A Wraith, Spectre (sometimes spelled Specter), or Revenant, is a being who has previously died only to be resurrected as an inhuman warrior and/or an evil spirit. Wraiths are not to be confused with the Undead or Zombies, who are best described as reanimated corpses. Wraiths and Spectres tend to wield powers associated with the Netherrealm: shadows and darkness (Noob Saibot) and hellfire (Scorpion), whereas Revenants tend to have their former abilities amplified.
Wraiths and Revenants are forcefully bound to their masters, performing any duty given to them. They also often have positive, manipulated thoughts on their transformations, such as Sindel and Noob Saibot. While Spectres are much the same, they have been known to occasionally rebel against their masters, such as Scorpion.
In Mortal Kombat
The most prominent wraiths are Bi-Han and Hanzo Hasashi. In Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, Bi-Han had killed Hanzo as the elder Sub-Zero before the first Mortal Kombat tournament. Hanzo was later resurrected as Scorpion and killed him out of revenge, Bi-Han being resurrected as the unholy Noob Saibot, both warriors being products of Quan Chi's sorcery.
Smoke may be considered as a type of Wraith as well. In his Mortal Kombat (2011) ending, it was stated he was sacrificed to a demon, and returned to the mortal realm as an Enenra, a creature of smoke and vapor.
In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon's Konquest Mode, Wraiths appear in Shinnok's Spire, summoning Demon Wards and commanding them to attack Taven to prevent him from reaching the next floor of the Spire.
Quan Chi had allegedly been granted the souls of the fallen Earthrealm warriors or those of the Emperor's unwilling servants (hence explaining why Sindel was amongst those Quan Chi resurrected but Shang Tsung and Motaro were not).
In Mortal Kombat X, the souls of the fallen Earthrealm warriors following the Outworld invasion have been claimed by the sorcerer Quan Chi, following a truce between him and Emperor Shao Kahn. These souls have been reincarnated into Revenants of the Netherrealm, brainwashed with the sole purpose of serving the fallen Elder God, Shinnok. Sub-Zero, Scorpion, and Jax are the only known Earthrealm warriors to be revived as humans again.
In Mortal Kombat 11, the Revenant Liu Kang and Kitana became the next rulers of the Netherrealm after Shinnok's defeat. Dark Raiden presented Shinnok's still living head to them as a threat if they tried to attack Earthrealm. They later join forces with Kronika in her quest to create the New Era after she restored Shinnok's Cathedral that was destroyed by Raiden and the Special Forces.
In the Aftermath chapter, Shang Tsung and Fujin successfully revive Sindel back to her Edenian self in the Soul Chamber, making her the first Revenant restored without assistance from Raiden as well as the first Edenian restored.
In Mortal Kombat 1, Wraiths and Revenants do not exist. Specifically, Bi-Han was never transformed by Quan Chi and remained a Cryomancer, while Hanzo Hasashi was a young child within the timeline, preventing him from becoming a Spectre. As events transpire that forever alter the new timeline created by Liu Kang, a Titan variant of Havik invades the timeline and, after capturing Bi-Han, transforms him into his own version of a Revenant as Noob Saibot, a Khaos Wraith, granting him abilities to the previous versions of Noob Saibot had, however instead of being influenced by darkness, Noob Saibot is obsessed with chaos like Havik.
Known Revenants
Wraiths
- Noob Saibot (formerly Human/Cryomancer in all timelines, reborn as Wraith in 1st and 2nd Timelines, Khaos Wraith in 3rd timeline)
Spectres
- Scorpion (Hanzo Hasashi) (formerly Spectre in the both timelines, 2nd timeline currently deceased, MK11 timeline Spectre)
Traditional Revenants
- Jade (deceased in MK11 timeline)
- Jax (formerly in the 2nd timeline, currently Human)
- Kabal
- Kitana (deceased in MK11 timeline)
- Kung Lao (deceased in MK11 timeline)
- Liu Kang (assimilated with Fire God Liu Kang in MK11 timeline)
- Nightwolf (soul consumed by Shang Tsung in MK11: Aftermath timeline)
- Sindel (formerly in the 2nd timeline, currently Edenian, deceased in all timelines)
- Smoke
- Stryker
- Kuai Liang (formerly Сyborg/Cryomancer then Revenant/Cryomancer in 2nd timeline, currently Human/Cryomancer also in 2nd timeline, Human/Pyromancer in 3rd timeline)
Spirits
- Guardian Spirit
- Deadly Spirit
- Mending Spirit
Non-Canon
- Freddy Krueger (Non-canon DLC guest character, Dream Demon)
- Jason Voorhees (Non-canon DLC guest character, Immortal)
Trivia
- Currently, only four characters are non-traditional Revenants. These characters are Scorpion, Noob Saibot, Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger.
- Scorpion and Noob Saibot are the only known Wraiths/Spectres created by Quan Chi, while the rest of the characters are Revenants.
- Noob Saibot is also currently the only remaining Wraith created by Quan Chi.
- Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees are non-canon and the only Revenants not actually created by Quan Chi.
- Jason Voorhees is the only Immortal Revenant to appear in the series.
- Freddy Krueger is classified as a Revenant, but is also a Dream Demon. With this, he is the first Demon Revenant character to appear in the series.
- Almost all the Revenants created in MK 2011 make cameos in Mortal Kombat X, the only ones not to are Jade and Noob Saibot. However, Noob Saibot is mentioned by Sareena and Jade cameos in Kitana's ending. Neither of them make physical cameos in the game unlike Kabal, Nightwolf, Smoke, and Stryker.
- The only one that the player actually plays against is Sindel, but she only appears in the Story Mode as an NPC.
- Revenants are playable in MKX, these characters being Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and Kitana. Jax and Sub-Zero are also playable as revenants, but are restored to human form. These characters are playable as Revenants by selecting their respective skins in the arcade, featuring unique dialogue.
- This is also carried over to the game's sequel, MK11, where characters can change between either their original appearances and Revenant forms, should those characters be Revenants from the game's Story Mode. Unlike MKX however, dialogue is no longer exclusive to Revenant skins, with some exceptions such as Scorpion.
- Kitana is the only Revenant in MKX to not appear in her "human" (Edenian) form in the Story Mode. She only appears in this form in the game's Arcade.
- Revenants do not appear to age, with the Revenant characters featured in MKX retaining their youthful appearances in both the past and future timelines.
- Throughout their appearances, the designs and physical appreance of Revenants change between each game;
- MK 2011 - The Revenants all appear as discolored versions of their existing designs with cracks lacing their bodies and attire, also having completely solid white eyes that constantly glow.
- Mortal Kombat X - The cracks from the previous appearance are removed, but the skin is now that of a paleish white color with glowing yellow veins constantly pulsing around their bodies. Additionally, the eyes are now have red sclera with orange-yellow irises with no pupils similar to the color of fire. Also, every playable Revenant has their own outfit that is either a modified version of their original outfits or an entirely new outfit to fit their new form. Barring Sindel, who has a slightly modified costume, NPC Revenants such as Smoke, Kabal and Stryker, retain their original designs from MK 2011.
- Mortal Kombat 11 - Revenants now have an appearance that is somewhat of a combination of the first two. The skin color is now a darker grey, with the cracked skin from MK 2011 returning with some subtle changes. The pulsating veins from MKX are now smaller and glow orange. Additionally, the cracks in the skin now have an orange glow that pulsate every so often. The eyes retain the MKX appearance. Also, similar to MKX, each Revenant has their own outfit that is either a modified version of their original outfits or an entirely new outfit to fit their Revenant form.
- Scorpion and Noob Saibot are unaffected by these as they are both a Spectre and Wraith respectively with the following traits;
- Scorpion - Retains his Human appearance but his eyes change to a foggy appearance, making his pupils and irises almost unidentifiable.
- Noob Saibot - His skin color is completely black and has glowing white eyes in every game he appears in as Noob Saibot.
- Scorpion and Noob Saibot are unaffected by these as they are both a Spectre and Wraith respectively with the following traits;
- Shinnok is the only other character to be able to create Revenants other than Quan Chi.
- Sub-Zero as Cyber Sub-Zero is currently the only cyborg Revenant to be created, seen in MK 2011.
- Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Jax are currently the only characters who have returned to human form from being Revenants.
- This was followed by Sindel who was an Edenian.
- Scorpion is currently the only Spectre to return to human form.
- It could also be stated that Liu Kang was transformed, although he became a God after merging with Raiden and his former self.
- Sub-Zero is currently the only character to change from two different Revenant forms before returning to human form.
- This is because he was transformed into a Revenant as a cyborg in MK 2011 then changed into the Revenant form seen in the Story Mode of MKX before being returned to human form. MKX's tie-in comic book story explains this as Quan Chi being unable to properly control Cyber Sub-Zero upon his arrival in the Netherrealm due to his cybernetics and thus destroyed his body and reformed it as original flesh and blood to gain control of Sub-Zero (though this directly contradicts the previous game wherein he could control Cyber Sub-Zero just fine).
- So far, Scorpion is the only character restored to retain some abilities from his Spectre form as a human (teleportation, hellfire, etc.). This could be due to him having willingly allowed himself to be transformed by Quan Chi—using his pain over losing his clan and especially family as the basis of his hellfire powers. Granted, the other Revenants/Spectres/Wraiths did not truly display any additional powers from their time as Revenants outside of Liu Kang (his soul stealing abilities) and Jade (necromancy), who only did so during the events of MK11.
- Even though they don't appear as Revenants in the story, certain characters like Johnny, Cassie Cage, Sonya Blade and Jax have Revenant skins in MK11 that are unlockable through the Kombat League.
- A revenant version of Kung Lao appears in Mortal Kombat II (2026), where he faces, and is defeated by, Liu Kang.
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