.gif)
Kitana (Mortal Kombat)
Encyclopedia
Kitana is a recurring player
and a one-time boss character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game
series. One of the lead characters of the Mortal Kombat saga, Kitana is the princess
of the otherdimensional realm of Edenia and the daughter of Queen Sindel. She is also the love interest of the series' primary hero Liu Kang
and has an evil twin
named Mileena
.
Kitana has appeared in almost every Mortal Kombat media (mostly as a supporting character for Liu Kang), becoming one of the most popular characters in the franchise and gaining critical acclaim as one of the most attractive women of video games
in general.
of the evil Outworld emperor Shao Kahn
; then his enemy, tearing herself away from his grasp and freeing her home realm of Edenia; and then leading an army into Outworld to combat any chance of Shao Kahn rising to power again. Kitana shared a subtle love interest with Earthrealm champion Liu Kang
until he was killed by the Deadly Alliance
, though they were briefly reunited prior to his resurrection. She has aligned herself on the good side, despite her loyalty to Shao Kahn for most of her life until learning the truth about her past and real family. A disfigured clone
of Kitana, given the name Mileena
, was introduced as Kitana's twin sister, but is later considered her arch-rival (at least in the original game series' timeline).
Kitana first appears in Mortal Kombat II
(1993) as Shao Kahn's daughter and personal assassin, working alongside her supposed twin sister Mileena. After centuries of loyally serving Kahn, Kitana uncovers the truth about her past, discovering that she is actually the daughter of Edenia's former rulers King Jerrod and Queen Sindel, and was taken as Shao Kahn's own when he conquered their realm. She also learns that Mileena was never her real sister, but a grotesque clone of her created at her adopted father's behest by his sorcerer Shang Tsung
. Originally intended to replace Kitana should she ever learn of her true birthright, Mileena emerged flawed and Kahn instead decided to make her monitor Kitana's loyalty to him. According to the semi canonical
spin-off game Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks
, after Kitana (voiced by Lita Lopez) was found no longer loyal to Kahn, she is put into a spell-induced trance and forced to fight the Earthrealm heroes anyway (along with Mileena and Jade
), before being freed from this state by the Shaolin warrior monks Liu Kang and Kung Lao
. Eventually, the sisters clash and Kitana emerges victorious, killing Mileena.
During the events of Mortal Kombat 3
(1995), Kitana is put on trial for treason and the murder of Mileena. Before a verdict and sentence could be reached, however, she escapes from Shao Kahn's dungeons and joins the warriors of Earthrealm to free her mother Sindel, who has been resurrected and used by Kahn to invade Earth. After convincing her close friend Jade to join her, Kitana locates and frees Sindel from Shao Kahn's mental control, leading to his defeat at the hands of Liu Kang. Kitana, Sindel, and Jade then liberate Edenia from Outworld. Their jubilance is short-lived, as during Mortal Kombat Gold (1999), Shinnok and his grand vizier Quan Chi escapes imprisonment in the Netherrealm and invades Edenia. Betrayed by the traitorous Edenian Tanya, Kitana, Sindel, and Jade are taken prisoner, but Kitana manages to escape and rejoin her Earthrealm allies. Shinnok's forces are eventually defeated by the joint efforts of Kitana and her allies. With Edenia freed once again, Kitana finally proposes to Liu Kang, offering him the chance to rule Edenia at her side as King and Queen, but he reluctantly rejects her offer, seeing his true duty as champion of Earth. After Shinnok's defeat, Kitana captures Mileena but learns that Shao Kahn has survived his defeat in Earthrealm and is regaining power. Knowing that Kahn would attempt to reclaim Edenia once he was strong enough, she forges an alliance with Goro, prince of the Outworld race Shokan. The combined armies of the Edenians and Shokans defeat much of Kahn's forces, but are eventually locked in stalemate.
In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
(2002), Kitana learns that Shao Kahn has been slain by unknown assassins. Thinking her fight is at an end, she begins the journey back to Edenia, hoping to finally live in peace. However, on the way she encounters Kung Lao, who tells her of the plans of the Deadly Alliance, Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, who are responsible for Shao Kahn's demise and are attempting to revive the undead army of the legendary Onaga the Dragon King. He also informs her of Liu Kang's death at the hands of Shang Tsung. Despite Kitana's grief, she once again rejoins the Earthrealm warriors against the new threat. Eventually, Kitana and her allies assault Shang Tsung's palace, where she faces Quan Chi one-on-one. Despite her improved fighting skills, gained from training with Bo' Rai Cho, Kitana is outmatched by the powerful sorcerer and killed alongside her allies. Shortly after, they are resurrected and magically enslaved by Onaga, who then sents Mileena to impersonate Kitana as the princess of Edenia. In Mortal Kombat: Deception
(2004), Onaga uses Kitana to defeat and imprison her mother, Sindel, knowing that the queen would not fight her daughter. Sindel is freed from her own dungeon by Jade, and together they flee to Outworld where they attempt to find a way to defeat Onaga and free Kitana from his influence. Unknown to anyone at the time, Liu Kang's spirit was able to remain amongst the living due to the bond he shared with Kitana. He found himself a new ally and friend in Ermac
, as the two embark on a mission to save their allies as well. Ermac and Liu Kang are successful in freeing Kitana and the other Earthrealm heroes. Afterward, as Kitana travels back to Edenia, she encounters Blaze, who warns her of a coming new danger that will threaten all the realms and advices her to assemble the forces of light into battle. Weary of constant battle, Kitana is disheartened, but Blaze assures her that the wars will soon be over. Following this warning, Kitana returns in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
(2007), accompanied by Liu Kang's spirit in order to keep him whole until there was a way to reunite him with his body. They later meet with Nightwolf, who offers to relieve Kitana of her burden to take Liu Kang's soul into himself, allowing her to fight against the coming evil. Kitana ultimately perishes with the rest of her allies during the battle.
Kitana re-appears in Mortal Kombat, the 2011 re-imagining of the earliest three Mortal Kombat games, voiced by Karen Strassman
and motion-captured
by Brenda Barrie. In the game's story mode, she and Jade are sent by Shao Kahn to compete in Mortal Kombat. Kitana battles Liu Kang in an attempt to insure that he will not reach the final stages of the first tournament, but is defeated; expecting to die, she is surprised by his decision to spare her. Later, during the second tournament, Kitana is approached by Raiden, who informs her that her supposed past as Shao Kahn's daughter is a lie. In Shang Tsung's Flesh Pits, she comes upon a newly-created Mileena. Before Kahn, she accuses Shang Tsung of attempting to replace her, and is shocked to learn that the Emperor himself ordered Mileena's creation, as he imprisons Kitana in the palace and commands his "true daughter" to be brought to him. However, Kitana is soon freed by Jade and the two escape to Earthrealm to join their new allies against the forces of Outworld. They assist in the battle for Earthrealm, but are killed alongside several others by Kitana's corrupted mother, Sindel. In the end, she is shown to be one of the warriors that are resurrected by Quan Chi in the Netherrealm to battle Raiden
.
In the uncanonical crossover game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
, Kitana is transported to Metropolis
, where she encounters her counterpart from DC Universe
, Wonder Woman
. Due to the "kombat rage", Kitana hallucinates, believing Wonder Woman to be an assassin sent from Outworld and challenged her. After being defeated, Kitana flees to elsewhere in Metropolis, where she is found and defeated by Scorpion
and brought to Raiden's temple, where she tells about seeing the fusion of Shao Kahn and Darkseid
: Dark Kahn. Kitana then joins the rest of the Kombatants in traveling to the fused realms of Outworld and Apokolips
. She fights alongside them against the DC heroes and villains, and is one of the many knocked unconscious while Raiden and Superman
battle and destroy Dark Kahn.
Kitana's prototypal design in Mortal Kombat II was the work of John Tobias
, the main Mortal Kombat designer of the 1990s. In September 2011, her origins as character were revealed by Tobias, who disclosed that she started out as an unplayable herald
-type character called Kitsune
who was created during the early development of the original Mortal Kombat game in 1991. Tobias' original inspiration while creating Kitsune was the character of Princess Mariko from Jordan Mechner
’s 1984 video game Karateka
. She "was going to fit into the story as Shang Lao’s (Tsung’s) princess daughter - the spoil of victory for winning the tournament", who would betray her father after she fell for Liu Kang, but "Shang became a minion of Shao Kahn when the story was expanded for MKII and Kitsune was renamed Kitana and made Kahn's step-child". In Tobias' design sketch, Kitsune wielded a single fan and wore a Chinese dress. The name Kitsune was rejected for being a Japanese word and thus not fitting with "Shang and Shao who were both Chinese in origin" (before the games "ultimately became a hodgepodge of nonsensical Asian mythological hooha anyway"), and the name of Kitana was created as "a combo of Kitsune & Katana
" that would sound "generically Asian enough".
