Headscratchers / Mortal Kombat: Deception

• Konquest Mode: How bizarre is it that Nightwolf, who is of Native American descent, claims ancestral land in the name of his tribe that is just adjacent to what is clearly a Chinese village where Shujinko grew up?

• In Deception Konquest mode; it is shown that Onaga is aware of the history of the One Being and the Elder Gods as he tells it to Shujinko through his avatar. Why seek to unite the Kamidogu then and tempt fate?
  • Possibly, with the Kamidogu gathered, Onaga could become powerful enough to take on the One Being himself.
  • It is shown in his very own ending (can't remember if he got one or if it was an unlockable feature) that Onagas plan was to fuse the realms with himself and BECOME the One Being. It is also generally implied in that game and others that the One Being is manipulating him and every other major villain with the possible exception of Shinnok to get them to conquer the realms and merge them together so that it can be reborn that way, so Onaga might just be an Unwitting Pawn.

• Also, how is Raiden in Deception, story-wise? He kinda blew himself up in the opening sequence...
  • That was actually covered in Fujin's Armageddon bio; apparently, when a god self-destructs themselves, their essence re-coalesces and they're reborn, but with none of their past memories or identity (in essence creating a new, "blank slate" version of that particular deity). Something happened to Raiden during that time, though, so he retained his original memories and personality afterwards, as well as turning dark.

• What's going through Raiden, Shang Tsung's and Quan Chi's heads in the Deception opening? Seriously, 'All three of us can't hold him off, so I'll just use all my power on my own.'
  • I'm assuming you're talking about Raiden self-destructing after they ganged up to try and stop Onaga. It was basically a desperation move; Raiden probably felt that, if nothing else will stop Onaga, a point-blank suicide bomber attack from a god using the whole of his divine essence to power said explosion was their last, best chance of doing any damage. It wasn't effective, naturally, and Quan Chi did call the Thunder God on it like he was insane for even trying it, but what else could they have done?
    • Maybe Tsung could try sucking Onaga's soul?
    • That only seems to work when the enemy is almost dead/defeated. Onaga had barely been scratched.

• What is with time in Konquest Mode? Shujinko goes into the Netherrealm just before Mortal Kombat (1992), but then he meets Scorpion while he's there, and gets told that Quan Chi killed Scorpion's family. Scorpion only figured this out near/at the end of Mortal Kombat 4, so did Shujinko spend years in the Netherrealm? Furthermore, Shujinko then apparently gets thrown in prison by Hotaru and spends years growing old in there. This apparently takes place between Deadly Alliance and Deception. How? Deception happened right after Deadly Alliance.
  • Actually Shujinko goes into the Netherrealm three times during his journey. The third one is where he meets Scorpion, so it could be right after MK4. And Shujinko was thrown into jail by Hotaru during Deadly Alliance, since he has just taught Li Mei some fighting techniques. Deadly Alliance's story didn't happen during a single day: characters got sidetracked, had to deal with traitors and enemies and whatnot. They could have spent years preparing themselves, or maybe time flows differently in Orderrealm. Remember that Onaga appeared to him before confronting the Deadly Alliance and Raiden.