The Philosophy of Kronika, The "Keeper of Time" (Mortal Kombat 11)
- Mr. Tomasio Rubinshtein
- Sep 13, 2022
- 7 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Introduction on a Divine Being
I have played many video games, and watched many movies in my life. However, there is one character that I have found to be both the most powerful and the most purely evil.
She is one of the most powerful characters I have ever encountered in fiction, possessing godlike powers that are related to time manipulation.
Lady Kronika is a supreme divine being who appears to have complete control over time, space, and infinite realities. I have fought her several times, and I can confirm that she is one of the most overpowered opponents I have ever faced in a fighting game.
In a fictional universe based on paganism, where there are multiple gods, Lady Kronika is even beyond godhood. She is a Titan, a being of even higher power. It is believed that she was named after the Greek god Chronos, but I have been unable to find confirmation of this.
Being supposedly omnipotent and extremely evil, she is responsible for the crisis of infinite timelines and realities, and thus, for the deaths of countless beings. In her own franchise, she is considered the main villain and the most powerful entity in a series of games where you can play as immortal beings.
Kronika the Businesswoman
For some reason, you, the player, can make infinite deals with her if you visit a certain island in the game of Mortal Kombat 11.
This island, which appears to be under eternal moonlight, is filled with treasure chests. These chests can contain a variety of items, some of which are more important than others.
I have looted this island for over a year and a half, on and off, and I still do not know exactly what I have collected. All I know is that I have a large number of items that I may not even be aware of, and that I may never use.
The island is quite large, but there are at least two portals on it that connect to Lady Kronika. You do not even get to speak to her directly; she simply ignores your existence as a mere customer.
Her deal is simple: you pay her 100,000 gold coins (which is easily attainable in the main game), and she will reset 50 of the treasure chests you have already looted.
However, she will also place them in a different timeline, so that they will contain different rewards each time you make a deal with her. You can make these deals in sets of 50, and then proceed to loot the chests again, like the greedy materialist you supposedly are. In other words, you can never loot the entire island.
The island, under Kronika's control, seems to be stuck beyond the natural flow of time. No matter how many treasure chests you loot, she can always grant you the ability to open them up again, and again, and again.
An Examination of Freedom
This is an example to the philosophical idea I call the prison of freedom, where you are free to do as you please, under limited confines.
Imagine having all of your food, shelter, and desires provided for you for the rest of your life, without having to do very much in return. That is how I feel when I make deals with Lady Kronika. Despite being an evil goddess, she does provide good business.
As I play Mortal Kombat 11 more and more, I realize that, despite being defeated in the game's plot, Lady Kronika is nonetheless the supreme ruler of the game in practice. This is because, if you enjoy looting the island, you will have to defeat opponents for gold coins. These gold coins can ultimately be used to benefit Kronika more than they benefit you.
As I mentioned before, there are many items in the game, and most of them are useless and are left ignored by the average player, which I also am. However, the ambition to have more and more, especially when it is so easy to do so, remains.
By making infinite deals with a time goddess, I have come to understand that, as a player, I am not really in control. My freedom is given to me by someone else. The right to reset the bounty on the island is always priced, by a Titan who does not even bother to communicate with you, even when you are giving her money for her service.
She is definitely not human or mortal. She seems to give people the illusion of control, while she herself is the one who determines what will be in the treasure chests.
The same illusion of control can be seen in the conventional world, where our freedom is given to us by authorities higher than us, like the very countries which allows us our rights.
An Examination of Ethics
Like a corporation who has the highest monopoly, Kronika is the ultimate designer, for she can determine what will happen and what will not, and whether or not one's reality might be wiped in an instant by her sole desire. Those who believe in the philosophy of grand design, in the idea that everything is predetermined, should consider that the entity behind it all, if it indeed exists, might be evil, similarly or exactly like Lady Kronika.
I can understand how functional determinism is as a philosophy, whether correct or not. A true determinist would, after all, try and see anything and anyone as something of a greater reason, one that is meant for themselves and for others as well. In Judaism, there is an old saying: "Everything is for a greater good."
But what if the one doing the determining isn't as good as we may think? What if we, like Kronika, are not the ones who benefit from them, but vice versa—benefit themselves, using us as mere playthings, as mere pawns, to fulfil whatever motives they have?
What if we are only deluded by the idea that we are indeed free, when our freedom is granted by someone else as a mere permission? What if life is but a scam with an ulterior motive none of us are necessarily aware of? Another Jewish saying: "Man thinks, God laughs."
I enjoyed that island a lot thus far, but isn't it just a scam for Kronika? A scam to pay her with currency just to give oneself the illusion of prosperity, of wealth, by having many things one might not even regard or use or even remember that one has?
I really hate Lady Kronika, the Keeper of Time. She disregards any looter who arrives on the island she has power over, and only gives her service, nothing more, nothing less, without marketing herself, and without telling us why we should have more of these many random items.
In short, Kronika's island is a capitalist paradise where the coin of the realm is the very lifeforce that determines one's adventure. There, one is not entirely free, but bound to endless looting. It is like in real life, where we are, in capitalism, are expected to make a lot of fortune for the sake of prosperity alone.
In this capitalist oligarchy, the player is just a fighter drone for that divine Titan, where she is the one making the most profits. It is like real life, where billionaires make profit of the poor and the working class. It's just business, and the deaths of countless, may matter little to you. Let alone, to her. Because as long as she is paid, she is fine. She is, in a way, your boss.
From this lens, Kronika's island is a microcosmos to real life, where it is often those who have the most money that get to call the shots, and where consumerism is built merely to fulfill the destiny of profit above all values.
The only thing that matters to her is power. You are just a means for that end. A pawn who can't escape his/her own reality. It is the grim reality of many people, who work not only survive but, in the end, bring profit to their bosses.
Why I Don't Play by Life's Normal Rules
Do you see now why I chose asceticism? There are many things in life we do not really need and yet we buy them regardless, bringing profit to forces that do not care for us but for our wallets. Some of these things we would buy might never be in actual use. That notion of getting something to be yours could be nothing but a hollow way to feel like you're progressing with your life.
But in the end, consuming for the sake of consuming doesn't bring any benefit but excessiveness of something you don't necessarily need, creating unhealthy dependencies like addictions, and making you a servant of a system that is made to keep you mindlessly buying.
In reality, the conventional world, like Kronika's island, is there to please the rich and powerful, who often succumb to corruption.
And yet, the answer to this question remains unclear "Why should I have more than what I already have?"
I do have the "money," the gold coins, to invest in her offer as much as I'd like... but why, exactly? It just seems vain and pointless.
Like in real life, this financial materialism is a cycle that never ends. You work partially for services and products you don't really need, only to work for their gain, once more. Unnecessarily, we are being played, despite having the choice to do otherwise.
And as a critical thinker I do otherwise. I am aware of how incentives ultimately make me weak through unnecessary dependencies and a mere servant of the corrupt rich.
If I am to eternally be stuck on a mystical island with infinite riches, at least tell me why I would desire infinite wealth in the first place! Chest after chest, "reward" after "reward"... what is the role of such absurd infinity? The role is, of course, to please. Kronika, the supplier.
I don't need the incentives, and I am satisfied with what I already have. It is within asceticism that I can better master the art of article writing, and within this solitude which allows me to think critically.
I am a rebellious philosopher, and I choose not to partake in the deceitful game of life, which only contributes to a morally depraved world. In life, I play a different game than the one the oppressive capitalism Kronika and her island represent.
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