Unraveling the Mystery of Mortal Kombat‘s 4 Ruling Elder Gods

As a long-time Mortal Kombat enthusiast, I‘ve always been fascinated by its lore and the otherworldly beings that rule the realms. But even after decades of games and content, some questions still puzzle diehard fans like myself – who exactly are the 4 Elder Gods that govern over the MK universes? How did they shape the fates and destinies of civilizations over the eons?

In this extensive guide for fellow MK lore nerds, I‘ll attempt to clarify who the 4 ruling Elder Gods are, analyze their origins and spheres of influence, their conflicts and relationships with other supreme beings, as well as how their existence led to pivotal events across various MK timelines. Grab your fan theorizing goggles and let‘s unravel this mystery together!

The Enigmatic Kollector – Ruthless God of Wealth & Greed

“It has begun. Millennia of preparation, now finally…the Netherrealm will collector Earthrealm’s riches.”

Out of the group, the Kollector remains the most sinister and enigmatic of all. He is an ancient evil who revels in creating wealth, displaying opulence, greedily extracting soul tributes, and financing bloody conflicts across realms to line his own pockets. Kollector cares little for mortal fates – to him, they are either currency or collateral damage in his endless pursuit of opulence.

The Kollector’s Powers & Origins

As an Elder God, the Kollector wields tremendous power. His abilities include:

• Immortality – As an Elder God, the Kollector remains deathless and immune to the ravages of time
• Soul Magic – He is able to freely manipulate souls as a currency or weapon
• Telekinesis – Capable of moving objects and opponents with his mind
• Fire Manipulation – Can generate flames from his body or surroundings

The Kollector also employs a lantern artifact containing stolen souls to attack enemies when not battling directly himself.

Little is known of his origins other than hazy accounts describing an immensely ancient being “existing before stories were even recorded" who amassed great fortune and power. Based on interactions with other characters, the Kollector has operated for countless ages behind the scenes, nurturing evil empires and wars to enrich himself and strengthen his godlike abilities.

Influence on MK Timelines & Key Events

As a non-participating quasi-spectator to the fates of realms, the Kollector presumably influenced or observed events across MK history while keeping clear of personal harm.

He likely financed certain major villains – perhaps Shao Kahn’s failed Netherrealm invasion or Shinnok’s repeated bids for power. The Kollector encounters Kotal Kahn in MK11, indicating he may have had past transactions negotiating with the Osh-Tekk Empire as well.

Ultimately, this mysterious god remains an unpredictable 3rd party concerned solely with enriching himself through endless violence and chaos. He is a powerful force of evil lurking in the shadows of the MK cosmos waiting to strike opportune deals.

Cetrion – The Elder Goddess Of Virtue & Benevolence

“All realms will soon belong to my mother. Join us on the winning side."

In stark contrast to the previous evil deity, Cetrion epitomizes light, virtue and the beauty of nature itself – she governs over lifeforce, light and the elements. Cetrion prefers harmony between realms but fully utilizes her divine powers against those threatening mortal civilizations or the delicate balance of existence.

The Mother Goddess‘ Powers & Origins

Cetrion possesses tremendous elemental abilities as an Elder Goddess tied to Earthrealm/Edenia, including:

• Petrification – Ability to transform enemies into solid stone
• Elemental Control – Manipulate earth, fire, water, air, lightning and nature
• Energy Manipulation – Can channel energy into blasts or protective barriers
• Plant Life Manipulation – Command vegetation growth and toxic spores
• Angelic Light Constructs – Create light-forged weaponry and restraints

Edenian legends tell of an ancient Mother Goddess nurturing light and life across the realms in harmony. Cetrion likely originated from this myth – her immense beauty and powers over creation emblemizing the nourishing divinity described in these tales.

Role in MK Timelines & Events

As a guardian deity of virtue, Cetrion historically acted through mortal champions like Raiden or Fujin to counterbalance the scales of good and evil when threats emerged to endanger the realms.

