Earth solo = Goro and Sheeva. Air solo = Fujin, Kung Lao, Kitana, and Kabal. Fire solo = A lot. -If you're looking at just literal fire, we got Liu Kang, Scorpion, Kintaro, Tigrar Fury Goro, Sheeva, Kai, Blaze, Pyromancer Tanya, Dragon's Breath Bo Rai Cho, Onaga, Taven and Daegon, Corrupted Shinnok, and MK1 Sareena is fiery. -BUT if we include kharacters that can use light itself in battle, we can include Kotal, Li Mei (she's got Katy Perry's fireworks) and Ashrah. Water solo = any cryomancer character (both Sub-Zeroes, cyberized or otherwise, and Frost) and possibly Argus (Rain/Taven/Daegon's dad), according to the lore. Earth + Air = Sand, wielded by Geras and Kronika. Earth + Fire = Lava, which only Tremor can do, although I guess if there was ever an updated iteration of Blaze, it would also be portrayed as this? MK1 Baraka also has fiery effects on his metal blades, and since metal is a part of earth this elemental compound also suits him. Earth + Water = Shadow, wielded by Noob Saibot, Ashrah and to a lesser extent Jade, Johnny and Nightwolf. Air + Fire = Smoke, the titular character. Air + Water = Illusion, wielded by Sindel, Mileena and Quan Chi. Fire + Water = Force, wielded by Reptile (also possibly Chameleon, both the male one and the one with a K), Johnny and his daughter Cassie. Earth + Air + Fire = ??????????? Earth + Air + Water = any Blood Magic user (Shao, Kotal, Nitara, Skarlet, Havik, Meat?) Earth + Fire + Water = ??????????????????? Air + Fire + Water = Lightning, wielded by Raiden and to a lesser extent Rain and Nightwolf. All 4 flavors, separate = Cetrion All 4 flavors, COMBINED! = Soul, wielded by Shao Kahn, Shang Tsung, Ermac, Kenshi (and Takeda), Shinnok, Quan Chi, and possibly Shujinko. SPECIAL MENTIONS: -In the pre-Armageddon timeline the Chaosrealmers (Havik's race) were said to worship water because it is always formless unless put in a container; their ideology derived from this observation led them to reject all perceived social constraints. There are no water-manipulating characters from Chaosrealm, however. -Try as I might, I don't think Motaro or D'Vorah fit anywhere in this elemental scheme because even though they have powers I can hardly say that they're 'elemental' in nature.
Now THAT'S a comprehensive list. Well done. Kabal also has the gas blast/fireball attacks, which depending on the game and your interpretation of the ability, could be Fire, Smoke, or Air. The Katy Perry Jubilee fireworks could actually pass as an Earth + Wind + Fire ability, cause fireworks are physical grainy things that explode. Motaro uses fireballs and has a cloak-like teleport, so that's Fire and Illusion, respectively. D'Vorah uses the power of bugs.
You can add Hotaru as a Lava user, although a bit limited. He mostly uses it to propel himself to another direction or as a mini eruption from the ground to launch his opponent to the air.
When someone tries to make a logical power system, but fails, that sucks. When someone tries to make a logical power system, and succeeds, that's pretty great. When someone *_doesn't_* try to make a logical power system, and succeeds anyway, *_that's rad._*
@@terodsiul Oooo, now that's an interesting one. Might warrant its own video. Sub and I might make it. Your hunch is a fair one. The dark balls do act like Reptile-style Force balls, popping enemies up for a combo. As for the other form, light implies heat, and based on how those abilities behave, I think we can log that under Fire. The healing stance is kinda like Kotal's sun ray, so, again, Fire.
Definitely. Again, most of this was likely accidental, but there are so many cool character backgrounds and lore that were set up and never subsequently explored properly.
@theamazingmaymay123 that's because it's Co-Creator John Tobias knew what he was doing & did allot of research & took inspiration using Asian mythology as key factors.
Then again, there is a possibility that consciously developing it might ruin it. After all, a rainbow becomes a lot less magical when you know how to make one.
There’s an interesting Mk1 dialogue, I don’t know if the exact phrasing Nitara: If you can manipulate water, Can you also manipulate blood? Rain: That is a good question.
as someone who struggles to find interesting mk content that isn't just someone regurgitating lore or explaining timelines, this is one of the most if not the most interesting video on MK ive ever watched, my only complaint is that its not longer and that you don't have more videos on the topic. the spooky konquest music, the slight humor and the overall explanation of the magic, its perfect. keep doing what you do.
The irony is that I posted this video as an afterthought, thinking there wouldn't be much interest for it. It spiked in views quite a bit, though, so I'll definitely be making more (I do have other MK videos on the channel, just different styles; formats). The music is from MK4, actually. Thank you very much for the feedback. Glad you liked it. Edit: Well I sure have more of these videos now.
@@vaggos2003 Completely. Although it's also interesting to note how things come full circle - I think the first video I posted that actually got views, years ago, was a Mortal Kombat 2021 review. That's what men of faith would call 'a sign from the universe'.
This is why when I write a story, I don't make a rigid power system when I don't need it, so long as there is a general limit of powers that disallows one to be more OP than the other. I'm gunna guess the people at MK did the exact same thing + to add spectacle, uniqueness and since this is a fighting game: balance. Eventually, someone will connect the dots and it'll just fits, so long as the system aren't too limiting to make clear pattern or too free to be chaotic and disorganized.
Reptile isn't just a thematic and symbolic combination of Sub-Zero and Scorpion, he's a literal one too. In the original game, back when he was a secret character, he was a genuine combination of them, using Scorpion's spear and teleport and Sub-Zero's slide and freeze. His green color scheme is a mix of Scorpion's yellow and Sub-Zero's blue
On Shujinko, IIRC in Deception's Konquest mode it is hinted that Shujinko's ability to steal/copy the powers of others was given to him by "Damashi"/Onaga, who had such a mastery over Soul Magic that he was able to instantly resurrect the soldiers of his legendarily invincible Dragon Army whenever they fell in battle, and was so power he was able to give Shujinko this ability BEFORE he was Resurrected, meaning he was this powerful while literally dead. Makes sense, considering this guy Onaga was so powerful Shao Kahn has to resort to deception and trickery to kill him.
Corect! I see you are a man of culture, as well. I have a special fondness for the Deception era. Even though Tobias was no longer on board, that game has some pretty dense, cool lore. Wish the newer games would've kept that approach.
As a hardcore MK fan ever since armageddon, this has got to be one of my favorite explainations for the power system. Ive always had a love-hate relationship when it came to how MK handled it's power systems (even moreso it's power scaling, like how Bi-Han can beat shinnok but lose to sonya). Great video, dude. Something that always makes a fictional setting better is consistency and you delivered what is so far my favorite headcanon that gives just that.
Yeah, I always hated power level inconsistencies done for the sake of making the heroes look good. Bi-Han should absolutely liquidate Sonya. Glad you liked the video.
This guy brought to us a video with conspiracy theory vibes and yet went on so much detail and made so much sense that I can't discern if I am the conspirator for thinking he might be wrong I also love how this video makes MK's lore so much more enjoyable by giving us a firmer grasp on how the power system works
I don't know what else to say other than that it is pretty cool. It's interesting how ideas and stories get to be good either intentionally or accidentally, .keep often accidentally than not.
I would say there is another compount element: light, which is kind of between fire and illusion, the users are Ashrah, Cetrion, and Kotal(to lesser degree). also, we can see some character trying master elements that doesn't come naturally to them. the biggest two example are Shang Tsung and Ashrah. Shang Tsung's most at home element is fire, his mastery of fireballs is on par with Liu Kang, but he chooses to learn soul because of the power it has, and with all the soul addiction, he is only really able to absorb souls for shapeshift and extend his life. but shao Kahn, a true master of soul, has no soul addiction, can make soulnados, can form them into spears to throw too. Ashrah's at home element is wind/shadow depending on the timeline, her light moves are all done with using her weapon.
I really like the Shang Tsung idea. One of the most powerful, most infamous sorcerers in all the realms, and it turns out he's working against his natural talent, out of a misplaced desire for power. I think that's great. Shao Kahn is definitely more talented, but not technically immune to soul addiction, in my view. Soul-stealing is like cocaine: once you start, it's almost impossible to stop. Regarding the Light element, light implies heat and energy, so I log this as Fire. Now, of course, not all uses of this element are actual fire - Kotal and Dualist Liu Kang, for instance, use it defensively, as a sun ray. But you pointed out something important: light creates illusion, and Fire is light, so the Fire element, on its own, should be capable of illusion. Should've pointed that out.
Magic systems in videogames are actually the most fleshed out Magics I've ever seen. I highly recommend researching the Basic Elements in Final Fantasy. Specifically Ice and Water and how they had to balance the difference between the two.
8:26 would like to point out here that taking souls doesn’t mean they age faster. Shao Khan and Shang Tsung both utilize Soul, but the aging is only unique to Shang Tsung. Within the original MK timeline, he rigged a tournament by killing one of its participants before the tournament, and was cursed by the elder gods to rapidly age, where a year would be akin to a decade or more. To combat this, Shang Tsung went to Shao Khan, who taught him how to take souls to extend his life and keep his youth.
This is the coldest power system idea I've seen in a Minute!!!! I pray devs catch onto this & make it a thing. And create a favourable & non favourable match up system amongst the various elements, skills & move sets
It's a hard enough thing to balance a fighting game, as is, so applying a Naruto-style rock-paper-scissors elemental strength & weakness system, while cool, is probably way too much work. But as @j.i.nthenobody54 wrote, you can totally do that with a minigame or an alternate game mode.
I am working on a comic book and am also a massive Mortal Kombat fan. You have new idea how much help this video is to me and how genius it is. I've never looked at MK's power system in all these years.
Great video. The MK universe is so fleshed out and feels so lived in its incredible. The worldbuilding, set pieces, magic systems, character relationships, etc all feel so real. Now if only they hired actual writers lmao
Wow, i would have never guessed the best Avatar game was right in front of our eyes all this time. No but seriously Mortal Kombat is really amazing and i would have never expected them to make out a power system like this on accident, i always noticed elements in the games obviously, but i always thought it was made all on purpose, the fact that it was all by accident leave me incredibly shocked.
MK generally respects the rule of cool: if it looks cool, we'll put it in, without much explanation. But enough coincidences got through to have all this make some kinda sense.
The best fighting game of all time. Started playing MK the year it came out when I was 8 years old, and love it now more than ever. Through my 39 years on this earth, MK has damn near always been a huge part of my life.
For sure man. Great video by the way! It was pretty damn interesting and honestly nothing Ive never thought of. Like you said, its pretty remarkable that it was all done on accident.
I love this basic element based system that can translate into so many other powers. Every character feels unique at like random action figures fighting but they still feel like they're part of the same world when you look deep (like in this video). I wonder if there is a way to create a system like this but on purpose. Just as subtle, just as wonderous, but this time on purpose (asking for a friend). Not created in such a way that characters will point at each other and say "Oh, you use the fire element in your underlying moveset", but more everything here where it is subtle but intentional instead of accidental.
@@CynicalWarlock for sure, man. You are very thorough, and analytical within his video, which is why i agree with your statement. The reason I asked though was because I am trying to make a magic system for a game of my own and have been tweaking and adjusting it to get it as best as I can. The problem I ran into was that it felt grounded but not magical, or vice versa. This video showed me how you can do both, through more subtle commonality and I appreciate you for that. I gotta subscribe and see more of your videos.
@@themememaster7844 You flatter me. Nice to meet a game dev. Curious what the broad strokes of your magic system are. I think the trick is to find something magical/fun first, and then iron out the details and make sure it's reasonably plausible and logical. The other thing is to use this stuff as characterization. Avatar: The Last Airbender does this very well - all the characters' various powers and elemental affinities reflect their personalities and journies.
