes them to the Wu shi academy where they must fight in a tournament to determine Earth Realm’s champion. Kung Lao has a hat with metal rim made after he gets the idea from the fight in the tea house.

Raiden is presented as an always humble underdog who no one believes can win but he ends up beating Raiden, Kenshi and Cage and becoming the champion. Liu Kang gifts him an amulet from the elder gods which gives him power over lighting. The tournament was started by Liu Kang and the late King Jerrod in order to promote peace between the realms. There has never been any death or injury at the tournament. The Earth Realm and Outworld have been close to even with Outworld gathering strenth in recent years. Liu Kang is afraid that if OW wins it will embolden the more militaristic factions which would want to invade Earth Realm. The Earth Realm population doesn’t know about Outworld. The Earth entourage is briefed about the Outword and they go through a portal to Sun Do and are introduced to the royal family – Empress Sindel and her daughters, Tante the leader of the Umgadi and Li Mei who still works with the royal family, but she seems to be disliked because she Jerrod dying under her watch.

We see princess Mileena chastise Li Mei because they encounter some people with the Tarkat disease and she wants to keep it from the EarthRealmers. Li Mei goes first in the tournament. After her it’s Reiko. He was orphaned and imprisoned during a war. Shao took him in and molded him into a soldier. Raiden wins against both of them and the tournament is adjourned until the next day. Sindel has reigned for 1000 of years and has brought in a Golden Age. War is in the past. We learn Rain is a High Mage in the empresses’ court and he has power over storm magic. We learn that general Shao is highly prejudiced against earth realmers (he makes quite a spectacle at the feast) and has ambitions of invading earth realm. We learn that of a prophecy of Liu Kang betraying OutWorld having it invaded by EarthRealm, foretold by a mysterious sorcerer. Sindel knows about Mileena having the Tarkat disease. She contracted it when she left the bounds of the city once because she wanted to have a moment alone.

She’s worried the disease might act up during the tournament. Tarkatans are banished from Sun Do so can’t have Mileena’s secret be revealed. She has Kitana take her place. We are told that offscreen Raiden has defeated Motaro, Sheeva and Kotal. Then he wins fights against Kitana and General Shao and is declared champion. Liu Kang meets with Geras. We learn that he relinquished his role as Time keeper, opting instead to be a demigod and protector of Earthrealm similar to Raiden before. He was afraid of going mad like Kronika. Before that though he put safeguards in predetermining some people’s destinies. Shang Tsung however defies his destiny and has gotten inside Sindel’s palace and has her ear. Also Geras mentions here that Kang made him “in his image”. Liu Kang sends Kenshi together with Kung Lao and Johnny Cage to find Shang Tsung. To avoid complications they must keep their mission secret from empress Sindel. He gives them an amulet that can trace Shang Tsung’s Chi.

Cage has Sento with him and refuses to give it to Kenshi. They find Tsung in a Tarkatan camp. He captures Baraka and extracts some of his bone marrow. He apparently does this once a month. Other Tarkatan arrive and Baraka is about to kill Stang Tsung. Kenshi stops Baraka because Liu Kang Tsung needs him alive. After a fight he is able to explain himself to Baraka. Baraka knows where Tsung’s laboratory is and he takes them there. They go inside and they see Princess Mileena tied to a slab with Tsung ready to inject her with a serum derived from the Tarkatan marrow. They deduce that he is infecting the princess with Tarkat. Tanya and Rain are by his side. Kenshi and the party intervene and knock the syringe out and have a fight. Mileena has a Tarkat transformation and loses control, just as Kenshi is untying her. Shang Tsung says that he’s making a serum to cure her. Eventually Kenshi subdues her and they inject her with the serum which brings her to normal, but not before she gouges Kenshi’s eyes with her sais.

Sindel walks in. Shang Tsung says that the heroes are Earth Realm spies, that they interfere with the healing process and that they wanted to reveal Mileena’s secret to the public. Quan Chi appears. We learn that he was the one who told the prophecy of Earth Realm and Liu Kang turning on Ourworld. He and Tsung use the attack to convince Sindel that the prophecy is true. The same “benefactor” who guided Shang Tsung has been guiding Quan Chi also. Before she found him, he was working in the mines. Shang Tsung imprisons the party. The heroes are taken below to Shang Tsung’s “real” laboratory where there are abominations made from human flesh. (Cage remarks that it reminds him of a movie he was in called Flesh Pits). Baraka tells the story of how his whole family contracted Tarkat and they died and he’s the only one who survived. We meet Syzoth (Reptile) who is unwillingly serving Shang Tsung because he has captured his family and threatens to kill them.

