The Mortal Kombat Iceberg Explained

0:00 Intro
0:49 Part I - The Haze Above
14:18 Part II - The Tip of the Iceberg
24:23 Part III - Prochapa ot Ergnad
34:56 Part IV - Uncharted Krevasse
43:05 Part V - Parts Unknown
54:20 Epilogue
Thanks for watching! A lot of my takes on this iceberg were just that: my takes. If I got something wrong or you would like clarification on a point I made, don't hesitate to leave a comment and I'll get back to you ASAP.
Tabmok99’s video on Who Killed Johnny Cage: • How Did Johnny Cage Di...
Shoutout to MK Jasper for the note from Quan Chi's makeup artist @ 1:37. Follow him on Twitter peina81?lang=en

[@donutdog1937]

my theory is that nobody killed jerrod he died of natural means but people want to take credit for it because he was a ruler so it would scare others

[@FredMaverik]

Except it was shown Sindel killed him so that is headcanon. I think I read somewhere and King Jerrod's soul resides within Ermarc though.

[@donutdog1937]

@@FredMaverik so first it was shao kahn then sindel so who did it without retconning it

[@fernandoponce481]

@@donutdog1937 just played mk11 and Sindel claims to have killed him

[@donutdog1937]

@@fernandoponce481 but so did shao kahn

[@fernandoponce481]

@@donutdog1937 MK always out here confusing me

[@necrolicious]

the "forest stage fatality" was actually realized before MK9. Anyone who played "Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks" knows the living forest is one of the levels, and part of unlocking paths in the level is feeding enemies to the trees.

[@PiroKUSS]

True.

[@Dwayne42069]

Altough this is true, it wasnt technically a fatality because You just threw the (i think they were tarkatans) enemies at the trees like if it was a trap from the level like others levels that had traps around different stages. But being honest You can throw guys at trees and watched them get destroyed and that enough to make someone happy

[@frankiedesouza2452]

@@Dwayne42069 and when you lose in that level your character its eaten by a evil tree

[@mtownboi4ya]

I was thinking that. Here's hoping for another Shaolin Monks style game

[@jahleelx9270]

@@mtownboi4ya shaolin monks is still the best mk in my humble opinion

[@The73MPL4R]

Funny enough the "third Sub-Zero brother" entry is technically canon now with Smoke being the adopted brother of Bi Han and Kuai Liang in the new timeline

[@someonewhocommentsonyoutub3779]

Fun fact: the "arrright" is also heard in Raiden's ending in the same game

[@crazydaddy819]

yes i now

[@blutagg63]

Allright

[@balloutofcontrol7510]

Inside childhood joke when I was a skateboarder occasionally say it during rugby and noone knows

[@mr.avocadoman8934]

Dude that spider symbol is sick!!! Where did you get it?

[@someonewhocommentsonyoutub3779]

@@mr.avocadoman8934 Made it myself in MS Paint about seven years back

[@madg510]

Fun fact: In earlier versions of MK vs DC, jokers fatality would show him shooting his opponent on screen. It was censored in later releases of the game.

[@fuzzyapplepie6940]

Except in the PAL version.

[@The-Deadite]

Imagine being Superman and getting shot by The Joker like that

[@cfu5305]

My father showed me mk when i was just like 4 years old. First heated arguement I ever had with my old man is when he tried telling me reiko was shao kahn

[@alphacraig2001]

That's awesome

[@mkgirl2321]

You're so lucky, nobody in my family likes video games

[@markmcdonald5681]

Because of the mk4 ending lol

[@timgorg1919]

I learned MK at a similar age around but it was around the release of MK9

[@maxxdahl6062]

Both my parents liked games. They had a 2600 when I was born and still play.

[@Noah_AWICB]

The health bar for level of confidence is a really good idea and very helpful

[@illusionrealityvsbgi9670]

That part had me the most curious.....When I see stand out things like THAT on videos in general, I am truly mind blown and intrigued.

[@dingdong1989]

@@illusionrealityvsbgi9670 It definitely is a cool concept, but a couple other iceberg videos have used the health bar thing before, which is where he got the idea.

[@ZoarialN]

Nice name

[@Chance57]

Getting your confidence completely annihilated would be way worse for a martial artist than them just getting physically beaten.

[@quacker7581]

Plot twist the one being is just a child playing with his action figures I mean this franchise has ninjas, cyborgs, soldiers, a lizard person, an Aztec god, an actor, just a regular cop, demons and a Native American warrior

[@Elusory]

I like this theory. Reminds me of the Master Hand Smash Bros theory

[@JosephQPublic]

Well, it wouldn’t be a tournament of the worlds best warriors without representation from lots of people groups.

[@thenifell]

You're thinking of smash bros.

[@FredMaverik]

So you mean the One Being is Ed Boon?

[@heyitsgdawg5906]

@Fred ha ha ha

[@WingsOfIcarus5674]

In regards to Shang Tsung having a fatality in MK1, it wasn't just a rumour or speculation. There were actually sprites found in the game data of him wielding a sword that would imply he would cut the opponents head off

[@precise_slices0960]

yes that was the original idea for fatalities originally only he would have one and would use it when the player lost

[@TherealRNOwwfpooh]

@@precise_slices0960 Then they decided to give Fatalities to the player instead.

[@pnut3844able]

@@TherealRNOwwfpooh best decision they ever made

[@omicrondelta249]

Nothing beats holding low punch for 30 seconds in MKII and transforming into Kintaro to punch your opponents torso across the screen.