@@CynicalWarlock the broad stroke is that it has its inspiration from sonic the hedghog, mortal kombat, TMNT, ninjago and skylanders. The characters powers come down to core elements they exemplify (Ex: a user who has black goo would be using darkness, water, earth, etc mixed in their own way so that even someone who has the same amount will not use the same abilities) Bear in mind the descriptions I use are stand ins as I don't have a unified name identity or world I want to build with it (well i do but it would take much longer to explain). It's not unfamiliar territory for any shonen or western magic system, but I wanted to make it this way so that I could go off and make any character with any powers I want, but they all still reasonably coexist in the same world. Technology in the world would be treated like how technology normally is in the above franchises (where it is simply a part of the world) however the way they classify it and build it is also based on said magic system. This can be interpreted many ways, but generally this is what I'm going for. I can use Technology and magic without the two conflicting. Also, I'm a game dev in the making, I am in my game design and world bulding phase, but I have yet to gain the skill to program it or visually display it currently. Thank you for your advice, though. It's analysis videos like these and worldbuilding guides that get me closer to realizing my visions and how to make them fun and logical.
Yeah, I'm real proud and humbled by the people in this comments section; they took this concept and ran with it at light speed. Some really brilliant remarks buried here.
This is a great video, honestly. I’ve been making my own magic styled universe (of course we spell magic with a K 😉) and this is a great system to truly abide by.
Gotta say, this was a pretty damn cool way of looking at the various elements and how different characters use them. Really does help push forward the concept of “it’s the warrior that makes the weapon, not the other way around.”
I touched on Kenshi, briefly. Basically, his afterimages and telekinetic abilities are a Soul technique, and come from his sword. Sento contains the souls of his ancestors, which he can draw upon and channel. This, once again, is brilliantly consistent, because who else heavily uses telekinesis? Ermac. What is Ermac? A collection of souls. This is how all that life force manifests. In MK: Deception, Ermac teaches Kenshi how to use telekinesis. In my headcanon, that makes sense, because Kenshi is one of the only other individuals who has access to so many raw souls. Regarding Nightwolf, I assume you're talking about the newer version's animal companion abilities. Yeah, those are definitely Soul. I'll definitely expand on this system and delve into the nitty-gritty; perhaps I'll do separate videos on each character, so definitely sub for that.
@@CynicalWarlock Keep in mind to that the One Being is VERY similar to Ermac too. And that in MK Deception, Ermac was the only fighter who could sense it's presence lurking. MKD Ermac was my favorite Ermac as he was free from Shao's influence, was forging his own path, and really it seemed as if he (and the MK writers) were actually realizing what he was actually capable of.
@@AsmodeusMKO You're right, forgot about that. I used to main Ermac in Deception, and I loved him for the same reasons as you. A lot of characters go from bad to good around that time, like Ermac and Sindel, and it's pretty cathartic to see Ermac - this comically powerful, unshackled being - roaming the land, trying to right the wrongs he did, under the influence of Shao Kahn. Also love his quasi-Persian design, from that game. I can't stand the mummy look they keep forcing on him in the newer games. Ruins his mystique, as an unknowable, multi-soul entity.
@@CynicalWarlock Do you think there’s a difference in Soul Magic between those who fight along willing souls and those who steal and subjugate souls? Other than one being Blue and the other being Green, of course. Would you say the latter is more powerful than the former, or not necessarily?
@@kanyewest4917 That's an interesting idea, and has a lot of character-building potential, if explored properly. For instance, Ermac could go through this arc whereby he starts out enslaved to Shao Kahn, then gets free of him, but struggles to keep a lid on all of his souls, as they're all vying to either gain control or escape his body, so he's in danger of 'dying', if that happens. And then you get kind of the reverse of Deception, where Kenshi finds him and teaches him to connect to all his souls and reach consensus. They become willing pieces of the Ermac puzzle. That's when his green energy turns blue, and he levels up. It also seems that only souls that are willing allies can manifest as summons. People who steal souls are mostly stuck to just using that energy as part of their own body. And the MK 1996 movie made it a point to show that one *can* lose control of all the souls they forcibly stole. So overall, yeah, Soul unity is better than Soul stealing.
Fighting Smoke is Supposed to be an emulation of fighting someone in a smokescreen using smoke-bombs, However since it would be annoying to have your entire screen filled with Smoke for the entire fight, They just give him certain Gimmicks as if he was using the existing (unseen) Smoke around him to mask his presence, Giving him the illusion of invisibility and teleportation... But that's Just my Head cannon.
There's a scene in kung fu panda 3 where oogway tells kai "the more you take, the less you have" I didn't think much of it at first, but then i realized during the soul part of this video that Kai is essentially a soul stealer but kinda does it in his own way by putting a warrior's life essence in a small jade statue
Spot on! It's the exact same theme. That scene is brilliant, because normally, you make healthy connections with people, and learn from them. All the skills, knowledge, experience and inspiration they willingly give you become part of who you are. You continually redefine and upgrade yourself into a better human being. Whereas a soul-stealer takes those things by force, without truly learning from them, so their own self remains a soulless void, cause again, you are everything that you're inspired by and learn from. So the jade statues are a very accurate analogy. You get all this power, but it's not truly yours, it's just a trinket that you stole.
Honestly, the different powers that all of the MK opponents have has been useful for creating my own magic systems, especially with trying to group them. If I ever do create a magic system, then the 3 subdivisions will be 1. Life Magic 2. Electromagnetic Magic (Controlling elements and magnetism) 3. Void Magic (All the other BS like size-changing, black holes, gravity manipulation, etc). In a way, you can sort of apply these domains to Mortal Kombat as well.
So basically Life, Elemental, and Spacetime. Life makes things grow, mutate, blood magic, undeath, soul manipulation etc. Elemental/magnetism uses raw energy, plasma, lightning, temperature manipulation, form manipulation, and spacetime is black holes, teleports, time travel. Pretty neat.
Thats how the basic power system in Naruto work There is basic 5 element ( water,fire,wind,earth,lightning) , which can be combine to create advance one like ice,magma,..., then there is Yang element which deal with physical thing like healing, change body shape,.. and Yin element which is non physical thing like illusion or shadow
@@LongNguyen-oj2ji Yeah, and then you have the really broken stuff, like Particle Style, which also somehow didn't do anything in the series. A big part of Naruto's appeal is its power system.
As an amateur writer, This was a really well thought out video. It gives me hope for my own power systems in my writing. Heck, you probably put more effort into the power system than NRS did in their entire revised timeline.
Yeah, the weird, hobo fringe video got the views. Mother of all irony. Thanks a bunch. Your continued viewership and feedback definitely helped shape the channel.
@@CynicalWarlock I am glad to be there. You make interesting and well put together videos. I remember distinctively watching your Mass Effect paragon and renegade system video. What you should learn from this is being a hobo weird fringe thing gets recognised.
@@Knight1029 Hobos get all the attention, man. Funny thing is the Paragon-Renegade-let's-fit-3-games-and-5concepts-into-one-video video was also a pretty fringe one, but it did it's job well, in the end.
@@CynicalWarlock it's weird man. It's always the videos you don't expect to do well that do surprisingly well. It makes no sense. My own videos follow that trend too.
That's definitely the case in the newer games. They made him vomit acid out of all his pores. Don't really like that, honestly. In MK3, they were definitely more force-like than acid-like. Even the sound effect. Also, acid burns, force explodes. Oh, that and the fact that they're called FORCEballs.
What would you make of Johnny cages new abilities? It kinda has a shadow vibe but his molecules seem to be separating. Shujinko might be duplicating the souls or just sampling some of the soul. Like a soul transfusion.
Johnny is definitely still shadow. I like the new effects; they look pretty cool, even if you lose the signature 'green shadow' color. Shujinko is definitely what you said, and/or some magic fuckery from Damashi/Onaga.
JCs new shadow effects are actually more in line with the original effects in first Mortal Kombat. He didn't have his signature green glow in that game either.
With Shujinko I think it might be a matter of soul mimicry? Soul sampling could theoretically have something to do with it, but he's almost like a magical data storage of the warriors he's come across. Like a living omnitrix pfft.
@@GreaterGrievobeast55 soul mimicry...never heard of that, but I like it! I always wondered if his "power" was just that, a power, as opposed to a skill that he learned from onaga. So like, was jinko mutated by onaga? Or is he more like Shang on that he was "shown" the way, and then just ran with it. Personally, I like the latter. I always lean towards the characters that honed their skill and from that they gained great power, but then there is sub and the like, those born gifted. Which I guess is why I like liu and Shang the most.
I'm the same guy that talked about how light is fire+ earth+ water and this take now makes even more sense after i watvhed Tanya abilities first of all we see her creating energy constructs that are both solid and malleable however instead of being slymy like shadow they are charged with energy(a.k.a. fire ) also she has a move where she literally dematerialize herself into pure light
Tanya's traditionally a fire character (see Pyromancer Tanya, in MKX), and while her projectile attacks do have a cool animation to em, they still look like mostly just fireballs to me. Those little Guanyin Bodhisattva hand constructs from her Fatal Blow do look like what you describe, though, so that's pretty cool.
@@CynicalWarlock yeah but she also has that dematerialization tecnique that doesn't seem like scorpion teleportation also if she uses light it doesn't mean she can't use the other main elements like fire
I have never watched an analysis video that ive ever wanted to watch again. Nothing against them, however, most of them in my opinion, just cant keep my attention for *after* the video, at least, in ways that would make me want to watch them again. Hell, most videos, analysis or not, i have to watch on 1.25x to actually be able to focus. So not only did i have to slow down the video so i was able to digest n understand everything you were saying, but i actually wanna watch it again. Idk, there was just something so interesting about this that i just didnt wanna stop watching even when credits rolled. Instant sub, n probably at least a couple rewatches. Probably one of my favorite analysis videos ive ever seen.
Oh, don't watch my more humorous videos then - you'll have to watch em at 0.25 speed, lol. Thank you so much for the feedback and the sub. I'll definitely expand on this concept, in future videos. Maybe explore other possible kompound elements and/or do individual character videos, with respect to this system and how it actually informs their characterization and storytelling. Have some ideas already.
@@Zacama_27 yup which is why I don’t understand why the keep using Shang tsung over and over again yes he is lius arch nemesis but not even close to the biggest threat in MK doesn’t make sense
@@Nocing This annoyed me too, and in my opinion is just another proof that the modern MK games lost there way with the lore. Shang is an important character, yes, but his whole shtick is that he is trying to go beyond his station and can't. Though Shang is one of my favorite characters, he is a slave to his ambitions. I keep saying this, but Dark Raiden should have been the boss character of MK11, the one whose mere presence should have been the threat to the timeline.
In the lore, Shang is ridiculous. At times he even rivals Raiden. That being said, and others in this thread have already said it, this point only goes to show how strong other characters like Shao, Onaga, Raiden, and and even Liu Kang really are. Shang is essentially a mortal who has mastered all the elements (the Avatar), but even he is humbled in the presence of the Gods, as well as the Chosen One. Side note: I love the point @CynicalWarlock made about Liu Kang and the other Shaolin, that they do use soul manipulation to strengthen themselves, with Liu being a TRUE master at it. Look at his MKX variations, where he has mastered the duality of his soul. But yes, Shang is a master of other peoples souls, where Liu is a master of his own. Where Shang takes souls and adds them to his own power, Liu (and others) have mastery of their own soul, and thus it multiplies their own power. It is truly a brilliant way to explain power levels in MK.
You earned a subscriber. In depth video, voice is nice to listen to, subtle jokes, and a calming cadence. Hope you have more in the pipeline bro. Edit: You have clips from Mortal Kombat Conquest, a forgotten gem from the 90's that needed another season. You win the internet lol.
700+ comments and you are the *only one* who mentioned MK Conquest. Thanks for that. I love that show, despite the cheesiness. Story-wise, it did the most interesting things with a lot of these characters. Actually just posted another video on the Sub-Zeros; dunno if you've seen it. And yeah, I have like 20 more videos in the pipeline. As a matter of fact, one video I've been wanting to make for the longest time is one talking about MK Conquest. That show deserves more attention.
