Should Mortal Kombat Go Gay? And Should It 'Rain' Men?
The idea of Mortal Kombat embracing homosexuality is a question that I have pondered over and internally debated for years now, and with more and more information being drip fed to use from Ed Boon and the team I thought when is a better time than now to utilise this post and raise the question should MK go Gay?
Mortal Komabat (for those deprived and unfornature ones of you don't know) is a gaming franchise that offers 'beat em' up' arcade style fighting games intertwined with intricate story lines, heritage and lineage. Mortal Kombat is a tournament held once in a generation, in which fighters from every realm participate within the tournament in the hopes of winning. As the losing realm is one step closer to being merged with the savage self-declared Emperor Shoa Khan's realm known as outworld. Ten losses to Shoa Khan and he can invade Earth Realm without any intervention from the Elder Gods. The franchise begins at the start of the tournament, which, if lost, would be Earth Realm's tenth loss. Allowing Shoa Khan to finally conquer Earth.
Within Mortal Kombat there are no Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual etc. characters found within any of the titles. This day and age most gaming franchises have incorporated elements of same sex relationships however not Mortal Kombat. Is this due to the extremely masculine nature of the game. Or could that open up more questions than answers, when contemplating the idea of men fighting men and the symbolism this carries e.g two men battling with their swords. So perhaps symbolically an academic or gaming novelist may be able to find elements of homosexuality, but nothing obvious to players.
Now within 2014 it is common to find gay relationships, gay characters and other LGBT themes within games. In the 1999 title Final Fantasy VII, there is a minor character at a bar whom, once conversation begins, heavily implies he is transgender. Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds, a game of the same named television show allows leading lesbian characters Willow Rosenberg and Tara Mclay to be fully playable characters within the game. And finally with 2011's award winning game Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a player is able to marry an character regardless of gender. So it seems that LGBT themes have slowly worked their way into games throughout the years but in 2014 we see no signs of this within this established franchise.
Throughout the internet interest and request for a gay kombatant has grown as the Mk Universe has. However as MK3 came out, LGBT themes were becoming more and more apparent and fans looked to new characters for this element. Male characters such as Rain and Nightwolf were often believed to be bi-sexual or homosexual, however this beliefs were never confirmed by Ed Boon. Yet we are now awaiting Mortal Kombat X, the tenth title in the series and still we see no LGBT kombatant...
The roots of homosexuality (and homosexual relations between warriors) predates Ancient Greek times. The idea that their armies and forces were superior to others was due to their passions among the warriors. As each warrior would have a fellow warrior battling for their lives, whom they cared very deeply for. Arguably enough to give their own life for the safety of their homosexual counterpart. This strengthened the army as a whole as the need to protect and/or avenge each other would be driving their motivations to defeat the other army.
The Gay Archetype/Kombatant
If we look at the Ancient Greek Epic Poem; The Illiad. The story of the war hero Achilles and the Trojan horse are shown to us through the words of Homer, we are shown themes of a homosexual nature within the relationship between Achilles and Patrocolus. This is where the idea for a possible Mortal Kombat character or at least Archetype came from: Patroclus.
The construct of Patroclus could give gamers and fans a further insight into the history of Ednia, by creating a male lover of the Edenian Prince who betrayed his realm. Patroclus (the name of the doomed Greek hero) is a being of nature, neither Edenian royalty nor the poorest Edenian man, remaining completely impartial and staying away from political disputes in the realm. Finding comfort only in the Forest. Rain, before the destruction of his realm, would visit the woods and seek confidence within Patroclus over time building a strong trusting friendship escalating to a sexual relationship hidden from the world. Rain would often nourish Patroclus' hidden home in the woods with water in order for Patroclus' personal realm to thrive. However, the day eventually came when Rain turned his back on Edenia along with Patrculus, betraying both of them. Offering them both to the Emperor Shoa Khan.
The woods were no longer nourished and attacked by the merge of the realms ultimately withered and died. Patrclus knowing the end was near, cocooned himself within the the main tree of the hidden forest he called home and suspended himself in life as an inanimate dying tree with his land. Until now an unknown force has released the sleeping warrior. Although his alliance is to nature and remains a neutral warrior, the scars of Rain's betrayal now drive his need for revenge. Creating a formidable opponent for both Rain and Shoa Khan.
This is only an idea for a character that incorporates homosexual themes, however a character like this could really give Mortal Kombat that extra element needed to reap a greater audience whilst gaining media coverage for embracing LGBT into the realms. But I suppose themes like this often take time to become part of a franchise, yet were still oping Ed Boon will incorporate homosexul themes into Mortal Kombat. Just as producers of iconic gaming franchises such as Final Fantasy and The Elder Scrolls have done so before him.