[@nekochristmas]

Fun fact, the censored Joker fatality is fully shown in the European version

[@samtinkle9076]

Video please?

[@filipepereira1339]

@@samtinkle9076 kzbin.info/www/bejne/hmjNnJepnNGZl7c

[@godisgay2725]

I did not know that

[@godisgay2725]

Is the game pegi 16?

[@keithcalvosa5894]

Probotector

[@LordRaptor]

18:18 Speaking of Reiko, the reason why Reiko is so infatuated with Shao Kahn is revealed in the comic book tie-in to MKX, Reiko was always meant to succeed Shao Kahn and was in fact, his original heir, moreover, the comic book HEAVILY implies that Shao Kahn straight up adopted Reiko as a son.

[@brandonharmon5556]

Too bad they messed him up in the movie. Could of picked a diff character to screw up.

[@LordRaptor]

@@brandonharmon5556 If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it is to not trust Hollywood to respect IPs I like in order to make an entertaining movie based on them, especially video games, I hated the original Mortal Kombat movie and haven't watched a single video game based movie since unless it was produced/directed by the company who developed the games.

[@RubysRiotShield]

Which is odd because he had separate relationships with Mileena and Skarlet both. I think he was attempting to rise to that status of ‘son,’ so he can have the Kahn’s power in general.

[@LordRaptor]

@@RubysRiotShield In the comic book, I don't think Reiko could've risen to any higher point, if it says that he's Shao Kahn's right hand man AND his original heir, he pretty much was in the status of Shao Kahn's son, he even calls Kahn "Father" when he defeats Kotal Kahn.

[@Evokai6419]

@@LordRaptor Ironically, the very first Mortal Kombat movie, while flawed, not only seemed to be more respectful then most other movies, it also invented Kano's accent, originally he was going to have something like a Southern or regular American accent.

[@NerdForWords]

One important detail about Art and Art's death, is that he played a much larger role in the novelization of the first film. In fact, Goro actually felt remorse for killing him and gave him what he perceived to be a dignified, warrior's death, and gave him praise after the battle. He played a much larger role in the book. The fight scene between Johnny and Goro also went vastly differently, and I'm genuinely upset that we never got to see a duel quite like that in the films. It was totally different from how it played out in the film.

[@redacted2275]

Budget issues. Goro's animatronic is a torture to handle as shown on the making of. Plus it was 1995, it was a miracle that the movie was even made in the first place... Lawrence Kasanoff had to convince Midway for months and Paul W.S. Anderson had to stick to the PG-13 limitations made by the studio. No reason to be upset.

[@NerdForWords]

@@redacted2275 To clarify, while I'm fully aware of what the limitations were, when I say I'm genuinely upset, I just mean that it would have been such an incredible scene to see played out. I still love what we got. The scene was iconic and the "sunglasses" quote is still as fondly regarded today as it was when I first saw it as a kid. I just think it's a shame we'll never get to see that amazing scene play out. That's all I meant, haha.

[@RedSpade37]

​@@NerdForWordsWell, thanks for mentioning the novelization! I'm old enough to have seen the first movie on a free weekend of Pay-Per-View, yet never knew there was a novelization. That's, like, 5 new books, total, across the media I like. I might need new glasses first, haha

[@user-og8jy1ib7f]

What if all the souls inside Ermac are actually just all the different King Jarod's who have been killed by everyone?

[@moballardful]

Seeing as how in the new MK game that just came out, that's sort of what happens because Ermac is possessed by the soul of Jerrod in story mode.

[@LaunchpadCooks]

This aged well

[@ccelite3782]

Well would ya look at that...

[@lumira7367]

lmao

[@Majin_Xavierras]

Bitches say "this did not age well" but like, it was known Jerrod is inside Ermac before MK1??? The comment clearly does not just say Jerrod is Ermac, it is a joke about multiple Jerrod's being killed jn all the retcons and thus Ermac's souls are all Jerrod.

[@thecentremen]

I think for Goro Playable in Mortal Kombat 1, its referring to him being playable with a button combination after beating Shang Tsung in the Nintendo GameBoy version of Mortal Kombat 1.

[@Mohawk_Productions]

I remember back in the day I was screwing around with the snes game genie and mk 1 and just put in random numbers/letters. And somehow once you choose a character for two players I believe. Both appeared as goro but all blue like and would freeze up once you pressed a button. Wish I had recorded it and kept it. Can only imagine the views that would’ve gotten lol

[@NitroNEXT]

A personal theory I've had for years is that Adema's 'Immortal' song (from Deadly Alliance) foreshadows, and may even be from the perspective of, Zombie Liu Kang. If you listen to the lyrics with this in mind, it's as if he's referencing the guy who killed him; Shang Tsung. "The leader of lost souls" (kills Kang in DA, absorbs souls, and creates a soulnado) is pretty cut and dry, and it also mentions that "my soul will travel on, you can't kill me... I'm immortal". In Liu Kang's endings, his soul does indeed stick around to help the heroes and his revived zombie body is also shown bearing a grudge against Shang Tsung in the Armageddon intro. A zombie is admittedly a twisted interpretation of immortality but it is arguably true to the dark themes of the series. I know about the music video featuring Scorpion instead, but Ed Boon has historically shoved Scorpion in everything he could, and I just don't feel there was a strong enough connection between Shang and Scorpion for it to fit those lyrics nearly as well. And sure, you could dismiss it as a stretch but it's no less silly than some of what's found on this list. At worst it's coincidence.