@CynicalWarlock Raiden was basically just "one of the guys" in that show. 😂 Implied to be leagues above the other fighters in terms of skill (which we never see until the last episode where he hands Khan his ass for a while) but just utterly laid back. Probably my favorite rendition of the character. It makes sense because IIRC Conquest was supposed to be a prequel to the movies, and Raiden kept the same general personality. I wish they'd bring that back.
@@KronosSion eXActly! That's such a subtle level of brilliance, right there, because Jeff Meek and co. clearly built Conquest Raiden's personality at least partly off of Lambert's version, in the 1995 film; after seeing Conquest, I retroactively interpreted Lambert's Raiden as having lost it, just a bit, after losing to Shao Kahn in such a soul-crushing way, and being tortured as his prisoner. It explains the delivery on some of his lines, like "The souls of billions will depend upon you, hahaha... ahem.. Sorry."; like he's faced that threat so many times, he's gotten desensitized to it. Also, many people don't know this but Jeff Meek played both Raiden *and* Shao Kahn, in MK Conquest. Brilliant actor, and definitely the best interpretation of both characters.
@CynicalWarlock Ah yes Jeffrey Meek, one of the few to kick his own ass lol. Although I *think* officially that last episode was going to be a vision if the show got renewed. Or everyone gets resurrected, I forget which. I think an old producer commented on it. In my head canon, during Annihilation when Kahn said "So long as the portal remains open, your world becomes my world!" in my head, Raiden was like,"Nope. Nope, not doing this twice" and, as we see, thunder god slams him through a wall, and Shao has to call for backup. Retroactive, sure, because Annihilation came out a year before Conquest premiered, but this is a Raiden that has learned. But who could forget Shao's best line in that movie: "The Earth was created in 6 days, so to shall it be destroyed!" I have that book on my shelf, and I don't remember him in it 🤣🤣🤣 and I know how it ends too.
@@KronosSion Yees. Well they could have taken inspiration from Annihilation (the crazy madlads), who knows.. It's strange, but when I heard of the plans for season 2, my first reaction was 'No', cause this thing is meant to end in defeat for Earthrealm anyway, and this was such an impactful ending, that I don't think you could've topped it. It was (and kinda still is) so rare to have the bad guy win, in a way that makes sense, in a story. The only problem is the canon, cause Kung Lao was supposed to be killed by Goro, in mortal combat, instead of dying off-screen to a bunch of Shadow Priests.
They're on a different level. Time is above this system. You could MacGyver it, if you really wanted to, by claiming that time manipulation is tied to sand (earth), energy and speed (lightning), the space aspect of spacetime (force, shadow, matter manipulation, density manipulation - like mass effect fields), etc etc, but that's probably pushing it. Or maybe time is a *kompound* kompound element - kompound squared - all the kompounds kombined. I'm losing my mind here.
@@CynicalWarlock given it was introduced in mk 11, the theory holds surprising amounts of water. Honestly just wondered why it wasnt mentioned :) As for cetrion we know she can create plant life so while she has acces to soul I doubt she can use it like the others but rather to create them
@@CynicalWarlock actually there is a way to make it work. now that Im rewatching it. (K)ronomancy is just a modified soul use combined with the powers of gods. Kronika gave birth to cetrion, a suspected soul user given that she can give life, time manipulation is really just shifting the souls of either the entire universe or everyone/thing in a universe to rewind or speed it up. But to do it on such a scale you need artifacts to help you gain that reach, such as the crown and the hourglass, That is why liu kang can use it at the end of mk 11, he is now a god due to raiden and therefore does not need mastery over soul as his innate godhood gives him that power and similarly due to Shang Tsung's mastery of soul magic he can use the crown despite not being a god. Geras uses his kronomancy to freeze people and to rewind his own wounds which given he has access to all powers isn't surprising when blood magic can do similar things.
@@albertlofling7310 A bit far-fetched, but I like the idea that the universe has a Soul, and healing/rejuvenating/giving it youth pills effectively rewinds time. That's pretty novel.
I always look at blood magic as the lesser physical version of soul magic since they seem capable of many of the same things with soul magic being more potent and versatile. Basically, blood evolves into soul the same way fire can evolve into lighting in some games or shows like Avatar. This could also explain how Shao Kahn could be a master of both blood and soul magic enough to teach both Skarlet and Shang Tsung respectively since the magics are related.
Exact words from my brain. Soul is life, Blood is most of life, basically. It's the penultimate tier of power, with Soul being the absolute highest tier.
while i think that's an interesting way to think of it, i think it's just better to separate the elemental powers with the other types, like soul, time, portal, space, undead and any other crazy sources of power MK has.
Ever heard of Khrome? A recall of a Smoke product that was in silver paint instead of grey paint was left in the office of the guys who made the recall; someone visiting wanted a picture, posted it as the made-up MK character Khrome, and the internet has made him a guy who can turn into shapeshifting metal. Would he fit in this power system, or is it like Smoke where he is the only one?
Well there's another metal bender in MK: Tremor. So yes, Khrome would fit. Similar principle as in Avatar: The Last Airbender - metal, crystal, minerals, and various other impurities are all found in the Earth; they're technically part of it. So yeah, metalbending fits into this power system like a glove.. or gauntlet, rather.
This is the most brilliant copium I've seen any MK fan put together. They'd do well to include this as part of they're power system as they modernize everything. Instead of retconning everything else to death.
I'm brilliant at coping. Or I cope with my brilliance. Yeah, the lore is pretty much gutted, at this point. 0 consistency between games, and they forgot most of what made these characters and stories great.
Hotarou is a bit unusual. He has earth and fire abilities but we know that because he does a lava splash, the only ability we've seen him do in game. However, in various endings in Deception, he's shown using strange gold yellow colored energies (that he never uses in gameplay) to kill and execute foes in endings. Are there energies that are representatives of order and chaos?
Don't forget the teleport. Yeah, Hotaru's weird. Need to research him a little bit. As for energies that represent order and chaos, Havik uses blood, so I guess that's representative of chaos, for him. And if I recall correctly, Chaosrealmers admire water, for being formless, and bemoan water in a container, cause it's forced to take shape, thus representing order, so I guess water is also considered 'chaos'. Entropy would be representative of both. Entropy literally means the level of randomness and chaos in a thing. Soooo, by that logic, time could be representative of Order? Since traveling back in time reverses entropy, Tenet style. I'm just spitballing here.
i gotta say, you are a astoundingly inteligent person. if what you're saying is in fact truth, and you DID come up with all this yourself, your logical thinking, knowledge about elements and laws of physics and nature, ability to connect facts and creativity are on a sky high level. respect, my friend
@@igur_yes.8553 Thank you very much, you're awesome. The knowledge of physics and such is partly knowledge, partly Google searches, but I think the creative aspect and the dot connecting is what made this video interesting to people.
"Shujinko also seems to be a Soul User, however it's unclear how he managed to steal people's abilities and fighting styles without killing them." It's a crossover power; he has Blue Magic, from Final Fantasy.
Combinations sound like Wheel of Time Channeling. Weaves of different elements can be woven together to generate different powers which can produce crazy effects like balefire: vaporizing matter and souls - and their recent past actions - out of existence as the Pattern screams trying to repair the timeline, or Traveling, tearing holes in the Pattern to make portals etc
In a nutshell, Shujinko was able to do what he did because Onaga (damashi) gave him abilities on par with Shang Tsung but without the use of “souls”. Even while playing konquest, as you learn (steal) more techniques from the roster they tend to be surprised that shujinko can pull off (or as mileena says “survive”) after seeing the move just once. From what I can gather, damashi gave shujinko a more defense-oriented offensive soul magic that doesn’t negatively impact the target (whose moves are being stolen). Especially considering shujinko would’ve aged normally if not for the chaos realm’s Kamidogu. And this would align with the deception story of how Shujinko is collecting the kamidogu, thus Onaga giving him magic that would allow him defend himself.
Yes, the obvious explanation is, indeed, Onaga; whatever power he conveyed to Shujinko, it was basically Soul mastery 2.0. Which makes Onaga seem all the scarier, if he could just randomly convey such a gift, while in a semi-dead, comatose state. Another clue that ties all of this together is the Chameleon characters. They are the only other people who can copy a person's abilities without harming or killing them. It could be that there is a level of mastering ones own soul that is so advanced, you can just copy any element or combination of elements being used and replicate them with your own soul mastery. After all, if we buy my headcanon, then to master Soul is to use all 4 basic elements, so it's technically possible to make any combination of elements, through mimicry. There's this character in an old show with superpowered people, who could do what the Chameleons do - copy people's abilities, by just being around them. In that show, it was called 'empathic mimicry', which basically meant you could intuit and copy other people's traits, including their abilities, and modify your genetic structure to facilitate them. I think I just went full geek there, for a second.
Man that’s rad, would be nice if MK1 could give more lore so we have a better idea for magic/abilities such as those. Even if it’s in a retconned manner. No doubt it would still apply to previous timelines as it’s all Liu Kang would know, even with his time as a god. Or else there would’ve been a new element (but there are none so it can’t happen, unless it was made specifically for the game, but even then it’d still be a sub-element/combination like you’ve stated. At the end of the day, geek or not, stuff like this is fun to think and speak about lol Sweet vids big dawg
You've been supporting me for so long that I consider this a joint victory.🙌 And naturally, the weird, fringe video that I thought wouldn't get views, gets all the fuckin views.
I personally interpret Johnny's force ball as more of a basic ussage of chi/mana without applied any element, as opposed to Liu Kang's fire ball which add fire on top of it Soul magic and necromancy could be like a fith element sort of thing where its is a magic out side of the 4 element, which is why in 11 Shinnok who have soul magic is the counter balance to Cetrion who use 4 element
I always assumed "force" was soul-manipulation. Turning your own soul into a physical weapon to hurl at your opponent or using your soul to enhance your speed and power. Johnny Cage's green kicks arent him coating his legs in elemental force magic, but rather his own soul wrapping itself around himself to enhance his body. and Blood magic would be a property of using soul magic to enhance the properties of Water magic, focusing just on stealing the life-rich blood of your opponent to enhance your body to get around the negative downsides of Soul Addiction, but with the cost that you don't gain everything the opponent has, just their vitality
I think I do see a lot og Johnnys moves as potential inate talent with Self soul control. One of the intros between Skarlet and Shao Kahn in MK11 make it clear there's a distinction between blood magic and soul magic though.
I actually have something to contribute this video In certain variations from Mortal Kombat X and also Mortal Kombat 11 Characters would use moves from previously deceased characters such as Kitana having access to a few of Jade's and Mileena's attacks. These variations are noticeably worse than If the character they were drawing from use them. This really gives a sense that Characters can use more elements than we typically see in battle but their mastery of them heavily varies.
That's a pretty cool find, actually. The fact that Kitana always needed to summon Jade's staff just to do a Shadow kick always bothered me; like, the staff itself doesn't do anything, so why equip it for a kick? But maybe it's enchanted or something and it helps her do the move. And the way she uses Mileena's sai is, indeed, more of a setup tool than a projectile, in MK11, so it fits with her not having mastered Mileena's or Jade's abilities as much. After all, she's an Air user, not a Shadow or Illusion one.
