Tarkatans
Outworld's blade-armed nomads, led by Baraka.
The Tarkatans are a species of Outworld nomads, introduced with Baraka in Mortal Kombat II (1993). They are known for their ferocity and strange faces, with sharp spiked teeth and retractable blades in their arms.
Lore & Background
In the early games Baraka leads Outworld's Tarkatan army, a fierce human-demon hybrid race that sometimes fought for Shao Kahn; in Mortal Kombat II they attack the Shaolin temple. Mileena is made by Shang Tsung from Kitana's and Tarkatan blood, which gives her their mouth of razor teeth. Mortal Kombat 1 recasts them as victims of the Tarkat disease, a mutating illness that slowly turns the infected feral; Baraka leads a colony of the infected and Mileena hides the disease with a serum.
Reader's Guide
Historian Matias Alderete has compared the Tarkatans to the nomadic societies of ancient West Asia, and professor Leonardo Dallacqua de Carvalho has linked the Tarkat disease to leprosy.
More in Clans & Alliances
Elsewhere in Mortal Kombat
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