Kitana (Mortal Kombat)
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Kitana (or Princess Kitana by title) is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.
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[edit] About Kitana
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 only to be in her early to mid twenties. Through the years, she has risen to great importance, first as the loyal stepdaughter of 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. 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.
[edit] Storyline
First appearing in Mortal Kombat II as Shao Kahn's personal assassin and daughter, Kitana is actually the daughter of Edenia's King Jerrod and Queen Sindel. Taken as Shao Kahn's own when he conquered the realm, Kitana spent much of her life loyally serving him until she discovered the truth about her past and vowed to overthrow him. In Mortal Kombat II, when Mileena, an evil clone of Kitana originally created to replace her but instead used to spy on her, discovers that she is no longer loyal to Kahn, they fight and Kitana kills her.
During the events of Mortal Kombat III, Kitana is put on trial for treason for Mileena's murder. She escapes and joins the warriors of Earth to free Sindel who has been resurrected and being used by Kahn to invade Earth. After convincing her friend Jade to join her, Kitana frees Sindel from Shao Kahn's hold, leading to his defeat at the hands of Liu Kang. Kitana and Sindel then free Edenia from Outworld.
Their jubilance is shortlived, as during Mortal Kombat 4 Shinnok and his grand vizier Quan Chi invade from the Netherealm. Kitana is taken prisoner, but manages to escape and rejoin her Earthrealm allies. Shinnok's forces are defeated, and with Edenia once more free, Kitana finally proposes to Liu Kang and offered to rule Edenia with him as King and Queen. He reluctantly rejects her, seeing his true duty as Champion of Earth.
After Shinnok's defeat, Kitana 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 the Shokan. The combined armies wiped out much of Kahn's forces, but eventually were in stalemate.
In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Kitana learns that Shao Kahn has been slain by unknown assassins. Thinking her fight is finally over, she begins to journey back to Edenia, hoping she can finally live in peace. However, she encounters Kung Lao who tells her of the "Deadly Alliance" of Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, who were planning to revive the Undead Army of the legendary Dragon King, and how they had already managed to kill Shao Kahn and Liu Kang.
Despite Kitana's grief upon learning of Liu Kang's death at the hands of the Deadly Alliance, she again joins with her old Earthrealm allies against the new threat. Eventually, Kitana and her allies assault Shang Tsung's palace where she faces Quan Chi one on one. Unfortunately, despite her new and improved skills gained from training with Bo' Rai Cho, Kitana is outmatched by the powerful sorcerer and killed, while her allies would each also perish as well. Shortly after, they would be resurrected by Onaga, the legendary Dragon King himself, who also puts a powerful spell on them, turning them into his loyal servants.
In Mortal Kombat: Deception Onaga uses 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,[1] found himself a new ally and friend in Ermac, and the two had embarked on a mission to save their allies as well.
Ermac and Liu Kang are successful in freeing Kitana and the other Earth heroes. Afterward, as she travels back to Edenia, she encounters Blaze, who warns her of a coming new danger that will threaten all the realms. Weary of constant battle, Kitana is disheartened, but Blaze assures her that the wars will soon be over. Following this warning, Kitana returns in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, fighting alongside Edenia.
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 and Li Mei. They set out to defeat the forces of Darkness and trap them in the Netherrealm forever.[2]
[edit] Combat characteristics
[edit] Signature moves
- Fan Toss / Ground Fan: Kitana throws one of her fans at her opponent. Because the move could be executed both on the ground and in mid-air, it was a great way to finish off a combo, making Kitana a top-tier character in Mortal Kombat II. In Deadly Alliance, Kitana also has the option to throw her steel fan, but only once per round. If the thrown fan connects, it impales the enemy; if it misses or is blocked, it is gone. Whether it connects or misses, Kitana is only able to throw her fans once per round. This has been altered in Armageddon, as she can use multiple fan tosses in a single round, and the thrown fan only cuts the enemy and falls away, as her original fan projectile from the second game did. (MKII, UMK3, MKG, MK:DA, MK:U, MK:SM, MK:A)
- Square Wave Punch: Kitana jumps into the air and attacks incoming foes with a flying punch. This attack is taken from Sonya during her absence in Mortal Kombat II, however, in later games where they both appeared, both of them kept this attack (with the exception of Deadly Alliance, in which neither of them had it). Interestingly, Sonya has this attack with a name change, "Face Planter", in Armageddon, while Kitana still has this attack with its original name. (MKII, UMK3, MKG, MK:SM, MK:A)
