The Shokan, or sometimes referred to as the Shokans, are a mighty race of half-human, half-dragon warriors that live in the subterranean kingdom of Kuatan in Outworld.
The Shokan are large creatures that dwarf Humans in size and boast incredible strength. As a composite species, they combine the traits of dragons and Outworlders alike, resembling oversized muscular humans with dragon-esque eyes, forked lizard-like tongues, reptilian scales (mostly located on the back), four arms whose hands have only three digits each, with black fingernails, and only two digits (big toes) on each foot, also with black toenails. Shokan from the Tigrar class, most notably Kintaro, also boast tiger-like stripes, fur, whiskers, and other feline features.
Their civilization and society are structured under a monarchy with a king and queen ruling their people and representing Kuatan's concerns to Shao Kahn. Their heir is usually a prince in line for the throne. In Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins, it's shown that multiple heirs to the throne must compete with one another and demonstrate their ruthlessness by fighting to the death. The victor thus becomes the ruling crown-prince who will eventually inherit the throne. Furthermore, on a single particular day, it was customary to give the King a present.
Among the Shokan, there is one rule that surpasses all others: survival of the fittest and most ruthless. Kindness is forbidden in the Shokan race.
At least two distinct Shokan racial variations have been identified: the royal Draco and the lower-class Tigrar lineage. Goro and Sheeva are from the Draco lineage while Kintaro is of the Tigrar.
History[]
For millennia, the Shokan loyally served Outworld's Kahn, Shao Kahn. One of their kind would always serve in some high capacity within Kahn's empire. They would usually face competition with the Centaurians for this role, but they maintained it for generations.
One Shokan, Goro, would be chosen to serve as Outworld's champion in the Earthrealm Mortal Kombat tournaments. It was at his hands that Earthrealm's former champion, the Great Kung Lao, died.
After Prince Goro's supposed death following Liu Kang's first Mortal Kombat victory, Kintaro would take this role in Outworld, but he too was defeated. This would be the start of their fall within Shao Kahn's eyes and their status was reduced during the invasion of Earthrealm with Motaro serving as a general, while Sheeva served as a bodyguard for Queen Sindel.
In the events immediately preceding Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Princess Kitana would be instrumental in forming an alliance with the armies of the Shokan. With the Edenian forces, they fought against Shao Kahn's forces, commanded by the dangerously adept Kano.
Years later, during the time of the Deadly Alliance, the united Edenians and Shokans marched on Shao Kahn's weakened army. Goro was exhausted from battle and was struck from behind by Noob Saibot. He was mortally wounded, apparently dying from the injury. So, Princess Kitana held and attended a royal funeral for her former ally. However, Goro was able to survive, being saved from death by Shao Kahn himself, with the promise to return the Shokans to their former glory and banish the Centaurians in exchange for his allegiance. Agreeing to these terms, Goro placed his royal seal on a nearby fallen disfigured Shokan (whom Kitana and the other Shokans found and mistook for him) and resumed his place at Shao Kahn's side. He (along with Shang Tsung) aided Shao Kahn in reclaiming his stronghold and his throne as the emperor of Outworld. In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, Goro is confronted by the half-god Taven in Shao Kahn's Fortress, as the latter wishes to kill Quan Chi but must get past Goro in order to do so. Taven eventually defeats Goro, who storms off.
The Shokan also own the Cobalt Mines, a huge mining facility and prison in Outworld. They make an appearance in the television series Mortal Kombat: Conquest.
Known Members of the Shokan[]
- King Gorbak (Status unknown in the Original Timeline, Deceased in the Current Timeline)
- Goro
- Kintaro (Deceased in both Timelines)
- Queen Mai
- Sheeva (Deceased in the Original Timeline, Queen of the Shokan in Current Timeline)
- Shokan Xenomorph (Non-canon, appears in the Alien's arcade ending as a cameo in Mortal Kombat X)
- Duroc (Non-canon Character)
- Grum (Non-canon Character)
- The Kombatant (Non-canon Character)
- Zenkaro (Non-canon Character)
Trivia[]
- The Shokan are some of the tallest characters in the series.
- They are also one of the few Outworld races, along with their Centaurian enemies, who consistently fight and live barefoot all the time.
- Only three Shokan are featured as either playable or NPCs in the series, Sheeva, Goro, and Kintaro. The rest appear in the comics or TV series.
- Kintaro is the only Shokan shown to be of Tigrar lineage.
- Despite his fate being unknown in MK 2011, Kintaro is so far the only character killed off in the comics. This death has been ruled as canon.
- Due to this, Kintaro is also one of the few characters to be dead in both the original and current timelines.
- Goro and Sheeva are the only two of the three to still be alive.
- Interestingly, the three main Shokans are all sub-bosses at some point in the series.
- Goro is the sub-boss for the original Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, MK4, Armageddon, MK 2011, and Mortal Kombat X.
- Kintaro is the sub-boss for MKII, Shoalin Monks, Armageddon, and MK 2011.
- Sheeva is the sub-boss only for Armageddon.
- All three main Shokans are sub-bosses in only one game, this being Armageddon.
- Goro and Kintaro are also the sub-bosses for MK 2011.
- Sheeva is the only playable Shokan in MK 2011.
- Similar to humans, Shokan blood is colored red. In Mortal Kombat 3 however, Sheeva bled green blood, which she maintained throughout MK3's various revisions. In spite of this, Goro and Kintaro's blood remained red upon their return in Mortal Kombat Trilogy and would remain so in future installments. Sheeva's blood would be colored red upon her return in Mortal Kombat Armageddon, dismissing the idea of Shokan blood being green.
