Sindel and Mileena and the favoritism
Topics
- Introduction
- Family dynamics
- Mileena and the Tarkat
- Sindel's ignorance and a mother's despair
- Real-life examples of a deadly disease in royalty
- Some parallels between Alexandra and Sindel
- Mileena VS Kitana: Same faces, different behaviors
- Finalization
Introduction
I was really happy that you liked my post about Li Mei and the injustice she suffered (judging by the number of notes and reblogs), that I decided to make another post analyzing characters from Mortal Kombat 1.
REMEMBER! This is just my opinion about the characters, I personally like both of them, I'm just here to analyze the characters' behavior and their story, not to judge them, I'm open to opposing opinions as long as they're respectful.
Family dynamics
Sometimes I wish Netherealm Studios would pay more attention to Mortal Kombat's lore, because I think it's quite rich and diverse for a fighting game (considering that I'm also a fan of Street Fighter and Tekken and the stories of both are quite simple). Maybe if they had time to publish short stories and even books related to the story, it would be great, so that people don't just remember the game when a new one comes out. I would love to know about the Great Kung Lao's victories. And I'm saying this because the dynamics of the royal family are pretty much information that the characters' biographies and intros give away, which doesn't help much since it's limited content, but based on what we have, I'll try to guess what their lives were like before Jerrod died.
We know that Sindel married Jerrod to prevent a rebellion from happening, let's assume that Sindel ascended to the throne very young shortly after the death of her father or mother, who was probably the emperor or empress of Outworld, an intro with Kenshi mentions that she has a twin sister and that this twin sister probably had children (the cousins banished from court that Kitana mentions), so everything suggests that like Mileena, she was the eldest twin and heir to the throne.
The marriage was initially only to avoid civil war, but they eventually found love and had twin daughters. The game suggests that Jerrod was more than a consort; he helped Sindel rule and perhaps handled affairs of state, while also being a loving father and husband, but everything fell apart after his death, leaving Sindel to rule alone, leaving her vulnerable to attacks from political enemies.
Kitana and Mileena, by all accounts, had a peaceful childhood, being trained by Li Mei and loved by their parents. They undoubtedly suffered with Jerrod's death, just like Sindel. In short: They were a happy family, but it all ended with Jerrod's murder.
Mileena and the Tarkat
We don't know how Mileena caught Tarkat, but according to the YouTube comments (which I don't consider a reliable source but is the most likely), she probably left the palace at night in secret to meet Tanya and was attacked by a Tarkatan or a person infected with the disease (which could mean her scar on her eyebrow). I remember seeing on Baraka's Wiki a while back that one of the causes of Tarkat could be stress, which could be the explanation for Mileena's contamination, we know that she is temperamental, and that dealing with her father's death must have been quite stressful for her, but again, the game's lore explains little, so the way is to create our own theories.
The contempt for people with the disease reminds me of how people treated people with AIDS in the 1980s. It was a little-known disease and treatment was limited. People always fear what they don't know, and they even thought that simply shaking hands with a person with AIDS could pass it on to them, and the fact that the majority of those infected were gay men, didn't help much in the fight against prejudice and ignorance against the disease.
If you have been infected by tarkat, you will likely be kicked out of your home and sent to a colony of infected people until you go mad and die in pain and agony (according to Baraka's intros). But we know that suffering this terrible fate is for commoners, if you are an aristocrat like Mileena, you will probably have the privilege of receiving treatment that will assess the symptoms.
One thing the game makes very clear is that this could destroy Mileena's image as a future empress and even the entire monarchy, being a secret as well kept as her love affair with an Umgadi (to be honest, I don't know which would cause more scandal).
Sindel's ignorance and a mother's despair
Sindel blames Mileena for her illness, which is weird, because she's practically telling her daughter that it's her fault if she eventually dies from Tarkat, it's like telling someone with cancer that if they have cancer it's their fault. I try to put myself in Sindel's shoes (or in this case, her high heels), she's angry and sad because she lost her husband and now has to deal with yet another problem because her daughter was careless, but the approach to this could be more caring, after all, it's normal to expect understanding from a mother.
Perhaps because she blamed Mileena so much, she began to have more affection and pride for another daughter who is completely healthy, Kitana. We don't know if Sindel's favoritism arose after Mileena's infection or if it already existed since Jerrod was alive, I like to think that it already existed but increased with Mileena's situation.
