Liu Kang (2nd and 3rd Timelines)/Synopsis

The story of Lord Liu Kang, the Champion of Earthrealm turned God of Thunder and Fire, from the Mortal Kombat: Titan Trilogy and the New Era Timeline. 
==Early Life==
This version of Liu Kang shares the same backstory as his original self, being an orphan raisen as a Shaolin Monk, and the protege of Lord Raiden and Bo' Rai Cho, with the only difference being that he was chosen to be champion over Kung Lao directly. 
== Mortal Kombat: Titan Trilogy Timeline ==
=== Mortal Kombat 9 ===
==== The Mortal Kombat Tournament ====
Raiden, Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade and Jax all get ready for the first Mortal Kombat competition. After Johnny Cage and others fight each other to decide the fate of Earthrealm. Johnny Cage eventually gets eliminated from the tournament with no one except Liu Kang left on the Earthrealm side vs. their Outworld competitors. Liu defeats Ermac at night, stops Kitana from assassinating him and lets her live, defeats Scorpion and Quan Chi at once, Goro in his lair and finally, Shang Tsung in his throne room.
However, a new tournament is held where if Earthrealm wins, Shao Kahn will never be able to merge Earthrealm with Outworld, however, if Outworld wins, Earthrealm will be merged with Outworld. Raiden accepts since not doing so would result in Earthrealm in constant attacks from Outworld. Liu Kang discovers Kitana has been captured and tries to save her. Liu Kang discovers that Kitana is to be executed by Shao Kahn in front of the tournament audience.
In the tournament, Liu Kang witnesses Kung Lao defeat Shang Tsung and Quan Chi before Shao Kahn snaps Kung Lao’s neck. Liu Kang seemingly kills Shao Kahn. However, it’s revealed Shao Kahn survived and thanks to Quan Chi, recovers quickly. Quan Chi tells Shao Kahn that though Earthrealm can no longer be merged with Outworld, they can still invade it by resurrecting Sindel, Shao Kahn’s wife who forbade him from invading Earthrealm using a ward, and corrupting her.
==== Falling Out and Death ====
With all the death and destruction thanks to Kano supplying Outworld with weaponry and the Cyber Lin-Kuei on Outworld’s side, Raiden and Liu Kang consult the Elder Gods who reveal that they will only intervene if Shao Kahn tries to merge Earthrealm with Outworld. Raiden decides to try to convince Quan Chi and the Netherrealm to aid with Earthrealm, using the souls of fallen Earthrealm warriors and Raiden’s own if he [Raiden] dies.
While talking to Quan Chi, Raiden discovers that Shao Kahn is supposed to try to merge Earthrealm with Outworld. Raiden and Liu Kang argue as Shao Kahn enters Earthrealm, Liu Kang wants to stop Shao Kahn from trying to merge Earthrealm with Outworld before Raiden tells him that doing so will result in Shao Kahn eventually returning and winning in Armageddon. They fight, resulting in Liu Kang’s accidental death and Shao Kahn attempting to merge Earthrealm with Outworld. Before dying, the bitter Liu Kang states that Raiden had doom Earthrealm. The Elder Gods revitalize Raiden and kill Shao Kahn. Despite this success, Raiden is left with guilt for what he had done to Liu Kang.
=== Mortal Kombat X ===
==== As a revenant ====
Liu Kang has been resurrected and turned into one of Quan Chi’s revenants. Liu Kang was part of the Netherrealm invading force along with fighting Raiden as Shinnok was trying to steal Earthrealm’s life force. While in the current time of the game he is a villain, the heroic Liu Kang is seen in a few different ways.
The human Liu Kang appears in a flashback set before the second tournament. After the Wu Shi was invaded, Liu Kang, Kung Lao and Raiden went after Baraka's Tarkatans who kidnapped many of the monks. The trio eventually discovered the monks being loaded onto a ship under the command of D'Vorah. He and Kung Lao engages the Tarkatans alongside Kung Lao, while Raiden deals with both Baraka and D'Vorah. After defeating their enemies, they proceed to free the monks on the first ship. Raiden then tells Liu Kang that he must return for the tournament, leaving Liu Kang and Kung Lao to seek out and free the remaining monks on the second ship that has already departed. Liu Kang promises Raiden that he will not fail, to which Raiden replies that he knows with a smile.