According to Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon
, Kitana's signature "Kiss of Doom" Fatality
(one of her finishing moves in almost all the games featuring her, except of MK2011) was inspired by the demise of the villain Dr. Kananga
in the James Bond
film Live and Let Die
. Boon described Kitana and Mileena as the female equivalents of Scorpion and Sub-Zero
(the series' two most iconic male characters, with a fierce rivalry of their own). Kitana's signature weapons became a pair of razor-edged "Steel Fans", inspired by Japanese war fan
s and originally made whole metal. Only in Mortal Kombat Gold (an expanded version of the 1998's Mortal Kombat 4
) she uses the "Flying Blade" throwing weapon, similar to Tanya's sharp boomerang due to their shared development history in MK4. In UMK3 her Animality transformation-animal is a small black cat. Following her debut, Kitana was repeatedly removed from the further sequels due to several circumstances, only to always return in a port or an update, such as it was in the case of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, MK: Gold and Mortal Kombat: Unchained (the PSP
port of Deception).
For Mortal Kombat II, Kitana was originally portrayed by Katalin Zamiar
, whose base outfit used for creating the game's female ninja characters was Kitana's blue, as Kitana, Mileena and Jade all were given the identical, bodysuit
based costumes in MKII and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3/Mortal Kombat Trilogy
, differing from each other through the use of palette swap
technique while creating their digitized sprite
images. In this game, Kitana was clad in a simple blue leotard
with black sash, knee-high boots, long gloves and a headband
. Becky Gable took over the role from Zamiar in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
, for which the motion capture footage for all of female ninja characters had her wearing a more neutrally-colored dark red outfit. In this game Kitana's costume attire with added details, including the laced chest opening, arm bands, ear rings and a more liberal use of black, while the headband was dropped.
For her first 3D
(and the first unmasked) appearance in Gold, her face was modelled after Talisa Soto
, who was Kitana's actress in the films, and clad in a slightly modified costume from UMK3. In Deadly Alliance, Unchained and Armageddon, Kitana wore a more regal costume featuring lavender
one-piece outfit with even more exposed cleavage, high heels for the first time. In MK vs DCU, Kitana wears a blue-and-black leotard and her long hair is held by a ribbon. In MK2011, she wears a cerulean
-colored bustier with silver trimmings, laced together in the way reminiscent of UMK3, a long with a flowing loincloth at the front, and a royal tiara
in place of MKII headband. Since Deadly Alliance, Kitana's hair is much longer and is often shown to be dark-brown instead of just black (as in the original appearance). It is usually tied into braid
, which became her most often used hairstyle next to a bun
; her loose hair didn't reappear since MKII until the 2011 game, in which also her once-straight hair became wavy. Kitana's "klassic" UMK3 looks returned in the 2011 reboot game, first as en exclusive costume in the pre-order bonuses and then through downloadable content
, while the MKII-style retro outfits for her and Jade were also later included as part of another, free downloadable package. These two post-release additions brought the numbers of Kitana's and Jade's costumes in MK2011 to four for each of them, equaling them with Mileena in having the highest number of alternate looks in any game in the series up to this point so far.
with a fan (in MK 2011 she also cuts off the defeated opponents' arms before beheading them), which has been featured in almost all the games she was included in, with exception of Deadly Alliance and MKvsDCU (for which it was deemed to be too bloody). She is one of the only five characters to perform a kata
in the game's attract mode
of Deadly Alliance.
Most of Kitana's traditional special moves utilise her twin fan weapons, used as both a melee weapon and as a thrown projectile, and to lift the enemies in the air. According to GamePro
strategy guide, Kitana was the 7th best out of the 12 fighters of MKII (citing her devastating combos, powerful "Fan Throw" move, and good sweep and reach hindered by slow release of the fan-based special moves and limited attack patterns). She was also picked as the best MKII fighter by the editors of Sega Power
and Super Play
. In UMK3 (and, by extension, MKT), however, she got no new special moves as opposed to most of other characters. According to Sega Saturn Magazine
, "Kitana's lack of enhancements doesn't make her as exciting to play as some of the other characters, though her excellent juggle combos still work - and they can do loads of damage". According to Nintendo Power
, "with such a small repertoire, Princess Kitana will be sorely challenged by experienced warriors", even as her Fan Toss is faster than many other projectiles. Over the time, however, Kitana has received the received some of special moves that used to be typically associated with Mileena, including a ground-roll attack (introduced in MKvsDCU and based on Mileena's classic "Rolling Thunder") and teleportation
-based moves (since Armageddon).
's 1994-1995 Mortal Kombat comic books. She was the subject of the special issue Kitana and Mileena: Sister Act, in which her backstory was revealed as slightly altered in comparison to the MKII canon story. In the comic books, Kitana is the princess of Edenia and daughter of Jerrod and Sindel, but she was already an adult when Shao Kahn killed Jerrod and seized the realm, putting her under a spell that made her forget her past life and believe she is Kahn's daughter. Kitana first appeared during the Goro: Prince of Pain story arc, joining Mileena, Baraka and Reptile
in search for Goro in Outworld. During the Battlewave miniseries, she attempted to rebel against Kahn with the assistance of Kung Lao, Baraka and Sub-Zero. Unlike in the game series' continuity, in the comic series Kitana has no interactions with neither Liu Kang nor Jade. Instead, she has a closer relation with Kung Lao (and Shang Tsung even attempts to exploit this while taking Kitana's form). She also appears in Midway
's stand-alone MK4 prologue comic book published in 1997, in which she is arranges peace between the races of Shokan and Centaurians while being secretly watched over by Goro, and in the game tie-in title Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe: Beginnings, which was drawn by Kitana's creator John Tobias and published by DC Comics
in 2008. In the humor magazine Cracked, Kitana was parodied in the comic shorts "Lifestyles of the Rich and Violent" and "Moron Kombat", in the latter of which she was renamed as Princess Kittykat
.
Despite being a major character in the video games' storyline, Princess Kitana was only a supporting character in both Mortal Kombat live-action films. In the movies, Kitana was portrayed by the 28-year-old Talisa Soto, appearing unmasked and wearing less revealing, all-black costumes (including a long formal dress). In the first film
, released in 1995, Kitana was introduced as a companion of Shang Tsung, but eventually joined Liu Kang and the Earthrealm warriors to help them defeat the sorcerer. She then spent most of the 1997 sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
in Kahn's capivity, captured by Scorpion, before facing Sindel during the final battle. Kitana's steel folding fans (for the first time redesigned into several blades on each one, instead of solid all-metal fans) briefly appeared as her weapon in the second film, and she is shown to engage in a romantic relationship with Liu Kang, but her Edenian background, prior loyalty to Kahn, and relations with Mileena and Jade were ignored in both pictures, in which she was instead described simply as being the rightful heir to the Outworld's throne. In the 1995 novel Mortal Kombat by Martin Delrio
, an expanded novelization of the first film, Kitana is introduced in a new new scene, in which she is described as dressed in scarlet-red silk of "stitched all around with a golden thread". Shang Tsung tells Goro that Kitana "alone keeps alive the memory" of Edenia before Kahn's conquest and "uses her age and her position as a shield to cover her rebellion".
Kitana is one of the lead characters in the 1996 television animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm
, set roughly in the movies' version of the MK universe, in which she did again appear unmasked even if clad in a black-blue leotard-type outfit more reminiscent of the one she wore in MKII, and was voiced by Cree Summer
. Similar to the films, she is never shown to have ever been loyal to Kahn in the cartoon. In the episode "Skin Deep", a male ninja character Rain is introduced as her former love interest turned enemy. The series' finale involved Kitana leading a rebellion from Outworld against Kahn.
Kitana made several appearances in the non-canonical prequel live-action television series Mortal Kombat: Konquest
(1998–1999), her role shared by the 27-year-old Audie England
(the episodes "Vengeance" and "Shadow of a Doubt") and by Dara Tomanovich (in "The Essence"), the character's stunt double being Christine Rodriguez. In this series, she is fully aware of her Edenian past and the deaths of her parents at Kahn's hands, clandestinely working with the Great Kung Lao to prevent the Emperor from conquering realms while at the same time feigning her allegiance to him. Her outfit and weapon are similar to these she has in the films, but she uses her native fighting style called the Special Edenian Arts, which she had mastered already before Shao Kahn's invasion and which was suplemented with various moves that she learnt from prisoners of her stepfather. The Konquest version of Mileena is neither her clone nor a sister, and Rain appears as her former best friend. In the series' abrupt finale (due to the show's cancellation, as it was supposed to continue further for a next season after a cliffhanger ending), Kitana appears to die, after she was reluctantly ordered by Shao Kahn to be killled for her plots of treason against him.