[@NocturnalLabromorph]

Uhm, Mind if I add that theory to my own MK iceberg? (it focuses more on the 3D era btw)

[@Nightwing1933]

an MK vs Street Fighter Crossover was Attempted around 2000, as confirmed by Ed Boon at e3 in 2017, and a render was even made. So in Theory it's possible this 3D MK style Ken might've become the basis for Kobra.

[@Elusory]

do you have an image of the render? I did more research and the closest thing I could find was that Capcom said no when Midway reached out about featuring a SF character in an MK game. Not seeing anything about the full on crossover being in the works then cancelled but lmk

[@Nightwing1933]

@@Elusory Yes I do. Ed Boon Posted it on his twitter about 5 years ago, and at the E3 Coliseum 2017 panel for MK Ed mentions having a render but they couldn't get it up on the projector twitter.com/noobde/status/708494169182842881

[@maruchan4491]

Boy whaattttt

[@ShiftyGuy777]

Im just wondering if Capcom would mind their characters dying unlike DC.

[@Nightwing1933]

@@ShiftyGuy777 I'm pretty sure at the time the answer would be no, and is probably why it didn't happen. If they tried it now and did more over the top hyper violence like Killer Instinct rather than intense gore like Traditional MK they maybe would be down for it.

[@NucleaRaptor]

2:05 >"Frost is Sub-Zero sister" There's a bit more to it than that. The old Mythologies website mentioned that Sub-Zero IV, the father of Bi-Han and Kuai, actually had three children - two boys and a daughter. He eventually took his sons to join the Lin Kuei, but the wife and the daughter were never heard from again. Mythologies was still relatively fresh in people's minds when Frost first showed up in MKDA, so the question of "oh shit, is this the long-lost sister we've heard about?" was the first thing on many people's minds. IIRC this question was brought up during one of the Kombat Night chats, and Vogel has definitively answered that no, they're not meant to be related. 3:44 >"Kotal isn't green" I didn't like this at all. The comic specifically mentioned that the Osh-tekk get stronger under sunlight and weaker in the dark, so it'd make perfect sense for them to have actual green skin with some degree of innate photosynthesis going on. What a wasted opportunity. 26:09 >"Playable Shadow Priest" We have one. His name is Shang Tsung. 30:30 >"Shang's MK1 fatality" I'm pretty sure very early on in development he was meant to pull out a sword and decapitate his opponent, but they never ended up implementing it. 31:50 >"Onaga in Deadly Alliance" You can also catch a glimpse of Onaga's early design in Raiden's MKDA ending. It's very different compared to how he'd eventually turn out. 34:08 >"Leaf me be" I could've sworn the first time I saw this was in one of those goofy sprite-based webcomics on Tabmok's old site, and it somehow just got memed from there. 37:24 >"Panther" That was just supposed to be Sonya's codename while out in the field. Jax's was supposed to be "Cobra", I believe. Don't know if either of these two are mentioned in the final game. 37:30 >"worst portrayal of all time" U fukn w0t m8, the Old Man Zero design is second only to Shredder Zero. What a great way to show that the Dragon Medallion's power boost comes with a pricetag. 38:27 I have no idea if that script draft is real, but man oh man do I wish it was. The MK games are in dire need of scenes that establish how the tournament works and what is and isn't allowed. MK9 was a good opportunity to do just that, but instead it's just a chaotic jumbled mess barely one step above the Royal Rumble in the MKSM intro. There's no bracket or anything, Shang just does whatever the fuck he feels like. 40:20 >"Lucifer" This was known as far back as Mythologies. After Shinnok's fall and exile, Lucifer tormented him for millenia until Quan Chi came along and broke him free. I was always hoping the games would revisit that little bit of lore, but the best we got was an acknowledgement in Konquest.

[@Elusory]

What if Sub Zero IV is MKDA Sub Zero... The more I think of it the more it makes sense, even though the Vogel comments don’t particularly support this. But why else would sub zero look old as ****** in this game??

[@NucleaRaptor]

@@Elusory It's commonly accepted fanon that the Dragon Medallion (the one that originally belonged to the Grandmaster) did this to him. The whole point of the Dragon Medallion is that it greatly enhances the wearer's innate abilities (which is reflected in the Kori Blades, the Ice Shaker, and other updates to Sub's moveset), but at a price. It's never been stated directly what this price is, but in Sektor's MK9 ending, we see it absorb the soul of the Lin Kuei Grandmaster (Sektor's dad). This tacitly confirmed what people were suspecting all along - in exchange for the massive power boost, the Medallion drains some of your life force. It's a Shang-bling. Oh, and if you lack the discipline and the willpower to handle such a surge of power -(cough Frost cough),- your own body will apparently turn against itself in some horrible fashion. That is why Sub looks like he aged two decades in 5 or so years since the last time we saw him in MK4. It's doubly shocking when you consider that people with ice powers in fiction are often depicted with the ability to retard their own aging as a side-effect of their low body temperature slowing down the natural deterioration processes, so for Sub to get the Old Snake makeover, the Medallion must've done quite a number on him. Personally, I thought that was a brilliantly inspired design choice and a great example of story working in synergy with both art direction and gameplay.

