Guys, Today Is The Day That I Finally Graduate!!

Ok I need to talk about this with someone and I think you’re so cool and your art is amazing I love it sm, so I hope you don’t mind !! *LONG RANT AHEAD*

This is more like a head-canon/observation I made. I think Tomas’ character is super interesting. I know it’s always said how loyal he is and how much a good guy he is AND I AGREE!! but it made me think more about him and his story. Imagine losing your whole family, it being basically a mistake, and then being taken in by the same clan???? If I’m not mistaken Tomas was probably a pre-teen/teen when this happened as well. I’d like to think that fucks with the mind of a young kid. And this is where it goes into head-canon territory.

I like to believe that Tomas loyalty is a form of defense mechanism for what he went through. Like not only did Tomas probably have a whole whiplash in terms of environment, but also learning about Earthrealm and Outworld??? Like this is a clan that has protected and serve earth realm since probably forever. That is a HUGE change. So, at a young age being so angry (from Tomas encounter with hanzo) instead of holding a grudge forever id like to think Tomas brain just came up with a defense mechanism aka assimilate to where you are.

His new “family” his new “responsibility”. I notice in a lot of interactions it’s “father wanted this” or “father taught us this” he always brings it back to father and teachings. Like to me it would seem like a “if I don’t assimilate to this new situation I might just lose my mind” and that’s exactly what he did. He took on the Lin Kuei traditions, honor, and responsibility and didn’t look back. It’s what he had to do to survive.

Man this even affects his relationship with not only Bi-Han but Kuai Liang as well. He idolized Bi-Han but he wasn’t surprised when Kuai Liang said he betrayed them. No doubt just immediately followed Kuai Liang and accepted it. And after that, the scene where Kuai Liang puts his hand on his shoulder and says “even though we don’t share blood, we are brothers” I haven’t seen anyone mention it but Tomas literally looks down at Kuai Liangs hand for a second and just looks a bit confused. Confused!!! Like I see a lot of people saying how Kuai Liang is the one that treated him well compared to Bi-Han but I bring you this:

Tomas is disconnected from the concept of family when it comes to the Lin Kuei. Like in title and name yes Bi-Han and Kuai Liang are his brothers, but if we go back to what I said, to Tomas personally it doesn’t feel that way. Again going back to what he says to Bi-Han. “Father would’ve wanted us to be brothers”. And Bi-Han’s comments do not help!!! THIS IS NOT MEANT TO SAY THAT THEY ARE NOT BROTHERS: THEY ARE, I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH PLS.

They are brothers, but if I were to put myself in Tomas shoes I’d feel so dissociated from that knowing what happened to my first family. In title yes we are brothers because it is what is expected, it’s what father wanted. But we’re no longer Lin Kuei and you still called me brother? Why?

Like that’s what I feel like would go through his head.

Man and that interaction he has with Liu Kang. “Can I ever get the brothers to reconnect?” Or something like that. MAN. Not even a “can I get my brothers to reconcile”. Like this poor man probably dissociated and disconnected himself so hard from his situation and just tried to make the best of what he had.

And imagine the way they could expand on this. A Tomas who no longer is part of the Lin Kuei but still holds onto their traditions and secrets, and how he deals with understanding and processing that. A Tomas who is still having a hard time seeing Kuai Liang as a brother outside of the clan but devoting his undying loyalty to him and learning to slowly trust him as Tomas not Smoke. A Tomas who feels so conflicted over Bi-Han because he feels like he should’ve done more so Kuai Liang didn’t lose his brother, but realizes he also lost a brother himself. The grief of loosing yet more family. A Tomas who can drop the name Smoke and just be someone’s brother, someone’s friend, someone’s brother-in-law.

There’s obviously cultural factors that take place here and I don’t know if I did a good job on touching upon them, but this is just my head canon. I know I’m like way off but it’s interesting to see Tomas through this lens. Thank you for reading through all of this if you do🙏

I appreciate you sharing this with me because Tomas needs more love and analyze and now I will share this with everyone else AND THEY BETTER READ IT!

This is the money Marge. Reblog for good fortune

First post here we go!!!!

