Mortal Kombat 1’s story director, Dominic Cianciolo, has confirmed in a recent interview that Kuai Liang is indeed Scorpion in Liu Kang’s new timeline, explaining that the change was done to “refresh” a relationship that everybody knows.
Ever since it was first revealed, one of the biggest mysteries surrounding Mortal Kombat 1 is the identity of Scorpion.The reveal trailer for the game quickly established that things were going to be different this time aroundwith Sub-Zero and Scorpion being brothers rather than rivals, but things got even more complicated when it was revealed that Bi-Han was going to be Sub-Zero in this timeline.
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This, combined with the fact that Sub-Zero and Scorpion are brothers this time around,caused fans to theorise that Scorpion was actually Kuai Liang in this timeline and not Hanzo Hazashilike he had been in every other Mortal Kombat game. This started off as a fan theory, but wasseemingly confirmed by Mortal Kombat 1’s story director, Dominic Cianciolo, during an interview with IGN at Summer Game Fest.
After being cagey on the subject for so long, it seems like NetherRealm has stopped trying to hide Scorpion’s identity in Mortal Kombat 1,as Cianciolo was recently directly asked about the change during a Gamescom interview with IGN. During the interview, IGN asked Cianciolo why such a big change was made to both Scorpion and Kuai Liang, noting that it was one of the most talked about elements of Mortal Kombat 1’s story.
In response, Cianciolo said that it was about refreshing the relationship between Scorpion and Sub-Zero from something that everybody knows to something new and full of drama, something that couldn’t be done if it was the same rivalry between Bi-Han and Hanzo Hazashi that it was in the original Mortal Kombat.
Cianciolo said, “One is we were looking at, okay, how do we refresh this relationship that everybody knows? And how do we amp up the drama between the two characters? And so the notion of Scorpion and Sub-Zero being brothers, which I think go way back in the day, that was somebody, even (co-creator John Tobias)… it was his idea early on, it was a way sort of wrapping up the tension. And the decision of ‘do we continue with Hanzo and make it a blood brother or an adopted brother or blood brother Kuai Liang’?”
Cianciolo also noted that Mortal Kombat 1 should be viewed as a “jumping-off point” for a new universe and that characters are only just getting started with their arcs and stories in this game, which not only suggests more from this new timeline is coming in the future, but also that we could eventually see these characters more closely resemble how they’ve been in the other timelines.
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