Highlights
- In Mortal Kombat 1, the character Harumi Hasashi, now known as Harumi Shirai, plays a more important role compared to her past iterations.
- Harumi, Kuai Liang, and Bi-Han (formerly known as Sub-Zero) are childhood family friends from Japan who become entangled in the conflict between good and evil.
- Harumi forms a new clan called the Shirai Ryu with Kuai Liang to defend Earthrealm against the evil Lin Kuei, and they eventually marry. A reborn version of Hanzo Hasashi, now known as Scorpion, joins their clan.
The characters of the Mortal Kombat universe have stood the test of time and, after 30-plus years, have remained mostly consistent. However, with the release of Mortal Kombat 1, the timeline has been restarted and many of the biggest Mortal Kombat characters have been redesigned and re-established. Each character has a slightly different take on their story but is still very similar to their past iterations. Of all the classic characters that returned in Mortal Kombat 1, one specific character stands out for having more importance given to their role. That character is Harumi Hasashi.
Harumi Hasashi - now called Harumi Shirai in the new timeline - is traditionally the wife and mother to the son of Hanzo Hasashi. In the past, Hanzo Hasashi was the real name of the ninja specter Scorpion. However, in Liu Kang's new timeline, Scorpion is Kuai Liang and brother to Bi-Han, also known as Sub-Zero. Kuai Liang and Bi-Han are both in the Lin Kuei clan, just as they were in the past, but their roles are rewritten from there. They are now from Japan and grew up with the re-introduced Harumi Shirai. Described as childhood family friends with Harumi, their stories begin to grow more interesting as the events of Mortal Kombat 1 unfold.
Harumi's New Role In Mortal Kombat 1
Throughout the story of Mortal Kombat 1, Kuai Liang and Bi-Han grow apart and eventually become enemies when their differences in views become too great. As in the past, Bi-Han is set on a course of evil and Kuai Liang steps up to fight for good. Though in the new timeline, Bi-Han no longer dies to become Noob Saibot, but survives to continue leading the Lin Kuei down a dark path. This leads Kuai Liang to leave the Lin Kuei with Smoke, his adopted brother, and return to Japan to lie low. This is where Harumi comes in.
Harumi Shirai is now a warrior and the head of a clan of her own. She finds Kuai Liang and Smoke outnumbered by the Lin Kuei's assassins and in need of refuge, so she takes them in. As she was a childhood friend of Bi-Han, she also felt betrayed by his turn to the dark side and agreed to form a new clan with Kuai Liang to defend Earthrealm and stand up to the now-evil Lin Kuei. As Kuai Liang and Harumi worked together to build this new clan, they grew closer and eventually married. In honor of his new bride, Kuai Liang decided to call the new clan the Shirai Ryu.
One of the first objectives of the Shirai Ryu was to find able-bodied recruits. In the new lore, this apparently proved to be an issue until one night when an angry child sneaking around Harumi's compound attacked Smoke. After discovering it was a child, Smoke took him and began training him with Kuai Liang and Harumi. This child turned out to be a reborn version of Hanzo Hasashi for Mortal Kombat 1's new era.
In the past, the Shirai Ryu were massacred by Quan Chi's forces posing as the Lin Kuei. Harumi in previous timelines was always killed along with the rest of the clan, which pushed Scorpion to become a vengeance-seeking Revenant. In the story of Invasions mode, which takes place after MK1's main plot, the Titan Scorpion travels from timeline to timeline seeking one in which Harumi does not die. This leads him to MK1's new timeline, where the sight of Harumi being married to Kuai Liang enrages him. Titan Scorpion attempts to destroy the new timeline, but is ultimately thwarted. Lord Liu Kang then brings Titan Scorpion to a timeline in which Harumi became Scorpion after losing her Hanzo, so that they may fight alongside each other for eternity. In both of these stories, Harumi has been given a lot more importance than she ever had before, which is a welcome change of pace.
Mortal Kombat 1 is available now for PC, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X|S.