Kitana appears in the 2011 prequel live-action webisode
series Mortal Kombat: Legacy
, played in her first acting role by a 20-years-old martial artist and stuntwoman Samantha Jo, credited as Sam Tjhia, a self-professed Kitana fan who said she did research "to get on the same page" with other fans to see how they perceive the character while preparing for the role. Kitana's origin story is told in part-live and part-animated episode "Kitana & Mileena", which is a fable-like, altered adaptation of their backstory from the original game series' canon (one big difference is that her mother, Sindel, used a ritual so her soul fused with Kitana's in hopes to avoid Shao Khan's corruption before committing suicide). In it, Kitana appears both masked (only in the animated scenes) and unmasked, and bests Mileena in a fierce sparring match. When the young sisters are sent by Shao Kahn to assassinate the man who is really King Jerrod, Kitana's biological father who is then killed by Mileena, Kitana eventually learns the truth after her past and decided to turn against Shao Kahn in the upcoming Mortal Kombat tournament.
stage show in 1995, played by Lexi Alexander
(credited as "Lexi Mirai") and Jennifer DeCosta. In April 2011, a model cosplay
ing as Kitana, along with those dressed as Sonya and Mileena, was featured in her a live-action trailer "Kitana Kasting" and an official photo session; all three of them later also attended The Gadget Show
for a MK game tournament. Same month, UFC
's Octagon Girl Brittney Palmer dressed up to play the game Kitana in a promotional video on the Playboy
vlog of Jo Garcia
.
A figurine of Kitana came in the MKII set with the Argentinian magazine Top Kids in 1995. In 1996, an action figure of Kitana was released in the UK by Toy Island as part of the Mortal Kombat Trilogy Twelve Inch Series 2. An action figure based on her MKII design (and the earlier Mileena model) was presented by Infinite Concepts in a prototype form at the American International Toy Fair
2000, but was never actually released. A 1/6 scale limited-edition statue was announced to be released by Syco Collectibles in 2011.
in 1994, while it might be "incredibly sad for adult males to fancy in game female characters", one should be "prepared to fall in love" with Kitana. In 2005, Game Revolution
ranked her as fourth on the list of top 10 old school Mortal Kombat characters ("you’ve got to be a pretty tough chick to hang with the other kombatants, but what was really deadly about Kitana was her beauty"), and in 2007 Tom's Games included her among the 50 greatest female characters in video game history, calling her "arguably the best known and most popular woman" in the series and "a powerful princess that's lived more than 10,000 years and still hasn't lost her hotness". In 2008, GamesRadar
placed Kitana among the Top 20 Overlooked Game Babes, and UGO ranked her as 28th on the list of Top 50 Videogame Hotties ("Kitana has her curves in all the right places, and her signature fans will keep you cool when things start to heat up"), while Mania
included her among the 10 "psychotic video game chicks with too much baggage" and GameDaily
featured her in the article Ten Babes Who Should and 10 Babes Who Shouldn't Meet Your Mom as as one of those who should not. GameDaily also spotlighted Kitana in the Babe of the Week: Brunettes gallery in 2009, while Unreality placed her in the list of 10 Most Badass Video Game Women of All Time, Complex Blog included her among The 10 Hottest Video Game Girls, and a Polish tabloid Fakt highlighted her as one of the 21 "sexy ladies of video games". In 2010, GamesRadar got her on the list of gaming's most twisted royalty for having "a thing for bloody decapitations via razor fan… and for boys 9,000 years her junior", while GamePro
's AJ Glasser called her his favorite female Mortal Kombat character but criticized her repertoire of special moves. Also in 2010, Videogamer.com included Princess Kitana in the 2010 article of Top 10 Video Game Crushes as rivalling Princess Peach
for number one video game monarch ("Peach may own Kitana in the cuteness stakes, but Kitana wins out in sheer sex appeal"), adding that she "may be 10,000 years old, but just think of the things she could teach you." In 2011, UGO included Kitana on the list of 25 Hot Ninja Girls ("we can't talk Mortal Kombat and forget Kitana"), while Complex ranked the animated series' version of Kitana as 18th on the list of The 25 Hottest Cartoon Women of All Time, and The Times of India
featured her as one of the nine "sexiest babes of action game
s".
Kitana has also shared much of the spotlight with her clone. At the time of the release of MKII, The Miami Herald
called Kitana and Mileena ("leggy ladies who wear masks") to be "an interesting step toward political correctness
" as "a far cry from Little Miss Muffet
", while Austin American-Statesman
described them as "far nastier than that martial-artless aerobics instructor
from the first game
". In the book Interacting With Video, the "two Asian twin sisters, Kitana and Mileena" were held as an example of a "highly eroticized dragon lady
" of video games. Professor Patrick Sunnen judged their portrayal as "formiddable female opponents" to be potentially progressive, yet to be arguably made just to increase "the sexist
potential of the individual fights", and described Kitana's decapitation Fatality using a "deceptively feminine razor-sharp fan" to be castration
-like. In 2009, GamePro featured the both sisters as 11th-best example of palette-swapped video game characters ("both prefer wearing clothing that shows off their inflated mammary glands, and both have used the usually endearing gesture of kissing as a fatality"). The two also shared the eight place with Sonya on the list of The 50 Hottest Women In Video Games by Complex in 2010. Together with Mileena, Kitana got into GamesRadar
's list of "top 7 girls kissing girls" in 2006, and her famous "Kiss of Death" finishing move has been also ranked eight on the top lists of Mortal Kombat Fatalities as compiled by UGO in 2007 and by IGN
in 2010. In 2011, Game Rant included Kitana in the "honorable mentions" section of their list of ten "most awesome" characters of the series, but commenting that "apart from possessing one of the cooler weapons in the game ... she lacks the entertaining/alluring oddity" of Mileena.
Kitana has quickly become one of the very sex symbol
s of the Mortal Kombat series, in a display of what one author described as manifestation of "pseudo-Japanese Orient
alist fetishes
". One of the many urban legend
-style rumors surrounding MKII in the early 1990s concerned the supposed "Nudality" (also known under other names such as "Sexuality") finishing move that would be performed by Kitana stripping naked. The nickname of an American adult model Cherie Roberts
is "Kitana Jade" since 1999 (Jade being the name of another female ninja character in the series), while Kitana Baker
is an adopted name of an American model born as Christi Josenhans. In 2004, Vibes contributor Stud Houston admitted he had once a crush on Kitana, describing her as "sexy as hell". A self-proclaimed "geek
" Tanya Jordan won the Ms Fitness Southern California
competition with her pole dance
while dressed as the UMK3 version of Kitana in 2010, while the FHM
Premiere Vixen champion Karen Bordador made a photo session while dressed as the same version of Kitana in 2011. In the Halloween
2011 special edition of Monday Night Raw
, professional wrester AJ Lee dressed as Kitana for the Divas Battle Royal contest and attempted to perform a "Fan Lift" on her rival. During the development of the Mortal Kombat reboot game, the God of War
series' director David Jaffe
explicitly wrote how the GoW character Kratos
would have "a ****ALITY" with "Sonya AND Katana [sic]" if he would join the series. Following Internet backlash, Jaffe explained he does not advocate rape
and this comment was just an "intentionally juvenile" joke to suggest that "as a reward, Kratos gets a threesome
with two of the hottest chix [sic] in gaming".
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
and a one-time boss character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game
Fighting game
Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...
series. One of the lead characters of the Mortal Kombat saga, Kitana is the princess
Princess
Princess is the feminine form of prince . Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or his daughters....
of the otherdimensional realm of Edenia and the daughter of Queen Sindel. She is also the love interest of the series' primary hero Liu Kang
Liu Kang
Liu Kang is a video game character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. First appearing in the series' first title, Liu Kang is portrayed as a Shaolin monk who enters the Mortal Kombat tournament to save his world, Earthrealm, from being destroyed due to having lost nine consecutive...
and has an evil twin
Evil twin
The evil twin is an antagonist found in many different fictional genres. They are physical copies of protagonists, but with radically inverted moralities. In filmed entertainment, they can have obvious physical differences with the protagonist—such as facial hair, eyepatches, scars or distinctive...
named Mileena
Mileena
Mileena is a player and boss character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. Mileena was originally known as the personal assassin of the Outworld's evil emperor Shao Kahn and twin sister of his stepdaughter Princess Kitana, but in a truth she is a deformed clone of her created by the sorcerer...
.
Kitana has appeared in almost every Mortal Kombat media (mostly as a supporting character for Liu Kang), becoming one of the most popular characters in the franchise and gaining critical acclaim as one of the most attractive women of video games
Portrayal of women in video games
The portrayal of women in video games has often been the subject of both academic studies and controversy. Two recurring themes are the level of independence of female characters from their male counterparts, and their objectification and sexualization....
in general.
In video games
Kitana is over 10,000 years old, although she appears to be a young woman. Through the years, she has risen to great importance, first as the loyal stepdaughterStepfamily
A stepfamily, also known as a blended family or reconstituted family, is a family in which one or both members of the couple have children from a previous relationship...
of the evil Outworld emperor Shao Kahn
Shao Kahn
Shao Kahn is a boss, announcer and recurring playable character from the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. The main antagonist in the Mortal Kombat series, Shao Kahn is the Emperor of Outworld known for his godlike strength, extreme brutality and knowledge of black magic...