[@ShiftyGuy777]

I refuse to think Sub-Zero and Frost are siblings. But yeah MKDA Sub-Zero is great, it's MK3 Sub-Zero, but better.

[@Kropolis]

Ok.

[@cfu5305]

Ive always considered the "early concept of onaga" in raidens ending to be Onagas original appearance before merging with Reptile

[@donjefe409]

This shit needs more views. High quality content right here .

[@mikel3510]

This is incredibly low content. It's misinterpreting or just not knowing what actual things are, making brash connections, and is admittedly during the video several times to be opinion

[@JohnTaylorxbox]

@@mikel3510 true

[@EarlyBirm]

Mileena is a clone of Kitana, so the clones she found aren't failed attempts of herself. They are failed attempts to clone Kitana.

[@N1k0SP]

No doubt Ferra and Torr's names came from switching the T and F of TerraFaux

[@Elusory]

... Mind blown. Did you find this comparison somewhere or err... what allowed you to make this comparison on your own? Brilliant either way

[@casono]

Im still upset they didnt return. Also I comepletely forgot about TerraFaux.

[@N1k0SP]

@@Elusory i was watching the video on the toilet so it was jus my thoughts

[@Koichi-Kun]

@@N1k0SP frerra taux

[@powerstationw]

We had that magazine, but my brother and I were so young. He couldn't read, and I was younger than him! I asked him what the name was (nimbus terrafaux), but he said "Texas Buck Transformer" I believed that blindly for decades 🤣🤣🤣😅

[@stubbydingo6901]

When first reading the iceberg, I thought Sonya’s name backwards was referencing how it sounds like “anus,” lol!

[@290coolkid]

johnny cage funeral audio and the other weird/creepy lost audio files in the games shoulda been mentioned

[@mike_pogo]

I have the funeral audio on my channel lol

[@zakazany1945]

That is an old one

[@frankiedesouza2452]

Wich ones?

[@PiroKUSS]

What about that poem from Alice in Wonderland or something like that?

[@wh1tew0lfalpha]

I think Oniro should have been mentioned too as he was shown on here. The Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei in Sub Zero Mythologies wearing red and black.

[@legionbeast]

42:02 So, Shao Kahn WAS indeed killed in Deadly Alliance, as was Liu Kang and Goro. This was to completely behead both "armies" and force a severe shakeup in what has been little more than a status quo up until this point. However, in Deception, the Gamecube version didn't have online abilities, and to make up for it, they included Goro and Shao Kahn as (mostly) balanced fighters. To do this, they retconned Goro being killed and claimed Shao Kahn had an artifact to place a false version of himself in his throne room. This, however, doesn't add up in Deception because in Goro's ending, he "kills Kitana for leading the outworld armies"... only the entire PLOT of Kitana in Deception was that *it was Mileena in disguise, meaning it was Mileena who would have been sacrificed as Kitana was an undead thrall of Onaga.* Havok's ending also has him revive Shao Kahn, which makes no sense if Shao Kahn wasn't killed off and just went into hiding. in fact, none of Deception's endings mention the return of shao kahn or goro in any manner other than Havok. In fact, Goro and Shao Kahn also don't show up in arcade mode as opposing characters as they are not added to the character rotation pool, showing how rushed the "lore" was for them.

[@pnut3844able]

Well the late 90s- early 2000s are the years most people don't like. You have mk mythologies, which was damn near unplayable, mk4 which i hated the 3d stuff on, and deadly alliance, deception and Armageddon are considered the worst game by many people, but i personally love them

[@rockk9753]

@@pnut3844able once you play mk4 its not so bad deadly alliance was weak and deception if it wasnt for konquest would be boring armagedon the create a fighter was a cool addition

[@stevenwhuntva]

Havik would have apparently actually revived Kahn's body double, but Goro's story is all garbage. First, we have to believe that Kitana could not recognize a random other Shokan as a random Shokan instead of someone who at this point, was her friend and ally. Second, Goro deciding to just betray everyone he had made good with just 'cause Kahn saved his ass is very stupid. They spent some time building up Goro as swearing off his allegiance to evil guys and pushing for peace just to fall right back into the cesspool.

[@ChainikVlad]

23:56 "In 1991, Johnny Cage was a contestant on the hit game show, Celebrity Smash TV. In the final round, he thew the Forceball at Mutoid Man and won the game. Johnny Cage donated all his prize money to charity." That's from DA Konquest mode. It's also featured many more facts about Johnny, such as how he played in James Bond-esque film - 24 KARATE GOLD in 1998 and other trivia stuff!

[@powerstationw]

Always loved smash TV. It fits johnny perfectly 😆

[@fuckiopussigetti453]

I love those character building things in Konquest, my favorite one has to be the one where it said Cyrax went to see Ninja Mine and he felt robbed of his 8 dollars because he disliked it

[@RoseSupreme]

37:30 *THANK YOU* for not making a stupid Among Us joke there.

[@TheDukeofNukem]

In a video interview with Ed Boon about the friendships in Mortal Kombat 11, im pretty sure he mentioned something about how Kidd Thunder “looks to his father for approval” when talking about the little detail where Kidd Thunder looks at Raiden after they finish dancing, so maybe Kidd Thunder is somehow Raiden’s son?

[@Elusory]

I think I watched that video too but must have missed that part. Amazing call out!

[@pnut3844able]

Could have meant metaphorical

[@BooserBoi]

@@pnut3844able Yeah, its 100% metaphorical.

