Noob Saibot

"Fear me!"

- Noob Saibot in Mortal Kombat (2011)

Noob Saibot, known before as Sub-Zero, is a wraith ninja from the Netherrealm and a villain from the Mortal Kombat fighting games series.

Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub Zero
Noob Saibot was originally the first Sub-Zero and a member of the Lin Kuei Clan. He was hired at one point to steal a map for Quan Chi from a Shaolin Temple, where he encountered Scorpion, a ninja from the rival Shirai Ryu clan that Quan Chi had also hired, in case Sub-Zero failed. Sub-Zero savagely and coldly killed Scorpion and escaped the temple with the map.

Upon arriving back at the Lin Kuei temple, Quan Chi made good on his part of the bargain with the clan, he utterly destroyed the Shirai Ryu. The sorcerer also revealed he had hired Scorpion, which made Sub-Zero distrustful of him. Quan Chi then told him the significance of the map, it led the way to the Temple of the Elements, which held an amulet that, according to legend, contained great magical powers.

Sub-Zero entered the temple and managed to best the traps and elite guards within, as well as the four elemental guardians, one of which was Fujin, a wind god who would have larger roles in later games. With the last guardian defeated, Sub-Zero broke the seal keeping Quan Chi from entering the temple and as the ice ninja prepared to claim the amulet, the sorcerer appeared and took the amulet himself. Quan Chi then revealed the truth about the amulet, it belonged to a fallen Elder God known as Shinnok, who was banished to the Netherrealm many millennia ago after he attempted to take control of all of existence. When he regained the amulet, Shinnok would be ready to take control of the universe once more. Quan Chi disappeared and Sub-Zero began to leave, only for Raiden to appear and express his disgust for the ignorance and greed of the ice ninja's clan. The thunder god then commanded Sub-Zero to go to Netherealm and retrieve the amulet, conjuring a portal there.

Upon his arrival, Sub-Zero found himself trapped in the Prison of Souls, where he unknowingly met Shinnok. He then escaped the cell, he was trapped in and fought his way through Quan Chi's guards, until he encountered Scorpion, now transformed into a specter, who blamed the ice ninja for the death of his clan and family. Even though his enemy was unable to die again, Sub-Zero beat him and Scorpion retreated. The ice ninja then took on Quan Chi's trio of minions, Kia, Jataaka, and Sareena and killed them, with the exception of Sareena, whom he spared for some strange reason. Sub-Zero then took their teleportation crystals and found his way to Quan Chi. The sorcerer then revealed that the reason Sub-Zero could exist in the Netherrealm was because he possessed an evil heart, due to his work as a ruthless assassin. He then fought against Quan Chi and received help in the form of a timely appearance by Sareena, who begged Sub Zero to take her from the Netherrealm. However she was killed by Shinnok, who now had the amulet in his possession, though this was later revealed to be a fake created by Quan Chi. Sub-Zero managed to snatch the amulet from the fallen god and escaped through another portal created by Raiden. Upon his escape, Sub-Zero asked what Quan Chi had said was true, which Raiden confirmed. He then told the young warrior that only he could change this fate but if he did not, he would descend into the Netherealm.

Mortal Kombat
Upon returning to the Lin Kuei temple, Sub-Zero found out he had been invited to the Mortal Kombat Tournament by Shang Tsung. Because the Lin Kuei had previously been hired to kill the sorcerer, Sub-Zero accepted and fought in the tournament, so he could get the chance to kill Shang. Very little is known about Sub-Zero's battle in the tournament. After the defeat of Shang Tsung and Goro at the hands of Liu Kang and the island's subsequent eruption into chaos, Sub-Zero was challenged to a fight to the death by Scorpion. With vengeance and demonic energies from the Netherrealm fueling him, Scorpion killed Sub-Zero causing him to descend into Netherrealm.