This could be a cool way to create custom characters with their own power sets by specking into certain elements and applying it to certain moves to make custom characters and custom variants
I like it when someone just pulls out his funny thouths and acts like it is actually the way it is and tht it does perfect sence. Because it does (partially). I do sometimes stuff like this myself)
This reminded me of the occult meaning of the pentrogram , not the religious of satanic but more naturalistic , where each triangle represents different element , fire water earth and air , and the fith triangle represents spirit or soul , usually the top triangle of the pentargamm represents the soul or the spirit , as a final symbolic stage of the esoteric practicises , spirit over element , or spiritual over material where the reverse pentagram is the starting point of the esoteric practice , the material over spirit , or material over spiritual Interesting , i didnt see it before , how different charecters in the MK represent essentually different levels of mastery over different triangles of the pentagram , where some have mastery over one , multiple , or when u master them all u get to the soul manipulation very nice I wonder if in this case Shang doesnt have the full mastery over the soul element , since his soul addiction , his triangle in the pentagramm is imperfect and is pointing down , not up. I would guess being immune to soul addiction and mastery over ur own soul would be the pinnacle of the power sistem u propose , the completed penagram pointing upwards Perhaps Chronica or Onaga represents a full mastery of not inverted pentagram. Or perhaps Shujinko . Shangs pentagram is definately inverted Honestly the more i think about it the more Shujinko seems to me like the master of the pentagram , being able to perfectly adapt fighting techniques of others in his arsenal in any way he wants, which would imply that the reason as to why he can do it is not becouse he copies it , he actually learns it from the perspective of his pentagramm being completed, his spirit or soul is just not constrained by any natural or unnatural limitations, which would also imply that his powers isnt quate limited by coping , he just doesnt fully grasp that his power has no limits in this power sistem. your video made me think a lot , many thanks , i ll subscribe and yes Avatar the last airbender is very much centered around this concept
Beautiful parallel. Yes, that's what I was going for, with this system. The idea that the more basic elements you master, the more powerful compound elements you unlock, like lightning and blood. Soul is interesting, because it's the most powerful, but has the most drawbacks (as it should). If you take out Soul stealing and the Soul addiction associated with it, it's interesting to ponder what mastery over that element even looks like. Ermac and Kenshi are pieces of that puzzle, and I think Shujinko and the Chameleon characters are another piece - people who can copy other people's abilities and fighting styles, without having to consume their souls. Either way, the pagan pentagram is a great analogy.
This video is brilliant and I loved the ideas you brought forward. That said, where does that put someone like Geras, Kronika, and later on Liu Kang in regard to time? And also, while you do acknowledge how some characters use their teleportation as just moving between different realms, how exactly does realm travel fall into this elemental power system? That one did not make sense to me from the video.
Well I initially didn't even try to tackle these 2 concepts - time and portal - as they seem too different or out of this power system's league to be connected to it. But a lotta people asked about Time, specifically, so my best guess is that Time is a kompound kompound element; it's Sand + Lightning. Sand = Earth + Air, and it accounts for the 'space' in spacetime, since it deals with matter, molecules etc. And we know now that the Earth itself does bend space a bit around it; that's what gravity is. The 'time' part, however, has to do with speed, in my mind. Like if you moved fast enough, way past the speed of light, you could go in the opposite direction of time, like Superman or the Flash. You'd have negative speed. What's the fastest element there is? Lightning. Which makes sense, because in MK9, Raiden sent a telepathic message to his past self; his mastery of Lightning afforded him that very limited form of Time travel. So then, by that logic, Time would be Sand (Earth-Air) + Lightning (Air-Water-Fire). As for portal magic, I think that power stems from the One Being - the demiurge figure that was split apart by the Elder Gods, into the 6 main realms. Portal magic is just natural connective tissue between the realms, that can be harnessed and controlled.
I just wanna say that the missing combinations you have shown us might be like this Earth+air+fire= light because by increasing the amount of oxygen the fire will become not only hotter but will ascend to pure plasma the same substance of the stars creating light while the earth is able to make the plasma solidify into constructs like Ashra in the new mk1 is able to create solid light swords or normal light beams Meanwhile Earth+fire+ water=plants because you need earth and her nutrients then water and fire to form the organic cells in fact the way biologic life developed in water is because of energy a.k.a. fire that heated the water and also water and fire are essential for photosyntesis(fire in this case represents the heat of the sun) however no mortal kombat character has ever used plants except maybe Cetrion in some specific tecniques
Fascinating take. I like how you rationalized Ashrah's abilities. I will say that plants are probably all 4 elements, since they also consume carbon dioxide (air). And since plants are lifeforms, it fits with the Soul element explanation, since Soul is basically the entire living being. And that fits with Cetrion, as well, since she's the only one we've seen, so far, who can use all 4 elements *and also* the only one who can grow plants. It's actually a cool alternate way to use all 4 elements.
I might have an idea of how shojinko is able to manipulate soul without killing his mentors. Looks like how clay, water, fire and air are able to mold and control themselves to fill spaces maybe he's able to contort his own soul in order to match the potential of his mentors. Also havock is totally a blood user imo
Havik's actually an interesting case; I'll do a video on him, at some point. But that's a good starting point for explaining Shujinko's ability. By the way, he's not the only one, the Chameleons do the same thing. It's definitely Soul-related. I see it as the highest level is Soul mastery - manipulating your soul to mimic that of an opponent.
Makes you wonder about the "missing" combinations. What's earth + fire? Some kind of lava magic? Earth + air? Sand? (Time for a new sand ninja rumor, lol) Shadow + fire = ???
Good point. Earth + Fire is technically lava, and Metallic Tremor has access to a lava form, so by that stretch, Tremor is actually proficient in Earth and Fire. Earth + Air = Sand, so Geras and Kronika. Shadow + Fire = Earth + Water + Fire = good question. I'll have to analyze the rest of the MK cast and see what fits that bill.
I love this video, very well thought out and creative observations. I was trying read the lore and watch gameplay to get a better understanding of the magic/power system of Mortal Kombat, I was surprised no one else had thought of it until now. I realize after watching this through I had been looking at the game through the wrong lens in terms of how the system fits together. The 4 element analogy works quite nicely. It's actually quite fascinating that this seemed to fit together so well, almost like it were done subconsciously. Perhaps the elements are really ingrained as archetypes in our minds too. A brief observation of mine; strangely, the idea of this magic system works quite well within what little is known about the lore itself. The mythos starts with "The One Being" divided up by the elder gods into multiple kamidogou. As mentioned by your vision of the system, the combination of all elements together will create soul magic, the most powerful. If I recall accurately, all the realms of Mortal Kombat combined (which all make up the one being) will remake him and bring destruction to the MK Universe. Quite the coincidence...?
Beautifully said. I absolutely thought of this, but didn't want to make the video overlong. The Soul being split into its component elements is a microcosm of the One Being getting split into the 6 realms. You can almost even associate an element to each of the primary realms. Netherrealm is Fire, Earthrealm is Earth, and the and Edenia and Outworld could be the other 2. Orderrealm and Chaosrealm aren't elemental, but entropy-based. But that is pushing it quite a bit. You mentioned something else that's probably true - a lot of these creations and associations are probably done subconsciously.
Earth solo = Goro and Sheeva.
Air solo = Fujin, Kung Lao, Kitana, and Kabal.
Fire solo = A lot.
-If you're looking at just literal fire, we got Liu Kang, Scorpion, Kintaro, Tigrar Fury Goro, Sheeva, Kai, Blaze, Pyromancer Tanya, Dragon's Breath Bo Rai Cho, Onaga, Taven and Daegon, Corrupted Shinnok, and MK1 Sareena is fiery.
-BUT if we include kharacters that can use light itself in battle, we can include Kotal, Li Mei (she's got Katy Perry's fireworks) and Ashrah.
Water solo = any cryomancer character (both Sub-Zeroes, cyberized or otherwise, and Frost) and possibly Argus (Rain/Taven/Daegon's dad), according to the lore.
Earth + Air = Sand, wielded by Geras and Kronika.
Earth + Fire = Lava, which only Tremor can do, although I guess if there was ever an updated iteration of Blaze, it would also be portrayed as this? MK1 Baraka also has fiery effects on his metal blades, and since metal is a part of earth this elemental compound also suits him.
Earth + Water = Shadow, wielded by Noob Saibot, Ashrah and to a lesser extent Jade, Johnny and Nightwolf.
Air + Fire = Smoke, the titular character.
Air + Water = Illusion, wielded by Sindel, Mileena and Quan Chi.
Fire + Water = Force, wielded by Reptile (also possibly Chameleon, both the male one and the one with a K), Johnny and his daughter Cassie.
Earth + Air + Fire = ???????????
Earth + Air + Water = any Blood Magic user (Shao, Kotal, Nitara, Skarlet, Havik, Meat?)
Earth + Fire + Water = ???????????????????
Air + Fire + Water = Lightning, wielded by Raiden and to a lesser extent Rain and Nightwolf.
All 4 flavors, separate = Cetrion
All 4 flavors, COMBINED! = Soul, wielded by Shao Kahn, Shang Tsung, Ermac, Kenshi (and Takeda), Shinnok, Quan Chi, and possibly Shujinko.
SPECIAL MENTIONS:
-In the pre-Armageddon timeline the Chaosrealmers (Havik's race) were said to worship water because it is always formless unless put in a container; their ideology derived from this observation led them to reject all perceived social constraints. There are no water-manipulating characters from Chaosrealm, however.
-Try as I might, I don't think Motaro or D'Vorah fit anywhere in this elemental scheme because even though they have powers I can hardly say that they're 'elemental' in nature.
Now THAT'S a comprehensive list. Well done.
Kabal also has the gas blast/fireball attacks, which depending on the game and your interpretation of the ability, could be Fire, Smoke, or Air.
The Katy Perry Jubilee fireworks could actually pass as an Earth + Wind + Fire ability, cause fireworks are physical grainy things that explode.
Motaro uses fireballs and has a cloak-like teleport, so that's Fire and Illusion, respectively.
D'Vorah uses the power of bugs.
@@CynicalWarlock inst motaro using plasma bc of his cibernetic tail? good video btw😁👍
@@Raps-2kYeah, I guess that's cybernetic, now, for some reason.
In the older games, it was just a tail.
And thanks; glad you liked the video.
Goro can use fire too.
You can add Hotaru as a Lava user, although a bit limited. He mostly uses it to propel himself to another direction or as a mini eruption from the ground to launch his opponent to the air.
When someone tries to make a logical power system, but fails, that sucks.
When someone tries to make a logical power system, and succeeds, that's pretty great.
When someone *_doesn't_* try to make a logical power system, and succeeds anyway, *_that's rad._*
eXACtly!
eXAKtly!*@@CynicalWarlock
@@CynicalWarlock Amazing video fs but the kung lao disrespect is kraaazy he can also use wind to teleport not just make himself spin lol
the sindel point works even better in the new timeline because since she's illusion and air she passed one element to each daughter
Yet more accidental genius.
Old timeline could be dormant genes triggered by the tarkatan influence
@@CynicalWarlockdamn boi, Bob "There are no mistakes, There're only little happy accidents" Ross of all time.
@@CynicalWarlockwhat about Liu Kang's use of Dark, and Light Chi in his Duelist variation in MK X. Would they fall in between Force, and Soul Magik?
@@terodsiul Oooo, now that's an interesting one. Might warrant its own video. Sub and I might make it.
Your hunch is a fair one. The dark balls do act like Reptile-style Force balls, popping enemies up for a combo. As for the other form, light implies heat, and based on how those abilities behave, I think we can log that under Fire. The healing stance is kinda like Kotal's sun ray, so, again, Fire.
I think that’s a testament to how well written the first mk timeline was tbh
Definitely. Again, most of this was likely accidental, but there are so many cool character backgrounds and lore that were set up and never subsequently explored properly.
@theamazingmaymay123 that's because it's Co-Creator John Tobias knew what he was doing & did allot of research & took inspiration using Asian mythology as key factors.
Lol, this is a fan theory that isn’t in the original text at all. This is a testament to CynicalWarlock’s imagination and innovation.
@@parrisxsummers Thank you.
If only the newer games cared this much about the lore..
Since the power system of MK is accidentally good, I hope the devs realize of how good it is and improve upon it
Knowing their track record..
..no.
Then again, there is a possibility that consciously developing it might ruin it. After all, a rainbow becomes a lot less magical when you know how to make one.
It becomes more scientific
Unless they rewrite everything again except on a bigger scale no.
@@CynicalWarlock Justice for dark raiden
What a brilliant way to explain the power system of MK! Never thought of it this way. Now I can't unsee it.
Cant' unseee iiiit, na-na-naa-na-naaa-naa.
There’s an interesting Mk1 dialogue, I don’t know if the exact phrasing
Nitara: If you can manipulate water, Can you also manipulate blood?
Rain: That is a good question.
