Ermac

**Ermac** is a fictional character from the *Mortal Kombat* fighting game franchise created by Midway Game. Originating as a fabricated nonexistent character born of rumormongering by fans and players that itself was rooted in both an audit-menu listing and an alleged glitch in the first game—a false pretense that was never explicitly debunked by Midway and was further perpetrated and publicized by video game publication *Electronic Gaming Monthly*—Ermac transformed from the most notorious urban legend in *Mortal Kombat* history into a full-fledged player character.

A mysterious psychokinetic enforcer of evil Outworld emperor Shao Kahn, composed of multiple warrior souls, Ermac was a red palette swap of Scorpion first added by Midway as a playable into *Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3* as fan service. He played his most prominent role in *Mortal Kombat: Deception,* in which he had his own distinct identity while breaking free of Kahn's control and becoming an ally to main series protagonist Liu Kang, but has since featured in minor roles in subsequent game storylines. Ermac has appeared in other *Mortal Kombat* media such as the animated series *Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm* the live-action web series *Mortal Kombat: Legacy*, and official series merchandise. General and critical reception has been positive in regards to the character and his Fatality finishing moves, while the *EGM* hoax has been included among the most-memorable in general video gaming.

## History and conception

The name "Ermac" has been a controversial subject that dates back to the beginning of the *Mortal Kombat* series. In the audits menu on the diagnostics screen of the 1992 original game was a macro written by series co-creator and programmer Ed Boon in order to catch coding errors, a practice employed by Midway since the 1990 release *Smash TV.* It was spelled as *ERMACS*—a pluralized contraction of ***er**ror **mac**ro*—as in the number of times the program would execute. First listed below a counter titled "Shang Tsung Beaten" (in reference to the game's final boss fight) in early revisions, it went unnoticed until Boon added the hidden unplayable character Reptile to the game as part of a chip upgrade. *ERMACS* was then underneath "Reptile Appearances" and "Reptile Battles" on the audits menu, which in turn provoked players into searching for what they erroneously believed was a second secret character in the game named Ermac.

By the fifth and final revision, dated March 1993, Midway had removed the *ERMACS* listing altogether, but it failed to quell growing speculation about the mystery character, which intensified after *Electronic Gaming Monthly*—notorious for pranks such as their Sheng Long hoax from *Street Fighter II*—published a submitted screenshot from the first *Mortal Kombat* in the "Tricks of the Trade" column of their October 1993 issue (#51), along with a letter from "Tony Casey" that claimed he had played against Ermac with a low-quality Polaroid of the screen as evidence. Unbeknownst to the magazine, the photo was a doctored image of ninja character Scorpion in a victory pose on the Warrior Shrine stage from the Super Nintendo version of the game; it had been tinted a dark red and included a superimposed phrase that read "Ermac Wins." The "Tricks" column two issues later (#53, December 1993) was devoted to reader responses, some of which contained overly complex instructions for accessing the character such as first finding Reptile, achieving a double flawless victory in a match with only punches, and then performing a Fatality in a specific area of the Warrior Shrine. With the physical image of a red ninja now attached to the character, new claims arose from players of a glitch that would cause Scorpion's (or Reptile's) sprite to flash red with "Error Macro" or "Ermac" appearing in the energy bar, but such occurrences were not possible as the macro counter could not increase in the event of a genuine glitch while no red palette for the character existed.

Midway denied the character's presence in *Mortal Kombat II* (1993) by way of a scrambled message that appeared on the bottom of the screen after beating the game (*CEAMR ODSE NTO EXITS*; "Ermac does not exist"), and a random pre-match appearance of hidden character Jade accompanied by the message "Ermac Who?" But when Boon was asked directly about the character by *GamePro*, he was coy about the issue. "I can't tell you if it's in *MKII.* ... I can't say it's a bug, but it's an event that happens in the game that shouldn't happen." Midway marketing director Roger Sharpe took a similar route: "If you're one of the fortunate few to ever encounter [Ermac], fine. Savor the moment, because it could never happen again." Ermac finally became playable as an unlockable secret character in *Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3* (1995; an upgrade of *Mortal Kombat 3*), because, according to Boon, the character "became this urban legend thing, and ... we [Midway] just decided to make it real." In January 2011, Boon dispelled the rumor on Twitter, and when interviewed the next year by GameTrailers during the Evolution Championship Series, he admitted that he had intentionally kept the meaning of the *ERMACS* listing secret in hopes of stirring up fan speculation about the character.

