Here is a plan to satisfy fans of the old and the new Sindel in the next installments.

[Tenebrae]

Since the aftermath dlc was released, many fans of the older mortal kombat were not pleased by the new version of sindel, they expected the nicer Sindel of the previous timeline and they got a villainous one.

Now this is not a thread to debate which one is the best, which one is better written, better portrayed (even if it will probably go there at one point). I simply have an idea of how NRS can satisfy fans of both Sindel in the next installments of Mortal kombat.

By the way I am fully aware that the chances that writers of NRS are going to read that threads is close to zero (if not zero). But if by miracle someone at NetherRealm DO reads it (I don’t think it’s ever going to happen), you can use those ideas as you wish. I have no intention to make a detailed fanfiction. So let’s start :


Why the new Sindel is different? The justifications:

There are some fans who say that Sindel from MK11 should not be villainous because she was a good person in the previous timeline. So here is how we can explain how her personality is different in the reboot. And I will use a film from a franchise that Warner bros owns, Justice League: Flashpoint paradox.

In this animated movie, Flash goes back in time to save his mother. The problem is that by doing this, it got way beyond the butterfly effect of saving his mother. As professor zoom explains, if anyone tries to travels in time, there is a time boom that changes everything.

In the flashpoint timeline, Kal-El ship did not crash in a Kansas cornfield with limited civilian casualties but in the heart of metropolis killing millions of people. Bruce Wayne died in the streets and Thomas Wayne became the Batman (but more like the Punisher wearing a batman suit). Themycyra and Atlantis are at war with one another and they basically killed hundreds of millions of people in Europe while they tried to genocide each other.

So yeah that timeline is horrifying, but not only that, the personality of both Wonder Woman and Aquaman are significantly different. Both of them are quite villainous and are perfectly willing to kill innocents to eliminate each other. It was different in the comics, but in the film it is simply implied that changing the timeline changes basically everything and that includes the personality of certain heroes and villains. We have a heroic Lex Luthor, Deathstroke and Captain Cold while facing a villainous Aquaman and Wonder Woman.

Now if we go back to Mortal kombat, it would be easy for the writers to use those time travel explanation and say that when Raiden got back in time at the beginning of mortal kombat 9, he used an extremely dangerous magic that created a time boom that basically changed EVERYTHING. The Tarkatan species for example used to be a cross between demons and humans, but in the reboot they are their own species with their own homeworld that Shao Kahn conquered.

Speaking of Tarkatans, Baraka used to be a much simpler monster, more of a beast than an individual. That was until the reboot made him a more fleshed out, articulate and smarter character that has more agencies, even when he was simply an enforcer of both Mileena and Shao Kahn.

The same thing could have happen to Sindel, in the old timeline she was heroic and nice. But when Raiden came back in time, the consequences were far bigger than he expected and Sindel was no longer the same.

There are certainly more work that can be done here, but this is an explanation from someone who is not a professional writer, and people who are paid for that could certainly refine that idea. Now that we have a justification, time to finally go to what should happen in the sequel to please fans of the original Sindel and fans of the new one.


Heroic Sindel.

As Kronika said before, she restarted the timeline countless time. So there is probably thousands of other stories of MK that we will never see. And if the writers used my Idea mentioned before, there would be another timeline where Sindel would have been just as heroic and good as the one of the original timeline.

BUT the major difference is that Mileena would not exist in this reality. Not because Shao Kahn did not wanted an heir for his throne but because he would have Kitanna. Sindel would have tried to save Edenia from Shao Kahn but that attempt would have been unsuccessful, and then she would have been brainwashed by Qan Chi and Shang tsung.

And this Kitanna would have been raised by Shao Kahn and contrarily to the one we have known in the 2 previous timeline, this one would have been corrupted by him. She would have become daddy’s little villain for her adoptive father. Due to her being brainwashed, Sindel would assist Shao Kahn in turning her flesh and blood into a monster that uses her power to oppress people for her adoptive father. And for thousands of years, Shang Tsung and Qan Chi magic would have made sure Sindel remain “supportive” of Shao Kahn projects for Kitana.


But during this timeline she would have been freed from the brainwashing (it does not really matter how exactly). Realising the horrors that happened since the fall of Edenia and that she participated in the process of making her daughter a monster, she would try to rectify her actions and redeem her offspring, but to no avail.

This alternate Kitana would consider this new personality of her mother a fake one for trying to take her away from the person she considers her father and would no longer recognize the mother she knew for so long. All of her life, the brainwashed Sindel would have encouraged her evilness, not act against it.

In the aftermath dlc, Kitana considers that her mother being evil all along as treason. In this case, it would be reversed; evil Kitana considers the real heroic personality of her mother a personal betrayal. Now there would be potential to explore this version of Kitana but I want to remain focus on the empress of Outworld for now.