But don't think that Sindel is sitting on her golden throne waiting for Mileena to die to finally name Kitana her heir, she is still a mother who loves her daughters, and for that, she had to resort to secretly handing her daughter over to be cared for by a sorcerer who until a few years ago was nothing more than a liar who stole money from naive people with promises of cures with his medicines, in addition to listening to advice from another sorcerer who makes demons his personal slaves, all to cure his beloved daughter.
Before being an empress, she is a mother.
Real-life example of a deadly disease in royalty
I don't work in the Netherealm writers' room, so I don't know if they had any inspiration for their portrayal of Tarkat in the game... But I'd like to draw a comparison with a disease that affected many royal families between the 1870s and 1930s.
Hemophilia is a rare disorder in which the blood doesn't clot in the typical way because it doesn't have enough blood-clotting proteins (clotting factors). If you have hemophilia, you might bleed for a longer time after an injury than you would if your blood clotted properly.
I imagine most of you know who Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom was, as she literally has a period in history named after her. She suffered from hemophilia and passed it on to her youngest son, Prince Leopold. She had five daughters as well, two of whom did not have the disease but carried the hemophilia genes which unfortunately passed on to their children and grandchildren.
Treatment at the time was precarious and could sometimes make the disease worse rather than do any good. One of the greatest examples of hemophilia in a royal family was the case of Prince Alexei of Russia, son of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
(Alexei and his mother, Empress Alexandra of Russia)
If you don't know the history of the Romanovs, I'll give you a brief summary: Empress Alexandra of Russia was one of Queen Victoria's granddaughters, the daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, one of her two daughters who carried the genes for the disease. She did not have the disease but also carried the genes, eventually passing it on to her son, Prince Alexei.
Alexei suffered from hemophilia type B, a more serious and lethal type of the disease. Most doctors were sure that he would not live to adulthood, since most of his cousins, who also had the disease, died from it at a relatively young age, including an uncle who died at the age of three. The empress was desperate to cure her son, turning to the mystic Grigori Rasputin, a Siberian monk who claimed to have healing powers.
Rasputin exerted a great influence on the Empress and the Emperor, as he was supposedly the only one who could cure their son, he also involved himself in the politics of the state through his influence with the Empress (which was so big that both the Russian nobility and the people believed they were lovers).
Rasputin was actually a fraud, as he never cured the prince, he only prevented the use of aspirin on the boy, which was the treatment for hemophilia at the time and only made the bleeding worse. He was eventually assassinated by the husband of the emperor's niece, as it was almost a consensus in Russia that he was ruining the image of the imperial family. The imperial family itself would be assassinated in 1918, including Alexei and his mother.
Some parallels between Alexandra and Sindel
EMPRESSES: both were empresses, although Alexandra was only a consort.
DESPERATE MOTHERS: Both were desperate to cure their children of the disease that was affecting them.
TRUSTING A FRAUD: Shang Tsung claims that he could only control the symptoms with his serums, but he did not find a cure for the disease, Rasputin only prohibited the use of a medicine that could only make things worse for Alexei.
MANIPULATED: Shang Tsung and Quan Chi had influence over the Empress, as one could control her daughter's symptoms and the other could predict the future. Rasputin also claimed to be able to see the future and tell which government ministers would eventually betray the imperial family, causing the Empress to dismiss them all when she became regent during World War I.
HIGH PRICE TO PAY: Sindel's over-trust of sorcerers led to her eventual death, just like Alexandra trust in Rasputin was one of the factors that condemned the Russian imperial family to death.
Mileena VS Kitana: Same faces, different behaviors
Some in Outworld think that Mileena is too rebellious and that her beautiful and graceful sister Kitana would make a better empress, even Sindel thinks so! Although Kitana has no interest in usurping her sister, Mileena does not feel safe even as her mother's heir.
I can draw a parallel with two real-life princesses, Queen Elizabeth II and her younger sister, Princess Margaret (yes, I'm referencing the British royal family again). Elizabeth was known for being obedient and peaceful, in contrast to her younger sister who was rebellious and bold. People liked Elizabeth, but found Margaret spoiled and arrogant.
Mileena in the future may become paranoid that Kitana is trying to steal her throne (perhaps one of the symptoms of tarkat includes mental confusion), and may even have her own sister arrested on suspicion of high treason. But only the future will tell.
Finalization
I literally spent two hours writing all of this 😭 Again, thank you to everyone who reblogged my post about Li Mei, you have no idea how much this motivates me to write more analyzes.
