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“ | Remove the shadow from the light, the shadow grows. | „ |
~ Words of Lord Shinnok. |
“ | The legacy of life is death, Raiden. My followers accept this and live on. They fight for me! | „ |
~ Shinnok |
“ | You turned on your fellow Elder Gods. You betrayed your title. You deserved much worse! | „ |
~ Raiden about Shinnok in Shinnok's Mortal Kombat Gold ending. |
Shinnok is one of the two main antagonists (alongside Shao Kahn) of the Mortal Kombat series.
He is one of the Elder Gods that fell from grace and was banished into the dreaded Netherrealm after he attempted to conquer the Earthrealm as well as the rest of the realms and even tried to overthrow his fellow deities. Shinnok is the son of the great Titan Kronika and the brother of female fellow Elder God Lady Cetrion. Shinnok is also forever worshiped by an ancient and fanatic cult of demons and evil conjurers known as the Brotherhood of Shadow.
Shinnok himself is considered to be one of the most powerful villains from the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games. He is the known maker of the legendary Amulet of Shinnok, a talisman with powers beyond comprehension and also one of the Elder Gods' sacred relics known as the Kamidogu which helped make reality possible.
Contents
Roles
In the original timeline, He first appeared in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, where he served as the secondary antagonist. He also served as a background antagonist in the first three Mortal Kombat games, the main antagonist of Mortal Kombat 4, a minor character in Mortal Kombat: Deception, a major antagonist in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, and a mentioned character in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe,
In the alternate timeline he served as the overarching antagonist of Mortal Kombat (2011), the main antagonist of Mortal Kombat X, the overarching antagonist of the Mortal Kombat X comic series, a minor antagonist in Mortal Kombat 11, and a cameo character in its DLC story mode, Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath.
He also served as the overarching antagonist of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, and the unseen overarching antagonist of Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge
Appearance
Shinnok appears as a very tall, slender built man. Because imprisonment in the Netherrealm, his skin is completely white and looks decayed. His eyes are usually seen changing from white to green, which is apparently because of his powers.
Powers and Abilities

Lord Shinnok
Being a (former) Elder God, Shinnok possesses and wields immeasurable powers. His powers seems to mainly revolve around darkness and the Netherrealm, such as summoning a skeletal hand from the ground to grip his opponent and take them into the Netherrealm.
Shinnok can also shapeshift and mimic the powers of other kombatants, however the powers he mimic must be in his jurisdiction. He can also take on a larger demonic form as shown in the final level of Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero when his precious amulet became stolen from him and in his anger, he transforms into a gigantic, unholy monster.

The Amulet of Shinnok
His magic abilities also include the ability of creating demons and wraiths to do his bidding, as well as creating clones and illusions of others and himself.
The fallen Elder God Shinnok, when combined with his Sacred Amulet (Amulet of Shinnok) once more, becomes already more powerful then ever, meaning he is allowed to freely traverse the realms and open up portals as well as instantly destroys anyone and anything that stands in his way. Even the combined powers of Raiden and Fujin could barely slow him down (though one could argue that they were already tired from facing his army beforehand).
In Mortal Kombat X, when absorbing Earthrealm's life force, he turns into a demonic creature with immense power and the ability to manipulate fire, as well as conjuring objects such as stones and bladed pillars. This also increased his strength as he was able to put up a decent fight against Cassie whose powers possibly surpass even that of Johnny. Even then, it took Raiden undoing the damage he caused to Earthrealm's life force to strip this newfound power away.
Personality
Shinnok being the god of death and destruction only cared about spreading death and destruction across the realms. He despised the elder gods and Raiden in particular for constantly interfering in his plans of conquering the realms and for imprisoning him in his own amulet. He seems to have some respect for Quan Chi as he managed to release him from his amulet and commented on the fact that he chose his servants well like D'vorah. He even found it pitiful that he didn't get a chance to see his work complete. Rather than destroy those who have stopped him he instead decided to make them suffer like Johnny Cage and Raiden the latter he was going to imprison him in his amulet. He was short-sighted though by doing this he gave Cassie Cage the motivation to stop Shinnok and afterwards allowed Raiden to purify the jinsei thus putting an end to his plan. In his final moments he found solace on the fact that Raiden became as ruthless as he did in his corrupted form and mocked him for it. After being tortured and beheaded by Raiden Shinnok became a shell of his former shelf not even able to talk anymore. Ironically a man who delighted in causing the deaths of others suffered a fate worse than death.