This Sindel would have been seconds away from being killed by her daughter, but she would find herself transported in the new timeline (again you can explain that with a McGuffin or whatever, it does not matter) of MK 12.

In this timeline there would be 2 Sindel, the new evil one who sit on the throne of Ouworld and the heroic one that is a foreigner in this universe. This way we can have a Sindel that have been broken by the corruption of Shao Kahn but would certainly have her hearts warmed at seeing a genuinely nice version of Kitana that cares about her people. And she would see this Kitana as her greatest second chance.

Now this heroic Kitana would be confronted by the fact that the evil Sindel is her biological mother and just like it happen in aftermath, she would feel betrayed. But during the story she would receive help from a mysterious figure that seemingly saved her multiple times in her attempts at defeating her mother and Shao Kahn. It is only later that she would learn that her savior is a different version of her mother, one from a different timeline that did try her best to save Edenia from the invasion of outworld before being brainwashed.


This version of Sindel would eventually bond with Kitana. While they never shared moments together before, this Sindel would be the supporting mother Kitanna never had as she would face her biological mother trying to turn her into shao kahn’s heir. And at the same time, this Sindel would find a Kitana that did have empathy for other people, one that would not just seek more power but try her best to protect the innocent and to make Outworld a better place.

They would not exactly be mother and daughter, yet they would have found a family to support them in times of needs.

(the next part of my suggestion is in the comment following this one, I had to make it in 2 parts)

 

[Tenebrae]

Evil Sindel

In this reality of Mk 12, the evil Sindel would be the one in power. And it would be a great time to explore Edenia before it was under Outworld rules; we could also see the conquest by Shao Kahn and the aftermath (no pun intended).

One of the appeals of the new Sindel is how much she and Shao Kahn make an evil couple that genuinely love each other with great chemistry. While technically Shao is the emperor, in the aftermath dlc it is made very clear that Sindel is not his servants but his equal in power. Now here is a way these two can complete each other.

While Shao Kahn loves to conquer, fight and wages war, I never saw him as an emperor that rules and micromanage provinces or empires. In his Armageddon ending, he went mad from having no realm to conquer after achieving final victory over everything. Shao Kahn loves to make war to every civilisation he can reach, he loves the violence of battles, the adrenaline of fighting and the pride he gets by expanding his empire.

New Sindel on the other hands seems to enjoy power, she might be fine with conquest, but her intention seems to be driven more towards RULING than fighting. In Shao Kahn’s empire, she would get to call the shots for anything that happens inside of Outworld.

Shao Kahn gets to fight and conquer as much as he wants, and his wife Sindel gets to rule over more and more people. This way she gets the privilege of being empress and being the top dog in her society, Shao Kahn brings her more and more power by merging more realms. That is actually suggested in her arcade ending of MK 11, where Sindel says that by killing Jerrod, she gain a conqueror that got her more realms under her banner. It would be great to see that in action.

So that is how I saw how the relationship between her and Shao Kahn could be “healthy” for them, they are compatible with each other because they get the best from their soul mate.

Jerrod

Now for her past, this would be the opportunity to know more about Jerrod. In the aftermath dlc, Sindel does not have anything positive to say about her previous husband, calling him weak multiple times. Jerrod could easily be the Tytos Lannister of the MK universe.



For those who don’t know anything about game of thrones, Tytos was the father of Tywin Lannister. Tywin is known in the series as a ruthless lord that destroy houses that defy him and he is known to rule by fear because his father was a nice but weak man. Tytos is remembered for being a wimp that would let people disrespect him without consequences, Tywin was getting tired of seeing his house getting humiliated by their own smaller lords who are supposed to be obedient to them. So when he got in charge, he destroyed the rebellious house Reyne. Their fate is the topic of the song “Rains of Castamere”.



So to add a bit of complexity to the new Sindel, it would be interesting if she had the same contempt for Jerrod. In this case, he would be a gullible or at least over generous guy who cares for his people, but his generosity would be taken advantage off by others, both his subjects and other lords. While being queen, she would see people not take the royalty seriously because of how much Jerrod would be a push over who would always try to be close to his people, not realising how many of his subjects (both from the nobility and the populace) sees him as loser.



His incapacity to make anyone respect him would also extend to his relationship with other realm where he would make compromise instead of asserting his authority at any point. Believing in diplomacy rather than military strength in every case, he would do that to such a degree that Edenia would be the laughing stock among the realms and their royalty would be ridiculed by their own subjects.