Tsung says that he is going to perform experiments on the party involving extreme vivisection. He releases Tarkatan clones to kill them. Baraka defeats the clones, a super Tarkatan and against Syzoth. Syzoth asks him to kill him because he knows that if Shang Tsung sees that he left the prisoners escape he will torture his family and hopes that he will spare him is Syzoth is dead. Shang Tsung appears, locks the doors and releases a toxic gas. He reveals he killed Syzoth’s family a long time ago and teleports away. Baraka forces the door open (using a Test your might test). They escape take Kenshi with them even though he is blind now and try to make their way to the portal to Earth Realm to meet Liu Kang. Baraka explains that in the nearby Living Forrest the trees house the ghosts of only “good” and not evil deceased people. Syzoth reveals that after being exiled from his Zataran community he became a sideshow attraction in a traveling circus. That’s where he met Shang Tsung who was just a huxler then.

After he got his magic powers he took interest in Syzoth because he wanted to study and copy his ability to shapeshift. That’s why he took his family hostage. They come across Ashrah who is killing tarkatans in the forest. She first thinks they are Quan Chi’s minions. After Baraka beats her in a fight. They explain that they are enemies of Quan Chi. Baraka also mentions that he was an edenian. Ashrah reveals that she was part of Quan Chi’s sisterhood of shadow. She was condemned to a life in the Netherrealm and then she found the beauty of Earth Realm and OutWorld. Kia and Jatakka were furious and hunted her. She found Datusha which helps her cleanse her corruption. Ashrah says that Shang Tsung and Quan Chi’s benefactor is a powerful sorcerer. Quin Chi is originally from Outworld in this timeline. Quan Chi is building a machine which steals souls.

She can use Datusha to find Quan Chi as it glows when he is near. Further in the forest they find Quan Chi with Nitara, Sareena Havik and Darius. They are all bringing some kind of red crystals to Quan Chi. Nitara is working with Quan Chi in order to save her starving vampire race from Vaeternus. Havik and Darius need Quan Chi’s help in their quest of liberating the Order realm. Havik has his whole face intact at this point. Johnny Cage gives Sento to Kenshi because he saved his life. Ashrash beats Nitara / Sareena. Quan Chi uses his Souls Stealer machine to take the souls from the trees. And forms them into a Soul-nado, forming Ermac. Ashrah then bests Havik with Darious. Ermac is too strong and beats everyone in the party. Kenshi is knocked out and reaches out to Sento. The souls of his ancestors call to him and give him a way to see. He faces Ermac and Sento siphons some of his souls, weakening him. Ashrah then beats Quan Chi and Ermac.

The Plot Thickens

Ermac calls: “Sindel I’ll find you” implying that Jerrod is inside them Ashrah destroys the souls stealer machine. They decide to take the unconscious Quan Chi to Earth Realm. Geras is shown studying the record of the hourglass in order to find the mysterious benefactor. Quan Chi, Shang Tsung and General Shao meet. They want to turn OutWorld against EarthRealm and lead them into war against each other. Their plan is to harvest the souls collected with the Soul Stealer and use them to fuel the Dragon Army. Back in Sun Do during the festival Kitana reveals that she has noticed that Tanya and Mileena have affection for each other. The Umgadi forbid any romantic connections so.If Mileena becomes empress she would be able to change the rules, but until then they need to keep their relationship secret. Khamelion is with them and seems to be a part of the Umgadi. The heroes are trying to reach the portal to earth realm without getting noticed because the Outworlders are looking for them.

