Mortal Kombat Mythologies splits Sub-Zero’s quest into two parts. First, Subs must venture through a temple of themed elements like some common Light Warrior, and defeat a quartet of elementally themed “guardians”. In the context of MKM, it appears these creatures are little more than themed boss fights, and not “for real” antagonists. They do not speak, they do not have personalities, and they’re simply a parade of stock fiends. Earth is represented by a golem of the Castlevania variety, Fire is a really obvious palette (body?) swap of Raiden (but on fire), Water is played by Tobias Fünke, and Air is just some dude in a cape that accidentally gets shredded by his own tornados. They’re more interesting bosses than the generic monks that comprise most of Sub-Zero’s opponents, but I don’t think anyone expected “wind guy” to ever make a comeback.
(not Thor)
So here’s Fujin, God of Wind, and Raiden’s secret best buddy.
Fujin wasn’t even named in Mortal Kombat Mythologies, but he popped back into the universe for Mortal Kombat 4. He’s also not just a “wind guardian” hanging out in some forgotten temple, he’s the God of Wind for the whole of Earth, and one of the last surviving gods after Shinnok decided to reinvade the planet. Sorry, rock guy, you didn’t make the cut. And, while it is nice to see another god participating in Mortal Kombat (is Raiden the only deity that finds to the time to work on his abs?), Fujin basically existed in the plot of MK4 to be Raiden’s sidekick. Fujin’s vaguely kanonical ending sees Raiden getting promoted to Elder God (which definitely happened), and Fujin moving up a rank to fill Raiden’s former position as Captain Planet.
And then Raiden returned to his old position a whole game later, so Fujin had to stand in the divine unemployment line. Don’t worry, man, you’ll be fine. You’re a wind god! And you have experience with Excel!
Fujin finally got his gusts together three games later in Mortal Kombat Armageddon. Here, Raiden was going through his goth phase, and hanging out with new friends like Zombie Liu Kang, so Fujin decided to step in and be the good god around town with his new buddy, Only Sort of a Zombie Kung Lao. The two technically didn’t do anything, but Raiden was back to good by the end of Mortal Kombat Armageddon, so maybe Fujin’s noble actually-doing-something-for-a-change turned Raiden’s frown upside down. And then everybody died.
Mortal Kombat 10 started with a retread of MK4, so Fujin at least got to cameo during the opening cinema scenes. Once again, he’s assisting Raiden as (unconfirmed) the last surviving god against Shinnok’s invading forces. He’s not seen in the “future” of MK10, but one would assume he’s blowing Quan Chi’s farts around just off camera. There’s no reason to believe he isn’t in good health.
… Oh, except Frost apparently iced Fujin off-screen sometime before Mortal Kombat 11. She won’t shut up about it. So, uh, sorry, Fooj. At least you had a better run than that fire guy.
The second half of Mortal Kombat Mytholgies sees Quan Chi run off to hell with an amulet that could destroy the universe. Sub-Zero is guilted into chasing after the sorcerer by Raiden’s incessant nagging, and the rest of the game is Sub-Zero’s Inferno. Here, Sub-Zero must battle Shinnok’s personal death cult, The Brotherhood of Shadow. And, because MK can’t name its organizations correctly (a bunch of white guys are the Black Dragons? Really?), the most prominent members of The Brotherhood of Shadows are… sisters.
And it’s here that we meet Sareena, Mortal Kombat’s most forgotten female.
After stomping the elemental guardians, Sub-Zero needed some bosses to fight before making his way to Quan Chi and Shinnok. Thus, the mook sisters were dispatched by Quan Chi, presumably because Ed Boon wasn’t going to go to all the trouble of filming a live action movie if it didn’t include real women dressed up in skimpy leather. So Sub-Zero wound up pursued by Sareena, Regina, and Purina (uh… I think those are their names). Sub-Zero killed the two most forgettable sisters, but he also read the strategy guide for his own game beforehand, so he spared Sareena. This paid off just in time for the final boss fights, as Sareena teamed up with Sub-Zero to defeat her master, Quan Chi. Unfortunately, she was vaporized moments later by Shinnok. Wow, sorry Sareena, looks like you die even when Sub-Zero spares you. Guess you’re doomed to perish before the Mortal Kombat timeline technically starts just so our hero can have enough man pain to make it over the finish line. Sorry again.
But it turns out she was fine! Sareena is technically a demon (that is merely disguised as a sexy lady), and if you kill a demon in the Netherrealm, she’ll just respawn on some other level. Hooray! Sareena didn’t make it back in time for Mortal Kombat 4, but she did return for Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance. Sorta.
Apparently the developers of Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance put together a sort of “what if” mockup of Sareena, a fighter that had never actually been playable and only existed in Mortal Kombat Mythologies. The directors really liked what was produced… but MKDA was already practically out the door. These days, she’d likely wind up as a DLC choice, but that wasn’t so much a thing in 2002. The solution? She was the only completely original kharacter added to one portable version of MKDA (Sektor and Noob Saibot were also added, but they were palette swaps). The downside? This was still back when “portable version” meant “Gameboy Advance”.
Her premiere was… not exactly inspiring.
Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition saw a Sareena that had a whole two special moves. She could fire a skull (pretty typical demon fare) and do a cartwheel (because she’s a lady). She had one fatality that involved some random punching. Her fighting style was a grab bag from three other female fighters (Sonya, Frost, and Li Mei, three kharacters that were cut from this version of DA) She was not very memorable.
But she was there! And she wanted her revenge on Quan Chi! Which she didn’t get! Naturally!
A lot of fans speculated that now, with her model all existing an’ stuff, she’d be a shoo-in for the next Mortal Kombat title, MK: Deception. Unsurprisingly, she didn’t appear at all.
But she did return as a playable kharacter in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon! And she was, oddly enough, one of the best fighters in the game, as her projectiles (now back to throwing knives she showed off in her initial appearance) were the fastest in the game. Was this a way for the kreators of Mortal Kombat to apologize for the oft-neglected Sareena, or was it simply the result of Sareena being one of the few wholly original, not completely reused fighters on the roster, and thus was unbalanced as hell? Who knows!
Whatever the case, most of her history and backstory is filled in during this featured adventure. She’s a big scary demon, but she needed Quan Chi to maintain human form, but then she got over that, and she joined the Lin Kuei (Sub-Zero’s clan) after MK
A, but she got lost or something, and is now back to working for Quan Chi like her sisters, but she’s planning on betraying him at the earliest opportunity. Got all that? It’s pretty much exactly her MK:M story, except maybe this time she’ll survive. Which she doesn’t. But at least everybody else died, too!
Sareena hasn’t been a playable kharacter in the new MK universe, but she did pop up during the story mode of Mortal Kombat X. In this case, she was fighting some of the (formerly good) undead hordes of Quan Chi, and claiming that there was a better way, and they could escape his control like she did. For anyone that remembered her from MK:M, this was a pretty cool cameo. For the vast number of Mortal Kombat players that never heard of that game, however, she likely just came off as some kind of deranged, gothic Jehova’s Witness (Raiden’s Witness?). Other than that, we haven’t seen… Oh, wait a minute, apparently Sareena returns as part of Kabal’s ending in Mortal Kombat 11 as…
Okay, she’s unnamed in the text, but apparently Kabal’s dream of a better life is not ever being scarred, owning a mansion with attack helicopters, and having 2.5 kids and a dog with a noted demon from Hell. This is an odd choice, but, hey, at least someone remembered Sareena existed.
Next time: It’s time for the original Mortal Kombat 4 fighters. Oh no!
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