Quan Chi

"You will serve me in the Netherrealm."

- Quan Chi in Mortal Kombat (2012).

Quan Chi is a powerful demon sorcerer from the Netherrealm and a villain from the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games.

Early Life
Very little is known about Quan Chi's past life, except that he used to be an Oni from the Netherrealm. However he managed to gain a human form after he learned sorcery. Quan Chi began to roam between the realms, amassing magic from each one he came to. He eventually met the fallen Elder God, Shinnok, and struck a deal with him. If Quan Chi helped Shinnok overthrow Netherrealm's current ruler, Lucifer, then the god would give the sorcerer power and a place at his side. They succeeded and took Netherrealm for themselves. Quan Chi even became sort of a high priest for the society of loyal worshippers of Shinnok known as the Brotherhood of Shadows. Later, Quan Chi would receive information on the whereabouts of Shinnok's amulet from another sorcerer, Shang Tsung. In exchange for this information, Quan Chi would be required to bring back Sindel, Shao Kahn's dead queen, so as to take control of Earthrealm at a later time.

Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub Zero
Now knowing where the Amulet of Shinnok was, Quan Chi enlisted the help of the Lin Kuei. In exchange for the destruction of the clan's long time enemies, the Shirai Ryu, the elder Sub Zero was sent to retrieve a map that led to the Temple of Elements where the amulet could be found, who killed Scorpion in the process. After this, Quan Chi sent the ice ninja to retrieve the amulet and, after Sub-Zero dispatched the guardians of the temple, appeared, explained the origin of the amulet, and took it with him to Netherrealm so as to return it to Shinnok. However, Quan Chi gave the god a powerless imitation and kept the real one for himself. Afterwards, Sub-Zero arrived, with help from the thunder god, Raiden, who defeated the sorcerer, with a last minute assistance from Sareena. Quan Chi would then spend the years preparing his Brotherhood of Shadow for Shinnok's return to power.

Mortal Kombat 4
Quan Chi then assisted in Shinnok in his return to the mortal realms. Knowing that the younger brother of the original Sub-Zero, now called Noob Saibot, would not be defeated easily, he recruited the help of Scorpion, by convincing him that the younger Sub-Zero had been the one who destroyed the specter's family and clan.

After Scorpion was successful in defeating his supposed enemy, Quan Chi appeared to reveal that he had been the one behind the Shirai Ryu clan's destruction. But as he was sending the specter back to the Netherrealm, Scorpion grabbed him, dragging the sorcerer back down to Netherrealm with him.

Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
While in the Netherrealm, Quan Chi was pursued and tormented by Scorpion relentlessly. However help came in the form of two oni, Drahmin and Moloch, who protected him from Scorpion, in exchange for the promise that the sorcerer would bring them along when he escaped from Netherrealm. However, upon finding a portal to Outworld, Quan Chi escaped without them, leaving them eager for vengeance.

The sorcerer stumbled upon the mummified remains of the legendary army of the Dragon King. Upon discovering methods that could enhance the power of his amulet, Quan Chi covered his body in inscriptions and set out to find the person who could help him bring the Dragon King's army to life, Shang Tsung. But he soon was attacked by Scorpion, who had tracked him to Outworld. Their battle attracted Shang Tsung's attention and, after temporarily getting rid of the spectre, gave him a proposition. Quan Chi would open a Soulnado, an enormous pillar of souls, giving Tsung an infinite supply of souls, while the Outworld sorcerer assisted him in reviving the Dragon King's army. Together the two set out to conquer all realms and became the Deadly Alliance. Before commencing with their plans, Quan Chi and Shang Tsung set out to kill the only two who could oppose them, Shao Kahn and Liu Kang. They decided to start with Kahn, who was weakened from his failed invasion of Earthrealm and occupied by a war against the forces of Edenia and Shokan.

The two pretended to pledge their loyalty, only to quickly strike down the warlord (who was later revealed to be a clone). The two then used a portal known only to sorcerers and deities to travel to Earthrealm and the Wu Shi Academy, where they attacked Liu Kang and proved successful in killing him thanks to the two of them working together. Having rid themselves of anything that could stop them, Quan Chi and Shang Tsung commanded the troops of the newly recruited Kano to enslave an Outworld village to use as labor for building a palace to house the new Soulnado. When one of the villagers, Li Mei, attacked Kano, Quan Chi and Shang Tsung made her an offer, they would free her village if she was the victor in a tournament they planned to hold. The insidious pair also made a deal with Mavado, he would get rid of Kenshi, an old enemy of Tsung's who had been proving to be a nuisance to their plans. In exchange, he would get to fight and kill Kano, who had lead the Black Dragon Clan, the rival of Mavado's Red Dragon Clan. After Li Mei won the tournament, she asked for her reward, only for Quan Chi and Shang Tsung to transfer her soul into one of Onaga's mummified soldiers.