Mortal Kombat 2
Upon his descent into the Netherrealm, Sub-Zero was transformed into a wraith version of what he once was and named Noob Saibot. He joined Shinnok's Brotherhood of Shadow, ironically what he had refused to do while alive. Saibot was then ordered to observe the events currently taking place in Earthrealm and Outworld. He remained in the shadows and watched the tournament in Outworld, then reported the events back to Shinnok.

Mortal Kombat 3
Saibot's next assignment was to join forces with Shao Kahn during the invasion of Earthrealm, though it is unknown what his role in the conflict was.

Mortal Kombat 4
After Shao Kahn's defeat, Shinnok made his return with help from Quan Chi and Saibot stood alongside him during the conflict. However Shinnok was defeated by Raiden's forces, resulting in the disbanding of the Brotherhood of Shadow. With his old master "gone" (as Saibot put it) the wraith returned to the service of a weakened Shao Kahn.

Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition
A few years later, Saibot appeared during a battle between the forces of Outworld, led by Kano, and the armies of Edenia and Shokan, led by Kitana and Goro. During this, Saibot attacked Goro and delivered a mortal wound to the Shokan.

Mortal Kombat Deception
With both masters that he once served now gone, Saibot slowly became his own master. Now free to follow his own goals and unconcerned by the events involving the newly returned Onaga, Saibot plotted to create a force of assassins in his own image. While searching Shao Kahn's abandoned fortress, the wraith came across the deactivated cyborg, Smoke. After reprogramming the cyborg to serve him, he activated his nano-technology and began to make plans to use it to create a force of cyber-demon warriors. Saibot and Smoke left the fortress, while being followed by Saibot's brother, the second Sub-Zero, and Sareena. However the pair were perfectly aware that they were being followed and waited for their chance, then attacked Sub-Zero whilst he was unaware. Sareena managed to intervene in the battle and held off Sub-Zero's would be assassins. This caused her to revert to her demon form and after Sub-Zero awoke from the unconscious state he had been put in, he attacked her. It was during this time that Saibot was revealed to be Sub-Zero's brother.

Mortal Kombat Armageddon
Saibot and Smoke later worked together to stage an invasion on the Lin Kuei temple, so as to transform the clan into dark warriors loyal to Noob Saibot, as well as kill Sub-Zero. However this plot was foiled by Taven, who defeated the pair. After that Sub-Zero began working to free Saibot of the darkness within him.

In his ending, Saibot defeated Blaze and found himself in a dark chamber, confronted by his former self, the original Sub-Zero, who had come to reclaim his part of the soul they shared. The two fought, but neither could best the other and, in the end, what emerged was neither Sub-Zero, nor Noob Saibot, but something more.

Mortal Kombat (2011)
Sub-Zero, along with Sektor and Cyrax (still human), took part in the Mortal Kombat tournament, fighting on the behalf of Shang Tsung. He fought Sonya Blade for the sorcerer after she tried to save Jax Briggs, but was defeated. Later on, Sub-Zero appeared to face off against Scorpion, who'd just announced that he would not kill the ice ninja (as part of an agreement with Raiden). He asked the specter if wouldn't kill him or simply couldn't and Scorpion said Sub-Zero would suffer as the Shirai Ryu had. The ice ninja simply said to hell with the specter's clan, prompting Scorpion to angrily bring them both to the Netherrealm. He managed to defeat Sub-Zero and Quan Chi appeared, telling him to finish the Lin Kuei off and the specter didn't want to at first. However, the sorcerer showed Scorpion fake images of Sub-Zero slaughtering his family and clan and despite the ice ninja saying that wasn't him, the specter killed him. Thus Sub-Zero was brought back as the wraith, Noob Saibot, becoming a minion of Quan Chi and aided him in his plans to weaken Outworld.

