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You'll make a fine specimen!
~ Kan-Ra's introduction quote.
Only one being has ever faced death and emerged victorious. Kan-Ra's sorcery has no equal, but his true weapon is fear.
~ The narrator on Kan-Ra.

Kan-Ra is a cursed sorcerer from ancient Babylon and a new playable character introduced in the Season Two of Killer Instinct (2013).

Condemned by the Babylonian King, after a failed assassination attempt on his sovereign over 2000 years ago, to walk the Earth as a decaying corpse, Kan-Ra endured for centuries by constantly balancing the curses he places on himself with the boons provided by dark magic and artifacts.

His solitary goal: to gain knowledge that will grant him absolute power over all of mankind. After getting imprisoned by Maya’s order hundreds of years earlier, an UltraTech attack on Maya’s city accidentally frees Kan-Ra, releasing him back onto an unsuspecting world that’s full of new mysteries and ripe for his "dissection".

He has been hunted by the war golem Aganos for hundreds of years, a construct sent by his former sovereign and tasked with his destruction. The two have clashed on several occasions, but neither have had any truly decisive victories over the other. In Killer Instinct: Shadow Lords, Kan-Ra also runs the Emporium, a place where the player can purchase, sell, or craft various artifacts to help the characters progress in their quest to defeat Gargos.

He is responsible for a good amount of events in the reboot, mostly through being manipulated by Gargos, but ancient as he is, he was affected history in unimaginable ways.

He is voiced by Edward Bosco, who not only voiced Gargos in the game, but also voiced both the Icon of Sin and the Marauders in the Doom videogame series, The Ghoulfather in Yo-Kai Watch 3, Jagi in Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, Devo in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, and Líf in Fire Emblem Heroes.

Appearance[]

Kan-Ra has an emaciated, corpse-like appearance due to the powerful curse that was placed on him thousands of years ago. He is covered in tattered, linen bandages akin to those of a mummy, and is wearing ornaments, items, and jewelry which are a mesh of Babylonian, Assyrian, Achaemenid, and Egyptian craftsmanship, reflecting his ancient origins in Mesopotamia.

Kan-Ra's skin has wasted away to a dark, gray-ish brown coloration and his teeth have largely decayed. A thin layer of gray hair still remains visible along his jawline and the back of his head. He keeps a large knife along with various arcane items under a sash on his side. His eyes glow bright white, making it seem as though he has neither pupils or irises.

Kan-Ra's retro costume appears fully covered with bandages from head to toe, more closely resembling a mummy than before. His face is much more decayed, including his lips, which shows off his decayed teeth. He also only has a single red eye, the other being a blank black socket.

Personality[]

Kan-RaHeartless

Kan-Ra shows little care for anyone but himself.

Ah! You will no longer need this!
~ Kan-Ra's victory quote as he steals the soul of his opponent.

Kan-Ra is an ancient and megalomaniacal individual who lost his humanity long ago in endless pursuit of greater power. He's always willing to act in an underhanded fashion if this means he can gain the upper hand, such as when he sought to assassinate his own king while attempting to frame his co-conspirator for the murder, and he never hesitates to manipulate others to his advantage.

In spite of his genius and deviousness, however, Kan-Ra’s egomaniacal pride and lust for power trouble his otherwise keen judgment, often leading him to make myopic decisions.

Biography[]

Kan-RaVizier

Kan-Ra's early days as a vizier.

Babylon, 559 BC: Kan-Ra is named vizier, head advisor to the throne.

Over his years of study in this position, he becomes fascinated with the King’s enigmatic royal guard, a living statue, and the magic that keeps it alive. From all of Kan-Ra’s cautious attempts to observe and study the creature, he deduces that its power source could theoretically keep it alive forever. The thought of being able to study and learn until the end of time enthralls Kan-Ra and feeds his obsession for knowledge.

Scholarly research in the royal libraries into past wonders and lost arts of magic fuels his ambition; Kan-Ra feels that as the smartest person in Babylon only he is qualified to rule. He seduces the King’s wife using a charm spell and begins setting in motion a plan to take the throne by using the Queen as his assassin.

Lacking the power to control the spell effectively, it wears off prematurely. The Queen, thinking herself simply coming to her senses after being seduced by Kan-Ra, is overwhelmed by guilt, killing herself and leaving a note detailing her and Kan-Ra’s betrayal.

Enraged, the King has Kan-Ra hunted down and captured by his royal guard, who brings a bloodied and beaten Kan-Ra before the throne. The King summons his most powerful sorcerers and curses Kan-Ra with a withering curse, a painful dark spell that disintegrates flesh and organs slowly and painfully. Writhing in agony, rotting a bit more every day, Kan-Ra was exiled, his ambition doomed to wither away into nothingness along with him.

In exile Kan-Ra uses what little knowledge he has gained of magic to slow down the withering of his organs and body. While the King assumes he is dead, Kan-Ra’s intellect is focused on reversing the rot so that he can have his revenge. He tracks down sorcerers and occultists versed in dark magic, learning what he can. Unable to slow his rot further, he instead places upon himself other curses that work to offset the rot. He seeks out magical artifacts and talismans to ease the pains and ailments these layers of curses cause him, carrying them on him in an ever-growing number; a magical balancing act of curses and boons at play throughout his being.

