Raiden's Lightning

The thunder god's command of lightning.

Raiden's lightning is the defining power of Mortal Kombat's thunder god. Based on the Japanese deity Raijin, Raiden is depicted as the god of thunder with control over lightning, and he has used it as Earthrealm's protector since the first game in 1992.

Lore & Background

John Tobias drew on the character Lightning from the film Big Trouble in Little China, a warrior who conjures lightning and wears a conical hat. In Mortal Kombat 1 (2023) the new timeline's Raiden starts as a mortal farmhand: after he becomes Earthrealm's champion, Liu Kang gives him an amulet that grants him his lightning powers, and he goes on to win the tournament in Outworld.