So let me start off with an introduction of me:

Hi, I'm Dinoflame! I'm currently a Senior at my high school. I love theater and history, and have many OCs and Fandoms. My Fandoms include The Elder Scrolls series, Hamilton, Newsies, LA Noire, Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, Ace Attorney, Be More Chill, Undertale, and many more! My favorite 2 OCs:

Phyrrus Linkman- He is my half human half squips son.

Elene Ashland- She is a member of the Dark Brotherhood and a rival of the HOK/ Champion of Cyrodill.

Did Miss Zelda just pull a Martin Septim… I’m SICK

JOHNNY STOP FUCKING FLIRTING OH MY GOD

If you see this on your dashboard, reblog this, NO MATTER WHAT and all your dreams and wishes will come true.

Bi-Han was a good brother.

I think about this scene a lot.

People like to use Bi-Han's behavior here as an excuse to paint him as a bad brother and instantly assume that he always treated Tomas that way because of one mean thing he says to him in the entirety of the story mode, intros included.

It's almost like siblings never argue and say horrible things to each other that they later feel bad for. Personally, I believe this is the first time Bi-Han ever snapped at Tomas like that, for a multitude of reasons.

Smoke doesn't hesitate to talk back to Bi-Han, he doesn't seem intimidated by him at all. If Bi-Han were to really constantly put Tomas down and say hurtful things to him, he would be more hesitant to provoke him and avoid confrontation as much as possible. But he doesn't.

Of course, every individual is different but take it from someone who has grown up in an abusive household. If someone regularly insults you and belittles you, you're going to start walking on eggshells around them and that's not what Tomas does around Bi-Han at all.

Smoke's expression here displays hurt, anger and confusion. That's the face of someone who just got a reaction he did not expect. His body language would be different if he was used to hearing things like that from Bi-Han. He wouldn't look so surprised if he heard that whole "Lin Kuei blood" speech before. He also doesn't lower his eyes, doesn't flinch... nothing that implies Bi-Han ever talked to him like this on other occasions.

Kuai Liang's silence in this scene speaks volumes too. He doesn't try and defend Smoke, doesn't tell Bi-Han his words are uncalled for and he doesn't interrupt him either. I believe Kuai Liang was just as surprised as Tomas was by Bi-Han's sudden harsh reaction. Furthermore, there is literally no reason for him to step in.

Brothers argue, they get angry at each other. Anger is a normal human emotion and snapping at someone when you're angry doesn't make you a horrible person.

Let's talk about this scene next.

I feel stupid for even mentioning this take here because it's the silliest, most ridiculous and wildest thing I've ever seen but a surprising amount of people with flat-earther mentalities cling onto it, so even though it's obviously bs, let's debunk it once and for all.

Honestly, the first time I saw a post claiming Bi-Han kicked that rock on purpose to kill Smoke I had to re-read it twice because I couldn't believe someone would actually believe that and expect to be taken seriously.

If Bi-Han ever wanted to get rid of Smoke, he could have done so a million times already. He could have banished Tomas as soon as he became grandmaster.

He also could have aimed better.

Here's what actually happened:

Both brothers rush to the edge to check if Smoke is okay. Both are worried about him. If Bi-Han never cared about Tomas he wouldn't even have bothered coming over to see if he's still alive. He would have done the only reasonable thing in this situation, which is keeping an eye on Nitara who just attacked them.

Yes, the rock comes loose as soon as Bi-Han steps closer to the edge but that's entirely accidental and Bi-Han's surprised expression proves it.

You can see the exact moment his eyes say "Oh sh*t" because he briefly looks at the rock and instantly back at Tomas. He looks concerned, not pleased with himself like he just commited a clever murder attempt. He even reaches out as if to stop the damn rock.

He wanted to save Tomas.

It's disgusting how some people try to twist this moment into anything other than that.

Are we also going to ignore the subtle way Bi-Han puts himself in front of Kuai Liang, bracing himself while Kuai Liang flinches backwards during Nitara's attack?

What about the fight against Ermac? Bi-Han almost died, fought an insanely powerful being and his first instinct is asking his brothers if they're unharmed.

