Raiden (Mortal Kombat)

Raiden is the god of thunder that formerly acted as Earthrealm’s protector and a hero from the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.

Battle with Shinnok
Raiden became Earthrealm’s protectors in the early days of the realm and was forced to defend it from Shinnok, a power-hungry Elder God. The war threatened to rip apart Earthrealm itself and one of its native races at the time, the Saurians, were almost wiped out and forced to move to another world, Zaterra. Raiden eventually defeated Shinnok with help from the rest of the Elder Gods and took from him the source of his powers, his amulet. The thunder god banished his foe to Netherrealm and hid the amulet in the Temple of the Elements, which he built in Nepal, and selected four gods to guard it, the gods of fire, earth, water, and wind (Fujin).

Mortal Kombat Mythologies Sub-Zero
However the elder Sub-Zero succeeded in besting the defenses of the temple and stole the amulet for Quan Chi, who set out to bring it to Shinnok. Raiden appeared and demanded that the Lin Kuei go to Netherrealm and bring back the amulet, since he was unable to do it, because he would lose his powers there. Sub-Zero did as he asked, but upon his return he asked Raiden if it was true that he would be damned to the Netherrealm if he died (something Quan Chi told him). The thunder god confirmed this to be true, but told Sub-Zero that if he changed his ways, he would avoid that fate.

Mortal Kombat
At one point, Raiden received an invitation from Shang Tsung to participate in his Mortal Kombat tournament. Aware that if the warrior of Earthrealm were defeated the realm would be doomed, Raiden accepted and competed, helping Liu Kang and the others opposing Shang Tsung.

Mortal Kombat 2
A year later, Raiden received another invitation from Shang Tsung, one inviting him to take part in the Mortal Kombat tournament being held in Outworld. Knowing the treachery of Shang Tsung and brutality of Shao Kahn, Raiden found he had no choice but to accept and warned the surviving members of the Shaolin order, then went to Outworld alone. He and the rest of the Earthrealm warriors suceeded in defeating Shao Kahn and returned to Earthrealm.

Mortal Kombat 3
But the Earthrealm fighters victory was short lived and Raiden was forced to quickly use his powers to protect the souls of his warriors when Shao Kahn invaded Earthrealm, by reaching across the realms to reclaim his resurrected Queen Sindel. Raiden could not fight alongside his warriors because of the merging of Outworld and Earthrealm, but eventually the threat became so great that Raiden had no choice and gave up his godhood to fight alongside his warriors. After Shao Kahn’s defeat, the thunder god regained his godhood and status as protector of Earthrealm.

Mortal Kombat 4
Raiden’s battle to protect Earthrealm began again after Shinnok escaped his imprisonment in the Netherrealm. His attack caught the Elder God’s off guard and many of Earthrealm’s gods were slain, but Liu Kang managed to unite the fighters of Earthrealm under Raiden and together, they defeated Shinnok. In honor of all he had done, the thunder god was given the status of Elder God and made Fujin protector of Earthrealm in his place.

Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance
During the rise of the Deadly Alliance, Raiden could not interfere because of his status as an Elder God. But he could not sit by and gave up his place amongst the elders, gathering his fighters to battle the Deadly Alliance. Unfortunately, his warriors were slain in a battle with the Tarkata and Raiden was forced to confront Quan Chi and Shang Tsung on his own. Though he put up a good fight, the thunder god was overwhelmed by the power of the two sorcerers and defeated. Raiden managed to get back up after Onaga the Dragon King appeared and attempted to help Quan Chi and Shang Tsung defeat him. But the thunder god realized that their attacks were only slowing down Onaga and in one last desperate attempt, unleashed his godly essence wiping out the palace, the Soulnado, Raiden, and apparently the Deadly Alliance. However the Dragon King survived without harm.

