Despite its origins as a simple one-on-one fighting game born in the arcades, the world of Mortal Kombat is full of deep and complex storytelling. Sometimes, the tales become too complex for their own good, but that’s where time skips and retcons come in to fix everything. Recent games in the series have taken this storytelling tradition to heart, presenting campaign modes full of hours of cinematics. However, that wasn’t the start of it. Mortal Kombat was telling stories pretty much from the beginning, but if players weren’t paying attention to fighter bios and endings they’d miss out on one of the most interesting twists of the modern trilogy. This is the tragedy of Smoke, Sub-Zero, and a whole lot of cybernetic ninjas.
Smoke was one of Mortal Kombat‘s original hidden fighters, a grey ninja that appeared in the background of the second game’s Living Forest stage. It was only in Mortal Kombat 3 where he would get his tragic backstory. As revealed in that game, he was one of Sub-Zero’s best friends in the Lin Kuei. The two assassins ventured to Outworld to take on Shang Tsung, but never accomplished their mission.
In their time away from the clan, the Lin Kuei had decided to convert their most powerful warriors into cybernetic soldiers, with Sektor and Cyrax already having been transformed. Smoke and Sub-Zero resisted the ideas of their clan, but only Sub-Zero escaped the robotic fate. Smoke continues his role as a hidden fighter in Mortal Kombat 3, but as a robotic killer hunting his former friend.
What Smoke’s Connection to Noob Saibot Is
His resistance to the transformation saved his soul, and he eventually battled with Sektor and Cyrax alongside Sub-Zero. Unfortunately, after that battle, he was captured by the forces of Sho Kahn and disabled. His nonfunctional body was transported to Outworld as a trophy and abandoned. Later in the timeline, the original Sub-Zero Bi Han (now known as Noob Saibot) discovered Smoke and repaired him. He also reprogrammed him into an unquestioning ally, making them a fighting tag-team in Mortal Kombat: Deception.
This is where Smoke’s story ended in the original Mortal Kombat timeline. Despite being there from close to the beginning and his close ties to vital story characters, the grey palette-swapped MK ninja never really emerged from the shadows. He was a pawn of both his former clan and the original Sub-Zero, converted against his will to fight his friends.
Where Smoke Is In Mortal Kombat’s New Timeline
This would all be rectified in 2011’s Mortal Kombat reboot. Smoke plays a major role in that game’s campaign, which depicts the battle between the Lin Kuei cyborgs and the returning assassins. In this timeline, Raiden rescues Smoke from his fate, which lets him join the Earthrealm forces for the first time. However, his rescue also directly leads to Sub-Zero’s cyber transformation, reversing their roles from the original games.
Like many classic characters from the Mortal Kombat trilogy, Smoke would go on to become one of Quan Chi’s undead revenants in the modern games, retreating to the Netherrealm during the events of Mortal Kombat X. Still, the 2011 game ensured that the character’s backstory is now a part of the main Mortal Kombat canon. With the rebooted storyline at an end and the future of Mortal Kombat in a state of flux, it’s still possible that Smoke will play a vital role in future MK installments.
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