In the original and current timelines, however, she abruptly abandoned her role as virtuous protector goddess – instead pledging loyalty to her mother Kronika and aiding her temporal schemes to restart history and create a “New Era” devoid of darkness.

This sudden shift confused and shocked allies like Raiden – marking one of the most pivotal alignment changes of recent events with grave implications for MK realms hanging in the balance. What caused this drastic change of heart? Did she turn on Raiden out of spite for Shinnok’s repeated failures against him? Or were her notions of “perfection" for the realms warped by Kronika’s grand visions of an era of light? Her motivations remain unclear…

Regardless of intent, both Cetrion’s immense power and faltering loyalty now dangerously serve Kronika’s seemingly noble yet deeply sinister ambitions to reshape all of existence.

Kronika – The Goddess Of Temporal Control & Destiny

“Raiden‘s champions chronicle your deeds. For eons, I‘ve connected the past, present and future–seeing one‘s destiny is not the same as controlling it."

The supreme architect of destiny itself for all MK realms – Lady Kronika governs over the intricate workings of timelines and passages of history according to her grand design. Virtually omnipotent, only her fellow Elder Gods can hope to meaningfully oppose her direct interventions over the fate of entire realms and civilizations.

The Designs Of A Fate Weaver

As an all-powerful being who transcends normal space-time altogether, Lady Kronika wields abilities of an entirely different magnitude:

• Existence Outside Time – Resides in a celestial dimension observing/weaving timelines
• Temporal Manipulation – Restart, rewind, fast forward and freeze entire timelines
• Age Manipulation – Accelerate aging or revert beings to infants
• Elemental / Energy Control – Wields lightning offensively and barriers to shield self
• Intricate Foresight – Observes all timelines simultaneously to best direct outcomes

Kronika views timelines and history like complex tapestries for her to perpetually alter until reaching her perfect vision. She alters destiny through temporal intervention and influencing events indirectly.

Frustratingly, her precise origins remain fully unknown – obscure accounts simply referring to an all-seeing Aspect linked to destiny itself since creation.

The Architect Of New Era & Past Timelines

Lady Kronika first took direct action (vs acting through others) when Raiden‘s victory over Emperor Shao Kahn diverged history drastically from her original grand design eons ago.

In response, she has repeatedly attempted to erase Raiden‘s timeline of defenders and fuse it back with an older era ruled by Kahn to get history "back on track" per her plan.

She has gone so far as to recruit disillusioned children like Cetrion or Liu Kang from Raiden‘s era, granted Shao Kahn Kronika‘s own power over time or resurrected him and countless warriors across all timelines…all in hopes of overwriting Raiden‘s meddling influence for good.

This time goddess remains determined to realize her enigmatic vision for a New Era no matter the collateral damage or lives disrupted in the process. All that matters is the "perfection" of her design overriding all else.

Lord Raiden – The Fallen God Of Thunder & Earthrealm‘s Champion

“This is your last chance. Surrender or face the consequences.”

Once an Elder God himself who shed divine status out of frustration from passively observing Earthrealm‘s plight, Lord Raiden now directly leads its warriors as the embittered Protector of Earthrealm wielding volatile divine essence itself as a weapon.

The Vengeful Thunder God‘s Powers & Origins

Raiden‘s abilities related to electricity and the storm are indeed godlike in nature:

• Electroportation – Teleport instantly through electrical current
• Electricity Generation – Generate/absorb extremely high voltages
• Weather Manipulation – Control lightning storms and thunderclaps

Originally, Raiden followed fellow Elder Gods‘ way of subtle guidance through mortal conduits and served as the calm Eye of the Storm overseeing Earthrealm‘s events from the heavens.

Over time, witnessing the relentless tragedies and deep corruption devastating the heroes and lands he swore to safeguard wore down his patience.

Disillusioned God Walking Among Mortals

Exhausted by standing idly for eons, Raiden voluntarily renounced his own divinity to directly engage threats as a vengeful living weapon – an increasingly bitter and angry god stranded between the mortal and divine planes of existence.

Unfortunately, this rash choice warped his temperament over time – the corrupting influence of the darker aspects of mortal nature poisoning his divine essence until unlocking violently unstable qualities in the Thunder God.