### Legacy

GamesRadar executive editor Eric Bratcher, in a 2009 *Electronic Gaming Monthly* retrospective, credited the impact of the hoax with the character becoming a reality. "The biggest, most respected, important gaming mag in the country ... had run a picture of Ermac, and nobody reads corrections." GameTrailers filmed an edition of their *PopFiction* web series in which they discussed the history of the rumors and then unsuccessfully attempted to hunt down Ermac in the first game; the episode debuted at the GT Film Festival Panel during PAX Prime 2012. *Cracked* considered the hoax one of their "5 Random Coincidences that Invented Modern Pop Culture," labeling the search for Ermac "gaming's most hilarious and/or saddest treasure hunt" while opining that Boon "thought it was funny watching players drive themselves nuts trying to unlock a secret that didn't exist." Kyle LeClair of Topless Robot remarked that the fabricated *EGM* screenshot "basically made him into the video game equivalent of Bigfoot," but the character was added to *Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3* "at which point no one really cared about him." *Mental Floss* cited the *MK* developers' being "so impressed with the fans’ passion for the character" in adding Ermac to the games. WatchMojo called the myth a "misunderstanding" that "didn’t stop the creators from having fun" with it, and Alex Langley of Arcade Sushi included it in a section titled "Ten Video Game Urban Legends that, While Not Creepy, Still Plagued the Heck Outta Gamers" from his 2013 book *Geek Lust* ("Fighting/unlocking/seeing/having brunch with Ermac"). Though the "Error Macro" glitch was fictitious, GameFAQs considered it "iconic," and it topped South African gaming site G3AR's 2012 list of the top ten glitches, describing Ermac as "perhaps the only legitimate video game character in history to be born out of a glitch." While acknowledging its nonexistence, 1UP.com heralded its staying power: "By sheer strength of will and rumor, Ermac turned from a lowly line of misplaced code to a ninja borne of multiple souls." ScrewAttack cited the *MKII* scrambled message as an example of Boon's "history of using puzzles and playing word games rather than confirming or denying rumors."

Midway (now NetherRealm Studios) has paid tribute to the fan rumors and the hoax, starting with the 1994 *Mortal Kombat II* comic book that was written and illustrated by series co-creator John Tobias. A panel within showed Sub-Zero's Lin Kuei hoverjet being piloted by Smoke and an unidentified red ninja; in 2011, Tobias revealed on Twitter that the ninja was Ermac. Tobias drew from the rumors also in crafting Ermac's *UMK3* backstory. A reversed message in *Mortal Kombat: Deception's* Konquest Mode read, "It is a little-known fact that 'Ermac' is short for 'Error Macro.'" In the 2005 beat 'em up spinoff title *Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks,* a retelling of the events leading up to *Mortal Kombat II,* he appeared as an Easter egg boss at the Warrior Shrine. Despite not appearing in the original *Mortal Kombat*, Ermac was included with Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Reptile in a bundle of classic costumes from the game that was released as downloadable content for the 2011 reboot, and inspired the game's inclusion of debut character Skarlet, a false rumor from *MKII* described by Boon as "an urban legend like Animalities and Ermac ... that we eventually wanted to make true." Tobias, who left Midway in 2000, said in a 2012 interview with Mortal Kombat Online, "I really like the revisiting of our old palette-swapped characters like Ermac and Noob Saibot. It's great to see them get proper treatment."

## Appearances

### In video games

The enigmatic Ermac is a conglomerate of the souls of deceased Outworld warriors, constructed with the sole purpose of serving as an enforcer to Outworld emperor Shao Kahn. The imposing concentration of these souls within gives him considerable telekinetic powers and causes Ermac to refer to himself in the plural form. Little else is known about his past, as he is unrecognized by Earthrealmers and Outworlders alike upon his emergence during Kahn's invasion of Earthrealm after having been in hiding since the first tournament. In *UMK3,* Ermac participates in both the invasion and the third tournament in the name of showing off his abilities and proving his existence. However, Kahn's plans are thwarted by the Earthrealm heroes and Ermac disappears from the storyline until *Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance* (2002), in which Kahn and Liu Kang are slain by the eponymous pairing of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, but Ermac remains under Kahn's control and, as such, wanders Outworld aimlessly without instructions until a chance encounter with the blind swordsman Kenshi, who breaks him free of Kahn's spell out of pity. As a token of gratitude, Ermac teaches Kenshi the Telekinetic Slam.