That being said, a human "what if" version of Liu Kang is a playable character, showing him if he lived until the modern day as an older man. 
=== Mortal Kombat 11 ===
==== Coming from the past ====
After Shinnok is defeated the revenant Liu Kang along with Kitana takes over the Netherrealm. In order to prevent an attack that Liu Kang and Kitana are planning Raiden, now under his new darker persona attack the Neatherrealm first in order to prevent that. The attack succeeds and the heroes are able to destroy the temple and set the Neatherrealm back a lot. However, this is the perfect thing for Kronika to take advantage of she rebuilds the temple and gets the Revenants on her side. Kronika still needs more allies though so she merges the past with the present bringing the past heroic version of Liu Kang to the present. From now on we are going to be focusing on that version.
Initially confused at being brought through time, Liu Kang and the others side with Kotal Kahn, the current ruler of Outworld against Shao Kahn. Before returning to Earthrealm with Raiden and Kung Lao, Liu Kang gives his farewell to Kitana with him bowing to her, and the Princess hugging him. While at the Special Forces base, they discover that the Netherrealm forces are attacking the Wu Shi Academy to capture Jinsei from the grotto. Liu Kang and Kung Lao are told of their fates as revenants, and while heading to the Academy, Liu Kang managed to stay calmer than Lao, reasoning they need to understand this future to prevent it. While there, they found several victims and made their way through several traps, with Kang swan diving through a corridor of axes. They encountered the Scorpion from their time, who has allied with Forces of Darkness, and also end of facing the revenant Jade, who tells them that Raiden is responsible for their deaths. During this Liu Kang and Kung Lao encounter their Revenant Counterparts and both are absolutely disgusted to see what they have become. After defeating their revenant counterparts Liu Kang and Kung Lao are confronted by Geras who freezes them and takes the Jinsei.
In their battle against Kronika and her forces despite the heroes putting up a fight and having some mild victories, they are losing the battle eventually they are left to a few heroes and only a single base in the Fire Garden. Liu Kang asks Raiden to send him to Outworld to assist Kitana in overthrowing Shao Kahn. Which Raiden agrees to and Liu Kang is able to help Kitana overthrow Shao Kahn and become the new Kahnum of Outworld.
When the past version of Scorpion shows up claiming that the present Hanzo has been killed and he now wants to help the heroes. Raiden doesn’t believe him and thinks Kronika sent him to ambush them. Liu Kang thinks Scorpion is being genuine and Raiden starts using Shinnok’s amulet to get the information out of Scorpion. Liu Kang tries to stop Raiden knowing the power is starting to take over him. Raiden and Liu Kang get into a fight which nearly causes Liu Kang to turn against Raiden, but Raiden hears Liu Kang say the word “If you must die, so be it” and he starts having visions of both this timeline and past timelines and comes to the realisation that Kronika has been manipulating Liu Kang and Raiden against each other across all timelines.
==== Fire God Liu Kang ====
Before anything else can be done though Kronika shows up in the Fire Garden and kidnaps Liu Kang. The revenant version of Liu Kang steals Liu Kang’s soul in order to gain insane levels of power to take on Raiden. With barely any time left the heroes assemble a team to try and attack Kronika head-on. Which eventually leads to Raiden confronting the newly powered up Revenant Liu Kang, despite this poor boost, Raiden is still able to defeat him, but instead of conforming to what Kronika wants and killing Liu Kang Raiden decides to merge with him, purging the Revenant Liu Kang of all his evil and powering him up with Raiden’s power creating the Fire God Liu Kang. 