Now this would be an exploratory take on the character, it’s not supposed to make Sindel a tragic villain but just to flesh out her motivation that she got to kill him. After her husband have been unfit for greatness for way too long, she would find her soul mate with Shao Kahn for reasons said above.

And if we were to go more in their relationship, in this timeline it could be interesting if her first contact with Shao would be at a moment where he is not Kahn but a general of Onaga. And by teaming up they would get rid of their respective superior to take power. It would be a great way to cement their relationship as they would have taken power by uniting themselves against the higher authority that are in their way.



Oh and as a last detail, I think it would be good for Shao Kahn and Sindel to be in an open relationship. Shao gets his harem and lots of concubines of course, but since Sindel is his equal and she join him to be the top dog of society, it would not make any sense that she would forbid herself from getting sex partners she might desire just to not wound the egos of her husband while he is allowed to have sex slave like Lilith.

Shao is allowed to have his harem and she gets the same privilege. It is clear that Shao Kahn is fine having an heir that does not share his blood, as he thinks Mileena is worthy of his throne. Now I know that some of you might say that if Sindel has a harem, she might get pregnant from one of her slave and this one could challenge Mileena claim to the throne.

This could be easily explained by the fact that Sindel is simply not interested in having another child and she just make sure that none of her slave knock her up OR the birth of Kitana was painful and difficult and she can never have a child again. Shao Kahn could also be sterile in this timeline which would easily explain why he created Mileena to be his heir instead of “making” one with Sindel.



The face off

Now that we have 2 versions of Sindel established and each of them has equal development, it is time to have a confrontation. Now during this story, the two would eventually face off and their confrontation should have them say out loud what they hate about their “twins”.

The Good Sindel would have her counterpart in contempt for betraying her husband and trying to turn her daughter into a dictator. Seeing her as an evil power hungry bitch who traded her family to remain at the top of society. The good Sindel saw with pride and happiness a heroic Kitana who never abandon her idealism to rule with kindness. This version of Sindel would view her daughter’s counterpart as a strong woman BECAUSE she never gives up on her people or her empathy towards them. She would see her “twin” has someone who spit on the most valuable aspects of life: love, family and empathy.



On the other hands Her evil counterpart would criticize her nemesis for sticking with her weak husband and being a victim of brainwashing for thousands of years and being unable to achieve anything while she is now empress of Ouworld, ruling over an expanding empire.

Evil Sindel does not apologize for her personality. She is strong and she does not seek forgiveness or redemption for who she is as this Sindel could not care less about the approval of anyone unless it benefits her. She would have the mindset similar to the one of Tywin Lannister “A lion doesn't concern himself with the opinion of a sheep” unless it’s necessary for her scheming and conspiracy. She is powerful and she has no problem asserting her authority towards her subjects. She is the queen of queens, and whoever they are, wherever they are, she will make anyone kneel to her.



This would be a way for writers to exploit both form of empowerment for female characters; on one hand you have heroic mothers who rise above the abuse she suffered to save her world from the evil that threatens it. Her evil counterpart rises above the role model she is supposed to be, she is not there to sacrifice herself for the common good of anyone. She takes whatever she wants when it suits her and will not tolerate being second rate.

One is the heroic mother who prefers to help the people and would certainly please players who like playing heroin and altruistic characters. Her evil counterpart would be there for the one who don’t give a fuck about society expectation and would simply go all in on the villain train, a power fantasy that could please fans of evil protagonist.

And of course we could have a final fight asking which Sindel we want to take in their confrontation “Choose your destiny” style, the same way we can take Liu Kang or Shang Tsung in the final chapter of Aftermath.



Now I am aware that this will require a lot of voiced cinematics that would be too expansive if NRS do regular cutscenes for all of this storyline. BUT they don’t need to do this; they can decide to make what world of Warcraft did with their origin story with different characters. Like this one:

This could be the similar to the vision Qan Chi shows to scorpion during MK 9 :

That would be a way of fleshing out characters and obtaining cut scenes without taking the entire budget.

So I am telling you now NRS, if any of you wants to take these ideas, go for it. They are yours as I don’t have any intention to write a detailed fanfiction for the confrontation of the 2 Sindels.



So what do you think about this suggestion? Let me know, perhaps there is something that could be improved or something I missed.

P.S

I have posted this thread on other sites, but since I was looking for as many answers as possible I don't think it could hurt to have it here. Perhaps there is something I did not take into account or something I missed.

 

[NinjaNinja]

i dont care whether she is good or evil the main problem is her movement in the game is awful, very stiff clunky animations, her cartwheel in mk9 looked way more fluent, there seemed to be a lot of clunky animations in MK11 which in turn creates "bad feel" to the gameplay that ultimately let the game down and i think addressing those issues going forward is far more important than character stories