Kitana

Kitana
'Mortal Kombat' character
File:KitanaMKVSDC.JPG Kitana in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
First game	Mortal Kombat II (1993)
Created by	Ed Boon and John Tobias

Kitana (or Princess Kitana by title) is a player and boss character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.

Character

A primary hero in the Mortal Kombat saga, Kitana is the princess of Edenia and the daughter of Queen Sindel. She is over 10,000 years old, although she appears to be in her early to mid twenties, due to the much slower rate at which Edenians age. Through the years, she has risen to great importance, first as the loyal stepdaughter of the evil Outworld emperor Shao Kahn; then his enemy, tearing herself away from his grasp and freeing her home realm of Edenia; and then leading an army into Outworld to combat any chance of Shao Kahn rising to power again.

Driven by a search for justice, redemption, and peace, Kitana is a strong combination of discipline, intelligence, love and perseverance. She shared a subtle love interest with Earthrealm champion Liu Kang until he was murdered by the Deadly Alliance, though they were briefly reunited prior to his resurrection. She has aligned herself on the good side, despite her loyalty to Shao Kahn for most of her life until learning the truth about her past and real family. Kitana has an evil clone named Mileena who was originally introduced as her twin sister, and is considered her arch-rival in the series.

Storyline

Mortal Kombat II

Kitana first appeared in Mortal Kombat II as Shao Kahn's daughter and personal assassin, working alongside her supposed twin sister Mileena. After centuries of loyally serving Kahn, Kitana uncovered the truth about her past, discovering that she is actually the daughter of Edenia's King Jerrod and Queen Sindel, taken as Shao Kahn's own when he conquered their realm. She also learned that Mileena is not her sister, but a grotesque clone of her created at Shao Kahn's behest by the sorceror Shang Tsung to keep Kitana from ever learning of her birthright. Kitana vowed to overthrow Shao Kahn and entered the tournament. Mileena became suspicious of Kitana'a change in behavior and spied on her as she secretly met with Earthrealm warriors during the Mortal Kombat tournament. She reported Kitana's actions to Shao Kahn, confirming his suspicions about her. The two "sisters" eventually fought each other in the tournament, resulting in Kitana killing Mileena.

According to the spin-off game Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, when Kitana was found no longer loyal to Kahn, she was put into a trance and forced to fight the Earthrealm heroes anyway; she was however freed from this state by Liu Kang and Kung Lao.

Mortal Kombat 3

During the events of Mortal Kombat 3 (where she appears in Liu Kang's ending) and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (in which she was added as a playable character), Kitana was put on trial for treason and the murder of Mileena. She escaped and joined the warriors of Earthrealm to free Sindel who has been resurrected and being used by Kahn to invade Earth. After convincing her friend Jade to join her, Kitana freed Sindel from Shao Kahn's hold, leading to his defeat at the hands of Liu Kang. Kitana and Sindel then liberated Edenia from Outworld.

Mortal Kombat Gold

Their jubilance was short-lived, as during Mortal Kombat Gold, Shinnok and his grand vizier Quan Chi invaded from the Netherealm. Kitana was taken prisoner, but managed to escape and rejoin her Earthrealm allies. Shinnok's forces were defeated, with Edenia once more free, Kitana finally proposed to Liu Kang, offering to rule Edenia with him as King and Queen, however he reluctantly rejected her, seeing his true duty as Champion of Earth. After Shinnok's defeat, Kitana imprisoned Mileena but learned that Shao Kahn had survived his defeat on Earthrealm and was trying to regain his strength in Outworld. Knowing when he regained his power he would threaten Edenia again, she forged an alliance with Goro and his race. The combined armies wiped out much of Kahn's forces, but eventually were in stalemate.

Deadly Alliance

In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Kitana learned that Shao Kahn has been slain by unknown assassins. Thinking her fight is finally over, she began to journey back to Edenia, hoping she can now live in peace. However, she encountered Kung Lao who told her of the plans of "Deadly Alliance" of Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, responsible for Shao Kahn's demise, to revive the Undead Army of the legendary Dragon King. She also learned of the murder of Liu Kang. Despite Kitana's grief upon learning of Liu Kang's death at the hands of the Deadly Alliance, she again joined her old Earthrealm allies against the new threat. Eventually, Kitana and her allies assaulted Shang Tsung's palace where she faced Quan Chi one on one. Unfortunately, despite her new and improved skills gained from training with Bo' Rai Cho, Kitana was outmatched by the powerful sorcerer and killed alongside her allies. Shortly after, they would be resurrected by Onaga, the legendary Dragon King himself, who also put a powerful spell on them, turning them into his loyal servants as Mileena impersonated Kitana as the princess of Edenia.

Deception/Unchained

In Mortal Kombat: Deception Onaga used Kitana to imprison her mother Sindel, knowing the queen would not fight her daughter. Luckily, Sindel was freed by Jade, and together they fled to Outworld where they attempted to find a way to defeat Onaga and free Kitana from his evil influence. Unknown to Kitana, Liu Kang's spirit, which was able to remain amongst the living due to the bond he shared with her, found himself a new ally and friend in Ermac, and the two had embarked on a mission to save their allies as well.