In *Mortal Kombat: Deception* (2004), Ermac, free from Kahn's control and in charge of his own destiny, opts to become a force for good out of contrition for the past crimes he had committed in Kahn's name. He therefore joins forces with the spirit of Liu Kang, and assists him in freeing the souls of his friends—Johnny Cage, Jax, Sonya Blade, Kitana, and Kung Lao—who had been killed by the Deadly Alliance and resurrected by the game's main boss character, the Dragon King Onaga, for use as his slaves. Ermac handily battles all five warriors in Onaga's throne room on his own, not to defeat them but to keep them at bay while Liu Kang successfully liberates their souls, and in a subplot that has not been explored further in the series, he additionally sensed that Onaga was being controlled by an unseen, more powerful influence. Before these events, in the game's Konquest Mode, Ermac is still in Kahn's employ and dispatched to the Netherealm to defeat the demon Ashrah, but since he is bound by magic, the Netherealm drains his powers. He crosses paths with the Earthrealmer Shujinko, who assists him in locating the monolithic Soul Stone that will restore his strength, and he trains Shujinko as compensation. Ermac then faces off against Ashrah, who wrongly believes he also is a demon and seeks to kill him but is defeated.

During the massive battle royal in the opening sequence of *Mortal Kombat: Armageddon* (2006), Ermac and Nightwolf attack Sheeva on the steps of the Pyramid of Argus, but are overpowered before Kenshi intervenes. After Quan Chi cuts Kenshi down, Ermac hurls Quan Chi off the pyramid and then stomps on Kenshi before revealing himself as Shang Tsung. An unofficial test biography created by Midway showed Ermac performing a kata routine in a forest setting with the first half of his *Deception* bio recited in voiceover, backed by a sample of George S. Clinton's score from the first *Mortal Kombat* film. Midway ultimately went with traditional still-image biographies (of which only seventeen total out of 63 were created), but Ermac never received an official biography of his own and therefore played no part in the storyline. The concept biography was unlockable in *Armageddon's* Konquest mode.

In *Mortal Kombat*, the 2011 reboot of the first three games, Ermac is introduced during the Shaolin Tournament, and returns to his original role of Kahn's personal enforcer. The souls comprising his being are those of warriors who had died trying to protect the otherworldly realm of Edenia from Kahn's takeover; Kahn used these souls to form Ermac, then programmed him to do his bidding. In the game's story mode, he eliminates Cage from the second tournament and uses his telekinesis to obliterate Jax's arms and throw Stryker down a stairwell onto a subway platform. In his ending, illustrated by Anna Christenson and animated by Daanish Syed, one of the souls trapped inside him is that of King Jerrod, Queen Sindel's husband and Kitana's father.

Ermac was confirmed for *Mortal Kombat X* (2015) by NetherRealm Studios during a January 2015 live stream on Twitch. His storyline therein has him possessing the deceased Shao Kahn's soul and remaining loyal to his successors, first to Mileena and then Kotal Kahn as they fight for the throne in the midst of an Outworld civil war. In the game's story mode, Ermac joins forces with Kotal Kahn, Reptile, Erron Black, and Ferra/Torr, and serves as an opponent for Takeda and Jacqui Briggs, to whom he acknowledges destroying her father Jax's arms in the *MK2011* timeline before she defeats him in combat.

#### Design

Played by John Turk in *Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3* and the 1996 compilation title *Mortal Kombat Trilogy*, Ermac was physically identical to the game's other male ninjas, distinguishable only by his scarlet palette, and was one of ten palette swaps overall in both games. His outfit consisted of a black balaclava and sleeveless bodysuit worn underneath a vest, fauld and loincloth, gauntlets, shin guards, and hard-shell face mask. He additionally shared the same bronze skin tone as Jade, which was changed to the white of the other male ninjas (save for the wraith Noob Saibot) in *Trilogy.* As a palette swap, Ermac had a standard projectile and shared Scorpion's teleport punch, while he and Human Smoke had the same "Uppercut Decapitation" Fatality. His distinct offensive move was the power of psychokinesis, illustrated by the "Telekinetic Slam", which sent opponents airborne, crashing down to the ground and rebounding toward the player on impact, setting them up for a hit; it doubled as his main Fatality and has become his signature special in the series. Ed Boon described Ermac as a "magic-orientated" character and one of the strongest in *UMK3* on the basis of the maneuver.

