Mileena

Mileena is a playable and boss character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. Mileena was originally known as the personal assassin of the Outworld’s evil emperor Shao Kahn and twin sister of his stepdaughter Princess Kitana, but in a truth she is a deformed clone of her created by the sorcerer Shang Tsung. She is supposed to look like Kitana but has the mouth of a Tarkatan warrior. She wears pink to differ from what jade looks like. She is usually defined by her fierce rivalry with Kitana, though the series also serving masters other than Shao Kahn and desiring power for herself.

She was introduction in 1993 as Kitana’s palette swap character, Mileena gained significant popularity and become one of Mortal Kombat’s most iconic characters. She was used in the games’ promotion as a designated sex symbol, but her appearances in the various related media have been relatively rare and minor, compared to Kitana. She received a mixed (mostly due to a remarkable dualism of her character design) but generally favorable critical reception.

After the ruler of the other dimensional realm Outworld, Shao Kahn, conquered the realm of Edenia and merged it with his own, he decided he would keep the former king’s daughter Kitana alive and raise her as his own. Though she grew up knowing nothing of her origin, Kahn nonetheless feared that one day Kitana would discover her true parentage and turn against him, so he ordered Shang Tsung to bring to life a more vicious and loyal version of Kitana that could take her place if necessary, and this has been done by fusing the essence of both Kitana and a Tarkatan warrior from Baraka’s race. The process was not a complete success, however, as the hybrid clone was disfigured with a hideous mouth of the Tarkata. Kahn nonetheless introduced her as Kitana’s supposedly lost twin sister; instead of replacing Kitana, as originally planned, Mileena would be used to ensure her allegiance to him. The two thus grew up together as Shao Kahn’s daughters and personal assassins, though Mileena (who also became a companion of Baraka) secretly grew to harbor great bitterness and jealousy towards Kitana, whom Kahn nevertheless favored over her.

As Kahn feared, Kitana did finally find the truth about her past and so Mileena was ordered to keep close watch over her rival when Kitana secretly allied with Earthrealm warriors during the events of Mortal Kombat II (1993). The two are pitted against each other in the tournament, but Kitana proves to be superior and Mileena is killed, her soul descending into the Netherrealm. In Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (2005), the beat’em up retelling of Mortal Kombat II, Mileena fights against Liu Kang and Kung Lao alongside Jade and Kitana under Kahn’s mental control, but is defeated by the two Shaolin warriors and flees to the Wasteland to seek help from Goro. Damned to the Netherrealm after her death, Mileena swears fealty to Shinnok, the ruler of the realm. During the events of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (1996), Shao Kahn attempts to resurrect Mileena. Shinnok sees this as an opportunity to secretly monitor the events unfolding in Earthrealm, and thus he allows Mileena to return to life, also magically granting her the ability to read Kitana’s thoughts. After Kahn is defeated, Mileena is summoned back to the Netherrealm. In Mortal Kombat Gold (1999), she assists in Shinnok’s invasion of Edenia, but allows her sister to escape from a dungeon. After Shinnok’s defeat, Mileena comes to Kitana’ palace and demands the power over Edenia to be shared with her but Kitana refuses and, when attacked, traps Mileena, locking her away in a dungeon.

Mileena remains imprisoned for years, until Onaga the Dragon King began his own invasion of Edenia, during which she is freed from her imprisonment by Baraka. During the events of Mortal Kombat: Deception (2004), Mileena is ordered to pose as Kitana in order to mislead the princess’ armies while Onaga gathered his strength. However, as Mileena begins the game’s titular deception, she also secretly decides to take control of both the forces of Edenia and Onaga’s own undead army for herself. In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (2006), Mileena seizes Shao Kahn’s fortress in the name of “peace”. As she did this still under the guise of Kitana, she decides to continue her charade until the Edenian armies were corrupted enough to follow her under her true identity. Though at first confident that Outworld is hers to rule, when the returning Shao Kahn mounts an offensive against the fortress to re-instate his rule over Outworld she is forced to reveal herself and surrender to him. Kahn then commands her to capture Shujinko, who would be used as a bargaining chip in gaining Onaga as an ally, and Mileena locates and defeats Shujinko, taking him to Shao Kahn’s palace. But having tasted power for herself, she is no longer content with being his minion and get the throne of Edenia back for herself. She is later killed by Shang Tsung during the final all-out battle at the Soulnado.

Mileena returns in Mortal Kombat (2011), an alternative-timeline retelling of the original Mortal Kombat trilogy. In this game, Mileena (voiced by Karen Strassman) was created by Shang Tsung in the “Flesh Pit” of Outworld and introduced during the second tournament, instead of many years earlier. Meant to be a loyal replacement for Kitana, she is physically and mentally damaged, her animalistic rage controlled only by Shao Kahn as she uses her lascivious demeanor to lure victims and then slaughter and devour them. In the game’s story mode, she serves as an opponent for Kitana, Jade, Stryker and Kabal, and is referred to by Shao Kahn as his “true daughter.” Her new personality is much more immature (even infantile) than the cold and calculating Mileena of the previous games, and Kitana is also shown to be an unusually sympathic towards her.