They take up disguises. Including Ashrah taking her iconic hat. Reptile runs to create a diversion.. Li Mei and General Shao notice him. Syzoth tries to talk with Li Mei. She is ready to listen to him but wants to first take him in and question him in the palace. He reluctantly fights Li Mei, Kitana and Tanya (Khamelion appears as a kameo) and escapes. The team is accosted by Shao and his entourage. Scorpion and Sub-Zero join to help. Quan Chi comes to and manages to escape. Syzoth fights Shao and Goro. They finally manage to fight their way to the portal and go to Earth Realm. Asrah tells Liu Kang that Quan Chi and Shang Tsung are working together. Liu Kang rewrote history to give them meaningless lives but someone interfered. Geras shows him scenes of the benefactor meeting Tsung and Chi. Her identity is obscured. Geras says it is impossible for it to be Kronika because Titans are destroyed permanently. The person is not from the previous timeline. No one survived from then to the current one.

Liu Kang gives the Lin Kuei a mission to infiltrate the Ying Fortress where the Dragon Army is located. Bi Han chastises Tomas (Smoke) because he was adopted by Bi Han’s father (the previous Grand Master) into the Lin Kuei and is not related to him by blood. Raiden goes to train in the Wu Shi. Along the way Bi Han to the fortress relays his ambitions to lead Earthrealm instead of being a servant.. Nitara appears and knocks Smokes down a wall and he barely catches himself but is out for the fight. Sub Zero and Scorpion defeat Nitara. In her dialogue she mentions that veternous starves and they are coming to Earthrealm to feed. Sub Zero is attacked by Ermac. There is a test your might test to resist having his arms pulled off. Smoke stays back to guard the souls stealers. The fortress is full of golden treasure which catches Bi Han’s eye. Shang Tsung arrives at the fortress and talks with Quant Chi. They have successfully build more Souls Stealer machines. They notice the intruders and Quan Chi says they were expecting the Lin Kuai.

Bi Han and Kuai Liang defeat them all. Shao arrives with his army and Sub-Zero and Scorpion are captured. Shang Tsung makes an offer to Bi han to break free of Liu Kang and lead Earth Realm if he assists them. The souls collected from the Soul Stealer machines are used to power a crown that Stang Tsung has which can control the dragon army. Emperor Yings dragon army is a terracotta army similar to Qin Shi Huang in real life. The dragon soldiers were imbued with magical powers so they could help emperor Ying in the afterlife. Shang Tsungs is offering control of the Dragon Army to Bi-Han Bi Han relays that he thinks his father was a dithering old fool and his actions doomed the Lin Kuei. Also we learn that when his father died in an accident, Bi-Han saw it and was able to intervene and save him but chose to let him die. Distraught and disappointed, Kuai Liang breaks away. He defeats Shao and Tsung. While fighting Kuai Liang uses a “fire elemental” as a kameo.

He then sees Quan Chi and Rain melting gold which can be used for magic means.Kuai fights Rain. He gets attacked by Havik and Darrius. You need to pass a Test Your Might as not have your face plunged in the melted gold. Instead Kuai holds Havik’s face in the gold, melting it and giving it the half dissolved look. After dealing with them, Sub-Zero comes after him. They have a fight. Bi Han slashes Kuai Liang’s face, giving him the iconic scar. Sub Zero is using an ice elemental as a kameo. After defeating his brother Kuai Liang pulls off his Lin Kuai insignia in disgust, leaving the clan. Cyrax and Sektor are both Bi-Han loyalists and they will sooner abet Bi-Han’s corruption that let Kuai to leave the clan. He and Smoke take the unconscious Bi-Han with them and flee. Meanwhile Geras gathers that the mysterious benefactor is not from any previous timeline but must be coming from a second parallel timeline which is happening concurrently with Liu Kang’ own.

Liu Kang together with Geras travel to Outworld with the intention to talk with Sindel. Li Mei meets him at the Portal in Sun Do. She is open to listening and Liu Kang convinces that Quan Chi and Tsung are plotting against the empresses and she agrees to try and arrange an audience with the Empress, even though she doesn’t have the same standing as before. She says Shang Tsung has Sinde’s favor because he is helping with Mileena’s disease. Li Mei’s cart is accosted by Motaro and Reiko. Liu Kang is not welcomed in Outworld. After defeating them with Liu Kang’s help Tanya arrives with the Umgadi and surrounds them. Li Mei beats Tanya. She then gives an impassioned speech and the Umgadi agree to take her to Sindel’s court. At the empress’s court Li Mei starts to make her case but Tanya attacks her and a fight breaks out. Kinata steps out to defend her family and Li Mei has to fight her too. Meanwhile Mileena has another bout of Tarkat and in raging out attacks Sindel.

