I guess it's time for me to lament the wasted potential that's Shinnok. He was originally introduced as a force of darkness that supposed to be more powerful than Shao Kahn considering that he's a fallen Elder God. The potential was there since Mortal Kombat: Mythologies (which is a very bad game and I don't even suggest you pick it up) where Shinnok was an Elder God who was sentenced to the Netherrealm. Yet, he somehow managed to take over it and even its previous guardian and ruler (who I'd refer to as Lord Yan Wang) and started to plot for revenge over the next thousands of years.
So what's the whole deal with Shinnok? Unfortunately, MK4 sucks and the fact he becomes such an easy boss fight. I did like how Shinnok started getting his own individual unique moves over becoming a lazy Shang Tsung through his impersonations. The final boss battle was meh. It was good that Mortal Kombat X did give us a more challenging boss battle yet Corrupted Shinnok isn't really as challenging as Shao Kahn was in MK9. Seriously, what happened? Need I mention that his story in Story Mode is so much lacking? Why make him spend 99% of the Story Mode stuck in the amulet only for him to later get defeated again like how Hulk hammered Loki in The Avengers movie?
He's supposedly a darker, more evil version of Loki. Though one fallen deity in Chinese mythology would have served as his inspiration namely Tong Tian Jiao Zhu which is translated as "Heavenly Grandmaster". Said fallen Elder God founded the Jie Sect which is a cult devoted to worshiping him and this can be viewed as the Brotherhood of the Shadow. He also created two immortal slaughtering traps in his war against his fellow Elder Gods. He was eventually arrested and banished to the Netherrealm for his crimes. In some versions, he was joined by the sorcerer Pan Go Lin and the Tree Demon Lady who were both involved in his bid to overthrow the Elder Gods. I was thinking of the Eight Immortal TV series nearly copied some plots from Mortal Kombat 4. Tong Tian Jiao Zhu found himself double-crossed by his right hand Pan Go Lin -- the same way that Shinnok was eventually double-crossed by Quan Chi. I thought that Wuxia series actually gave Tong Tian Jiao Zhu more justice than Netherrealm ever gave to Shinnok. I wonder why didn't the producers at Netherrealm Studios actually try to see Wuxia sources in doing Shinnok?
I admit, seeing Raiden beat up a defenseless Shinnok may be nothing more than Netherrealm using the former as a mouthpiece of hatred. MK11 even has Shao Kahn returning as a DLC character. Shao Kahn got a very badass finish like the Bull Demon King in Journey to the West. The Bull Demon King in some versions was arrested by Ne Zha and leaving him to be judged at the hands of the Jade Emperor. Shao Kahn did get the Elder Gods to finally send him up to the Heavens for judgement from the Elder Gods. Yet, Shinnok was defeated by both Johnny Cage and later Cassie Cage which for me is just freaking weird -- Raiden should've been the one to finish the task and not any human if you ask me! Yet, Netherrealm would later pick Shinnok up and have Raiden torture the former -- it makes me even think that they really hate him so much!
I guess this is a real case of wasted potential. Shinnok should have been made more menacing and not even playable in MK4 with him impersonating one character per round like Inferno in Soul Calibur. Sadly, it looks like the people in Netherrealm just don't care about him or the potential he really has as a villain supposedly responsible for a lot of evils in his reality!
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