As was the case with the ninja swaps who transitioned to the three-dimensional *Mortal Kombat* games, Ermac was given a distinct redesign for *Deception*, his first appearance as a player character since *Trilogy.* His ninja costume was replaced with a long-sleeved and looser-fitting outfit that left no skin exposed, worn beneath a black tabard with red trim and gold fasteners, while the loincloth extended downward from above the knee (in *UMK3* and *Trilogy*) to ankle-length, while his mask was now a series of haphazardly-wrapped black straps. The character's red and black palette was also enhanced with touches of green, and his costume in *Shaolin Monks* borrowed from the design with gold trimming added. For his Hara-Kiri in the game, Ermac repeatedly bangs his head face-first into the ground until it explodes into a bloody mess; series art director Steve Beran labeled it one of his favorites from the game due to its gruesomeness.

The original *Deception* template was maintained for the 2011 reboot with minor changes. Ermac's outfit was more form-fitting with the mask neater in presentation and conformed to the shape of his head, but emphasis was placed on black with the red palette a darker carmine and reduced to trimming on the tabard and on the underarm and outer thigh sections of the suit. A new cosmetic addition was two long straps, similar to the ones that extended from the back of his mask, that dangled from his forearms.

In June 2014, after Boon's confirmation of *Mortal Kombat X,* NetherRealm Studios senior character artist Bernard Beneteau released several computer-generated Ermac illustrations to the public that he called "concept fanart," but the character's finalized designs bore no resemblance to Beneteau's images, as the primary costume duplicated Ermac's alternate outfit from the 2011 reboot with the exception of the mask, which exposed more of his face and therefore revealed decaying skin. According to the developers, this was in order to "show signs of rot, of a loosening grip on the contained souls," in addition to serving as a "hearkening back to his appearance" in *Deception,* referring specifically to a metallic talisman modeled after the tabard design from the game that is permanently attached to Ermac's chest and "holding the construct together." His alternate costume was further described by NetherRealm as a "raw" depiction of the character: "a starving monster, perpetually seeking sustenance." A 2013 sketch by concept artist Justin Murray displayed demonic faces protruding from a bare midriff as a depiction of the souls "warping" Ermac's skin "Freddy style," while the chest talisman was affixed to his face, "binding the souls to his body. Without it ... the hold would collapse and they would rip his body apart." For his "Inner Workings" Fatality, Ermac levitates his defeated opponent, breaks their spine in midair, and then telekinetically pulls their gastrointestinal tract out from their mouth. The finisher was conceived by lead game designer John Edwards. "I remember sitting in the pitch meeting for it. People were like, 'That's hilarious and disgusting.' I'm pretty proud of it."

#### Gameplay

Ermac was the lone debuting selectable character in *Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3* who had not appeared in any of the previous games, and was unlockable via a postmatch code ("Ultimate Kombat Kode") along with Mileena and Classic Sub-Zero. *Sega Saturn Magazine* considered the "Telekinetic Slam" in *UMK3* "perfect for setting up juggle combos," making Ermac "one character to be very worried about," while *GamePro* called it "one of the most effective moves in the game" that was best utilized against downed opponents. Ermac is not playable in *Shaolin Monks,* instead featuring as a secret boss whom players battled after interacting with his statue in the Warrior Shrine in order to unlock him. He was one of three post-*MKII* characters in the game, with Kabal and Quan Chi.

Ermac was not included in *Deadly Alliance* aside from his brief mention in the game's Konquest mode. Upon his return in *Deception,* he became the second series character after Sindel with the ability of levitation, which led into other offensive moves. His main fighting style in *Deception* and *Armageddon* is Choy Lay Fut, a martial art that specializes, as depicted in his *Deception* ending, in warding off multiple attackers. GameSpy described his combo abilities as "strong," but countered that the character "isn't very versatile otherwise" in regards to his specials, which by themselves were "only somewhat useful."

The 2011 reboot saw the "Telekinetic Slam" (renamed "Force Lift") enhanced to include a reverse slam in addition to the regular front slam, all at an increased speed, and a new move involving his lifting an opponent and then either telekinetically shoving them away ("Force Push") or piledriving them headfirst into the ground ("Telepush"). GameFront's Mitchell Saltzman described Ermac in the game as "a great all-around character" who was "not too difficult" for beginning players, while "having enough potential" for expert gamers in inflicting heavy damage to opponents. Prima Games stated that going up against "an unforgiving character like Ermac" would "cause [players] to play a lot safer," while his juggle combos "do not take a great deal of practice and inﬂict a considerable amount of damage."