; then his enemy, tearing herself away from his grasp and freeing her home realm of Edenia; and then leading an army into Outworld to combat any chance of Shao Kahn rising to power again. Kitana shared a subtle love interest with Earthrealm champion Liu Kang
Liu Kang
Liu Kang is a video game character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. First appearing in the series' first title, Liu Kang is portrayed as a Shaolin monk who enters the Mortal Kombat tournament to save his world, Earthrealm, from being destroyed due to having lost nine consecutive...
until he was killed by the Deadly Alliance
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, originally known as Mortal Kombat V: Vengeance or simply Mortal Kombat 5, is a fighting game developed and published by Midway for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo GameCube, and Game Boy Advance...
, though they were briefly reunited prior to his resurrection. She has aligned herself on the good side, despite her loyalty to Shao Kahn for most of her life until learning the truth about her past and real family. A disfigured clone
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
of Kitana, given the name Mileena
Mileena
Mileena is a player and boss character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. Mileena was originally known as the personal assassin of the Outworld's evil emperor Shao Kahn and twin sister of his stepdaughter Princess Kitana, but in a truth she is a deformed clone of her created by the sorcerer...
, was introduced as Kitana's twin sister, but is later considered her arch-rival (at least in the original game series' timeline).
Kitana first appears in Mortal Kombat II
Mortal Kombat II
Mortal Kombat II is a competitive fighting game originally produced by Midway Games for the arcades in . It is the second game in the Mortal Kombat series. Like its predecessor, various home versions were produced...
(1993) as Shao Kahn's daughter and personal assassin, working alongside her supposed twin sister Mileena. After centuries of loyally serving Kahn, Kitana uncovers the truth about her past, discovering that she is actually the daughter of Edenia's former rulers King Jerrod and Queen Sindel, and was taken as Shao Kahn's own when he conquered their realm. She also learns that Mileena was never her real sister, but a grotesque clone of her created at her adopted father's behest by his sorcerer Shang Tsung
Shang Tsung
Shang Tsung is a boss and player character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. A powerful and deadly sorcerer and a primary antagonist in the Mortal Kombat series, Shang Tsung is a shapeshifter who absorbs the souls of those he slays in order to maintain his youth and power...
. Originally intended to replace Kitana should she ever learn of her true birthright, Mileena emerged flawed and Kahn instead decided to make her monitor Kitana's loyalty to him. According to the semi canonical
Canon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
spin-off game Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is an action/beat-em-up video game based on the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games. Shaolin Monks was developed by Midway LA and published by Midway for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox...
, after Kitana (voiced by Lita Lopez) was found no longer loyal to Kahn, she is put into a spell-induced trance and forced to fight the Earthrealm heroes anyway (along with Mileena and Jade
Jade (Mortal Kombat)
Jade is a fictional character from the Mortal Kombat fighting video game series. She debuted in Mortal Kombat II , at first as an unplayable secret character and became a player character in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3...
), before being freed from this state by the Shaolin warrior monks Liu Kang and Kung Lao
Kung Lao
Kung Lao is a player character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.Kung Lao is a former Shaolin monk and a former member of the White Lotus Society. He stands in the shadow of his great ancestor, the Great Kung Lao, but unlike his great ancestor he has no desire to be champion and would...
. Eventually, the sisters clash and Kitana emerges victorious, killing Mileena.
During the events of Mortal Kombat 3
Mortal Kombat 3
Mortal Kombat 3 is a fighting game developed by Midway and released in 1995, first as an arcade game. It is the third game in the Mortal Kombat series...
(1995), Kitana is put on trial for treason and the murder of Mileena. Before a verdict and sentence could be reached, however, she escapes from Shao Kahn's dungeons and joins the warriors of Earthrealm to free her mother Sindel, who has been resurrected and used by Kahn to invade Earth. After convincing her close friend Jade to join her, Kitana locates and frees Sindel from Shao Kahn's mental control, leading to his defeat at the hands of Liu Kang. Kitana, Sindel, and Jade then liberate Edenia from Outworld. Their jubilance is short-lived, as during Mortal Kombat Gold (1999), Shinnok and his grand vizier Quan Chi escapes imprisonment in the Netherrealm and invades Edenia. Betrayed by the traitorous Edenian Tanya, Kitana, Sindel, and Jade are taken prisoner, but Kitana manages to escape and rejoin her Earthrealm allies. Shinnok's forces are eventually defeated by the joint efforts of Kitana and her allies. With Edenia freed once again, Kitana finally proposes to Liu Kang, offering him the chance to rule Edenia at her side as King and Queen, but he reluctantly rejects her offer, seeing his true duty as champion of Earth. After Shinnok's defeat, Kitana captures Mileena but learns that Shao Kahn has survived his defeat in Earthrealm and is regaining power. Knowing that Kahn would attempt to reclaim Edenia once he was strong enough, she forges an alliance with Goro, prince of the Outworld race Shokan. The combined armies of the Edenians and Shokans defeat much of Kahn's forces, but are eventually locked in stalemate.
In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, originally known as Mortal Kombat V: Vengeance or simply Mortal Kombat 5, is a fighting game developed and published by Midway for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo GameCube, and Game Boy Advance...
(2002), Kitana learns that Shao Kahn has been slain by unknown assassins. Thinking her fight is at an end, she begins the journey back to Edenia, hoping to finally live in peace. However, on the way she encounters Kung Lao, who tells her of the plans of the Deadly Alliance, Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, who are responsible for Shao Kahn's demise and are attempting to revive the undead army of the legendary Onaga the Dragon King. He also informs her of Liu Kang's death at the hands of Shang Tsung. Despite Kitana's grief, she once again rejoins the Earthrealm warriors against the new threat. Eventually, Kitana and her allies assault Shang Tsung's palace, where she faces Quan Chi one-on-one. Despite her improved fighting skills, gained from training with Bo' Rai Cho, Kitana is outmatched by the powerful sorcerer and killed alongside her allies. Shortly after, they are resurrected and magically enslaved by Onaga, who then sents Mileena to impersonate Kitana as the princess of Edenia. In Mortal Kombat: Deception
Mortal Kombat: Deception
Mortal Kombat: Deception is a fighting game developed and published by Midway as the sixth installment for the Mortal Kombat series. It was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in October 2004, while a Nintendo GameCube version was published in March 2005. Mortal Kombat: Deception follows the...
(2004), Onaga uses Kitana to defeat and imprison her mother, Sindel, knowing that the queen would not fight her daughter. Sindel is freed from her own dungeon by Jade, and together they flee to Outworld where they attempt to find a way to defeat Onaga and free Kitana from his influence. Unknown to anyone at the time, Liu Kang's spirit was able to remain amongst the living due to the bond he shared with Kitana. He found himself a new ally and friend in Ermac
ERMAC
ERMAC is a forum in which risk management professionals can nurture relationships with other risk management professionals. It also provides a forum in which these professionals can discuss topical energy risk management issues and ideas...
, as the two embark on a mission to save their allies as well. Ermac and Liu Kang are successful in freeing Kitana and the other Earthrealm heroes. Afterward, as Kitana travels back to Edenia, she encounters Blaze, who warns her of a coming new danger that will threaten all the realms and advices her to assemble the forces of light into battle. Weary of constant battle, Kitana is disheartened, but Blaze assures her that the wars will soon be over. Following this warning, Kitana returns in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is the seventh game in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. The PlayStation 2 version was released in stores on October 11, 2006 while the Xbox version was released on the October 16, with a Wii version released on May 29, 2007 in North America.The game was not released...
(2007), accompanied by Liu Kang's spirit in order to keep him whole until there was a way to reunite him with his body. They later meet with Nightwolf, who offers to relieve Kitana of her burden to take Liu Kang's soul into himself, allowing her to fight against the coming evil. Kitana ultimately perishes with the rest of her allies during the battle.
Kitana re-appears in Mortal Kombat, the 2011 re-imagining of the earliest three Mortal Kombat games, voiced by Karen Strassman
Karen Strassman
Karen Strassman is an American voice actress and actress who is most known for her television and film appearances as well as voice acting. She voices many characters in many video games, animated series and anime series, including Zhalia Moon in Huntik: Secrets & Seekers, Fantine in IGPX, Kallen...
and motion-captured
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
by Brenda Barrie. In the game's story mode, she and Jade are sent by Shao Kahn to compete in Mortal Kombat. Kitana battles Liu Kang in an attempt to insure that he will not reach the final stages of the first tournament, but is defeated; expecting to die, she is surprised by his decision to spare her. Later, during the second tournament, Kitana is approached by Raiden, who informs her that her supposed past as Shao Kahn's daughter is a lie. In Shang Tsung's Flesh Pits, she comes upon a newly-created Mileena. Before Kahn, she accuses Shang Tsung of attempting to replace her, and is shocked to learn that the Emperor himself ordered Mileena's creation, as he imprisons Kitana in the palace and commands his "true daughter" to be brought to him. However, Kitana is soon freed by Jade and the two escape to Earthrealm to join their new allies against the forces of Outworld. They assist in the battle for Earthrealm, but are killed alongside several others by Kitana's corrupted mother, Sindel. In the end, she is shown to be one of the warriors that are resurrected by Quan Chi in the Netherrealm to battle Raiden
Raiden (Mortal Kombat)
Raiden is a player character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. Raiden, also known as Lord Raiden, is a thunder god of the Mortal Kombat universe and protector of Earthrealm. He commands many supernatural abilities such as the ability to teleport, control over lightning, and flight...
