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All stories ever written are, in some way, a reflection of the culture from which they arise. The
storyteller will, consciously or not, place archetypes and symbols in his or her stories which he or she has drawn from the so-called "collective unconscious" or "collective memory" of the culture in which he or she was raised. This happens not only in "literary" fiction, where the symbolism is usually intentional and often seems forced or obscure as a result, but in "entertainment" fiction as well. Take, for instance, the Mortal Kombat novels. Here are stories that were never intended to be studied as literature, and yet they contain powerful symbolism that speaks on an unconscious level to the reader.
In this essay, we will examine the major works of the renowned Mortal Kombat novelist Biku. Biku is the author of two novels, Dea Ex Machina and A Stitch in Time, as well as numerous short stories (Moral Konflict is the best-known example) and story cycles such as the critically acclaimed "Guardian Chronicles". She is widely regarded as a master of the Mortal Kombat subgenre. We will examine Biku's works under three headings: character archetypes, the quest cycle, and descriptive symbolism.
An archetype is defined as "a primitive mental image inherited from the earliest human ancestors and supposed to be present in the collective unconscious" (Concise Oxford English Dictionary, Tenth Edition). In literature, an archetype is a sort of meta-character, the original source of all similar characters which follow. The Goddess or Earth Mother is a common example; but, although she does appear in Biku's writing, that is a subject for another essay. Instead, we will concentrate on several lesser archetypes: the Judge, the Virgin Huntress, and the Holy Fool, which, in Biku's stories, are represented respectively by the characters of Celebria, Nova, and Rahne.
Celebria is the head of the Council, "the power in the Omniverse, ever since the Second Scroll" (Dea 4), and is thus an authority figure in the "Omniverse", which is the world where the stories take place. From this position, Celebria is called upon to make judgements on the fate of other characters. "'Rayden, God of Thunder, Lord of Earth Realm,' she said, determined to keep her voice from wavering, 'It is said that you see the ghosts of the dead...As well, you have admitted to acts of violence, during this period...Therefore, I have no choice but to sentence you to have your powers removed, so that you may never be a threat to the Omniverse. Such is Law. Such...is the will of the Creator.' " (Dea 4) In this situation, Celebria takes on the Biblical aspect of the Judge as portrayed by Pontius Pilate, as she orders the death of Rayden, who in this case represents the Suffering Innocent, or Christ figure. "Rayden will be stripped of his powers tomorrow, at sunset," says Kerlan, Celebria's brother. "The Council voted almost unanimously, the monsters." (Dea 4) Note that the archetypes do not always remain constant: that is, Rayden represents the Christ in Dea, but in Biku's earlier works, Rayden and Rai represent the Warring Brothers, or Good and Evil; and the Innocent is represented in other stories, variously, by Jikan Tai and Hiko (pronounced HEE-koh, not HIGH-koh or HICK-oh; this is important, as we will see later). As the characters develop, they move through different archetypes.
Nova is the Virgin Huntress, known in Classical mythology as Diana, or Artemis, or Ceinwyn. She was raised in seclusion, without normal companionship, and has no experience with men. She is a savage fighter, and carries a bow, the traditional symbol of the hunter. "Nova, goddess of Stars, unhooked her bow from her shoulder. Generating one of her powerful fire arrows, she aimed for the small upper row of windows along the side, breaking them and hopefully adding enough distraction for her friends to escape while she made her way across the docks." (MK:K) Nova is supremely competent and capable, and works well alone.
Rahne, who appears first in Biku's second novel, A Stitch in Time, is the Holy Fool. Like the Christ figure, this character is innocent, but not in the sense of being altruistic or incapable of sin; rather, the Fool--like Parsival of the King Arthur myths--is naive and childlike, a physical adult without adult knowledge. For Rahne, this is literal; she is, to all appearances, an adult woman, but she has no memory of anything, and she responds to things as a child would. "You can see yourself that Rahne's like a little girl sometimes," Rayden tells Hiko. "I don't think she even had any idea what she was doing." (Rahne 3) Yet Rahne, like Parsival, is a fighter with a quest--she must protect Hichan (Rayden and Hiko's daughter) at all costs--and, like Parsival, her quest is as much for enlightenment as it is for her stated goal.
So much for character archetypes, then. What about the stories themselves?