[@toxic_shr00m]

To be fair, it could be a metaphor or even a joke

[@Darxide23]

30:32 Shang Tsung was planned to have a fatality in MK1. In fact, the sprite art still exists in the arcade game ROM. He was meant to pull a sword from his robes and perform a simple decap whenever he won. It was just never completely implemented. You can view the animation on The Cutting Room Floor.

[@jamesc8259]

That’s awesome! I’m still learning new stuff about this game even after playing it upon release. That’s a great website, never knew about that either thanks! 😎👍

[@Ramsey276one]

Quite simple... Lack of time, I guess?

[@zaidabraham7310]

@@Ramsey276one Or maybe memory limitations. Or both.

[@pnut3844able]

@@Ramsey276one no, originally the plan was only Tsang Tsung was supposed to have a fatality, then they gave them to everyone

[@Ramsey276one]

@@pnut3844able OH Quite a difference!

[@bt-fj5pw]

I would've played the shit out of a shaolin monks sequel

[@retrocams12]

33:00 Actually, Noob Saibot was definitely in fact referenced in Mortal Kombat 4, both with his name appearance, and then actual voice announcer for MK Gold. I also remember hearing the announcer say "noob saibot" during the original revision 1 of Arcade MK4, but was removed from the roster as a secret character.

[@darthmisogyny3828]

Iirc both noob and kitana were supposed to be in the vanilla version of MK4 but ed took them out and swapt them with Reiko and Tanya

[@thenicster3051]

Goro was actually playable in MK1. Though only on the Gameboy port. After you beat the game, You'd be given the option to play as him. It would also change the names of the rest of the characters to those of the developers while playing as him.

[@cyberlich5116]

I think the kratos and Freddy Krueger connection is just based on the fact that they both have k in their names and were guests in mk9

[@OnlyAFoolsHope]

Kreuger is the embodiment of the "life" Kratos lives... a perpetual nightmare riddled with torment over the ones he killed. I have 2 theories on that one: 1. Kreuger is an architect of Kratos' torment, an aspect of the vengeance Kratos desires but wishes dead. Or, 2. Kreuger is the damned soul that embraced his fate while Kratos is the damned soul who seeks redemption. All in good fun, but deep if that was the developers' intent

[@twodogsandadingo3331]

More so asking if there is a connection. Every doc character has a mirror/rival and connection. Aside from those two

[@c.skyrie3434]

I think they are just popular characters and would have guranteed higher sales

[@JifeesAgo]

Kratos because he is PS exclusive and Kruger to be fair.

[@MilestheDirtyMindedGoblin2099]

You all ever hear the theory about Noob Smoke? It replaced the Tobias part after he left Midway.

[@ImperfectD]

That's a good point since it was one of the few times after Tobias' departure, where Noob was placed in game. 🤔 That's interesting to think about.

[@VincePaierr]

What developer was named Ekoms?

[@russianinvader3207]

@@VincePaierr Me.

[@panikk2]

Funny thing about playing against reptile on MK1 arcades: if you didn't see the shadows flying across the moon when you got toThe Pit stage (random chance), you had to start over. i owned the cabinet and by the time i got rid of it i only fought against reptile once.

[@camiloordonez]

Fun fact about the reverse speech in Deception: In the mortal kombat universe, the chaos realm (one of the 6 main realms in the series) is home to residents who literally speak in reverse. These NPCs in deception who speak in reverse could be native to the chaos realm

[@OfficialJab]

Not iceberg worthy but I found it interesting that characters like Shang use the Yin & Yang symbol, especially him. While he apparently wants to rule existence absolutely, he apparently respects or acknowledges the flow between forces that would probably mean any rule he would have would be limited.

[@Arvenyte]

the part about quan chi killing himself immediately after MK4 can't be, since in deadly alliance you learn that he kept running away from Scorpion, eventually getting Drahmin and Moloch to stop Scorpion so he could escape.

[@Prizm17]

10:29 you have no idea how well it worked, it jump scared me once and then I literally NEVER went back

[@greatkintaro4756]

Dark greetings, Elusory! I appreciate the shoutout, to clarify it was myself and two friends who worked on this iceberg. We really love the video, and we're happy to see people digging into it and trying to explain everything! That being said, I'd be happy to share a bit more to help clear some things up. I'll be doing this in the replies since the last time I tried to leave a comment, it seems like it was shadow banned. Possibly due to the length?

[@greatkintaro4756]