Mortal Kombat Deception
The thunder god’s essence gathered in Earthrealm, but it had been corrupted by Onaga, and now Raiden was furious with the way that the people of the realm had treated it. His rage increased when he found out that the foolish Shujinko had allowed the Dragon King to return by gathering the kamidogu from Earthrealm, Netherrealm, Chaosrealm, Outworld, Orderrealm, and Edenia. His patience now gone, Raiden decided that he would punish all who attempted to harm Earthrealm himself. The thunder god attempted to brutally finish off Shujinko for what he had done, but he survived the attack. However Raiden’s attention shifted to Liu Kang’s dead body, which he dug up and brought to a temple belonging to the Houan, an ancient sect of necromancers, which he had defeated centuries before. Raiden bound Liu Kang’s corpse in enchanted shackles that the necromancers had used to control their undead. The thunder god spoke the enchantments on the walls, reviving his ally as zombie and infused it with a bolt of lightning. Raiden then sent out his new enforcer to destroy those that he thought were threats to Earthrealm. The thunder god’s drastic actions caught Shinnok’s attention, who made him an offer, if Raiden would do whatever the fallen god commanded, then he would do whatever he could to keep Earthrealm safe. Knowing how deceptive and treacherous Shinnok was, the thunder god accepted anyway so as to find out what his plans really were.

Mortal Kombat Armageddon
After Taven fought his way into Shao Kan’s fortress so as to try and get to Quan Chi, he was confronted by Raiden after Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, Shao Kahn, and Onaga left through a portal to Edenia. Raiden revealed that he had made a deal with Shao Kahm, he would let the emperor conquer all other realms, but he would leave Earthrealm alone. In exchange, the thunder god would eliminate Taven so that Kahn could claim the power of Blaze for himself. Raiden battled the demigod, but was defeated and left unconscious while Taven followed Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, Shao Kahn, and Onaga, shocked by the thunder god’s actions. In his ending, Raiden defeated Blaze and became a god of unimaginable power, unleashing it upon the realms. He destroyed them all, meaning that none would ever threaten Earthrealm.

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
After Shao Khan attempted to escape in a portal, Raiden lasted him with lightning, causing him to fuse with Darkseid and become Dark Kahn. As the merger went on, the thunder god gathered the warriors of the Mortal Kombat universe and acted as their leader. When they ventured into the fusion of Outworld and Apokolips, Raiden initially fought against Superman when he went to confront Dark Kahn. But when they realized that they shouldn’t be fighting each other, the thunder god and the Man of Steel teamed up to defeat Dark Kahn. The merger was stopped and after finding Darkseid had been brought to the Mortal Kombat universe, Raiden imprisoned him to Netherrealm. In his ending, exposure to the sun weakened him greatly, reducing him to the level of a mortal. Quan Chi offered him a strange amulet made of green stone (Kryptonite) that would restore his powers, but only if the thunder god swore to serve him. Raiden was left to decide between serving Quan Chi or mortality.

Mortal Kombat (2011)
At the end of Armageddon, many kombatants have been defeated and killed. Only Raiden and Shao Kahn were left alive. Just before he is killed himself, Raiden sends a telepathic message to his past self with the words "He must win!" The Raiden in the past receives the visions and his amulet suffers a crack. Having seen the visions, Raiden decides to try and alter the past events so Armageddon will not happen. Examples include getting Sonya to not fight Shang Tsung, noticing Kung Lao has decided to join the tournament, freeing Sonya alongside Jax before the main tournament in Outworld, rescuing Smoke from automation, convincing Kitana and Jade to mutiny against Shao Kahn, saving Johnny Cage from Motaro and even letting Nightwolf destroy a Soulnado to stop Shao Kahn from stealing Earthrealm's souls. Some of the changes had negative effects and causes the amulet more harm than good. After the Elder Gods reject Raiden's help to save Earth, the thunder god races to the Netherrealm to get Quan Chi's assistance. That fails too, until finally, Raiden realizes that if Shao Kahn merges Earthrealm without victory, the Elder Gods will notice and punish him. Desperate, Raiden tries to get Liu Kang to not fight the Outworld Emperor but succeeds with a cost: Liu Kang fatally injured. Raiden then decides to try one last plan: pretend to surrender, thus "letting" Shao Kahn win. The Elder Gods finally catch Shao Kahn without victory over Earth in Mortal Kombat at the last second and they give Raiden the power to defeat him. Shao Kahn is then sent for punishment to the Elder Gods. Raiden is relieved that his amulet is now repaired, and Armageddon was stopped, but at high casualties. Raiden, Johnny Cage and Sonya then leave with Liu Kang's body to try and rebuild the Earth.

