HC Dump Raiden
Raiden is, if you hadn’t already noticed, a rule-follower. He is a rigid sort of man with a very strict code of honor. His constant consultation of the Elder Gods (however ineffectual) is testament to this and it is because
from his creation, he has been taught that his brother’s “failings” (leaving the sky temple to cavort with mortals, not being the guardian they wanted) fall squarely upon his shoulders. He feels keenly the immense weight of the guardianship of earthrealm that has been placed upon him and can only maintain sanity and order by also maintaining strict discipline.
He bleeds gold ichor in places where his divinity can be more fully expressed. Earthrealm, netherrealm, and outworld are not equipped to handle his full, divine form and the physicality of it turns his ichor to something which looks like blood, but still kind of ISN’T? Because he’s not a human being. Gods demand blood sacrifice, because gods do not bleed, is the saying…
He’s got OODLES of really nice white hair just like Fujin but keeps it hidden under the hood and hate as a symbol of his dedication to his duties, his chastity, and to keep it out of the way during kombat. Unlike his brother, Raiden never learned how to fight with his hair down.
Raiden is aware that many earthrealm champions consider him a father-figure. This both frightens and flatters him. Gods (who have not reproduced COUGHARGUSCOUGH) do not have as clear a sense of fatherhood/motherhood as humans do, having cast that out eons ago in favor of their more aloof nature. Titans, who are beings of feeling as well as logic, understand, ironically, which likely propels Cetrion’s loyalty to her mother, despite being the goddess of virtue and order, an Elder God herself.
He is a cat person. Cats like him. He likes them.
Raiden’s relationship with the Elder Gods is not what you’d call healthy. His constant need to consult them comes directly from their insistence upon his inadequacy as the guardian of earthrealm—this, in turn, stems from his first act of true defiance, WAY back at the beginning when he refused to “fuse” with Fujin, to create the god of storm. He loves his brother too much to take his autonomy.
Fujin may or may not know this, but it is the reason Raiden fought so hard to keep him at the Sky Temple, knowing the Elder Gods would look with displeasure upon his refusal to act at least as Raiden’s partner in guardianship. Fujin still considers himself a protector and of course arrives when he is needed, but prefers to live among humans to better sympathize. Raiden understands the sentiment, but fears the consequences.
There is much the Elder Gods do not tell Raiden. He is the dutiful son, bound to half-absent/half-authoritarian parents with no light at the end of the tunnel. He rushes to obey, even harming himself in the process, to gain favor that he may never see. It is an eternal struggle.
Despite his aloof air, he loves his earthrealm champions and friends. Due to his constant need to please the Elder Gods, however, it is difficult to express this affection, so when people like Johnny Cage approach him and slap him on the back, or hug him, he does not know quite how to respond.
Raiden also loves Fujin more than life itself, treasuring his brother even when he feels Fujin is making foolish choices. In the end, the man does understand humanity better, because he has immersed himself in it, but their affection toward mortals is essentially equal.
He is genuinely unaware of how attractive he appears to mortals and gods alike. It isn't a false humility; he simply does not think in those terms. It is therefore shocking when anyone points it out.
Raiden is Shinnok’s son, but not in the human sense of reproduction, although Elder Gods are more than capable of doing so, as are the gods beneath them, like Argus of Edenia. It’s more like Raiden and Fujin were simply formed, as elements, one day in the grand scheme of kreation.
Shinnok’s very act of creating him and Fujin was a defiance against the other Elder Gods, as he seems deliberately to have separated wind and lightning. It also means Raiden is an aspect of destruction which is anathema to his character as he has chosen to protect. The fact, therefore, that he can heal is nothing short of miraculous and speaks highly of his character.
He is about seven feet tall and built like a brick shit house, though surprisingly fine-featured for all that. He keeps himself wrapped up like a nun as a symbol of his chastity and dedication to the protection of Earthrealm. (yep I’m aware of his deadly alliance getup, but given that a vast majority of his skins/costumes have him pretty much completely covered, I’m keeping that aesthetic)
Which also means Raiden is a gazillion year old virgin. Have fun with that.
Shang Tsung was his chosen champion in the very first tournament. The Great Kung Lao came later. As such, he very much feels Shang Tsung’s rise to power rests on his shoulders, but it was a strategic choice. They needed the win and Shang Tsung was (IS) ruthless as all fuck. The Elder Gods take Shang Tsung’s soul in punishment, not for stealing the soul of the man he defeated in the tournament, but to punish Raiden for having feelings for him.
The reason Raiden is nerfed in the netherrealm is because he believes he should be. The realm of his father favors chaos and suffering and he wants no part in it. As a recursive being, that is, an elemental who defines HIMSELF, the phenomenon occurs in any realm other than earthrealm. The reason, therefore, he is able to slaughter hordes of demons in the assault on the cathedral is that he has begun, slowly, to embrace the aspect of him which is a god of destruction, hence the red lightning.
Much like Fujin, Raiden bears the marks of his divinity upon his skin, with his true name written thereupon, surrounded by intricate, glowing forms. The extent and position of it is unknown.
Raiden bleeds ichor, god blood, the stuff of deities. This is gold, like pure shining gold in any spiritual space, like the chamber of the Elder Gods. In more physical spaces it resembles blood shot through with gold. It is toxic to humans, but once it is shed, it solidifies VERY quickly and becomes an extremely rare substance known as Orihalcon. This can, with magic, be worked into fantastic weaponry or what have you, but if you’ve got that much blood, it’s bad news bears for the god whence it comes. When he says “then you know it overwhelms you” to Skarlet, he literally means it.
His tears fall in a quicksilver-like substance (technically it, too is ichor, just a different form) which is also quite toxic to mortals. In its solidified form (mimicking Orihalcon), it is known as Mythril and is an extremely light, metallic element which can also be fashioned into powerful weaponry. This is even more difficult to obtain because it does not spill as readily—you can’t cut tears out of someone.
Taking a physical form is mildly taxing to deities, so most don’t do it on the regular. Raiden and Fujin are strange exceptions to this rule. They would rather be a presence in the lives of the people they have come to know and to love (not only to protect, at this point), than to be unreachable balls of energy. Shit’s lame; this is way more fun. What could possibly go wrong???????