### In other media

#### Television and film

Ermac has featured in alternate *Mortal Kombat* media as an antagonist under Shao Kahn's command. He appeared in the final two episodes of the 1996 animated series *Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm*; in the twelfth episode ("Abandoned"), he and his army of red ninjas work with an original character named Ruby (serving as a stand-in for Jade). Ermac was shown unmasked in both episodes, revealing a normal human appearance with a goatee, receding hairline, and silver hoop earrings; his one inhuman feature was his solid white eyes.

Ermac was a supporting character in the 1997 film *Mortal Kombat: Annihilation,* and was played by assistant stunt coordinator John Medlen, who was the second unit director for the 1998 television series *Mortal Kombat: Konquest*. He was not identified by name, save for the closing credits, and sporadically featured in a generic role of one of Shao Kahn's subordinates alongside Sheeva, Rain and Motaro. Ermac has one line of dialogue, when he pitches himself as the new general of Kahn's extermination squads (ultimately awarded to Sindel) following the emperor's abrupt killing of Rain. His lone fight scene occurs when he battles Sonya in the movie's climax, during which Noob Saibot spawns from his chest and they double-team Sonya with repeated kicks and punches until Jax's intervention enables her to defeat Ermac with a headscissors takedown before snapping his neck. Though the script and print media publications such as *SciFi Entertainment* and *Black Belt* made mention of his telekinetic powers, they were not used in the film nor the novelization. The costume worn by Medlen during shooting was auctioned off on movie-memorabilia site ScreenUsed in May 2010. In the *Annihilation* novelization, based on the shooting script, Ermac is described as "perfectly still and unblinking" and "without any discernible reaction" when Kahn grandiosely introduces his charges during the Earth invasion. He has an inconclusive fight with Kitana that he instigates while she is distracted by Sindel's unexpected appearance, but is unmentioned during the selection of Kahn's new general, and has no dialogue, only snickering at Sindel late in the story after she is threatened with death by Kahn. His outfit differed from that of the film in that it was fully red and identical to that of a traditional ninja.

His association with Kenshi from *Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance* was loosely adapted for the 2013 second season of the *Mortal Kombat: Legacy* web series. In director Kevin Tancharoen's version of the storyline, played out over the third and fourth episodes and first set in feudal Japan, Ermac (described as a "demon" with a "heart of stone") dwells in a dank cave where he guards a mystical weapon called the sword of Sento under Shao Kahn's orders, and has accumulated the souls of warriors who have tried over time to acquire the sword. When Kenshi attempts to do likewise, Ermac strikes him blind on the spot. The story then transitions to present day at the Mortal Kombat tournament and Kenshi now possesses the sword; Ermac reappears to reclaim it and they engage in combat. Ermac uses his powers for the first time in any form of alternate media when he telekinetically flips Kenshi onto his back before binding him with a pair of snake-like tentacles shot from his hands, but Kenshi cuts himself free with the sword and then flings it into Ermac's chest, killing him. Ermac was played by stuntman Kim Do Nguyen, who has a background in taekwondo and had appeared in the 2011 first season as one of Kano's Black Dragon thugs and the double for Peter Shinkoda (Sektor) in separate episodes, while performing stuntwork in season two for Ian Anthony Dale (Scorpion) and Brian Tee (Liu Kang).

#### Promotion and merchandise

Ermac's official render for the *Mortal Kombat* reboot debuted front and center on the title page of *PlayStation: The Official Magazine's* "2011's Hugest Games" feature, in addition to appearing in two screenshots in a section about the game, one of which showed him battling guest character Kratos. For his May 2011 review of the game, *Angry Joe Show* host Joe Vargas dressed up as the character for a skit titled "Cooking with Ermac" (a parody of the 2002 "Cooking with Scorpion" short from *Deadly Alliance*), in which he mocked his Puerto Rican heritage and "telekinetically" prepared a plate of tostones. He reprised the role in August 2011 for his review of the Kinect version of *Fruit Ninja*, which was introduced as "Ermac's Dojo." Vargas spoke in a loud voice and exaggerated Hispanic accent while in character on both occasions.

