Shang Tsung: character biography and film events

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:54

Shang Tsung is one of the main negative characters in the Mortal Kombat game series. On the basis of it, films were created, in the first of these films he acted as the main villain. This part of the biography of the antagonist is given in the article with all the details.

Appearing in games

It is not known for certain where exactly Shang Tsung appeared in the events related to the Mortal Kombat tournament. He was born on Earth and, according to one theory, trained in the art of magic as a great master. At the same time, the anti-hero secretly turned to dark spells and forbidden knowledge.

When his power surpassed the master, he killed him and joined Shao Kahn already cursed by the Old Gods for his betrayal. Another version says that Shang Tsung (actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) was a student of the Emperor of Outworld himself. He taught him to absorb souls and made him his faithful companion. After that, Tsung completed many tasks for Shao Kahn on Earth. His main goal was to find an opportunity to invade the planet of the emperor's troops. This is what he did while participating in the tournament.

First bouts

In "DeadlyBattle" with the first participation of Shang Tsung failed to become the champion from the Outer World. After several victories, he was beaten in disgrace by Kung Lao, and he returned to the emperor. Then he realized that he needed a more powerful fighter in terms of strength. This was the prince of the Shokan race Goro - a huge strong man with four arms. He managed to kill the monk, and Tsung swallowed Lao's soul. That's how he found out about the map showing the place where Shinnok's amulet was kept.

Through this, he colluded with the fallen Old God and his ally Quan Chi. It was these sorcerers who told the servant of the emperor how to resurrect Sindel right on Earth. After that, preparations for the implementation of the plan began. It should have taken ten thousand years, but the conquest was worth it. These events were the preface to the first film. Shang Tsung still managed to absorb the souls of all the relatives of the powerful warrior Kenshi, and he himself was blinded, which is why he almost died. Knowledge and power were enough to take the Mortal Kombat tournament completely under his control, which was shown in the movie.

Events in the picture

The actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who played Shang Tsung, perfectly merged into the image of an evil sorcerer who lives only for the sake of enslaving the Earth by Emperor Shao Kahn. To do this, he took with him Goro, who not only defeated Kung Lao, but also turned out to be the champion all nine times in a row. A young monk from the Shaolin order, Liu Kang, came to the tenth Mortal Kombat tournament.

The movie says Shang Tsung killed him earlierbrother, and the revenge-driven young hero wants revenge, but the original story is silent about this. In a difficult duel, a young fighter from the Earth was able to defeat Goro for the first time in a long time. The dark sorcerer understood the complexity of his situation, since the emperor's anger for the defeat would be huge. To remedy the situation, the antagonist himself enters the battle against Liu Kang, but he failed to win. The monk used his teacher Bo'Rai Cho's special move called "flying strike" and won. The physical shell of the magician was defeated, and he himself ended up in the Outer World, where he was almost killed forever by Shao Kahn for his mistake on Earth.

Further destiny

Shang Tsung was pardoned by the emperor only because he proposed a new plan to destroy the Earth. He said that it was possible to arrange a Mortal Kombat tournament in Outworld territory. If earthly fighters are lured here, they can be easily destroyed. To announce the call, you need to open a portal from one location to another, and only Tsung can do this.

For this, the sorcerer was returned to his youth with all his abilities. He started rioting all over the planet, as he wanted to kill all the fighters, if possible, even before they arrived at the tournament. This was prevented by the appearance of Raiden, who demanded an explanation from the sorcerer. He threw down a challenge, which was necessary to agree, otherwise the Earth would be considered a technical defeat. The best warriors went to the prepared trap in Outworld. These events were notshown in the first film, but followed the original chronology further. For many, it will be interesting that the actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who played Shang Tsung, was baptized in order to obtain Russian citizenship.