Relations
Allies
- One Being
- Old Quan Chi (killed by Scorpion)
- Brotherhood of Shadow
- Old Baraka (killed by D'Vorah in MKX game)
- D'Vorah (MIA)
- Havik (killed by Scorpion in MKX comics)
- Drahmin (killed by Quan Chi in MKX comics)
- Kintaro (killed by Sonya, Cassie and Jacqui in MKX comics)
- Mavado (killed by Cassie and Jacqui in MKX comics)
- Hsu Hao (killed by Scorpion in MKX comics)
- Red Dragon
- Kabal (MIA)
- Smoke (MIA)
- Noob Saibot (formerly)
- Tanya (MIA)
- Rain (MIA)
- Skarlet (MIA)
- Triborg (MIA)
- Sindel (MIA)
- Shang Tsung (returns in DLC for MK 11)
- Shao Kahn (killed by Raiden and the Elder Gods)
- Goro (dead)
- Netherrealm Demons
- Revenants
- Revenant Liu Kang (dead)
- Revenant Kung Lao (dead)
- Revenant Kitana (dead)
- Revenant Jade (MIA)
- Revenant Kurtis Stryker (MIA)
- Revenant Nightwolf (dead)
- Daegon
- Reiko (killed by Havik in MKX comics)
- Geras (defeated by Raiden)
- Kronika (killed by Liu Kang)
Enemies
- Lady Cetrion (intended to be his arch-enemy by Lady Kronika, devoured by Kronika)
- Elder Gods (depowered and defeated by Kronika)
- Raiden (currently retired mortal advisor to Liu Kang)
- Pre-Revenant Liu Kang (young Liu Kang from original timeline, currently the God of Fire and the Keeper of Time)
- Pre-Revenant Kitana (young Kitana from original timeline, currently Kitana Khan, ruler of Outworld and later Keeper of Time)
- Pre-Revenant Jade (young Jade from original timeline, currently Kitana Khan's advisor and bodyguard)
- Pre-Revenant Nightwolf (young Nightwolf from original timeline)
- Pre-Revenant Kurtis Stryker
- Pre-Revenant Kung Lao (young Kung Lao from original timeline, current leader of the Shaolin Monks)
- Scorpion (freed from Quan Chi's control)
- Hanzo Hasashi (previously a revenant, killed by D'Vorah in MK11)
- Sub-Zero (previously a revenant)
- Old Jax Briggs (previously a revenant)
- Special Forces
- Old Sonya Blade (sacrificed herself in MK 11)
- Fujin
- Earthrealm heroes
- Bo' Rai Cho
- Old Johnny Cage
- Erron Black
- Old Kenshi Takahashi (soul removed by Shang Tsung in DLC)
- Kotal Kahn (former leader of Outworld)
- Ferra and Torr
- Outworlders
- Reptile
- Ermac
- Cassie Cage
- Takeda Takahashi
- Jacqui Briggs
- Kung Jin
Trivia
- Shinnok is loosely based on the demon Yan Wang from the classical story Journey to the West.
- In one of Kung Lao's match intro dialogues in MK X, he called Shinnok, "Lord Cockatrice." The name however might be loose reference to the mythical creature.
- The figure that looks a lot like Shinnok that died in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is his clone sent by the real Shinnok who was in the Netherrealm.
- Shinnok was mentioned in an episode of Jeopardy.
The Titans
The Crown of Shinnok
- It was originally a crimson bokgeon-styled headdress. This was its initial design since its first appearance in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero.
- It is a crimson-ruby, ornate and spiky crown that is shaped like a spine or head of a dragon. This is the crown's primary semblance since Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
The Helm of Shinnok
- Weirdly Shinnok's name appears in the credits in Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge and it says he's voiced by Robin Atkin Downes even though you never hear him speak nor does he appear.
- This could imply he was originally intended to play a speaking role in the film, but it was cut for some reason.
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