.
In the uncanonical crossover game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is a crossover fighting game from Midway Games and Warner Bros. Games. The eighth game in the Mortal Kombat series, MK vs. DC was released on November 16, . MK vs. DC contains characters from both the Mortal Kombat franchise and the DC Universe...
, Kitana is transported to Metropolis
Metropolis (comics)
Metropolis is a fictional city that appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and is the home of Superman. Metropolis first appeared by name in Action Comics #16 ....
, where she encounters her counterpart from DC Universe
DC Universe
The DC Universe is the shared universe where most of the comic stories published by DC Comics take place. The fictional characters Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are well-known superheroes from this universe. Note that in context, "DC Universe" is usually used to refer to the main DC continuity...
, Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....
. Due to the "kombat rage", Kitana hallucinates, believing Wonder Woman to be an assassin sent from Outworld and challenged her. After being defeated, Kitana flees to elsewhere in Metropolis, where she is found and defeated by Scorpion
Scorpion (Mortal Kombat)
Scorpion is a recurring player and boss character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. He has been a playable character in all the games, with the exception of the original version of Mortal Kombat 3.-In video games:...
and brought to Raiden's temple, where she tells about seeing the fusion of Shao Kahn and Darkseid
Darkseid
Darkseid is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 and was created by writer-artist Jack Kirby....
: Dark Kahn. Kitana then joins the rest of the Kombatants in traveling to the fused realms of Outworld and Apokolips
Apokolips
In the DC Comics fictional shared Universe, Apokolips is the planet ruled by Darkseid, established in Jack Kirby's Fourth World series. It is also integral to many DC Comics stories. The planet is considered the opposite of New Genesis....
. She fights alongside them against the DC heroes and villains, and is one of the many knocked unconscious while Raiden and Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
battle and destroy Dark Kahn.
Character development
Kitana's prototypal design in Mortal Kombat II was the work of John Tobias
John Tobias
John Tobias is an American comic book artist, graphic designer and video game designer. Along with Ed Boon he is one of the creators of the groundbreaking Mortal Kombat fighting game series....
, the main Mortal Kombat designer of the 1990s. In September 2011, her origins as character were revealed by Tobias, who disclosed that she started out as an unplayable herald
Herald
A herald, or, more correctly, a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is often applied erroneously to all officers of arms....
-type character called Kitsune
Kitsune
is the Japanese word for fox. Foxes are a common subject of Japanese folklore; in English, kitsune refers to them in this context. Stories depict them as intelligent beings and as possessing magical abilities that increase with their age and wisdom. Foremost among these is the ability to assume...
who was created during the early development of the original Mortal Kombat game in 1991. Tobias' original inspiration while creating Kitsune was the character of Princess Mariko from Jordan Mechner
Jordan Mechner
Jordan Mechner is an American video game designer, screenwriter, author, and filmmaker, best known for creating the Prince of Persia video game franchise.- Life and career :Mechner was born in New York City...
’s 1984 video game Karateka
Karateka (video game)
Karateka is a 1984 computer game by Jordan Mechner, the creator of Prince of Persia. Karateka was Mechner's first hit game, and was designed while he was attending Yale University. The game was renowned at the time for its realistic animations. In the United States, Karateka was published by...
. She "was going to fit into the story as Shang Lao’s (Tsung’s) princess daughter - the spoil of victory for winning the tournament", who would betray her father after she fell for Liu Kang, but "Shang became a minion of Shao Kahn when the story was expanded for MKII and Kitsune was renamed Kitana and made Kahn's step-child". In Tobias' design sketch, Kitsune wielded a single fan and wore a Chinese dress. The name Kitsune was rejected for being a Japanese word and thus not fitting with "Shang and Shao who were both Chinese in origin" (before the games "ultimately became a hodgepodge of nonsensical Asian mythological hooha anyway"), and the name of Kitana was created as "a combo of Kitsune & Katana
Katana
A Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. There are several types of Japanese swords, according to size, field of application and method of manufacture.-Description:...
" that would sound "generically Asian enough".
According to Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon
Ed Boon
Edward J. Boon is an American video game programmer who had been employed for over 15 years at Midway. He now works for Warner Bros...
, Kitana's signature "Kiss of Doom" Fatality
Fatality (Mortal Kombat)
In the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games, a Fatality is a finishing move that can be used against one's defeated opponent at the end of the final match, after the boss character says "Finish Him/Her." The Fatalities are usually lethal, featuring a brutal and morbid execution of the defenseless...
(one of her finishing moves in almost all the games featuring her, except of MK2011) was inspired by the demise of the villain Dr. Kananga
Mister Big (James Bond)
Mr. Big is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the James Bond novel and film Live and Let Die. In the film, Big is portrayed by actor Yaphet Kotto. The novel and film versions of Mr. Big are extremely different, with the film incarnation bordering on being a completely new character...
in the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film Live and Let Die
Live and Let Die (film)
Live and Let Die is the eighth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman...
. Boon described Kitana and Mileena as the female equivalents of Scorpion and Sub-Zero
Sub-Zero (Mortal Kombat)
Sub-Zero is the name given to two video game characters from the Mortal Kombat series. The older Sub-Zero first appeared in the first Mortal Kombat game, being replaced by his younger brother in Mortal Kombat II and the subsequent games...
(the series' two most iconic male characters, with a fierce rivalry of their own). Kitana's signature weapons became a pair of razor-edged "Steel Fans", inspired by Japanese war fan
Japanese war fan
A war fan is a fan designed for use in warfare. Several types of war fans were used by the samurai class of feudal Japan.-Description:War fans varied in size, materials, shape and use. One of the most significant uses was as a signalling device...
s and originally made whole metal. Only in Mortal Kombat Gold (an expanded version of the 1998's Mortal Kombat 4
Mortal Kombat 4
Mortal Kombat 4 is the fourth main game in the Mortal Kombat series of fighting video games developed by Midway Games. Released to arcades in 1997, Mortal Kombat 4 is the first title from the series to use 3D computer graphics as well as one of the first games that Midway made in 3D. Eurocom later...
) she uses the "Flying Blade" throwing weapon, similar to Tanya's sharp boomerang due to their shared development history in MK4. In UMK3 her Animality transformation-animal is a small black cat. Following her debut, Kitana was repeatedly removed from the further sequels due to several circumstances, only to always return in a port or an update, such as it was in the case of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, MK: Gold and Mortal Kombat: Unchained (the PSP
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
port of Deception).
For Mortal Kombat II, Kitana was originally portrayed by Katalin Zamiar
Katalin Zamiar
Katalin Rodriguez-Ogren is an American martial artist, sportswriter and actress.-Biography:...
, whose base outfit used for creating the game's female ninja characters was Kitana's blue, as Kitana, Mileena and Jade all were given the identical, bodysuit
Bodysuit
In clothing, a bodysuit, body-liner, or body is a unisex form-fitting garment that covers the torso. The bodysuit often has sleeves and varying collars. A bodysuit is distinguished from the similar leotard by the use of snaps or hooks at the crotch. A bodysuit may be worn as a top for the smooth...
based costumes in MKII and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3/Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Mortal Kombat Trilogy is a fighting game developed and published by Midway in 1996. It is a compilation of content from the previous Mortal Kombat titles, based primarily upon the gameplay mechanics of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3...
, differing from each other through the use of palette swap
Palette swap
A palette swap is a practice used in video games, whereby a graphic that is already used for one element is given a different palette, so it can be reused as other elements. The different palette gives the new graphic a unique set of colors, which make it recognizably distinct from the original...
technique while creating their digitized sprite
Sprite (computer graphics)
In computer graphics, a sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene...
images. In this game, Kitana was clad in a simple blue leotard
Leotard
A leotard is a skin-tight one-piece garment that covers the torso but leaves the legs free. It was made famous by the French acrobatic performer Jules Léotard ....
with black sash, knee-high boots, long gloves and a headband
Headband
A headband is a clothing accessory worn in the hair or around the forehead, usually to hold hair away from the face or eyes. Headbands generally consist of a loop of elastic material or a horseshoe-shaped piece of flexible plastic or metal...
. Becky Gable took over the role from Zamiar in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is a fighting game in the Mortal Kombat series, released in arcades in 1995. It is an update of Mortal Kombat 3 and was later updated again into Mortal Kombat Trilogy...
