The final realm (or at least the last one that we’re looking at) that was created for Mortal Kombat: Deception was Chaos Realm. This realm is to stand in opposition to Order Realm, and is supposed to be a wacky, crazy universe where ducks have law degrees, clam chowder marries a fish, and health care is feely available. Unfortunately, the good folks at Mortal Kombat Korp. weren’t feeling particularly creative on the day Chaos Realm went into production, so it mostly looks like a Final Fantasy continent threw up on a graveyard. Rocks float in the air, the residents are aggravatingly religious (“Have you heard the good news? Wiggle waggle wizzle, chaos is the shizzle.”), and there are a strangely high number of teleporters scattered around. It’s chaotic, but predominantly “chaotic” in a way that is less “from the unparalleled imagination of Moebius” and more “it’s 3 AM and I’m tired, let’s bang out this realm and hit the 24 Hour Diner and Pet Shop over on Poplar Ave.”
And from this glorious realm hails Havik, Cleric of Chaos. Havik is chaos incarnate. Or he’s just a walking corpse. It’s one of those.
Havik is supposed to embody chaos, but it’s telling that his behind-the-scenes creation started as merely an alternate skin for noted undead monster Noob Saibot. Havik’s general look is that of a walking corpse. He also utilizes a number of moves that involve impossible contortions, prominent bone snapping, or somehow restoring health through playing dead. In short, Havik’s special move oeuvre is less “chaotic” and more “what happens if someone already dead is fighting?”. And, don’t get me wrong, that’s a pretty interesting hook for a fighter (particularly in a franchise where another character’s hook is “has a hat”), but it does seem like a loss when a true “Cleric of Chaos” style fighter would likely be closer to something out of Darkstalkers. We already have Darkstalkers, Mortal Kombat! They did it better! They did it years ago!
And Havik’s general plan in the universe is “chaotic”, but that same brand of dime-store chaos that is usually reserved for GI Joe villains. Havik came upon Kabal, the former Black Dragon and sensational character find of Mortal Kombat 3. Kabal had been murdered by Red Dragon Leader Mavado, and Havik decided to revive Kabal because, of all the dead Mortal Kombat kharacters across the franchise, Kabal seemed most likely to do something chaotic. Mind you, this was only because Kabal’s intentions and personality were so poorly defined in his initial outing, he was practically a Dragon Quest protagonist, but, hey, works for Havik. Kabal was revived and tasked with creating an all-new, No-Kanos-Allowed Black Dragon clan. Sure! Sending some random cyborg dude to create a fresh band of thieves sounds pretty chaotic, but I’m pretty sure that’s something that could have been done without reviving a dead burnout. Whatever the case, Kabal capitulates, and Havik leads the New Black Dragons into battle against Onaga. Yes, to be clear, this “chaos” minion was firmly on the side of the angels, as, according to Mortal Kombat law, anyone distinctly fighting against the final boss of the tournament is a good guy. Except it was all a ruse! Havik just wanted a chaotic final battle, and, in the ensuing whaddyacallit, Havik would devour Onaga’s heart (!), and gain the ability to revive any dead guy he wanted. I mean… uh… I guess reviving Kabal took too much MP? So he had to get a new source of Phoenix Downs? It’s kind of weird when a dude starts his tenure in a franchise by bringing someone back from the dead, and then it turns out they’re fighting to gain the power to bring back the dead. Maybe that’s the most chaotic thing of all?
Whatever the case, Havik doesn’t wind up accomplishing his (surprisingly orderly) plan. This, ultimately, is just fine, as everyone in the Mortal Kombat universe is alive again in time for Mortal Kombat: Armageddon anyway, and what was even the point of gaining a life spell if everyone is already immortal? Like his Order Realm frenemies, Havik is stuck with the base plot of “Havik love chaos, Havik hate order, Havik hungry” in MK: A. He doesn’t do a damn thing in the overall plot, but he’s probably missing that immortal dragon heart pretty bad by the time he and literally everyone else is dead.