Raiden‘s spirit grew darker witnessing the loss and self-sacrifice of heroes like Liu Kang over the ages. He came to doubt the Elders‘ non-interference philosophy.

The storm within Raiden now builds after each tragic twist of fate – his immortal essence grows increasingly volatile and corrupted while the ghosts of his past ravage him internally.

Defending A Doomed Timeline From An Ancient Rival

Lady Kronika and Lord Raiden‘s rivalry stretches to the dawn of time itself since she views his upstart defiance as having ruined her originally ordained designs for all existence.

As two ultra-powerful beings wielding immense influence over fate and lesser mortals, their endless cosmic conflict intertwined with Earthrealm‘s future may have ruined all hope of peace or redemption.

Now Raiden bitterly defends the last shreds of his broken era, fatalistic that Kronika has already won and his deeply scarred champions only delay the inevitable collapse of their darkening reality. Tormented by visions of the future, the war-weary god chooses to fight on until his last breath regardless.

Ancient beings once content to subtly guide existence now wage open war across fracturing timelines – with civilizations and mortal fates trapped helplessly in the crossfire of their wrathful clash.

Will Raiden redeem himself and thwart Kronika‘s unified era? Or has his corrupted essence and broken faith in mortals already doomed Earthrealm for eternity?

While the 4 core Elder Gods receive prominent focus in lore, several other extraordinarily powerful godlike entities have been revealed with mysterious ties to their origins or level of ability warranting acknowledgment:

Supreme Omnipotence Tier

• The One Being – The original supreme entity predating all of existence whose shattered essence gave rise to the Elder Gods

Transcended Ultra-Divine Tier

• Kronika – Architect of destiny itself; Virtually omnipotent over timelines and events
• Blaze – Ancient pyromantic demigod; Tied to destiny itself

Elder God Tier

• Cetrion – Mother goddess of life, light and nature
• Kollector – God of greed, profit and soul magic
• Shinnok – Disgraced fallen goddess; Corrupted by darkness

Retired Or Lesser Divine Tier

• Raiden – Former thunder god/Elder reduced to demigod defender
• Fujin – Wind god and Raiden‘s lieutenant
• Taven & Daegon – Demigod sons of an Edenian protector god

This covers my own speculative hierarchy and categorization of the most prominently featured ultra-powerful godlike entities based on their portrayed areas of influence and displays of reality-warping ability.

Obviously power levels remain extremely fluid given these beings wield otherworldly might – rivalries and alliances continue shifting too. But I aimed to highlight the weight classes revealed thus far by NetherRealm Studios.

Please share your own theories on social with #MKLoreFans!

Let‘s compare the 4 key ruling Elder Gods‘ spheres of influence and feats of power directly to judge who emerges as apex among them in Mortal Kombat:

Based on this data, Lady Kronika seems to edge out Cetrion and the others as the single most overwhelmingly potent Elder God in terms of raw reality-shaping ability – her mastery over the intricate threads of destiny and timelines themselves effectively makes her undefeatable unless weakened somehow.

Of course, exact power levels fluctuate constantly in the MK universe based on artifacts, timeline alterations or boosts from patron gods/allies.

But for now, it‘s clear no single being rivals Kronika‘s direct control over the very fabric of reality across the realms. Even fellow transcendent god Blaze pales in comparison to gifts granted by her mother role safeguarding all existence since its dawn.

In closing, I hoped this deep dive proved insightful for fellow fans – especially those confused on specifics between the various supreme beings of Mortal Kombat lore and their complex relationships with the fate of the realms.

Their origins remain frustratingly vague (looking at you Kollector & Kronika)…but also rich ground for fan theories! As timelines fracture and converge, we will undoubtedly keep learning more about these enigmatic ultra-divine forces wielding inconceivable cosmic power over all of existence from behind the scenes.

Let me know which Elder God intrigues you most and what theories you have on them by tweeting me @MK_LoreMaster – perhaps your ideas will be confirmed in MK12‘s story!