An author may often be insulted on being told that his or her plot is familiar; but it is often the traditional plots, executed with skill and originality, that make the best stories. One such well-established plot is known to high school English classes the world over as the Hero Quest. Jikan Tai, in Biku's story cycle "The Guardian Chronicles", is the typical Hero Quest hero. He has an unusual origin: Jikan Tai, originally called Yellow Chrysanthemum, was born in a tiny mountain village in prehistoric China, and was taken away by Rayden at a young age to be trained as the Guardian of Time. He undergoes difficult training, as the Hero usually does (in most sword-and-sorcery tales and almost every kung fu movie, for instance). His mentor, Samantha, the previous Guardian of Time, dies before Jikan Tai completes his training. This is also usual: Gandalf, Yoda, and Kosh, to name a few, all die before their protegé is ready to battle Sauron/Darth Vader/the Shadows/insert-name-of-evil-force-here. Finally, Jikan Tai's various adventures eventually lead him to self-knowledge, as he comes to understand the power and responsibility of his Role as Guardian of Time; and to love, as he becomes romantically involved with Lindara, the Goddess of Plants. All of this is part of the typical Hero Quest, and makes for a darn good story as well.
The third building block of traditional story architecture, besides character archetypes and the quest cycle, that Biku's Mortal Kombat stories display is what is called "descriptive symbolism". Descriptive symbolism is a sort of literary synecdoche where the description of a character represents, in some way, the attributes of that character. For instance, Nova's bow, as stated above, represents the archetype of the Huntress to which she belongs. However, descriptive symbolism does not necessarily indicate archetypes; it can be used to represent aspects of a character's personality as well. Turan, the God of Assassins, is a good example. His hair is blue, an uncommon colour, which symbolises his outcast status and the fact that the other gods regard him as someone to stay away from. Celebria is told at one point by her mother: "There are two--okay, three kinds of people that are off-limits, Celebria: married dieties, mortals, and Turan." (Let the Festivities Begin) Also, his hair is spiky. This could be, on the most obvious level, a reference to his trade as an assassin, and to his preferred weapon, the dagger; more subtly, it represents his constant--and utterly justified--fear of rejection by women. It symbolises the defenses he has built around his feelings to avoid being hurt by constant rejection--which does indeed happen to him often, more so than to any of the other deities.
However, all this pales in comparison to the huge wad of symbolism that is Hiko. Observe:
First, her name itself is symbolic. The name "Hiko", in Japanese, from which Biku derives many of her character names, can be read as "child of fire". Similarly, Hiko's mother and daughter are called "Hisan" and "Hichan", which mean, respectively, "honoured fire" and "little fire". Names in Omniversal literature are generally meaningful somehow, but Hiko's family are the only deities whose names are etymologically linked in this way. This singles them out for special attention.
As well, there is a great deal of symbolism involved with her hair, even aside from the obvious relation between its red-orange colour and the Fire Clan. This is made particularly clear in "Genesis". At that time, Hiko, a young woman still living with her mother, had "short, imposing hair" and described herself as "always one to pick a fight" (MK:K). Her hair, like Turan's, symbolises the distance she places between herself and others. Later, after she and Rayden become romantically involved, she tells him, "I'll grow my hair long, if you do," (Genesis) symbolically shedding the tough persona she has built up and opening herself up to the man who she loves. Later still, when she is forced to break off her relationship with Rayden and marry Cosmos, she keeps growing her hair, as does Rayden; this is the only way they can show that they still love each other without Cosmos noticing.
Finally, as well as being symbolic in and of herself, Hiko is the focus for a great deal of other symbolism. In Moral Konflict: Kontinuation, to cite only one example, when Lightning first appears in the guise of Hiko's daughter, her appearance is foreshadowed by Liu seeing "the shape of a golden bird" reflected in the river. The symbol of the phoenix is a subtle undercurrent in the story. On one level, it represents Lightning, who lives by destroying that which gives her life; in a much deeper sense, though, it can be said to represent Hiko, whose death in this story is not, after all, permanent, and who is returned to life later through the direct intervention of the Creator in the lives of the Thunder family.
In conclusion, through the use of symbolism, archetype, and traditional story cycle, Biku has elevated the tradition of Mortal Kombat literature from a little-regarded subgenre to one of the most widely-regarded new literary landscapes of our time. Many other authors, following in her footsteps, have begun to produce new and excellent work in the Mortal Kombat universe, but Biku is deservedly recognised as the pioneer of this unique creative area, and has paved the way for generations of authors to follow after.