However the forces of Earthrealm attacked and Bo' Rai Cho managed to free Li Mei. The two sorcerers battled their foes and managed to defeat them all, Quan Chi himself killing Kitana in a one on one battle, until only Raiden remained. The pair fought the thunder god and succeeding in defeating him, however their combined victory was short-lived. Quan Chi and Shang Tsung turned on each other, since Tsung desired his former ally's amulet, something that the Netherrealm sorcerer had suspected. They battled each other with Quan Chi emerging the victor, only to be confronted by the resurrected Onaga. The sorcerer attempted to attack Onaga, but his blasts had no effect, even after joining forces with Shang Tsung and even Raiden. Quan Chi met his end, along with his former ally, when Raiden released his godly essence in an attempt to destroy Onaga, who took possession of Quan Chi's amulet.

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
Quan Chi made a return, most likely with help from Shinnok, to form a rather uneasy alliance with Shang Tsung, Shao Kahn, and Onaga in an attempt to claim the god like powers of Blaze. Knowing the realms were on the brink of destruction, he cast a spell on Orin, Daegon's dragon, to prevent him from halting his plans. In Quan Chi's ending, he defeated Blaze and received a tremendous increase in his powers of sorcery, so much so that it shattered his medallion. He found himself before the Elder Gods, who transformed him into the amulet and sent it back in time to when Shinnok first obtained it.

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
Though Quan Chi was not a playable character, he had a large role in the MK universe's side of the story as he was aware of the serious imbalance that the merging of the universes had caused and was the one who reinforced the idea that the fighters must join forces to save their universe.

Quan Chi first appeared as the secret ally of Shao Kahn, but after the Outworld warlord was blasted into the portal, he was brought before the Elder Gods by Raiden and sentenced to imprisonment in Netherrealm. Quan Chi later proved successful in escaping, thanks to a fight between Sub-Zero and Scorpion, which weakened the bonds that held him in the Netherrealm. He then dispatched Scorpion to seek out Kitana, who had seen the enemy causing this merger. After the specter found the princess, who was overcome with rage, Quan Chi appeared along with Shang Tsung and Baraka and cast a spell to control her. The sorcerer then brought her to Raiden's Sky Temple, where he showed the thunder god what was happening by removing his control, then used what remained of his magic to free her. This made Raiden trust Quan Chi and he told all the fighters gathered there what was happening, bringing the former enemies together.

Mortal Kombat (2011)
At the start of the story in the remake of Mortal Kombat, Quan Chi had a hold over Scorpion during the first tournament. Quan Chi continually restrained Scorpion from fighting Sub-Zero until later in the tournament. After the fight with Sub-Zero, the ninja specter let the Lin Kuei assassin go. Quan Chi made Scorpion have second thoughts by showing a phony version of the Shirai Ryu massacre and the deaths of Scorpion's wife and child orchestrated by Sub-Zero. When Sub-Zero tried to reason with his rival, the scepter burned his nemesis alive. After Shang Tsung's defeat, Quan resurrected Sub-Zero as Noob Saibot, not knowing that Bi Han had a younger brother, also named Sub-Zero. In the second tournament, Quan Chi sent Scorpion to fight the younger Sub-Zero before he and Shang Tsung attempt to team on him. After Shao Kahn retreated due to his wounds, Quan Chi healed the emperor and resurrected Sindel. While attempting to make a Soulnado with his magic, he was stopped by Nightwolf after his guard Noob Saibot is beaten. Raiden later went to Quan Chi after most of the good fighters were killed. Despite offering souls to the sorcerer, Quan Chi sent the manipulated heroes to fight Raiden.

After the final battle with Shao Kahn, Quan Chi congratulated Shinnok on his plan working perfectly. Shinnok then told his ally and most favored disciple that Earthrealm and Outworld were rendered very weak, so that even they can't survive his power.

In his MK9 ending, Having finally brought about Shao Kahn's demise, Quan Chi was then tasked with growing and increasing the ranks of the Brotherhood of Shadow. Many warriors had perished in Outworld's invasion of Earthrealm. Quan Chi stole their souls in both Outworld and Earthrealm and remade them to serve his master, the fallen Elder God himself.

The task was completed, but Shinnok repaid Quan Chi's service by ordering his execution, thereby eliminating a possible challenger to his own rule. Quan Chi had anticipated this act of treachery, however, and resurrected Shao Kahn--the ultimate phantom warrior. With Shao Kahn as his enforcer, Quan Chi struck down the Brotherhood of Shadows and his former master Shinnok.