Arright - This is also said in Raiden's MK4 ending! (Though it wasn't subtitled) Kratos-Krueger Konnection - It's just the K. You're sincerely the first person to get it right I believe. Living Tree Fatality - While not a fatality, you could also feed enemies to the trees in Shaolin Monks. Johnny Cage in Smash TV - This is mentioned in Deadly Alliance's Konquest Mode. "He must win DID refer to Liu Kang" - One of the boys on the Iceberg reddit put this well but if Raiden had thought 'He must win' meant Shao when he first received the message, during the tournament, then Shao would have had actual legitimate right to Earthrealm since he would have won. Third Sub-Zero Brother - Worth noting, the masked Sub-Zero's ending states he's neither Bi-Han nor Kuai Liang, and states he'll be revealed in the next MK tournament. Dropped plot point most likely, maybe it was setting up Quan Chi? Ed Boon Killed Mileena Out of Jealousy - The joke here was actually that Mileena tries giving Scorpion a teddy bear in one of the tower fights in MK9. Ed Boon pretty outspokenly loves Scorp, so we thought maybe Mileena trying to mack on Hanzo is what led to Ed putting her on ice in X. Bigger Liu Kang - This is a riff on the "Bigger Luke" theory from Star Wars, we were pretty surprised when everyone assumed it was about Liu's stacked ass. Saboteur - We need to come clean here this was the result of a dumb bit we did a few nights before making the chart and we added it as a personal touch. Didn't want to say too much before cause we wanted to see what people would come up with for it. Wu Lae Immortality - You got this one right but damn you dissed my man Wu Lae! Real Shao Kahn Died in DA - The kanon explanation is Shao used a clone, who the deadly alliance killed in his stead. This theory states that the clone lived and the real Shao died. Motor Kombat Brainwashing - Thank you for not saying this was supposed to be MK-Ultra we were surprised so many people guessed that. All in all this was a great watch, thanks so much for making it! Hoping to see more from you in the future.

[@Elusory]

@@greatkintaro4756 Wow. I summoned the shokan himself... I must say I am humbled. So I eventually noticed your comment was sitting in the "Waiting on Approval" comments section in KZbin's Creative Studio portal because it was automatically marked as spam LOLLLLL. I suppose due to the length like you said, yes. Anyway yes I had to approve it manually and only realized this about a week after you had commented. Thanks for providing clarity on those and I'm glad you and the shokan backroom enjoyed it so much. I really appreciate the amount of work that you three put into making this iceberg a worthy celebration of MK lore. It's truly one of a kind among other icebergs which tend to be scraped together more or less. It was a lot of fun to dissect and given the wide range of material, it's been really cool seeing people correct or build upon my interpretations of your work. Well done guys.

[@ShiftyGuy777]

Hmm, who knew Kintaro is a great historian.

[@Revacholiere]

My man, I totally remember Reptile saying "Leaf me be" too.

[@gastonzumbo5399]

i need to know what the Richard Divizio occult entry is about lol

[@raynmanshorts9275]

Given the events of MK11, I think it's possible that "He must win" could refer to Liu Kang winning the Armageddon tournament. Raiden put _everything_ into Liu Kang in MK11. Raiden generally did not have _that_ level of faith in mortals, and after he trusted Shang Tsung, that's understandable. So putting faith in him to have the best outcome is possible. So instead of trying to win it himself, maybe he had the idea of helping Liu Kang win it.

[@davidloomis1140]

The purpose of the question mark behind Tanya's portrait in MK Gold is because there is a cheat that u can activate there. Reiko, Shinnok, and Cyrax all have hidden characters activated from their portraits but Tanya's unlocks all videos.

[@d.fortner6653]

This is why i love mortal kombat so much because most of these i've never heard of before so this was interesting.

[@rhen4short]

1:33 I had one of these VCDs when I was a kid. My Mom used to work in Hong Kong and would send us a package of goodies and most of them were VCDs. That exact same cover was on the MK Annihilation VCD. I also got confused when I saw Quan Chi on the cover but not in the actual movie itself. 😂

[@davidaguirre452]

Hey I did this same iceberg and I think you did a good job.

[@Elusory]

Thanks! I noticed we uploaded the first MK Iceberg videos in English within 24 hours of one another... Seeing as we're the first 2 to do it, we can definitely appreciate the amount of time and effort that this took on both sides :P much respect

[@guaporican6938]

Both of your guys videos are great!

[@Mohawk_Productions]

Subbed to both Man how you guys can talk so calmly on video. I can’t even do that. But I’ve only been doing KZbin since December of last year

[@CaliberBlue]

Someone else has probably pointed it out but the Switch version of MK11 was datamined and it had intro dialogues for Ash Williams as well

[@NdieCity]

Not sure if it's been mentioned yet but "Bigger Liu Kang" is likely a reference to "Bigger Luke", a (joke?) fan theory about Star Wars claiming that due to height discrepancies between scenes, there are actually two separate Luke Skywalkers in star wars: Luke and Bigger Luke.

[@MatrixIsbreaking]

I can’t breathe 😭😂 “Pedro”

[@Elusory]

LOLLL

[@ShiftyGuy777]

Pedro the mexican cop.

[@CybermutTandBETA]

"He must win" actually being about Lui Kang could also mean Lui Kang must defeat the Deadly Alliance, who killed him.

[@GreenPhoenix91]

"4thsnake is John Tobias." Lol if that's true I'm Greg Eagles.

[@kingkyle2217]

@João Gabriel lmao salty

[@guilhermefranco2930]

@João Gabriel how does he have a dead channel if he still uploads every two weeks or something and has tons of views?

[@guilhermefranco2930]

@João Gabriel also, he's not really nitpicky, all the problems he brings up are valid

[@kennylunacy]

@@guilhermefranco2930 I like 4th Snake but he does nitpick everything now. He doesn't even enjoy stuff he previously asked for. Like look through his videos and it's hard not to see it afterwards.