I've seen someone argue that he "only asks them if they're fine because he needs them for the mission" to which I say, they were fine. They literally looked fine, no blood on them, no scratches. Tomas didn't even go anywhere near Ermac and Bi-Han still checks on both of them.

We all know what happens next.

Yes, Bi-Han scars Kuai Liang as a way to punish him for his disobedience. Would a good brother do that? No, but a good grandmaster would. Is it fucked up? Absolutely. But again, Kuai Liang seems shocked, hurt and angry by what his brother did, just like Tomas before. Neither of them ever taught Bi-Han capable of something like that, indicating that while flawed, he was a good brother prior to his descent into madness.

When the fight starts, Tomas doesn't even try to step in. He only gets involved after Kuai Liang is injured. He wasn't expecting Bi-Han to go that far. It was a surprise to both of them because Bi-Han never once hurt them before.

As a side note, punishing his warriors for disobedience was certainly not something Bi-Han came up with himself, but rather something he was taught was acceptable by either his father or other Lin Kuei elders, but this post is meant to only focus on canon facts and what we see on screen so I won't elaborate on that here.

In a twisted way of a peace offer Bi-Han still offers a hand to Kuai Liang after scarring him and actually expects it to be accepted. He wants his brothers to join him, he wants to share the glorious future he has planned out for the Lin Kuei with both Tomas and Kuai Liang. Yes, he may be in the wrong but he wants them both on his side.

He wants it to be them against the world. He never intended for it to be him against them.

So far, that's it for the story mode.

Sadly, we never got to see what the relationship between the brothers looked like before Bi-Han gave in to corruption but the intros give us a pretty good idea of that still.

Mileena: "My bond with Kitana can't be broken."

Scorpion: "I'd once thought the same of mine with Bi-Han."

They used to be close. If Kuai Liang really thought his bond with Bi-Han was unbreakable, there must have been good in Bi-Han before his frustrations led him to make all these bad decisions. Had he been some kind of abusive monster as the fandom constantly claims, they would have never been close to begin with. The brotherly love between them might be gone now but that doesn't mean it was never there.

Smoke: "Are we to be enemies for life?" Sub-Zero: "Unless you submit, Tomas."

Tomas doesn't want them to be enemies. Yes, he says Bi-Han has always been cold with him in another intro, but cold does in no way equal cruel or abusive. Bi-Han had valid concerns about Smoke's loyalty to the Lin Kuei when Tomas lost his family because of the clan. If anything, Bi-Han not trusting Tomas only shows he was protective of the Lin Kuei and worried that Smoke would end up wanting vengeance one day.

If Bi-Han ever hurt Tomas before, Tomas wouldn't be going out of his way to reunite the brothers, even asking for Liu Kang's help to do so. He says he can't forgive Bi-Han for letting their father die and yet he wants him back in his life. If Bi-Han had always been a bad brother why would Smoke want him back? Shouldn't he be relieved it's just Kuai Liang and him now? Instead, he's heartbroken that Bi-Han and him are now enemies.

Sub-Zero: "Resist me, and there will be consequences." Smoke: "And to think I once idolized you."

Tomas used to look up to Bi-Han. Who would look up to a genuinely horrible person? Absolutely no one. And for Bi-Han's part of the dialogue, he keeps warning his brothers, telling them to submit, to stand down, to not resist or try to fight him. It means he, too, doesn't want to fight them or hurt them.

Scorpion: "A shadow's fallen on your soul." Sub-Zero: "No, brother. I've seen the light."

What more do you need than this bit here as proof that Bi-Han didn't always use to be like this? Shadows only exist where light is present too. There must have been light in Bi-Han before said shadow corrupted him.

Both Kuai Liang and Tomas only resent Bi-Han for two things. Letting their father die and breaking his oath to protect Earthrealm. Nothing else is ever brought up.

At this point I think it's safe to say it's canon that Bi-Han was never abusive or a bad brother towards either Kuai Liang or Tomas.

That's it.

No headcanons, no what if's. No bullshit, just facts.

The only time Bi-Han hurts Kuai Liang is after he reached his breaking point and snapped and they're both equally ready to fight and hurt each other by then. Kuai Liang is even the one who draws first blood. Does that make him abusive too? Not at all.