Li Mei holds Mileena off, and fights her, saving Sindel. Tanya injects her with the serum, making the disease subside once again. (On a side note Sindl uses the phrase “praise Argus” which I’m not sure how that relates with Rain in this timeline.) Li Meu saving Sindel’s life wins her, her trust. Liu Kang says he has evidence of Shang Tsung’s treachery and to prove it, he takes her to Shang Tsung’s real laboratory, showing his flesh experiment. Liu Kang then reveals how he used to be a titan who sculpted this timeline but relinquished his role because he saw how it drove Kronika mad, that there were previous timelines. General Shao comes in carrying Shinnok’s amulet. According to Geras it shouldn’t exist in this timeline as its maker is powerless. Liu tells Shao he doesn’t truly understand its power. Geras, Tanya, Mileena and Kitana are trapped in the amulet by Shao. Sindel fights Nitara, disgusted that Shao would align with the Vaeternus vampire race. She fights against Reiko and Rain who she thought of as her own son.

Rain says that Tsung allowed him to reach a new level of power. Finally she beats Shao and Liu retrieves the amulet, releasing the people trapped inside. At the Ying fortress Shang Tsung is using the souls collected by the machine to power the crown. Liu Kang, Sindel and her court arrive at the fortress. Mileena with Tanya fights against Ermac. Defeating him breaks the spells that bind them inside and allows king Jerrod to take control of Ermac as his soul resided in the living forest, including changing his face to that of Jerrod. He reveals that Li Mei was not to blame for his death. Mileena pretends to have collaborated with General Shao in order to get close to Shang Tsung and let the others surround and surprise Tsung and Quan Chi’s entourage. Mileena defeats Tsung and Quan Chi’ knocking down his crown. Shang Tsung introduces his mysterious benefactor named Damashi. Damashi is revealed to be another Shang Tsung from a timeline where he was the victor in the final battle against Kronika and he became a Titan and time-keeper.

It took him milenia before he knew that there was any other timeline besides his own. His goal is to destroy all life in Liu Kang’s timeline and merge it with his own. He also did not need to have control of the Dragon Army. He just needed the collected souls. Evil Sindel and Raiden from his timeline appear. Raiden is old and a demigod, his face and voice are similar to MK11. Shang Tsung and Quan Chi from Liu Kang’s timeline are disappointed at being taken advantage of and reluctantly join Liu Kang’s side. Mileena serum wears off and she transforms again but this time seems to regain control and fights Shang Tsung’s version of Rained. Shang Tsung’s Sindel fatally stabs Sindel from Kang’s TL. Milleena fights against the evil Sindel. Liu Kang’s Sindel dies and her soul joins Jerrod inside Ermac. Geras and Liu Kang theorize that there may be more than two divergent timelines with a different person becoming a Keeper of Time in each one of them. The only way for Liu Kang to explore other timelines is for him to have his Keeper of Time powers.

Mortal Kombat 1 Ending, Epilogue, and Post Credit Scenes

It is revealed that when Liu Kang relinquished his powers Geras collected the power and hid it inside a jade statuete gifted by the great Kung Lao. He kept that secret from Liu Kang and says that if he chooses to regain his power it would be irreversible and he will be left a keeper of time permanently. Titan Shang Tsung has amassed an army and built a nexus of portals. Johnny Cage uses his drone to spy on him. We see evil versions of Sub Zero, Scorpion, Kenshi, Rain and Ermac from Shang Tsung’s timeline. They all have unique constumes. Shang Tsung, Quan Chi and Raiden go to close the portals and fight the combatants from the other timelines. Shang Tsung realizes that the combatants’ life forces are feeding the energy of the portals and prevents them from closing them. Killing them and stealing their souls allows him to close the portals. With Quan Chi’s help he defeats Kenshi with Ermac, Raiden with Smoke, Shao with Reiko and Scorpion with Sub Zero. He, Chi and Raiden close the portals.