[@bamdaddonyavi8490]

@@kennylunacy yes he does nitpick sometimes but i think hes content is still good

[@GoldenAngelis]

The monster through Kanshi's blindfold scared the shit outta me and I kept flipping the blind fold on and off, ended up successfully just avoiding it that way

[@rodrigobueno8652]

SIndel probably is in the iceberg because it is a big retcon (and one hard to swallow) and any old fan that didnt palyed the last game didnt know (Like me)

[@MsPlutoASMR]

Yessss I’ve been waiting for someone to do this ! Great job 👏🏻 love the metal gear meme 😍

[@jakecollins1932]

I remember the ‘leaf me be’ thing very vividly. Like it’s stuck with me for years. No way have I imagined that, surely not!?

[@Holdenheroofheroes]

Fire and Ice being canon probably refers to the ship name of Scorpion and Sub-Zero and it supposedly being canon

[@bt-fj5pw]

No

[@tomy3235]

No it isn't Its for a cancelled mk game Called mk fire and ice

[@Holdenheroofheroes]

@@tomy3235 I know but it could be referring to what I said

[@dingdong1989]

@@Holdenheroofheroes No, it definitely isn't. Like, I'm sorry, but seriously? Lmao

[@Holdenheroofheroes]

@@dingdong1989 It's possible. A lot of icebergs do have joke entries.

[@davidmatheny398]

I saw this video by chance, i pressed play, and i greatly enjoyed it. As a casual fan of the MK series. This is a great watch. Thanks

[@Elusory]

Thanks David! I did try to make it accessible for kasual fans, so that feedback means a lot. Cheers

[@silvianbruno7512]

The Johnny Cage Smash TV thing was mentioned in the single player journey stuff that Deadly Alliance had (like the precursor to Deception's Konquest Mode), just these weird little blurbs about the character before they fought the next person on the map. Pretty sure that's also where Ninja Mime started.

[@maxxdahl6062]

I could have swore I have heard about ninja mime long before that, I want to say maybe one of the comics or early 2D games. As he always had goofy named movies even back then.

[@daca4571]

32:50 I think it's safe to say saibot was taken away when Tobias left

[@xx_redwood_xx9737]

30:31 pretty sure Tsung was originally gonna decapitate you with a katana as the only fatality in the game, but it was cut for some reason when they added fatalities proper

[@TotallyRandomVideoz1]

You are correct about the Ash situation, you can put the confidence bar at full because Boon and Bruce Campbell both confirmed there was a deal that was interrupted, and I quote Bruce, "by legal crap".

[@ImTheTrashmann]

Man, I gotta tell you. I love these Iceberg videos, I watch them all the time. But out of all the ones I've seen, This has got to be my absolute favorite. Very well edited and put together, as well as being about one of my favorite gaming franchises. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance wasn't just my first Mortal Kombat, It was the first game I ever played at all. So seeing an in-depth dive into my introduction to gaming as a whole is amazing. Keep up the good work man, this is good stuff!

[@thecentremen]

Thank you for finally doing one, I thought I was gonna have to make a video on this myself. Well-made video by the way, Earned my subscription.

[@bennyboidoesstuff2798]

Only 1.7k subs!!! Wtf man you deserve so many more. Seriously underrated.

[@Elusory]

❤️

[@NodDisciple1]

0:11:56 Still not completely convinced. I still hope Sindel's recent heel turn that completely contradicts previous canon is merely a matter of Shang Tsung manipulating/brainwashing her when he brought her back to life and/or Kronika's manipulation of space-time.

[@Elusory]

Love tabmok99's "Sindel from Mortal Kombat 11 - Good or Evil?" coverage on what you're speaking to. Check that out if you haven't. But yes, could very well be Shang's brainwashing which deludes her into thinking she is her husband's murderer. I guess it depends on which timeline we're talking about too

[@reloadpsi]

I seriously hope that's true. I'm glad the "evil Sindel dumb" take has so much traction out there.

[@JollyHaku]

Sindel being the one who killed Jerrod is a retcon of that D'Vorah killed him, and that is also a retcon of that Shao killed Jerrod. Because that line from D'Vorah was around before the Aftermath DLC. Plus, originally it was Shao that killed Jerrod, so all in all, both D'Vorah having killed Jerrod and it for some STUPID reason later that Sindel killed him, are both retcons of what actually happened.

[@mikarimex1055]

30:07 actually Krome is not actually a fanmade character. It was actually created by a company by accident when they were making Smoke. Somehow they screwed up the name and named him Krome. Or it was a knock off toy. But everyone loved him so much and he grew in so much popularity NRS noticed him. Hopefully he will become a new char add added

[@prodSpazeY]

Hey , also in MK4 there is cheat codes in the menus , you can play as Noob Saibot and Goro

[@HipsterBlackMetalOfficial]

So many of these need updating. 1. Tobias confirmed that Rieko was actually the reincarnation of Shao Kahn in his version of MK5. 2. The Johnny Cage - Smash TV rumor come from the game, The Grid which was a 3d smash TV sequel featuring MK4 characters. It was midways final arcade game. 3. There is an uncensored MK snes port and Ed Boon confirmed it. It's been dubbed Mortal Kombat Nitro. There has been a script, concept documents and Kano and Johnny Cages fatalities on video. 4. Goro was playable in MK1 just the game boy version out of all versions. 5. Shang Tsung did have a fatality in MK1, official spirtes have been found where he uses a sword to chop your head off. 6. That's not ed boons head on the spike but John Tobias. Ed Boon is hanging from the spike towers in a Kung fu outfit.

[@ThunderHorsePyro]

Mortal Kombat and the King of Fighters are two of the few fighting games that have interesting story lines with characters that intertwine. The Mortal Kombat lore goes so deep. I love it.