Ermac appeared on several common "attack" cards in the 2005 *Epic Battles* collectible card game that featured the *Mortal Kombat: Deception* roster. He was part of a "Klassic Ninja" six-pack of four-inch action figures released in 2011 by Jazwares, in addition to being sold separately, and a placeholder for a planned figure of the character in his downloadable *MK1* skin from the reboot was displayed by Jazwares at the 2012 American International Toy Fair, but the figure was never produced. Ermac was one of thirteen *MK2011* characters depicted on life-sized standing cardboard cutouts produced by Advanced Graphics, and one of twenty featured on 2.5" x 3.5" collectible magnets by Ata-Boy Wholesale in 2011. Syco Collectibles released a limited-edition (250 units) eighteen-inch polystone statue in 2012, complete with glow-in-the-dark eyes and gemstones, plus "green energy" accessories that detached from his hands.

## Reception

### Cultural impact

In the 2006 metaphysical novel *If You Don't Give Me Heaven*, by Noel Rogers, the main character reads a fictitious self-help book that discusses historical hoaxes such as the Donation of Constantine and the Rosicrucian Manifestos, then he checks the book's index to see if the author makes any reference to Ermac. In a feature on the series published online by *Cracked* in 2010, images of *Street Fighter* character Ken Masters and a Dexter-like figure were juxtaposed in a mock mathematical equation that ended with a *UMK3* screenshot of Ermac performing the "Telekinetic Slam" Fatality and was captioned with, "*Mortal Kombat*. Creating serial killers before *GTA* was swimming in Rockstar's nutsack." Ermac joined Shang Tsung, Jax, Scorpion and Raiden in a 2014 animated *Mortal Kombat* parody short produced by Comedy Central, in which he was renamed "Blood Ninja" and was briefly seen rejecting a request over the phone from "Yao Zhang" (Shang Tsung) to compete in his secret underground tournament against "Iron Shogun" (Scorpion) after all the other contestants are no-shows.

### Critical reaction and popularity

Though not on the level of mainstream exposure as the likes of Scorpion, Sub-Zero or Kitana—while the *Guardian Liberty Voice* considered him among the series' "staples," CBS News labeled him "obscure"—Ermac's profile has increased since his role in *Mortal Kombat: Deception,* combined with the enduring legacy of the *EGM* hoax and his offense from the later games. He placed eleventh in UGO's 2012 selection of the top 50 *Mortal Kombat* characters, with the site opining that his powers made him "a very lethal foe" and likening him to Marvel character Venom due to his plural-speech pattern. Gavin Jasper of Den of Geek placed him sixth in his 2015 rating of the series' 64 playable characters, though he wrongly described Ermac in *Deception* as "replacing Raiden [as] the series' new wise-mentor character." In 2013, *Complex* ranked Ermac fifteenth in their selection of the twenty "most brutal" *MK* characters due to his Fatalities and destruction of Jax's arms in *MK2011.* Anthony Severino of GameRevolution ranked him eighth in his list of the "Top 10 Old School Mortal Kombat Characters" in 2011: "Longtime *Mortal Kombat* fans know that Ermac's origins alone make him a legend." In July 2014, six months before his addition to the game, GamesRadar named Ermac among the veteran characters they wanted to return for *Mortal Kombat X*. "This red-clad ninja might not be as iconic as Sub-Zero or Scorpion, but it's hard not to love Ermac for his ... supernatural, Sith-like powers of telekinesis." Eric Vole of ScrewAttack oddly included him in his 2011 selection of the top twenty orange video game characters, rating him seventh and calling him "one of the better characters in the *Mortal Kombat* series. Not bad for a palette swap of Scorpion." Arcade Sushi considered him a fan favorite; he was voted the series' top character in the 2014 edition of the annual "Supreme Mortal Kombat Champion" fan polls held by Mortal Kombat Online, after finishing runner-up to Sub-Zero in 2012 and fourth behind Smoke, Raiden and Scorpion in 2013. He was ranked fifteenth in a 2013 online fan poll hosted by Dorkly that rated the entire playable series roster, and was voted the number-one character wanted for *Mortal Kombat X,* excluding the then-confirmed Sub-Zero and Scorpion, in a June 2014 poll hosted by Shoryuken.com.