With Fire God Liu Kang on their side, the heroes are able to turn the tide of the battle they infiltrate the template. As Liu Kang, Kung Lao and Kitana make their way to the Hourglass Room Kronika reverts time back, and Liu Kang is forced to fight the revenant versions of his friends alone. After Raiden encourages him to use the Jinsei flowing through him, Liu Kang was able to defeat the revenants, unable to reason with the envious Kung Lao and bitter Kitana. He also managed to defeat Cetrion, figuring that her heart was not in the battle. During his battle with Kronika, time is wound back to the dawn of time and then the two fight, but Liu Kang defeats Kronika, his fire turning her body to glass which he shatters. Now with control over the hourglass he is met by a now mortal Raiden, who bestows Liu Kang with the titles of Keeper of Time and Protector of Earthrealm. While apprehensive about his new role, he and Raiden begin to reshape a better timeline.
Liu Kang also has two non canon endings, one of which achieved if the player wins both rounds against Kronika. Defeating her in prehistoric Earthrealm gives him the chance to choose Kitana to aid him in creating a new timeline. After bidding farewell to Raiden, promising to meet again in the next timeline, he and Kitana take the Hourglass to the dawn of history, and ready themselves for the New Era, together. In his Arcade ending, Liu Kang defeats Kronika without becoming a Fire God. Left with hard decisions to make as Keeper of Time, he shares it's power with those he trusts and loves most (Raiden, Kitana, Kung Lao and Bo Rai Cho), leading to them becoming the new Elder Gods. While knowing this was the dutiful thing to so, he cannot help wish for an ordinary life for him and Kitana, and hopes there is a timeline where that is possible. 
==== Aftermath ====
Right as Liu Kang is about to create the new timeline Shang Tsung shows up along with Nightwolf and Fujin to warn Liu Kang that since Kronika’s crown was destroyed in the battle he won’t be able to use the hourglass without destroying the timeline. Liu Kang is initially skeptical but when he sees the Hourglass crack as he tries to use it he sees that they are telling the truth. Shang Tsung, Fujin and Nightwolf are sent back in time to retrieve the crown while Liu Kang stays behind, claiming to need to watch over the hourglass. 
In the altered version of events, the human version of Liu Kang and Raiden nearly come to blows, this time due to the presence of Shang Tsung and Fujin, but thankfully the situation is defused. He also learns about his and Raiden's merging, and is not kidnapped by Kronika, thus joining the Forces of Light in the battle at Kronika's isle. However, everything goes wrong when Shao Kahn and his forces launch a surprise attack. Sickened to discover that Sindel was a traitor, Liu Kang desperately fought against Shao, but was left beaten, with his legs being subsequently broken by his hammer, something that affected his revenant self as well. 
After Shang Tsung betrays everyone, steals the crown and is ready to remake the universe in his image, Fire God Liu Kang shows up revealing he never needed to watch the hourglass. He let events play out so that Shang Tsung would get the crown for him so that he could come by and get it back, as Liu Kang knew Shang Tsung's treachery was inevitable. Liu Kang and Shang Tsung battle each other and the outcome depends on the player's choice, both of which are canon. In his ending, after an intense battle with Shang Tsung, Liu Kang manages to defeat him, and uses temporal energy to reduce him to dust, vowing that he will never twist the timelines with his evil. After donning the crown, Liu Kang begins creating his New Era. 
==The New Era Timeline==
Liu Kang spent eons building a new reality that’s more peaceful and structured. He explicitly makes sure Shang Tsung and Quan Chi live lives where they do not gain power, Shao Kahn never becomes leader of Outworld though is a powerful general leading who earns countless victories, Sindel is a benevolent Queen who never kills King Jerrod and wishes the best for her twin daughters, Shinnok and Cetrion don’t exist, Rain doesn’t become a demi-god to abuse his power, Shinnok’s amulet doesn’t exist, Outworld is brighter and more peaceful despite its people being somewhat rousey. Liu Kang also gave up his status as Keeper of Time, fearing that he would driven to madness as Kronika had been, with responsibility for the Hourglass going to the reconstructed Geras. He makes a version of Mortal Kombat tournament with King Jerrod of Outworld and trains the Great Kung Lao, the ancestor of the Kung Lao he knew, to be Earthrealm’s first champion. Liu Kang also makes sure the tournament isn’t a death battle and more of a friendly competition to defer Outworlders who would wish to conquer Earthrealm, like General Shao. At some point he also removed his thunder powers, transferring them to Raiden's amulet in readiness for when he would need them. 
