It is a time to reflect ... · 2:31am Jun 1st, 2019
... and rejoice, o brethren! For on this day Queen Sindel was konfirmed to be returning as a playable Mortal Kombat character. What's that? Not familiar with Sindel? Not to worry: her backstory, though sad, is succinctly told.
Her saga begins with her ruling the idyllic realm of Edenia alongside her husband, the good King Jerrod, and their baby daughter Kitana. Edenia, at that time, was a blessed land of joy, peace and beauty, containing, if you would believe, a Laughing Forest of jovial trees (later to become the corrupted and carnivorous Living Forest, eerily reminiscent of MLP S1E2. But I digress). The Edenians were gifted with extremely long life (many thousands of years), and were known for their skill in magic, their physical beauty, and apparently, baking. The Elder Gods of the realm had decreed that so long as Edenia's warriors could avoid losing ten consecutive Mortal Kombat tournaments, they would be spared invasion by the warlike Outworld hoards, led by the despicable warlord Shao Khan.
After untold golden centuries of the benevolent and wise reign of Sindel and Jerrod, the unthinkable happened. Edenia lost their tenth tournament in a row, and the realms of Outworld and Edenia were merged. Shao Khan and his armies immediately invaded. After a brief struggle, Shao Khan succeeded in killing Jerrod, and as a symbolic act of conquest, forced Sindel to marry him, while taking Kitana as his daughter.
The heartbreak and despair that came with losing her husband, in addition to the loss of her beloved land's freedom, proved too much for Sindel. Rather than live in subservience to Shao Khan, she killed herself, and in so doing created a magical barrier that prevented him from invading Earth and conquering it as he had Edenia.
Cosplay? Nope. The real deal.
But oh, if it had only ended there. Not content with just two dimensions under his rule, Shao Khan resurrected Sindel on Earth, which according to the magic in play, allowed him to invade it. In an infuriating and demoralizing twist, he ensured Sindel returned in a brainwashed state such that she willingly assumed her role as his loyal wife (effectively, a zombie). As the invasion progressed, he infused her with the souls of hundreds of fallen warriors, giving her immense power and fighting ability.
Where his other minions failed, Sindel succeeded in killing most of Earth's remaining defenders, including her own daughter Kitana, who had been raised as an assassin. She was destroyed in the processes, however, and her soul was finally at peace.
Sindel strangling her daughter while killing everyone
Except it wasn't. The evil sorcerer Quan Chi resurrected her a second time as a revenant slave, making her a double zombie (I personally can't think of any other fictional characters who can claim that particular state of being, but I could be missing someone. Probably from Resident Evil. But anyway ...). Now she lives a shadow life, happy to be reunited with Kitana in the netherrealm.
Sindel hugging her daughter in an alternate timeline
What does the future hold in store for Queen Sindel? One can only speculate. The leaked dialogues seem to indicate that Kronika is taking her from her evil undead brainwashed bride timeline, which is slightly disappointing as I would have liked to have seen her as a vengeful banshee targeting Shao Khan for execution, but whatever Sindel is back it's 1995 all over again and I'm way more excited than I should be. I can say that while I'm not normally one to play with dolls, I'm going to enjoy the crap out of kustomizing her wardrobe.
No no, Twilight. This is a mane whip.
Also, Kronika is right.