#### Finishing moves

Ermac's "Pest Control" Fatality from *MK2011*, in which he shrinks his opponent and then crushes them underfoot, has been singled out for praise. *Complex* ranked it second in their list of the series' twenty best finishing moves, hailing it as "brutal, funny and effective" and being "all about the detail—the way he ground[s] his heel into the ground before wiping his feet clean." *Paste* rated it third in their 2011 selection of *MK2011's* nine best Fatalities, while *FHM* included it among the reboot's nine "most brutal" finishers. *We Got This Covered* deemed it the game's "most imaginative" Fatality, adding that the shrunken opponents' "pint-sized screams make it even more worthwhile." The finisher was ranked 46th by Robert Workman of Prima Games in his 2014 list of the series' top fifty Fatalities, while Ermac's "Mind over Splatter" from the same game placed sixth in the list.

The "Inner Workings" Fatality from *Mortal Kombat X* garnered publicity for its graphic imagery after NetherRealm Studios debuted a trailer of the finisher on YouTube in March 2015 that accumulated over 850,000 views in less than a month. *Chicago Reader* exemplified it in an April 2015 article titled "Has *Mortal Kombat* Finally Gone Too Far?", describing it as "an act of medieval torture as imagined by Tolkien." The staff of Dorkly deemed it the "grossest *Mortal Kombat* Fatality we've ever seen." Steven Hansen of Destructoid called the finisher "disgusting and visceral," and remarked, "Congratulations, *Mortal Kombat X.* I didn't expect to be ... grossed out by a Fatality this side of Y2K and JNCO jeans, but you've done it." Nathan Birch of Uproxx said in an April 2015 feature on the game's Fatalities, "Ermac probably wins the 'most disgusting' prize for his slow-motion extraction of his opponent's entire digestive trac[t]." Polygon opined that the finisher "may be the [series'] most stomach-turning one yet," and John Guerrero of EventHubs described the Fatality as "painful to watch" and "one of the more gruesome enders we've ever seen in the *Mortal Kombat* series, and that's saying something." CraveOnline ranked it ninth in their selection of the game's top ten Fatalities. "Who thinks of this stuff? This is just nasty."

#### Gameplay and other reception

Ermac joined the series' other male ninjas in ranking third on *GamePro's* 2009 list of the best palette-swapped video game characters, but *Game Informer* was not high on seeing these same characters, aside from Scorpion and Sub-Zero, in any future series installments. A similar sentiment was echoed by WhatCulture, who criticized the series' inclusion of "various different colorized versions of Scorpion," such as Ermac, as "a trend [that] got out of hand," while *Time* described *MK2011's* costume updates as such that "Sub-Zero and Ermac don't just look like re-colored versions of the same characters." Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot stated that the unlocking of Ermac and the other secret characters in *UMK3* was "a hassle" and "supremely annoying" to the point that many players would not do it, but Robert Naytor of Hardcore Gaming 101 considered Ermac "a better fit" than Scorpion for guest-appearing in the 2004 Midway release *Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy,* "given how much telekinesis is used throughout the game." 4thletter ranked his *MK2011* ending 86th in their 2013 list of the top 200 fighting game endings. "[King] Jerrod is a fairly obscure name in the *Mortal Kombat* storyline, but one that makes perfect sense for this reveal. ... Him being a piece of Ermac fits and makes for a nice twist."

Response to Ermac's alternate-media incarnations has been mostly negative. Due to his lack of development in *Mortal Kombat: Annihilation*, he was dismissed as "useless" by Newsarama while Theodore Bond of Letterboxd faulted the similarity of his and Rain's onscreen costumes: "I only had a slight idea of who they were and by no means could I tell them apart." Eva Vandergelder of Jabootu's Bad Movie Dimension described the character as "some scrub in another of those ninja suits" whose fight against Sonya "has the feel of a *Tom & Jerry* cartoon." Ermac was named by iGoGaming.net in 2011 as a character wanted for the next season of *Mortal Kombat: Legacy* and Jake Morris of *We The Nerdy* considered his fight with Kenshi "the best" of the second season, but his character design was panned. Carl Lyon of Fearnet wrote that Ermac looked "like some sort of black metal leper, a flailing mass of rags and corpse paint" with "little development outside of an opponent ... that gets quickly dispatched." He was further described as "a goofy cave-dweller befit an episode of *Goosebumps*" by Kevin Pape of gaming site *The Red Herb* and, by ScrewAttack, an "orc-like beast" with a "just flat-out strange" design.

## See also

* Move list

 Fighting games
 Card games