One character who is always mentioned but never played or fought against is the GREAT Kung Lao. Why I'm putting Great is because there are two Kung Lao characters - one is the original Kung Lao and the second is the Kung Lao who serves as the Ken to Ryu's Liu Kang. So, it's questioned how in the world did he have descendants?
The first Mortal Kombat game or coined as MK1 had this introduction screen. It was just the start of a new game and it was a pretty low budget game. You could see the caption "GORO LIVES" followed by this narration. So the Great Kung Lao was a Shaolin monk? Wait, aren't they supposed to be celibate? A cross-cultural study will reveal that some countries do have the tradition (that is, if you're a Buddhist) to have a time in your life to serve as a Shaolin monk until a CERTAIN PERIOD in time. Either you pursue the life of a monk or choose the life of an ordinary man after some time. Probably, after the tournament, the Great Kung Lao chose the life of an ordinary man. Being a monk means a strict sattvic vegetarian diet aside from the celibate lifestyle. Sattvic means no pungent spices. Yup, I could imagine the diet of the temple. Sure, I love vegetarian food, I don't complain about vegetables, but I can't live the life of sattvic vegetarian. It's because most of my vegetable dishes tend to use garlic and onion. I guess that kind of a life can suck which may be another reason why Liu Kung and Kung Lao are coined as former Shaolin monks. Liu Kang in the non-canon Malibu comics went for the USA. In the non-canon MK Legacy - Liu Kang became a normal man and was even about to get engaged at one point. Too bad MK Legacy never continued because I would've wanted Kitana to bring Liu Kang back to the side of light!
In the non-canon TV series MK Conquest - we can see the Great Kung Lao leave the Order of Light to live the life of a common man. Great Kung Lao already broke one of his mandatory rules - celibacy. It was because he was in a relationship with Jen Reyland - a woman who would die early on and he would live in so much regret. The series was canceled so we never know what happened.
In the canon, the Great Kung Lao possibly left the Order of Light (but still kept his head shaved for a reason), got married, had children, and never aged for 50 years. He probably saw his wife die and he was probably a very young-looking grandfather. It was possible that he was seeing his closest friends die while he remained young. He probably had no wife to go back to. Possibly, in the span of 50 years - he never realized that becoming champion meant not aging until the next tournament. So while he still had his youthful vigor - he probably lost his will to live. He probably never intended to fight again in the tournament but ended up doing so for the sake of Earthrealm. It's possible that when he fought Goro - he fought well but not well enough as a result of his slowly losing his will. Shang Tsung would later absorb the soul of the Great Kung Lao. In the original timeline, MK Deception was where the Great Kung Lao would be freed to achieve Nirvana. In the new timeline, it seems that it was intended the modern Kung Lao was a reincarnation.
So how does the Great Kung Lao get avenged? Originally, Liu Kang wasn't meant to be a descendant of the Great Kung Lao until the MK film. MK4/Gold carried it over although a typographical error replaced "descendant" with "ancestor". So, Liu Kang and Kung Lao are either distant relatives or first degree cousins. Liu Kang's middle name may be Kung for all we know. Maybe, Liu Kang's mother is the sister of Kung Lao's father. Originally, Kang was his surname though later games made Liu his surname. Though in today's world - Chinese may either put their surname first or their surname last in the Western setting. Liu Kang does avenge the Great Kung Lao by winning in the first tournament. In MK Gold - Kung Lao does a ceremonial strike. In MK9, we see Kung Lao defeat Goro in the second tournament at the Tower in Outworld. Either way, both descendants of the Great Kung Lao have finally avenged his death.
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