- This inconsistency is actually referenced in Sheeva's versus intro with Skarlet. When Skarlet expresses her desire for Sheeva's green blood, she retorts that all Shokan bleed red. This makes Skarlet comment that Sheeva must be from another timeline.
- Kintaro is playable in the mobile version of Mortal Kombat, borrowing combos and specials from Goro.
- Goro is the first character in Mortal Kombat history to be a downloadable pre-order bonus.
- In the DC fighting game Injustice 2, where Sub-Zero and Raiden appear are playable guest characters, Sub-Zero mentions Kintaro's name when interacting with Cheetah.
- Although neither Goro nor Sheeva are mentioned by either Sub-Zero or Raiden, the species' name does appear on some pieces of gear for Raiden.
- In the MKX comics it is revealed that Sheeva has become the queen of the Shokan.
- The names of the two known Shokan racial variations, Draco and Tigrar, are obvious allusions to, respectively, "Dragon" and "Tiger", two Earthrealm animals portrayed in real-life Eastern myths and folklores as constantly battling each other, universally regarding martial-themed motifs.
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, Part II[]
In some flashback scenes, it was mentioned that Goro was defeated twice, once by Johnny Cage in Shang Tsung's Island during the first tournament, and the second time by Liu Kang and Kung Lao in the journey in Outworld before he was finished by Cage. Kintaro was also fought in Outworld at Kahn's Arena by the Shaolin Monks after Shang Tsung and before Kahn.
Sheeva was often disgraced by Kahn, even during the failed insurrection of Outworld. She rallied up several rebels to take the throne away from the Emperor still regaining his lost strength; Tsung became a mole to both sides causing them to fight each other in order rule all of Outworld himself. Most of the Shokan were killed by their mortal enemies, the Centaurs, as Liu Kang and Kitana found many fallen bodies. However, Sheeva survived, and Kahn forced her to protect Queen Sindel, despite the fact Kahn supported the Centaurs more due to Shokan being inferior on account on their past failures. Sheeva despised his choice of reasoning, even though he said he shall preserve her race. She soon became Sindel's bodyguard with Asgaarth as she redeemed herself.
Shinnok's Uprising[]
At Kuatan, Kitana made peace with the Shokan and Centaurs reclaiming their birthlands equally. Before a raging Centaur lunged at her, as they hated forbidding Kahn's rules, Goro dropped in and made an ultimatum to go with the princess' rules, or else those'd be at his mercy. He was in hiding after his two defeats as he never wanted to serve Kahn due to his merciless tendencies and favoring the Centaurs. He then shielded Kitana during the attack on the distant Edenian Palace.
The Shokan met up with Sonya and Johnny within the Cobalt Mines. A Shokan general offered to enlist their aid since they weren't allied with Quan Chi and Shinnok. He told them that his people were forging cobalt weapons and armor in order to negate Quan Chi's magic abilities, according to the legend five centuries ago. He also described of the past prisoners, the dull food, the slavery especially those inputted by Shang. Since Quan Chi doesn't have human heritage, outsiders can be poisoned and weakened. The beasts eventually teamed up with the Centaurs since both races witnessed the destruction of the Palace. They also rallied with the Saurians, Aiko, Lao, and Kitana!
They stormed into the Palace with the rest of the cavalry, and several bystanders participated in Nightwolf's ritual offering their strength to Liu Kang and cross over and into the Netherrealm. The heroes won and the Shokan signed the treaty, specifically Goro who made peace with Kung Lao.
Mortal Kombat: Vengeance[]
The Shokans unexpectedly cooperated with the Centaurs as they conjoined an army driving back the ambushing Tarakatans. As enlisted by Sheeva and the Edenian monarchs, with the devastating Shokan Jumps they assisted the Kombatants before they took the final battle against the Deadly Alliance. It's likely they took out more of the nomads outside the Palace while the heroes took care of business inside.
The Shokan were also anointed by Sindel as watchful eyes over Baraka and his sparce Tarkatan horde after she promoted him to set up kamp near the Edenian border reducing his punishment after assisting the heroes.
Return of the Dragon King[]
The Shokan were enlisted by the Edenian royal guard as they heard murmurs of Onaga's resurrection; they teamed up with the Saurians and Centaurs against the Dragon's army. Most of their foot soldiers were gravely wounded by the revenant Jax, but their casualties remained light as they recovered in the Jinsei Chamber and returned to Edenia.
Final Kombat[]
The Shokan were making plans to relocate to Australia, which was actually a surprise since Sheeva and Goro were willing to take the offer, as she'd surrender her position as Sindel's bodyguard and Goro'd no longer be at the homeland of his father. They wanted to make a fresh start in Earthrealm while also wipe out Kano and the Black Dragons. However...things weren't in their favor, as Kintaro invaded the Edenian throne room and Armageddon was upon the heroes. Goro was successful and he and Sheeva offered him to take their place, no longer work for Kahn who disrespected their kind, and become a better Tigerian! They also recalled the peace offerings they made to the Centaurs, and Kung Lao accepting Goro's. Kintaro was reluctant, but all three Shokan took on the side of the Forces of Light opposing their former allegiances! They were gravely injured in the war, but they'd been spared as Fire God Liu Kang flameshielded them against Blaze's destruction while changing his lethal trajectory! The rest of their kind honored his sacrifice, worked out with the Prime Minister and other world leaders and became fighters against crime.
Gallery[]
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