, for which the motion capture footage for all of female ninja characters had her wearing a more neutrally-colored dark red outfit. In this game Kitana's costume attire with added details, including the laced chest opening, arm bands, ear rings and a more liberal use of black, while the headband was dropped.
For her first 3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
(and the first unmasked) appearance in Gold, her face was modelled after Talisa Soto
Talisa Soto
-Early life:Born Miriam Soto in Brooklyn, New York, Soto is the youngest of four children born to an Italian mother and a Canadian father of Puerto Rican descent. Her parents later relocated to Northampton, Massachusetts where Soto and her siblings were raised and educated.-Modeling:At the age of...
, who was Kitana's actress in the films, and clad in a slightly modified costume from UMK3. In Deadly Alliance, Unchained and Armageddon, Kitana wore a more regal costume featuring lavender
Lavender
The lavenders are a genus of 39 species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. An Old World genus, distributed from Macaronesia across Africa, the Mediterranean, South-West Asia, Arabia, Western Iran and South-East India...
one-piece outfit with even more exposed cleavage, high heels for the first time. In MK vs DCU, Kitana wears a blue-and-black leotard and her long hair is held by a ribbon. In MK2011, she wears a cerulean
Cerulean
Cerulean, also spelled caerulean, may be applied to a range of colors from deep blue, sky-blue, bright blue or azure color through greenish blue colors.The first recorded use of cerulean as a color name in English was in 1590...
-colored bustier with silver trimmings, laced together in the way reminiscent of UMK3, a long with a flowing loincloth at the front, and a royal tiara
Tiara
A tiara is a form of crown. There are two possible types of crown that this word can refer to.Traditionally, the word "tiara" refers to a high crown, often with the shape of a cylinder narrowed at its top, made of fabric or leather, and richly ornamented. It was used by the kings and emperors of...
in place of MKII headband. Since Deadly Alliance, Kitana's hair is much longer and is often shown to be dark-brown instead of just black (as in the original appearance). It is usually tied into braid
Braid
A braid is a complex structure or pattern formed by intertwining three or more strands of flexible material such as textile fibres, wire, or human hair...
, which became her most often used hairstyle next to a bun
Bun
A bun is a small, usually sweet, bread. Commonly they are hand-sized or smaller, domed in shape, with a flat bottom. A bun can also be a savory bread roll similar to a bap or barmcake....
; her loose hair didn't reappear since MKII until the 2011 game, in which also her once-straight hair became wavy. Kitana's "klassic" UMK3 looks returned in the 2011 reboot game, first as en exclusive costume in the pre-order bonuses and then through downloadable content
Downloadable content
Downloadable content is official additional content for a video game distributed through the Internet. Downloadable content can be of several types, ranging from a single in-game outfit to an entirely new, extensive storyline, similarly to an expansion pack. As such, DLC may add new game modes,...
, while the MKII-style retro outfits for her and Jade were also later included as part of another, free downloadable package. These two post-release additions brought the numbers of Kitana's and Jade's costumes in MK2011 to four for each of them, equaling them with Mileena in having the highest number of alternate looks in any game in the series up to this point so far.
Gameplay
In MK: Shaolin Monks, Kitana is a boss character during the game's main story mode (in two different encounters) and one of unlockable player characters for the versus mode. Besides the hallmark "Kiss of Death", her other most common Fatality is an execution through decapitationDecapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
with a fan (in MK 2011 she also cuts off the defeated opponents' arms before beheading them), which has been featured in almost all the games she was included in, with exception of Deadly Alliance and MKvsDCU (for which it was deemed to be too bloody). She is one of the only five characters to perform a kata
Kata
is a Japanese word describing detailed choreographed patterns of movements practised either solo or in pairs. The term form is used for the corresponding concept in non-Japanese martial arts in general....
in the game's attract mode
Attract mode
Attract mode is an arcade game's screen display shown when no one is playing the game. The main purpose of the attract mode is to attract passers-by to play the game, although it might also have the side effect to act like a screensaver.-Summary:...
of Deadly Alliance.
Most of Kitana's traditional special moves utilise her twin fan weapons, used as both a melee weapon and as a thrown projectile, and to lift the enemies in the air. According to GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
strategy guide, Kitana was the 7th best out of the 12 fighters of MKII (citing her devastating combos, powerful "Fan Throw" move, and good sweep and reach hindered by slow release of the fan-based special moves and limited attack patterns). She was also picked as the best MKII fighter by the editors of Sega Power
Sega Power
Sega Power, initially known as S: The Sega Magazine, was a Future publication aimed at the Sega range of consoles, including the Master System, Mega Drive, Game Gear and later on the Mega CD, 32X and Saturn...
and Super Play
Super Play
Super Play was a UK based Super Nintendo Entertainment System magazine which ran from November 1992 to September 1996.Super Play was notable for a number of reasons. Firstly, it covered in great detail the console role-playing game genre...
. In UMK3 (and, by extension, MKT), however, she got no new special moves as opposed to most of other characters. According to Sega Saturn Magazine
Sega Saturn Magazine
Sega Saturn Magazine was a monthly UK magazine dedicated to the Sega Saturn. It held the official Saturn magazine license for the UK, and as such some issues included a demo CD created by Sega, called Sega Flash, which included playable games and game footage...
, "Kitana's lack of enhancements doesn't make her as exciting to play as some of the other characters, though her excellent juggle combos still work - and they can do loads of damage". According to Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
, "with such a small repertoire, Princess Kitana will be sorely challenged by experienced warriors", even as her Fan Toss is faster than many other projectiles. Over the time, however, Kitana has received the received some of special moves that used to be typically associated with Mileena, including a ground-roll attack (introduced in MKvsDCU and based on Mileena's classic "Rolling Thunder") and teleportation
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
-based moves (since Armageddon).
In other media
Kitana appears as a secondary character in MalibuMalibu Comics
Malibu Comics was an American comic book publisher active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, best known for its Ultraverse line of superhero titles. The company's headquarters was in Calabasas, California. Malibu imprints included Aircel Comics and Eternity Comics...
's 1994-1995 Mortal Kombat comic books. She was the subject of the special issue Kitana and Mileena: Sister Act, in which her backstory was revealed as slightly altered in comparison to the MKII canon story. In the comic books, Kitana is the princess of Edenia and daughter of Jerrod and Sindel, but she was already an adult when Shao Kahn killed Jerrod and seized the realm, putting her under a spell that made her forget her past life and believe she is Kahn's daughter. Kitana first appeared during the Goro: Prince of Pain story arc, joining Mileena, Baraka and Reptile
Reptile (Mortal Kombat)
Reptile is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat series of video games. Created for Midway Games by John Tobias and Ed Boon, Reptile debuted in Mortal Kombat as a hidden boss and appeared in subsequent titles as a playable character. The character has also appeared on various merchandise,...
in search for Goro in Outworld. During the Battlewave miniseries, she attempted to rebel against Kahn with the assistance of Kung Lao, Baraka and Sub-Zero. Unlike in the game series' continuity, in the comic series Kitana has no interactions with neither Liu Kang nor Jade. Instead, she has a closer relation with Kung Lao (and Shang Tsung even attempts to exploit this while taking Kitana's form). She also appears in Midway
Midway Games
Midway Games, Inc. is an American company that was formerly a major video game publisher. Following a bankruptcy filing in 2009, it is no longer active and is in the process of liquidating all of its assets. Midway's titles included Mortal Kombat, Ms.Pac-Man, Spy Hunter, Tron, Rampage, the...
's stand-alone MK4 prologue comic book published in 1997, in which she is arranges peace between the races of Shokan and Centaurians while being secretly watched over by Goro, and in the game tie-in title Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe: Beginnings, which was drawn by Kitana's creator John Tobias and published by DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
in 2008. In the humor magazine Cracked, Kitana was parodied in the comic shorts "Lifestyles of the Rich and Violent" and "Moron Kombat", in the latter of which she was renamed as Princess Kittykat
Kitty Kat
Katharina Löwel , better known under her stage name Kitty Kat or Kitten Ket, became famous as an Aggro Berlin member, where she was signed from 2006 to 2009.-Biography:...
.
Mortal Kombat (film)
Mortal Kombat is a 1995 American action and adventure film directed by Paul Anderson. Based on the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games, the film was the first part of the Mortal Kombat film series...
, released in 1995, Kitana was introduced as a companion of Shang Tsung, but eventually joined Liu Kang and the Earthrealm warriors to help them defeat the sorcerer. She then spent most of the 1997 sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is a 1997 American martial arts action film that was the sequel to 1995's Mortal Kombat, and was directed by John R. Leonetti, who had served as the cinematographer for the previous film...
in Kahn's capivity, captured by Scorpion, before facing Sindel during the final battle. Kitana's steel folding fans (for the first time redesigned into several blades on each one, instead of solid all-metal fans) briefly appeared as her weapon in the second film, and she is shown to engage in a romantic relationship with Liu Kang, but her Edenian background, prior loyalty to Kahn, and relations with Mileena and Jade were ignored in both pictures, in which she was instead described simply as being the rightful heir to the Outworld's throne. In the 1995 novel Mortal Kombat by Martin Delrio
Martin Delrio
Martín Antonio Del Rio or Martin Antoine Del Rio was a Jesuit theologian of Spanish descent. He wrote, among other books, Disquisitionum magicarum libri sex, a work on magic and the occult...