In the midst of his ultimate victory and even now his total dominion over the Netherrealm, Quan Chi forgave betrayal from no one. Not even a god.

Powers and Abilities
Quan Chi is the most powerful demon sorcerer of the Netherrealm, proficient in both black magic and necromancy. After gaining the Amulet of Shinnok, he gained a variety of other powers, such as the ability to travel between realms. Most of Quan Chi's necromantic attacks involve summoning skulls and skeletons, which emit an eerie green glow. He can also summon a defensive wall of skulls, as well as skeletons to do his bidding. Quan Chi's black magic shows itself in the form of his ability to create the Soulando, a large tornado like column of souls, which he can shut off at any time. As his alternate weapon fighting style, Quan Chi wields a pair of Asian broadswords.

Film
Michael Rogers portrays the sinister Quan Chi in Mortal Kombat: Legacy.

Television
The wicked sorcerer Quan Chi made his debut in the animated series, Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, which aired a year before the Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero game. In the episode "The Secret of Quan Chi", he used his sorcery to turn everyone on Earth against each other, creating pandemonium and chaos that Earth's heroes were forced to overcome.

He was voiced by Nick Chinlund.

Quan Chi also had substantial guest appearances on Mortal Kombat: Conquest , in which he is played by Adoni Maropis, and mostly inspired by his Mythologies incarnation. A dominant presence in the Netherealm, he sought to disgrace Kung Lao and claim his soul on his own terms. Quan Chi was also approached by Shang Tsung to combine their sorcery in a brief alliance to end the monk's life in a hellish parallel universe. When Shang Tsung turned renegade, Shao Kahn employed Quan Chi to eliminate him'''. Although a fierce battle occurred between the two sorcerers, '''neither was victorious.

Quan Chi also employed three female Netherealm assassins, undead souls encased in living flesh named Siann, Mika and Sora. The three girls were often sent to do his bidding in Earthrealm when the sorcerer was not capable of directly interfering. Although they used their prized beauty and deadly fighting skills to their advantage, none were successful in slaying Kung Lao, his friends, or other enemies of Quan Chi. He usually mistreated the three girls as they were nothing but miserable sluts as he called them, but Mika in particular looked like she had feelings for him in one episode and he seemed to return those feelings. In the fiction: Mortal Kombat: Conquest Aftermaths part 1, Quan Chi is revived, but not with Siann, Mika and Sora.

In the episode "Festival of Death", it is revealed that so many years ago, Quan Chi created the Festival of Death, a nightmarish traveling circus-like cult of undead ghouls that traveled from countless places in other realms and they are tasked with with not entertaining unsuspecting people, but gathering and adding souls to his collection of captured spirits and undead slaves.

In the series finale, Quan Chi was sealed in the Cobalt Mines of Shokan's cobalt by Shao Kahn's rampaging Shadow Priests. The mineral nullified his powers, and he is slain.

Trivia

 * Quan Chi was originally intended to be a playable character in Mortal Kombat vs. DC, but was canceled due to Midway's bankruptcy, along with his DC counterpart, Harley Quinn.


 * Quan Chi was planned to appear in the climax to the Mortal Kombat movie, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, but was cut, though he still appears on posters and on some DVDs and laserdiscs of the movie.


 * Two of his fatalities, the Leg Rip and Neck Stretch are Ed Boon's favorite and least favorite fatalities respectively. The Leg Rip was voted number 9 on Screwattacks' list of Top 10 Mortal Kombat Fatalities and the Neck Stretch was listed as number 6 on their list of Top 10 Worst Mortal Kombat Fatalities.


 * Quan Chi's voice sounds very similar to the annoucer from Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance and onward, which would break the tradition of the final boss being the announcer. Quan Chi was a final boss in Deadly Alliance, but Onaga and Blaze were the final bosses in Deception and Armageddon.


 * According to the Konquest mode of Armageddon, Quan Chi was the one who proposed the alliance between himself, Shang Tsung, Onaga, and Shao Kahn on the argument that they would not be able to defeat the forces of good otherwise. However, he did this under Shinnok's orders, so as to bring them to the location of Armageddon.


 * In Jarek's bio and ending from Armageddon, it is stated that Quan Chi offered him the power to finish off all of his foes at once. This is culminated upon Jarek's defeat of Blaze, when he uses the fatality of every other fighter to kill them.


 * The shirt of Quan Chi's alternate outfit in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is stated to be worn for "formal occassions".


 * Quan Chi has made many unkept promises to other Mortal Kombat characters. The only one that he has kept is his promise to destroy the Shirai Ryu for the Lin Kuei. Though, he may have done this for his own purposes (ie reviving Noob Saibot and Scorpion to serve him).