=== Mortal Kombat 1 ===
Eventually, Raiden and Kung Lao, mere humans and close friends since childhood, get trained by Madame Bo in the ways of martial arts. One day, Liu Kang works with Bo and the Lin-Kuei, comprised of Bi-Han, Kuai Liang, Tomas Vrbada, also known as Sub-Zero, Scorpion and Smoke, to coordinate a supposed assault on Bo’s teahouse with the Lin-Kuei holding back while fighting Kung Lao and Raiden. Kung Lao and Raiden both pass the test and are sent to the Shaolin temple for further training. Liu Kang also recruits Johnny Cage and Kenshi Takahashi as recruits at the Shaolin Temple. All four recruits are trained at The Shaolin Temple with Raiden emerging victorious and being chosen as Earthrealm's champion against Outworld. 
While Genera Shao showed hostility to the Earthrealmers, Raiden successfully all of the Outworld champions. Liu Kang learns from Geras that Shang Tsung has become a sorcerer again despite Liu Kang's efforts. Liu Kang sends Kenshi, Kung Lao and Cage to scout Outworld and capture Shang Tsung without alerting Sindel as that would violate the pact he has with her. The team discovers a Tarkatan camp where Shang Tsung takes bone marrow from Baraka, who leads them to a tower where Shang Tsung conducts his experiments. The team gets framed for interfering with Mileena's treatment. With Reptile’s help they escape Shang Tsung's fleshpits and team up with Ashrah. After they regroup at Liu Kang's headquarters, the Fire God was saddened to see Kenshi had once again been blinded. He was informed that General Shao, Quan Chi and Shang Tsung have all teamed up against him.
Liu Kang sends Sub-Zero, Scorpion and Smoke to defeat Quan Chi, unfortunately Sub-Zero turns, resulting in Scorpion and Smoke to defect from the Lin Kuei. Liu Kang and Li Mei go to Sindel and show her Shang Tsung's fleshpits, revealing General Shao's treachery. Liu Kang also reveals that Sindel, Shao, Shang Tsung and Quan Chi were all villains in the previous timeline and that someone is manipulating them into becoming villains again and that when he restarted the universe he made it so that they wouldn't become villains again. When Sindel asks Liu Kang if he demands worship, he declines. General Shao appears with the Amulet of Shinnok, which should not even exist, and traps Kitana, Mileena and Geras inside of it. Sindel and Liu Kang defeat Shao and release the three trapped inside the amulet.
Regrouping with their many allies and storming the castle that houses Shang Tsung's Dragon Army, they discover the mysterious benefactor granting Shang Tsung and Quan Chi abilities is actually the Shang Tsung whom Liu Kang battled for control over the timeline. It turns out that the battle over the hourglass caused two alternate timelines where both won. The Shang Tsung whom Liu Kang created speculates that there are other timelines. Liu Kang and Geras retrieve the Titan powers that Liu Kang gave up to test the theory while the others destroy the portals set up by Titan Shang Tsung. They summon Kitana, Raiden and a few other Titan versions of their allies before Titan Shang Tsung arrives and tries to destroy Liu Kang's hourglass. After being defeated, Titan Shang decides to destroy Liu Kang's timeline. 
Liu Kang gets numerous allies from alternate timelines to prepare for a final battle with Titan Shang Tsung. Liu Kang fights with someone the player decides to play as to make their way up the Pyramid of Argus. The player battles Titan Shang Tsung alongside his Quan Chi while Liu Kang is trapped by Titan Shang's allies. Once Liu Kang is freed, he destroys Titan Shang Tsung's hourglass, resulting in Titan Shang Tsung's timeline being destroyed. As the timeline is being destroyed Liu Kang takes his allies back to their home timelines.
Liu Kang entrusts Johnny Cage with creating a Cinematic Universe around their adventures in Outworld to slowly reveal the existence of other realms to Earthrealmers and assists Scorpion and Smoke to build a clan to counter the Lin Kuei, that clan being the Shirai Ryu. As a result of regaining his Titan powers, Liu Kang can now only live for a few eons before eventually passing away. Liu Kang entrusted Geras with the role of protector of his new timeline.
Category:Synopsis