Extended History[]

Kan-Ra was a vizier in Babylonian times, an extremely handsome man with a powerful magnetism and ability to sway peoples’ minds. His hubris led him to orchestrate a conspiracy against his monarch that involved a wealthy noble, a general, a bandit, and himself. The King, much wiser than the conspirators, was well prepared for this betrayal. He used all the powers at his disposal and the darkest magicks he could conjure to curse each of the four, damning them with unique punishments.

The King utterly stripped away Kan-Ra’s ability to influence people and exiled him from the realm. Nobody would follow him ever again of their own free will. But Kan-Ra was determined to break this curse. Desperate in his thirst for knowledge, he sought out every magician, alchemist and mad hermit he could find, undergoing brutal treatments, horrific surgeries, and dark corrupting magicks. In his obsessive quest, the dark arts that Kan-Ra invoked and embraced slowly consumed him. His body rotted, withered and became desiccated; but he found he could not die.

Learning of Kan-Ra’s survival and nefarious corruption, the Babylonian King sent the ancient sentient war golem Aganos to hunt him across the globe, but neither one was able to defeat the other, a recurring personal war waged every century or so whenever Aganos managed to track Kan-Ra down yet again. But Kan-Ra would always escape.

Killer Instinct Season 2 - Kan-Ra Loading Screen 8

Kan-Ra Vs. Aganos.

Centuries went by as the sorcerer traveled the Mediterranean and Africa, always on the run, always hiding his decomposed face in rags; and using his magicks to secure positions with the rulers of a plethora of city-states and kingdoms, causing death and mayhem wherever he alighted.

During the 4th century BC he was serving the ruler of the Phoenician city of Tyre when Alexander the Great invaded the land and demanded to make a sacrifice inside the city’s famous temple of Melqart. Here were kept two sacred and magical Egyptian daggers named Temperance and Vengeance, golden daggers that were guarded day and night by armed warriors. Kan-Ra lusted after these weapons and knew that if Alexander saw them he would seize them for himself. Kan-Ra convinced the ruler of Tyre to have Alexander’s envoys beheaded, causing the enraged Macedonian king to put the city under siege.

After seven months the starved population could no longer resist Alexander’s army and the walls were breached. In the chaos of the slaughter that followed, Kan-Ra slew the guards in the temple of Melqart, took the daggers and escaped the city.

The sorcerer eventually found his way across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World, and a remote citadel nestled deep in the Andes Mountains. He used his powers to trick the people living there into thinking that he was a messenger of Viracocha, the Incan god of creation. The Inca worshiped the mummified bodies of their ancestors, and so they believed that Kan-Ra was one of these forefathers come back to life. The sorcerer reigned as a petty tyrant in this little kingdom, terrorizing the locals and earning the citadel the name “The Mountain of the Dead.”

Kan-Ra delved deep into his studies, poring over arcane tomes that he had collected in his travels, trying to figure out a way to open a doorway to the Astral Plane, the home of celestial beings and powerful gods. He also had the fragments of a papyrus document recounting a great battle waged by creatures called Shadow Lords. The Astral Plane, he knew, was the key to gaining unlimited might.

Hundreds of years ago, the evil sorcerer Kan-Ra settled in South America to study the dark arts in solitude. As his power grew, so did his ambition, and he used the power of the twin daggers Temperance and Vengeance on the local tribes. Bending their minds to his will, he enslaved them, forcing them to build a great temple for him to rule from and large constructs to focus his powers. Many innocents died before the Night Guard finally captured him. Unable to be destroyed, he was burned alive, his ashes sealed in the temple he once called home... and touching the daggers was forbidden.
~ The narration of Maya's Rivals Mode, explaining Kan-Ra's fate in the New World.

Centuries went by before Aganos was able to track down Kan-Ra again, but this time, the Night Guard, an Inca order of monster hunters, appeared. This turned the tide on Kan-Ra and prevented his escape. Unable to kill the sorcerer who had plagued their land and enslaved and murdered their people, the order burned Kan-Ra alive and sealed away his corrupted ashes in a vault deep beneath the citadel. The order claimed this place as their base of operations and kept watch over the sorcerer’s remains, along with his massive collection of powerful and dangerous artifacts.

Kan-Ra, unable to die, swirled for centuries as a formless dust inside his new prison.

Over five hundred years later, when Ultratech attacked the Night Guard’s citadel, Kan-Ra’s spirit was accidentally set free. The sorcerer fled from the temple, reforming into his current physical manifestation once again. Now he sought the power to rule the world which he felt he so rightly deserved, in a new age that was unaware of his gifts, and unprepared for the magicks he wielded.

In a quest to control the Astral beings and the forces that gathered beyond a portal that he finally managed to create, Kan-Ra baited Aganos into a final battle.