Powers
Raiden is extremely powerful, being a god of thunder and can use lightning as his weapon, able to fire it as concentrated blasts or torrents. He can also fly and one of his attacks is to fly at his opponent and drive them into walls. Raiden can also become ethereal, allowing him to teleport and possesses a lightning staff that he can use to fight with. Despite being a god, he is not invincible and has his limits, though it does not seem as if he can ever be fully killed. Raiden, like all other gods, loses his powers when he enters a realm that is not native to him, but he will regain them when he leaves. He can also take on a mortal form so as to be allowed to take part in Mortal Kombat tournaments.

Trivia

 * Raiden’s ending in MK vs. DC is a reference to the fact that he is meant to be Superman’s counterpart. The way that he loses strength from the sun and gains strength from kryptonite is the opposite of the Man of Steel.


 * Raiden is modeled after the character, Lightning, from the 1986 movie, Big Trouble in Little China.


 * In the home versions of games from Mortal Kombat 4 onward and the arcade games, his name was spelled “Raiden”. In other home versions, his name was spelled “Rayden”, possibly to because of copyright, since there was a shoot’em up game called Raiden or to avoid confusion between him and Raiden from the Fatal Fury video game series.


 * Raiden’s fatality in the SNES port of the original Mortal Kombat, where he used lightning to blow up his opponents head was changed to the lightning turning them to ash, due to Nintendo’s no blood policy at the time.


 * Raiden was originally not going to be in Mortal Kombat Deception, but this was changed after fan complaint. Fujin, who was going to replace him, instead made a cameo in the Dark Prison stage.


 * Nightwolf’s Friendship in MK3 and UMK3 has him transform into Raiden and then an MK2 arcade game drops down with one of two quotes, “Yes But I Can Do a Raiden Transformation” or “I’ve Never Seen a Kano Transformation”. This was gotten rid of in MK Trilogy since Raiden was in it.


 * He was originally going to wield his staff in Mortal Kombat II, but this was scrapped due to memory constraints.


 * In the Super NES version of the original Mortal Kombat, if Raiden performs his fatality on the final opponent in the third endurance match, it will make Goro appear the same gray as the ashes of his opponent.


 * Raiden’s popularity as a “thunder god” and fan reaction to him lead to the creation of other god characters, such as Fujin. Despite this, he has remained the most popular god character.


 * Raiden appeared as a secret character in Unreal Tournament 2: The Liandri Conflict, NFL Blitz, and NBA Jam: Tournament edition.


 * He had two female servants named Wynd and Rayne in the non-canon Malibu Comics three issue miniseries, Rayden and Kano. In another three issue series, he did not take part in the tournament, claiming he was not allowed to.


 * Raiden has been portrayed in the 2D games by Carlos Pesina, but his versus screen image was portrayed by Sal Divita in Mortal Kombat Trilogy.


 * He is the first god to appear in a versus fighting game, as well as the first one to be playable.


 * In the Kombat Pavilion, Raiden has a set of comics, the weirdest of which is “How Dan Hibiki Became The Defender Of Earthrealm”.


 * His favorite food is “nuclear buffalo wings” according to his profile in Brady Games’ Official MK4 Fighters Companion strategy guide.
 * Raiden's fatality from Deception, where he blasted the opponent with lightning but blew himself at the same time, was voted number 5 on Screwattack's list of Top 10 Worst Mortal Kombat Fatalities.