The Hook Sword (also known as Hooksword, twin hooks, fu tao, or hu tou gou {tiger head hook}) is an exotic Chinese weapon, traditionally associated with northern Chinese martial arts, although its use has also been taught by southern schools in more recent times.
In Mortal Kombat[]
Hook swords are the signature weapons of both Kabal and Mavado. The weapons these two use are actually the same pair, as these ancient weapons were a favorite of Kabal's, and have a long history in the Black Dragon criminal organization before the Red Dragon clan's leader Mavado took Kabal's hook swords as a trophy after defeating him between the events of Mortal Kombat Trilogy and Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. Kabal would later recover them from Mavado shortly before the events of Mortal Kombat: Deception. Both Kabal and Mavado use hook swords in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon; presumably, Mavado acquired a set of his own.
Kabal's Hook Swords are one of his signatures and iconic items related to him, alongside his Respirator Helmet/Mask,
In Kabal's Armageddon Arcade ending, after Blaze's defeat his heat would then wrap around and enhance Kabal's hook swords into fiery blades of vengeance. After the transformation of his trusted swords, he then challenges his rival Mavado to an epic Hooksword battle, that ended when Mavado took his own life in a Hara-Kiri after defeat became inevitable.
In the Mortal Kombat X Comic Series, Mavado makes use of his own pair of unique hook swords to fight. Which were unfortunately for him, were used to disembowel their former owner after having fought Cassie and Jacqui.
Kabal briefly used them again as a Revenant in his minor appearances in Mortal Kombat X's Story Mode. With his proper retum in Mortal Kombat 11, both his past and present version use the Hook Swords. Kabal can also choose different variants and designs of Hook Swords, thanks to Gear Kustomization. He shows them off in a majority of his intro and outros for the game.
In Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, after Liu Kang and Kung Lao free Kabal from his cage, he allows them to use his hook swords as a reward for helping him out.
Hook swords can also be seen in the possession of an Outworld warrior in the 1995 film Mortal Kombat but are never used in battle. Scorpion's soldiers in Mortal Kombat: Conquest uses them as well.
Hook swords were packaged with Liu Kang, Scorpion, Jade, and Shao Kahn 6-inch figure, as generic weapons in the Mortal Kombat toy line made by Toy Island.
Originally, Baraka started and was supposed to be the kombatant using hook swords but was replaced by Kabal. As Baraka was retooled into a Tarkatan and given his signature Tarkatan Arm Blades.
Ikran's MK Khronology[]
Of course, the Hookswords were originally owned and used by Kabal, even when he became a nocturnal antihero assisting Stryker at times. That was until he was ambushed by Hsu Hao and Mavado, and the latter stole and enhanced them with extending grappling hooks! Kenshi and Jax were barely able to kill off both Red Dragons, and soon Kabal's status was upgraded from critical to stable. Stryker then returns the stolen weapons to Kabal, and he used them in the Battle of Armageddon. Mavado used them against Taven in Charred Mountain and used them to escape as the hideout collapsed.
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