, an expanded novelization of the first film, Kitana is introduced in a new new scene, in which she is described as dressed in scarlet-red silk of "stitched all around with a golden thread". Shang Tsung tells Goro that Kitana "alone keeps alive the memory" of Edenia before Kahn's conquest and "uses her age and her position as a shield to cover her rebellion".
Kitana is one of the lead characters in the 1996 television animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm
Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm
Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, also known as Mortal Kombat: The Animated Series, is a cartoon series based on the popular Mortal Kombat video game series...
, set roughly in the movies' version of the MK universe, in which she did again appear unmasked even if clad in a black-blue leotard-type outfit more reminiscent of the one she wore in MKII, and was voiced by Cree Summer
Cree Summer
Cree Summer Francks , best known as Cree Summer, is a Canadian actress, musician and voice actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as college student Winifred "Freddie" Brooks on the NBC sitcom A Different World...
. Similar to the films, she is never shown to have ever been loyal to Kahn in the cartoon. In the episode "Skin Deep", a male ninja character Rain is introduced as her former love interest turned enemy. The series' finale involved Kitana leading a rebellion from Outworld against Kahn.
Kitana made several appearances in the non-canonical prequel live-action television series Mortal Kombat: Konquest
Mortal Kombat: Konquest
Mortal Kombat: Konquest is an American martial arts television series that aired for one season from 1998 to 1999, and was based on the popular Mortal Kombat fighting game series. The program was filmed at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida.-Storyline:"In each of us there burns a soul...
(1998–1999), her role shared by the 27-year-old Audie England
Audie England
Audie England is an American actress and professional photographer.- Biography :She was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and graduated from UCLA with a concentration in cinematography....
(the episodes "Vengeance" and "Shadow of a Doubt") and by Dara Tomanovich (in "The Essence"), the character's stunt double being Christine Rodriguez. In this series, she is fully aware of her Edenian past and the deaths of her parents at Kahn's hands, clandestinely working with the Great Kung Lao to prevent the Emperor from conquering realms while at the same time feigning her allegiance to him. Her outfit and weapon are similar to these she has in the films, but she uses her native fighting style called the Special Edenian Arts, which she had mastered already before Shao Kahn's invasion and which was suplemented with various moves that she learnt from prisoners of her stepfather. The Konquest version of Mileena is neither her clone nor a sister, and Rain appears as her former best friend. In the series' abrupt finale (due to the show's cancellation, as it was supposed to continue further for a next season after a cliffhanger ending), Kitana appears to die, after she was reluctantly ordered by Shao Kahn to be killled for her plots of treason against him.
Kitana appears in the 2011 prequel live-action webisode
Webisode
A webisode is a short episode which airs initially as Internet television, either download or stream as opposed to first airing on broadcast or cable television. The format can be used as a preview, a promotion, as part of a collection of shorts, or a commercial.A webisode can be an episode...
series Mortal Kombat: Legacy
Mortal Kombat: Legacy
Mortal Kombat: Legacy is an American web series anthology that debuted on Machinima.com's YouTube channel on April 11, 2011. The show is an adaptation of the fictional universe of the Mortal Kombat video game franchise...
, played in her first acting role by a 20-years-old martial artist and stuntwoman Samantha Jo, credited as Sam Tjhia, a self-professed Kitana fan who said she did research "to get on the same page" with other fans to see how they perceive the character while preparing for the role. Kitana's origin story is told in part-live and part-animated episode "Kitana & Mileena", which is a fable-like, altered adaptation of their backstory from the original game series' canon (one big difference is that her mother, Sindel, used a ritual so her soul fused with Kitana's in hopes to avoid Shao Khan's corruption before committing suicide). In it, Kitana appears both masked (only in the animated scenes) and unmasked, and bests Mileena in a fierce sparring match. When the young sisters are sent by Shao Kahn to assassinate the man who is really King Jerrod, Kitana's biological father who is then killed by Mileena, Kitana eventually learns the truth after her past and decided to turn against Shao Kahn in the upcoming Mortal Kombat tournament.
Promotion and merchandise
Kitana was one of the characters featured in Mortal Kombat: Live TourMortal Kombat: Live Tour
Mortal Kombat: Live Tour was a martial art theatrical stage show featuring Mortal Kombat characters, sound, and laser light effects on stage...
stage show in 1995, played by Lexi Alexander
Lexi Alexander
Lexi Alexander is a German film director and martial artist.-Career:In her childhood, she began kickboxing and karate. At the age of 19, she became world champion in both. She is represented by Endeavor Agency and Gotham Group in Los Angeles, United States.After this, she went to Hollywood...
(credited as "Lexi Mirai") and Jennifer DeCosta. In April 2011, a model cosplay
Cosplay
, short for "costume play", is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular fiction in Japan, but recent trends have included American cartoons and science fiction...
ing as Kitana, along with those dressed as Sonya and Mileena, was featured in her a live-action trailer "Kitana Kasting" and an official photo session; all three of them later also attended The Gadget Show
The Gadget Show
The Gadget Show is a British television series focusing on technology and is broadcast on Channel 5. Originally a thirty minute show, it was extended to forty-five minutes, then later to fifty five minutes. Repeats have also aired on the digital channels 5*, Dave and Channel 5's Internet on-demand...
for a MK game tournament. Same month, UFC
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the largest mixed martial arts promotion company in the world that hosts most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport...
's Octagon Girl Brittney Palmer dressed up to play the game Kitana in a promotional video on the Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
vlog of Jo Garcia
Jo Garcia
Jo Garcia is an American nude and lingerie Playboy model who became Playboy's Cyber Girl of the Year for 2008, after being named Cyber Girl of the Month in October 2007, and Cyber Girl of the Week for the week of June 18, 2007....
.
A figurine of Kitana came in the MKII set with the Argentinian magazine Top Kids in 1995. In 1996, an action figure of Kitana was released in the UK by Toy Island as part of the Mortal Kombat Trilogy Twelve Inch Series 2. An action figure based on her MKII design (and the earlier Mileena model) was presented by Infinite Concepts in a prototype form at the American International Toy Fair
American International Toy Fair
The American International Toy Fair is one of a few major toy industry trade shows held around the world. It is held annually in mid February in New York City's Toy Center, located at 23rd Street at the crossover of Fifth Avenue and Broadway and at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, and is...
2000, but was never actually released. A 1/6 scale limited-edition statue was announced to be released by Syco Collectibles in 2011.
Reception and cultural impact
Critical reception of Kitana was mostly very positive, often with emphasis placed on her good looks and sometimes also on her complicated character, and is commonly regarded to be one of the most recognisable characters of Mortal Kombat. According to Amiga FormatAmiga Format
Amiga Format was a British computer magazine for Amiga computers, published by Future Publishing. The magazine lasted 136 issues from 1989 to 2000. The magazine was formed when, in the wake of selling ACE to EMAP, Future split the dual-format title ST/Amiga Format into two separate publications...
in 1994, while it might be "incredibly sad for adult males to fancy in game female characters", one should be "prepared to fall in love" with Kitana. In 2005, Game Revolution
Game Revolution
Game Revolution or GR is a gaming website created in 1996. Based in Berkeley, California, the site includes reviews, previews, a gaming download area, cheats, and a merchandise store, as well as webcomics, screenshots, and videos...
ranked her as fourth on the list of top 10 old school Mortal Kombat characters ("you’ve got to be a pretty tough chick to hang with the other kombatants, but what was really deadly about Kitana was her beauty"), and in 2007 Tom's Games included her among the 50 greatest female characters in video game history, calling her "arguably the best known and most popular woman" in the series and "a powerful princess that's lived more than 10,000 years and still hasn't lost her hotness". In 2008, GamesRadar
GamesRadar
GamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
placed Kitana among the Top 20 Overlooked Game Babes, and UGO ranked her as 28th on the list of Top 50 Videogame Hotties ("Kitana has her curves in all the right places, and her signature fans will keep you cool when things start to heat up"), while Mania
Mania
Mania, the presence of which is a criterion for certain psychiatric diagnoses, is a state of abnormally elevated or irritable mood, arousal, and/ or energy levels. In a sense, it is the opposite of depression...
included her among the 10 "psychotic video game chicks with too much baggage" and GameDaily
GameDaily
GameDaily was a video game journalism website based in the United States. Launched in 1995 by entrepreneur Mark Friedler under the name Gigex and focused on free game demo downloads, The site changed its business model from a flat fee per download CDN distributed service network to an...
