Skarlet (Mortal Kombat)

Skarlet is a fictional character featured in the fighting game series Mortal Kombat. She debuted in the 2011 Mortal Kombat game, where she was the only full-fledged newcomer to the game. Originally a rumored glitch character similar to Ermac, Skarlet was the first ever DLC character in a Mortal Kombat game. Skarlet was created by Shao Kahn using the blood of many warriors. As such, many of her attacks use blood. Since her debut, she has become known for having some of the most "gruesome" Fatalities.

Appearances
In her Mortal Kombat bio, Skarlet is a warrior created by Shao Kahn using sorcery and the blood of countless warriors, only to be released by him as a last resort. Her sole purpose is to discover Quan Chi's true reason for attending the Mortal Kombat tournament. In Mortal Kombat 11 where it furthers her background story, Skarlet started out as a poor and orphan child who was adopted by Shao Kahn to learn blood magic upon her transformation and then, an imperial bodyguard and effective assassin. Skarlet uses kodachi swords and kunai knives as well as her power to turn into, and absorb, the blood of her victims. Skarlet can also sense her enemies' blood beneath, allowing her not to be fooled by their disguises.

Similar to the Ermac rumors in the first Mortal Kombat but received with far less fanfare, Skarlet originated as a nonexistent character in Mortal Kombat II due to false reports of a glitch nicknamed "Scarlet" by players in which the palette swaps of either Kitana or Mileena would turn red. Nearly two decades after the rumors originated, she was announced as one of the 2011 reboot Mortal Kombat game's first two downloadable content (DLC) characters, released on June 21. Skarlet later returned as a playable character in the 2019 video game, Mortal Kombat 11, furthering her origin as a regular Outworld street urchin prior her transformation into a blood magic master after Shao Kahn adopted her.

Skarlet, while not actually appearing in Mortal Kombat X, does appear in the comics based on the game, where she was recruited by Reiko for the Outworld civil war. She was defeated by Mileena, and went missing prior her past counterpart’s appearance in Mortal Kombat 11.

Design and gameplay
Much of Skarlet's moveset revolves around the use of blood. She uses kodachi and kunai as standard weapons in addition to crafting others out of blood in Mortal Kombat 11. Her "Blood Ball" projectile attack deals significant damage yet reduces her own health. Skarlet was deemed one of the "cheapest" characters in MK 2011 by Prima Games.

Reception
Skarlet received a middling critical reception upon her playable debut in MK2011. Den of Geek rated Skarlet 48th in their 2015 ranking of the Mortal Kombat franchise's 73 characters. "There’s something kind of lazy about having someone be 'Blood: The Character.'" Leon Miller of Screen Rant rated her twelfth out of the series' twenty ninja characters in 2017. "Fan service can be a bit of a double-edged sword, and so it goes with a fighter like Skarlet [who] can’t avoid being a tad underdeveloped." Chris Isaac of Comic Book Resources rated Skarlet thirteenth in a 2017 ranking of the series' then-nineteen female characters, in that she "had kind of a cool gimmick, but was very scarce on personality." However, the character was well received by Game Informer, and in 2013, was ranked as the seventh "fiercest female in today's fighting games" by Gamenguide, who commented: "Nothing screams 'fan service' like when a developer takes an age-old game glitch and turns it into a key part of their franchise." Official Xbox Magazine included her among the top eight downloadable characters on the Xbox 360 for her "delightful" fighting style, even though "she wasn't the best-selling MK DLC character." In 2015, she was listed among the best Easter eggs in Mortal Kombat history by Tech Times.

Skarlet has been considered among the most "gruesome" series characters. Her "Make it Rain" Fatality was included among Gameranx's top ten gruesome series finishers in 2012: "Skarlet gives herself the most disgusting facial in history." That same Fatality would also be listed as the second-best Fatality in MK 2011 by Complex, for being "as gruesome and sadistic as they come." She was described by TheGamer as "one of the most unsettling characters" of the Mortal Kombat 11 roster. Josh West of GamesRadar+ exemplified the "brutality" of MK11 through one of her Fatalities, in which she repeatedly stabs her defeated opponent with a series of daggers composed of their drained blood.