Shao Kahn was an advisor to the
dragon king, however he poisoned him and took over his place. Shao Kahn was now the emperor of "Outworld", one of the many realms in Mortal
Kombat. He is a brillant leader but very cruel and merciless. His biggest accomplishment is perhaps taking control of
Edenia (Another realm) and merging it with Outworld. His next interest was earthrealm and sent
Shang Tsung to take over this realm by using Mortal Kombat. With
Goro, a
shokan prince, Outworld won 9 mortal kombats tournaments meaning one more would allow Shao Kahn to take over Earthrealm.
However the
shaolin monk,
Liu Kang defeated both Goro and Shang Tsung. Irritated at Shang Tsung, he was convinced of luring the earthrealm fighters to outworld while Shang Tsung and his servants would ressurect queen
sindel that suicided herself when she was Shao Kahn wife, refusing to be enslaved. Liu Kang fought
Kintaro and the emperor Shao Kahn. Despise how incredibly powerful Shao Kahn was, he was defeated. However queen
Sindel was ressurected and Shao Kahn went to Earthrealm to take her. By doing this, Earthrealm became fused with Outworld and all humans had their soul stolen except for a few fighters that were protected by Raiden the god of thunder. Despise how well his plan went, he was once again defeated by Liu Kang and in the process, Earthrealm became back to normal.
Shao Kahn was now weakened and Shang Tsung and
Quan Chi formed an alliance and bringing Quan Chi to them they swore allegiance to the emperor only to attack and kill him. However despise their easy victory, they simply killed a clone of Shao Kahn. Shao Kahn was able to flee and saw Goro that was wounded to death. Shao Kahn used the last of his power to save Goro thus gaining Goro trust and once again his allegiance and the shokans.
Most recently he is seen in
Mortal Kombat Armageddon making an uneasy alliance with Quan Chi, Shang Tsung and
Onaga (The
Dragon King). It is not known if this is canon in the serie at the moment.
In gameplay, Shao Kahn is a very powerful foe worthy of being the final boss. His attacks are devastating so much that his lack of motion is easily ignored. Shao Kahn has a "trademark" weapon known as the Wrath Hammer, a sledgehammer that he sometime use in
kombat. Another thing that makes him a memorable villain, Shao Kahn taunts his enemies in battles and sometime before and/or after. This is his biggest weakness because he then becomes vulnerable for an attack.