Armageddon

Ermac and Liu Kang were successful in freeing Kitana and the other Earthrealm heroes. Afterward, as she traveled back to Edenia, she encounters Blaze, who warns her of a coming new danger that will threaten all the realms and Kitana is told she needs to assemble the forces of light into battle. Weary of constant battle, Kitana is disheartened, but Blaze assured her that the wars will soon be over. Following this warning, Kitana returned in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, accompanied by Liu Kang's spirit in order to keep him whole until there was a way to reunite him with his body. They later met up with Nightwolf, who was still drained from using his shamanic powers to draw Onaga's soul into the Netherrealm, and offered to relieve Kitana of her burden by using what magic he had left and took on the responsibility of looking after Liu Kang, and they parted ways once again. In her Armageddon ending, Kitana defeats Blaze and becomes the champion of the Elder Gods. She goes on to form an all-female fighting force consisting of herself, Sindel, Jade, Sonya Blade and Li Mei, and together they set out to defeat the forces of Darkness and trap them in the Netherrealm forever.

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

In the crossover video game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Kitana was transported to Metropolis, where she encountered Wonder Woman (her counterpart from DC Universe). Due to the "kombat rage", Kitana hallucinated, believing Wonder Woman to be an assassin sent from Outworld and challenged her. After being defeated, Kitana fled to elsewhere in Metropolis, where she was found and defeated by Scorpion and brought to Raiden's temple, where she explained seeing the fusion of Shao Khan and Darkseid: Dark Khan. Kitana then joined the rest of the Kombatants in traveling to the fused realms of Outworld and Apokolips, and fought alongside them against the DC heroes and villains, and was one of the many knocked unconscious while Raiden and Superman battle and destroy Dark Khan. In her ending, Raiden grants Kitana and her Edenian warriors a new home on Earth—Shang Tsung's abandoned island. The island, which formerly served as the tournament battlegrounds, is converted into a "bastion of beauty and light" and named Argus Island, in honor of the Edenian protector god.

Mortal Kombat (2011)

Kitana has been confirmed for the next Mortal Kombat game.

In other media

Films

File:MK083.jpg

Talisa Soto as Kitana in Mortal Kombat

Despite being a major character in the video games' storyline, Princess Kitana was only a supporting character in both Mortal Kombat live-action films. She was portrayed by Talisa Soto, appearing unmasked. In the first film, Kitana was introduced as a companion of Shang Tsung, but eventually joined Liu Kang and the Earthrealm warriors. She then spent most of the sequel under Kahn's capture before facing Sindel in the final battle. Her steel fans briefly appeared as her primary weapon in the sequel, but her Edenian background, prior loyalty to Kahn, and relations with Mileena and Jade were ignored in both pictures, in which she was instead described simply as being the rightful heir to the Outworld throne.

Television

Kitana made three appearances in the live-action TV series Mortal Kombat: Konquest, with the role shared by Audie England (episodes "Vengeance" and "Shadow of a Doubt") and Dara Tomanovich (in "The Essence"). In the series she is fully aware of her Edenian past and the deaths of her parents at Kahn's hands, clandestinely working with the Great Kung lao to prevent the Emperor from conquering realms while at the same time feigning her allegiance to him.

Kitana was also one of the lead characters in the animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, in which she was again unmasked and voiced by Cree Summer. Similar to the films, she is never shown to have ever been loyal to Kahn in the cartoon.

Comic books

Kitana appears as a secondary character in Malibu's MK comic books. In the comic special Kitana and Mileena, her backstory is slightly altered: she is still princess of Edenia and daughter of Jerrod and Sindel, but she was already an adult when Shao Kahn killed Jerrod and seized the realm, putting her under a spell that makes her forget her past life and believe she is Kahn's daughter. She first appeared during the Goro: Prince of Pain story arc, joining Mileena, Baraka and Reptile in search for Goro in Outworld. During the Battlewave miniseries, Kitana attempted to rebel against Kahn with the assistance of Kung Lao, Baraka and Sub-Zero.

Design

Kitana's signature "Kiss of Doom" Fatality was, according to Ed Boon in a webchat interview, inspired by the demise of the villain Dr. Kananga in the James Bond film Live and Let Die. In her trading card series video, Boon described Kitana and Mileena as the female equivalents of Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Kitana was played by Katalin Zamiar in Mortal Kombat II and the original costume used for filming the female ninja characters was Kitana's blue (Becky Gable took over the part for Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, for which motion capture footage was shot with a red outfit); her mask had to be attached to her nose with double-sided tape while her boots were held in place with rubber bands in order to keep them from falling down.