By Avatar: The Last Airbender's rules, he can. Might have actually been a reference to the show.
as someone who struggles to find interesting mk content that isn't just someone regurgitating lore or explaining timelines, this is one of the most if not the most interesting video on MK ive ever watched, my only complaint is that its not longer and that you don't have more videos on the topic. the spooky konquest music, the slight humor and the overall explanation of the magic, its perfect. keep doing what you do.
The irony is that I posted this video as an afterthought, thinking there wouldn't be much interest for it. It spiked in views quite a bit, though, so I'll definitely be making more (I do have other MK videos on the channel, just different styles; formats).
The music is from MK4, actually.
Thank you very much for the feedback. Glad you liked it.
Edit: Well I sure have more of these videos now.
definitely a favorite of mine alr
@@CynicalWarlockEven more ironic is that, as Liu Kang will claim, this video changed the arc for your channel.
@@vaggos2003 Completely. Although it's also interesting to note how things come full circle - I think the first video I posted that actually got views, years ago, was a Mortal Kombat 2021 review.
That's what men of faith would call 'a sign from the universe'.
This is why when I write a story, I don't make a rigid power system when I don't need it, so long as there is a general limit of powers that disallows one to be more OP than the other. I'm gunna guess the people at MK did the exact same thing + to add spectacle, uniqueness and since this is a fighting game: balance.
Eventually, someone will connect the dots and it'll just fits, so long as the system aren't too limiting to make clear pattern or too free to be chaotic and disorganized.
Yeah, particularly tough to keep this kind of thing balanced in a fighting game.
Reptile isn't just a thematic and symbolic combination of Sub-Zero and Scorpion, he's a literal one too. In the original game, back when he was a secret character, he was a genuine combination of them, using Scorpion's spear and teleport and Sub-Zero's slide and freeze. His green color scheme is a mix of Scorpion's yellow and Sub-Zero's blue
Absolutely, that goes without saying.
He learned those skills after looting and eating their corpses at bottom of The Pitt.
@@Wolfdoggie lol
Cool, had no idea
@@DSFII It's true. The first version of Reptile literally used their moves.
On Shujinko, IIRC in Deception's Konquest mode it is hinted that Shujinko's ability to steal/copy the powers of others was given to him by "Damashi"/Onaga, who had such a mastery over Soul Magic that he was able to instantly resurrect the soldiers of his legendarily invincible Dragon Army whenever they fell in battle, and was so power he was able to give Shujinko this ability BEFORE he was Resurrected, meaning he was this powerful while literally dead. Makes sense, considering this guy Onaga was so powerful Shao Kahn has to resort to deception and trickery to kill him.
Corect!
I see you are a man of culture, as well. I have a special fondness for the Deception era. Even though Tobias was no longer on board, that game has some pretty dense, cool lore.
Wish the newer games would've kept that approach.
thats way better than what i wrote
As a hardcore MK fan ever since armageddon, this has got to be one of my favorite explainations for the power system. Ive always had a love-hate relationship when it came to how MK handled it's power systems (even moreso it's power scaling, like how Bi-Han can beat shinnok but lose to sonya). Great video, dude. Something that always makes a fictional setting better is consistency and you delivered what is so far my favorite headcanon that gives just that.
Yeah, I always hated power level inconsistencies done for the sake of making the heroes look good. Bi-Han should absolutely liquidate Sonya.
Glad you liked the video.
This guy brought to us a video with conspiracy theory vibes and yet went on so much detail and made so much sense that I can't discern if I am the conspirator for thinking he might be wrong
I also love how this video makes MK's lore so much more enjoyable by giving us a firmer grasp on how the power system works
It's a Schrodinger's cat situation where this power system could simultaneously exist and not exist.
Havik is also a blood element user, he may even be more advanced on it than Skarlet, Shao, Kotal, and Nitara.
Yeah, thought of him as I was exporting the video.
He uses the 'guts' element. 😁
He spends most of the MKX comics possessing people with blood magic, and his MK1 moveset is just him weaponizing his own body and organs
I don't know what else to say other than that it is pretty cool. It's interesting how ideas and stories get to be good either intentionally or accidentally, .keep often accidentally than not.
Not much *to* say - this one's a bit more out there. Bit experimental, but still wanted to post it.
@@CynicalWarlock I ike it. I thought there was a lot of interesting theorising here. Even if there wasn't a lot to say.
Kitana is TEN thousand years old. I still would.
Im an aspiring writer and a casual mk fan, so this was fun to see.
Man after my own heart. Thanks.
I am too, and I also find this fun. Maybe use “elements” of this for my own future stories.
I would say there is another compount element: light, which is kind of between fire and illusion, the users are Ashrah, Cetrion, and Kotal(to lesser degree). also, we can see some character trying master elements that doesn't come naturally to them. the biggest two example are Shang Tsung and Ashrah. Shang Tsung's most at home element is fire, his mastery of fireballs is on par with Liu Kang, but he chooses to learn soul because of the power it has, and with all the soul addiction, he is only really able to absorb souls for shapeshift and extend his life. but shao Kahn, a true master of soul, has no soul addiction, can make soulnados, can form them into spears to throw too. Ashrah's at home element is wind/shadow depending on the timeline, her light moves are all done with using her weapon.
I really like the Shang Tsung idea. One of the most powerful, most infamous sorcerers in all the realms, and it turns out he's working against his natural talent, out of a misplaced desire for power. I think that's great.
Shao Kahn is definitely more talented, but not technically immune to soul addiction, in my view. Soul-stealing is like cocaine: once you start, it's almost impossible to stop.
Regarding the Light element, light implies heat and energy, so I log this as Fire. Now, of course, not all uses of this element are actual fire - Kotal and Dualist Liu Kang, for instance, use it defensively, as a sun ray. But you pointed out something important: light creates illusion, and Fire is light, so the Fire element, on its own, should be capable of illusion. Should've pointed that out.
@@CynicalWarlockI don't like the idea of soul addiction.
@@anushkachhetri2363 To each his own.
Magic systems in videogames are actually the most fleshed out Magics I've ever seen. I highly recommend researching the Basic Elements in Final Fantasy. Specifically Ice and Water and how they had to balance the difference between the two.
Thanks for recommendation. Been getting a lot of recommendations about Final Fantasy lately, actually.
8:26 would like to point out here that taking souls doesn’t mean they age faster. Shao Khan and Shang Tsung both utilize Soul, but the aging is only unique to Shang Tsung. Within the original MK timeline, he rigged a tournament by killing one of its participants before the tournament, and was cursed by the elder gods to rapidly age, where a year would be akin to a decade or more. To combat this, Shang Tsung went to Shao Khan, who taught him how to take souls to extend his life and keep his youth.
Yeah that part is my own headcanon, with some cues taken from MK: Conquest.
This is the coldest power system idea I've seen in a Minute!!!! I pray devs catch onto this & make it a thing. And create a favourable & non favourable match up system amongst the various elements, skills & move sets
If it was a separate game mode, it could work. But as the main online versus, no
It's a hard enough thing to balance a fighting game, as is, so applying a Naruto-style rock-paper-scissors elemental strength & weakness system, while cool, is probably way too much work.
But as @j.i.nthenobody54 wrote, you can totally do that with a minigame or an alternate game mode.
I am working on a comic book and am also a massive Mortal Kombat fan. You have new idea how much help this video is to me and how genius it is. I've never looked at MK's power system in all these years.
There wasn't much to look at. Most of this is in my head.
And now it's in our heads.
i watched this in entire video for him to basically end it with a senator armstrong moment
“i made it the fuck up”
Said it isn't really a thing at the start of the video.
@@CynicalWarlock thought it was a good video just making a joke
@@redsunphoenix2456 It is a good joke. ;)
Great video. The MK universe is so fleshed out and feels so lived in its incredible. The worldbuilding, set pieces, magic systems, character relationships, etc all feel so real. Now if only they hired actual writers lmao
I chuckled. Preach!
They hired actual writers for IJ1 and 2 and both games had amazing story modes. Why can't MK also do that?
Wow, i would have never guessed the best Avatar game was right in front of our eyes all this time.
No but seriously Mortal Kombat is really amazing and i would have never expected them to make out a power system like this on accident, i always noticed elements in the games obviously, but i always thought it was made all on purpose, the fact that it was all by accident leave me incredibly shocked.
MK generally respects the rule of cool: if it looks cool, we'll put it in, without much explanation. But enough coincidences got through to have all this make some kinda sense.
@@CynicalWarlock Couldn't agree more.
The best fighting game of all time. Started playing MK the year it came out when I was 8 years old, and love it now more than ever. Through my 39 years on this earth, MK has damn near always been a huge part of my life.
It's not an understatement to state that MK shaped my existence, so I totally relate.
For sure man. Great video by the way! It was pretty damn interesting and honestly nothing Ive never thought of. Like you said, its pretty remarkable that it was all done on accident.
I love this basic element based system that can translate into so many other powers. Every character feels unique at like random action figures fighting but they still feel like they're part of the same world when you look deep (like in this video).
I wonder if there is a way to create a system like this but on purpose. Just as subtle, just as wonderous, but this time on purpose (asking for a friend). Not created in such a way that characters will point at each other and say "Oh, you use the fire element in your underlying moveset", but more everything here where it is subtle but intentional instead of accidental.
Yeah, it's possible. Just put me in charge of the lore and worldbuilding.
@@CynicalWarlock for sure, man. You are very thorough, and analytical within his video, which is why i agree with your statement.
The reason I asked though was because I am trying to make a magic system for a game of my own and have been tweaking and adjusting it to get it as best as I can. The problem I ran into was that it felt grounded but not magical, or vice versa. This video showed me how you can do both, through more subtle commonality and I appreciate you for that.
I gotta subscribe and see more of your videos.
@@themememaster7844 You flatter me. Nice to meet a game dev. Curious what the broad strokes of your magic system are.
I think the trick is to find something magical/fun first, and then iron out the details and make sure it's reasonably plausible and logical. The other thing is to use this stuff as characterization. Avatar: The Last Airbender does this very well - all the characters' various powers and elemental affinities reflect their personalities and journies.
@@CynicalWarlock the broad stroke is that it has its inspiration from sonic the hedghog, mortal kombat, TMNT, ninjago and skylanders.
The characters powers come down to core elements they exemplify (Ex: a user who has black goo would be using darkness, water, earth, etc mixed in their own way so that even someone who has the same amount will not use the same abilities)
Bear in mind the descriptions I use are stand ins as I don't have a unified name identity or world I want to build with it (well i do but it would take much longer to explain). It's not unfamiliar territory for any shonen or western magic system, but I wanted to make it this way so that I could go off and make any character with any powers I want, but they all still reasonably coexist in the same world.
Technology in the world would be treated like how technology normally is in the above franchises (where it is simply a part of the world) however the way they classify it and build it is also based on said magic system.
This can be interpreted many ways, but generally this is what I'm going for. I can use Technology and magic without the two conflicting.
Also, I'm a game dev in the making, I am in my game design and world bulding phase, but I have yet to gain the skill to program it or visually display it currently.
Thank you for your advice, though. It's analysis videos like these and worldbuilding guides that get me closer to realizing my visions and how to make them fun and logical.
@@themememaster7844 Glad to be of help. What genre are you aiming for?
fuckin loved this my dude! even the comments were fun to read through :) Stay blessed everyone and keep up the sick content🙏🏾
Yeah, I'm real proud and humbled by the people in this comments section; they took this concept and ran with it at light speed. Some really brilliant remarks buried here.
This is a great video, honestly. I’ve been making my own magic styled universe (of course we spell magic with a K 😉) and this is a great system to truly abide by.
Thanks. Yeah, making your own magic system is pretty hard work, honestly. But definitely rewarding.
This. IS. a. MASTERPIECE.
Thank you. I try.
@@CynicalWarlock seriously man. The last completely unique and good mk vid I’ve seen in about 9 years.
@@KMTBLING Guess I'll have to make more, then.
I know this isn't what the video's about but your voice is so relaxing omg
I not only learned a lot but it got me in the perfect mood to go to sleep
4-hour soothing meditation video incoming.
I believe Ermac uses his soul energy to manifest and de manifest like a ghost. Moving physical assembling and reassembling himself.