[@lukefenig5029]

1:39 this deserves to be a reactionary image

[@Elusory]

idk if it was you but a day or two after you made this comment, i noticed on the mk subreddit a user actually used that as a reaction for something in their post. was it you or just a koincidence?

[@andreblount91]

10:56 Mileenas face On Mk2 is straight up terrifying it's going to give people heart attack Bah gawd.

[@JackArcherX]

On the Reptile bit, he DOES say "Leave me be" and eventually punches you if you keep annoying him for too long. However, there is no joke in there.

[@christianb3883]

I dont remember reptile saying "leaf me be" but just a regular " leave me be"

[@kwbalance108]

Only 3k? Come on, so much effort was put into this! This was so much fun to watch!

[@24KGoldbackGorilla]

I think Pinhead should've been in MK11. There'd be so many cool fatalities he could do including the other cenobites and the lament configuration.

[@shallowhound2751]

Darn this is a really good video. Well made, thoroughly explained and even informative!

[@Onlybadtakes2589]

Great video! Love the format and solid script with little filler

[@overlordkujo]

The "Ash in MK11" rumor hurt the most. I wanted that more than my next hot meal. That rumor was leaked way back before the game even came out, and it's part of why I even bought MK11.

[@DDSForbbiden]

This is one of those few icebergs in dire need of a part II

[@Lordani66]

I loved the Apep myth/story. It makes a lot of sense if you take into consideration the plot of MK:D Konquest mode. Apep was a friend of Shujinko. Shujinko helped Onaga get all the Kamidogu and the last thing the Dragon King needed was Quan Chi's amulet. Quan Chi could have gotten attacked by some other helpers of Onaga to get his amulet stolen from him but in the end he has beaten them and got some information on why Onaga wants to get his amulet and who is his other helper. Then he found out about Shujinko and either he thought Apep could have been him or he knew he was his closest friend, he killed him after Apep didn't want to sell his friend (or he didn't know his current whereabouts). My made up story may have some holes but the general idea of there being connection of Quan Chi with Apep through Onaga who wanted his amulet and Shujinko who was helping Onaga and was Apep's best friend is there.

[@darthvader7886]

This video was in my recommendation, and I enjoyed it so much!!! I love these types of theory videos great work man!

[@VGHistory1]

I met Ed Boon at an E3 several years ago. It was brief and I asked him if we would ever get Mokap back (I wasn't serious about the question). He laughed and said no before we parted ways.

[@primalspongebob6144]

I knew the krypt monster from mk9 was coming and it still creeped me out

[@1Hol1Tiger]

I don't think the "New Era" is the Midway Timeline, as it's said Raiden will not exist in the New Era, but Raiden's obviously in Midway Timeline. Also I'm surprised Raiden's original villain role isn't on this iceburg

[@TKMacsta]

I really liked this video man! Pretty cool topics you talked about!

[@Semydeus]

Good work dude! I was looking foward to someone made a video about this!

[@PantheonLincoln]

25:45 - I seem to remember Pedro being an April Fool's joke in a UK gaming magazine. Might be wrong on that, but then I'm old enough to remember when Kano wasn't Australian.

[@ddorgo]

Must i say this is a hella good iceberg video

[@andrew9304]

such a good video with very good editing keep it up bro 🙏🏽

[@TheBabyJesus2010]

This video was awesome sauce!! Thanks for making this!!

[@sandrward3500]

Excellent video about the MK Iceberg. At the "eldest gods" part, I was thinking in my own headcanon ideas, besides the Lore informations brought by Shawn Kittleson recently. If it's said that, despite the different timelines, the elder gods defeating the one being event happens in evreyone of them. My idea is that we have prime versions of the elder gods themselves and this first battle happens in a singular reality, as this event begins every timeline. As a result from this event, the MK multiverse is originated and every changes in history therefore are in its own timeline. Thanks and sorry from some writing mistake. Nice video, again.

[@icemariofan2746]

Awesome video! I was also planning on doing an iceberg on mk too.

[@boywithanearring]

Great video and nicely edited.

[@artmo4478]

Wow, the quality is top notch. Subbed.

[@OBSDCC7]

For a series that’s never had especially great story modes, the lore is insanely deep and interesting

[@Raggmunk81]

A little late to the party, but the Bigger Liu Kang theory at 32:15 is definitely a nod to the notoriously odd Bigger Luke Hypothesis from Star Wars, which claims that there are two different Lukes as in some scenes he appears about an inch taller compared to random things in his surrounding.

[@striderskorpion]

Hornbuckle and Torch are fan names for the background characters. The "Hornbyckle who?" in MKII was not a reference to the characters, but was assumed to be because of fan rumors. Goro was playable in the Game Boy version. Classic Sub-Zero is a sort of phantom in UMK3/MKT like Human Smoke.

[@MegaAmir46]

Keep up the good work man! Channel blowin up

[@SykoSkot]

This is a great series and I'm definitely looking forward to more

[@gameaddict6969]

Oh my. I totally remember getting chameleon the girl version. Never knew it was because of what copy you owned. Thank you for blowing my mind!

[@billblaski9523]

I use to love MK rumors and myths as a kid! Always a story about how someone was able to play as Noon Saibot or Jade or Smoke in MK2 lol

[@_KnownUnknown_]

I watched a storyline video and this because i wanted to know more about mk before mk 1 releases. Great vid.