After her debut, Kitana was mostly meant or mentioned to return as a playable character in most sequels, but was often removed due to several circumstances, however she has always returned in the port or an update to the sequels that she's supposed to appear but cut down. She was going to return in MK3, but she, along with all other palette-swapped ninja characters, were cut down from the game; however she returned in UMK3. She was also supposed to be in Mortal Kombat 4 (along with Noob Saibot and Kano), but was taken out in favor of the new character Tanya. She was not, however, completely removed from the game: her rendering was still used in Liu Kang's ending, and players could fight as her in the Nintendo 64 and PC versions of the game via a cheat device. Later on, she was officially added to the roster of Mortal Kombat Gold, an expanded version of MK4. After her appearance in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, she was again stated to be featured in Deception. However, it was decided that the storyline would change in favor of the reappearance of Jade, who has not been featured in many MK games, though Kitana later became playable in Mortal Kombat: Unchained, the PSP port of Deception.

Gameplay

Kitana quickly became one of the most popular characters in MKII. During the early production runs of the game, Kitana became notorious as an unbeatable kombatant, as her "Fan Lift" special attack could be done in such a way as to completely immobilize the opponent in the corner of the screen, allowing the player using Kitana to defeat the opponent with a series of uncontested punches (changes were made in later versions of the game to eliminate this, as it tended to unbalance the game). Still, Ed Boon said that it was amazing seeing people doing combos with her that even he hadn't thought of. According to GamePro, Kitana was the 7th best out of the 12 fighters of MKII, with her devastating combos, powerful "Fan Throw" move, and good sweep and reach hindered by slow release of the "Fan" special moves and limited attack patterns. She, however, got no new special moves in UMK3. According to Sega Saturn Magazine, "Kitana's lack of enhancements doesn't make her as exciting to play as some of the other characters, though her excellent juggle combos still work - and they can do loads of damage." In MK: Shaolin Monks she is both a boss character in the games main story mode and one of the game's unlockable player characters for the versus mode.

Promotion and reception

An action figure of Kitana came in the MKII series with the Argentinian magazine Top Kids in 1995. In 1998, an action figure of Kitana was released in the Mortal Kombat Trilogy series by Toy Island in UK only. Another action figure based on her MKII design was also presented by Infinite Concepts at the Toy Fair 2000, but was never actually released. In 2011, it was announced Kitana would appear in Kevin Tancharoen's MK live-action webisode series.

In 2008, GamesRadar placed Kitana among "Top 20 Overlooked Game Babes", and UGO Networks ranked her as #28 on their list of "Top 50 Videogame Hotties" ("Kitana has her curves in all the right places, and her signature fans will keep you cool when things start to heat up"). That same year, Mania ranked her #10 among the "psychotic video game chicks with too much baggage" while GameDaily editors included her in a list of "Ten Babes Who Should and 10 Babes Who Shouldn't Meet Your Mom", stating that the combination of hiding her face with a mask and her sheer deadliness would be met with displeasure, and also featured her in their "Babe of the Week: Brunettes" piece the following year. Also in 2009, Unreality placed Kitana in the list of "10 of the Most Badass Video Game Women of All Time", Complex Blog included her among "The 10 Hottest Video Game Girls", and Fakt featured her among the "21 sexy ladies of computer games". In 2010, GamePro's AJ Glasser found Kitana as his favorite female Mortal Kombat character, even as he criticized her special moves. In 2011, UGO included her in the list of "25 Hot Ninja Girls" ("we can't talk Mortal Kombat and forget Kitana"), while Game Revolution rated her as #4 among "Top 10 Old School Mortal Kombat Characters" and Complex had the animated series' version of Kitana as #18 on their list of "The 25 Hottest Cartoon Women Of All Time".

Kitana also shared much of the spotlight with her clone. At the time of the release of MKII, The Miami Herald called Kitana and Mileena, "leggy ladies who wear masks", to be "an interesting step toward political correctness" as "a far cry from Little Miss Muffet", while Austin American-Statesman described them as "far nastier than that martial-artless aerobics instructor from the first game". In the book Interacting With Video, the "two Asian twin sisters, Kitana and Mileena" were held as an example of a "highly eroticized dragon lady" of video games. Kitana also shared #7 with Mileena for her "Kiss of Doom" on GamesRadar's list of "Top 7 Girls kissing girls" in 2006. In 2009, GamePro ranked them #11 on their list of the best palette-swapped video game characters.

One of the urban legend-style rumours surrounding MKII concerned the supposed Nudality finishing move that would be performed by Kitana. The nickname of an adult model Cherie Roberts is "Kitana Jade" since 1999 (Jade being the name of another female ninja character in the MK series). In 2004, Vibe's Stud Houston admitted he had once a crush on Kitana and called her "sexy as hell". In 2010, a self-proclaimed "geek" Tanya Jordan won the Ms Fitness Southern California event for her pole dance while cosplay dressed as Kitana from UMK3 (in 2011, the FHM Premiere Vixen champion Karen Bordador also cosplayed as Kitana). During the development of the MK reboot, the God of War director David Jaffe enthusiastically wrote how the GoW character Kratos would have "a FUCKALITY" with "Sonya AND Katana [sic]" if he would join the series (Kratos was indeed soon added to the MK character roster).

External links

• Kitana - The Mortal Kombat Wiki
• Kitana (Mortal Kombat) at IGN
• Princess Kitana (Character) at the Internet Movie Database
• Kitana at TV Tropes