Sheeva

This article is about the Mortal Kombat character. For the Hindu aspect of God, see Shiva.

Sheeva
Series	Mortal Kombat series
First game	Mortal Kombat 3 (1995)
Voiced by	Dawnn Lewis (DotR)
Motion capture	Marjean Holden (second film)

Sheeva is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.

About Sheeva

Sheeva belongs to the ancient race of the Shokan, described as a subterranean people living in Outworld. Like all of her race, she possesses a tall, muscular build, red eyes, and four arms. She served as the personal protector of Queen Sindel during Shao Kahn's failed invasion of Earthrealm. Sheeva's appearance and fighting characteristics are similar to that of Grace Jones, particularly when she portrayed the character Zula in the Schwarzenegger film Conan The Destroyer.

Storyline

When Shao Kahn resurrected Sindel as the first step in his invasion of earth, he appointed Sheeva to be her personal protector. Sheeva became distrustful however, when Kahn appointed the centaur Motaro to lead his Extermination Squads into battle. She saw this as an insult, as the Shokan and Centaurs have long been mortal enemies. She served the emperor in Earthrealm, but when she returned to Outworld, she was shocked to learn that Shao Kahn had betrayed the Shokans, and had launched an offensive against them. She joins her fellow shokans in fighting Kahn’s warriors. The Shokans are far outnumbered, and cannot hope to win. Luckily, Shao Kahn is defeated by Earth’s warriors, and recalls his troops from all fronts. Sheeva takes this opportunity to get revenge on her nemesis, Motaro.

Days later, she learns that Motaro has nursed his Earthrealm ally, Kano, back to health. Although Motaro had rescued Kano, it was merely to imprison him so he could later face the wrath of Shao Kahn for his failure to defeat Sonya. He gets imprisoned. Some time later, Sheeva arrives to the palace. The Shokan warrior kills Motaro outside of Kano's cell. She was on her way to assassinate Shao Kahn as well when Kano offered his assistance if Sheeva let him out of his cage.

Kano and Sheeva proceeded to the throne room of Shao Kahn. When they arrived at the door, Kano suggested that he go in first to distract the Emperor. Kano would give the signal for Sheeva to enter and slay the preoccupied Shao Kahn. But Kano betrayed Sheeva and informed Shao Kahn of her assassination plot. When Kano called her in, Shao Kahn thrust a sword through her chest from behind.

In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon it is possible that Sheeva has escaped from the Netherealm somehow, this is unknown how though as it was never confirmed.

In Armegeddon's Konquest mode, Sheeva is seen in the Netherealm along with Kintaro, Havik, and a legion of demons all apparently working in an attempt to overthrow Shinnok's rule at his spire. However, Shinnok later reveals that they were only apparitions created as a test for Taven, thus making it clear that it was not the real Sheeva.

In Sheeva's Armageddon ending, she defeats Blaze and is met by the Elder Gods. She becomes the Goddess of Destruction, destroying realms using a Kamidogu; she then recreates the realms however she sees fit, but exactly what they are remade into is never revealed.

Combat characteristics

Signature moves

• Teleport Stomp: Sheeva leaps high into the air and lands on her opponents, stomping on them several times. (MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK:A)
• Searing Blast: Sheeva shoots a fiery burst of energy at her opponent.(MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK:A)
• Furious Stomp: Sheeva stomps on the ground, creating a tremor that sends the opponent into the air. (MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK:A)
• Untamed Fury: Sheeva grabs her opponent with her lower arms, and pounds them with her upper arms. (MK:A)

Recurring fatalities

• Ground Pound: Sheeva pounds her opponent into the ground until their head pokes out which made people think if this was truly a "Fatality". (MK3, UMK3, MKT)
• Skin Rip: Sheeva grabs her opponent then rips their skin off, leaving behind a bloody skeleton. (MK3, UMK3, MKT)

Appearances in other media

Film

Sheeva appeared in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, and was played by Marjean Holden. The shooting script included a lengthy fight scene with Raiden that was omitted during filming; instead, she was simply crushed by a falling cage in Kahn's throne room. Her only action sequence was a brief quarrel with Motaro, though the film did acknowledge that she was once Sindel's personal protector.

Television

Sheeva had a small role in the animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, in which she harbored a long-standing animosity toward Raiden. She was voiced by Dawnn Lewis.

Game information

Sheeva was introduced into the series due to fans' requests for a playable version of Goro. MK co-creator John Tobias said in a 1995 interview with EGM that while the character was given Goro's offensive moves, she was made female so that she would be smaller in size and therefore the same height as the other fighters. Sheeva's name is derived from Shiva, a Hindu deity of destruction typically depicted with multiple arms.

She was not included among the selectable fighters in the SNES and Sega Genesis version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 due to memory constraints, though she appeared as a glitch character in the SNES version of UMK3. Sheeva's blood was green in MK3 through Mortal Kombat Trilogy. She was the first character to have this particular blood color (not counting the censored Japanese version of MKII, in which all characters had green blood). Her blood color was changed to red in Armageddon.

Until the release of MK: Armageddon, Sheeva had not appeared as a playable character since MK Trilogy, nor did she have had any substantial cameos; only her corpse was found in the Netherealm in Mortal Kombat: Deception's Konquest mode and is seen running through the graveyard in the game's Krypt, in which almost all MK characters had cameos. Her fate after MK Trilogy was revealed in the text from Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance's Konquest mode. In Armageddon's arcade mode, Sheeva sometimes appeared as a sub-boss before the final fight with Blaze. She is the only Shokan character that can perform aerial combos, and the only Shokan character that can be thrown by normal characters in the game.

In Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, "Sheeva, Sheeva, SHEEVA!" is a game-over message.