Why do you continue? Centuries have passed, worn you down, and yet still... you pursue me. Was it that fool of a king? Was it his dying wish? I crossed oceans to elude you — and still you found me. But here, in this new time, I have access to power beyond your feeble imagination. So come, find me, and let us end this once and for all!
~ Kan-Ra to Aganos in his trailer.

Subduing the immortal machine, he tapped into its connection to the Astral plane and drew tremendous energies through it, imbuing himself with enough power to create a stable connection to this other realm.

Drunk on power, Kan-Ra realized too late that the obsession to trap and control that which lay in wait on the other side of the portal was not of his own doing, for he’d been tricked into these actions by a malevolent Astral entity—one of the Shadow Lords he had read about long ago.

Killer Instinct Kan-Ra Story Mode 21-47 screenshot

Kan-Ra feeling Gargos' presence.

Given a brief vision of the true power of the thing beyond, Kan-Ra recoiled in fear, realizing that he was nothing but a speck when compared to the might that was waiting to invade the Earth.

Regaining his senses, he commanded all the energies at his disposal to shut the portal, but it was too late. A connection was made, and soon the shadow beast would come for them all. He later reanimated the warlord Eyedol in a desperate attempt to even the playing field with Gargos, though the mighty demon lord swiftly broke free of his necromantic control, and set off on his own.

Kan-Ra: Here you are... My prize! You were the only one to challenge him and now here you lie — divided. How do you feel about... second chances? Now, rise and serve ME! RISE... AND... SERVE!
Eyedol: I... serve... NO ONE!
Kan-Ra: ...No...! You must OBEY!
~ Kan-Ra revives Eyedol and is quickly betrayed by him.

Undaunted, Kan-Ra knows the world is not without balance, and for every evil creature and dark desire, there are opposing forces and ideas that will rise up to face such threats. He turns his attention towards finding and studying these saviors, so that he can take their powers for his own, and then subjugate all with control over both forces.

(Kan-Ra and Kim Wu are shown being in a stand-off.) The sorcerer goads Kim Wu, telling her that the Dragon Spirit will abandon her when she dies...just as it has done for generations in her family. He offers her an ancient relic that will grant her eternal life in exchange for giving up the Astral being. But Kim Wu says she'd rather die a hundred deaths than live one life as long and as foul as Kan-Ra's. (Kan-Ra is shown humiliated and screams in rage at Kim Wu.) He tells her, "I only have to kill you once." (Kan-Ra menacingly approaches Kim and she begins whirling her nunchucks, readying for combat.)
KanRaScreams

Kan-Ra angrily screaming at Kim Wu.

He is constantly searching for rare and sacred artifacts; and is always managing the symmetry between curses and boons as he seeks more power. Death is not an obstacle for him, and he believes that there will always be yet another chance to tip the scales in his favor.

Kan-Ra appears to be seeking redemption for his somewhat serious mistakes by working together with the Alliance, supplying other characters with access to the potent magical artifacts in his emporium in Egypt during the events of Shadow Lords.

Whether this recent shift in Kan-Ra's behavior is sincere or is being fueled by hidden and far less noble intentions, however, remains an open question.

Powers and Abilities[]

IgkYpxa

Kan-Ra manifesting magic.

Kan-Ra is a mighty but maddened archmage who hails from the ancient empires of Mesopotamia. He is proficient in dangerous black magics, the knowledge of which he has steadily been accumulating over the countless centuries of his cursed existence.

Kan-Ra can use his linen bandages as whip-like appendages or traps by invoking his powers of telekinesis, manipulate desert sands and sirocco winds from afar, and control powerful bursts of shadow energies.

Killer Instinct Season 2 - Kan-Ra Loading Screen 3

Kan-Ra with the Siphon.

Most importantly, his dark sorcery enables him to proclaim curses, afflicting his victims with various maledictions that slow their movement and sap their life's energies.

In Rivals Mode, he also had a device known as the Siphon, which he used to drain his opponents of their essence after defeating them, which he later used to open a portal to the Astral Plane--unknowingly allowing the forces of Gargos to enter the Earth.

Quotes[]

Things are getting... treacherous... out there.
~ The player upon entering Kan-Ra's Emporium during Killer Instinct: Shadow Lords.
Everything has a price.
~ Kan-Ra in the Emporium.
Fear not, child, Kan-Ra always pays his debts in full. And I am not a mummy!
~ Kan-Ra to Kim Wu in the 2017 Dynamite comics.
Aganos, you imbecile! Listen to me!
~ Kan-Ra attempts to parley with Aganos in the 2017 comics.

Gallery[]

Images[]

Videos[]

Killer Instinct Logo Villains


Boss characters
ARIA | Eyedol | Fulgore | Gargos | Shadow Jago

Playable characters
Cinder | General RAAM | Kan-Ra | Kilgore | Mira | Omen | Riptor | Sadira | Spinal

Groups and organizations
The Coven | Red Eyes of Rylai | UltraTech

Others
Dretch | Izzik | Mimic | True Tsar | Wendigo

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