Havik technically doesn’t return in the rebooted MK universe (like some of his contemporaries from Deception, the best he can hope for is a non-kanon cameo in an ending or two), but he was the main villain for much of the Mortal Kombat X comics. Long story short, he’s back to his old “reviving random dudes is chaos” ways, and he’s trying to bring Shinnok back from the brink of nonexistence. He doesn’t particularly succeed (that honor goes to Shinnok’s other minions in the main game), but he is responsible for an Onaga-esque plan that involves collecting magical trinkets from across realms and tricking some poor shlub (Reiko!) into doing all of his dirty work. In the end, his patsy is destroyed by his own hubris, and Havik is decapitated by Scorpion. Interestingly enough, the vengeful Scorpion was playing dead during his battle against Havik, so ol’ chaos champion fell for one of his own special moves. Maybe dramatic irony is the most chaotic thing of all. Havik survived his beheading (what does death mean to a creature that is so kuh-razy?), but Quan Chi wound up obliterating Havik’s severed, still-talking noggin. That’s likely as definitive an end as Havik can hope for.
But what happened to Kabal and his new Black Dragons? Surely someone cares about the new crew of thieves that Kabal cobbled together inside of five minutes (seriously, Mortal Kombat: Deception happens immediately after Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, so Kabal did not have much time to find the cream of the crop). Well, whether you care or not, I’m going to tell you about Kabal’s newest Black Dragons anyway.
Kira is the first recruit. She was an arms dealer that sold weapons to terrorists, but terrorists in post-9/11 stories are terribly sexist, and Kira had to butterfly knife her way out of a scrape or two. This attracted Kabal’s attention, because “weapons sales” was like the one viable revenue stream available to the original Black Dragons. The fact that Kira was also a decent fighter was simply the cherry on top of the homicidal sundae.
Unfortunately, Kira is basically the worst possible version of herself. Kira was introduced in a game where both Kano and Sonya were assumed dead. This allowed Kira to arrive with special moves and fighting styles that previously belonged to Kano and Sonya. And there could be a cool story there! Kira could be Sonya’s previously unmentioned daughter that was kidnapped and raised by Kano! Or Kano could continue to be a giant weirdo (reminder: this was the period when Kano kept a lock of Sonya’s hair as a necklace), and he cloned his hated enemy and raised her like his own spawn! Or she could be a previous student of Sonya that defected to join Kano and the Black Dragons! One way or another, there could be a really interesting story hook available for a fighter that combines traits from two rivals that have been diametrically opposed since the franchise’s creation. And… there’s no answer given. Kira just happens to fight like a combination of Kano and Sonya, and… that’s that. I guess she just figured out how to turn herself into a human cannonball from Youtube videos.
So Kira is Kabal’s first recruit, and she does exactly nothing after her introduction. Like Baraka, she seems to exist as a general mook in the story modes of MK: D and MK: A, and that’s all she wrote. Later, the first female playable Black Dragon was actively patched out of the rebooted Mortal Kombat universe, as she originally appeared chained up in the background of one stage in MK9, but was removed in a later update because ????. Kira’s current whereabouts are unknown, but, wherever she is, she’s probably not living up to any kind of potential.
Kobra is Kabal’s other recruit (yes, the Black Dragons is a gang of a whole three people. Is it any wonder Kano decided to go solo?). Kobra is… Man, could there be more of a placeholder kharacter in all of the franchise? He’s a street fighter. He learned martial arts, found out he liked killing with martial arts, and decided to just be a homicidal fighting man. Kabal recruited him because he knew he lived in a karate-based universe, and this was the only karate dude not already involved in the tournament. And that’s all Kobra’s got. He never accomplishes anything, and he winds up dead in most of his endings.
Oh, and his production name was “Ken Masters”, because no one had any illusions about how this kharacter was a clear case of plagiarism. But which specific kind of plagiarism?
The world may never know.
What’s next? The deception is over, it is time for Armageddon
[…] Rook, which is like having a snake named Iguana), but they’re clearly ancestors to the Order/Chaos Realms that eventually dominated the story of Mortal Kombat for a game or two. … Or it’s just a […]