- Fan Lift: Kitana spins her fans, levitating her opponent helplessly in the air. This attack served as both an anti-air attack and a set-up for juggle combos. This was one of the most devastating moves in MKII as players could avoid jump attacks and handicap the player for a limited time, yet the effectiveness of the move has decreased significantly in each game since then. In Deadly Alliance and Armageddon, performing this move while in an unarmed fighting style will automatically switch the player into Steel Fan style. (MKII, UMK3, MKG, MK:DA, MK:U, MK:SM, MK:A)
- Fan Swipe: Kitana slashes at her enemy with her razor sharp fan. (MKII, MKG)
- Pretty Kick: Kitana flies toward her opponent, kicking multiple times. (MK:DA, MK:U, MK:A)
- Pixie Dust Teleport: Kitana disappears in a violet cloud and reappears behind her opponent. This move is taken from Jade.(MK:A)
[edit] Recurring fatalities
- Kiss of Doom: Kitana removes her mask and kisses her opponent, who expands like a huge balloon before exploding into pieces. In UMK3/Trilogy, the opponent stretches to odd proportions before exploding to pieces. In Deadly Alliance, the victim inflated several times (vomiting blood in between) before exploding. In Shaolin Monks, the opponent explodes without inflating. (MKII, UMK3, MKT, MKG, MK:DA, MK:U, MK:SM)
- Head Chop: Kitana decapitates her opponent with a fan. (MKII, UMK3, MKT, MKG, MK:SM)
[edit] Appearances in other media
[edit] Film
Despite being an upper-echelon character in the series canon, Kitana was a supporting character (and unmasked) in both films, and was played by Talisa Soto. She appeared as an unwanted companion of Shang Tsung and his warriors in the first film, and in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, she was captured by Shao Kahn and later faced Sindel in the final battle. Her war fans briefly appeared as her primary weapon in the film, but her Edenian background, prior loyalty to Kahn, and relationship with both Mileena and Jade were ignored in both pictures; she was instead described as being the rightful heir to the Outworld throne.
[edit] Television
Kitana made three appearances in the live-action TV series Mortal Kombat: Conquest, with the role shared by Dara Tomanovich and Audie England. She is fully aware of her Edenian past and the deaths of her parents at Kahn's hands, and works covertly to prevent the Emperor from conquering realms while feigning her allegiance to him.
Kitana was one of the lead characters in the 1996 animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, in which she was unmasked[3] and voiced by Cree Summer. Similar to the films, Kitana is never shown to have even been loyal to Kahn at any time in her life.
[edit] Comic books
Kitana appears as a secondary character in Malibu Comics' MK series. Her backstory is slightly altered; she is still princess of Edenia and daughter of Jerrod and Sindel, but an adult when Shao Kahn killed Jerrod and seized the realm. Kitana is also under a spell induced by Kahn that makes her forget her past life and believe she is Kahn's daughter. She first appeared during the Goro: Prince of Pain miniseries, joining Mileena, Baraka, and Reptile in searching for Goro in Outworld. During the Battlewave series, Kitana attempted to rebel against Kahn with the assistance of Kung Lao, Baraka, and Sub-Zero.
[edit] Character development
Kitana's original costume for filming of MKII was blue, but game footage was shot with a red outfit for Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.
Katalin Zamiar played Kitana for MKII, and 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 during filming.
Kitana's signature "Kiss of Doom" fatality was, according to Ed Boon in a webchat interview, inspired by the demise of the villain in the James Bond movie Live and Let Die.
In Mortal Kombat: Deception, Ed Boon described Kitana and Mileena as the female equivalents of Scorpion and Sub-Zero, because just like the male ninjas, both female ninjas were created from the exact same models, pallet-swap creations due to the lack of memory. In addition, Kitana and Mileena have come to be the female icons of Mortal Kombat, just as Sub-Zero and Scorpion have become icons of the series.
[edit] Game information
Kitana was one of the most popular characters in Mortal Kombat II, and was the character that many fans used because of her combos which tended to end with a fan throw in mid air. During the early production runs of Mortal Kombat II, Kitana became notorious as an unbeatable character, as her "fan lift" move 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. Ed Boon claimed in a trading card for Kitana that it was amazing seeing people doing combos with her that even he hadn't thought of.
Kitana was 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.
Kitana was also supposed to be featured in Mortal Kombat: Deception. However, it was decided that the storyline would change and have her held captive by Onaga in favor of the reappearance of Jade, who has not been featured in many Mortal Kombat games, though Kitana was playable in Mortal Kombat: Unchained.
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- In MKG, Kitana's face model resembles the actress Talisa Soto, who played Kitana in the first two Mortal Kombat movies.
- Like many of the story elements of Shaolin Monks, Kitana's presence and depiction was the cause of some controversy.[4] Some fans were upset over the inclusion of Kitana being under a spell, feeling it weakened her overall storyline. Other complaints were over the fact that not only is Kitana never shown killing Mileena, she in actuality appears to be defeated by her, and later needs to be rescued by Liu Kang and Kung Lao.
[edit] References
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