He made himself known after Kung Lao and Liu Kang entered Shao Kahn's prison tower to save Kitana and fought Kung Lao. However, Noob Saibot was defeated and Kung Lao noted there was something familiar about him, but the wraith slipped away as the monk became occupied with Goro. After Kabal was healed and equipped with a respirator by Kano, he went to take on Shao Kahn to get a way back to Earthrealm. Noob Saibot and Mileena stood in his way, but were defeated.

Later on, the wraith aided Quan Chi in casting a spell to create a Soulnado, but his younger brother, now Cyber Sub-Zero, arrived. Noob Saibot stood in his path, saying he was not worthy of the name Sub-Zero and his brother asked him what he would know about it. The wraith said he wore his colors before and Cyber Sub-Zero realized Noob Saibot's true identity. He said they were both flawed copies of their former selves and the wraith stated he had no flaws, as well as the fact that despite sharing blood, they were not brothers. They fought, but Cyber Sub-Zero emerged victorious, who noted that Noob Saibot was right, they were not brothers. After Quan Chi activated the Soulnado, the sorcerer fought Nightwolf, but was defeated. Noob Saibot attacked the shaman, but was kicked into the Soulnado, apparently destroying him, as well as dispelling the Soulnado.

In his ending, Quan Chi had made a mistake bringing Noob Saibot back and enhancing his power to defeat Shao Kahn. Noob Saibot broke free of his control and formed an alliance with a cleric of Chaosrealm, Havik. He opened a portal to the Netherrealm, allowing Havik and his fellow Chaosrealm warriors to overwhelm Shinnok and the Brotherhood of Shadow. With Netherrealm destabilized, Havik left, satisfied with his work, leaving the way open for Noob Saibot to take over.

Powers
As Sub-Zero, Noob Saibot possessed mastery over the element of ice, even more so than his younger brother. He proved able to flash freeze opponents by touching them, freeze them to the point where they are brittle enough to shatter, and freeze the air itself by concentrating his ice powers into one destructive blast.

After becoming Noob Saibot, his powers revolved around shadow and phantom aspects. He can use his shadow powers to render himself invisible, teleport, and increase and decrease the effectiveness of the powers of both himself and others limitlessly. Saibot's phantom powers allow him to remove and control another combatants powers with use of a projectile attack, lift them into the air with doppelgangers of himself, and possess others. Saibot also makes great use of shuriken, which he seems to have an endless amount of and in more recent games, has wielded a warhammer-like weapon in combat.

Trivia

 * Noob Saibot's name is actually the last names of Mortal Kombat's co-creators backwards, Ed Boon and John Tobias.


 * His first name was originally going to be Tundra, but this alias became the first alias of his younger brother.


 * Since there were no ninjas in Mortal Kombat 3, Noob Saibot was actually a completely black version of Kano.


 * When someone loses to Noob in the the arcade of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Shao Kahn will say, "It's official, you suck!" instead of saying Noob's name.


 * Over the years, his name has been shortened to just "Noob". Some say that this was because John Tobias left Midway and had the legal rights to the term, "Saibot". This is false and the character is still referred to as Noob Saibot during cutscenes, so this is likely because they wanted to remove all references to Tobias from the games.
 * However, Ed Boon has confirmed that Noob and Saibot are one in the same. Saibot is the shadow that appears out of Noob.


 * Noob was intended to be a playable character in Mortal Kombat 4, but he was replaced with Reiko and became a secret character instead.


 * One of his early designs for Mortal Kombat: Deception, became a different character, Havik.


 * Many fans disliked Noob and Smoke being a team character in Deception, since they felt it cheapened the characters' appearance, so they were made separate fighters in Armageddon.


 * His name is mocked without end, since the first part, "noob", is internet talk for newb or newbie, someone who is extremely bad at something.
 * This is mocked even further with Noob's weapon in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon; the Troll Hammer.


 * Noob was the only character not to receive a bio video in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
 * His original head rip fatality is famous amongst fans and was voted the best Mortal Kombat fatality on Screwattack's Top 10 list of Mortal Kombat fatalities.