Meanwhile Liu Kang retrieves his powers and becomes a Titan once again. He searches the timelines and finds Titan Kitana. She realizes that he is the Liu Kang she once loved and they are reunited once more. He also calls upon Titan Raiden (once again with the face of his MK11 version) and Kung Lao. Titan Shang Tsung collects his versions of Kitana, Mileena, Reptile, Nitara, Baraka. They are trying to destroy Liu Kang’s hourglass, which would obliterate his timelines. Liu Kang fights Baraka and Reptile, then Tanya and Li Mei and himself with Kung Lao while Shang Tsung with his versions of Kitana and Mileena are emptying the hourglass. Lu Kang then fights Mileena and Kitana, while Geras is holding the hourglass off. The Good Titans join Geras and Li Kang and save the hour glass. Left Alone Titan Shang Tsung leaves the timeline. Liu Kang takes the battle to Shang Tsung’s timeline but before that he amasses allies from different timelines. We see him with an army of hundreds of combatants come to Shang Tsung’s timeline in front of a giant step pyramid with a wide staircase.

It visually resembles Argus’ pyramid. Then the player has the choice to select every playable fighter in the roster.  Shang Tsung summons a great army of different ..unique versions of combatants. The ending then involves Liu Kang and Shang Tsung’s forces battling on a pyramidal temple with the player character ascending the stairs. It looks a little like the opening to Armageddon. The intermittent cut scenes are identical but every character just with the player model being different. But between that you stop at different floors and fight and have single round fights with Tsung’s combatants. These include:

• Fighters which are combinations of two different characters. For instance a combination of Liu Kang and Quan Chi called “Hellfire”. Combination of Kung Lao and Scorpion is called “Stinger” etc.
• Genderbent version of characters
• Ninja Mime

There seems to be a predefined pool of enemies and every time you play the chapter you fight a random series of those. K33n played the ending three and a half times and there were already repeats so maybe there are not so many combinations. Ninja Mime seems to appear in every play-through and you do see evil versions of the Kombat kids – Takeda looks like in the Kombat Pack trailer, Kung Jin has a Mohawk, Jaqui has her MK11 look and Cassie has the MKX sidecut. A version of Kitana comes and kills them all. At the top of the temple a version of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi battle Titan Shang Tsung and his side-kick Quan Chi (is he just the local timeline version? I’m not sure.). The Titan and his Quan Chi version beat the other versions. The Player character reaches the top. He and Titan Liu Kang battle Shang Tsung and Quan Chi. Quan Chi subdues Liu Kang using his magic. The Player character must fight Titan Shang Tsung with Quan Chi alone. After defeating them Shang Tsung’s timeline is disintegrating and Liu Kang tells the player that they must return to “their own timeline”.

The player characters seemed to have the same skins as the default Liu Kang versions and don’t have the glowing eyes that the Titans have. One of the endings is with Kitana and the dialogue suggested that she and Liu Kang were lovers so maybe the player character is the Titan /controller of time version of them. It is not very clear in the game. Liu Kang’s ending is identical with two versions of him present. Both have glowing Titan eyes. Not much is known about how Shang Tsung or Quan Chi’s ending differ.  Epilogue: We see Raiden, Kung Lao, Kenshi and Johnny Cage at Madam Bo’s teahouse with Liu Kang. Cage says that he is making a movie based on the events of the game (throughout the game he was taking videos of outworld on his phone). This time he is not an actor but a writer and director. Raiden and Kung Lao go to the Wu Shi academy to train new recruits. Kenshi is reviving the Taira clan.We learn that the Lin Kuei has left their role as Earth Realm defenders, and Kuai Liang left to start the Shirai Ryu clan. Mileena rules over Outworld with her sister and father by her side to guide her.

In the mid credits sequences, Quan Chi, Shang Tsung and General Shao are imprisoned for their crimes. Liu Kang leaves the teahouse, knowing that Earth Realm is in Good hands. We see the aftermath of the battle with vultures pecking at the bodies similar to the start of MK9. We see Jax laying on the stairs, his metal arms torn off. We see Havik in an impressive ass helmet approach with an entourage of combination fighters. He murders Jax and expresses joy at all the chaos and bloodshed that took place but laments that it all ended so fast. He vows that the “next” time it wont.

Mortal Kombat 11 is set to be released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows and Xbox Series X/S on September 19, 2023.

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