That definitely fits with the visual effect. Makes sense.
That does sound pretty freaky! It should be consider that ghost are often known to be intangible and go in and out of sight as well.
Just like I said in my vid, MK is all about looking at “rule of cool” with beer goggles on. I absolutely adore this vid!
And just like the top comment on your video wrote, "I come for the gore. But I stay for the lore."
Brilliantly accurate.
Great vid! One of the best lore vids I’ve seen in a long time!!
Thank youuu. Wish it was official lore, but the series cares not for such things.
Gotta say, this was a pretty damn cool way of looking at the various elements and how different characters use them. Really does help push forward the concept of “it’s the warrior that makes the weapon, not the other way around.”
Eloquently put. A lot of this is, at the end of the day, a way to add characterization through abilities and special moves.
Make a part 2! Explain the more ghostly powers like Kenshi and Nightwolf’s please!
I touched on Kenshi, briefly. Basically, his afterimages and telekinetic abilities are a Soul technique, and come from his sword. Sento contains the souls of his ancestors, which he can draw upon and channel.
This, once again, is brilliantly consistent, because who else heavily uses telekinesis?
Ermac.
What is Ermac?
A collection of souls. This is how all that life force manifests.
In MK: Deception, Ermac teaches Kenshi how to use telekinesis. In my headcanon, that makes sense, because Kenshi is one of the only other individuals who has access to so many raw souls.
Regarding Nightwolf, I assume you're talking about the newer version's animal companion abilities. Yeah, those are definitely Soul.
I'll definitely expand on this system and delve into the nitty-gritty; perhaps I'll do separate videos on each character, so definitely sub for that.
@@CynicalWarlock Keep in mind to that the One Being is VERY similar to Ermac too. And that in MK Deception, Ermac was the only fighter who could sense it's presence lurking.
MKD Ermac was my favorite Ermac as he was free from Shao's influence, was forging his own path, and really it seemed as if he (and the MK writers) were actually realizing what he was actually capable of.
@@AsmodeusMKO You're right, forgot about that. I used to main Ermac in Deception, and I loved him for the same reasons as you. A lot of characters go from bad to good around that time, like Ermac and Sindel, and it's pretty cathartic to see Ermac - this comically powerful, unshackled being - roaming the land, trying to right the wrongs he did, under the influence of Shao Kahn.
Also love his quasi-Persian design, from that game. I can't stand the mummy look they keep forcing on him in the newer games. Ruins his mystique, as an unknowable, multi-soul entity.
@@CynicalWarlock Do you think there’s a difference in Soul Magic between those who fight along willing souls and those who steal and subjugate souls? Other than one being Blue and the other being Green, of course. Would you say the latter is more powerful than the former, or not necessarily?
@@kanyewest4917 That's an interesting idea, and has a lot of character-building potential, if explored properly.
For instance, Ermac could go through this arc whereby he starts out enslaved to Shao Kahn, then gets free of him, but struggles to keep a lid on all of his souls, as they're all vying to either gain control or escape his body, so he's in danger of 'dying', if that happens. And then you get kind of the reverse of Deception, where Kenshi finds him and teaches him to connect to all his souls and reach consensus. They become willing pieces of the Ermac puzzle. That's when his green energy turns blue, and he levels up.
It also seems that only souls that are willing allies can manifest as summons. People who steal souls are mostly stuck to just using that energy as part of their own body.
And the MK 1996 movie made it a point to show that one *can* lose control of all the souls they forcibly stole.
So overall, yeah, Soul unity is better than Soul stealing.
Fighting Smoke is Supposed to be an emulation of fighting someone in a smokescreen using smoke-bombs, However since it would be annoying to have your entire screen filled with Smoke for the entire fight, They just give him certain Gimmicks as if he was using the existing (unseen) Smoke around him to mask his presence, Giving him the illusion of invisibility and teleportation... But that's Just my Head cannon.
Decent explanation. Sounds like he makes his molecules as transparent as oxygen ones.
There's a scene in kung fu panda 3 where oogway tells kai "the more you take, the less you have"
I didn't think much of it at first, but then i realized during the soul part of this video that Kai is essentially a soul stealer but kinda does it in his own way by putting a warrior's life essence in a small jade statue
Spot on! It's the exact same theme. That scene is brilliant, because normally, you make healthy connections with people, and learn from them. All the skills, knowledge, experience and inspiration they willingly give you become part of who you are. You continually redefine and upgrade yourself into a better human being.
Whereas a soul-stealer takes those things by force, without truly learning from them, so their own self remains a soulless void, cause again, you are everything that you're inspired by and learn from. So the jade statues are a very accurate analogy. You get all this power, but it's not truly yours, it's just a trinket that you stole.
Christ bless you, that actually really insane no one planned this but it just came about
I know, right?
Honestly, the different powers that all of the MK opponents have has been useful for creating my own magic systems, especially with trying to group them. If I ever do create a magic system, then the 3 subdivisions will be
1. Life Magic
2. Electromagnetic Magic (Controlling elements and magnetism)
3. Void Magic (All the other BS like size-changing, black holes, gravity manipulation, etc).
In a way, you can sort of apply these domains to Mortal Kombat as well.
So basically Life, Elemental, and Spacetime.
Life makes things grow, mutate, blood magic, undeath, soul manipulation etc. Elemental/magnetism uses raw energy, plasma, lightning, temperature manipulation, form manipulation, and spacetime is black holes, teleports, time travel.
Pretty neat.
@@CynicalWarlock Spot-on!
Thats how the basic power system in Naruto work
There is basic 5 element ( water,fire,wind,earth,lightning) , which can be combine to create advance one like ice,magma,..., then there is Yang element which deal with physical thing like healing, change body shape,.. and Yin element which is non physical thing like illusion or shadow
@@LongNguyen-oj2ji Yeah, and then you have the really broken stuff, like Particle Style, which also somehow didn't do anything in the series.
A big part of Naruto's appeal is its power system.
This is the best video i've seen about Mortal Kombat in eons. Great work!
I'm humbled. Thanks.
As an amateur writer, This was a really well thought out video. It gives me hope for my own power systems in my writing. Heck, you probably put more effort into the power system than NRS did in their entire revised timeline.
Unfortunately.
I come back here getting notified thatvmy comment got liked and then seeing your videi getting quite a bit of views. Good job my guy. You deserve it.
Yeah, the weird, hobo fringe video got the views. Mother of all irony.
Thanks a bunch. Your continued viewership and feedback definitely helped shape the channel.
@@CynicalWarlock I am glad to be there. You make interesting and well put together videos. I remember distinctively watching your Mass Effect paragon and renegade system video.
What you should learn from this is being a hobo weird fringe thing gets recognised.
@@Knight1029 Hobos get all the attention, man.
Funny thing is the Paragon-Renegade-let's-fit-3-games-and-5concepts-into-one-video video was also a pretty fringe one, but it did it's job well, in the end.
@@CynicalWarlock it's weird man. It's always the videos you don't expect to do well that do surprisingly well. It makes no sense. My own videos follow that trend too.
i don't think reptile uses force, i think it's just acid since he can spit it so he probably makes acid from his hands and creates the ball out of it
That's definitely the case in the newer games. They made him vomit acid out of all his pores. Don't really like that, honestly.
In MK3, they were definitely more force-like than acid-like. Even the sound effect. Also, acid burns, force explodes.
Oh, that and the fact that they're called FORCEballs.
This is so cool! Love the comparison between Kitana and Kung Lao, they always reminded me of each other!
I know, right? Kept thinking about them, and realized they're both essentially airbenders.
What would you make of Johnny cages new abilities? It kinda has a shadow vibe but his molecules seem to be separating.
Shujinko might be duplicating the souls or just sampling some of the soul. Like a soul transfusion.
Johnny is definitely still shadow. I like the new effects; they look pretty cool, even if you lose the signature 'green shadow' color.
Shujinko is definitely what you said, and/or some magic fuckery from Damashi/Onaga.
I headcanon johnny has famous actor 4th wall plot powers in the new era
JCs new shadow effects are actually more in line with the original effects in first Mortal Kombat. He didn't have his signature green glow in that game either.
With Shujinko I think it might be a matter of soul mimicry? Soul sampling could theoretically have something to do with it, but he's almost like a magical data storage of the warriors he's come across. Like a living omnitrix pfft.
@@GreaterGrievobeast55 soul mimicry...never heard of that, but I like it! I always wondered if his "power" was just that, a power, as opposed to a skill that he learned from onaga. So like, was jinko mutated by onaga? Or is he more like Shang on that he was "shown" the way, and then just ran with it.
Personally, I like the latter. I always lean towards the characters that honed their skill and from that they gained great power, but then there is sub and the like, those born gifted. Which I guess is why I like liu and Shang the most.
I'm the same guy that talked about how light is fire+ earth+ water and this take now makes even more sense after i watvhed Tanya abilities first of all we see her creating energy constructs that are both solid and malleable however instead of being slymy like shadow they are charged with energy(a.k.a. fire ) also she has a move where she literally dematerialize herself into pure light
Tanya's traditionally a fire character (see Pyromancer Tanya, in MKX), and while her projectile attacks do have a cool animation to em, they still look like mostly just fireballs to me.
Those little Guanyin Bodhisattva hand constructs from her Fatal Blow do look like what you describe, though, so that's pretty cool.
@@CynicalWarlock yeah but she also has that dematerialization tecnique that doesn't seem like scorpion teleportation also if she uses light it doesn't mean she can't use the other main elements like fire
@@giomander40k Correct. That yellow dash of hers is likely something something Fire/Light/Illusion.
Technically, Havik also uses Blood Magik.
Yes, everyone kindly pointed that out. I forgot about poor Havik.
@@CynicalWarlock I do apologise for being another annoying comment. I tend not to bother reading many, so I am sorry
@@Z3r0_L1f3 Not at all. I enjoy getting comments, at all.
@@CynicalWarlock god. You’re so sweet dude 😭
Keep up the vids! You’re doing great!
I have never watched an analysis video that ive ever wanted to watch again. Nothing against them, however, most of them in my opinion, just cant keep my attention for *after* the video, at least, in ways that would make me want to watch them again. Hell, most videos, analysis or not, i have to watch on 1.25x to actually be able to focus.
So not only did i have to slow down the video so i was able to digest n understand everything you were saying, but i actually wanna watch it again.
Idk, there was just something so interesting about this that i just didnt wanna stop watching even when credits rolled.
Instant sub, n probably at least a couple rewatches. Probably one of my favorite analysis videos ive ever seen.
Oh, don't watch my more humorous videos then - you'll have to watch em at 0.25 speed, lol.
Thank you so much for the feedback and the sub. I'll definitely expand on this concept, in future videos. Maybe explore other possible kompound elements and/or do individual character videos, with respect to this system and how it actually informs their characterization and storytelling. Have some ideas already.
It makes you realize how scarily powerful Shang Tsung really is
Nah it really makes you think how powerful shao kahn really was bc Shang was his bitch
And Shao was Onaga's bitch, had to use deception to take the throne
@@Zacama_27 yup which is why I don’t understand why the keep using Shang tsung over and over again yes he is lius arch nemesis but not even close to the biggest threat in MK doesn’t make sense
@@Nocing This annoyed me too, and in my opinion is just another proof that the modern MK games lost there way with the lore. Shang is an important character, yes, but his whole shtick is that he is trying to go beyond his station and can't. Though Shang is one of my favorite characters, he is a slave to his ambitions. I keep saying this, but Dark Raiden should have been the boss character of MK11, the one whose mere presence should have been the threat to the timeline.
In the lore, Shang is ridiculous. At times he even rivals Raiden. That being said, and others in this thread have already said it, this point only goes to show how strong other characters like Shao, Onaga, Raiden, and and even Liu Kang really are. Shang is essentially a mortal who has mastered all the elements (the Avatar), but even he is humbled in the presence of the Gods, as well as the Chosen One.
