Raiden 雷电

Raiden is the eternal God of Thunder, protector of Earthrealm, and arguably one of the most powerful characters in all of Mortal Kombat. After the second defeat of Shinnok, he ascended to the status of Elder God. As a result of his divine nature, he possesses many supernatural abilities, such as the ability to teleport, control lightning, and fly. He is also more prone to thinking in terms of eternity rather than normal human lifespans, and has a radically different outlook on life.

Throughout the series, Raiden has served as a mentor and father figure to Earthrealm's champions, especially Liu Kang and Kung Lao. As Earthrealm's protector, he harbors an intense hatred for Shang Tsung, Shao Kahn, Shinnok, and anyone who would pose a threat to Earth.

In the ending of Mortal Kombat X's Story Mode and seen in Mortal Kombat 11, Raiden now assumes his corrupted form similar to that of his counterpart in the Original Timeline. His outlook on Earthrealm's protection drastically changes, where he lashes out at anyone he deems a threat to Earthrealm, even leading a full on invasion of the Netherrealm to destroy Shinnok's Bone Temple and cripple Revenant Liu Kang and Kitana's forces, showing little to no mercy for his former allies, even caring little about of the death of Sonya Blade, who sacrificed herself during the invasion. When Kronika erases this incarnation of Raiden from the timeline as a result of his defeat of Shinnok and her merging the timelines, his past incarnation is left to learn of his corruption and stop Kronika's plans of restarting the timeline, vowing never to walk the path of his future self.

In the new third timeline depicted in Mortal Kombat 1, he and Liu Kang have swapped roles with the latter now rewriting history as the God of Fire and the former now as an Earthrealm champion that Liu Kang must train to combat a new threat. This version of Raiden grew up as a field worker in the village of Fengjian alongside Kung Lao. He also has a sister in this timeline.