featured her in the article Ten Babes Who Should and 10 Babes Who Shouldn't Meet Your Mom as as one of those who should not. GameDaily also spotlighted Kitana in the Babe of the Week: Brunettes gallery in 2009, while Unreality placed her in the list of 10 Most Badass Video Game Women of All Time, Complex Blog included her among The 10 Hottest Video Game Girls, and a Polish tabloid Fakt highlighted her as one of the 21 "sexy ladies of video games". In 2010, GamesRadar got her on the list of gaming's most twisted royalty for having "a thing for bloody decapitations via razor fan… and for boys 9,000 years her junior", while GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
's AJ Glasser called her his favorite female Mortal Kombat character but criticized her repertoire of special moves. Also in 2010, Videogamer.com included Princess Kitana in the 2010 article of Top 10 Video Game Crushes as rivalling Princess Peach
Princess Peach
is a character in Nintendo's Mario series of video games. She is the Princess of the fictitious Mushroom Kingdom, and often plays the damsel in distress role within the adventure series. In 2007, Princess Peach landed on Forbes magazine's Wealthiest Fictional People list, with a fortune upwards of...
for number one video game monarch ("Peach may own Kitana in the cuteness stakes, but Kitana wins out in sheer sex appeal"), adding that she "may be 10,000 years old, but just think of the things she could teach you." In 2011, UGO included Kitana on the list of 25 Hot Ninja Girls ("we can't talk Mortal Kombat and forget Kitana"), while Complex ranked the animated series' version of Kitana as 18th on the list of The 25 Hottest Cartoon Women of All Time, and The Times of India
The Times of India
The Times of India is an Indian English-language daily newspaper. TOI has the largest circulation among all English-language newspaper in the world, across all formats . It is owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd...
featured her as one of the nine "sexiest babes of action game
Action game
Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...
s".
Kitana has also shared much of the spotlight with her clone. At the time of the release of MKII, The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald is a daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company headquartered on Biscayne Bay in the Omni district of Downtown Miami, Florida, United States...
called Kitana and Mileena ("leggy ladies who wear masks") to be "an interesting step toward political correctness
Political correctness
Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
" as "a far cry from Little Miss Muffet
Little Miss Muffet
"Little Miss Muffet" is a nursery rhyme, one of the most commonly printed in the mid-twentieth century. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20605.-Lyrics:-Alternative Lyrics:...
", while Austin American-Statesman
Austin American-Statesman
The Austin American-Statesman is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is an award-winning publication owned by Cox Enterprises. The Newspaper places focus on issues affecting Austin and the Central Texas region....
described them as "far nastier than that martial-artless aerobics instructor
Sonya Blade
Sonya Blade is a player character from the Mortal Kombat series. She is portrayed in the games as an officer of the United States Special Forces.-In video games:...
from the first game
Mortal Kombat (video game)
Mortal Kombat is a 1992 fighting-game developed and published by Midway for arcades. In 1993, home versions were released by Acclaim Entertainment. Released in the Fall of 1994, the Microsoft Windows 3.1x version was released by Activision Interactive. It is the first title in the Mortal Kombat...
". In the book Interacting With Video, the "two Asian twin sisters, Kitana and Mileena" were held as an example of a "highly eroticized dragon lady
Dragon Lady (stereotype)
A Dragon Lady is a stereotype of East Asian women as strong, deceitful, domineering or mysterious. The term's origin and usage is Western, not Chinese. Inspired by the characters played by actress Anna May Wong, the term was coined from the villain in the comic strip Terry and the Pirates...
" of video games. Professor Patrick Sunnen judged their portrayal as "formiddable female opponents" to be potentially progressive, yet to be arguably made just to increase "the sexist
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
potential of the individual fights", and described Kitana's decapitation Fatality using a "deceptively feminine razor-sharp fan" to be castration
Castration
Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses the functions of the testicles or a female loses the functions of the ovaries.-Humans:...
-like. In 2009, GamePro featured the both sisters as 11th-best example of palette-swapped video game characters ("both prefer wearing clothing that shows off their inflated mammary glands, and both have used the usually endearing gesture of kissing as a fatality"). The two also shared the eight place with Sonya on the list of The 50 Hottest Women In Video Games by Complex in 2010. Together with Mileena, Kitana got into GamesRadar
GamesRadar
GamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
's list of "top 7 girls kissing girls" in 2006, and her famous "Kiss of Death" finishing move has been also ranked eight on the top lists of Mortal Kombat Fatalities as compiled by UGO in 2007 and by IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
in 2010. In 2011, Game Rant included Kitana in the "honorable mentions" section of their list of ten "most awesome" characters of the series, but commenting that "apart from possessing one of the cooler weapons in the game ... she lacks the entertaining/alluring oddity" of Mileena.
Kitana has quickly become one of the very sex symbol
Sex symbol
A sex symbol is a celebrity of either gender, typically an actor, musician, supermodel, teen idol, or sports star, noted for their sex appeal. The term was first used in the mid 1950s in relation to the popularity of certain Hollywood stars, especially Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte...
s of the Mortal Kombat series, in a display of what one author described as manifestation of "pseudo-Japanese Orient
Orient
The Orient means "the East." It is a traditional designation for anything that belongs to the Eastern world or the Far East, in relation to Europe. In English it is a metonym that means various parts of Asia.- Derivation :...
alist fetishes
Sexual fetishism
Sexual fetishism, or erotic fetishism, is the sexual arousal a person receives from a physical object, or from a specific situation. The object or situation of interest is called the fetish, the person a fetishist who has a fetish for that object/situation. Sexual fetishism may be regarded, e.g...
". One of the many urban legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
-style rumors surrounding MKII in the early 1990s concerned the supposed "Nudality" (also known under other names such as "Sexuality") finishing move that would be performed by Kitana stripping naked. The nickname of an American adult model Cherie Roberts
Cherie Roberts
Cherie Roberts , aka Kitana Jade, is a model and photographer who worked with Playboy in the early-to-mid 2000s, modeled for numerous magazines and websites, and toured with Hot Import Nights car shows from 2000–2006.Roberts was born to a father of Irish, British, and German descent and a mother...
is "Kitana Jade" since 1999 (Jade being the name of another female ninja character in the series), while Kitana Baker
Kitana Baker
Kitana Baker is an American model and actressBorn in Anaheim, California, and of Chinese, Hawaiian, German, and Irish ancestry, Baker has appeared in numerous films, videos and television shows, and has worked for both E! and Playboy...
is an adopted name of an American model born as Christi Josenhans. In 2004, Vibes contributor Stud Houston admitted he had once a crush on Kitana, describing her as "sexy as hell". A self-proclaimed "geek
Geek
The word geek is a slang term, with different meanings ranging from "a computer expert or enthusiast" to "a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts", with a general pejorative meaning of "a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, esp[ecially] one who is perceived to...
" Tanya Jordan won the Ms Fitness Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
competition with her pole dance
Pole dance
Pole dance is a form of performing art, a combination of dance and gymnastics. It involves dancing and performing acrobatic tricks with a vertical pole and is an increasingly popular form of fitness and dance, practised by many enthusiasts in gyms or dedicated dance studios...
while dressed as the UMK3 version of Kitana in 2010, while the FHM
FHM
FHM, originally published as For Him Magazine, is an international monthly men's lifestyle magazine.- History :The magazine began publication in 1985 in the United Kingdom under the name For Him and changed its title to FHM in 1994 when Emap Consumer Media bought the magazine, although the full For...
Premiere Vixen champion Karen Bordador made a photo session while dressed as the same version of Kitana in 2011. In the Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
2011 special edition of Monday Night Raw
WWE RAW
WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...
, professional wrester AJ Lee dressed as Kitana for the Divas Battle Royal contest and attempted to perform a "Fan Lift" on her rival. During the development of the Mortal Kombat reboot game, the God of War
God of War (video game)
God of War is an action adventure video game for the PlayStation 2 first released by Sony Computer Entertainment's Santa Monica division in March 2005...
series' director David Jaffe
David Jaffe
David Jaffe is a video game designer originally from Birmingham, Alabama and currently residing in San Diego, California. He is divorced and has two children. Jaffe graduated from Alabama's Mountain Brook High School, located in Mountain Brook, AL, a suburb of Birmingham. Jaffe then attended the...
explicitly wrote how the GoW character Kratos
Kratos (God of War)
Kratos is a video game character from Sony Computer Entertainment'sGod of War series, which is loosely based on Greek mythology. Kratos first appeared in the highly successful video game God of War , which led to the development of five additional games featuring the character as the protagonist...
would have "a ****ALITY" with "Sonya AND Katana [sic]" if he would join the series. Following Internet backlash, Jaffe explained he does not advocate rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
and this comment was just an "intentionally juvenile" joke to suggest that "as a reward, Kratos gets a threesome
Threesome
A threesome is a group of three engaged in the same activity. In relation to a sexual activity a threesome refer to the activity involving three people of any gender or sexual orientation...
with two of the hottest chix [sic] in gaming".
External links
- Kitana – The Mortal Kombat Wiki
- Kitana at IGNIGNIGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
- Princess Kitana at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...