Side note: I love the point @CynicalWarlock made about Liu Kang and the other Shaolin, that they do use soul manipulation to strengthen themselves, with Liu being a TRUE master at it. Look at his MKX variations, where he has mastered the duality of his soul. But yes, Shang is a master of other peoples souls, where Liu is a master of his own. Where Shang takes souls and adds them to his own power, Liu (and others) have mastery of their own soul, and thus it multiplies their own power. It is truly a brilliant way to explain power levels in MK.
Fun video, but you have the reach of Michael Jordan in Space Jam lol
If not more.
You earned a subscriber. In depth video, voice is nice to listen to, subtle jokes, and a calming cadence. Hope you have more in the pipeline bro.
Edit: You have clips from Mortal Kombat Conquest, a forgotten gem from the 90's that needed another season. You win the internet lol.
700+ comments and you are the *only one* who mentioned MK Conquest. Thanks for that. I love that show, despite the cheesiness. Story-wise, it did the most interesting things with a lot of these characters.
Actually just posted another video on the Sub-Zeros; dunno if you've seen it. And yeah, I have like 20 more videos in the pipeline.
As a matter of fact, one video I've been wanting to make for the longest time is one talking about MK Conquest. That show deserves more attention.
@CynicalWarlock Raiden was basically just "one of the guys" in that show. 😂
Implied to be leagues above the other fighters in terms of skill (which we never see until the last episode where he hands Khan his ass for a while) but just utterly laid back. Probably my favorite rendition of the character. It makes sense because IIRC Conquest was supposed to be a prequel to the movies, and Raiden kept the same general personality. I wish they'd bring that back.
@@KronosSion eXActly! That's such a subtle level of brilliance, right there, because Jeff Meek and co. clearly built Conquest Raiden's personality at least partly off of Lambert's version, in the 1995 film; after seeing Conquest, I retroactively interpreted Lambert's Raiden as having lost it, just a bit, after losing to Shao Kahn in such a soul-crushing way, and being tortured as his prisoner. It explains the delivery on some of his lines, like "The souls of billions will depend upon you, hahaha... ahem.. Sorry."; like he's faced that threat so many times, he's gotten desensitized to it.
Also, many people don't know this but Jeff Meek played both Raiden *and* Shao Kahn, in MK Conquest. Brilliant actor, and definitely the best interpretation of both characters.
@CynicalWarlock Ah yes Jeffrey Meek, one of the few to kick his own ass lol.
Although I *think* officially that last episode was going to be a vision if the show got renewed. Or everyone gets resurrected, I forget which. I think an old producer commented on it.
In my head canon, during Annihilation when Kahn said "So long as the portal remains open, your world becomes my world!" in my head, Raiden was like,"Nope. Nope, not doing this twice" and, as we see, thunder god slams him through a wall, and Shao has to call for backup. Retroactive, sure, because Annihilation came out a year before Conquest premiered, but this is a Raiden that has learned.
But who could forget Shao's best line in that movie: "The Earth was created in 6 days, so to shall it be destroyed!"
I have that book on my shelf, and I don't remember him in it 🤣🤣🤣 and I know how it ends too.
@@KronosSion Yees. Well they could have taken inspiration from Annihilation (the crazy madlads), who knows..
It's strange, but when I heard of the plans for season 2, my first reaction was 'No', cause this thing is meant to end in defeat for Earthrealm anyway, and this was such an impactful ending, that I don't think you could've topped it.
It was (and kinda still is) so rare to have the bad guy win, in a way that makes sense, in a story.
The only problem is the canon, cause Kung Lao was supposed to be killed by Goro, in mortal combat, instead of dying off-screen to a bunch of Shadow Priests.
How would you explain time in this system? Geras and kronika both have the ability to manipulate time without the hourglass, how come?
They're on a different level. Time is above this system.
You could MacGyver it, if you really wanted to, by claiming that time manipulation is tied to sand (earth), energy and speed (lightning), the space aspect of spacetime (force, shadow, matter manipulation, density manipulation - like mass effect fields), etc etc, but that's probably pushing it.
Or maybe time is a *kompound* kompound element - kompound squared - all the kompounds kombined.
I'm losing my mind here.
@@CynicalWarlock given it was introduced in mk 11, the theory holds surprising amounts of water.
Honestly just wondered why it wasnt mentioned :)
As for cetrion we know she can create plant life so while she has acces to soul I doubt she can use it like the others but rather to create them
@@albertlofling7310 Yeah, Cetrion still deals with soul energy, but in a creative way, rather than a destructive one.
@@CynicalWarlock actually there is a way to make it work. now that Im rewatching it. (K)ronomancy is just a modified soul use combined with the powers of gods. Kronika gave birth to cetrion, a suspected soul user given that she can give life, time manipulation is really just shifting the souls of either the entire universe or everyone/thing in a universe to rewind or speed it up. But to do it on such a scale you need artifacts to help you gain that reach, such as the crown and the hourglass, That is why liu kang can use it at the end of mk 11, he is now a god due to raiden and therefore does not need mastery over soul as his innate godhood gives him that power and similarly due to Shang Tsung's mastery of soul magic he can use the crown despite not being a god.
Geras uses his kronomancy to freeze people and to rewind his own wounds which given he has access to all powers isn't surprising when blood magic can do similar things.
@@albertlofling7310 A bit far-fetched, but I like the idea that the universe has a Soul, and healing/rejuvenating/giving it youth pills effectively rewinds time. That's pretty novel.
I always look at blood magic as the lesser physical version of soul magic since they seem capable of many of the same things with soul magic being more potent and versatile. Basically, blood evolves into soul the same way fire can evolve into lighting in some games or shows like Avatar. This could also explain how Shao Kahn could be a master of both blood and soul magic enough to teach both Skarlet and Shang Tsung respectively since the magics are related.
Exact words from my brain.
Soul is life, Blood is most of life, basically. It's the penultimate tier of power, with Soul being the absolute highest tier.
while i think that's an interesting way to think of it, i think it's just better to separate the elemental powers with the other types, like soul, time, portal, space, undead and any other crazy sources of power MK has.
So we do want the Hat force...
This vídeo is GREAT dude you just made MK 100x better in my head
Heh, glad you liked it.
Ever heard of Khrome? A recall of a Smoke product that was in silver paint instead of grey paint was left in the office of the guys who made the recall; someone visiting wanted a picture, posted it as the made-up MK character Khrome, and the internet has made him a guy who can turn into shapeshifting metal. Would he fit in this power system, or is it like Smoke where he is the only one?
Well there's another metal bender in MK: Tremor. So yes, Khrome would fit. Similar principle as in Avatar: The Last Airbender - metal, crystal, minerals, and various other impurities are all found in the Earth; they're technically part of it. So yeah, metalbending fits into this power system like a glove.. or gauntlet, rather.
This is the most brilliant copium I've seen any MK fan put together.
They'd do well to include this as part of they're power system as they modernize everything. Instead of retconning everything else to death.
I'm brilliant at coping. Or I cope with my brilliance.
Yeah, the lore is pretty much gutted, at this point. 0 consistency between games, and they forgot most of what made these characters and stories great.
It has been more than a year that I'm talking to a friend about an avatar edit for mk, thanks man, Shujinko is the avatar
Yeah, once you see it, it becomes obvious. They're both Asian-influenced elemental martial arts IPs.
That was a mouthful.
@@CynicalWarlock I just realized that the avatar before Aang looks like Shujinko too lmao
@@SvalblodChampion Haaaha.. Can't believe I never thought of that.
Spot on.
Come to think of it, Shujinko looks *alot* Like roku!
Hotarou is a bit unusual. He has earth and fire abilities but we know that because he does a lava splash, the only ability we've seen him do in game. However, in various endings in Deception, he's shown using strange gold yellow colored energies (that he never uses in gameplay) to kill and execute foes in endings. Are there energies that are representatives of order and chaos?
Don't forget the teleport. Yeah, Hotaru's weird. Need to research him a little bit.
As for energies that represent order and chaos, Havik uses blood, so I guess that's representative of chaos, for him. And if I recall correctly, Chaosrealmers admire water, for being formless, and bemoan water in a container, cause it's forced to take shape, thus representing order, so I guess water is also considered 'chaos'.
Entropy would be representative of both. Entropy literally means the level of randomness and chaos in a thing. Soooo, by that logic, time could be representative of Order? Since traveling back in time reverses entropy, Tenet style.
I'm just spitballing here.
This is the kind of video where I stop scrolling and lock in. This was awesome
Super-glad you liked it.
This is what internet is for. Subbed
Glad I'm using it properly then.
Welcome.
As an aspiring writer, I’m stealing this power system
Wise move.
bro replied to every single comment respect and great content fellow stranger
Woulda been hilarious if this comment was the only one I didn't respond to.
Thanks loads, appreciate it.
@CynicalWarlock delete your reply make it a meme and become famous lmao
@@MagosGanja369 And ruin my streak? Never.
i gotta say, you are a astoundingly inteligent person. if what you're saying is in fact truth, and you DID come up with all this yourself, your logical thinking, knowledge about elements and laws of physics and nature, ability to connect facts and creativity are on a sky high level. respect, my friend
Ego boost 500%.
Call an ambulance.
@@CynicalWarlock nah fr dawg, good job
@@igur_yes.8553 Thank you very much, you're awesome.
The knowledge of physics and such is partly knowledge, partly Google searches, but I think the creative aspect and the dot connecting is what made this video interesting to people.
"Shujinko also seems to be a Soul User, however it's unclear how he managed to steal people's abilities and fighting styles without killing them."
It's a crossover power; he has Blue Magic, from Final Fantasy.
Yeah, Shujinko is a gray Jedi.
Combinations sound like Wheel of Time Channeling. Weaves of different elements can be woven together to generate different powers which can produce crazy effects like balefire: vaporizing matter and souls - and their recent past actions - out of existence as the Pattern screams trying to repair the timeline, or Traveling, tearing holes in the Pattern to make portals etc
Never seen the show, but it sounds rad, like my system on steroids.
@CynicalWarlock I was talking about the books. The show hasn't gotten to balefire yet. Great video though 👍
Amazing video. I’m going to continue watching your MK powerscaling video
Forever? Don't forget to eat.
@@CynicalWarlockI meant your Sub Zero video my bad 🤥
@@seniorgrocco Yeah, just messin with ya.
@@CynicalWarlock I subbed. Love the MK “lore” vids
@@seniorgrocco Appreciate it. More vids on the way.
I am writing an Action combat story based in South East Nigeria , This videos has inspired and Informed my research 😂😂
Glad to hear it. Good luck with your story.
In a nutshell, Shujinko was able to do what he did because Onaga (damashi) gave him abilities on par with Shang Tsung but without the use of “souls”. Even while playing konquest, as you learn (steal) more techniques from the roster they tend to be surprised that shujinko can pull off (or as mileena says “survive”) after seeing the move just once. From what I can gather, damashi gave shujinko a more defense-oriented offensive soul magic that doesn’t negatively impact the target (whose moves are being stolen). Especially considering shujinko would’ve aged normally if not for the chaos realm’s Kamidogu. And this would align with the deception story of how Shujinko is collecting the kamidogu, thus Onaga giving him magic that would allow him defend himself.
Yes, the obvious explanation is, indeed, Onaga; whatever power he conveyed to Shujinko, it was basically Soul mastery 2.0. Which makes Onaga seem all the scarier, if he could just randomly convey such a gift, while in a semi-dead, comatose state.
Another clue that ties all of this together is the Chameleon characters. They are the only other people who can copy a person's abilities without harming or killing them. It could be that there is a level of mastering ones own soul that is so advanced, you can just copy any element or combination of elements being used and replicate them with your own soul mastery. After all, if we buy my headcanon, then to master Soul is to use all 4 basic elements, so it's technically possible to make any combination of elements, through mimicry.
There's this character in an old show with superpowered people, who could do what the Chameleons do - copy people's abilities, by just being around them. In that show, it was called 'empathic mimicry', which basically meant you could intuit and copy other people's traits, including their abilities, and modify your genetic structure to facilitate them.
I think I just went full geek there, for a second.
