500 years ago, the shapeshifter Shang Tsung was banished from the Outworld to the Mother Realm(Earth) for his crimes. There, with the aid of his pupil Goro, a hideous half-human dragon, he was to atone for his crimes by unbalancing the furies of the realm, allowing his master Shao Kahn and his minions to enter the dominion and rule forever. He was defeated. He returned to the Outworld a failure, facing execution at the hands of Shao Kahn, supreme ruler of the Outworld, the Astral Planes of Shokan and the surrounding kingdoms. With the apparent demise of Goro, his fate seemed sealed. But Tsung told Kahn of his plan for revenge, a plot so evil and twisted even Kahn was persuaded to grant him one final opportunity to redeem himself. He cleverly lured his adversaries to the bizarre Outworld where they would face a new challenge-a tournament hosted by Shao Kahn himself.