Man that’s rad, would be nice if MK1 could give more lore so we have a better idea for magic/abilities such as those. Even if it’s in a retconned manner. No doubt it would still apply to previous timelines as it’s all Liu Kang would know, even with his time as a god. Or else there would’ve been a new element (but there are none so it can’t happen, unless it was made specifically for the game, but even then it’d still be a sub-element/combination like you’ve stated.
At the end of the day, geek or not, stuff like this is fun to think and speak about lol
Sweet vids big dawg
This honestly sounds like a cool system to add if a kustom character feature returns
Complicated, but yes, cool.
Wait, this video exploded! 🙌👏 About time your channel is getting the attention it deserves.
You've been supporting me for so long that I consider this a joint victory.🙌
And naturally, the weird, fringe video that I thought wouldn't get views, gets all the fuckin views.
I personally interpret Johnny's force ball as more of a basic ussage of chi/mana without applied any element, as opposed to Liu Kang's fire ball which add fire on top of it
Soul magic and necromancy could be like a fith element sort of thing where its is a magic out side of the 4 element, which is why in 11 Shinnok who have soul magic is the counter balance to Cetrion who use 4 element
Definitely a valid way to interpret it.
Really enjoyed this video, especially how you highlight how MK depicts mastery at the end!
That's the brilliant part for me.
I loved this video so much, even as seeing Jade's old flashing-light moves hurts my eyes now. Thanks so much for talking about this!
Retro-glow! It was surprisingly difficult to find good glow footage.
I always assumed "force" was soul-manipulation. Turning your own soul into a physical weapon to hurl at your opponent or using your soul to enhance your speed and power. Johnny Cage's green kicks arent him coating his legs in elemental force magic, but rather his own soul wrapping itself around himself to enhance his body. and Blood magic would be a property of using soul magic to enhance the properties of Water magic, focusing just on stealing the life-rich blood of your opponent to enhance your body to get around the negative downsides of Soul Addiction, but with the cost that you don't gain everything the opponent has, just their vitality
Definitely a way to interpret it.
I think I do see a lot og Johnnys moves as potential inate talent with Self soul control. One of the intros between Skarlet and Shao Kahn in MK11 make it clear there's a distinction between blood magic and soul magic though.
Got to say, without a doubt my favorite power system analysis video ever seen
Thank you. Glad you liked it.
Everyone having elementals power
Erron black and stryker: GUN
Liu Kang: I will spend my entire life mastering the Fire element, to defeat my enemies.
Erron/Stryker: Or you could just shoot them.
It's funny that Kung Lao's abilities are oriented towards himself, as he is quite proud and smug
That's bloody brilliant.
I subscribed the second you replaced the c in compound with a k. Very informative and fun vid. ✨
Heh, thanks. More such vids on the way.
Great video
Thank you.
Ok, I just replayed your video twice!! I guess you can say this explanation made me love and gave you like.
You're twice the viewer everyone else is. Thanks for the love and the like.
I actually have something to contribute this video
In certain variations from Mortal Kombat X and also Mortal Kombat 11 Characters would use moves from previously deceased characters such as Kitana having access to a few of Jade's and Mileena's attacks. These variations are noticeably worse than If the character they were drawing from use them.
This really gives a sense that Characters can use more elements than we typically see in battle but their mastery of them heavily varies.
That's a pretty cool find, actually. The fact that Kitana always needed to summon Jade's staff just to do a Shadow kick always bothered me; like, the staff itself doesn't do anything, so why equip it for a kick? But maybe it's enchanted or something and it helps her do the move. And the way she uses Mileena's sai is, indeed, more of a setup tool than a projectile, in MK11, so it fits with her not having mastered Mileena's or Jade's abilities as much.
After all, she's an Air user, not a Shadow or Illusion one.
That sound like headcanon but still pretty cool
Accurate.
This could be a cool way to create custom characters with their own power sets by specking into certain elements and applying it to certain moves to make custom characters and custom variants
Great for some kind of action-RPG MK game.
Great work Cynical Warlock! You somehow made me love this video game series more through this in-deph video. Keep it up!! 😊
Glad to hear it. The video itself came from a place of love, so makes sense.
I like it when someone just pulls out his funny thouths and acts like it is actually the way it is and tht it does perfect sence. Because it does (partially). I do sometimes stuff like this myself)
Fanfic is fun, sometimes.
This reminded me of the occult meaning of the pentrogram , not the religious of satanic but more naturalistic , where each triangle represents different element , fire water earth and air , and the fith triangle represents spirit or soul , usually the top triangle of the pentargamm represents the soul or the spirit , as a final symbolic stage of the esoteric practicises , spirit over element , or spiritual over material
where the reverse pentagram is the starting point of the esoteric practice , the material over spirit , or material over spiritual
Interesting , i didnt see it before , how different charecters in the MK represent essentually different levels of mastery over different triangles of the pentagram , where some have mastery over one , multiple , or when u master them all u get to the soul manipulation
very nice
I wonder if in this case Shang doesnt have the full mastery over the soul element , since his soul addiction , his triangle in the pentagramm is imperfect and is pointing down , not up.
I would guess being immune to soul addiction and mastery over ur own soul would be the pinnacle of the power sistem u propose , the completed penagram pointing upwards
Perhaps Chronica or Onaga represents a full mastery of not inverted pentagram. Or perhaps Shujinko . Shangs pentagram is definately inverted
Honestly the more i think about it the more Shujinko seems to me like the master of the pentagram , being able to perfectly adapt fighting techniques of others in his arsenal in any way he wants, which would imply that the reason as to why he can do it is not becouse he copies it , he actually learns it from the perspective of his pentagramm being completed, his spirit or soul is just not constrained by any natural or unnatural limitations, which would also imply that his powers isnt quate limited by coping , he just doesnt fully grasp that his power has no limits in this power sistem.
your video made me think a lot , many thanks , i ll subscribe
and yes Avatar the last airbender is very much centered around this concept
Beautiful parallel. Yes, that's what I was going for, with this system. The idea that the more basic elements you master, the more powerful compound elements you unlock, like lightning and blood.
Soul is interesting, because it's the most powerful, but has the most drawbacks (as it should). If you take out Soul stealing and the Soul addiction associated with it, it's interesting to ponder what mastery over that element even looks like. Ermac and Kenshi are pieces of that puzzle, and I think Shujinko and the Chameleon characters are another piece - people who can copy other people's abilities and fighting styles, without having to consume their souls.
Either way, the pagan pentagram is a great analogy.
Why do fans come up with better lore explanations than the actual creators😅?
Overall very educational thank you 👏👏👏👏
Thank you, thank you.
Obviously, this is just my headcanon, but I find it pretty compelling.
A lot of this logic was a pretty insane stretch, but for the most part, logical.
I'm a very flexible being.
Bruuhhhh!!! You're good. This is incredible
And you're breathtaking.
This video is brilliant and I loved the ideas you brought forward. That said, where does that put someone like Geras, Kronika, and later on Liu Kang in regard to time? And also, while you do acknowledge how some characters use their teleportation as just moving between different realms, how exactly does realm travel fall into this elemental power system? That one did not make sense to me from the video.
Well I initially didn't even try to tackle these 2 concepts - time and portal - as they seem too different or out of this power system's league to be connected to it.
But a lotta people asked about Time, specifically, so my best guess is that Time is a kompound kompound element; it's Sand + Lightning. Sand = Earth + Air, and it accounts for the 'space' in spacetime, since it deals with matter, molecules etc. And we know now that the Earth itself does bend space a bit around it; that's what gravity is.
The 'time' part, however, has to do with speed, in my mind. Like if you moved fast enough, way past the speed of light, you could go in the opposite direction of time, like Superman or the Flash. You'd have negative speed.
What's the fastest element there is?
Lightning.
Which makes sense, because in MK9, Raiden sent a telepathic message to his past self; his mastery of Lightning afforded him that very limited form of Time travel.
So then, by that logic, Time would be Sand (Earth-Air) + Lightning (Air-Water-Fire).
As for portal magic, I think that power stems from the One Being - the demiurge figure that was split apart by the Elder Gods, into the 6 main realms. Portal magic is just natural connective tissue between the realms, that can be harnessed and controlled.
I just wanna say that the missing combinations you have shown us might be like this
Earth+air+fire= light because by increasing the amount of oxygen the fire will become not only hotter but will ascend to pure plasma the same substance of the stars creating light while the earth is able to make the plasma solidify into constructs like Ashra in the new mk1 is able to create solid light swords or normal light beams
Meanwhile
Earth+fire+ water=plants because you need earth and her nutrients then water and fire to form the organic cells in fact the way biologic life developed in water is because of energy a.k.a. fire that heated the water and also water and fire are essential for photosyntesis(fire in this case represents the heat of the sun) however no mortal kombat character has ever used plants except maybe Cetrion in some specific tecniques
Fascinating take. I like how you rationalized Ashrah's abilities.
I will say that plants are probably all 4 elements, since they also consume carbon dioxide (air). And since plants are lifeforms, it fits with the Soul element explanation, since Soul is basically the entire living being. And that fits with Cetrion, as well, since she's the only one we've seen, so far, who can use all 4 elements *and also* the only one who can grow plants. It's actually a cool alternate way to use all 4 elements.
I might have an idea of how shojinko is able to manipulate soul without killing his mentors. Looks like how clay, water, fire and air are able to mold and control themselves to fill spaces maybe he's able to contort his own soul in order to match the potential of his mentors. Also havock is totally a blood user imo
Havik's actually an interesting case; I'll do a video on him, at some point.
But that's a good starting point for explaining Shujinko's ability. By the way, he's not the only one, the Chameleons do the same thing. It's definitely Soul-related. I see it as the highest level is Soul mastery - manipulating your soul to mimic that of an opponent.
This did actually make me enjoy watching mk fights more fun to watch
Makes you wonder about the "missing" combinations.
What's earth + fire? Some kind of lava magic?
Earth + air? Sand? (Time for a new sand ninja rumor, lol)
Shadow + fire = ???
Earth + Air = Sand, which is Geras
Good point.
Earth + Fire is technically lava, and Metallic Tremor has access to a lava form, so by that stretch, Tremor is actually proficient in Earth and Fire.
Earth + Air = Sand, so Geras and Kronika.
Shadow + Fire = Earth + Water + Fire = good question. I'll have to analyze the rest of the MK cast and see what fits that bill.
I love this video, very well thought out and creative observations. I was trying read the lore and watch gameplay to get a better understanding of the magic/power system of Mortal Kombat, I was surprised no one else had thought of it until now. I realize after watching this through I had been looking at the game through the wrong lens in terms of how the system fits together. The 4 element analogy works quite nicely.
It's actually quite fascinating that this seemed to fit together so well, almost like it were done subconsciously. Perhaps the elements are really ingrained as archetypes in our minds too.
A brief observation of mine; strangely, the idea of this magic system works quite well within what little is known about the lore itself. The mythos starts with "The One Being" divided up by the elder gods into multiple kamidogou. As mentioned by your vision of the system, the combination of all elements together will create soul magic, the most powerful. If I recall accurately, all the realms of Mortal Kombat combined (which all make up the one being) will remake him and bring destruction to the MK Universe. Quite the coincidence...?
Beautifully said. I absolutely thought of this, but didn't want to make the video overlong. The Soul being split into its component elements is a microcosm of the One Being getting split into the 6 realms. You can almost even associate an element to each of the primary realms. Netherrealm is Fire, Earthrealm is Earth, and the and Edenia and Outworld could be the other 2. Orderrealm and Chaosrealm aren't elemental, but entropy-based. But that is pushing it quite a bit.
You mentioned something else that's probably true - a lot of these creations and associations are probably done subconsciously.
Dude, this is GENIUS.
Thank you!
Yo I love this video your voice is so cool and the depth you put into this is amazing thank you for taking the time to make this video 🙏🙏🙏
You're most welcome. Thanks a lot. I'll definitely do more of this stuff.
Havok also uses some form of blood magic as he can regenerate his body and heal
Blood and/or perhaps something more, since he throws/regenerates his whole body like it's nothing, and is immortal.
Might do a full video on him.